Author's Note: Well, five months later, and here's chapter two. That took a lot longer than I expected when I originally started this. I actually finished part of this that very month, then stopped working on it until this week. It's been an equal amount of time since I played Fatal Frame V, so my memories of everything that happened have grown fuzzy. I'm considering playing the game again in order to jog my memory, but we'll see.
The rain was still pouring outside, the wind aiding it by whipping it against the glass and howling loudly. Lights illuminated nearly every room in the house, Maki having turned them all on as she went. The electricity bill would be higher than normal, but she just couldn't be alone right then, and having as many lights on as possible was the closest thing to companionship she could have.
Her wanderings eventually led her upstairs, where she began to draw herself a nice, warm bath before discarding all of her wet clothes. The camera remained in her possession though, sitting passively upon the edge of the bathtub. Every time Maki stared at it, she could feel her body shiver with apprehension, unable to understand what she had seen through that camera. An entire lifetime had not prepared her to comprehend that there were ghosts on that mountain.
Letting herself sink into the warm water, she closed her eyes and tried to wrack her brain for any and all explanations for what occurred, but nothing came to mind. Only a single, impossible truth that she just couldn't wrap her mind around: ghosts. Spirits inhabited Mount Otonokizaka, and one had attacked her. Now three people were gone, and she was at a loss about what to do. How was she supposed to even find them, let alone save them?
Biting her lip in worry, she wished once again that Aunt Eli was here. She would know what to do. She was brave and knowledgeable and would never back down. Not like Maki had. Shame burned across her face as she shut her eyes tightly, trying to block out those awful thoughts, but they refused to go away. Realizing how futile it was to feign ignorance, she slowly opened her eyes, only to be drawn once again to the camera.
Picking it up, she twisted it around in her hands, examining each angle for clues as to what exactly it did, because it was not a normal camera. If she was to believe that spirits were really haunting this plane of existence, then she also had to believe that taking a picture of that woman had brought pain to her. No normal camera could do that. No normal camera could survive being dropped, muddied, and submerged in water. Yet this one did. Aunt Eli's special camera was different.
While drying off, as the bath water went down the drain, she couldn't help but continue to look at the camera. She still didn't understand it, but it was very important, that much she could tell. Changing into drier clothes, she picked up the camera once more and held it close to her chest, looking out timidly before exiting the room. The whole ordeal had her fearful of her own house.
Limping to her room, she found herself pausing in front of Aunt Eli's room. Staring at the door that would lead her inside, she couldn't help but wonder if there was something inside there, some indication about where she had gone. She never went inside Aunt Eli's room without permission, but this was an emergency, so she hoped it would be okay. Tentatively she opened the door and peered inside before making her way in.
She couldn't help but feel disappointed that Aunt Eli wasn't in there. She knew that the room would be empty, but she'd been holding on to the tiniest of hopes that it wouldn't be true. Immediately her eyes were drawn to the desk, tucked away in the corner of the room. A manila folder laid smack dab on its center, so Maki went for that first. Flipping on the desk lamp, she opened the folder and perused through its contents.
The folder in question was a missing persons file, crafted by Aunt Eli herself. It was for someone named Hoshizora Rin, and apparently this was a new case. She recognized the name in question, as it had been shouted out all-too recently, and she certainly knew the name of the requester written down below: Koizumi Hanayo. So this was Hanayo's friend that they were searching for. Well, now they both were missing. Maki sighed softly as she glanced at a picture connected to the page.
The photo, taped right beneath the word 'Token', was of a grinning girl with bright orange hair. So this was what Rin looked like, then. Gently she went to brush a finger across the picture, gazing at it with curious eyes. She didn't know what a 'token' was supposed to be, or why there was a photo taped to it, but being unaware only made things more difficult.
As her fingers came in contact with the photo, she could feel a gentle tug, as if something was pulling her out of the room. Alarmed, she stumbled backwards, and the sensation was suddenly gone. Blinking in utter bewilderment, she experimentally placed a finger back on the photo, and the same feeling returned. "What... What is this?"
She pulled the picture off of the paper it was taped to, feeling the sensation grow stronger, wanting to pull her out of the room and from the house. This photo, this 'token', it had some sort of power. It was special, like the camera. Slowly she put it back on the desk, her hands shaking as she did. The mountain was calling to her. She couldn't explain it, but she could feel it when she came in contact with the picture. It was calling her, holding innocent people hostage that only she could save, but how? She knew nothing about what was going on, and she'd already proved her cowardice by running away when they needed her. How was she supposed to do this?
Her eyes were drawn to a yellow post-it note stuck to the desk, something she hadn't noticed initially. Peering down at it, a phone number was written down, along with the words 'Found the book'. She didn't recognize the number, but by now she was feeling desperate. Whoever this number belonged to, they must have wanted to get a book from Aunt Eli. An odd request, considering they weren't a library, but maybe it was a photography book. They had to have contacted Aunt Eli though, and maybe, just maybe they'd have some idea of what was going on.
Maki's hands still shook as she picked up the phone and dialed the number. She silently prayed that this person wouldn't think she was crazy, and that they could explain just what was going on.
"Yazawa-san, there's a phone call for you. ... Unbelievable. Yazawa-san, wake up!" Her name was being called, which was weird. It was weird because she was eating alone, which could only mean that her meal was talking to her. That definitely wasn't right. Nico glanced down at her salad, waiting for it to talk again. Nothing else was said though, and so she could only shrug and return to eating.
That only lasted a single bite before the entire room shook, sending Nico lurching forward against the table. Eyes wide, she grabbed onto the table as her salad flew halfway across the room, the bowl it was housed in shattering upon impact. Another rumbling shook the room once more, sending Nico flying off her chair. She could swear a soft piano was playing for her overly-dramatic fall, and then everything went black...
... For a second, until she opened her eyes and realized that she'd just been dreaming. Now she was on the floor, being looked down upon by a very annoyed assistant. Her very annoyed assistant. "Yazawa-san, please try not to sleep through the entire day. You know it keeps you up all night."
"Sorry, sorry." Nico groaned as she stood up, shaking her head to clear out her sleepy daze. Sometimes she felt a tad indignant at being treated like a child, by someone younger than her no less, but she understood that Tsubasa was only looking out for her. Running a hand over her face, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and focused on her assistant. "What's up?"
"You have a call."
"Oh, alright." Shuffling over towards the phone, she grabbed it and put it to her ear. "Yazawa Nico speaking."
"H-Hello, you, uh..." Whoever was on the other end of the line sounded extremely nervous, like they weren't sure what they wanted from her. Nico forced herself to wait patiently, though. Either they would figure it out, or they'd hang up and allow her to fall back asleep. "You were, uh, looking for a book, right? From Ayase Eli?" Now that name rang a bell.
"Yes, actually. This wouldn't happen to be Maki, would it?" Nico had never met Maki, but Eli had spoken about her before, and if they knew of the book, it could be no one else.
"H-How did you know?"
"Eli's told me about you. She already gave me the book a couple weeks ago though, so how come she's having you call me?" There was silence on the other end, long enough to where Nico started to worry a bit. "Maki, is Eli alright?" Something felt off now. Why was she not answering? "Maki-"
"She went to Mount Otonokizaka." Nico didn't miss the quiver within Maki's voice, and she realized that something bad definitely must have happened. "Sh-She hasn't come back yet. I went up there and I found her camera, but she wasn't... You're not going to believe me." Hesitation creeped into Maki's voice. With only that information to go on, however, Nico was starting to get an idea of what must have happened. "Y-You're going to think I'm crazy."
"You'd be surprised at what I'll believe nowadays. Stay in the house, Maki. I'm going to be right there." After a few more reassurances to calm Maki down, they hung up and Nico hurried over to grab her coat, shrugging it on. "Come on, Tsubasa. We need to go."
"What happened, Yazawa-san?"
"Eli's in trouble, and we need to get over to the shop right away." If Eli had gone to the mountain and was still missing, then something bad must have happened. She'd repeatedly told her that going up there would bring nothing but trouble, but Eli had always been led by her conscience. It was admirable, if a tad foolish. The rumors of that mountain, though... Nico hoped they really were just rumors.
Maki sat in the front of the store, shaking on the stool as her eyes stayed glued to the front door. Even with her entire being on high alert, the sound of loud knocking nearly made her jump a foot in the air. Hurriedly she stumbled to the door, opening it and being greeted by a girl who looked to be the age of a university student, her golden-brunette hair showing off an impressive amount of forehead. "N-Nico?"
"Not quite." The girl grinned, and in turn Maki's attention turned to another girl standing next to the one she had mistaken for Nico. This girl had jet-black hair, and was shorter than both of them, almost like a middle schooler. Ignoring the deep frown on her face, the other girl pointed down to her. "That's Nico."
"Wh-What?" Maki's voice faltered, unable to reconcile the image she had of the woman on the phone with the shorter-than-her adult that had the expression of a hurt, angry dog. A chihuahua, perhaps. Snarling, Nico pushed Maki out of the way as she entered the shop.
"I'm going to ignore all of that because Eli is in trouble." Shaking off the pointed barb at her height, Nico turned to Maki, doing her best to make herself not seem so angry-looking. Based on their phone conversation, Maki seemed on-edge, and trying to do things too quickly wasn't going to help matters. "So Eli went up to the mountain, right?"
"Y-Yeah," Maki mumbled shakily, clasping her hands together and forcing herself to make eye contact with Nico, which wasn't that hard: looking down was what she had planned on doing anyway. "I went up there with Hanayo, a girl from the village. She... She ran after a... Gods, I don't even know." She ran her hand through her bangs, visibly nervous. "I barely even saw anything."
"Hm..." Nico rubbed her chin in thought. "How do you know Eli went up there?"
"I found her camera." Turning around, she made her way back to the front desk and grabbed Aunt Eli's camera, bringing it back and handing it to Nico. With it in her hands, Nico didn't take long to look it over: she knew exactly what it was. "I-I think it's special, and I know she wouldn't leave it out in the mud..."
"Well, you're right about it being special." Handing it back, Nico nodded to the other girl, who fished in her bag and pulled out the exact same camera. "What you've got there is a Camera Obscura. With it, you can see things that the naked eye could never dream of beholding."
"Like ghosts..." Maki whispered softly, clutching the camera tightly in her hands.
"Exactly. Now we need to find Eli. Are you ready to go?" With a slight nod, Maki prepared to follow, but a slight hiss of pain escaped her lips when she stepped down too hard with her sprained ankle. It didn't go unnoticed, as Nico gave her a concerned look. "What happened, Maki?"
"I-I just... hurt my ankle on the mountain." She tried to play it off, but it didn't seem to fool Nico, who crossed her arms and stood in the doorway. "Don't we have to go?"
"You're not going anywhere. Not in your condition."
"Wh-What? But I have to find Aunt Eli!"
"I know, Maki. I know." Nico placed a hand gently on Maki's shoulder, glancing down at her ankle. "But you're injured. I couldn't face Eli again if I let something worse happen to you." It made sense, but Maki didn't want to accept it. If she stayed there, all she would be able to do would be feel guilty. Still, it looked as if the choice was taken out of her hands, as Nico refused to budge until she finally backed down.
"Alright... I'll stay." She stepped back and stared at her feet, refusing to look up until Nico had left. Now, she could only hope that Nico would come through. Before retreating back to her room, Maki opened the door and peeked out, watching as Nico and her assistant headed for the mountain. "Good luck..."