Nagisa frowned. “You mean Tokyo. It hasn’t been called Edo since the 19thcentury.”
Seiho gave a weak chuckle. “Sorry. I’m not very smart.”
It really had nothing to do with being smart. Breath caught in Nagisa’s throat and he exhaled slowly. For how long had Seiho lived here? A chilling thought occurred to him. Was Seiho a ghost too? But he’d said he wasn’t dead yet and he felt solid when he’d touched Nagisa. Then again, the jikininki seemed to have a material body too, so perhaps ghosts weren’t as immaterial as folklore made them out to be?
“How did you end up here? Your family must be worried.”
“I don’t remember.” Seiho shrugged. “I’ve been here for a long time. My family is probably dead by now.”
“How old are you? I’m twenty-three.”
“I never counted the years,” Seiho said.
Nagisa nodded trying not to look alarmed at the possibility that Seiho was over two hundred years old. He had the impression Seiho was being intentionally vague about his age. Did he really not remember?
Spirit or not, Nagisa couldn’t help but pity Seiho and the situation he’d found himself in. Before he realized what he was doing, Nagisa’s gaze trailed over Seiho’s features.
His skin was smooth, though a bit pale; his brown eyes had an almost purple glint to them, just like he’d seen earlier on the walls. Quite strange, but gorgeous in the dim light of the lanterns. A few jet-black strands of hair fell from the loose bun onto his high cheeks. Nagisa flushed, embarrassed for staring and finding a stranger in an abandoned castle attractive. He decided not to delve into what kinds of implications his inappropriate thoughts had.
“Have there been others like… like the p-person the creature ate?” Nagisa choked out.
“Many,” Seiho said. “There’s a reason it’s nicknamed Hone-jo.”
“And what’s that?”
Seiho drew in air, preparing to answer before deflating. “Perhaps it’s better that you don’t know.”
A long silence stretched between them. It gave Nagisa enough time to figure it out on his own. “Because the jikininki keeps the bones…”
Seiho nodded, glancing from Nagisa to the bucket and back, probably worried he might throw up again. In truth, he did feel nauseous just thinking about it, but the lack of rotten smell in the room and the warm water helped keeping his guts in check.
“Where are the bones?” Nagisa asked. “I didn’t see any on my way up.”
“The lord makes me clean up the path to trick visitors. But the forest and the back of the castle are full of them.”
Nagisa ran a hand over his face. “Have you managed to save others? Like you saved me?”
“A few, over the years, but most get lost in the maze.” He gestured toward the door. “I mean the hallways. They’re dangerous. Once you enter them, you can’t get out. People would shout, make noise and draw the jikininki right to them. Once it has them in its grasp, there’s nothing I can do.”
“You could’ve held down the creature so they could escape!”
Seiho sighed. “It’s not that easy. It breaks their necks before I…” He trailed off, looking uncomfortable with elaborating on the details of how the creature killed.
Nagisa’s anger diminished. This man lived with a ghost, separated from the rest of the world, waiting for his own death. He did what he had to do to survive. And other people’s decisions to visit a haunted castle weren’t his responsibility.
“I don’t think I’d have been as brave as you, to survive here for so long.”
Seiho offered him a sad smile. “I’m not sure brave is the right word. Perhaps a coward for continuing on with my life and yet leaving so many to die.”
“You’re not a coward. You’re doing the best you can under the circumstances.”
Seiho bowed. “I appreciate it.” Rising to his feet, he walked to thefutonand drew back the duvet. “Lie down and rest. You need sleep and I need to tend to the lord.”
A shiver ran down Nagisa’s spine. “Tend?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know the details.”
Perhaps Seiho was right. The less he knew, the better. Nagisa took off his boots and jacket, then curled up under the duvet. It smelled of leaves and wild flowers. So different from the rest of the castle. How did this room survive unscathed?