Nightmares in Nakushima Chapter 1

The waves off in the distance crashing into the beach before the tides pulled them back. The subtle rustling of the leaves from the fresh spring breeze that was moving in from the north. The occasional whistle of a train, the rumbling against the tracks. These were some of the simpler things that could be noted about the sleepy small suburban town of Nakushima. Located about 3 hours from the Kirijo group owned island of Tatsumi Port Island, this was a town that seemed to be nestled in the recesses of contemporary Japan.

The train's overhead speaker buzzed to life with the melodic voice of the female conductor. "We will be arriving in Nakushima Station in 15 minutes. I repeat, all passengers that wish to get off at Nakushima Station we will be arriving in 15 minutes." A boy groggily rubbed his eyes and yawned. His dark brown hair was in a mess and his brown eyes took a second to adjust to the light.

Looking outside the window, he saw the rolling hills and trees that made up the countryside they were running through. "It's been 3 hours already? I guess I should get my stuff together." The boy stood up and opened the small compartment located above his seat. Pulling out a briefcase he placed it down on the seat and pulled out his cellphone. Going down in the contacts to a name marked "Saki", he pulled up the texting bar.

The message he sent simply read, "I will be there in about 30 minutes. See ya then!" He smiled slightly as he sent that message. The train was chugging along nicely. It even seemed to fill the air with a serene quality. I gotta say....the trip may have sucked, but the train ride isn't too bad.

After he gathered his belongings the boy simply sat there until the train came to a stop. As the train pulled into the station the familiar dust filled air permeated throughout the cars. The glass doors slid open and the boy sat up. He walked out of the train, but bumped right into someone as they were leaving. Items and luggage scattered across the train platform; The boy was laying on the floor, rubbing his head.

It appeared to be another boy the first ran into. However, this one had blue hair, and dark green eyes. He also appeared to be wearing slightly formal attire, and had a blue cap over his head. The first boy scrambled around trying to help the other pick up his stuff.

"It's fine. I got it," said the blue capped boy. He quickly swiped some of the stuff the other had picked up. The brown haired boy seemed confused, but stood up anyway.

"Alright. Sorry about that," he apologized.

"It's fine...really," the capped boy responded. At that, the boys went their separate ways. But the brown haired boy was still confused by one thing he had picked up before it had been swiped away. An ID interlaced with a message saying, "Nakushima Police".

Isn't he a little young for all that? He looked like he was my age...well whatever. The brown haired boy continued on through the town. There was only a few people walking around, and most of the shops had shutters on. The sunlight was just beginning to reach overtop of the houses. The boy was specifically heading towards a small cafe located near the edge of the train station. 8 chimes rang from the town clock as the boy entered the establishment.

Sitting at the other end was a girl of about 17 with long black hair, almost emerald eyes, wearing a low cut white dress shirt and a dark red skirt. She was joined by two others. One was a boy that had black hair as well, and brown eyes. He was wearing a plain white dress shirt and casual jeans. The final person was a girl that had long brown hair, slightly red eyes, and wore a black dress shirt with a checkered skirt.

The black haired girl was the first to speak. "Makoto is late. As usual..." She breathed a heavy sigh before angrily taking a sip from her drink.

The boy looked up from a book he was reading to address her. "Should we get you another coffee? It looks like that one is already almost gone."

The girl looked at him with a look. "No thanks, Naoki."

The brown haired girl smiled and took a sip of her drink. "Well I'm sure he'll be here soon."

Makoto finally arrived by the table, noticing the look the girl gave him. He gave a slight laugh. "I wish everyone was as optimistic as you Viva." Everyone turned and looked at him. The black haired girl shot him a look.

"So why are you just arriving now?" Makoto looked slightly confused.

"Wait, so Saki didn't tell you I had to catch a later train? Speaking of her, where is she?"

The mood seemed to turn sour immediately. "I....guess she couldn't make it!" Everyone seemed to look at Viva. The way she responded made Makoto feel slightly uneasy, but he was too tired to care.

"Oh well, guess I'll talk to her tomorrow. So what has everyone been up to over break?"

The black haired girl let out a sigh. "Well other than hanging out on the occasion, nothing really. I'm more interested in what you did."

Naoki let out a little laugh. "All Naomi would talk about was how much fun you were having in Tatsumi Port Island."

Naomi flushed, slightly embarrassed. "I did not!"

Makoto laughed. "Well if it makes you feel better, it wasn't great at all. Well I wouldn't say it didn't  have it's moments...but I missed hanging out with all you guys."

Viva smiled. "Well I'm glad you missed us! So....what's the verdict?"

Makoto frowned slightly. "Well I can tell you MY answer is no."

Everyone seemed slightly sad. Naoki was the next one to speak up. "Well, no matter where you go; we'll always be friends, right?" Makoto nodded his head.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Makoto sat down and ordered himself a drink. They sat and talked for a while, mostly about their spring breaks. Eventually, as the sun began to set, Makoto headed home.

The evening was brisk for March, but Makoto didn't mind. He arrived at his middle class home and opened the door. After taking off his shoes, he called out. "I'm home!"

Almost immediately, the intimidating form of his father entered the walkway. His father was about 6'2" and had a full black beard and mustache. "You said you'd be home by now."

"I hung out with my friends for a bit. I told you they'd be throwing me a little get together for when I got back."

His father frowned. "Hanging out with them is just gonna make it harder."

Makoto shot him a look. "You said nothing was decided yet."

"When you left, that was true. But now it's been decided." His father said simply.

"Then what was decided..." Makoto didn't like the prospects of his answer.

His father walked over and led Makoto into the house. "You'll be starting at Gekkoukan next year."

Makoto was taken aback. "What?!" He looked straight into his father's eyes.

"Now son, you know I'm only doing what's-" Makoto cut his father off.

"What's best for me!? Right! You just wanna brag your son is going to Gekkoukan. You don't care about how I feel!" Makoto ran off to shouts from his father as he bolted into his room and slammed the door. He didn't wanna hear anything else his father had to say. All he wanted was to sleep so he could see Saki the next day. Sleep came fast. Though, it wasn't a nice sleep. Makoto felt himself groggily waking up.

When his eyes opened, he noticed he was not in his bed. He was standing on a platform seemingly suspended in mid air made out of stain glass. There were columns dotting it, with strange symbols on each of them. He looked out and saw nothing but pure black around him, as if a dome had been draped over the area, and there was nothing out there. He was surprised when he turned around and saw Naoki standing a little ways away.

"Naoki!" He ran over to his friend. "Where are we?"

Naoki shook his head. "I don't know..."

Their thoughts were interrupted as they saw a man appear across the way. He was a middle aged man with short slicked black hair put up in a ponytail. He was wearing what appeared to be a butterfly mask that covered all his face but half his mouth. His mouth went into a smile as he saw them. They couldn't describe why, but seeing him put them at ease.

"Welcome, forgive me for having to call you here so suddenly, but I can assure you, you are safely back in your beds at home. This place you are in right now exists in a different space, a place between the conscious and the unconscious. The manifestation of humanity's subconscious..."

Makoto looked to the man. "And who are you?"

The man laughed a little. "Forgive me Makoto, for not introducing myself. I am known as Philemon. I am a humble guide for those worthy of commemoration."

"How did you know his name, Philemon?" Naoki retorted.

"I know a great many things Naoki....but I am not your enemy, I can assure you. Tell me now....do you believe in fortune telling?"

Naoki answered immediately. "I can't say that I fully believe, but I suppose it depends on the person doing it."

Makoto was next. "I guess I do a little bit, I mean sometimes it can motivate people to make the fortune true, right?"

Philemon nodded. "Then allow me, to tell your fortune." He summoned a Tarot deck to his side, and dealt out 3 cards."

The first card was revealed to be The Moon. "There has been a great mystery thrust upon you, hasn't there? There will be more to it in the coming days, and it will be up to you to find the truth amongst the lies and shadows."

The second card was revealed to be Death. "I will not mince words, there will be sacrifices on this journey. Sacrifices you wish you could avoid....but sacrifices will certainly be necessary in the coming days."

Naoki and Makoto didn't like the sound of that, but they got even more nervous when the look on Philemon's face grew grim as he revealed the final card. It was The Fool, however it was upside down.

"There will be.....many wrong paths that will be set before you....it will be up to you to find the right path and pursue the light that exists at the end of this tunnel..."

Naoki was about to ask another question but Philemon cut him off with a wave of his hand. "I'm sorry, but there is no time left. In my current state I can barely hold connection with you, go now, and know you have my blessing."

There was a bright flash of light and both boys awoke in their beds. They could both agree that was a weird dream....but what did it all mean?




A black limousine was driving through town. Sitting in the back was a blue haired boy wearing a cap. He sighed as the car turned another corner. He looked as the buildings and structures of Nakushima passed his gaze. "How urgent is this matter." He said to his driver.

"Detective Ishida requested you personally." The driver said back. The boy smiled.

"I suppose it gets me out of a few lectures from mother. So how long till we arrive?"

The limo came to a stop at a police barricade. "We have just arrived sir."

The boy opened his door and stepped out. "Go back without me. I'll probably be gone for a while. I have to review the case after all."

The driver nodded and drove off as soon as the boy closed his door. He walked up to the police barricade and flashed a badge to the portal officer that tried to stop him. "Oh Detective Shirogane...I didn't know it was you."

Shirogane smiled. "It's fine. Where's the victim?" Shirogane could already smell the stench of death on the landscape. He saw the blood seemed to just be dripping from above and cast his glance upward, towards a telephone pole.

It was a ghastly scene. The body was dangling from one leg caught in the wires of the telephone pole. She seemed to be about 5'4" with medium length brown hair kept in two buns on the sides of her head. Her arms were missing, as were her eyes (leaving only bloody gouged out eye sockets), ears and tongue. Her stomach had been ripped open leading her entrails to be dangling from the hole, some already on the ground. Right between her about B-cup size breasts was a large gash where if one looked from the right angle they would be able to see her non-beating heart.

The other limbs had been arranged in a little prop. The leg was holding up the arms, with one pointing towards the body and another towards a bloodied message on the wall. The victim's blood was everywhere and Shirogane could tell the homicide department would have a "fun" time cleaning up this mess.

"Well...our perp was certainly no amateur. Where's Detective Ishida?" The police pointed him to  a man in his early twenties vomiting into a trash can. When he held his head back up, he could see he was wearing glasses, he had short black hair, and green eyes. The detective saw him and ran over.

"Sorry Detective Shirogane. This is uh.....the first time I've seen the body..."

Shirogane smiled. "It's fine Ishida. So tell me, who's our victim?"

Ishida pulled out a small notepad and flipped through some pages before speaking. "Her name is Saki Suzumoto. She goes to Yasoshiba Academy, a local school. She had been missing for a week when we discovered her body mere hours ago. She's 17 years old. She would have been starting her second year of high school..."

Shirogane frowned. They get younger every time... "I see. Well have you contacted the family?"

Ishida nodded. "Whole town already knows about it. Her family's pretty well liked. The killer also left us that note."

Shirogane nodded. "Yes, I noticed that when I walked in. Care to come up with me to examine it further? Or would you rather let your stomach settle?" As much as Shirogane was making fun of the detective, even he felt some of his lunch coming back up when he saw the body himself.

They walked over to the message. The message itself had been completely undisturbed, so it was simple to read. "This is the retribution that awaits those who defy the inevitable. She was only a demonstration....onto the real show..." Shirogane couldn't wrap his head around it.

"It's easy to tell she's only a demonstration. But what is this guy after?" Ishida shared the young detective's sentiments.

"Did you run the arms for fingerprints?" Shirogane asked.

Ishida nodded. "We'll have the results by morning. Same with the uh.." He shot a look at the body. "...autopsy."

Shirogane nodded and started to walk off. "Good job. Keep in touch."

Ishida seemed confused. "Where are you going detective?"

Shirogane looked back at him. "I'm going out to collect some clues."

I love this XD It's amazing. You truly do have talent. I want more XD