Jukai (The Torihada Files Book 2)

by Tara A. Devlin

  The footsteps stopped. The dry leaves and gravel fell silent and I skidded to a halt. I shone the light ahead of me, but the girl was gone. Nothing but trees. I turned back and shone the light in the other direction. The trees looked exactly the same. Which way had the girl gone? I couldn’t tell anymore. Which way had I come from? My lungs burned and my heart pounded.

  “Don’t follow me.”

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I thought. I did exactly what you told me not to do and now look at me. Lost in the middle of the woods on a wild goose chase. How was I supposed to get out now? I should have known something like this would happen. The forest wouldn’t give its secrets up so easily, and in the back of my mind I knew it would try to tempt me, to lead me astray and pull me from the path. Like a fool I let it. I had no idea where I was, and no-one to blame but myself.

  I felt a lump in my pocket. No, there was still one option left. The necklace. It would lead me to Keiko, wherever she was. It wasn‘t the best option, but it was a start. The forest was playing with me, drawing me further in, hoping I’d lose all sense of direction and get stuck there like the others. But I wasn’t like the others. It would only take a moment. Just long enough to see where she was, and I could let go before the spirits closed in. It would be perfectly safe. Just a quick peek, at the very least to point me in the direction I should be going.

  I took my glove off. I put my hand in my pocket and reached for the necklace. Just a peek. That was all.

  “Ah!”

  A pale face appeared before me. I tripped, landing against a thick tree. The girl didn’t move. She stood ghostly still and pointed to the brush by her left. I lifted the torch with a shaky hand and she continued to stare into my eyes. Her gaze never wavered, nor did her arm. Yet as I raised the light to her face, she was gone.

  A body lay face down in the dirt underneath the brush. Her feet were dirty and her dress stained. I turned her over and my heart dropped. The little girl from the man’s photo. The girl who went missing without a word on her way to school.

  “I’m so sorry…”

  A noose lay on the ground next to her, cut in half, and as I shone the light across the ground something glittered. I leaned down and picked it up.

  “Oh my god…”

  Sayumi’s brooch. The one and only keepsake she had of her mother. She wore it all the time and only took it off to sleep. She was here. There was no denying it; Sayumi was here in Kurohana Forest. My mind ran wild. Was she looking for the missing girls as well? When did she come to the forest? Was she still here? Did the forest try to confuse her as well and she was still running around, looking for a way out? Or perhaps…

  I turned around and found myself face to face with the little girl again. She looked deep into my eyes, and for the first time I saw the blood dripping down from them. No icy-cold fingers gripped me, nor did she beg for help or make any attempt to grab me. She said only one thing.

  “Run.”

  13

  Something crunched nearby. I grabbed Sayumi’s brooch and took off running. The trees blurred together in an endless backdrop of bark and branches. I had no idea where the string was, or where I was, but in the moment it didn’t matter. Something was close, something I didn’t want to run into, and I needed to put as much distance between myself and it as possible.

  “Shit!” The torch fell out of my hand and cracked on the hard ground below. There was no time to pick it up, nor time to worry about it. It made little difference as I ran anyway, and I relied upon my senses and the trees themselves to make my way forward.

  The little girl was dead, and if the noose by her body was anything to go by, she was hung. I found it hard to believe that a young girl would find herself so deep in the woods, know how to fashion a noose from such thick rope, and be able to string it up over a tree branch to hang herself. It made no sense. Someone—or something—brought her here and killed her. Made it look like a suicide. But who? Why?

  The footsteps in the distance grew closer. I ran and ran, shielding my face from the branches trying to claw it off, pushing through without regard for what stood before me. It didn’t matter where I was going; escaping from whatever was pursuing me was of the utmost importance. Locating the exit was second. Somewhere in the distance wind chimes rattled. My heart skipped a beat. Wind chimes? It was winter, not summer. Not only that, but why were there wind chimes in the middle of the forest?

  The vision. It came flooding back. When I held Keiko’s necklace I heard wind chimes in the distance. But where were they coming from?

  “Shit!”

  I hit the ground with a loud thud. A thick, solid branch collided with my face, sending me sprawling. Pain shot up my side, and I scrambled to my feet in a daze. There was no time for rest. No time to feel the pain. My lungs and legs and ribs could burn later in the safety of my own home. I felt something beneath my fingers as I planted them into the dirt and my heart jumped for joy.

  The string.

  “No way.”

  Picking it up, I tugged on it and let it guide me back to safety. I was an anchor, and it was pulling me back to the ship. I ran as fast as my legs would take me and the footsteps behind me stopped. The chimes, however, grew angrier. They tinkled louder than ever, a cacophony of sound that made it difficult to think. But I didn’t need to think. I pulled myself along the string, my body and mind focused on that one small thing. Follow the string. Get to safety. Worry about the rest later.

  Laughter. A woman’s laughter rang out in the distance, impossible to tell which direction it was coming from. Perhaps it was coming from all directions. I ran faster, my breath coming in ragged and my feet tripping over each other, sending me to my knees every few metres. Keep going, Mako. You’re nearly there. I didn’t know how far away I was, but what else could I tell myself?

  The trees thinned, and all of a sudden the chimes stopped. Just like that. The forest fell silent, and the silence was deafening. I didn’t dare stop, but I soon found myself back on the path leading out of the forest, and I ran until I reached the station and collapsed on the platform.

  Safety. I had made it.

  Keiko was in that forest, but she wasn’t the only one. That man’s daughter was also in there, lured by someone—or something—to her death among the trees. And Sayumi… That was the biggest mystery of all. Why was Sayumi in the forest? What was she doing in there, and why didn’t she want me to know she was there in the first place?

  I sat on the bench and looked up.

  “What the…?”

  The clock above the platform read 7:10 p.m. I shook my head. That was impossible. It couldn’t be. How… I arrived at Kurohana Station shortly before 7 p.m. There was no way that in the time it took me to exit the station, enter the forest, get lost, find the little girl’s body, find my way back to the string, and then get out of the forest again only 10 minutes had passed. It made no sense.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  The next train wasn’t for another 20 minutes. The station was desolate; cold, empty, and devoid of life. Nearby animals avoided the area, and it was like the pile of concrete that made up the station itself didn’t even want to be there anymore. 20 minutes until the next train. The forest loomed in the dark behind me. I feared that if I turned around, that would be the end of it. I wouldn’t just see something that I shouldn’t; sure, that alone was enough to send chills down my spine and cause my heart to sit tight in my throat, but somewhere, like a tingling on the back of my neck, I could feel it calling to me. I wasn’t supposed to escape. I had cheated the forest of its prize. It didn’t often give up its meals, and it wanted me back.

  Sayumi was in there. I could get up, turn around, run back in and find her. I had her brooch. It was a direct line to her. I could find her in an instant. My fingers reached down into my pocket, fumbling for it. Grab it. Open yourself up and let go. Find her. Help her. She needs you. You’re the only one who can help her. You know how dark it is in there, and she’s all alone without anyone to trust, any
one to help.

  Do it. Find her. Let us in.

  I yanked my hand out of my pocket and shook my head. Cold tendrils snaked around my neck and down my back. They wrapped around my wrist and circled my ankles.

  “Leave me alone!”

  They weren’t my thoughts, and the fact that I wanted them made them all the more dangerous. I couldn’t turn around. I couldn’t see what was standing there, waiting for me. Calling me back. If it was Sayumi, I didn’t know what I’d do. No, that was a lie. I knew exactly what I would do, and that was why I couldn’t turn around. Because it wouldn’t be Sayumi. She was in there, that much I was certain of. But the thing waiting by the edge of the forest, calling to me like a siren zeroing in on its prey, that wasn’t her. Using Sayumi’s brooch, opening myself up to her, that was what the thing wanted. What the forest wanted. It would open me up as well, and once the spirits were let in, they would be near impossible to get back out. They would know me and they would be able to find me and no matter how long it took, they would bring me back.

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Sayumi. I’m sorry…”

  Just a little longer… Wherever she was, she had to hold out for just a little longer. I would find her, but the next time I entered the forest, I needed to be ready.

  The cold tendrils withdrew. The clock ticked slowly, loudly, overhead.

  Soon.

  14

  A quick stroll will clear my head and give me some time to sort out my thoughts. That’s what I thought as I stepped outside into the cold winter air, but a large part of me just wanted to be around people. Any people. It didn’t matter who, so long as they were alive and they were there.

  The atmosphere in Matsuda Tea and Sweets felt different after the events of the last few days. It wasn’t home anymore. I was a foreign body the building was trying to eject, the last hang-on of some virus it didn’t want and was doing all in its power to destroy. The house was cold and uninviting. My footsteps echoed as I walked down the hall, but the sound was angry. Get off my floorboards, it screamed at me. The stairs groaned as I walked up them, and the darkness in Sayumi’s room threatened to pull me in and never let go, a black hole of loneliness and confusion.

  And my room. It was no longer my room. An intruder had been in there, and a spirit or the house itself had repelled them, but now when I stepped inside, there was no longer a sense of comfort or warmth. That pleasant feeling like being wrapped in a soft blanket was gone, and instead it was like walking into an icy cave. You’re not wanted here. Get out.

  I couldn’t get the images of the previous night out of my mind, nor the feeling of something crawling underneath my skin. Three things I knew for certain; first, Sayumi was in that forest. Her brooch remained safely in my pocket, wrapped up so I could avoid the temptation to dive into something I wasn’t ready for; second, that man’s daughter was also in the forest, but she was—unfortunately—already dead; and third, Keiko was also there. I didn’t know where or if she was still alive, but I tried not to think about the alternative. My job was to find her. I intended to see that through, no matter the end result.

  I should call Yasu and let him know, I thought. It was the middle of the day and he was likely at work. Perhaps later, just to keep him updated on what was going on. He didn’t need the finer details and would probably be better off not knowing, but when I thought about Sayumi, and how I would feel if someone told me they had news about her, well, it was the least I could do.

  A poster on the local police box caught my eye. It was fresh, the colours vivid and the paper shiny. It covered several older posters, many of whom were missing family members or pets. Something about this girl stood out. Underneath was the girl’s age (twelve), the date she went missing (three days earlier), and where she was last seen (on her way to school in the morning). Just like the other girl. A classmate? At the very least they attended the same school, and the other girl’s father mentioned she disappeared on her way to school as well. Behind the shiny new missing poster was another missing woman. This woman disappeared a month ago on her way home from work. Just like the other girls, she was on her way to or from somewhere and never reached her destination. She was never seen again. It was like they were disappearing into thin air.

  Only they weren’t. At least three of them were confirmed to be in Kurohana Forest. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to believe these two girls were somewhere inside as well. But the one question that kept bothering me was ‘why?’ Why were they disappearing without a trace, and why there? Kurohana was hardly the only forest in the country known for its high rate of suicides. Kurohana was barely known outside the prefecture other than by those who had an interest in such things. And perhaps most importantly… why now? It wasn’t unknown for a person to go missing every once in a while, but most showed up somewhere eventually, and it was rare for so many people to go missing at once.

  I continued down the road. How many girls were missing in total? Were there others the police were unaware of yet? How many more would go missing until the forest had its fill? Would it continue to claim women indefinitely until it was stopped? Clouds settled overhead, not threatening to rain but putting a damper on the mood. The town was grey and dreary. Shop doors and windows were shuttered against the cold. Wind picked up dead leaves, sending them flying into the air before landing once more in the gutter. The tiny, paved streets looked lovely and quaint in summer, but in winter they brought about a unique melancholy that longed for the colours of spring.

  The library—in reality a two-story building that was thin enough to slot into the empty lot between the local-owned liquor store and a flower shop—was a few streets away from Matsuda Tea and Sweets. It wasn’t much of a library, and calling it that felt strange and foreign. It housed public documents for the community, however, so perhaps it might reveal a little more about Kurohana Forest. There was a mystery waiting to be unravelled, and lives literally depended on it.

  I stepped inside and out of the cold. A portly old man looked up from his book and considered me a few moments before speaking.

  “Can I help you?”

  I picked a leaf out of my hair and closed the door. “Hi, yes. Um, I was wondering if you had any information about Kurohana Forest?”

  The man raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

  “It’s for a, um, project. I just wanted to learn a little more about the history of it.”

  He pointed to the stairs and a sign that read LOCAL HISTORY - SECOND FLOOR.

  “If there’s anything here, it’ll be up there.”

  I bowed and smiled. “Thank you, sir. Thank you.”

  I was halfway up the stairs when he called out behind me. “I’d be careful if I were you though.”

  I stopped and turned back. “Why’s that?”

  “Lots of young people visit Kurohana for fun and never seem to come back again…”

  “Thank you for the concern.” I bowed my head and disappeared upstairs. Book shelves were packed so tight that I could barely fit through them. Down the end of the second row I saw LOCAL HISTORY and I squeezed down the aisle sideways. I returned to the lone desk with an armful of books and folders and spread them out across the top.

  City planning. Construction projects. Family registrars. Local folklore. Anything that looked like it might even vaguely reference Kurohana Forest, I brought out. There had to be something hidden within its history that hinted at what was going on. A construction project gone wrong, an unsolved murder, anything, and if there was, it would be in these files before me.

  I sat down, turned on the desk lamp, and started flicking through the pages. I didn’t know what I was expecting from the family registrar, but at the very least it showed that Kurohana Forest was not on private land, but public. The books on local folklore also proved to be surprisingly useless. One story involved a fat tanuki who, in times of old, was said to steal sake from the local merchants and retire to the forest to drink them. A traveller caught the tanuki unawares one day and he offe
red to share his stolen liquor with the man in exchange for his life. The man killed the tanuki, drank the liquor, and passed out in the river on the way to town. His body was found the next morning, wrinkled and dead and his belly looking not unlike that of the fat tanuki he had mercilessly slaughtered. It was the only mention of Kurohana Forest in local folklore, and it seemed unlikely that a drunk tanuki and sneaky traveller had anything to do with what was going on now. I wasn’t even sure what the moral of the story was supposed to be. Don’t steal? Don’t drink other’s stolen goods? I pushed the book away and grabbed the next one; construction projects.

  I flicked through the pages; the sections were split up by year, then month, then day, detailing any construction projects undertaken in the town and the surrounding areas. Large letters under the NOVEMBER 1983 section drew my attention. My heart beat wildly.

  KUROHANA SHRINE. CONSTRUCTION BEGINNING 11/11/83.

  A shrine in the forest? That had to be it. It had to be connected somehow. I continued reading, jotting down notes in the pad I brought with me. The file contained the construction dates, including completion, who worked on the shrine, the companies that supplied the material, everything. Using that, I extracted every piece of information I could find from the other books, and finally found what I was looking for in a rather small and unassuming city pamphlet from the mid-1980s.

  Built deep within Kurohana Forest, the Kurohana Shrine is the pride of Shirotama Village. Construction of the shrine was completed in 1984 after many hardships, not least of which being the shrine’s location; Kurohana Shrine can be found exactly 1,000 metres from the forest’s edge, an auspicious number for such a treasured symbol of the community. Not only that, but the location Kurohana Shrine was built upon has long been claimed as a power spot by the village’s locals, and the small temple that existed on the spot has been renovated and attached to the main shrine. For hundreds of years, people have travelled all around to visit this particular spot within Kurohana Forest, and now, the village of Shirotama is happy to share with them the Kurohana Shrine.