Case 14: In the Mirror (7)

The rain had gotten heavier since last night, and had begun to violently thrash the ground.

I pushed past Krishna-san’s opposition, and in the end, ended up staying for the third consecutive night in that strange mansion.

“This house is basically quite cozy…”

I muttered to myself as I gazed out at the falling rain through the window of the guest room.

The library was lined with countless interesting books and had a sound facility that was somewhat old but seemed to have good sound. The mansion was surrounded by a fresh forest of maple trees and sawtooth oaks, with benches set up here and there.

All the rooms had air conditioning, but it was neither hot nor cold in this mansion, which was surrounded by trees in early spring. It was the perfect place to stop and think at one’s leisure.

Even today, I woke up this morning to be served with a warm breakfast prepared by the servants, ate and engaged in some pleasant conversations and listened to the old man’s old stories, and ended up getting served lunch before I’d realized it. I thought I had to take Krishna-san back with me today, but when the old man and Krishna-san began some deep conversation, I lost my place and came up to the room prepared for me on the second floor to rethink my strategy, but before I realized, all I was doing was gazing out at the falling rain.

It was almost two o'clock in the afternoon.

If I were to go down now, I’d be served afternoon tea and cakes, then I’d be pushed along into dinner, and then I’d submerge myself in the spacious and comfortable bath and the day would be over. I’d be tempted to lie down on the soft bed and go straight into another overnight course. And I’d be wearing the same underpants for four days, a terrible sight to behold.

A comfort that’s like lukewarm water.

That was the root of my fear of this mansion.

In this mansion where time seems to have stopped, where only silence and thoughts remained, it became impossible to have an overhead view of where you were. The university lectures and part-time job that used to keep me busy day after day became unimportant, and I even ended up thinking that my missing memories were something trivial and not worth worrying about.

It was a dreadful feeling as if I was slowly dissolving. It was a lukewarm fear that If I didn’t make a determined decision to leave in some way, that I would become imprisoned in this mansion forever.

For example, I realized it when I saw Krishna-san in the garden this morning.

How should I say it, it felt as if color continued to disappear from Krishna-san. The thing she originally had, the vitality of a Bodhisattva that overflowed from her much more than a normal human, continued to go down, is how I might explain it. At any rate, everything was fleeting, and there was a fear there that she would become transparent and end up disappearing at this rate.

『…K, Krishna-san.』

At that time, I thought it was without a doubt dangerous and called out to her. But I didn't know what to say or do from there. With her bobbed hair and charming baby face in front of me, my body didn’t move, and no words came out. I just said, “Nothing”, and looked away with no plan of a breakthrough, and all I could say was.

『I’m still staying here.』

However, I was sure that nothing would change for the better if I just kept reminiscing and looking out of the window. So, I finally took action — I stood up from the chair by the window, and went downstairs.

In the living room with a hearth on the first floor, both Krishna-san and the proprietor were sitting opposite to each other on the sofa, and at times both were conversing with a smile on their faces.

“I believe that’s the first time I’ve heard of such an opinion regarding the true identity of Oshira-sama.*"

“No, it's an unfounded fancy that just popped into my head.”

“No, no, I don't think this is an opinion that comes up unless you do a lot of fieldwork.”

Thereupon, I joined in.

“What is Oshira-sama?”

In response, Krishna-san blatantly scowled.

“Nagi-kun, you haven’t even read Tōno Monogatari yet?”

“…Ah, err, it’s written in a classic style that’s difficult to read, so.”

“There are modern translations as well now. I’m always telling you that you shouldn’t just read ghost stories on the internet.”

“S-sorry.”

“Well, let’s leave him be.”

With the proprietor’s words, the conversation between the two moved on to an incomprehensible direction once more. They talked about stuff like the earth’s axis, and Longmai*. I could sit down on the sofa next to Krishna-san, but I couldn't get into the conversation at all.

At that moment, a bright light shone outside the window.

After a moment’s delay, the terrifying sound of thunder reverberated in its stead.

“….Damn, that was close!”

I unconsciously shouted out loud, but the proprietor and Krishna-san continued their conversation as if they had gotten used to it. At that moment, lightning flashed again, illuminating the old man's profile. His wrinkled face, which was supposed to have been handsome in his youth, was dyed in a golden color for an instant--- and I shuddered.

In a panic, I rubbed my eyes.

Just now, in an instant, I felt like I saw a completely different face appear in the light—but, was it because of the light?

The proprietor was smiling as usual. But it felt as if the number of wrinkles were increasing day by day. Despite that, it felt as if rather than growing old, he continued to swell with vigor. It might have been because he gained a conversational partner in Krishna-san with whom he could talk to on an equal intellectual level (according to the proprietor). It might have been because his brain was being rapidly stimulated.

However, that was of course not a happy thing for me, it was something that made me feel a strange disgust. I couldn’t help but feel a slimy sense of corrosion, as if something precious to me were being devoured by an old, ravenous beast.

“Now then, have you figured out the answer yet, Kurimoto-kun?”

After a break in the conversation, the old man asked Krishna-san as he sipped his black tea.

The answer— It was about the incident he mentioned. The question:『What is the identity of the thing inside the mirror?』. As I looked at Krishna-san’s downcast profile from the side, I too desperately tried to think. In the past, this old man abandoned his best friend in the depths of a cave. Or he thought he had, and continued to feel guilty about it to this day. Krishna-san was of the same opinion up to that point. Which meant that in short, that thing he saw was his ‘best friend’ who supposedly died. But for me, there was another possibility that I couldn’t get rid of.

That was—

The ‘something’ that had been in the depths of the cave from the very beginning.

‘Something’ that had been called a ‘mountain god’ since ancient times, that issued three warnings to the young man and his best friend. Had it not possessed this old man? Wasn’t that the cause of this inhuman presence I felt from this old man?

I looked at Krishna-san, wondering how she would respond---

“…I’m sorry, I don’t know.”

The bobbed haired former occult site manager hung her head in regret.

“It’s nothing to be concerned about.”

And the old man nodded happily.

“We have all the time in the world.”

….Ah, dammit, what was it?

An intense feeling of disgust swelled up inside me, and I stood up from the sofa. With a feeling of frustration as if I had my foot caught in a bottomless marshland, and a mixture of anger at myself for being unable to help Krishna-san as my crutch, I got up and spoke.

“I got it.”

“Oh?”

The old man looked my way with zero sense of expectation.

“Please tell me.”

“You are… the ‘mountain god’.”

Lightning struck outside the window once more, and for an instant the lights in the room went out. Perhaps that’s why I ended up being convinced that my half-baked answer was correct, *Cough*, the old man’s laughter rang out together with the lights turning back on, making me feel somewhat embarrassed.

“I am honored to be thought of as a mountain god.”

“Y, you went to a forbidden cave with your best friend. You heard some kind of voice there. But, you lost your memories from there, and when you came to, your best friend didn’t return. In short--”

“Ah, I see. So you want to say that I’ve been possessed by a mountain god. Quite amusing.”

It felt as if something else inside the old man’s wrinkles sneered.

“Let’s talk by stepping down to your level. Then what do you think the mountain god is?”

“Eh….what do I think….ummm… god is god, right?”

“In this country, those who are considered as gods are deceased noblemen, something that percolated from the other world, or nature itself, which one of those I wonder?”

“H, how the hell am I supposed to know something like that?”

“Why was the cave forbidden to enter in the first place?”

“………….”

“Is God not the general term for the supernatural, that which is beyond human comprehension? Why do humans deem God as necessary? That is to escape from fear. When struck with a condition that far surpasses the capacity of human understanding, humans speak of God. Fear that flows from the depths of humans is called God. In short fear itself is the true form of God, so how can I be the god of the mountain since I felt fear of the other side of the mirror?”

“…….”

“Ahh, how exhausting.”

The old man sat deep back in his chair, and spoke in an exhausted tone of voice.

“I said it before. A world that caters to fools leads to a slow death. Listen, if you’ve learned your lesson, then don't even think about interfering in the conversation between Kurimoto-kun and myself. Fools should at least realize that they are being spoken to like fools.”

………Ungh.

I was humiliated, but I had no reply. Krishna-san too had her head downcast, and I too pathetically continued to look down on the ground, when--

“Master.”

The maid called out.

“Another guest has arrived, is it alright if I allow them in?”

However, before that voice could even finish,

“…Ah, please…wait, please wait in that room.”

I heard that voice and turned around, to see the maid in a panic restraining someone.

However, eventually, the maid staggered as if pushed aside; Something entered the room.

In the space absent of anyone—that voice echoed, like a ringing bell.

(Which one is the fool, I wonder?)

That voice--- that frigid voice in the darkness that echoed like a bell from the other world, reached my ears.

(If you were to define fools as those who don’t realize they are fools, then there are those who don’t even realize that it applies to them.)

However, that figure was nowhere to be seen.

All I could feel was long black hair swirling in a spiral.

And, the terrifying presence in that voice alone—was what I felt in that ‘Overlapping house’.

“…T…that voice… you are…”

My mutter overlapped with Krishna-san’s voice at the same time.

“Yo…Yoishi…? Why are you here….?”