Chapter 3 - Yuuki: Courage
1
What a creepy mansion.
Looking up at the ancient, three-story mansion, Takeshi rubbed his elbows. Underneath his thick down jacket, his arms were covered in goosebumps. If Takuro weren’t there, he’d probably burst into tears and hightail it home. He was well aware of his own extreme cowardice. He especially hated ghosts, aliens, and other things related to the unknown.
And that was exactly why he’d never gotten this close to the Jailhouse before. He knew the rumors about monsters here, and he avoided the place like the plague. He’d even take the long way around when going to the arcade just beyond the Jailhouse. His hands hadn’t stopped shaking since Takuro messaged him and told him to wait in front of the old mansion. He’d told Mika it was because of the cold, but that wasn’t the truth. The fear was overwhelming. But that didn’t mean he could disobey Takuro’s orders. Something even more terrifying than ghosts awaited anyone who crossed him.
Are you kidding me?
Takeshi cursed, but he didn’t dare do it out loud. He’d assumed the Jailhouse was just a temporary meet-up spot and that they’d be going to the arcade. Never in a million years would he have expected they’d be forcing their way onto the property.
If this is a dream, please let me wake up now.
Closing his eyes, he prayed with all his heart.
A new hardware store here? What an idiotic idea. Who would willingly come here to buy things? It’d never work out. He wanted to go and lecture Takuro’s father right away, but he could already see him snorting in derision at the idea.
“Huh? That’s odd.”
Takuro, however, was currently growing increasingly frustrated trying to open the front door to the mansion. It stood tall and grand, emblazoned with reliefs. He inserted the key over and over, but to no avail.
“It’s probably the wrong key.”
“That can’t be.”
Frowning, he violently jimmied the key in the hole. The result was the same. Takeshi silently begged the door to stay closed forever.
“Ah damn it!”
Takuro suddenly kicked at the door. Takeshi ducked his head at the loud noise. Fearfully he peered at the entrance, but the heavy door showed no sign of budging. It may have been old, but it wasn’t so weakly constructed as to succumb to a kick.
“Damn it! How do we get this open?”
“Why don’t you ask your dad?”
It would be dangerous for Takuro’s mood to get any worse. Takeshi didn’t really want Takuro to call his dad, but he’d suggested it as a way to get Takuro to calm down. He was the only one in class with his own cellphone.
“Are you stupid? There’s no way that’s gonna work. I took this key without his permission.”
“Huh? But—”
Hadn’t he said his father asked him to transport the boxes to the mansion? Apparently that wasn’t the truth, but Takeshi knew pursuing the issue would only further incite Takuro’s wrath. And so he gulped hard, swallowing back his questions.
The bright red sun in the southern sky had fallen below the horizon, leaving shadows to creep over the ground in its place. As night fell, it would only get colder. Takeshi also had to help out at his family’s restaurant, so he wanted to get home as quickly as possible. Was there some way to get Takuro to relent? He wracked his brain trying to think of something as he watched the irritation on Takuro’s face grow.
“Ow!”
Mika, who had been strolling around the courtyard bored, suddenly yelped.
“Jeez, what is this?”
She ran toward the two boys with her right hand stuck out. The center of the back of her hand was red and swelling. Beads of blood were dripping from it.
“Were you stung by a bee?” Takuro asked, looking at the wound.
That couldn’t be it. It was February. Bees weren’t out this time of year.
“No, it wasn’t a bee. It was a greenish bug, like a grasshopper. It was sitting in the weeds and then suddenly jumped onto my hand...”
“Does it hurt?” Takeshi asked, grimacing.
Injections, toothaches, scrapes... He hated pain just as much as ghosts.
“I just felt a quick sting. But it won’t stop bleeding. Takuro, do you have a bandage or something?”
“Of course not,” he replied curtly, sticking his lips out.
But that wasn’t a surprise. It would have been almost out of character for Takuro to whip out a bandage or a first-aid kit.
“There’s nothing in here?”
Mika was probably more worried about blood getting on her clothes than the actual injury. Keeping her right hand extended away from her body, she attempted to open the cardboard boxes on the hand truck with her left.
“Don’t touch those!” Takuro shouted loudly.
Neither of them had expected him to yell like that. Mika froze and looked up at him blankly.
“...Don’t touch the boxes,” Takuro said simply, then looked away from Mika guiltily.
“You don’t have to get all angry at me.”
Miffed and pouting, Mika walked away from the hand truck. An awkward silence settled in over the group.
Oh, come on.
Takeshi couldn’t bear being stuck in the middle. He sighed softly, taking care to not be heard by anyone.
“Hey, Takeshi. Go look for another entrance.”
Takuro was the one to break the silence. He glanced at Takeshi with a clearly sour look on his face.
“Oh... Okay.”
Night was settling in, increasing the creepiness of the surrounding scenery. Takeshi didn’t want to be alone in this place, but there was no defying Takuro’s orders. Walking away from the others, he began circling the building.
The windows, placed at regular intervals, all had sturdy-looking iron bars on them. He tried grabbing one as a test, but it wouldn’t budge. Brushing off the rust stuck to his hand, he turned back toward the entrance. Takuro still hadn’t given up in his battle with the front door. Mika was sitting on the stone paving in front of the entrance, hugging her knees. Her gaze was on the stack of cardboard boxes on the hand truck.
Takuro had a short temper, but he’d never let Mika see him yell before. Why had he gotten so agitated over her touching the cardboard boxes? What was in them? He’d most likely lied about them containing supplies his father sent. Takuro was probably planning something nasty, just like when Naoki died.
“What’re you doing? We gotta hurry up or it’ll get totally dark out.”
His thoughts were interrupted by Takuro barking at him from the entrance.
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking maybe we could break a window somehow.” Takeshi yammered off a list of excuses and turned back toward the window.
Forcing an arm through the iron bars, he wiped the windowpane with a fingertip. It dislodged several years’ worth of dust, scattering it into the air and sending him into a coughing fit. He struggled to bring his face closer to the area he’d wiped clean and peer inside. There seemed to be a board nailed to the other side of the window, so he was unable to discern anything about the inside of the mansion.
The first window was a bust, so he gave up and tried the next one. It was the exact same thing. The iron bars refused to give, and wiping the glass only revealed a board on the inside that made it impossible to see anything. All of the windows were probably like that, but the only way to know for sure was to check. Takeshi couldn’t afford to be lazy under Takuro’s orders, even if he knew it was all a giant waste of time. He let go of the iron bars and went to move on to the next window.
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When he did, he heard the sound of someone jogging down a hall.
What was that?
Straining his eyes, he drew his face close to the window again.
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This time he heard it clearly. There were footsteps coming from inside the mansion, going from left to right. Could it be rats? No, no way. It was something much larger. Was it a lost dog looking for food? A child, perhaps?
Takeshi ran over to the next window. It was the same as the previous ones— No, this one was slightly different. When he wiped away the dust on the windowpane with his palm, he could see some light. There appeared to be a small gap between two boards, unlike the other windows that had been boarded up completely.
But why was there light? Was a light on inside? How could that be when supposedly no one lived there? Takeshi slowly inched closer to the window. With one eye closed, he peeked through the gap. He saw something round and black on a field of blue.
...What?
When he strained to get a better look, the object appeared to swell. In the center of the black circle, Takeshi could see his reflection. Noticing what looked like capillaries surrounding it, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
It’s an eye! Someone’s looking at me!
“Hey, what’s the matter?”
Takuro and Mika ran over to Takeshi, who had fallen backward onto the ground.
“Someone’s... Someone’s inside...”
He pointed at the window and tried to explain, but his mouth wasn’t working properly.
“I-It was g-g-glaring at me...”
“What? Are you crazy, man?” Takuro snorted derisively, then peered into the gap in the window. “It’s so dark I can’t tell what’s in there.”
“It must have run. I swear it was there when I...”
“All right, all right. I was an idiot to leave a job like this to a coward. Just shut up. We’ll get in trouble if someone hears you screaming.”
“Trouble? Why?” Mika looked to Takuro. “Didn’t your dad ask you to come here?”
As Takuro fumbled for an answer, a shrill scream rang out from behind the mansion.
“What was that?” Takuro took off, his face red.
“Wait for me!” Mika followed in pursuit.
“Ah! Don’t leave me! Wait! Wait, guys!”
Takeshi hurriedly tried to stand up, but his legs were still weak. He crawled after them as fast as he could.
2
Anna dropped her bag and, before Shun could call out to her, slipped through the gap in the gate and began running across the grounds.
“W-Wait!”
He really didn’t want to run into Takuro if he could help it. Shun considered leaving Anna to her own devices, but he summoned his courage and followed after her instead.
“My parents were killed by Takuro.”
Shun recalled Anna’s face, full of bitter pain, as she said that. What exactly that meant, he’d need to ask Anna himself. Right now he was worried she’d gone after him to take matters into her own hands.
Past the gate, a wide, untended garden spread out before him. Judging by the vast amount of weeds despite it being the dead of winter, the soil must have been exceptionally fertile.
Shun could hear Takuro and his friends discussing something in front of the giant mansion, but they were too far away to make out anything. Mostly, Shun was just glad that they hadn’t seemed to notice him and Anna entering.
“Okay, let’s go,” Anna whispered in his ear.
“What?”
Her chest rose and fell heavily like she was taking deep breaths. Both of her hands were tightly balled into fists. Shun thought she was going to just walk right up to them, but instead she stooped down and slunk alongside the stone wall.
“Ah... Wait.”
It was so unexpected that he accidentally called out to her without thinking. Perhaps sensing them, Mika turned in their direction. Their eyes locked for a moment.
Shit. I’ve been spotted.
Shun’s body stiffened, but Mika continued to turn her head and yawned with boredom. The dimness of the fading sunlight must have saved him. She’d looked right his way, but apparently hadn’t seen him.
“Shun, hide.”
Suddenly Anna crept back over to him and yanked on his arm. Down he went, crouching next to her.
“Good. I thought we’d been spotted, but it looks like we’re fine. You think she’s nearsighted?” Anna sighed in relief.
“What are you going to do?” Shun asked hesitantly.
“If I confronted them directly about what they were up to, I’d never get a real answer, so I’m going to follow them and find out myself,” Anna quickly replied, then began sneaking her way through the weeds.
Keeping low, Shun followed her lead. It was quite dark out now and the tall grass made for good cover. As long as they didn’t make any major missteps, they would stay perfectly hidden.
“Sorry. I know you probably have better things to do,” Anna whispered as she pressed forward.
“No, I’m here because I wanted to be.” Shun waved his hand in objection despite the fact that Anna couldn’t see it. “I’m sorry, too. I’m not a burden, am I?”
“No. It’s reassuring to have you here. Thanks.”
Warmth blossomed in Shun’s heart. He didn’t care if it was a lie. Those words alone made him feel like he could find meaning in his existence.
“Is school getting any better for you?” she asked.
“No, not at all. I’m a terrible talker, so... I’m not great at making friends.”
“That’s not true. See? You’re talking with me just fine.”
That’s because you’re special.
For some reason, Shun’s cheeks burned.
The two of them proceeded forward carefully, doing their best to avoid detection. It was harder than he’d expected to walk bent over, especially for someone like him who usually spent all day on his computer. He stopped for a small break and looked ahead, rubbing his hips. It was then that he spotted a suspicious figure sneaking around toward the back of the mansion. He was confident in his eyesight. There was no mistaking what he saw.
“There was someone there just now, right?”
Anna stopped and turned around. She looked frightened. Shun nodded, which seemed to relieve her.
“Hey, do you have a strong sixth sense by any chance?”
The sudden question caught him off guard.
“No way,” he laughed.
There was no such thing as ghosts. They were just silly fantasies people had.
“Oh, good. That means that thing we saw just now wasn’t supernatural, right?” Anna sighed with relief, then began hurrying forward again.
“H-Hold on!” Confused, Shun called out to her. “Do you... have a sixth sense?”
He was hoping she’d burst into laughter and tell him he was silly, but she nodded without even looking back.
“You might think me a weirdo for saying this, but...”
She looked hesitant to say any more.
“Maybe it’s because I took a tiny step into the world beyond, but ever since the accident, I... I’ve been able to see lots of things,” she said, pushing the weeds out of her way as she went. “On my way here, I saw a headless old lady.”
Shun was absolutely silent.
“Sorry, I’ll stop now. You don’t believe me, do you?”
“No, I do. Can you tell me more?”
Shun recalled his mother telling him a story the other day about how a 77-year-old woman broke her neck and died nearby. It was possible Anna had seen the ghost of that poor lady.
“I’d always assumed that ghosts only showed up at graves or inside tunnels. Creepy places, you know? But I was wrong. They’re actually everywhere... I’ve even seen about five at school. The ghost of a girl about our age haunts the science prep room. She’s always sitting by the model skeleton, hugging her knees and crying. I tried talking to her, but she won’t respond.” Anna suddenly hung her head. “Sorry, I know this is weird. It’s just not possible, right? There must be something wrong with my head. You think so too, right, Shun?”
“Oh, no...”
Shun didn’t know what to say. Whatever he said would just sound shameless.
“I’m really sorry. I’ve never told anyone any of this before... What’s with me?”
Anna’s voice trembled. Was she crying? Shun wanted to check, but he couldn’t see her face with her back turned toward him.
Once they’d gotten past Takeshi, who’d begun inspecting the windows, they made their way around to the side of the mansion. Now out of sight of Takuro and Mika, Anna distanced herself from the stone wall and approached the mansion itself. Shun followed suit. Listening closely, he could hear the sound of something passing through the grass behind the mansion. Someone must be there. Shun could feel the muscles in his face tensing in fear.
“It’s okay. Ghosts aren’t this loud.”
Anna’s words made him shudder even more. She must have been trying to cheer him up, but her efforts had backfired. Anyone who would lurk around a place like this alone of their own free will was scarier than any ghost. Perhaps sensing his fear, she turned to him.
“There’s no need to worry, silly.”
She smiled as a bluish-white hand appeared over her shoulder.
“A-Anna...”
“What is it?”
The hand slowly lowered onto her right shoulder. The next moment, Shun let out a scream so loud it surprised even him.
3
“Hey, who’s there?”
Takuro, Mika, and Takeshi came running after hearing Shun scream.
He wanted to run, but his lower half wouldn’t listen to him. He simply sat there in the tall grass, unable to move. He looked around, but didn’t see Anna anywhere now. She must have managed to quickly hide before the others arrived.
“What? It’s you? Hey, what the hell are you doing here?”
Takuro’s piercing glare was sharper than any dagger. Shun suddenly understood exactly what it felt like to be a deer in headlights. Fear paralyzed him as thick sweat ran down his body.
“U-Um...”
He tried desperately to think of an excuse, but panic seized his brain.
“Are you deaf? I asked what you’re doing sneaking into my yard.”
“Oh, sorry. This is your family’s property? I totally thought it was abandoned.”
Before Shun could answer, the one who had given him such a fright sneaking around the back of the mansion piped up. It was Hiroshi.
“Don’t bother with the excuses. Just answer honestly. What were you doing?”
“Searching for insects,” Hiroshi replied flatly, brushing hitch-hiking seeds from his sleeves.
He was still wearing his school uniform, suggesting he’d come straight here after parting ways with Shun at the marsh. Unlike Shun, who was about to have a total breakdown, Hiroshi was the very image of composure.
“Searching for insects? Hey, brain trust, you think we’ll believe a lie like that?” Takeshi suddenly piped up from his position hiding in Takuro’s shadow.
“You sure are something, trying to act big as soon as you realized it wasn’t a ghost,” Mika spat. “You were the one crying that we should leave because the place was haunted.”
“Wh-What’re you talking about, Mika? I wasn’t crying. Sure, the pitch of my voice may have risen a little, but that’s not the same. Besides, there’s no such thing as ghosts. There’s no way I’d be scared of—”
“Shut up, Takeshi. Put a sock in it for a minute, will you?”
“...Sorry.”
Takeshi’s already small figure shrank even more after being yelled at by Takuro.
“He has a point, though. That’s enough nonsense. Fess up, Hiroshi.” The glint in Takuro’s eyes grew sharper. “The brightest kid in our class wouldn’t be out doing something as kiddy as catching bugs. You don’t even have a net or cage.”
“Oh, they made it difficult to manage the wall, so I left them by the road,” Hiroshi answered in his usual tone as he pushed up his glasses. He never showed hesitation, not even in front of Takuro. “You seem to be under a rather blatant misconception, however. Allow me to enlighten you. Searching for bugs isn’t a child’s game. When investigating the insects that inhabit an area, you can approach it from many disciplines—taxonomy, ecology, geology, and environmental studies included. In fact, it might even be the key to unraveling the secrets of Earth’s history. For example, the manga artist Osamu Tezuka’s pen name comes from the osamushi or carabinae subfamily of beetles, which has undergone a retrogression of its rear wings, eliminating its ability to fly. This in turn makes speciation more likely—”
“All right, all right. Enough. We get it. You’re a bug nerd.” Grinning wryly, Takuro cut off Hiroshi’s lecture. It seemed like he would keep going forever otherwise. “I don’t care about the bugs. I wanted to know about you.”
“Sorry. I have absolutely no interest in the ecology of humans.”
“Don’t give me that bull.” Takuro was quick to call Hiroshi out. “You said you climbed the wall to get in here, right? That’s a joke.”
“I have never once made a joke in all of my life.”
Takuro considered that might be a joke in itself, but Hiroshi’s face was dead serious.
“That wall’s five meters high. And there’s barbed wire on top. It’s no easy feat to scale that thing.”
“That’s not necessarily true.” His eyes sparkling behind his glasses, Hiroshi continued, “It’s a little simplistic to assume a wall is impenetrable just because it’s tall, don’t you think? If you change your perspective a bit, you can easily find the path you need to follow.”
“Huh? I have no freaking idea what you’re rambling about.”
“There’s a trash collection spot on the other side of the wall. Every Tuesday and Thursday, piles of trash get placed there. Did you know that?”
“Of course not. What of it?”
“The sign above the trash spot is quite old. It’s most likely been there for a long time. Since the last time this place was inhabited, I imagine, which got me thinking. Naturally, the residents of this estate would also use that spot for their trash. However, it’s quite a hike from the main gate just to dump trash. Surely that would get annoying week after week, no? If it were me, I definitely would have constructed a back door,” Hiroshi explained, approaching the wall.
“A back door? There wasn’t anything like that, was there?”
“No, there was. You were just so caught up in your orthodox conception of a back door that you didn’t see it. It wouldn’t have to be large since it would only be used for throwing out the trash. With that in mind, I inspected the wall around the trash area, and...”
Squatting down, Hiroshi selected a section of the wall close to the ground and gave it a strong push. With a thud, a chunk about fifty square centimeters wide fell away. Through the open hole, they could see the asphalt road.
“My friend who’s in college lives around here. He found a stag beetle larva but doesn’t know how to raise it, so he asked me for advice. I was on my way to his house when I spotted an unusual grasshopper in front of this wall. Thinking it could be a new species, I tried to capture it, but it escaped over the wall. I was so intent on capturing it that I found this hole and slipped through. That’s the gist of it.”
His explanation was so detailed and reasonable that there was no room for rebuttal. Takuro fell silent.
“A new species of grasshopper? I saw one of those too. It was sort of blue, right?” Mika asked. “It flew at me and stung my hand. Oh, grasshoppers don’t sting, do they? So it bit me then, I guess?”
“Where did you see it?” Hiroshi leaned forward.
“By the entrance.”
“Thank you very much. I shall go investigate right away.”
Just as he was about to leave, the loud sound of something breaking echoed nearby.
“What was that?”
Everyone looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
“It sounded like it came from inside the mansion.”
Takuro and Takeshi’s expressions changed.
“You don’t think it’s a ghost, do you?” Takeshi asked, the fear audible in his voice.
“That’s quite an unscientific thing to say. Such things do not exist in this world.” In contrast to Takeshi, Hiroshi was utterly calm.
“Let’s check it out. You guys, come with me.” Takuro took off running.
Mika, Takeshi, and Hiroshi followed after him. Hiroshi was most likely interested in the grasshopper by the entrance rather than the sound that came from inside the mansion.
Shun knew he couldn’t run off by himself in this situation. Slumping his shoulders, he reluctantly chased after Hiroshi.