“I’m sorry I don’t have a more comfortablefutonfor you,” Seiho said. “I don’t receive guests in this room.”
Nagisa smiled. “No, it’s perfect. Thank you for letting me use it.” He paused. “Did the others you saved stay in here, too?”
“No. You’re the only one who’s managed to remain quiet inside the castle. No one who’s entered lived. The survivors are those who didn’t venture inside.”
“Oh.”Sure, quiet. I almost walked in on the jikininki thinking it was Asako in disguise.He looked at Seiho. “Do you have to go to the creature?”
“Yes. Sleep well and don’t worry. You’re safe here. I’ll be back in the morning.”
Seiho left and Nagisa pulled out his phone to text his friends. They were either in a bar getting wasted or at the hotel worried about him. Probably wasted. But there was no signal to send messages. He checked the time. 2 a.m. His phone wasn’t working properly. Tomorrow, he’d have to fix it.
In spite of the horrifying place he’d found himself in, fatigue overtook him and he fell into a deep slumber.
~ * ~
“Nagisa. Wake up.”
He stirred at the sound of the voice and blinked. It all came back to him.
The Castle of Bones, the jikininki eating a corpse, and Seiho, the man who saved Nagisa. Seiho hovered above him, shaking him lightly. A faint smell of tree bark and grass lingered on Seiho and drops of sweat glistened on his skin. For a fraction of a second, his eyes bore that purple glimmer again and Nagisa was convinced this cursed castle was playing tricks on him.
“It’s morning,” Seiho said. “You should leave.”
Nagisa stretched, then rubbed the sleepiness away from his eyes. “Yeah.”
His joints and back ached, but there was a peculiar sensation in his mind. A sense of peace had settled over him, as if the gruesome incident of last night didn’t matter anymore. He wasn’t sure how it was possible to feel all right after witnessing such a thing, but his mind seemed eerily calm.
Seiho sat cross-legged on the floor, head tilted down in concentration as he re-folded his shirt inside the belt. Nagisa’s gaze fixed on Seiho’s lips, the lower one caught between his teeth, then travelled down to his neck and the few rebel strands of hair which fell out of his bun and glued onto the sweat of his nape.
“Ready?” Seiho asked.
Only then Nagisa realized Seiho had caught him staring and heat burned his cheeks. “Yeah.”
Seiho’s mouth curled up in a little smile, revealing dimples on each side—which made Nagisa flush more—and he offered Nagisa his hand, helping him stand. They left the comfort of Seiho’s room, walking out into the narrow hallway as Seiho guided him through the castle.
Darkness dominated and the walls were just as oppressive as last night. Their footsteps echoed hollow on the wooden floor. The smell of rot filled Nagisa’s nostrils and his stomach churned with the need to throw up again. He felt watched and turned to look behind him at every corner to make sure the jikininki wasn’t following them.
Seiho slid open a door and the sudden light of the day made Nagisa squint. Heavy clouds roamed the sky and it was far from being sunny, but he felt as if he hadn’t seen the outside world in an eternity. Before he had a chance to enjoy it, Seiho stopped him.
“Let’s walk by the castle’s walls,” he said. “To avoid the bone yard.”
Nagisa’s eyes widened as his mind finally registered the view before him. The ground was covered in human bones starting from the base of the castle and going beyond the treeline. Skulls and other types of bones he couldn’t name littered the yard.
“Nagisa?” Seiho asked, brows raised, looking worried.
“Let’s just go,” he whispered.
Once they left the castle’s grounds and entered the forest, the amount of bones diminished. He followed Seiho quietly as they walked down, coming nearer to the forest’s edge beyond which was Osore-zan Buddhist Temple.
Seiho stopped, turning on his heels. “This is as far as I can go. I’m not allowed to leave the forest.”
Nagisa hesitated, then spoke, “What happens if you do?”
“The creature will know and come for me. And for you too.”
“There must be a way. Some loophole in your deal.”
Seiho shrugged. “There isn’t.”