067. Go tell Natsumi about your suspicions.

With all the men out of town, the law is really enforced by Natsumi. Technically old Mister Cho is the elder, but he never leaves his home shop anymore; says walking hurts his old bones. But he couldn't stop a criminal in his own shop if he wasn't right across the street from the Honda dojo. She is the only person I could reasonably expect to confront Azami so I returned and watched as she examined my sister's corpse.

She saw me, but mostly ignored me, still just inspecting the damage to "Go home Matsumoto," Natsumi said with only mild annoyance. "There's nothing more you can do here."

"No, I want to help," I insisted. "I think Azami did this."

The giant woman looked up at me scowling. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, it's her bed!" I snapped back. I could tell that she was going to refute my accusation so I quickly added loudly, "Come on. Like anyone could sleep through someone being murdered right next to them!?"

"And when was the last time you saw Kouki?" she asked sternly.

Proudly I proclaimed, "She was asleep right next to..." I didn't finish, suddenly realizing the same argument I had just made applied to myself as well.

"Yet you think she was **** and somehow you slept through it?" Natsumi said as accusingly as I had just done.

"Maybe she got up," I postulated, "To go to the bathroom or something." That was the first thought on my mind as the room now stunk from my sister's voided bowels.

Oddly enough Natsumi smiled. "Now you're thinking. So she stealthily went outside freely, trying not to wake you. Then something happened and she ended up dead here. And to not wake Azami is no great feat; that woman can sleep through quite a lot." I again wanted to ask why she believed Azami was innocent, but clearly, she accepted that I was as well, and she was three steps ahead of my train of thought, so I just tried to think and follow her analysis.

Then I spotted something hidden between two joints of the floor. "What's this?" I asked picking up a narrow curled sliver of something organic and dark brown with a few red spots on the outside.

"It looks like a cut piece off some kind of mushroom," Natsumi got a good close look at it as she cautiously took it from me. "I'll go have Old Miss Yamada or Yuki see if they can identify it." Then even more to my shock Natsumi gave me a pat on the back and said, "Good job so... Kenji."

I was confused by her sudden awkwardness. Natsumi looked torn between how she should react as if she wanted to say something more, but instead, she just gave me a weird smile and then left. I had no clue what to make of it and was left there trying to decide what to do next. My heart sank as I looked once more into the unseeing eyes of my sister as I gently closed them forever before walking out.

I hoped that the bit of mushroom I found would lead Natsumi to my sister's murderer, but I wasn't anywhere near as sure as she seemed to be. I was morose and directionless, unsure what to do next, so I just made my way home slowly, puttering about before collapsing into my bed and attempting to sleep off my despair. Almost immediately I began dreaming again, this time visualizing the meeting of Natsumi as she spoke with Yuki.

"It's a common mushroom that only grows on the southern cliffs of the town, but it isn't poisonous," the pink-haired girl explained to the giantess.

Natsumi paused to consider that for a moment. "Any side effects from it?"

Yuki tapped her finger to her jaw thinking. "It's bitter, so not good for food, but in large doses, it can cause dizziness and lethargy." Then she oddly smiled, "Kenji came to see Grandmama a few years back after Hazuka dared him to eat them." Then she laughed, "She was so worried that she had killed him, she was blatting as she **** him in. Grandmama gave him some concentrated wasabi and he started puking it all back up."

"So Kenji knows about this mushroom already?" Natsumi asked aloud, though not to Yuki, but to herself as she was deep in thought.

I also connected the dots and even though I knew this was just a dream I began to worry and sweat. I tried to wake myself, but couldn't. Then there was a loud noise and they both looked directly at me. This freaked me out, but suddenly Yuki started screaming in terror and I launched myself at them.

Ceiling. My eyes snapped open and I was panting for breath starting up at my ceiling. Shit, my brain is going crazy. With Kouki gone my mind was a mess trying to cope. For all her whining and moody bossiness I figured this was all just my way of missing her. I wanted to cry, but the tears just wouldn't come. I decided then I had to do something, so got up and went after Natsumi to see if there was anything else that I could do.

But as soon as I got to the top of the hill I knew it was too late. There was a dark column of smoke that billowed up into the sky, slanting across the blue slowly with the gentle breeze, then sharply across as the faster winds in the sky dissipated it over the ocean. I didn't need any guesses to know that it was Yuki's home engulfed in flames and my gut told me that whatever happened both she and Natsumi were both dead.

"Kenji!" I heard a shout and saw Hazuka running up the hill towards me. "Fire! Come help," she yelled, but I couldn't move. Had I done that in my dream? Was I somehow the one who murdered my sister? I became lost in my guilt so didn't notice Hazuka get right up in my face. "Kenji!" she shouted again.

"No, Hazuka. You need to leave me alone," I said turning my back on my friend.

She grabbed my wrist and scowled, "What's wrong with you?"

I swallowed and decided to tell her, "I think I... Maybe I did it."

"Did what?" she asked, not understanding my confession.

"Killed them," I whispered and then in shock she finally let me go.

"That's crazy," she suddenly threw my fragile sanity for a loop as she laughed. "You couldn't hurt a mouse. Remember when I dared you to and you..."

"I dreamt about strangling a woman last night and then..." I muttered.

"Nonsense," Hazuka excused my mad ramblings. "You're just upset and..."

"And just now I had a dream about Natsumi and Yuki," I continued, and that finally shook Hazuka's faith.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," she reasoned, but the lack of conviction in her voice made it clear it was herself she was trying to convince, not me.

"Go," I simply said to her. "Get as far away from me as you can before I dream about you." I'd intended to scare her away for her own safety, but actually seeing her run away bothered me more than I thought it would.

Then a sudden pain swelled up in my head, throbbing and blinding. I was getting dizzy and figured whatever was happening to me was about to s strike again. "Don't think of Hazuka," I mumbled to myself. "Anyone but her." The pounding got worse as I stumbled into a bush on the side of the road and everything went blank for just a moment and I saw Setsuko's gorgeous smile.

"No!" I bolted up out of my torpor, but I was somewhere else... a bedroom. As my senses cleared I saw Azami, kneeling before me, curled up, laughing? No, she was crying? She was holding her daughter Setsuko, but she looked wrong. Had she powdered her face? And why was the floor sticky? It was covered in black-red paint or… Then I saw the big bloody gash in Setsuko that still seeped onto her ruined dress and the floor. In front of them lay a bloody knife.

"Oh, shit," I groaned, my heart dropping. I think maybe… did I do this somehow? What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I remember?!?

Then Azami stopped crying and looked up at me, an unnatural blaze of orange fire in her normally pale blue eyes. <I think she looks better in red, don't you?> It was her, possessed by some kind of oni! My head started to sting again and the evil bitch just started to laugh. My head was swimming, pounding with pain and loss. I had to do something quickly!