Case 15: The Disturbing Mansion [Part Two] (5)

On the bus, an elderly grandfather with a bamboo basket on his back asked us.

I looked to my side, to see Yoishi fiddling with her phone without saying anything, so having no choice, I answered him.

“Ummm… we’re going to a friend’s house for a bit.”

“Ooh, is that right?”

The elderly gentleman nodded with a good-natured expression, as if he were about to puff a cigarette, and sat down in the seat next to us.

The bus rattled and swayed as it leisurely moved along the mountain road with several passengers on board. I somehow looked outside the window, and saw that the houses were steadily becoming sparser, and all that lay beyond them were magnificent undulating mountains.

And at my feet was a large rucksack I had borrowed from a friend in the mountaineering club. I didn’t know if we would easily be able to find accommodation, so I borrowed as much camping gear as I could cram into the rucksack and brought it along.

The address Sako had written, K city. Y-Prefecture—

Yoishi and I were on our way there, having switched trains, and rode the only bus that came only once every hour.

The sun would soon be setting in the area. The mountain ridges were dyed in a golden colored light. The scenery alone was quite beautiful and nostalgic, but when I thought about the building we were headed towards, my buoyant mood continued to sink.

“Something terrible inhabits these mountains.”

The old grandad from earlier blurted out.

“You can't look them in the eye because if you do, you'll end up dead.”

It must have been a legend you’d often find passed down in rural areas.

“Um, what is it called?”

I asked, and the grandad replied, “…It’s called,” before falling into silence for a while.

“It’s called… No, it’s better if you don’t know. Because you might end up summoning it if you know it.”

In response, Yoishi suddenly opened her mouth.

“Are you talking about 『Gandame』or 『Yousen boy』?”

“Y, young lady, you shouldn’t. Don’t say the names.”

The grandad hurriedly warned Yoishi, but as for me, I wanted to rebuke him, ‘Grandpa, you're wrong.’

You must not tell her the things ‘she shouldn’t do’. And as expected, Yoishi’s eyes glittered,

“…Gandame, Yousen boy, Gandame, Yousen boy.” She began to repeat it.

‘Eek’, as the grandad recoiled backwards, I bonked her on the head.

“…..My apologies, she’s, a little strange.”

I apologized profusely, and gazed at Yoishi who had fallen silent in discontent—

I let out a sigh in my heart by myself at the troubles that were to come.

I say troubles, but I wasn’t sure if I completely understood the details of those troubles.

Krishna-san’s sudden disappearance—I was unbearably worried about that, but I had left it to Sako who said he would meet up with Yukihito-kun and deal with it.

Apparently, according to Sako, heading to this address together with Yoishi had priority above all else. Well, I had a feeling I could leave it to him since Sako seemed to act properly when it came to Krishna-san, but—the biggest problem of all was the weight of his words: 『Please complete Yoishi-kun’s story』.

The problem was whether I could really do something like that.

I came this far trying countless times to do something about the darkness ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ carried. Despite being repeatedly told by Krishna-san that it was impossible, I recklessly stepped foot into the abyss of the world beyond, and each time, I would retreat with tears in my eyes. And what could I do now that I came here with no trump card? What could I possibly do by brazenly going to the ‘place Yoishi Mitsurugi was born’? Sako also told me that 『The one you’re in a race against time for is not Kurimoto-kun』, but I had no idea why there was a race against time at all.

However, it was also true that after hearing the story of ‘Sako Takita’, my image of him had ended up changing quite dramatically, and for once I had a feeling that it would be better to believe him.

That’s why after I parted ways with Sako at Kanda Myoujin, I gathered the camping gear and headed to the library for the time being.

Fear comes from ignorance. Those were Krishna-san’s words, but there was nothing scarier than going to a place called ‘hell’ without knowing anything. I looked up any articles I could get my hands on in the library corresponding to the incidents in ‘K city, Y-Prefecture’ and ‘Hanging mansion’. And then, I finally called Yoishi, but—

“Hey, Yoishi.”

“……..What?”

“I told you we were going to Y prefecture, didn’t I?”

“Right.”

“I told you we probably won’t return for a few days so come prepared, didn’t I?”

“I remember you saying that.”

“So, why are you here empty-handed in your school uniform?”

Around two hours ago, I arrived at the station we were supposed to meet up at, and was exasperated.

I didn’t expect her to bring a rucksack like me, but I thought she would at least bring a small bag. But it was as usual with ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’, she hadn’t changed even the slightest.

Wearing a black blazer, black tie, black skirt. Navy blue socks, and black leather shoes.

Yoishi Mitsurugi stood there in her dazzling Koumei high school uniform. She didn’t look as if she had brought a change of clothes, or even a toothbrush or a towel. With only her mobile phone in hand, she had the same unfriendly, or rather blank expression with her excessively well-proportioned beauty looking at me, and her long black hair danced in the wind.

“Don’t you think you’re travelling a little too light?”

“It’s not a problem.”

“Well…that might be the case but…”

Come to think of it, I was beginning to like an idiot for bringing such a large backpack.

“Leaving that aside, where are we headed in Y prefecture?”

She suddenly asked, “Eh?” I was at a loss for words.

“You only said we were going to Y prefecture.”

“….Ah, ahhh….ermmm.”

No, I had to say it sooner or later, and she might figure it out along the way, but it was still difficult to say face to face, that the place we were headed towards was the birthplace of Yoishi Mitsurugi.

“I mean, really. I don't think it's right to accept an invitation to stay overnight without asking what kind of place you're going to. That’s no good for a girl before marriage.”

I pretended not to notice that I was the one who invited her,

“Didn’t I become your property?”

Yoishi retorted, and this time I was absolutely speechless.

And, I recalled once more.

The thing that happened recently—in short, when I ended up telling Yoishi’s father in front of her, ‘Give Yoishi to me’.

Somehow even Krishna-san was flushed bright red in her nose and said something like, ‘You two have my blessing. I’ll pray for your happiness’, but was that taken as a proposal or something? No, Krishna-san was weak to sake and that kind of talk to the extreme, but did Yoishi end up interpreting it as such?

As she looked at me with her large black eyes, my cheeks suddenly became hot.

My perception of ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’ had been sealed away by Sako, and that was removed by Yoishi herself through regression hypnosis—and now that I took a long hard look at her once more, I saw that she was truly beautiful. Her pale translucent skin was unnatural for someone of Japanese descent with nary a single blemish, and her face was lined with fairy like features. Her eyes were a little dark, but on the contrary, they promoted her seducing harmony, and I think her appearance made any passerby look back at her.

That kind of girl—a possession? No, would she be my fiancée as per societal norms?

Ahh, but her father did indeed say…’Do as you like’.

Which meant that in short, he approved….?!

When I remembered that, my cheeks abruptly became flush hot, and a fluffy feeling rose up at the pit of my stomach.

I coughed once exaggeratedly and looked away.

And then I was startled.

Before I’d realized, the old grandad sitting in the seat next to me had vanished.

Or rather, it was only me, Yoishi and the driver on the bus.

“What happened to that grandad?”

“…Who knows?”

“When did they all get off? It didn’t feel like the bus had stopped.”

In response Yoishi muttered somewhat enjoyably.

“Perhaps—the elderly man might have been Gandame.”

A cold shiver ran round my back all at once in response to that cold, piercing whisper.

Immediately, it felt as if I was completely in a dream, having been in the hustle and bustle of the city merely a few hours ago, and was now, travelling left and right on a dark mountain road at dusk.

“…..We didn’t miss our stop, did we? Did you listen to the announcements carefully?”

Anxious, I took out the piece of paper in my pocket, and as I was confirming the address,

“That place.”

Yoishi merely muttered, having peeked at the piece of paper.

“Are we going to that place?”

I was speechless for a moment—before I made up my mind and nodded.

“…Ahh, that’s right. We’re headed to this place now.”

“………………..”

“…Is it a problem?”

Yoishi closed her phone, and fell into silence for a while as she looked at the darkness beyond the window.

“I’m sorry I brought you along without telling you—but, I thought it was time to settle things.”

I carefully chose my words as I spoke.

In response—

“It’s fine, but--”

As she continued to gaze out of the window, Yoishi spoke in a whisper.

“It’s just, I thought I would go there a little later.”

“What do you mean?”

“That mansion is the last place I ever intended to visit in my life.”

“………………….”

“If I don't feel fear there... it's impossible for me to feel fear again.”

Her words gave me strange goosebumps all over my body.

….Which meant that, what?

That the mansion we were headed to now, was something at a level far above just bringing me to tears as had been the case up until now?

“How did you find out about that place?”

“Ummm….I heard about it from Sako.”

“….Is that so?”

“….Um…was…”

I gulped once, and dared to ask.

“Did you know Sako?”

In response, Yoishi slowly turned towards me, and looked at me inquisitively.

“He said he met you a long time ago.”

“………………..”

Something at the back of Yoishi’s eyes flickered, as if she were trying to remember something.

Something she didn’t want to remember. Something she shouldn’t remember. Fragments of dark, sedimented memories appeared and disappeared beyond her eyes, and she eventually gave a small nod.

“………….Ahh……that person……”

However, Yoishi said nothing more from there. And I too, couldn’t ask any further.

Just what happened to you ten years and eight months ago—Why did you take on the name of ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi’? That’s not your real name, is it? Asking that simple question was unbearably heavy.

“I don’t know why we’re going to that mansion, and what you’re trying to do.”

Yoishi eventually murmured in a whisper.

“But that is without a doubt the worst place for me.”

“………..”

“There’s no guarantee that I will be myself. I might not be able to help you if something happens to you. Are you still alright with that?”

Ahhh, I know already.

…..I couldn’t say it being the weak coward that I was, but I still nodded with all the courage I could muster.

“Going around haunted places is just like life….at your own responsibility, right?”

At that moment—

I noticed that the bus driver had been gazing at us all this time through the back mirror.

The dark area around his eyes seemed to be contorted in a sneer.

And, I felt as if I shouldn’t make eye contact even if it was through the back mirror.

I didn’t know about 『Gandame』, or 『Yousen boy』, but—

I thought that we were already in the world beyond.