I don’t know why I’m writing this
account. Probably it will never see the light of day, or be destroyed long
before it can be found. But I feel a full and true account must be put down of
the events which led to so many people being...lost. And what may lie beyond
the boundaries of what we can understand. What lies at on the edges of this
world’s axis mundi.
My name is Sai Toshikiro, and I’m
a descendent of a Zainichi Korean family who were moved to Japan in the 1910s.
I lost my Korean surname several generations ago, and now I’m as close to
Japanese as I can be. I keep my Korean heritage quiet, as there’s still a good
bit of racism around. Born in the late 1980s, I was named ‘Sai’ because my
mother didn’t want me to be called ‘Saya’, but my father wanted a name that
sounded like it, and ‘Sai’ was the closest they could find.
I supposed I should begin this
account with the last day of my second year at Shujuki High School in 2002. The
day everything seemed to go wrong for the town. If you don’t know where Shujuki
is, I’m not surprised. It’s basically in the sticks, a smallish rural town in
Yamanashi Prefecture. It’s got a train that goes out to its small station every
once in a while, a few smaller stores, and its co-ed high school. Otherwise
it’s truly the back end of beyond.
I remember sitting in the middle
of the class, with the teacher giving us a dry advanced grammar lesson. The
others in this account were also there, giving varying attention to the lesson.
There was Rumiko Ishin, a girl who was trying to do a school-friendly gyaru
look. Then there was Takahiro Suou, a sporty young man who kept his top button
open all the time. There was Souhei Hishima, the class ‘otaku’, who was
looking about as plump as I was back then. And then there was Yukari Taito, the
over-achiever in class who always got the best grades.
Our teacher, Gouto-sensei, was
closing out and giving his sterner look to Takahiro, who as always pretended to
ignore it. I heard some giggles. He was always the popular one with Rumiko and
some of the other girls. I didn’t really care for him as a guy, but then as I
realised going through university I didn’t really care for guys. But I did
consider him a good friend, along with Souhei, Rumiko, and even Yukari. The
school bell rang for break, and we ended up meeting in the corridor.
Rumiko glomped onto Takahiro’s
arm. “Yay! Last day before the holidays! So, any plans?”
Takahiro smiled. “Family’s off to
Ryukyu, visiting relatives.”
“Aww...”
“Had any plans of your own?”
“Well, no. I was hoping to make
plans with you, but I see you’d want to visit family. Say Souhei, what’s up
with you?”
“N...nothing much. But...I’m
going to the Wonder Festival in Chiba in August. Bandai’s showing off some of
their new Gundam models. Then I’m meeting up with some...friends
at...Comiket.”
One of the features of Souhei’s
speech was it becoming sporadic when he became excited.
Yukari sighed. “I’ve got tutoring
all next week, then I’m planning a trip abroad. I was thinking of going into
teaching.”
I looked at her, frowning. “Got
your career planned out so soon?”
“Haven’t you? We’ve only got
another year, then we’re into college. I do wish you’d all take this a bit more
seriously.”
“Let’s not break up the happy
feels!” Rumiko somehow put an arm round both my, Takahiro and Yukari’s
shoulders. “Let’s just be together and happy! And if not, Yukari can go shoo
herself.”
She broke briefly into English
with ‘shoo’. It was a pun, and not a very kind one. ‘Shu’ is the highest mark
possible in Japanese schools, and Yukari almost always got ‘Shu’ markings.
Yukari pulled one of her faces.
“I do wish you wouldn’t shout all
the time. But okay. Maybe go onto the roof, like we did last year? What about
you, Akira...?” Yukari suddenly frowned, looked about us. “That’s strange.
Where’s Akira?”
Souhei looked too. “Y..yeah...
That’s odd. Thought he’d...be here. Was he in...class?”
“Yes... Yes, he was.” Yukari
glanced back inside. “I’s swear he was in that corner. Yes, I remember, he
answered that question Gouto-sensei put to him. Though he looked like death
warmed up.”
I think I should now talk about
the sixth member of our small group of friends. Akira Tofumi was maybe my age
at the time, around 17, with close-cropped hair and a serious expression. He
and Yukari always engaged in odd battles of poetry. But here he was...not
there. Gouto-sensei emerged and looked at the five of us.
“Something wrong?”
“We were wondering where Akira
was.”
“Tofumi-kun?” Gouto-sensei looked
round as if he might just appear in the hallway. “I don’t know. He just left.
Oh, by the way.” He looked hard at us. “I heard you about the roof. Sorry, but
that’s off limits now. No entry except for teachers and staff.”
He didn’t elaborate, but I could
guess what might’ve happened. There had been an incident in a neighbouring town
of a student trying to kill himself by jumping from the roof of their school
building. Obviously didn’t want any repetitions here. We headed for a part of
the school yard where the bushes and trees formed a kind of enclosure. We
settled there with our bento boxes, with Takahiro cutting an odd figure sitting
on the low bow of a tree. Yukari smiled up.
“You’ll injure yourself one of
these days.”
“Don’t think so. Any of you free
today next week? I thought we might go to that small arcade place.”
Yukari sighed. “I’d just be
tagging along. I’ve only played an arcade game once, and it utterly thrashed
me. Never again. I’ve got better things to do with my yen.”
“Well I feel like doing something.
Not sure why, but...”
Souhei looked up. “Y...you feel
that too?”
“Yeah.”
Rumiki laughed. “We’ll find
something all of us can do. Akira too... He’s taking his sweet old time.”
“Maybe he’s in the lunch hall.” I
looked back at the solid, rectangular school building. “Wonder if he’s got a
girlfriend?”
Yukari looked at me. “What makes
you think that?”
“Call it a feeling. I noticed him
leaving a message for someone round here. And when I came out a little later it
had gone.”
“Sure it wasn’t just a bit of
junk?”
“He’s not the type to litter. Not
like you, Rumiko.”
“Hey, I resent that!
But...yeah... Guess he has been a little more secretive. Gotta wonder if he’ll
introduce her to us.”
“If he does, I’m sure she won’t
mind us.” Takahiro wiped his mouth as a bit of his curry tried to escape.
“We’re not like those poor punks who smoke on the quiet or let themselves go.”
“You’d...like to.” Souhei looked
at Takahiro was something like awe. “You...might look quite...good...with a leather
jacket... Maybe a piercing...”
“Eww.” Rumiko playfully nudged
Takahiro’s leg. “Don’t listen to him, Taka-chan. You’d look great in a suit.
Hey, look over there.”
We all looked round. Without any
warning, Gouto-sensei had appeared in the school yard looking around. I half-expected
him to shoo us back to class or something, but he didn’t seem to notice us. He
was looking worried. No-one else was moving, so I got up and came over.
“What is it, Gouto-sensei? Are
you looking for us?”
“No. I was looking for
Hisawa-sensei. Seen her?”
Gouto-sensei had a sister also
working at the school as the PE teacher, Shiki Hisawa. She was only a
half-sister technically, hence the different surname. I frowned, shook my head.
“No, not today.” An idea struck
me out of nowhere. “Maybe she’s on the roof?”
“I...doubt that. Could you help
me look? There’s something urgent I’ve got to tell her.”
He looked so worn and worried
that I readily agreed. Then I went to fetch the others so they could help too.
Rumiko sighed.
“There goes the rest of our break.”
“Gouto-sensei does look pretty
worried.” Takahiro jumped down from his perch, tucking the empty bento box into
a pocket. “Let’s start at the pool. She may be setting something up there.”
I went with Souhei, Yukari
decided to go round the other way, while the others decided to help
Gouto-sensei look inside the building. We didn’t find any sign of Hisawa-sensei,
or...
“You think...Akira’s...with
Hisawa-sensei?”
I looked at Souhei as we rounded
back to where we’d started, with Yukari in tow looking preoccupied. “I don’t
know. It’s not like him to completely vanish like this. I guess we could call
his phone... If he has one? I never asked.”
“He doesn’t.” Yukari spoke
promptly. “He used to, but it got broken. He’s saving up for a new one. Oh
look, the others.”
Takahiro and Rumiko came running
towards us, looking flushed. Had they run all round the school building? Rumiko
burst into speech.
“We can’t find Akira-kun or
Hisawa-sensei anywhere. We’ve looked in all the classrooms, and—”
“You looked in all the classrooms.”
Takahiro corrected her sharply, though he still sounded out of breath. “I
checked the breakroom, and the council room. Gouto-sensei said he’d check the
roof door on the off chance, but...”
Then it came. A sudden, terrible
scream. Two voices mingled into a single loud shriek of horror. We all looked
up at where it had come from, the rooftop ledge nearest to us. We saw two forms
balanced in mid-air there, a boy with close-cropped hair and a woman in the
usual kit of a PE teacher. Another shape appeared, grasped at them, a male
teacher.
Rumiko let out an involuntary
shout. “Akira-kun!”
I recognised Akira, and
Hisawa-sensei, and Gouto-sensei. Gouto-sensei’s hand just missed its grasp for
the twin forms as they over balanced and... The fall lasted only a couple of
seconds. It felt like a couple of years. The five of us rushed in, then
instinctively drew back as the two intertwined forms hit the ground. There was
the dull cracking sound of bones, the throbbing through my feet of the impact,
and a moment of stillness. The two, Hisawa-sensei and Akira-kin, rested in a
broken and tangled heap at the foot of the school building wall.
Rumiko rushed in, but Yukari
pulled her back. “No! If we move them without thinking, we might make things
worse. Get the school nurse, hurry!”
Rumiko ran off, looking on the
point of tears. Souhei struggled after her, maybe for support or maybe to get
away from the horrible crumpled shapes. Yukari went in close and gently reached
for Hisawa-sensei’s wrist. She felt for a pulse, then tried to find Akira’s
hand in the mess. I couldn’t keep looking, and my eyes strayed up towards the
roof. And I saw it.
I didn’t know exactly what ‘it’
was at the time. What I saw was something like a woman in a long ceremonial
robe, like a miko at a festival. But the robe was entirely black, and while I
couldn’t see any features, I had a sensation of something in that face looking
directly at me. At us. I let out a strangled gasp and rubbed my eyes. The
apparition was gone, and I heard Takahiro speaking.
“Sai-shan, what’s wrong?”
“I... Nothing. Just seeing
things.”
I heard the nurse’s voice. “Oh my
God... Yukari, get back.”
She did as instructed. “I managed
to find a pulse for Hisawa-sensei, but Akira...”
“Just go inside the school. An
ambulance is on the way.”
We obeyed, and we found Rumiko
blubbering next to a shaking Souhei. Takahiro put a comforting arm round her
and she buried her face in his chest.
“Akira-kun...! Akira-kun...!”
“Hey, it’s not over yet.”
Yukari’s voice sounded almost normal, which seemed to make it worse. “I felt a
pulse. They may be all right.”
“But how did it happen?!”
Rumiko’s voice was almost indistinguishable through her sobbing. “I don’t
understand, what happened?”
Yukari continued to try and sound
normal. “It must’ve been an accident.”
“Yeah, we get that!” Takahiro
sounded angry. “But what the hell were they doing on the roof anyway!?”
“There’s...no...need to shout.”
Souhei looked on the verge of tears. “Shouting...won’t get us...anywhere... If
they...make it out... No, they will make...it out.”
“Sai, you okay?”
I started. Yukari had tapped my
shoulder.
“I... yes. Yes, I’m fine, it’s
just... Did any of you...see someone else up there?”
“You mean Gouto-sensei?”
“No, not just him. I mean...
Okay, I’m gonna sound crazy, but did any of you see a woman dressed as a miko
up there?”
Rumiko was so surprised that she
seemed to hiccup herself out of sobbing. “A miko? What would someone like that
be doing up there?”
“I... I guess I must’ve been
seeing things. Trick of the light and all.”
The rest of the day was all off.
School was ended early and all the students went home aside from us five, who
gave statements to the police while Akira and Hisawa-sensei were taken to hospital.
The following day, we all met up. Yukari was excused from her studies for the
day. In fact, everyone was excused from something, including me. We gathered at
a common meeting spot, an old shrine on the edge of town. Rumiko was still
weeping, and Souhei seemed to have been crying before I arrived. Yukari came
hard on my heels with a grim face.
I looked directly at her. “Well?”
“Gouto-sensei called me this
morning.... Akira and Hisawa-sensei didn’t make it.”
Rumiko looked up, her eyes
weeping afresh. “You...serious?”
“They died in the night. They
didn’t recover consciousness.” Abruptly, Yukari closed her eyes and wept. “Why
did that have to happen to Akira? He had everything in front of him...
Everything...”
We five were there, and we felt
the hole that had appeared among us. And in that moment, we were united in
consolatory weeping away from prying eyes. In a way, that’s why I considered
them my best friends. We could weep together.
After that, most of the students
including my class were transferred to a school in the neighbouring town. It
had better facilities, and railings on the roof. We managed to stay together
for that final year, but there was one thing I never spoke of. That figure on
the roof. I had seen it, I was sure, but I couldn’t explain it.
