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V6 Story IV – Part 05

Itsuki raised both hands and shook his head slowly. “I get it. Our presence is unusual. We just gathered under Hina randomly. We all knew her before she was chosen as the esper. I’m a distant relative and friend, Benihina is her sister, and Akimasa is a close relative. The last one, Aoi, was her close friend… I think. Suspicious, isn’t it?” He snorted in derision.

His calm gaze swept the dining room, coming to a stop on an empty cup. His eyes narrowed with sadness.

“Coming into contact with people weakens one’s abilities. Mayuzumi-san, as a living god, you should know. This is probably a superstition from the time before modernization, when supernatural abilities were deified. To verify this, I regularly interacted with her and gathered data on the crow’s reactions. The others gradually gathered around me. The main family didn’t interfere. They must have felt the need for data collection too. But after her marriage, her husband left… and everything went wrong. No one thought she would kill herself. I wanted to do something about the birdcage.” His voice was filled with despair.

“Hina-san, was it? Why did her husband leave?” I asked.

“I don’t know. He was an all-talk-but-no-walk kind of man. He probably couldn’t forget his carefree life before he got married. He wanted to go to the big city.”

His reason was simple and easy-to-understand. I looked out the window. The ground was covered thickly with autumn leaves. There was nothing else around. In the midst of the deep red was a black dot.

A crow landed on the ground. Its black eyes stared at us in silence.

“He always treated her coldly. He was a vile man.”

“You seem obsessed with her. Was this Hina woman really that charming to you?” Mayuzumi asked nonchalantly.

She took out a chocolate bar and started eating it. Black feathers broke off.

Itsuki slammed the desk. “Of course she was! Everyone loved her. Why did she have to die in despair? She waited for a man who never came back. That’s so unfair. She was always waiting for him!” he cried out.

He hung her head, his tears pattering on the table.

“I won’t let anyone disrespect Hina. They’re gonna pay. I don’t know what they’re after, but I will get them for this.”

“Please calm down, Itsuki—”

“What?!”

He pounded his fist on the table and glared at me with red eyes.

Shirayuki stirred. With one hand, she opened her fan. But then she paused, her gaze flickering to our still-joined hands. Slowly, she released my hand and began to write with a brush. She addressed Itsuki, who was taken aback by her actions.

“May I ask something improper? How did she die?”

It was an unusual question for her. Itsuki read the words with his eyes and gave a smile.

“She jumped off a cliff… right in front of us.” His words were unsteady. “What about it?”

“Never put males and females in a small birdcage if you don’t want ugly fights,” Mayuzumi said in a singsong voice. “Just like this. The order inside the cage has been completely disturbed.”

She put her foot on the wooden stairs, installed with anti-slip material, and climbed up to the second floor. Itsuki gave up on showing us around.

“Aoi is on the second floor,” he had said. “In the leftmost room. Please go see her.”

Mayuzumi knocked on the door, but there was no answer. After about four tries, Akimasa appeared from the next room.

“You should stop. She’s not waking up anyway. Aoi has low blood pressure, so if you wake her up, she’ll get really mad. She’s locked herself in since this morning. It’s not often that we all show up together, so she’s in a bad mood.”

Akimasa shrugged. He waved a hand and went downstairs. Mayuzumi saw him off, then turned around, heading back to the first floor.

“Mayu-san, what do we do now?” I asked. “Do you have any idea who’s controlling the crows?”

“Nope. The crows are just watching us. Anyone can do that. And it’s not clear what their purpose is. I can think of one thing, but if that was the case, it would become clear soon.”

Mayuzumi yawned. She passed through the corridor with a large window, went through the entrance, and headed to the lounge. She suddenly sat down on a chair by the fireplace. She crossed her legs and rested her cheek in her hand. Her cat-like eyes looked up at us.

“Hmm? What is it? I’m going to sleep,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“We’ve met everyone we could see. We’re free to do what we want now.”

Mayuzumi waved her hand. Then she closed her eyes and stopped moving. She appeared like an abandoned doll, a lifeless creation that resembled the silent crows.

I looked around. Could we really just walk around? I wasn’t sure what to do. Shirayuki suddenly tugged on my hand.

“Shirayuki-san?”

“…”

She moved forward without saying a word. She headed to the dining room and opened the door. A small bell rang.

Itsuki’s face was plopped down on the dining table. Next to him was a bottle of alcohol with a sepia label.

“What do you want?” he muttered. “If you’re looking for a guide, I’m afraid you’ll have to find someone else.”

Shirayuki opened her fan. “I want to treat Mr. Odagiri’s injury.”

I was taken aback. I looked at the wound; it had already stopped bleeding.

Itsuki gave a tired smile. He shook his head, attempting to rid himself of the inebriation.

“Ah, how thoughtless of me. My apologies,” he said. “Benihina should have a first-aid kit. She’s great at treating injuries. She likes mischief. Thinks she won’t get scolded if she was hurt.”

Shirayuki interrupted him. “Where is Miss Benihina?”

“Miss? Really? Oh, sorry. I’m a bit drunk. Benihina’s room is two doors before Aoi’s room. Just knock, and she might just come out. If she doesn’t, let me know.” He chugged the bottle of wine.

Shirayuki bowed and turned back.

“Shirayuki-san, it’s okay,” I said. “The bleeding has already stopped.”

She stopped in her tracks. I almost bumped into her.

Shirayuki opened her fan and wrote something with her brush.

“Do not worry. We are killing two birds with one stone.”

I wondered what she meant by that.

Shirayuki led me to the second floor and knocked on Benihina’s door. She was so hostile earlier that I couldn’t imagine her opening the door. As expected, there was no answer.

Knock, knock, knock.

Shirayuki did not stop knocking on the door. Still nothing. Then suddenly, I heard footsteps.

“So annoying. Obnoxious. What do you want?”

The door opened a little, and a young girl’s dark eyes peered through the gap. Her palm was wrapped in bandages. The lights in her room were off. Her lovely face was filled with indescribable disgust.

“Sorry. We, uh…”

“I want to treat his injury. Could you lend me a first aid kit?”

“What injury?” Benihina asked, unperturbed by Shirayuki’s fan. Her gaze went to my palm. “Oh.”

She stepped back and opened the door, her hand feeling its way along the wall until she found the light switch, revealing a small and simple room.

“Come in,” she said.

“Thank you.”

We cautiously entered Benihina’s room. It had a slanted ceiling, and furnished with a narrow bed, a drawer, and desk. The latter was cluttered with a broken cup, a doll with a broken neck, and a tattered painting.

“How peculiar. Why are there multiple rooms in a house that does not expect visitors?”

There was no answer. Benihina wordlessly brought over the first-aid kit. She grabbed the disinfectant and poured it onto the gauze. A small blotch spread across the cloth.

Benihina pulled my hand roughly and sat me on the bed. “When the house is transferred to the next esper, contractors and related people stay for a few days. That’s why.”

“What is this?” Shirayuki indicated the pile of junk.

Benihina gazed at the desk. A gentle smile appeared on her lips. She carefully pressed the gauze onto my wound, and sharp pain jolted through my hand.

“I know. It’s creepy. It’s weird. Akimasa said the same thing.”

Her voice carried a sense of sadness. Her demeanor was different, entirely unlike the fierce impression she had given me on the first floor. Hanging her head, she picked up the ointment.

Moist eyes met mine. Abruptly, sharp words cut through the silence.

“Please don’t look at me. It’s gross.”

“What?”

“I don’t like being watched by anyone except my sister. So please.”

Her harsh words took my breath away. I noticed her hands shaking uncontrollably.

Benihina, her fingers quivering, tended to my wound. With her small hands, she took out a new gauze and meticulously wrapped my injury. Once she was done, I got off the bed.

I lowered my head, keeping my gaze away from her direction. “I’m sorry. I should have been more considerate.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it,” she replied with a tearful voice. “You’re a nice person.”

She hugged herself tightly, trembling as if from the cold. I pulled my gaze away from her and realized that Shirayuki was staring at something.

“What’s the matter, Shirayuki-san?” I asked.

She turned around. My eyes drifted to the desk.

There was a wooden picture frame on display. Within the cracked glass was a group photograph of five people wearing smiles.

Itsuki, Akimasa, Benihina, and a tall woman.

There was someone in the middle, their figure obscured by the crack.

“Don’t look!” Benihina shouted, scurrying to the desk.

As she flipped the picture frame, shards from the shattered cup tumbled onto the floor. Benihina shot Shirayuki a fierce glare, but suddenly relaxed her shoulders.

“I apologize for overreacting,” she said. “It’s weird, isn’t it? I get it. I understand. It’s nobody’s fault. No one’s done anything wrong. But it’s pointless. Only my sister can…”

Benihina shuddered all over. She stumbled toward the bed and collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been severed. She buried her face in the pillow and stopped moving.

“Please leave,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry for hurting you. It’s all my fault.”

Shirayuki watched her with a compassionate gaze, but Benihina, face down, could not read her words.

So I spoke instead. “We’re sorry for coming uninvited. And thank you for treating my wound. You haven’t done anything wrong. Please don’t worry about it.”

No response came. We exited the room. Before closing the door, I peeked inside.

I thought I saw a crow perched by the window.