Edited
"Mai!"
Ayako's made a sharp sound and slapped Mai's face.
"Mai!"
Mai opened her eyes at once. Ayako's face jumped into her field of vision, which had been flooded by tears.
Mai was screaming. Although she'd had many dreams about the mansion for the past month, nothing ever went as far as living through the actual death. Even knowing she'd dreamt this same dream in her past life, did not prepare her for reliving the reality of it.
"Mai! Pull yourself together! Mai!"
Mai's body was twitching, convulsing. Ayako's warm hands desperately soothed my back.
"Pull youself together. It's only a dream, it's all right."
Finally calming down, Mai lifted her head. Someone held a glass in front of her.
"Do you want a drink?"
It was Masako's extremely concerned face. Mai accepted the cup with trembling hands.
"… yeah. Thank you."
Mai's voice was also shaking. Tears dropped pitter patter down.
"What in the world happened?"
"I had a frightening dream."
"The dream you had was…"
Just as Ayako was asking, someone pounded heavily on the door.
"Mai! Are you alright?"
It was Oliver and Lin who had rushed over after realising it was Mai screaming. Followed by Takigawa and co who had rushed over from their room.
"… I'm sorry. I had a nightmare."
Oliver rushed over as soon as he was let into the room and sat next to Mai, pulling her onto his lap and into his arms. He held her tightly with her face nestled into his shoulder as he rubbed soothing circles over her back.
"… You said you had a nightmare… you…"
Green in the face, Takigawa knelt by the bed. Yasuhara and John also heaved a sigh of relief.
Takigawa buried his head in the blankets.
"… Don't scare us anymore."
"I'm sorry." Mai's voice was muffled.
Yasuhara forced a stiff smile.
"And we thought something had happened to someone… thank god."
John also smiled vacantly. "That's great."
Takigawa suddenly lifted his head. "You said you had a nightmare; could it be those dreams?"
"Yeah, one of the worst ones yet."
"How was it?"
Mai pulled away from Oliver enough to show the dark bruising on her neck and arms. Everyone paled on seeing them. They were the deepest purple they had ever seen them. Almost to the shade of black. Oliver could see a small thin line across her neck which was even more concerning than the bruising.
"It was that bad...?"
"—I was killed in the dream."
Everyone stared at Mai's face.
"You said you were killed, that is…"
Everyone stared at her.
"There were 2 men who came. They dragged me into a strange, tiled room. I was tied up and placed on a surgical bed; the room was flooded with blood. They slit my throat there.
I think there are also many others who died there. It was an execution ground – that place."
Everyone was silent while processing Mai's dream.
"Ah... hang on... I need to cleanse the spirit possessing me."
Mai pulled away from Oliver and concentrated on releasing her cleansing aura. As soon as she was done,she tucked herself back into Oliver's arms.
"Mai, what was it that you just did? I've been noticing this for a while now, even in the last case at Yasuhara-san's school but you periodically glow golden and then the area around you feels pure and clean. What are you actually doing?"
Masako suddenly asked.
"Oh? You can see it?"
Mai looked up at the other girl in shock. At Masako's nod, Mai continued.
"I was cleansing the spirits. They are unable to escape this place where they are trapped. So I've been allowing them to escape by cleansing them with my aura."
Suddenly the scent of red tea wafted in. Hearing the sound of cutlery clattering, Mai lifted her head from Oliver's shoulder. Lin held a teacup in front of her. She reached out to take it and offered him a weak smile.
"Thanks Lin."
"You're all right?"
"I'm sorry to have worried everyone. Thanks."
Yasuhara spoke quietly then. "Suzuki-san or Atsugi-san… perhaps they are already dead?"
"Hey hey, young man. Don't say that so lightly." Takigawa glared.
"Because, hasn't Mai seen it? Perhaps it's something that happened somewhere."
"You're also saying… Mai and someone's spirit synchronized; that is, she's received a telepathic communication?"
"There's no need to wonder. They're both dead. They died within hours of being taken."
Mai interrupted them.
"I did an aura sensing on the area below as soon as we were told they were missing."
The irregulars slumped, depressed. That wasn't good news.
"That room is a greater concern to me."
Oliver said while his black eyes glanced at the sky.
"Is that execution room on the plan you provided Lin of the area below?"
"Yes, at the very center."
"Isn't hacking through the walls the only way?"
Ayako couldn't stop herself from saying that.
Takigawa let out a huge sigh.
"What are you thinking of, you madam. Who do you propose do the work of hacking through the wall?"
"Aren't you a big strong man, Bou-san?"
Mai asked, starting to feel more like herself. Ayako and Masako giggled.
"That thought isn't bad."
Oliver said that wearily.
"Hey, don't joke anymore. Are you going to have all those walls demolished?"
Accompanying Takigawa's shout, an unsettling smile appeared on Oliver's face.
"If we can't find the hidden entrance, this might be unavoidable. Anyway we shall begin after the night is over."
"And the search for the missing persons?"
"They aren't within the range of what our eyes can see. If it's like this, they are definitely in a place where our eyes are unable to see. If the hidden room is found then the problem is naturally solved – such a possibility also exists."
...
It was 2 am when Mai had screamed. She couldn't sleep well after that and instead sat awake on her bed cleansing the spirits that approached her until the other two women had woken up. After washing up they went for breakfast. Despite that, she had no appetite that morning.
They then gathered at the base. Lin was checking the equipment. Speaking of which, last night, the equipment registered no disturbance at all.
They resumed the accurate measuring of the 2 floors left over from yesterday.
"If this still doesn't work then find out about whether we can knock holes in the walls."
With Oliver's cruel words, they started work.
"Hey~, Mai."
"Yeah?"
Mai positioned the fluid level on the ground, while turning to look at Takigawa.
"You met 2 men in your dream; do you know who they are?"
"I could see them, but I couldn't 'see' them. If that makes sense. It doesn't matter though, the dream setting was from a long time ago. Those men will be long dead by now."
Yasuhara, who was also squatting down, leaned forward.
"Then there is no possibility of those two men being among the staff here?"
Takigawa put his hand on his head.
Mai shook her head.
Yasuhara took the conversation into a different tangent.
"If it's like this then we're all sacrifices. They told us that it'd be troubling to let the media know, and they closed us in here, then one by one they make us vanish. In the end there's not one of us left…"
"The one called Ohashi is actually a homicidal maniac or something."
"Perhaps this place is a secret temple for satanic worship."
John, who was also squatting, held his head.
"Those fellows – didn't they say that they had not encountered anything strange? They were here preparing for a very long time, right? They say nothing had happened; is it even possible?"
"Exactly. None of the staff here have disappeared before. Thinking carefully about it, none of the people directly associated with this house have vanished. But psychics, the punk who broke into this place, and the fire brigade volunteer who came forth to investigate…"
"Isn't that so?"
Mai couldn't help looking at their 2 faces.
"Hey, are you two really speaking seriously?"
"Ai?"
"The reason the staff haven't seen anything is because they are over 25 years old. Too old for Urado's taste in blood.
Furthermore, Naru will not accept this sort of thing either. In any case we have no choice but to place fluid levels on all the floors. In the end we will have to knock down the wall, right?"
"Mai."
"Wh~at?"
"You are really not the least bit cute."
"That's redundant."
Then..
"Wait a moment."
John wore a severe expression and gently raised his hand.
"What's up?"
"What Yasuhara-kun said just now: none of the people associated with this family had disappeared; this line."
"Wait, John. That was only a joke. You can't be serious."
John's blue eyes gazed at Yasuhara.
"But, this is a fact, isn't it?"
"The fact you're talking about is…"
"Mr Kaneyuki, who lived here, was fine. Mr Hiroyuki, who frequently stopped at this place, was also fine. Even the various staff members, up till today, have lived safely here."
"Hey hey, John."
Takigawa responded in a shocked tone. In contrast, John looked completely serious.
"The ones who vanished are all outsiders. Is this really meaningless?"
"You… could you possibly be thinking that the people here are the criminals…?"
John shook his head.
"That's not what I mean. I'm just thinking whether there could be a connection.
Atsugi-san disappeared in a very strange fashion. If it is the same as what was recorded he couldn't have disappeared. Is this, as expected, the actions of spirits?"
"… Perhaps."
"If that's the case, then don't the spirits here have the hobby of picking out sacrifices? The spirits here will not hurt anyone with an association to the Miyama family or something."
Takigawa sank into deep thought.
"However, the staff here are, at most, servants; they don't have any blood relation."
"If that's the case, then perhaps as Mai said, the spirits here like young people. Aren't all the staff here older people? In contrast, aren't all those who have vanished young persons around 20 years old?"
"… you are right."
Takigawa nodded.
Mai stood up.
"Geez, thanks for taking my word at face value. I'm only the most experienced person in the case."
"Wait."
Takigawa called Mai.
"All the members of our team are under 30. If John's hypothesis is right, then aren't all of us in grave danger?"
"Naru-chan is right. It's better if one is definitely not alone."
Mai facepalmed. Hard. 'Isn't that what I've been saying this entire time?'
...
When the four of them returned to base, Oliver, Lin, Ayako and Masako had returned. For some reason they wore tense expressions.
"What's up?" Mai opened her mouth to ask.
Ayako turned to look at her with a solemn expression. "Great, you guys are back. – Someone has disappeared again."
Mai nodded. She had expected it.
"Who is it?!" Takigawa asked.
"She's called Fukuda-san."
"How old is she?"
The significance of Takigawa's question was perhaps only understood by the people from the Mansion Interior Exploration Team.
Mai sensed down below and caught the unsettling moment Fukuda's throat was sliced. She turned away, feeling sick.
Ayako was also slightly stunned.
"Her exact age isn't clear. 25, perhaps; about that old."
"She is the girl from Minami Psychic Research right? Is she that young lady?"
"Yes…"
Oliver wore a shocked expression.
"And then?"
Takigawa told everyone what John and Mai had said. Oliver sank into deep thought.
"So that's how it is…"
Oliver mumbled, and then he raised his head and turned towards Yasuhara and Mai.
"The two of you must never be on your own."
"That goes for you too, idiot."
Mai snarked back.
He nodded in acknowledgement of Mai's words and then Oliver turned towards Ayako.
"Matsuzaki-san, to what extent can I trust on you?"
"What the heck is this question of yours?"
"Now isn't the time for arguments. Whether it is Mai or Yasuhara, right now we need the two of them. However, this place is very dangerous. To what extent can I rely on you?"
Ayako replied very resentfully. "If it's exorcism… you can count on me for something of this level."
"Understood."
Oliver looked around at them.
"Matsuzaki-san and Hara-san must never act separately. Can the two of you cooperate with each other?"
"I think so…"
Ayako nodded. Masako asserted.
"If it's Matsuzaki-san, I don't feel comfortable."
"What is the meaning of this?!"
Oliver gently raised a hand towards Ayako, then gazed at Masako with his deep eyes.
"Hara-san. Basically I don't trust anyone besides the members here. Reliable people are few and far between. However one puts it you are also a psychic; if this is the case then you should at least be able to protect yourself."
"… Yeah."
"Yasuhara-kun completely does not have any ability to protect himself. To protect him we need an extremely reliable person."
"Yes…"
Seeing Masako nod, Oliver spoke.
"Bou-san and John cannot leave Yasuhara-kun's side. You must never let him out of your sight."
"Please wait a moment."
Lin spoke loudly.
"Are you saying I'm to protect Mai?"
"Exactly."
"What about yourself? As Mai pointed out, you also fit in that criteria."
"Can you protect both of us?"
"Naru, I don't exactly need protection. Of the two of us, I have the ability to freely disperse the spirits. With that in mind, I'm sure Lin can look out for us both."
Mai interjected before they could start an argument.
"Very well, then you both are with me." Lin nodded firmly.
Suddenly, Yasuhara stood up. "Let me withdraw then."
"Hey, young man..."
"There shouldn't be any more problem if only I withdraw. I'm only the head of 'Shibuya', who later left everything to the investigators. If I withdraw with this explanation there shouldn't be too much trouble.
I will go to Suwa to be Mori-san's assistant. I personally also have some outstanding issues."
After thinking deeply, Oliver nodded his head.
...
Yasuhara left the mansion on the car with a staff member running errands in the city. The other psychics purposely loudly made cutting remarks that he was running away.
While SPR were made fun of by the people they met, they continued to conduct the search for Fukuda. Despite their thorough searching, as Mai expected, no one could find a trace of Fukuda.
She had said she wanted to go out for a stroll then she left the base used by Minami and his team. After that she never returned. Coincidentally there was a member of the staff cleaning the hall at that time. He didn't even see her leave the hall. She only disappeared; that's the only explanation.
Minami was thus in an extremely awkward situation. The other psychics derided Minami with, 'haven't you summoned your helpers', 'Regardless of the others, when your own assistant has disappeared, you should let us see the abilities of the Professor right?', 'Your other helpers should have arrived already, right?' and the type.
SPR watched this disturbance but in the end couldn't stand it and returned to work. The three men carefully completed the remaining measurements. At dusk, after they wound up the measurements, they concluded with an undeniable truth.
"The structure of this house is elevated in the middle."
Lin said while generating the sectional diagram of the house.
They all understood that the ground of the first floor of the house sloped gently towards the center. The area around the center was about 2 meters higher than the periphery.
Takigawa tilted his head. "Why in the world would they build this type of house?"
"Repeatedly renovating, hence producing things like level X?" Oliver coolly shot back.
"… If that's the case?"
"I feel it wasn't intentionally done like this. This type of house is definitely constructed like this for some purpose."
"Purpose…"
John tilted his head too.
"What was this house like right at the beginning?"
Oliver nodded and retrieved a printed out diagram.
"From the finish of the windows, the rooms are all built around the small structure in the middle. Extending further outwards, the rooms become gradually larger; up to this point it is clear-cut…"
Takigawa sighed a huge sigh.
"That, as expected it's still the huge empty center portion that is suspicious. At first, there is clearly no courtyard; it's also too strange that the ventilation is good up to the second floor. The question is where exactly is there a path to go in…"
Oliver flicked at the diagram.
"If there isn't any path to begin with?"
"If there's no path… if that's the case, hey."
"What if that piece of empty space isn't actually a hidden room, but a sealed room?"
"Well, isn't that what Mai has been saying this whole time?"
Lin spoke for once. Oliver added.
"Yes... She has... And we've been ignoring it to our peril.
We've tried searching for a path. This is an ancient and filthy house, of course we would think that as long as we could find the path or something, we would definitely know if the people who disappeared had used it before. Dust that had been disturbed, footprint – we would depend on this type of things. – Regardless of how we search here, I don't believe things like paths exist here. Not to say the building is added to outwards from the center; I can only believe that it was added to in order to hide something in the center."
"… Correct."
Takigawa finished and gazed at the ceiling.
"But, what exactly is hidden? Could it be… the execution room?"
"What it is actually like, whether something like this exists or otherwise – after we investigate the other side of the wall we will find out."
"Are we really doing this? Knocking through the wall?"
"Of course. I've already obtained Ohashi-san's understanding."
Takigawa looked completely defeated.
Just at that time, as usual, someone knocked on the window.
...
"Madoka… Yasuhara-kun!"
Oliver looked stunned.
'You'd think he would be used to this by now.' Mai thought to herself as he looked on coolly while the two people in question jumped in through the window.
"Good evening."
"I'm here~"
"Really… what are you guys thinking of?"
Oliver looked at Yasuhara who looked completely unperturbed.
"No, I'm here to report the things we investigated today."
Madoka grinned at Yasuhara.
"Yasuhara-kun, today was really too exciting."
"That's ~ right. It's only because I was there."
Yasuhara sniggered, clearly pleased with himself.
"That is, first, when I went back to the city, I counted the number of chimneys.
I always felt it this was a little strange, but I couldn't see too clearly from far, so after I met up with Mori-san I had her look at it again."
Madoka nodded. "Yes. I took the car all the way up a near-by mountain. Then from there I used a pair of rented binoculars and carefully counted it out. In the end there are 20."
Lin checked the number of furnaces there were on the computer.
"When I was investigating I felt there should be 10 or 11 of them."
Lin backed up Yasuhara's words. "There are 11."
"After that, if we look closely at it again, the chimney at the center of the house is very strange. The shape is round, and it's also coarser than the other chimneys."
That was a valuable clue. There was indeed something in that empty space. At the very least, a chimney. The places that can hide a suddenly jutting out chimney are very limited. The empty space did not extend into the third floor. If the chimney extended up from the second floor, it should be visible from the third floor windows. But there was only one side of one direction which was windowless. If there was a chimney, it could only be in that direction.
Oliver immediately checked the floor plan. There was an even larger empty space to the north of the huge empty space. It extended from the second floor. At once he confirmed that was the position of the chimney.
Madoka appeared a little proud. "The clever I properly took photos as evidence. They are currently getting developed, and you should be able to see them tomorrow. I had specially borrowed a long distance single lens reflex camera, isn't that incredible?"
As she said that, Madoka looked at Oliver, who only replied with a cool gaze.
"Whatever~"
It was Takigawa who spoke instead.
"It's incredible, very incredible. And then?"
Madoka smiled and spoke.
"When I was doing all these, I let Yasuhara investigate in the city. He's really good detective material."
Yasuhara puffed out his chest.
"Whatever type of material needed, I have; because I am the genius Yasuhara."
Smiling, he said, "First, I tried going to the Miyama family. Furthermore, I also interviewed the near-by families, and tried my best to look for older people. Then, a few houses away, I found an eighty-two year-old old lady. She's an energetic, still clear headed senior citizen. Thus I started asking her.
The old lady was born around the time Mr Miyama Kaneyuki died. Yeah, there wasn't much chance she knew Mr Kaneyuki, but I thought she might know something. Mr Kaneyuki was a capricious personality; when he was gentle he'd give others a little something, and appeared very warm. If he was in a bad mood he would hunt down other people and have his underlings surround them and beat them up; he was apparently this sort of person.
Previously it was mentioned that Mr Kaneyuki was a mysophobic person; the old lady concurred. She said Mr Kaneyuki was extremely terrified of germs. And the family next door to the Miyama family wouldn't careless take anything belonging to the Miyama family, not even a persimmon. Apparently they had tried before and was thus severely punished."
"… So that's the way it was."
"This is about all I could get out of that old lady. Then, I let her introduce me to the old folk's homes and community clubs in the city. Following that I tried going to those places. In the end, I heard various sayings, but the evaluation of Mr Kaneyuki was all bad."
".. He is a philanthropist, right?"
"That's right; in any case the good works were done with all sorts of bad things on the sly, it was only a camouflage. That was what a lot of people thought.
And then I found someone who claimed to be Mr Hiroyuki's friend. It was an old lady; her husband was a friend of Mr Hiroyuki in his later days. According to her, Mr Hiroyuki hated his own father a lot. Apparently he practically never listened to his father's words and he would get extremely angry if anyone were to speak of his father.
According to some of what I heard, Mr Kaneyuki apparently had very frail health since his youth."
"Frail health?"
"Yeah. Because of his frail health, he was frequently bedridden etc when he was young. And his frequent travels abroad, while said to be only travels, should be actually trips abroad to see doctors about the aches and pains he had at that time.
When he was little others said he wouldn't live long, and in reality he died at fifty. However, according to Mr Hiroyuki, it would have been better if Mr Kaneyuki had died earlier in his youth. He had apparently said this before."
John asked. "If Mr Kaneyuki were to have died in his youth, then wouldn't Mr Hiroyuki have not been born?"
"Exactly, that's a very shocking statement.
Then, there's also such an incident. Mr Kaneyuki had 2 menservants.
And there's more, in that old folk's home there was a person who claimed his grandfather was a gardener here. He said this building was very strange. He said that when he cleaned up and walked near to the main house, he would always smell a scent like that of a graveyard. Furthermore, every time he went here the maid was always a different person. That was what he said."
"You said the maid was always a different person…?
Just at that time, all the lights in the room suddenly were extinguished.
"… What?!"
With the slowly disappearing glow of the monitors, the room turned completely dark. After a sharp 'bang', the room was momentarily filled with noise. Somewhere beyond this room there was an intense sound. Then, in the distance, there was someone screaming.
Mai could see several of the spirits racing around in a panic; though one in particular made her shiver and caused her heart to pound violently, especially when he continued to watch her curiously. He hadn't been interested in her in the past. Slowly he began to move towards her.
"Do not move!"
When Oliver ordered in a sharp tone, the lights all suddenly came back on. It was like they had stopped temporarily. Simultaneously, the noise also ceased.
The spirits disappeared from Mai's sight and her knees weakened causing her to slump onto them on the ground. She went unnoticed by the others since when the lights came back on, some blood red objects jumped into everyone's lines of sight.
"Save me"
"Save me"
"I don't want to die"
"It hurts"
"It hurts"
"I'm terrified"
Those were the countless words written in blood on the wall.
...
They dumbly stared at the interior of the room.
Words written in blood in various sizes, styles and handwriting. Within just that moment in time, they were so numerous they had buried the wall.
"It hurts."
"Save me."
"I don't want to die."
"I'm terrified."
"It hurts."
"Urado."
"... Urado? Hey, Naru, this is…?" Takigawa pointed the word out.
Oliver's own gaze shifted to those 2 characters, then glanced around the room once more.
"Urado."
Besides these, there were many other words written on the wall.
While they were in a daze, the sound of hasty footsteps sounded from somewhere within the house. These footsteps urged Madoka and Yasuhara to leave.
"Naru, see you tomorrow."
"Madoka, I've said before that this place is very dangerous, haven't I?"
Accompanying Oliver's sharp voice, Takigawa waved his hand relaxedly.
"See you then, Ma'am."
"Yeah *heart*."
"Be careful when you go back."
"Yes~."
With their bright and cheerful replies, the two of them disappeared through the window. Right on the backs of their departures, Ohashi opened the door.
"… Are you all fine?"
"What happened?" Oliver asked.
"Strange bloody words have appeared all around the house. It's like they were written with blood…"
SPR hurried out of the room. The walls of the corridor was also filled with words:
Save me... save me... save me... save me…
Urado... Urado...
"Exactly how many spirits are there in this house?" Ayako shrieked.
"Lots..."
Mai muttered tiredly from where she leaned against the doorway. A blue fox rubbed against her cheek.
"The name 'Urado' appears to have a deeper meaning than what we had imagined."
Takigawa looked at the words on the wall.
"Somehow I don't think it is just a simple pseudonym."
"… Yeah."
"If only we knew the meaning of this sentence…"
"Heard they were ?? by Urado ?? away."
Oliver spoke softly.
"Hara-san."
"Yes?"
"Do you have confidence in summoning a spirit here?"
Everyone's gaze was instantly focused on Masako.
Masako's doll like face was slightly twisted.
"… I do."
"… No."
"Mai?"
"Masako, you can't do this. Don't let the spirits possess your body."
"What's up? You say this so suddenly."
"Masako shouldn't have to experience a death scene like I did."
Oliver gently sighed a breath.
"Mai, Hara-san is a professional."
Mai glared back at him. "Professional or not, you can't let someone go through this type of experience!"
"Stop making a scene."
Oliver's cold gaze. Mai returned the gaze directly.
"Very well. Do what you like. Don't blame me when you damage her psyche from the trauma."
Mai could feel Oliver's cold gaze as she turned away from him in anger, back stiff with her arms folded. She stalked across the room as far from him as she could go.
Oliver sighed as he watched is obviously angry girlfriend.
"… That can't be helped. This is also a somewhat inaccurate method… Lin."
"Yes."
"Can they be summoned?"
"Let me try."
Mai's shoulders relaxed their stiffness in relief.
"But, Naru," Lin turned his expressionless face towards Oliver.
"I'm not able to summon the spirits of those murdered here. The spirits I'm summoning now are…"
Lin's voice was one that didn't let one feel a hint of emotion.
"Assuming they've already died, the 3 people who have disappeared over here. Only them."
"No matter. Try it."
...
They chose to perform the summoning where Igarashi had performed the séance. To prepare for the summoning, Lin and Oliver left, leaving the others to set up the equipment. Mai set up the equipment as they had during the previous séance.
After a while, Lin returned carrying a bundle.
"Is the cleaning done?"
"It's done."
Before Lin returned, he had instructed the others to clean the room beforehand. Before they could set up the equipment, they scattered salt in the room, cleaned the floor, and wiped the tabletop with a fresh rag thrice.
Lin nodded then opened the bundle. He undid the thin yellow cloth, and retrieved a box from within. Opening the whitewood chest, there were many boxes in it. From the largest box, Lin took out a golden bowl then gently placed it on the table. Following that was a gold colored tachi; two gold colored incense pots; two candlestick holders; two candles.
The team watched silently. Lin carefully opened a sealed whitewood box. Momentarily, from inside, overflowed a tea-leaf like scent. Lin placed those things into the incense pot and lit it. From the incense pot, a thin smoke rose, and the air was filled with an indescribable fragrance.
Lin retrieved a flat box; after raising the lid he placed it besides the bowl. From it appeared an inkwell. Lin retrieved a piece of paper-like paper and unfolded it, carefully tidied up the things on the table, then used the water we had prepared previously and started to slowly grind ink.
The smell of the incense filled the entire room; just as Lin finished grinding ink, Oliver finally returned.
"Who do you want to summon?"
Lin asked. Oliver placed his notebook on the table.
"Suzuki Naoko-san."
Oliver held what looked like Suzuki-san's blouse in his hand. Lin received the blouse then carefully folded it within the bowl. Then he looked at the notebook while writing on the paper. He wrote the name, the birth date, then looked back at Oliver.
"What about the date of death?"
Oliver thought for a moment.
"The second day since she disappeared… approximately this time."
"Make it the day of her disappearance." Mai interjected.
"Are you sure?" Oliver asked.
Mai didn't look at him at all but nodded once. She was still angry.
Lin nodded, and wrote on the paper as Mai had instructed. Then he placed a completed protection seal on top of the folded blouse.
"I'm going to start."
Lin placed a stick of incense in the other incense pot, lit the candles, then nodded to Oliver, who switched off the lights in the room.
The glow from the two candles illuminated the dark interior of the room. Lin placed the tachi on his knees as he sat in seiza, then he gently started speaking.
An indescribable sound was produced from Lin's mouth. He produced a low sound in time with his breath. When he lamented it was a clear, touching sound. When he whistled it was a gentle, low pitched sound.
Lin slowly enunciated each sound. In this progression, the pitch changed a number of times, just like singing a song. His shiki spun around like a shining multicoloured tornado although Mai was the only other person to see it.
It was high at times and low at times, strong at times and weak at times. Vibrating, reaching outwards, repeating. From his throat each sound sprung. It was an indescribable, touching sound made just of that.
Soon the sound of panting came.
Lin stopped the sound.
Once again came the sound of panting then an extremely pathetic sigh.
Mai watched as a shadow formed on the wall directly facing Lin. A deep shadow cast by the weak glow of the candles. On the surface of the wall one could vaguely see the shadow of a person. This wasn't anybody's shadow. There wasn't anybody in a position to cast a shadow in that location.
The shadow deepened. One could tell that was a person; the shadow of a female in profile.
Colour seeped out from the shadow, gradually revealing a person. Everyone held their breaths; there wasn't a sound to be heard in the room.
The shadow had already taken the appearance of a young girl. It was dark, it looked a little transparent; although one could definitely tell there wasn't anything solid there, there was indeed the figure of a person, and one could tell it was the missing Suzuki. Suzuki lowered her head, faceing the others in profile, with her gaze fixed on her feet.
"You are Suzuki-san, right?"
Oliver spoke to her. She continued staring at her feet.
"Yes."
"There are others besides you in this house, right?"
Suzuki nodded. "There are lots of us."
"Besides us and Igarashi-sensei, and the other psychics, there are other people, right?"
"Yes."
"Whether it is them or you, you are all already dead. Do you know?"
Suzuki suddenly lifted her head. She looked at Oliver with an unfathomable expression.
"Do you know why you are dead?"
She continued to stare at Oliver, then shook her head.
"Then, was there someone who did something bad to you?"
"Yes." Her expression turned slightly twisted.
"Who is that? Is it someone else other than us?"
She nodded with an extremely pained expression.
"Do you know a person called Urado?"
Suddenly, Suzuki's body exaggeratedly swayed backwards. Her face twisted and she grasped her throat.
"He cut my throat..."
"You know, right?"
"He's down there."
She suddenly looked at Mai.
"He wants you."
Suddenly a clear high sound rose from somewhere in the room. Continuous intense sounds rang.
"Naru, we're at the limit."
As though in reply to Lin's gentle voice, Suzuki's shadow gradually turned thinner. Suzuki opened her mouth wide, "Save us!"
There was a deafening sound.
Mai could suddenly smell the scent of blood and looked to the rear wall. Urado stood there watching her at the edge if her senses, unnoticed by anyone but Mai. She raised her hands as a precaution, but he seemed in no hurry to move towards her this time.
Nobody spoke as Susuki faded from view and then Oliver turned on the lights. Urado left as the light came on.
When the glaring light shone down, Mai's surroundings were filled with excited voices. She noticed none of it as she continued staring at the spot Urado had stood.
Suddenly Oliver followed Mai's line of sight and then stared hard at the wall. Everyone else followed Oliver, and the excited chattering settled down.
"Vlad."
Takigawa suddenly hammered the table once.
"The so called 'Urado', is originally 'Vlad'?"
John showed an expression of extreme dislike.
"The Vlad we are talking about is… the vampire Dracula?"
"Dracula?!"
The others turned to look towards Oliver.
"What exactly is going on? Isn't Urado Mr Kaneyuki's pseudonym? Was Mr Kaneyuki a vampire? Are the spirits here those of people who died when their blood was drained?"
Oliver spoke, as though very annoyed.
"The story of the popularly know Dracula originates from the novel called "(Vampire) Dracula". Do you know this?"
"… I don't know." Ayako admited.
Oliver sighed openly. " 'Dracula', published in 1897, is a horror novel written by Bram Stoker. A strange man by the name of Count Dracula arrives in London. He is actually a vampire – it is a story like that. This novel has been adapted into operas, movies etc, and gave birth to the domain of 'Vampire Culture' in literature. Do you understand up to this point?"
"… Yeah."
"In actual fact, Count Dracula was modeled after a real person. It was a person who was really named Dracula. The Count Dracula in the novel was born in Transylvania. Transylvania has historically been the territory of Hungary, and is currently part of Romania."
"This Transylvania you talk about, is it a real place that exists?"
"Of course. Dracula was a Duke from Transylvania's neighboring area of Wallachia. His name was Vlad. He was known as Vlad III, and commonly called 'Vlad the Impaler'."
"Impaler?"
Oliver nodded.
"At that time Europe was frequently invaded by the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Because the area of Wallachia is very near to Turkey, that area was the frontline of the battle. Furthermore, even if the king of Wallachia was overthrown, that did not stop the power struggle. Vlad was an extremely mysophobic duke, he hated being known as idle; he is well known to be ruthless, especially towards his enemies. Enemies who were captured by him were mostly executed by impalement with a spear, hence his name.
This Vlad's father was Vald II, known as 'Vlad Dracul'. 'Dracul' in Romania has the meaning of devil; he was commonly known as 'Vlad the Devil'.
Originally this name is inaccurate. 'Dracul' means devil as well as 'dragon'. In 1431, Vlad II was given the name of 'Dracul' by the Holy Roman Emperor. Because this was a conferred title, of course he was not called 'Devil'. I think he should have been called 'Dracul the Dragon Duke' to be accurate.
In Romanian, 'Son of the Dragon' and 'Son of the Devil' is 'Dracula'. Hence, as a result of being Dracul's child, Vlad was also known as 'Dracula'. That is to say, it means 'the Son of the Dragon Duke'. Due to Vlad's blood drenched achievements, he was commonly known as 'the Devil's Spawn', but that is actually not accurate."
"… Hn~."
"After Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' was published, 'Dracula' became a synonym for vampire. Although Vlad III was notorious for his period of cruelty in Europe, he was long forgotten when Stoker's novel was published. Bram Stoker caused him to become the center of attention once more. Then, right now, the notorious name of Dracula is reverberating through the world."
"So that's how it is." Takigawa mused.
"In the Wallachia area, there still remains 'Legends of Dracula' today. In those legends, Vlad was a savior who protected Hungary from the Germans and the Turks. Despite his actual cruelty towards his enemies, he was still the hero who defended Hungary. I don't approve of lumping things together; taking into account the situation in Europe at that time, I think saying that isn't wrong either."
A sarcastic smile appeared on Oliver's face.
"There's a famous story connected to Vlad. There was a rich merchant who moved all his wealth on a carriage and passed by the capital of Wallachia. When he arrived at the capital, the rich merchant entered the castle and asked Vlad to protect his wealth. To him, Vlad said, that there wasn't such a necessity. Then he ordered the rich merchant to leave his fortune wherever he liked then to leave. With no options, the rich merchant could only leave all his wealth in the public square before leaving.
Then at dawn the second day, the rich merchant went to inspect his carriage, he realized not a cent of his wealth had been taken. Because Vlad was a very mysophobic duke, his own citizens were also not allowed to lie or steal or be lazy. People who did so were all impaled with no exception; hence nobody would steal a thing from the merchant."
"… So that was the way it was. He really was a great person."
Oliver shrugged.
"Whether this was actually great or something else is interpreted differently by different people. … Anyway, he was really very similar to Vlad, Kaneyuki was."
Takigawa tilted his head.
"Vlad was the savior of Hungary. If we put it like this, then did Kaneyuki also wanted to call himself a savior?"
Oliver's snow white fingers leaved through the materials Madoka had brought.
"Around 1900, Kaneyuki had toured Europe. At that time the book 'Dracula' had long been published. I think, it is more likely that because of the meaning 'Son of the Devil', he called himself 'Vlad'. – Furthermore, "
"Furthermore?"
"Mai has mentioned it before, right? There was a bathtub placed in the bathroom, and there was blood remaining in the bathtub.
Frequently discussed together with Vlad was a person called Bathory Elizabeth. In the western style, the surname is placed behind, so she should be Elizabeth Bathory. She is known as the 'Blood Countess'."
"She… is a woman?"
"That's right. Elizabeth was a Countess who lived in 15th century Hungary. She did not have any clear connection with Vlad, but a lot of people speculate whether the two of them are related by blood."
"Hn…"
"Elizabeth was afraid her beauty would fade. With young girls as sacrifices, she believed that if she bathed in the blood of young girls she would be able to preserve her own beauty. She killed young females, placed the blood she harvested from them into a bathtub, and then soaked her body inside. Up until one of her sacrifices escaped and exposed her crimes, this had gone on for about 10 years."
"… with, with this…?"
Oliver nodded.
"It is similar to the dream Mai had. Elizabeth and Vlad were confused; Vlad was also commonly said to have bathed in his executed enemy's fresh blood. What if Kaneyuki had heard of these things?"
No one replied to Oliver's words. Oliver smiled once more.
"Elizabeth was not formally convicted and punished; instead, the bathroom door was sealed, and all the walls and windows were sealed from the outside. In the end she died inside that prison – don't you think there are subtle signs here?"
"However… Kaneyuki..."
"Of course, I too don't believe that Kaneyuki was closed inside that space. If that was so, such a large space wouldn't have been necessary. However, I only think there is a clue here – a very obvious clue.
The pronunciation of 'Vlad' is even more similar to that of 'Blad'. For some reason Kaneyuki wanted to use the name Vlad as a pseudonym, but couldn't find a suitable kanji. Then he chose the two characters 'Ura do'… I'm afraid this is the truth.
Following that he was the same as the meaning of the name, and killed a lot of servants here. The spirits of the victims continue to haunt this mansion."
Takigawa gently snapped his fingers.
"I've got it. That 'Heard the were ?? by Urado. ?? away'."
"Ai?"
When asked like this in response, Takigawa let out a bitter smile.
"It is 'Heard they were killed by Urado'. 'Those who came to this place have all died. Heard they were killed by Urado. Run away.' How about that?"
Mai tilted her head. "Didn't I already explain that before?"
"But who did the coat belong to?" John asked.
"Because anyhow they wouldn't let a maid live in that sort of place right? Furthermore wasn't that overcoat a uniform of the Facility attached to the Hospital? To whom did that overcoat belong to? Was it really a maids'?"
Everyone looked at each other in dismay.
"Could it be…"
Takigawa spoke softly.
"Could it be… that fellow… also took the people from the facility…?"
Mai sighed in exasperation. The blue fox that had returned to her shoulder after the summoning, jumped on top of her head and patted her soothingly.
"Could it be that Mr Hiroyuki knew what his own father did in this place?"
When Takigawa said that, Oliver nodded.
"That's very likely. Hence he sealed this place. To prevent discovery by outsiders he buried all of it in the depths of this ever-expanding building…
Mr Hiroyuki had said before, "There are spirits escaping; it is to prevent them from escaping that I'm renovating." "
Oliver's expression was one of deep thought.
"The ones who have disappeared are all young people…"
He said that softly with gravity.
"Why Mr Kaneyuki would do such a thing, I understand now."
"And you're supposed to be the smart one." Mai muttered quietly.
"Kaneyuki was frail and sickly; I think he must have hated his own body. Blood was thought to be the source of a human's vitality. Just like what Elizabeth believed, depending of that vitality, one's own beauty can be maintained, Kaneyuki also believed that relying on young people's vitality would keep his own health.
But in actual fact he definitely wouldn't be considered to have lived long. He must have felt regretful. Not only did he kill people to extend his own life, but in the end it still was not maintained very long.
I'm afraid the spirits of those who were killed by that fellow are not related to the disappearances. Suzuki-san is dead. If we say the killer is the spirit living in this mansion, then that evil spirit could only be Urado."
A chill ran down Mai's back.
"Urado is still here… still in this mansion. He is still in this house thirsting for a sacrifice."
...
When they returned to base it was 4am in the morning. Just like that the meeting continued up till the next morning; when the sun rose they started work.
"First start at the location where there is definitely a chimney."
Oliver announced. The few of them set out towards the location in question. Everyone split the burden and carried the heavy equipment.
Lin carried the radar as though it was a treasure. That radar was to be used for a special purpose this time. To figure out the thickness of the wall.
They examined all the walls facing that empty space.
"The refractive index of this wall should be the lowest."
Lin pointed at the floor plan. 'Radar' produces electromagnetic waves, and then receives the reflected electromagnetic waves. If the refractive index of the electromagnetic waves is low, it means that this wall is easily broken. The body of the wall is very thin, or even if it is thick, it is very weak.
They hurried to the site and used the tools borrowed from Ohashi to knock down the wall. More easily than imagined, the men made a hole in the wall. Mai couldn't see any light on the other side of the wall. To see what it was like inside, the hole was expanded; it gradually turned into a huge job, the hole measured approximately 30 cm in diameter. Mai stuck the head of the infrared camera into that hole. The image taken by the camera appeared on the monitor.
Bathed in infrared light not visible to the human eye, the inside of the hole was clearly shown. Inside was a haphazard room of about 8 tatami's size. There was a huge item directly facing them.
"… That, what is it?"
Oliver sank into thought. "It looks like either an incinerator or a stove or something similar…
Let's go in to take a look."
Then they made another hole in the wall. This time, they drummed up enough energy, and made a hole large enough for a person to pass through.
Beams from their torch lights crisscrossed in the room filled with dust. The shadow of the incinerator appeared in front of them. The walls were built in the shape of a huge box; right in the middle directly facing them were two rusted metal lids. It should be the ceramic chimney continually extending towards the ceiling.
Masako, Ayako and Mai remained outside; the other 4 entered that room.
"Are you alright?" Mai asked them.
Takigawa was the one to answer. "… Aah. The floor is made of stone. It is really solid."
"It's very smelly." John added.
Indeed, the room was filled with an intense rotting smell.
"There's a door."
Oliver said softly and faced the left side of the room. Looking over they could see a slanted door illuminated by the torchlight. They could see bricks piled on the other side of the half open door. When Oliver pulled the door, the entire door fell down. On the other side of the door was a completed wall.
While the wall had a window, the other side of the window was also walled up. It was a secret room completely sealed by bricks.
Takigawa eyed a wooden boxes lined up along the wall. He knelt down, and picked up the things inside the box.
"… It's mouldy."
Just as Takigawa studied the next box…
"… Waah!" John let out a lament-like sound.
"What's up?!"
At that time John had opened the lid of the furnace. Oliver and Takigawa ran over. They shone their torches into the furnace from beside John, who was rooted to the ground over there.
"Hey, what happened?"
Oliver continued to look at that place without moving.
"It's best to contact the police."
After he said that, he stood up and walked out of the room in the women's direction.
"Did you find the body?" Mai asked.
Oliver used a very calm voice and said.
"Yes, there's a body inside."