Ch.115Chapter 18. Repayment (6)

What exactly is this place supposed to be?

For a brief moment, I wondered if this was some extraordinary organization.

Like an eccentric news agency that manipulates information about yokai and the supernatural underworld—appearing to be just a tabloid to most people but actually reporting nothing but the truth.

But I quickly dismissed the thought.

After all, in the world I came from, there were newspapers that ignored embargoes and published exclusive reports on critical information, blinded by money.

Then they’d make a fuss about government censorship and dictatorship whenever they got called out.

…Well, I suppose it might seem strange to suppress news about one or two murder cases.

Some time had passed and the shock had faded somewhat, but Tokyo had experienced a cannibalistic serial murder case just earlier this year. The Metropolitan Police Department was probably being sensitive because of that.

This magazine was closer to a “tabloid” than a legitimate news agency, but the people writing for it were still journalists.

They might have connections with other reporters. Even if they wrote information they’d heard somewhere without much thought, this wasn’t the kind of magazine that people who care about truth would pick up.

Even if it was just “rumors they’d heard somewhere” written carelessly, I felt I could believe it.

“Oh, but wait,” Kaoru said, blinking her eyes.

“If you two are here, does that mean…?”

“…”

Hmm.

“We’re just here to investigate. Not because something’s actually happening.”

Even after I said that, Kaoru’s eyes lit up as if a switch had been flipped.

“I want to come too!”

Is this person really looking for this kind of thing even after what happened before?

I stared blankly at Kaoru, then looked at Izumi behind her.

How much did Izumi know again?

If everyone around me shared exactly the same information about my situation, I could act more comfortably. I wouldn’t need to constantly think about what I’ve told to whom.

The problem is, despite having quite a few people around me, everyone knows different things about me.

And it’s not like I can just reveal all my secrets either.

“Oh, right,” Kaoru said, turning to look at Izumi.

“Izumi, you should head back first. It could be dangerous.”

“What?”

Izumi’s mouth fell open.

Hey, it’s dangerous for you too.

Yuka has been fighting these otherworldly beings from the beginning. It’s her family business.

Koko is the most powerful ally I know of, and well, I’d gladly let Hagiwara come along too. She knows how to fight.

But Kaoru…

“No.”

While I was thinking this, Izumi’s face hardened as she answered.

“I’m staying here with you all.”

Why?

Just a moment ago she was scared and throwing salt everywhere. That container of salt was still clutched tightly against her chest.

If the Red Mask could be driven away with just salt, it wouldn’t have become so infamous. Actually, I’m not even sure if salt works on yokai-like beings in this world.

“Izumi, you were terrified earlier. You even hated coming this far.”

“That’s different from this.”

Izumi cut her off firmly. I could see her arms tightening around the salt container.

“Sending you out alone at this hour? Of course I hate that. You’ve gone off on your own before and missed school, remember?”

“Ah.”

Kaoru made an extremely guilty expression at Izumi’s words.

“I don’t want to go through that again. Besides, everyone here is from the Literature Club. Even if Yuka is missing for some reason, sending just me away is like having a Literature Club meeting without the president!”

“…”

We all fell silent at those words.

“Kotone?”

Is that what this is?

Koko tilted her head with an expression that seemed to ask that question.

…Of course not. I didn’t want to exclude my friend.

“And it’s suspicious, you know. You’re all acting like you share some secret among yourselves.”

Izumi pointed her finger directly at Kaoru.

“You guys are now…”

Even Kaoru, who usually teased Izumi with all sorts of remarks, couldn’t make a playful comment after hearing that.

From what I’ve heard, Izumi doesn’t have many friends. She couldn’t even gather enough people to maintain the Literature Club when it was in crisis.

She’s not exactly an outcast, but you know the type—people who don’t know how to approach others warmly and end up somewhat isolated.

Izumi is probably that type.

“Izumi—”

“I get it.”

Izumi moved her finger to point at me.

“You’re all plotting to create an Occult Club, aren’t you?!”

“…”

Uh.

Hmm.

Pushing her extended index finger against her glasses, Izumi continued.

“I may be a benevolent Literature Club president, but I’m not kind enough to overlook a coup! I was suspicious from the moment Kaoru suggested this. A literature club anthology should contain novels and critiques, not occult reports!”

Flash.

Somehow her glasses seemed to gleam despite there being no light.

“As president, I absolutely won’t allow it! I’ll keep watch until the end!”

“…”

“Pfft.”

As I stared blankly at Izumi, at a loss for words, Kaoru let out a laugh.

“Hahahahaha!”

Then she burst into full laughter.

“W-what’s that laugh for? Is what I said funny?”

“N-no, it’s just, well.”

Kaoru barely managed to stop laughing.

“It’s just… so like you.”

“Whatever.”

Izumi glared at Kaoru.

“Phew.”

After catching her breath, Kaoru turned to me.

“What do you think, Kotone? This is what our president says. Are you going to send her back?”

I answered with a small sigh.

*

The L-rod was actually an outdated superstition.

This L-shaped metal rod, also called a dowsing rod, was said to detect magnetic anomalies where underground water flows… or so people claimed. Of course, there’s almost no scientific basis for it. It’s pseudoscience that just pretends to be scientific without any actual science.

But why did Kaoru bring this water-finding tool here?

“Obviously because places where ghosts appear often have magnetic anomalies.”

That was Kaoru’s answer.

I thought a compass might be better than these thick, heavy metal rods, but I didn’t feel like pointing that out to Kaoru, an occult believer.

“…”

Very wisely, Izumi looked at the rods with extremely suspicious eyes.

“Have you actually found anything with those so far?”

“Not yet.”

Kaoru said with a smile.

“I didn’t come expecting to find something so easily! Even that time— Oh.”

Kaoru almost mentioned the silkworm incident but quickly shut her mouth.

“That time?”

Izumi tilted her head.

“Anyway.”

Kaoru quickly changed the subject before Izumi could dig deeper.

“If there’s any being disconnected from reality around here, I’ll definitely find it.”

There were two reasons I didn’t contradict Kaoru.

First, arguing with someone who believes in such things would just lead to them insisting they’re right until the end. I learned that after giving up on trying to convince a high school friend who believed in blood type personality theory.

The second reason… is that ghosts and spirits really do exist in this world. Since they really exist, there might actually be some physical effect. Plus, Kaoru has strong spiritual sensitivity—she even managed to summon Nirlas just by drawing a pentagram on paper.

Maybe she really could find something?

With a faint hope, I followed Kaoru and Izumi for quite a while, but in the end, nothing appeared that day.

*

Our investigation method seemed a bit off. Just as you can’t accomplish anything by headbutting concrete, we needed to gather more clues before proceeding.

But where could we get those clues?

We couldn’t ask the police. If a high school girl claimed to know about an embargoed case, the police would naturally be suspicious. Being already involved with a suspicious organization, I didn’t want to increase the number of people doubting me.

Questioning people in the area…

Well…

This area has a ton of bars. Lots of hotels too. While there were many women among the crowds, men were the vast majority, and there were many establishments catering to those men.

In such a place, a high school girl approaching random men to ask questions?

I couldn’t blame anyone for misunderstanding that as some strange solicitation. Besides, they probably wouldn’t take questions about a woman with a split mouth seriously.

After finishing work today, I deliberately didn’t stop by Kagami’s place. I’d already gotten the information, and honestly, it felt very awkward entering there in my school uniform.

Besides, Kaoru and Izumi said they’d wait for me today.

Friday evening. There were many more people than yesterday, but as we moved to the edge of the busy district, the noise faded away almost like a lie.

Well, this is still the 2000s. Many people would work on Saturdays too. They did even in the 2020s. Perhaps Saturday evening is when the most people are out during this period.

“Hmm… another wasted trip today?” Kaoru said, frowning.

The L-shaped rods in her hands didn’t move at all. They occasionally shifted when Kaoru turned her body, but that wasn’t because of ghosts.

Maybe we needed to wait until later. The victim was estimated to have died just after the hour.

But there was a problem with that. Unlike Korea, where there’s no legal basis to stop high school students from being out late at night, Japan has curfew times set by local ordinances.

Looking at the Toyoko Kids issue that became a problem in the 20s, the police don’t seem to actively enforce it, but still, we’re students from a fairly well-known high school.

If the police saw us, they might want to send us home quickly. So staying out all night to investigate wasn’t an option.

I was seriously considering trying a spirit summoning ritual when—

“Ah! T-there!”

Izumi, who had been anxiously looking around, suddenly shouted.

Looking in the direction she pointed, I saw a woman walking toward us with a clicking sound. It sounded like high heels. She seemed to be in a hurry, walking a bit faster than normal.

Under the streetlight, I could see she wore a long coat. And on her face, a mask.

“Huh? Could it be?! Could it be?!”

Kaoru made a fuss, pointing the L-rod in that direction. Aren’t you scared in this situation?

…I guess she doesn’t need to be. She knows what kind of person I am.

I wasn’t scared at all. Neither was Koko. Koko wasn’t the type to be scared even if she saw a real ghost, and in my case—

It wasn’t that I’d developed immunity from seeing ghosts and yokai often, but rather because this was someone I knew.

“Oh?”

The woman approaching us spoke.

About ten steps away, she lowered her mask.

She wasn’t wearing makeup. She still had a pretty face, but—

…Wait.

“Oh, it’s Kagami’s kids~ What are you doing here?”

Right, it’s the person who works at Kagami’s place, the one who was late. Today she must have woken up especially late since she hadn’t even put on makeup.

And seeing her face, I finally understood what had been bothering me.

This person resembles the owner.

Not as identical as Koko and me. Not even as much as Kagami and Kosuzu. But she resembled her enough to cause discomfort. Especially around the eyes and mouth—they were identical.

Could it be?

But didn’t she say they were “about the same age”?

“Huh? You two know each other?”

Kaoru, who didn’t know about us, asked.

“Yes~ I work at Kagami’s place~”

“Kagami? Ah.”

You know what? People who have met me tend to think my mother isn’t exactly a normal person, even if they haven’t met her directly.

It’s not just because she left me alone at home, but especially because I was so obsessed with food at the beginning of the semester.

Plus, there’s Koko’s case too.

I understand why the infamous “Kagami” has spread among my friends. We even had a training camp together because of Koko. At Kaoru’s grandmother’s house, no less.

I couldn’t avoid teaching them something.

…I feel a bit sorry for Kagami.

But that’s not important right now.

There are many people in the world who look alike. No matter how I think about it, Kagami wouldn’t have a student my age working in a place like this… well, I can’t say it’s completely impossible, but I’d like to believe the possibility is small. There would be issues with the police and such.

Anyway, if I think about it that way, the age doesn’t match, so I’ll let it go for now.

“Do you always take this route to work?”

Hearing the words “route to work,” Kaoru and Izumi’s expressions became even stranger. They exchanged slightly anxious glances.

It seems they feel uncomfortable in this situation rather than thinking something is wrong.

“A woman going to work at night.” Of course, this is the 21st century. Women could work as night security guards or something, right? Or even at a convenience store.

But the high-heeled shoes visible beneath her coat were too eye-catching to ignore. They were silver with pearls.

I tried my best not to show that I was thinking about this.

“Yes~ It’s within walking distance~”

“Have you ever seen anyone strange around here?”

I asked this not because I was targeting something specific, but because I finally found someone I could ask.

“Strange people?”

“Yes, like…”

I rolled my eyes around, then said,

“Someone unusual, maybe with scars?”

“Hmm~”

Putting her index finger to her lips and looking up at the sky, she fell into thought for a moment.

“Yes, there was someone~”

That was her answer.

Up to this point, I didn’t have high expectations. This place is full of drunk people right in front of the busy district. She could have seen people doing strange things several times.

But.

“There was someone with a big scar on their cheek, like this~”

As she said this, she drew a line with her fingers from the corner of her mouth to her ear, and my mouth fell open.

Kaoru and Izumi had the same reaction. Their mouths were open, but their expressions were completely different. Kaoru was smiling broadly, while Izumi turned pale. For reference, Koko just tilted her head.

“…”

We all forgot what to say for a moment.

I know this person is late for her shift. Not just late, but almost an hour late. If we keep her here any longer, Kagami might dock her pay or something.

So I decided to ask as briefly as possible.

“What did that person say?”

“Hmm~”

She thought for a moment, then said,

“I think they asked, ‘Am I pretty?’~”

Alright. For now, let’s put aside the fact that this person might be the missing sister the cafe owner mentioned.

Right now, there’s something more important.

*

“A customer?”

When she said she’d be late if she stayed longer, I brought her to Kagami’s place.

Kaoru was looking around curiously, while Izumi was clutching Kaoru’s clothes from behind, looking a bit scared.

Izumi’s reaction was probably the more normal one.

Fortunately, Mr. Fukuda wasn’t there. If he had shouted something like “Second daughter!” I would have had to explain myself again, sweating bullets.

“Not a customer, I just wanted to talk—”

But Kagami glanced at her wristwatch, ignoring my words.

“You’re an hour late.”

“I’m sorry~”

“I’ll count the time they kept you too.”

“No,”

We only kept her for less than five minutes.

The rest was just her being late. She probably set her alarm wrong or turned it off and went back to sleep.

But I could understand why Kagami was acting this way.

Kaoru and Izumi had come along. Though both were in casual clothes, they were obviously students and clearly unfamiliar with this place.

The composed ones were actually Koko and me, still in our school uniforms.

“If you’re not a customer, I’d appreciate it if you left.”

Kagami said, very naturally pretending to look uninterested.

“Despite appearances, Miki is quite popular.”

“Thanks for the compliment~”

No, that was clearly an insincere voice.

…If my guess is correct, there’s a reason she takes words so literally.

“…Then put it on my tab.”

“…”

Kagami glanced at me.

Then she gestured with her chin toward an empty seat.

People stared at us as we walked.

Ah, this is more embarrassing than I thought.

I just wanted to get permission to take her outside for a brief conversation.

“Thank you for choosing me!”

Miki, who came to our table, smiled and took off her coat. The very revealing outfit I’d seen last time was clearly visible.

Kaoru paid no attention to that and happily picked up the menu after sitting down.

“Oh, what’s this? Izumi, look! It’s just one drink but it’s super expensive!”

Don’t sound so happy saying that.

“I want this! I’ve always wanted to try it! Sex on the Beach!”

Don’t casually choose alcoholic drinks.

And you don’t need to shout such an embarrassing name so loudly!

I had to resist the urge to hold my head in my hands.