Winter sunlight shone down on branches of early-blooming Japanese plum, where tiny white buds had appeared.
The cold this month had been brutal, and the snow that had fallen a few days ago still remained in the shadows of buildings—yet the plum trees knew that spring was coming.
Magnificent white-blossomed plum trees. They had a caretaker, perhaps, well-ordered as they were with shapely branches. Almost no snow remained here in the sunny garden.
If they had been a little more impatient, there would have been plum blossoms in the snow, thought Sakaki Shuuichi as he peered out through the sash.
“It looks like the funeral is drawing to a close,” Nikaidou Reiko, the investigator assigned to him a few days ago, spoke from beside him. She was an intelligent woman. The pale blue pant-suit she was wearing today looked good on her, and her smooth bob glowed chestnut in the sunlight coming through the window.
But Sakaki seemed not to care about her appearance. Or rather, he only looked at her with the usual suspicion.
“Do you feel anything? Has the spirit of the dead Gotou, city councilor, appeared before us?”
“Can you please stop poking fun at me?” Nikaidou rebuked snappishly, looking around the room. “I do feel an odd aura in this house. Some remnant of a peculiar spirit-pulse. I would like to investigate the particulars as soon as possible.”
“...Spirit-pulse, huh...?” Lounging on the sofa, Sakaki pushed up on the rim of his round glasses with a fingertip. “Something we ordinary people can’t sense at all.”
“Excuse me, Chief, but are you saying you don’t believe me?”
“Not at all. Since taking up this job a year ago, I have come to a much better understanding of ghosts. I’m only a public servant working on a government salary. How can I doubt the abilities of someone chosen from the private sector for this special assignment like yourself?”
“...”
Sensing his mocking overtones, Reiko glared even more fiercely at Sakaki.
“Chief Sakaki, I heard from Chairman Shidehara that you are an extremely capable prosecutor. That you’ve skillfully handled many large corruption cases. But please recall that in this particular sphere, your work would be at a standstill without my help.”
It was Sakaki’s turn for indignation. Reiko primly turned her gaze forward.
They were currently in Fujisawa City
, Kanagawa Prefecture, in the home of former city council member Gotou Haruo. They were here to investigate an unnatural death in accordance with the marching orders they’d received several days ago.
Councilor Gotou had died at home during the early morning four days ago at only 38 years of age. Given that he’d had no noteworthy ailments and had been in the best of health, his sudden death had naturally shocked everyone.
The strangest part was the way he’d died: from emaciation.
For that was the cause written on his death certificate.
“He appeared to be a capable politician with a promising future,” Sakaki commented. “Wasn’t he former Minister of Justice Sata’s nephew? He was going to stand as a candidate in the next prefectural assembly election, I believe. His family has a long political lineage.” Given his prosecutorial background, Sakaki paid attention to such details. “Still, I don’t think this death has anything to do with ‘#36’.”
“If magic was involved, then it’ll be a different story,” Nikaidou Reiko stated. “A healthy person wasting to death in only ten days is not normal. I have also heard he did and said some incomprehensible things. Mysterious phenomena related to ‘#36’ have occurred in the area. It’s worth investigating, I believe.”
“Our time would be better-spent investigating the ‘young man’.”
Reiko suddenly remembered. “‘Ougi’, you mean? The one involved in the whole series of disturbances...?”
“Yes. We’re currently making inquiries into his whereabouts and conducting a detailed background check,” Sakaki said, and was about to reach for his tea when the door opened, and Gotou’s secretary entered with his wife Madam Mayumi.
“...We apologize for the long wait.” The widow bowed courteously. The two investigators stood and bowed in return.
“Summoned by King Yama?”
Madam Mayumi nodded in response to Sakaki’s question.
Sakaki and Reiko looked at one another before turning back to her.
“Do you know...erm, what he meant by that? Did he tell you that himself?”
“It must sound very strange to you.” Madam Mayumi’s expression looked pinched, but she lifted her head with determination. “I believe it was...yes, about two weeks ago. That was when he said it, after dreaming that King Yama had summoned him. ...After that day...he began to sleepwalk.”
“Sleepwalk?”
“He would rise early and not remember. He would get out of bed in the middle of the night and sit in formal pose in the garden—yes, right beneath that white-blossomed plum—put his hands together as if he were praying and chant something that sounded like a sutra. He would face that direction.”
She pointed toward the left-facing tile roof: southeast.
The house was situated near the Kugenuma coast; from here they could see—
“That’s E Island, right?”
“Yes. He would call into the night without a response. He could recite sutras with intense concentration. But he wouldn’t remember any of it. When morning came, he said,” she told them gravely, “that he had toured Hell.”
“Hell?”
“Yes. My husband said that every night in dreams, the Ten Kings showed him around Hell. One day he said he passed by the Blood Pond; another day that he was made to walk the Mountain of Needles... As the days went past, he visibly grew haggard and emaciated. He couldn’t eat and lost his ability to stand. We rushed him to the hospital, where they tried IVs and other things, but they couldn’t do anything for him... In the end he contracted a high fever, and then...”
She looked down, her face pale. Sakaki frowned quizzically.
“Why would your husband have such dreams...?”
“I don’t know. But recently my husband seemed to have been made quite miserable by E Island’s harbor resort plans. It felt...almost like a kind of...obsession,” she said, looking to the secretary for agreement. The secretary was quite knowledgeable about the issue.
“You’ve probably heard of E Island’s harbor resort plans—it’s a tourism development project proposed by Fujisawa City. It will be a collaboration by the prefecture and private businesses to develop and coordinate E Island’s sightseeing areas.”
“I’ve heard the gist.”
“E Island is a famed tourist attraction, of course. The city will have the power to service facilities and roads on the island and restore the shoreline grotto. But the scale of the project is much larger and is not limited to maintenance operations. Though ostensibly its purpose is to develop tourism...in reality certain private businesses aim to acquire facilities on the island.”
The two blinked.
“Acquire facilities on the island...?”
“Yes. They’re in league with several city councilors to purchase E Island’s grotto and all of shrines, restaurants, and inns in order to rejuvenate the island’s tourism and reap the profits.” The secretary’s words filled with heat. “E Island has always been an island with respect for tradition. Shounan is now a marine sports mecca and belong to the young; E Island’s traditions draw both the old and the young. It has charm. But if the plans proceed, perhaps E Island, too, will be changed.”
“...”
“Gotou-sensei voiced questions and concerns about these plans from its early inception. But recently they were suddenly rushed forward. As part of the opposition faction, he requested a suspension of the project on behalf of the inhabitants. ...That was when...this happened...” the secretary related, and choked up.
Sakaki crossed his arms, frowning. Madam Mayumi was leaning forward in her seat. Reiko asked, “...Can you think of anything that connects your husband’s dream of King Yama to E Island?”
“I don’t know. Oh, wait...just...”
“Just...?”
“Something he said. In his dream, King Yama asked for his help to create a path connecting Hell to the grotto. A blowing cave going down into Hell.”
“An blowing cave...from the grotto.”
“Yes. ”
The grotto was a cave on E Island. It was located beyond E Island Shrine’s Okutsu Shrine past a rocky stretch called Chigo Pool. It was said to be the place where Benzaiten had descended to earth in ancient days, and was the birthplace of the Benten creed. Great Priest Koubou and the Venerable Nichiren had undergone ascetic training there, and it was a place of pilgrimage for many. It had been made off-limits after an incident with falling rocks in the 46th year of Shouwa (1971), but the call for its reopening had been strong, and after construction and renovation work, it had been reopened in the spring of the 5th year of Heisei (1993). Since then it had been a busy tourist spot.
But why would it become a ‘road into Hell’?
“We should look a bit more into these harbor resort plans,” Sakaki said with great interest. Bribery was a possibility, and that was his field of expertise. “We will likely have additional questions, so please bear with us.”
“Of course.” Madam Mayumi nodded elegantly.
The two investigators left the Gotou residence and returned to their street-parked car.
“Feel anything?”
“Not much at the moment... Excuse me,” Reiko added, extracting a long thin cigarette from her case. She held it between two fingers and lit it in a practiced motion. “...There is, however, a high possibility of a deadly curse being used. I am concerned about the remnants of the spirit-pulse in that house. The details have been obscured done to the amount of time that has passed, but based on what Gotou’s wife said, there’s an 80-90% chance it’s related.”
“He was shown around Hell by King Yama?” Sakaki placed his hands on the steering wheel, frowning in incomprehension. “You’re not suggesting that King Yama bribed members of the city council to buy E Island, are you?”
“I will investigate the curse. Why don’t you check up on the lead project members from the city council and business organizations?”
“That’s just what I was planning to do.”
“All right. In that case I’ll see you later.”
“Hey, wait a minute...” As Reiko was about to get out of the car, Sakaki demanded, “Where are you going?”
“I thought I’d look around E Island. I’d like to examine the grotto in question.”
“I’ll drive you there.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m also going to check out the coastal area.”
Sakaki gave her another dubious look.
“You’re not taking those strange rumors that’ve been going around lately seriously, are you?”
“...Huh?”
“It’s just hearsay. The same type of thing as the Loch Ness monster or fish with human-looking faces. It’s stuff the tabloids make up when they run out of other material.”
“But there are witnesses. And it happened around E Island, which concerns me, so I’m going to go take a look.”
“If you have any luck, bring back a picture of a beautiful Shounan mermaid.”
“I’ll call you with my report later,” she said through the window, then gave him a precise bow and began walking quickly away, high heels clicking.
Sakaki shrugged.
“She’s certainly enthusiastic about her work, splendid,” he muttered to himself, and started the engine.
Talk of a certain mysterious phenomenon was currently going around the coast of Shounan: merpeople had appeared.
It had already been the talk of the town for a little while, but it’d only blown up two weeks ago when it had been featured in a weekly magazine.
Merpeople Appear in Shounan Sea had been the headline, along with a sensational picture: three merpeople gathered on the reef.
They were perhaps around 120-130 centimeters (3.9-4.3 feet) in length, and they certainly looked like merpeople. Their lower bodies appeared to be covered with bags, but turned out to be fins on closer inspection.
At which point there had been pandemonium as television stations and weekly publications adopted the story and the mass media and people hoping to catch a glimpse of the mermaids descended on the Shounan coast despite it being the off-season.
There were accusations the photos had been faked—accusations left unresolved when the photographer inexplicably disappeared. In support of the photos’ authenticity, however, were the unending stream of witnesses as well as emergence of such harmful incidents as stationary shore nets being torn and divers almost drowning due to something catching at their legs. Scientists had started taking a serious look at the phenomenon.
“It’d be pretty romantic if it were a blonde mermaid princess, wouldn’t it?” said Ayako from the driver’s seat as they went through the tunnel at Zaimokuza . “But if it turns out to be a surfer-dude type mermaid with bleached hair, I’ll laugh.”
She peeked at the other seat as if to gauge her passenger’s mood.
Takaya had been in ill humor since that morning. Maybe he was still brooding over yesterday’s events, but he was sitting with his chin in his hands watching the coastline without uttering a single word.
This sullenness had never been rare, exactly, and allowing herself to be concerned by it was quite unpleasant for Ayako.
“Anyway, looks like it’s not going to be a beautiful woman waiting for us.”
She picked up the weekly magazine from the dashboard and dangled the page in question in front of Takaya. It certainly didn’t show someone with long blonde or bleached brown hair, but a bald head. Rudely put, it looked more sea monster than mermaid.
“I-it’s more of a mermonk, huh?”
Ayako alone laughed at her bad joke and then gave up, sighing.
They took National Highway 134national_highway_134 toward Fujisawa. From Yui Beach to Inamura Cape...even the Shounan beaches that were crowded with people in summertime were unsurprisingly desolate in February. Perhaps the waves were a little high today, for they were white-crested along the shore. The beaches around here were known for their great waves and surfing spots. As might be expected of the mecca of marine sports, even this time of year there were young people in wetsuits enjoying surfing and windsurfing activities.
“I wonder if merpeople really exist? Those pictures are pretty fishy. They come up a lot, don’t they?—trick photography showing UFOs and monsters and stuff?”
“...Even if they do exist, they might just turn out to be manatees,” Takaya finally ended his silence to remark, and Ayako eagerly answered as if thrown a lifeline:
“Right? But this kind of stuff is really popular. Just the other day there was an uproar over a monster skeleton that showed up in the sea near Akita or something. It turned out to belong to a whale of some kind. All the television stations flocked to it, and a lot of talk shows featured it. Everyone loved it.”
“Don’t you mean you love this stuff?”
“Weeeell, I do get excited over Nessie and Kussie—” Ayako admitted, and noticeably stepped on the accelerator harder than she needed to.
Takaya hurriedly said, “Slow down! I don’t trust you behind the wheel!”
“...So hurry up and get your license.”
Takaya inhaled and leaned his head against the cold glass.
So: Takaya and Ayako had come to Shounan to investigate the merpeople circus.
Or rather, their goal was to figure out if there was any connection to the «Yami-Sengoku», so their interest was somewhat different from the television vans that had taken up camp in the parking lots in the area.
“I don’t really care whether or not merpeople exist,” Takaya muttered absentmindedly as he gazed at the greenish winter sea. “I just hope they don’t have anything to do with the onshou.”
“...That would not be great.”
Mentions of merpeople usually brought to mind beautiful Western-style mermaids that were half-human and half-fish, but merpeople of a different kind also existed in old Japanese folklore. They were similar to kappa, and were depicted in old legends as a variety of monster. It was said that if one consumed their flesh, one could gain perpetual youth and immortality. There was a famous legend of the ’Eight-Hundred-Year-Old bhikkhuni of Obama, Fukui, which told of a Buddhist nun who lived for eight hundred years after eating the flesh of a merperson.
“...But then again, why would merpeople come to Shounan? Wouldn’t it be better if they found cleaner waters to live in?”
“This sudden massive outbreak worries me. I really hope the onshou aren’t involved...”
“I mean, this area, the Sagami Bay region, was once Houjou territory.”
As was widely known, Houjou had already been destroyed and was no longer in contention in the «Yami-Sengoku». One would have expected the Takeda to move in, but so far no single force had managed to gain a strong foothold, and most of the territory remained neutral. Ujiyasu’s continued existence probably had something to do with it. Though he had not entered the war, his ‘presence’ alone compelled caution. As a result the Sagami area was quite tranquil.
“There’re probably onshou who think they can do as they like here because Takeda’s influence is weak. Satomi, for one.”
“And the Bousou guys. They were always rebelling against Houjou, I heard. ...But I don’t think the Satomi-class onshou can do much here if even Takeda is holding back.”
“That’s true... Well, we’re gonna get to the bottom of it. It’d be great if it’s got nothing to do with us. I don’t care if this turns out to be a wasted trip.”
“...” As Ayako waited for the light to change, she stared fixedly at Takaya.
“What?”
“Did you have a fight with Naoe?”
Takaya’s expression suddenly turned serious.
“You’ve been ignoring him since this morning. You insisted on coming with me because you didn’t want to go with him, right? I can tell just from looking at you guys.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“...You’re upset about yesterday, right?” Ayako’s voice lowered. “Look, I don’t know what he said to offend you, but give him a break, will you? You’re grumpy because he didn’t comfort you the way you wanted, right? But that’s a bit childish, don’t you think?” Takaya raised his eyes sharply, but Ayako didn’t notice. “It’s not like it’s easy for him either. You expect so much of him, he can’t possibly meet all your demands. And anyway, all of it is because you—”
“I?” Takaya returned sharply, and Ayako gave him a startled look. He was glaring at her with frightening eyes. “I what?”
“Urm...ah...well...”
“I wasn’t really expecting comfort from him. I didn’t force anything on him, either. Stop jumping to conclusions. He just doesn’t want to be close to me anymore, that’s all.”
“Kagetora...”
“And it’s none of your business what I do with Naoe. ...Stop meddling.”
“...”
Though the rebuttal was cold, his tone lacked force. His downcast eyes looked sad. It troubled Ayako. While working Takaya was like a different person, but when he returned to himself there was always this sadness about him.
They had to talk about this properly sometime: unreservedly and thoroughly, Ayako thought, but she knew it was unlikely Takaya’s obstinate disposition would allow her to get that close. She gave up and changed the subject.
“...All right. Here, then.”
She removed a newspaper clipping from the glove compartment and handed it to Takaya.
“What?”
“A story that was in the newspaper this morning. It’s got nothing to do with merpeople, but it caught my attention because it mentions E Island. You didn’t really go through the papers this morning, did you? Take a look,” she said, stepping on the gas. Takaya’s gaze fell to the small news clipping.
‘E Island grotto cave-in’
There had been an incident involving falling rocks at the E Island grotto yesterday. Happily, nobody had been injured, but the grotto would be temporarily closed starting from today, he read.
It didn’t seem to have anything to do with the merpeople.
Though Route 134 would be absolutely jammed during tourist season, today it was nice and brisk. Lonely surf shops lined the road.
Running parallel to Shichiri Beach and Enoshima Electric Railway Company, E Island’s luxuriant silhouette appeared on their left. Takaya gazed vacantly at it before once more leaning his head against the window and closing his eyes.
After turning left at the intersection past Katase Bridge, the large 400-meter-long Benten Bridge stretched in a straight line ahead of them, opening wide on the island.
E Island had been a busy pilgrimage site to Benten-sama since the Edo Era. There was much of the air of a traditional sight-seeing spot for the masses about it. As they crossed Benten Bridge to the island, the first thing they saw were the rows of souvenir store which had lined the long, long hill road on both sides since the old days. This was the road to E Island Shrine.
The shrine deified Benten-sama. The entirety of E Island was within its precincts, which contained the component shrines of Hetsu Shrine, Nakatsu Shrine, and Okutsu Shrine. According to the shrine’s biography, it was founded in the thirteenth year of Emperor Kinmei’s reign (552) when three goddesses were enshrined in the grotto. They became Benten in the syncretization of Shinto with Buddhism, and along with Aki’s Miya Island and Oumi’s Chikubu Island were called the ‘Three Great Benten of Japan’.
One could sense the austerity of a common people’s faith everywhere; it was an island that had an atmosphere of longing for the old days.
Takaya and Ayako parked in a lot for tourists close by and got off. The sea wind blew directly at them. It was cold, and Takaya drew up the collar of his leather flight jacket.
“It feels kinda weird, doesn’t it...” Ayako said, looking around.
“What? Do you sense something odd?”
“Mmn, I’m just thinking it seems way too quiet. The souvenir shops aren’t open.”
“Isn’t it a holiday today?”
“I don’t think so...eh, nevermind.” She looked toward the ocean. “It’s said the sightings have been most numerous around this area.”
On the island’s east side. E Island’s yacht harbor was here, and many of them were anchored along the wharf jutting out into the sea. Perhaps because it was a weekday, there seemed nobody about.
Deciding to make inquiries among the locals, they walked to the wharf and hailed a middle-aged man doing maintenance on a yacht. He was around forty with dark-tanned skin and bright white teeth—the very image of a yachtsman.
“You’re looking for people who’ve seen the merpeople? You from the magazines, too?”
“Er...ah. Well...”
“We’ve had quite a few of you lot around here lately. Every day there’s another crew doing interviews. Today, too. Look—”
He pointed in the direction of Katase Beachkatase_beach.
“Looks like they’re doing a shoot over there. Some kind of variety program called ‘Search for Merpeople’ or something. Other stations have produced their own specials, they’ve even offered cash prizes to anyone who finds one. But if eating the flesh of a merperson can give you perpetual youth and immortality, a million yen would be pretty cheap,” he laughed. He seemed to be one of those carefree souls who was quite enjoying the brouhaha. “I’ve never seen a merperson, but I’ve heard that several people in my yachting club have.”
“So you know someone who’s seen merpeople?”
“Yeah, lots. Even the kids working part-time here say they’ve seen ’em.”
Takaya and Ayako looked at each other. It appeared to be an everyday occurrence around here.
“People seem to see them a lot around the reefs. There’s a reef on the other side of the breakwater called Duck’s Root—that’s the hotspot. A lot of sightings come from the island’s south side.”
He sounded as if he were telling them about fishing spots. The yachtsman pulled up several thick white ropes and tied them off one by one before adding, “You know that man who took the picture for the weekly magazine? I know him.”
“This picture?” Ayako produced the magazine she had brought along with her. “I heard he disappeared and is currently missing...”
“Yeah. Yeah, this is the one. I wonder what happened. Was he mysteriously disappeared not because he stumbled on a god’s secrets, but a merperson‘s? 1 I know where he took this picture, too. You see that lighthouse over there? Shounan Harbor Lighthouse. To its left is a reef called Shrimp Heap. I’m pretty sure it was around there.”
Takaya and Ayako squinted across the water. It seemed to be where a red motorboat was passing right now.
“Hey, here’s your eye-witness. Let me call him over. Kitahara-kuuun! Hey, over here! The media’s here!”
A young man in a logolized windbreaker jacket just coming out of the warehouse turned to them.