Chapter 57, videotape part two.

The child hesitated.

As for the reason? It's actually quite obvious.

Although the child in the video was merely standing at the tightly closed door of the Sarayashiki residence and hadn't gone inside, the sounds coming from inside were becoming increasingly uncontrollable. The volume grew so loud that even though he was outside, he could clearly hear the commotion inside the house.

Just like in the previous videotape, the sound coming from inside the house wasn't very clear due to the distance. However, it wasn't difficult for either the person watching the video or the person on the screen to determine what was happening inside the Sarayashiki.

Because of uncontrollable emotions, even the voice is infected. Even if one cannot clearly hear the specific content from the voice reaching the door, one can still feel the speaker's anger from the few words that can be barely caught and the emotion in the voice.

So... they really were arguing.

The noise inside grew louder and louder. It was as if simply dominating the other person with sheer volume would grant them victory in the heated argument. Or perhaps it had become irrelevant to right or wrong; perhaps they simply wanted to hurt the other person through this hysteria, deriving a morbid pleasure from it?

There seemed to be a sound of something being broken.

In the black and white image, Tsukino and Chiya couldn't tell what the child's complexion looked like, or whether he had become even paler. But his dejection and helplessness were clearly visible.

Suddenly, the child, who had been standing blankly in front of the door, unsure whether he should go home at this time, turned his head and looked towards the direction outside the yard.

Tsukino and Chiya guessed that someone must have passed by.

Perhaps not wanting to be discovered or receive unnecessary attention, the child who had been standing in front of the door finally reacted differently. He patted his cheeks with both hands, deliberately adjusting his expression. Then he deliberately knocked on the door to make a sound before opening it and entering.

"I'm home," the child said to the house from the familiar entryway.

With those words, the previously noisy and chaotic room fell silent for a moment.

“…Ah, yes, that’s right. Welcome back, Yu.”

After a brief silence among the three of them, the woman seemed to suddenly realize something, and perhaps worried that the child would notice something was wrong, she forced a smile.

"Why are you back so soon?... No, I mean... it's a bit strange. Did something happen? Didn't Xiaoyou go out to play with Xiaoying and the others? You're back earlier than usual today."

It seems like they're not only changing the subject, but also stalling for time.

In the video footage, the man is still standing in a remote spot in the living room, near the kitchen, not coming over. But rather than saying he didn't want to come over, it's more accurate to say he was standing there blocking something.

...Based on the sounds heard before, is it because you don't want your child to see things that were broken during the argument due to emotional outbursts?

Perhaps that's a bit like burying one's head in the sand.

Everyone starts from childhood. But sometimes, adults still underestimate a child's sensitivity.

However, given that they managed to extricate themselves from the initial extreme emotions and made this reaction and choice, perhaps this couple has already done their best.

"Sakura's older sister came back from school today. She just picked Sakura up from the park and took her home."

The child, who had already adjusted his expression at the door, showed no unusual expression at this moment, as if what he had experienced today was simply going out to play and then regretfully having to go home early.

"Sakura wasn't here, and I'm not very familiar with the others... so I came back first."

"Oh, I see. It's okay, we'll all have more opportunities to play together later, right?"

"Hmm!" The child pursed his lips. "It's okay. I... understand. That's fine too, I still have some homework to finish. I'll go back to my room and do it now."

Then, the child didn't wait for a reply. As if oblivious to the strange occurrences near the kitchen, he turned and walked straight towards the stairs, clattering up the steps and leaving the two adults in the living room behind.

The child, who had said he was going back to his room, stood alone in the second-floor hallway, not immediately returning to his own bedroom. Footsteps, not yet reaching the stairs, echoed again. Because the child, who wasn't very tall, was deliberately hiding, the two people downstairs didn't notice he was still in the hallway.

Unlike when the video was first played, perhaps because the external noises like car horns, insect chirps, and bird calls were gone, the sound, though not particularly clear due to distance, was at least more clearly audible in the quiet house, with fragmented words easily discernible.

"...Calm down...?"

"You're treating me like a...person. Would I...act like a parent in front of a child?"

Even if... you've had enough, haven't you?

"That's enough. This matter... I'm also under a lot of pressure... I can't breathe."

"You're only good at this...you can't do anything right."

"This kind of thing... do you think I want it to be like this?..."

The sound gradually faded away.

The child, who had been staring blankly at the floor with his head down, finally returned to his bedroom as he had said before.

The video showed a momentary screen glitch.

Once things returned to normal, the child who entered the room had changed into a black outfit.

He walked straight to the desk in the bedroom. In the very center of the desk sat an unfinished painting.

He pulled out a chair, sat down, picked up the paintbrush that had been placed aside, and began to paint intently. Gradually, the image took shape and became complete under his brush, until finally, the two people watching the video realized what he was painting—

It was a scene of a man hanging himself.

Although the child's brushstrokes make the whole picture seem naive and simple, perhaps it is precisely because of the naivety of the child's drawing that it is easier for those who see this scene to be shocked.

Why was he able to draw such a picture?

From the child's clothing and his drawings, Tsukino and Chiya could deduce that the timeline in the video should be shortly after the child's father's suicide. But, was he able to draw such words... because others had been talking about it, or because...?

Did he see it?

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Just as the painting was about to be completed, there was a knock on the door.

In the eerie atmosphere created by the black clothes and the painting, even the knocking sounded numb and heavy. As if startled awake by the sudden sound, the child's body trembled violently, and then he quickly hid his painting on a page of a book on the table.

It seems he was aware that such a painting was not suitable for others to see.

"Wait me a moment."

As he did this, he called out to the door. Only after confirming that the painting was hidden did the child get off the chair, go to the door, and open the door he had locked.

He walked towards the door, which for some reason appeared as only a white light in the video.

Then, after he took his first step, the white light vanished. In its place appeared a funeral scene.

In a solemn atmosphere, the child lowered his head slightly, looking at the floor, but his eyes were already wandering, and it was impossible to know what he was thinking.

Then, the scene changed again.

Having shed the black clothes that symbolized mourning, the child returned home in pajamas.

At the dining table, the only two people left in the house sat facing each other in silence. It didn't seem to be because of any custom of "not talking while eating," but rather because neither of them felt like talking.

Finally, the child, who had been eating with his head down, spoke up sullenly: "Mom."

"What's wrong?" As if she had been waiting for his voice, the woman responded almost immediately after the child finished speaking.

Her voice was calm, no longer carrying the deliberately gentle tone she used when coaxing children; she was simply asking a question.

"I...no, I'm fine now. It's nothing."

Finally, after hesitating for a moment, he shook his head and continued eating quietly.

Did the woman notice her hesitation? Perhaps. After all, in the past, she seemed to be the kind of mother who could easily detect anything unusual about her child and patiently ask questions and offer guidance.

Perhaps not. Because she looked exhausted, maybe she didn't have the energy to distinguish those things anymore. The fact that she could appear relatively nonchalant here was probably already the result of her best efforts.

In the end, she didn't ask anything more.

This scene didn't last long.

As has happened many times before, the way the two ate at the table changed.

There was no light around, only complete darkness.

Because the video quality was already poor, the newly appeared scene appeared even more blurry. Even though Tsukino and Chiya considered their eyesight to be quite good, it took them several seconds of squinting and trying to make out what was happening in the scene.

It should be bedtime, so there were no lights in the room. The child, wearing pajamas, lay on the bed, his face expressionless, staring blankly at the ceiling, as if lost in thought.

A crisp sound came from the video.

The child reached out from under the covers, holding something in his hand—Tsukino and Chiya examined it closely and discovered it was a delicate bell.

The child rang the bell. The clear, crisp sound rang out again. And with it, footsteps echoed.

But... something seems off.

The faint yet unmistakable footsteps didn't come from a television playing a recording, but rather—

Sensing something, Tsukino and Chiya turned around.

—It came from behind them.

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Author's Note: I have something to do tomorrow, so I'll be taking a day off. I'll resume updating at the usual time the day after tomorrow. [pat on the head]