Chapter 15
3. The God in the Box at the Bottom of the Water
The sealed elevator shook with a tremendous noise.
The tumors sprouting bloodstained mouths ground their teeth and chirped with countless voices, looking as if they might burst through the silver doors at any moment.
The expressions on the police officers surrounding the elevator showed not only disgust and fear. From the way they bit their lips with guilt, it was clear. The voices coming from those tumors were probably all the voices of deceased people connected to the officers.
"Contact the local station. Tell someone from the nearest department to coordinate with community police and head here immediately."
Rokuhara said into the phone pressed to his ear. The tumor swelled even more. The thick steel door, which should not have bent, creaked and began to warp. Amidst the voices of the dead, the sound of swelling flesh and the screeching of straining metal could be heard.
"Consider destruction as an option. If it gets out like this—"
The countless tumors vanished in an instant. Everyone present held their breath.
With a sudden scream, the box containing the anomaly shook vertically and plummeted in a flash, plunging the elevator into darkness. The box had fallen, unable to withstand the weight.
Neither the calls of the dead nor the sound of impact could be heard.
The recoil from the snapped wire that had been holding the box made a sharp sound as it sliced through the tape surrounding the elevator.
While the stunned officers stood frozen, I turned my gaze to Rokuhara.
Still gripping his phone, Rokuhara had an indescribable expression on his face.
"How many meters underground does this elevator go?"
The staff member who tried to answer my question only moved his lips, unable to produce a sound.
The darkness beyond the tape spread silently, evoking the image of a figure standing at the bottom of the dam.
"For now, it doesn't look like it'll be coming back up anytime soon."
The staff member nodded repeatedly, as if wishing that were true.
"Keep it sealed."
No voice came from the elevator that had fallen far below. Instead, there was the repeated sound of bare hands slapping the walls. Was it trying to crawl back up?
Rust-colored blood stained the button panel.
After passing through a hallway that felt like it would never end, we reached the monitor room, and the rain outside the window had grown even heavier.
The rain pouring from the colorless sky blurred the view, making even the outline of the gray dam appear hazy.
I glared at the shadow reflected on one of the screens. The long, black figure stood motionless, beaten by the torrential rain like a waterfall.
Like a lighthouse beam sweeping across the sea, golden eyes brushed the water's surface.
The dazzling yet somehow hollow eyes stared at me. Eyes that had given up even trying to appeal—they only watched.
"What do you think?"
Rokuhara said as he opened the car door, slipped into the passenger seat, and spread his vinyl umbrella.
"No matter what I think... It fell on its own, fine, but we don't know when that monster might crawl back up."
Since I closed the umbrella before getting in out of laziness, water drenched my head. The car heater was slow to kick in, and the lukewarm air only drained the heat from my body.
"What's the connection between the black giant at the bottom of the dam and the monster that ate the staff in the elevator? Is the one at the bottom the main body, and the tumors its minions?"
"I don't know."
While I was busy wiping my hair with tissues, Rokuhara placed his hand on his chin and fell into thought.
"Should we even consider those tumors a single entity or a collection of separate things..."
"I don't know."
I threw the wet tissue into the dashboard tray and leaned my elbow on the steering wheel.
What reason would a god, meant to send off the dead and protect the sacred tree used to make coffins, have to create such a monster and harm people?
A grudge over the village being submerged doesn't seem right.
Even before the dam construction was decided, there had been frequent mysterious deaths of people summoned by anomalies mimicking the voices of the dead.
There were already sightings of a black, giant figure back then. Did it come to punish the use of the sacred tree for purposes other than coffins?
A giant in mourning clothes standing absentmindedly with its knees submerged in water. The grotesque anomaly packed into the elevator, like tumors or Chinese lanterns with human mouths stuck to them.
"No, I don't think so."
Rokuhara turned at the words that slipped out of my mouth.
"I've got no proof, but I don't think that big black thing and the elevator monster are the same."
The golden eyes of that giant held a loneliness that lacked a mouth to eloquently speak anything.
It's just a feeling, but I couldn't imagine that "thing" we locked eyes with before leaving the control station being capable of mimicking voices to lure prey.
Rokuhara gave a wry smile.
"I feel like it's something fundamentally different too."
"Don't go saying things that make less sense than I do."
I turned the key and revved the engine. The heater finally started working.
"Guess we'll go down to the village and ask around..."
At that moment, a conversation I'd overheard from some old men when leaving the diner flashed through my mind.
—Those guys used to come and go from the village before it became a dam. I don't know if it was a new religion or what. They handed out weird red decorations—
"Something fundamentally different... A different god!"
Instead of answering Rokuhara's question, I stepped on the accelerator.
I kept driving down the road, where the soaked rice paddies shimmered blue and the red of road signs and traffic lights occasionally stood out.
"You were right. The elevator monster probably wasn't a god that was originally here. It's some worthless thing brought in from outside."
I wiped away the rain fogging the windshield with the wipers and splashed through puddles on the poorly maintained asphalt.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
"Rokuhara, when the village stopped making coffins and started crafting boxes, was there any record of some strange person coming in?"
"Slow down a bit... There was a record of a workshop held at the village hall to teach how to make crafts, but the instructor's background was obscured and couldn't be traced."
"Then, was there any record of a new religion seminar being held at the same hall around the same time?"
After a brief pause, Rokuhara muttered, "There was."
"Next, during the village election, was there any record of some unknown guy winning, someone who wasn't a prominent figure?"
"No, but... the village head's secretary suddenly changed the year before the dam construction. It had always been someone from a prominent local family, but suddenly it was handed over to a young outsider."
"Alright, we're getting somewhere. One last thing. Before the religion seminar or the secretary change, did someone close to the village head suddenly die?"
Rokuhara stared at the worn white line on the road and sighed as if realizing everything.
"The village head's son, who was supposed to return home after graduating college, died in an accident on his way back from Tokyo..."
"I see..."
I muttered, and at the same time, Rokuhara suddenly lunged at me from the side.
Before I could react, the car came to a sudden stop, and my body was yanked forward, restrained by the seatbelt.
"What the hell are you doing!"
Looking down at Rokuhara, who had bent his body like a hinge and ducked under the steering wheel, I saw his bony white hand gripping the handbrake.
I wiped the rain streaks off the windshield with the wipers and looked outside. Ahead of the white line was a beast with wet fur, like a dog.
"A dog—no, a raccoon?"
"A raccoon...?"
Rokuhara's voice trembled slightly. Before I could ask what he saw, I gasped.
The beast, dyed red by the reflected traffic light on the wet pavement, lifted its nose. Its face, pointed straight at us, was oddly flat.
The creature, like a dog or raccoon, smiled.
Its exposed, millstone-like teeth were unmistakably human mouths, just like the tumors that filled the elevator.
The beast shook its wet fur and disappeared into the bushes.
I finally met Rokuhara's gaze as he released the handbrake. We both shook our heads.
Looking in the direction the beast had disappeared, we saw a square box sitting by the roadside, drenched in rain. Rokuhara and I pulled the car over.
When we stepped out and opened our umbrellas, the rain pounded the thin vinyl as if attacking it.
The splashing water on the ground quickly soaked our pants and shoes, weighing down our legs.
A plastic bottle placed beside a rusted guardrail held a gerbera flower, and surrounding it were soggy snack wrappers and toy boxes.
Above them, a black box repelled the rain as if looking down on it all.
It was a trunk case large enough to fit a person.
Rokuhara placed his hand on the handle of my umbrella and took over holding it. His gaze urged me to investigate instead.
Clicking my tongue, I pulled out white gloves from my pocket and put them on. As I crouched, the curtain of rain pouring from the umbrella formed a barrier before me.
I took a breath and touched the trunk's latch. The lid fell forward without resistance.
Inside the box were countless smaller boxes.
Tiny wooden boxes, like intricate marquetry, were packed tightly without gaps. Each box had a red drawing of a Chinese lantern on its surface. Though they looked hand-painted, they were as precise as if machine-printed.
The Chinese lanterns on the soaked wooden boxes began to blur and swell, evoking the grotesque anomaly inside the elevator.
"Edict to guard life..."
Crouching beside me, Rokuhara picked up one of the boxes and muttered unfamiliar words while looking at the back.
"It's the kind of text Chinese Taoists write on talismans for jiangshi. But this isn't authentic. It's a prop used in zombie-style horror movies for posters and merchandise."
The back of the box bore the same red ink, written in elegant calligraphy.
"What a cheap excuse for a new religion..."
As I stood up, Rokuhara rose as well. Without a word, we both got back into the car.
As we retraced our path, Rokuhara spoke.
"The lanterns are probably substitutes for the bon lanterns that welcome the dead. Even if it's a cheap new religion, if it becomes a place for people to anchor their emotions, things naturally accumulate—enough to create monsters."
"So now the village chief at the bottom of the dam clung to a religion to resurrect his son, and that spread worthless cursed tools and drove the village mad?"
Rokuhara nodded.
"The abnormalities in this village likely began again because that heretical religion made its way back in. If we drive it out, it should be resolved."
"Rokuhara, how much power do you actually have these days?"
"...For my age, quite a bit."
"Can you drive out those religious folks?"
Red light reflected on Rokuhara's profile as he nodded.
I thought it was the color of a traffic signal.
But there wasn't a single signal, red sign, or even a streetlight around.
A wet slapping sound hit the window. It wasn't a knock—something had stuck to it. A massive pair of lips was plastered against the glass.
I hit the gas.
"What do we do?"
Another wet slap. The glass on my side darkened, but I forced myself not to look.
"Just don't stop."
The slapping sounds multiplied. My foot on the gas pedal felt heavy. I could feel the car slowing down.
The windshield was painted entirely red.
Cracked red lips scraped against yellowed teeth right in front of me. It was the worst.
The lips kept moving. I had the pedal floored, but the car didn't budge.
I couldn't hear the rain anymore, only a faint muttering. I kept my eyes on the steering wheel and pressed the accelerator, trying not to listen.
The voice grew clearer. I tried to say "Stop," but no sound came out. I knew the voice those enormous lips were chirping in.
Suddenly, my vision cleared.
The lips outside the window were all gone. The glass was coated in a viscous fluid thicker than rain.
As if remembering its purpose, the wiper began to move.
I thought it was a hallucination, but the windshield still bore the dry imprint of lips and a crack where the front teeth had struck.
"Did it disappear..."
Beyond Rokuhara, who stared blankly ahead, a black shadow loomed over his shoulder.
I leaned forward and peered out the window.
The straight shadow resembling a tree trunk was a leg. A pitch-black leg wrapped in something like mourning clothes stood upright.
I raised my gaze. The figure was so tall it distorted my sense of depth. I estimated it to be about four meters high.
When I stepped on the gas, the car started moving as if nothing had happened.
The car slid into the dam's parking lot. The wipers moved, but there were no droplets to wipe away.
When we stepped out, the rain that had been falling nonstop had stopped.
We were ushered in by a familiar guard and entered the monitor room of the control center, where a young staff member looked at us with a face half-joyful, half-bewildered.
"Um, well, we've been tracking it on the surveillance cameras the whole time... but the fallen elevator? It's completely vanished now."
The staff member pointed to the monitor in exasperation.
On the screen, there was nothing but a faintly glowing silver box floating in the darkness.
I shifted my gaze to the monitor beside it.
As always, the black shadow with its feet submerged in water stood dimly, its vacant golden eyes staring.
This god had always been a powerless and gentle being, capable only of sending off the dead.
Unable to bear seeing the souls of the dead unable to depart because of the heretical religion, it must have appeared before the villagers. Hoping, perhaps, that the frightened people would abandon the defiled village and flee along with the cult.
I remembered how the wire of the fallen elevator had been cleanly severed, as if sliced by a blade.
It hadn't snapped from the weight—if that god had cut it as a last act of resistance...
The god on the screen looked at me.
I nodded. It shouldn't have been able to see me, but I knew it did.
That god had been watching over the village even after it sank.
Like a sailor waiting for passengers who would never come, gazing at the water's surface, waiting for souls to guide and someone who could resolve the situation.
In the downpour, the golden light warped slightly and shifted downward. It looked like it gave a small bow.
Outside, the rain had completely stopped, and sunlight peeked through a break in the clouds for the first time in ages. We got into the car.
"Glad we came. It's been a while since we had a case that actually felt solvable."
Rokuhara lifted the corner of his mouth.
"You've got to be kidding me."
I gave a curt reply and looked at Rokuhara. Maybe the case itself was relatively manageable, but the company was still the problem.
I found this man more unsettling than any anomaly.
The tear mole that made him look unlucky, the sharp contours of his slender face—more than any monster's imitation voice, it was that profile that stirred my memories the most, and I hated it for that.