We spent the whole day by the side of the lake. It was very reposing.
It was only after dusk that we returned to the cottage and, as could be expected, I found myself at the stove. The boys complained about the poor meal they had had for lunch and ordered for a Sukiyaki, as well as several different Wagashi for dessert.
After our stomachs were filled, they left Tsubasa-sama and I to ourselves to go and smoke a cigarette outside.
'There's nothing better than cigarette after a meal!' Shunsui asserted, and I couldn't help but watch Gōjun and he a bit cynically.
These two are real chimneys!
And I was convinced that it was not one, but several cigarettes that they are going to smoke one after another!
Just as I had finished doing the dishes, Tsubasa-sama called out to me from where she was sitting on the sofa in the living room, 'Ah, Hime, come here! I want to show you something!'
Drying my hands with a towel, I moved up to join her.
The blonde woman was holding a fat photo album on her lap and she asked me to sit with her for us to go through it together.
'It is full of pictures of the boys when they were still kids!' she told me, cheerily. 'I have put the album in my luggage before we left, because I believe that this trip can't be successful without our going through it at least once!'
Wishing to know how the boys looked like when they were younger, I sat myself down next to her eagerly, and as I expected, they were both extremely cute. They were good enough to eat! And some of the pictures were quite funny, having captured the boys in humorous instances. But there was one picture in particular that captured my attention- or rather, my adoration. It was a picture of Shunsui and Gōjun during a birthday party, when they were around eight years old. They were standing side by side on the picture, with an arm around each other's neck, and Gōjun was wearing a paper cone on his head, while Shunsui had a spoon in his mouth and was making a V-sign with his free hand. They both had pastry cream all over their mouth and on their cheeks, and they were looking at the camera with a grumpy look. I guessed that they weren't very happy at the fact of being photographed. In the background of the picture was Tsubasa-sama. She had bent down to fit in the frame of the camera and was making a V-sign with both her hands while smiling cheerily. The picture had apparently been taken at the mansion, and all around the three of them, there were confetti falling.
'Wah! It's so adorable!' I exclaimed, squirming in fondness.
'You like it?' Tsubasa-sama asked me, pleasantly. 'I love this one particularly too! Do you want to keep it?'
'Huh?' I looked at her in surprise. 'Can I really?'
'Yes!' she replied, and taking the picture out of the album, she held it out to me. 'I have many copies of the pictures in this album at home!'
'Oh, Tsubasa-sama, thank you so much!' I told her, fervently, and accepting the picture gratefully with both hands, I gazed at it fondly. 'This picture is really, very adorable! I'll put it in a frame in my bedroom when I get home!'
The boys returned by that moment, asking us what we were doing. The moment Shunsui's eyes fell onto the photo album in the blonde woman's lap, he froze into place for a second, before he shouted, looking like he was going to burst a vessel, 'No, it's not possible! Tell me, that it's not what I am thinking!'
'Yes, it is!' Tsubasa-sama replied, cheerfully, putting her forefinger up at him, ignoring his reaction. 'It's the album of when Gōjun and you were still kids!'
'I can't believe it!' the reddish-brown-haired young man cried out and he rushed up to us with Gōjun, the latter showing the same reaction as him. 'Why are you showing this to her?! It's so embarrassing!'
'Not at all!' the woman chuckled. 'The pictures in this album are all very cute! You don't have to feel shy!'
I nodded in complete approval.
'Oi, Princess,' Gōjun gasped, 'What are you holding in your hand?!'
'It's a picture that I've given her from the album!' Tsubasa-sama informed them, and I thought they were both going to jump at my throat
'Give it back to us!' Shunsui shouted at me. 'You're not keeping it! It's way too embarrassing!'
I looked at the picture, then at their face, before I smiled and slipped the picture past my collar to inside my blouse, telling them, 'Sorry! Tsubasa-sama has given it to me! It's now mine!'
Their mouth hung open at me, while Tsubasa-sama giggled to herself.
'Hime, what-what did you just do?!' Shunsui stuttered, lifting his hand towards my chest, but without touching it, his face all red.
'Take it out immediately!' Gōjun snapped at me, his face just as flushed.
Standing firm, I exclaimed a big no, that it was out of the question, and jumping to my feet, I scooted out of their sight on the spot, rushing upstairs to my bedroom. Once I was inside of the room and I had locked the door, I threw myself down onto my back on my bed and took the picture out from within my blouse to gaze it.
Too adorable!
'Sorry, boys! I'm not separating myself from it!' I said, with a large smiling.
***
Meanwhile, downstairs...
The two young men had run after the dark-haired girl half-way to the staircase, before they had dropped the chase. They knew that even if they got their hands onto girl, they couldn't do anything, not after she had put it in her- in her…
Their face flushed even deeper.
'What took over you? Do you find this amusing?!' Shunsui exclaimed at the blonde woman, fussily.
'My! My! It's unbelievable how Gōjun and you can be all shy at times!' the latter giggled, for only answer, and both young men held their face with their hands, sighing heavily.
***
It was only some thirty minutes later that I decided to return downstairs, after having hidden the picture carefully in my belongings. I guessed that the boys must have calmed down by now.
As I came down the staircase, I was surprised to find all the lights on the ground floor switched off. Tsubasa-sama and the boys had re-arranged the living room. They had pushed the sofa aside to replace them with cushions on the floor, and they had placed candles all around the room.
What are they doing?
I was intrigued.
'Ah! Hime!' the blonde woman called when her eyes fell on me, and moving up to me, she took me by my arm to lead me to where the boys were standing in the middle of the living room. 'I was about to come upstairs to fetch you! We have decided to play Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai! And you're going to join yourself to us!'
'Hya- Hya- Hyakumono-ga-gatari Kaidan-Kaidankai ?!' I stammered, jumping backward, all color draining out of my face.
'Yes!' she exclaimed, excitedly. 'We're going to spend the whole night recounting to one another supernatural tales full of horror, ghosts, ghoulish encounters and folkloric creatures! It's going to be terrific!'
Terrific! That was such a suitable word!
I almost felt faint.
'I'm sorry. I can't play,' I told them, putting my hands up nervously while backing away at the same time. 'I think I'm going to go off to sleep now!'
Just as I had flung around and was about to run upstairs to my bedroom to huddle in a corner and cover my ears with my hands to frantically recite all the prayers that I knew, the boys caught me by the back of my collar, breaking my stride.
'Where do you think you're going?' they demanded, and gulping hard, I took a glance at them over my shoulder, only to flinch at the diabolical look they were wearing on their face. 'Is it us or the supernatural makes you all nervous?! You're not going anywhere! You're staying here with us to participate!'
It's a vengeance!
It was clear that they still had grudge against me because of the picture!
'B-But...'
'Huh?' they uttered, giving me an intimidating look, and immediately, I was cowed.
Smiling devilishly, they dragged me- still by the back of my collar- to one of the cushions on the floor, while I sobbed bitterly to myself.
Okā-san! Kami-sama! Help!
After everyone had taken their respective places, we got started with the game. And already, the atmosphere in the room became heavy, the tension palpable.
I was shivering.
'I shall begin!' Tsubasa-sama declared, in a serious tone. 'The story I'm going to tell you, I hold it from Takara-san.'
Takara-san?!
'One day, he recounted to me a strange encounter that he once had with the other world. It was something that happened some ten years ago. And as a coincidence, it took place exactly during the Golden Week itself.'
I swallowed hard.
'He was returning from a visit to an old friend of his who lives far away from Kokubunji. He was driving when, suddenly, a young woman appeared on the side of the motorway to hail him. It was in the middle of the night and there were only forests all around. He wondered what a young woman like her could be doing all alone outside at this hour, especially in such a place. He stopped the car to ask her about it. The young woman, who was around twenty-years old, explained to him that she had been to a birthday party with her fiancé when, they had a fight in the car, and he abandoned her there in the middle of the road. She had tried to call a few friends, as well as her parents but none of them were answering her calls. Seeing how much she was disheveled, and feeling afraid for the young woman's safety, Takara-san decided to drive her to her home. He was unfamiliar with the area and the young woman told him that she would indicate him the way gradually. Soon, they had left the motorway to enter a small dirt road. This, led them deeper and deeper into the woods. Slowly, Takara-san began to grow uneasy. He asked himself if there really could be any person who lives so far off from the motorway- completely cut out of all civilization- and if the young woman did not make him take a wrong turn. When he inquired from her about it, she assured him that they had missed no turn and that he should continue to drive. He did as she said and proceeded down the small dirt road, only to arrive- to his great stupefaction- on top of a cliff!'
My heart skipped a beat.
'There was nothing ahead, except for a dangerous precipice. Takara-san told himself that it was quite dark and the woman was quite disheveled, and so, she could have made a mistake in good faith. As he lifted his gaze to look at her in the rear mirror, abruptly, he realized that he couldn't see the young woman in the backseat anymore. Instantly, he looked around, only for him to find that the backseat was, indeed, completely empty!'
I held my throat with my hands now, gasping with horror.
'Terror coursed through his veins. "Where is she gone?" he asked himself, the remnant of an urban legend that he had once heard starting to come back to him. Just at that moment, out of the blue, he felt the accelerator become pressed under his foot, the car about to drive off cliff!'
'Kami-sama!' I cried, covering my face with my hands and closing my eyes.
'Takara-san was very lucky to come out of this alive! He managed to jump out of the car just in time before it went down the precipice. Without losing a second, he took to his heels, running like lightning and screaming like one possessed! Somehow, he managed to get back to the motorway and hailed an upcoming car! The young couple in the vehicle kindly accepted to drop him to Kokubunji, and even though he made it safely home, never once in his life would Takara-san forget that night and his mysterious passenger who had disappeared in thin air! As what, our lady from the infernal world does not hail only taxis, contrarily to what the legend would want us to think!'
And on this note, Tsubasa-sama picked a candle up from the floor and blew it off.
I stared at her, still holding my face with my hands, more than terrorized. It was only the first story and I was already shaking to the bones.
'Now, my turn!' Gōjun asserted. 'The story tells us about a vagabond. He was a homeless person and every night, he would enter old abandoned houses to spend the night there. One day, he arrived at a Buddhist temple. The place seemed completely abandoned to him. The building was very dark and it lied in complete disarray. All the walls were full of cracks; there were dust and cob-webs everywhere, and the yard was covered with dead leaves.'
I cringed. It's too sinister!
Don't go in! I almost cried at the vagabond.
'He decided to make it his new sleeping quarters!'
No!
'He went through the different rooms of the temple in search of something to sleep on. He found only a futon. It looked all rotten to him, but he told himself that it was better than to sleep on the cold, wooden floor. And without much ado, he entered it. It had been only a few hours since he had fallen asleep when, suddenly, he was jolted out of sleep by an abrupt movement, as if, somebody had pulled at his futon very sharply!'
My breath caught.
'He sat upright on the spot, his eyes wide with fear. "Am I not alone here? Is there another person present in this place?" he asked himself, before he managed to convince his person that he must have had a nightmare, and on this reassuring thought, he went back to sleep. The following night, he came back to the temple to sleep there again. And, just like on the previous night, he had been sleeping for only a few hours when, he was jolted out of sleep in the same manner. This time, he was completely panicked. Lighting up an old, oil lamp that he had found, he started scouring the temple. He imagined that maybe there was somebody else there, perhaps another vagabond, and that the latter was only pulling a prank on him. "But even if it's the case, how could the latter have disappeared so fast?" he couldn't help but ask himself, with a small shrill. When he found no human and no ghost, he returned to his futon, telling himself that maybe he had just had another nightmare; his futon had not actually moved from its place! But still, just to be sure, he decided to pour some salt on the floor all around his futon in the form of line. If the futon ever moved, the salt would get scattered on the floor. And on this, he went back to sleep. It was nearly dawn when, for the second time that night, he was awakened once again by the same jolting movement, only to realize with great horror that the line of salt at the foot of the futon was all scattered! The futon had actually moved by a few centimeters!'
I squalled.
'He was now absolutely convinced that the temple was haunted. But he was not one to abandon so easily! The following night, he returned to the temple again to sleep there, but this time, he attached talismans in the form of strips of paper on all the four walls of the room. "Now, no ghosts can approach me!" he said to himself, and went to sleep on an appeased mind. But-'
But…?
My heart was palpitating.
'That third night as well he was awakened from his sleep, but this time, it was not by a simple jolt. He was literally thrown across of the room! Scared to death, he started to tear off all the talismans he had attached on the walls while apologizing frantically, certain that his having placed protections in the room has provoked the wrath of the spirits which haunted the temple. That night, he was unable to close his eyes even once to sleep, and he left the temple at the first break of sunlight. But where could else he go? He knew no other place where he could spend the night. And winter was nearing; the nights getting colder. As such, for the fourth successive night, he returned to the temple to sleep there once again. He lied himself down onto his futon, but he refused to close his eyes so much he was scared. At one point, however, he found himself overpowered by sleep, and without realizing it, his eyes closed on themselves.'
No, don't fall asleep!
'And that fourth night, as could be expected, he was awakened like all the other nights from his sleep, though not by a jolt, but by a stifling feeling, as if, there was something heavy on top of him that was preventing him from breathing properly. The moment he opened his eyes, he realized that he was no longer sleeping on his futon, but on the hard, wooden floor, and to his great horror, the futon was instead lying on top of him, pressing him down, stifling him!'
I gasped.
'Adrenaline coursing through his veins, he managed to kick the futon off him and looked around of the room frantically for the person- or rather, the entity- that had wanted to suffocate him to death. But he could see no one and nothing in the room with him. That's when he saw the futon- which was lying a distance away from where he was- stand upright in front of him, as if, it was a living person! It had grown hands and feet, as well as a mouth, a nose and eyes! In that instant, he realized with utmost terror that what he was being confronted to was no ghost, but what we call, a Tsukumogami!'
I was not breathing anymore.
'He jumped to his feet instantly and ran out of the room, screaming his lungs out. After that night, the vagabond never returned to that temple again.'
Picking a candle up, Gōjun extinguished it, while I hugged myself, shuddering.
Kami-sama!
It was Shunsui's turn to orate a story now.
'The story that I'm going to tell you concerns a group of Noh actors. It took place over a decade ago, during one of their public performances. All the actors in the group were very close friends and their talents were deeply appreciated. The performance was about to begin, and everyone was extremely anxious because one of their friends, who had for name Rei, had not arrived yet. Her role was central to the play; she was to enact the role of the Hannya.'
The role of the Hannya?!
My throat constricted.
'However, to their great relief, she arrived just before the start of the performance; if she had not, they would have had to cancel it. Nevertheless, they couldn't help but feel a bit surprised to find that the young woman had already worn her costume and mask, and when they asked her about where she had been, she didn't answer them. They didn't think too much about it though and went on to perform. After the play was over, as they were all about to go change their clothes, suddenly, one of the male actors in the group decided to check his cellphone to see if he had received any messages from his girlfriend. He was astounded to find that somebody had left him several missed calls and text messages, and that the number was none other than that of the young woman Rei. One of the text messages read that she would not be able to make it in time for the performance because she has been involved in an accident. But the most important point was that, all the messages and missed calls had come in at the time they were performing on stage, which meant that it was not the young woman who could have sent them!'
My heart trembled.
'But the guy told himself that there needed to be a logical explanation to this. Somebody must have stolen their friend's phone and was using it to play a prank on them. It was as simple as that.
"Hey, Rei! I think you should check and see if you still have your phone! A little prankster is usurping your identity to send text messages and making phone calls in your name!" he called at the young woman from where he was standing in the doorway of the room.
Just at that moment, abruptly, somebody bumped into him from behind, and everyone gasped in shock as they turned around to see that that person was, none other than, their female friend Rei with her arm in a sling!'
I was not breathing anymore.
'The latter was all flustered, and she explained to them that she had been involved in an incredible accident and that if she told them about it, they wouldn't believe her. But no one was really listening. Everyone was asking themselves a single, most disturbing, question: if their friend has only just arrived, then who is the person standing there behind them in the room, under the Hannya mask, and who has performed with them on stage? They all flung around to stare at this masked person, almost frantically. "Oh, you've found someone to replace me?!" their friend Rei asked them, a bit surprised. But no one answered. No one dared to speak for a whole minute, but then they told themselves that maybe it was just some freak who wanted to perform on stage and has usurped their friend's identity, while hoping not to get caught. "Who are you? Take off your mask!" they exclaimed at the stranger, and couldn't help but flinch when the latter tilted her head in such a way, so as to display a sneering face. They stared at the masked person with wide unblinking eyes, as she slowly reached up to take off the mask, only to reveal a face of matching color and appearance!'
I screamed with terror.
'Under the mask, was a dark red face made of flesh and blood, the sneering face of a demon! Everything left to believe that they were confronted to the incarnation of the Hannya in the play itself! It is said that the Hannya disappeared in thin air immediately after having revealed herself to them that night. And it is also said that all the actors in the group died one after another during the very week that followed the incident, and that, in strange circumstances that resembled a lot to those that can be found in the play they had enacted that night. The play, actually, was about a group of theater actors who become confronted to one of the demons in the play they were enacting on stage, and who, to top it all, end up dying in same strange circumstances as had been enacted! This is a good example of what is called a loop story!'
I covered my ears with my hands now, unable to take it anymore. I was certain that I was going to remain traumatized for my whole life after having listened to this.
Shunsui picked up a candle and extinguished it, before he told me, 'Now, it's your turn to tell us a story!'
I flinched. 'Me- Me?'
'Yes,' Gōjun replied, his eyes tightening at me, his expression merciless. 'You must know one ghost story or two, right?'
'Huh?'
I was perspiring cold now, and I wiped my forehead with my hand to stare at the ground.
They were waiting for me to start narrating something to them.
'W-Well, I actually know one story.'
'Good!' Tsubasa-sama exclaimed, excitedly. 'We want to hear it!'
Swallowing the lump in my throat and taking a deep breath, I started like this: 'The story is about a family who moves in a new house. The family was composed of a father and a mother, and two children- a little boy and his older sister. A few days had gone by since they had moved in their new home when, the members of the family started to notice that some of their belongings have started to disappear one after another. It was only small items, such as toothbrushes, watches, combs, some of the kids' toys, and similar objects. The first thing that came to their mind was that a thief has been visiting them. But why would a thief steal such things? After all, they were not of much economic value. But above it all, the father has always ensured that all the doors and windows were properly closed at night. It was really strange.'
'Indeed,' Shunsui agreed.
'As their personal belongings continued to disappear, the family started to believe that they had an intruder in the house. The house was, in effect, very big and there were only fields and fields for kilometers round. They decided to scour all the unused rooms of the house, as well as the attic and the basement. When they found no one hiding there, the parents became convinced that the house was haunted! They called in a Buddhist priest to exorcise the house. After that, they believed that everything would become normal, but to their great disarray, their personal belongings continued to disappear. A whole week had gone by since the exorcism when, the children discovered something terrifying in the garden. They had been playing outside when the little boy tripped onto something, and that something turned out to be a big, white bone!'
Everyone gasped, 'A human bone?!'
'Completely panicked, the parents called in the police to dig into their garden. Several other bones were found at the same spot. "We should never have bought this house! Somebody has been killed and buried here!" the woman cried to her husband, in horror. But they were not out of the woods yet. As the police continued to dig, they found all the items that the family have lost ever since they had moved in. "What does this mean?" the husband asked to himself, frantically. "An act of sorcery?!" What else could it be? To bury their personal belongings with that of a cadaver!'
No one seemed to be breathing anymore, captured by the story.
'Just at that moment, suddenly, their dog arrived. Yes, the family owned a dog! And everyone was astounded to find the latter carrying one of the kids' toys in its mouth! It was coming to bury it in the hole! The ancient proprietor had warned the parents that the animal has the knack to steal small items to bury them in the garden, but they had not paid any attention to it. It was only, in that instant, that they realized that there was nothing supernatural involved! The bones were not those of a human being! They had, in fact, found the secret stash of the animal!'
I had put my forefinger up now to smile cheerily.
Tsubasa-sama stared at me with an awkward look, while the boys closed their eyes and put their fists up at me, their expression flabbergasted.
Uh-oh! I don't think they liked the story!
'You idiot!' Gōjun shouted at me, giving a large bump on the head, and I backed away instantly, holding my head with both my hands and moaning, 'Why did you hit me?'
'That would teach you for telling us such a ridiculous story!' he grumbled, with his fist still balled up. 'I don't think you've really understood the sense of this game!'
I continued to rub my head with my two hands, sniffling.
We resumed the game after that and it went on for several hours, with each new tale making my blood run cold afresh. Even if I didn't participate in the story-telling, I was forced to listen, and when the game finally came to an end, I looked around ourselves frantically, certain that we were going to be attacked by the incarnation of all the creatures we had been evoking.
Nothing such happened though, but still, I couldn't stop shaking with fear when I got to bed, and I prepared myself to spend a sleepless night.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai - 'A Gathering of One hundred Supernatural Tales'
Tsukumogami - tools that have acquired a spirit
Noh - a traditional Japanese masked drama that uses music and dance
Hannya - jealous female demon