"Proof the 3rd floor exists" -- Mishima

2:50 PM: Her name is Chihiro Sato. 

I had many other questions to ask, but my first one was the name of my savior. She claims all she did was open the door, and that may be what it looked like in her point of view, but to me, it was a lifeline and I will be forever grateful.

Chihiro grinned as though she knew what I was gonna ask next. Apparently I am in Furuya Manor, and it's owned by one of Obihiro's oldest families.¹ Interestingly enough, the mansion is passed down matrilineally. Usually it's the men who inherit houses. Maybe they're holding onto an ancient tradition or something.

She then reveals I'm not the only 'stray' to have wandered inside. I took it to mean there was another who was out there when the storm hit, but her choice of words was a bit odd to me.

2:56 PM: Well, still no signal. I tried making a call to my folks, but since Furuya Manor is in the middle of nowhere, I can't get anything to appear. It's a miracle there's even plumbing.

3:14 PM: I'm currently wearing one of Mr. Furuya's spare yukatas while Chihiro has my wet clothes in the wash and, well, at least it covers up my shame. It's not exactly the coziest thing to wear when you're still recovering from the cold of death. Chihiro offered to show me the guest room to put my things in, but the only thing I had left to set aside was my walking stick.

Sure enough, the second guest was inside relaxing on her bed at the south end of the room with book in hand. Her name is Akane Watanabe. She seems like a nice girl. We shared a laugh when, after I asked her how she ended up here, she simply said 'hiking'. Unlike me, however, Akane was not ambushed by a cave-in of snow; her knapsack is laying against her bed. Mine is buried under 1.5 meters of snow somewhere.

Also unlike me, Akane was hiking for work. She's a photographer, and on that day she took several photos of the mountains, nearby trees, and even a fox on the prowl. Akane's sure at least one of them will IT'S THE SAME FACE win an award.

6:40 PM: As expected, dinner at a mansion is fantastic! Tea, different kinds of sake, grilled fish, hot pot, gyudon, mounds of rice, I was full to bursting. The head of house, Mori Furuya, sat at the far end and laughed as both Akane and I stuffed our faces, but could he blame us after the ordeal we went through? He had  a refined posture as he donned a plum-colored robe to dinner, and his wife Hoshino² chastised him for lighting his pipe at the table. Hoshino was picturesque, a noblewoman ripped right out of time with her hair drawn up in a bun and gorgeous silks.

The Furuya family had two children named Tanji and Mihara who were 13 and 6. The boy was quite mature for his age and even knew he wanted to go into business like his father. I still don't know what to do.

I didn't want to say anything to their faces, but Mihara was quite strange. She said nothing at the table, her eyes fixed to her plate, and at one point she began stabbing her grilled fish with a fork with such a firm grip her knuckles were white. Hoshino didn't scold her until after she noticed me staring. I chalked it up to Mihara just being 6.

After that wonderful dinner, Mr. Furuya personally gave us a tour, showing us where the bath and balcony were, as well as Chihiro's quarters in case we needed something. 

Then Mr. Furuya asked 'do you two play?'

I took it to mean cards or Mahjong, but he grinned and led us to the left side of the balcony and up the stairs to the third floor.³ We took another left and through the door was the Game Room which Mr. Furuya said was his 'own personal paradise'. On top of a billiards table set in the center of the room, all along the wall were various antique Pinball and arcade machines. Some were just collecting dust, but a couple were still seeing some use. 

Of course there had to be electricity! If there's plumbing, then there has to be wiring of some sort. I guess this is where Mr. Furuya takes advantage of this 'new' technology.

10:33 PM: We both turned in for the night after going to town on the machines. We spent the most time on a tournament fighter where Akane soundly beat my ass 2-14. I'm more of an RPG type of guy.

After soaking my bones in the bath, I turned over in my bed, facing the wall, ready to sleep, but Akane clearly couldn't sleep, because she asked me 'don't you think this place is odd?'

I sighed and rolled over to face her. I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially not when the alternative was freezing to death, but when Akane said she never heard of a mansion anywhere around here, I had to admit to her I thought the same thing.

Akane grinned, and she pulled out her phone, the flashlight function lighting below her chin as if about to tell a scary story.

Then she said 'maybe I'll get to take a photo of the mythical Onibaba.'

I scoffed. Looks like Akane is a believer of yokai.

I wasn't about to ruin her fun, though, and let her tell her tale.

According to her, the Onibaba used to be a perfectly normal wife of some lord, but upon falling ill, the doctor had told her the only cure was for her to eat the liver of a pregnant woman. Now I don't care how long ago this was, any doctor telling me to go do something crazy like that would get a firm kick out of my house, but I guess this woman was desperate enough to do just that. So she waits until she finds a pregnant woman, invites her to court, and actually extracts the liver herself. You know, instead of her doctor. But the kicker is, the pregnant woman turned out to be her own daughter! Realizing that she just killed her own offspring, the woman loses her mind and goes on a killing spree, eating the insides of her victims before being shot with a priest's holy arrow.

Even with the glaring plot holes in her story, such as the woman not recognizing her own daughter's face, I couldn't help but feel spooked, especially after Akane had to go and say the Onibaba now lives out in the mountains. Now I'm tired but can't sleep. All the odd bumps in the night are making me shiver.

1:00 AM: Something's rumbling beneath the floor. It's almost like an earthquake. The potted plant's wobbling and my walking stick fell to the floor vibrating along. Akane's sitting straight up from her bed with her phone light out, and we're just sitting there listening to the rumbling. It's hard to explain. An earthquake shakes everywhere, but this kind came and went.

After a few minutes it stopped. From the glare of the phone light, I can barely make out Akane's face, a mangling of confusion and fear. 

It took a long while for us to get back to sleep; Akane's words kept digging in the back of my mind.

¹[No records of a mansion in the Hidaka range exist, nor do any Furuya surnames in Obihiro have the wealth to upkeep one.]

²[The name Hoshino was crossed out, supposedly by Sasaki, but whatever he wrote next to it was wiped beyond recognition. Detective Mishima wrote "this is evidence of tampering" on the right margin.]

³"There is no (expletive) way a third floor is anywhere around that balcony!" -- Mishima