Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Volume 10 prologue

Volu 10 prologue

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo volu 10 - prologue

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Volu 10 - Signpost of the Spirit

prologue

Hey, wake up.

A voice in her ears.

Setsuko opened her eyes to the orange light entering the house from the window that faced the veranda, shining over the vacuum cleaner left on the living room floor.

She rembered lying on the sofa to take a rest, but it seems she ended up falling asleep for who knows how long.

Even though fatigue left her wanting to shut her eyes back and relax, Setsuko knew she couldn’t.

Reluctantly, she got up and sat on the sofa while rubbing her eyes.

Her pregnancy had entered the ninth month, so her abdon had grown large. Even sothing as simple as switching positions like this had beco troubleso. Furthermore, she got tired easily. Prior to being pregnant, Setsuko never felt so exhausted to the point of having to lie down simply from using the vacuum cleaner.

In the earlier stages of her pregnancy, she often felt strange about all the changes happening with her body. But the thought of the new life that was about to be born naturally brought a smile to her face.

We will et soon enough, Setsuko said in her heart as she stroked her abdon.

As if answering their mother, the child inside her womb began to kick. The sensation only made the happiness within Setsuko grow even larger.

While so, she couldn’t continue sitting around like this. If she were to halt the cleaning activities, she needed to at least pick up the vacuum cleaner she had just used. Otherwise, Setsuko would get scolded by Masahide, her husband.

As opposed to his large stature, Masahide was an overly sensitive person. He would get fastidious over many aspects, particularly cleanliness. But an exception would be the afternoon light shining into this apartnt. He never complained or even cared about it at all.

The apartnt building where Setsuko lived with her husband was a brand-new building close to the station. The unit spanned around eighty-five square ters, with three bedrooms, a living room, dining room, and kitchen.

She had no complaints about it as a property. However, this room faced the west and powerful sunlight shone through, especially at the peak of autumn.

Before purchasing the apartnt, Setsuko had repeatedly expressed her displeasure about it, but Masahide wouldn’t listen. Surely her husband couldn’t care less about the west sunbeam as he wouldn’t be at ho at noon.

Well, there was no use complaining, as it had been decided that this place would be their ho for the rest of their lives.

Setsuko placed her hand on the sofa handle in order to stand up.

Right at that mont, there was a crackle. The photo fra and flower vase on top of the sideboard began to shake.

“An earthquake?” Setsuko wondered while looking at her surroundings.

Strange.

Only the top of the sideboard was shaking. Neither the curtains, the electric cables across the window, nor the trees on the street were moving.

Amidst her confusion, the vibration suddenly stopped.

Setsuko quickly grabbed her phone to check for any breaking news regarding earthquakes on the internet, but there was none. She couldn’t find any information she was looking for.

Has it not been updated yet?

As if that was not enough, a sound as if sothing had just exploded interrupted her thoughts.

What was that?

Setsuko glanced over the entire room.

Snap!

That noise again.

Seems like it ca from above. Did the electrical fuse lt?

Setsuko directed her eyes upwards.

Snap!

This ti, the sound ca from behind her.

She turned around, but only white walls were there.

Snap!

Now the kitchen.

Still supporting herself on the sofa handle, Setsuko got up and walked towards the kitchen, her steps heavy.

She carefully looked around, yet still unable to determine the source of the noise.

What on earth is happening?

She was certain she didn’t mishear it. The source of the noise kept changing as if mocking her.

Could this be a poltergeist?

The word crossed Setsuko’s mind.

When she was in college, she rembered that it was a topic of discussion among her friends when it ca to talking about ghosts.

Poltergeists were a spiritual phenonon done by ghosts in order to announce their existence — if she rembered correctly.

She ended up recalling unpleasant things.

If that was really the sound of poltergeist, a ghost had to be present in the room.

Impossible! Setsuko vehently denied it in her heart.

As a child, she used to believe that ghosts exist. But as she grew older, she ca to realize that those things were rely fabricated.

All spiritual phenona can be scientifically explained.

Despite telling herself that, her fingers started to tremble and sweat began to form on her forehead.

Setsuko took deep breaths over and over to calm herself down.

As she grew calr, she heard faint sounds of human voice.

It startled her and she turned towards the living room.

“And for the next news…”

Setsuko stroked her chest in relief as the voice turned out to be from the television.

But one question plagued her.

“How is that possible? The television was turned off…”

The spark of fear in her grew uncontrollably.

Her breathing beca shallow.

When Setsuko placed her hand on her chest, soone repeatedly patted her back.

Her body jolted and she held her breath.

There shouldn’t have been anyone at ho besides her. So who was the person patting her back?

Don’t look, a voice inside her head commanded. Perhaps it was her own voice.

Her brain was telling not to look, yet for so reason her neck turned against her will.

As if pulled by unseen forces, Setsuko turned to look behind her.

A boy was standing there.

The boy, whose skin was so pale as if no blood flowed underneath, pointed at Setsuko’s abdon bearing a terrifying smile.

“Hey, can I play with them?” he asked.

Setsuko scread at the top of her lungs, drowning the boy’s words —

Nao woke up holding her breath.

A thin layer of sweat covered her forehead.

She felt like she was dreaming, but she couldn’t rember what her dream was about. She only knew that it was a frightening one.

Perhaps Nao was dreaming about that day again.

The day when Isshin was stabbed. A dream about that day —

Nao did not know her father’s face. All she knew was that her mother died when she was a year old.

Because of this, Isshin had been the only parent for Nao. A loved one who raised her with kindness —

Nao sighed and turned to the window. Across the frilled curtains, cold blue moonlight managed its way in.

A peaceful night —

But for Nao, whose hearing was impaired, the world had always been filled with silence.

She had been brought to see the doctor several tis before, but they weren’t able to determine the cause.

While most would have sympathised and pitied her, Nao didn’t really care as it was her normal.

Besides, in place of being unable to hear and talk with others, sotis Nao would be able to hear what her conversation partner was thinking if she focused her mind on it.

Of course, it didn’t apply to just about anyone. If not with those with compatible wavelengths, she wouldn’t be able to hear the person’s inner voice.

That itself wasn’t a problem, as she thought having that much was enough.

Is that really true?

A question suddenly popped in her mind.

Surely, this world is filled with all sorts of sounds.

Her wish to find out how her entire world would change if she could hear was undeniably present. But Nao realised that those around her would be troubled should she express that wish.

It wasn’t like Nao was holding back. However, she disliked seeing the faces of people feeling sad and troubled.

All those thoughts made her try to go back to sleep.

She switched her position, lying down sideways on the bed. Still, drowsiness wouldn’t co. As if sothing was bothering her.

Her chest rumbled furiously.

She had a hunch as if sothing awful was slowly approaching.

Right before Isshin died, she recalled having the sa rumbling feeling on her chest.

That final thought made it even harder for her to fall asleep.

She didn’t want to lose anyone dear to her ever again.

Nao decided to get up from the bed, walking towards the window.

The moonlight shining through the space between the curtains must have been the cause of her uneasiness.

The girl sighed, once more deciding to try to fall asleep. But as she headed for the bed, she felt as if soone was calling her.

She shouldn’t have been able to hear, so how was that even possible?

Nao turned back and saw the curtains move slightly.

Strange.

The window was closed, so no wind could co in. So why would the curtains move?

Nao sharpened her gaze, peering slightly outside through the curtain gap.

“Aah!” she spontaneously scread.

Across the curtains, a pair of eyes were looking in her direction. It happened really quickly and they were gone in an instant.

Did I see that right? Nao was curious, but she didn’t dare to confirm so she quickly sprinted for the bed and covered herself head to toe with the blanket.

Maybe it was a sign that sothing bad is about to happen.

The idea made her body shiver.

Monts later, she felt soone entering her room.

Still in fear, Nao peeked from beneath the blanket.

Who she saw was Kazutoshi Gotou.

Nao couldn’t contain her fear any longer and jumped towards Gotou for a hug.

With his burly arms, Gotou caught Nao. Arms that were strong, yet gentle.

After Isshin died, Gotou and his wife —Atsuko— decided to take in Nao.

At first, Nao was worried as while she had t Gotou previously, she didn’t know him too well.

However, that concern turned out to be for nothing.

Gotou may have appeared bearlike with a scary face, but he had a kind heart.

Atsuko also took great care of Nao. She got scolded from ti to ti, but Nao knew it was because Atsuko loved her.

I’m allowed to be here — recently, Nao had been having these thoughts. It made her feel relieved.

That was why she was all the more frightened by the idea that sothing bad may happen.

Gotou stroked Nao’s head repeatedly to soothe her from her mysterious uneasiness.

The corner of Nao’s eyes welled up.

Nao begged with all her heart. She didn’t want to lose this place of warmth and comfort.