The dead of night painted its color over the mountains. As it was obvious there would be no signs of people, from time to time the sounds of small animals in the underbrush would lead to it rustling dryly.
The grave at End Mountain was also painted in the color of darkness. Dirt covering a dead body was upturned. At last the man rose up. For a bit he sat as if dazed there in the hole looking into the darkness. The birds sand, the noises resounding through the woods.
The man eventually began to get himself up. He felt above his left ear. There the dried blood and dirt make his hair edgy. The man took a bit of time to stroke his hair, then gingerly rose up. He looked around as if to get a feel for his situation before climbing out of the hoe.
Hazily the man stepped out of the graveyard. Gradually as his legs moved, he went along the forest path along the slope of the western mountain straight towards the northern one.
The man was able to walk well, without knowing fatigue. Even if he broke into a jog, he wouldn't break into hard breathing. Or rather, the man wasn't breathing at all to begin with. Nor did fatigue wear down at his legs. Within the deep dark forests he ascended, the bushes didn't tie up his feet, he went through them as if soaring past them.
Without so much as a single break, the man went on until he reached a small shack about midway along the western mountain. It was an abandoned shack that seemed to be built in an old fashioned style but the holes in the tin roof were patched over, and the holes in the walls were filled with plaster.
The man opened the door, and within that was another heavy set of double doors. Within there wasn't so much as a single lit candle but the man could see that there were the several figures within.
"....Takatoshi?" One of the people within said. Hirosawa Takatoshi nervously entered in.
"I saw some strange kids,' Takatoshi said. "Digging up a grave on End Mountain."
The other person made a low, surprised sound.
"They were digging up the grave stone. Three kids. One seemed to be a boy about high school age, a boy in middle or gradeschool, and a girl about the same age. The one in highschool is the son of the workshop I think. I've seen him before."
"....And?" the voice of the other young man urged.
"When I tried to attack, I got countered. I was hit by a scoop. I was unconscious until now."
"...A high schooler?"
"That's right."
I see, the man said followed by a short silence. "I'm not happy to hear we were noticed here. It may be necessary to take measures to see to it word doesn't get around."
"With all three of them?"
"We should wait on the middle school boy and girl. It would be bad to have any interference here."
"Are we going to leave them be?"
"They will need to be scolded, to be sure they don't say anything unnecessary. Just because it would be best to clear out anything in the way. Do you know who they were and from where?"
"No."
"Finding out that will be our first priority, then. If we watch over the boy from the workshop, they'll probably show up around him but..." That said, the man lightly cut himself short. "A gradeschool or middleschool boy, and a girl about middle school aged you had said, yes? Was that girl, by chance, long haired with her hair in braids?"
"Yes, that's right."
"I see..." He laughed. "It was those kids, was it?"
"Is it somebody you know of, Tatsumi-san?"
Aa, Tatsumi laughed. "They're the siblings in Shimo-Sotoba. They were loitering around the mansions. Aa, and the one who came along after was the son of the workshop, was it?"
"What will we do?"
"Let's kill the son of the workshop." Tatsumi said lowly, looking at the air as if scrutinizing it, and at last finally nodding. "It'd be best to kill him, wouldn't it? He's already in high school. He commutes out of town for school, so I don't think those at the mansion will be against it. I'll take command of the operation. You don't need to worry, Takatoshi."
"The grave was dug up."
"Well that is bad, isn't it? Go ahead and bury it back as it was."
Yes, Takatoshi nodded. As Takatoshi turned to go, Tatsumi called out to him as if remembering something. "Aa---and also."
As he turned about, he saw Tatsumi giving a compassionate smile. "It didn't work out for your mother."
Takatoshi faintly closed his eyes, then lowered them. ".....Is that so."
"It smells of rotting. She won't rise up. ....It's a shame, isn't it?"
"No matter," Takatoshi murmured.