Since then, our family has fallen apart. Hasshaku-sama didn’t take Keita’s “body,” but it took everything else.
Right after Keita left the room that day, the outside of the room darkened, and a cold, black wall suddenly appeared, trapping Dad and me inside. From within the wall, we intermittently heard a low “po” sound, which, though it sounded like a human voice, was too strange to be one. We instinctively knew it was the yokai, Hasshaku-sama.
That’s all I remember. Even so, every time I recall that sound, the intense chills that attack me indicate that I experienced something truly terrifying.
When I woke up, Keita was lying in the hallway. He was breathing, and I was just relieved that he was safe.
However, we were stunned by Keita’s first words when he woke up.
“Don’t get in my way anymore.”
It was the same usual smile. It was definitely Keita, but I felt an inexplicable eeriness in that smile.
Since then, Keita has locked himself in his room every day, indulging in masturbation while making unbearable moaning sounds. Perhaps due to the frustration of being unable to ejaculate, he sometimes bangs his head against the floor and walls like a madman. When he exhausts himself, he becomes quiet, only to repeat the cycle when he wakes up.
My wife has been unstable ever since it was revealed that Keita was possessed by Hasshaku-sama. Unable to bear the changing Keita, she eventually attempted suicide and has been hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital ever since. Every time she sees my face during visits, she screams, “Give me back Keita,” and becomes delirious, so the hospital has started refusing my visits.
Dad and I continued to argue about the responsibility and the discussions with the Supernatural Research Division.
Since the day we stopped the surveillance, the series of disappearances in the village have stopped completely. Convinced that the incidents were the work of Hasshaku-sama, Dad said that if it became known that Keita was the cause, our entire family would be killed by society. He suggested making Keita a human sacrifice, in other words, burying him alive.
I couldn’t stand it anymore and ended up hitting Dad, injuring him. Dad, shouting that I was disowned, returned to his hometown, and we haven’t been in contact since. It seems he was serious, as Mom secretly told me that they were moving to her hometown in Wakayama.
I was left alone with Keita. Keita took his meals to his room and ate alone. Other than saying “Thank you for the meal” with a pasted-on smile, there was no conversation. No matter how much I scolded him for his attitude, apologized for the surveillance and restraint, or talked about my wife, he just stared blankly into space.
He barely spoke, but when he did, it was always the same: “I want to eat eel” or “I want to eat oysters.” These phrases, picked up who knows where, hinted at a fixation on foods rumored to put some lead in one’s pencil.
One night, when I opened the door to clean Keita’s dirty body, I encountered that black wall and sound again. The chills I felt were many times stronger than when I remembered that sound in my head, and I quickly closed the door. The chills and sound disappeared instantly.
Keita must be encountering Hasshaku-sama beyond that wall. Even knowing that, I couldn’t bear the chills, and I couldn’t bring myself to touch the door again.
One day at noon, I received a call at work from a nearby drugstore, informing me that Keita had shoplifted a sexual enhancement drug. The police were involved, and we had to go through an investigation.
Keita made excuses to the police, saying that his father had asked him to do it. Even when I scolded him for blaming others, he kept repeating, “I’m sorry for failing,” like a broken machine. There was no way to explain why he would shoplift a sexual enhancement drug, and all I could do was apologize profusely.
I received a stern warning from the police and guidance from the local Child Protective Service.
The shoplifting incident seemed to have spread as a rumor in the neighborhood, and I felt eyes on me when I walked outside. Whether it was related or not, I was ordered to transfer to a rural area by my company. Unable to move in such a situation and lacking the energy to protest, I had no choice but to submit my resignation.
My family was completely destroyed. That monster took everything from me. It is not the bewitching yokai that society talks about. It is a true evil that feeds on human misery.
I thought many times that it would have been better if Hasshaku-sama had just taken Keita away. Feeling unbearably pathetic for thinking that way, I decided to end my life. Just as I was about to step off the platform at the station, memories of my family from a few months ago, when everything was normal, flashed through my mind.
Fearing the darkness that would come from comparing it to my current self, I had avoided recalling those bright memories. The feeling of shame for leaving my wife and Keita behind stopped my feet. I wanted to get them back no matter what.
That’s why I decided to confront that monster and take back Keita and my family with my own hands. I don’t know what I can do against a yokai. But I have nothing left to lose.
I immediately started looking for a way to confront Hasshaku-sama. Despite being tormented by chills, I tried to break into the black wall. However, no matter what method I used, I couldn’t make a single scratch.
But there must be some way to confront Hasshaku-sama directly. In the village incidents, adults have also disappeared. There were rumors that it was the work of a supernatural entity manufacturer, so there must be a way to encounter it intentionally.
If I couldn’t get in from the outside, I thought about trying from the inside. I decided to hide in Keita’s room and wait for Hasshaku-sama to appear.
I laced Keita’s food with sleeping pills and hid in the closet while he slept. My only weapon was a naginata with a talisman attached (a kitchen knife tied to a bamboo pole), but it was better than nothing. I held my breath and waited for the moment.
The sleeping Keita looked just like the old Keita. How long had it been since I last saw him sleeping peacefully? Tears ran down my cheeks as I realized this. My hatred for Hasshaku-sama, who had changed my innocent son, grew even stronger.
Three hours and a little more passed since I started hiding. Waiting for three hours in this state felt incredibly long. I was sitting in the closet with my knees drawn up, and my body was starting to hurt. Since Keita showed no signs of waking up, I thought about stretching my body for a moment.
Suddenly, I felt the room temperature drop, and chills attacked me instantly. I knew it was coming – the monster that had taken my best friend Takeo during our childhood and had now claimed my family.
The door to the room, which I had opened to invite Hasshaku-sama in, was out of sight. But I could see the sleeping Keita, so I planned to attack Hasshaku-sama from behind when she reached out to Keita. It was a reckless plan, but it was better than dying without trying. I gripped the naginata tightly.
The chills grew stronger with each passing second. I tried my best to stay still so as not to make any noise from trembling.
Hasshaku-sama didn’t appear. I was about to lose consciousness.
I had reached my limit. I decided to close the door once. Maybe the chills would disappear if I did.
I desperately tried to close the door by hooking my nails into the gap, but my hands were shaking too much to get a good grip. No, I was gripping it, but I couldn’t apply enough force. It just wouldn’t close.
No, that’s not it. Something was stuck, preventing it from moving. Maybe a hanger or something was hanging on the door frame, keeping it from closing. Come to think of it, my wife often hung hangers there.
As I raised my gaze to check the obstacle, I saw――
Four pure white fingers and a pair of blood-red eyes with a faint smile.