Case 11: The Melancholy of the Planet (3)

As I was scratching my hair and thinking about it, my phone rang again.

With a start, I looked at the LCD screen to see ‘Shiina Kurimoto’ displayed on it. I felt the tension leave my body all at once, and I rushed to press the answer button.

“K-Krishna-san?”

〈--Nagi-kun, is that you? Oh, thank goodness, I managed to get through at last! Are you in Okutama right now?〉

“…Huh, h-how do you…?”

〈Takita-san told me about it…Damn it! Why did you take on such a part-time job again?! What kind of a thoughtless idiot are you?!〉

“…I, I’m sorry.”

She kept fervently cursing at me, and I couldn't help but apologize, but...

“…Em, Uhh, what does it all mean?”

〈You usually hate Takita-san so much, and yet you were oblivious this time. Listen carefully. That’s not anything like an Earth simulator, the contents are empty.〉

“…Huh?”

〈It’s probably a burial urn from the Kamakura period – in short, a coffin. It's just that it's been dedicated for so long to someone who was supposed to go in it, that it has a tendency to try and somehow make the living people around it enter inside.〉

“…Whaaaaat?”

〈It seems he hired you because he wanted to confirm if it was an item worth selling, He wanted to test its effectiveness by isolating it alone for one night with a living person.〉

“…T,T, That bastard!” I tightly gripped my phone reflexively, “In short, I’ve been taken for a ride again?”

‘It seems so’, came the deep sigh of Krishna-san from the other end of the line.

〈Listen up, I’m gonna tell you how to deactivate it right now. What makes the earthenware pot a magical object is the paper strapped across the lid and the pot. All you need to do is peel it off.〉

“…Paper?”

I drew the light of the candle close to the earthenware pot once more.

I see, the lid was indeed joined to the jar with solder, and there was an old, tattered piece of paper stuck on top of it. I felt I could easily scrape it off with my apartment key without too much trouble.

〈Yes, as long as that paper is there, that earthenware pot will have the nature of ‘confining something within it’. All you have to do is to peel it off. Do you have anything sharp nearby?〉

“I have my apartment key.”

〈Good, use that to open it.〉

I took the key backhanded and drew close to the earthenware pot, when I suddenly realized.

It was the call from something that claimed to be Moriyama. He, too, relentlessly urged me to open the lid of the earthenware pot. Feeling horrified, I looked up. I felt there was still something in the darkness beyond the grating, watching me.

“…Krishna-san.”

〈What?〉

“About Yoishi, did you come with up any good ideas?”

〈…Yoishi?〉

“Yes. Didn’t you tell me you’d try and come up with something?”

〈Why does it matter now? Hurry up and remove that pa--〉

“It does matter. It’s actually the reason I took this job.”

〈That’s-- I’ll tell you that after you’ve taken off that piece of paper--〉

“No, Tell me now.”

〈………….〉

A lukewarm wind blew at my feet.

The sounds of the tree branches being rustled about by the night wind outside of the shrine.

The call from Moriyama just now. And the call from Krishna-san right now. It made me recall something. A famous ghost story I had once heard somewhere – Ah, that’s it. This is…

“This is – Kibitsu’s iron pot, isn’t it?”

At that moment, the call was abruptly cut off once more.

I don’t know if that was because the signal was cut off, or because there was no call from Moriyama or Krishna-san in the first place. I didn’t even try to check. If it was really them, then they’d try and call again – and if it wasn’t them… Establishing that as a reality would shake the foundation of my heart. The paranormal is scary because of its vagueness, but in this situation, it would be best to keep it vague until morning.

I moved the candle to my feet, and covered the blanket up to my head.

I breathe. Just slow, regular, repeated breaths.

And I recalled the Okayama ghost story narrated by my grandfather when I was a child: ‘Kibitsu’s iron pot’. I couldn’t help but feel that that ghost story and the situation I was in right now were quite similar. If that was the case, then all I should do was wait until morning. Even if there was something in this earthenware pot, the only thing I should do was to be still as long as I was here. I believed that even if that were the real Moriyama and Krishna-san, it was not a relationship that could be broken by their dishonesty. Right now, all I needed to do to breathe. And to just do my best to wait for time to pass.

Just like how Karasu-san had told me—

As I breathed regularly and repeatedly, my heart became quiet and still.

I secretly took a glance at the old earthenware pot standing beside me. Then I thought of the thing that lay inside. Even if its contents were empty, or had an earth, or a monster – didn’t all of those possibilities begin to materialize once I perceived of them as such? Right, it was just like the so-called ‘Schrödinger cat’, it only exists once it’s observed. I was merely afraid of the fears I had created myself. That was what the paranormal was all about.

『Are you feeling scared right now?』

Thereupon, I suddenly recalled the words Yoishi would always say.

“…Aah, I’m scared.”

I muttered as I smiled in a self-tortured way.

『Say, how does it feel to be scared?』

When the Yoishi in my imagination continued to ask me that, I thought to myself.

Come to think of it – I had been trying to answer that question with the ‘fear’ I was feeling, but… that wasn’t it, was it? I think what Yoishi was really trying to ask me was not the nature of the fear I was feeling – but the process of actually getting there.

Thereupon, my phone rang out for the third time.

I took a deep breath, and pressed the answer button.

“…Hello?”

〈Where are you right now?〉

It was… Yoishi Mitsurugi.

No – it was something that spoke in Yoishi’s voice. I wasn’t confident anymore about who was calling me from the other end of the line. Maybe that’s what Sako was referring to when he smirked and told me not to use the phone. Because ‘something’ might try and tempt me.

However--

“…I’m in Okutama. I told you I had a job.”

I answered in a somewhat hoarse tone of voice.

Yoishi was silent, but eventually asked pensively.

〈Who is next to you?〉

--Who? Not ‘what’?

I thought it strange for a moment, but then I laughed. Yoishi was sharp on such things. She could see through to the truth more so than anyone in this world.

“Who do you think it is?”

〈It’s… not a person.〉

“That’s right. It’s an earthenware pot. I don’t know what’s inside, but I’ve been told not to open it.”

When I answered her as if beating her to the punch, Yoishi fell silent; I kept silent as well.

Would she tell me to open it as well? But if so, what would I make of it? The real Yoishi would open it right from the very start. If it was said that a monster was inside, she would definitely do it, and if it was said that you would be cursed if you opened it or that the world would be destroyed, she would happily do it without hesitation. That was the default mode of Yoishi Mitsurugi. That’s why, even if she told me to open it, there would be nothing strange about it. With that much, I couldn’t ascertain whether or not the real Yoishi was on the other end of this call.

〈That would be for the best.〉

--Huh?

〈You shouldn't open it.〉

Suddenly hearing words I didn’t expect, I asked back:

“I thought you’d tell me to open it…that’s weird.”

〈I don't know, but – that thing isn’t bad.〉

“…I see.”

For some strange reason, a strange sense of relief enveloped me and my body relaxed.

“Somehow – that’s the best thing I’ve heard since I’ve got here.”

From that point on, neither of us said a word, as silence reigned between us.

She was probably sitting alone on the permanently spread-out futon in the loft of my apartment. Plastic bottles and snack bags were probably lying scattered around her pillow. And some lurid image might have been displayed on her laptop screen. She might have been bored, her long eyelashes downcast as she fiddled with her long toenails, and her overly refined facial features being unmanageable for her as she had her head cast down.

“It seems there is an earth inside this thing.”

I finally broke the silence.

“It’s said to have been made by some weirdo like you in the Edo period. But it won’t be completed for a long time, 250 years from now, apparently.”

〈…Hmm.〉

“But it seems it will talk today. And It's my job to answer it.”

〈What will it say?〉

“Who knows. If it was me, I’d be like, ‘I’m hungry’, or something.”

When I said that, was it my imagination, or did I hear her let out a giggle?

“…Huh? Did you—laugh just now?”

〈…No.〉

“Is that so? You know it’s okay if you did laugh, right?”

〈I didn’t laugh.〉

Saying that, Yoishi said bye, and cut off the phone.

She hung up as if to say she had no more business with me, now that she had confirmed I was safe. I wanted to talk to her for a little while longer, but I guess it couldn’t be helped. I was already used to her cold behavior.

I breathed a sigh, and put away my phone. I then moved a little closer to the earthenware pot, and stuck my ear against its cold exterior. I thought I heard the roar of the sea from somewhere far away.

With my head close to it, I recalled the time I confined myself in the closet when I was a kid. Without even knowing the basics of biology, I was devotedly trying to warm an egg from the fridge. I placed it in a soft bag inside the closet, and spent countless hours warming the egg. By doing that, a cute chick would poke out its head one day, acknowledge me as its parent and become attached to me, being the first one to make eye contact with it. And then, I would call it something cute like Hiyoukichi and take care of it. Hiyoukichi would follow me everywhere, and I would put it in my backpack and take it to school. It might help me catch crayfish at the river. It might even wake me up in the morning with a peck of its beak. Hiyoukichi was supposed to be smart and pampered. I recalled grinning like that as I warmed the unfertilized egg.

I wonder if that was why—

This old earthenware pot that felt cold to my forehead felt like an egg.

And for some reason, I felt that what lay inside of it was not a chick – but Yoishi, clutching her knees. With her long black hair waving in lukewarm amniotic fluid, Yoishi Mitsurugi seemed lonely as she floated naked. Maybe it was because, she too, was surrounded by a thick membrane that rejected everything outside her. Right, until I observed it, I was free to imagine whatever was inside. It was much better to imagine that the unsociable Yoishi was inside, as she clutched her knees.

‘What's so funny?’ she would ask inside the pale, blue light of the amniotic fluid.

‘What do you mean ‘funny’? I asked in return.

‘Because you’re smiling at me,’ she’d say.

‘Sorry, somehow I just broke into a smile,’ I answered.

I replied that it was funny to see her worrying about so many things with that small head of hers.

Yoishi turned away, as if feeling offended.

Her long soft hair danced in the water.

I gazed at her beautiful pale profile from the side. And then I apologized.

I spoke with a kindness I didn’t quite understand, one that would surprise even myself.

And spontaneously, I succeeded in finally asked her:

“Say, how did you lose the emotion known as fear?”

In an instant—

The pale, blue world darkened.

I heard a hollow bang, the sound of something blowing up.

The dark world began to spin, like the sky on a stormy night.

With a tremendous rumbling sound, the darkness swirled around like a black cloud.

Beyond that, I heard it.

It was Yoishi’s voice.

An extremely feeble voice.

And then, Yoishi spoke of something terribly, terribly cruel.

Yoishi narrated the tale that made me want to cover my ears, that made me want to throw up.

She spoke and spoke and spoke and spoke.

When the long, long story finally ended – a purple world materialized.

Yoishi was floating in the amniotic fluid which had turned purple. Seeing my expression, she sadly declared that that was the reason why she didn’t want to tell me. I thought about saying something. But the words wouldn’t come out. My meager vocabulary ran dry like a desert in the face of a story where halfhearted consolation was meaningless. Even so, I struggled to say something. I struggled, because staying silent would mean accepting her darkness as it was. However, no words would come out. I bore the pain that made my stomach churn, and cursed my own incompetence. That was all I could do as Yoishi gazed at me apologetically.

Inside the earthenware pot--

Inside the amniotic fluid—

The naked Yoishi quietly closed her long eyelashes, as if giving up on everything.

“Yo, Yamada-kun.”

I jumped at that voice, and saw the sunlight streaming in from the other side of the grate. It seemed I had fallen asleep leaning next to the earthenware pot at some point.

“Well done. Apparently, the earthenware pot didn’t speak at all.”

Standing like a thin shadow behind the clear light, was Sako Takita.

His breath was white. He was wearing a black cloak over his blue kinagashi, with both hands in his pockets.

“Well then, it’s over now. Please come out.”

I rubbed my eyes when I heard his words, and spoke.

“What happened to the bell?”

“…Bell?”

“You said it yourself, that you’d ring a bell.”

“Ah, I said that, didn’t I? At any rate, things like bells are unimportant.”

“Go get it.”

I said it without standing up.

“The moment the bell rings is the moment this job is over.”

At the end of those words—

Darkness suddenly enveloped the area.

Without being surprised, I merely pulled the blanket up to my neck once more.

There was no doubt about it—

Yes, this was the famous ‘Kibitsu’s iron pot’.

It was an ancient ghost story passed down in the country of Harima – presently known as Okayama. A man who married the daughter from the Kibitsu shrine, but eventually betrayed her and committed adultery. The girl knew of her husband’s infidelity, yet continued to serve him faithfully to the best of her ability. The man eventually began to loathe even that behavior of hers, and disappeared together with his mistress. That was the breaking point for the girl who continued to believe and trust in the man till the very end, and she became a vengeful spirit. The man, who encountered a series of misfortunes after that, was frightened and begged an exorcist for help, he secluded himself in a shrine for forty-two days in order to chase away the vengeful spirit, but— you could call it fate or destiny, he was killed at the end. It was because he ended up being tricked by the cheerfulness of the vengeful spirit who fooled him into thinking it was dawn, and with only one day remaining, he opened the door to the shrine by himself.

I liked listening to that story from my grandfather when I was in elementary school, and I feel like that was when I started getting interested in ghost stories. And I managed to recall this story somehow. That’s why, I thought the calls from Moriyama and Krishna-san felt familiar. There was indeed a scene where the vengeful spirit in ‘Kibitsu’s iron pot’ disguises itself as one of the man’s acquaintances.

“…You think that’s gonna work?” In my dazed consciousness, I muttered. “…I don’t know who you are, or why you’re trying to make me open this earthenware pot, but this thing has already endured 250 years on its own. It has another 250 years to go, but it’s still on the path to it. I don’t know where it’s headed, but step-by-step, it’s walking its path. Do you not even have the forbearance to allow it to continue its journey?”

I whispered in the jet-black darkness.

The darkness didn’t answer back.

Dawn was never coming, was it?

Was I already lost in the midst of the world beyond?

in the midst of the endless dark world—

I heard a voice from somewhere.

『○○○○○○○○......?』

…Huh?

『○○○○○○○○......?』

…Ah…

…Was that it? After thinking for 250 years… the only question you finally came up with… is that really okay? Do you really want to know that…?

『○○○○○○○○......?』

…Ah, I understand. Being here with you in the 250th year of your life must have been fate, right? I apologize for my meager words, but I will answer you with all the sincerity I can muster.

“It’s alright.”

I spoke.

“Keep going. Don’t look back. I'll watch over you. No matter what mistakes you make, no matter how hopeless you are, I will always be there watching over you. Worst case scenario, we all perish together.”

In the darkness where endless silence reigned—

I thought I heard a clanking sound from the earthenware pot.

And I went straight to sleep as if I had passed out.