Thanks to Fan of Games for reviewing the last chapter. I really appreciate your interest and support. To answer your question about how you'll know when the end of this story comes: thanks for your suggestion, but I already have a plan for how I'll let everyone know when we're nearing the end. In the chapter before the last one, I'll post an author note letting you all know that the next chapter is the last one. That way I won't have to post a big spoiler about the total number of chapters, but at the same time you'll have an idea of when we've reached the finale.
The new chapter is turning out too long to post all at once, so I'm splitting it into two parts.
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Chapter 28: Mio's Fate, Part 1
Grunting and panting from strain and fatigue, the old man propelled himself down the Kureha Shrine's steps as a foul wind kicked up around him. While the village was thankfully no more hostile than it had been before, both it and the old man's aging body were causing him more severe pain with every inch of ground he moved. Knowing that this was the worst possible time to rest did nothing to bring him more energy. He needed to stop and regain his strength so badly, that even the Tachibana house seemed too far away. Instead, the old man turned right at a fork in the steep road and walked along a short, inclined path that ended at the location of the massive oak tree, now twisted and gray from centuries of age, that the deceased remaining called their resting place. Their tombstones were kept safe from nature's wrath inside a large hollow at the base of the tree.
A deep, worried sigh escaped the old man's lips. It was considered disrespectful, even sacrilegious to enter the tree's hollow when not paying proper respects to those enshrined within, but this was urgent. It would be warm and secluded from danger inside, at least more so than elsewhere. Shrugging off his final doubts, the old man stepped up to the oak shrine's entrance.
Getting inside proved to be a struggle. At his age and size, Ryokan was barely limber enough to fit through the small gap between tree roots, but the interior of the old oak was well worth it. The small cave was warm and moist, lit with several stone lanterns that still burned brightly. Hundreds of red pinwheels were perched amid the gravestones, none of them spinning thanks to the lack of wind inside the shrine. Altogether the tree's soft ground felt safe and comfortable, as Ryokan had hoped it would. It was as if the Repentance hadn't touched it at all. The secret grave site still felt as sacred as it had on the day that Ryokan had mourned the death of his own father, Sengoku, inside it...
For a moment, the old man lifted his head up and held his breath. Still worried for his safety, he listened intently to his surroundings to make sure that nothing had followed him to the tree. No sound came but the whistle of the wind outside. Once he was confident of his ability to rest in peace, Ryokan lied down on the soft dirt, using an old pillow meant for kneeling as his head rest. Despite his worries of what would happen to him when he woke up, exhaustion won. Within minutes, he was asleep.
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Mayu...
...where are you...?
Mayu!
"Mayu..." Ryokan murmured, drooling on the pillow as he slept on his side, "where are you?"
Suddenly, the old man was jolted awake with such force that he flung himself straight up. "Mayu!" he shouted. His loud call echoed along the wooden walls of the tree's underbelly and traveled back to his ears, loud and clear. The sound of the name he was calling confused him. "Mayu?" he said blearily, licking his lips and flinching as if something disgusting had entered his mouth. "Who is...Mayu?"
Ryokan had suffered another strange "dream" while he slept, oddly similar to the one that he had experienced on the last night before the Repentance. Like that one, he had seen a strange girl wandering his village, and he had followed her. Unfortunately, the dream had also ended in the same way that the last one did. The girl had aimed at him with the Camera Obscura and fired a blast of agonizing light. Rubbing his now sore head irritably, the old man only prayed that his throbbing headaches would go away soon.
Troubling as it was, Ryokan had no time to worry about why he kept seeing the strange girl, or what she wanted. There were more important things he needed to worry about. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, and to be frank, the old man had worried that he wouldn't wake up at all. It had been days since he found nourishment, and he had the fate of an entire village to worry about now. Yes, he was still safe for the moment, but it couldn't last forever. He needed to start working on his countermeasure against the Malice. Against evil itself...
"But how?" he pondered, a hand scratching under his chin. The rusty wheels in his head turned slowly, but brought him no answers. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for him. The former Master would simply head to his study and do some reading. After all, his house contained thousands of years of knowledge, written down and cataloged meticulously. Inside it, a solution to ending the Malice's curse probably existed somewhere. The problem was that he simply didn't have the time to search for it. Ryokan's chances of surviving long enough to do any good were slipping fast; he couldn't afford to spend an eternity reading while the village's vengeful spirits closed in on him. Whatever plan he formed would have to come straight from his own head.
But the old man was mentally spent, and lost to what he could possibly do to fight the Malice. What had always been taught not just in his village, but all of Japanese culture, was that there were only two ways to banish a demon: appease it, or exorcise it. Ryokan didn't know how to do either now that the Malice had revealed its true agenda, so his "plan" would likely be far from what sounded sensible.
On top of that, Ryokan also had to search for more film for the camera, his only defense against another assailant. He had to do that while thinking up some miraculous solution, and he had to do it all before he starved to death...or got caught by Sae.
"Good thing I love challenges," the old man grumbled. "Maybe the solution isn't as complicated as it seems. Think, Ryokan...what have you noticed since the Repentance started? Has the Malice given any clues to a possible weakness?"
One moment more than any other came to his mind. It had happened just after the Repentance, when he had come up with his former plan to bring Yae back to the village. He had tried to use the Kureha Shrine to follow her, but the door had been sealed. More specifically, he remembered that the Malice had been unable to break the seal on the door, forcing him to find a way himself instead. Also, Sae and the Kusabi had attacked him at least twice, but the Malice hadn't called them off. It was almost as if the demon couldn't control its own curse. Why was that?
Before Ryokan could think any further, a noise that came from outside the tree drew his attention. It was a soft, gentile noise – the sound of small feet patting against the ground. When the temperature in the old man's shelter didn't drop at all, he concluded that the noise probably came from something that wouldn't try to hurt him. Curious now since he hadn't heard many noises like that since the Repentance, Ryokan edged slowly and cautiously out of the tree and into the open night, clutching his camera close even though it couldn't protect him this time. Fortunately, his theory was proven correct when he saw the source of the noise. It wasn't a spirit, though it was something, or rather someone, that Ryokan dreaded seeing again.
From the girl's alien but familiar dressing attire, the old man initially concluded her to be the girl that he kept envisioning. However, he then mustered the courage to get a closer look. He walked along the short path to "meet" the girl at the fork in the road. When he saw her up close, as she hobbled past him seemingly without a worldly care, he noticed a difference from his other visions.
Her footsteps weren't in proper sync. When he had seen the other girl wandering around in his visions, she had walked like any normal person would if they were in a hurry. This girl, however, was limping. Her left leg worked strenuously to provide needed support to a right leg that Ryokan could tell had been crippled at some point. Actually, the nature of the injury reminded him of...Sae's.
"That makes two uncanny lookalike outsiders," Ryokan muttered to himself. The girl payed no attention to him. As if in a trance, she staggered right past, following some crimson butterflies that led her along like a jilted lover. She slowly disappeared into the depths of All Gods village, but not before Ryokan gave chase. Fearfully reminded of what had happened to him in the other visions, Ryokan tailed her at a distance, just to be safe.
He didn't even fully understand why he was doing it. It was just that, at the moment he saw her, Ryokan had remembered how strange and impossible it was that he was seeing these girls in his visions to begin with. Though it was more secluded than the rest of the world, plenty of people had passed through the village throughout history and time, so why did he keep seeing these specific two in his dreams, and now in real life? That other girl had even appeared before the Repentance turned Ryokan's village into a haunted house, so it couldn't all be just a trick. Stranger still, these girls looked exactly like Yae and Sae (minus the clothing), right down to the specific leg injury that Sae had suffered before her sacrifice. Plus, the other one had carried the Camera Obscura, the exact same device that Ryokan was carrying now. There was no way that this was all just a coincidence. More like...more like providence...a premonition of sorts. The girls were linked to Ryokan's own children, somehow, and he was seeing them for a reason. In fact, as Ryokan thought about it, he slowly realized with horror:
What if they were here to warn him that he would fail?
Ryokan could tell from the girl's strange attire that they were probably from some time yet to pass. Plus, they were wandering his village, and their terrified and entranced looks told him that the village's hostile spirits were doing something to hurt them. So they were trapped in his village's curse at some point in the future, probably after Ryokan had died. Did all of this mean that his efforts to destroy the curse were doomed to fail from the start, just because destiny had decided so? That was the ominous thought that led to Ryokan's creeping fear whenever he saw them, but the old man swallowed it as best he could.
"No," he said defiantly, "I promised that I would lift this village's curse, or give my life trying. I'm going to keep that promise, even if I shouldn't. I already have a head start: I know that the Malice has a weakness. Maybe now I just need some inspiration. Maybe the outsiders can give it to me. Maybe that's why they're here: to help me finish what I started, for better or worse."
Continuing to stalk the girl's movements was easy. Her impaired steps were slow and clumsy, making it easy to follow them from a distance. The only further problem was that Ryokan would have to abandon his search for film. He knew that was a deadly risk, but the old man couldn't wander off now, when he at least felt close to the plan that he needed. He would search for film later, but leaving now would run the risk of the "outsiders" not appearing again, and he couldn't have that. While he knew where one of them was, he would follow her every move, in the hopes that her actions could tell him something he didn't already know.
Within moments, following the girl brought him to the Kurosawa house.
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While the strange girl led Ryokan through the rotting halls of his former home, the latter got around to thinking. If this girl wasn't the one that he had seen in his other visions, then she must be her sister, the one she was risking her life in the village to find. Mayu, he remembered the name being. It was a sensible conclusion to reach, but what he didn't understand was why they were wandering even further into the village when any sensible person would've turned and run by now. In fact, judging from the glazed expression on the girl's face, Ryokan had to wonder if she was even aware of her actions at all.
When the two of them entered the great hall, the girl shuffled straight to the center of the room and waited there, standing on top of a pile of bodies. Suddenly fearful of what the girl might do next, Ryokan moved past her quickly and waited in the doorway that they had yet to pass through. It was the door that led to the courtyard staircase. From there, the only place to go was up the stairs and to the guest floor.
"That settles it, something is very wrong with this girl," the old man could only stutter his words since fear was creeping up his spine and causing him to tremble, or maybe that was just the icy wind nipping at the back of his neck. Question was...what exactly was causing her to act this way? Momentarily he considered the possibility that this girl might simply be insane, but it seemed more likely that someone, or something, was pulling the strings on her every move. Why else would she be standing in the exact same place that Sae had spent so much time, on the night of the Repentance?
Ten minutes passed in silence, with the girl doing nothing but standing aimlessly, observing the grisly decaying process with a vacant smile on her face. When she finally stepped down and walked toward the door where he stood, Ryokan moved aside to allow her to pass. When she began her ascent up the stairs, he followed her, no longer bothering to use stealth. It didn't matter what distance he tracked her from. "Mayu", long since possessed by some foul spiritual delusion, was dead to his presence.
The hallway leading to the guest room was dark and stained with blood, but Ryokan counted his blessings when nothing emerged from the shadows to attack him. Sadly, the old man was already growing tired from their walk across the village, but it had a calming effect on him as he didn't have the energy to worry about himself.
Mayu walked through the disheveled guest room without faint, stepping through toppled furniture and bodies as if they weren't there. Following silently, Ryokan felt a pang of guilt for Seijiro Makabe, who had been seized by the priests here and imprisoned wrongly. Standing still for a moment, he closed his eyes and said a short prayer for the man that had saved his life without even knowing it. Oh well...at least he had enjoyed his death. Against all common sense, the folklorist had been happy to see the Hellish Abyss with his own eyes. He had thanked the former Ceremony Master for the opportunity before he died, even as his body bled to death. And Ryokan...all he had been able to do in return was bow his head and say "you're welcome".
Now that brave man was the Kusabi. Bravery turned to raw anger, he was bent on revenge against the man that had killed him, and bound to get it soon if Ryokan didn't hurry. When he opened his eyes to see where Mayu would go next, he saw her shadow disappear behind a hidden door in the wall. He knew where it led.
"This place," Ryokan mumbled to himself. He passed through a blood-soaked room with nothing but one flickering light and a large wooden box, before emerging out of it on the other side. The room he found himself in had been Kiyomi's "personal space", which she used to display her doll collection on an ornate stand.
"Dolls...dolls," Ryokan shook his head and chuckled to himself. He had never gotten over the fact that his wife collected these things. She kept them in here to stop him from trying to "accidentally" throw them away. But getting back to more important matters, Ryokan turned away from the stand and saw Mayu tottering around nearby. As soon as she had reached the room's far end, she stood behind a small folding screen and...collapsed there, without so much as a sound. Both confused and concerned, the old man moved over to her and kneeled down. The girl had fallen with her eyes open and wasn't moving. Dead, maybe? No...upon closer inspection, he could see the girl's breath condensing in front of her face. She was alive, but it didn't look like she had plans to move any time soon.
Sighing impatiently, Ryokan simply sat in the corner of the room for awhile. His milky eyes alternated between watching her and the door they had entered through, hoping that one would stir soon. For a moment he considered resting some more, but he didn't want to risk falling asleep and being attacked, or having the girl wander off while he was unaware.
By the time an hour had passed, the silence was becoming unbearable. It hung over the room, pounded on Ryokan's ears, and played tricks on his mind. The old man could swear hearing a different whispering voice from every corner of the room. Each gust of wind howling outside the house, every creak of the walls and floor, sounded unique to him. Any one could be the noises of a demon ushered forth to end his life. Even the dolls; he could imagine them springing to life and cackling wildly.
Worse, the long stretch of unused time left Ryokan alone with his thoughts. Thoughts of all the horrible things that had happened in the village, under his watch. Every passing moment left anguish in his heart and anger in his eyes. Unable to continue coping with the strain it had been enduring for days now, his body began to tremble violently as the walls melted around him. "No...this can't happen, not now," Ryokan begged his mind to cooperate with him. His vision began to blur.
Babysitting a child. Is this really the best use of your final hours alive?
Dread choked him when he heard the low, almost bestial voice that he had come to loathe intently. That sounded like the Malice speaking to him.
Come on, old man, there's no more point in wasting time like this and you know it. Do the smart thing. Take your own life before something else does!
Ryokan didn't listen to it; he shut his eyes tight and tried to block out the maddening sound in a vain attempt to maintain his composure. Was the hellish village just tearing away his sanity, or had the Malice found a way back into his mind somehow? God forbid, maybe they were actually Ryokan's own dark thoughts, that he simply didn't want to take credit for. Either way, the old man covered his head with his hands, grasping his gray hair tightly with his fingers. Fortunately, before the breakdown could manifest itself further, it was interrupted by an unusual sight that caught the old man's attention. Underneath the door across from him, he could see a shape moving against the glow of some flashes of bright light. Grateful, almost manic for the tension to be relieved by what looked like the arrival of Mayu's sister, Ryokan got up and moved to the door to greet her. His happiness, however, changed to apprehension when the door swung open. Mayu's sister stood before him, and she wore a look of horror on her face. That was when he realized his mistake.
He had forgotten to keep his distance from her.
"Oh no, please...not that again..." Ryokan backed up in a futile effort to stay her hand, but it was no use. The panicked girl raised the camera and fired a dizzying beam at his eyes. This was the third time it had happened to him, but there was no getting used to being blinded. Spiraling to make sense of his surroundings, Ryokan stumbled and tripped over the hem of his kimono. Falling backward, the hard, unforgiving frame of Kiyomi's doll stand struck the back of his head with such force that he barely had time to hear the cracking sound it made. By the time he had collapsed to the floor, the world around him had gone black.
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So Ryokan has his new plan. Just as Mio got help in Fatal Frame 2 by listening to people from the past, Ryokan is getting help (or trying to) by listening to people in the future. Too bad he got knocked unconscious at the end of the chapter. Plus, after a few days in the cursed village, he's finally starting to lose his mind. We'll see how long he can last in the following chapters, the next of which will be up in about a week.
Reviews will be appreciated.
