There was a prolonged pause after my outburst. I didn’t know what else to say, but for whatever reason I knew it was the right thing to say. Gouta stopped as he was reaching up towards the noose, looking hard at me.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what I say. Someone else was there who can tell Akira’s side of things. Then maybe we’ll know for sure. Please, don’t act rashly.”
Gouta slowly turned towards me. He still looked like the same kind old sensei, and that made this whole situation worse. But behind his glasses, behind his eyes, there was a horrible impassive glint. The cessation of feeling, or perhaps a feeling so strong it eclipsed everything else. Letting go of Takahiro’s chair and walking up to stand right in front of me, he smiled.
“Go ahead. Tell me.”
I screwed up my courage and recited the words. “Yami-yami-bake, Yami-yami-Lycoris, Yami-yami-yomi.”
For a second, nothing happened. Then the candles went out, leaving only moonlight to illuminate the scene. And behind him and Takahiro, there she was. The black-clothed miko with the blood-red eyes. Gouta turned, even Takahiro twisted round to stare at the figure. There was a prolonged pause, then a voice came. No mouth movements were visible, making me think more and more that this was some terrible mask being worn.
“I come to deliver truth. The truth you would obscure, Tatsumi Gouta.”
Gouto seemed to falter for several seconds. “I... You... What is this? Some kind of prank? What are you doing here? Get out!”
He reached out, then something flung him back and he landed at my feet. I hadn’t seen a movement except a very slight drifting forward, as if moved by a slight wind. The miko raised her long-sleeved arm and I heard the snap of a finger. The restraints on my chair fell away, but not onto the floor. They simply vanished. I heard some commotion outside, and hard on the door opening Yukari, Souhei and Rumiko burst in. They paused in the middle of...some action, staring at the black miko.
Takahiro came up next to me. “Is this what you saw outside?”
“Yes. And...what I saw on the roof of the building when Akira and Hisawa died. I saw her, saw... Who are you?”
The apparition cocked her head on one side, at the same time reaching up to touch the ugly noose with one hand. She didn’t actually touch it, but the rope vanished noose and all. She looked around at the six of us, then I saw the noh mask twitch and rise into a smile.
“I hold no name. But I have seen much. I have seen, watched, observed and recorded since a time before people inhabited this land. And I know what happened upon that day. I shall take you back, to see what truly occurred.”
She raised her hands and clapped them together. Was that a bell I heard somewhere? Or the hum of something like a great drum? A machine? The scene vaguely shifted and became...familiar. There was a golden gleam of late afternoon across everything, the scenery was shifted into position for school break, there were a couple of students in a corner... Surely they were Koichi and Daisuke from the third year... I went over to them instinctively, but as I reached out, my hand simply passed through them. The voice of the miko came again, this time from the doorway.
“This is memory. Nothing is changeable. Come. See.”
Was I imagining all this? Was Takahiro being murdered right this minute while I was lost in a delusion. I went towards the miko, and felt the others follow. Even Gouto, though everyone did their best to keep their distance from him. I was out in the corridor, and there was no sign of the miko. I wondered briefly what was about to happen. Then it did. I saw a young man with close-cut hair walking quickly down from somewhere, probably the toilets, and heading for the stairs. It was Akira.
I ran after him, but without warning Takahiro overtook me. I was then able to see his parkour abilities as he went round the corner and was ahead of me up the stairs by a good distance. The others were panting behind as I took the steps three at a time. We finally reached the top, and Takahiro and I went to where the roof door was standing...open? That didn’t make sense. The reports I remembered said it had been closed when Gouto found it.
We were all soon out on the roof, the memory of its pristine surface filling me with the kind of longing nostalgia that couldn’t be ignored. My heart pounded for a long moment, and then I saw the two of them standing a good distance from the edge. Akira, looking drawn and urgent, and Hisawa looking on the verge of some emotional outburst. They were in the same clothes I’d seen them wearing that day, the day they... I watched, with the others, as they quietly argued.
“But I’m telling you, Akira-kun, the answer is no.”
“But... Sensei, I can’t deny these feelings any longer.”
“You’re talking like a pre-schooler.”
“But I mean it. I mean, I thought I could care like this for Takahiro, but I don’t feel anything for him. Not really. I love you, Sensei. I love you, I love you—”
“Akira-kun, please think about this. No, get away.”
The teacher abruptly pushed the student away, but then a voice shouted from behind me and the others. “Hey! What’s going on here?”
I turned. It had been Gouto’s voice breaking across the scene, but Gouto shrugged, as puzzled as the rest of us were. Then another Gouto appeared, the Gouto of memory, the Gouto that had gone up and found them. His voice broke past me.
“What the hell’s going on here? Shiki-chan, what are you doing?”
Hisawa-sensei turned to face Gouto. “This isn’t your business, Onii-san. I can handle this without your help.”
“Are you sure? I’ve been worried about you all day. You’re sure there isn’t anything that needs my—”
“Nothing needs your personal touch.” Hisawa-sensei’s voice grew harsh. “I can handle my own battles, Onii-san. I don’t need your constant monitoring of my life anymore, I’m not a child.”
“You behave like one sometimes. Like with this...boy.”
“You... I...”
“Come on!”
The memory Gouto reached out for his sister, who seemed to draw away instinctively. But as Gouto pressed forward, bringing them closer to the edge, Akira stepped between them and pushed him away.
“Just a minute, Gouto-sensei. I can explain.”
“Get out of the way!”
Gouto tried pushing Akira aside, but he resisted. I heard the real Gouto’s voice behind me raised in protest.
“No! That’s not what happened! I...! I didn’t...!”
The miko’s voice came again. “Watch. And learn.”
I continued to watch. The memory Gouto was struggling with Akira, then Hisawa-sensei tried breaking in. With an inarticulate snap he pushed randomly back. Both were caught in the shove, and a scream came from Hisawa’s lips. The same scream we’d heard that day. I saw the memory Gouto rush forward, grasping futily at the pair as they tipped over the edge and began to fall. There was no sound then, save for the thudding far below, the muffled sound of breaking bones.
There was a silence. I felt suddenly sick. Gouto slowly slumped to his knees. And we were abruptly back in the present, the moon shining overhead and the dilapidated building cold and real under our feet. I sensed the miko, but I didn’t turn to see where she must be standing directly behind us, somewhere she could see us all but we couldn’t see her.
“You see now? In your rage and fury, your wish to protect your little sister from everything, you threw away their lives. But in the heat of the moment, you forgot that ever happened. All you remembered was a falling couple, and an idea that a wrong had been committed.”
Gouto reached out towards the edge. “That... I never... How could... How could I have...done that?”
I spoke suddenly. “They knew. That’s why...they all left. Somehow, they knew what happened, but never spoke of it. A boy fell in love with a woman, and the brother killed both the sister and her lover. People must’ve thought this place was cursed. So they abandoned it rather than confront the truth.”
The miko’s voice came again. “The memory is revealed. The truth set right. No more die for this. My function is fulfilled.”
Function? I turned, but the miko was gone from where I assumed she’d been. I looked round everyone. Takahiro looked sick, Rumiko was shuddering with a strange combination of shock and rage, Yukari stared blankly at Gouto, Souhei seemed like he was about to be sick. We all stood in silence as Gouto broke down into tears. I didn’t care what happened now, what might or might not happen to Gouto. I just wanted to get away from this dead town.
“Souhei, can your car take five?” He nodded vaguely. “Good. I don’t want to spend a minute longer than necessary in this place.”
We all left. Gouto remained on the roof. The journey back through the abandoned and dilapidated school wasn’t easy for any of us. We all packed ourselves into Souhei’s car and got away from that place as fast as possible. We ended up at a quiet spot on the road out of town. There we settled and caught our breath. We were very silent, almost too silent. Looking at each of us, I wondered if this would be the stray that broke the back of our friendship. Then, of all people, Rumiko spoke.
“I’d...like to keep in touch with you all. If that’s okay.”
We started talking again. In a more subdued tone, but it was still talking. And I sensed something there, a spark that I hadn’t heard before. Slowly, surely, the energy seemed to return.
There isn’t much more I wanted to tell. We did end up staying in touch this time. Takahiro’s still abroad, got to competing at Olympic levels. He’s got a boyfriend, and they’re visiting Japan again next week. Rumiko’s still going strong with her modelling career, and there’s talk of a film role. Yukari’s still a doctor, but she seems less...stiff than she had been. And Souhei and I are still in our careers, and closer than ever. Funny how that horrible situation seemed to draw us closer together.
As for Gouto, I didn’t hear anything more about him for another three months. Then I got a report of a ‘former teacher from Shujuki High School’ who was found in his home in Tokyo. He’d hanged himself in his bathroom, and it was found that entire apartment was covered in scrawling writing saying ‘sorry’. I don’t feel much sympathy, but I can only hope death gave him some kind of peace. The truth he lived with those last few months must’ve been worse than his delusions.
We never went back to Shujuki, and it became a true ghost town. The railways stopped going there, cars stopped visiting, the last few remnants of residents round its centre moved away or died. I do wonder about the miko and whether I should visit the shrine to pay thanks. But no. Not again. Never again. Never will I go to that town again. There’s nothing left for me there.
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