Hyakki Yagyou

Chapter Twelve: Authenticity, Faces

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” 

-        Oscar Wilde

 

December 15th, 2:15 pm

Asuka was distressed. For nights, she could not sleep and the scenes from both videos kept playing in her mind. The first video with Yumi-chan jumping onto the tracks, in front of the train (and the face that flashed on the video at the very ending; a face she could have sworn belonged to Yoko) and the second video with Kenji committing suicide on it. None of it made sense and none her brain could process and classify as veracious.

The scenes in her mind turned into nightmares and soon, in her sleep, she would see herself covered in blood after having penetrated her stomach multiple times with a dagger. It was either that or she would keep jumping in front of an incoming train that would never actually arrive. It was invisible and she would just feel its massive, inexplicable and unperceivable to the human mind weight that would rush over her in a split of a second. She would then wake up breathless and with a huge weight on her chest as if someone was sitting on her.

But of course there was no dagger, no train, and no ghoul sitting upon her chest. No one and nothing.

No one even spoke of the video again. It was a thing they silently agreed upon never mentioning again. But she could not stand it. She sent Emi a private messaged and insisted on a meeting. It just so happened that Emi was meeting Keita that day but it did not matter. Even better. There would be someone to verify her words and calm her down; the latter was less possible but at least she could get these things off her chest.

She was using Emi for this way too often lately, the young teacher realized on her way to Delilah, where Emi had started working. It was convenient. The pub was right across the street from her building so she could keep an eye on it (ever since that new guy moved in, she was paranoid that he would rob them all) as well.

When she arrived to Derira, Keita was already there, sitting at the bar, chit-chatting, as quietly as ever, with his younger sister. Emi had her back turned to him and he was staring into the small glass with a dark yellow liquid that would only be whiskey.

Whiskey? At this time of the day? Was he turning into an alcoholic, she wondered as she sauntered across the room and sat sown next to the black  haired mal greeting him with a nod and a blink of the eyes. She guessed that meant hello because he returned the gesture in the same way.

“Oh, you’re here.” Emi said, her lips tugging into a weak smile as she saw Asuka.

It wasn’t as if she did not like Ueno. She did. Emi just could not stop thinking about the conversation Ryu and she had had with Abe the other day. That was a lot of information. Too much information and she had planned on sharing it with Keita (at least the details about their father) but eventually, Emi dropped the idea.

There was no need for him to know all of that. Not now. He was a born sceptic and he would only think she was crazy. Even worse, he may think Ryu was a bad influence; or maybe Abe. Or both. He always thought Ryu was strange. He admitted that to her on a couple of occasions on a private chat on the website.

There was no way she was then telling him about their… Relationship, if it would even be called that. That did not matter anyway. The point was – she was going to keep Keita blissfully ignorant about the matter(s) for a while more. Until she felt it was right to tell him.

Technically, it was the right time already but she did not feel like playing games with him. He grew into a man even more difficult than he had been as a child and a teenager. There was no time, and she had no nerves, in arguing with him.