The House in Which Nightmares Dwell 6.5

[touchturnfly]

5

Kazumi had cheerfully entered the kitchen, so she frowned when Hirota called for her.

"Excuse me, but could you come here for a moment?"

"Ah, -- But."

"Leave the cooking for later. We'd like to talk to you for a while."

"I see."

While traversing the dining room, Kazumi felt her face slowly stiffen. Hirota carried a sharp facial expression.

When she went to the living room, Midori and Reiko had been waiting with Hirota along with the boy of senior high school age who had been around since yesterday. In the corner of the living room a camera was installed. Because it was aimed in her direction, Kazumi involuntarily ducked her head.

"What's the -- matter?"

"Please sit down."

Hirota's voice had become strict. Kazumi sat down with a feeling of unease.

"Actually," Hirota began to talk. "This place, in this house electrical appliances break down one after the other."

"My," Kazumi muttered. "How dreadful," she said, while hesitantly letting her eyes roam around the room.

"After doing various investigations, we understood that all of these malicious things were purposefully done by a person."

Hirota could see how Kazumi's face suddenly became pale.

"Ah... ... Is that so. What about that?"

"We think that Sasakura-san might be the offender," Hirota declared. Kazumi's face paled even more, but now it instantly broke into a flush.

"Don't jest with me. What a thing to say."

Hirota exchanged glances with Naru, but Naru seemed unwilling to cooperate. So he had to summarize the story he heard by himself. Both Midori and Reiko were wide-eyed, while looking at Kazumi.

"It's not me," Kazumi said. "What a false accusation. Where's the proof? -- Let me see the proof."

"I don't think anyone is the offender but you."

"There's no proof, right? This is slander. Go ahead and show me."

Kazumi's face was a deep red and trembled.

"Show me the proof."

Hirota inwardly sighed. There was no proof. But if he threatened with this much, it wouldn't be strange if she never did these pranks again.

While he thought about that, Naru called in the direction of the camera.

"Lin, get the tape."

The camera moved.

Mai immediately ran down to the corridor and came back with two cassette tapes and one video tape.

"I'll borrow the audio."

Naru took the tape and undid the cassette deck. He pushed the play button and what came out from the speakers were chaotic street noises. There was a long and hard sound.

"-- This is?"

Hirota looked at Naru.

"The sound of a bell. This morning we determined from some samples we picked up that this is of a bell signaling a train arrival at the train station. We abstracted this from the many mysterious phone calls that came in this morning. This one is from 5:56 in the morning."

"So?"

"The microphone constantly picks up on sounds in this house ever since yesterday. When we investigated the sounds that were picked up inside this house at the exact same moment, the very same sound was recorded."

Hirota took a long hard look at Naru.

"What the?"

"After we investigated the situation of that sound, we knew the range of the source. The situation of the sounds greatly resembled and the place where the mysterious phone calls took place is not a long way off from this house."

"About how close is it?"

"The range calculated from the sound's situation mostly matches. Still, it's within range, because there is a difference in the object distance. The difference is about eight feet, so the range is roughly five meters. It turns out that it is within five meters of the living room."

A diameter of five meters meant that it could only come from the road, inside the Agawa house or the Sasakura house.

"So what?" Kazumi said, while almost getting off her seat. Hirota stood in front of the door and wondered whether she wanted to escape this place.

"I have one more tape."

Naru exchanged the tapes. What they heard next was a man's voice.

A man talked in a hoarse voice.

-- Get out. If you don't get out, you'll be cursed. So get out quickly.

"This is the voice that was abstracted from the last phone call. This seems like only a mere prank call in itself, but in the other calls the characteristics of this man's voice may vary."

Kazumi turned pale.

"If I compare them, it can be numerically judged whether this is the very same person. -- Sasakura-san, do you consent to recording your, your husband's and son's voice?"

"Don't joke around!"

Kazumi stood up.

"No! Don't joke! I don't know anything about this. We didn't do anything. What an awful accusation! I won't get trapped by the likes of you all!" Kazumi shouted. "If you say that we did it, then tell me how we could have gotten in! How can you get into a house that's locked up!"

A bewildered Midori put a word in.

"Um... ... Sasakura-san doesn't have the duplicate key. If she had one, she wouldn't say that she would like to keep a duplicate key?"

Naru made a thin smile.

"You have thought up a thing called a camouflage."

Kazumi smiled.

"How stupid. This isn't a third rate detective novel."

"You don't need a duplicate key. There's a secret path."

"That can't be."

This time Naru set up the video tape. A strongly contrasted monochrome image was projected on the TV screen.

"Here is where the reverberation of the ultrasonic waves change. -- Right here."

Shadows of various sizes could be seen in the place Naru pointed at.

"Huh, what's that?"

When Hirota asked, Naru coldly answered.

"Perhaps a trace of a cylinder lock. These are traces of a keyhole and a knob shaft."

"A door? Where is this kind of thing."

"The full-length mirror at the end of the corridor."

"Ah," Hirota muttered.

"If someone broke in, then there should be a secret path. If you think about it, both that full-length mirror's size and shape resemble a door. If a glass pane was embedded in the door like all the other windows, how would it look like? Wouldn't it look like a full-length mirror at first glance?"

"... ... Certainly."

"If you aim the ultrasonic waves at the mirror's surface, you will discover that there's nothing beyond the mirror. The wall you expect to be there does not exist. The mirror is exposed to the outside. If you inspect part of the frame, it is dislocated about one to five millimeters from the surface. Perhaps a cosmetic edition was put on top of the original frame. You can't see the hinges, so it must be a door that can be opened from the outside."

"But, why is it like that?"

"Outside that door -- back door is a very narrow back yard. It is as wide as the building and the length is only but 80 centimeters. The back yard is adjoined by buildings constructed on three sides and doesn't fulfill its purpose as a garden. One could say it's obstructed because of that."

Midori spoke.

"That garden wasn't part of the building in the back?"

It was visible from the window on the second floor, so she knew there was a garden on the other side of the house, but she didn't think it was part of their own property. There was no back door and the real estate agent said nothing, so she didn't think about it too deeply.

"Have you been down to the garden?"

"Of course. There is a door for sure. The other side of the mirror was left as it is and the frame was made of aluminum sash, but the knob was already removed and plugged up. There are bolt-like holes in two places by the wall near the door opening. Perhaps in order not to be casually opened, it was fixated from the outside with metal boards or something. However, it was removed. Instead, the wall in the back of the building was used to wedge in a bar in those two places."

Hirota hummed.

"I see... ..."

"Other than space for a ventilation window, there is nothing in the back of the building facing the back yard. There is not any kind of opening by the neighbouring house on the left, only the Sasakura house has a window facing the back yard."

"So you're saying that only the people of the Sasakura family are the ones who can get in and out?"

"It should be said that they're the most suspicious. It's comparable to the voice recordings. What's more reliable is to investigate the telephone call records of the Sasakura house. It can become direct evidence if possible."

Kazumi stood upright.

Hirota looked at a dumbfounded Midori.

"Midori-san, are you going to sue them?"

"Eh?" Midori blinked.

"Unless Sasakura-san gives us consent, the telephone company cannot present us the telephone call records. If Midori-san files a complaint and takes the problem to the courthouse, it becomes possible."

Midori looked at Hirota and Kazumi. After being puzzled for a moment, she decisively shook her head.

"I only want you to stop doing these pranks. If you can promise me that alone, I won't file a complaint."

"-- I promise!" Kazumi shouted. "I promise. So, don't sue me. My husband is a teacher. What if the school gets to know about this."

Midori looked up at Kazumi and nodded.

"... ... Understood."

---

Back to Chapter 6.4 | Forward to Chapter 7.1

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for translating :)

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the fast translation
I feel like the main story is just beginning

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the translation Touchturnfly!
As to the story, I wonder if Kazumi will actually stop? Midori was pretty gracious in her decision--- and I guess it would be a bit too obvious if things continued and it was still Kazumi causing the problems. Now that Kazumi's bit is done, I'm hoping there will be some more action :)
Anyways, that was a very quick update- thank you! Looking forward to the next instalment.

-Nicole from Canada