• Ladies and gentlemen!

    I have been working on this short story for almost a year but I have only found the time to complete it accurately today. This is the third tale of the mysterious femme fatale Hamada Hanako. While the first story was quite brutal and the second tale focused on a more elaborate story, this third part is on the more atmospheric side as you will witness how a man gradually transforms into a monster. More tales about Hamada Hanako will follow in the future. However, I'm currently working on other short stories that are unrelated to Hamada Hanako's universe. I certainly hope you will enjoy this short story!

     

    Attention: This is a horror short story. Some elements might be brutal, disturbing and frightening. These are the purposes of a horror story. It's a fictitious story inspired by Japanese horror animes, mangas and movies. It's not based upon real events, locations or people. Except for the fact that I wrote this short story, it doesn't have anything to do with my convictions, personality or preferences. Again, if you're not eighteen years old, you shouldn't read this. Please note that there might be mistakes in the text. I don't have an editor. I'm my own editor. You have been warned.

     

    Hanako and the suicide forest

    It had been a dreadful summer for Kenichi. He had failed his admission to Shizuoka University. His parents had gone through a nasty divorce. Kenichi’s best friend Daizo had gone to prison for an illegal drug possession charge. Without a place to study, his parents’ support and his best friend’s presence, Kenichi’s usually swaggering self-confidence had suffered quite a blow and he had accepted a job as a clerk in a small convenience store in the small locality of Fujigane. Kenichi liked the fact that it was a remote convenience store but he didn’t appreciate the rude manager who had high expectations but not a lot of money to give. His superficial colleague was a self-centered college student who flirted with every female customer that came to the old convenience store. He was late today and should show up any minute.

    Sometimes Kenichi wished somebody would show up in this boring convenience store and turn his desperate life around. Kenichi looked at the bus stop across the street that occasionally brought tourists who wanted to climb Mount Fuji. An old white bus had just stopped there and Kenichi looked at the different people who got off the rusty vehicle. He saw a group of elderly women who were dressed for a gymnastics session. Kenichi could see a group of young businessmen who had probably come to this place as part of an annual works outing. There was also a white couple with sophisticated cameras who were clearly tourists.

    And then, Kenichi saw a young woman who didn’t seem to blend in at all with the other people. She was on her own, dressed casually and looked around as if she didn’t know where to go. Even though she was still on the other side of the street, Kenichi could see that she was particularly beautiful. She had long silky hair that moved gently in the wind. Her immaculate skin looked healthy and soft. Her body looked feminine, gentle and sporty. Kenichi estimated that she was about as old as he was. He suddenly wished she would turn around, walk across the street and buy something in his convenience store.

    It was as if the unknown beauty had read his thoughts as she turned around, looked at the convenience store and cautiously walked across the street.

    ‘’I would like to have a pack of Marlboro Ice Blast and a bottle of Mountain Dew.’’

    Kenichi hadn’t seen the customer and his booming voice made him cringe. He knew the customer all too well. He was a local farmer who was infamous for beating up his wife and daughter. He was overweight, had long grey hair and smelled very badly. Kenichi identified the disgusting smell as a mixture of alcohol and sweat.

    ‘’Police authorities are still looking for seventeen-year old high school student Hamada Hanako who was last seen in Yokohama two weeks ago when she physically assaulted the principal of an orphanage and his secretary. Hamada Hanako is also wanted for other crimes including murders in various locations. She is considered armed and dangerous. Police authorities advise anyone who sees her to alert them immediately and not to try to approach her. Hamada Hanako is five feet and four inches tall, weighs about one hundred and ten pounds and has a small peach-coloured half circular scar below her right eye.’’

    Kenichi went to the refrigerator to grab a cold bottle of Mountain Dew and proceeded to look for the pack of cigarettes. His customer was watching the small television screen behind the counter and seemed to be quite interested in the news report Kenichi had already heard three times today.

    ‘’If you ask me, that little brat deserves a nice little beating. That would teach her a lesson. Though I would pardon her if she were really nice to me afterwards, if you know what I mean.’’

    Kenichi’s customer laughed with a husky voice and Kenichi felt so disgusted that he almost felt like throwing up. He found the pack of cigarettes, put it on the counter with the drink and calculated the price. Kenichi was trying to stay as far away from the smelly pervert as possible and avoided eye-contact as if he were afraid to catch a disease that would force him to become a despicable human being like that rude customer.

    The clerk carefully rose his head to talk to the customer but stopped when he saw the young woman standing right behind him. His customer angrily rose his eyebrows before turning around himself. They both looked at the woman that had come from the bus stop. Kenichi realized that she was even more beautiful than he would have expected. She had a radiant smile with perfect white teeth and soft lips, a perfectly symmetrical nose, beautifully shaped ears and vivid eyes despite the little scar below her right eye.

    Kenichi’s heart missed a beat. He looked at the woman again and shook his head in disbelief. She was probably five feet and four inches tall. Her weight could certainly be around one hundred ten pounds. And the most remarkable thing was the small peach-coloured half circular scar below her right eye.

    The clerk wasn’t the only one who had come to the right conclusion. The eyes of his smelly customer popped out, he pointed his short fleshy index at the woman and breathed quite heavily.

    ‘’You’re Hamada Hanako! You’re the girl from the news report! You’re the one the authorities are looking for!’’

    ‘’That’s quite right. Are you going to give me a nice little beating, teach me a lesson and pardon me then?’’

    Kenichi couldn’t believe what he heard and saw and felt as if here were in a weird horror movie. The ugly customer rose his hand as if to grab the young woman but his reaction was much too slow, predictable and dumb. Hanako stepped aside, pulled a large knife out of her purse, made a step towards the farmer, twisted her body to the side and pushed the knife sideward into the customer’s large chest.

    All of this had happened so quickly that the farmer couldn’t even scream as his life ended. Fresh blood spattered on the wall, the ground and the counter. Some of it landed on Kenichi’s perplexed face, some of it ran along the shaft of the knife and some of it had landed on Hanako’s elegant porcelain face. The young woman laughed hysterically as she pushed the knife further into the farmer’s chest. The smelly customer started to shake, slowly sank onto his knees and looked at his assailant in shocked disbelief.

    ‘’Who is teaching who a lesson, now?’’

    Hanako kicked the farmer’s head as she pulled the knife out of his body. A gush of blood landed on the window right next to the entrance. The farmer rolled his eyes, slowly fell backwards and collapsed in slow-motion like a heavy bag of potatoes.

    Kenichi had his hand on the alarm button under the counter but he couldn’t convince himself to push it. He looked at the beautiful yet murderous woman in disbelief. Kenichi was equally fascinated and scared. He wondered whether she would kill him if he pushed the button. Kenichi also wondered if she would abduct him if he cooperated. The young clerk certainly thought that the latter was the much better option.

    Hanako grabbed a paper towel on a shelf, calmly cleaned the knife and put it back into her elegant purse. She didn’t even look at the lifeless body of the farmer she had just murdered. Hanako looked at Kenichi instead and spotted the camera on the ceiling behind the counter.

    ‘’Do you have a car?’’

    ‘’Excuse me?’’

    Kenichi had a jolt when Hanako suddenly spoke to him. He took his hand off the alarm button and raised it in the air as if a police officer were about to arrest him. Hanako laughed but this time it was a belly laughter and not the hysterical screeching she had uttered a few moments earlier. The mysterious femme fatale slowly moved around the counter, gently patted the clerk’s back and smoothly opened the cash register. She counted all the bills, took a cute pink wallet out of her red purse and put all the money inside. Kenichi just let it happen and observed how Hanako closed the cash register, carelessly walked around the counter and stood in the pool of blood she had caused herself. Her remarkable physical presence and cool charisma sent shivers down his spine.

    ‘’I need a ride!’’

    Hanako moved forward very gently, smiled at Kenichi and looked at him in an almost hypnotizing way. Kenichi’s brain told him to scream, run away and alert authorities as quickly as possible. His heart told him to cooperate with the poor lonely teenager who was wanted in the entire country. His lower body regions told him to run away with the woman of his dreams. Kenichi was confused by his own thoughts and emotions. Another shiver ran down his spine and he finally snapped out of it. He breathed in deeply, stretched his muscles and made sure to not fix Hanako’s hypnotizing eyes as he responded to her.

    ‘’Sure, I have a ride.’’

    Hanako nodded happily and Kenichi slowly walked around the corner. Warm phlegm gathered in his mouth as he stepped over the collapsed body of the farmer. Hanako gently took his hand to help him avoid the obstacle. Kenichi immediately forgot about the deceased farmer and only had eyes for the young woman. They went down the aisle hand in hand. Kenichi was smiling stupidly as Hanako pushed her head smoothly against his shoulder. Kenichi’s heart was beating so fast that he thought Hanako might hear it. She smiled at him and that reaction helped Kenichi to calm down as the couple reached the end of the aisle.

    The entrance door to the convenience suddenly opened just before they could reach it. Kenichi immediately realized that his superficial colleague Enji had finally arrived twenty minutes late. He wore brand-new shoes with red and white stripes, large dark blue baggy pants and a white muscle shirt with black tribal patterns on it. His wrists were covered by two sweat bands with red and white stripes, there were two expensively looking but actually cheap silver chains around his neck, he wore a pair of cheap sunglasses with blue shades and a bandana with red and white stripes covered his forehead. Kenichi thought that his colleague looked like a ridiculous mixture of a gangster rapper and a Japanese patriot. However, his colleague moved with self-confident swagger. Kenichi had to admit that Enji was quite popular with women. Kenichi’s younger colleague had had more girlfriends during the past three months than Kenichi in his entire life.

                Enji’s arrogant demeanor came to a sudden end when he spotted Kenichi and Hanako hand in hand and covered in blood. Enji moved up his sunglasses and stared at the couple in disbelief. He slowly turned his head and spotted the chubby customer laying in a pool of blood.

                ‘’What the hell is going…?’’

                Enji didn’t even have time to finish his question. Hanako had opened her purse, grabbed the knife and pushed it swiftly in Enji’s heart. She pushed it so violently that it got stuck in the young man’s organ. Enji stared at the knife that moved backwards and forwards in the rhythm of his racing heart. He then stared at Hanako as if he had spotted a ghost. His face grew pale and sweaty as he looked at his colleague in speechless terror. Enji looked at the knife and slowly tried to pull it out with his right hand. However, he wasn’t quite strong enough and needed to use his left hand as well. He pulled three times before a wet sound indicated that he had finally moved the knife out of his beating heart. A gush of blood sprayed out of the open wound and covered the windows, shelves as well as Hanako’s already bloodied clothes. Kenichi stood behind the femme fatale and couldn’t believe what he saw.

                His colleague very slowly sank to his knees, tried to cover the open wound with his hands in vain and looked at his murderer in bleak disbelief. Then, his body very slowly bent forward, lost its balance and hit the dirty ground of the convenience store.

                Hanako grabbed Kenichi’s arm and pulled him towards the door. The confused clerk followed her like a robot. There were so many thoughts racing through his mind that he couldn’t focus on any of them. He felt dumb, numb and speechless.

    Kenichi didn’t even realize what he was doing as he automatically approached his car in the parking lot. There were only three cars. There was a blue sports car that Enji’s father had offered his son for his eighteenth birthday. Right next to it was a dusty and rusty van that probably belonged to the despicable customer. Finally, there was Kenichi’s car that he had purchased from a used car dealership two years ago.

    He slowly opened the passenger seat door for his partner who put her knife back in her purse as she sat down. Kenichi heard the terrified screams of two elderly women in yoga clothes from the other side of the street who had probably seen the weapon and the blood spatter on the convenience store’s windows. Kenichi numbly ignored the two ladies, walked mechanically around the vehicle, carefully opened the door, slowly sat down on the driver’s seat, smoothly closed the door and instinctively started the engine.

    His look slowly swayed towards Hanako. Her hair looked immaculate as if she had just taken a shower. Hanako’s face made him think of a porcelain doll. Her smile was radiant and touching. The only element that didn’t fit in were the blood droplets on her skin and the larger stains on her clothes.

    ‘’Let’s go to Aokigahara!’’

    Kenichi nodded slowly, drove backwards, turned to the left and then shifted to roll forwards and out of the small parking lot. He barely noticed the bleak faces of the two yoga ladies. One of them pointed at their car with one hand and hectically waved with the other. Her friend was hectically talking on her cell phone in her left hand and nervously gesticulated with her right hand. Hanako observed the two ladies with a frozen smile.

    The young clerk had spent a night with two friends in the infamous suicide forest two years ago. It had been a terrifying experience as the trio had discovered the grisly disfigured bodies of a couple that had used a shotgun to blow their heads off. The three teenagers had been picked up by a security guard who had brought them to a hospital where they had spoken to a psychologist for three hours. Kenichi had been having nightmares of the creepy bodies for many months. He had never spoken to his two friends again. Kenichi had tried to forget everything that had happened that night but he hadn’t been successful.

    Normally, he wouldn’t have wanted to return there but he didn’t even question Hanako’s orders. Kenichi felt safest next to her since he knew that she would be able to defend him from any danger. In addition to this, he didn’t want to show the beautiful young lady that he was scared and even traumatized. Finally, getting away from the scene of the two crimes was currently the best option and Aokigahara was only a few minutes away.

    ‘’I have a hiding spot in the forest. We will be safe there. Let’s wait until the situation has cooled down.’’

                Hanako explained her plan as if it were something completely casual. Kenichi shivered as he realized that Hanako had probably caused such violent events followed by daring escapes on multiple occasions in the past. On the other side, Kenichi thought that she hadn’t really had any other choice but to kill the perverted customer and the narcissistic clerk. They would have called the police and if Hanako were to get arrested she would probably spend the rest of her life in a maximum-security prison. Kenichi didn’t want to let that happen.

                ‘’I trust you.’’

                Kenichi said these words very quietly and was surprised to hear them coming out of his mouth. His brain told him that he was talking nonsense. His heart however told him that the bond between Hanako and him was growing stronger with every minute they spent together. His lower regions made him feel dizzy, exhausted and sweaty. The prospect of spending a night in the forest with the most beautiful woman he had ever met madly excited the clerk.

                He looked at Hanako who happily smiled at him. He smiled back at her and almost felt as if the two teenagers were on a romantic Sunday afternoon ride through the country. The sun was shining brightly through the dense forest.

                The wailing sound of an approaching police car interrupted the peaceful harmony. Kenichi snapped out of his numbness and looked in the rear-view mirror. The police car was approaching quickly with flashing lights and blaring sirens.

                Kenichi accelerated and took the next turn with lots of confidence. Hanako didn’t even need to instruct him what to do. Kenichi felt that she trusted him and that made him feel incredibly proud.

                The police car followed quickly behind. There were two police officers in the car. The younger colleague drove with much concentration while the older colleague was about to use a loudspeaker.

                ‘’Stop your car immediately! Stop your car on the side of the road. Exit the vehicle with your hands in the air. Turn your bodies towards your vehicle and put your hands on the roof. I repeat! Stop the vehicle immediately or we will have to shoot!’’

                Kenichi took the next corner with lots of swagger. He drove so quickly that the car loudly drifted to the right side. Kenichi spotted the massive logging truck ahead of him. The driver firmly hit the brakes and honked his horn. Kenichi had trouble controlling his car and almost headed into the crash barrier that separated the stony steep slope on the right side from the small windy road. The young clerk was unable to drive back into his lane. The truck driver steered his vehicle to the right side with screeching tires to avoid an imminent collision.

                Kenichi’s car only missed the truck by a few inches. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw how the truck collided with the crash barrier on the other side of the road. Sparks flew in the sky as the sound of metal scratching metal reached a nerve-firing intensity.

                Suddenly, the police car drove around the corner. Kenichi saw the expression of bleak terror in the driver’s face as he veered the vehicle to the right side. His reaction came too late as the police car brutally collided with the logging truck. The truck was shifted further to the side, broke through the crash barrier and was pushed into the wooded valley. The police car exploded with a horrifying bang, swayed inwards and collided with the crash barrier and parts of the steep slope. Trunks flew through the air, hit the two vehicles and rolled across the small road.

                Kenichi breathed heavily as his palms started to sweat. He felt like waking up from a coma as he realized that his reckless driving had just caused the deaths of three innocent people. He looked at himself in the rear-view mirror and his heart skipped a beat when he saw his wet, twitching and colourless face.

                Hanako reacted with a belly laughter, looked at Kenichi with bright eyes and kissed his cheek with enthusiasm. The young clerk had trouble staying focused and only slowed down his car as he entered the next turn. Kenichi could see a sign that indicated a parking lot leading to the suicide forest.

                ‘’Let’s go to that parking lot.’’

                Hanako sounded so focused as if nothing had happened at all. Kenichi still felt nervous but his partner’s calmness had an easing impact on him. The sight of the two destroyed vehicles had vanished from the rear-view mirror as Kenichi turned left to drive down a slope towards the isolated parking lot.

                The nervous clerk gradually calmed down and stopped the car. There was only one other car in the parking lot. It was an old white family van. Kenichi was glad that there were no police or security vehicles around. Hanako smiled at him and gave him another soft kiss on the cheek as if to thank him for arriving safely.

    Kenichi felt new warmth, strength and enthusiasm as he slowly stepped out of the vehicle, walked around it and opened the door for his partner. Everything was nearly peacefully quiet on the parking lot. Kenichi could hear the smooth wind in the leaves, a few birds singing and some crickets chirping.

    Hanako stepped out of the car, took Kenichi’s hand and pointed towards a small path that led deeper into the forest. The couple moved forward onto the path. Kenichi thought that he could hear the sirens of a fire truck from afar but the dense trees soon muffled the sounds. Everything became quiet again. Kenichi felt how the sweat on his forehead cooled down, how his frantically racing heart beat slowed down and how he gradually got his nervously twitching body back under control. Kenichi looked at Hanako who looked perfectly at ease. This was the first time Kenichi actually had the time to admire her beautiful hair, delicate face and gracious body. Hanako smiled at him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

    Despite her presence, Kenichi couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened to him in this forest two years ago. His friends and he had tried to go camping in the suicide forest. Kenichi had always despised that idea but had joined nevertheless to not look weak. Right from entering the forest, he had felt a sinister, uneasy and menacing atmosphere. Abandoned items such as broken dolls, lost shoes and old tents had only increased the creepy vibes. When they had found a clearing in the middle of the forest, they had been thinking that it might be a good spot to stay. They had built the tent and had been looking for some firewood when they had stumbled across the two decaying, disfigured and rotten bodies. The next thing Kenichi remembered is that he had been screaming and running for his life until running into an alerted and surprised security guard.

    Hanako seemed to sense that Kenichi’s thoughts were shifting away. She tightened her grip on his hand and pushed her gentle face against his breast. Kenichi stopped and looked at his partner. She smiled at him and kissed his cheek for a third time. Kenichi felt new energy and optimism. He almost forgot about the sinister location.

                The couple walked for about ten minutes before Hanako pointed towards a small hill. They left the path, went around some old, gigantic and dense trees and reached the back side of the hill. There was a little cave that was almost invisible to the eye from far away. The entrance to it was so small that the couple needed to kneel to get inside but there was enough space inside for both of them.

                Kenichi realized that Hanako had been living here for quite some time. There were some empty soup cans and water bottles. The young clerk understood that Hanako had come to his convenience store earlier to grab some new food and drinks. There was a small pink sleeping bag on a baby blue mattress. Kenichi secretly wondered how Hanako had managed to keep her body so clean and smooth when she had been sleeping in a cave for a prolonged period of time. The clerk also spotted a shotgun and two packets of shells in the furthest corner of the cave. Kenichi shivered as he remembered that five people had already died since he had met Hanako just about an hour ago.

                The young clerk wanted to ask the beautiful teenage girl what she had planned next when he heard a sorrowful wailing sound. Kenichi initially thought that it might be the siren of a security vehicle, police car or fire truck but quickly realized that it actually was a human voice. The clerk froze, didn’t move a muscle and listened to a male that was crying, hurling and screaming in agony. Kenichi looked at Hanako whose face had grown more sinister. She grabbed the shotgun, quickly loaded the weapon with two shells and fearlessly robbed out of the cave. Kenichi followed her without asking any questions.

                The wailing sound was much louder outside the cave. Kenichi looked around to identify the man who was making these sounds. Hanako however had turned around and started to climb the small hill. Her movements were elegant and quick as Kenichi had some trouble to follow her without getting out of breath.

                The clerk nearly bumped into his female companion who had reached the top of the hill. There was a man sitting a few meters in front of them who was staring down the hill. He hadn’t even realized that Hanako and Kenichi had climbed the hill.

                Hanako moved noiselessly and smoothly touched the shoulder of the wailing man. He screamed in surprise and turned around in terror. He quickly calmed down when he saw the beautiful young woman who put her index in front of her mouth to indicate to the man to remain quiet.

                Kenichi approached them slowly. He could see that the man was sitting on the edge of the hill. There was a sharp ascent of about twenty meters in front of him Kenichi felt a little bit dizzy as he was suffering from light vertigo. He also understood that the wailing man had been thinking about jumping down the hill to commit suicide. Kenichi instinctively resented the wailing man. First of all, he had interrupted the couple’s intimacy. Secondly, Kenichi considered him a coward who was about to throw his life away. Thirdly, he still remembered the two disfigured corpses that his friends and he had found nearby two years ago. He wondered whether Hanako shared his thoughts on that matter. Kenichi felt anticipation and excitement as he pictured Hanako pushing the despicable man down the hill to accelerate his suicidal plans that he hadn’t had the guts to see through.

                Hanako’s actual reaction took Kenichi by surprise. She put her shotgun on the ground, sat next to the man and put her arm around his shoulder. The man cried like a baby and hugged the teenager helplessly. Kenichi couldn’t believe what he saw and felt upset that the suicidal loser was now hugging his partner.

                The clerk slowly calmed down, fought his vertigo and sat next to Hanako. He took a closer look at the wailing man. He had half-long brown hair and a beard that was slowly getting grey. His eyes were reddish and his face looked tired. His skin was so pale that it almost seemed as if his bones were shining through. He was skinny and sweaty but dressed in suit and tie of a remarkable quality.

                The wailing man only briefly noticed Kenichi and looked at Hanako instead. He stopped hugging her and almost looked embarrassed now. The suicidal man then looked down the hill, breathed in heavily and closed his tired eyes.

                ‘’I was nearly about to jump. You know, I never wanted to harm other people by jumping in front of a vehicle. On the other side, I’m too much of a coward to use a weapon on myself. I thought that I could jump and everything would be over after a few seconds. I have been sitting here for half an hour. I just can’t push myself to do it.’’

                Hanako patted on the man’s back and looked him in the eyes with much empathy. Kenichi felt disgusted and looked away.

                ‘’That means that your time hasn’t come yet. Life is a gift, no matter how difficult its circumstances might be. You will feel your fire dying from the inside when the time is right to leave.’’

                The wailing man looked at Hanako in surprise. Kenichi’s reaction wasn’t much different. He didn’t expect Hanako to be so caring, optimistic and sensitive.

                ‘’You know, you remind me of my daughter. Her name is Haruka. She is only sixteen years old. I haven’t seen her in almost a year. Her mother and I went through a nasty divorce. I can’t blame her however. I had only ever focused on my job as an accountant. Our company has been going through financial difficulties for a while. Last week, I was let go. I have lost my family and my job. I’m forty-five years old now and don’t know what to do.’’

                While Kenichi still felt depreciation for the wailing family father and career man, Hanako seemed to sympathize with him.

                ‘’I’m sure that Haruka wouldn’t want you to disappear from her life. You can still make it up to her. Her mother might not want her to get in touch with you. However, Haruka will soon be an adult and allowed to do whatever she likes. You still have plenty of wonderful moments to spend together.       ‘’

                The family father nodded hesitantly but then wiped the tears from his reddened face and smiled for the very first time.

                ‘’You’re right. I can’t do what I was planning on doing to Haruka. She wants to see me and I will meet her again.’’

                The family father got up, stepped away from the edge of the hill and looked back at Hanako and Kenichi. It was only now that he saw the shotgun laying between the two teenagers. Hanako smiled sadly and grabbed Kenichi’s hand.

                ‘’We are also facing quite some challenges. We are meant for each other but nobody wants to see us together. We have run away and don’t really know where to go.’’

                The family father sighed and scratched his head. It was obvious that he was trying to find a solution for Hanako and Kenichi. Her reasoning might have saved his life and he wanted to pay her back.

                ‘’You shouldn’t be staying in this sinister forest. I’m aware that you can’t go anywhere since your families are probably already looking for you. However, since I’m an adult, I could buy you a motel room for the night. I have spotted a nice motel twenty minutes from here and could even drive you there. You could discuss things in peace. Tomorrow, you should contact your families and talk to them. I’m sure they are missing you terribly and will be open to respect your feelings in order to improve the situation.’’

                Hanako nodded happily, let go of Kenichi’s hand and swiftly hugged the family father. Kenichi was confused. He felt happiness and anger at the same time. Kenichi felt relieved that Hanako wanted to stay with him and considered him more than just an acquaintance. On the other side, he didn’t like at all how fond she had grown of the lonesome family father.

                Kenichi grabbed the shotgun and its shells and followed Hanako and the family father. The two walked together as if they were father and daughter. Kenichi was left behind as a gloomy, oppressing and sinister feeling crept inside his heart. Kenichi wanted to be alone with Hanako. He didn’t want anyone else to come close to her. Kenichi didn’t like that Hanako seemed to feel much more uplifted in the family father’s presence than in his own. After all, Kenichi had helped Hanako escape, had stopped two police officers and had brought her safely back to her hiding place. Kenichi felt that Hanako should be thankful for what he had done. Driving the couple to a cheap motel wasn’t even a comparable gesture.

                The clerk felt how the negative atmosphere of the suicide forest infiltrated every pore of his body. The wind had stopped blowing. The birds had stopped singing. The crickets had stopped chirping. Kenichi felt like walking through an abandoned graveyard. Those creepy vibes only increased his hatred for the suicidal family father. Kenichi felt as if the suicide forest’s aura were slowly poisoning his senses.

    The trio walked back towards the parking lot. As Kenichi had suspected, the white van actually belonged to the family father. The suicidal man had already opened the doors. Hanako had decided to sit in front of the vehicle right next to the family father. She had only eyes for him. Kenichi walked by with a sinister expression, opened the right door to the back of the van, sat down and positioned the shotgun between his legs.

                It was as if Kenichi awoke from a terrible nightmare when the family father started the roaring engine. The clerk saw how Hanako briefly touched the family father’s hand as she was cheerfully chatting with him. She laughed and her beautiful hair waved through the air like a black satin curtain.

                ‘’I really wish I had a person like you in my life. You really seem to care for your daughter. You love her even though she is influenced by her mother and has given you nothing but hatred over the past few months.’’

                Hanako’s positive words made Kenichi feel sick to the stomach. He tried to ignore his partner and the family father as they drove back towards the main road. Kenichi had an evil smile on his face as he could see the fire truck further down the main road. The family father turned in the other direction towards the next village.

                The motel was only about fifteen minutes away. The family father stopped the van in the parking lot. There was an old bus in the parking lot. A few elderly women in yoga clothes were entering their rooms on the backside of the motel. The suicidal man grabbed Hanako’s hand, smiled gayly and left the vehicle to buy a room for the night.

                As soon as the door had closed, Kenichi decided to talk to Hanako.

                ‘’What is it between you and that family father?’’

                Hanako turned around and her bright eyes suddenly turned as cold as ice.

                ‘’He genuinely seems to be a great father. I’ve never had the chance to have someone like him in my life. You probably can’t understand that because you have grown up in a happy little family.’’

                Kenichi felt a stirring anger rise in his heart. He knew that Hanako was right. Kenichi also felt that Hanako and he were further drifting apart.

                The family father came back to the vehicle and triumphantly rose a key in his right hand. He opened the door on the passenger side and helped Hanako step out of the van. Kenichi got out of the vehicle on his own.

                ‘’I have registered the motel room under my own name. You can simply leave the key inside tomorrow morning before you leave.’’

                Hanako hugged the family father who gently touched her smooth hair. She took his hands and smiled happily. They completed ignored Kenichi who began to feel more and more desperate.

                ‘’Why don’t you spend the evening with us? We could order some food and eat together in the motel room.’’

                The family father laughed and nodded happily. He went around the building to the motel room, slowly opened the door and made an exaggerated gesture to bid Hanako welcome. The teenage girl enthusiastically kissed him on the cheek.

                ‘’I gladly accept to stay with you. You have saved my life after all. Buying you some dinner is the least I could do.’’

                Hanako stepped inside the motel room and danced around happily. She jumped on one of two small beds, spread her arms and closed her eyes with a relieved sigh. The family father observed her reaction with pride.

                ‘’This room is really beautiful.’’

                Kenichi stepped inside the motel room and closed the door loudly. Hanako opened her eyes and the family father turned around. Kenichi could still see the stupid smile on his face and the bright light in Hanako’s eyes.

                The young clerk knew that the shotgun was still charged. He rose the weapon, stepped forward and fed upon the facial expression of the family father that shifted from joy to fear in a heartbeat. His opponent rose his hands in disbelief and Hanako got quickly up from the bed. She wasn’t fast enough.

                Kenichi fired the first bullet in the family father’s stomach. A bloody mixture of skin, bones and blood spattered the white wall. It covered an old mirror, the modest television and some dusty furniture. The wound in the family father’s stomach was so big that Kenichi could almost see through it.

                There were screams of terror coming from the neighbouring room. Kenichi suspected some of the elderly women to be in shock. He wondered whether they belonged to the two ladies who had initially called the police when they had seen Hanako and him leaving the convenience store one hour and a half ago. Those memories strangely felt very far away. Kenichi’s life had changed drastically over the course of the past ninety minutes. It was now about to brutally change again.

    Hanako grabbed his arm to stop him but Kenichi hit her in the jaw and then pushed her aside as Hanako fell back onto the bed. The clerk moved forward with heavy breath. Sweat dropped from his face upon the hot weapon. He opened his eyes so widely that it hurt. Kenichi laughed madly as he saw how the family father sank on his knees. The suicidal man helplessly touched his open wound. He didn’t utter a sound as his mind couldn’t process yet what had been happening to his body.

    Kenichi grabbed the family father by the chin. His eyes were sad and shifted towards Hanako but the clerk couldn’t see any pain or terror. That unexpected reaction drove Kenichi crazy. He shoved the shotgun into his victim’s mouth and looked him straight in the eyes.

    ‘’Didn’t you want to die half an hour ago? You should be thankful now. I’m your saviour!’’

    The clerk fired the weapon as Hanako screamed in disbelief. Kenichi’s mad face got covered in raw little bone fragments, bittersweet blood droplets and fleshy skin residue. The family father’s body fell towards the clerk and covered his pants and shoes in blood. Kenichi breathed out in relief, closed his eyes and smiled for the first time since he had met the family father.

    Kenichi felt so stimulated by his power that he didn’t hear the sirens of the police cars that arrived on the motel’s parking lot. They had probably been close to investigate the double-murder at the convenience store and the three fatalities in the crash involving a logging truck and a police car. Little did they know that there was a sixth body to examine now.

    The young clerk shook his head to snap out of his triumphant thoughts. He ignored Hanako who was immovably sitting on the bed and speechlessly staring at the family father’s disfigured body. Kenichi moved the curtains of the window aside and saw how four police officers kneeled behind two police cars. Three of them had raised their weapons and aimed at the motel room. The fourth officer was about to use a loudspeaker to communicate with Kenichi who chuckled crazily.

    ‘’The police has surrounded the motel. Drop your weapon immediately. Then, open the door very slowly. Leave the hotel room with your hands in the air.’’

    Kenichi laughed madly, rose his shotgun and hammered its barrel through the window. Pieces of broken glass fell on the ground as the young clerk aimed at the police officers and attempted to fire.

    The cold clicking sound of the shotgun indicated that there were no bullets left. Before Kenichi understood what was going on, the police officers fired and burst the window into a thousand pieces of shattered glass. Hanako had quickly rolled over the side of the first bed and was hiding on the ground between the two beds.

    The young clerk ducked and started to think nervously. Where could he find some ammunition? Did he leave the shells in the van? Did Hanako have them in her pockets? Kenichi suddenly remembered that Hanako had only loaded the shotgun with two shells and had left everything else behind in the cave. The clerk now understood that he wouldn’t make it out of this motel room alive. He closed his eyes in despair but then managed to smile. At least, he would die with the most beautiful woman in the world by his side. They would die together and nothing and nobody could separate them now.

    Kenichi turned around to look at his partner and froze when he saw Hanako’s motionless face right in front of him. He hadn’t heard her approaching him on the old carpet of the motel room. Hanako violently pushed a piece of glass into his neck. Kenichi felt a sharp and piercing feeling. He opened his eyes in disbelief and saw that blood was running down the shard and onto Hanako’s right hand. Kenichi’s muscles twitched as he let the shotgun fall. He could hear one of the police officers using the loudspeaker again but didn’t understand what he was saying. The police officers couldn’t see the drama that was happening behind the motel room’s closed door.

    Hanako pushed the shard further into Kenichi’s neck and didn’t seem to mind that she was injuring her own hand. She pressed the piece of glass so hard that she was bleeding herself. She looked Kenichi in the eyes as if she wanted to suck his soul out as he was slowly dying. Kenichi was so hypnotized by Hanako’s enigmatic aura that he momentarily forgot about the pain and weakness inside his body.

    He blinked his eyes and managed to snap out of his numbness. Suddenly, Kenichi looked at the shotgun laying right beside him. He could hear the blaring sirens of the police car. Kenichi recognized the bleak emptiness in Hanako’s pitiless eyes. The young clerk suddenly realized what he had done as if we had just awoken from a surreal dream. Kenichi had helped a mass murderer escape. The young man had caused an accident that had killed three people. The clerk had brutally assassinated an innocent family father who had only wanted to help them. Hanako had transformed him from a man into a monster. Kenichi felt shocked, powerless and ashamed.

    Hanako pushed the shard even further into Kenichi’s neck before letting it go. Before Kenichi could collapse, she grabbed him by the chin and looked him deep into the eyes. Kenichi almost felt like getting lost into the vast nothingness of her look.

    ‘’I really wanted to make sure that I could kill you before the police officers would get that chance!’’

    Hanako’s eyes seemed to transform into two black holes that sucked the rest of Kenichi’s life out. The teenage girl let Kenichi go and his body heavily dropped on the floor. The young clerk was dead before his head hit the ground.

    Hanako turned around, crawled towards the body of the family father and grabbed the car keys from his pocket. The young woman slowly moved towards the back door of the motel room. She slowly opened the door and looked down the aisle. She could already see the door that led towards the parking lot and the family van that was still positioned there.

    The young femme fatale turned around one last time. The sirens of the police cars were still blaring and one of the officers was still talking on the loudspeaker. Kenichi had a terrified expression on his face as he was lifelessly laying in a large puddle of blood. The family father’s body had been shot into so many pieces that Hanako barely recognized him. For a brief moment, she felt regret that the family father would never see his daughter again. However, Hanako told herself that it wasn’t her fault. She had lost two potential partners today. She had lost the first one to a violent crime and the second one to obsessive madness. Like so many times before, Hanako had to move forward on her own. She didn’t know where she would go next. Hanako only knew that she had to flee and go into hiding. But she also knew that she would come back one day.

                When the police officers finally entered the motel room, Hanako had already gotten into the family van, was slowly leaving the parking lot and left behind seven disfigured bodies.

                There were also two veteran detectives who examined the last grisly crime scene later that day. Okimoto quietly stared at the two disfigured victims, shook his head in disbelief and clenched his fists in frustration. He felt like getting out of this horrible place and lighting a cigarette.

    Ichiro was standing by the door and drinking a coffee from a plastic cup. He had gotten used to it while working as a police officer in the United States of America early in his career.

                ‘’Seven victims in two hours. That’s a new record. I have never ever seen anything like this in my career.’’

                Ichiro’s voice was booming with emotion as he summarized the two worst hours of his career. Okimoto snapped out of his numbing frustration. He got out of the motel room, lit a cigarette and blew the blue smoke into the humid air of the early late summer evening.

                ‘’To be fair, Hanako didn’t commit all these crimes. Three victims died in a fatal crash. The middle-aged male in the motel room seems to have been shot by the young man who bled to death.’’

                Ichiro took another sip from his coffee. It had already gotten cold and stale. He didn’t like Japanese coffee in general but now it tasted absolutely terrible.

                ‘’I’m wondering how Hanako manages to recruit her partners. That clerk witnessed how she murdered a customer and his colleague. Still, he helped her escape, wanted to stay in a motel room with her and was about to attack four armed police officers to protect her. The other guy is apparently a random family father who gave them a ride and bought a motel room for them. I don’t understand those people.’’

                Okimoto flicked the cigarette off his fingertips and carefully stomped on it with his left foot. He observed the five crime scene investigators who were busy in the motel room. Okimoto sighed as he thought about the lengthy report that Ichiro and he had to write and deliver to their superiors. If they had apprehended Hamada Hanako, then the report would at least be written with more enthusiasm.

                ‘’I’m beginning to think that Hamada Hanako is like a soul catcher. She has much charisma and a certain aura that seem to attract lost souls like a desperate student or a lonesome family father in an identity crisis.’’

                Ichiro threw the half-emptied plastic cup in a nearby trash bin, stretched his arms and yawned quietly. It had been a terrible day and all he needed now was a comfortable bed. Perhaps he would still watch a baseball game on television to help him change his mind.

                ‘’Perhaps this is Hamada Hanako’s only weakness. One day, she might attract someone who is stronger than she thinks. It might be our best chance to get at her if we could only infiltrate someone like that into her life.’’

                Okimoto looked vividly at his colleague. He nodded slowly and patted his colleague’s back as the detectives walked back towards their car. Okimoto even cracked a little smile for the first time on that depressing day.

                ‘’This is certainly an interesting perspective we should explore further!’’

       

    The End

     

    Hanako will return.

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  • Ladies and gentlemen!

    I have been working on this short story for about half a year but I have only found the time to complete it accurately today. This is the second tale of the mysterious femme fatale Hanako. More tales about her will follow in the future. Enjoy!

     

    Attention: This is a horror short story. Some elements might be brutal, disturbing and frightening. These are the purposes of a horror story. It's a fictitious story inspired by Japanese horror animes, mangas and movies. It's not based upon real events, locations or people. Except for the fact that I wrote this short story, it doesn't have anything to do with my convictions, personality or preferences. Again, if you're not eighteen years old, you shouldn't read this. Please note that there might be mistakes in the text. I don't have an editor. I'm my own editor. You have been warned.

    Hanako at the international school

    It was pouring rain outside and Hisato’s mood wasn’t any better than the awful weather. He had spent his summer working in the pastry shop of an overtly demanding baker. Since he was his father’s childhood friend, it was impossible for him to quit. To make matters worse, his girlfriend’s family had moved to Hakodate and she had decided to break up with him to start a new life. His mother had had a kidney surgery and had spent most of the vacation at the hospital. His father had visited her regularly and Hisato had been spending most of his free time with his little brother Katsuki who had been more interested in watching anime than having conversations with his older brother.

    Hisato apprehend his last year in high school. He had just avoided summer school as his grades had been mediocre last school year. He knew that the upcoming year was going to be the most challenging one yet. Hisato still didn’t know what he wanted to do after completing high school. His friends were regularly talking about their ambitious dreams to become actors, doctors and lawyers but Hisato couldn’t share their enthusiasm. Whenever they asked him what he would like to do later on in his life, he looked down, changed subject or avoided giving specific answers.

    The bell rang and interrupted his gloomy mood. His English teacher stepped inside the room. She was always perfectly dressed. Her hair was severely combed in an anterior direction. She wore heavy make up. Hisato always thought she made a tremendous effort to look at least ten years younger than she actually was.

    ‘’Good morning, dear students and welcome to your final year at Otaru International School.’’

    She went on to rattle about the importance of the final school year, how challenging it was going to be and that the students needed to make up their minds about their future lives. It was all torturous talk to Hisato who looked out of the window to get some distraction but only saw the empty school yard, the busy main street and the foggy beach of Ishikari Bay covered by plastic debris and algae.

    ‘’I almost forgot to introduce you to your new classmate! Please welcome Hanako!’’

    Hisato turned around and looked at the girl sitting in the back of the class. He wondered how he couldn’t have perceived her appearance earlier today. It must have been due to his gloomy mood. Hanako looked splendid. She had dark, long, silky hair. Her oval face was gentle and smoothly shaped. She had alert eyes, full lips and rosy cheeks. Her skin was immaculate, her body was very feminine and her legs were unusually long. She looked almost too perfect to be true until Hisato noticed a small peach-coloured half circular scar below her right eye. Somehow, this minimal flaw made her look even more intriguing.

    Hisato noticed how excitedly some of the boys around him looked at their new classmate. Strangely enough, Hisato didn’t feel sexually aroused by the beautiful girl at all. He thought that he was probably still getting over his recent break-up. Still, he couldn’t stop looking at Hanako. She had a very strong aura that was strangely inviting and mysterious at once. Hanako was unlike any other girl he had ever met.

    She was also dressed unlike any other girl. She wore an elegant black silk kimono with a complicated formal tateya musubi obi knot. She wore two black satin armbands covering her wrists and a large neckband with a ribbon. Her hair was pinned-up elegantly with large purple pins. Hanako almost looked like a bride.

    Otaru International School had a loose dress code that forced boys to wear pants and polo shirts and girls to wear a dress covering knees and shoulders. Hanako’s dress respected these requirements but her stylish traditional appearance wasn’t comparable to what others girls would wear. She almost looked as if she came straight out of the nineteenth century. Hisato already saw several girls looking at one another in surprise and even heard some of them gossiping about Hanako’s elegant clothes.

    Suddenly, the boy next to Hisato stared at him. Hisato looked at him with surprise until he realized that the boy sitting right in front of him also stared at him. When he turned his head around, he realized that all the boys in this classroom stared at him, some with a look of surprise, others with an expression of confusion and then again some with barely veiled anger in their eyes. Their looks sent shivers down his spine until he finally understood why they kept looking at him. Hanako only had eyes for him. She looked at him intensely and smiled mysteriously as if they were sharing a secret only they knew about.

    Hisato felt irritated because he didn’t like the attention but also because he had never seen this girl before in his life despite sensing a strange interest for her. However, his interest was respectful while the other boys looked like they were about to get up and approach Hanako immediately. If she were looking for a quick new acquaintance, Hisato should have been her last choice. Perhaps this modest distance was exactly what attracted them to one another. Their mutual interest was more profound than simple sexual attraction.

    Their teacher had expected Hanako to step forward and introduce herself but it was as if she were glued to her chair with her eyes only focused on Hisato. The teacher realized the shifting mood in her classroom from curiosity to hostility and broke the awkward silence with an uncomfortable harrumph.

    ‘’Hanako’s family has just moved to Sapporo. Please be so kind and help her with her integration. Hanako, we are very pleased to have you among us.’’

    The teacher smiled brightly and Hanako smiled back to her but it was a bitter smile that didn’t seem to be genuine.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Hisato was sitting by himself and eating some seaweed salad that wasn’t as fresh as it should have been when his best friend Genzo sat down beside him. He had gone to a local American restaurant and bought a large cheeseburger with fries and a coke.

    ‘’Why are you sitting here on your own instead of being with your future girlfriend?’’

    ‘’I’m not interested in having a future girlfriend right now.’’

    ‘’I understand you have had a dreadful summer but you should turn the page and seize that opportunity.’’

    The two teenagers looked towards Hanako who was sitting all by herself and eating some sushi and drinking a cup of Aloe Vera tea. Suddenly the girl who had been sitting next to her in class approached her. Hisato didn’t like her very much. Her name was Yuka and her father was the owner of a large local soda company who liked to show off his gigantic yachts, private jets and expensive cars. Yuka was the most popular cheerleader in school and thought the world was hers. It was obvious to Hisato that she didn’t approach Hanako to be her friend.

    ‘’Look, girl, you can wear grandmother dresses all you like but this is my turf. Don’t even try to get in touch with any guys in our class. Do you understand, fancy freak?’’

    Before Hanako could reply, Yuka had taken her cup of tea and spilled the drink all over Hanako’s beautiful dress. The new student rose up in surprise but Yuka had already turned her back on her and approached a group of cheerleaders who had been filming the incident and started giggling loudly. Hanako looked gloomily at Yuka as she left the cafeteria with her cheering friends.

    ‘’Hey, Hisato, I didn’t know you were such a womanizer. That new girl only has eyes for you. I don’t understand what she likes about you but we all know you’re a boring guy who couldn’t get a summer job by himself and needed to ask his daddy to help him find one. Don’t even think about approaching that cutie. She’s mine!’’

    Hideaki sat right next to Hisato and put his arm around his neck. Hideaki was the captain of the high school football team and known for having numerous sexual relationships with the most popular girls in school. He had been working as a ticket agent at Sapporo Dome where his father was one of the managers.

    ‘’Mind your own business!’’

    Genzo tried to defend his friend but Hideaki turned around swiftly and put his big hands on Genzo’s tummy.

    ‘’Oh, hi, Fatso. I can’t believe I didn’t even see you given your gigantic size. It’s probably because you’re even more boring than Hisato. Enjoy your ugly burger, outsider!’’

    Hideaki stood up, laughed at the two friends and walked towards his team colleagues who were witnessing the confrontation from afar and couldn’t stop laughing about it. The boys then went outside for a short football practice. Hisato and Genzo were finally on their own. Genzo shook his head in disappointment.

    ‘’This autumn seems to get even worse than that horrible summer.’’

    ‘’I don’t like it one bit.”

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Yuka was on her way home. She had just finished her cheerleading practice. Her friends had sent her some pictures and videos of the incident with the new student. It was not the first time Yuka had intimidated another classmate. In a certain way, it was a mark of respect. Yuka didn’t care about most people. If she approached a classmate in such a hateful way, it simply meant that she considered her a potential concurrent. Yuka was upset that Hideaki had only eyes for Hanako since the beginning of the day.

    A cold blow suddenly rushed through Yuka’s blonde hair. She shivered and turned around but didn’t see anything. The wind must have been caused by a passing truck. She was walking down the main street of the industrial area of Otaru. Yuka wanted to go to one of her father’s factories and take a ride home in his new car instead of taking public transit.

    She continued to walk down the road beside numerous parked trucks but even though the sun was shining and Yuka was anticipating meeting her father, she had goosebumps and felt like she was being observed. She looked over her shoulders once more but she was all alone.

    Yuka moved on when someone suddenly grabbed her right arm and violently pulled her in the tiny space between two parked trucks. Yuka wanted to scream but her attacker put the other hand on her mouth and muffled it. Before Yuka could react, her body was twisted around, someone pushed a knee in her stomach and violently pushed her on the street.

    Yuka fell to the ground and could finally see who had been attacking her. The noise of an approaching truck suddenly caught her attention. Yuka heard tires screeching and a honking horn. She had time to turn her head away from the sight of her assailant and now faced the hood of a large vehicle.

    It was the last thing the vain cheerleader would ever see as the hood of the trunk broke her neck, bumped into her side and threw her bloody body ten feet across the street before it hit a traffic sign.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    During the first week of school, there were numerous activities related to possible career choices. On this second day of school, Hiseato’s uncle was going to present his job as a member of the city council. The senior grade students had gathered in a small auditorium with a gigantic screen that was going to be used for a brief presentation. Hiseato knew he didn’t want to get his uncle’s job. It involved a lot of bribery, hypocrisy and pretentiousness. Hiseato didn’t really like his uncle who had divorced his wife and also abandoned their son to focus on his next career steps and getting engaged to the mayor’s eldest daughter who was twenty-five years his junior.

    ‘’Hiseato, you won’t believe what I’ve just heard on the news today!’’

    Genzo was out of breath when he sat down next to his best friend with a bottled iced coffee in his hands.

    ‘’No, Genzo, what is it then?’’

    ‘’Yuka is dead!’’

    Genzo had only whispered those three words but Hiseato rose from his chair as if his friend had yelled the horrible message at him. Some students around him looked at him and giggled. They apparently weren’t aware of what had happened yet. Hiseato sat down and looked at his friend in disbelief. He still remembered Yuka insulting Hanako quite vibrantly at the cafeteria.

    ‘’How did that happen?’’

    ‘’It was a traffic accident. She got hit by a truck last night. She was dead right away.’’

    Before Genzo could give any further details, the principal made her appearance on stage. She always dressed like an ambassador, delivered lengthy speeches and appreciated being in the spotlight. She introduced her guest with enthusiasm and made sure to point out that he was Hiseato’s uncle. Hiseato sank back into his chair and wanted to disappear.

    He looked over to Hanako who was sitting a few rows beside him. She was dressed in a red kimono today and her hair was braided elegantly. Hanako realized Hiseato was looking at her, put a big smile upon her face and waved in his direction.

    The lights in the auditorium went out and the presentation was about to start. However, there seemed to be a technical issue with the computer. Some students started to giggle.

    But suddenly a picture appeared. But it was unlike anything the students, teachers and principal had anticipated. It did indeed show Hiseato’s uncle. But it didn’t show him in his office, with the mayor or during a press conference. It showed him in a filthy hotel room with a helpless naked boy chained to the bed.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Hideaki blew out the smoke, looked across the roof of the gym and shook his head in disbelief. The football team had just finished its practice and the captain smoked a cigarette with his teammate Bunji.

    ‘’I wish I could make it unseen. That picture will haunt me until the end of days. I’m not even surprised that Hiseato’s uncle is a pedophile. His whole family is a bunch of weirdos. I’m glad the cops came so quickly.’’

    ‘’You can say that again. I’m just wondering who exposed that picture.’’

    ‘’I wouldn’t even be surprised if one of his victims were one of the students. Revenge could be a strong motive.’’

    ‘’Maybe it’s Hiseato. You never know what his uncle could have done to him when he was a kid.’’

    ‘’That would explain why he is so weird. Man, we shouldn’t make jokes about it. Sincerely, that whole thing is creepy. First, Yuka dies in a random traffic accident. The next day, Hiseato’s uncle gets exposed as a pedophile. Our school seems to be haunted. What’s next?’’

    ‘’You will be discharged and Genko is going to be our new captain!’’

    Bunji laughed and threw his cigarette into the abandoned schoolyard. Clouds were gathering and a few drops of rain were already falling. Bunji shivered.

    ‘’I’m going home. How about you?’’

    ‘’I’m fine. I’ll finish my cigarette. See you tomorrow.’’

    Bunji left the gym roof while Hideaki stayed behind and thought about the eventful start of the school year. His thoughts were somber but his attention slowly shifted towards Hanako. Hideaki didn’t even understand why he was so obsessed with her. She barely spoke to anyone, dressed weirdly and seemed to have an unusual interest in Hiseato. And yet Hideaki desired her like he had never desired a girl before.

    Hideaki suddenly heard a noise and turned around. He thought that his coach might have caught him smoking. But nobody was on the roof. Bunji had already left as the rain intensified. Maybe the noise had been caused by a stray cat.

    The football captain turned around, finished his cigarette, stood up very slowly, stretched his arms and legs and looked around the modern infrastructures of the prestigious private school.

    With the increasing sound of the rain, Hideaki didn’t hear the person behind him coming. The violent blow to his back was so unexpected that he stumbled forwards, slipped and lost balance.

    Hideaki didn’t even have time to scream as he fell from the roof. He managed to turn his body during his fall and could see the unexpected assailant who had pushed him with such force. His eyes opened widely in disbelief. Hideaki was in complete shock until his body hit the ground fifteen feet below the rooftop. His world faded to black with the sudden impact followed by an ugly cracking sound as his neck twisted in an unhealthy angle.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Two weeks had passed since Yuka had accidentally died in a traffic accident and Hideaki had committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the gym. The school’s two most popular students had died within twenty-four hours and the atmosphere was somber. The principal was busy organizing seminars about road safety and suicide prevention but her pretentious enthusiasm made coping with those grisly events even more difficult. By being so involved, she simply did too much.

    Hiseato also had to deal with the fate of his pedophile uncle. He had lost his job, was currently in prison and awaiting trial. Hiseato had expected to get bullied in school but nobody seemed to care about him after the two tragic deaths. Even at home, his parents and his brother didn’t bother talking to him. Hanako had tried to invite him to a coffee shop on two occasions but Hiseato had refused the offer twice. He wasn’t in the mood of hanging around with girls. He preferred spending time with his best friend Genzo who truly understood him.

    They had just finished a science laboratory and were heading for their lockers. As Hiseato opened his locker, he saw a folder that hadn’t been there before. He looked around to see whether someone in the vicinity had deposited the file in his locker but Genzo and him were all alone.

    Hiseato looked at the folder. It read Wakkanai Orphanage. Hiseato opened the file and saw the picture of a very young boy. He didn’t recognize the boy immediately but Hiseato had a jolt when he read his name. He turned the pages of the file frantically and found more evidence for what was becoming clear to him now.

    Genko realized that something was wrong with his friend and approached him cautiously. Hiseato looked at him but instead of explaining the situation, he gave his friend the file. Genko read the file with modest confusion that slowly transformed into alert interest and suddenly into shocked surprise. He closed the file and looked intensively at his friend.

    ‘’We need to discuss. Let’s have dinner at the burger restaurant.’’

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Hiseato was still shaking his head in disbelief while Genko and he were waiting for their burgers.

    ‘’I just can’t believe my parents didn’t tell me they adopted my little brother.’’

    ‘’Maybe they were just waiting for the right moment to reveal the truth.’’

    ‘’Genko, I’m not a child anymore. I’m seventeen years old.’’

    ‘’Well, your brother is only fourteen. Perhaps they didn’t want to confuse him.’’

    ‘’He deserves to know the truth!’’

    The burgers were being served to Hiseato and Genko. Genko put some ketchup and mayonnaise on his fries. Hiseato had ordered some onion rings instead and grabbed a bottle of honey to pour some over it.

    ‘’I’m just wondering who deposited that file in my locker.’’

    ‘’Well, I might actually have a guess.’’

    ‘’What do you mean?’’

    ‘’There is only one person who is constantly trying to get your attention. She keeps looking at you all the time. She has invited you to the coffee shop twice already. She has tried to team up with you in science class.’’

    ‘’You mean Hanako has deposited the file in my locker?’’

    ‘’I have seen her strolling around our lockers during lunch when I went back there to grab the can of coke I had forgotten inside.’’

    ‘’Genko, there are hundreds of students walking around our lockers every single day.’’

    ‘’The girls’ lockers are on the other side of the basement. She wasn’t even supposed to walk around there. I’m telling you; she is acting very suspiciously.’’

    ‘’Let’s assume you are right. How could she possibly know about my brother’s adoption? How did she even get the file? It just doesn’t make any sense to me.’’

    Genko didn’t answer as he was starting to eat his burger. Hiseato started with his onion rings. He had gained three pounds of weight over the past two weeks. His friend’s negative eating habits started affecting him. But Hiseato preferred to have dinner with his friend these days than to dine at his place where his parents and brother kept ignoring him.

    His friend was enjoying his burger when his facial expression suddenly changed. Genko’s rather pale face suddenly turned reddish and he started to cough and sweat. He let his burger fall on his plate. Hiseato could see the tiny shrimps in the curry sauce of his burger. Genko had ordered a simple chicken curry burger. The shrimps weren’t even supposed to be there. And Genko had a severe seafood allergy.

    Genko fell from his chair as his eyes were popping out. He was breathing heavily, choking intensely and trying to vomit. Several customers stood up and looked at Genko in disbelief as they didn’t understand what was going on. Hiseato ran around the table, went down to his knees, grabbed his friend’s fiery head and tried to make him vomit to get the shrimps out of his body. Genko’s body was shaking uncontrollably and Hiseato wasn’t able to stabilize him. A waitress approached helplessly and called for the manager. Genko’s eyes turned white as he suddenly stopped shaking and didn’t respond to Hiseato’s help anymore.

    ‘’Someone call an ambulance! Good God, my friend is dying! He has a severe seafood allergy. What are you guys waiting for? Call an ambulance!’’

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Four weeks had passed since Genko’s death and two weeks since his funeral. Nobody could understand how the shrimps had gotten in the burger sauce. The cook swore positively that he hadn’t put any shrimps on the burger. The waitress said that she had brought the burger straight from the kitchen to the customer. Somebody must have modified the burger while it had been waiting on the counter before the waitress could pick it up. There were no cameras in that area of the restaurant. The police was investigating the mysterious case and the restaurant had been shut down.

    Hiseato had developed a depressing routine over the past two weeks. Each day after school, he went to the cemetery before taking the Semi Rapid Ishikari Liner from Otaru to his home in Zenibaku. When he took the usually busy train late in the evening, it was almost empty. Hiseato had become more and more isolated and even Hanako had stopped asking him to go to the coffee shop. As a matter of fact, she had been missing in school for the past few weeks. Hiseato started to think that she was creepy. He couldn’t forget what Genko’s last words to him had been: ‘’She is acting very suspiciously.’’ Hiseato had initially thought that his friend was exaggerating but he didn’t know what to believe anymore. Three students had died under mysterious circumstances. His uncle had been exposed as a pedophile. He had found a file about his brother’s adoption. Hiseato felt that there were more gloomy surprises coming his way.

    It had been a misty and rainy day when Hiseato went on the train and sat on the last seat to the left of the last waggon where he would usually sit in order to avoid meeting anyone who knew him. Hiseato noticed that somebody had left his newspaper on his seat. He picked it up and rose his eyebrows. Hiseato had never read the Sapporo Daily Newspaper because the publishing house had gone bankrupt when he was a little child. The newspaper he had just found had been published roughly twenty years ago.

    Hiseato read a few articles about economy and politics until he stumbled over a medical article. The article talked about the first successful sex reassignment surgery performed on a citizen of Sapporo. It talked about a local man who had become a woman. Hiseato already wanted to turn the page when he suddenly stopped. He recognized the doctor on the small picture whom his mother had often visited when he was a child. Hiseato started reading the article more closely and couldn’t believe his eyes. His heart missed a beat, his eyes popped out and his breathing stopped. Hiseato shook his head and read the article twice to make sure he hadn’t misread it. He hadn’t. Hiseato had missed his station and was now heading to downtown Sapporo but he didn’t care at that point anymore. Reading that article was a life-changing experience. And now he had more questions than answers.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Hiseato’s brother Katsuki stayed at his best friend’s place at the weekend. This was the occasion Hiseato had been waiting for so eagerly. He could finally openly talk to his parents two days after having read the newspaper article. His parents were still feeling depressed over what had happened to Hiseato’s uncle and they weren’t too enthusiastic when Hiseato had told them that he wanted to have a serious talk with them after dinner. They had been surprised by his unusual sense of urgency. After all, Hiseato had been quite melancholic himself since his best friend’s tragic death.

    The family had just finished dinner. Hiseato’s father wanted to know what was going on but his son insisted on waiting until his mother had washed the dishes. When she was finally ready, Hiseato put the file of his brother’s adoption and the newspaper article on the table. Instead of explaining himself, he watched his parents read the file and the newspaper article in shocked disbelief. Hot tears were running down Hiseato’s cheeks as he was suffering through the frosty silence until his parents had finished their reading session. His father and mother looked at each other in bleak despair.

    ‘’My son, I think we owe you some explanations.’’

    His father spoke very slowly and calmly. He had a defensive body language and was avoiding eye contact with his son. Hiseato had never before seen his father so insecure and reserved.

    ‘’We also owe you an apology.’’

    His mother seemed to deal with the situation a little bit better and she seemed more saddened than shocked. Hiseato had thousands of negative thoughts on his mind. He felt like accusing his parents. He felt like yelling at them. He felt like tearing the whole kitchen table apart. He could barely control himself and was surprised by his own discipline. Perhaps the dreadful events of the past few weeks had started to suppress his emotions.

    ‘’Your father and I had been best friends in college. I had gone through a lot of intimidation for behaving like a woman, dressing like a woman and falling in love with men. Your father was the only person who appreciated, encouraged and supported me. When I finally became a woman, our solid friendship turned into a love story. Your father and I had always dreamt of having children but that wasn’t possible biologically speaking.”

    His mother smiled at Hiseato and he immediately felt his frustrations decreasing. Being an outsider himself, he could empathize with the horrors his parents had gone through two and a half decades ago.

    ‘’It’s an incredibly complicated process to adopt a child. There are so many administrative obstacles. But we wanted to have our own family and fought very hard for it. We visited numerous orphanages but most of their principals refused categorically to give a child to a transgender woman. After several years, my doctor at the time recommended Wakkanai Orphanage where a transgender woman worked as an educator. We immediately fell in love with you. You had such bright and vivid eyes, you could already walk really well at your young age and you liked to draw little animals. We knew immediately that you were the child we had always wanted.’’

    Hiseato smiled warmly before somber thoughts came back on his mind like grey clouds announcing torrential rainfall.

    ‘’Who are my real parents?’’

    His mother hesitated and sighed. She looked at her husband who still hadn’t spoked yet. So far, his parents’ anecdotes were those of love and courage. Hiseato wondered why they had never told him the truth until he realized that it was actually his own story and not the story of his parents that was so tragic.

    ‘’Your real parents are a poor farmer’s daughter and the mayor’s son from a village in Northeast Hokkaido. Your biological father abused your biological mother very badly. He would actually end up killing her and going to prison where he remains until today. The couple had three children that had been brought to three different orphanages. Experts thought that it would be the best idea to separate the three children in order to deal with their early childhood traumas.’’

    Hiseato shivered as he continued to listen to his mother.

    ‘’You had only been with us for a few months, when we got contacted by the orphanage again. Your younger brother had been transferred to Wakkanai Orphanage. He was a very depressive and solitary toddler and needed a companion. We were asked whether we could imagine adopting your brother as well. That’s what we decided to do.’’

    Hiseato finally understood why his parents had never told the truth to their children. He wanted to know the whole truth now. Hiseato had a few more questions.

    ‘’You said that there were three children. What happened to the last one?’’

    Hiseato’s mother hesitated yet again as tears filled her eyes. His father remained silent. Hiseato understood that this conversation was one of the biggest challenges his parents had ever faced despite their already complicated past. Hiseato started admiring his parents’ unexpected resilience.

    ‘’You had a little sister. She was the most complicated case. You were a really joyful child. Your brother was suffering from depression but our love managed to set things right. Your sister however was different. She was transferred from one orphanage to another. Nobody could deal with her. She would physically assault toddlers, kids and even educators. We had been thinking about adopting her but that wasn’t possible. She was deemed too dangerous and was eventually transferred to a psychiatric hospital.’’

    Hiseato was in shock but the story wasn’t over yet.

    ‘’When she was thirteen years old, she killed her psychiatrist and escaped. Nobody knows where she is today. She is considered very dangerous.’’

    Hiseato suddenly had a terrifying thought.

    ‘’What’s my sister’s name?’’

    His father looked at him for the first time during the entire conversation. His eyes were frosty, intense and scared.

    ‘’Her name is Hanako.’’

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Katsuki and his best friend Tomoki were less than pleased when they learned that Tomoki’s parents had hired a teenage girl that was supposed to keep an eye on them and Tomoki’s infant brother Umeji. They felt like they didn’t need a babysitter and could take care of Umeji but the parents insisted that the girl’s curriculum vitae was excellent and that she would prepare them an extraordinary meal. The parents had to leave in a hurry because Tomoki’s grandfather who had been suffering from colon cancer for months was on his deathbed in a hospital in Aomori.

    The two teenage boys however changed their minds when they met the girl who would keep an eye on them. Katsuki had rarely seen such a beautiful girl. She wore a clean red kimono, decent make-up and had the smoothest hair he had ever seen. Even though the girl was about three years older than the boys, they were immediately attracted to her.

    ‘’Hanako is quite something, isn’t she?’’

    ‘’You can say that again. I wish I had a girlfriend like her. She’s one of a kind.’’

    The boys stopped playing their video game when Hanako advised them that their dinner was ready. Katsuki and Tomoki were surprised to see that Hanako had prepared three delicious bento boxes for them. When they arrived in the kitchen, she was already feeding Umeji some fruit porridge.

    Tomoki and Katsuki started to eat while Hanako was bringing Umeji to his crib. She came back and smiled radiantly at the two boys who happily smiled back at her.

    Suddenly Tomoki started to cough. Katsuki looked at him in surprise. His friend’s eyes were rolling hectically, his pale face had turned red and he was sweating uncontrollably. He tried to rise from his chair but collapsed immediately. He hit the ground with a muffled sound. Katsuki was speechless.

    ‘’Don’t worry about him. He will wake up in two to three hours. I’m only here for you, my little brother!’’

    Katsuki looked at Hanako in disbelief. Her smooth face suddenly looked cold. She slowly rose from her chair and was holding a large knife in her hand.

    ‘’You will never abandon me again!’’

    Katsuki got up and looked around frantically. Hanako was standing between him and the entrance to the house. Katsuki turned around and ran up the stairs to the living-room with the balcony. Hanako followed him slowly but steadily. Katsuki opened the door to the balcony and looked around. The garden was at least fifteen feet below him and Katsuki was afraid of heights. He turned around to look for another way out but there was none.

    Somebody was ringing the doorbell downstairs. Katsuki started to scream for help but knew he couldn’t get past Hanako. She lifted the knife with a fake smile.

    ‘’Katsuki!’’

    Katsuki turned around and saw his brother entering the garden below him. He had come on his own and was the one who had been ringing the doorbell.

    ‘’Hiseato!’’

    Katsuki was briefly distracted and that led to his demise. When he turned around, Hanako was standing so close to him that he could see her small peach-coloured half circular scar below her right eye on her seemingly immaculate face. Her smooth face transformed into a scary grimace. Her friendly eyes were suddenly popping out madly.

    The piercing pain in his chest transformed into a burning feeling as his blood was running out of his body along the knife and dropping on the floor. Some of it had splashed upon Hanako’s face. She laughed hysterically as she was pushing the weapon deeper into her brother’s heart. She bent forward, her lips touched her brother’s and she kissed him with cold passion.

    ‘’Goodbye, my brother!’’

    Hanako pushed Katsuki with such force that he fell over the balcony’s grid. His brother was screaming frantically below him. The last thing Katsuki saw was Hanako’s blood-covered dress, the red knife that she had raised triumphantly and her glowing demoniac eyes. Katsuki crushed onto his brother before he hit the ground but he didn’t feel either impact anymore. His heart had stopped beating as his world had turned into eternal darkness.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Okimoto shook his head in grim disbelief. Ichiro looked to the ground in bleak despair. The medical unit transported Katsuki’s lifeless body away. The two officers heard the child’s sobbing mother and the haunting screams of the father. They had discovered the scene of the crime as they had arrived just minutes after Hiseato had run to the house in an attempt to inform his brother about their sinister family ties. Hiseato had been rushed to the hospital. He had lost consciousness when his brother’s body had hit his head but he would live. Tomoki had just awoken in the kitchen and a nurse was taking care of him. Umeji was unharmed. Tomoki’s and Umeji’s guilt-ridden parents had been informed about the incident and were on their way back home.

    Hanako had escaped yet once again. The police officers had been putting the pieces of a complicated puzzle together. They had been called when a girl that fit Hanako’s description had been caught entering and leaving the restaurant on camera shortly before and shortly after Genko’s tragic death. The officers had then learned about the tragic accident that cost the life of a cheerleader and what appeared to be the suicide of the captain of the senior football team. The officers investigated those grisly events as their intuition told them that those weren’t random circumstances. But they needed proof and they found it when interrogating the truck driver that had hit the cheerleader who claimed that she seemed to have been pushed by someone and when talking to the football captain’s best friend who had sworn positively that his friend hadn’t been suicidal and that they had had a perfectly normal discussion just minutes before the young man’s grisly demise.

    The officers had then heard several students talk about the new girl who had joined them and who seemed to make almost all the boys fall in love with her and all the girls brutally mad at her. Okimoto and Ichiro studied her file and realized that it had been faked. Her family name had been made up. The people who had been indicated as her parents were a couple that had been stabbed to death in their own basement. But Hanako had stopped attending school as soon as the police had started investigating Genko’s death. She seemed to have vanished but now she had come back with a bang.

    ‘’We start understanding her patterns. We will predict her next actions. We will catch her soon.’’

    Okimoto spoke with sinister determination. It seemed that he was rather trying to convince himself than his depressed partner. Ichiro sighed deeply and looked at his colleague in a mixture of fatalism and fear.

    ‘’I’ve heard this so many times before. I’ve already lost one partner in this ongoing investigation. I don’t want to lose another one.’’

    Okimoto had never heard his usually quiet colleague speak so emotionally. He put his arm around his neck and then patted his back in encouragement. He knew that wouldn’t help but he wanted to send a positive sign.

    ‘’If I have to sacrifice my own life to stop Hanako from committing further crimes, I would be willing to do that.’’

    Ichiro turned around and Okomoto thought for a second to see tears in his colleague’s eyes. Ichiro turned away, lit a cigarette and exhaled the faint blue smoke. He then spoke quietly but firmly.

    ‘’I would be willing to do that, too.’’

     

    The End

     

    Hanako will return.

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  • Ladies and gentlemen!

    What do people do at the weekend? Some might go shopping with their friends. Others may have dinner with their family. Maybe they attend a concert or a sports event. Perhaps they travel to a nearby city or sight. I do all these things as well. Last weekend however, I wrote a short story. It took me seven hours to write twelve pages and about five thousand words. I worked quickly because I felt inspired. This is the final result. Enjoy!

    Attention: This is a horror short story. Some elements might be brutal, disturbing and frightening. These are the purposes of a horror story. It's a fictitious story inspired by Japanese horror animes, mangas and movies. It's not based upon real events, locations or people. Except for the fact that I wrote this short story, it doesn't have anything to do with my convictions, personality or preferences. Again, if you're not eighteen years old, you shouldn't read this. Please note that there might be mistakes in the text. I don't have an editor. I'm my own editor. You have been warned.

    Hanako and the ramen shop

    Ken walked down the lonely country road of a small town in Hokkaido, a few miles south-east of Obihiro. It was a chilly late afternoon and fallen leaves were on the abandoned sidewalk. Winter was coming closer and the weather broadcast had announced the first snowflakes for the upcoming weekend.

    Ken had barely had time to take a shower at his parents’ house after school and was heading for his job. He worked as a waiter in a small family-owned ramen shop. Business wasn’t going well and the last waitress had quit her job to live with her fiancé in Sapporo a few weeks ago. Since no new waitress had been hired since then, Ken was working at the ramen shop every single night these days. He felt exhausted.

    The shop was owned by Honda Katsuyoshi, a kind man in his late sixties whose wife had died in a tragic car accident five years ago. He had tried to sell the ramen shop for three years but nobody was interested in the old business. If things continued like that, he would simply close the shop by the end of the year.

    A grey 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer drove down the road and slowed down when it came closer to Ken.

    ‘’Hey, Ken! Do you want a ride?‘’

    The driver of the car was Shigeki, an art school dropout who was five years his senior. He worked as a cashier in the ramen shop. He earned some money with paintings and photography but Ken didn’t think he had much talent. As a matter of fact, Ken didn’t hold his co-worker in high regard.

    ‘’Hey, Shigeki! Sure, thanks a lot!’’

    Ken got into the car and had to control his gag reflex when the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke hit him. Shigeki’s car was in terrible condition. There were empty cans and bags all over the floor, the right headlight was broken and the passenger seat made a squeaking sound.

    ‘’Did you hear the good news? Our boss finally hired a new waitress!’’

    ‘’Really?’’

    Ken was carefully optimistic. A new waitress meant fewer working hours for him. On the other side, the last three waitresses hadn’t lasted longer than three months. Ken wondered who would work in a decrepit old ramen shop that was about to close. He realized that he could ask himself the same question. It was all just a matter of money.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ‘’Step inside, young men! Take a seat! I have good news for you!’’

    Katsuyoshi had a big smile on his face when he welcomed Shigeki and Ken at the entrance of the ramen shop. Ryuki, who was standing right behind him, didn’t move a muscle. The cook always had a bored face. Ken wondered whether this was due to his problems at home. Ryuki had come out as gay a few weeks ago and his parents didn’t approve of it. He had spoken even less to his co-workers since then than he had done before which meant that he was basically silent all the time.

    The three young men took their seats in the small dining area. The shop was about to open and they didn’t have much time to get everything prepared. Katsuyoshi didn’t waste any time.

    ‘’Gentlemen, here is our new waitress, Hanako!’’

    It was as if a train hit Ken when Hanako stepped into the room. She had dark, long, silky hair. Her face was gentle and oval with bright eyes, full lips and rosy cheeks. She had perfect skin, a feminine body and legs that were so long that they seemed endless to Ken. His mouth was wide open and he started to sweat. He had never seen a woman like this in his life.

    ‘’Good evening! It’s my pleasure to work with you!’’

    Hanako’s voice was soft and sensual like her appearance. Ken felt almost hypnotized when she looked at him. He noticed a tiny peach-coloured half circular scar below her right eye but that little flaw only made her look more gorgeous.

    ‘’Good evening, Hanako! Nice to meet you! My name is Shigeki. I work as a painter and photographer. I would really appreciate if you could pose as my model one day.’’

    Ken was so distracted by Hanako’s angelic laughter and her perfect white teeth that he barely realized that Shigeki’s behaviour was somewhat odd. He was the most sociable of the three young men but Ken had never seen him so straightforward before. Ken also wondered what Shigeki’s girlfriend would think about this.

    The only person in the room that hadn’t fallen under Hanako’s charm was Ryuki. His eyes were empty and sad as usual. Ken suddenly started to feel a startling anger arise. Stupid Ryuki! Why couldn’t he be nice to Hanako? Even if he was gay, he could still acknowledge her charming introduction!

    Ken felt confused about his divergent emotions. He was amazed by Hanako’s perfection but irritated by Ryuki’s emotionlessness.

    ‘’Alright, gentlemen! It’s time to get to work! My shop is going to open in less than ten minutes!’’

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Only a few weeks had passed since Hanako had started working as a waitress in the small ramen shop but many things had changed since then. She had given old Katsuyoshi a hand with decorating the dining room that had a fresh new look now. She had helped Shigeki with the old cash register and whenever she was standing by his side, customers would tip him more generously. Hanako had suggested Ryuki using a new broth for his ramen that had a hearty bittersweet taste the customers seemed to adore. She had developed great chemistry working with Ken who had much more free time and felt reinvigorated. The growing number of customers only had eyes for Hanako but that didn’t matter to Ken. Just working with her was such a pleasure!

    ‘’Hanako! Hanako! Hanako! You keep talking about her as if she were some goddess!’’

    His sister was annoyed by his behavior and disappointed that her older brother wasn’t interested in her new film project at school. His parents were also surprised by his attitude.

    ‘’I have never heard you speak like this about a girl before, son! You’re finally becoming more mature. I’ve met your mother when I was your age and we were working in a small coffee shop in Sapporo!’’

    His father seemed happy to discover his son was now interested in women instead of video games.

    ‘’If she’s so lovely, you should invite her over! We would love to meet her.’’

    Even his mother encouraged him strongly. Ken made a decision. He would ask Hanako to come to his place for the weekend after their next work shift.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Ken was anxiously waiting for Hanako in the parking lot of the restaurant. The shop had just closed and it had been quite a successful night. Even though it was a snowy Wednesday evening, more than three dozen customers had come to their shop.

    Ken smiled at Hanako when she stepped out of the restaurant but his smile faded immediately when he saw Shigeki right behind her.

    ‘’Hey, Ken! If you were waiting for me to give you a ride back home, I must disappoint you! Hanako has agreed to come over to my place tonight. I will take a few pictures of her and might even decide to paint her!’’

    Ken felt a dreadful jealousy in his stomach.

    ‘’How could you possibly paint a beauty like her? You lack the skills to do so! Painting her would only be insulting!’’

    ‘’What have you just said, you little rat? What do you know about painting? Besides, what’s your talent? Playing video games in your parents’ basement?’’

    ‘’Guys, there is no need to argue. You are both perfect gentlemen. See you tomorrow, Ken!’’

    As soon as Hanako spoke, Ken’s hot jealousy cooled down. He put on his toque as he watched Hanako and Shigeki drive away. When the car was out of sight, Ken felt a gloomy emptiness inside of him.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ‘’Could you turn your face just a little bit to your left? Thank you very much!’’

    Shigeki had been painting Hanako for over an hour and she really was the perfect model. She followed all his instructions patiently and always had a warm smile upon her face. Shigeki had taken a few pictures of her and was glad when she accepted to stay a little bit longer to let him paint her. Secretly, Shigeki hoped that she would stay for the night.

    ‘’Alright, that’s it! Before I show you my painting, I would like to offer you a glass of Champaign! Give me a minute and I’ll be back!’’

    As Shigeki got up, Hanako rose from her wooden chair and stepped towards the painting. She had a frigid smile on her face when she saw the final result. Ken had been absolutely right. Shigeki didn’t have any talent at all.

    Something else caught her attention. She saw a few pictures on the wall. They all showed Shigeki with the same young woman. She had an honest smile, brown hair and alert eyes. One photograph showed them on a ferry. Another one was a selfie of a smiling Shigeki who watched the young woman blowing out some candles on a cheese cake. Yet another one showed them in a colourful amusement park.

    ‘’WHO IS THIS?’’

    Hanako’s voice was suddenly sinister, hateful and aggressive. She pointed at the pictures on the wall as Shigeki came back from the kitchen with two glasses of Champaign in his hands.

    ‘’Oh! That’s… I forgot to tell you! This is… I mean, that was my girlfriend, my former girlfriend! She was my high school sweetheart, you know, a long time ago… Don’t worry about it! I haven’t seen her in six months!’’

    ‘’YOU’RE LYING! I know the amusement park where this picture has been taken. It has only opened last September, about two months ago.’’

    ‘’Oh, yeah, sure, you’re right! This picture, it was taken during a friend’s birthday party. He had invited us to the amusement park, you know…’’

    ‘’YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GIRLS BESIDE ME!’’

    Before Shigeki could respond, Hanako moved forward and hit him in the face. Her punch was so powerful that Shigeki suddenly tumbled backwards. He tripped over the chair where he had been seating minutes earlier to finish the painting. He spilled the Champaign in the glass of his right hand over the painting while the glass in the left hand shattered under the weight of his arm as the fragments painfully pierced his skin. Blood dropped on the carpet on the floor.

    A confused Shigeki felt a mixture of pain, surprise and terror when Hanako’s shadow suddenly covered his face. She held the picture frame of the photograph taken in the amusement park in her hands. Her angelic face suddenly looked demoniac. She put her hands far above her head and before Shigeki could react, she hit the picture frame in his mouth that had just opened to scream.

    Shigeki felt his teeth scatter as the frame hit his open mouth. When the nerves led the sudden pain into his fearful brain, the frame hit his eyes that made a squidgy sound. His eyesight was partially blurred by tears before a rush of blood covered them. Before Shigeki could raise his arms for defense, the picture frame hit his nose with such force that both the picture frame and the nose broke instantly.

    Shigeki laid on the floor, screaming in agony. He couldn’t see anything and felt so much pain all over his body that his mind couldn’t focus on any of it. For a brief instant, he hoped that Hanako would spare him as the hits stopped coming. He wiped the blood and tears away from his eyes and opened them very slowly.

    All hope was gone in an instant when he saw Hanako kneeling right beside him. She held another picture frame in her hand and smiled evilly. She raised her hands with agonising slowness but never kept her eyes off her victim.

    ‘’Hanako, please!’’

    Those were Shigeki’s last words as the picture frame hit his nose again and pushed it brutally into his brain, killing him almost instantly. As blood spattered Hanako’s white dress, Shigeki’s lifeless body stopped shaking. She laughed viciously, kissed her victim’s lifeless lips and dragged his body slowly towards the bathtub.

    Hanako found a saw in a cubbyhole and cut her victim’s body into different pieces. Her enduring work lasted until the early hours of the morning. Hanako enjoyed every minute of it. She found a few plastic bags in the kitchen. She used one for the victim’s disfigured head, two for its lifelessly dangling arms, two more for his pale legs, one more for his bloodied torso and a final one for his penis and testicles. Hanako put her dress in the washing machine. Then she took a long hot shower as she was standing in her victim’s encrusted blood. Naked, she waited for her dress to get clean, took all the pictures of Shigeki and his girlfriend out of their frames and cut them into pieces.

    When her dress was washed and dried, she got dressed, gathered the bloodied bags and picture snippets, took a shovel from the cubbyhole, found Shigeki’s car keys and left the small apartment through the back door. She drove about fifteen miles out of town, buried the bags in a shallow grave and burned the picture snippets with a silver lighter. The flames mirrored in her perfect eyes as Hanako watched the fire erase the memorabilia of Shigeki and his girlfriend.

    Then she abandoned his car in an old junk yard, walked to the next main street and called a cab with her cellphone.

    ‘’Good morning, young lady, where can I take you?’’

    Hanako smiled with disgust at the old cab driver who stared at the cleavage of her dress.

    ‘’Please take me to my workplace!’’

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Ken arrived at the restaurant just a few minutes before it opened. He had had a discussion with his science teacher that had lasted much longer than expected and he hadn’t seen Shigeki drive down the road to give him a ride this day. Ken suspected that he might still be upset about their argument last night. When he thought about his colleague leaving with Hanako, Ken felt a relentless anger growing in his heart.

    When Ken entered the restaurant, he met Katsuyoshi who looked unusually worried. Ken hadn’t seen him like this in months. Since Hanako had started working as a waitress at his restaurant, he had been smiling all over his wrinkled face. Ken thought that the old pervert might even have an eye on the beautiful girl. What a disgusting thought! He was about four times older than her! Ken decided to protect Hanako from that old pervert, the superficial painter and the sinister faggot!

    Ken suspected that the old fart would criticize him for coming so late but Katsuyoshi worried about something else.

    ‘’Ken, have you seen Shigeki? He hasn’t shown up yet and the restaurant is about to open!’’

    ‘’Why don’t you ask Hanako?’’

    As soon as Ken replied this, he regretted it. He saw Hanako’s perfectly shaped face appear around the corner of the dining room. She had a radiant smile on her lips and was about to greet Ken joyfully but when she heard his mean words, her profound eyes filled with tears of deception and she looked down.

    ‘’What do you mean?’’

    Katsuyoshi was confused and Ken felt uncomfortable but Hanako looked up, smiled tiredly and moved forwards abashedly.

    ‘’I’m sorry I haven’t told you. I was with Shigeki last night because he wanted to paint me. However, he started to have a migraine and didn’t feel well at all. He called a cab and I left. I suppose he hasn’t come to work because he still suffers from this.’’

    ‘’Well, he should have given me a call. What am I going to do now?’’

    ‘’I will serve all the customers. Ken could take care of the cash register!’’

    Ken immediately liked the idea and Katsuyoshi was amazed by her resourcefulness. Only Ryuki couldn’t be bothered. He stood in the kitchen and read his mathematics workbook.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Ryuki had just emptied the dishwasher when somebody knocked on the kitchen door. He raised his eyebrows. He was usually the last employee to leave. Katsuyoshi was probably already in bed, Ken should have left after counting the money in the cash register and the waitress was normally the first to leave.

    ‘’Come in!’’

    Ryuki was surprised to see Hanako in front of him. She smiled timidly with her wide eyes and her rosy face was surrounded by perfectly cut hair. Ryuki didn’t like Hanako very much. She hadn’t done anything bad to him. He just didn’t like how people behave around her. Ever since she started working as a waitress, Katsuyoshi spent too much time around her, Shigeki couldn’t stop flirting with her and Ken never took his lustful eyes off her.

    ‘’I was wondering if I could help you with your mathematics exercises.’’

    Ryuki was surprised by Hanako’s grounded kindness. He wouldn’t have thought that Hanako had even realized that he was studying mathematics. He had mistaken her for a superficial girl who liked being admired by others but she apparently had a helpful and intellectual side to her as well.

    ‘’Yeah, I will have a university entrance exam next week.’’

    ‘’OH, REALLY?’’

    Ryuki ignored the slightly menacing tone in Hanako’s trembling voice.

    ‘’Yeah, I want to go to Aomori University. My aunt lives there. This is actually my last week of work!’’

    ‘’WHAT’S THAT?’’

    Ryuki was startled by the fact that Hanako raised her voice but mistook her excitement for interest.

    ‘’It has been my lifelong dream to become mathematician and to move away from this boring neighbourhood.’’

    ‘’YOU SHALL NOT MOVE AWAY FROM ME!’’

    Before Ryuki realized what was going on, Hanako shut the door with one hand and pushed Ryuki backwards with the other. She gazed across the room and saw the kitchen knife kit hanging on the wall. She grabbed the longest knife expertly as she stepped forward rapidly.

    ‘’Hanako, please!’’

    Those were Ryuki’s last words as the kitchen knife pierced through his Adam’s apple, collided painfully with his spine and cut through his thin skin on the other side of his tormented body to nail it on the kitchen wall. Hanako pushed the knife upwards as a rush of hot blood covered her white dress and her angelic face. Her movement was so powerful that Ryuki took off the ground until the sharp kitchen knife cut his chin in half and lost its grip. Ryuki slowly slid down and left a bloody trace on the kitchen wall.

    The aspiring mathematician felt his life juice flowing out of him, tried to breathe but felt no more fresh air in his lungs and wanted to raise his hands in defense only to realize that his body didn’t follow his brain’s instructions anymore.

    As he slid towards the ground and his head leaned slightly forward, Hanako grabbed his head abruptly and gazed at her victim with dark eyes. Ryuki felt as if he were getting drunk as Hanako made his head twist and turn. His vision became blurry, the outlines of his focus grew darker and all he could see was Hanako’s pitilessly stiff face. It would turn out to be the last thing he ever saw in his life.

    Hanako laughed manically as her victim’s sticky life juice flew over her arms. When his body collapsed with a final sigh, Hanako slowly arose and looked at herself in the kitchen mirror with satisfaction. Her dress was red, her upper body was covered in streams of blood and her eyes were popping out hysterically. She grabbed the mathematics workbook, took the bloodied murder weapon and cut the manual into pieces. Hanako didn’t mind cutting herself as she led out her brutal anger on the object.

    When she was finally satisfied with what she had accomplished, she dropped the kitchen knife like a hot potato, grabbed her victim's featherlight body and carried it out through the backdoor of the restaurant. She stopped in front of two stinky waste buckets, grabbed her dead victim’s neck and tore its head off the torso with one pitiless movement. Her long legs and white shoes got covered in a pool of warm blood. Then she threw the decapitated torso into one trash bin and the bloody head into the other.

    Hanako stood in the backyard of the restaurant, trembling with anger, ecstasy and lust. As she turned around, she saw the lights on the second floor of the restaurant open. That was where Katsuyoshi lived. The noise of the garbage cans must have disturbed him. Hanako smiled evilly. She now knew what she had to do next.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ‘’Oh, damn it!’’

    Ken realized that he had forgotten his wallet and his house keys at his workplace when he had almost arrived home. He must have put it in the kitchen just before his work shift and forgotten the two objects there. It had been a terribly stressful day and it only seemed darkly appropriate that it had to end on such a bad note.

    For an instant, Ken thought about waking up his parents and asking for a ride. He realized almost instantly that they shouldn’t carry the consequences of his own clumsiness.

    Ken turned around and watched down the pitch-black country road. The snow had intensified that night. Walking back to the restaurant would take longer than usual. It was only about a mile away but walking that distance at night through the snow might take half an hour.

    He hesitated for a while. He wondered whether it was a good idea to walk down such a road under those circumstances. He could get hit by a car, get lost in the snowstorm or meet a creepy stranger. Ken laughed at himself. He had known this area since he was born. What could possibly happen to him? Besides, he might come across Ryuki and Hanako. He had left before them. Hanako had told him she wanted to call a taxi because of the snowstorm and Ryuki was always the last to leave which didn’t matter because he lived only a few minutes away from the restaurant. Ken didn’t want to meet the antisocial creep but the possibility of seeing Hanako again warmed his frozen body almost instantly.

    The young man turned around with a radiant smile and walked back towards the ramen shop.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Katsuyoshi stared out of his window and inspected his ramen shop’s dirty backyard. He saw some dirt stains on the trash bins and some rats scamper from the nearby woods towards the restaurant. The old ramen shop owner figured that Ryuki must have made the noise that startled him when he had thrown away some leftovers a few minutes earlier.

    Ryuki was a weird fellow. He barely spoke, looked constantly joyless and always studied his boring textbooks. Still, Katsuyoshi regretted that the young man would quit his job to go to university. He had always been particularly reliable. That’s why the old man preferred him over Ken who had often come late to work and especially over Shigeki who hadn’t even shown up for work that day.

    But none of them was comparable to Hanako. She was truly a godsend. Since she had started working for him, she had turned the old ramen shop into a popular restaurant. Katsuyoshi realized that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. When Hanako had had her job interview with him, he had wondered whether such a beautiful young woman would even be willing to work in his decrepit ramen shop. She had said that she had only recently moved to the area for her college studies, that she was living on her own and that she needed money as quickly as possible.

    She reminded Katsuyoshi of his late wife. Just like Hanako, she had had silky hair, perfect skin and a charming smile. Katsuyoshi couldn’t deny that he felt slightly attracted to Hanako. He wasn’t only impressed by her neat appearance but also by her positive attitude. Katsuyoshi hated himself for his little weakness but had to smile a little bit when he fantasized about meeting her alone in his ramen shop after working hours. He also realized that such a thought wasn’t realistic at all. Sweet Hanako had probably fallen in love with that useless spoiled brat Shigeki and the only person Katsuyoshi could meet downstairs was that boring Ryuki.

    Katsuyoshi decided to take a shower before going to bed. He had helped in the kitchen earlier that night and his clothes, hair and skin smelled like that unique bittersweet broth Hanako had crafted for him.

    The old man had just taken his shower, put on his bath robe and closed the lights to go to his bedroom when someone knocked on his door. Katsuyoshi hesitated for a while as the knocking repeated. He went towards the wardrobe and grabbed a baseball bat. He kept it there in case he needed to fight off robbers. His father had once been robbed out when the ramen shop was a popular new restaurant several decades ago.

    He opened the front door very carefully and was surprised when Hanako stood in front of him. She looked cold and was shaking slightly. She had changed her dress which was bloodred instead of white but Katsuyoshi didn’t pay any attention to it. He shook his head in disbelief and wondered whether he was still fantasizing. As Hanako started to speak, he realized that his wildest dreams might come true.

    ‘’I’m so sorry to bother you, Mister Honda. I called a cab about a half hour ago but it still hasn’t arrived yet.’’

    ‘’Oh, sure, no problem, no problem at all. Step inside, go ahead, don’t be shy. Do you want a cup of tea?’’

    ‘’That would be lovely, Mister Honda.’’

    Katsuyoshi felt his heart beat faster as he quickly paced into the living room, took out an extra cup and served his unexpected guest some of his liquorice tea. Hanako sat down on the couch with a timid smile. Katsuyoshi wanted to sit on the other settee but decided to be next to Hanako. He poured himself a cup of tea, smelled its soothing aroma and took a pleasurable sip.

    ‘’My late wife has always prepared this tea for me.’’

    ‘’IS THAT SO, MISTER HONDA?’’

    Katsuyoshi was startled by Hanako’s loud answer but he supposed she thought he was slightly deaf at his age. That thought made him feel slightly uncomfortable but when he looked at her alert eyes, he felt like gazing at an angel. He eagerly continued his story.

    ‘’My wife and I actually met at this ramen shop when it still belonged to my father thirty-five years ago.’’

    ‘’THAT’S INTERESTING!’’

    Katsuyoshi was surprised that the young lady seemed to be so intrigued by the story he had told every employee at least once. Still, talking about his late wife helped him cope with her absence. He still missed her dearly.

    ‘’My father cooked all the meals, she was the new waitress and I worked as cashier.’’

    Katsuyoshi looked at Hanako and for the very first time he felt something strange about her. He suddenly felt cold as if a frozen hand had taken his weak old heart and squeezed all energy and joy out of it. The old man started to feel dizzy. He got up very slowly and walked towards the kitchen sink to pour himself a cold cup of water. He opened the kitchen cabinet, found some headache pills, took two of them and drank the cup of water. He filled the cup again, drank all of it and slowly felt better.

    He was so distracted by his sudden headaches that he didn’t see how Hanako took out a little flask that she had hidden in her red socks, opened it very gently and poured the liquid inside into the old man’s cup of tea. She had found a whole bottle of rat poison in the kitchen and had decided to keep some of it. She had initially planned on forcing the wrinkled pervert to drink all of it but now that she had his tea cup right in front of her, the occasion to poison it secretly was too promising. She poured most of the liquid into the old man’s tea cup and the rest into the larger teapot. She had just finished and put the empty flask in her red sock when the old man came back from the kitchen. He walked like an undead which made Hanako smile evilly. Soon enough, the old creep would be dead for real.

    Katsuyoshi sat down weakly, smiled stupidly at the young lady and took a tiny sip of his tea with trembling lips. Hanako took the teapot and filled the old man’s cup again. She looked at him intensely as he drank the entire content of his cup.

    ‘’WON’T YOU TELL ME THE REST OF YOUR STORY?’’

    Katsuyoshi opened his mouth to reply but suddenly started to gag. He desperately tried to hide his distress which made Hanako snicker quietly. Katsuyoshi took the teapot, looked at it in disbelief and then gazed at his guest who suddenly looked like a demon with an angel face. As the old man rose up with shaking legs, convulsing stomach and twisting head, he let the teapot fall on the ground where it loudly shattered into a myriad of tiny particles. He slowly opened his mouth, bent forward and vomited all over Hanako’s silky hair, perfect face and formfitting dress. He raised a trembling hand in an odd combination of excuse and self-defence.

    He didn’t stand a chance against Hanako’s relentless anger. Covered in vomit, she stood up with a creepy smile, put her rigid hands around the old man’s neck, moved forward slowly only to accelerate furiously and push the senior’s head through the glass of his living room window that overlooked the restaurant’s filthy backyard. Pieces of glass cut into the old man’s fragile neck as Hanako pushed it down against the frame.

    Katsuyoshi realized that the dirt stains on the trash bins in the backyard were actually blood. That was his last thought as Hanako snapped his neck by violently twisting it in a sharp ninety-degree turn to the right. She left the old man’s body dangling over the edge of the window. She then shoved the index and middle finger of her right hand deep down her throat and made herself vomit violently on the dead old man’s stiff body. The stinky slime poured down his lifeless body and dropped down on the dirty backyard.

    Hanako chuckled crazily and watched at the sinner she had committed with horrifying delight.

    Suddenly, she heard a knocking. First, she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. Then she heard it again after a few seconds. She thought it was a noise caused by the intensifying snowstorm. She then heard the knocking a third time and this time it was followed by a distant shout. Hanako focused on the voice that sounded eerily familiar. When she heard it again, she smiled insanely and thanked some higher spirits for this fateful coincidence. She had finally recognized the voice. It was Ken’s voice.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Ken had made it through the intensifying snowstorm. The ramen shop looked abandoned, old and sinister in front of him. Ken thought about knocking on the door of the main entrance but supposed that Ryuki and Hanako must have already left. He went towards the side entrance that led straight to the old man’s apartment on the second floor. He knocked against the door and waited for the sound of footsteps but couldn’t hear anything through the powerful wind of the snowstorm.

    The young man looked up the wall and saw the lights in the old man’s living quarters. If the old man were still awake, he would certainly end up hearing him. Ken knocked on the door once more but couldn’t hear nor see any reaction.

    The building suddenly looked gloomily uninviting to him. He wondered why the ramen shop was situated so far away from the next settlement. He always thought the old man had something of a weird recluse. Ken wondered how the old man would react if he opened his door. Maybe he would fire him for disturbing him so late at night. At that point, Ken didn’t even care anymore. He was terribly cold and simply wanted to retrieve his keys and wallet from the kitchen table.

    He vigorously knocked on the door again and decided to shout as well.

    ‘’Mister Honda, it’s me, Ken! Please open the door!’’

    There was still no reaction whatsoever. Ken became frustrated. He didn’t want to wait any longer in the cold. He knocked so heavily on the old wooden door that he was momentarily afraid he might break it down. He decided to knock gentler but to scream louder.

    ‘’Mister Honda, I forgot my keys and wallet in the restaurant. Please open the door!’’

    Ken waited a few more moments and was almost about to give up in despair when he suddenly saw a shadow moving behind the blurred glass on the upper half of the door.

    The young man had a jolt when he suddenly saw Hanako behind the door. Her beautiful face looked monstrous through the frosted glass. Before Ken could think why the gorgeous waitress was in the old man’s flat, the mysterious young woman opened the door.

    ‘’Come inside, Ken!’’

    Hanako almost shouted through the loud snowstorm and Ken quickly entered the old small floor that led to the old man’s apartment. There was also a direct connection from the flat to the restaurant downstairs that the old man always used to keep an eye on his employees. Ken was quite discouraged that Katsuyoshi still didn’t seem to trust him after all the time he had been working for him. On the other side, he had to admit that he would neither have trusted that silent weirdo Ryuki nor that failed artist Shigeki. Ken realized that the old man had progressively stopped observing them since Hanako had started to work with them. The young man was slightly jealous but he could understand the old man’s reaction. The four men had all fallen under her inexplicable charm.

    ‘’Oh, you are soaked, Ken! Why have you come back here tonight?’’

    Ken could smell a revolting stench but did neither know where it came from nor what it could be. The light was shut in the small floor. The young man took off his solid winter boots and followed Hanako upstairs. He wondered why she hadn’t taken off her shoes before entering the old man’s apartment. On the other side, her beautiful red shoes couldn’t be compared to his old smelly boots. The young lady opened the door that led directly into Katsuyoshi’s living quarters.

    ‘’I have forgotten my keys and wallet in the restaurant kitchen.’’

    ‘’HOW UNFORTUNATE!’’

    Ken froze as Hanako turned around in the dim light of the old man’s apartment. It wasn’t only because of her startingly loud voice. She was covered in yellow slime from head to toe. Ken now realized what the terrible smell was. It was vomit.

    ‘’Oh my dear, what has happened to you?’’

    ‘’I GOT REALLY SICK. THAT’S WHY I’M STILL HERE. LET’S GO TO THE KITCHEN!’’

    Ken hesitated briefly but then followed Hanako. He wondered why she was speaking so loudly. Maybe she was embarrassed to be covered in vomit. Ken found the sight disgusting and exciting at the same time. Somehow, Hanako still managed to look elegant under those revolting circumstances.

    It was oddly cold in Katsuyoshi’s apartment as if somebody had left a window open for too long. Maybe it had been caused when Hanako had opened the front door for him. Ken wondered why the old man hadn’t come to greet him. Perhaps he had called an ambulance for poor Hanako. She clearly needed to see a doctor. Ken had never seen so much vomit.

    Hanako opened the squeaking door and walked over the threshold towards the stairs that led down right next to the section of the restaurant restrooms and kitchen. Ken followed her carefully as he didn’t see much in the dark. His eyes were filled with melted water from the snowflakes and Ken’s glasses were still foggy.

    They arrived in the small corridor. Ken almost walked into Hanako who had stopped right beside the stairs. Her disgusting smell made the young man stop at the very last moment. He smiled uncomfortably and walked down the hall past the restrooms and towards the kitchen.

    At the first moment, everything seemed to be perfectly normal when Ken entered the kitchen. Ryuki had washed all the dishes, filled the refrigerators and cleaned the table. Ken’s wallet and keys were still on the table where he had inadvertently left them. Ken slowly realized that something was somehow different. He didn’t immediately realize what it was until he saw what was left of Ryuki’s mathematics textbooks. It had been cut into shreds. Ken wondered whether the strange cook had become so upset over an exercise that he had destroyed the textbook.

    Then, Ken saw the stains on the wall. They were not just on the wall. They covered the ceiling, the sink and even the floor. Ken refused to believe what was already obvious to him. Maybe those stains were some sort of cleaning product. Perhaps they were some kind of grease. It could possibly be animal blood. Right?

    But then Ken saw that the stains led towards the back door of the kitchen. With his eyes wide open, his heartbeat racing and his legs shaking, he stumbled rather than walked towards that door. Ken was dreadfully afraid to open it and yet morbidly curious to get to know what had happened here. He realized that the door wasn’t completely closed and moved slightly in the harsh wind.

    Ken stood in a little pool of blood that had not completely dried yet. Somebody must have stopped here when carrying out Ryuki’s mutilated body. Ken breathed in, closed his eyes and swallowed nervously before he pushed the door.

    At first, Ken couldn’t see much in the dense snowstorm. He opened his eyes very slowly and saw faint footsteps in the snow that led towards the trash bins. Ken could also see the traces of blood leading towards the dumpsters.

    Like a robot, Ken moved forwards. He didn’t even bother that he wasn’t wearing his shoes at that point. He couldn’t even think clearly anymore. He was under shock. His mind was filled with bleak horror and sinister anticipation. He wondered how he could be so courageous to walk on and not just turn around, scream out loud and run away. The thoughts hurt his already aching head, so he stopped thinking altogether.

    The stench was almost unbearable as Ken approached the trash bins. It was the smell of rotten food, rat feces and human blood. Ken opened the first garbage can and shrieked out loud when he saw Ryuki’s bloody decapitated head. Ken moved back in terror, lost his footing in the snow, fell on his side and felt a slight pain in his right shoulder, turned around frantically and got up hectically in just a few seconds.

    He looked around and screamed out loud in terror again. He saw Katsuyoshi’s dead body dangling over the window of his apartment just above him. Ken now realized why the old man hadn’t greeted him. He now understood why it had been so cold in bis Katsuyoshi’s apartment. And he also realized why Hanako had been acting so very strangely. Shivers were sent down Ken’s spine and they weren’t provoked by the cold weather.

    He turned around very slowly. Hanako stood right in front of him with a bleak smile. She had put her hands behind her back. Ken now realized that her body wasn’t only covered in vomit but that there were also tiny spots of blood. Katsuyoshi’s blood. Probably also Ryuki’s blood. Maybe even Shigeki’s blood.

    Hanako nodded at two familiar objects on the ground. Ken saw his house keys and his wallet in the snow. He bent over very slowly to grab them when he looked up into Hanako’s murderous face. She had hidden a heavy frying pan behind her back and before Ken could escape, the stainless-steel container hit his temple.

    Ken fell headfirst into the freezing snow. His racing pulse was hammering inside his aching head. He tried to crawl away from the lady in red but he didn’t stand a chance. The second hit was so painful that Ken screamed so loud that he felt as if his lungs were bursting apart. The louder he screamed, the dizzier he got but he still crawled forward like an injured lizard. Deep down inside of him he knew that his efforts were useless. Nobody could hear him in the snowstorm. His colleagues and boss were dead. The next house was about half a mile away. The area was surrounded by endless meadows. Since he was in the restaurant’s backyard, the street was several hundred feet away. Nobody could hear him. Nobody could see him. Nobody could save him. It was all over now.

    With a last-ditch effort, Ken turned around and looked at the demon with an angel face. Knowing that victory was near, she smiled cruelly and enjoyed seeing her victim suffer.

    ‘’WHY DON’T YOU PICK UP YOUR KEYS AND WALLET?’’

    The frying pan hit Ken harder than ever before and he heard his skull crack under the impact. Blood blurred his eyes and the last thing he saw was his murderer’s blood-covered bloodred dress through his own blood. Then the lights went out. They went out forever. There was nothing after death.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ‘’That’s the grisliest crime scene I have ever seen in my whole career, Okimoto!’’

    ‘’I have to agree, Ichiro.’’

    The two veteran detectives were the only ones who hadn’t vomited after seeing the scene of the crime. The first victim had been stabbed to death, decapitated and deposited into two separate trash cans. The second victim had apparently been poisoned, pushed through the glass of his apartment window and got his neck broken with inhuman force. The third victim had been hit with a heavy object on multiple occasions until it cracked its skull. A fourth potential victim hadn’t been found yet but the amount of blood and the number of scattered body parts in his apartment seemed to indicate that he had been hit and cut to death and buried elsewhere.

    The maid had found the three victims at the restaurant in the early hours of the morning, probably just a few hours after the last victim had succumbed to its vicious injuries. The murderer had already fled the scene of the crime. The maid was under shock and a team of psychologists was now taking care of her.

    Ichiro looked at the file and shook his head. The two veteran detectives had read the files of everyone who had been working at this restaurant. Honda Katsuyoshi, sixty-nine years old, the owner of the ramen shop: poisoned and beaten to death. Fukuhara Shigeki, twenty-one years old, artist and cashier: most likely beaten to death and cut into pieces. Kagawa Ryuki, eighteen years old, college student and cook: stabbed to death and beheaded. Tanaka Ken, seventeen years old, college student and waiter: beaten to death. At least the maid had survived since she wasn’t at the scene of the crime while the grisly murders occurred. Her life was still shattered and it would take her years to overcome the terrible things she had seen if she were strong enough. Ichiro doubted it.

    ‘’Hamada Hanako, sixteen years old, high school student and waitress. It’s hard to believe such a beautiful young lady can commit such horrendous crimes.’’

    ‘’Right, Ichiro. If those crimes were her first ones, I wouldn’t believe it either.’’

    The two detectives looked towards the meadows behind the restaurant. They wondered whether Hanako had run across the fields after committing her brutal murders. It didn’t seem to matter anymore at that point. The detectives knew they wouldn’t catch her. They hadn’t been able to catch her in three years. All they could do is wait until she would resurface again.

    ‘’Let’s get some breakfast, Okimoto. We need a good cup of coffee.’’

    ‘’Right, Ichiro. A good cup of coffee and a packet of cigarettes.’’

     

    The End

     

    Hanako will return.

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