Chapter 24 Peeping Over the Wall (4) Kunikida Doppo finished listening to Dazai Osamu...
After listening to Dazai Osamu's words, Kunikida Doppo realized that this incident was most likely a "ghost story." Although it wasn't the first time he had dealt with incidents involving "ghost stories," each one had left this logic- and idealistic man feeling troubled and uncomfortable. Anomalies not caused by supernatural abilities often meant more blurred boundaries and more uncontrollable risks.
"Dazai, what is the basis for your judgment?" Kunikida Doppo asked, looking around as he held his pen in his notebook, ready to write it down.
Dazai Osamu did not answer immediately; his gaze remained fixed on the crack in the wall. He turned slightly to Kobayashi Yuta, whose face was pale beside the doorframe, and said, "Mr. Kobayashi, could you describe in more detail the situation when you first saw [that eye]? The more detailed, the better."
Yuta Kobayashi took a deep breath, trying to calm his turbulent emotions. Under the strange, oppressive, and inexplicably convincing aura emanating from Osamu Dazai, he recalled fragmented memories again. This time, he forced himself not to avoid any details, including the stale, strange smell he had smelled when he approached the crack, and his own distorted, terrified face reflected deep within the pupil of that eye.
"It...it doesn't look like the eyes of a living person, but it doesn't look like the eyes of an inanimate object either...there are many things inside, many, very messy..." Kobayashi Yuta described with difficulty, his body trembling slightly as he recalled what happened that day.
"A lot of messy things?" Dazai Osamu captured this description.
"It was like... the gazes of many people, all mixed together." Yuko Kobayashi herself thought this was absurd, but it was indeed her most direct feeling at that moment.
Dazai Osamu nodded thoughtfully, finally shifting his gaze from the crack. He turned to Kunikida Doppo: "Kunikida, it seems we need to have Tanizaki-kun come over. We also need to thoroughly investigate this apartment building, especially what happened in room 307."
Kunikida Doppo immediately understood Dazai Osamu's intention: Tanizaki Jun'ichirō's special ability, "Masuyuki," could create realistic illusions to detect and investigate such non-physical anomalies, and might be able to discover clues that were not visible to the naked eye.
He quickly took out his phone to contact the Armed Detective Agency, while Dazai Osamu began to examine the room more carefully.
This time, he no longer limited himself to visual observation. Instead, he put on a pair of thin gloves that he had prepared beforehand and gently touched the surfaces of the walls, floors, and furniture, especially the corners and crevices.
“Mr. Kobayashi,” Dazai Osamu asked casually as he inspected the room, “Since you moved in, have you noticed that this room is particularly cold, or that dust tends to accumulate in certain areas? Or have you noticed any strange abnormalities with the electronic devices?”
Yuta Kobayashi paused for a moment, then tried to recall: "Cold... It's been cold ever since we moved in. Even in the summer, we need to cover ourselves with a thick blanket, but that saves us money on air conditioning. Dust, I think, especially in the corners and around some crevices. Even though we've cleaned it, dust accumulates again very quickly. Electronic devices... The cell phone signal is often very bad here. Sometimes it will suddenly disconnect and then reconnect while charging."
Dazai Osamu gently brushed his hand along the edge of the corner, the dust on his fingertips seeming finer and stickier than elsewhere, a knowing glint in his iris-colored eyes.
About half an hour later, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki arrived. After listening to Doppo Kunikida's brief explanation of the situation, the gentle young man also showed a solemn expression.
"I'll give it a try." Jun'ichirō Tanizaki took a deep breath and then activated his supernatural ability.
Tiny particles of light drifted out like snowflakes, gradually filling the entire room. Kobayashi Yuko stared in disbelief at this sight. She finally understood what the landlord meant by "having some skills." She had thought the things she encountered were already unscientific, but it turned out these people were also within the realm of the unscientific.
This greatly shocked him, an ordinary man, but he quickly accepted the fact.
Haha, Yokohama is such a unique city!
It seems that the rumors circulating online may not be false.
Under the power of "Fine Snow," the surrounding scenery began to distort slightly, and the familiar furniture outlines became hazy and unreal under the cover of "Fine Snow."
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki concentrated and carefully manipulated the illusion, peering out towards the cracked wall.
At first, everything was normal, and the snow seemed to cover the wall smoothly. But just as the "fine snow" was about to touch the crack—
A sudden and unexpected change has occurred!
The "fine snow" particles of light around the crack suddenly twisted and boiled violently, as if disturbed by an invisible force.
In the originally hazy illusion, the area where the crack was located suddenly turned pitch black. It wasn't the kind of black that comes from the concept of color, but a kind of bottomless nothingness that swallowed light.
Immediately afterwards, in that distorted darkness, several blurry, pale, twisted outlines appeared and disappeared at lightning speed, but the sense of horror they evoked was clearly conveyed to everyone present in that instant!
Kunikida Doppo took a step back. Having faced ghost stories many times, his sixth sense told him that it was definitely not a living thing, but more like... a condensation of some kind of resentment!
Finally, just as all the illusions were about to collapse, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki groaned, his face pale, and withdrew his supernatural ability. He staggered a step and was steadily supported by Doppo Kunikida.
"Tanizaki! Are you alright?" Kunikida Doppo asked anxiously.
"N-nothing..." Jun'ichirō Tanizaki gasped for breath, looking at the wall with lingering fear. "But, Mr. Dazai, Mr. Kunikida, there's something behind that... a lot of chaotic [visions], filled with a lot of negative emotions. They almost dragged 'Shoyuki' over there too!" He tried his best to describe how he felt when he saw these things.
His description surprisingly coincided with Yuta Kobayashi's feelings!
Upon hearing this, Yuta Kobayashi was so terrified that he almost ran out the door.
Dazai Osamu's expression grew increasingly interested: "Just as I thought, it's not a simple ghost story of obsession and resentment, but more like a collection of voyeurism. A ghost story that feeds on fear and the desire to voyeurize?"
Just then, Dazai Osamu's phone rang. He took it out and glanced at the caller ID; it was Sakaguchi Ango.
"Moshi moshi~ Ango, it's really rare for you to take the initiative to contact me." Dazai Osamu answered the phone in a light tone, but his eyes instantly turned cold.
On the other end of the phone, Ango Sakaguchi's voice was as calm and restrained as ever, but his tone was slightly faster: "Dazai, are you handling a case involving an old apartment building in the suburbs?"
"Oh? The Special Abilities Division has even noticed something as trivial as this?"
"A minor matter?" Ango Sakaguchi's voice carried a hint of seriousness. "We detected abnormal energy fluctuations in that area, with a very peculiar pattern, similar to high-intensity mental pollution. The source of the fluctuations is highly concentrated in the building you're in, or more precisely, in the room you're investigating. This isn't an ordinary supernatural event. What have you encountered?"
Dazai Osamu briefly explained the situation, emphasizing the characteristics of the "gaze," the "crack," and the "non-physical aggregate," and subtly mentioning Kobayashi Yuta's possible "voyeurism."
Ango Sakaguchi quickly deduced that this was yet another ghost story.
Dazai Osamu inquired about the origins of the apartment building.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, followed by the sound of typing: "...According to the records we retrieved."
Ango Sakaguchi's voice came through the receiver, clear and calm: "The apartment building you mentioned, and room 307 itself, are very ordinary in the work area's records. There have been no murders, no special historical events recorded, and the previous tenants were all ordinary office workers or students, with varying lengths of stay. The records they left behind were nothing more than routine maintenance requests or complaints about noise from neighbors, with no abnormal reports whatsoever. There are no problems with the building itself."
This result reaffirmed their initial judgment, and Dazai Osamu grunted in response.
“However,” Ango Sakaguchi’s tone shifted, becoming extremely serious, “the energy monitoring results are accurate. This level of high-intensity mental pollution is not just hearsay.”
"Since we've ruled out the location itself, based on the 'voyeurism' characteristics you provided and Mr. Kobayashi's situation, the most reasonable explanation is that he wasn't entangled in any existing 'place ghost stories.' Rather, it was a strong trait of his own—the 'voyeurism' you mentioned and his overt 'fear'—that acted like a beacon, attracting and catalyzing fragments of negative thoughts that were floating and yet to form in the city. Ultimately, in his ordinary environment, a new ghost story centered around him was born."
Ango Sakaguchi paused again, as if to stop more technical language: "In other words, the ghost story in that crack was very likely born of him and came for him. It was a product of his inner darkness and outward fears, and it fed on his spiritual fears. The house itself is not the problem; the problem is the person living in the room and what he attracted."
This conclusion made Kunikida Doppo even more solemn, while Kobayashi Yuta was struck dumb, his face turning ashen. It turned out that the root of everything was actually himself.
“It’s important to note,” Ango Sakaguchi added at the end, “that while these kinds of ghost stories that originate from individuals may have a smaller initial impact, their connection to the ‘host’ is often deeper and harder to sever. Even after losing its host, it will seek out someone with the same traits as a host, and it will constantly exploit the host’s inner weaknesses, so please handle them with extreme caution.”
"If necessary, you can contact the Ghost Stories Consulting Agency."
After hanging up the phone, Dazai Osamu briefly told the two of them Sakaguchi Ango's analysis. Kobayashi Yuta collapsed to the ground, covered his face with his hands, and fell into a state of great self-loathing and despair.
"Will it keep bothering me?" Yuko Kobayashi looked up and asked dejectedly.
Kunikida Doppo and Dazai Osamu exchanged a glance, and Tanizaki Jun'ichirō squatted down to comfort him, saying, "It will be resolved."
Dazai Osamu asked curiously, "Haven't you contacted the ghost story consulting agency?"
“What agency? I’ve never heard of it.” Kobayashi Yuta replied bitterly. Dazai Osamu took out a business card he had found in the trash can from his pocket. Kobayashi Yuko recognized it as the card she had thrown in the trash can the day she came back from the bookstore. She had previously thought it was an advertising card.
The card reads "Strange Tales Consulting Agency" in large letters, along with contact information and address.
Kobayashi Yuta suddenly remembered something and murmured, "Could it be... that person who secretly slipped it into my pocket?"
"Who?" Dazai Osamu asked with interest.
"He looks like a young man who isn't very old." Yuko Kobayashi told them in detail about the mysterious young man she met at the bookstore that day.
"Perhaps if you had contacted the other party in the first place, the matter might have been resolved," Kunikida Doppo said with a sigh. After all, he was a professional. Although the Armed Detective Agency could handle unusual incidents, most of the cases involved supernatural abilities.
Yuta Kobayashi's face fell, and he looked distressed: "Even if I contact them, I don't have the money to entrust them with this."
His pockets were empty; he even owed the money he paid to hire the armed detective agency to him to come from his landlord.
Thinking about this made Yuta Kobayashi feel even worse.
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