1

Midori looked around her in confusion. There were stepping sounds on the second floor approaching the stairway, and then she heard Mai"s voice.

"-- What"s wrong?"

Midori appeared in the corridor. Mai and company had just come down from the stairway. From the inner part of the corridor, Naru as well as Hirota showed up. Behind them, only the base was bright. It was the light of the many monitors. The light of flashlights they were holding shone on the corridor"s walls.

"Could it be the breaker?"

Naru shook his head at Mai"s question.

"That can"t be the case."

"Then, a power outage?"

Mai said, but actually a weak light shone from the side. From the dormer beside the door of the entranceway, the streetlights were shining.

"It doesn"t look like a power outage, I guess. ... What could it be?"

The moment Mai tilted her head, the light that was shining from the corridor vanished.

Naru rushed back to the base in a hurry. He didn"t even attempt to enter the room. All the monitors had gone out.

"What is it?"

"The backup power source is also affected."

"I have candles. I shall prepare them now."

Reiko said and entered the nearby dining room. Everyone followed after her, pa.s.sed through the dining room and headed to the living room.

Reiko immediately looked for the candles by relying on the light of the flashlight. She lit up the candles, placed them on candle stands and put them on top of the table. A strange, nostalgic color was visible in that light inside the darkness.

"I wonder what happened."

Hirota also tilted his head at Mai"s voice.

"I suppose it would be a good idea to ask someone."

Hirota said and looked at the telephone. Then he remembered that telephones of these days were weak to power outages.

"Midori-san, do you have a cordless telephone?"

"It"s upstairs. It should work without the main telephone and power source."

"I"ll borrow it."

Hirota picked up the receiver. As expected, while thinking "who should I call?" as he put the receiver against his ear, he realized that it was totally silent.

"What"s the matter?"

The lamp that indicated that the power supply from the battery was working was turned on. It wasn’t a dead battery.

"-- The phone is disconnected."

She reacted with a "huh" to Hirota"s voice. Mai"s spine went rigid. Something that crept along her spine made her shudder. Hey body began to shiver a little by little. Her teeth clattered.

"--? Mai-chan, what"s wrong?"

Reiko felt that Mai, who stood near her, stiffened her body all of sudden. She moved her face closer to look at her face, and realized that she was shivering to the point that her teeth chattered in terror.

"What"s the matter?"

"... ... Something is coming."

Her eyes that got accustomed to the darkness took in Mai"s hard profile.

"-- Something?"

"Yes," Mai nodded.

"A scary thing."

After she said that, the others also saw how Mai shivered greatly.

"... ... Kosori is coming."

"Eh," Midori whispered and Hirota once again held his breath. Bewildered, he looked at Naru, who seemed to be deep in thought about something.

"What is it? What could this mean?"

"d.a.m.n it," Naru whispered to himself, but it reached Hirota"s ears.

"-- What?"

"-- On what day did you say the incident happened?"

"At midnight of October 10th. On the early morning of the 11th to be exact."

"-- Today is?"

Taken aback, Hirota widened his eyes.

"October... ... the 10th. It"s already -- the 11th. -- Don"t tell me."

"It"s my mistake. ... ... To oversee something like this."

That was practically the first time his face showed an expression which exposed his true feelings. It was agony.

"What do you mean?"

"Why were the four spirits stimulated? That has definitely to do with the fact that it’s approaching the morning of the 11th. The warnings of the Kawanabe family become stronger the day the daughter’s return approaches."

"Don"t tell me that it is applicable to Sekiguchi?"

"It applies. Sekiguchi is at his wits end. He has to end everything on the night of the 10th."

"But then people should die in this house every year."

"There was a trigger!"

"Huh," Hirota looked at Naru.

"It’s Hirota-san’s words: "Will you sue them?". Midori-san said she wouldn"t, but it doesn"t guarantee that the Sakakuras believe that. Instead, they must be suspicious of everything right now. The fear that they might get sued, October the 10th. -- The conditions are present. It would rather be strange if they didn"t act."

"Act --"

"The power line as well as the telephone line were all cut off by the Sasakuras. I can’t think of anyone else who would do that besides them."

"It"s fine, because we locked the doors."

"Right?" Masako turned to look at Midori.

"Yes, we properly locked them. Didn"t we, Hirota-san?"

Hirota also nodded. Midori and the others locked the doors and Hirota closed the window of the living room which was the last to be open. He certainly confirmed that they were locked.

Naru whispered.

"-- The full-length mirror... ..."

"... ... Huh?"

"That full-length mirror opens from the outside --"