Haguko’s Curse

The volume of the TV was low and the lights of the living room were dim, as Daiki climbed silently down the stairs to find his dad sitting quietly, focusing on the football match in front of him. He leaned forward at the edge of the couch and bit on the nail of his thumb intensely listening to the crowd’s muffled roars and cheers escaping the TV. 

“Dad?”, Daiki whispered loudly.

Junichiro jumped and turned to face his son standing at the foot of the stairs. “Daiki!!”, he scolded in a hushed voice, “What are you doing here?? Get back to bed, immediately!! It’s past lights out!”

“Dad, you’re literally watching TV with the lights on”

Junichiro glanced back at the TV and sighed. “I couldn’t sleep”, he whispered. Daiki moved closer and sat down on the couch next to his father.

“Was it because of what mom said during dinner?”

He shrugged silently. Daiki turned towards the TV and focused on the match. Tottori Vs Nara. Haguko was a small town located very close to the capital of the Tottori prefecture so most of its football fans were avid supporters of the Tottori football team. Daiki remembered how he and his dad used to sit on that couch during summer vacations, watching the J League non-stop. On some days, Kaito would join and the three of them would have the best time ever. 

Eating sweet melons that their mother would cut up for them and drinking juice out of cans, pretending to be adults drinking beer, while cheering on Yamazaki, Watanabe, and their other favorite Tottori players made up some of Daiki’s fondest childhood memories. But little by little this tradition faded. By the time Daiki was in the second year of high school, they'd stopped doing it entirely.  

“Dad?”

“Hm?”

“Why is Yamazaki not passing?”

“He’s trying to take the shot”

“That’s crazy”, Daiki said with wide eyes, “He’s gonna get blocked for sure”

Junichiro glanced at his son, “Daiki”

“Mm”

“Why are you out of bed?”

“Can’t sleep”, Daiki shrugged.

Junichiro Stared back at the TV and for a moment the both of them got caught up in the action. Yamazaki took an awkward shot at the goal while heavily surrounded by defenders. They watched with their mouths open and eyes wide as the ball flew in the air and fell into the clasp of the goal’s net. The crowd roared in cheer and applause as the players jumped on each other. Daiki and his dad whispered a loud ‘YESSS’ and exchanged an aggressive high-five followed by a mild fist bump; their celebratory gesture from years back. 

Then they settled back, sitting closer to each other than before. The programme got cut off for a commercial break. Daiki looked at his dad smiling at a funny cheese commercial and cleared his throat. 

“Daiki?”, Junichiro said.

“Yeah?”

“Are you sick? Do you have a cold?”

“Uhh no…”, Daiki trailed off, trying to find the perfect segue into his intended topic of discussion. Then his eyes lit up, “Uhh yes, dad, actually I have a cold, I think.”, he fumbled, trying his best to sound casual, “I-I actually have been eating a LOT of ice cream and drinking a LOT of cold melon soda.. y-you know… cause I’m just home all day… and I get bored…”

“Daiki, you’re never home”, Junichiro replied confusedly, “Don’t you… go out with your friends everyday?”

Daiki turned a furtive gaze, “Y-yeah… but then we’re all still bored. Cause we’re hanging out inside the town all day. And it’s the summer so we just eat too much cold food. I guess that’s why I have a cold. Yeah”

Junichiro let out a silent chuckle, “Ahh… so you’re tired of being in this town now is it?”

“Well yeah? I think I’d die from a cold if it goes on like this”, Daiki blurted out and coughed for good measure.  

His dad laughed again, “You remind me of a friend. He was an impatient little brat like you too”

“What do you mean?”

“You wanna go outside of the town?”

“Well… I’d like to… obviously. Pretty sure everyone else wants to too. Go into the mountains and stuff like back then.”

Junichiro looked pitifully at his son, “I know”

There was a long pause before Daiki hesitantly took a gamble.

“What happened fifty years ago?”

Muffled cheers came up on the TV as the football game returned from its break. Junichiro stared at it in silence for a couple seconds before sighing a slow dragged out sigh, and spoke in a low voice, as if something had switched inside him. 

“You have to promise me that Hiroko and Masako won’t know about this”

“Why?” Daiki shrugged.

“They’re kids. They might try to run into the mountains to see. They don’t understand the danger that Haguko is in”.

“S-see what dad? What would they wanna see?”

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone. And…” Junichiro looked sternly at his son, “promise me that you won’t go look for it, yourself”.

Daiki swallowed, taken aback, “U-understood.”

Junichiro turned his head back towards the TV and switched it off. Then he paused, staring into empty space for what seemed like five minutes. When he spoke his voice was low again.

“I saw a demon” 

“In the mountains?” Daiki asked. 

Junichiro nodded, “Deep in the forest”. He paused again before continuing, “Summer of 1970. My friend and I went camping in the forest one evening. We were probably six or seven.”

Daiki listened intently. His dad continued.

“The mountains were safe back then that even a pair of six year olds could camp out with no harm.”

“What about wild animals?”, Daiki asked, remembering Asa’s flowchart. 

“I’ve never seen one. Not one. I’ve heard stories about wild animal attacks from when the town was established, decades ago. But not in our time. The mountains were totally and completely safe. They were.. at least until that day.”

He glanced at Daiki sitting beside him, following his words earnestly. 

“What happened?”, he whispered.

“Around 6pm. It was still very bright outside. My friend, Genji and I were camping out near a small stream of water when we heard the scariest sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life – this thundering flapping of giant wings – right behind us. I’ve heard flapping sounds before, I’ve even heard big birds flap their wings up close. But this was nothing like that. This was so much bigger and closer to me than anything I’ve ever heard. So much more overwhelming and scary. So much more alive… you understand?”

Daiki nodded slowly with dilated pupils and furrowed eyebrows. There was a fluttering feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t explain but kept feeding with his father’s tale. Junichiro focused, squinting into emptiness, and spoke again.

“It went on for a long time. Each second, it got closer and closer to our tent. And then when it got so close that it felt like something would rip into the cloth and swallow us, it stopped”

“Just like that?”, Daiki whispered.

“Just like that.”, his dad nodded and continued, “After about a minute had passed, we just.. looked at each other and got out of the tent. We were scared out of our minds but we still tried to check it out.”

“And??”, Daiki felt his heart almost leap with anticipation. Junichiro glanced at his eager son with reflections of fear and trauma in his eyes. 

“I didn’t want to look but Genji made me. He was an impatient and eager little brat. Just like you”

“A-and what did you see??”, Daiki blurted out completely ignoring his father’s remark.

Junichiro sighed, still looking at his son.

“A giant bird-like..thing, wearing robes, and a katana by its side”

Daiki’s eyes widened.

“The kotengu..”, he whispered.

“Yes. The yokai. That’s what I thought too.”, he paused and squinted, “But as we were staring at him, he made this…strange sound..like the ticking of a giant clock”

Confusion flooded Daiki’s mind and his hairs stood erect, “The ticking of a clock?”

“Yeah like tick tock tick tock..slowly, but loudly. I felt like it was coming in from everywhere all around us..with an echo and all. But it was this one massive creature making that noise, and staring right into our eyes. There’s no mention of such a sound in any kotengu tales I’ve read since this happened”, he trailed off, lost in thought.

“Hmm”, Daiki mimicked his father.

“Anyway” Junichiro continued, “I looked over at Genji. He was..terrified. I’ve never seen him terrified. I never thought he could be. But he was. His eyes were as big as apples, Daiki.”

Daiki smiled a strange smile; half nervous, half amused and curious.

“So..what did you guys do then?”, he asked.

“Nothing”, his dad blurted out, “We did absolutely nothing, our feet were glued to the ground and we were just frozen. And then..”, Junichiro trailed off again and turned towards the curtained windows behind them. He’d heard footsteps outside, in the garden. In a second, Daiki turned his head too. Someone or something was in their front yard. 

Now the sound of low-cut grass silkily brushing against heavy feet; now the sound of feet stepping slowly on their wooden porch. With every passing second Daiki and Junichiro stared more and more intensely at the front door. Hearts beating loudly, the two struggled to believe that it was definitely and surely locked. 

KNOCK KNOCK

Daiki jumped and grabbed his father by the shoulder.

“W-who is it??”, he whispered. 

“I don’t know! Who knocks on doors at this hour??”, Junichiro hissed back.

KNOCK KNOCK

They stared at each other, not knowing what to do next. Then came a low voice from the other side of the door.

“Junichiro?”, it said.

Daiki looked on, puzzled as Junichiro’s eyes grew wide.

“Genji??”, he said in disbelief.

“Genji??? Genji from your story just now??? Genji, your old friend???”, Daiki demanded.

“Ssh!”

Junichiro got off the couch and stepped slowly towards the door. He put his eye on the peephole and jumped back. Then he grabbed the key from the telephone stand and unlocked and unbolted the door.

“Genji????”, he repeated, as a tall and lanky man walked in. Daiki leaned outwards from the couch to catch a glimpse of him and his jaw dropped. 

That’s Takashi’s dad, he mouthed in complete surprise. Genji Ito was also a skinny and pale man like his son with glasses that look almost the same as Takashi’s. Daiki leaned further and observed the man in their doorway. To his surprise, Genji's face was filling up with distress. He put a hand on his forehead and stood there as if he was looking for words.

“Genji?”, Junichiro asked, “what’s wrong?”

Then the man lowered his hand and sighed a heavy and deep sigh. He glanced at Junichiro with tired eyes and a heaving chest.

“Junichiro”, he began, his low voice almost breaking, “just now, I woke up from my sleep and went to the bathroom. And on my way back, I wanted to check in on Takashi. So I opened the door to his room. I peeked inside and looked at his bed, then I looked under it and inside the closet. I looked under the table and every corner of the house. I went into the garden and checked there too..”

Daiki and his dad listened in horrifying anticipation.

“..He’s gone, Junichiro. My kid is gone. Takashi is nowhere to be found.”