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After all, husband and wife are strangers anyway, she thought.

  “Stop thinking such stupid things and finish vacuuming,” she said out loud, and turned on the machine. All they did was sleep in this room, so it was not very dirty. After finishing vacuuming under the bed, she opened the sliding door of the closet.

  There, on the top shelf of the nearly empty closet, she saw a brown scrapbook.

  What’s this?

  She picked it up and opened it. In the well-used scrapbook, in handwriting so bad it looked like a child wrote it, were words that

  crowded onto the page. Here and there were badly drawn illustrations, and a few photos glued to the pages. It looked like a girl’s diary.

  What’s this doing here?

  It hadn’t been there in the morning, when she’d put her pajamas away. Suspicious, she looked up at the ceiling of the closet. She saw that one of the ceiling boards was loose and slid slightly over to the side. The scrapbook must have fallen through the open space.

  She wondered what else was up there, but she wisely chose not to explore. Instead, she sat on the edge of the bed and started to read the scrapbook.

  Kayako—fourteen years ago, a young woman named Kayako began writing her diary in this scrapbook.

  Kayako?

  Kazumi stared absently at the wall, recalling the first day she came to see this house. Yes, she remembered seeing a letter addressed to a woman named Kayako at that time. She thought that name was rather strange. If that’s the case, the author of this journal must have lived in this house before, Kazumi reasoned.

  I wonder what kind of woman she was.

  Kazumi continued reading the diary.

  “… Kobayashi-kun turned around in his seat today and said ‘Excuse me, Kawamata-san, can I borrow a stick of lead for my mechanical pencil?’ It was so sudden I could only nod nervously. I couldn’t even speak to him … Today, Kobayashi-kun ordered lunch set C at the cafeteria. I had the same thing, sitting a few seats away from him. Just like Kobayashi-kun, I didn’t use the usual thick Worcestershire sauce on the pork cutlet, but soy sauce instead … I was waiting at the bookstore as usual, when Kobayashi-kun stopped

  in with Kitano and some others. As usual, I bought the books that Kobayashi-kun picked up and flipped through …”

  There were several photos of a slim, tall, young man. The photos were all small and mostly out of focus, but they were probably Kobayashi. Kazumi didn’t see anything special about him.

  In addition to the photos of “Kobayashi-kun,” there were photos of a young woman, placed in such a way she looked like she was leaning close to the young man. She had long hair, and seemed shy and a bit on the gloomy side. The woman must have been Kayako Kawamata, Kazumi reasoned.

  Doesn’t look too popular with the guys, Kazumi thought. She wasn’t ugly, but she looked gloomy.

  So, what happened to our young couple after that?

  Kazumi was having fun for the first time in a while, looking in on another person’s secret thoughts. Lying back on the big bed, she turned the page.

  “… Manami Midorikawa. I can’t forgive her. Why is she always flirting with my Kobayashi-kun like that… Kobayashi-kun was walking with Manami Midorikawa today. I was very frustrated and felt like I was going insane. I didn’t do anything all day … Today, Kobayashi-kun was sitting on a bench in the corner of the park with Manami Midorikawa. They were eating a lunch box. Homemade food stuffed into a cute little box. Damn her, what does she think she is, his wife, making a lunch box and all? I was so angry with her … I went to the bathroom at the class drinking party, and when I came back, Kobayashi-kun and Manami Midorikawa were gone. Where did they go? I left the party and wandered around town, but couldn’t find them …”

  Oh, what have we here? thought Kazumi. It seemed as if Kayako’s first love was about to be lost.

  “… I finally got my hands on a key to Kobayashi-kuris apartment. It was on the floor under the chair he was sitting in. It was attached to a Mickey Mouse keychain … Today, I used the key and snuck into Kobayashi-kun’s apartment for the first time. It was much cleaner and more organized than I thought it would have been. He has a stylish lithograph on the wall, and a potted plant in the corner. On his desk, he had several photos of himself with Manami Midorikawa. Suspicious now, I checked his dresser. There, along with Kobayashi-kun’s clothes, I saw several articles of women’s clothes and underwear. In his closet, I saw several dresses, skirts, and blouses hanging inside. They had to be Manami Midorikawa’s. I was angry. I took the photos of Manami Midorikawa, and several of her undershorts (cute satin and lace panties) out of his room … I snuck into Kobayashi-kun’s apartment again and slept on his bed for the first time. I was so happy, surrounded by his smell. I was happier than I ever remembered being. I dozed off, and woke up only when I heard someone at the door. I panicked but slid under the bed. Luckily, Kobayashi-kun was alone. I spent the night under his bed, looking at him … I was waiting under Kobayashi-kun’s bed as usual, when he came home with Manami Midorikawa. They did not notice me under the bed, and they made love above me, many, many times that night. Damn it. I can’t forgive that woman … Last night, Kobayashi-kun, not knowing I was just below him, masturbated in his bed. Hearing the bedsprings creaking above me, I hoped that Kobayashi-kun was fantasizing about me, about my nude body and my wild moans …”

  Kazumi lifted her face from the scrapbook.

  Crazy- This woman is definitely crazy. Something must be wrong with her, to go this far. Shes nothing more than a stalker.

  But Kazumi couldn’t put it down. She continued reading the scrapbook. Just as Kazumi expected, Kayako Kawamata never succeeded in getting her first love, and in time she gave up on Kobayashi-kun, and stopped sneaking into his room. The entries stopped there.

  But, nine years later, which was five years before Kazumi found the diary, the entries started again. It turned out that Kayako’s son’s elementary school teacher turned out to be this same “Kobayashi-kun.”

  “… Oh, God. What does it all mean? Kobayashi-kun is Toshio’s teacher! Oh, God, please help me! What do you want of me? What do you want of me? Oh, my mind, I’m going crazy …”

  What a coincidence! Does stuff like this really happen in real life? Kazumi thought. She felt so happy for Kayako that she smiled unconsciously.

  “Kobayashi-kun … Kobayashi-kun … Kobayashi-kun … Kobayashi-kun …”

  The diary went on to describe Kayako’s love blossoming all over again.

  Well, well, how does it all turn out? Kazumi thought, her heart fluttering as if she was reading a romance novel. However, Kayako and Kobayashi-kun’s love story suddenly ended, a month after her son’s first day of school.

  “… Today, Takeo found this diary, and he killed me. He was crazy with anger, and kicked me down the stairs. He tied me to the bed, and tortured, punched, and kicked me into submission before slicing me up with a box cutter and killing me. He wrapped my body in a plastic garbage bag and left me in the attic …”

  Kazumi lifted her head.

  Is this lady completely insane? There is just no way. But if … if this woman was really killed by her husband … then who wrote this entry, and how?

  It was all an interesting story … but it never really happened. It was either this woman’s fictional story or a novel manuscript of some sorts.

  The entries continued even after the writer was killed.

  ” …Three days after killing me, Takeo, in a fit of self-styled revenge, went to the apartment complex where Kobayashi-kun and Manami Midorikawa (really Manami Kobayashi, now) lived. He went into apartment 205 in Building D and stabbed Manami Midorikawa to death with a kitchen knife (serves her right). Then Takeo slit her stomach open, tore out her unborn baby, and killed it… Right after that, I killed Kobayashi-kun, who had come to check on Toshio, and brought him over to my side. Then I stabbed Takeo to death inside Kobayashi-kuris home …”

  Kazumi suddenly felt completely confused.

  What on earth doe
s all this mean?

  She had absolutely no idea. But, the entries continued. The date was three years ago.

  “… A businessman named Murakami moved into my house with his family. They barged into this house, where I was raised, and rearranged everything as if it was theirs. They cut down the persmv mon tree and the cherry blossom tree where I buried my Kuro, trees that had been there since before I was born. They broke the flower bed that I made in grade school. They pulled the blueberry bushes I planted in junior high out by the roots … The Murakami family is my enemy. They all seem so happy. People like that hog all the happiness to themselves, so I never got my share … First, I killed

  their daughter, Kanna. She looked just like Emi Iizaka, who bullied me all those years ago, so in a fit of revenge, I tore the jaw off her corpse … I killed their son Tsuyoshi, as well as his girlfriend, a cute little high school girl named Mizuho Tamura … I killed the mother Noriko … Finally, I killed the head of the family, Keiichi Murakami. And the Murakami family was no more …”

  What a crazy woman.

  Even if this diary was a work of fiction (for Kazumi was sure that it had to be fiction), this Kayako woman had to be crazy for even thinking up such a thing.

  Yet, the entries continued. This time, the date was June of last year.

  “… A young businessman named Kitada and his wife moved into my house. The husband, Hiroshi Kitada, was a constant, spoiled complainer, a truly despicable man. This morning, he complained to his wife Yoshimi, ‘Hey, did you change the coffee beans? Don’t do that! My family has always drunk blue mountain coffee,’ and ‘Don’t I always tell you to make the yolks of my fried eggs half-cooked?’ His petty complaints were meaningless to me. He reminded me of Takeo. That made me angry … So I made his wife Yoshimi kill him with the frying pan … She hit him on the side of the head as hard as she could. He fell over and his body spasmed on the floor for a long time. It was fun to watch … She left his body there on the floor. I killed Yoshimi right after that. Yoshimi Kitada was slender and tall, and very pretty. She reminded me of Manami Midorikawa. She married a man like Hiroshi Kitada, so she couldn’t have been a very nice woman. Therefore, I had to kill her …”

  Hiroshi Kitada? Yoshimi Kitada?

  She thought that she had heard those names somewhere before. She tried to recall, and suddenly she remembered. Yes, the letter.

  She clearly recalled seeing a letter addressed to Hiroshi and Yoshimi Kitada when she first came to this house.

  And still, the entries continued. Shockingly, the date was the same day that Kazumi moved in with her family.

  “… A businessman named Tokunaga moved into my house, with his wife and his mother. Sachie, the old woman, is senile, but she noticed me looking down from the second-story window and she was very frightened of me … Kazumi Tokunaga is a hysterical woman. She’s always whining. She also is quite mean to her mother-in-law. Her behavior is just like that of Yumie Nojima, who bullied me in junior high … I killed Kazumi Tokunaga. Then I killed her husband Katsuya…”

  The date that she and her husband were killed was … today!

  Today?

  For an instant, Kazumi’s mind went blank. Her mouth went dry and her hands, still holding the scrapbook, began to shake uncontrollably.

  It’s a joke … it’s somebody’s sick idea of a joke . . . but who … yes, who, and how did they get this scrapbook into my closet?

  Kazumi threw the scrapbook on the bed and stood up on unsteady legs. In a panic, she fled the bedroom.

  Katsuya

  Katsuya sat at his desk with his chin resting on his hand and let out a long sigh.

  He had been prepared for some tough times living with his senile mother, but he didn’t expect Kazumi to start making noise about it so soon.

  Kazumi was always frustrated, almost hysterical these days, with no shadow of her former warm, gentle self to be found. They hadn’t

  even made love once since moving into their new house. When he tried to grope her breast the previous night, she screamed, “I’m tired, stop it!” She had never said that even once, until his mother moved in with them … Would their relationship only go downhill from here?

  “Mr. Tokunaga is something wrong?” Yukari Satake smiled down at him, as she brought his tea to his desk. “You seem to be spacing out a lot lately.”

  “Really?” he smiled back at her. “Thanks for the tea.”

  “Hang in there. You’ll be a father soon, right?” Yukari smiled back over her shoulder. He gazed at her slim hips and small buttocks wrapped in her miniskirt.

  Yes, that’s right. His baby would be born at the end of the year. But he was worried whether or not Kazumi could raise a child in her present condition. Or would her maternal instincts kick in once the baby was born and she would return to her old, gentle self?

  His cell phone in his chest pocket rang. He knew it was from his younger sister, Hitomi, by the ring tone.

  “Hey, Hitomi?”

  “Yeah, big bro. How ya doing?”

  “Fine. What’s up?”

  “I was thinking I’d stop by this evening. Is that okay?”

  “Tonight? Yeah, no problem.”

  “Okay, I’ll be by about six. How’s Mom?”

  “The same as usual,” he laughed.

  The same as usual. . . therein lie the real problems.

  “Oh, I’ll make dinner tonight. Tell Kazumi. She’s got it hard looking after Mom all the time.”

  “Okay, thanks… Looking forward to it.”

  He hung up. Recalling his sister’s smiling face, he felt like he was going to cry.

  He called home right away. But no one answered. Kazumi was probably out shopping. His mother was there, but she couldn’t answer the phone. With no other choice, he left a message on the machine.

  “Hitomi’s stopping by tonight. She’ll make dinner, so you should just get some rest.”

  Kazumi

  Kazumi Tokunaga was in the public library near her house. She was in the corner, looking through the past editions of the newspapers.

  She found the article she was looking for, in the May edition from five years ago, right after the Golden Week holidays.

  “Mysterious Deaths Claim Family,” the headline read. The story continued, “Man, jealous of son’s teacher, murders wife and teacher. Suspect then murders teacher’s wife, and dies mysteriously in completely locked room.”

  Kazumi gazed at the headlines. She couldn’t remember the details, but vaguely recalled hearing about this mysterious case.

  The things written in that scrapbook were not just a made-up story. Realizing this, Kazumi’s fingers trembled.

  “May 10, 11:00 a.m. After Shunsuke Kobayashi, a 28-year-old elementary school teacher, failed to report for work, his colleague called the police, who entered Kobayashi’s apartment. The police found the bloody body of Kobayashi’s wife, 28-year-old Manami… Next to Manami’s body lay the body of the suspect, 34-year-old Takeo Saeki, a company employee who lived nearby, with a knife

  thrust into his back. The police believe the same knife was used to kill Manami… Police believe that the suspect murdered Manami and then was himself stabbed from behind. However, no suspect has been named in the murder of Saeki… The door of Kobayashi’s apartment was locked, and the door chain, which can only be drawn from the inside, was also locked … Kobayashi was found dead in the entrance to Saeki’s house, and the body o{ Saeki’s wife Kayako was found in the attic above the second floor … The cause of death of Kayako is believed to be shock from loss of blood, but the cause of death of Kobayashi is as of yet undetermined … Kobayashi was the teacher of Saeki’s six-year-old son … Kobayashi, his wife Manami and Saeki’s wife Kayako were all classmates in college … Manami was pregnant, expecting to give birth in a month, but Saeki brutally tore out the fetus … No special relationship existed between Kobayashi and Kayako. The police believe the suspect imagined … Female fingerprints were found on the knife in Saeki’s back, but were determine
d not to belong to Manami… The whereabouts of Saeki’s son are still unknown, and police are doing all they can …”

  No address for the Saeki home was given in the newspaper article. But Kazumi was positive that it was that house. Yes, Takeo Saeki and his wife Kayako once lived in that house where Kazumi lived with her family. In the newspaper were photographs of Takeo and Kayako Saeki and Shunsuke and Manami Kobayashi. Kayako and Kobayashi were the same people as the photos in that scrapbook.

  It really happened. Five years ago, Takeo Saeki killed his wife Kayako in that house and left her body in the attic.

  Kazumi’s bladder felt very heavy. She saw flashes in the backs of her eyes. She closed the bound, reduced photocopy o( the newspaper

  from May of five years ago. Next, she picked up the August edition from three years ago.

  She found the article right away.

  “Female Junior High School Student Found Dismembered on School Grounds,” the headline read.

  Fourteen-year-old Kanna Murakami, the daughter of Keiichi Murakami, forty-six years old … there was no doubt about it. That scrapbook said, “I killed her.” Yes, the fourteen-year-old Kanna Murakami said she was going to school to feed the class rabbits, and she left that house, never to return. That evening, her dismembered body was found on the school grounds, deserted because it was summer vacation. Mysteriously, the lower jaw was missing from the body.

  “High School Student Dies Mysteriously,” another headline read.

  Tsuyoshi Murakami, seventeen, the son of Keiichi Murakami, forty-six .. . there was no doubt about this one either. Tsuyoshi was found dead on school grounds only a week after his sister’s funeral. There were no external injuries, and the cause of death was unknown.

  “Grieving Mother Dies Mysteriously at Home.”

  This was also clear. Noriko, the mother of Kanna and Tsuyoshi, was found dead in her futon at that house five days after Tsuyoshi was discovered. She also had no external injuries, and the cause of death was chalked up to acute cardiac failure. Ten days later, the newspaper reported that Keiichi Murakami disappeared without a trace from his hotel room while out oi town on business.