Jukai (The Torihada Files Book 2)

by Tara A. Devlin

  “Excuse me.”

  The station attendant looked up.

  “Is there a small river or creek around here?”

  He blinked a few times, as though I was disturbing his sleep, and then pointed over my shoulder.

  “Sure, there’s one just passed the parking lot. Why?”

  “No reason. Thank you!”

  He shrugged and went back to the magazine he was pretending to read while napping.

  It didn’t take long to find what I was looking for. It wasn’t a new experience, but each time I stepped into a place I only saw in a vision for the first time it was like stepping into a memory. A memory that wasn’t my own. I’d been there before, but it was my first time there. It was unsettling, like remembering a previous life.

  But something was different this time. My memories of the creek had the banks covered in litter. The album was somewhere amongst that litter, but I couldn’t locate it with all the interference. Now, however, the creek was clean. The banks were empty.

  “Hey, wait! Excuse me!” Two school children ran by on the path beside the creek. They stopped and looked up at me. The emblem on their uniform was the same as the one from my vision.

  “Hey, uh, this might sound a little weird, but when was the last neighbourhood cleanup around here?”

  The two boys looked at each other, unsure if they should answer the crazy woman or run screaming all the way to school. One boy shrugged, and the other decided to engage with me.

  “I dunno. A few weeks ago?”

  A few weeks ago. My stomach dropped. The album could be anywhere.

  “I, um, I’m looking for something that was around here. It was amongst the rubbish but it’s gone now.” They stared at me, unblinking. I couldn’t blame them. I would too. “An album. A photo album. I don’t suppose you know anyone who might have seen it, or where it might have gone? It’s very important that I get it back. Very, very important.”

  The boys shrugged in unison and I sighed. I’d have to start again, if the album was even in one piece anymore. If it wasn’t, my chances of finding it were slim to none.

  “Did you say an album?” Another boy, walking by himself and dragging his bag along the ground, stopped beside the other two.

  “Yes! A photo album! Have you seen one around here? Do you know where it is?” I let my excitement get ahead of me.

  “Junpei was playing with one the other day,” the little boy said.

  “Playing with? What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “He found it over there.” The boy pointed to the other side of the creek. “He thought it was a fancy book, but when he picked it up, it was full of photos so he threw it away.”

  My stomach dropped again.

  “He threw it away… Where did he throw it away? Do you know?”

  He pointed to some rice fields in the distance. My stomach fell into the abyss. They were huge.

  “Some of the kids play there after school though,” the boy continued. “I don’t know if it’s still there now.”

  The boy had seen the album. A friend of his picked it up from the creekside, played with it until he realised it wasn’t what he wanted, and then threw it away in a nearby rice field. The boy didn’t know where, exactly, but there was a chance that some other kids had come along and picked it up in the meantime as well.

  I took a deep breath and stood up straight. I could grab the boy’s hand, like I did with Hiroshi. Find the album that way, or at least clearer memories of it… I clenched my hand into a fist and shook my head. No. That wasn’t who I was. That wasn’t who I wanted to be. I wasn’t going to steal memories from people, and especially not from children. I still had the photo of the album; if worst came to worst, I could try again with that, but there was still time to do a little more digging. It couldn’t have gone too far. Nobody would just throw a family photo album away. It was full of precious memories.

  “Thank you.” I smiled, and the boys eyed me before running off. It wasn’t the result I was after, but it was a start. I knew more than I did an hour earlier.

  I walked over to the rice fields and worked my way around the edges. There was no rice growing, so it was easy enough to see, but there was no photo album either. If it was there once, it was gone now. I checked my watch and sighed. I would have to return for it another time. There was more important business to get to first.

  Kurohana Forest was calling.

  23

  A few high school stragglers sat on seats and stood in the corner as I got on the next train. The train was quiet; a few typed on their phones while others went over homework they hadn’t yet finished. Two more stops until Kurohana Station, and as we passed the first stop, the train suddenly fell quiet. Was it like this every time, I wondered? Did they somehow naturally sense how dangerous the area was?

  “Hey, did you hear that they still haven’t found Juri?”

  “No way! Seriously?”

  “Uh huh. Apparently the police have their hands full with so many cases that they haven’t been able to dedicate much time to hers.”

  “Oh my god, that’s gross. If they can’t help, they should give it to people who can.”

  Two girls by the door started chatting as we approached Kurohana. The forest came into view and they scrunched up their faces.

  “God, I hate that place. I begged my father to get me a scooter, but he was all ‘you can take the train like everyone else!’ Yeah, well, he doesn’t have to go past this every morning, does he?”

  “I know, right? It’s so dark and creepy. I don’t know why they don’t cut it all down and turn the area into a park or something. No-one even goes there anymore. Apparently it’s full of perverts.”

  “No way!”

  “Uh huh. Yoshihiro was talking about it. Supposedly some girl was walking home and she was dragged into the forest by a gang of perverts. Nobody ever saw her again.”

  “Do you believe every piece of shit that comes out of his mouth?”

  “What? Eww, gross. And no. But come on, look at it. Tell me you don’t think perverts are hiding in that creepy-ass forest.”

  “I dunno about perverts, but I certainly don’t want to go in there.”

  Neither did I. The train pulled up to the stop and I stood up. The girls eyed me and stepped away from the door, like I might drag them out and into the forest myself. I stepped into the cold air and a few seconds later the doors slammed shut. The train chugged off, the girls watching me with something I couldn’t quite place in their eyes. Fear? Sadness? I’d rather go to school too then spend any more time here, I thought. This isn’t my idea of a fun day either.

  The forest took on a completely different atmosphere in the daylight. There was something eerie about it, ominous even, but it was… a forest. Trees. Greenery. It looked like any old forest. A family might come walking out of the trees and there would be nothing odd about it. A couple on a day out with a picnic basket might pull up in the parking lot and head in, laughing and excited about some time alone with nature.

  And yet, it was cold. Almost unbearably so. It wasn’t yet snowing, but it didn’t need to. The dirt crunched underfoot, covered in a thin sheet of ice that had settled in the cold morning air. There would be no sneaking into the forest, that was for sure, but on the other hand, that meant nothing would be sneaking up on me, either. Nothing human, anyway.

  A single car sat alone in the parking lot, an old brown bomb that looked like it needed to be put out of its misery. Yasu’s? It had to be. No-one else would be crazy enough to be at the forest at this time of day… or ever.

  I pulled out Sayumi’s map. The station, parking lot, and KUROHANA FOREST sign were marked on the bottom. The trail I followed in the first time was a thin line that soon tapered off. About an equal distance after that, just off to the left, was the shrine. Before it, a river snaked perpendicular through the forest. If I found the river, I was on the right track. The shrine wasn’t too far beyond that.

  I walked over to the car and peered
in, just in case. “Hello? Is anyone there?” No answer. The doors were locked and the ignition empty. Various papers were strewn across the backseat, as well as a lady’s jacket. It was the fashionable type with the fur collar that I saw young women wearing all the time. Keiko’s?

  “Hello?”

  Nothing. If it was Yasu, then he was already in the forest, and judging from the frost on the windscreen, he’d been in there a while.

  “You fool.”

  I approached the path leading in, ice and dirt crunching underneath my boots. The red string was still tied to the tree, lying frozen on the ground below. My breath came out in short puffs of mist each time I exhaled. I rubbed my gloved hands together and picked up the string.

  “Please don’t snap.”

  It felt wrong to talk out loud. Like I was disturbing the forest and perhaps inviting unwanted attention my way. If they didn’t already know I was there, they soon would. I knew roughly how far the string would take me, and what I would see on the way, but after that, I was blind. Taking one last look at Sayumi’s map, I tucked it away safely in my pocket next to her brooch and Keiko’s necklace.

  “I’m coming, Sayumi. I’ll see you soon. Wait for me.”

  24

  Sticks snapped like ice, and every breath I took exhaled visibly in front of my eyes. The forest existed outside of time and space, or so it seemed with how bitterly cold it grew with each step. Tiny shards of ice hung from the string I left abandoned several days earlier, and every time I heard a snap I feared that was it; the string was finally broken. I was all on my own, nothing but ice on the ground and frozen trees rising high into the sky all around me.

  Each footstep took me closer, but with it my apprehension grew as well. Sayumi was out there, waiting for my help, but she wasn’t the only one. The shrine maiden was too, and she knew who I was now. She knew I would be coming for Sayumi and the other girls. Perhaps that was her plan all along. To draw me in to join them. I let out a breath and rubbed my hands together again for warmth. Not today. Today I would be leaving the forest with Sayumi in tow, or I wouldn’t be leaving at all.

  I followed a familiar path, or at least as familiar as the path could be. The string lay where I dropped it, so all I had to do was pick it up and follow it in. Yet as I moved deeper into the forest, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Not from cold, but from the distinct feeling that I was no longer alone. It was daylight, but it was difficult to tell. The forest grew darker with each step, like walking directly into night itself. In the corners of my vision, there was movement. Glimpses of shadows. When I turned there was, of course, nothing there. ‘Just a figment of your imagination.’ ‘You’re going crazy.’ ‘It’s just the wind.’ All those things people told themselves so they didn’t have to believe the only explanation they knew to be true. The one explanation they didn’t want to believe, or even in some cases, simply couldn’t believe. ‘Ghosts aren’t real!’ ‘They only exist in the minds of the ill.’

  Ghosts were very real, and they were just as dangerous as a flesh and blood person.

  “I know you’re out there,” I called out. I stopped and turned. Nothing but trees, and a slight movement in the corner of my left eye. I turned to face it. “I’m not here to bother you.” Nothing there. A chill ran down my spine and my ears prickled. Behind me this time. “I’m here for my friend and nothing else.” Turning, I found myself face to face with a skeleton hanging from a tree. I screamed and fell back, landing awkwardly on the hard, cold ground. Pain shot up through my wrist and tailbone and the string, pulled too tight, finally snapped. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. That skeleton wasn’t there last time. Dirty, torn clothes hung like rags from its bones, but there was no flesh to speak of. It was a skeleton in human clothing, a noose hung limp around its neck.

  I climbed back to my feet and dusted the ice and dirt off.

  “If you’re trying to get me to leave, I won’t!” I screamed to no-one in particular. I spun around a few times, but I was all alone. Nothing but me and the skeleton hanging from the tree. The skeleton that hadn’t been there a few days earlier.

  I picked up the torn string and followed it to the end, my heart beating wildly and no doubt betraying the composure I was trying to keep. I didn’t want them to know that they had spooked me, whoever they were. I didn’t want them to assume me a threat. I just wanted to find Sayumi and get home. With Sayumi back we could work together on finding the other girls and stop more from disappearing, but alone I could do nothing.

  The map said to continue forward in a mostly straight line. I would at some point come across a river, and once there the shrine would be a little further in, a smidge off to the left. If the shrine really was built on a power spot, then once I got closer I should have been able to sense it. If that was true, of course, and not merely a line the local government used to attract tourists.

  My face grew numb in the cold, and it became difficult to see more than a few metres ahead or behind. The trees were thick, but so was the fog that hung in the air. Shadows constantly darted around in the distance, always on the edge of my vision and never close enough to grasp fully. They were watching me, that much I knew, but as long as they didn’t engage, I didn’t care.

  I passed another skeleton hanging from a tree to my right. Like the other, this one also wore old, tattered clothes. They weren’t modern in style, perhaps something worn in my grandparents’ time. A farmer, by the looks of it. It swayed from one of the upper branches, too high for me to see in the mist, its feet at face level. The skull appeared to be looking down at me, pleading with me not to go on. ‘This is what awaits you too. Go now, while you still can.’

  I pushed through the trees, doing my best to continue in a straight line. It was impossible to tell; there was no sun to follow, no path, and no landmarks. I had to continue straight until I came across a river; I had to have faith that I wouldn’t get lost.

  A moan, long and drawn out, echoed behind me. I ignored it, pressing forward with my eyes dead ahead. They would not distract me from my path, for that would lead to certain death. Somewhere in the distance a wind chime rang out, and the moan stopped. I halted, dead in my tracks. The forest fell completely silent. Not a bug, not a bird, not even a whistle of the wind. The world was never truly silent; the background always held the hum of a TV, the buzz of a light, the breathing of a pet asleep in the corner, or a train passing in the distance. In that very moment, as I struggled to peer through the mist into what lay ahead of me, the forest was void of sound. There wasn’t even a ringing in my ears, and every inch of my being screamed to run. It was unnatural, and evil, and wrong.

  I opened my mouth, struggling with the cold and dryness. “H-Hello?”

  A sound. My own voice, foreign to my ears, and then it faded away. The forest sprang back to life—whatever life it had—and continued on as though nothing had happened. Dirt crunched under my boots and a faint wind rustled through the trees. The moan was gone, but I wasn’t alone. Far from it.

  Another skeleton hung from the trees to my left, its clothes more tattered and torn than the last. A few minutes later, another to my right. They were like signposts, leading me in, while the shadows on the peripheries grew more numerous… and more restless. Somewhere in the distance I could hear the sound of running water, and my heart jumped. They were leading me forward, morbid signposts directing me towards Kurohana Shrine. I picked up the pace, shielding my face the best I could from angry branches attempting to claim warm flesh for themselves. Before long I found it; the river, trickling softly through the trees. It was almost serene. You could set a chair on the banks and read a book all day, losing yourself in the calming sounds of nature. If you didn’t mind the bodies hanging from the trees for company, that was.

  I ran through the water quickly, its icy cold depths reaching up to my knees. A skeleton, this time with just the tattered remains of shorts hanging from its hips, hung from a tree to my left, just barely visible in the fog. I ran towards it, pickin
g up speed. Nearly there. I searched through the dense covering, looking for the next skeleton to light my path. Another, just beyond that tree. One more, over to the left. Then another, final body, this one without clothes at all, hung from a tall, sturdy tree. A structure rose in the distance behind it. A shrine gate. Behind that, visible through the middle, was a building, but not just any building. A shrine.

  Kurohana Shrine.

  I stepped through the fog and it seemed to retreat. The shrine gate rose high above me, parts of it crumbling but still holding out after years of neglect. The old shrine behind it wasn’t in much better condition. Vines crawled up the walls, snaking through the windows and around the poles at the entrance. Part of the roof was caved in, and several sections of the main building appeared to be crumbling as well.

  “Hello?” I called out. “S-Sayumi?”

  Something sounded inside, like a rock being kicked along the ground.

  “Sayumi?” I tried again, more confident this time. “Is that you?”

  A figure stepped through the entrance. My breath caught in my throat.

  “I’ve come to—”

  It wasn’t Sayumi. My heart dropped.

  It was Yasu.

  25

  Bags under Yasu’s eyes betrayed his exhaustion, while the cuts on his arms and face told the story of his journey through the dark forest.

  “Yasu? Are you okay?” To say he looked like shit would be an understatement. He looked like someone had forcibly dragged him through the forest, and there was a good chance that was true.

  Yet he grinned when he laid eyes on me. An almost feral grin that never reached his eyes.