Yakumo #01: The Red Eye Knows ~File 1, Chapter 1~
1
The full moon was stark against the evening sky, cleared of clouds earlier in the day by a strong, dry wind.
Someone had once joked that moonlight swallowed all sound; the still, silent night seemed to concur.
After a round of drinks at a local bar, Miki, Kazuhiko, and Yuuichi found that they had missed the last train. The next day’s first train, on the other hand, was some hours away.
Thus began their discussion on ways to kill time. Somewhere along the line, the topic of the haunted building cropped up. All three were familiar with the rumors that permeated through the campus, but none of them had personally been to said place.
“Let’s go check out the building, see if it really is haunted,” Miki suggested.
Both Kazuhiko and Yuuichi agreed. The three decided to sneak into Meisei grounds that very night.
Clambering over a chain-link fence, slipping behind one of the university’s buildings, entering the woods, pushing branches out of their faces, walking down a path that was not quite a path-all part of what felt like their own little adventure.
Their journey via the not-path turned out to be much more exhausting than they had thought. By the time they reached their destination, they were drenched in sweat and considerably sober. Miki, no longer enthusiastic, was beginning to regret coming there.
The one-story building had a flat roof. Its walls were bare. There was nothing remotely organic about it. It was more a neglected lump of concrete than an architectural statement.
“Come on, picture time. We’ve made it this far,” Yuuichi quipped.
Kazuhiko was the first to take out a camera, ready to snap a picture with the building as the backdrop. The camera’s bluish white flash cast their shadows over the dingy wall.
Next was Yuuichi’s turn to be photographer. Kazuhiko and Miki posed side by side in front of the camera, all smiles. Once again, the flash went off.
Clang!
It was the sound of metals striking.
Miki flinched, her shoulders shaking. “Hey, did you guys hear that?” She looked around.
Kazuhiko and Yuuichi followed suit with bated breath, their eyes watchful and their ears perked.
Rustle.
The only sound they could hear was of the deadwood swaying in the wind.
“I don’t hear anything.” Yuuichi had one hand cupped to his hear.
“What, are you chickening out? This was your idea,” Kazuhiko jeered.
Miki glared at him defiantly. “No, I am not.” She walked ahead in the direction of the building’s entrance, designating herself as their leader.
The other two exchanged a look before following behind.
“It’s locked.” Standing in the doorway, she rattled and twisted the rusty iron door-knob.
Kazuhiko took over, but he could not open the door, either.
“This calls for . . . ta-da!” Yuuichi produced from his pant pocket something thin, shaped like a hook, and made of metal.
“What’s that?” asked Kazuhiko.
“Just watch. Say, Kazu, got a lighter? I could use some light here.”
Kazuhiko consentingly lit his lighter and neared the doorknob. Yuuichi was half kneeling, half squatting in front of the door, poking the hook-shaped thing into the keyhole.
“What are you doing?”
“Trust me. I know what I’m doing.” After wrestling with the knob for some minutes, Yuuichi stood up and turned it.
The door opened with a creak.
“That was awesome, man!” Kazuhiko exclaimed.
“With the right tools, anybody can do it.” Yuuichi rubbed his nose, looking pleased with himself.
“Where did you even learn how to do that?”
“From the internet. I’ll give you the URL. Check it out sometime.”
Kazuhiko and Yuuichi entered the building without a second thought, finding themselves in what appeared to be a spacious room. Miki, who hated being left out, hurried after them.
The cold draft from outside whooshed in with them, stirring up the dust covering the floor. Although the building’s interior was comparatively warmer than its exterior, it was too dark for them to see the tips of their fingers, much less move around.
Trying to scan their surroundings was a lost cause-Kazuhiko did light his lighter, but a small, flickering flame was not exactly a reliable source of light.
A flash of bluish white light brightened the room for but a moment.
Miki jumped in fright. Yuuichi grinned impishly at her reaction; he was after all the one who had set off the camera flash.
“Let’s go back.” It was Miki’s voice.
“Getting cold feet, are we?” Kazuhiko and Yuuichi said in unison.
“B-but I have this feeling we’re being watched.” She clung to Kazuhiko’s arm as if for cover.
The three squinted through the dark. They saw nothing. The room was entirely shrouded in a profound blackness.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s all good,” Kazuhiko said to Miki, and started taking leisurely strides along the walls.
“Can I trust you to be my bodyguard?” She pulled his arm.
“’Course. You can count on me.” He patted her shoulder casually and resumed his walk.
They left the room into a connecting hallway. It was wide enough to allow a person to brush shoulders with another. The walls on either side of the hallway were lined with windowed doors at equally-spaced intervals. Every one of the rooms behind these doors could have fitted about four tatami-roughly sixty-six square feet-and was empty except for a single bed.
The three moved along the walls, seeking out the locked room. They found it at the end of the hallway.
There was an ominous air about the room. Its massive steel door was remarkably different from the other doors. Instead of glass, its window had iron bars. The door was not only locked; there was a combination lock attached to a chain that had been wound around the doorknob and the pipe, which ran across the hallway ceiling and beside the door, several times.
“I can’t open this,” Yuuichi grumbled.
“What’s in there?” Kazuhiko stood on tiptoes so he could peer into the window.
“See anything?”
“Nope. It’s too dark.” Kazuhiko was about to give up when . . .
Rustle!
There was movement within the dark room. His shadow seemed blackest where it fell on one corner of the room.
Something is in there. Kazuhiko could not look away from that one spot.
Eyes!
His eyes met those belonging to the creature in the locked room. Its eyes were unnaturally striking in the dark: bloodshot, with white, clouded pupils. Eyes that were pouring with so much hatred, they could devour everything. . . .
Kazuhiko yelled as he leaped back and fell on his rear.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” asked Miki.
His face was frozen in a mask of terror. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, but no words passed from his lips, only ragged gasps.
“Did you see something?” Yuuichi demanded.
Kazuhiko directed his gaze at the door. Yuuichi followed his line of sight.
What took place the next moment put them at a loss for words.
Pale hands-inhuman hands-reached out from between the bars and seized Miki, whose back was against the door, by the shoulders.
She drew in a sharp breath.
Kazuhiko and Yuuichi are in front of me. So whose hands are on my shoulders? She dared not turn around and find out. Blood rushed from her face. She felt sapped of all strength; she could not even scream.
Miki stretched out her trembling hands, desperately asking for Kazuhiko and Yuuichi’s help. Unfortunately, fear had rendered them immobile.
“Please . . . save me. . . .” she rasped out.
In the split second Yuuichi attempted to yank her away from the door, hands outstretched, those eyes peeked again through the bars.
“Argh!” Kazuhiko and Yuuichi shouted, no longer able to think straight. They bolted without looking back.
“Wait! Don’t leave me!” Miki’s heartbreaking cry died in her throat.
* * *
That was only the beginning.
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