spr | The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 9.3

Only a window faced him when he entered the 4.5 tatami room on the second floor. This window contained a mirror and its curtains were down. It had sliding screens in two directions and the right side lead to a short hallway facing the balcony, but it was blocked by an old cabinet.

The side of the cabinet had a single shelf. An iron was placed on it, so perhaps this room was used the deal with the laundry.

A little further ahead was a closet of about 90 centimeters in height. It was only filled with small things and its top tier was empty. It probably stored the futons meant for guests before they had been taken out.

The wall on the first floor had become terribly permeated by the moisture, but there was not even a hint of it on the second floor. The wall was still brand new and so were the sliding screens. All of the fittings seemed to be replaced and even the coated margins were renewed during the renovation..

"The ceiling has been repainted as well."

Lin said as he briefly looked out over the room. The equipment in the base was taken care of, although reluctantly, by Hirota.

"-- And the tatami?"

He shook his head at Naru's words.

"The fittings were redone, therefore the tatami must be new as well. Though I don't think we will find anything underneath if we lift them up."

It was clearly the room in which the temperature abnormally dropped. Perhaps something of the past was here, but it was difficult to find vestiges of the past in this condition.

"Inside the closet?"

"The planks seem to be repainted."

Lin accidentally looked up at the ceiling after saying that.

"Perhaps the attic wasn't renovated."

"Can you get up?"

"Probably. -- However, it may contain electrical wires, otherwise, I don't think we can expect much from the attic."

"Let's have a look."

Because Naru said so, Lin opened the closet. The ceiling boards in these types of closets were often not fixed. During the time when he studied abroad in Japan for two years he had heard that it was done for the purpose of future construction work.

Lin climbed up the upper tier of the closet. As expected he was able to stir the ceiling board after he tried to push it.

"Seems like we can go up here."

"I'll go up."

"I'll have a look for the time being. Please give me the light."

Lin received a penlight from Naru and stood upright. He pushed the ceiling board and moved it to the side.

Above was a common attic one could find anywhere else. The pillars and beams weren't very thick. The house's construction didn't appear to be particularly well done. Electric wiring crawled on top of those, but the old as well as the new things appeared to be mixed with each other.

He carefully looked out over where the light could reach and he couldn't determine any abnormalities in particular. He was about to put back the ceiling board when he heard a scraping sound.

The ceiling board was obstructed by the pillars or beams and he only moved it into one direction. It happened as he moved it. Something had to be underneath it. He slightly raised the board, searched with his hand and ran into something that felt like dusty paper. He cautiously went further and pulled it towards him.

"-- Naru, I found this."

The thing Lin pulled out was a paper box of about the size of a dictionary. It looked quite old. The dusty box was completely deformed by moisture and the cover looked like it was about to fall apart halfway.

Naru took and opened it. The insides contained a bundle of paper and dust.

Lin came down from the closet and looked into his hand.

"Could this be of any relevance?"

"I wonder. It seems to be quite old."

The contents were merely paper and terribly damaged. Although they didn't keep their original form, he was able to discern that something had been printed on the small card-sized and somewhat thick paper.

Naru lightly blew off the dust.

"... ... Let me have a look."

"Is this safe?"

Lin looked at Naru. -- Reading information from objects was one of the special abilities that was bestowed onto Naru. With this he was able to verify his older brother's death and look for his remains. There were times when this ability could damage himself badly. That's what he had heard.

Naru understood the aim of Lin's question, but he didn't answer it with a yes or no. Not even Naru himself knew whether it would be safe unless he gave it a try.

Naru sat down on the floor and placed his back against the wall. He took several cards from inside the box. He concentrated his conscious onto his fingertips.

He quickly sensed an irregularity. There was no need to exert himself at all.

-- Is that so.

Naru secretly felt sorry.

-- The owner is a child.

It was easy to synchronize with a child. Moreover, very strong emotions were inscribed into it considering how easy it was to go in.

-- This is... ... bad.

Before he knew it, he was tormented by the feeling of rapidly falling down. It was the sensation of crashing down into a deep hole, while at the same time losing that feeling temporarily, and then randomly returning to it as if being inserted like a piece in a jigsaw puzzle. There was not even one time to take a single breath.

The first thing he saw was a faint light tinged with green. That color was, as if he was wearing a color filter, a color that's characteristic of the deceased.

-- This child is dead.

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