Okiku is my sole compass, leading the way. Her steps never waver, the direction she chooses unerring, and I find solace in her confidence. My hand grips hers tighter. It feels like we’ve been walking for hours, but she never lets go.
Finally, we burst into a clearing, and what we see makes me stumble.
It’s a village.
A village that looks to have been abandoned for some time. The wooden gate entrance has splintered in several places, as if something large and fearsome crashed through. We’ve left the tight choke hold of trees, but a thick fog rises, settling protectively around the little village like an evening cape.
“Okiku, is this Aitou?” I whisper.
Okiku frowns. She doesn’t know what it is, only that we’re not alone here.
I’m scared, but I don’t see what choice I have. I step past the broken barrier onto a rough path, a better alternative than the jungle we’d been wandering through. If Kagura’s in here, if any of the ghost-hunter crew is here, then I will find them.
I’m tempted to call out, hoping someone can hear me, but caution stills my tongue. I know better. This is not the kind of place where you want to attract attention.
The houses are lined up on either side of the path, and none show signs of recent habitation. Everything looks truly abandoned, and the only color I can see is the glint of gold up ahead. There’s some kind of temple in the distance, with a curved roof and pillars. It looks strangely familiar, though at the moment, I don’t know why.
But the best place to start looking for answers is the camcorder I’m dragging around. Now that we’ve broken through the woods, it’s a good time to check it out. I hunker down beside a stone bench next to the nearest house. In the meantime, Okiku slowly spins around as she takes in our new surroundings.
I find the button and the camera flickers to life. I scroll through the menu to access the data. There are only four recorded videos, and I start with the first. I push Play. Kagura shows up on screen, sitting on a chair and looking remarkably self-conscious. Garrick Adams is sitting across from her.
“Don’t be nervous,” he says.
Kagura tries to smile. “I’m sorry. I’m not used to being filmed.”
It’s comforting to hear my friend’s voice, rich and warm, even if it is on a video recorder.
“That’s okay. Ignore the camera. Pretend it’s just me asking questions.”
“Interview commencing,” another voice off screen says, “in three…two…one…go!”
“Miss Kino, would you mind telling us more about this village?”
“There isn’t much known about Aitou. Or the rituals villagers have been said to practice.” Kagura clears her throat. “According to my father’s research, a ritual took place in Aitou every three years. Certain girls in the village were chosen to take part in purifying the supposed hell’s gate and to appease the spirits therein. What roles the girls played aren’t very clear, but my father believed that the girls might have been sacrificed.”
“How does he know this? I haven’t found any corroborating evidence from any other historian. You admit as much.”
Kagura’s voice takes on a slightly defensive edge. “My father was very thorough. He extensively researched the onmyōji practices of the time and found the memoirs of many contemporaries of Hiroshi Mikage, the exorcist believed to have founded Aitou. Their writings prove that it was a ritual commonly believed to close all hell’s gates. Mikage himself wrote about it, and I believe my father read what little of his works were available.”
“Had your father kept any of this Mikage’s writings?”
“If he did, I could not find them among his belongings.”
Adams questions, “Is there any way your father might have mistaken the ritual for the many suicides in Aokigahara?”
Kagura shakes her head, still huffy that her father’s research is being questioned. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not? It seems plausible.”
“Don’t badger her, Garrick.” Stephen Riley’s voice comes from somewhere off screen, sounding annoyed as well. “Why do you think that, Miss Kino?”
“The spirits in Jukai are a consequence of the gate ceremonies, not its cause. The village predates most of the suicides. Something in the forest…seeks pleasure in death, and it affects many of those who venture in. Though the general ritual was known among the onmyōji of that time, the specifics have never been written about, as far as I know, so it would appear that this was a closely guarded secret, meant to prevent others from making such attempts at the gate.”
“Tell me more about the marriages in Aitou. Is there any evidence that the girls might have been sacrificed?”
“A marriage between a village boy and the chosen girl was said to be part of the gate ritual. It was a means to protect the couple from the evil spirits they’d encounter when they left the village.