Kōeihei Village looked spectacular. As though it came straight out of a period piece. With homes that were bunched closer together at the village’s square while in the distance, she could faintly see a few farms and several other houses that even had their yards closer towards the village’s back.
The village itself was in the shape of a spearhead, with what looked to be the village’s Shrine at the very end representing the tip surrounded by forest and mountains.
Yet that feeling was still in the back of Taryn’s mind. She just couldn’t shake it no matter how much she tried to. This place must have been ancient to affect her this much.
She recalled something similar when she was younger, of visiting a castle with Rachael and her Uncle and even when she went to Paris. Bloodshed and death were all too common things. In her life, she had no choice but to get used to it. The same went for this place.
Even now, they were now on the village grounds as they waited for Sato, who was called away to take care of something, leaving the four of them to wander the square. As they waited, Rachael asked Stephanie.
“Hey Stephanie, I know it’s late in asking this, but where exactly are we going to be staying? Is there a house that we’re renting?”
She merely smiled at her. “It’s a surprise. You’ll find out soon.”
Sato quickly returned, apologizing to the group for taking so long, that they would need to wait a bit longer before going to where they would be staying and then asking them. “So, what do you think about our village? Looks wonderful, doesn’t it?” they nodded, but Sato looked at Taryn, noticing how she stared at the many homes. “If you have a question, young lady, I can do my best to answer.”
This brought Taryn out of her thoughts. “It’s nothing really, but I am kind of wondering, are the homes here from around the 1600s? They kind of look to be from that time, at least from some photos that I’ve seen.”
“You’re close,” Sato said. “These homes are from the end of the Muromachi era, the Sengoku period. There was an economic boom for Japan during the war when many regions fought against each other. As such, many people took refuge here and eventually called it home. Although they had to rebuild the village from what it once was, the village grounds are much older than the buildings themselves.”
Rachael gave a questioning look. “Was it an earthquake?”
The man shook his head. “No, a sudden fire burned all the original buildings. The Samurai rebuilt the village in 1509, and it has remained ever since. The only thing original that remains of the previous village is a shrine at the back of the village on top of a hill, surrounded by forests and mountains.”
That would explain the feeling I have. Taryn thought to herself, partly wondering just how old this village might be, but was then drawn back into the conversation.
“Do you see atop that large hill, the gates to a building?” he asked, pointing to the west of them that seemed to lead further to the forest.
They all turned their heads to look towards an impressive building and gate, looking over the village on a hill. It was a rather large home, from what they could see with all the trees in the way. “Is it a mansion?” Taryn asked.
“Correct. During these warring times, many people fled from other villages to escape from all the bloodshed. The mansion was established when the fighting ceased in 1569.”
“So, this was like a Samurai village then?” Robert chimed in, completely invested. “Since you said before that Samurai came and assisted when the original village burned down.”
“That is indeed true,” Sato proclaimed. “But even though the original village burned to the ground, many of its traditions and ways have remained.”
“And that’s why you talked about the story of the priestess?” Rachael asked.
The man nodded. “Exactly, much was given orally, for many original documents that had been written were destroyed alongside the village.”
“Any idea what caused the fire?” Stephanie asked next.
“No one is sure, but there is a story that surrounds it.” Sato paused as if waiting to see how they would react, seeing their faces with interest before continuing. “It was said that a woman started the fire. But this woman merely stood amongst the flames as everything burned around her before she vanished. Almost as though she was never there. Some say she was killed in the fire; others believe that she was a spirit out for revenge, and in her anger started the fire.”
Taryn narrowed her eyes; she had a feeling that she knew where this was going. “Did this woman happen to look like the Priestess?”
“Have you heard of the story before?” Sato asked with genuine surprise.
She shook her head. “No, it’s just some stories I’ve heard in the past tend to be rather similar. It wasn’t hard to guess what it might be.”
This seemed to gauge the man’s interest as his dark eyes shined with what could only be described as glee. “Oh, are you into the occult by chance, Lowell-san?”
She shook her head once more. “The stories I hear are interesting, but I’d rather avoid summoning spirits and the like. To me, it just invites bad news.”
He laughed. “Good to know. Well, then this story you will enjoy, for it was not her spirit that had been seen. But Kuronochi-sama herself.”
The whole group went silent from what Sato said, a smile came to his face as he continued, enjoying their facial reactions.
“But she died,” Stephanie said, breaking the group’s silence. “You said before that she ended her life to stop the demons.”
“Yes, she had,” Sato clarified. “But do you recall what happened to her body?”
Rachael answered. “Her husband turned her body into a doll, you said he did it to preserve her beauty.”
A smile spread further across Sato’s face as he let out a soft chuckle. “Correct. That is indeed what he had done. However, I doubt even her husband believed that she would still be on this earth after so much time had passed. Some had said that it was due to having spiritual powers; others say it was a curse left on by the demons that had once walked this earth. Either way, her body remained. And moved entirely on its own. As if that now empty shell that wanted freedom and was angry to have been left forgotten underground. So she burned the village as penance. Regardless of what moved Kuronochi-sama’s body, we now hold a festival in honour of her sacrifice. In the hopes that it will appease her, so such an event would never happen again. The reason I tell you this is that you will all be here to see the festival, so I hope you can take something away from this experience.”
“But it wasn’t actually her, right?” Robert asked, drawing Sato’s attention. “I mean, even if the guy was crazy enough to do such a thing to his wife’s body. A doll wouldn’t be able to move on its own.”
There was another moment of silence before Sato glanced at Taryn and said. “You look like you wish to say something, Lowell-san.”
Sighing, she rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, I’ve heard some stories of dolls being possessed, since they are empty to begin with. There have been cases all over the world about dolls moving on their own. There’s the Isla de las Muñecas in Mexico. An island covered in dolls where a little girl is said to have drowned through strange circumstances. An elderly man who was the island’s caretaker found a doll and believed it to belong to the girl. He then hung it up in a tree, hoping it to appease her spirit. But it seemed to have the opposite effect. He placed more and more dolls on the island as if he were possessed. When he died, tourists who visited would leave dolls of their own. Though some claim that many just appeared.”
“I take it you’ve been there?” Sato asked to which Taryn responded flatly.
“No, but as for the story you spoke of, a woman whose body was turned into a doll and then became possessed. I’m not sure if you could still call that person empty. I know someone who would say that when a person dies, their soul leaves their body so…” She shook her head. “No, never mind. I’m probably just making it worse by talking about it.”
“No harm done,” Sato said with another laugh. “I know it can be an unsettling story. Even still, it interests people, including tourists like yourselves, to no end. That’s why I brought it up. I hope I did not frighten you at all?”
“It’s fine,” Taryn said. “It’s just a story after all.” She then turned her attention to Stephanie. “So, where are we staying? I think you’ve kept us in the dark long enough.”
“Oh, right. Well, it’s not much of a surprise now, but you guys can already see where we will be staying.” She then pointed in the direction of the mansion.
“For real?” Rachael proclaimed with both shock and surprise. “We’re staying over in that place? How big is this mansion supposed to be?”
“Many people have been known to get lost if one isn’t careful,” Sato said. “But no worries about getting lost, the capable staff will be more than willing to assist if you find that you have lost your way.”
“Hear that, Taryn?” Rachael said in a somewhat joking way as Taryn merely stuck her tongue out at her causing her friend to laugh as they followed Sato through the village.
As they did, they were greeted by villagers passing both English and Japanese from a few of the villagers. Some stopped to chat with Sato, curious about those who have ventured so far to their village.
Heading up the stone steps, Taryn found herself stopping right at the base, glancing back. For a moment, she felt as though someone had been watching her. But there was no one, at least, no one that Taryn could see. She did see several villagers stop and stare, but she knew that it was only because they might not have seen someone with blue eyes. She had noticed something while they were in Tokyo, but it wasn’t as much as it was here.
The Unicorn Effect, as some people had called it. Many Japanese people in some regions of Japan who were not used to seeing foreigners would tend to stare as though they were looking at a creature from myth. But the feeling she had was more significant than just someone staring at her from afar.
Resting her hand along with her back pocket to where her compact mirror rested, she thought briefly of using it but then thought against it. It’d not be a good idea. Not now, at least. As she began up the steps, Taryn saw more of the same stone carvings that she had seen along the barely visible pathway. Perhaps these were also guidance stones, for those who were lost in the forest.
Or they simply held a symbolic meaning with how Sato told the story, she gathered that there would also be a large amount at the Shrine at the other end of the village.
“Hey,” Robert called out, drawing her attention to him as he looked at her with his brown hazel eyes slightly narrowed. “What’s the hold-up? If you want to sight-see, you can do it later when we get to our rooms. Or do you need help carrying your stuff?”
He had no ill intent or malice in his voice; she just merely looked at him, with the way he kept wavering back and forth to how he usually was to a guy who wants to start something. It honestly made her wish he’d just stick with one thing during this trip the flip back and forth.
“No,” she told him. “I’m alright. I was just thinking of the story that Sato spoke of, about the village and its Priestess.”
He gave a short laugh. “I never took you for being the superstitious type.”
She looked him right in the eye, not with anger or annoyance since she knew that he would not know about this kind of thing from her. “I’m not. I just know that with stories like this, they tend to hold a lot of truth to it regardless if it’s seen as legends.”
“So, you think these demons exist then?” he asked, sounding somewhat skeptical.
“In a way, but throughout history, there have been people in the world who have done horrible things where they would be called things like monsters or demons. Even now. So perhaps the demons that Sato spoke of were just people too far gone, and others saw them as such. But with that said, I won’t discount the thought of demons once existing, there’s already a lot in the world that just hasn’t been discovered or properly explained.” She then readjusted her bag across her shoulder before picking up her suitcase then walked past Robert. “After all, I’ve just seen so much in my life that I know there are far worse things than demons. Whatever possessed the Priestess’s body is probably one of those things, and I would never want to face it.”
Robert merely looked at her with confusion; he had no clue what she was talking about. But also felt that she would say no more than what had already been spoken aloud.
Walking up the remainder of the stone steps, both Taryn and Robert reached a long twisting stone-laid path with tall trees lining either side before coming face to face with another sizeable wooden gate surrounded by stone and plaster walls. When they reach the others, Sato went forwards and opened a side door next to the entrance and motioned them to follow. Once they did, everyone now had a much better look at the mansion.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
The front entrance, which was still a bit away from them, was lined with a stone walkway, a pond of koi fish on the right, and a small rock garden to the left as stone lanterns lined the way to the entrance. The four of them looked at the mansion’s entrance, remaining where they stood. The roof was made of Japanese tiled stone with glistening wooden doors that looked to be hand-carved. Now it truly did feel as though they had stepped back in time.
“Wow,” Rachael proclaimed under her breath. “This is amazing, don’t you think Taryn?”
Taryn only nodded in response and continued to look up at the mansion. There were two floors from what she could see, or perhaps there were three, but it was hard to tell from where they were. She could only imagine what the whole grounds looked like. Getting lost would be incredibly easy if one wasn’t careful.
“So?” Stephanie spoke up. “Will this be adequate to stay for the remainder of our trip?”
“Are you kidding?” Rachael answered as she threw her hands up in the air while Taryn went to take a photo with her camera. “This place is incredible!” she then turned to Taryn. “Don’t you think so?” but then her smile fell slightly when noticing Taryn’s faintly wary expression. “Taryn?”
This seemed to draw her from her thoughts. “Huh? Oh, sorry. Yeah, it looks amazing.” Taryn said softly with a faint smile. But this only caused worry to bloom in Rachael’s chest. Something was wrong.
Rachael went to speak, but Taryn merely walked past her and simply said with a smile. “Come on, we should head to where we’ll be staying.”
Rachael followed suit but still gave her a cautious look.
The entrance hall had two instantly noticeable things; one was a wall that was a place to put someone’s shoes. In Japan’s homes, a person did not walk around wearing their shoes inside the house. The other thing looked to be a small office with a computer, printer and filed documents.
Then several workers joined, giving a bow to the four tourists, before guiding them off to their respective rooms, with Stephanie saying it would give them all a bit of a break before meeting back up for dinner.
The two girls soon found themselves situated in a rather large room on the second floor, consisting of tatami floors, a small seating area with an equally small balcony looking out to the village, and a small table in the center with two sitting cushions. There was also a dividing room where they would sleep behind a sliding door, and another window, which gave another garden view. Both girls could only speculate that there might have been a few gardens through the mansion’s grounds.
As the two began to unpack the few things they brought with them, Rachael found herself stopping and looking back at her friend, who seemed too focused on unpacking. “So, this place must have a lot of… I guess residual emotions left.”
Rachael said it was purposely vague, in case others were to come by. It was something that she had to learn to do, thanks to Taryn’s Uncle, to not accidentally expose her friend.
“Yes, there is,” Taryn merely said as she continued to unpack her things.
Rachael, on the other hand, stopped as she remained sitting on the tatami floor. “How many do you think?”
Taryn was silent for a moment as she finished up her unpacking; she remained where she was. “A lot,” she said finally. “Hundreds, thousands, perhaps more.”
She looked at Taryn with shock. “That many?”
Taryn merely gave a modest shrug; it wasn’t anything new for her, at least. “This village is old. At least from how Sato explains it. But with it, there’s much regarding what has been left behind. Anger, hatred, regret, fear, agony, despair and loss. That’s what I felt when we first came to this village. I mentioned that what I felt was not like when we were in that hospital, because there were still residual signs of life inside the hospital even though it was abandoned. But in this place, even though there is obvious life, it feels as though we are in a massive tomb. With the dead all over.” It’s a lot similar to when I was in Paris…
Rachael found herself swallowing the sudden lump in her throat. This wasn’t the first time she heard her friend explain the dead in detail, but Taryn had never gone so far as to say that it was like a tomb before. There must have been hundreds who died here over many years. “And what about here in this room?”
Taryn gave a slow shake of her head. “There’s nothing here, but if you’re not satisfied with that,” she pulled out her ornate silver compact mirror from her back pocket and held it up to her friend. “I could check for you.”
Rachael opened her mouth only to clamp it shut and gave a slow shake of her head in turn. “No, that’s okay. You said it yourself that this room is normal, and I believe you. But…”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure that’s it? I mean, the way you looked when we came up to the mansion, it looked as though you worried.”
Taryn merely gave a confused look. “Worried? I wasn’t worried.” She then stood up and stretched her arms above her head. “Anyway, regardless of how I felt when we arrived, I’m sure it’ll taper out in time. It always does.”
“If you say so.” Then Rachael changed the topic. “So, since you’re already done, what do you plan to do? Read? Take a nap? Or explore?”
“I’m going to explore.” She said then laughed at her friend’s deadpan expression that said that she would bet that Taryn would get lost. “Come on, you know me well enough to know what I’d do first and foremost when at a new place.”
Rachael merely gave her a slightly amused stare. “Yeah, I know, I’ve seen it in action, you’re even like that when playing an MMORPG or an open-world game, you want to explore everything. How do you not get tired of it?”
She smiled at her friend. “Because it’s always a new place, and new places will never be tiring to me.” She then left the room that they would be sleeping in and headed to the other door. “I have my phone, but knowing how far we are from the city, we might have some difficulty with reception. What are you going to do when you unpack?”
She thought about it for a moment before smiling. “I think I’ll draw for a bit, might go outside for it. Try not to get lost, okay?”
Taryn laughed again. “I’ll try.” When she closed the sliding door and entered the hall, she let out a slow, steady breath. She hadn’t been worried; if anything, what she felt at that moment when crossing the mansion’s threshold was sadness. Undiscernible sadness. It surprised her that such a strong emotion didn’t make her cry. But she hadn’t been able to. Not for three months.
Shaking her head, Taryn pushed herself away from the door and headed down the stairs to the main floor. If she were going to look around this place, she would do it right by starting at the bottom and working her way up.
Walking down the stairs, she noticed how several workers were doing their own thing before seeing her and offering a bow to her and simply continued. Taryn could overhear what some of them had to say as they passed her. Talking about her pale skin or oddly coloured eyes, saying that it was beautiful.
Funny enough, she would receive a lot of those same comments about her eyes back in her own country. Her blue eyes were considered vastly different from the norm. But she knew someone who had something similar, her uncle. Though his eyes were more like a blue flame, while her father had more of a rich light blue sky, and her grandfather had the same light blue as her own, minus the dark blue ring. As small as that was, it was at least good to relate to it. Her uncle had explained those who have a particular trait tended to have such unique-looking blue eyes. Though she wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by it.
With hands in her pockets, she continued walking silently. She noted that there were several commonplace rooms. Rooms where the staff lived, other rooms held an assortment of objects and the like and others were used for ceremonies. Of course, she couldn’t know what all the rooms were for. After all, she wasn’t an expert, it was still enjoyable to stop and look.
Turning, she then walked along the Engawa, a wooden veranda wrapped all along the outside of the mansion’s structure. She found herself enjoying the outdoor scenery, the sounds of birds, and the rustling of trees and bamboo leaves while glancing into the rooms that were open to being viewed. She even saw a small room set up for a tea ceremony.
Soon she had found herself near the far end of the mansion, or at least what she assumed it to be when her attention then turned to that of a nearby garden. What she saw caused her to stop. There were some very tall hydrangeas in the distance, but what caused her to stop was the mere fact of the colour they had.
They were dark red.
Odd, that wasn’t something a hydrangea plant could have in the way of colour, at least not naturally. These days if you had a specific-coloured dye, you could turn a hydrangea almost any colour, but that could go with any flower. She couldn’t help but wonder why the people here would go to so much trouble. It was only a passing thought as she turned to keep walking. She had merely taken a single step towards the back of the mansion only to be suddenly struck with a sudden feeling of nausea.
Falling to her knees, she clamped her left hand over her mouth as her right arm wrapped around her stomach. Something was wrong. The feeling she had; wasn’t right. It was as though something deep inside of her was trying to force its way out of her body.
“Oh!” A woman drew her attention as she and an older woman both held looks of concern on their faces. “Are you all right, miss?” the younger of the two asked in English with a relatively thick Japanese accent. With a round face and large eyes, her dark brown hair was held up in a clip. While the other looked to be much older with a narrower face and black hair streaked with grey showing her age.
“Yes,” Taryn said softly in English, her voice somewhat hoarse as she cleared her throat. “I just felt nauseous is all, sorry. Please don’t mind me.”
“No, it’s no problem.” Said the younger woman. “Do you perhaps, need to use a restroom? The mansion has several, or if need be, I could go and retrieve some medicine if you’re not feeling well?”
“No, that’s not necessary,” Taryn said as she tried to stand. “I’m fine—” The rest of her words fell short as she clasped her hand around her mouth once more. Her body disagreed with the current situation.
The younger of the two helped to support Taryn to stand while saying. “Hold on, we’ll get you to the nearest restroom.”
The two in question practically rushed her to one that thankfully wasn’t too far off from where she was. And much to Taryn’s surprise, she did end up expelling most of her stomach contents. Feeling nauseous was one thing, but that had never happened before. Was it really because she was sensitive to this place? She couldn’t fathom what the cause might have been otherwise. She had been to historical sites before where death was common, and she never had this type of reaction.
“Do you feel a bit better?” the younger woman asked.
“Yes,” and she did, yet still finding herself apologizing to the women. “Sorry for being such a bother; I’m sure you both have more important things to worry about than helping some stranger like myself.”
“No, it’s fine.” The younger woman looked to the older, switching to Japanese. “Could you stay with her, Yoko? Just for a moment? I’ll get her some bottled water, so she can clean the pallet of her mouth.” When the older woman named Yoko nodded, the younger looked back to Taryn and spoke in English. “I’ll be back shortly with some bottled water; stay here, okay?”
“Yeah, sure, not like I have anywhere I need to get to anyway.” As of now, she felt better than she did moments ago but wasn’t sure if it was due to vomiting or moving away from whatever caused her to be sick.
With a nod of understanding, the younger woman got up and quickly left to get some water. Taryn merely remained where she sat, on the floor with her back pressed against the wall as she closed her eyes and simply breathed.
That was when the other woman spoke.
“You understand Japanese, don’t you?” Yoko asked in her language. Causing Taryn to merely look up at her. “Your expression tells me you do; most foreigners tend to give a faint frown when they don’t. Trying to figure out what we might be saying.”
“Is that so?” Taryn responded in Japanese. “Sorry, I guess I should have answered back in your language. I just wasn’t thinking straight considering the situation.”
“No, that’s for the better. It’d be good if you didn’t tell anyone here that you know the language.”
Taryn looked at the woman with confusion. “And why is that?”
“So that they won’t hide things from you.”
She frowned, not knowing where this woman was going with this. “Okay?” was all she could say in response and nothing more. With how earnest the woman looked; Taryn felt like she couldn’t anyhow.
“Good, and…” Yoko fell silent as if to hear if anyone was nearby before kneeling near Taryn to speak in a hushed voice. “You and your friends should leave this place; otherwise, the demon might spirit you away.”
Before Taryn could respond, the younger woman returned. “I’m back,” she said in English. “Sorry, that took longer than expected!” she then handed Taryn a water bottle as Yoko moved away. “Drink it slowly, okay?”
Taryn did as she was told, using the water to rinse out her mouth before swallowing it. “Thank you,” she said then continued to drink the water from the bottle.
The younger woman then surprised her and sat down in the proper Japanese way, with her legs tucked underneath her as her hands were folded into her lap. “Just take your time, there’s no rush.”
Taryn found herself staring at the young woman, she looked to be around her age, but she felt it was vastly incorrect. “I didn’t expect anyone to be this forward in assisting someone. I had been told that most Japanese tend to not push into other people’s problems.”
“Well, it’s not completely untrue, but I’ve always been a bit of a busybody when it comes to people’s health.”
“People’s health?” Taryn repeated.
The woman nodded. “Yes, I intend to be a nurse, but I had to put a hold on my studies due to circumstances. It’s expensive, and I’ve been tight on money. So, when I heard from my cousin that there was an opening here, I applied.”
“So, you’re not from the village then,” Taryn said, then found herself asking. “What’s your name if you don’t mind me asking?”
Her smile brightened. “It’s Kurosawa, Kurosawa Mei.”
“Mei Kurosawa,” Taryn smiled at the young woman. “It’s nice to meet you; my name is Taryn Lowell. Thank you again for helping me. Both of you.”
“Lowell Taryn, that’s a particular name you have Lowell-san, it’s rather lovely.”
“So, I’ve heard,” Taryn said and went to drink more water.
“If you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?” Mei asked. “I’ve only been here for a month, but I always wonder where foreigners come from. Some of the workers believed you and your group might be from America, but you don’t have an American accent.”
“We’re from Canada,” Taryn merely said simply, her gaze glancing at the older woman, noticing how she seemed somewhat on edge. “I’m pretty sure whatever documents you have would tell you that.”
“A few of the workers tend not to read it, they only wish to serve the guests, and that’s it, only ones who know would be Sato-san, the headmistress who governs the workers Ayako-san, and the Master of the Mansion. But I’m told he hasn’t looked at any of the documents; he’s been rather secluded this past little while.”
“Maybe he’s shy?” Taryn said, taking another drink as her energy had finally come back. “I haven’t seen anyone else around that much. Are there other guests?”
“No, it’s the end of summer, many people have gone back to work or their homes. I think it’s only you and your friends. So, you all get the mansion to yourselves, so to speak!” That was a bit of a surprise. Usually, with how historic this place was, there should have been countless tourists, but Mei continued. “I think it has to do with how rural this place is. It’s not on any modern map, either.”
“There are a lot of places that aren’t on maps these days. Even new places. It gets a bit out of hand, I think.” She said as she went to stand up and gave a slight bow of thanks. “I’m feeling much better, so again thank you, Kurosawa-san.”
“Oh, it’s no problem, but are you sure that you’ll be alright?” Mei asked, her voice still filled with concern.
Taryn waved a dismissive hand. “Oh yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine; old places tend to affect me from time to time. I should have expected it…” She stopped short when looking at a nearby mirror and sink. It looked out to the forest. And from what she could see, it looked like someone was watching her from the trees. She whirled around to look out to the forest but saw no one there as well when she looked back in the mirror.
“Is something wrong?” Mei asked in English.
“No, it’s nothing. I thought I saw someone.” She then turned to face both women and offered another bow of gratitude. “Thank you again for your help. I believe I should be fine.”
“All right,” Mei said as she stood. “But if you feel like you going to be ill again, you’re more than allowed to ask for help. You are our guest, after all.”
“I’ll be sure too if I need it, have a good afternoon.” She then headed down the hall, this time going further into the mansion than outside. But not before casting one last look out into the forest. She could have sworn to have seen someone, a woman perhaps, but it was too far to know for sure if that was what she saw.
“Bye, for now, Lowell-san.” Mei then turned to Yoko and spoke in Japanese. “She seemed nice, don’t you think so, Yoko-san?”
Yoko remained quiet. “We should get back to work, you don’t want Ayako-san to be angry with you.”
The woman gave a nervous laugh. “Right.”
Yoko cast a glance in the direction the girl had gone but said nothing further as the two went back the way they came.