02x01 - That God's Name Is

[bunniefuu]

In this world, there are yokai, ayakashi,

spectres, demons,

mononoke, and ghosts.

Creatures with those names exist, just like everything else.

There is reason that transcends reason,

and logical and illogical go hand in hand.

By the way, I got to witness the wisdom of our lady the other day.

Amazing! You were in the presence of our great lady!

Oh, how I envy you! I hear that she is quite beautiful.

Indeed. Though she is human,

she offered her right eye and left leg to become our Goddess of Wisdom.

She is beauty and elegance defined.

She eventually reached the age of twenty, and has been solving

all sorts of conflicts among ayakashi,

and resolving problems that occur with humans.

Just the other day, she solved a problem that could've gone south

peacefully and without injuries.

According to the rumors I've heard, our lady can be rather harsh.

On the other hand, yes, she can be harsh.

Those who defy our lady will be seen through in an instant, and suffer pain.

One must admire her ruthlessness.

There are times when the humans finding out about our existence

can prove to be inconvenient for us.

That is when she tells the humans that we do not even exist, using a convincing lie,

to make sure we can stay hidden.

This cannot be achieved with average wit.

But I'm sure there are those who don't find her amusing

and defy her.

And surely there are those who

would use v*olence or yokai powers to try to harm our lady.

She may be the Goddess of Wisdom, but if she is dainty and elegant,

Health Land

she may be easily k*lled.

Have no fear. Our lady has many allies.

It's also in those situations when our lady's wisdom truly shines.

She will see through any insolent fool who tries anything,

and before they know it, the fool has fallen for her trap and is defeated instead.

But that doesn't change the fact that she's in a dangerous position.

No need to worry.

In recent years, our lady has found herself a boyfriend,

and he protects her without fail.

A boyfriend?!

But surely, he must be a human, as well.

Apparently, he looks like a normal human to our lady and the rest of the humans,

but through our eyes, he could not look any more cursed and unsightly.

He was with our lady the other day, and he is still truly horrifying.

I believe his name is Sakuragawa Kuro,

and he became immortal because he ate mermaid flesh!

Immortal, eh? Then we can't let our guard down.

But wouldn't that make him almost a monster?

Alas, he has consumed one other yokai.

This gave him another terrifying power.

Thankfully, he is obedient to our lady,

but if that creature goes berserk, we would stand no chance,

even with a thousand of our best.

So he's more powerful than the rumors say.

What's the matter? Is there something you wanted to discuss with her ladyship?

Yes.

It appears as though a troublesome monster has wandered into the condo I am haunting.

Who knows? I may be strangled to death.

So, what do you think, Kuro-senpai?

Why don't we move?

And how did we get on this subject again?

I told you a ghost haunting some condo had contacted me.

And you had previously mentioned that it was becoming difficult to live here,

so you wanted to move.

Ah, yes. Ever since some neighbors decided

to spread rumors about me bringing a little girl

to my apartment and doing lascivious deeds.

But why would anyone spread such a vile rumor?!

It's because of you.

Because you keep coming over to my place and causing a fuss.

Then all you need to do is explain that I'm your girlfriend,

and I attend your university!

I'd rather not lie like that.

But that's not a lie! It's the truth!

And we are doing salacious things!

I actually wish you'd be more forward in doing so!

Again, it's because you say these things that these rumors spread.

So, what exactly did this ghost want?

The ghost who came to me is the ghost bound to that area.

He mostly spends his time living in room on the fifth floor.

The human living there loves movies,

and the ghost enjoys watching them with him.

I mean, I'm sure ghosts need entertainment, too.

And when they're in that apartment late at night...

They hear what sounds like someone slowly pounding a log onto the floor,

like, "thunk, thunk," from the room above.

I wouldn't say the sound is particularly loud,

but it has a bizarre heaviness and steadiness to it,

and it doesn't sound as though the resident above

is making that noise to complain or to be malicious.

The sound itself doesn't last very long,

so the owner of this condo seemed to generously ignore it.

But I immediately started to get chills from that noise,

so I just had an awful feeling.

The condo's owner also started to feel as though the noises grew more frequent

and became creeped out by it,

so he asked the manager to give the resident above a warning.

But then the manager said...

that the apartment directly above has been vacant for over two months.

Oh, how terrifying!

Now, calm down.

It could just be that the building materials

started settling due to changes in the weather, and so made that noise.

That happens all the time.

But then it would just be some small noise, like a cr*ck.

It wouldn't be a heavy, continuous "thud."

But that's not the only thing!

The manager grew concerned and checked out the room directly above.

And within this empty room with no furniture or curtains...

An old doll that hadn't been there before happened to be on the floor.

This doll was very creepy, and it was clearly emitting a suspicious aura,

so he couldn't even get closer to it.

Oh, how scary!

Dolls are creepy.

Especially older ones that easily become cursed or filled with desire.

The manager couldn't bring himself to touch it, so he just shut the door and ran away.

That doll can't be normal.

A proper ghost or monster would show themselves in the room,

and would come to properly greet me.

Instead, they just keep making that sound, as if to thr*aten me,

and remain hidden.

What could they be plotting?

They might just be slowly spreading a curse across the whole building.

If it's just an item meant to spread a curse, we won't be able to reason with it.

It would be troublesome to deal with.

The manager said he would talk to the owner to get it checked out

or possibly have the room exorcised,

but there are still nights when we hear the noise.

And the owner of the condo can't move away easily,

so he's getting anxious.

I'm a ghost bound to this land, so I can't leave this place.

And I'm too scared to go upstairs.

Please, my lady.

Could you go upstairs to find out what lurks above

and help us resolve this matter peacefully?

Hm... So the problem is this doll.

We'll have to find out about its past inhabitant, too.

And there you have it!

So that I can fully investigate that apartment,

let's go ahead and move there ourselves!

It's not that far from our school, so I think it'd be perfect for you.

You don't think it's odd that a ghost or a monster is scared

of some mysterious sound?

Those are things most humans fear as supernatural phenomena.

Even among monsters, dealing with another that is unpredictable

and unable to reason is frightening.

You know, even among humans,

squabbles between neighbors over simple noise can lead to m*rder.

Squabbles between neighbors?

You're probably not wrong, but...

Well, let us go investigate!

Two Days Later

After investigating the apartment,

it's been confirmed that the supernatural is not involved.

A pet that belongs to the manager escaped into the building,

and was hiding in that vacant apartment for a while.

The building had poor construction,

so there was a small gap where it could go in and out.

The sounds that pet made every once in a while would carry downstairs,

making you two suspicious.

But then, my lady, what of the doll that was in the room?

That was a lie made up by the manager.

It does not exist.

The existence of the doll and any plans for an exorcism

were only what the manager said. No one else has seen anything.

He could've fabricated as much as he liked.

The manager heard the complaint about the strange noises upstairs

and realized his lost pet was in that room,

so he immediately went there to retrieve it.

That took care of the noise,

but it wasn't possible to hide the truth

that something was in the vacant room making noise.

That's why the manager tried

to convince others that the noise was supernatural in nature,

and tried to hide the existence and escape of his pet.

Oh, there are no pets allowed in this building.

It would be extremely bad if people had found out the manager had one.

Even more so since he let it escape.

He had to see this lie through.

But wouldn't it have been easier to deceive us

if he'd said someone was in the vacant room, and they were making that noise?

A little bit of research would've easily revealed that the room was indeed vacant.

But if he tells a bad lie and is caught, he'll be asked why he lied,

making it even worse for him.

That's why the manager had no choice but to admit that was a vacant room.

But wouldn't blaming the supernatural result in the possible loss of residents?

He only had to say that the exorcism was successful,

and as long as there was no more noise, the problem would be solved.

Because the problem would've been with the doll, not the room,

so the condo's reputation wouldn't be damaged.

But we just heard that heavy sound again the day before yesterday!

If he retrieved his pet long ago,

we should no longer be hearing the sound.

If the sound disappeared as soon as the manager went up there,

it would be clear that he did something.

The possibility that the supernatural was involved would dwindle, too.

It would also be easy to imagine that something was in the room.

So in order to make it look like the supernatural was indeed involved,

it was better for him to continue letting the sound be heard.

That's why, after the manager retrieved his pet,

he would sneak into the vacant room every night

and continue stomping on the floor to make the sounds.

Would someone really work that hard to hide a pet?

It may make him look bad as the manager,

but I don't think it's the best idea to continue these unfavorable deeds.

The pet in question isn't a mere dog or cat.

It's a large reptile.

And a breed that would cause issues if you were to own one in this country.

Not to mention, this now involves the building's poor construction.

Having a problem with the building's construction,

as opposed to something being a supernatural phenomenon,

is more likely to lead the residents to want management to take responsibility,

and so affects management directly.

Meaning, as the manager, he had to hide the truth, no matter what.

A r-reptile? That's terrifying for a completely different reason.

I couldn't handle them when I was alive, either.

Unbelievable. This is truly what they mean when they say,

"Upon closer inspection, the ghost upstairs was merely a reptile."

I was completely fooled! That wasn't very nice of the manager!

To think I was cowering over a sound like that...

I still have so much to learn as a ghost.

I have already confronted the manager and made him confess.

The sounds should now stop.

I have no intention of letting this incident come to light in the human world.

If it gets out, this area will become a zoo, and it'll be harder for all of you to live here.

In exchange for pretending this never happened, I asked the manager

to let Kuro-senpai rent that apartment for a very low price.

You must have punished that foolish little manager.

Excellent work, my lady!

You truly are harsh!

No, that's just blackmail. Plain and simple.

You mustn't think about this like a human!

Now...

Another case has been solved!

That God's Name Is

My lady, thank you kindly.

Was there really a reason to not tell them the truth?

Most of that explanation was a lie.

There really was a bizarre doll,

and it really was causing the noise in the room.

One wrong move and that doll would've strangled us to death.

There's no point in scaring those three further.

Both the manager and the owner seemed very grateful that I removed the doll.

They wanted to get rid of it, but couldn't touch it.

They asked people to exorcise it, only to have them decline or run away.

If they left it alone, it was going to mess with the reputation of the apartment itself.

They said they'd waive both the deposit and the key fee,

and the rent's cheap, so it's worth it.

All that's left is for us to take care of that doll.

What is that doll, anyway? I wouldn't exactly call it Pinocchio.

It's a cursed doll.

A voodoo doll that was crafted hundreds of years ago.

It's a clay doll that was crafted to

ward off any demons or monsters from the area it was placed in.

It's essentially like a powerful charm.

It was probably previously placed in some prestigious building or plot,

where it used its power.

With the changing times, it likely lost its place,

so its functions were ceased and it was dumped somewhere.

The resident of that room must have picked it up somewhere

and brought it back to the apartment,

but when they moved out, they left it in a place

where it couldn't be seen.

So nothing happened when someone was actually in the room?

It may be a voodoo doll, but with its functions ceased,

it's just a doll.

When the occupant left, they must've accidentally done something to reactivate it.

They have a tendency to activate if you just leave blood or spit in the right spot.

Seems like the kind of thing that would latch on to stuff like that.

And every night from then on, whatever force was within that doll manifested

to protect that vacated room from the ayakashi.

But why does it only happen at night?

Most ghosts and monsters conduct their activities at night.

The doll probably only functions during those hours, as well.

And it's meant to protect the area that it's in,

so it wouldn't leave the room.

If the ghost from the room below had gone to investigate,

it would've been exterminated for sure.

Once that doll's powers have been activated,

it likely can't be moved easily by people who aren't like me.

We were correct to move it into those woods during the daytime.

I've ordered all the ayakashi in the area to stay away, as well.

That doll will k*ll any and all spirits and monsters in the area,

so it is far too dangerous to exist in this age.

Considering my position, I'll have to see it destroyed.

But if we break the doll itself without proper preparation,

we'll only release the cursed energy within it, making it more difficult to destroy.

That's why we'll have to

spontaneously destroy all of the energy pent up inside it at night.

So that's basically the doll's true identity.

Correct. I'm sure the energy within that's supposed to destroy any evil around it

was made to take on the same form as the doll.

By the way, why was this doll modeled after a sumo wrestler?

The word we use for sumo wrestlers, "rikishi," means "one who is powerful,"

and they have been around long enough that even

haniwa dolls were modeled after them.

There was also a god named Kongo Rikishi,

so it's probably a fitting choice to ward away evil.

Also, sumo wrestling itself is considered a Shinto ritual,

and there are some theories stating that their stomping

is a ritual to quell evil spirits in the ground.

So the noise they heard in that room happened to be the stomping ritual.

Since it's meant to quell evil spirits, it's no wonder the ghost below was scared.

Seeing as he wasn't stomping on dirt,

the power was muted until it fully manifested.

I'm definitely surprised that the noise happened to be a stomping sumo.

It is quite a surprising fact.

Uh, are you sure no one's going to get mad?

By the way, the former occupant of that apartment

was a skilled sumo wrestler in school.

So when he happened to find an old doll shaped like a sumo wrestler,

he must've taken it home for good luck.

And because of that, he scored very well,

but he recently suffered a major injury and had to retire.

At the same time, he became averse to the fact that he had the doll,

yet he couldn't bring himself to throw it away, so he left it in the apartment.

So on that note, Kuro-senpai,

please fight with that thing, just like we discussed!

Then this will all be over!

Uh, it looks pretty strong.

And what kind of sumo wrestler has four arms and a horn?

I'm sure it has to do with the craftsman's tastes.

Just making it a sumo wrestler wasn't enough,

so they added some rhinoceros beetle features to make it look stronger.

A rhinoceros beetle? You mind if I run away?

That thing will automatically eliminate monsters or anything supernatural.

You are feared more than any other supernatural being on earth,

so once you go near it, it'll immediately att*ck you.

Oh, it seems as though he's noticed us.

Oh, and because I'm a goddess, that thing will not att*ck me.

Just go ahead and fight it!

By the way, Kuro-dono apparently ate the flesh of another yokai

and gained an incredible power.

But what kind of power is it?

Yes, Kuro-dono has eaten a kudan.

A kudan? The monster that predicts the future, then dies?

Are you saying Kuro-dono gained that power and can now see the future?

Not only can he predict the future,

but he can choose whichever future he desires.

Of course, not just any future is possible,

but if there's a possibility it may happen,

he's able to make that future come true.

So he can control the future?

That's pretty scary.

But kudan die immediately after predicting the future.

Actually, I heard that they can see the future because they're dying.

How could Kuro-dono be okay after using that power?

Maybe we don't need to be scared of him...

No. Kuro-dono has consumed mermaid flesh, meaning he's immortal.

He'll come back from the dead even after using his kudan powers.

More so, I hear that Kuro-dono can use his kudan powers after dying.

Meaning he can control the future in exchange for his life.

Which means that even if Kuro-dono is k*lled...

He'll come back to life with the optimal future so he can fight back.

How much you k*lled him wouldn't matter.

Do you truly believe you stand a chance against a creature like that?

Truly...

What a terrifying monster!

That's perfect, Senpai!

Whoa...

There was no easier way to defeat that thing?

I was able to determine this future after dying once,

but that was definitely pushing it.

Well, your body immediately regenerates, and you don't feel any pain.

And I was left with no choice but to s*ab my beloved staff into it.

There must've been a way to keep you out of danger.

It's not like that was actually dangerous.

It's all because of the hard work you put in.

This was nothing.

I reconcile concerns between quarreling monsters,

and when humans get involved,

I bring things under control to see that no one gets harmed.

Compared to all of that trouble, this was far easier.

Well... it is less complicated when we can just defeat the thing and be done with it.

Now, let us go home.

We still have to go to school in the morning.

Aren't the reports you're supposed to turn in piling up?

I mean, you can't use the excuse of "I was helping out some yokai."

Then you should help me as my boyfriend.

There's no point unless you do it yourself.

My name is Iwanaga Kotoko.

Yokai, ghosts, the supernatural, and demons...

I protect the beings who go by those names, and the order in this world,

as their Goddess of Wisdom.

To be continued