Chapter 45

2. The God of Abundant Fruit

The peaceful air along the river suddenly changed.

Thinking this was the best village so far was a mistake. This village has been messed up from the start. That old woman is proof enough.

"Is something wrong?"

The old woman looked up at me with a grin. Her yellowed teeth matched the stains on her apron.

"No, it's just... a sudden ringing in my ears..."

"Was it the sound of the Bells?"

The old woman clapped her hands like a prayer.

"How lucky! Normally, only locals can hear it, you know."

The old woman closed her eyes slightly and made a gesture of listening.

I gave a vague smile and stepped back from her. Kirima grabbed the back of my shirt like a kitten.

"Did you hear something?"

His tone was as interrogative as ever, but there was a hint of concern in his eyes.

"It was the sound of the Bells. You too?"

"...I thought it was just some wind chime from a house."

"It wasn't like that. It sounded like dozens of them ringing all at once."

"Abundant fruit... huh."

Kirima looked up at an old wooden sign.

"Suzunari means when many fruits grow in clusters—like a crowd gathering in one place."

I replied with a simple "Huh," and said nothing more. I had a bad feeling again.

"You want to see where the Human Pillars were buried...?"

At Kirima's request, the old woman put a hand to her cheek and fell into thought.

"We'll need permission from Karigane-san."

"Karigane?"

"The family of the landowner who built that bridge. Technically, it's still their private property."

I stepped between the reluctant old woman and Kirima, putting on my best dumb college student face.

"Well, you see, our professor is a really big name in academic circles, and he told us to research this village thoroughly. He's planning to write a book and develop tourism around it."

"Oh my!"

The old woman's eyes lit up. People from rural areas, proud of their heritage but lacking in value, are easy marks.

"Then, how about I show you just the stone chamber? That part is allowed to be seen."

The old woman quickly took off her apron. Kirima shot me a disgusted look. I had helped, after all.

While the old woman was getting ready, I gazed at the bridge. A young couple crossed it, pausing to cup their ears. Even the shopkeeper steaming buns in a souvenir store did the same.

What a creepy village. Everyone hears the Bells like it's normal and thinks it's a good thing.

Guided by the old woman, we descended the embankment.

The smell of soil and grass grew stronger, and summer weeds brushed against my jeans. The river's surface shimmered like the belly of a dead fish.

Walking behind the tottering old woman, Kirima spoke.

"Oblivion."

"You really trying to act like my brother?"

"...Sadahito."

"You say my first name way too easily. It's creepy."

"A detective's strength is memory, after all."

I kicked at the grass tangled around my feet.

"What's your first name again?"

"You don't need to know."

"I'm not calling you big bro or anything."

"...Renjirou."

I definitely saw that name in the documents at the task force base. But I thought the guy's last name was Kirima.

"This way."

My thoughts were cut off by the old woman's voice.

At the base of the bridge, hidden by overgrown grass, stones were piled up.

The stones were arranged like a cave, combined with wooden boards, forming a simple Small Shrine. Peering inside, there was no floor—just a chilling hole. It looked like a trap.

"Seems like a stone chamber used for self-sacrifice. Monks seeking to become living gods would seclude themselves here to copy scriptures..."

Kirima's voice was answered by the old woman.

"Yes, it's probably close to that. A noble act of offering oneself to serve god and the village."

Kirima said "Excuse me" and shone a penlight into the hole.

I gasped. The sweat from the heat turned cold.

I also heard Kirima groan.

The inside of the stone chamber sloped downward, letting us see all the way to the bottom. The walls were covered in countless scratches and reddish-brown lines.

It looked like someone clawed at it with bloody hands. At the bottom, grass, fallen leaves, and some black liquid had pooled. Floating among it were thin, shell-like fragments—like pink seashells. I instinctively thought they were human fingernails.

The sound of the Bells rang out again.

We climbed back up the embankment, completely deflated.

We had witnessed something horrible. Kirima whispered to me.

"You saw that, right?"

"Yeah..."

"That stone chamber's too big. Two people—no, if they squeeze, even four could fit. Self-sacrifice isn't done in groups."

I looked back at Kirima. I hadn't realized that.

"But it's not like they actually used it for training, right?"

"Maybe. But what's more suspicious is that slope. Even if someone inside tried to climb out, they couldn't. Would you need that kind of trap if you went in willingly?"

Push a person in, seal it with stones and boards. The scratching of their nails echoes through the night, drowned out by the river and the sound of Bells.

I shook off the horrible image in my mind.

The old woman walking ahead stopped.

"Oh, from the Karigane family."

A high school girl stood in front of the bridge.

My eyes widened. It was the girl who had covered her ears on that bridge.

"School day? Perfect timing. Is someone home? These students from Tokyo want to investigate the bridge in detail..."

The old woman said cheerfully, but the high school girl curled her lips in mockery.

"Students?"

She looked at me and Kirima. No matter how you looked at us, we didn't seem like students.

I thought she'd blow us off, but the girl snorted and walked over.

"Sure, but you're buying me something."

Kirima and I exchanged glances. He sighed.

"I'll expense it."

"She's a damn brat..."

"Look who's talking."

I clicked my tongue.

We entered a café right next to the bridge.

The traditional-style shop had no door, just a navy curtain with Bells painted on it swaying in the breeze.

Prompted by the high school girl, we sat in the back on seats without backrests.

"Shaved ice, Blue Hawaii flavor. With soft-serve on top."

She ordered without looking at the menu. Kirima added two iced coffees.

After the server left, the girl crossed her legs. Rude little brat.

"You're not really students, are you?"

Kirima's expression didn't change.

"Then what do we look like?"

"A detective and... unemployed?"

"Correct."

I answered, and Kirima smacked me with the menu. The girl laughed, her expression softening.

A tray arrived with two coffees and a bowl of shaved ice.

"Karigane means you're the landowner, right?"

At Kirima's question, the high school girl nodded.

"Yeah. We don't technically have landowners anymore, but in the countryside, those hierarchical relationships are still a big deal."

Karigane crushed the soft serve with a spoon and shoved it into the sea of blue ice. I thought it was a disgusting way to eat.

"So, detective, what did you come here for? Investigating a murder from centuries ago?"

Kirima furrowed his brows.

"Murder?"

"That guy seems to have noticed already, though."

Karigane pointed the tip of the spoon at me. I brushed it away with my hand.

"Don't point that thing at me."

"You're the same, aren't you?"

Kirima only ever says unnecessary things. Karigane laughed again.

"Unemployed guy, you had a pale face on that bridge, right?"

So she did notice back then.

"You too, right?"

"You can hear it, can't you? Do you have spiritual sensitivity or something?"

I averted my eyes. Karigane slurped up the ice mixed with Blue Hawaii syrup.

"I don't, but I'm from the landowner's family."

Kirima drank the coffee without using a straw.

"So it's connected to the house? Like building the bridge?"

"Well, yeah. Didn't you think that legend was weird?"

While Kirima hesitated, I answered.

"That part about willingly becoming a human pillar is a lie, right?"

Ignoring Kirima's glare, I continued.

"Of course they forced the poorest person in the village to do it. Even the parents of the girl who became the human pillar committed suicide."

"Right, but it wasn't just because they were poor. She refused to become the landlord's son's mistress."

Bingo. I figured it was something like that.

"The girl kept ringing the bells, hoping for salvation. Her parents, who heard it and tried to save her, were caught by the villagers and drowned in the river. That's the real story."

"Then why go out of the way to renovate the bridge? To make the legend more believable?"

Karigane's expression vanished. Her naturally neat features now looked eerily terrifying.

"The sound of the bells kept ringing for weeks, for months. Even though the girl should've been long dead. The whole village got scared. Murderers, yet such fools. Even after reinforcing the bridge with stone, the sound didn't stop. So they kept strengthening it—more solid, more extravagant—until finally the bells stopped. The truth got distorted and turned into a fake-sounding legend, but the custom still continues."

Kirima was speechless. The village was worse than he expected.

Karigane wiped her mouth with a wet towel and let out a breath.

"Lately, the sound of the bells has grown stronger again. What do you think?"

The tongue she stuck out was blue, like a monster's.