Record of Mountain Calamities - Departure: Chapter 4, Episode 1①

It is said that this is a story from long ago. Around the time the snow was melting, a merchant who had come from the direction of the beach was caught by nightfall while crossing the mountains, and he lay down in front of a small shrine in the mountains.

When he was drifting in and out of sleep, a woman came out from inside the shrine. The woman was about three shaku tall; she pulled one paper streamer from the shrine's sacred rope, stuck it to her face, and walked briskly into the mountain. The merchant followed the woman in silence.

After a while, the woman entered a magnificent mansion. When the merchant also entered the mansion, he saw trays and sake laid out in a wide tatami room. Even though there was no one there, he heard the sound of voices chatting, and the merchant became frightened and ran away.

When he returned to the village, the rice fields, where snow should have still been remaining, had rice plants swaying lushly, and cicadas were chirping loudly. When he told the villagers about the woman, they said, "You entered the mansion of a tsukumogami without permission, and as punishment, you have had ninety-nine days stolen from you."

That mountain is said to be called Ninety-Nine Mountain.


***

A path resembling an approach to a shrine, with tall cedar trees standing in rows on both sides. The ground is so flat that it is hard to believe one is in the mountains, as if one is being invited to walk this way.

Cloudy sky. A dimness like before it rains. There is no wind, and the surroundings are very quiet.

Walking ahead of Mikage is something wearing a white kimono. Its height is only about 10 centimeters. A tiny existence that would be crushed if one got too close. With a body that draws gentle curves and a slender nape, it proceeds steadily, lightly ringing the bell hanging from its waist cord.

Kuon is behind Mikage. To Mikage, who occasionally looks back, Kuon conveys his intentions each time by tapping his own brow.


Do not hesitate
Follow
Do not look with your eyes
Feel with your heart

Feeling as if that was what was being said, Mikage nodded silently in return.

I do not know how much time has passed since passing through the shrine. Everything that could confirm the time has been left on the other side of the shrine. I feel like I have walked quite a distance, but so far, there is no sense of fatigue.

Before I knew it, the surrounding scenery had changed its appearance. Now, I am walking on bumpy, dry ground. The trees that were closing in on both sides have receded, and walls of earth, slightly raised like embankments, are within reach if I stretch out my arms. It is as if I am walking on the bed of a river with no flow.

The something continued to advance without paying any mind to the two people behind it, and at one point, it suddenly quickened its pace. There was a sound in the space that had been silent. Mikage immediately realized that it was the sound of water. The sound of water falling. The moment after she pictured the waterfall in her memory, a scene approximating that appeared ahead.

The something heads toward the waterfall and quickens its pace. As in Mikage's memory, it aims for the top of the waterfall.

Water overflowing from the basin began to flow into the dry river. Water approaches Mikage's feet. The flow swallows her shoes and wets the hem of her jeans.

Kuon lined up next to Mikage, who had stopped walking. Do not worry, do not look away. Receiving such a gaze, Mikage turned her face forward.

The something reached the top of the waterfall and stopped dead. Thinking of what was about to happen, Mikage's heartbeat accelerated.

Spin. The something turned back to look at Mikage and Kuon. That face, seen for the first time. The paper streamer stuck to its forehead peeled off smoothly. What appeared was a pure white, featureless face. Kuon's hand quickly covered Mikage's mouth as she was about to scream.

The peeled-off paper streamer fell into the pool, and immediately, ripples spread from the center of the basin. They were born one after another, and in less than three seconds, the pool began to swirl.

The vortex turned into a torrent in an instant. In front of Mikage, who was bewildered by the sudden change, the something suddenly threw itself into the basin. Mikage closed her eyes involuntarily. Her body is lifted. Mikage's body is being held in front of Kuon's chest.

At the end of Kuon's gaze is the swirling basin. His feet start running, with no sign of stopping. Kuon will jump into the basin just like this. With a premonition close to certainty, Mikage closed both eyelids tightly.

Vibration. A leap. Fading consciousness—



Pitch black

Are my eyes open?
Can I see even though they aren't?

Where is this?
It's not cold
It's not warm
Inside water?
Or...

Where is Kuon?
Am I alone now?
What about the something in the kimono?

Ah, there

No
That's not the back from a moment ago
That is
The one from that time
The back I saw when I was five years old
Why...

Moving away
Wait!
Please wait
Take me with you
Me too
I want to go there too!



Light. Before my eyes is white.

"...Kuon"

I mutter, and blink.

"Are you alright?"

I look in the direction of the voice. The figure of Kuon, sitting cross-legged.

Short grass. A meadow surrounded by trees. Recognizing myself lying there, Mikage slowly sat up.

"Are you alright?"

To the second question, Mikage nodded.

"It seems we were able to enter without hesitation. From here, how to move..."

While looking around, Kuon stood up. Both his shoes and the hem of his jeans are clearly holding moisture. However, his clothes are not wet. That is the same for Mikage.

"Didn't we jump into the basin?"
"We jumped."
"But we aren't wet."
"That was a basin, and yet it was not. A path connecting space to space... if I say it's like a tunnel made by a barrier, can you understand?"
"A tunnel... we passed through that and came to the other side."
"That's right. When we were over there, it was the other side; now, it is this side. Being here is the current reality."
"...I don't know what is reality and what isn't anymore."
"Everything up until now is reality. And from here on out, it will also be reality and truth."

Quietly, but clearly. Kuon said this and put a little distance between himself and Mikage. His gaze is on the surrounding scenery. Mikage also stood up and cast her gaze out. Within the range of her vision, no artificial objects can be confirmed.

The sky is overcast. The wind is calm. The branches and leaves of the trees surrounding the meadow are silent.

"Hey, here... I feel like something is strange."
"Can you tell?"

The sound of insects, the sound of birds, the flapping of wings. I don't even feel the breath of the wind. An eerie silence. Mikage's ears become sharp, seeking sound. Her own heartbeat is what she hears most clearly.

Next to Mikage, who is standing still. Kuon, who sat down on the ground. He sits cross-legged and opens his mouth.

"There is no sign of the Reinen either. Nor the things that dwell in the mountains... We will wait here for a while. Something will start soon. We are existences that should not be here in the first place. The Master will not leave us alone."
"Something, what something?"
"I don't know."

A frank answer to a frank question. If it were the Mikage of a little while ago, she might have twisted her face in frustration. But now, she could understand that that answer was everything. If Kuon doesn't know, there is no way she would know.

Mikage sat down opposite Kuon, leaving a little space. Hugging her knees, she exhales softly. The reverberation leaves in an instant, there is no sign of other sounds flowing into the space, and she still cannot feel even the wind brushing against her ears.

It is not hot. It is not cold. It is not dry, nor is there a persistent humidity spreading.

"...It's a 'nothing' situation."
"What is?"

Kuon picks up on Mikage's casual mutter. At that unexpected action, Mikage forgot to breathe for a split second. Kuon's gaze remains fixed on Mikage's face without moving. Does it mean he is waiting for the next word?

"...I don't know what will start. I don't know when it will start. There is no sound. It's not hot, and it's not cold. I just thought... there is nothing."
"I was thinking the same thing."

Quietly cutting off his words, Kuon laid his back on the ground.

Mikage moved her face to where Kuon's gaze was directed. No birds appear to cross her field of vision, and since her own breathing sounds like it might echo in the space that is too quiet, she forces herself to create words.

"I've read and heard the folktales of Kono many times since I was a child, but to think that it's reality... even though I've come to a place called the Mountain God's Garden, I don't feel it at all."
"The feeling of being here now is something that belongs only to you. If you don't believe it to be so, it might be the same as a fabrication."
"Eh?"
"When you return to your original place, how will you keep what happened here in your memory... If you think it wasn't reality, it will be positioned the same as a fabrication... That's not bad either. It depends on how you think about it."
"If you say that, it sounds like I have no choice but to recognize it as reality."
"Did it sound like that?"
"It did."
"Then, that is what it will be."

Saying this, Kuon closed his eyes.


—If I believe it, it's reality
If I doubt it, it's a fabrication


This current situation. I can't really believe it. Even the things leading up to coming here. But I am definitely here, right now.


Where is the boundary line of truth?


The words Kuon said to her shortly after they met revive within Mikage. Perhaps she is on that boundary line right now. Can Kuon see that boundary line?


—Should I ask?
No
Not yet
I won't ask yet
No
I can't ask
That is surely
Something I have to find myself


"What did you see?"

A question suddenly thrown at her. Without hiding her surprise, Mikage pierces Kuon, who still has his eyes closed, with her gaze.

"On the way to arriving here, didn't you see something?"
"Ah... um, a back in a kimono. But it's different from the one I was looking at until I jumped into the basin."
"Different?"
"Yeah... I think it's the one I saw when I was five."
"...I saw a man's back in the darkness."

Kuon is silent. Both of them followed different things and arrived here. Does that mean they are one? Mikage began to question herself. Suddenly, Takamaru's words floated up.


Just like you don't know
Kuon doesn't know either


Kuon also doesn't know what it means. That is why he is trying to seek an answer. Together with her.


—Is that what it is?


Almost at the same time that Mikage threw the question at her own realization, a melody harboring sorrow ran through the space that had been maintaining silence.