Previously:
"Is that driftwood?" Hitomi asked, leaning closer.
"It is. At least, that's what I think it is," Akifumi said, also moving closer. "We call it O-kobu-sama."
" 'O-kobu...' As in the kobu seaweed on that rock?" Bou-san asked.
"That's probably true. The Bulges look like a human head and hands. And look, can you see how it's making a gesture like this?" Akifumi said, holding his hands palms out, with one pointed up and the other pointed down.
"Oh, yeah, it is..." the monk and Hitomi said. His imitation was spot on.
"This pose looks like a buddha statue. I think that's why we enshrined it."
The Cursed House (Part 4)
"Could it be an ebisu?" Bou-san wondered aloud.
'Ebisu?' Mai thought, looking at him.
"Let's put some monitoring equipment down in the cave," Naru said.
"If we can resolve the seawater issue, we'll set it up," Lin said. "But where do we get electricity… One battery can only last two hours."
"We'll use the interval timers," Naru said.
"What are those?" Bou-san asked.
"A device that switches power on and off at preset times," Lin explained. "For example, say we want to record only ten minutes out of every hour. At that rate the batteries could last us half a day…"
"The point is that they could give us the ability to switch the equipment on and off to conserve power," Naru concluded.
"Gotcha," Bou-san said.
"Any idea how high that cliff is?" Hitomi asked.
"About ten meters," Akifumi answered. "Maybe we could drop a cable from here," he suggested. "That is, if you're not sure you have enough energy to carry the equipment down..."
"That would be a big help…" Hitomi said as she and Mai sweat-dropped at the thought of more manual labor, especially with all those stairs.
They started gathering up the equipment.
"Bou-san. What did you mean when you said 'ebisu' just now?" Mai asked.
"Hmm?" the monk said.
"Were you talking about the god of fishermen and luck?" Hitomi asked.
"Oh, that's right. You're close," he told Hitomi. "I was talking about the flotsam."
"What is flotsam…?" Mai asked.
"The wreckage of a ship or its cargo found floating or washed up by the sea," Hitomi answered.
"Right. They're unusual objects that drift around beaches and seas," Bou-san agreed. "Underwater rocks, corpses, sharks, whales… anyway, they seldom wash onto beaches unseen."
"Corpses?" Mai asked, sweat-dropping.
"A superstition in fishing villages says that they're signs of a good catch," Bou-san continued. "This flotsam has been called ebisu since ancient times. In particular, an unusually shaped stone or driftwood with a pleasing shape. They're harbingers of good things, so they're displayed with great care. That driftwood is also an o-kobu-sama. Actually, there have been cases where the objects of worship from shrines became flotsam."
"Wow..." Mai said.
"On the other hand, there are also 'ebisu' that foretell terrible events. Typhoons, Tsunamis, and more. Therefore, well—in the beginning, ebisu were objects from the sea that were deified. Later, they became the gods of prosperous business."
"Yeaaaah…." Mai said, in the midst of confusion.
"Are you okay?" Hitomi asked her.
"In the very beginning, there were several entities of worship in Japan called tokoyo," Bou-san explained. "One of them was a country of eternal youth. It was believed to be on the opposite side of the sea. It was thought that the objects from the sea came from tokoyo."
'Objects from the sea,' Mai thought, remembering her dream again.
—∞—
'The O-kobu-sama that drifted ashore are summoned spirits,' Mai thought. She and Hitomi were bathing in the big bath. 'The cave and sacred ground. The shrine and the mounds. The two stones with a legend… the couple who threw their bodies into the sea. Even though I'd never heard that legend before Akifumi-san recounted it… I had that dream.' Naru had said he guided her into the dream. 'So I think there was something Naru was trying to tell me. So then… does the legend have something to do with this case?' She glanced sideways at Hitomi, who looked very relaxed. 'In that dream, Hitomi-Sempai attacked us… is it because part of me felt betrayed when she said she liked Naru, too? Or… does something else in the dream have a connection? Like the part of being surrounded with no escape. Could it be… Even though the couple in legend flung themselves into the sea… In my dream, I did think I did almost everything else the same. So that line: 'They must be cursed until the end of days!' …"Mai splashed the water in frustration. "Aw, man! I would understand if you'd just tell me more clearly!"
"If who told you what more clearly?" Hitomi asked.
"Haha, never mind!" Mai said a little nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. Her eyes widened slightly with realization. '… Maybe… Naru has been guiding all my dreams until now.'
—∞—
"Ahh, that felt good!" Hitomi said as they walked back to base.
"You said it!" Mai agreed. There was nothing like a big bath. Hitomi poked her head in as they passed the base.
"Any changes?" she asked.
"Nothing worth mentioning," Naru replied. The girls heard thumping sounds and turned around to see Akifumi running toward them.
"Akifumi-san, what's—" Mai started to ask.
"Something terrible has happened," Akifumi said, in a panic. "My brother's—"
—∞—
They raced with Akifumi to his brother, Yasutaka's room. They found him lying sprawled out on his futon, blood flowing from his wrists. The sheets and tatami mats were stained with it.
"Yasutaka-sa—" Mai cried, horrified. Hitomi covered her mouth in shock. Bou-san and Naru rushed into the room. The monk checked the bleeding man's vital signs. He was still breathing.
"Call an ambulance!" Bou-san shouted.
"I'll do it!" Hitomi said, getting ready to run to the nearest phone.
"It's already on its way!" Akifumi said, making her skid to a stop as Naru sprang towards the armoire and threw the doors open. He grabbed a fist full of ties and tossed some to the monk.
"Try to hang on!" Bou-san told Yasutaka, while he and Naru tied the ties around his arms to stem the flow of blood.
"—Hey there… onee-sans," Wakako said, getting their attention. The two girls were startled to realize the children were right behind them and immediately shut the door and tried to move them away from the terrible scene inside.
"Wh-What is it?" Mai asked nervously.
"Did Yasu-ojiichan die?" Katsuki asked. Mai and Hitomi stared at them. Why did these kids have smiles on their faces?
"Is he dead?" they asked together.
"… Huh…?" Mai said, stunned by their behavior. 'These children...'
"He's still alive," Hitomi answered.
"How can that be?" the kids said, clearly disappointed. The two older girls watched them giggle and run off together. Hitomi frowned. Something was really wrong with those kids.
—∞—
The ambulance came and went, and eventually Akifumi returned to share the news of his brother's fate. He had survived, but barely.
"My brother… apparently hears voices when he's alone," Akifumi said. "They say, 'kill your family.' He said when he sleeps, he actually has dreams of killing them. He can feel his hands stabbing them, and then he wakes up. These dreams were so disturbing he felt he couldn't tell anyone about them. Still, he doesn't believe he could ever harm the family. He said he would die before he let that happen."
"Because we were late in discovering this, there was one victim. We deeply apologize for not preventing this," Bou-san told him.
"No, no…" Akifumi said kindly. "His own family didn't know..."
"… Hitomi definitely destroyed the spirit possessing Eijirou-san, right?" Naru said.
"My arrow definitely hit its target," Hitomi said confidently.
"Yeah, you saw it for yourself," Mai said.
"She pulverized it," Bou-san said. "Which means..."
"Perhaps there's more than one spirit haunting this family," Naru concluded.
"Hey, hold on! What was that? Was Yasutaka-san possessed?" Ayako asked, taken aback.
"I can't answer those questions, but… We must watch over all the members of the family," Naru said. "John."
"Yes?" said John.
"What did you think of what we saw before, near Hazuki-chan?"
"Well, I personally couldn't figure it out, but Hara-san might have… because there's a possibility that this is a malicious. Hitomi-san saw bad colors before, right? I performed a temporary, simple exorcism and sealed the room."
"The result?"
"… I don't know."
"Masako, do you know what this spirit is?" Bou-san asked.
"… I do not know," she said. "Only… that I have the feeling that it's an empty spirit. What about Matsumoto-san?"
"I saw the same oily texture around Hazuki as Eijirou-san," Hitomi reported. "Also, her wounds glowed dark purple when I covered my green eye. I think it was the energy of a curse…"
"I see..." Naru said. "And you, Mai?"
"Me!?" Mai exclaimed, taken aback.
"Do you sense anything?"
"Uh-um…" Mai said, suddenly remembering a line from her dream.
They must be cursed until the end of days.
"I don't really want to dismiss Masako's opinion… but I think the dead people are harboring a grudge," Mai said tentatively. "People were brutally betrayed, surrounded by enemies, and killed. At this point, the dead people probably no longer have a connection with this land."
"If it is that kind of spirit, I should have recognized it already," Masako said stiffly.
"Yeah, it was probably just a dream," Mai said a bit sheepishly.
"It was just a dream," Masako insisted sternly.
"But I did see 'bad colors' in that fox," Hitomi said. "Maybe whatever's making them look 'oily' to me… is interfering with your ability to sense their emotions?"
"What do you think? Have you ever heard anything like that?" Bou-san asked Akifumi.
"No… I've never heard that story," Akifumi said.
"Well, then… Do we know around when the Yoshimi family moved here?" Bou-san asked.
"I asked that, among other questions, and even my grandmother didn't know… I'm sorry," Akifumi said.
"…" Naru held his chin, considering everything he had just heard. "John, go to the hospital and try an exorcism on Yasutaka-san. While you're at it, submit the business report, as I've told you before."
"I'll go right now," John said with a kind smile.
"Matsuzaki-san, hand out the charms. Give one to every member of the family and all of us," Naru said.
"Okay," Ayako said.
"We'll head out shortly," Naru said, addressing Bou-san. "Akifumi-san..."
"Yes?" Akifumi said.
"Could you show us your family temple?" Naru asked.
—∞—
"You're saying this will protect me?" Nao asked Hitomi, looking at the charm she had handed to her.
"Yes. It should, at the very least, prevent you from being possessed," Hitomi answered. "It's a charm that prevents spirits from being summoned. If you remove it from your person, you'll also remove its effect."
"Then, what about when I take a bath?" Nao asked.
"You could try putting it in a sealed plastic bag," Hitomi suggested. "I've done that before."
"I see… I'll try that," Nao said. Hitomi smiled reassuringly at her.
"By the way, do you know where I can find Kazuyasu-san?" Hitomi asked. "He's next on my list."
"I think he's outside," Nao said. "I need to talk to him, too. I'll go with you."
They went outside and found Kazuyasu standing at the gate to the old, unsafe stone steps that led down to the small shrine.
"Excuse me!" Hitomi called. "Kazuyasu-san?" He didn't respond. He just kept staring out at the sea.
"Something isn't right… He doesn't seem like himself," Nao said, concerned.
"Kazuyasu-san… please, come away from there," Hitomi said cautiously, worried he might be about to hurt himself. She slowly moved closer to him. "Kazuyasu-sa—" He suddenly turned and lunged at her, and his hands were around her throat before she could stop him. Her back slammed into the ground. The feeling of his hands squeezing her neck was painful. She couldn't cry out. She couldn't even breathe.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Nao screamed. She tried to pull him off Hitomi, but he swung his arm out hard and knocked her to the ground. Hitomi coughed as the pressure eased on her throat for a second, but before she could pull herself together enough to try to escape, both hands were back on her neck. Hitomi was vaguely aware that Nao was screaming for help, but she was blacking out. Just before her vision went completely dark, the pressure on her neck released, and she gasped greedily for air. It was still difficult to breathe. Hitomi realized that she could see Naru. He had Kazuyasu pinned to the ground.
"Bou-san!" he shouted, and the monk came over to help keep the snarling Kazuyasu restrained.
"He just attacked her!" Nao said. "Why!?"
"He's acting like he's possessed!" Bou-san said. "What do we do, Naru? It looks like the moment we let go of him, he'll go after Hitomi again!"
"We'll have to knock him out, then we can tie him up like Eijirou-san, until John can exorcise him," Naru said.
"We'll need a third person!" Bou-san said. "It's taking both of us just to hold him down!"
"Get Lin," he told Nao.
"Y-Yes!" she said and ran off to fetch him.
