by Unknown
The bus driver closed the doors behind her, but I tapped on the window frantically until he opened them and let me on. I boarded the bus and caught sight of Mana sitting at the back trying her best to look invisible. I slid into the empty seat beside her. Mana crossed her arms and turned away from me to look out the window like I wasn’t there. I anxiously waited for her to say something, but when she remained silent I decided that it was up to me to start up a conversation.
“Hey Mana,” I said. “You should just ignore those-”
“Itsuki says that I can't talk to you anymore,” she said. “He says you're a monster and you'll probably eat everyone when you get the chance.”
“That's ridiculous!" I said. "You shouldn't believe anything that guy says.”
“But Itsuki's been my best friend since I was ten, and up until now he has never lied to me.”
“Well,” I paused for words. “Maybe Itsuki is just overreacting this time.”
“Everyone says he's a genius who hasn't made a single mistake so far.”
“Look,” I said in an attempt to steer the conversation away from my least favorite person. “I don’t know what you're going through. But I know how it feels to be treated like you're different, the best thing you can do is not let it bother yo-.”
“What do you know!” Mana snapped. “Maybe just Itsuki hates you, but no one at school treats you differently at all. Ever since sports day you're more popular than ever! Someone like you can’t possibly understand what I’m going through!”
“But it's not even that bad,” I said. “Your face doesn't look any different at all.”
“That's not what everyone else says,” she said. “I can hear them talking behind my back, they call me names like Scarface and Frankenstein. Even one of the girls in our class asked me what it feels like to suddenly be ugly."
"No one is talking behind your back!" I said before I remembered the two guys who insulted her. "Well, maybe just those last two idiots, but who cares what they think anyway."
"Ryota Sato is the most popular boy in our grade," she said. “All the girls like him.”
"That doesn't matter," I said while trying to think up some cool macho lines which would make me look good and restore Mana's confidence. "You’re just over thinking it. You should just ignore them and pretend that what they say doesn’t bother you at all. That’s what I do.”
“And that actually works?”
“Yes of course!” I said. "I mean, you probably don't even need that plaster anymore."
“Really?” She asked a little more calmly. “Do you really think that?”
“You bet I do,” I said. “The best thing for you to do is to just go to class without it, and don't care what they say. That way those guys won’t have any new material to bully you about.”
Mana sat there silently for a moment like she was contemplating my words. “You’re so confident and brave Daisuke,” she said. “I admire the way that you can keep acting normal even after everything that happened. I wish it was that easy for me too.”
She slowly peeled back the tape that was keeping her plaster in place and removed it all. She turned towards me and it was the first time that I had seen the right side of her face from the night she was injured. I know that I should have said something kind and reassuring, but all I managed to say was a startled "Mana."
“Can’t you see Daisuke," she said sadly. "Now I also look like a monster.”
Chapter 18
On days without school, Nina’s brother assigned us to patrol the town for monsters. It seemed like most of the dangerous Obake decided to skip town once they heard that the great and terrifying Raccoon King was in the area, so we were left with just the smaller monsters, and the ones too stupid to run away. The last few monster hunts had been particularly boring and Taisei was beginning to suffer from the lack of excitement. Arashi also confiscated his phone, so Taisei was going through smartphone withdrawal. He could be seen putting his hand into his pocket to search for it at least once and hour.
“This sucks,” said Taisei as we walked through the shopping district on our way back. The street was crowded with Sunday afternoon shoppers, but that didn’t make Taisei keep his voice down. “We should be out there searching for the Raccoon King too, instead we’re stuck here patrolling the town for dung beetle Obake. Dung beetle Obake! I don’t even know why they’re even classed as an Obake. They’re not even big enough to eat people!”
“But there have been some cases of them swarming people in large groups,” said Nina.
“Phff, you’d need about a thousand of them to eat my foot,” said Taisei. “No, we belong on the front lines. You at least agree with me right Kurumi?”
Kurumi crossed her arms and turned away. She wasn’t talking to Taisei because he laughed when she got a beetle stuck in her hair.
“You’re only saying that because you want the Raccoon King's picture,” said Mana.
“I don’t just want its picture,” said Taisei. “This could be the epic battle of the century. All the best and brightest exorcists assembled to take down a terrifying and dangerous monster. That sort of picture could end up in the history books. At least you agree with me right Kiyori?”
“Is that a new donut shop?” Asked Kiyori as he pointed to a new store ahead of us.
“Come on Kiyori,” Taisei continued. “You and me against a deadly monster, it’s what we’ve always dreamed about.”
“Look they have a two for one special,” said Kiyori who clearly wasn’t listening.
“You’re just jealous because Raisei’s getting all the spotlight instead of you,” said Mana.
“Raisei,” huffed Taisei. “Raisei, I don’t give a damn about Raisei, and for the record don’t you ever mention that name in front of me again.”
Taisei then began a long speech about how Akito was cheating us all by leaving us behind. I stopped paying attention to what he was saying and anxiously glanced at Mana. I guess seeing her face had been a shock at first. A large scar ran from her forehead to her chin, and it only narrowly missed her eye. She no longer had stitches, but it still looked too new and obvious to hide with make up.
I didn’t know what to say when I first saw it, but after a while I realised that Mana’s face wasn't as bad as she acted. Sure she had quite a large scar, but she still looked like Mana. I thought about saying that to her, but by then Mana had already gotten off the bus and left me alone with my thoughts. I didn’t have the courage to approach her since then. I was embarrassed about how I just sat there silently staring like an idiot. I was afraid that no matter what I said I would just make things worse.
I tried my best to watch Mana as inconspicuously as possible, but she didn’t hide her occasional glances at Itsuki.
To Mana everything was always about Itsuki. Itsuki, Itsuki, Itsuki. I didn't think it was possible, but I was beginning to dislike him more everyday.
I spotted Itsuki standing on his toes and staring at someone amongst the crowd.
Taisei didn’t seem to notice the tense atmosphere amongst his teammates and continued ranting. “And all that crap he said about needing our parents permission is a bunch of crap, because I know for a fact that- HEY ITSUKI WHERE ARE YOU GOING!” Yelled Taisei as Itsuki suddenly dashed after someone in the crowd.
I was pretty happy that Itsuki ran away (I had no interest in following him anywhere) but then Mana ran after him, then Taisei ran after Mana, Nina ran after Taisei, Kurumi ran after Nina because she didn’t want her being alone with her ex-boyfriend, and then Souta ran away too because everyone else was running in that direction.
I didn’t want to run after anyone, but I didn’t want to be left alone with Kiyori in case he attempted to extort me for donut money.
“Hey wait up!” I yelled as I joined the pursuit and frantically sprinted to catch up with the others.
“Why are we running?” Cried Souta.
“Itsuki looks like he’s spotted a monster,” said Kurumi. “He does this sometimes,
and obviously has no consideration for people wearing these sort of shoes.”
“An Obake?” I squinted ahead to see Itsuki dashing through the crowd after a small overly hairy man wearing a baseball cap and surgeon's mask. He looked like some sort of animal/human, but he was dressed in large sweatpants and a jacket, so it was difficult to tell what sort of monster it was. I caught sight of him quickly push an old woman out of the way in an attempt to escape Itsuki’s frantic pursuit.
We ran through the crowd of shoppers and I had to constantly dodge bicycles and prams. I quickly overtook Souta, Nina, Kurumi and Mana until I was running neck and neck with Taisei as we sprinted after Itsuki.
“I think he’s heading for the bridge,” said Taisei. “If he’s planning on escaping through the waterway then we’ll never catch him.”
“Seriously! Is he dangerous!” I yelled back but Taisei shrugged.
"We won't know anything until we catch him," said Taisei.
Itsuki was pretty quick and fit, but even he was beginning to tire and slow down in pursuit of the monster’s unnatural speed. The distance between Itsuki and the monster was growing further and further and it wouldn’t be long before Itsuki lost him forever. I could see the bridge in the distance so I picked up speed. If Itsuki couldn’t catch him then I would have to do it for him.
Much like I had during the marathon I easily surpassed Itsuki. His face winced in annoyance, but he nodded his head and I took that as permission to run past him.
The monster and I dashed around the corner and towards the bridge. There was a small red bridge in the middle of the town with a waterway that ran under it. It was obvious that the monster was planning on diving into the water to escape our pursuit.
It sprinted towards the bridge's metal railing and began climbing over, but I was right behind him. I was confident that I could stop him from getting away. I reached out to grab his jacket and pull him back, but at that moment I noticed another strange guy staring at me intensely from the other side of the bridge. All the other shoppers were happily chatting in small groups, but this one guy was standing alone casually leaning on the railing like he was waiting for us to come. I wasn't certain why, but I knew that he was an Obake.
He was dressed in a dark black coat which looked out of place on such a warm sunny day, and his face was unnaturally pasty like he was terminally ill. His short black hair was messy and greasy, and he looked like someone who had just died.
He stood there staring at me with a frown, and when my gaze met his, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of dread.
“No,” I whispered. “It can’t be possible.”
It was my only chance to grab the small furry guy climbing over the railing, but I could do nothing but stand there and stare at the creepy monster in the black coat.
“Daisuke!” Yelled Taisei’s voice from behind me which brought me back to reality. I reached out to grab the furry monster but it was already too late. In a fraction of a second he jumped into the waterway below us. It was at least a three meter jump and he had nowhere to run, but when I quickly looked over the bridge I could only see water and the monster was gone.
I looked back across the bridge to the monster in the black coat, but he had vanished like a ghost.
I frantically scanned the area, but there was no sign of the monsters any where. The next thing I knew I was being pushed by Itsuki.
“Hey what the hell do you think you’re doing!” Yelled Itsuki as he shoved me to the ground. “You had him and then you just let him escape? What are you playing at!”
He raised his fist and looked ready to punch me before Mana and Taisei grabbed him and pulled him back.
“He did it on purpose,” said Itsuki as he struggled against their grip. “I saw everything! There was another one over there and the two of them just stood there staring at each other like old friends!”
“There’s no point getting angry,” said Taisei. “We wouldn’t have been able to do much with this many people around.”
“Well, I agree with Itsuki,” said Kurumi. “What were you thinking Daisuke?”
“I, I,” I stuttered. I wasn’t sure how to put what I saw into words without sounding insane.
“It must have been a pretty scary monster right?” Asked Nina. “Is that why you froze?”
“Yeah,” I said and nodded nervously.
“Bullshit! I saw him too and he wasn’t scary at all,” said Itsuki, but then Taisei grabbed him and put him into a strangle hold.
“What did this other guy look like?” Asked Taisei as he held Itsuki and began rubbing Itsuki’s head with his knuckles to irritate him. “He must have been super creepy.”
“Hey, knock it off,” said Mana. She attempted to stop Taisei from tormenting Itsuki but he refused to relent.
“Hey quit it,” said Taisei as Mana began punching his arm. “It’s part of a leader’s job to make sure that your subordinates respect you.”
Normally the sight of Itsuki being tormented was enough to bring me joy, but I couldn’t shake the unease which was slowly growing larger in the pit of my stomach.
Taisei was right, the monster in the black coat had been terrifying, but not in the scream and wet your pants sort of way. If Itsuki had gotten there first he would have probably exorcised it without flinching. I was probably the only one who was afraid. What the others didn’t realize and what freaked me out the most, was that it had the same face as the ex-human monster who I saw in my dream.
Chapter 19
“So you’re saying that you spotted two monsters in the shopping district today,” said Nina’s brother once we got back to headquarters to report the incident. “How did you know he was an Obake Itsuki?”
"It was the way he moved," said Itsuki. "He looked like he was hiding something."
“Wow! That’s amazing Itsuki,” said Souta. “I didn’t notice anything at all.”
I rolled my eyes. It looked like I was the only one who knew the extent of Itsuki’s amazing exorcist powers. Back when we were still friends, Itsuki once told me he could sense if someone was an Obake. I felt like blabbing about it to everyone, but I quickly realized that it would only make Itsuki look cooler.
“If they’re monsters capable of human like form then we might be dealing with a high level monster," said Arashi. "We have no choice but to follow exorcist protocol and assess the risk before taking further action."
“Assessing the risk is a waste of time,” said Itsuki. “If we wait it could already be too late,” he said while glancing over at me. I felt like he was trying to hint that they should get rid of me as well.
“There’s nothing we can do,” said Nina’s brother. “If we knew what sort of monster it was we could start to prepare.”
“Well this would have all been a lot easier if someone had been allowed to take pictures with their phone on patrol,” said Taisei.
“Not this again,” said Kurumi. “Don't you ever stop talking about your phone?”
“Well that phone was a hundred times more reliable than you ever were,” replied Taisei.
“You can’t be serious!” Kurumi retorted.
I tried my best to recall my dream as Kurumi and Taisei began to argue. I thought that I might have been imagining things in the heat of the moment, but I had a grim feeling that the guy in the black coat and the monster in my dream were the same. He was too similar to just be another human like monster with the same face.
I wasn’t sure if my dream was a repressed memory from my past, or just a strange coincidence, but I could remember shouting something else at that guy as we kicked him in the ribs. If I concentrated hard enough, I could hear the monster’s voice echoing in my head, and for a moment I felt like I was back on that night from my dream.
“I remember who you are now,” I said that night. “You’re that monster who lurks around this place at night eating rats, the townspeople have a name for you don’t they. What was it again? Ratmuncher?"
“Ha, Ratmuncher, that’s a great one,”
said the guy with the eyepatch.
“Ratmuncher, Ratmuncher, Ratmuncher,” we chanted together in a circle as we continued to beat him up.
“Rat...muncher,” I said out loud in the living room.
“What was that?” Asked Nina’s brother. He had shoved himself between Kurumi and Taisei to stop them from killing each other.
"Huh," I said. I'd been too immersed in my thoughts to realise that I'd voiced them out loud. The whole room went silent and everyone was staring at me.
"That name, you said a name," said Nina's brother.
“It was nothing,” I said while remembering Akito’s words of caution about Arashi.
“He said Ratmuncher,” said Kiyori.
“No I didn’t!” I protested, but it was already too late.
“Is that the monster's name Daisuke?" Asked Arashi.
“No. Well, maybe I heard the guy yell it out," I lied.
"I didn't hear them say anything," said Itsuki.
“Screw you Itsuki,” I said back.
"Daisuke," said Nina's brother sternly. I didn’t like the way he was staring at me. It made me feel like I had already been exposed. “Have you been experiencing memories from your time as an Obake?”
“No, of course not!” I snapped.
“Then how do you know its name?” He asked.
"I..I..I," I stuttered while trying to think of the perfect thing to say to save myself.
“That’s so creepy,” said Kurumi.
"I don't know anything, so can you all just leave me alone!" I stood up and stormed out of the room, slamming the sliding door behind me.
"Maybe you went too far," I heard Nina say to her brother as I stomped down the hallway.
"You're too soft," he said back. "Besides, we'll find out the truth soon enough. I've been dealing with monsters a lot longer than you."
I didn’t have my own room at headquarters, so I went to Akito's tool shed to escape from everyone. What gave them the right to jump to conclusions and judge me? Just because I heard some strange voices in my head didn't mean that I was weird. It all just had to be a coincidence. Like the time I dreamt about a cheese sandwich and Sis gave me one for lunch the next day.
