Case 13: Spiritual Paths (4)

It was quite suspicious for a young man to be wandering around alone in a residential area late at night. What would I say if I came across a patrolling officer? As my thoughts swirled on such things, I continued to intently search for that house with my hands in my jacket pocket. It was hard to move quickly, so I parked my bicycle in the city hall bicycle parking. After that, I wandered around the residential area on foot for about thirty minutes, but I couldn’t find a building that looked like a stationery shop anywhere. In the first place, weren’t stationery shops supposed to be closer to schools? No, did it go under because it wasn’t close to one? As I walked along thinking such things, I suddenly crossed paths with some students who were messing about on their way home. They looked at me suspiciously, but I somehow managed to hang my head down and passed them. I felt an awfully lot like a criminal.

I stopped in my tracks for the time being, and carefully recalled the conversation back in the farewell party. ‘Behind City Hall’ was definitely in this area. So, the stationery shop that went under…no, someone mentioned another characteristic---ah, that’s right. Someone said something like, 『The shop which always has its shutters closed』. When suddenly-- I caught sight of a small building with gray shutters. It was a building I had simply passed by many times thinking it was a garage.

“…Hey, is this it?”

I stepped back a bit, and looked at the right side of the building. It was a modern ready-made home two stories tall. The first and second floor still had their lights switched on. I could sense the presence of people from outside. Was this not it? The moment I shifted my gaze to the left side of the building where the shutters were down—a shiver ran down my spine.

Beyond the darkness, I saw the shadow of a deserted Japanese house that was even darker.

Weeds were thickly overgrown behind the fence that was no longer maintained.

Through the frosted glass next to the brown door, I realized that the interior was pitch dark. I looked up at the second floor but couldn’t see properly thanks to the window being obscured by a torn shoji. As I was about to turn my eyes to the tear in the shoji, something cold crawled up my legs.

I averted my gaze. Because I suddenly remembered the story of the ‘woman peeping’.

I gulped once, and checked around to make sure nobody was around, opened the rusted door, and made my way through the garden stones to the front door. I tried peeping into the mailbox that was installed on the wall of the house and saw that it was chock-full of pamphlets. They had gotten wet, dried and torn, giving the impression that no one had been inside for quite some time now. Thereafter, I gently placed my hand on the front door, and tried pulling it once. Naturally, the door was locked and wouldn’t budge.

For some reason, I was relieved.

I didn’t have the guts as an occult maniac to break locks and intrude into abandoned buildings. I felt as if I had checked the door in search of a reason, that if I couldn't get in, there was nothing I could do.

--Let’s go back before someone finds me.

I told that to myself as I turned my back to the door, when suddenly--

I heard a grating clink sound ring out from somewhere.

With a start, I stopped in my tracks and looked back in the direction of the house.

--It can’t be, a metallic sound?

Holding my breath, I focused my concentration on the interior of the house once more on the spot. But I didn’t hear it again.

I saw the headlights of a car approaching me from the distance, so I quickly lowered my posture and hid under the fence. At the same time, I heard what sounded like people talking. It seemed it was a parent and child this time. A young mother was walking with her child hand in hand. I felt relieved and at the same time annoyed at the lack of common sense of a mother walking with her child in the middle of the night. No—people all have their own reasons. I mean a student was sitting here crouching in the middle of the night in front of a person’s front door, and I’m sure there must be single mothers out there who are trying their best to raise their children.

At any rate, I would easily end up being found out if a passerby were to peep in from the street. So I had no choice but to stay low as I steadily followed along the fence and made my way to the back of the house.

There, I found a place that was right around the size to be called a rear garden. There was a small pond that had no more water left, and a stone hanging lantern covered in moss. I hid myself behind the hanging lantern.

…Ahh, just what was I doing?

I thought as I bit my lip. Wasn’t I just like a thief, crouching down in someone’s garden in the middle of the night? I was surrounded by houses, and could easily be caught if anyone looked my way from some window. If I got reported, it would undoubtedly become a police matter.

--Let’s just go back. Let’s just go back home.

When I ordered my feet to do that, those words suddenly appeared in my head.

『But you're still going to repeat it? Just like the disciples of the witch?』

Those were the words uttered by that stranger in front of the university that day.

That unknown noh faced-man of unknown age who stepped out of the limousine said that there used to be a university for witches in the past somewhere, and that the disciples of the witches devoted themselves to repeating something over and over again. So –what was that all about? What did he mean by ‘going back to the basics’? What did those words mean to that man, and why did they resonate so strangely within me? In the first place, just what was that man…? I didn’t have any acquaintances who would show up in a limousine, and I didn’t recall any daughter of h—

Thereupon, a shadow suddenly emerged in my head.

…It was a person.

A black silhouette – I didn’t know who it was.

But they stared at me forlornly, and continued to whispered something repeatedly.

“….Who….?”

Forgetting that I was brazenly intruding in someone else's garden, I reached my hand beyond my memory.

“…Who are you? Hey, are you related to that man? What does the university of witches mean? Just what are the disciples repeating there?”

Of course, I had not wished for a clear reply. I didn’t expect an answer.

However,

(That was, to search for the origin of names.)

“….Eh?”

From somewhere, I heard the clear voice of a young girl, like a ringing bell.

(The Scholomance university of magic – a legendary university said to have existed somewhere on the Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. There, the disciples of the witch only had one thing to do. That was to research the real names of all events and creatures in the world and their history.)

“W-who—is it?”

Flustered, I turned around, but there was no one there. Only the faint light of the moon poured down on the dimly lit courtyard.

Before I realized, a blue-white crescent moon peeked out between the clouds. It was such a beautiful moon that for a moment it seemed as if the moon itself had called out to me. A liquid darkness poured down from the moon, blue and azure, and filled my surroundings. And, I could feel the presence of someone right beside me. Someone I couldn’t see, but whose presence was strong and nostalgic.

“…Is someone—there?”

I asked the question with a trembling voice and white breath to my surroundings, but there was no answer.

However, that presence was markedly there, beside me. There was a slight warmth in the midst of the crisp winter air.

Tears gradually welled up from the depths of my eyes.

“I…know you.”

In the stillness of the night, my sobbing voice leaked out.

“I’m supposed to know you, but… why did I forget everything…?”

The presence did not answer the question.

Only the sound of an unknown insect filled the surroundings.

(Say, did you hear that?)

However, after a short period, I was asked in return.

(…It’s that sound again.)

Thereupon, I realized.

Once more, from somewhere---no, from inside the house, *Clink* I heard a metallic sound ring out.

(Even though no one is living inside this house.)

(That sound...)

(It continues to ring out from somewhere in this house.)

My vision blurred more and more as the voice softly reached my ears.

Before I realized, I had vacantly raised my face, and stared at the second floor of the premises.

On the other side of the window.

The torn-up hole of the shoji – the darkness.

From there, something looked down upon me with a hollow gaze.

I was seized with the thought that the ground under my feet swayed, and the dots of my vision were becoming coarser.

I wondered if it was all a dream.

Could it be that I was still in a hospital bed?

A dream, a dream, a dream…Ah, that’s right, everything felt like a dream. I used to think that the source of my fears was the dream mansion I saw again and again—And, I thought I had crawled out of there, but could it be that I was still dreaming? This was a dream where I stood in someone else’s garden, a dream where someone else’s voice echoed despite me being the only one present.

The moment I thought that, tears spilled down my face; There was no other conclusion to be made except that.

“…I’m still…”

Was I still broken? Could I not tell reality from fiction?

In that moment, something cold touched my hand. And I understood that it was someone’s hand.

(That’s not it.)

The whisper of the young girl sounded in my ear.

“…Not it? Then?”

I heard a rustling sound, and the invisible young girl stood up.

She slowly approached the deserted house as if stepping on the overgrown weeds.

……Ah.

“…W, wait for me.”

I stood up.

“What do you mean by that’s not it? It’s obviously strange, isn’t it? I can’t see you. Despite that I can still hear your voice. I can even understand what you’re saying…”

(Reality and fiction—there are no humans in this world that can clearly distinguish that boundary.)

“……”

(The reason why is because humans live in their minds, and the world the mind believes in is the one and only reality.)

Those words made me feel shaky on my feet.

The world the mind believes in—that’s right, it’s always been like that. When confronted with something unbelievable or an impossible phenomenon, the ‘common sense’ present at the very heart of one's psyche becomes unstable. It begins to doubt: Just what was the ‘common sense’ that shaped our everyday lives? That is the greatest common experience, what you would call everyday law. ‘Common sense’ is a collection of ideas that are accumulated over the course of a person's long life that make things go smoothly. However, in rare instances, individuals appear who transcend that. They are called heretics, abnormal, and in net slang, ‘denpas’.

However, was that really the case? Could you say that they were wrong? Didn’t we deny their theories and ostracize them to escape the fear of our own ‘common sense’ collapsing? Didn’t we merely place a lid on the things that were suspicious just to keep our peace?

To live in accordance with ‘common sense’—that would be far easier, and the smart thing to do. However, that was the same as being stagnant. It takes courage to break out of stagnation. You had to face the insurmountable fear directly, and strike it head on. It was also a fight against people’s prejudices. It was easy to run away from that. It would be easy to avert your eyes and forget about it. It would be easy to pretend that it never happened. However, even if you lost your memories, and ignored it with your head, your heart wouldn’t be deceived. And now, my heart was—

Resonating with something forgotten.

Right, it was resonating with you who I couldn’t see.

Before I realized—

I stood up, and reached my hand towards the void.

The tip of my hand touched someone’s cold hand; Someone’s eyes glittered bewitchingly.

‘Welcome to the world on this side.’ Is what I felt I was told.