The smell of incense. A black and white hanging curtain. When he came to, he realized there were people from the village in front of me. - it was the mourners. They were at the point of bowing their heads one after another and taking their leave when he had noticed.
(Must have been daydreaming. Got to get it together…)
Even so, it was a pretty vivid dream. Suga felt his arms shaking. Though that was the day of his real father"s funeral, today was the wake of Suga"s foster father, Kanzaki Keiichirou.
Kanzaki Keiichirou had departed to another world just last night.
Because Keiichirou had finished the preparations for his funeral before his death, all Suga had to do was clean up the room the altar was in and prepare the bedding for the deceased.
The village caretaker had taken responsibility for the wake as well, and before Suga realized, the attending of the deceased through the night had also been divided up so that Suga wouldn"t have to bear it alone.
Really, everything had been taken care of, making Suga chief mourner by name only.
"Well, living costs and a place to live won"t be a problem, so… I should say it"s a good thing but…. Everything is so completely taken care of, and… well…"
The one who was talking so evasively was Suga"s homeroom teacher at the correspondence high school he was enrolled in.
They had barely met, but because of the fact he was Suga"s homeroom teacher he had come to offer his condolences.
From his pocket, Suga pulled out a memo pad and fountain pen and wrote.
"I am very grateful to Kanzaki-san. If it was just me, I would feel uncertain about making the arrangements myself."
The teacher looked at the memo with a puzzled expression, then nodded "Ah" as if he remembered something.
Suga was unable to speak. That"s why a memo pad and fountain pen were indispensable to have a conversation.
"Hmm, well, that"s how it is I guess. But, well, … this estate, they say that it"s been decided that it"ll be donated to Azakawa Village as a history museum? And I heard that Kanzaki-san wrote in his will that you"re going to manage it, is that right?"
Not quite, but the outcome was mostly the same so Suga nodded.
"Hmm, so that"s how it is. This all is pretty well thought out, huh…."
With a tone that hid some cynicism, the teacher tilted his head, then drew back his shoulders as if fl.u.s.tered.
"Hmm, but, if he was going to go this far, why Kanzaki-san didn"t make you his foster child is kind of strange… Ah, sorry, I overstepped a bit…"
Forget what I said, the teacher said, concluding their conversation and leaving hastily.
What a crazy idea. How foolish. A thin smile played at the corner of Suga"s lips.
Of course he wouldn"t have. Kanzaki Keiichirou had proper relatives after all.
His son"s wife and their only daughter Shiori. However they had cut all ties with relatives, and had now moved far away. Keiichirou himself wasn"t in contact with them, and even told Suga not to call them to the funeral. — But, Suga thought.
As far as he knew, they were a very close family.
The day that he had seen in the dream. If only he hadn"t gone to that place, Keiichirou wouldn"t be left behind as they moved, wouldn"t have pa.s.sed on alone. His childhood friend of course, but also her kind parents would still be in this mansion, and everyone would be living together happily.
(To make me a foster child even though I"m the reason those people can no longer live here anymore…)
Impossible. Rather, he"d done something that would be natural for him to be resented.
Despite this, the reality was that Keiichirou had taken him in, and above that in his last moments had even made him the manager of the estate that was to become a history museum in his will. This was definitely his last resort of worrying over Suga, who was an orphan. He had a strong sense of responsibility and was a kind person.
On the other hand, Suga knew that Keiichirou had hoped for the exact opposite.
—You should live normally, somewhere without ties to the Kanzaki family.. that"s what I think.
(But, if I did that, after you died, there would be no one in the village to take over as the Ogami-san…There"s no way that thought didn"t cross his mind, so maybe that"s why he listened to my selfish wish…?)
The burden of the house of Kanzaki that someone must bear —- of the Ogami-san ….to pray and suppress the Kotori Obake, which fell to someone outside of the Kanzaki family, Suga Koutarou.
"Even so, I wonder what"s going to happen with that forest?"
Suga raised his face at the sound of a conversation that suddenly came to his ears.
The person speaking was the village"s caretaker, and the ladies who for the wake had taken over kitchen duty were whispering as they washed the teacups that had been put out for the mourners.
"By the forest, do you mean the forest out back? Wasn"t it supposed to be donated along with the estate to the village?"
"That"s what I heard. But, you know, that place has a history…"
"Even with history that"s all fairy tales isn"t it, the obake that steals children? But really, I"ve never heard of any children who went missing there. It"s only superst.i.tion, isn"t it?"
"—is what I think. But, there are kids who complain that they can hear voices and such…"
"What"s with that?" a lady in her forties laughed sarcastically.
"It"s just something a kid says, right?" Even in opposition to someone who didn"t have any belief from the start, another said, "No, that"s not it. It"s because a kid is saying it that it"s scary" becoming serious with their counterargument.
"That the Kotori Obake only targets children is what the old stories say"
"Huh? Oh my~. You don"t really believe in that, do you?"
Having that said to her in a mocking tone, the lady who was a devout believer became extremely displeased.
(…Even so, there are still people who believe…)
The "Kotori Obake" of the folktales. The protector of the village"s children, "Ogami-san."
Even within folktales, those that were made based on truth were many, with "Ogami-san" being one of those and secretly carried on by the Kanzaki family.
While Suga was watching the ladies from behind with complicated feelings, from behind came a hoa.r.s.e voice saying "Can"t be helped." Turning around, there stood an old woman of unknown age, saying, "The reason nothing special happens in that forest is because of the Ogami-san. But unless something happens, no one notices at all. That"s how it goes, no matter the generation."
This was said philosophically, looking down at the kneeling Suga, as if peering into the future.
As Suga blinked, he nodded yes, that really must be how it is.
Since then, 7 years have pa.s.sed.
After so many days and months, it"s only natural that human memory gets thin. Even so, both in the past and now, it seemed incredible that no one knew what happened that day.
It"s not like nothing happened. It"s that it was made to be as if nothing had happened.
Suga felt that he had finally been given the answer to this problem at this point in his life.