They took a small trail off of the main path by a large cedar tree with a twisted rope of straw around the trunk. Shinto wards in the shape of white paper lightning bolts hung from it. The trail was just a dirt track with room for one person at a time, and it was overgrown in places, so they had to push branches out of the way.

  “I don’t like this, Kaito.” Sana brushed her hair back where it had been mussed by brushing against a low-hanging branch. “Maybe we should turn back.”

  “Just a little further before it opens up. I promise.” Kaito kept his eye open for landmarks and led at a steady pace.

  They walked for another ten minutes downhill, sometimes sliding and skidding down the steeper path, before emerging into a small clearing. It was a relief to see a clear sky and an unobstructed view down to the sea. Sana saw they had emerged onto a relatively flat rocky outcrop of the mountain. It turned out to be a rocky ledge at the top of a cliff that dropped for twenty or so metres to the stony ground below.

  “Great view, isn’t it?” Kaito gestured her forward to where he was standing near the cliff edge.

  “I suppose, but we should keep going.”

  “Take a photo with me; the view is really good from here, too.”

  Hesitantly, Sana walked forward. “Is it my imagination, or is it getting hazy?”

  Kaito turned to look and saw the air had become denser. Looking down, a few wisps of fog appeared that hadn’t been there before, either.

  “Yeah. It is. I guess we should hurry up.”

  Sana arrived at his side, and Kaito suddenly grabbed her firmly by her arms. She looked at him with a startled expression and shrieked as he shoved her over the cliff. He looked over to see disbelief in her eyes as she stared up at him in a long scream that ended suddenly as she hit the rocks below. Her body was lying on its back, bent at a strange angle at her neck. He saw some dark puddles expanding on the rocky soil around her head.

  Kaito suddenly noticed his hands were shaking from what he had just done. It happened so quickly, but her shocked expression hit him harder than expected. Playing a good husband for the last few weeks was tiring, but it had fooled her.

  In his mind, she had become a troublesome woman who had not been a good wife for years. The love between them was long gone. Only their adult son kept them together, and she had even turned Yoshi against him. The only bright spot in his life was the affair he was having with one of his office staff. She was much more accommodating than his wife, and he didn’t have to act around her. He told himself again that Sana was a terrible wife, and her accidental death would provide the money to save his company. He had been hesitant at first about this, but in the end, it had been so easy to plan her murder.

  The police would need to be called, but he needed to make sure she was dead first. He knew of a trail leading to the base of the cliff, though it took him a few minutes to find it. The steep path, essentially a game trail, scratched him as he pushed through some brambles. When he looked out at the sun again, its brightness had dimmed through a thicker haze. He looked at his watch and saw that it was six twenty. He managed to make it down a few minutes later to confirm his wife’s death.

  Taking out his phone, he dialled 119 to get an ambulance. “Help! I—I need an ambulance,” he stammered out in his best panicky voice. “My wife was taking pictures and fell off a cliff. It’s horrible, I think she is dead…” he sobbed. “There’s blood everywhere. Please… Please send help!”

  The emergency operator worked in her calmest voice and managed to calm his fake panic. She then asked if he was injured, made sure he was safe, and asked for his location.

  “I’m on Mount Kumotawa. We were taking a shortcut down the mountain from the top.”

  The operator stayed silent for longer than normal. “Understood,” she eventually replied. Can you load the map app on your phone? We will need your GPS coordinates.”

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  She then talked him through how to find his location. “Paramedics and emergency rescue have been dispatched. Please stay near your wife.”

  Kaito breathed a sigh of relief after he disconnected from the operator. He had done it. He must have rehearsed it a hundred times in his head. His performance felt convincing, like when a sales pitch went perfectly.

  He sat down on a rock and faced away from Sana towards the dimming sun. He didn’t want to look at his wife’s body, especially her face. What was done was done, even if it was horrific.

  He tried to distract himself by thinking about how he would give his company a fresh start but found it hard to focus. Sana’s dead face intertwined with his thoughts. He put his head between his hands, closed his eyes, and tried to shake the image off. When he looked up, he watched in amazement as fog intensified around him. Soon, it would be like a dark, overcast day without sun, he thought. Around him, tendrils of thick fog formed on the ground in an unnerving manner. It felt like a horror movie. He then noticed how still the air was and that he couldn’t hear any birds or other animal life.

  The fog thickened, and the air grew heavier as the minutes passed by. He barely saw his wife’s supine body nearby. The sun could no longer be seen, and the trees ten metres away were concealed. He felt a faint crawling sensation on his skin, like a faint electric current, and lightheaded shortly after. He shook his head to ward off a hint of vertigo. What is happening, he thought to himself. Did the fog cause the air to go bad? Wasn’t the fog supposed to start later? He thought he heard faint sirens in the distance and hoped help would arrive soon.

  The fog continued to thicken up as the minutes slowly passed. He looked at his watch. It was almost seven. Kaito was really beginning to feel uneasy, and a feeling of dread settled in on him. He shook himself and rubbed his arms to try to get rid of that strange crawling sensation on his skin. Then he heard a faint clacking noise, like a bunch of stones or wooden plaques grinding and bumping with each other. He tried to peer into the fog but couldn’t see more than four or five metres. The sound grew stronger as he listened, and he clearly heard a strange chittering, clicking noise.

  This was getting too strange. Where was the help? He pulled out his phone again and dialled 119. The emergency operator could give him an update. The phone did nothing, and he realized there was no signal. This is impossible, he thought to himself. He called 119 from this same spot and had three bars previously. He frantically waved his phone around, but there were still no bars. The chittering grew louder, like insects clacking mandibles or chitin rubbing against chitin. Orienting himself against the cliff face, he knew the path was off to his left, and he frantically ran in that direction. Whatever was making that noise, he didn’t want to meet it.

  He ran awkwardly over the uneven ground, stumbling on rocks and over fallen trees. He felt a little nauseous and dizzy, too. The forest seemed unnaturally thick, and he crashed through the bush. Branches whipped against his face as he ran. The chittering grew ever louder behind him. Whatever it was, it was following him. He tried to run faster; his breathing was panicky, and adrenaline boosted his endurance. Around him, he noticed that the trees were strangely twisted and stunted. It wasn’t like anything he had seen before. Suddenly, he tripped on a hidden obstacle and fell hard. He struggled to get up onto his feet again, then turned to see the source of the chittering noise. He started screaming in horror, with a final scream suddenly cut off.

  *****

  Goro and Yuriko were in her office of the SuperQuickly the next day. She sat behind her desk while Goro sat in the guest chair in front. Each had a cup of coffee in their hands.

  “This is ridiculous,” Goro complained. “There have been too many incidents on the mountain this year. I don’t know if we can keep covering these up.”

  “Yeah. It has been bad, and there are even enemy agents at work now. We have to stay alert. The IMA has a security detail at the shrine now, too, disguised as carpenters fixing wood rot.”

  “It’s better than nothing, I suppose, but it sure didn’t help us with the missing Mr. Kaito Okamoto, who called 119 yesterday. If we had only gotten to him in time.”

  “You did the right thing yesterday,” Yuriko firmly said. “You followed procedure. When your GPS went weird, and the radio started to break up, you backed out as you should.”

  “The firemen and paramedics sure didn’t see it that way at first. But then they realized that they were just going to get lost in the fog without any navigation.”

  “You all might be missing too if you continued. You know that.”

  “I’m tired,” Goro put his hand against his forehead. “We found Mrs. Okamoto dead at the base of the cliff. The poor woman must have died instantly from the fall. I spent the whole day walking the mountain with the search parties looking for Mr. Okamoto, and we found nothing. Even the dogs found no trace. He shouldn’t have moved away from his wife.”

  “It’s pretty likely he walked through the Confluence to who knows where. His car is still in the parking lot, too.”

  “I know. But it doesn’t make me feel any better.”

  “You did your best. You should go home and get some rest now.”

  “Thanks. I think I’ll do that. Talking with you is better than talking to the captain. He hates this stuff.”

  “Don’t blame him. You know, anything with Confluence coverups makes a lot of people uncomfortable. But it’s what we have to do. If you need to talk, call me, okay?”

  “Okay. Thanks, Yuriko.”