2

I pulled up fashionably late to the meeting spot and rolled the window down. There were already two cars there. One of them was flagging me down.

It was the author of the forum post, Miss Kuroshi. She looked exactly as she did on video call, thank goodness. The last thing I needed was getting catfished on a Saturday morning.

“Kenji! Is that you?”

“Old lady!” I shouted back. “Yep, in the flesh!”

We were sitting where our coordinates said we'd be. Good start.

Miss Kuroshi nodded firmly. “About damn time! This dour young man beside me made for a terrible conversationalist.”

“Just tired, is all,” Daisuke beside Miss Kuroshi said. “It’s seven bloody o’clock.”

“Don’t you young people have to wake up around that time to go to work anyway?”

Daisuke stared at her flatly. “I start at ten.”

“When I was younger…”

“Oh, here we go.”

The old lady laughed heartily.

I killed the engine and stepped out, feet first into the crunch of dead autumn leaves.

“You got the ofuda?” I heard Miss Kuroshi ask me.

I opened my trunk, then grabbed onto a bundle of them. “Yep, as well as the incense sticks…”

We had made a few video calls before committing to this trip. As much as I wanted answers, I also wanted to make sure we weren't being lured to a serial killer's murder shack or whatever.

We could rule that out for now, I think.

She was simply an overbearing mother hen. 

It still felt ridiculous holding these ofudas, though.

Miss Kuroshi clapped her hands together. "Right then. Shall we?"

The Calling was the metal and our ears were its detectors. We moved without discussing it, weaving between cedar and cypress in the early dark.

Nothing changed much about the landscape as we ventured. The echoes of cars from the highway we took to get here were becoming quieter, I supposed. And other than offerings of some of the most amazing cookies I’ve had in my entire existence, the forest cicadas were all we had to keep us company.

It all felt a bit awkward. “Hey, uh…”

Miss Kuroshi turned her head. “More cookies?”

“Well, yes, but…” I gulped. “We're doing this fairly crazy thing and we barely know each other."

Daisuke grunted. "Conversation will distract us."

"I get that,” I admitted. “But we could still talk. While we walk. Normal human stuff."

“But what would we even talk about?” Daisuke asked.

“I guess… I guess we can start at why we decided to do this in the first place?”

“...What do you mean?”

“What… or rather, who, motivates you?”

The old lady chuckled.

Daisuke’s face immediately went pale. “Wait, um, I can go f—”

“Ahh… where to start?” Miss Kuroshi clicked her tongue. “Well, my late husband was a young salaryman when we first met. He had this absolutely terrible haircut that he was very proud of, and I thought—now there is a man who needs someone to tell him the truth, because he was being terribly arrogant. Had to say it in a very subtle, indirect way, though, because that face was redeemable and only needed a haircut to compliment it..."

\\

Daisuke had been stand-offish at first, but even he divulged eventually. Hard not to reciprocate Miss Kuroshi's efforts.

The sun was up now.

In summary, Miss Kuroshi’s husband was amazing. That was all.

Daisuke had a father he wanted to apologize to. Described regretting the last words he said to him, but kept it to generics. He was twenty years old.

For my part, the story was true to life. I left out certain details. They didn’t need to hear how it went down.

We knew we were making steady progress because now the sound was louder than ever. I was going to get a migraine at this rate.

"Auntie, are we there yeeeet?"

"Soon, Daisuke, soon! I can feel it!" Miss Kuroshi assured.

God, I hoped so.

I just didn’t expect it to be so soon.

It was like lightning when it happened. I was walking ahead of the others when–

"Oh my god! My legs!!!"

They were gone from the knee down.

Just.

Gone.

What the hell?!

I leaned my torso back so they wouldn’t get disappeared as well.

"Okay, just stand still," Miss Kuroshi said carefully. "We can fix this. Are you sure you can't—"

"I can't see them—of course I know they're missing!"

“But can you feel them?”

“I—I think so? I’m moving them, I think!”

Wiggled my toes for extra security, too. It was like there was an invisible wall in the middle of the forest...

Wait a second. 

The Calling was something hidden. 

I proceeded to step on forward.

"KENJI!!" Miss Kuroshi exclaimed.

Daisuke, likewise, panicked. "Where did he go?!"

I looked up at what was in front of me.

By god. 

It was beautiful.

The trees here were the same cedar and cypress, but the light was different; delicate—like early morning filtered through water.

Above me were stone structures, jutted from the earth in arrangements that were clearly intentional and clearly very, very old.

I turned back. Through the invisible wall I could see the forest I'd just stepped out of. Miss Kuroshi and Daisuke were two silhouettes staring at the space where I'd been standing.

I leaned my head back through.

They screamed in unison.

"So," I started. "I think I found it."