Chapter 1.3

The curtain of night had fallen over the mountain path. While ducking his head down into the darkness approaching from all sides, Akira remained there with no determination to leave, keeping hidden in the forest peeing in the direction of the Kirishiki home.

There was a light on in the old stone building. Indeed the more he watched the room filled with light, he had the feeling the one doing something inappropriate was himself, lurking in the darkness.

(But, those guys did something.)

He was confident of that. He didn't have any basis for it, but Akira's instincts told him it was certain. Thinking that, he kept surveillance over them and yet the Kanemasa bunch hadn't shown hide nor tail of themselves. Far from seeing suspicious shadows, he never so much as caught sight of the master in the vicinity nor in the windows. ---That was all the more suspicious, he thought.

It was like he was intentionally hiding himself. And, just maybe that meant you-know-what. That they bunch of them were plotting something. So they had to be real scrupulous about hiding themselves, no doubt they were trying not to make any obvious moves in front of the villagers.

Even though he had nothing but certainty, there was no change, and Akira was starting to feel dumber by the minute. It wasn't that he'd lost any suspicion of them, and he didn't exactly think that sitting out here like this keeping watch was childish but if nothing happened like this then he got the feeling that it seemed like they weren't planning to do anything. Or possibly, he was the problem. The one to catch the tiger by the tail, to capture them, wouldn't be Akira, maybe that duty would fall to somebody else entirely.

"Tch...."

Akira sighed and adjusted his position in the bushes. He faced the Kirishiki household with a sulk. He could only keep watch from the time he got out of school until dinner, and when his nagging mom wasn't around like today he could come out after dinner too but that wasn't too often. Throughout the day there was no way he could watch them---not from morning until late at night. The one to catch them wouldn't be Akira, but somebody who could watch over them all through the night, won't it, he deeply suspected.

Akira turned his eyes towards his watch. If he didn't get back, his mom would beat him home. If it were up to Akira, he'd rather stay right here and continue to keep watch. But he didn't think his parents would allow him to do something like that and in the first place Akira himself would probably get bored lying in wait all throughout the night. Nevermind if something did happen, since the likelihood of it all failing to pay off was high, he didn't think there was much meaning to staying sitting here and getting yelled at by his parents.

When wavering over whether to return or not, there was a sound from down the slope. Akira quickly ducked down. What came to mind immediately was that it was a wild dog but it was clearly the sound of a human walking. The sound of someone pushing through the underbrush with great strides.

His heart pounded. Something huge might be about to go down, he thought. He kept himself low, holding his breath and peeping through until at last he caught sight of the black outline of a human shape climbing towards him through the indigo blue. Unable to see their face, he couldn't determine anything specific about them. What he could tell was that it was an adult, and probably a man; that was all.

A man was climbing the slope. With sure steps, and from pretty far down the incline. Though his footsteps were so clear, mysteriously he could not hear them breathing. Even though pushing through the underbrush while climbing the slope would naturally make someone breathe hard.

Someone with a hell of a constitution, Akira thought. That easily tied in to the image of someone who did violent and reckless acts.

Half fearing that something terrible would happen if he was found, half excited, Akira's eyes followed the person. With no signs of minding the slope at all, the man climbed to the top of the slope with steady steps and left the woods.

At some point the moon rose. That's right, he thought. A faint amount of light shone over the shadow coming out of the woods. As expected it was a man, with an incredibly solid build.

The man's feet stopped, then immediately started towards the gate of the Kirishiki house. While looking around, he approached the side entrance door.

(He's making sure there's no one around...)

More and more suspicious, he thought. He didn't know who the guy was but if nothing else he didn't want to be seen coming and going. No doubt it was because he was involved in something shady.

The man pushed the doorbell. While waiting for someone to say something over the intercom, he looked left and right enthusiastically. His feet shifted countless time. It was clear he was irritated and wanted to inside quickly.

Akira faintly leaned his body out from the bush. Wasn't there any way to see their face?

There were footsteps from within the gate. The lock made a distinct click as it was undone and the side door opened. He could hear the one inside and out were saying something but he couldn't make out exactly what. As Akira peeked out just a little more, the man whose back he was facing turned around.

Akira was suddenly frozen in place. He'd thought he'd been found out. The man who turned's face darkened. He couldn't see his eyes at all. He didn't know where he was looking but he didn't think that their gazes met at least. It might have been fortunate that he'd felt frozen there. The man gave just one more peek behind himself then disappeared inside the side entrance.

Akira held his breath a little longer, then after quite some time let it out. After some time he slipped out of his hiding place. his limbs felt numb.

(Woah....)

He didn't know what it was but he had the feeling he'd witnessed something big. A suspicious man entering the Kirishiki house while trying not to be seen. That might just have been a huge clue.

Akira thought on the man he saw from behind, deep in the woods trying not to make a sound. The shape of his head, his hairdo, the solid and sturby looking line from his head to his shoulder, a white looking shirt, black looking slacks. His posture bending down to whisper to the interphone, and his expression as he turned to look behind himself.

Going parallel to the road still in the woods, Akira tilted his head. He thought that he'd seen that face somewhere before. It was dark and all, he couldn't make out the expression or his features. So he only had the faintest impression but Akira had certainly seen that man somewherebefore. And a lot of times. ---Yeah, it was a face he knew well. For certain.

Looking behindhimself, making sure he was far enough from the Kirishiki house, Akira went out onto the road. He ran down the hill.

Who was it? It was a face of someone he knew well. At least it wasn't someone from the Kirishiki house. It was someone from the village, and someone Akira had seen countless times.

Searching his memory, suddenly, Akira's feet stopped. At the bottom of the hill, the turning point onto the road was right before his eyes. There was nobody on the road. There were lights in the windows of the nearby houses but the light didn't reach him. The sides of the road covered in forest were dark, and Akira was alone on the slope of the hill.

A chill ran through him from the tips of his toes. Suddenly his pulse raced.

He wasn't sure. ---But.

(....It looked like him.)

And did it ever. The footsteps climbing the slope were all too burly, and that person's timid demeanor was so at odds with that that it took time to make the connection. But thinking back, the features of the one who turned to look back had features far too much like someone Akira knew.

(....But.)

Akira stared fixedly at the street corner. Looking at the house on the corner, the light was glaringly bright and yet Akira's attention was entirely behind himself. His ears, his nose, his skin---really, even with his eyes, he tried to sense behind himself. Was somebody there or not? Somebody---did that person follow after him or not? Was or wasn't there somebody in the surrounding woods? Just like Akira was until a bit ago, hiding themselves?

While concentrating all of his energy behind him, he crossed the distance to the road. Running desperately, how many seconds did it take? How long would it take for somebody lurking in the words---or possibly somebody coming after him now, to capture Akira?

He was too scared to turn around--or even to look too closely at his surroundings. At the height of Akira's indecision, in one go he pounded the ground with his feet. With his final step more like a jump, he went down the hill with full force and speed.

Forgetting even to breath, he came running into the street as if jumping into it, and at last he turned around. There was no sign of anybody on the hill, and no sounds following him through the woods.

Akira took his breath and his body back around. He rushed back the full distance to his house.

When he saw the light of his house, Akira could all but cry with relief. Without looking behind himself he jumped into the entryway, rushing into the living room with a rush of energy supplied by the relieved tension.

When he came in he saw that his mother who had come out was already back. She looked at Akira was reproach.

"What were you doing? What time do you think it is!" His mother's eyes were worn but Akira couldn't care less. Even while running back, he could only think of what he had to do from now on.

---Right, he'd at least tell Kaori. It was too much for him to handle himself. There was no way he could tell his parents, and his friends were just as out of the question. Probably nobody would believe him.

If it was Kaori, he had a feeling he could convince her. This was relevant to Kaori. Since it was relevant to Megumi.

So Akira hurried Kaori upstairs to the second floor. He wasn't in the mood to listen seriously to his mother's complaints today.

"Kaori, come on!"

"I keep asking, what do you want?"

"Just come on."

Pulling Kaori on to the room, he made sure their mother wasn't following and pulled the sliding door shut. Even so to be extra careful, he had Kaori sit in the corner of the room.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Kaori, I saw something big!"

Kaori tilted her head. Akira was clearly acting weird. He was terribly excited, and yet ghastly pale. He was even shaking. And he didn't even seem to realize it himself.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. But, was scared." Far from just saying it, Akira certainly looked at his wits end.

"Are you sick or something?"

"That's not it. I saw something big!"

"Saw something?"

"I was watching Kanemasa. I was thinking they're definitely suspicious. Then a guy came climbing the hill. Who do you think it was?" Kaori tilted her head. Akira gripped her arm fiercely. That hand was still shaking. "---It was Yasuyuki Nii-chan!"

Kaori gaped. "What are you saying?"

"It was the Ohtsuka Sawmill's Yasuyuki Nii-chan! I'm absolutely sure of it! He went into Kanemasa. While looking around sneakily."

"Don't say such stupid things!"

"I'm telling you it's true. I saw it!"

"You just mistook someone who looks like him."

"Did not. That's, I didn't see his face real clearly, but it was definitely him!"

"Stop it!" Kaori pried Akira's hand from her. "I don't like them. Don't make up stupid stories!"

"Kaori!"

From downstairs their mother could be heard yelling angrily about something.

With that, Kaori and Akira both hastily closed their mouths. For a while they kept down, making sure that their mother had confirmed they'd quieted down.

"Kaori... it's true. I really saw it. It was definietly Yasuyuki Nii-chan.

Kaori considered Akira's pale face seriously. "But, Yasuyuki Nii-san is..."

Akira nodded. "Dead."

Kaori cowered into herself. "Then, it shouldn't have been Yasuyuki Nii-san."

"But, it was. Yasuyuki Nii-chan rose up. ....He's an Oni, Kaori."

"I can't believe something like that."

"But that's how it is. They're Oni."

They, Kaori repeated. Akira nodded. There was a strange light in his eyes.

"The bunch at Kanemasa. Megumi went up the hill didn't she? And died. She was done in by them. So was Yasuyuki Nii-chan. That's why they rose up."

But that's Kaori started to protest, then stopped. Megumi went up the hill---and Ohtsuka Yasuyuki was at the lumberyard. With Kirishiki Chizuru. He looked embarrassed, with a flustered smile. That was the last time she had seen his smile.

"But that's..."

"It's definitely not a lie. Hey, you come with me."

Kaori sprung up. "Go? Go where?"

"To Kanemasa! If we go there now and keep watch, we might see Yasuyuki Nii-chan come out. If that happens, even you'll know it's not a mistake, right?"

"I don't want to... No!"

"Why?"

"It's already late. ---Yeah, at this house, Mom won't let us out!"

"So we'll sneak out."

"We can't!"

"Kaori, believe me!"

Kaori shook her head. "I believe. I'll at least believe you. But, even so going out too late isn't good. We can't do something that dangerous!"

Akira fell silent at a loss for words.

"I'm scared. ..... No. We can't do it. You can't go either. Okay?"

Akira nodded. His face was already white. "But... in that case, what do we do? Just leave it alone like this? They might attack someone even as we speak, right? If they do that that person will become an Oni and rise up, then the Oni will increase in number, then what happens to us?"

"....But."

"If we tell the adults about this they don't believe us. They'll just think I've gone crazy. I can't tell anyone but you, Kaori. The adults won't get it. That said the teachers won't either. In that case, it's up to us...."

"But, even we can't do anything can we?"

"That's not true. We should be able to do something. ---If we can't, then."

"But still."

"Anyway, come with me. Tomorrow's fine. While it's light out. You won't be scared then, right? I want you to confirm it with me, Kaori. Go on reconnaissance with me. We can't just let this go."

"...But."

"I'm begging you, Nee-chan."

Kaori hesitated, then nodded. Looking at Akira's pale face with his tears rising up, she couldn't do anything but.