Phenomeno Page 3

  A night-colored girl.

  Unexpectedly, those words popped into my head.

  Those were the colors of the girl's eyes. Maybe it was because of the lighting, but it felt like an inordinately large proportion of her eyes were taken by her irises, and that under her long eyelashes they seemed to have a jet black glimmer. Below her straight-cut front hair, they shone a dark color as they gazed upon me.

  ”… Are you.”

  My mouth naturally spoke.

  ”… Yoishi?”

  The girl silently nodded.

  Yoishi isn't a living person. Those that meet Yoishi die seven days later. Offline meetings that Yoishi attends end in terror.

  What I'd heard earlier floated around my head as I stared at the girl in front of me.

  Seven glasses were laid out on the table in front of Yoishi, ranging from iced coffee to cola to orange juice to Japanese tea, creating her own drink bar.

  “Um, aren't you supposed to just take one at a time?”

  I said to her in an exasperated tone, but she replied.

  “As long as I drink everything there should be no problem.”

  And she kept her eyes on the glasses as she drank one after another.

  She drank orange juice, then iced coffee, and then warm Japanese tea, cola. And she faithfully repeated the order a number of times, sometimes adding Rooibos tea and black tea and melon soda as an accent. I didn't know if there was meaning to the order, but when she did it, it felt like some sort of traditional religious ritual, which was odd.

  I took a look again at the girl who went by Yoishi.

  She was probably still in high school. I realized when looking at her under a brighter condition that she had immense beauty. However, the problem was her eyes. Those eyes, that seemed like glass beads, seemed to be looking somewhere and yet also seemed to be looking nowhere. It felt as if she did not share the same world, creating a special barrier about her. Hers was not like that of a princess and her high perch, rather if anything, like that of a witch's apprentice.

  “Hey.”

  I asked the girl dressed in black, as she busily rifled through the drinks.

  “Why didn't you come to the offline meeting?”

  “I was there.”

  “No, but, when everyone was around, you didn't come.”

  “I was there. Right there the whole time.”

  She pointed toward the other side of the window, where I'd first found Yoishi – in other words, in the bush outside the store.

  … There? With her face pressed against the glass?

  “Then, what. From 11 until now – you were there the whole time?”

  Yes, she nodded, and as I started at her pale face, I thought.

  This girl–

  Is she what you'd call psychotic?

  It was already past 2AM. To stick to glass for 3 hours from 11PM must have creeped out the employees. When I turned back toward her, a different waitress from before was saying something to Yoishi. Her expression was contorted in an extremely mean manner, in a much more contemptuous manner than they'd shown me. I stood up, having felt like I'd seen something detestable. I immediately walked toward them, declared “I want a drink bar as well,” and then headed straight toward the counter to grab a drink. I don't know why I felt so irritated. Probably, it was because I'd felt like I'd been laughed at, as a fellow occult-lover.

  I filled my glass to the brim with ice, then pressed the button for iced coffee.

  – Now then, what to do from here out.

  As I watched the hot iced coffee melt through the ice, I thought.

  I could not go home, and the countdown continued. Furthermore, I had run into the heresy-class occult girl from “Ikaigabuchi.” And now, for some reason, I'm alone with her at a family restaurant late at night. In a way, it was comforting that I was not alone, but given that it was an occult girl with strange urban legends attached to her, I was left with complex emotions.

  “You like bad coffee?”

  When I returned to my seat, Yoishi said that.

  “What?”

  “I asked if you like bad coffee. The coffee here is unsatisfactory.”

  I looked at her seven glasses again and noticed that only the iced coffee had hardly been sipped.

  “Information that you can gather beforehand should be processed before you act.”

  Yoishi's neat logic-filled words annoyed me, so I replied with some nastiness.

  “Then allow me to gather information. Why did you come to today's offline meeting?”

  “Because I was interested.”

  “In 'the house that grants wishes'? Why are you interested in that house? The sounds are probably just structural groans, and the engravings might just be my mistake, right?”

  I said exactly what Karasu told me, in a self-depreciating manner, and Yoishi simply said, “of course,” without any hint of retorting.

  “Then, why–”

  “When I read about that house on the forum – I felt a bit of an oddity.”

  Her low, whispering tone gave me goosebumps.

  “There are countless stories of oddities overflowing on the internet, but most of them are fake. Real ones, though, they have a scent that cannot be hidden.”

  Something hot bubbled forth from the bottom of my stomach at those words.

  Having a psycho believe you isn't really something to be pleased about, but I was, to be frank, happy that there was someone that would finally listen to the source of my fears. Indeed. That place is real. I was in shambles already, as the bottom of my shoe had been carved into.

  “Hey, what is that? Is it a ghost? Are you the type that can see them? What do you mean by having a scent that cannot be hidden?”

  I couldn't stop myself from blurting out questions, and Yoishi stared at a glass of orange juice as she flatly answered.

  “First question first. It may not be a ghost.”

  “What?”

  “Next question. It's not that I can see everything. Final question. A feeling. Real abnormalities always have a strange sense of not-fitting-together.”

  Yoishi switched out of her previous, dazed posture and began talking.

  “Strange phenomena happen. People related to it become afraid. When you investigate, you find out that someone committed suicide there – I won't say that such neatly-placed-together stories are all fake. However, the real, fun ghost stories surpass such things. There's a feeling, as if something important has been skipped over. Being able to fill in the gap is the single theory of the other side.”

  “In- in other words, what? What is that eerie sound that keeps happening at my house? Why are numbers being written, and why are they always going down? What happens to me when the numbers run out–”

  I'd subconsciously stood up as I shouted.

  ”– What's going to happen to me!?”

  The store went silent, and everyone was looking at me.

  Embarrassed a bit, I sat back down. However, I couldn't figure out what was going on. I didn't know what to do anymore. I was a bit ashamed of myself, and scratched my head, when Yoishi quietly mumbled.

  ”You are the one that posted that.”

  I looked up, and Yoishi's cold, dark irises were mysteriously glimmering.

  I nodded, and explained what had just happened.

  That ”四” had already arrived, and that it had been carved onto the bottom of the sneakers I had been wearing myself. I explained that while trembling.

  “How does someone carve that? Did something possess me all the way from home?”

  I was almost in tears when I asked – and then I recoiled.

  Yoishi's eyes, which were once like glass beads, had seemed to harbor life.

  And then, she suddenly placed a finger to my nose, and said.

  “Hey, close your eyes.”

  “Huh?”

  Her pretty face peered into me, gazing into my eyes. Her face had come so close to me that, to be honest, my heart started racing.

&nbs
p; “Why do I have to close my eyes?”

  “Just do it.”

  My heart thumping, I did as she said. I closed my eyes tightly. It felt like some inappropriate imagination had drifted in, so I frantically warded that away.

  “Imagine.”

  Her lips seemed to move at the back of my eyes, commanding.

  “You are standing at the entrance of your house.”

  Her frosty, yet somewhat kind voice forced me to stand before my house.

  “As detailed as you can, imagine yourself standing at the entrance of your house.”

  As if controlled by those words, I imagined myself standing in that house in the darkness.

  Black – the sharp image of that mountain cottage.

  The reddish-brown roof, the mountain cottage, the atelier that an architect had built for himself. The walls were faded in a nice fashion, and covered by vines to the second floor, the white paint had slightly chipped off of the wooden window sills. The first floor was all a garage, and the second and third floors were built as living quarters. It had no kitchen, my rented house of 30000 yen. And at night, it began making a strange sound, and the next morning a number would be carved somewhere–

  My legs began trembling, but I held them down with my hands.

  “Alright. When you've imagined it, place your hand on the doorknob.”

  ”… Alright.”

  “Now, open the door.”

  I opened the door. My shoes were sprawled out on the foyer. When I'd rushed out of the house, I'd kicked the leather shoes out of the way. But my feet refused to go further. I felt someone in the house, even though no one should be in it. The thick, sticky air seemed to make me feel that way. No. I didn't want to step forward, even if this was just my imagination.

  Seemingly noticing my emotions, Yoishi said, whispering.

  “Don't worry. Slowly move in. Take of your shoes as usual, and step in. When you step in, I don't care what order, but open every window in your house. Neatly, one by one, without leaving a single one.”

  … Window? Why windows?

  I thought that, but I heeded her. I went by the window in the living room, unlocked it and opened it. And then from there to the Japanese-style room I was using as a bedroom. I unlocked and opened the window. Then from the Japanese-style room to the bathroom. Opened. To the bath. Opened. Then I progressed to the third floor. There were two on the third floor: by the veranda and next to my desk. I unlocked and opened both.

  ”… I'm done.”

  “And now, close the windows in reverse order.”

  ”… Huh?”

  “Close them in order from the last one you opened.”

  Having no other choice, I did as she said.

  The window on the third floor by the desk. Veranda. Then down to the second floor, and uhh, the bath, toilet, Japanese-style room, living quarters.

  I closed them all.

  “Yes, done. Now open your eyes.”

  Said Yoishi's voice, and I opened my eyes and the light from the bright, fluorescent lamps flooded into my eyes. I had paid no heed to them before, but the bright pop music from within the store also came into my ears. Right, this was a family restaurant. I rubbed my eyes strongly, when Yoishi asked me.

  “How was it?”

  “What do you mean how was it, what was the point of this?”

  “Was there anyone in the rooms?”

  My hairs stood at those words.

  … There was.

  That was on the landing on the stairs between the second and third floors. A middle-aged man wearing ashen-colored clothing seemed to have been there. immobile, with an empty-ish face, he watched over my every action with his staring eyes. I could never look straight at him, but he was always appearing at the edge of my sight–

  ”… There was, wasn't there?”

  Yoishi's black eyes dazzled with some sort of happiness.

  “Was it someone you know?”

  ”… I don't know. I'd never seen him before.”

  No… could that be? To imagine someone that I'd never met before. That house still remained thick within my mind, as Yoishi's joyful voice echoed through the image.

  “Scared?”

  I looked, and Yoishi had come close enough to me that I could feel her breath.

  “Hey, are you feeling scared right now?”

  … Scared.

  Or rather, your eyes that look like they'll eat everything scare me.

  “Tell me more. What kind of person?”

  I took a deep breath, and explained as I tried to stop myself from trembling.

  A gray, worn suit. I didn't remember a necktie. The suit seemed a bit big, but that may have been because the man was thinned. He had white hair, and I couldn't remember the face. The hair was grown a bit long, without any care. He wore black shoes.

  And Yoishi was rubbing her chin, going hmm.

  After some silence and glancing about at nothing with her eyes, she looked at me once more.

  “Hey, how about we go?”

  ”– What?”

  “To your house. Now.”

  3

  Ahh, why did this happen?

  It was a night with a beautiful moon. And I was dangerously pedaling the mama-cycle.

  I passed through the residential area to the north of the train station near the family restaurant, then continued west along the grooved river. The grooved river was called Shimokawa and was one of the rivers that flowed into the Tamagawa waterworks. This river gradually curved northeast, and headed toward the area I lived. Every time my bike bounced off the bumpy road, Yoishi's body pressed against mine as she sat behind me. I could feel the slight inflation of her breasts on my back through my jersey, and every so often I had misplaced thoughts of how we looked like a nice couple.

  However, what was hanging onto my back was a psycho girl dressed entirely in black. Her arms wrapped around my waist were oddly cold. Aren't girls supposed to have a higher body temperature? Like, soft, warm, and with a nice scent. However, I could hardly feel any heat from Yoishi, who was sitting at the rear of the seat of my bicycle. If it were to turn out that only I could see her, I wouldn't even be surprised. That's how far away from a date this night-time bicycle rendezvous was.

  The residential area became distant, and in its stead came fields. The city lights became dim, and it felt like the number of stars increased, and the scent of grass became stronger. We were much closer to my home.

  “Quite rural.”

  “Shut it.”

  That was my response to Yoishi's line, after some period of quiet.

  “I don't mean it in a bad way. I didn't realize Musashino still had such a place.”

  “That's why I figured the rent would be low.”

  I vented a bit of my feelings of self-deprecation.

  Houses became very scarce, and after passing by several old temples, we entered an area dense with trees. By following this narrow path, we would arrive at that house.

  “To be honest, I don't want to go at night.”

  When I said that behind me.

  “It only happens at night, so we should go at night.”

  Yoishi readily replied. A very sound argument.

  For a while we remained wordless, until Yoishi asked.

  “What was your wish?”

  “Huh?”

  “Because you're painstakingly living in 'the house that grants wishes,' aren't you?”

  Painstakingly, or rather I just had no money.

  “Nothing special. I hoped that my family's business would go well, that's all.”

  I answered.

  “Surprisingly, you think of your family.”

  Yoishi commented without giving any trace of emotion.

  Surprisingly is pretty harsh, I began replying, but then we saw that house beyond the black forest.

  “That.”

  “Yeah.”

  Looking over it again, I was amazed at how I rented such a house. Looking at it now, no matter who looked at it,
it looked completely like a haunted house.

  As I slid the mama-cycle into the first-floor garage, Yoishi jumped off the rear seat of the bike. When she pressed the switch on the steel column, the light on the ceiling of the garage turned on. That was all it took to reduce my fear. Yoishi began walking about on her own, looking at the building from several angles.

  “A magnificent building.”

  She said, and then she began walking ahead of me. She climbed the stairs to the entrance on the second floor. Not having any other choice, I placed one foot on the stairs, but could go no further. As for Yoishi, she quickly climbed the stairs, opened the door without permission, and glanced inside. Ahh, right. Now that I think about it, I flew out without locking the door. That means I'd left it unlocked for several days, which was very careless of me.

  I was just looking up from the bottom of the stairs. It was pretty shameful, but I'm the one that experienced the fear. I'd say it's perfectly normal for an animal to not want to get any closer unless safety is ensured.

  “How is it?”

  “Dark.”

  Well of course.

  And with that, Yoishi quickly went inside. I was afraid of being left at the bottom of the stairs, so I rushed after Yoishi. When I opened the entrance door, the inside was already lit with electricity. Yoishi stood straight next to the lamp switch, glancing around from the ceilings to the walls. Light is great. I felt calmed just by it being bright to the point of not knowing whether those creepy happenings were reality.

  When I was about to take off my shoes at the foyer, I saw that Yoishi's knee-high boots had already been taken off neatly. She may surprisingly be well-to-do, I thought, but then it struck me.

  That come to think of it, we hadn't even properly introduced ourselves.

  “Hey, it's belated, but.”

  I turned toward Yoishi and said.

  “I go by 'Nagi' online. My real name is Yamada Nagito. I'm a freshman at university this spring.”

  She didn't turn around; she nodded and then said.

  “I'm Yoishi.”

  “Isn't that a handle?”