Chapter 11.5: Not Suicidal V

Chapter 11.5: Not Suicidal V

Withithat said, Iigot my face near to it too and utilized the light to illuminate it. Due to the darkness, I hadnt noticed it until now, but as Yakumo had mentioned, wild letters were engraved there that looked like they might have been carved with a carving knife orisomething.

[Marchi7, 2010

NishikawaiToshioUpdated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Kawachi

SatoNot shared on aggregator websites

UematsuTranslator:MadHatter

You all shall be cursed to death.]

Hie

Rightiaway at the realization that it was a curse, I movediaway from the spot vigorously and fell on my buttocks.

Whatithe hell is this

It wasiweirdit wasnt likeiany ordinary thing. The shapeiof the letters andithe content conveyed aisense of appalling madness. This was not graffiti

Shiveringiand trembling, I found something evenimore horrendous there.

A largeinumber of cigarette buttsiand soiled coffeeicans were scattered across the groundinear the base of the moss-covered tree. Onlyiat this spot, bizarrely

Hereihere. This was I knew it. I was right. The meaning was that, right

I meanwasnt I right?

Nobody would deliberately come here to drink coffee and smoke cigarettes, right?

[Ill curse you to death.]I was prepared for that, but it was too vivid.

Whatever transpired to them before their deaths, they carved such words in such a place. They must have been harboring an extraordinary resentment.

No way It couldnt be that a rope with a looped poke on it was fastened to a nearby branch or something around there

I am, ah

I would get out of here at once. When I thought that

Not bad.

a low voice from right above me brought my feet to a halt.

I am, ah not bad, I am not bad, ah

An anguished mans moaning voice was descending from above my head. He spoke in what seemed like a faint, muffled voice, yet I could make it out perfectly in my ears.

Itsall their fault I am not to be blamed for anything

It wasnt curiosity that I turned around. This was the same phenomenon as being tapped on the shoulder and turning around. I looked at him unconsciously and my mouth naturally opened.

What initially flashed into my vision was a pair of feet, one in a leather shoe and the other in a sock only

Slacks with gray vertical lines, a shabby suit

They are the ones who framed me and screwed everything up

My eyes slowly rose.

Regret I will absolutely make them Unforgivable

The crumpled shirt reflected up to the white neck. Then, like a doll without joints, the neck was unnaturally snapped. His skin had an eerie color that could not be described as human.

He cast out his limbs in line with gravity while maintaining a visage that could not be characterized as living. The man, who was suspended by his neck from a tie fastened to a branch, engulfed my entire beingmy senses, my thoughts, everything.

Both of his eyes were wide open and his mouth was half open. His spectacles were wedged between his ears and slanted diagonally, and his nose was dripping a dark liquid.

Nothing more could be conveyed by words. Only those who have witnessed this could recognize it.

This wasnt a human being. This was no longer a human face.

A corpse

At the same time my brain was hammering out that answer, the man hanging in midair from a branch moved his mouth and muttered, I will kill

Ah, ah, ah.

Aaaaaaah, aaaaaaah

My legs went limp, and I couldnt feel that I could stand up. The curse was etched on the tree by this man.

It was exactly as Takenaka and Ayame said.

For those who died here, no salvation existed

This was the negative circle of the sea of trees with no salvation. Not only that man, but many others who perished in such a miserable way were here. How many more times would I have to see them?

Sonny, this is no good. You need to take a break.

Its fine, we dont have time for that.

Yeah but

Dont be so self-conscious when you are the one who brought me here. Like I said, its useless but you know, Im the type of person who has a hard time abandoning a decision once Ive set my mind to it. Come on, lets move on

Why do you insist on exerting yourself so hard? You must feel sick already. Normally, people would cry and try to run away.

Yeah. Theidiscomfort is too much.

Then why?

Dont get me wrong, Im not doing it for you, Im doing it for me.

A small laugh broke out.

I dont like the aftertaste. I want to be relieved of everything and I dont like it when things are in disarray. Like specters, I dont like people who are half in belief and half in doubt about such things. I need it to be black and white. I want to live a refreshing life, thats why Im doing this

Right, I was always self-centered. I hated crookedness, and I was a pain to deal with. Though I was extremely proficient at drawing animosity.

Even so, I refused to live a life of regret.

Onlyirecently did I finally realize that I had been living my life by sticking to such unbendable pride and hurting many people. Perhaps it was because I went through such egotism that I hurt Hyuga which led to an outcome like that.

This time, nobody would get hurt, right?

Again, I was only doing this for myself, but I didnt want to suffer the regret and terrible aftertaste of that time. I was doing it for myself but it was fine since no one else was hurt.

Dont worry, it will heal in time.

When I insisted that, Yakumo seemed to understand reluctantly and stopped saying anything after that.

The nausea thatiwas threatening to rise up inside me was once again smothered by the mineral water in my bag, and I clutched the talisman in my pocket with sweaty hands to compose myself.

Are you okay with this?

The silent walk was unbearable, and after a few moments, I was the one who initiated the conversation.

Your complexionididnt change a bit after seeing that.

Yeah

Youre the same kind as the people who can see specters, and yet youre different.

Furthermore, I wasiolder than you. Was it due to your condition that you didnt feel any fear?

No, I dont lack emotion. I am only accustomed to it. I have been to a lot of places and observed all sorts of things. Youre a guy whos been seeing these things for less than a month, arent you?

Oh, he got it right

Did I hit the mark?

Anyone would have fainted if they saw that, no matter if it has been six months or a year.

Hmm, well, thats for sure.

The fact that he could see that and not be perturbed by it made me wonder how many terrific evil spirits he had encountered in his life.

I have been able to see for more than a decade now, and Im not astonished by what I see now.

More than a decade!?

If I trace my family ancestry back to its beginnings, it was, I believe, a branch of the Yin-Yang sect. But for some reason, I was born with a strong bloodline from that family, even though the bloodline eventually fell extinct and was utterly forgotten.

With a troubled look on his face, Yakumo recounted his past.

Wasnt it hard for you sinceiyou were such a child?

Of courseiit was hard. Oneiday, out of the blue, I started seeing old men with holes in their stomachs and women with no legs, and I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that my reality was so distinct from everyone elses. People called me a liar, and my parentsithought I was nuts and brought me to a psychiatrist. Nobody believed me That made those days a lot more unbearable

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