Case 15: The Disturbing Mansion [Part Two] (2)

The door to Sako Takita’s antique store ‘Kouroudou’(Bone Tower Shrine) in Sotokanda, Tokyo, was locked.

I peeked in through a gap in the dark curtains behind the frosted glass, but as usual, objects I didn’t really understand were all crammed in a line. A headless Buddhist statue, a mummified Kappa, and a hanging scroll covered in what appeared to be blood stains. Beyond those suspicious items that he considered merchandise, I raised my voice towards the inner parlor.

“Hey, Sako! Are you asleep?!”

I wonder how long I kept knocking on the door and calling out to him like that.

“Excuse me.”

Suddenly, I was called out to from behind and looked back to see a short old woman dressed in a kimono that was a light cherry color with a slight grayish tinge.

Although her back was rounded to a large degree, she was a small and cute old woman. Come to think if it, my deceased grandma was short as well. As I recalled those kinds of things, I bowed down to greet the old woman who looked up at me with an elegant face.

“Ah, sorry for being so noisy.”

In response, the old woman gave me a friendly grin and asked, “Do you have some business with the owner of that shop?”

“Yes, do you know him?”

“That nice man who’s always wearing an indigo dyed kimono.”

“It’s doubtful whether he’s nice or not, but he is indeed always wearing a navy-blue kimono.”

“We’re always gossiping about whether he is still single.”

Saying that, the old woman giggled like a maiden.

“Um, that’s fine….but, do you know where he is now? I have some urgent business with him.”

“Isn’t it the 13th today?”

“…Yes?”

“That person goes to Myoujin-san on the 13th of each month.”

“Myoujin-san?”

“It’s Kanda Inari Gongen-sama.”

“…Ah.”

Come to think of it, Sako’s day job was being the head priest of a shrine in Aomori— I think it was called ‘so-and-so Inari Shrine’.

“Myoujin-san is just ahead up the stairs from there.”

“Thank you so much.”

After thanking her, I broke into a run.

I climbed the long, narrow stairs, slipped through a narrow alley, and soon saw several red nobori*.

There were souvenir shops lined on the path to the shrine, and even though it was a weekday afternoon, there were still quite a few people. As a country boy who loved festivals, I ended up getting excited just by visiting these kinds of places.

I read the stone monument in a touristy mood, Kanda Myoujin was a shrine dedicate to Daikoku, the god of wealth, Ebisu the god of fishing and commerce, and ‘Taira No Masakado’, who was popular among us occult maniacs because of certain reasons.

“Hmmm.”

I looked up at the main shrine once more.

I had passed it once or twice before, but to tell the truth, it was my first time stepping foot inside.

“…Wait, no, no, I don't have time for this.”

Right away, I searched around the area for Sako. However, there was no sign of the man in the navy-blue kimono anywhere around the main shrine, or in any tea house or souvenir store. Having no choice, I went around the main shrine to look around the subordinate shrines. As I walked along, stepping on the gravel under the sunlight that filtered through the trees, I found that there were various subordinate shrines at the back of the main shrine. I was happy to see that each shrine was neatly swept with bamboo brooms, and was being properly looked after. It made me sad just seeing small shrines in disrepair—when, I spotted a familiar man in a kimono in front of one of the small shrines.

“—Sako?”

I called out to him, but Sako Takita remained seated directly on the ground in a daze with his back turned towards me.

I quietly approached his side and peeked at him from the front. And— noticed something. There were several empty sake bottles near his knees.

“Of all the…are you drunk?”

“…Hngh.”

Sako turned around at last, and greeted me, ‘Yoo’.

His complexion, which was normally pale, had a slight red tinge to it.

“Yo? really?”

“Haha…umm, you are—of course I remember. Ehhh, your name, it was that.”

“It’s Nagito Yamada. Come on, get up. You’ll get reported if you drink in a place like this.”

“…Erm, it’s alright, the chief priest here is an acquaintance.”

Sako Takita looked like a complete bum as he foolishly laughed. I tried to make him stand up, but his legs were unsteady having drunk so much, and on top of that he had no desire to stand up himself, so things didn’t go the way I wanted. Suddenly feeling foolish, I let go of his arm around mine.

He sloppily toppled on the gravel with his arms and legs outstretched.

“….Oooh. How cruel, what are you doing?”

“I just remembered what you did and let my anger take care of the rest. You had the nerve to make Yoishi imperceptible to me, didn’t you?”

I returned to the point of discussion.

“It’s already been undone. That’s why you came to me, right?”

Sako chuckled and started to laugh.

“I told her that it was merely a stopgap solution. You were out of control back then to the point where even Kurimoto-kun couldn’t handle. Please don’t hold it against her.”

“Yeah yeah, Krishna-san already gave me a rough rundown on what happened. That I was delirious and went berserk at the hospital. That was my fault--- but, there was no reason to make me unable to see her, was there? Or rather, why did I do that when I saw Yoishi…? Do you know why?”

In response, Sako fell silent.

He continued to look at midair in a daze with the occasional hiccup.

I continued to wait for him, but there was no sign that Sako would start talking, so I looked around to make sure no one was around. —and I, too, sat cross-legged on the spot.

“In the first place, this subordinate shrine is the home of some deity, isn't it? Why are you drinking at a place like this?”

“…Hm.”

Sako slowly looked up towards the shrine right in front of him, and grinned broadly.

“Today is the monthly anniversary of her death.*”

“Anniversary? Whose?”

“My mother's.”

“..... Eh?”

Thereafter, I looked at the signpost next to the entrance of the supplementary shrine. On it was inscribed, ‘Ukanomitama (god of rice), and Suehiroinari (god of harvests, wealth, fertility) as well.

“My mother you see, was kind, courteous, and beautiful. Well, I can’t deny that I might be glorifying her because of her early passing. But, you understand, right? A mother who is the personification of affection is clearly different from a father. A unique existence to all children that shared her flesh and blood.”

“Well, yeah.”

I nodded, and Sako stayed silent for a while.

After staring vacantly at empty space as if chasing something invisible—

“My mother, she killed herself you see.”

“………….”

“Well, that’s what the world thinks.”

“…What the world thinks?”

“Right. She was thought to have severed her own life, but in reality… she was murdered.”

After that, Sako laughed: heh, heh, heh—he then picked up one of the sake bottles that had been lying around and brought it to his mouth. But it seemed its contents were already empty, so he carelessly threw it away.

“You know, you’re not supposed to say those kinds of things even if you’re drunk.”

“…Drunk? Yes, I might be drunk, but I only speak the truth.”

Then Sako gazed at me in a stance where he used his knees to support his arms,

“It happened before my very eyes—And, I could do nothing at all. There was no point in asking people about it, and there was no point in talking about it. It’s not something people should know about, and it’s definitely not a story that should be readily known by an ordinary person. But still, all stories are connected. In the end, it feels like all karma bounces from one place to the next. Now then—will you hear that kind of story?”

Suddenly—

The words that have been said countless times in countless situations came back to me.

A story that should not be heard. A story people should not know.

If you found out, you would become involved and entangled in them—a story woven with Kotodama.

If it had been me up until now, I might have shaken my head and said, “I’ll pass.”

However—

“That karma or whatever, is it connected to her—to Yoishi Mitsurugi?”

I asked.

“If it’s a story that has some power to clear away the darkness inside her….then let me hear it.”

I said that, and the smallest—the truly faintest of smiles appeared on Sako’s face.

And then, he looked at me with an expression I had never seen before, an expression most transparent, and pure.

“It happened…back when I was still in high school.”

“I saw a monster—in broad daylight.”