Chapter 8: Woman
She lost everything.
First her job, then her home.
Without family or friends, she was alone in the world.
In desperation, she looked for a place to die.
Anywhere would do. Lacking the courage to commit suicide, she used all her savings to come to Tsukinashi Town in the hope that someone would at least kill her. Wandering through the town, she finally came across a rundown shack that could easily be blown away.
Ah, this place is deserted, so it’s just right.
Crossing a muddy swamp, the woman reached the rundown shack and was surprised when she opened the poorly constructed door.
Sitting in the shack was a ichimatsu doll kept in a glass box.
Left without a stand on the damaged tatami mats, it was locked in the glass box, wearing the same tattered kimono and messy bob hair as the shack. It was occupying the house as if it were its own.
“You’ve been left behind too.”
She had identified with the Ichimatsu doll.
This doll had also been forgotten by the world, left behind in this remote hut. It was a pity that the only person she could be with at the very end was a woman counting down the days until she died.
Stepping into the hut with muddy feet, she could not take her eyes off the Ichimatsu doll. For some reason, it seemed strangely precious to her.
“I have to live.”
She was overcome with a sense of mission that she had to live for the doll’s sake as well.
She crossed the muddy swamp again and bought what looked like food with her last bit of money, bringing it back to her rundown shack. She didn’t know why she brought such things into a wooden shack with neither electricity nor gas.
She just felt that she had to live for the sake of this Ichimatsu doll.
However, there is a limit to how much one can live in an unsanitary place. She died while still soaking in the filthy bathtub. There could be many reasons for this, but her life functions had ceased.
The only thing by her side until the moment she died was her Ichimatsu doll, kept in a glass box.
☆
“Hiih”
Hearing a warm sigh on her ear, Houzuki instinctively turned around.
It is unclear whether the ghost of the woman who appears in the house made her do so, but when she turned around, there was no one there.
There was no one there, but there was something there. It was a ichimatsu doll stored in a glass box, placed in a room just inside the Swamp house.
“Eh, how?”
Houzuki couldn’t understand.
A ichimatsu doll housed in a glass box was, for some reason, sitting in the center of the changing room. She wondered if someone had moved it, but then she saw Yuiru and Towako right next to her. They were looking at the corpse of a woman whose name she didn’t know, soaking in the bath, and saying “it’s gross” and “don’t say that.”
The possibility that they had brought the ichimatsu doll with them was extremely low. If anything, the woman who appeared in swamp house might have brought it here.
Towako noticed something strange about Houzuki,
“What’s wrong, Houzuki-chan?”
“Um, the Ichimatsu doll… is moving…”
With trembling fingertips, she pointed to the Ichimatsu doll stored in a glass box, and Towako was surprised and said, “It’s true.”
“You didn’t bring this, did you?”
“No. I mean, it was here, wasn’t it?”
“That’s right. So–”
Before Towako could deduce it, Yuiru, who was amused by the situation, spoke up.
“Maybe the Ichimatsu doll has moved.”
“Huh”
That was the most likely possibility.
There are many scary stories about dolls that move. Especially the Ichimatsu doll, which often appears in such stories.
The most realistic option would be that the Ichimatsu doll moved on its own. The most realistic option was also the most unrealistic.
“This is getting interesting, Houzuki. It’s amusing that even the Ichimatsu doll has gone out of its way to welcome you.”
“Don’t say stupid things.”
Houzuki glared at Yuiru,
“Yuiru, can’t you eat that Ichimatsu doll?”
“How can you eat something inanimate?”
“But it moved, didn’t it? It’s definitely cursed.”
“It certainly is cursed.”
Yuiru looked outside the bathroom,
“I’d rather eat that one first.”
“Eh?” Houzuki asked, turning her eyes outside the bathroom.
It was further away from the changing room, where the ichimatsu doll had been placed by itself.
A woman with messy hair was peeking out half her head from outside.
Kari, kari.
She scratched the rotten pillar of the changing room with her fingertips as if to invite him.
Kari, kari.
She insisted, as if to say, “Look at me.”
Kari.
And when her eyes finally met Houzuki’s, her hollow black eyes curled up and she flashed an eerie smile.
Gi~, gyi~.
Then the woman left the changing room, creaking the floorboards. If she was happy to make eye contact with Houzuki, she thought she would reach out her hand.
“Wha……?”
“Oh, Houzuki. Aren’t you glad?”
Yuiru laughed with delight as he left the bathroom. He walked with a confident step that seemed to say he had no interest in the woman’s corpse submerged in the bathtub.
“Hey, Yuiru.”
“Be happy, Houzuki.”
Yuiru turned around, his delighted smile intact.
At the same time, Houzuki smelled a strange smell from somewhere.
From the other side of the changing room came the sound of rotten ingredients being gathered up and stirred around.
Gucha~, guchagucha. (TN: smashing/ crushing)
Guchagucha, becha, becha*. (TN: Messy/gooey (from mud, ink, etc))
If she wasn’t mistaken, it sounded like cooking.
“It seems the other party is treating us well.”
Yuiru’s unusually cheerful voice echoed in Houzuki’s ears.
