Case 09: Dear Nostradamus-sama (4)

After informing the driver of the destination, that was the first thing Krishna-san asked after the taxi started moving.

“Ummm… where should I begin?”

Supporting the unconscious Yoishi with my right arm and feeling exhausted, I explained the events that had transpired thus far.

I told her about the girl selling ghost photographs in the fast-food restaurant. The fact that Yoishi had said she couldn't see her head. And about the photo of 'Dear Nostradamus-sama', the ‘slightly different Kokkuri-san' that the girl said was real. How Akane and her friends played it and the unfortunate result, etcetera, etcetera.

“…..Sigh. So that’s what it was.”

Sitting in the passenger seat, Krishna-san breathed a deep sigh after she had finished listening to everything.

“No, I don’t understand any of it…. Just what did it all mean?”

Krishna-san pushed up her red glasses, which had slid down at some point, with her middle finger and spoke:

“In all likelihood, that girl has a knack for conscious out-of-body experiences.”

“Out-of-body… experiences?”

“That’s right, an ‘Astral projection’, so to speak. Recently, methods of intentionally separating the soul have been circulating on the internet, and if that girl uses the internet, it's not surprising that she knows about them.”

“Ahh, now that you mention it.”

I’d also read a thread on ‘Out-of-body experiences’. But if I recall, in the end, no definitive method was ever worked out, and only a few enthusiasts remained after being certified as trolls.

“That’s right. An out-of-body experience isn’t something anyone can easily do, and it is difficult to distinguish from self-hypnosis and lucid dreaming. In general, when it comes to self-hypnosis, it’s very dangerous for a novice to perform these experiments alone, in the absence of a person to dispel their hypnotic state. It depends a lot on the aptitude of the individual and should never be done willingly – I suspect that child did have that aptitude. I believe she's one of those kids who could do it anywhere at will to some extent.”

“Huh? Then, the Nostradamus-sama from a while ago was, in other words…”

“Yes, that child herself.”

Ah—

Exhausted, I finally understood. That’s what she meant when she said she had been called a liar and had to prove herself.

But…Wait a second. Then does that mean that black mist which turned up at my apartment that night was also Akane? Did she come to check our state of affairs? But – if that’s the case, then something doesn’t add up.

“…Um, Krishna-san. If that thing from before really was Akane herself, and if she is a kid who can do astral projections, then who was the one who took those ghost photographs she had? Could you press the shutter of a camera even if your soul was detached?”

“That girl was able to shift her soul slightly.”

As I tilted my head in befuddlement, Krishna-san shaped her small finger like a knife and held them against her neck.

“She must be a child who can detach only from the neck above like this and peer into the spirit world.”

“…Ah.”

I see. So that’s how it was.

“She has no head.” “I can’t see it.”

Yoishi had said so in the fast-food restaurant. So that was, in short, because Akane had left her head on the other side?

“In short, the child could have peeked into the world where the dead roam when she used her astral projection and identified their location.”

“But – But, if I recall correctly, Akane told me she couldn’t see them, only know they were there.”

“We who cannot see it can only imagine what kind of world it is. I told you once before that I used to recognize people by their auras when I was a child, but people were just a blur of light, and I couldn't even tell whether it was the living or the dead I was seeing. However, it is highly likely that my teacher Takita-san and Yoishi can see them more clearly. From there, it's a matter of individual disposition -- but it's possible that only the head of the girl which went to the other side in spirit form did not return.”

….Aah, I see.

I understood the Akane’s situation – but if that was the case, did that mean that Yoishi normally saw people in their spiritual form rather than their physical bodies? Is she always in daze because her mind can't cope with looking at their every detail, and whether willingly or unwillingly, she throws up when she sees something incomprehensible? Hey, hey, hey, what kind of world does she usually see......?

I felt goosebumps in my arms, and rubbed them, when—

“To put it frankly…”

Krishna-san added as she scratched her bobbed hair.

“No one knows anything about the world beyond.”

“…Huh?”

“For conveniences’ sake, the world is divided into this world and the next. Since time immemorial, It is merely something devised by the living out of a sense of regret for the dead. For those who believe in it, the afterlife does exist, and for those who don't, it's a fairy tale. But for example -- hmm, yes, it’s easier to understand if you think of the deep sea, thousands of meters below the surface. Only a tiny percent of the world and the ecosystems that exist down there have been established. For some scientists, it’s a world filled with even more mysteries than Mars. We know next to nothing, but we do know that there is life in the depths of the sea. And if we were to liken highly trained psychics to divers, they can only dive a few dozen meters into the shallows at most. As for what lurks thousands of meters under the sea, no one knows.”

Hearing that—

I suddenly recalled the scene I saw one day when I went to visit a remote island with my father. I remember feeling horrified seeing the color of the open sea from the ferry. On that sea, I clearly saw the moment when its color changed from blue to black. I later learnt that it was from that point, that the Suruga Trough began, but I was terrified at the time, feeling as if hell was opening its mouth. It was the first experience that made me realize that there was a world right there in this world that I could never enter, even if it took me a lifetime.

“One of the biggest reasons astral projections are considered dangerous is because there are cases where repeating them can weaken the connection between body and soul.”

Krishna-san continued speaking quietly.

“For that girl, it may have been like holding her breath and picking up a pretty marble from the bottom of a swimming pool just for the fun of it. However, after carelessly repeating out-of-body experiences, she might have become constantly out of phase, and then, perhaps – her head ended up disappearing from the neck up.”

“Is… Akane alright now?”

“I don’t know.” Sighed Krishna-san.

“In the end, it’s always a problem on our side. Around evening time, a few friends gather around a peculiar piece of paper. They address things that aren’t supposed to be there. Then three or more people put their fingers on a ten-yen coin. Ordinary people would have doubts at the onset about the ‘maybe’ in this situation. If you start believing even 1% of the time, that’s when the paranormal comes into play. In other words, what makes ‘Kokkuri-san’ so dangerous is that it is a form of séance that leads to a state of mind that is easy to connect with. From a probabilistic point of view, it's usually stranger that the ten-yen coin doesn't move. Everyone tries to move it in one direction or the other and immediately gives up on the direction in which it doesn't move, but sometimes the direction of movement just happens to match. It feels as if it moved regardless of one's intention. At that moment, the probability of paranormal existence jumps up in the mind of that person. Therefore, it is best not to play ‘Kokkuri-san’ if you are apt to believe in it -- And the real problem is the human mind that starts to think about playing games like 'Kokkuri-san'.”

Krishna-san's voice, which had gotten louder at some point, startled the taxi driver – but I recalled something. Three words Akane had mentioned regarding ‘family’.

Those were ‘hell’, ‘cleaning’ and ‘maze’.

She said the first word that comes to mind was ‘pleasant’, and the last word was ‘unpleasant’ -- What was life like for an elementary schoolchild who’s first thought when she hears of ‘home’ to be ‘prison’? Somewhere originally meant to be a place of safety to rest your body and mind, what would compel someone to feel as if it were a place to be lost and search for an exit?

“Children follow and believe their parents as though they are the only absolute God.”

Krishna continued to speak sadly.

“Whether that is right or wrong, it’s not something they can decide, as they only have an extremely narrow set of morals. I would like to hope the adults around her handle things wisely, but— from this point onwards, we're stepping into private territory, and that's not something an outsider can carelessly intrude into based on speculations, so it’s difficult. There are some things in this world that can't be dealt with by effort alone.”

Oddly enough – Yoishi said the same thing in the fast-food restaurant.

I've certainly witnessed parents beating their children badly on the street. I’m always confused about whether to stop them, or to overlook it. I wonder if that’s going too far as a part of their upbringing, but then I end up thinking that just might be my point of view because I’m not the parent. Maybe I'll understand that one day when I become a parent. Maybe the parents who beat their children are the ones crying on the inside. That’s what I hope – but, no matter how much I think on it, as I am now, I wouldn’t know.

“Well then, now it’s my turn to ask the questions.”

Suddenly hearing that voice, I look up to see Krishna-san turning towards me.

“Why is this taxi heading towards your house?”

“…Huh?”

“Why is this taxi, meant to be heading to Yoishi’s house, headed to your apartment? I have been wondering about this for a while now.”

…Oh no.

I was in a hurry and gave the driver my home address without thinking about it – it sounds extremely suspicious for sure. Sweat trickled down my clothes and I gently looked at Krishna's face. The petite, baby-faced occult website manager frowned, and her large eyes behind her red glasses glittered with a light that would not allow any lies.

“U…ummm…”

If I had lied at this point and said it was because I didn't know where she lived, things might have turned out fine.

But I wasn’t good at lying, and if the truth did come out some day, then this person’s trust in me – assuming she still had any left — would be lost to the very core. She would never take my words at face value ever again. I didn't want that.

“Uh… Actually.”

I started from the beginning. How Yoishi had crashed into my apartment for almost a month now, bringing along nothing more than a single bag. How I had been struggling with Yoishi, who was parasitizing in my loft and who ate, slept, bathed and lived wrong in every way, and that a lot had happened during that time and that I had finally decided on the ‘Yoishi Mitsurugi Rehabilitation Plan’.

After I had told her everything:

“…In short, right after the incident with Takamura-san?” Krishna-san asked, dumbfounded.

“It’s already been a month… under the same roof?”

I nodded quietly.

Krishna-san let out a deep, deep sigh as she sunk in her seat.

For a while, only silence filled the interior of the car, and I felt the taxi driver's ears were becoming like Dumbo. It was really awkward.

“Ever since I first met you – we haven’t seen eye to eye on this.”

Krishna-san eventually muttered.

“I keep telling you it’s impossible to bring Yoishi back to this side, and you stubbornly continue to try, always putting yourself in danger.”

“……..”

“And it’s already becoming your life. I’m sure that determination was already solidified when you recently jumped off the roof of the school building.”

The fact that her voice did not contain anger, but more like she was letting loose, had the opposite effect of making my conscience ache.

“I’m sorry.”

When I apologized, Krishna-san spat out that it was nothing to apologize for.

“It’s not something to apologize for – but, there’s nothing much a girl can do when a boy has decided to do something, and that makes me a little sad.”

Hearing that timid line made me feel a deep sense of guilt and remorse, and I lowered my head. I suddenly felt a gaze and looked up and caught the eye of the taxi driver looking in the rear-view mirror. For some reason, I felt the taxi driver was saying this with warm, wrinkled eyes:

Did he mean Krishna-san – or was it this paranormal high school girl who was leaning over like a corpse beside me with her long black hair covering her face?

I had no idea.

“Things can't go on like this forever, I'll try to come up with something as well.”

After helping me put Yoishi on my futon downstairs, Krishna-san said this and left.

“However, in the unlikely event that you do something strange or indecent to Yoishi – I will never ever ever talk to you again! I’ll revile you for the rest of my life -- no, for the next seven generations!”

She yelled out loud while blushing just as the door closed.

I wouldn’t do something like that – or rather, was she really going to live seven generations beyond my time, I thought exasperatedly as I saw her off.

It was still just past noon, and bright outside.

I absentmindedly gazed at the light pouring in from the window and realized that, in the end, Yoishi didn’t go to school today. She’ll probably end up being marked absent without reason.

In the first place, how did she explain her parasitizing in my loft to the school? The fundamental question is, where the hell are her parents? Tuition fees for private schools don’t come cheap, so who the hell is paying for her? The girl who was shrouded in all that mystery was right now comfortably asleep next to me. Seeing her eyes closed with a strangely cute expression on her face, it was as if she was replenishing the sleep deprivation caused by staying online until dawn, rather than collapsing from extreme mental fatigue, and that started to piss me off. I glared at her fair, well-formed face – but then I thought…

In the end, didn’t she manage to save that girl? Before, she said something like ‘What happens to her is none of my concern’, but at that time, the thing Yoishi had dragged out from that black mist-like thing was the head of that girl that hadn’t returned.

“It’s definitely not what I would call the smartest way of doing things, but this girl does turn up to help in the end.”

It was right when I said it—

“…That’s not it.”

Her long eyelashes twitched, and Yoishi opened her large eyes.

“Huh, you woke up? What are you talking about?”

I called out to her, and Yoishi replied with a dazed expression:

“I didn’t help anyone. That’s not something I can do. I was just curious about why that girl's head was missing.”

….Ah.

I was relieved thinking that everything had been resolved amicably, but there were still a lot of things left I didn’t understand. Yoishi threw up abruptly at that fast-food restaurant that time. I don't know if it was a ghost or malice that made her throw up, but it was because she felt something incredibly horrific there. Besides that, Akane Nanamori also said that when she pawned off that photo to Yoishi. That this photo was really dangerous.

“But what a pity.”

Yoishi spoke while looking up at the ceiling.

“That girl, doesn’t have long to live.”

Her stilted speech, painted my world dark.

“….D, doesn’t have long to live? What do you mean?”

“Combined with what you heard, the girl’s classmates doubted she could sense places where ghosts wandered and take their photos. And to prove that, she used Kokkuri-san. She probably summoned herself by herself.”

“Ah, I understand that much. So, the astral projected head of hers didn’t return, right? Then didn’t you pull something out of that misty thing? Wasn’t it her?”

Yoishi quietly shook her head.

“I couldn't see her head from the beginning, nor could I see a ring of light or anything that resembled a guardian spirit. This was very unusual. There's usually more than one entity standing over everyone's shoulder -- Did it already escape? Or was it consumed? -- There was nothing on that child's shoulder.”

“Oooo, Oi, consumed?”

…No, that was it. When we were playing ‘Kokkuri-san’, it was the last thing Yoishi said. ‘There’s nothing left for you to consume’. Who… was consuming what, exactly? If that wasn’t Akane, then what on earth was Yoishi talking to?

But then – I remembered.

Come to think of it, what was that woman sitting next to Akane in the fast-food restaurant? Yoishi had described her as a woman with dark eyes who was fiddling with something….

“Y-Yoishi…. What… did you see?”

I ask, opening my parched throat.

“What was the ghost of the woman you saw sitting next to Akane in the restaurant?”

“I called it a woman for convenience’s sake – but, that wasn’t entirely accurate. It’s face definitely resembled that of a woman. It had slender arms, but the torso was long and thin, stretching like a snake into the darkness beyond. Sometimes it comes floating up from somewhere at great speed and eats whatever is there. I believe it's using that 'Dear Nostradamus' as an entrance now.”

“…W, wh, what the hell is that monster? Why the heck did it suddenly appear?

”

“In all likelihood, the hexagram used in ‘Dear Nos' is to blame. It’s the Star of David in the West, but - in this island country, it's more like a Kagome crest. It's an old belief in places like Shinshu. Kagome points to a 'Curse God'.*"

“…C-curse God?”

“I’ve seen them several times before. But I didn’t know what that was. I tried to get that girl’s head back, but that was impossible. Maybe it’s not something possible for a human being to do”.

Those decisively hollow words… made my skin crawl.

I can feel the presence of something other than me and Yoishi in this room, something else was creeping in.

“As that child continued her astral projections, she ended up being marked. It’s often said that an astral projection is dangerous because it weakens the connection between body and soul, but that’s not the only reason. If something unfamiliar wanders aimlessly in front of you, then the things nestled in the 'abyss' will take an interest.”

After that, Yoishi gazed at me with her glass bead eyes, and spoke.

“You often ask me what I see. You ask me what the world beyond is like, but even I don’t understand it well. However – right now, I recalled something awfully similar.”

“That is…?”

“The sea at night. The dark, black – sea.”

“….”

“It’s too dark to see what lies out there. It’s so vast and so deep that it’s enough to overwhelm you. If you’re lucky, you might catch a glimpse of something peeking out of the water, but what that is and where it came from is something no one will tell you, and it’s not something one can know as long as they are alive.”

Those words made me recall Krishna-san’s words once more—

Before I’d realized, the dark sea appeared before my eyes. The rough sound of the crashing waves was right up close to my ears. I recalled the fear of being dragged in, of something huge staring back at me.

“S…say, Yoishi. If Akane had peeked in the ‘abyss’ you’re talking about – and if that black mist-thing that appeared in the clubroom at that time was the entrance to it – then how were you able to come back after being swallowed by it?”

In reply, Yoishi sat up with a curious expression on her face.

“Why, you ask…?”

And then, she told me, with a gaze that seemed to taste the despair inside me.

“Because, I’m---"

“Someone who's already been thoroughly consumed.”