Case 00: A World of Ash (3)

The victim was Kōichi Nagami-san, a 38-year-old self-employed male who lived in K town of Chōfu city. The report of his head not being discovered at the scene of the crime, but instead on the branch of a tree in the garden became a news sensation (However, they didn’t report the smiling expression on his face). The police began investigating the case as a possible accident or a murder. The first person who discovered the body was the wife of Nagami-san, 35-year-old Noriko-san. 

When she returned from walking their pet dog in the morning, she discovered the headless corpse of her husband. She was so terrified that she ran out of the house and collapsed on the street where she was helped by a neighbor. Thereafter, the police were called, and the crime scene was discovered. As of now, it seemed they still hadn’t figured out why the head was placed on the tree branch in the garden. There were no eye-witness reports of anyone suspicious, and it seemed no one who bore a grudge against Nagami-san was identified – but this was just information from the news on television, there might have been a few suspects in mind, but for the time being, that was the official story published.

And thanks to this case becoming the talk of the town, the incident that occurred three days ago in the neighboring S-town was looked at closely as well. The commonly known ‘Tengu Incident’ that was made much about on the last day of school in M’s class. However, it seemed the police weren’t taking any proactive action in this case, and in irritation, the neighborhood watch held a meeting to see if they should go to the police for advice. Then, according to the mass media who caught wind of the developments, connected the two mysterious incidents to various things.

The topics were veering in unimaginable directions, for example, the troubles surrounding the construction of the building for a new religious group around half a year ago, or that a serial killer on the run in Kyūshū was hiding close by, or even that it was because a manga artist famous for his brutal depictions lived nearby. Seeing the reporters on television excitedly discussing these stories, M’s mother sighed on the sofa, “It would be nice if they would solve it quickly.”

“It really is annoying. They've had to cancel all summer school activities, and if things go on like this, the summer festival is going to be canceled, too.”

Dressed in a tank top, M’s elder sister spoke in a huff.

“I have no idea what they were trying to do by placing only the head on the branch of the tree.”

Muttering those words – the mother suddenly looked at M sitting beside her. She must have thought it was a story a first-year elementary schooler shouldn’t hear. Incidentally, I heard their story unconsciously while inside Mr. Frog which was in M’s hand. And I recalled Nagami-san’s pale face and complacent smile looking down at me through the crevices in the branches, and a bitter feeling came over me again.

“Well, anyway, there’s nothing we can do by worrying about it here -- A. Make sure you're always with M.”

“Suuuure.”

A, a freshman in high school, must have had many summer vacation events she was looking forward to. Instead, she had been forced to look after her first-grade sister for almost 24 hours a day. She gave an unconcealed grimace even as she replied as such. From the tone of A's voice, M felt that she was something of a nuisance -- “I’m sorry.” She apologized to her sister in a tiny voice. A shrugged one shoulder in reply and said, “It’s not your fault,” before patting M on the head.

“Well, I’m off to work. Keep the doors locked tight. If anything happens, call our neighbor Oomine-san.”

“I know.”

“And, if a stranger comes, you don't have to answer the door.”

“Yes, yes, you’re getting late, right?”

After the conversation, M’s mother headed to work, leaving A, M, Leo and myself alone in the house.

“Well then.”

A spoke while lying down on the sofa and flipping channels on the television.

“I promised I’d go out with a friend this afternoon.”

“…Eeeh?”

“Can you stay at home by yourself?”

“But mom told us to stay together…”

“She did, didn’t she--? Um… well it can’t be helped, will you come along? I’ll treat you to some ice cream.”

“…But, are you sure it's safe to go outside?”

“I'm sure it's fine. I mean, everyone is living normally. It might be a good idea to avoid the streets late at night when no one is around, but there are TV reporters all over the place, and the police are patrolling the streets, it’s fine.”

“But... Is it alright if I come with you?”

“It’s alright. In exchange, dress up before we go. You had a cute dress, didn’t you? That one-piece.”

The two then went up together to M’s room. I was left alone on the sofa in the stuffed frog. Leo looked at me with a whimper. Are the two of them going out? Is what I felt he asked me, to which I answered, ‘That seems to be the case’.

Eventually, A came down dressed in short jeans layered together with a tank top. Ohhh, she looked super cute despite having a short bob haircut and her shoulders being bare. She looked gorgeous enough to blow away my unpleasant feelings in one fell swoop. As I was thinking that she was bound to be accosted by loads of bastards, M descended the stairs with a somewhat timid look on her face, Uwooooo, I couldn't help but open my mouth in surprise.

Dressed in a white summer one piece and a small straw hat, M was really beautiful – no, those words were lacking. Her lustrous long black hair combined with her fair complexion made her look like a foreign model. No, she was like a fairy, an angel descended from the heavens.

“Yeah, you look cute.”

A grinned gleefully as she tapped M’s straw hat.

M looked down as if embarrassed, ‘Ah’, when she noticed me.

“Can’t I take Mr. Frog with me?”

“It’s not suitable! A stuffed toy doesn’t go with that outfit.”

“…Yeah, but.”

“You should let Mr. Frog relax sometimes. Mr. Frog will be looking after the house today.”

M eventually nodded in response. After that she picked me up and apologized, “I’m sorry.” Well, I was going to slip out of Mr. Frog and go with them, but—when she said that to my face, I felt like I had to stay behind and look after the house. In addition, Leo whined as to if to say, “Hey, you're not going to let me stay here alone, are you?” So, somehow, I ended up staying at home.

Well, you could say it was exactly the right time.

There were exactly ten days left from today until Takamura’s declared deadline. As expected, my inner thoughts were in turmoil. I had the choice to not believe Takamura, but even so, I had to take all possible precautions and think about what I could do. In any case, what was happening in this town right now? How was it related to M and her family? And what would be the best course of action for me to take? I was uncertain if I was bad at logical thinking because I was dead or because I was just innately bad at it, but at any rate, it was time for serious contemplation.

A and M left home a little after 1 PM.

The door was locked, the house was dead silent, with just me and Leo.

Now -- let’s think. Let’s think things though.

I slipped out of the frog and sat on the sofa with my arms crossed, however, at that moment, Leo wagged his tail happily. No, wait a minute. I don’t have time to play with you today. I told him that, but Leo had already brought a toy ball in his mouth and held it out to me. I was about to say, “I’ve already told you many times, I can’t physically interact with this world, so I can’t do anything even if you bring that to me”—when I suddenly realized.

I tried to pick up a felt-tip pen left behind on the table.

However, as expected, my fingers ended up slipping through. Not even the slightest sensation of touch could be felt in my fingertips. I thought I’d try going to the kitchen and running some water through my fingers, but that didn't work either.

…Ah, that’s right.

I truly had nothing to do with anything in this world whatsoever.

I couldn’t make the air quiver to send out my voice to others, nor could I write to convey my wishes. In short, even if I figured out something about this incident, it was impossible for an unsteady existence like me to communicate it to anyone who had anything to do with this case.

…Hey, what am I gonna do?

I was made to feel my place again after all this time and felt depressed, when—

Suddenly, the front doorbell rang.

Both Leo and I looked at the front door at the same time. But neither of us could answer. It felt uncomfortable in this situation, to not be able to answer even though we were here, as if we were pretending to be out. Sorry, please come again. As I was sending such a glance at the front door, the doorbell rang again. Darn, it must be some delivery, is what I thought as I tried approaching the door, when it happened. Suddenly, the doorknob was turned and pulled gently. It merely swayed and stopped with a clunk as it was locked, but that act startled me.

--Eh? What? What the hell are they doing?

Leo gave a low growl from the back of his throat. It seemed that he, too, had sensed the abnormality of the situation.

(Wait.)

I restrained Leo with my hand, silently made my way to the entrance, and looked outside through the peephole.

An unfamiliar pale face was present there. A young man wearing a shaggy gray jacket. His expressionless pale face was devoid of blood. And his narrow eyes were filled with a strange light that made it hard to tell what he was thinking.

--T, this guy, who the hell is he? What the hell is he doing there?

I couldn’t move even as I thought that. And, despite not having a heart, I still felt my pulse quicken. Come to think of it, human emotions are supposed to be governed by the mind, and yet, why is it that the emotions are actually felt inside the heart? When you receive people’s affection, you feel pleased and your heart feels warm. When you’re startled, your heart pounds. What’s feeling is not the mind, but the heart. No, those things were inconsequential. At any rate, the thing I had to think about right now was who the hell this guy was.

As if holding my breath, I stayed extremely still as I examined the situation on the other side of the door though the peephole.

Thereupon, I recalled the word ‘random attacker’ from the conversation M’s parents were having this morning. The man on the other side of the peephole was strangely in sync with the two incidents that had occurred in the periphery of town, the ‘Tengu incident’ and the ‘Headless Incident’.

…Hey, it can’t be.

As I stood in front of the entrance petrified—

The man on the other side of the peephole swayed in a large, slow motion to the right, and disappeared.

Remembering that the garden was in that direction, I rushed to the living room which faced the garden, and Leo followed me with a growl. I leapt into the living room and did a quick visual confirmation to see that the doors were locked. Eventually, that thin shadow wandered on the other side of the sash. Then, he abruptly stuck his face all the way up to the glass, as he began to peer in my direction through the laced curtains. I felt petrified, even though there was no way he could see me. The man stared motionlessly in my direction, before slowly looking around the interior of the house. I don’t know how long I was glared at – before the man abruptly moved again. This time he moved to the direction of the rear garden. I, too, quickly rushed in the direction of the kitchen. In the far back of the kitchen lay the kitchen door that led to the rear garden. The key there must have been locked, right?

I quickly ran there with Leo and breathed a sigh of relief when I confirmed that the kitchen was locked properly. The kitchen door had a lattice design with a frosted glass set on it. The black shadow eventually appeared beyond that glass. The man did indeed put his hands on the doorknob and pulled. This time, he had the nerve to pull it with a little more force, and the door clattered and shook. And thereupon, Leo finally barked. It was the sharpest bark I had heard until now. I held my breath; The man on the other side of the glass stopped moving, too. Please. I prayed that he would flee after finding out that there was a dog present inside.

Was he the random attacker? Could it be that he was the culprit from both cases, and was targeting M’s family this time? Aaah, was he related to the incident that would happen on the 31st of July that Takamura mentioned – no, no, there were still ten days left, it was far too soon, I fretted.

What should I do if those two sisters were to return and if that man were to hide in the backyard? No, even if he were to leave, how would I relay the events that had transpired here and now? How would I tell them that a strange man ended up trespassing in the garden while you guys were out? I couldn’t even hold a pencil. I couldn’t physically interact with this world.

At that moment--

The man didn’t hide in the backyard, and neither did he leave… Incredibly, his actions became even more audacious. He took something out from his pocket and fit it inside the knob’s keyhole. With a clatter and click, he began to fiddle with the keyhole.

…Eh, it can’t be, this isn’t a movie… there’s no way he can open it that easily – as I thought that, the inner lock turned with a click. Which meant that in short, it opened. It ended up opening.

After that, the man slowly put the lockpick back in his pocket, looked inside for a bit, and put his hand on the doorknob once more. Then he slowly twisted and pulled.

The kitchen door opened with a creak right in front of me. Leo stood firmly in place on all four limbs and growled. I, too, aimed all the aura of animosity I could muster towards him. If ghosts really could curse someone to death, I tried to brandish that power here and now as I glared at his face.

The pale face that peeked in through the crevice of the door, was thin.

He was tall and looked to be in his twenties. His features were originally well-arranged like that of an actor, but his pale face gave a strong impression of being in poor health. His hair was long and carelessly slicked back, and his gray jacket was full of wrinkles as if he had slept in it for months.

Leo barked.

The man extended one finger in response – pointed it at Leo, and then brought it against his own lips.

“Shhhh--- please be silent.”

He whispered in a hushed tone of voice which was unexpectedly overfamiliar.

He then narrowed his slender, foxlike eyes in the direction of me, who couldn't move.

“Yo, nice to meet you—is what I should say, right?”

I couldn’t even move a finger to respond to the words that were clearly directed at me.

“My name is Sako Takita.”

The man displayed his white teeth in a broad grin as he spoke.

“Even though I’m only a graduate student, but I’m still a head priest.”