Case 00: Chapter One (2)

It was still new, a fashionable western style house surrounded by a reddish-brown fence. On the other side of the fence was a small garden that looked to be well-kept. The girl opened the front door and entered, “I’m home”. I hesitated for a moment, before I followed. I pressed my body against the front door, and slipped inside.

“Yo, welcome back, ○○.”

On the other side of the entrance was a girl who looked to be of high school age, who cheerfully called out to her.

Her hair was a bob cut around shoulder-length, and her healthy-looking smile made her distinctly cute. Her cute qualities were completely different, but she was probably the girl’s older sister. As if enticed by her smile, the young girl too, broke into a grin. And, for some reason – I was deeply moved by her smile. My heart was moved after a long time. It felt as if I had caught a glimpse of something truly precious. That might have been why, even though I should have heard the girl’s name, I didn’t realize it in the moment.

“You’re late, did something happen?”

The girl briefly hesitated in response to the question, before she shook her head and said no.

“Did you buy the tea on your way back?”

“Yes.”

The girl nodded, and handed the package in her bag over to her sister.

“Ah—thanks. Well then, for the change… you can keep the hundred yen. Buy a notebook or something with it.”

Hearing the words of her elder sister, the young girl happily nodded.

I watched that exchange behind the girl, but – why was it, I wonder? The tears that flowed in my eyes now were different than tears of loneliness or pain. Was I such a crybaby when I was alive? It was pathetic, but I didn’t know why I was crying. At any rate, I was helplessly overjoyed, breathed a sigh of relief, and was thankful at this trivial family exchange.

“Put your bag away and wash your hands. We have dorayaki as a snack.”

The girl trotted up the stairs to the second floor without pause.

I merely stood stock still at the entrance in a daze. Was it alright if I stayed here like this? I hesitated, but—no, at present the only one who barely perceived my presence, be it for an instant, was that girl. I had no idea what time I would be visible next, but, even so, if I were to make contact with that girl without scaring her, I might be able to discover the path I’m supposed to take. Thinking that, I felt remorseful, but decided to freeload in this house for a little while longer.

But, at that moment I heard a low growl at my feet.

I looked down to see it was a small dog with fluffy brown and black fur. Ermm… I think it was called a Yorkshire Terrier? I wasn’t quite sure, but anyways, it was a small indoor dog. It was staring straight at me with its dark eyes and gnashing its teeth.

--Oh damn. Can it see me?

No matter how you slice it, there was no other choice besides rushing outside to get away from him. However – before I’d realized, I had crouched down, and was hugging the dog with all my might. Of course, my hands slipped through, but even so, I snuggled my body as close as possible, rubbing my face against it.

That’s right – that dog was right now, without a doubt, the only existence in this world that could perceive me. I was so happy that it couldn’t be helped. Perhaps my overflowing emotions reached it, the dog stopped growling, looked puzzled at first, before happily sticking out its tongue, and rolled down on its belly. It seems I was somewhat of an animal lover when I was alive. That gesture brought me to tears once more. I never thought I’d be this happy to have my existence accepted. I rolled down on the spot as well and played with the dog. No, but my hand still ended up slipping through as expected.

“…Leo? What’s wrong with you?”

Hearing the dog’s merry voice, the young girl’s older sister came out of the kitchen, and stared in amazement.

(So you’re called Leo?)

Still soggy with tears, I extended my hands to stroke Leo's body here and there. Even though I wasn’t visible, Leo seemed to have understood me as he happily tumbled over and wagged his tail.

(Leo, thanks – I’m really grateful. You truly are my hope. Thank you--)

After that, I played with Leo until nightfall, and the young girl and her older sister chatted happily in the living room, watching TV as they ate dorayaki and drank tea. The girl was happily talking about what had happened at school today, a new game she had learned from a good friend, and a seat change that was going to take place soon.

Eventually, the sisters’ parents returned home, and from a glance, they seemed like good people.

The black framed glasses the father wore suited him well, and they went well with his prematurely gray hair. He was a little taller than me and wore a stylish suit that gave him the appearance of a being a salary man in some foreign company. The mother was a beautiful woman who often smiled, and the jeans she wore suited her for her age. Her bright and curly hair seemed to illuminate the surroundings, and she resembled the elder sister.

The two came back from work at roughly the same time, and after hugging the elder sister and young girl one after the other, patted Leo on the head. After that, the family of four sat on the table, and began to enjoy dinner. On that day, it was curry made by the older sister, and although I couldn’t smell the aroma, the curry full of vegetables looked delicious enough to make my stomach growl even though I couldn’t feel hunger.

The conversation was mostly dominated by the mother and the elder sister. The father interjected occasionally to show that he was paying attention. The young girl who perceived me – in other words, the younger sister was eating her food alone, as she happily watched the scene. When she was occasionally called upon to touch on a matter, she would hurriedly try to think of some comment, but her mother wouldn’t wait on her answer and went, “Is this what you mean?” as she ended up leading the conversation. That seemed a little different than what the young girl wanted to say, but the girl readily nodded in order to escape for the moment. From there, the family burst into laughter. The young girl smiled slightly as well. I gazed at the family together with Leo from the couch a little further away, without being bored.

It seemed everyone in this family was quick-witted, and topics of conversation kept flying one after the other. And I got the impression that the young girl was a little slow to keep up with their conversations. Even so, the young girl looked happy. And that young girl probably hadn’t even realized the preciousness of her beautiful face yet. The elder sister and the mother were both pretty but, the young girl’s well-featured face far surpassed them. Her skin was as white as pottery, and her facial features were like that of a western doll – that was, if anything, as if the girl was the only one in the family whose beauty was not in harmony with the family, driven by a baseless sense of insecurity.

Even so, when I thought a day would come when someone would wed this beautiful young girl, a strange jealously took root in me, even though I was not her father. That is how emotionally attached I had become to the family. There wasn’t much I could do for this family as someone who was already dead, but there was a happy household here I at least wanted to continue watching over.

Even if I stayed as a ghost forever, I would be able to get by if I could stay close to this family. As I suddenly began to think that – an uncomfortable feeling reached my ears.

With a start, I looked around the room, and searched for the identity of the strange sensation I felt. A news program was playing on the large television in the living room, a male and female anchorperson were smiling and reporting on today’s news. Their outfits – no, this television… something was strange about it. Barely having any memories, I could hardly remember why, but as I watched, I realized.

--That’s right, in the world I was alive in, it felt like televisions were a lot thinner. Televisions with a large protruding back were only around when I was a child…That’s right, the newscaster, in particular the female newscaster. The manner of her clothes, hairstyle, makeup and such, wasn’t it somewhat old-fashioned?

Thereupon, the female newscaster began to speak.

〈--Now for sports news. In professional baseball, Hideki Matsui of the Tokyo Giants finally reached base in 50 consecutive games. Over the ocean in Major League Baseball, Hideo Nomo won his eighth game in a row, tying last season's record.〉

…Eh?

Matsui? Huh? His uniform looked somewhat different. When I was alive, he wasn’t in the Giants anymore, having moved to the Major Leagues… and Nomo had already retired.

I stood up, went over to the newspaper spread on the living room table, and looked through.

“Fears of antitrust violations with the new Windows XP OS releasing this fall.”

 

“Interview with Takako Doi, leader of the Social Democratic Party.” “Full house even in the absence of Takanohana.”

Huh…Windows XP still hasn’t released? It felt like Takako Doi wasn’t party leader anymore, and Takanohana already retired and became a supervisor…

As I kept reading, something cold was falling on my back.

I was seized with terrible thoughts, and was starting to get worried, *woof*, Leo looked me, and I somehow managed to bear with it.

…No. Aren’t my memories all fuzzy? If I was allowed to stay in this house for a while, my spirit might become more at ease. If I did that, then I’d remember various things, and that light might come for me once more.

…That’s right, I should stop thinking about difficult things for now.

For the time being, I gave up on it all, and collapsed next to Leo once more.

“That was delicious.”

My eyes suddenly opened at the sound of the elder sister’s voice. It seems I had dozed off before I’d realized. Or rather, I realized that even ghosts sleep properly. I had been living a life filled with in anxiety up to the present, so I must have felt completely at ease. Was it because of a habit in past life? I rubbed my eyes and looked around to see that the family had all begun to leave their seats. The young girl and her sister began putting away the dinnerware and the mother had begun washing the dishes in the kitchen. The father went to the living room and sat down on the sofa, relaxing in front of the television. Leo jumped into his lap, as if waiting for him.

The elder sister disappeared to the bathroom, perhaps to clean the bath.

The young girl helped her mother for a while, but left for her room when her mother said, “It’s alright now, thank you.” For some reason I followed her.

The young girl’s room was right next to the top of the stairs. In the room about 10 sqm in size, a bright curtain hung in front of the bay window. Her bed had a yellow bedsheet with stuffed bears and pandas drawn on it, and in the back was a desk and a small bookshelf, it seemed to be a typical girlish room.

The young girl went to her desk, took her school homework from her bag, and started to work on it. I looked to see it was a math – no, it’s arithmetic for an elementary schooler, right? Seeing her serious expression made me feel like I was intruding, and I thought I should go somewhere – and then. A knock on the door and it opened up at almost the same time.

“Is it alright if I come in for a moment?”

The girl’s elder sister stood there. Holding some kind of paper bag in her hand, she held it out to the girl with a mischievous expression on her face. What came out of the bag was a small stuffed frog. It looked to be a keychain and apparently, she had had bought it for her younger sister somewhere.

The elder sister spoke to the young girl, who had a look of surprise in her eyes.

“You wanted this, so I bought it with the money I got from my part-time job today. How is it, are you happy?”

“……”

“Ah, could it be that you’re quite moved? Did your older sister live up to your expectations? You’re thinking that you really like it, or super love it?”

With her mouth half open, the young girl’s eyes merely twinkled, and she nodded in a panic, “Uwaa—So cute! You really are a good younger sister!”

After hugging her tightly with both arms, the elder sister caressed the young girl’s black hair.

After gazing at the sisters, I looked again at the stuffed animal in the girl's hand. Looking at it carefully, it was a frog with a heavily anthropomorphized expression. However, when I looked at that goofy expression, a voice sounded inside my head,

--I see, couldn’t I enter inside this stuffed animal?

No, entering, or possessing, at any rate, couldn’t I assimilate with this frog somehow?

I hit upon the idea, and tried to squeeze myself into the frog in the young girl’s hands. Even though it should have been impossible for a large body of my size to fit into it, I was somehow able to do it. I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt as if I had unexpectedly lost my hands and feet, and I was enveloped in an acrylic odor that made up the material of the stuffed toy. However, I completely transformed into the stuffed animal.

The young girl still had her mouth slightly open as she looked at me. And with her mouth slightly agape, she finally spoke in a hoarse tone of voice, “Thank you onee-chan.”

“Sure. Take good care of it.”

The elder sister winked as she said that, and left the room.

Having assimilated into the stuffed animal, I was left in the hand of the young girl. And, I was left exposed in front of the large eyes of the young girl. And, I realized why I had the idea of entering the stuffed doll. For a long, long time – to a heartrending degree, I wanted to be gazed through someone’s eyes. No, rather than someone, I wanted to be reflected in this young girl’s large eyes. I wanted her to fully accept my existence through her eyes, her perception.

“…Good afternoon.”

The young girl eventually spoke in a whisper.

Feeling deeply moved, I too, replied with “Good afternoon”. Of course, she couldn't have heard me. But the girl smiled, as if my voice had reached her. She then happily brought me up to her white, round and soft cheeks, and hugged me.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Frog – You are my friend.”