‘They’re reporting her disappearance,’ Sarah said, horrified. ‘He’s taped the report of her disappearance.’
I didn’t know what to make of it. How strange to record the report of Reiko’s disappearance and tack it on the end of the tape of the school trip. But it wasn’t just tacked on the end. There was a half-hour or so gap between the end of the school trip footage and the beginning of the recording, as though it had been added in secret. After all, if I hadn’t left the disc running and fallen asleep, we would never have got to this part.
‘Why do you think he recorded this?’
I shook my head. ‘It’s all a bit creepy. I guess he was a hormonal teenager and the love of his life had gone missing. Maybe that’s what you do.’
Sarah looked unimpressed.
‘He then stuck it on the end of a disc he didn’t think anyone would see. It’s the natural teenage need for secrecy.’
‘Do you think his Mum knew about this?’
‘Probably not. Otherwise she wouldn’t have handed it over so willingly.’
The scene had cut to what appeared to be a rescue operation, with volunteers scouring the undergrowth around the hills, while men in uniforms directed operations. There followed a gratuitous aerial shot of the field of burial mounds before we were passed back to the po-faced newsreader and a link to a different story.
I was about to say something to Sarah about what we’d just seen when there was a break in the recording followed immediately by another news story.
This time, two newscasters, one male and one female, were reporting a different incident and again their tone signalled that this was another difficult story. By the time the scene cut to the portraits, I’d already guessed what it was. First Kanae’s portrait came up, followed by Jun’s, and again they were the same photographs that Charlie had put in his file. This time the cut to the exterior of the high school revealed a sea of activity in the forecourt. There were police cars, flashing lights, ambulances and a small crowd of concerned onlookers. Then the camera moved in to see a body under a white sheet being wheeled towards the waiting ambulance. This prompted a policeman to usher the camera away and the scene cut back to the newscasters, one of whom started talking about Reiko Shimura, clearly making the connection between the two cases, then bringing up her photograph.
‘Honestly, what do you think of this?’ Sarah asked.
‘I don’t know. I don’t think we were meant to see it. I’ll stick by what I said before. Kenji taped this stuff because the people were in his class, he knew them, maybe they were even his friends. It’s a morbid thing to do, but he was a teenager. He’s gone off to university now, hopefully got a girlfriend and got a life. It’d probably embarrass the hell out of him if he knew his Mum was handing this out.’
‘You don’t think we should tell his mum? I assume she doesn’t know.’
‘No. No way.’
Sarah was about to say something else, when the recording broke to yet another newscaster and we were treated to a similar sequence surrounding the case of Hideki Sano, run over on the highway. There was the obligatory portrait, the scenes of chaos on the road and the monotone commentary. Then we saw a group photo of class 3C, but four heads were now circled, highlighting their demise. This was followed by full-size portraits of the previous three victims.
By now we knew what was coming next. The last victim, Saori Kumano, found dead in her bedroom, and a fifth head was now circled on the group photo. I began to wonder what it must have been like for the remaining pupils seeing their numbers dwindling so rapidly, wondering whose head was up next for circling.
For a while after the disc ended we sat and said little. Sarah said that she’d given up smoking aged eighteen, but this was the first time she’d felt a craving since that time. Neither of us really knew what to think about the sequence, and both of us were too tired to come up with any theories. Sarah agreed that, weird though it was, Kenji maybe deserved a little slack. He was a screwed-up teenager with a pushy mother, who had witnessed his classmates dropping dead around him. After all, he’d been in love with Reiko and all of a sudden she’d disappeared without trace. Dead or alive, no one knew.
‘Will you sleep here?’ Sarah said, as she settled under the duvet. ‘I don’t want to be alone.’
I echoed this sentiment wholeheartedly. I switched off the disc and ejected it, fearful perhaps of what else might be lurking further down the line, then got under the duvet next to Sarah. It was comforting to feel her close to me. I was sure that as long as she was there nothing could touch me. Nothing could ever touch me.
I was wrong.
19. NIGHT ENCOUNTER
It was just after two when Sarah woke me. I felt her tug at my sleeve under the duvet and turned to see her propped up on her elbow next to me.
‘What is it?’
‘I thought I heard something.’
‘What?’
‘A scrabbling sound, like someone was clawing at a door somewhere. It’s stopped now.’
The moon shone in through the partially open blind revealing her features to me. The sight of her in the moonlight tempered the alarm I felt at being woken so suddenly.
‘It could’ve been an animal,’ I said.
‘That’s what I would’ve said. But after what I’ve seen tonight, I’m not feeling very trusting. We know that a murderer could still be out there somewhere in the village.’
‘Come on, it all happened years ago. Anyway I’m the one who has the nightmares.’
‘It’s all right for you. You can leave on Monday. I’m stuck here for another three months. Anything could happen in that time.’
I reached out and began to pull Sarah down towards the bed, telling her she needed to relax. But the next thing I knew I’d pulled her into my arms and she was kissing me.
I didn’t know how it had happened or who’d made the move, and my reactions struggled to keep up. I found my hands reaching for Sarah’s waist, caressing her warm skin and feeling the smoothness of her back. We kissed, softly at first, then with increasing firmness. Two years of pent-up emotion were quickly finding their release.
I fumbled with her nightdress and in a moment it was over her head. She propped herself on her elbow and I caught sight of her naked body for the first time, alabaster white in the moonlight. Passion had me in its grip and I swooned with the sheer exhilaration of it. I felt her hands grapple with my T-shirt and pull it over my head. Then they travelled down and freed me of my boxer shorts.
She sat upright and her profile was perfectly silhouetted in the window frame. Pushing her hair back with her hands, she manoeuvred herself on top of me.
I didn’t know if I was ready for what was about to come. After so much time out of action I was hesitant at first, but Sarah bent down and whispered in my ear, telling me to let go and enjoy it, that I should leave everything to her.
I lay back and gazed at her nakedness, made more mysterious by the delicate play of light and shadow. And I whispered that I would follow wherever she wanted to lead me. In that moment she was more beautiful than anything I’d known, more feminine, more sensuous.
I gave myself up to my senses. There was no nervous fumbling, no embarrassment, no fear of consequences or an inability to perform. It felt as I always hoped it would feel: the most natural thing in the world.
I closed my eyes, letting these sensations wash over me, but when I opened them again, my heart turned to ice.
It was only a split second, but it was enough. It wasn’t Sarah looking down at me, it was Reiko, wearing the same dispassionate expression I’d seen in the home video, looking at me, looking straight through me. Only there was no love there, no emotion, nothing.
I winced and looked away and when I looked back Reiko had gone and Sarah was there in her place. She caught the sudden change in me and stopped, concerned.
I tried to put the image out of my mind, to give myself up to my senses again, if only for Sarah’s sake. But the spell was broken, the passio
n gone.
‘Are you all right?’
I caressed her shoulders, cursing myself to hell. What was wrong with me?
‘What is it?’ she asked, leaning forward and stroking my face. I thanked God there was still affection in her touch. At least I still had that.
‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It keeps happening. I can’t help it.’
She looked at me, bewildered.
‘Why doesn’t she leave me alone?’
Sarah came and lay down next to me, continuing to stroke my face and hair.
‘She’s in my head and I need to get rid of her.’
Sarah pressed a finger to my lips. ‘You don’t have to say anything.’
I marvelled at her attitude. She wasn’t showing the slightest sign of irritation at the sudden change in my behaviour, the rude interruption of our intimacy. She’d taken it in her stride. I could have declared my undying love for her there and then.
For a while I lay there listening to her rhythmic breathing at my side and I realized she was fast asleep.
For the next couple of hours I tried my utmost to focus my mind on Sarah, what had just happened between us and the feelings I had for her. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw Reiko staring down at me, dissecting me with her cold eyes. What was this hold she had over me? Why had her unearthly beauty disturbed me so much? It was the first time in two years I had been intimate with someone and here I was having to battle against this impostor from some dark, unknown place. What did she want of me?
These questions circled my head until the first light of dawn appeared at the window and allowed me, grudgingly, some sleep.
20. KIMIKO
I woke up to a heavy stomach and an aching sadness.
I lay there with Sarah asleep beside me, knowing that this would be my last day in Izumi and that I would be leaving her behind. I wondered if there was any hope for the two of us after what had happened in the night. She had been more than considerate after I’d broken things off so abruptly, but she couldn’t have been pleased. Maybe if I had a few more days to smooth things over, I might have some hope. But at the rate I was going I’d probably be certified within that timeframe. There was no way of getting round it: I had to leave Izumi.
It seemed unlikely there was any chance of a long-distance relationship. She only had a few more months left on her contract and would then be heading straight back to England. I couldn’t see her calling on me in Osaka. By the time I left Japan in a year’s time, she would have started a new life, no doubt complete with new boyfriend.
However I looked at it, I couldn’t see it happening. She had said herself she’d been starved of social contact during her time in Izumi and she hadn’t exactly been fighting them off. She had admitted to feeling lonely and isolated and that my coming here was a big event for her. It seemed likely that under different circumstances she would never have gone this far with me. And given the chance to make something happen, what had I done? I’d blown it completely. I would be relegated to a cringeworthy anecdote in a beery pub. I could hear her now, telling her friends of the night she slept with a ghost-hunter psycho who had to break off from sex because he’d just seen a ghost. Thinking about it in the cold light of day, it sounded truly awful. What was wrong with me?
She stirred in her sleep, opened her eyes and looked at me. I was expecting her to look shocked or embarrassed and tell me what a mistake it had all been, but instead she stroked my hair and smiled.
‘Good morning, sunshine,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Sleep well?’
‘Not too bad, considering.’
‘Considering what?’ she asked, looking at me with wide eyes. ‘Considering I’m not wearing any clothes?’
It took me a moment to realize she was joking. I was feeling too frail for humour. I needed things spelt out in clear, unambiguous English. ‘You know, the video footage, the newsreels, everything.’
‘Yeah, I know. Don’t worry.’ She locked her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling.
‘Look I’m sorry about acting weird last night. I shouldn’t have watched that footage. It can’t have helped.’ With only one day left in Izumi I needed to work quickly to salvage some dignity.
‘You said you saw her again?’
‘Yes.’
‘You saw her appear in the room?’
I nodded, pleased that she wasn’t trying to avoid the subject. I’d wanted the opportunity to clear the air as quickly as possible and she seemed to want the same. The only thing I couldn’t tell her was that Reiko hadn’t just been in the room, she had actually taken Sarah’s place. I didn’t think she’d want to know that.
‘So, it wasn’t a reflection this time?’
‘She was just standing there.’ I thought it best to leave it vague.
‘Right, you’ve got one more day here. I’d better make sure you leave in one piece.’ She sat up, not at all embarrassed by her nakedness.
I smiled, ashamed that I’d ever doubted her.
‘Your last day,’ she said to herself, considering the prospect quietly. I hoped I could sense at least a tinge of regret in her voice.
‘Your life will be able to return to normal.’
‘That’s one way of putting it. Before I thought it was just the village that was haunted, but now I know my apartment is too.’
Sarah stretched her arms and slipped into her dressing gown. I felt a pang of sadness, as though this were the unofficial end of whatever had happened between us. The act of dressing represented a return to normality, a return to the old routine. I wished we could have lounged in bed all day and let the world get on with its business without us. I wished we could have forgotten that anything had ever happened in Izumi, expunge its dark history from our memories and carry on as though it were just a quaint old village in the country. In that moment I wanted to forget everything about what I did and why I’d come.
‘Do you want low key or high octane today?’ she asked from the door.
‘Low key. Definitely low key.’
‘Agreed. We need to get you out of here alive.’
The sun was still shining, so we decided on a short drive in the countryside followed by a quiet lunch or picnic somewhere. In the afternoon we would come back to the apartment, avoid all reflections on the way, then vegetate until dinner. It was a shame that we’d arranged to have dinner and a sleepover at Mrs Azuma’s, as I guessed sleeping at the Azuma home would involve sleeping separately. I felt I needed another night with Sarah to repair the damage I’d done.
Driving through the village on a glorious Sunday morning, the beauty of the place struck me all over again. It was inconceivable that these peaceful streets had witnessed such a bloody history. The cherry trees lining the streets were bright with blossom, children rode their bikes along the pavements, while their parents tended to their gardens on their day off. All round the village the hills provided such a picturesque backdrop that I couldn’t imagine how evil had ever taken root.
We arrived at a popular scenic spot in the hills overlooking Izumi and surrounding villages. We found a patch of grass and lay there looking up at the sky. It was liberating to be out in the fresh air, lying next to Sarah, and it was just the tonic I needed after the difficult night. I desperately wanted to ask the question, the one that people dread the most, the ‘will I see you again?’ poser. The conversation continued for a time along light-hearted lines and I realized the folly of trying to change direction with questions about relationships.
But there was another topic we had been avoiding, which little by little crept into the conversation.
We started by talking about my thesis and about how my views had changed since coming to Izumi. Then we got on to the high school tragedy and what we thought had really happened and whether the video footage really had any significance. And then we got on to why I was seeing things, why the brooding sprit of a dead student was disturbing my waking hours. We had nothing new to add to what we’d already discussed, but one thing was abundan
tly clear: this wasn’t a subject we could let lie. We both wanted to know more, even if we had to suffer for it.
Sarah had an idea. One of her students had lived in the States for a year and was always nagging Sarah to meet up at the weekend to practice her English. So far she had resisted, but this girl’s elder sister had either been in Reiko’s class or had known Reiko. She might be able to offer us some more clues.
She got on her phone and within minutes had arranged for us to meet up. The girl’s name was Kimiko Ando and, according to Sarah, was quite a talker. It was a long shot, but perhaps she would be able to help us. We felt we had nothing to lose by making a social visit.
Sarah had agreed to meet at Kimiko’s house since her parents were away for the day and she had the run of the place. She told me it would be the first time she’d ever ventured into a student’s home and she was aware she was setting a dangerous precedent. As soon as the others got wind, they’d all want her round.
The place was close to Mrs Azuma’s home, a sizeable property at the foot of the hills, protected by a giant gate and a pair of unfriendly Dobermans chained to a post near the front door. As we stood on the porch waiting for Kimiko the dogs strained frantically at their leads, barking and salivating like the hounds of hell. It was a relief when the door finally opened and Kimiko appeared.
Bright and bubbly, with a wide toothy smile, she was stars and stripes through and through. Her cheerful welcome was in complete contrast to her dogs and I felt compelled to point this out to her.
‘Oh, they’re for protection,’ she said matter-of-factly.
‘Protection? I can’t imagine there being much crime here.’
‘Not ordinary crime. People do get murdered, though.’
This came out of the blue. But since we’d come to pick her brains about suspected murders, we couldn’t argue.
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