He squinted, trying to see anything that would resemble a ghost or a veil or a door leading to the other side. How did it look for Seiho? Did he see the ghosts just like they saw each other? Were all ghosts as monstrous as the jikininki? Perhaps not since theitakosaid they kept their humanity. Nagisa imagined the other side as a bleak extension to this side; dark and lonely.
Just thinking about it made his skin crawl and he rushed to the main street. By the time he reached the hotel, Nagisa had worked himself into a panic. Theitakowere of no help and he couldn’t get anyone else involved, not with the risk of them falling into the claws of the jikininki.
Stepping inside the shower, he washed away the sweat, his mind working on a solution. Theitakosaid Seiho could burn the monster on the other side. What if they burned it on this side? Though Seiho was bound to the monster and couldn’t hurt it directly, that wouldn’t stop Nagisa from killing it.
But simply setting it on fire was dangerous. He risked injuring Seiho and himself. As he watched the soapy water go down the drain an idea occurred to him. They could lure the creature into a hole in the ground and burn it. All he needed were a shovel, kerosene and matches.
After putting on fresh clothes, Nagisa ate a fast lunch, then grabbed a taxi to the nearest tool shop, then gas station, and bought the necessary equipment. He felt strange carrying a shovel like he was about to hide a body. The jikininki was half Nagisa’s height, hunched and emaciated. But he had to dig a deep hole to make sure it wouldn’t have time to crawl out before it burned.
He returned to Mount Osore mid-afternoon, shovel in hand and a few boxes of matches in his pocket. He took a detour to avoid stepping on the Buddhist Temple’s premises and hoped none of the shamans or any of the tourists would follow him. Some who were strolling on the lake’s shore noticed the shovel and stared for a second before returning to admiring the view.
As he walked up the hill behind the temple, a wave of fear washed over him. His hand gripped the handle of the shovel tight, knuckles whitening. It kept slipping as his palms were sweaty underneath. His stomach twisted and his heart beat like it was about to burst from his chest.
He decided to call Asako while he still had signal.
“Oh my goodness,” came her voice. “Are you okay? Are you still in Mutsu city?”
“Yeah, I am.” A frustrated groan followed his answer. Nagisa stared at the shovel in his hand, then continued. “Asako… I’m about to do something very reckless. It’s… uhm…” he trailed off, regretting he was burdening her with this. But just hearing her voice gave him courage.
“On a scale of one to ten, how reckless?” she asked.
“About fifty.”
“Okay,” she said, stretching out each syllable and he knew she was struggling not to beg him to return. “I can’t talk you out of it, can I?”
“No.”
A long pause stretched before Asako spoke again, “Just be careful. We’ll be waiting for you in Aomori.”
That surprised Nagisa. “You haven’t left yet?”
“I won’t leave without hauling your damn ass back home. Eikichi and Hideto are stuck here too since I’m the driver.” Frustration layered her voice and Nagisa felt terrible. “You’d better not make me wait long.”
“Got it.” Nagisa smiled. “Thank you.” He hung up and drew air deep, some of the earlier panic diminishing. “Now, let’s do some digging,” he murmured to himself.
Reaching the area where the castle usually was, Nagisa searched for the sharp bone he’d seen in the morning. It wasn’t easy finding it as it blend well with all the twigs spread on the forest’s ground.
Thunder rumbled in the distance and the wind picked up. A storm was brewing. Great. Just what he needed: rain to make all his even more difficult.
Finally finding the sharp bone Nagisa squatted to see it better. It was a peculiar bone, brown with age, broken and filed to a point. He grabbed onto it and tugged, but it wouldn’t budge. Grime and mud dirtied Nagisa’s hand and he wiped on his jeans.
With the thunder getting louder and closer, he needed to hurry. He walked to the right of the bone as Seiho instructed, then made a few more steps and started digging. The hole had to be close enough to the castle to throw the jikininki in, but not too close that Seiho would accidentally fall in when he came to meet Nagisa.
Halfway through digging, rain came down fast, but the rich crowns of the trees offered good cover for Nagisa to finish digging the hole. He jumped, holding onto a root and scooted himself out of the hole and glanced down, hoping its depth was enough for the jikininki not to escape.
Rain poured in torrents, soaking his clothes. Nagisa left the shovel by the hole to mark it and returned to the indicated location.
Nagisa waited, jaw clenched, spine stiff, his mind buzzing with all the way this could go wrong. In all scenarios he ended up torn apart and his corpse eaten by a ghost.Fuck…
~ * ~
Grey twilight turned into pure darkness. The storm had passed, though not entirely. Drizzle still fell from the sky, but the wind calmed. Small particles appeared, thin like grains of sand and purple in color. They danced in swirls around him and Nagisa braced for it.
The Castle of Bones materialized just next to him, translucent at first before turning solid. Nagisa exhaled the breath he was holding. If he’d been only a meter to the left, it would’ve crushed him.
Snorts and wheezes reached his ears along with a heavy shuffle on wood and thumps. The jikininki was already up and about, probably stepping down the stairs based on the rhythmic thumps. But there was another sound, different, lighter following the jikininki.
Seiho?