SECRET FILES – KIZUNA
each wish: prologue
After Ozawa Haruka’s lecture was finished, she climbed a sloping road lined with gingko trees in order to meet somebody.
Yellow leaves fluttered down around her.
Autumn had finally come.
Last night, Isshin, the uncle of Haruka’s university friend, Saitou Yak.u.mo, called her.
– If you have time, I’d like you to come by after school.
It was a welcome invitation to Haruka.
After climbing the slope, she saw the gates of the temple.
Next to them, she spotted Isshin, a priest cleaning the garden in his working clothes with a bamboo broom in hand.
Isshin waved his hand with a large gesture before Haruka could call out.
‘h.e.l.lo.’
Haruka stopped in front of the gates and bowed.
"Thanks for coming.’
On Isshin’s face, as gentle as Maitreya’s, his left eye was dyed red. He wore a red contact lens.
There was a reason that Isshin wore an asymmetrical contact lens.
It was from his love towards his nephew, Yak.u.mo.
Yak.u.mo had had a red left eye ever since he was born which had the unique ability to see the spirits of the dead.
Because of that ability, he was alienated and thought of as strange; even his own mother tried to kill him.
Isshin made his own left eye and bared it so that he might understand even slightly the pain that Yak.u.mo felt.
"Is it really all right for me to come?’ Haruka asked Isshin.
"Of course. Today is a special day.’
Isshin’s eyes closed as he smiled.
"A special day?’
"Yes. That’s why I thought we could continue the conversation we had before.’
"About Yak.u.mo-kun’s past… is it?’
Isshin replied to Haruka’s question with a nod.
About a week again, Haruka came here because of a case and Isshin tried to talk about Yak.u.mo’s past.
However, Yak.u.mo himself cut Isshin off.
– Come hear about it later.
Isshin had whispered that in Haruka’s ear then.
It appeared that Isshin hadn’t just been saying that before.
Haruka felt opposed to hearing about Yak.u.mo’s past when he didn’t want to talk about it himself, but at the same time, she still wanted to know more about Yak.u.mo, even if it was just a little.
To Haruka, Yak.u.mo wasn’t just a university friend.
Meeting Yak.u.mo had been the start of Haruka’s involvement in incidents with ghosts.
Because of Yak.u.mo’s unique ability to see the spirits of the dead, he would solve the mysteries behind spiritual phenomena and lead unsolved murder cases to their solution.
Haruka had been involved in a number of cases with Yak.u.mo ever since.
Yak.u.mo had even saved her life.
They would quarrel whenever they met, but before Haruka knew it, Yak.u.mo had become somebody important to her that she didn’t want to lose, and somebody that she could trust completely.
However, there was too much she didn’t know about Yak.u.mo despite that. She knew practically nothing about Yak.u.mo from before they met.
That was why she wanted to know, even if it was just a little –
The wind whistled.
– I’ve been waiting.
Haruka heard a voice from behind her on the wind.
It wasn’t Isshin’s voice.
– Who is it?
Haruka turned around, but there was n.o.body there.
"That voice…’
"I see. You heard it too, Haruka-chan?’
Haruka was confused, but Isshin seemed satisfied as he said that while nodding.
"Eh?’
"There’s no point standing while we talk, so shall we go?’
Isshin looked up at the red-tinged sky and then started walking through the gravel garden to the priests’ quarters.
To Haruka, his back looked somewhat sad.
Isshin led her to the living room just past the entrance.
It had a tatami floor with a low table in the middle. Though it was well organised, it did not look very lived in.
"Well, please sit. I’ll pour some tea.’
After saying that, Isshin went to the kitchen, divided from the living room by a sliding door.
"Please don’t trouble yourself,’ said Haruka as she knelt on the cushion.
It was quiet –
It made the sounds of Isshin’s taking out the teacups and boiling water sound awfully loud.
Yak.u.mo was currently living in the university’s room, but before that, he had lived in this temple.When Haruka thought about that, she felt like the eight-tatami s.p.a.ce was something special.
"Now, how far did I get last time?’
Isshin came back into the living room with two teacups on a tray.
"You said that there was somebody he could not forget,’ replied Haruka, taking the teacup that Isshin offered her.
– Yak.u.mo has somebody he cannot forget.
When Isshin said that last time, with bad timing, Yak.u.mo came in, cutting the conversation short.
What kind of person are they –
Perhaps his first love?
Did even that curt Yak.u.mo have a time when he thought sweetly of somebody?
Haruka had many speculations in her head.
"I see. Then it’s the same as having said nothing at all,’ said Isshin after taking a sip of tea.
"Sorry to bother!’
Just as Haruka thought that she’d heard an incredibly loud voice that she recognised from the entrance, a man with a body like a bear came in through the curtain of the living room.
He had a wrinkled shirt and loose tie.
’D-Detective Gotou,’ said Haruka, surprised to see him here.
Gotou had a deep connection with Yak.u.mo as well.
It was coincidence that he saved Yak.u.mo when he was about to be killed by his mother, but every time there was a case, he dragged Yak.u.mo out and used his power in police investigations.
"Haruka-chan, why are you here?’ said Gotou, surprised.
However, Haruka was surprised as well.
"Gotou-san, why are you here?’
"Ah, I just came by to visit a grave,’ said Gotou awkwardly. Then, he abruptly sat cross-legged beside Haruka.
"Weren’t you injured?’ said Isshin, looking at Gotou’s stomach.
Haruka heard about this afterward, but during the case one week ago, Gotou had been stabbed in the stomach with a knife and hospitalised.
"Just a flesh wound.’
Gotou snorted, like it was no big deal.
"I don’t mind if you become injured, but don’t ask Yak.u.mo to do anything too unreasonable.’
Cheek twitching, Isshin looked at Gotou.
"You’re so fussy! That’s my line! Because of Yak.u.mo, I’ve had to do some pretty unreasonable things!’
"Your voice is loud as usual.’
Isshin shook his head in exasperation as Gotou shouted.
"I don’t need to hear that from you. Anyway, got any incense sticks? Incense sticks.’
Gotou looked around.
"You came to visit a grave, right?’
"Yeah.’
"Then why didn’t you bring incense sticks?’
"Shut up. I can’t help it if I forgot.’
Gotou sulked like a child as he took a cigarette from his pocket.
"This place is non-smoking.’
Isshin took the cigarette from Gotou’s mouth.
"Don’t be so cold.’
"How is this being cold? That isn’t how you use the word.’
"My bad. So what are you doing here, Haruka-chan?’ said Gotou, shutting his cigarette case away in his pocket.
"I was talking with Isshin-san.’
"Talking?’
Gotou c.o.c.ked his head.
"I wanted to talk to Haruka-chan about the case six years ago,’ Isshin explained.
"Ah, that case?’
Gotou slapped his knee.
The way he spoke made it sound like he knew what Isshin was talking about. And –
"It’s about a case?’
"Yes. Case of cases. It was a pretty important one. The first case where I teamed up with Yak.u.mo on.’
"Really?’ said Haruka in surprise.
Gotou’s brows furrowed. He leant in.
"Really. Everything’s got to start somewhere.’
It felt completely natural for Yak.u.mo to cooperate with Gotou during investigations even though Yak.u.mo was a university student, but that had a beginning too.
"Anyway, shall we continue?’
Isshin took a sip of tea.
"Right.’
Gotou agreed simply for once.
Isshin nodded knowledgeably and then started to speak.
"It was back when Yak.u.mo was still in the third year of middle school. It began with a rumour…’
There was a rumour at that school –
When night fell, you could hear a voice from the cherry blossom tree in the field behind the school.
Some said it was a woman’s quiet crying of a girl, but others said it was a man’s dying scream.
Some people hadn’t just heard it. They had seen it as well.
It was a teacher who had committed suicide.
No, it was a kid who’d died in a traffic accident.
With the rumour so embellished, n.o.body knew the truth –