Hidden Message

Breathing heavily, Takumi sits down on the floor, recollecting everything he has witnessed.

“All of the art in the house had actual yokai’s in them. Now they could be anywhere.” He says with a downward stare.

Sakura sobs into Hitomi’s shirt as she cradles her daughter. Hitomi begins to cry as well, interrupted with quick grasps of breathing.

“Why did he do this? I never cared if we had a bigger house, I just wanted all of us to live normally.” Hitomi cries as she hugs her daughter.

“Mom, we need to help dad, please!”

Hitomi holds her daughter's face as they both shed tears from their red eyes.

“I don’t even know if we can help him. We couldn’t even see it all.”

“Mrs. Hoshino, I was able to see it with this camera.” Takumi says interruptingly.

Takumi hands her the camera as both mother and daughter look at the camera. They see the option for a filter that turns it into VHS style visuals.

“Sakura, your father sent all of us here for a reason with this camera. Maybe there’s something here that can give us an answer.” Hitomi confidently says to Sakura.

Takumi gets up and heads for a storage unit full of memory cards. He begins rummaging around and looks at the cards and its holders.

“Maybe your dad left us something here for us to use, Sakura. There can be something to help us and rescue your dad.” He says to Sakura.

Sakura gets up and wipes her eyes on her arm.

“Okay, dad had to leave something here for us. Mom, come help us.”

“I will sweetie.” Hitomi says back.

The three of them rummage through numerous SD cards and begin checking anything that can catch their eye. They all see various dates marked on the SD card holders, putting them aside. Going near the bottom of a storage unit, Takumi sees something peculiar.

“Hey, what’s this?”

Takumi finds a bright red SD card holder marked “For Emergency”.

“I think this is what your dad wanted us to find Sakura.” Takumi says as he hands over the card holder to her.

“Mom, give me the camera.”

Hitomi hands the camera over to her daughter. Immediately, Sakura turns it off and removes the new card with the one in the red holder. Starting it up, she sees the mini screen and presses some buttons to take her to videos saved on the card.

“Mom, Takumi, there’s something on this card. Take a look.”

Sakura shows the two the screen and begins playing it. The mini screen starts a video beginning with some static. Its quality gets better by its wielder, Hiro Hoshino. Sakura and her mom have their eyes focused on seeing their younger loved one on screen.

“Okay, there we go. Hello Sakura and Hitomi, if you are seeing this, I have some explaining to do.”

Sakura and Hitomi give each other a quick glance before returning to the camera.

“All the money, the fame, and especially the collection of ukiyo-e in our home is not because of any groundbreaking deals with humans. It’s because I made one with an oni sometime after meeting with Hitomi. My art deals were going nowhere and when I first met him, he was our ticket to a better life.”

Hiro Hoshino proceeds to bring out a ukiyo-e featuring a Karakase Obake. Its appearance looks like an old fashioned paper umbrella, with a massive eye in the middle, a large gaping serrated mouth, a pair of thin monstrous arms and one single leg it stands on.

The figure begins looking around and moving inside its frame. Every jump towards Mr. Hoshino is unsuccessful, with it hitting the border of the ukiyo-e.

“If you all see this thing jumping, it’s because of the camera’s filter. I’m not sure how it works but an old fashioned visual like from those VHS cameras can see yokai’s true movements. I tested out with other regular cameras and they can’t be seen moving at all from them.”

The Karakase Obake sticks out its tongue licking on the border while staring at Mr. Hoshino.

“I was ordered to get 400 of these ukiyo-e from all over Japan. As of now, I only have 80 but I will be doing my best. The fact of the matter is, if you need help looking out for these things, use my special camera with its filter.”

Mr. Hoshino puts away the ukiyo-e in a box, much to the annoyance of the yokai trapped in it.

“There’s been some rare times where a yokai has escaped from its picture. Thankfully, all you need to do is to get any empty ukiyo-e and forcefully make them enter by any means necessary. But, please don’t let them hang onto you if they’re in the process of being trapped.”

All three are anxious by that warning.

“You’ll end up trapped in them as well and the yokai will do anything they want to you. I ended up losing an assistant because of that to a Yamauba. Just hang the art immediately and they’ll give up.”

As Mr. Hoshino ends his sentence, a rumble starts to shake the ground around him. He awkwardly gets to the camera off its stand.

“I have to go now, but I love you all. Please forgive me for all I have done.”

The video abruptly stops as the trio looks on with pure shock. Hitomi looms beaten down by the information as Sakura just stands.

“Hiro, why did you have to make a stupid decision like this?” Hitomi says, breaking down in a cry.

“How do we even get out of this house? It’s just nothing outside.” Takumi says.

Sakura shakes her head.

“I don’t even think my dad planned that ahead. All we know is how to defend ourselves against those things.”

Hitomi rubs her eyes, recuperating herself. She walks over and hugs her daughter while looking at the camera in Sakura’s hand.

“We’ll find a way to get out of this house. First, we need to deal with getting your dad back and those things that can be anywhere in this house.”

Sakura nods.

“I know…I hope we can find a way to get out of this nightmare.”

Hitomi lays a kiss on Sakura’s forehead.

“Um…Takumi, I’m so sorry you got dragged into this. You don’t deserve to suffer for my husband’s mistake.”

Takumi wipes his head.

“Look…all that matters is we’re alright. Let’s find a way to get out of this mess, and rescue your husband.” Takumi says to Hitomi.

“You’re a bright young man, Takumi.” Hitomi expresses as she pulls him in for a group hug.

With their situation dire, the three of them can only think of freedom, survivability and Hiro in safe hands. Especially, setting their sights on everything they can do to exit this Manor.