"What are you wearing?"
I followed Naru's judgemental stare down to my feet. "Toeless socks with skids on the bottom." I said helpfully. "There's also no heel."
He raised an eyebrow. "There's no point to those."
"You sure about that?"
Naru returned his attention to the monitors, not feeling the need to argue what counted as a sock.
The door slid open to admit Hirota. He glanced at the screen where Mai and Masako sat across from each other. "What are they up to?"
"Currently trying to purify the spirits."
The investigator glanced at me. "Why aren't you helping them?"
"Oh, I'm not psychic."
He blinked. "So...what are you doing with Shibuya Psychic Research?"
I thought back to that first moment under the cherry blossoms, staring at a dilapidated school house that had seemingly come out of nowhere. "It's a long story." Both literally and figuratively.
He shrugged and turned back to Naru. "In what way are exorcism and purification different from each other?"
"Exorcism is the expelling of spirits with all your strength. Purification seems to be distinguished in that it cleanses spirits, but indeed, I wonder what the difference is."
"You can't tell the difference?"
"Vague Japanese psychic terms are numerous and difficult."
Hirota pondered that for a moment. "May I ask you something?" When Naru glanced his way, he wrest on. "What on Earth is a ghost, really?"
Naru shrugged. "I don't know."
I laughed. The look on Hirota's face was priceless.
"If I knew that, I wouldn't be here. I'd go home and write theses."
"Doesn't that mean you don't completely understand it?"
Naru gestured to the wall of equipment. "Aren't I closer to understanding it?"
"How so? Are you saying that your understand of that phenomenon alone is insignificant?"
"I wonder if it's because the spirits aren't on good terms with electronic measuring instruments. We can't record valid data when those guys start to move since the machines immediately stop working."
"But you probably have a lot of experience with this sort of thing happening, right?" Hirota froze, then hurriedly added, "No, it's not that I've actually become a supporter."
Naru smiled lightly. "It's a waste of breath to share personal experiences, Hirota-san. It's meaningless if I can't obtain the recorded data as evidence. At least, that's my mentality."
"However, are you guided by any...hypothesis from experience?"
"Are you interested in knowing such a thing?"
Hirota hesitated, the struggle to explain his thoughts obvious on his face. "...If there is something there, it should have a physical component. Then, why hadn't that ever been discovered yet? Among the sciences developed, why does this alone have both its causes and laws undiscovered?" He asked slowly. "My coworker always says it's because science can't explain everything. Certainly, there are many matters that even modern science can't understand, and yet it looks like there are still people who refuse to understand psychic phenomena. If there is something, won't you tell me? Are there really spirits? Are they human souls?"
"Is there a soul in synthetic fibers?"
I sighed. He really needed to stop answering questions with questions.
Hirota frowned. "What?"
"Or do you know why spirits are wearing clothes? If clothes are made of natural fibers, is there a soul in them?"
"...You have a point. But in that case, what are they?"
"Data." Naru stated. "The contents of a person's mind are a meeting of electrical signals, after all. If those contents are preserved after death and we can read the minds of others, then it won't be strange even if spirits are wearing clothes."
"Is that so?"
"When a person recalls his own experiences, there are many things he remembers through the viewpoint of an outsider, as though they were filmed by a camera. For when he recalls a scene where he was facing and conversing with someone, he doesn't remember the look of that person in front of him, but he remembers the manner in which he and that person were facing each other. Humans process information like that." His voice had slipped into that colorless tone. "That's why when somebody has retrieved that person's data, details about the person himself are included as well. That somebody will transmit and store that information into his own memory, decode that by his own experiences and knowledge, and replay it in his mind."
Hirota's eyes widened. "Is that the reason why ghosts are also wearing clothes?" He inquired. "Moreover, that's why spirits from the Nara period tend to wear clothes from the Edo period."
Naru nodded in agreement. "Although you see the same spirits, testimonies from people often clash. They can understand the language of foreign spirits, or they can understand the language of ancient spirits. This sort of phenomenon must be decoded within the mind."
"You're right. Then, how about possession?"
As expected, Naru had answer ready. "If you strongly support the opinions a spirit has, you will have thoughts retrieved from that other being, intracerebrally seared into you, or you will be given a hypnotic suggestion."
"What about exorcism?"
A slight, almost microscopic pause. Then, "How you store simple information is a problem. For example, assuming that powerful thoughts are burned into certain places of one's memory, what we refer to as exorcism, then, isn't about making fixed thoughts disappear, but it would be about demolishing the places where those thoughts are. From eyewitness accounts, it seems like spirits are not physical entities. They appear to be a mere collection of information." He stated. "Debating this, there are also scholars who say that the so-called psychic vision is a telepathic phenomenon that involves thoughts from the deceased. Butt hat mysterious telepathy does not give support to the existence of souls at all. Furthermore, there is also the poltergeist phenomenon. Is there data about how one lowers temperatures and moves objects? Even if certain peices of evidence about spirits being mere data are consistent, is doesn't mean that we can explain all psychic phenomena. Instead, there's a lot more that can't be explained. Even a hypothesis will make no sense."
Hirota regarded him with something close to pity. "Looks like you've got a long way to go, huh."
Naru heaved a tired sigh. "Absolutely. There times when I wonder how pleasant it wouldn be if I were on the opposing side."
Hirota laughed. At Naru's questioning glance, he said, "Sorry, I just thought you seemed very fed up with it..."
The room went black.
I lurched upright, letting my eyes slowly adjust to the darkness before scuttling over to Naru's outline and catching hold of his sleeve. "What? Is it a blackout?" Hirota muttered from somewhere to our right before heading out into the hallway. After a pause, Naru followed him, letting me cling to his sleeve.
"Hirota-san? What's the matter?" Midori asked as she and her mother approached us.
"No idea. I wonder if it must be the breaker."
"That's not possible." Naru stated.
Footsteps thudded down the stairs. "What's wrong? Is there a power outage?" Mai asked as she and Masako hurried over.
"...No, since the street lights are still on." Hirota said.
"That's true."
"The backup power source is also dead." Naru reported, glancing over his shoulder at the pitch black screens.
Hirota frowned. "What the heck?"
"Mai?"
Masako's soft voice cut through the growing confusion. In the dim light of the streetlights filtering through the windows, her face was pale. "Something is coming." She whimpered.
"Something?" Masako pressed.
"A scary person. Kosori is coming."
Naru swore, running a hand over his face. "What?" Hirota asked.
"What day did you say the incident happened?" Naru demanded, his voice low and terse.
"At midnight of October 10th. On the early morning of the 11th, to be exact."
"What day is it right now?"
A shiver ran down my spine. I tightened my hold on Naru.
Hirota blanched. "The 10th. It's already the 11th. Don't tell me..."
"It's my mistake for not realizing this."
"What are you talking about?"
"Why did the four spirits become active? Isn't it naturally due to the fact that the morning of the 11th approaches? The Kawanabe family will strongly give a warning when the day of the daughter's return approaches. The same can be said of Sekiguchi. Because Sekiguchi was at his wit's end, on the evening of the 10th, he thought he had to end everything."
"But...people should die in this house every year, then."
"There was a trigger. It's Hirota-san's words, 'Shall we press charges?' Midori-san had said she wouldn't sue, but it wasn't guaranteed that the Sasakuras would believe that. Instead, they're probably in a state of uncertainty right now." Naru said. "The fear that they might be sued, and October 10th: both conditions are present. It would be strange, at least, if they weren't triggered to act."
"To act?"
"This blackout was caused by the Sasakuras. We can't think of anyone else who would do it besides them."
Terror swelled in the room.
Hirota reached for his phone. "The police..." He began, then froze when he saw his screen.
"No service?" I asked. He nodded mutely.
"It's all right. We've bolted the doors, after all." Masako said. "Right?"
"Everything's fine, isn't it, Hirota-san?" Midori pressed.
Hirota found his voice. "Yes. Most recently, I've locked the shutters in the living room with you and auntie."
Everyone was just starting to relax when Naru spoke. "Mirrored door." He said, staring down his reflection. "That mirrored door will open from outside."