I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh.

  “Okay...”

  That was my reluctant, grudging, unenthusiastic response.

  That said, hearing the explanation in Akari’s words did nothing to brighten Natsumi’s expression. The tears were gone now, but she seemed more and more dubious.

  “Hold up, just a second... Let me sort this all out,” Natsumi said, pressing a hand to her forehead like she had a headache. “This Otherside... You’re not talking about the yakuza, the criminal underworld, or that sort of stuff, right?”

  “I told you, it’s not like that. It’s a place that’s like another world, separate from this one.”

  “Are you for real? I’ve read that kinda stuff on my manga app. Like where they get reincarnated in a game world...”

  “It’s not like that either. It’s weirder. Uhh, this is tough to explain,” Akari said, getting frustrated. “It’s like the normal world, but different. The buildings get all weird, and scary stuff comes out...”

  “Scary how?”

  “So far I’ve seen Ninja Cats and T-san the Templeborn...”

  “This’s making no sense...”

  Yeah, of course it doesn’t, I thought as I listened. I’d kept quiet this whole time, but just as I was thinking I should step in and add further explanation, Akari decided to try a different angle.

  “So, when you go into the Otherside, it’s like a haunted house. Everything looks normal at first, but maybe there’s something unpleasant about it, or it looks deserted. It’s weird and scary.”

  She must have been remembering the haunted house we ended up in while chasing T-san. If we were only talking about the interstitial space, Akari was right. She’d only gone that far, so that’s what she thought the Otherside was. It might be a good explanation.

  Maybe she’ll sort of get it, I was thinking, but after some consideration Natsumi came back with a response I didn’t expect.

  “Maybe I’ve been in there too?”

  “Huh? When are you talking about?”

  “Y’know, when that Sannuki, or Zannuki, or whatever it was showed up. I definitely remember feeling something was weird at the time. It was creepy, and the memory really stuck with me.”

  Natsumi shuddered as she continued.

  “Before that, when the monkey thing showed up, there was something sticky and unpleasant about the air. One bad thing happened after another, and I started thinking I had to have an exorcism or something done to clear up the air. I remember now.”

  “What do you think, Senpai?”

  I was taken aback at having this question suddenly thrown over to me.

  “I think she’s right,” I answered. “It’s like that when ghosts and monsters appear from the Otherside. And after Akari clobbered Sannukikano, the air changed, right?”

  “Ohh, yeah, I guess it did. That’s right.” Natsumi nodded repeatedly, finally satisfied.

  “Huh? So Akari can exorcise ghosts with her karate? That’s awesome!”

  “Heh heh...” Akari smiled bashfully as Natsumi looked at her with eyes sparkling with admiration and pride.

  “Ohh! I see! Basically, Akari can banish monsters with her karate, so she’s been helping you out, or something. I totally get it now.”

  Natsumi was looking so much better that you wouldn’t have believed she was crying just moments ago. I felt deflated. Her worry hadn’t been whether or not the Otherside existed, but how Akari was involved with it.

  “You satisfied now, Nattsun?”

  “Yeah, totally. But isn’t it dangerous?”

  “It’ll be fine. I’ve got Kamikoshi-senpai watching me. And Nishina-senpai’s there too.”

  “Really?”

  Despite being fed up with all the dubious looks cast in my direction, I told her, “I’ve said this repeatedly, but I generally don’t want Akari getting involved. I only asked her last time because I had no choice.”

  “Sorry for imposing myself on you like that,” Akari said, ducking her head awkwardly.

  “Is that true? I mean, you’re here today, aren’t you, Senpai?”

  “No, I’m just here to ask some questions this time... Anyway, if you believe us, that’s great and all, but could you do me a favor and not tell anybody else? I don’t want any more people learning about the Otherside.”

  “Uhh... Even if I told them, I don’t think anyone’d believe me.”

  “Come on... I’m being serious here. I really need you not to tell anyone.”

  When I pressed the point, Natsumi pulled back, seeming a bit daunted.

  “I get it. I won’t say anything.”

  “Promise Akari, not me.”

  “Huh?”

  “You’re more likely to keep your word to her than to me, right?”

  “Seriously...?”

  “Come on, Nattsun.”

  At Akari’s urging, Natsumi scowled but ultimately nodded. “I promise, Akari.”

  “Okay.” Akari was satisfied and they shared an embarrassed smile. I watched this saccharine display, unable to take much more.

  It was a pain having more people involved. I really wanted to keep the Otherside just to Toriko and myself. That hadn’t changed.

  But I also felt like there was no choice but to tell Natsumi.

  During the T-san incident, I ultimately chose to involve Akari of my own free will. That had established for me that, at some point, she had become someone I couldn’t throw away so easily—my one and only kouhai.

  I could have pointed to her somewhat stalker-ish behavior as a reason. Akari never missed a chance to find openings to insert herself into my life. But that would probably be hiding the truth. Despite my constantly giving her the brush off, Akari pressed on with indomitable spirit in an attempt to be my friend, and I had given in...or gotten used to it, rather.

  I think that once I decided Akari was my “cute kouhai” I started feeling a sense of responsibility for her. From that point on, I stopped being able to turn a blind eye to any trouble that happened between her and Natsumi because of me. That’s why I couldn’t turn down Akari when she asked to tell Natsumi about the Otherside.

  “Um, I dunno if I should be asking this, but...” Natsumi was glancing at me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “You know how we had that girls’ party in January?”

  “Ah! Uh, yeah...” I mumbled, trailing off.

  “I feel like things got weird then too... Was that the Otherside too?”

  “I’d forgotten...”

  “Huh?”

  “Forget about it!”

  5

  “What’d you go and tell Natsumi about the Otherside for?” Toriko asked coldly when we gathered at Kozakura’s place so I could let them know how things went at Akari’s.

  I averted my eyes. “It’s just, I didn’t expect her to start crying...” I mumbled.

  “A little waterworks is enough to get you to talk, huh?”

  “No, it’s not like that...”

  “This, after you just said we should be the only ones to go to the other world not that long ago.”

  “If you’re going to say not to tell anyone, and then you go and leak the information yourself, you’re beyond help,” Kozakura said in an exasperated tone. There was nothing I could say to that.

  “The only thing Natsumi’s interested in is Akari, okay?”

  “So it’s fine because she’s not interested in the other world? Is that it?”

  “Yeah, you got it. If she thought Akari was in danger, she might’ve called the cops on us, right?”

  “Sorawo-chan, it’s too late to change things now that you’ve already told her, but since you have, you’re going to need to look after her properly,” Kozakura said.

  “Well, yeah...”

  After being told off for a long time, I was finally able to get back to the topic of Satsuki Uruma. When I explained that Akari didn’t remember much of anything about her former teacher, Toriko seemed nonplussed.

  “Really? I can’t believe it.”

  “Yeah. I asked her a whole bunch of questions, but she’d only say things like she was pretty, or she was mature, or abstract stuff like that. It seemed like she had a reasonably strong sense of respect for the woman, so that surprised me.”

  The Uruma-sensei that Akari spoke of was this vague, low-resolution image, to the point where you’d doubt she ever existed. That was a marked departure from Toriko’s stronger feelings.

  “What do you make of it, Kozakura-san?”

  “You’re asking me? Well... Satsuki was involved with a lot of people, but she didn’t interact with everyone the same way.”

  “Hm? What do you mean?”

  “Maybe Satsuki wasn’t that interested in Seto-chan? If she’d really wanted to seduce her, she could’ve done it in a second. Right?”

  That last bit was directed at Toriko. She looked reproachfully at Kozakura, but said nothing.

  “What she did with the amulet to help with her exams might not have been out of malice so much as...a test,” Kozakura suggested.

  “A test?”

  “To see how Seto-chan would handle trouble from the Otherside.”

  “Kozakura, I can’t believe she’d do something so awful...” Toriko objected, but Kozakura responded with a smile that only touched her lips.

  “Oh, yeah? I wouldn’t put it past her. She could do some pretty brazen stuff. It seems mysterious because she vanished before seeing the results of her experiment, but I figure she was seeing how well she could ‘use’ the girls she set her eyes on, and if Seto-chan had passed the test, she’d have pulled her in real quick.”

  “How pragmatic,” I said.

  “Besides, she must have had a more promising subject at the time.”

  She didn’t have to spell that one out. She was talking about Toriko.

  “She didn’t test me like that,” Toriko said, her voice hard.

  “Oh, yes she did. Taking you to the Otherside is the easiest test there is. If you didn’t get scared, that’d tell her she could use you.”

  That must have triggered some memories, because Toriko’s face darkened and she got really quiet.

  “What was it like for you, Kozakura-san?” I asked, and she glared at me.

  “I failed Satsuki’s test.”

  “You failed?”

  “She took me to the Otherside through the elevator in Jinbouchou, the same as Toriko. I was totally hopeless. Nothing even happened, but I was too scared to take a single step. She gave up on me, and after a while she brought along Toriko.” Kozakura sneered at herself. “I thought we were still close friends after that, but I’m sure I was just an asset that had suddenly crashed in value to her. It’s only recently that I was finally able to swallow that.”

  “That’s good,” I said, relieved, and Kozakura’s eyes widened.

  “Did you just say it was good? Are you picking a fight with me?”

  “No, I’m not. That’s not it... I meant it’s good that you’ve been able to come to terms with your feelings for Satsuki-san. I’ve been struggling with the question of how to convince you to accept what we’re going to do.” I’d chosen my words as carefully as I possibly could have, but Kozakura only scowled harder.

  “Now there’s a preamble that does nothing but worry me. Just what’re you planning, Sorawo-chan?” she asked, and I was finally able to move on to the main topic.

  “Why don’t we have a funeral? For Satsuki-san.”

  “A funeral...”

  “You haven’t had one, right?”

  “What do you mean by that? We go to the temple, have them read some sutras, and put her in a grave?”

  “If that helps you get over her, sure, but first we need to exorcise her so she never shows her face in front of us again.”

  Seeing the dubious look on Kozakura’s face, I explained my idea and what led me to it.

  “Did you already hear about this, Toriko?”

  Toriko hesitantly nodded in response to Kozakura’s question.

  “Hmm...” Kozakura stared into midair, slowly swiveling her chair back and forth as she mulled it over. It was a more level-headed response than I’d expected. I had figured she’d really tear into me. “There’s a monster that looks like Satsuki out there, and she’s been trying to get her hands on Sorawo-chan, huh?”

  “What do you think, Kozakura?” Toriko asked.

  “About what?”

  “About Sorawo’s idea. Is she right? I don’t think I can think about this clearly.” Toriko cast an irritated glance in my direction as she asked Kozakura that.

  “I’m a little surprised by Sorawo-chan’s total lack of tact, but sometimes there are things that only people like her can say... It stands to reason that we need some sort of ritual to allow the living to sever their attachment to a person they understand isn’t coming back and to allow them to move on. In that sense, I’m in favor of it.”

  Kozakura looked back to me and continued.

  “But what you’re talking about isn’t a ritual to make Toriko or me accept the way things are, now is it? When you’re talking about exorcising her, what you really mean is slaying her, right?”

  “I got complaints when I was that direct about it.”

  “Ha ha.” Kozakura let out a dry laugh. “I’ve got things I want to say, but whatever. What, precisely, are you proposing to do?”

  “I only had a vague idea myself at first, thinking I’d go around to each of the people who knew Satsuki-san and see if I could find an opening that we could exploit. After talking to Akari, I’ve got something a bit more concrete.”

  Toriko interjected. “I thought you didn’t learn anything, though?”

  “About Satsuki-san, sure. This was something I figured out talking to Natsumi...”

  I sorted through it in my head before I started explaining.

  “First, I thought about how we were going to ‘exorcise’ her. It’s a word that’s been around since ancient times, and I tend to associate it with Shinto and other traditional religions, but once you peel off that religious texture, it’s all the same no matter who’s doing it.”

  “Hmm?”

  “When Akari tried to explain the Otherside to Natsumi, she said the air gets all weird. I think she ended up expressing it that way because she’s only seen the interstitial space, though. Anyway, after that, Natsumi asked if the exorcism was needed to take that weird air away, and that’s when I realized.”

  They were both listening with dubious looks on their faces.

  “That’s just how ghost stories are, right? Before something happens, the air changes. And unless the air changes again, the bizarre stuff keeps happening, and there’s no escape. Basically, to deal with a ghost story, you need to do something about that air, not a specific phenomenon—at least, that’s what makes sense to me.”

  “To deal with a ghost story—is the right way to phrase it?”

  “In our case, I think so. The Otherside entities approach us through the framework of ghost stories, so I think what we’re really facing isn’t the Kunekune, or Hasshaku-sama, or any other visible apparition but the framework that they’re a part of.”

  “If anything, that’s their main body, huh?” Toriko said, looking down at her left hand. “Could that be what my hand touches? The framework of the ghost story?”

  “Oh! Yeah, that could be it!”

  A chill ran down my spine. Not of fear, though. I thought Toriko had hit on something essential. I felt all the disparate parts that had been scattered around inside my head coming together like a jigsaw puzzle.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Kozakura called out to me, concerned by my sudden silence.

  “Sorry, I got lost in thought there for a second. Erm...”

  “We were talking about how we can exorcise Satsuki,” Kozakura said.

  “Oh, right. Like I was saying, if an exorcism is a matter of changing the air, then even if Satsuki Uruma shows up, what we need to do is find a way to change that air. I’m pretty confident in this... The truth is, there’s sometimes ghost stories where people survived because the atmosphere changed.”

  “In what way?” Kozakura asked.

  “The one I’ve heard a lot of is stories where they talk about sexy stuff,” Toriko said.

  The two of them looked incredulous, so I hurried to explain.

  “No, it’s true. There’s stories where they were in a real bad situation, but then they started saying all sorts of lewd things and they survived. I don’t tend to say that ghosts are this way or that, but sex is the source of life, so that makes it the polar opposite of ghosts, which belong to the world of the dead... At least, there’s that sort of reasoning. It’s an idea that’s been around since ancient times. Hey, Toriko, do you remember? Runa Urumi’s mother kept making that sign against evil towards me.”

  The memory made Toriko furrow her brow unhappily. “Oh... That’s what that was?”

  “It’s called the manu fica, or fig sign, and it’s said in Christianity and Judaism to ward off the evil eye. That’s why she used it towards me.”

  “I don’t even know what to make of this... Ghosts are scared of sexual stuff? So, what, if Satsuki shows up, we all just suddenly start chatting about indecent things? That’s hilarious,” Kozakura said, half laughing. I almost laughed too, but shook my head.

  “That’s the reasoning, but I don’t think we could actually do it once we’ve got her there in front of us. When it comes to Satsuki, honestly, I never really got it when I was just listening to the two of you, but now that I’ve met her myself, I do. She’s...bad news.”

  The two of them nodded as if to say, Go figure.

  “I don’t know whether I should say I’m glad you understand now,” Kozakura said.

  “Up until now, I’ve encountered Satsuki’s shadow, or another version of her, I guess you could say, a number of times. When she showed up in front of Runa Urumi, she was seriously bad news, but...the worst of all was the time she talked to me normally. It was almost easier to deal with her when she was a total monster that was impossible to communicate with.”

  “You talked to her directly this time, right, Sorawo-chan? And that still didn’t make you think she’s human?”

 

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