The woman was laughing right next to my ear.
Once it turned night, I heard that voice again. In the complete darkness, a shouting laughter was echoing. I felt my chest tightening as if I was going to have a heart attack. That woman was laughing. Whether I went under the cover or covered my ears, I could still hear that voice. It became unbearable, so I hit my head on the wall. Nosebleed flowed out and spilled onto the tatami mat. The red colour that wetted my wrinkled hand was like menstrual blood. Or alternatively, the red colour that spread through the tatami when she gave birth to that child…The same moment I thought about that, I could hear the laughing voice of a child, the bell-ringing high pitch voice. I kept banging my head. Then I heard the sound of my family members screaming. Scream more, drown out that sound. But there were no changes to the clear sound of laughter. Just how much indent did these voices intend for me to put on my skull, continuing until morning?
The woman was laughing right next to my ears.
The woman, and the child, were sneering.
Help me. Help me. Help me, help me. Helpmehelpmehelp.
If this keeps going on, I’ll go mad.
***
“You demand my help with this, you shameless?”
Contrary to the content of her words, there was no anger in Mayuzumi’s face. Her voice was also in monotone, as if reading from a script. As for me, I was abstaining myself behind her, staring at the spectacle in front of me with half-closed eyes. The scene playing out in this uselessly large tatami room was without a sense of reality as if it came out straight of a play. An elder was prostrating himself in front of Mayuzumi. The young girl in a Gothic-Lolita outfit was glaring at him like a queen.
Turning my gaze to the side, I could see the garden dyed with natural colours.
The snow had been falling from the ashen sky.
“Have you forgotten what you had said to her, my grandmother? The one who spoke ill of her, a woman of the Mayuzumi household, accusing her of being possessed by a fox, was only you from the beginning to the end. There were times when you called her a witch and a demon as well. The Mayuzumi household will not forget your insults, since they were significant.”
The elder didn’t say anything. Mayuzumi rubbed his ageing white hair with her nails.
“What do you want by not saying anything?”
“...Please help.”
“Just that?”
“Please help. I beg you. Please, I beg you…”
The elder was scrubbing his face against the tatami. Mayuzumi stepped on the back that was postrated into a ball like a mochi. There were sounds of anguish, but Mayuzumi didn’t even think of looking down. Crackle, the spine of the elder creaked under her slim foot. As I watched the situation, I let out a sigh for the umptenth time today.
It’s cold here, so please end this quickly.
***
“The singing skulls, why do they laugh?”
“...Yes?”
I asked while carrying a baked chocolate cake. Mayuzumi was rolling around on the sofa in her white lab coat. Looking down, I saw the burned sweets that I made for the first time. I was quite good at cooking, but if I had to cook unwillingly, it would become a mess like this. This chocolate cake was the experimental result using the oven Mayuzumi had bought on a whim. I cut it up.
“It’s baked, Mayu-san.”
“Oh, good work, good work. I am tired of waiting, you know…Hm, It’s awful.”
It was the expected reaction. Despite all that, Mayuzumi kept on eating it with vigour.
“The deceased seemed to be laughing. And it seemed every single evening, there was a thunderous roar of laughter right next to his ears. Aa, it’s unpleasant, right? The sound of people laughing. When you don’t like those people, it will sound as unpleasant as the sound of animals crying. If you kept hearing it right next to your ears, you’d probably want to die. Hot chocolate is in that pot. Also with two shakes of sugar.”
“Yes, here you go. If you don’t turn it down, you’ll die of diabetes, you know? And that chocolate cake, I know it’s awful, so you don’t have to eat it.”
“A life without chocolate is more distressing than being in a submarine having engine trouble. No, no, no. Odagiri-kun. Asking you to bake it, and saying that I don’t want it anymore because it’s bad—I won't do something like that. If I asked for a cake, but what was made was poison instead, it’d be the cook’s fault. However, if the cook intended to bake the cake, but it somehow turned poisonous, it would be more merciful to the cake if the human who made the request ate it.”
It doesn’t taste so bad to the point of being comparable to poison.
Probably.
I reached my hand out to the last cut of the cake to confirm that, but it disappeared into Mayuzumi’s mouth.
“Thank you for the food. Now, Odagiri-kun. Just like I said. The deceased was laughing right next to his ears every evening, sometimes even at noon. Looks like he couldn’t bear the irritation so he wanted us to help.”
“...Understood, I heard about it just now. But, just why does something like that…?”
“Well, I don’t know that yet. However, it seems that what he could hear was the voice of his wife and child who have died. Since he was considerably frightened, surely, he had the memory of something he had done.”
Mayuzumi smirked.
She showed that disturbing smile like always.
“But, Odagiri-kun, that is not what’s interesting. The dead saying something next on the bedside of the living is an everyday occurrence, you know? It’s to the point where there is a phrase like ‘appearing in one’s dream.’ I am honestly tired of cases like that. However, this time, there are two things that are a bit different.”
Mayuzumi raised her fingers. A white butterfly was dancing on her nails painted with black manicure.
“He began hearing the voices roughly a month ago. His wife and the child died a year ago.”
“...The time gap?”
“That’s right. There is a void. Furthermore, the one that can hear is only his left ear. The right ear can’t hear. Also, Odagiri-kun. This one is the most interesting…”
I could see her canine teeth in her grinning mouth. A bad premonition crawled down my spine. If it was an object of this girl’s amusement, it would mostly have the smell of blood.
“It seems that, one month ago, our client had his left ear bitten off by a dog.”
What could this possibly mean?
Or so she let her giggling and laughter echoed.
To the body part that should have disappeared into a dog’s stomach, reach the laughing voice of the deceased.
It seemed we had taken up another request with bad taste to it again. However, Mayuzumi herself cut her laughter short.
“About that, Odagiri-kun. Since it’s one of the few requests, I thought of accepting it, but there is one problem.”
“...What is it? Isn’t it fine to just accept it right now? No one’ll stop you, you know?”
Since it’ll be futile anyway.
I said, implying that wordlessly, but Mayuzumi gravely knitted her brows.
“The thing is~ The client and I…to be precise, he is an acquaintance of my family. If I accept his request, it will cause various offences towards my family.”
No matter the case, Mayuzumi wouldn’t listen to things like my opinions. I intended to overlook what she said, but widened my eyes without thinking. Cold sweat ran down my back.
Mayuzumi’s family. This is…bad!
“...Isn’t that tough? No, I don’t know much about your family. But could it be that…”
“H~nm, the state of affairs isn't that bad, though…Ah, I see. Reassured. If it’s about ‘him,’ then he was still vanishing into the clouds as always. My family’s home is not particularly an ominous place outside the human world, you know? Only I and ‘he’ are the exceptions.”
Mayuzumi waved her hand as if to calm me down. As for me, I couldn’t be reassured at all. My stomach began hurting. Since it was being kicked out from the inside, I punched it while making sure that Mayuzumi wouldn’t notice. I could feel that the lump of meat that was taking form slowly sank into between my internal organs.
Damn annoying.
“Since the other party made the request while more or less crying…and it has been considerably long after my grandmother had passed away as well. If it involved the first lord instead, it would definitely not be allowed, though. But, well, this involves my grandmother so it should be fine as long as I don’t do this personally by myself, but do it through the logic of the Mayuzumi household.”
Mayuzumi stood up with great vigour. She gestured to me, so I passed her cell phone to her. Mayuzumi’s cell phone had a dark red colour similar to the colour of chocolate. As she dialled a number, she continued.
“Because of that, Odagiri-kun.”
“Yes?”
“Please don’t let it hit you.”
Though at the time, I didn’t know what it meant.
Three days later, I understood.
***
“As I said, you shouldn’t do that, Mayu-san. What kind of play was that?”
“Could you stop putting it that crudely? I myself didn’t want to step on that uncomfortable-to-step-on back.
So, you would gladly step on it if it was comfortable to step on?
Even if she nodded and admitted it, it would still give me a headache, so I didn’t probe any deeper.
The current Mayuzumi was barefooted. The stockings she was wearing when she stepped on the elder were now in the trash bin. The tatami room and the classic Gothic-Lolita outfit being together gave off a really out-of-place feeling. The guest room that was being used was so large for two people, I almost thought that we had come to a ryokan that had a long history. Anyway, Mayuzumi wasn’t calming down.
“Anyway, Odagiri-kun. We’re going to accept the request just like this. First, let’s go give a greeting.”
“Aa, a greeting? More importantly, Mayu-san. Just what happened between him and your grandmother? Possessed by a fox…I heard something like that, though.”
“What? It’s not something important. Something happened in the past with his uncle, resulting in a suicide, and my grandmother was involved in it. And also get me some chocolate bonbons.”
Though I felt like that was something major, it was probably a trivial matter to Mayuzumi exactly the way she said it. There was not even a fragment of anxiety in the way she bit the chocolate bonbons all.
“Then, shall we go?”
I followed Mayuzumi who stood up and walked out. I thought we were going to give our greetings to the family members, but it seemed I was wrong. Mayuzumi returned to the entrance and turned to the garden. I began feeling suspicious as I followed the back that was trudging through the snow. Along with the pleasant feeling of the snow crumbling beneath my feet, the coldness seeped into my body. The garden was dyed in grey and white. It was a beautiful scenery, but the cold air made me numb to the lung and be in pain.
“Excuse me, Mayu-san. Why did we come out to the garden?”
“As I said, to give our greetings. It’s because there are people who we should greet first and foremost.”
Mayuzumi in front of me was holding her crimson paper umbrella as always. In the middle of the fallen and piled up white snow, a vivid colour burned into my eyes. The great contrast would make one associate that with blood.
I had a bad premonition.
Pointing at the root of a gigantic spruce tree, Mayuzumi stopped on her feet. That was probably the main focal point. The spruce tree was planted in the place that stood out the most in the vast garden. Mayuzumi looked up at the tree branches with ecstatic eyes as if seeing a dream.
—Swish
—Creak
The exact moment she closed her umbrella, the tree branches creaked. However, it was actually not the branches that moved. Right in front of me, two pairs of feet hung down soundlessly. I turned my gaze upward, following their pale colour. Human waste was dripping down onto the ground. Their stretched out necks were trembling. The heads on top were weightily slantled. Possibly because of the frosting, it didn’t look like human flesh at all.
That looks heavy. I thought, looking at the frozen corpses.
I began hating myself who couldn’t think of anything else but that.
Clenching my hand that had begun automatically moving for a cigarette, I asked.
“...Mayu-san, what is this?”
“It’s exactly as you see it, Odagiri-kun. Isn’t it quite a rare sight?”
The expression of anguish was still left frozen in the corpses’ bulging eyes. The tongues that were thrusted out were so bloody and pale that they looked like a weird creature crawling out of their throats. Snow was piling on top of their swollen heads, and the limbs coming out of their clothes were jiggling. The one on the side was a side smaller. I deliberately avoided looking straight at it.
No way I would want to look at that corpse of a child who was forcefully hung.
As well as that anguish expression.
“...It was a suicide?”
“To be precise, a forced double suicide. Have a look. That child. Pitiful, right? Isn’t that the face of someone still clueless to the fact that they have died? This here is the old man Saga Yuujirou’s second wife, Asako-san. And this is Aki-chan. As for the first wife, she died of illness. The current third wife entered his family right after the death of the second wife.”
Opening the paper umbrella once again, Mayuzumi laughed.
That whispering tone of voice reached my ears sweetly.
“This is…Of course, he’d think he is being resented. Since they’re still resenting him.”
—Creak
—Creak
The corpses continued swaying gently, but they disappeared the exact moment Mayuzumi spun her paper umbrella.
There was nothing left after that. There was only an empty pile of snow. The spruce tree stood there amidst the silence like nothing had happened.
“Now, shall we go? Well, I said ‘give our greetings,’ but to be correct, it was a ‘visit.’ I just simply wanted to show them to you, since this spectacle is also visible from that tatami room. However, this is just a reflection from the past, something like a ‘stain.’ It doesn’t actually have any meaning.”
The crimson umbrella spun round and round. It is only a vivid visage of a tragedy, or so she continued saying in a singing voice.
“Ah, I wonder where the laughter could possibly be coming from?”
Isn’t it coming from your own mouth?
I forcefully swallowed down those words.
Mayuzumi took the lead and walked away without looking back. But then, she stopped in her tracks like she had noticed something.
“Oya~?”
I peeked through the paper umbrella to the other side. Someone who was wearing a raincoat from the head down, possibly to protect from snow, was standing there. His bony slim face was peeking through the gap in the black raincoat hood that looked like the vinyl of a garbage bag. His long bang was entangled, hiding his face. But if I looked closely, his face was well-proportioned like that of a doll.
However, none of that mattered.
“Hello there.”
A boy of around sixteen was smiling.
And in his hand, was a corpse of a crow.
***
“It’s my hobby.”
I was offered green tea. It would be great for my freezing body. However, the corpse of the crow floated up the back of my mind, and I instinctively hesitated to take it.
This separate building in one corner of the garden was a completely western style building. In this room with indoor heating, the wooden floor spread out. In one corner, there was a foldable bed and a table.
And lastly, bone structure specimens of multiple animals were arranged on a whole surface of a rack.
Such as moles and fishes, bones with some slight discolouration were arranged there. On top was a crow with wings spread out and a skull of a dog with a dull glow.
“This is quite magnificent. Did you make them yourself?”
“Yes, that is correct. It’s an amateur job, though. It’s quite easy if you try. The trick is to remove as many organs and skin out as possible, and then take the bones apart and bury them. It’s a simple method, but I’ll get beautiful bones as long as you have the time. If you take them out too soon, the inside will spill out and create an awful sight, though...and as for the fish, you can just submerge them in formalin. If you harden the living one, it’ll turn into a beautiful specimen, too.”
The boy was cheerfully laughing. Contrary to the appearance that he had abandoned taking care of his own looks, it didn’t seem like he was unsociable. Ignoring the two of them who somehow got along, I stared at the tea cup.
“Ah, Odagiri-san. Please, freely have it. It’s fine, you know. I have washed my hands.”
“Oh no, it’s just that I am not thirsty. Please, don’t mind me.”
“Hahahaha, please say it frankly. I understand the feeling of not wanting to drink the tea brewed by the hands that had touched a corpse, though. Since it’s my duty to make you feel welcomed.”
The boy giggled. Maybe I was being looked down on since his tone toward me was lighter than when he was speaking with Mayuzumi. Feeling irritated, I took the cup into my hand. The hot liquid heated my freezing throat. Once I drank it in one go, he widened his eyes.
“Eh~ You’re expectedly belligerent. Ah, Odagiri-san. You don’t have to use the polite tone toward me, you know? Words like ‘please’ and others, I don’t think it suits you, Odagiri-san. Are you forcing yourself somehow?”
I swallowed my breath without thinking. I could have just answered simply, but the words didn’t come out.
I had been told the same thing by Mayuzumi once.
‘Polite, huh…Hey, Odagiri-kun. I think that kind of thing suits the current you, you know?’
Spinning her paper umbrella, she said absentmindedly. What answer had I given to those words? When I unknowingly shutted my mouth, Mayuzumi laughed. Had I put her in a weird mood? She voiced out to the boy.
“Now, oh my, I’ve learned something new. You are…Saga Yuusuke, right? I have something to ask of you, is that fine?”
“Yes…about my father’s ear, is that correct?”
“Oya? You didn’t seem surprised. Though we’re saying it ourselves, are we quite some suspicious characters? Have you heard something from your father?”
Actually, the only one suspicious here was Mayuzumi, or so I’d like to say.
Yuusuke nodded frankly to her question.
“Yes, I had heard that the daughter of the Mayuzumi household would be coming. It was a big clamour since morning…like I’ve heard that you have some strange powers. Like being able to see and hear the dead…as well as being able to put and remove a curse on someone, or so they say. Are you some kind of shaman? Fufuh, isn’t my dad really frightened? Anyhow, that guy thinks that he is cursed. And do you know that in the past, that guy was even bad mouthing you people to me.”
“Ah, well. Because it seems that I’m being possessed by a fox.”
The Mayuzumi household was not an ominous place outside the human world, but according to Yuusuke’s words, that somehow didn’t seem to be the case either. I narrowed my eyes, but Mayuzumi ignored it as she giggled.
“I have also heard the story of your grandmother, you know? If I’m not mistaken, it was after the daughter of my father’s uncle committed suicide, right? The family member began dying from illness and strange things happened in succession. So we made a request to your grandmother, then she came to resolve the matter…as a result, the strange occurrences subsided, and my father’s uncle burned himself to death…then, your grandmother said this…”
Yuusuke bent his mouth slightly.
As if it was too amusing he couldn’t help it.
“ ‘Because he keeps burning his own daughter’s arm, he ended up being burned in flame’ ”
If you curse someone, dig two graves.
‘Kill a person while asleep, and things’ll turn out like this.’
These lines I’ve heard once resurfaced in the back of my mind. The bitterness of the green tea suddenly increased.
“Ahahah. Rather, can you please burn my dad to death too?”
Yuusuke said in a joking tone. However, the light in his eyes was completely serious about it. Even as he let a smile come to his face, he was still asking about Mayuzumi.
Those eyes were appraising her values.
“Though I want to meet your expectations, it’s first come first served. So we’ll have to decline it.”
“That’s a shame. Sigh, such misfortune.”
“It’s a matter of luck, right? I’m also disappointed.”
Smoothly replied Mayuzumi as she took portable chocolate to her mouth. Her red lips crushed the frozen chocolate, and a sound like biting on a bone echoed.
“You think that your father is being resented?”
Mayuzumi asked. The image of the swaying corpses hung by the neck came to me.
The pent-up resentment gushed forth, that gruesome site.
The reply came instantly.
“Yeah, he is being resented, isn’t he? That man should be killed by the curses. Right now, he couldn’t help but fear, could he? If he thinks of what he did, it’s natural, though.”
That was a line filled with hatred. Yuusuke continued as if spitting it out.
“Asako-san wasn’t a bad person. Even though she was worrying for her child, she tried her best to get on good terms with me. Aki also grew up cutely…that child had no reason to die. Everything was that bastard’s fault. Dad was not a person who should continue living.”
All the talk after that was simple. It was a tale of a certain man with the most horrible life.
Yuusuke’s father, Saga Yuujirou. Yuusuke lengthily narrated how much of a bad person he was, saying that his own mother, who was the first wife, was also killed by Yuujirou. In the first place, she had a frail body, so she collapsed after her anxieties piled up. After that, without learning his lesson, Yuujirou used the talks of money to coercively make the young Asako his wife. The end came violence, drinking habits, and debauchery. As a result, Asako, who was pushed into a corner, took Aki with her and hung herself.
It was a cliché story heard multiple times before. However, that mundane tragedy was probably not mundane for the people involved in it at all.
It’s to the point of taking a child to hang their necks together.
“Hearing those laughter right next to the ear was an appropriate punishment, but that bastard should have it worse than that.”
As Yuusuke laughed, his pupils widened.
I knew.
A person with something wrong with them had this kind of eye.
“But your father has been pushed to the edge, to the point of having to rely on the daughter of the Mayuzumi household which he despised so much. What will you do if he goes mad just like this?”
Yuusuke lifted his lip up.
The teeth that he beared looked quite like the specimens decorating the room.
***
“It’s insane.”
“What do you mean, Odagiri-kun?”
“That just now, Saga Yuusuke’s condition.”
“No, it is not something like that. That level is still in the sane category. Since wanting ‘misfortune’ to befall ‘the person I hate’ is, in a sense, a very healthy response.”
Mayuzumi stuffed chocolate truffles into her cheeks. Though we were served dinner after we parted with Yuusuke back to her room, she didn’t touch any of it. And even after taking a bath, she still didn’t give the sweets a rest.
“It’s not considered insane as long as it’s not to the point of killing without any reason at all.”
That might be the case. Just thinking about it did not count as a sin. And right now, I was thinking of getting back home and submerging myself in a bath. I wanted to get myself away from the images of the dead in my mind as much as possible.
“I think the bathroom here is good, though. You don’t like a hinoki bathtub?”
“Mayu-san, could you please stop guessing what other people are thinking?”
“Unm~ Just why do you place so much value in that residence of yours. I really can’t understand~”
Without listening at all, Mayuzumi lied down. Her white thighs were peeking out, but I was not in a situation to mind them.
“If you want to be separated from me, then couldn’t you just take a train ride away?”
It wouldn’t have been this much trouble if I could do that. If there had been nothing in my stomach, I’d have done that long ago.
Because I can’t do that, I am still here.
“Now, the night is coming. It’s coming, Odagiri-kun.”
***
A man’s scream tore through the darkness.
At the same time, I kicked my futon away. I woke up from my shallow sleep and stood up. It was fortunate that I had slept while wearing my suit just to be sure. I was about to call Mayuzumi’s name, but she was already awake.
“I heard it too…I see, what a good voice.”
My eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was also fortunate that, with her voice that clear, she was not in a half-asleep state. As I was going to ask her, who was in thin sleeping clothes, whether it was cold or not wearing something like that, I instinctively widened my eyes.
“—Huh?”
I received a shock as if I was punched in the face. Mayuzumi was wearing a negligee like a noble’s daughter. It was an appearance that looked cold, but this wasn’t a situation to worry about her.
However, that was not the problem.
Mayuzumi was wearing a hat with pom poms. The cat-shaped pom poms had round eyes and were hopping up and down.
The heck is this?
“Um, that’s…Mayu-san, that’s…”
“Time to go, Odagiri-kun.”
“No, more importantly, that’s…”
“Hurry, or we might miss something important.”
No, I think we probably wouldn’t be able to find anything more interesting than this.
Or rather than interesting, it’s scary.
Swallowing my words, I followed behind Mayuzumi. The hallway was freezing to the point the breath we let out turned white. The anguish noise continued. And the sound of a head banging was mixed in it. A wet sound piled up on top of the hard banging.
It was the sound of blood.
Go mad and die!
That smiling face of Yuusuke floated up the back of my mind.
“It’s here!”
Mayuzumi opened the sliding panel with great force. Yuujirou was there. The elder in his sleeping clothes was scratching his fingers against the wattle-and-daub wall. Though his fingertips could disappear as if running them on a grater, he was not in a state to have concerns for that. The spilled blood was making the tatami wet. He continued wiggling his fingers as if intending to destroy the wall.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
“Aah…Aah…aaaAAAAA!”
Yuujirou was cowering, and suddenly began tearing off his own face. The left ear that was only wrapped in bandages. He was scratching relentlessly at the place where an ear had once been. Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch. Flesh was dug out. Blood spilled out. The charming woman who was desperately trying to stop him together with the servants was probably his third wife. Not a while after, the man who seemed to be the family’s doctor came running and restrained the elder’s arms.
“Forgive me, forgive meeeee. Asako. Asakoooooo!”
Even then, the elder twisted his body and screamed. At an interval between his pleas, for a single instant, there was a different voice mixed in.
A woman’s…voice.
It was an intensely high-pitched laughter.
I turned around without thinking. However, the garden was covered with only white snow. There was no response.
I could see a dim light, the completely white scenery.
In the centre, someone was standing there. The footprints continued from the garden’s separate building that was wide open.
Yuusuke was laughing with the corner of his lips raised.
As if the sight of a suffering old man was a spectacle to behold.
—Creak.
In the back of my mind, the sound of the corpses hung by the necks creaking echoed.
My field of vision shook violently. Without having any time to think, I fell from my knees. My stomach slowly began hurting. The pain that was different from an outside physical wound was something I shouldn’t feel in this life.
It was really similar to the pain of giving birth.
Thinking about it, the type of requests that Mayuzumi liked was the thing in my stomach’s favourite as well. For a while since it came out that summer, it had been rejuvenating. I could hear the sound of its mouth moving to eat something. The thing inside was eating something. Most likely, it was eating people’s thoughts and memories.
Damn annoying.
Just stay put.
Holding my stomach, I fell face down. The hard floor was just like ice.
So…cold.
“Odagiri-kun?”
I could hear Mayuzumi’s voice from far away. Looking at her blurry figure, I desperately raised my voice.
(Stop—I don’t want to show my weakness to you.)
I’d rather be laughed at and called unsightly.
(I can’t…any more.)
Right then and there, my consciousness was cut off.
***
Slash, slash, slash.
In the snow, someone was sitting on top of a black corpse of an animal, sharply moving their knife with mechanical speed. Blood gushed out, melting the snow. That person then began reaching inside its gut, selecting one of the entrails to pull out, and carefully cut the still pulsating entrail vertically. The content inside spilled out.
My vision began spinning.
Just like when Mayuzumi spun her umbrella, everything dissolved into the colour of crimson.
A boy was sitting in one corner of a room. He was hugging his knees, his face paled. The noise of cicadas echoed. The despair left on his face was reflected in the thick shadow. His palms were full of bruises as if they were pinched multiple times.
It was three weeks ago that his mother died.
Since that day, his wounds had been slowly recovering.
But his face was left frozen. That well-proportioned face did not change even as he grew up.
That was Yuusuke in his childhood.
Then I realised.
He had not told us anything about his deceased mother at all.
Suddenly, his feelings came crashing down on me like an avalanche. Yuusuke’s mother used him as a stress outlet. His relief that she had died and his despair that she didn’t give him any love even until her last moment—These two feelings intensely gouged into my mind. They were the emotions freshly eaten by the thing inside my stomach.
Stop. Don’t make me watch me. Don’t make me feel it.
Feeling nauseous, I pressed my mouth shut. I did not want to know about other’s emotions. I did not want to sympathise nor conform to them.
Because the result of that would certainly not end well.
Suddenly, someone stood in front of the boy. It was a woman with long black hair, peeking at his face. The boy slowly raised his face. The woman stiffened her face with nervousness and asked.
“You’re Yuusuke…right?”
The woman leaned forward to meet the boy’s eyes.
She extended her white hand.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Asako.”
The boy widened his eyes.
Time stopped moving. The woman smiled.
I could hear the sound of cicadas. Amidst the strong summer glow, her radiant smile was beautiful.
But, some years later, she would hang herself.
“Can you…understand?”
Someone asked from behind. The scene right in front of me was frozen like a beautiful drawing.
“Can you understand them?”
The despair. The hatred that would begin from now on.
My stomach was in pain. But despite that, I forced myself to stand up. I slid my hand into my breast pocket, but there was no cigarette. I couldn’t borrow the power of nicotine.
Still, I answered.
“—As if I would understand.”
***
“...Oda…kun…Odagiri-kun.”
Being called by the name, I opened my eyes. The accumulated tear fell down the corner of my eyes. Once I realised it, I was back in our room, and couldn't move a limb. I asked Mayuzumi about the situation.
“Ah, Yuujirou has calmed down, and we’ve also had you examined by the doctor.”
As I nodded, I felt frustrated at having shown my own disgraceful state. The fact that I had caused trouble was aggravating. The moment I tried to force myself to get up, a sharp pain ran through my stomach. Having my mind stirred, I leaned back down instinctively. The emotions I had experienced just now were running wild in my head like they owned the place.
It’s sad, it’s painful, it’s lonely, I’ll kill you!
Why did that person have to, why die whykillyoukillyou I will.
“—Odagiri-kun.”
Mayuzumi said calmly. I realised that she had changed back to her usual clothes.
“Want me to help you?”
Mayuzumi smiled.
As if she was looking at me with an expression of a holy woman.
“If you so desire, I’ll give you my aid, you know?”
That was a terribly sweet temptation, but I stopped myself from nodding. Feeling relieved that my mouth muscle was still working, I formed a smile. No matter how twisted the expression became, it’d be fine as long as I could smile.
“—Not necessary.”
I was already owning a large debt, and the interest rate was still rising. Anymore help than this and it’d be no different from narcotics.
If I had it too much, I’d be crippled.
“Your aid is not necessary, Mayu-san.”
At that answer, Mayuzumi somewhat satisfyingly laughed.
“Is that so? Then, sleep.”
The same time I heard those gentle words, I closed my eyelids. The pain softened, and my consciousness was drowned by drowsiness. It was as if a lullaby-like sweet voice had reached my ears.
“Because I’ll always be here.”
Aah, that’s right.
No matter where I wake up, only this girl will still be by my side.
***
The morning was really peaceful. As the radiant sun poured down, I got my body up. The pain from last night was nowhere to be found. Feeling relieved, I met the eyes of Mayuzumi who sat next to the pillow.
She was pleasantly smiling at me.
Even embarrassment had its limits.
“It’s morning, isn’t it? Odagiri-kun.”
“...Yeah.”
I averted my eyes without thinking, but Mayuzumi continued as if nothing happened.
“Yuujirou’s condition was surprising. However, we had results. We could hear the laughter, too.”
The laughter that was mixed inside the scream. I tried to remember the gruesome scene of last night. At that exact moment, the emotions I had experienced also came back. As I confusingly shifted my memory, the cat-shaped pom poms got into my face.
The heck are those?
“Is there something wrong, Odagiri-kun.”
“...No, nothing special.”
“Is that so? But let me say it once more, I will not get angry or annoyed by any questions. If you have any doubt, ask me anytime you like. If it’s something I want to answer, I’ll answer.”
In other words, asking about things she didn’t want to answer was useless.
What are those things?
That question rose to my throat, but I forcefully swallowed it down. If it belonged to things she didn’t want to answer, I wouldn’t know how to react.
“More importantly, Mayu-san. Have you learned anything? It has already been a day, though.”
“No, I have learned a few different things. However, they’re lacking. So because of that, let’s go find the parts to fill in the gap, Odagiri-kun.”
Mayuzumi stood up, making the large black ribbon at her waist flutter. Her appearance today, too, looked like a western doll. Gripping her crimson paper umbrella, she said.
“The missing parts regarding the time when his ear was torn and eaten by a dog.”
***
“Yes, we were terribly surprised back then.”
Yuujirou’s third wife, Ayane, answered with a refined manner. Despite her moderate amount of makeup, her charming face and voluptuous body were attractive. It was easy to understand. She was what men had in mind as an ideal woman. However, she seemed uninterested even though something as major as her husband having his ear eaten by a dog happened. And if looked closely, every modern attire in the room was a brand product.
When asked if Yuujirou would be okay, she answered.
It cannot be helped since that person is getting old.
It seemed that she thought the cause of Yuujirou’s strange behaviour was dementia. She also unexpectedly responded when Mayuzumi requested to have a talk. She excelled at swallowing down one’s own opinion and killing oneself. That tendency, in a way, did not reveal her condescending attitude.
It seemed that this woman became a bride with the assumption that Yuujirou would die soon.
In addition, she had clear patience to wait for years. With this, she wouldn’t hang herself like Asako. I believed that was the correct judgement. ‘Wanting misfortune to befall the person you hate.’ Now I understood, it was greatly sound.
More sound than enduring it and hanging oneself in the end.
“That dog was the dog of our neighbour, the gentleman named Tashiro-san. Because it was a really aggressive dog, it had been kept in a cage. But after Tashiro-san passed away…only the dog was left. With that, since his peers didn’t know how to deal with it, it became the talk of calling an animal shelter. Then my husband took an interest in it and wanted to go see it once…seemingly to take it in as a thief repellent.”
“Thief repellent, you say?”
I thoughtlessly whispered. It was something I had heard from Yuusuke. In the past, the dog that this household had been taking care of was beaten to death by Asako. That was the result of Yuujirou ordering it to bite her from time to time.
I saw Miss Asako standing in front of the doghouse, holding a bloody bat in her hand. The dog collapsed right next to her, its skull smashed and its brain matter scattered about. Miss Asako was stumping on them with her sandals, you know? Splat, splat, splat, splat. When I walked up to her, she said to me, “Ah, Yuu-chan. I killed it. I mean, it would be better if it didn’t exist, right? If I do this, I’ll have less painful experiences, right?”
I took the blame of killing the dog for her, you know? And it was a few days after that that Asako-san hung herself. Back then, I should’ve borrowed her bat and beat dad to death. Even now, I’m still thinking of doing it.
“Yes, a thief repellent. And as a result of that, he had his ear eaten by it.”
The dog, agitated by being in an unknown place, probably tore the lead and bit Yuujirou who was peeking down at it. Ayane told us, slightly smiling.
“When the dog was escaping, it was stabbed by Yuusuke-san. He took a butterfly knife out and did a wonderful job in a blink of an eye, but the dog kept on running. In the end…we still couldn’t find its corpse.”
“You couldn’t find its corpse?”
Mayuzumi asked, and Ayane nodded.
“Yes, we couldn’t find it. There was a blood trail, but nothing came out. That man began hearing the laughter right after that. Surely, shock from having his ear eaten is the reason. The doctor also said so.”
Ayane hung her mouth up sarcastically, and Mayuzumi began contemplating about something. But, more than the fact that the corpse wasn’t found, I was more surprised at the fact that Yuusuke stabbed it while it was running away. I thought he would be heartily doting on the dog that had bitten his father’s ear off.
“I see. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Saying that, Mayuzumi got up and began walking out. However, she suddenly stopped and turned back. She then asked in a calm tone of voice.
“Right, right. There is one last thing I would like to ask.”
“The corpses of Asako-san and Aki-san, did they have heads?”
***
A pool of blood spread out.
The red colour gushed out from the tatami. Under Mayuzumi’s feet that were wrapped in stockings, blood sprawled out. It was weirdly clear that it did not smell of rust.
The figure wearing a Gothic-Lolita outfit that looked like a mourning dress was standing on the sea of blood.
The crimson paper umbrella drew a shadow.
In front of Mayuzumi were finely dissected corpses, one an adult and one a child. A portion of two people were scattered about the room. Internal organs were gouged out and separated into different parts. Looking closely, a number of parts were clearly missing from that. Things such as arms, legs, ribs and skull were removed as if they had never originally been there.
—Flap.
When Mayuzumi closed her paper umbrella, the image disappeared.
The brand new tatami floor came back after that. The room that had once been a guest room took back the silence it originally had. The room that was facing the exterior corridor was close to the garden where the hanging corpses could almost be seen.
“—So that…is the case.”
“Mayu-san, that just now…”
“Hm, it was a reflection of the past. Just like a crime scene with a grotesque murderer. The gruesome reflection was ingrained into this place. You can’t erase it by just replacing the tatami. So, I just tried shaking it out a bit. Despite that, it was really a spectacle, right~?”
On the other hand, Mayuzumi’s tone was indifferent. The thin fingertips brushed the dried tatami. Yet I had a feeling like the red colour would stick onto her fingertips.
The vivid reflection from the past. The scattered corpses.
That, all of it, had happened here.
“The corpses of Asako-san and Aki-chan that were discovered were carried here. Yuujirou, who feared having a scandal, didn’t call the police or take them to a hospital, but instead contacted his acquainted doctor. After the death had been confirmed, Yuusuke-kun, who knew about that, suddenly dissected the corpses during the gap when the family members took their eyes off. It was something he was used to doing, it seemed. And then, an amount of the parts weren’t found.”
I, too, have later heard about that incident. It looks like that boy had something wrong with his head. Though he now lives in the separate building, I am still a bit uneasy.
Ayane’s voice resurfaced. Nonetheless, the more important thing was—
“Even asked, he didn’t say anything. Yuujirou thought of disowning him, but Yuusuke-kun declared that he would spread the talks of Asako’s suicide if he was driven out. Consequently, he took the form of living separated in the detached building.”
“Even though the parts of the corpses are still not found, right?”
“Exactly. Furthermore, what he did was damaging the corpses. Despite that, Yuujirou didn’t hand him over to the police.”
Even if he feared the abnormality in dissecting the corpses, he still didn’t press on the crime of dissecting corpses. Was he scared of being shamed by the public? Maybe he didn’t want to leave a stain on his family name? No, the reason was more simple.
It was because, even if Asako’s organs were pulled out, his own stomach wouldn’t hurt.
That was why he didn’t continue the investigation.
At that thought, vomit was coming out.
“Fufuh. Now, where have all the bones that were left gone?”
Mayuzumi stood up. Her black eyes stared at the place that the corpses had been.
“The singing skull, huh?”
She whispered. Skull. Cranium. A bone that was cut from the neck.
That thing…sings?
“...Oya? Could it be that you don’t know, Odagiri-kun? It’s a famous folklore, you know? It has many variations, though. What they have in common is that a skull carried out a revenge on the person who killed it. The skull gave itself to the man who had killed it, saying that it’ll make money for the man by singing. The man happily took the skull home. However, the skull didn’t sing in front of the feudal lord, and the man was executed for lying. Then, the skull had its grudge cleared, and sang cheerfully.”
Things left behind even if the flesh rotted away, the hatred and obsession.
They could even drive the bones that should be able to move.
“Died, yet if there were grudges left, the bones would sing and laugh.”
Twisting her lips, Mayuzumi smiled. She turned her heels and walked out.
“Fufuh. The ear that had been severed should be separated from the flesh, and yet…Well, let’s go, Odagiri-kun.”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s obvious.”
The crimson umbrella came into my sight. She took the umbrella that had been opened one more time with a flutter and put it on her shoulder.
“To meet the singing skull.”
Without turning back, Mayuzumi walked forth. As always, the crimson paper umbrella traversed through the pure white garden. The satisfying sound of footsteps echoed, and then—
“The laughter, can you let us hear it?”
After being a little startled, Yuusuke opened the door as he smiled.
***
“We’ve found it, Old man. The true form of the thing that is making your head go mad.”
Mayuzumi enthusiastically opened the sliding door and said. I and Yuusuke followed her back. Yuujirou was exhaustedly lying in his futon, but after looking at Mayuzumi, he got up, confused.
“...Oh, ooh. You found it?”
His voice was terribly weak. I felt unpleasant hearing that desperate tone of voice. I examined the box held by Yuusuke with a sidelong glance. It was a plastic box which was covered with newspaper from the inside and it was making a sound like a small animal moving about inside it, but Yuujirou didn’t notice it.
Yuusuke, who was holding the box, showed a twisted smile.
“I’ll tell you this first, old man. Your ear hasn’t completely disappeared from this world. The ear which had been eaten by the animal, someone took it out. The ear that has been preserved continued pouring the mad laughter into your ear. This is that mechanism.”
Mayuzumi pointed at the box behind her. Yuusuke nodded and opened the lid of the box, a thin smile still on his face.
Yuujirou swallowed his breath. I unconsciously let out a sigh.
A white ear was floating in a jar full of formalin liquid. The part that was bitten was fluttering like a cotton. Surrounding it were two skulls that had been placed there. A big skull and a small skull. They’re human bone specimens.
The moment Yuujirou let out a scream, they let out a woman’s laughter.
Crackling, crackling.
I covered my ears, trying to block off Yuujirou’s scream and the laughter.
Even bad taste had its limit.
***
“That’s right. I cut up the dog’s stomach. Having to follow that near-dead dog. Then I cleaved its belly while it was still alive. When I opened its gut, my dad’s ear was in the pool gut fluid and blood. I immediately preserved it in formalin liquid and buried the dog corpse in the ground. It was before that when Asako and Aki’s skulls started talking, though. They couldn’t talk clearly like in folklore, but could only make simple sounds and laugh. I really want to make dad listen to it so much that I couldn't help it. But if I showed them to him, it’d be worrisome what he would do to them, right? They had finally managed to laugh, I felt sorry for them so I was wondering what I should do. It was good timing that I got my hands on the ear. Ooh, it’s so funny when dad goes mad that I thought I would die of laughter. Anyway, how did you know?”
Astonished, Yuusuke widened his eyes.
His story, despite its length, was simple.
It was the same as the life tale of his dad.
Asako and Aki died. Taking the bones he wanted from their remains. He pulled out the internal organs because he wanted to separate the ribs and pelvis from the organs and take the bones with him. From the skulls as well, he removed the skin, eyeballs, nose, and everything there as much as he could before taking them away. It was a great task, but he had an acquainted servant open the room to him, saying that he wanted to bid the corpses farewell, and bought some time. During that, he carefully took the bones away.
In order to preserve them.
As mementos of his family.
But something surprising happened after he buried the bones and completely turned them into specimens.
The skulls talked.
“If you ask whether you took the skulls, everyone would know. Also, there is that dog skull decorated on your rack, right? According to your story, the first dog this house had been taking care of had its head beaten to death. If so, I think that skull was the skull of the second dog, the one whose corpse hasn’t been found yet. And the most important of all, last night, we heard the laughing voice that was supposed to be heard only by your father.”
I thought back to the scene of last night. The high-pitched laughter that was mixed into the scream. When I turned around, Yuusuke was standing in the completely white garden.
What I heard last night was something that I actually heard.
“That was something we could hear from the detached building that was left wide open. You opened the door when you came to see your father’s condition. It was something that leaked out during that time.”
“I~ see.”
Was Yuusuke content with the answer? He chuckled. He didn’t even panic as he peeked into a box case and patted the small skull as if cherishing his sister, looking at it happily as it crattled its teeth.
“More importantly, one more question.”
Yuusuke tilted his head as Mayuzumi said that in a serious voice.
“What is it?”
“The matter of the skeletons doesn’t matter. They had enough grudges to begin talking. But the matter of Yuujirou’s ear is different. Normally, if an ear is torn off, at that time it will have become just another flesh. It’s impossible for it to relay sounds to the main body. Despite that, the fact that his bitten ear still picks up sounds means that it has been preserved with the soul. But that is not something that can be done just by soaking it in formalin. Since the matter is different from just keeping a corpse of something like a fish beautiful.”
Her black eyes narrowed like that of a cat. Her normally joking voice was now clad in true coldness.
“How did you do it?”
Yuusuke chuckled at her demand for explanation.
“I’ll tell you about that later. You two want to show this to dad, right? Let’s take it there.”
“...Is that fine for you?”
Though I had intended to just watch, I blurted out without thinking. And so Yuusuke shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s really fine. This is getting quite dull anyway. And doing that seems interesting.”
Then, he bore his teeth, laughing.
His appearance somehow looked like a skull clanging its teeth, laughing.
Thinking of ‘Wanting misfortune to befall the person you hate.’
Mayu-san, is this really normal?
I’d try to ask, but the girl in front of me kept her mouth shut.
***
“Hiih hiih, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.”
Yuujirou stepped back on top of the futon. Yuusuke thrust the box out to the elder who was thumbling and letting out a scream. The ear that had turned to the colour of dead flesh fluttered. The skeletons raised their voices and laughed. The sound of teeth clattering echoed.
The high-pitched voice of a woman and an innocent voice of a child.
“What’s with you? Why are you scared?”
Then the voice of the boy joined in.
“Wha- What’s that!? Just what…why!?”
“What are you saying, dad? It’s Asako-san and Aki, right? Just take a closer look. Here. It’s because of you that they ended up like this.”
Giggle, giggle, giggle, giggle.
The skulls laughed as if to confirm it. Yuujirou opened his eyes wide, falling backward further, and Yuusuke followed after. He slowly lifted up the skeletons inside the box and thrusted them in front of the elder’s eyes. Even if the elder cried and covered his face, Yuusuke didn’t stop. He persistently rubbed the skeletons into the elder’s face.
Mayuzumi lost her interest in the twisted scene and turned her gaze away.
“Well, you now know the cause of it all. With this, we’re leaving.”
She coldy declared and turned her heels. I followed behind her while still surprised by her action.
“Wha-!? Ma-Mayuzumi-sama!”
Yuujirou called out with a clinging voice. Mayuzumi turned back and replied.
“What I was requested of was the investigation of the cause of the laughter. Go on, the cause is right in front of your eyes. It’s not going to bite you. Do something about it yourself. If it’s you, you can do it.”
Because you have arms.
If it’s about the skeletons, I’m not going to help them, though.
Urged by that, Yuujirou’s cheeks shivered. He stared at the skeletons, but suddenly, he grabbed Yuusuke’s hands, shaking away his fear.
“Yu-Yuusuke! Hand that over! I-I-I’ll crush them!”
Yuusuke made a little surprised face, and became silent for a few seconds.
“It’s fine but…Dad, you’ll die though?”
The atmosphere made a warped noise.
The malice permeated through. I loosened my collar without thinking because of that hard-to-breathe atmosphere. Cold sweat ran down my back. Yuujirou widened his eyes.
“...What did…you say?”
He squeezed out that question.
Yuusuke innocently tilted his head and answered.
“Dad, you can break Asako-san and Aki’s skulls. Though if you do that, I’ll crush open your head.”
“Y-y-you! Doing something like that...just because…”
“Yep. I’ll be arrested. But what does that matter? No matter where you run or hide, I’ll spend all my life so I can crush your head open. If you kill Asako-san and Aki one more time, I’ll kill you, you know? I’m still in this house to avenge you, enduring it to make you listen to the laughter. Because if I was arrested, there would be no one to take care of Asako-san and Aki’s bones, right? If you can’t bear even the laughter, I’ll kill you. I will certainly, certainly kill you no matter what happens.”
He said it simply. Yuusuke was not threatening him, he was just telling him the reality that had already been decided. A few seconds later, Yuujirou’s whole body shivered. The overflowing tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks.
He, too, certainly understood.
To the point of wanting to hang himself.
Understood the despair that, no matter where, had no place for escape.
While laughing, Yuusuke slapped the elder’s shoulder.
“So, dad, you have to endure it.”
Tilting his head, Yuusuke let out a roar of laughter.
The laughter from the skeletons piled on top. A woman, a child, and a boy. Three voices of laughter echoed.
It was as if the family of three found it too funny; they couldn't help it but to laugh together.
***
Together with Mayuzumi, I walked, stepping through the snow. From the residence, the laughter and the wailing continued. I followed the walking paper umbrella in front of me, shaking them off my mind. The sunlight reflected the crimson paper umbrella, giving off radiance. Unlike the pure white garden, the clear sky was blue. The sky that had cleared up was bright. The warm light touched my frozen skin.
The snow had stopped falling.
Yet, the air was still heavy and cold.
Sound of footsteps suddenly came following. When I turned around, Yuusuke, who was breathing heavily, was there.
“Aa, thank god you’re still here. I’m sorry that my dad can’t see you off.”
“It’s fine, it’s not a big deal.”
Of course he couldn’t do it in that condition. Not concerned by that, Yuusuke bowed once more. He politely and simply called out to us.
“I have things I want to say at the end. I couldn’t tell you the moment ago, though. It’s about my dad’s ear.”
The ear that kept on picking up sounds despite having been severed.
The dead flesh that was still connected to the main body.
Mayuzumi narrowed her eyes.
“I heard the method from an acquaintance through the phone. Taking care of the skulls too, was what that person taught me. When I told him that I recovered the bones after Asako-san died, he told me to do it. He said that if they had grudges, they would sing. He told me to hold on to it until it sings my revenge, since the three of us could laugh together again. Then a while after all that, I got my hands on dad’s ear.”
“...That person. Who was it?”
Mayuzumi’s asking voice was quieter than usual. Yuusuke also lowered his voice.
As if that name couldn’t be said carelessly.
“Mayuzumi Asato.”
I thoughtlessly widened my eyes. My field of view shook as if I was punched, and my stomach began hurting. Dull pain spread out from the centre. Clutching on it, I stared at her back in front of me.
“—It’s your brother.”
The girl hidden by the crimson umbrella didn’t say anything.
I could hear the sound of melting snow collapsing somewhere.
[END]