By evening, the sun gradually tilted, its color growing increasingly fiery red.
The golden-red afterglow slanted through the layered branches and leaves of the small grove, casting long, mottled shadows on the clearing.
The air carried a hint of damp fragrance from the vegetation; a deep breath of it was refreshing to the soul.
“So, what was the point of dragging me here just to play blindfolded hide-and-seek?” Mikage Touji said helplessly.
He originally wanted to find Katsuragi to help him pick out a pot.
He had heard that Katsuragi’s family circumstances weren’t great and that he usually cooked at home, so asking him for advice seemed like an economical and practical choice.
Mikage Touji crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly.
On a tree branch a short distance away, two blackbirds—one large, one small—were chirping and hopping about.
“What if Yamamura Miki really gets spirited away?”
Morishita Ai wagged her index finger, speaking with great conviction.
“It is currently spring, at the twilight hour of Ouma-toki—the time of meeting demons—when Yin and Yang intersect.
The location is a grove, and combined with Yamamura Miki’s peculiar lack of presence, the three elements of Heaven, Earth, and Man are complete.
It is time to open the door to the supernatural world.”
“If it really opens, what use is one more of me?
Did you drag me here because you think I’m not dying fast enough?” The true esper scolded her loudly.
“Of course I called you along so we could go to our deaths together.
That way, I won’t be lonely over there,” Morishita Ai blinked and replied matter-of-factly.
“…”
‘Do I have a grudge against you?
You even want to drag me along to die?’
“N-nothing like that will happen.
I’m simply just not very noticeable,” the most peculiar one, Yamamura Miki, was actually the one who believed in science the most at this moment.
“Now, I shall first read out the rules of the game.” Without waiting for the others’ reactions, Morishita Ai began talking to herself.
She pulled out a yellowed book from somewhere—A Record of Japanese Yokai and Folklore.
Mikage Touji’s mouth twitched at the sight.
“Where on earth did you dig that thing up from?”
“This?
I borrowed it from the school library at noon.
Also,” Morishita Ai glared at Mikage Touji, “please do not interrupt me when I am speaking.”
‘The Advanced Nurturing library even has stuff like this?
This is a pure waste of taxpayer money, isn’t it?’
After a pause, Morishita Ai opened the pages.
Words spoken flatly, devoid of emotion, echoed through the quiet woods.
“The summer of the 15th year of the Taisho era, the cicadas chirped like a downpour.
Kenta, Kazuhiko, and Koume were playing ‘blindfolded hide-and-seek’ in the woods outside the village.
Kazuhiko covered his eyes and counted, ‘One!
Two!’ When he opened his eyes again, only the lonely chirping of cicadas remained in the forest.
The handkerchief Koume had tied fluttered on the branch of an ancient cedar.
From where the wind swirled dead leaves, the intermittent sound of a child saying ‘Three…’ drifted over, as if they had been completely swallowed by the deep shadows of the trees.”
A gust of wind blew, and the leaves in the forest rustled.
“Eeeek!”
Yamamura Miki, who hadn’t been scared at all, felt her heart suddenly tremble at Morishita Ai’s words.
She looked back toward the depths of the small grove, as if something was going to jump out at any moment.
“It’s roughly like that.” Morishita Ai snapped the book shut.
“However, to prevent Yamamura Miki from actually being snatched away, whether you are the seeker or the hidden, we must call out our numbers at regular intervals.
I am ‘One,’ Mikage Touji is ‘Two,’ and Yamamura Miki is ‘Three.’ It’s decided.”
“That makes it even scarier, okay?” Mikage Touji said, speechless.
This grove wasn’t large, but there were only three of them.
Whether seeking or hiding, crouched alone in a bush somewhere calling out a number—that dark, quiet feeling made him feel like they really might summon something unclean.
“Can I choose not to play?” Yamamura Miki had already curled into a ball under a shrub.
“Then, the Twilight Spiriting Away game officially begins.” Ignoring Yamamura Miki’s protest, Morishita Ai decisively announced the start of the game.
“Now, Rock-Paper-Scissors to decide who is ‘it’.”
“…”
Mikage Touji was inclined to refuse such childish behavior.
“Hurry up,” Morishita Ai urged.
“If you don’t play, you’re automatically ‘it’.”
A second later, Mikage Touji chose to join in.
“Rock, Paper, Scissors!” ×3
…
Mikage Touji, did you hear me?” Morishita Ai stood with her hands folded against a tree trunk, eyes closed, shouting over her shoulder at Mikage Touji.
Mikage Touji rolled his eyes.
“You’re the only one who would do something like that, okay?”
Then he turned to the shivering Yamamura Miki.
“Yamamura, let’s go together.”
“Yes!” Yamamura Miki let out a long sigh of relief, her face full of gratitude.
“I heard that!” Morishita Ai’s voice drifted over eerily.
There were quite a few places to hide in the small grove, but the two of them weren’t hiding seriously at all.
After finding a random spot to hunker down, Mikage Touji sat leaning against a tree trunk and started a conversation with Yamamura Miki.
“By the way, Yamamura, why do you go along with Morishita’s nonsense?
If you just ignored her, she’d just find a place to kill time by herself,” Mikage Touji asked in a low voice.
“Because…
Morishita-san…
is the only one so far who has proactively come to chat with me.
That day…
I was eating in the cafeteria, and she suddenly popped up behind me.”
Yamamura Miki touched her chest, a smile touching the corners of her mouth as she spoke as if reminiscing.
“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been unnoticeable.
When playing with toys in kindergarten, I was always by the pile of blocks in the corner, watching the other children laughing and playing together.
When the teacher handed out snacks, they would sometimes miss my raised hand.
During group activities in elementary school, I was often the one left over; no one fought for me or over me.
It was fine wherever the teacher placed me…
When I reached middle school, I tried to blend in.
Everyone was very welcoming at first, but the next day, they would still be there talking about topics I didn’t understand.
That’s when I knew I didn’t belong there; whether I was there or not, they would just continue…
Later, I got used to it.
Not being liked, but not being hated either…
just…
always alone…
But!”
Yamamura Miki’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“One day, Morishita-san suddenly called out my name from behind.
It wasn’t the kind where they get the name wrong—it was my full name!”
Mikage Touji laughed silently hearing this.
‘To think that Morishita Ai calling people by their full names all day actually had this kind of benefit.’
“At that moment, I knew Morishita-san was different from others.
She remembers my name, she proactively makes friends with me, and she thanks me solemnly.
So, I don’t want to keep staying there.
I want to try doing things that I absolutely could never do alone before!”
“Even if the thing itself is quite terrifying?” Mikage Touji added teasingly.
“Hyaa!”
The newly emboldened Yamamura Miki reflexively shrank back.
She looked left and right, eyes closed, and said with a slight sob in her voice:
“Mikage-kun, please stop scaring me!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll stop scaring you.”
Mikage Touji raised his hands with a smile.
“I surrender, I surrender…”
This girl’s personality—jumping at a mere poke—really made it hard for him to suppress the urge to tease her.
After slightly calming her tense emotions, Yamamura Miki asked her own question:
“What about Mikage-kun?”
“Me?”
Yamamura Miki stole a glance at Mikage Touji, then quickly averted her eyes, muttering: “You’re doing the same, going along with Morishita-san’s nonsense…”
Mikage Touji was not like her, a person with no presence; in fact, to some extent, he was the most eye-catching existence in Class A.
“Now that you mention it, that’s true,” Mikage Touji lowered his head and pinched his chin, thinking right there on the spot.
“Yeah…
why am I going along with Morishita’s nonsense here?”
“Because Morishita-sama is cute, of course…”
A cold voice, devoid of emotion and as piercing as an Arctic wind, came from behind them.
The two who were still discussing both shivered at the same time.
Their breathing stopped instantly, and they turned their heads stiffly.
They suddenly realized something.
They had been so engrossed in their conversation just now that they seemed to have forgotten a certain task that they had to do.
Morishita Ai rustled through the nearby weeds and dead branches, laughing without expression.
“Do you know the horror Morishita-sama felt, calling out ‘One’ alone in the dark, lightless woods, only to have no one respond?
The only things left in the entire woods responding to me were the blackbirds.
Oh, and the crows next to the school building going ‘Aah~ Aah~’.
At twilight, in a silent grove, the cry of crows, and three people are suddenly down to one…”
The voice, lacking any emotional ups and downs, echoed in the woods.
Combined with that cold face, it pushed the sense of horror to the limit.
“I told you not to be so serious about it.
Now look, you scared yourself,” Mikage Touji refuted in a low voice.
“Mikage-kun, please don’t say anymore.” Yamamura Miki reached out and tugged at the corner of Mikage Touji’s shirt.
“Mikage Touji, are you implying this is Morishita Ai’s fault?”
“Ahem, well, not exactly.
It is indeed my fault for not following the rules of the game…”
As he spoke, Mikage Touji’s expression became strange.
“Now then, prepare yourselves—”
“Uh…
excuse me,” Mikage Touji swallowed a mouthful of saliva, interrupting Morishita Ai’s words.
“Did you guys hear a strange sound?”
“Still trying to scare Morishita-sama at a time like this?”
“N-no, Morishita-san…
I think I heard it too.” Yamamura Miki’s voice began to tremble, and her body instinctively huddled closer to Mikage Touji.
“How is that possible?
Who else would be here at this time besides us?”
Morishita Ai’s face was full of suspicion.
She crossed her arms and stood in place, pricking up her ears.
In the silent woods, there was the flapping and chirping of birds taking flight, the continuous “rustle” of the breeze passing through the leaves, and the occasional “drip-drop” of leftover rainwater quietly falling and hitting the ground…
“Listen…
it’s there, right?”
“There does seem to be something.”
“It…
it’s there.”
The three stopped in place and began to echo each other.
“What is it saying?
‘Four’?
Does it also want to play blindfolded hide-and-seek or a spiriting-away game?”
“Idiot, it’s clearly saying the word ‘Death’ (Shi).”
“Um…
it seems to be saying ‘Go die’ (Shine)…”
“…”
A gust of wind blew through, leaving only dead silence in the small grove…
“What did I tell you?
I told you not to go looking for trouble, and now we’ve encountered the real thing.
Great, now all three of us are going to be killed because of you!”
“How could such a thing be real?!
Come on, let’s go take a look!”
“Eh?
We…
we’re going over there?”
“Believe in science now?
Also, Morishita-san, could you please stop hiding behind me and pushing me?”
“I called you here exactly for a time like this.
Go!
Mikage Touji, I will cheer for you!”
“Actually…
we could…
just choose to leave right now…”
The two in front and behind turned back at the same time: “No!
We’ve come this far.
How could we be satisfied without taking a look!”