Shinrei Tantei Yakumo Volume 10 Chapter 2

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo volu 10 - file 02

Shinrei Tantei Yakumo novel translation

Volu 10 - Signpost of the Spirit

( prologue | file 01 - on )

file 02 - confession

After getting dressed, Haruka left her apartnt. At this hour, the trains were no longer running, so she headed in the opposite direction of the station and towards the main street to find a taxi.

Once she had caught a taxi and stated the na of the hospital she was going to, she leaned against the passenger seat.

I hope everything is alright.

Haruka could only pray, while the taxi engines roared as it began to move.

She turned to the car window, where all sorts of sights flashed by. The city view that should have been familiar to her now felt foreign.

Haruka recalled feeling this way before.

When Isshin had gotten stabbed.

At that ti, she had prayed for Isshin’s safety as she gazed through a car window just like this.

Yet, her prayers hadn’t been answered.

Isshin’s life had been saved, but he had ended up brain dead and eventually had to leave everyone behind.

Could it be that Gotou-san was also—

No! Haruka yelled in her heart, getting rid of the thought.

Earlier, she had hurriedly left after receiving a call from Ishii, who had told her that Gotou had been in an accident, but she hadn’t heard any of the details yet.

It would be fine, once she reached the hospital, Gotou would surely yell, ‘you guys are getting worried over nothing,’ energetically.

Haruka tried to calm her feelings with that thought, but the more she did, the more anxiousness spewed from her chest.

Please get there soon, Haruka thought, continuously squeezing her sweating palms.

The lights at the front of the hospital were already out. Ones that could be seen from the windows had mostly been turned off as well.

The hospital atmosphere at night only heightened her anxiety further.

Haruka alighted the taxi and walked towards the designated entrance for nightti visitation.

She declared her intention to visit a patient to the security guard. However, she had no idea what to answer when asked about her relationship to Gotou.

“Non-family mbers aren’t allowed…” said the guard with a sour look.

Debating here seed pointless and she would have never been allowed to enter. As Haruka thought she had no other options but to wait outside, soone called out to her.

It was Yakumo.

“Yakumo-kun!” Haruka exclaid in relief.

“You ca as well, huh.”

“Yes. Ishii-san contacted .”

“Is that so,” answered Yakumo, who then walked towards the security guard. After speaking for so ti, he returned with visitor passes for two people.

Who knew what Yakumo had said to the guard, but with those, they could get in.

Haruka accepted her visitor pass and entered the nightti visitation entrance with Yakumo.

“How is Gotou-san’s condition?” Haruka asked Yakumo as they walked along the dimly lit corridor.

“I was also just inford that Gotou-san had been in an accident. I don’t know about the details.”

The tone in Yakumo’s voice wasn’t as clear as usual. While it wasn’t visible on his face, Yakumo must have been shaken as well.

Yakumo and Gotou were always bickering with each other every ti they t, but that was because they trusted each other.

Without a doubt, Gotou had to be an important person to Yakumo.

“Surely Gotou-san is fine,” Haruka spoke to herself as they got into the lift.

“We don’t know about that,” said Yakumo with a little sigh.

Yakumo was never one to speak freely before he had the chance to fully grasp the situation. However, at tis like this, that attitude of his made Haruka grow more restless than ever.

The incident with Isshin flashed in her mind yet again. Why were her thoughts always going in the negative direction?

They got out of the lift and walked across a lengthy corridor before arriving at the waiting room.

The lights in the room shone brightly over the rows of sofa underneath. Even though they had arrived, Haruka’s anxiousness hadn’t gone away.

“Yakumo-shi. Haruka-chan.”

Ishii, who had been sitting on a sofa at one corner of the waiting room, called out to them as he got up.

“Ishii-san.”

Haruka and Yakumo walked towards him.

“Sorry for contacting you in the middle of the night like this,” Ishii politely bowed his head.

He shouldn’t have been apologising. If not for Ishii contacting them, neither Haruka nor Yakumo would have known about the accident.

Despite that, it was a habit of Ishii’s to apologise like this.

“Not at all. Thank you for contacting us.”

“So, how is Gotou-san’s condition?” asked Yakumo, cutting Haruka’s sentence.

Ishii’s expression turned gloomy.

The ominous feeling within Haruka rose even further.

“The operation was completed. They managed to save Detective Gotou’s life and he’s currently being treated at the intensive care unit. Atsuko-san is accompanying him.”

“Thank goodness…” blurted Haruka spontaneously.

They could feel more relieved if his life had already been saved.

“But…” Ishii spoke with regret in his voice and dropped his gaze to his feet.

This reaction….Haruka began to shake as her previously suppressed anxiety swelled in an instant.

“His condition needs further observation. According to the doctors, tonight is the critical period—”

Ishii sounded like he was about to cry.

“No way…”

Haruka couldn’t say anything more than that.

Wasn’t this almost like a repeat of when Isshin had gotten hospitalised?

Sothing cold spread within Haruka’s heart. Her head was spinning, until she felt like she could no longer stand.

Haruka turned to Yakumo and found him standing there with his usual expressionless face.

Although he appeared calm on the outside, the aura that Yakumo gave off was clearly different from normal. Whether it was anger, sadness, or lant—what could Yakumo possibly be thinking about right now?

The waiting room was filled with heavy silence.

They didn’t know how much ti had passed before the door was opened and soone entered the waiting room.

It was Gotou’s wife—Atsuko. Her forehead was covered in bandages; it looked like she had been injured.

Even amidst the grave situation, Atsuko did not appear perplexed. She walked straight in their direction.

“Thank you for coming all the way here,” she said, bowing her head politely.

“No. Not a problem at all…anyway, how is Detective Gotou?” asked Ishii with a panicked expression.

“Just as the doctor had said, his consciousness hadn’t returned. Tonight is the critical period,” explained Atsuko.

Perhaps Ishii had purposely asked Atsuko out of wishful thinking that he had misheard the doctor and that Gotou’s condition had turned out differently.

As expected, Ishii looked utterly disappointed, slumping listlessly after hearing Atsuko’s explanation.

“What should I do…?” said Ishii, struggling to even voice out his words.

Haruka felt the sa. She wanted to do sothing for Gotou’s sake, but she was powerless.

“We can only leave my husband in the doctors’ hands,” said Atsuko in resilience.

That’s right. In her mind, Haruka understood that well, yet her heart remained restless.

“Rather than that, I want all of you to help Nao—” requested Atsuko, bowing her head once more.

Did she an that she had wanted them to look after Nao while Gotou was hospitalised? Haruka had thought so for a mont, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Did sothing happen to Nao?” asked Yakumo.

Atsuko nodded firmly. “She disappeared.”

Atsuko’s voice echoed within the waiting room.

Again, their surroundings were swallowed by silence.

After so ti, Yakumo frowned and asked, “What does that an?”

“Gotou got into an accident when he was chasing after Nao after she had broken out of their ho,” a voice suddenly said. They turned to the direction of the voice and found Eishin standing there.

Haruka felt an ominous feeling at the sight of Eishin being in the hospital in his priest robes. However, now wasn’t the ti to worry about that.

“What do you an?” asked Haruka.

“Hm,” Eishin nodded before continuing. “While it remains a speculation, Nao might be possessed by a ghost. Because of that, she had lost her reasoning and ran away from ho. Otherwise, I don’t have an explanation for Nao’s actions.”

“So she really was…”

Today Gotou had co to discuss that Nao might have been possessed. Unfortunately, they hadn’t been able to confirm it as Yakumo’s left eye couldn’t see. This incident might have just proven that Nao was indeed possessed by a ghost.

“Sorry—” said Eishin, bowing deeply.

“Why are you apologising?” asked Yakumo.

“Looks like Nao was possessed because Gotou had been investigating the spiritual phenona at the apartnt.”

Gotou had stated the sa possibility.

“And the person who had asked Gotou to resolve the spiritual case was none other than ,” said Eishin with a pensive expression.

So that was why Eishin was apologising. Had he not brought that case to Gotou, Gotou wouldn’t have gotten into an accident, and Nao wouldn’t have disappeared either.

He seed to be blaming himself. Even so, the further they pried into this, the more everyone would think that this incident had been their own fault.

It was the sa for Haruka.

When Gotou had consulted them, they had given up on the basis that Yakumo’s left eye hadn’t recovered. Had they investigated further then, they could have been able to prevent this incident.

Haruka’s shoulders grew heavy at the thought.

“I have requested a search investigation, so the police should be tracking her whereabouts right about now,” Ishii added.

Haruka felt grateful to Ishii’s prompt action, but she didn’t think the police would be able to find Nao.

The reasoning was clear.

Nao hadn’t disappeared out of her own will, nor had she been kidnapped. It was likely that she had been possessed by a ghost and now went into hiding out of the ghost’s will.

To determine where Nao was, they needed to figure out the identity of the ghost possessing her and what their intentions were.

Because of that, there was no other way to go but to solve the spiritual phenonon that Gotou had been investigating.

Surely Yakumo had reached the sa conclusion.

Haruka turned to Yakumo’s direction.

However, Yakumo only mumbled with a lifeless expression. “Is that so…”

Ishii sat alone on a sofa in the waiting room, spacing out while staring at the ceiling—

No visitors were allowed to see Gotou and as Ishii wasn’t a family mber, he couldn’t even enter the intensive care unit.

Yakumo and Haruka couldn’t do anything either, and eventually went ho.

What should I do?

Ishii tried to think about it, but nothing ca to mind.

While he was never a bright person, Gotou’s accident had shaken him so much that his brain couldn’t function normally.

Gotou was a person that Ishii had been looking up to. The man was determined to never submit to anyone and possessed an ability to make decisions based on that belief. He also had a strong willpower, sacrificing himself for the sake of others.

Those were qualities that Ishii didn’t possess.

That had been the reason why he admired Gotou and continued to chase after his back. Had it not been for Gotou, Ishii would have quit the police force a long ti ago.

He was able to push through difficult tis thanks to Gotou.

Gotou usually treated him roughly, but the thankful words he had occasionally received from him greatly comforted Ishii’s heart.

Whenever Gotou had needed him, Ishii had been especially overjoyed from the bottom of his heart.

If Gotou were to die, perhaps he would no longer be able to stand on his two feet.

He would certainly fall down easily, like a tree that had lost its roots.

“I…” Ishii couldn’t hold back the anxiousness that plagued him. He covered his face with both hands and curled himself up.

His body felt like it was shrinking over and over, to the point that he thought he was about to disappear.

At that mont—

“Ishii-san,” a kind voice called out to him, then a hand gently touched his back.

Ishii lifted his face and found Makoto sitting next to him—he didn’t know how long she had been there—stroking over Ishii’s hunched back.

“Ma-Makoto-san…”

“Sorry. I wanted to co earlier, but I was held up by the security at the front…” Makoto smiled bitterly.

“No, it’s fine.”

“How’s Gotou-san’s condition?” asked Makoto.

Upon hearing a warm, familiar voice, Ishii’s anxiousness began to subside.

“The truth is—” Ishii began to explain Gotou’s condition, along with everything he knew.

He further added how Nao had disappeared and that it might have been related to the spiritual case that Gotou had been investigating.

Makoto listened attentively to Ishii’s jumbled explanation without rushing him.

Once Ishii had finished telling her everything, Makoto mumbled with a solemn expression. “So that’s how it is—”

“What should I do…?” Ishii said unknowingly.

Ishii didn’t actually want to say that. When Yakumo and Haruka had been present earlier, he had tried to hide his weakness with all his might.

Yet, without realising, he had lowered his guard in front of Makoto.

“Ishii-san…”

“If sothing happens to Detective Gotou, I…” Just like that, he nearly cried at the thought of the worst outco.

“Let’s just believe,” said Makoto with a friendly smile on her face.

“Eh?”

“Right now we can only believe. Isn’t that so?”

Makoto was right. There was no use being depressed at the worst case scenario that hadn’t even happened yet. At this ti, he could only believe that Gotou would be fine.

“That’s true,” Ishii replied with a nod.

Makoto happily chuckled. “Now, let’s do what we can for Gotou-san,” said Makoto energetically.

Ishii agreed with her. But—

“What can we do?”

Ishii had been wondering since earlier, without finding an answer.

“I suppose…look for Nao-chan.”

“Nao-chan…?”

“Yes. if Nao-chan isn’t found by the ti Gotou-san regains his consciousness, we’ll get scolded badly.”

Ishii realised it upon hearing Makoto’s words.

True. A re punch wouldn’t be enough to settle it.

“You have a point,” Ishii said in agreent. Despite that, there wasn’t a lot he could do in this situation. It would be impossible for him to find a missing person alone. He could only participate in the search organised by the police, although he probably wouldn’t be of much help either.

No, he could not be weak hearted.

Whether his presence was of any help, all he could do now was to do his best searching for Nao.

“I will participate in the search right away,” Ishii stood up enthusiastically. However, Makoto stopped him.

“I don’t think it’s of any use to search using normal ways,” Makoto turned to stare at Ishii.

“What do you an?”

“Nao-chan’s disappearance was tied to the spiritual phenonon that Gotou was investigating, right?”

“That’s true…” Ishii was uncertain, but he had thought of the sa possibility as Makoto.

“Also, there’s one thing that bothers .”

“What is it?”

“You said that Gotou-san was investigating a spiritual phenonon that had been occurring in an apartnt, right?”

“Yes.”

“Could it be the sa apartnt as the one we had gone to previously?”

“Eh?” Ishii spontaneously exclaid.

He thought that Makoto was jumping to conclusions.

Just because the spiritual phenonon happened in an apartnt, it didn’t guarantee that it would be at the sa apartnt building they had visited. Countless apartnt buildings existed in this world.

“Don’t you think the timing is a little off?”

That was fair, the timing was too good to be a coincidence.

“B-but…”

“Besides, think about what Sayama-san had said.”

“What Sayama-san said?”

“Yes. Didn’t he say that the spiritual phenonon had also occurred in other apartnt units?”

Upon hearing Makoto’s explanation, Ishii gulped audibly.

Sayama had indeed said sothing along those lines. It’s possible that just as Makoto suspected, the apartnt building tied to Gotou was really the sa one that they had gone to.

If that were the case, it ant there was more than just one ghost.

Perhaps there was a large, terrifying creature lurking there. The thought of it frankly terrified Ishii.

“I am going to investigate the spiritual phenonon at the apartnt once more. You too, Ishii. You can try to trace Nao-chan’s footsteps while keeping in mind that this is related to a spiritual phenonon. How does that sound?” said Makoto firmly.

“Alright. But can I really do it?”

Ishii had thought that his resolve had returned, but either way, he still didn’t feel confident about himself.

“What are you talking about? You’re the only one who can do it,” said Makoto with a smile.

How could Makoto always put her trust in a weakling like him? Ishii couldn’t help feeling puzzled about it.

“Hey, Yakumo-kun—” called Haruka.

Yakumo stopped and turned around.

His face was lit by the streetlights.

Yakumo had pale white skin, but he looked even paler than usual today. It couldn’t have been solely because it was nightti.

“What?” Yakumo responded back in annoyance.

Maybe he had predicted what Haruka was about to say.

“Isn’t there any way for us to look for Nao-chan?” stressed Haruka.

As Atsuko had said, they could only entrust Gotou’s care to the doctors. But when it ca to searching for Nao’s whereabouts, they should be able to do sothing too.

To Haruka, there were two things that they could do now: to believe that Gotou would make a full recovery, and to find Nao before Gotou regained consciousness.

“Ishii-san has requested for a search operation,” said Yakumo, making Haruka question what she just heard.

“That’s true, but we can also…”

“It’s better to leave it to the police,” Yakumo shook his head slightly.

“But…”

“Even if we search carelessly all over the place, we won’t be able to find Nao-chan.”

“That’s not true.”

“Impossible.”

“Why are you giving up?”

“I’m not giving up. Everyone has their own roles to play. Unfortunately, right now we can only wait.”

“How can we just sit and wait? There must be so way to find Nao-chan.”

“What way? If you act carelessly, you’ll only get in the way of the police,” said Yakumo flatly.

Haruka was flabbergasted.

In previous cases, Yakumo had always acted without caring about the police’s movents. Why would he say such a thing now?

Yakumo’s presence felt awfully distant.

“Aren’t you worried about Nao-chan?”

“Of course I am worried.”

There was irritation in Yakumo’s voice.

“In that case…”

“I know what you’re about to say. If Nao’s disappearance was in fact related to the spiritual phenonon that Gotou investigated, we may be able to track her whereabouts from that direction. That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

Haruka answered him with a firm nod.

Haruka didn’t understand. Why wasn’t Yakumo taking action if he had already known that?

“My left eye can’t see,” said Yakumo while reaching for the eyepatch over his left eye. While only slightly, his white fingertips were trembling.

“I know.”

“Then you should’ve understood, right? As my left eye can’t see, I can’t track Nao’s whereabouts from a spiritual phenonon,” emphasised Yakumo.

His argunt was right. However, that wasn’t what Haruka had wanted to say.

Certainly, his red left eye had a major contribution to the cases he had managed to solve, but it hadn’t been the sole factor.

Aside from that, the Yakumo that Haruka knew wouldn’t have given up this easily when a person he cared about was in danger.

Yakumo had always marched forward without giving up. That was why—

“Even if you can’t see, there has to be a way for us to do sothing.”

“In that case, please tell , what is this way you ntioned about?”

“That’s…” Haruka couldn’t answer straight away. She had been onesidedly urging Yakumo despite not having a plan herself; it looked like she had acted unfairly.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting, but right now I can’t do anything.” Yakumo looked down as he hung his head.

Haruka had never seen Yakumo so demoralised.

Perhaps the man was experiencing an overwhelmingly vivid sense of helplessness.

The red eye he had always hated was now unusable. Yet, now that his left eye was gone, he felt as if his life had already lost its aning.

Haruka didn’t know what to say to Yakumo as she was aware of that fact.

Surely Yakumo wouldn’t want any halfhearted words of comfort, and Haruka had no intention to say those things either.

“Why did you decide that you can’t?”

“It wasn’t for to decide, it’s just the truth. There’s no way I can solve the mystery of a spiritual phenonon without being able to see.”

“That isn’t true.”

“What isn’t?”

“Because…all this ti, you were able to solve cases not solely because of your ability to see ghosts, right?”

Yakumo had a sharp ability in reading and analysing all sorts of situations. So far he had been utilising that skill to solve all sorts of cases.

This ti around, too, even if he couldn’t see ghosts, he should still be able to analyse the situation and reach the truth eventually.

“I’m not that amazing,” said Yakumo with a depressing sigh.

“That’s not true. You’ve been solving cases faster than the police could.”

“As I said, you’re thinking too highly of .” Yakumo shook his head.

Haruka could hear Yakumo impatiently gritting his teeth.

He may have gotten annoyed from not having his feelings understood.

“You’re mistaken.”

“What am I mistaken about? I have been able to solve cases due to my advantage of being able to see ghosts.”

“It wasn’t just that.”

“It was only that.”

“……….”

Haruka was at a loss for words. She wasn’t able to express the feelings residing within her. She didn’t know how to explain it, and she felt that she would hurt Yakumo’s heart if she said anything more than this.

Is that really so? A voice within her head spoke.

The real reason Haruka had shut her mouth must be because she had wanted to protect herself so that Yakumo wouldn’t hate her.

This wasn’t the first ti.

It wasn’t just with Yakumo, Haruka had never spoken truthfully about her innermost feelings as she had always feared being hated by others.

That was why, to this day she couldn’t express her hidden feelings towards Yakumo.

Yakumo hadn’t been the only one hiding within his shell. Haruka was the sa. Even after knowing that, she still couldn’t voice out her thoughts.

“Because I can’t see ghosts anymore, I’m just an ordinary person now,” said Yakumo softly, like a whisper.

“All people are just ordinary people…” Haruka added, but her words ca out shallow.

“That’s not what I ant.”

“But…”

“That’s enough,” Yakumo said harshly, rejecting any further argunts.

Haruka suddenly felt as if an invisible wall had stood between Yakumo and her.

“Sorry, but even if you put your expectations up, the right now can’t fulfil those expectations,” said Yakumo, laughing at himself. A dry laugh that Haruka had never heard before.

Haruka and Yakumo stared at each other for a while afterwards. Perhaps Yakumo was waiting for sothing.

Even so, Haruka didn’t know what he was waiting for.

After a long silence, Yakumo turned his heels and walked away.

Wait!

Without being able to say that one word, Haruka could only stare at Yakumo’s back, which grew further and further away.

She thought she had understood Yakumo’s pain and sadness after they had gone through many things together, but right now Yakumo’s figure was turning invisible until she felt as if she had imagined it all along.

It wasn’t long until Yakumo’s silhouette blended into the darkness and disappeared from Haruka’s sight—

Ishii arrived at the crossroad where the accident had taken place.

This was where Gotou had gotten into an accident.

The cri scene investigation was over, yet the markings drawn in white chalk on top of the asphalt remained. Combined with the pool of blood which appeared black thanks to the moonlight, it rumbled Ishii’s heart.

Makoto had said she would look for information on Nao through investigating the spiritual phenonon. anwhile, Ishii had decided to search for Nao using his position in the police force, and that was why he had co here.

He turned his gaze forwards a little and noticed the tire tracks created by the sudden braking of the car.

The person who had been driving the car was a man in his thirties called Sasaoka. He worked as a subcontractor for a delivery service. The accident had happened on his way ho after work.

According to Sasaoka’s testimony, he had hit the brakes imdiately when a person had suddenly jumped in front of the car, but he had been unable to evade in ti.

These tire tracks supported that testimony.

Had Sasaoka not hit the brakes, Gotou might have died on the spot. Ishii shivered at the thought.

Ishii recalled Eishin’s account of how Gotou had gotten into the accident when chasing Nao.

To tell the truth, Ishii had been worried upon hearing that Gotou had planned to adopt Nao. The primary reason had been his uncertainty towards whether familial love would flourish after Gotou had suddenly beco an adoptive parent.

That worry had turned out to be for nothing.

Anyone could see that Gotou loved Nao just like a biological daughter.

In this era, there had been unfortunate cases where parents killed their own biological children. However, Gotou had sacrificed his body to protect Nao, who wasn’t his biological child, without hesitation.

Hence, for Gotou’s sake, they had to find Nao no matter what.

Even with that determination, Ishii didn’t know where to start.

“So you’re here after all,” said a voice, startling Ishii as he turned around.

Miyagawa was standing there. His hands were stuffed into his pant pockets, an unlit cigarette sticking out of his mouth.

“M-Miyagawa-san!”

“So surprised. You think I’m a ghost?”

“Eh? Are you a ghost?”

“How can I be,” said Miyagawa as he poked Ishii’s shoulder.

“That’s true.”

“So, how’s Gotou?” Ishii spontaneously looked down at Miyagawa’s question.

Frankly, he was tired of having to repeatedly explain the reality that he still refused to believe. Despite that, he couldn’t just stay silent and began explaining the current situation.

“He will be fine,” Miyagawa mumbled after hearing Ishii’s story.

Ishii questioned Miyagawa’s ntal state; how could he still be optimistic after hearing all that?

“B-but…”

“Gotou won’t die just from a car crash.”

“I want to think that way too…”

“No need for excuses, just believe in him. If you continue to act like that, he’s going to scold you again,” Miyagawa dragged Ishii’s shoulder to his direction. Despite his small stature, Miyagawa’s hand was strong.

Ishii had decided to believe that Gotou would fully recover, but he still couldn’t discard his pessimism entirely.

He realised that after hearing Miyagawa’s words.

I shouldn’t be like this. As Miyagawa had said, who knows what Gotou would say to him.

“Yes!” Ishii answered loud and clear.

“That’s a good expression.” Miyagawa smiled widely, then patted Ishii’s shoulder. “Geez. That man has been nothing but trouble from the start,” grumbled Miyagawa as he lit his cigarette.

Ishii felt deeply consoled by his superior, but he now realised that Gotou was also an important person to Miyagawa.

He had heard that Miyagawa had been the one supervising Gotou at the beginning of his career.

From conversations between Miyagawa and Gotou that Ishii had often heard, he could feel that their relationship was more than a ntor and his disciple. Ishii sotis felt jealousy over it.

“What are you looking at?” asked Miyagawa, blowing a puff of smoke upon noticing Ishii’s stare.

“Ah, no, it’s nothing,” Ishii hurriedly turned his gaze elsewhere.

Miyagawa reached for his cigarette and stared at its burning end. “Ah, that’s right. No smoking on the street, huh,” he said with a bitter smile before putting out his cigarette onto a portable ashtray.

His superior normally wouldn’t break the rules like this. While he looked calm, Miyagawa must have been shaken too, enough for his tough act to be seen through.

“Anyway. Let’s go quickly,” ordered Miyagawa who had already started walking.

“Go? Where to?” Ishii hurriedly chased after him.

“Don’t talk as if you don’t know. Gotou’s adopted daughter disappeared, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’re going to search for her.”

Ishii had no issues with searching for Nao.

In fact, he had co here with that purpose. However—

“But how…?”

“For God’s sake. Toughen yourself.” Miyagawa slapped Ishii’s back.

His spine straightened from the pain.

“O-ow.”

Without heeding Ishii’s complaints, Miyagawa pointed at the convenience store at the end of the street.

“Security caras,” he said.

Realisation ca upon Ishii.

Gotou had gotten into an accident here while chasing Nao. That ant Nao had also been roaming around here.

Security caras at convenience stores were typically used to monitor the interior of the store, but depending on the angle, sotis the street could also be within view of the recording.

In the last few years, there had been a number of cases solved thanks to these caras.

By reviewing the convenience store security footage, they might be able to find out what Nao had been up to after the accident.

“So that’s how it is. I am going to speak to the store employees imdiately.”

“There’s no need to. I have already asked for their permission,” Miyagawa laughed proudly.

Yakumo sat in his chair, eyes staring blankly into nothing but empty space.

The Movie Research Circle clubroom was filled with silence.

Yakumo removed the eyepatch from his left eye, covered his right eye using his palm, and opened his left eye.

Previously, he had been able to see a glint of moonlight that had made its way inside the room, but now his eyesight was pitch black.

The absence of sound further amplified the darkness.

All this ti, his left eye had seen sights unlike what he saw through his right eye. A realm where clusters of emotions of the dead—ghosts—had existed.

Yakumo hated that from the bottom of his heart.

He had to endure being treated like a monster countless tis because of his red left eye. Whenever he saw himself in a mirror, he would feel the urge to gouge out that red eye of his.

Having to see ghosts on each and every passing day had forced a burden onto his ntal state.

Ghosts who wandered on earth after their deaths all had their own intentions for doing so. Be it that they had died from an accident, illness, suicide, or anger, most left a lingering attachnt to this world.

That’s the reason they wandered, primarily out of negative emotions like vengeance, hatred, or anger.

Yakumo’s ntal state had been drained to its limit as he had to bear witness to such emotions without understanding why.

He had been at a loss on what to do and could only live out his days in fear of seeing ghosts.

There had even been a ti when he had kept himself locked inside his room, as the boundaries between the world of the living and the realm of the dead had beco so faint that the idea of going out terrified him.

Had his red left eye ceased to exist, perhaps he could have lived more peacefully. The thought had crossed his mind countless tis.

That wasn’t the only reason Yakumo hated his left eye. This red left eye was the very proof that he had inherited that man’s blood.

The blood of Unkai—his biological father who had two red eyes.

Furthermore, Unkai had been the older half-brother of Azusa, Yakumo’s mother.

Cursed blood flowed viscously within his body. Just thinking about it made him shudder with nausea.

He felt hatred towards himself when he rembered how the blood of the man who took pleasure in manipulating and crushing other people’s feelings flowed inside him.

It had been the reason why he had always kept his distance from others. He felt that they, too, would beco a victim of the curse he carried had they stuck around him. After all, Nao’s mother—Akemi—had died after getting involved with Yakumo.

Without realising, he had ended up hurting those who had crossed paths with him. Like a hedgehog’s dilemma.

He refused to have anything to do with romance for the sa reason.

No way a cursed human such as him could be allowed to like soone.

Had he done such a thing, the person he liked would suffer as well. The idea was more painful than anything else.

Let alone having them bear his children. That would be the sa as passing down the curse to the future generation.

This curse of the red eye had to end with him. He still had that very mindset to this day.

Suddenly, Haruka’s face flashed through Yakumo’s mind.

Haruka, whom upon seeing Yakumo’s red colored left eye, had said, “beautiful”.

It hadn’t been a mistake at all. That woman had really thought that way. Who knows how much Haruka’s words had saved Yakumo.

For the first ti, Yakumo had felt acknowledged, because the red eye that he so despised had been regarded as beautiful.

Sohow, ever since he had heard those words from Haruka, Yakumo had been able to co to terms with his red eye better than ever before.

His rising involvent with spiritual cases had been a testant to that fact.

Sure, it had been due to Haruka gathering all kinds of trouble and bringing them over to Yakumo. But that hadn’t been the only reason.

Yakumo had been awakened to the fact that his red eye was more than just a curse. That his eye had the ability to help people too.

Obviously, he couldn’t save everyone he saw. Sotis, he would do everything he could, yet his hopes would remain unfulfilled.

Despite that, he had been able to connect countless people’s feelings, from which hope had erged.

With Haruka’s presence, his hatred towards himself had lessened. It had led him to think that he was allowed to be in this world, too.

If his left eye hadn’t been red in the first place, what would his relationship with Haruka be like?

The question popped into his mind.

Would he be able to enjoy his youth like the average university student?

No.

That would be impossible.

He had t Haruka because of a spiritual phenonon.

In other words, had his red left eye never existed, he would have never t Haruka in the first place.

His life would have certainly co to an end without ever knowing Haruka’s existence. Even if they had been able to et, their relationship would have been completely different from the way it was now.

It had been thanks to his red left eye that he had known the existence of Haruka’s older twin sister, allowing him to touch the woman’s heart.

And not just Haruka alone.

Perhaps he would have never t Gotou, either.

Yakumo had first t Gotou when he had nearly been killed by his mother—Azusa. Without his red eye, he would’ve never had to experience that murder attempt.

If he hadn’t been able to see ghosts, Gotou wouldn’t have paid him much heed either.

It was the sa for Ishii and Makoto, too.

He had the chance to et them because of his red left eye.

Were he to pursue the origin of it all, if the man with two red eyes that he detested so much had never existed, he would never even be in this world.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t bring himself to forgive that man.

His red left eye was undoubtedly a curse. Hence, he was still maintaining his distance from Haruka and Gotou.

However—

At this mont in ti, Yakumo longed for the red eye he had intensely loathed. He needed it in order to find Nao.

Yet, that was a selfish request.

To yearn for the red eye would be no different from demanding assistance from Unkai, whom he abhorred.

Whatever happened, he would never acknowledge that man’s existence.

Maybe that had been the reason why his eyesight had yet to return.

Because Yakumo rejected Unkai’s existence.

That was why he wasn’t able to see—

But, acknowledging Unkai’s existence ant forgiving all his wrongdoings thus far, bringing himself closer to Unkai.

And that was…a terrifying idea.

He might fall into the sa darkness as Unkai because the cursed blood within his body—that he had been repressing intensely—would awaken.

Still, if Nao couldn’t be saved otherwise, perhaps he had no choice but to do it.

Is that really true?

Yakumo threw the question at himself, but there was no answer.

“I…”

Yakumo leaned against the chair and turned his gaze upon the ceiling.

He ended up losing sense of his own identity.

Right now, he just wanted to disappear.

That was the only thing he wished for—

Ishii stared intently at the monitor screen—

Right now, he was in the gas station staffroom.

They had reviewed the footage from the security caras last night. Just as they had expected, Nao’s presence had been caught on cara.

Even if only for a mont, they now knew which direction Nao had walked away. However, they still had no idea where she had gone afterwards.

That was why Ishii and Miyagawa had decided to split up to confirm the security footage at the convenience store, gas station, as well as residential hos along the street.

They had been following any traces of Nao from the cri scene while adding markers on the map. Yet, they had hit a dead end.

The reason was simple. Nao had gone to a deserted road.

There hadn’t been a single security cara along that road, so they couldn’t determine where Nao had gone.

Despite that, they hadn’t given up yet.

Miyagawa and Ishii had been reviewing security footage based on their estimation of where Nao could have gone from the direction she had walked to.

This gas station was one of them.

After hours of analysing security footage, Ishii let out a sigh.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen any sight of Nao from the gas station security footage.

“She isn’t here either, huh…” Miyagawa, who had been next to him, said in disappointnt.

“Yes…”

“Looks like finding her is going to be difficult,” grumbled Miyagawa.

They had been tracing Nao’s whereabouts since the night before without an inch of sleep or rest. Ishii understood that Miyagawa had gone pessimistic out of exhaustion, but they couldn’t just give up now.

Without a doubt, other police officers were conducting their search as well. Even so, Ishii felt that it was his duty to find Nao.

“Let’s proceed to the next location.” With both hands, Ishii slapped his cheeks in an attempt to keep himself motivated.

“Good grief. Since when did you beco so enthusiastic?” comnted Miyagawa, shaking his head.

“Eh?”

“I had thought you were weak-willed.”

Miyagawa laughed bitterly.

Ishii couldn’t deny that he was weak. His old self would have complained as well.

The person who had changed him had been none other than Gotou. That was all the more reason that he couldn’t give up here.

“If you have the ti to sit still and think, it’s better to start taking action…Detective Gotou often said that.”

“I was the one who had taught him that.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, since that was my line, I must follow through with it now,” Miyagawa laughed gleefully and stood up from the chair.

Perhaps a teaching was truly ant to be passed from one individual to the next, to eventually touch yet another person’s heart like this.

Thanks to the thought, Ishii was in high spirits all of a sudden.

They exited the gas station staffroom and as they were about to walk away, the gas station manager called out to them. “Detectives,”

“Yes?” replied Ishii.

“Was it a girl around seven years old that you were looking for? One with bob hair—”

“How did you know?”

Ishii and Miyagawa had requested the manager’s cooperation to search for a missing person. But they hadn’t specified who they were looking for.

And yet, the description had matched with Nao.

“I’ve just rembered. Late at night yesterday, a patron at the gas station had said that she had seen a girl walking alone.”

“Is that true?” urged Ishii.

The manager made a surly face.

“Oi, what do you an by that?” asked Miyagawa, demanding an explanation.

“From what I recall, based on what the patron had said, she felt it was strange for a little girl to be walking around alone that late, so she called out to her.”

“And then?”

“Maybe the girl didn’t hear her for so reason, so she didn’t answer nor respond to the call, and simply walked away…So, I had thought that she could be the person you’re looking for.”

It was a reliable source of information that they had never expected.

Judging from the situation, the girl that the person had seen had to be Nao.

“Could we have the person’s contact information?” asked Ishii as he took out a mo.

If they had this person’s contact information or address, they would be able to ask her to clarify this information directly.

“I think there’s no need for that. She’s right there,” said the manager who pointed at a small red car parked for a fuel refill.

How fortunate!

Ishii hurriedly approached the car and showed his police identification to the middle-aged woman sitting on the driver’s seat.

The woman was surprised by the sudden approach, but Ishii paid no heed and asked, “I heard that you saw a little girl walking alone last night?”

“Yes.”

“What did she look like?”

“I-I think she was wearing pink pyjamas.”

No doubt about it. Based on what Atsuko had told Ishii, Nao had been wearing pink pyjamas when she disappeared.

“Is this the girl you saw?” Ishii took out a photo of Nao and showed it to the woman.

Right as the woman looked at the photo, she imdiately answered, “Yes, that’s right, this is the girl.”

It seed that they had hit the mark.

“Where did you see her?”

“If you walk straight along that road over there, you’ll co across a bank. I saw her around that area,” explained the woman as she pointed over to the road in front of them.

“Over there, huh…” Ishii mumbled as he tried to picture the location.

“I thought it was strange as it was already late and she was barefoot, so I…”

Midway into her sentence, Ishii was no longer listening.

Ishii took out the map he had shoved into his pocket before spreading it out.

There were tick marks on the map at every location where Nao had been seen. Ishii then made a circle at the location he had just heard from the woman.

The place was close to the apartnt that had been troubled by spiritual phenona.

Can this rely be a coincidence?

As Makoto had suspected, Nao’s disappearance might really be tied to the spiritual phenona at that apartnt.

That made sense when considering that Nao had gone to the apartnt not of her own will, but led by sobody else’s.

“What is it?” asked Miyagawa who arrived afterwards.

Ishii had just realised that he hadn’t told Miyagawa about the spiritual phenonon that Gotou had been investigating.

He hurriedly explained everything.

“You should’ve told that from the start,” scolded Miyagawa as he shoved Ishii’s shoulder.

“S-Sorry.”

“Well, whatever. In that case, it looks like we have to pay a visit to that apartnt.”

“Yes!” answered Ishii.

They thanked the woman who had provided the information, as well as the gas station manager before returning to the car in a hurry.

The beacon of hope that he had nearly lost was now back in sight, giving Ishii a newfound motivation.

Makoto arrived at the cafe where she had agreed to et.

The cafe was a franchise branch near the station.

As it was early in the morning, the place wasn’t crowded. After ordering a coffee at the counter, Makoto sat at a table next to the window.

Monts later, Eishin entered the cafe alongside a pregnant woman.

Upon noticing Makoto’s presence, Eishin casually waved, and proceeded to order a drink at the counter before approaching Makoto’s seat bringing a cup on a tray.

Makoto had contacted Eishin to question him on the spiritual phenonon he had brought up to Gotou. Just as Makoto had suspected, the phenonon occurred at the sa apartnt building as Sayama’s.

She had then requested Eishin to introduce her to the woman nad Setsuko, who had been the real client behind the spiritual phenonon problem.

“Thank you for coming all the way here. I am Hijikata from Hokutou newspaper,” said Makoto, offering her business card.

Setsuko accepted the card and weakly responded, “I’m Hirota Setsuko.”

She appeared exhausted; it couldn’t have been only because of her pregnancy. Makoto could easily tell how troubled she was by the spiritual phenonon at her ho.

To further confirm that fact, Setsuko could no longer stand being alone at ho and had returned to live at her parents’ house around the area.

“Firstly, thank you for taking the ti for this,” said Makoto to open the conversation.

“No problem,” Setsuko answered with a small voice, gently shaking her head.

Was she refusing eye contact out of shyness? Or was she ntally shaken by the spiritual phenonon?

“I wanted to ask a few questions,” said Makoto.

Setsuko nodded with her eyes closed.

“Could you please describe in detail what sort of spiritual phenonon is happening?” asked Makoto.

Halfway into being fed up, Setsuko sighed. “I have described it so many tis. I heard strange sounds, the picture fra and vase vibrating as if an earthquake was taking place, the television turning on by itself…things of that nature.”

Setsuko’s story was similar to what Makoto had experienced at Sayama’s. In other words, a poltergeist phenonon.

Poltergeist was the term for a phenonon inside a house where untouched objects began moving on their own, strange sounds were heard, or sudden, frequent flashing lights were observed.

The phenonon was widely known thanks to its depiction in Hollywood movies.

“Do these events happen every day?”

“Yes. Almost every day.”

“How about the timing?”

“Timing?”

“Yes. Did they only happen at specific tis of the day?”

“I don’t know as I’ve never paid attention to the clock.”

“Is that so…then, did the phenonon ever occur as you were performing a specific action?”

With every question Makoto asked, Setsuko’s expression beca more tense.

Makoto had thought it was because Setsuko was in the middle of recalling a terrifying experience, but that didn’t seem to be the reason.

“Are you doubting ?” Setsuko lifted her head and glared at Makoto.

“No. It’s not like that…” Makoto hurriedly denied the accusation, but Setsuko remained upset.

“Eishin-san and his assistant were also present when it happened. So, I was not lying. Or are you also going to tell that I’m suffering from neurosis, like what my husband had said?”

Makoto was dumbfounded. The conversation got carried away.

From the way Setsuko talked, her husband didn’t seem to believe in spiritual phenona. While she had been feeling like he didn’t trust her words, Makoto’s relentless questioning finally made her explode.

Perhaps she had returned to her parent’s ho not just because of the spiritual phenonon, but also because she had gotten into a fight with her husband.

“Besides, I’m not the only person who thought there was a spiritual phenonon,” Setsuko said in a rude tone.

“There, there,” Eishin attempted to calm her down. “Makoto doesn’t think that you’re lying.”

After Eishin gently pleaded with her, Setsuko grew calr.

“Sorry, maybe my questions ca out the wrong way. As Eishin-san had said, I wasn’t doubting you at all. I simply thought that we might be able to find out the root cause by understanding the details of the spiritual phenonon,” explained Makoto.

Setsuko, who had finally cald down after letting out her anger, softly answered, “I understand.”

“Allow to clarify once more. The spiritual phenonon only occurs during the dayti, right?” asked Makoto after drawing a conclusion.

Based on what Setsuko had said, it appeared that her husband had never experienced the phenonon. That could only an the phenonon only happened when her husband wasn’t ho.

“Yes,” Setsuko nodded.

“So the strange events had never happened at night?”

“Sotis.”

“Sotis?”

“Yes. When we were sleeping, I suddenly felt difficulty breathing and my body felt feverish. My husband refused to pay heed and simply said that it was due to hormone imbalance from the pregnancy, though,” said Setsuko bitterly.

Eishin and Gotou had also felt the vibrations and had heard the sounds, so the phenonon must have really happened.

However, Makoto couldn’t comnt about breathing difficulties or body fever. From Setsuko’s attitude, Makoto felt that she was getting overly sensitive.

“You ntioned that there were others experiencing the phenonon, is that correct?” asked Makoto.

Setsuko nodded.

“May I know who they are?”

“My neighbour, Sasaki-san’s wife. Then, Kimura-san who lives downstairs. Maeda-san and Ashizawa-san have also said that they were experiencing the sa thing at their ho.”

Four apartnt units?

Makoto swallowed her surprise.

Along with Sayama’s apartnt, that was five units in total. It was strange for so many spiritual phenona to occur within one building.

She had been involved with many cases tied to the spiritual, but it was the first ti she encountered one as frequent as this.

“May I know their unit numbers?”

Makoto wrote down the apartnt unit numbers that Setsuko dictated one by one.

Who knew whether these unit numbers would be the key to solve the mystery, but it could beco sothing for them to work with.

“Were they experiencing the sa phenonon as you?” asked Makoto.

Setsuko nodded and answered, “Yes.”

Once Makoto had finished listening to her story, Setsuko excused herself first, leaving Eishin and Makoto.

“What do you think?” asked Eishin.

“To be honest, I can’t comnt on anything yet,” Makoto answered openly.

“Do you think Setsuko was lying?”

“No, it’s not like that. I have also experienced a similar phenonon. Furthermore, there is photo evidence, so there’s no mistaking that sothing is going on in that apartnt building. However…”

“However?”

“Following Yakumo-kun’s theory, this phenonon is odd.”

Ghosts were clusters of dead people’s emotions that shouldn’t have been able to exert physical influence. Yakumo had always said that with confidence and after working with him on multiple cases, Makoto had grown to believe that his theory was right.

And yet, this current phenonon clearly had physical influence.

“Yes. You’re right about that,” said Eishin, touching his cleft chin.

Afterwards, Makoto and Eishin tried to rack their brains for a while, only to find themselves with more questions, halting any further progress from their discussion.

Haruka arrived at the hospital alone—

As she had to go through the nightti visitor entrance the night before, she had to undergo nurous security checks. Today, however, she made her way in through the front entrance, so nobody stopped her.

She boarded the elevator at the front lobby, heading upwards to the seventh floor.

Even though I’m not allowed to visit.

The thought had only just crossed her mind.

Haruka coming to the hospital wouldn’t make Gotou’s condition any better, nor would it help solve the case.

Despite that, she couldn’t just sit still and not do anything.

She didn’t know what to do with that habit of hers. Coming to the hospital, too, was simply for the sake of her own self-satisfaction.

However, Atsuko had to be overwheld right now. Haruka thought that she might be able to help Atsuko out, even if just a little.

She could help her buy things, or run errands and such. She would feel restless if she didn’t do sothing, anything.

Prior to coming here, Haruka had tried to call Yakumo, but the call had been left unanswered.

Perhaps Yakumo hadn’t noticed the call coming in, but judging from his behaviour last night, he had probably ignored the call on purpose.

What should I do?

Sitting on the waiting room sofa, Haruka bent down and put her hands together in a prayer gesture.

“Haruka,” a voice suddenly called out to her.

Haruka lifted her face and saw Atsuko standing in front of her.

“Atsuko-san…”

“What is it?” asked Atsuko.

“Um…I thought maybe I could help out a little.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“Anything is fine. Is there sothing I can do?”

“Thank you, but there’s no need for you to worry like that. To be honest, I don’t have anything to do either.”

Atsuko sounded more cheerful than Haruka expected. It made Haruka feel as if the fact that Gotou was being treated in the intensive care unit this very second was all a dream.

In reality, Atsuko was likely forcing herself to act cheerfully.

“Is that so…” mumbled Haruka as she turned her gaze downwards.

Atsuka noticed Haruka’s expression, smiling in sympathy as she sat next to Haruka.

“What’s wrong?” asked Atsuko gently.

Haruka’s chest felt hot. At the sa ti, she felt hate for herself.

Despite the situation, Atsuko still worried for Haruka. anwhile, Haruka could only think of herself; she hated this fact.

She had wanted to help Atsuko, only to end up a burden for her.

“It’s nothing. Anyway, how’s Gotou-san’s condition?” asked Haruka, having changed her mood after burying her self hatred deep down.

Compared to last night, Atsuko had a much better look on her face. Seeing that, Haruka had hoped that Gotou’s condition had improved as well.

“The doctor said that the critical period is over, but he hasn’t regained consciousness,” said Atsuko.

Her side profile didn’t appear sad at all. Even though the situation was like this—

“Atsuko-san sure is tough,” Haruka abruptly said without realising.

“How so?”

“Because…don’t you feel sad?”

Gotou, her husband, was in between life and death because of the accident. Furthermore, her daughter Nao was missing.

If Haruka were to be in her position, she would have been a ss, crying uncontrollably.

“Of course I am sad,” said Atsuko lightly.

As opposed to her words, her tone was firm.

“Atsuko-san…”

“But crying won’t make my husband recover. It won’t make Nao return, either.”

“That’s true…”

Although her mind understood that, her heart couldn’t accept it.

Humans tend to get carried away by emotions.

“I can only entrust my husband’s care to the doctors, and leave Nao’s search to the police. There’s nothing I can do.”

For a mont, Atsuko’s face turned glum.

She was indeed forcing herself to look cheerful. Her hate towards herself reappeared as Haruka realised she had asked sothing inappropriate after only seeing what was on the surface.

“……….”

“Yet…that was why I thought I must be in good shape when they return to .”

“In good shape?”

“Yes. If I’m not in good shape, the two of them won’t have sowhere to return to, right? That’s why since there’s nothing I can do now, I feel that it’s my role to make sure they have a place to belong.”

“Role…huh.”

Atsuko’s words stabbed into the deepest parts of Haruka’s heart.

To Haruka, Atsuko was indeed a tough woman. Entirely unlike Haruka, who was uncertain and didn’t know what to do.

“Haruka-chan as well, there has to be sothing only you can do, right?” asked Atsuko, peering on Haruka’s face.

“Is that really true?”

Amidst the current situation, she felt that there was nothing she could do.

“There has to be.”

“But…”

“My husband and Nao-chan aren’t the only ones suffering, right?”

“What do you an, Atsuko-san…?”

“Surely you must know. Yakumo-kun is suffering too. Suddenly rendered unable to do what he has always been able to do, don’t you think he’s suffering because of it?”

“You’re right…”

That’s true.

Yakumo hated himself for his inability to do anything now and was suffering as a result. Haruka had seen it firsthand and had felt that for herself.

“I think you’re the only one who can save Yakumo from his suffering.”

“I can’t…”

“If Yakumo were to pick himself up once more, perhaps he’d be able to find Nao-chan. That’s why, please support him, Haruka-chan.”

“To be honest, I’m not confident about it,” Haruka shook her head quietly.

“Why?”

“I don’t know what I should say to Yakumo-kun.”

“I think there’s no need for you to overthink about that.”

“Eh?”

“ and my husband used to think that way too.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Thanks to our reluctance, we had been swallowing down the things we had actually wanted to say and kept trying to find the right words to say…in the end, we didn’t say anything to one another…”

“……….”

“But, we finally said the things we had been wanting to say for the first ti during the incident with Isshin-san.”

“And that made you understand each other?”

“A little. I realised one thing then, I thought that I had been reluctant because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but I was actually the one who was afraid of getting hurt…”

The sa as .

Haruka felt that her predicant towards Yakumo was caused by the sa problem. She was scared of being hurt. She was awakened once more to that fact.

“I—”

An echoed scream interrupted Haruka’s sentence.

What?

Haruka stood up out of surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Stop!”

“Quickly!”

Intense, heated yells were heard one after another, accompanied with shattering noises like the sound of falling plates.

What is happening?

As if answering Haruka’s question, the door to the waiting room opened.

“Eh?” Haruka was dumbfounded at the unbelievable sight ahead.

Gotou was standing in front of her.

The bandage wrapped around his head looked painful. One of his legs was in a cast. An IV drip tube was still embedded in his arm, and a respiratory tube remained attached to his nose.

In such a condition, Gotou walked while supporting himself against the wall.

It seed that Gotou had escaped from the intensive care unit.

“Nao…Where is Nao?” asked Gotou, his voice hoarse.

He sounded much weaker than the usual Gotou, but his voice reverberated loudly within Haruka’s chest.

Gotou was still looking for Nao despite being in such a state.

He didn’t give a damn about what would happen to him. His powerful love was what moved his body.

“Nao…” said Gotou once more.

Haruka could see Gotou’s body collapsing from running out of energy afterwards.

Haruka and Atsuko ran over to support Gotou’s body, who nearly fell down.

The nurses hurriedly approached them.

“What were you thinking? You’re not supposed to walk yet!” yelled one of the nurses.

“Nevermind that, quickly transport the patient back to the room,” instructed another nurse.

A stretcher soon arrived. They then lifted Gotou onto the stretcher and imdiately returned to the intensive care unit.

As she witnessed the chaos that had just unfolded, Haruka thought about what she should do.

After parting ways with Eishin, Makoto went to the real estate office.

The company, called Otone Real Estate, was responsible for the marketing of the troubled apartnt. Its office was three stations away from the apartnt itself.

As she had made an appointnt in advance, as soon as Makoto entered the office, she was promptly ushered to sit down at one corner of the counter.

“Apologies for the wait. I am Miyama, the person in charge here,” a man in his thirties stood in front of Makoto as he offered his na card with a smile.

He had a slim face plastered with a business smile. The outfit he wore also appeared to be too tight, disproportionate with the watch that he was wearing.

“I am Hijikata from Hokutou Newspaper,” Makoto got up and offered her own na card.

Miyama looked puzzled. “You’re the one who ca to talk about the Signpost apartnt, right?” he asked with suspicion.

While Makoto had made an appointnt, she had only stated that she wanted to ask about the Signpost apartnt.

Miyama had probably thought that Makoto was interested in purchasing an apartnt. He must have gotten confused when suddenly handed a na card from a newspaper company.

“That’s right. But I’m not here to buy an apartnt.”

“No?”

“Yes. Actually, I would like to ask a few questions regarding the strange phenonon happening at Signpost.”

“Strange phenonon? What are you talking about?”

“There were multiple occurrences of spiritual phenona reported at that apartnt, right?” Makoto blatantly asked in a low voice.

“What? Please don’t say strange things all of a sudden,” said Miyama with a smile, but his expression was stiff.

“Before I ca here, I’ve done my investigation. Several incidents of spiritual phenona took place in that apartnt. Furthermore, it wasn’t limited to just one or two apartnt units. Surely there were complaints coming in, right?” concluded Makoto.

“Please stop this. We don’t in any way…”

“If you refuse to speak, I will have to write an article solely based on the residents’ testimonies. Is that fine with you?”

Makoto knew that her manner of speech right now was unpleasant. As if she was threatening him. Not to ntion that the whole thing about the number of claims they received was rely her own assumption. She wasn’t even a tabloid writer. There was no way a newspaper would publish an article about ghosts.

Despite that, her strategy seed to be proven effective. Miyama let out a long, defeated sigh.

“Who knows whether it’s true or not, but we have received such claims before,” His explanation was reluctant, but seeing she had managed to get him to start talking, now Makoto could just go along with the flow.

“What were the claims about precisely?”

“Lights turning on by themselves, sounds that were heard…I think there was one claim about items falling over despite the absence of an earthquake. Also, apparently there was a child loitering around.”

“Personally, I think there must be a reason why these things are happening…”

“Please hold on for a second,” interrupted Miyama. “Sorry, though I did hear stories about it, I’ve never witnessed them myself.”

“Have you ever gone there to confirm it for yourself?”

“Yes, a few tis…but nothing happened,” said Miyama, sounding fed up.

“So in your opinion, those phenona were rely the residents’ misunderstandings?” asked Makoto.

“Yes, pretty much so.” affird Miyama.

“But multiple residents have experienced them. Don’t you think that this issue can’t simply be called off as a misunderstanding?”

“Even if you say that…”

“Don’t tell , there was an incident in that apartnt before?” asked Makoto.

Miyama burst into laughter. “Please cut it out. That apartnt was only built half a year ago. No resident has ever died there. Besides, not too long ago we were obligated to inform people about stigmatised properties in advance. And I am diligently following that rule.”

The intonation in Miyama’s voice sounded annoyed, while looking down on Makoto at the sa ti, but she understood what he was trying to say.

Since it was built just half a year ago, the majority of the residents were people who had only recently moved into the new building.

Even if an incident had taken place previously, real estate agencies had to inform potential buyers in advance.

Makoto had thought that she would be able to find the reason behind the spiritual phenona if the apartnt had been tied to so incident, but things weren’t turning out to be so easy.

And yet, another possibility crossed Makoto’s mind.

“Before the apartnt was built, what had been on that land previously?”

While no incident had occurred at the apartnt itself, sothing may have happened at its location before.

In other words, the ghosts weren’t bound to the units nor the building, but to the land—wasn’t that possible?

Makoto had often heard stories where strange events transpired following the relocation of temple gates or jizo statues while cities underwent improvent works, and how they ended up being returned to their original locations.

Once investigated, stories about how there had been a small temple or a cetery in the middle of the fields tended to erge.

Makoto had the idea that the spiritual phenonon may have happened because they had moved sothing they weren’t supposed to during the construction of the apartnt.

“Shopping mall,” said Miyama lightly.

“Eh?”

“As I said, before the apartnt was built, there used to be a shopping mall there.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Well, around thirty five years ago the company who had been managing it went bankrupt and the shopping mall was abandoned to fall into ruins. The expenses to demolish it had been costly, so they had trouble finding a buyer…”

The land wasn’t too far from the station and was indeed a good location. So, the story of how there used to be a shopping mall there sounded believable.

She may not have been from the area, but for a mont Makoto had thought that she should have rembered if there had been a shopping mall there. However, as the shopping mall had gone bankrupt thirty five years ago, that explained why Makoto didn’t recall anything about it. She hadn’t even been born then.

“Recently, the railway company changed their regulations and caused an extre spike in the land prices around that station. That was why we decided to build an apartnt there.”

“I see,” Makoto accepted the explanation, but her feelings were all over the place.

If it used to be a shopping mall, it was hard to think of what could have possibly happened there that could cause the current spiritual phenona.

No, maybe it wasn’t like that.

“Were there any accidents or cases that had happened at that shopping mall?”

“Who knows. I don’t know of any stories that far back.”

“But it’s entirely possible that an accident had happened at the shopping mall, and the incident beca the trigger behind the current spiritual phenona at the apartnt. Don’t you think that’s likely?”

“Maybe so, but if we keep on worrying over past events like that, we’ll end up with no properties to build, right? After all, if we go back in ti, people have died pretty much everywhere,” said Miyama with a shrug.

He had a point. If they were to trace back the past to no end, they would find people who had died in just about any location.

As Makoto thought she had t a dead end, an old man who had been working at the desk behind the counter slowly walked towards Makoto and Miyama.

“That land is cursed,” said the old man.

Apparently he had overheard their conversation.

“Cursed?”

“Yes. That’s why I was against the apartnt being built,” spoke the old man again with an unhappy tone.

“Yamashina-san, please don’t say such unnecessary things,” said Miyama, who was about to send the old man away, but Makoto stopped him.

“Please wait. Do you know sothing about it?” asked Makoto.

The old man, who was called Yamashina, sat down next to Miyama.

Miyama looked displeased, but perhaps he thought there was no use in stopping them, so he only pouted in silence.

“There were lots of incidents years back, when they were building the shopping mall on that land.”

“Incidents?”

‘My older brother was involved in the construction work. He said that as they worked, machines kept on breaking, there were strange noises, things of the like. The workers were all terrified…“

“Such a thing happened…?”

“They had managed to complete the construction of the shopping mall, but upon opening, stories began to erge of how children’s voices were heard from the security booths or lights that should have been turned off turning back on, there was no end to it. ”

It sounded just like the current phenona at the apartnt. That ant the string of phenona had started over thirty five years ago.

“And as expected, the shopping mall could only survive for a few years before going bankrupt,” said Yamashina ending his story.

Based on everything she had just heard, most likely the cause behind this spiritual phenona dated back to an event further behind in the past, before the shopping mall had been built.

“Um…before the shopping mall, what had been in that location?” asked Makoto.

Yamashina shook his head. “I don’t know about anything that far back.”

10

“Who knows…I didn’t see her,” claid a man in his fifties wearing a blue uniform, who shook his head in great difficulty.

Said man was Takemoto, the apartnt manager.

After the previous lead, Ishii quickly headed to the apartnt and asked about Nao’s whereabouts to Takemoto as the apartnt’s manager.

However, it had co to this.

“You really don’t know anything?” Ishii pressed on, but Takemoto’s response remained unchanged.

“Could she have gotten inside without anyone noticing?” Standing next to Ishii was Miyagawa, who tried to offer another perspective.

“The door locks automatically, so it couldn’t have been entered so easily.”

Takemoto had a point. This apartnt’s entrance locks automatically. An outsider wouldn’t have been able to go in and out just like that.

In fact, even Ishii and Miyagawa had only been able to loiter around the building entrance as they couldn’t get in until they had co across Takemoto.

“She could have just followed behind a resident coming in, right?” said Miyagawa relentlessly.

That was undeniably a possibility. Even automatic locks had a blind spot.

“Well, that is true…But recently the residents here have been paying close attention to such things, so I hardly think that they would let a stranger follow them inside,” said Takemoto, his face full of doubt.

There had been a case where an outsider had blended in with building residents in order to bypass automatic locks and cause nuisance. Since then, apartnt residents had grown vigilant of such events.

Ishii had even heard stories of how delivery couriers had to go back and forth to the front entrance to press the intercom bell of each unit one by one, whenever they had to make multiple deliveries to different units within the sa apartnt building.

“Besides, you were looking for a little girl in her pyjamas, right? If a child followed them inside like that, there was no way they wouldn’t be suspicious.” continued Takemoto with a serious expression.

Nao had been wearing pyjamas at the ti when she had gone missing. An appearance that surely had to stand out. A little girl wandering outside with that getup certainly would have invited suspicion.

Despite that, they couldn’t be a hundred percent sure about it.

“Even so, the possibility isn’t zero,” Ishii continued to insist.

Takemoto’s face went even more glum. “Suppose she really did sneak inside the apartnt, where would she be now?”

“That’s…”

“There would have been a commotion if she had gone into one of the residents’ apartnts, not to ntion I conduct inspections within the building every morning. If such a child was around, I would have noticed right away.”

“She could have hid sowhere you wouldn’t notice her,” said Ishii.

Takemoto snorted as if mocking Ishii. “And where would such a place be?”

“For example, water control facilities and the like,”

Such facilities had to exist within an apartnt building as big as this.

“Well, there’s a control panel in the basent, but I checked those carefully as well. Besides, the door’s normally locked, so no one can get in or out.”

Upon hearing that, Ishii went silent.

On the contrary, Miyagawa hadn’t given up just yet.

“That may be true. However, it is still our responsibility to perform a search,” said Miyagawa with a glare.

Takemoto gave up and sighed. “Alright. In that case, let’s search around the building,” he said as he started walking.

Ishii exchanged glances with Miyagawa before the two of them followed after Takemoto.

“Thank you. If it were only , I wouldn’t have been able to convince him,” said Ishii to Miyagawa as they walked.

“No need to thank . It’s part of our duty,” Miyagawa replied.

To Ishii, Miyagawa’s figure appeared to glow as he said those words.

He had grown braver thanks to Gotou’s training, but it seed that he still had a long way to go.

“You’re amazing,” said Ishii, causing Miyagawa to jab his shoulder.

“Don’t say sothing unnecessary. Our job is to find Gotou’s daughter, no matter what happens. Just focus on that.”

“Yes!” answered Ishii, touched by Miyagawa’s words.

They walked all over the apartnt building as Takemoto led them around, starting from the control panel basent room, where entry was normally prohibited, all the way to the rooftop. Yet, Nao was nowhere to be found.

As they returned to the apartnt entrance, disappointnt took over Ishii’s feelings.

He was hit by the fact that their assumption had been wrong.

“Are you satisfied now?”

Takemoto sounded proud.

His expression irritated Ishii.

Not towards Takemoto.

He was irritated at himself.

“Alright then. Ishii, let’s retreat for now,” said Miyagawa, gesturing with his chin for Ishii to follow him.

Ishii was about to follow him, but the question of whether he should give up at this stage made him lift his face.

“Um…Does this apartnt have any security caras?” asked Ishii to Takemoto.

“Yes, there are.” answered the man in question.

“Can you let us check the security footage?” Ishii pleaded.

Takemoto made a clearly displeased face. “You still think that the little girl is in here sowhere?”

“No. But from the cara angle, the road in front should be captured as well, right? The information that Nao—the missing girl—had been seen around here can be trusted. So we might be able to trace her steps from the security footage,” said Ishii, leaning his body forward.

Takemoto let out a long sigh. It appeared that he was still willing to help despite halfway being fed up.

Looking at Ishii, Miyagawa couldn’t help but smile.

Although the possibility of Nao being inside the apartnt had diminished, Ishii had found a new hope.

Takemoto led them to the managent room, and gave them access to review the security footage there.

Even the smallest thing would do. He wished for any signs of Nao’s presence. Ishii opened his eyes widely as he watched the security footage.

Unfortunately, the footage simply displayed the occasional cars passing by, with no change at all. He still saw no signs of Nao.

Perhaps his efforts were in vain after all.

Ishii’s spirits began to break.

He grew frustrated over his own helplessness, drooping his shoulders.

“No, not yet.” Miyagawa gripped Ishii’s shoulder.

His grip was so powerful that it was hurting Ishii.

“But…”

“Who knows what Gotou would have said if he were to find out that you had given up over sothing like this.”

Ishii’s once diminishing spirit began to burn again upon hearing Miyagawa’s words.

Miyagawa was right. He wouldn’t be able to face Gotou if he had given up just from this.

“You’re right. But…what should we do next…?” Ishii had run out of ideas.

“Field work is the foundation of a detective’s job.”

Field work—in other words, investigation through interviewing people.

They had discovered Nao’s last seen location from the information they had obtained at the gas station. Based on that, they would ask everyone within the area.

While it would be ti consuming, they had no other choice. “Yes!” answered Ishii as he stood up.

11

Makoto returned to her office and entered the data room in the basent.

This room used to store all the old newspapers, but since everything had been converted to digital data, the newspapers lined across the shelves in this room were only those from the past five years.

Makoto sat in front of the computer. She began querying a search based on the address of the Signpost apartnt. If an incident had happened there before, surely sothing had to turn up.

The results of her search soon popped up.

There was only a single relevant result.

The frequency of spiritual phenona that had occurred at the site had Makoto assuming that sothing had to be there, and she turned out to be right.

She started reading the article displayed on the monitor.

On the 25th, early before dawn, the Michishirube orphanage at Machida city was burnt to the ground. Ten bodies of orphaned children were discovered from the remains. The cause of the fire is still under investigation…

Based on this article, apparently there had been an orphanage before the shopping mall had been built at the site.

And that orphanage had caught fire, costing the lives of ten children.

Among the various spiritual phenona in the apartnt, so ntioned hearing the sound of children’s voices.

This fire incident likely had caused them.

Makoto then typed in another search using Michishirube, the na of the orphanage, as the keyword.

Two articles resulted in a match.

The first article was from half a year prior to the fire.

Neighbouring residents reported suspicions of child abuse taking place at the Michishirube orphanage to the Centre of Child Consultation. An officer from the Centre of Child Consultation is currently investigating the matter.

Makoto held her breath without realising.

There had been child abuse at Michishirube.

The children’s voices at the apartnt might be the embodint of revenge from the children who had been mistreated.

Should that be the case, she felt that the incidents that had happened thus far made sense.

If she thought about it deeper, it was possible that the orphanage headmaster had burnt the place down to cover up any evidence related to the abuse.

And ten children had been killed in the fire. Her anger towards the orphanage headmaster—a man nad Hirosawa Shozo—began to boil at the thought.

Makoto began reading the other article.

Kazue, wife of the Michishirube orphanage headmaster, discovered the body of her husband, Hirosawa Shozo, who had hanged himself at their residence and reported it to the police…

What’s the aning of this?

For a second, Makoto doubted the contents of the article.

However, rereading it wouldn’t change what had been written there. The person who had been managing Michishirube, Hirosawa Shozo, had committed suicide after the fire.

It made Makoto’s theory on how Hirosawa Shozo had burnt the orphanage himself to cover up evidence on child abuse felt closer to be the truth.

With an incident as major as this, it wouldn’t be strange for a spiritual phenonon or two to have erged.

Still, the problem began at this point.

Even if they knew the cause, they wouldn’t be able to do anything without knowing how to resolve it.

This was where Yakumo’s expertise ca into play.

Not only had Yakumo been able to determine the reason behind the dead’s lingering attachnts, he had also succeeded in pacifying them.

Perhaps even Yakumo himself didn’t realise it, but his existence was like a lighthouse that had guided them through the dark.

It might all be because he could understand the dead’s feelings with his red left eye.

Makoto and the others could try with all their might and would only be able to go as far as figuring out the cause. They didn’t possess the key piece to resolve this case.

Like this, they wouldn’t be able to find Nao nor put an end to the spiritual phenonon at the apartnt.

She wanted to do sothing, but no matter what Makoto said, her words would never be able to change Yakumo’s heart.

There was only one person that Makoto knew who would be capable of becoming a beacon of light for Yakumo.

Even so, that person’s confidence was currently nonexistent, just like Yakumo’s. As Makoto thought that they had to do sothing, her phone rang.

Sayama’s na appeared on the phone screen.

“Hello?” said Makoto, answering the call, but there was no reply.

She was certain that the call went through. The sounds of heavy breathing from the other side of the call was proof of that.

“Hello? Sayama-san?” Makoto called out once more.

The tone of Sayama’s voice from the other side of the call sounded urgent.

Sayama, who was normally a relaxed person, had rarely ever spoken in such a rushed manner. It seed that sothing really serious had happened.

“What is it?”

“What are you saying?”

“That person? Who are you talking about?”

Makoto couldn’t grasp the aning behind Sayama’s words.

The call ended abruptly.

Who was the person Sayama had ntioned? And what had he ant by not a spiritual phenonon?

Makoto was left dumbfounded for a while, before changing her mind and dialling Sayama’s number back.

However, she could only hear the tone of the incoming call, with no one answering.

What is happening?

Makoto stared at her phone. An inexplicable sense of uneasiness plagued over her.

12

Ishii ran back and forth, asking around the nearby residences.

For quite so ti, he had been doing field work by interviewing the people at each and every store as well as houses around the apartnt while showing a photo of Nao in order to gather witness information.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t been going well.

His spirits began to dim alongside the sky that was gradually turning darker.

I shouldn’t give up over sothing like this.

Ishii tried to console himself, but with no results so far, it was to be expected that his spirits were at the point of breaking.

“Perhaps Gotou’s daughter really didn’t co around here,” grumbled Miyagawa.

Ishii had the sa thought in the corner of his mind. Despite that, he didn’t dare speak of it.

“Maybe, yeah…” replied Ishii, whose body suddenly felt heavier from fatigue.

He was physically exhausted as they had been searching for Nao since the night before without sleep nor rest.

He was ntally exhausted as well. Especially from the disappointnt that his analysis might be wrong after all.

Just how many hours have they wasted?

While they were running around like this, Nao might have travelled even further away. No, perhaps her life might even be in danger now.

What if Nao was already—

As Ishii began struggling to even stand, the sound of ambulance sirens filled the air.

The sirens felt closer and closer until the ambulance vehicle itself passed in front of Ishii and Miyagawa. Their eyes followed the back lights of the vehicle and saw that the ambulance was headed towards the Signpost apartnt.

What is going on?

Ishii and Miyagawa exchanged glances before making a run, chasing after the ambulance as fast as possible to the apartnt.

At that mont, Ishii fell—

“What the hell are you doing?”

“S-Sorry,” Ishii stood back up while rubbing the knee that he had bumped, before continuing to run.

As they arrived in front of the apartnt, the ambulance was parked there as they had suspected, and a crowd was forming around the area.

“I’m sorry, excuse ,” said Ishii as pushed inwards through the crowd.

The first thing he saw as he reached the building entrance was the pool of blood spreading across the stone footpath.

Ishii spontaneously closed his eyes at the sight of that dark, red colour, lit by the rays of sunset.

Even so, there was no use in closing his eyes.

Ishii braced himself before opening them.

A man was lying face up.

The pool of blood he had seen earlier was the blood that had spilled from the man’s head.

Just by glancing at the amount of blood that ca out, Ishii could tell that the ambulance was too late.

“W-Why…?”

Ishii grew even more surprised upon seeing the man’s face.

“What is it?” asked Miyagawa imdiately.

Ishii couldn’t answer and simply moved his mouth like a goldfish looking for food.

“Oi, Ishii.”

Miyagawa hit his back so that Ishii could calm down a little.

“It’s Sayama-san…” said Ishii.

Miyagawa tilted his head. “Who did you say?”

Ishii had told Miyagawa about how he and Makoto had been investigating a spiritual phenonon at the apartnt, but he failed to ntion that their client had been Sayama.

Ishii explained that fact, and Miyagawa’s expression tensed.

“Oi, oi. There’s no way that this is a coincidence.”

“I think so as well.”

Miyagawa was right.

The person who had asked them for help suddenly died at a ti like this; how could they possibly brush it off as a coincidence?

But that wasn’t the only thing that surprised Ishii.

Ishii had only t Sayama yesterday. They weren’t familiar, and had barely even talked directly to each other.

The fact that soone who had been alive and laughing yesterday was now dead all out of a sudden shook him up.

“Was he killed by a ghost?” said Miyagawa with a face full of confusion.

“That’s…”

Ishii didn’t think that was the case. He denied that possibility based on the theory that Yakumo had always ntioned.

Yakumo, who could see the spirits of the dead, defined ghosts as clusters of emotions of humans who had passed. Because of that, ghosts weren’t capable of any physical influence.

Before, Ishii had doubted that opinion, but along with the growing number of cases he had solved with Yakumo, he began to feel that Yakumo’s opinion was right.

In other words, it was impossible for Sayama to have been killed by a ghost.

And yet, Sayama’s body was right in front of them. Furthermore, the phenonon that Ishii had experienced at Sayama’s apartnt unit contradicted Yakumo’s theory.

“Soone said he had jumped from above,” a voice from within the crowd was caught by Ishii’s ears.

Ishii spontaneously turned to look at the apartnt building.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Sayama’s unit was located at the topmost floor, the eighth. It was nearly thirty tres above ground. One wouldn’t be able to survive falling from that height.

Had Sayama fallen from there? If that were the case, had he committed suicide?

No, that wasn’t it.

Ishii brushed off his own thoughts. He didn’t know what kind of person Sayama had been, but based on his condition during their interactions yesterday, there was no way he had committed suicide.

Then, had he been pushed by soone?

That didn’t feel like the case either.

A theory erged in Ishii’s mind.

A ghost had clung to Sayama, who had then gone out to the balcony through the window. He had jumped not to die, but to escape out of fear of ghosts.

Even so, Ishii had no way to confirm his theory. There was only one person capable of doing that—

Saitou Yakumo.

13

“Ishii-san, what happened?” asked Makoto upon finding Ishii’s presence amidst the crowd as she tried to get closer.

“Ma-Makoto-san, why are you here…?”

Behind his glasses, Ishii’s eyes widened.

Once he had cald down, Makoto quickly explained that she had hurried over out of concern after receiving a call from Sayama, who was behaving strangely over the phone.

“Is that so…” said Ishii in a lifeless voice, before closing his eyes.

Makoto could tell from the group of people gathering in front of the apartnt that an incident must have happened. Not to ntion, based on Ishii’s reaction just now—

Her instinct was telling her sothing had happened to Sayama.

After a mont of silence, Ishii began explaining.“The truth is,” he said with a pause, “it appears that Sayama-san had fallen from the apartnt.”

“Fallen…?”

Makoto had guessed about there being an incident, but the words she had just heard were way beyond her expectation, leaving her dumbfounded.

“Yes. Apparently he might have fallen from the balcony of his own apartnt…” said Ishii, lifting his gaze.

“Then, Sayama-san?” asked Makoto, but she didn’t need to think too hard to know the answer.

“Unfortunately…” Ishii shook his head listlessly.

Good grief.

The abruptness of the news made Makoto feel dizzy all of a sudden and nearly fell to her knees.

Ishii hurried closer to support her body.

“S-sorry,” Makoto apologised as she tried to stand up on her own, but to no avail.

Her body lost all of its energy as if her soul had detached from it.

“I think you should rest for a while.”

Ishii supported Makoto to the nearest bench.

“Thank you,” said Makoto who then sat on the bench, covering her face with both hands.

Makoto had only known Sayama through work. Even so, he had been soone close to her.

Sayama’s cheerful smile flashed through Makoto’s mind.

Despite his appearance, Sayama had been a dependable person when it ca to his work. He had been kind, even caring towards Makoto. When they had t in the eting room at that ti, Makoto never would have thought that things would turn out like this.

It was as if there was a gaping hole in her heart.

Makoto was left speechless over the realisation that a part of her life had been snatched away.

Her heart felt as if it was being ripped apart.

That pain quickly turned into sadness and the corner of her eyes began to swell.

And yet, her tears weren’t flowing. To repay what she had owed Sayama when he had been alive, she shouldn’t stop here.

Makoto suppressed her sadness before lifting her face, saying, “Why did things turn out this way…?”

“I don’t know the details of the incident yet. But the detective that’s handling the case seems to think that it’s highly likely that he killed himself,” Ishii’s explanation made Makoto spontaneously widen her eyes.

Sayama killed himself?

“Impossible!” yelled Makoto, her emotions exploding.

Although it hadn’t been Ishii’s own opinion, she tried to deny his words. Makoto ended up feeling guilty.

However, she still refused to accept it.

She didn’t know everything about Sayama. Even so, Makoto was certain that Sayama hadn’t been the type of person who would commit suicide.

“I don’t think this was suicide, either,” said Ishii, staring straight at Makoto.

His gaze made Makoto’s heart beat loudly.

Ishii was a kind person, but his reluctance towards those around him made him appear weak.

Despite that, he could stare with such sincerity like this—

“Ishii…”

“But, I don’t have any basis to say that this wasn’t a suicide either,” Ishii grimaced in frustration.

“I don’t know if this counts as a basis, but Sayama said sothing strange when he called .”

“Sothing strange?”

“Yes. Why didn’t I realise all this ti…It wasn’t a spiritual phenonon—that was what he said.”

“Not a spiritual phenonon?”

Ishii’s face looked dumbfounded.

Makoto felt the sa way.

They had experienced the spiritual phenonon at Sayama’s apartnt for themselves. Setsuko and many others had also testified about experiencing spiritual phenona. On top of that, Sayama had been the one taking ghost photos, insisting that the photos hadn’t been edited.

Yet now he had said that it hadn’t been a spiritual phenonon. What was the aning of this?

The more she thought about it, the less Makoto understood.

Moreover, after having said those cryptic words, Sayama had died. The questions that had been plaguing her mind ever since she had been on her way here grew more and more complicated.

“What is really going on?” Makoto’s words were directed at nobody.

“If only Yakumo-shi was here, we could have at least confird whether Sayama’s words were true, but…”

Ishii was right.

Yakumo, who could see spirits of the dead, would be able to determine whether the phenona at this apartnt had really been spiritual phenona with a single glance.

Unfortunately, Yakumo’s left eye couldn’t see at the mont.

“We have no choice but to ask for his assistance,” said Makoto.

Ishii tilted his head, “Eh?”

Yakumo’s red left eye couldn’t see due to psychological influence. In other words, he had refused to see without realising it himself.

Knowing the life that Yakumo had led thus far, Makoto agreed that it would have been better for him to no longer be able to see.

Wanting to rely on Yakumo was rely their own selfish ego.

Even so, was it alright for Yakumo to continue running away like this? Makoto had that thought as well.

She believed humans would never be able to escape from their own fate. That was why she had written articles about her father’s own wrongdoings.

She had sacrificed many things to do that. And it had led to her standing where she was now.

Besides, right now they needed to find Nao. Only Yakumo would be capable of doing that.

And—

The only person who could support Yakumo, who was currently suffering, was none other than her.

14

Haruka stood in front of the door with written on its plate.

It was nightti, so the atmosphere was quiet. There wasn’t a single student around, to the point that the crowdedness of the dayti felt like an illusion.

Haruka grasped tightly on the necklace with a red stone at the end of its chain.

The necklace that had been given to her by Yakumo.

Just how many tis have I opened this door?

She had lost count.

Many things had happened each ti Haruka had opened this door.

Among those had even been dire situations. Her life had been on the line more than just once or twice. She had felt copious amounts of sadness, she couldn’t rember the number of tis she had cried.

Despite that, they had all been mories that were difficult to forget for Haruka.

When she had t Yakumo for the first ti, it had all started by opening this door, too.

Yakumo had been pulling tricks over playing cards to win bets over other students’ money.

It had been a terrible first impression.

Haruka had thought that Yakumo was a cynical, cold hearted person, who never spared a thought for other people.

Yet she had been proven wrong.

Yakumo hadn’t been the only person whom she had t through opening this door. Gotou, Ishii, Makoto, Isshin, even Nao. Countless more encounters had erged from this door.

Encounters with people that she would have never co across had she had gone through her university life normally—

Perhaps this door could even be said to be the beginning of everything.

And this could be the final ti that she could ever open it again.

Her chest hurt so much at the thought, that she had difficulty breathing. Regardless, she had to open it anyway. Even if this would be the end of everything, it was the only thing that she could do now.

Haruka stood in front of the door with that preparedness in mind.

After letting out a sigh, Haruka opened the barrier that had been separating her from the Movie Research Circle room.

Yakumo appeared to be reading a book, sitting on his usual spot.

“So it’s you…” Yakumo said listlessly upon noticing Haruka’s arrival.

No different than usual—but to the short-haired woman, it felt incredibly disconcerting.

“What are you up to?” asked Haruka.

Yakumo narrowed his right eye slightly. “Can’t you tell just by looking? I’m reading a book.”

The usual answer.

This isn’t right.

“What are you doing at a ti like this?” urged Haruka.

“At a ti like this?”

Yakumo tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.

Witnessing his attitude, Haruka felt an indescribable discomfort growing within her.

There’s no way you don’t know!

Yakumo was acting clueless even though he knew everything.

“You know what I’m talking about,” said Haruka in a harsh voice.

However, Yakumo’s expression remained unchanging. “I asked because I don’t know.” Yakumo lifted both of his hands in a joking manner.

The unsettling feeling from earlier ate away at Haruka’s heart even further.

“Stop lying to yourself. You know exactly what I ant.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Gotou-san was so badly injured to the brink of life and death. Despite that, he escaped from the intensive care unit because he wanted to look for Nao…”

Even though he could barely stand at his current state, Gotou was desperate to find Nao.

He was so determined to save Nao with no regard for his own safety.

“How foolish…” comnted Yakumo in a low voice after hanging his head down slightly.

“WHAT DO YOU AN BY FOOLISH?!”

Haruka’s yelling echoed throughout the room.

“Don’t yell,” mumbled Yakumo.

“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO’S MAKING WANT TO YELL! NOT JUST GOTOU-SAN! ISHII-SAN AND MAKOTO-SAN ARE ALSO WORKING HARD LOOKING FOR NAO-CHAN, BUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Haruka yelled to match her anger.

She wished for her words to touch Yakumo’s heart—

She wanted Yakumo to realise what he had to do—

For that reason, Haruka no longer cared what Yakumo would think of her as long as she could make the man in front of her aware of that.

She had never forced her feelings like this onto Yakumo before. Soplace within her heart, she had deeply feared being hated by him. It was also why she had purposely been avoiding the subject of Yakumo’s left eye.

But now—

“Searching for Nao is the police’s work. Even if I make a move, I won’t be able to do anything,” said Yakumo, who shook his head lifelessly.

He’s still repeating the sa thing.

“Why did you conclude that you won’t be able to do anything?”

“I can’t see ghosts any longer,” answered Yakumo.

He couldn’t make a move because he wouldn’t be able to do anything—Haruka couldn’t accept such a logic.

“So then what?” Haruka glared at Yakumo.

“You should know too, right? Without my red left eye, I can’t do anything.” Yakumo reached for his left eye, still beneath the eyepatch.

Not being able to see the things that he used to be able to see must have been a terrifying feeling. He must have felt uneasy, and his heart restless.

Yakumo might not have shown it on the outside, but he had to have been thinking about it many tis.

Sorry for not realising… no. That’s not it. I realised all this ti, but I didn’t do anything out of fear of being hated.

She should have discussed this with Yakumo much earlier.

A long ti ago, she might have had an easier ti doing it. But as the distance between them grew closer, Haruka beca more and more fearful at the thought of separating.

As a result, she hadn’t been able to say it out loud.

Nevertheless, those were all rely excuses. She vowed to not make such excuses anymore in front of Yakumo.

“Why do you think that you can’t do anything? There has to be sothing only you can do!” shouted Haruka firmly.

“You have no idea.”

“About what?”

“Without my left red eye, I’m just a normal human being.”

Haruka felt as if she was being rejected outright. She felt like Yakumo was pressuring her not to say anything more than this.

The old Haruka might have shut her mouth by now upon hearing those words from Yakumo. Today was different, though.

“That’s right. Yakumo-kun is just a normal human being.”

“Then in that case…”

“No! That’s not the case!”

“What on earth are you saying?” said Yakumo while tilting his head.

No wonder Yakumo was dumbfounded. Even Haruka’s own emotions were all over the place. And yet—

“Why can’t you understand? With or without your left eye, Yakumo-kun is still Yakumo-kun!”

“……..”

“Seeing ghosts or not, Yakumo-kun is still Yakumo-kun.”

“Don’t say such ridiculous things,” Yakumo snorted out a laugh.

An empty laugh that Haruka had never seen before.

“I…”

“You have brought over countless spiritual cases. All because I could see ghosts. Isn’t that so? Had I not been able to see ghosts, we would never have t. I could see ghosts, that was why you kept close to , right?”

“How cruel…So that’s what you think of ?”

Tears began to fall from Haruka’s eyes along with that sentence.

It was true that they had t because of a spiritual phenonon, and that she had brought many spiritual cases to Yakumo.

However, that wasn’t the entirety of it. Despite that—

“You’re trying to say there’s another reason behind your actions?”

“You’re right that our first eting started from a spiritual case. Even afterwards, I was the one who kept bringing all sorts of trouble for you.”

“So you do know.”

“BUT I KEPT CLOSE TO YOU NOT BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE GHOSTS!” Haruka loudly yelled on the top of her lungs, feeling as if she was tearing her own throat apart.

Even Yakumo was surprised by it, leaning backwards slightly.

Letting her emotions explode like this must have made her seem like a crude woman. Not that she cared about such things anymore.

No matter what Yakumo thought of her, she couldn’t just remain silent and let Nao die.

Besides, she didn’t want Yakumo to stay hidden in his own shell while a loved one was in trouble, even if she had to be forceful.

Yakumo frowned, staring intently at Haruka.

Haruka took a deep, long breath, before clenching her fists and said, “Because of your red left eye, you had to experience countless sad and painful things…You disliked that fact, that’s why you withdrew into your own shell.”

“What are you implying?”

“All of it has led you to keep your distance from others and conceal your own weakness, no? If you’re by yourself, you won’t get hurt and won’t get others hurt. That’s what you think, right?”

“…….”

“But you’re actually scared of being lonely, so you can’t completely sever your ties with other people. If it’s to avoid hurting anyone, you could’ve just lived in solitude, but you can’t do it.”

“What cruel words…” said Yakumo with a sigh.

Haruka was well aware that she was being harsh. Even so—

“It’s the truth!”

“……..”

“And yet, that’s precisely what makes you a good person! You know pain and sadness all too well, that’s why you couldn’t look the other way from those who are troubled! You continue to try and help people even if you’ll also get hurt in the process!”

“I’m a good person? That’s just your own imagination,” denied Yakumo.

Indescribable amount of sadness overflowed from within Haruka. Her tears began to flow nonstop.

“Don’t say sothing so sad…” said Haruka.

“Why are you crying?”

“How can I not? I’ve been saved by your kindness countless tis, yet you called it imaginary…”

Not to ntion Haruka’s twin sister as well. The person who had saved Haruka from her trauma had been none other than Yakumo.

That wasn’t all, either. When Haruka had nearly lost her life during the case at the water-gate, when she had gotten injured during the fake psychic’s case, and when trouble ca along at her internship workplace, Haruka had been helped by Yakumo’s kindness on every single one.

“I don’t recall helping you.”

“That’s enough!” Haruka shouted as she hit the table with both of her hands.

Her body was shaking.

Anger and sadness ca and went, stirring up a storm in her heart. However, she couldn’t break down just yet.

Haruka looked straight at Yakumo.

“No matter what you’re thinking, there’s no mistaking that I have been helped by you!”

“That’s why I said you’re imagining things.”

“Enough of it already!”

“………”

“What I like isn’t imaginary!”

Haruka’s voice shook the nightti atmosphere.

She didn’t want the cherished feelings that she had been hiding all this ti reduced to re imagination. It was too sad an idea to even think about.

Her vision, distorted from her own tears, had no way of telling her what expression Yakumo was wearing at that mont.

That didn’t matter.

She had told him all of these not for Yakumo to accept her feelings. She simply wished for Yakumo to regain his confidence.

With or without the red eye, Haruka’s feelings toward Yakumo remain unchanged. The sa had to be the case with Gotou, even Ishii. Nao, too, loved Yakumo not because of his red eye.

Haruka wanted Yakumo to understand that.

“The person I like is soone who can’t be honest, and even when powerless, can’t throw away the desire to help people thanks to his own kindness. All of it has nothing to do with whether his left eye is red or not,” said Haruka, biting her lip.

Yakumo didn’t say a word. The air grew silent.

Amidst the overwhelming silence that felt as if she was drowning in it, Haruka began to calm herself down.

She had said everything she intended to say. The rest was up to Yakumo; what kind of decisions he would make.

Haruka realised the sharpness behind the words she had just thrown at Yakumo and was convinced he must’ve hated her by now. But it couldn’t be helped. If it was what it took for Yakumo to get back on his feet, and for Nao to be found—

Furthermore, whatever Yakumo thought about her wouldn’t make Haruka’s feelings disappear.

That’s why—

“I’m begging you, please don’t shut yourself off in a place like this. Please find Nao…” Haruka let out a final plea before opening the door and leaving.

The breeze of nightti fall felt cold as it brushed her cheeks.

Haruka turned around to close the door. Yakumo had remained seated, but she couldn’t see the expression on his face.

The door then closed with a thud.

At the thought that she would never be able to open this door ever again, the sadness that she had spilled out earlier began to pool within her once more.

Things are better this way, said Haruka to herself.

In a slow pace, she walked away and left.