Chapter 4: The Blind Monomaniac’s Infatuation ② 

The terrifying experience of the haunted property lingered for about a month, but there were no signs of anything unnatural appearing in mirrors or photos, nor any sense of being watched. After that, nothing happened, and no misfortune or calamity befell us, so the fear I once felt had completely faded.

At most, all I felt was that even though it was the residence of the person I love, I never wanted to go near it again. That was the extent of it.

It wasn’t just the paranormal phenomena I had feared that turned out to be nothing. The same could be said about my progress with Tama-san.

Absolutely nothing happened. We only ran into each other once by chance while out, but otherwise, I couldn’t even leave the master’s shop.

We were merely regulars at the shop, only chatting there. Though we had grown closer, I hadn’t even gotten a single piece of contact information, and things hadn’t progressed a single step further.

Even Momiji was wide-eyed at this.

“I can’t believe that Madoka hasn’t even held hands with him yet. …This might be your fifth time being serious about love.”

She was impressed that Tama-san hadn’t made a move on me. Even Momiji was starting to admit that this time, I had fallen for a decent man.

She did jab at me, saying it would be better if he had a higher social status, but that was it. Knowing my own father, I was well aware that being with someone of high social status didn’t directly equate to happiness.

Lately, she’s been encouraging me, telling me to do my best.

It was nice to have my best friend acknowledge this love, but it didn’t change the fact that there was no progress. Until now, I had gotten everything just by being cute, so I lacked experience in things like romantic tactics, how to attract someone’s interest, or using my personality to my advantage.

I couldn’t go all out like a predatory woman because I was afraid that if I made the first move, it might lead to a decisive breakdown in this relationship. So, I continued to passively wait for progress that never came.

Still, as we grew closer, his attitude toward me softened. There was even an event where, in the flow of conversation, Tama-san’s hands ended up cupping my cheeks. Normally, that would be a sexual harassment case, but since it was Tama-san, it made me happy.

Whatever happened, my relationship with Tama-san was progressing at a snail’s pace. It felt like grasping at mist.

The incident happened—no, it was discovered during the September holiday. At the end of it. That night.

Momiji called me.

Between us, when we call, we usually send a message first to check if it’s a good time. But this was a sudden call, so I thought it must be urgent and answered.

“…Kaede ran away from home.”

Her voice, as if on the verge of death, struck my ears.

“What should I do…?”

Momiji pleaded, her words tumbling out one after another.

I could grasp the main point, but there was something elusive and unclear about it.

“Wait, wait, Momiji! Where are you right now?”

“In my room…”

“Your room? You’re in your room, right? I’m coming over, so wait for me!”

Carelessly, I rushed out the door without locking it. I didn’t hang up the phone and ran up the stairs.

When we moved, we wanted to have rooms next to each other, but there weren’t any available on the same floor. Instead, we chose rooms one floor apart.

Momiji’s room was directly above mine. In terms of straight-line distance, it might even be closer than the next room over.

I didn’t ring the doorbell and just grabbed the door handle. Despite being a young woman living alone, the door wasn’t locked.

Right now, I was grateful for her carelessness and stepped inside.

Her room was the same 2LDK layout. I knew the floor plan well.

I rushed into the living room and found Momiji sprawled on the sofa.

She didn’t seem scared or surprised by my sudden, almost burglary-like entrance.

“Madoka… what should I do?”

In a voice that sounded like she was on the verge of death, she repeated the same line from the phone.

Her eyes, with dark circles, reflected my figure but didn’t seem to see me. Her cheeks weren’t exactly sunken, but her face was so pale and haggard that it looked like she had been struck by illness.

“When did Kaede-chan run away?”

Momiji looked utterly exhausted, as if she had lost someone dear to her. This definitely wasn’t something that had just happened yesterday or today. It could have been a week or even two weeks ago.

I braced myself, expecting the worst, and waited for her next words.

“…Before…”

“Huh? A week ago?”

“Five months ago…”

I realized this wasn’t on the level I had imagined.

She had left home five months ago, and her whereabouts were unknown. This wasn’t just a simple case of running away from home.

Missing. That was the most accurate term.

And so, Momiji began to speak, her words coming out in fragments.

Since moving to Tokyo, these five months had passed. Momiji, who hadn’t returned home even once, decided to use this holiday to go back. Her university’s summer break lasted until the end of September, so this trip home was timed to coincide with Kaede-chan’s holiday.

It was the first time they had been apart for so long without keeping in touch. If there were any problems with Kaede-chan, their father would have contacted her. The fact that he hadn’t meant she must have been attending school without any issues.

If she was going to school, Kaede-chan must have grown a lot. Looking forward to that, Momiji returned home, only to find her sister’s room untouched for five months.

“I’m going to my older sister’s place in Tokyo.”

Kaede-chan had left a note like that and run away from home.

No news is good news. Momiji had believed that Kaede-chan was attending school without any problems, so she was shocked.

No news is good news. The maid was shocked, thinking Kaede-chan was with Momiji.

No news is good news. Their father, who hadn’t heard anything, was also shocked when he found out.

No news is good news. But since no one knew where Kaede-chan was, no news was definitely not good news.

On the first day of the entrance ceremony, Kaede-chan’s spirit had been broken. By the second day, she had already reverted to her old truant self. As expected, throwing her into that school right away was too much of a hurdle.

Fed up with her truancy, their father had threatened to marry her off to someone twice her age if she didn’t go to school. He later claimed it was just a threat, but Momiji didn’t believe him. After all, the withdrawal notice was submitted right after Golden Week. He was definitely serious.

His seriousness had also reached Kaede-chan.

For the first time in her life, Kaede-chan felt cornered. Her reaction was swift—she ran away from home the very next day and completely disappeared.

When they checked Kaede-chan’s bank account, they found that the ATM withdrawal limit had been reached over two days. With that amount, she could go anywhere in Japan, not just Tokyo.

There were no clues. Not only was her current whereabouts unknown, but they couldn’t even trace her initial destination.

That’s how Kaede-chan’s disappearance came to light, but things only got worse from there. When Momiji tried to report it to the police, their father stopped her.

He spouted a bunch of seemingly reasonable excuses, but in summary, it was this:

“How could we not notice our daughter running away for so long? It’s a scandal we can’t let the world know about!”

Even though his daughter was missing, this was his attitude. Momiji finally understood how their father truly was. He was like a CEO trying to cover up an employee’s mistake.

If they tried to handle it carefully, even if Kaede-chan returned, it wouldn’t end well. He hinted at entrusting the matter to someone out of Momiji’s reach, but she managed to extract a promise from him in case things were resolved internally.

Still, there was no sign of Kaede-chan.

It had been so long since she disappeared. Before worrying about her physical well-being, they had to worry if her soul was even still in her body.

Her trail was cold.

Even so, Momiji held onto a sliver of hope and brought something back with her.

“A computer…?”

“It was left on Kaede’s desk.”

As we talked, Momiji regained a bit of energy, though I wouldn’t call it full vitality. Perhaps she had resolved not to stay slumped over.

She pulled out a silver laptop from her bag and handed it to me. It was a plain design, the kind you’d see anywhere and forget about the next day.

I glanced at Momiji, and she nodded.

I turned it on. The familiar OS logo appeared immediately.

However, I didn’t make it to the desktop screen.

“The password… it’s locked, huh?”

Beyond this digital gate lay the history that might reveal Kaede-chan’s first destination. Something equivalent to that might still be there.

For Momiji right now, this information was worth its weight in gold.

The problem was, we didn’t know the magic words to open it.

There was no need to wonder if there was a hint. Right below the input field, it boldly said, ‘Password Hint.’

“Kurenaiyou no hi…?”

Momiji and I exchanged looks, but there was no answer there. All I saw in her eyes was the hope that maybe the answer was written on my face.

We both sighed.

It didn’t seem like there was a lockout after a certain number of failed attempts. So, Momiji must have tried everything she could think of.

“Momiji, you should rest properly for today.”

She must have been exhausted, having been immediately caught up in Kaede-chan’s problem after returning home. Her pale face was proof enough.

“I’ll try a few things too.”

Even though I had no leads, I puffed out my chest and said, “Leave it to me.”

Momiji’s desperate call to me—she must have dialed me unconsciously.

It wasn’t to find a solution. She had chosen me first as the person to vent her weakness to.

That made me happy. So, I wanted to be of some use to help Momiji move forward.

“Thank you, Madoka.”

After all, it was this best friend of mine who had always comforted me when I cried over my dark past.

◆

“Kurenaiyou, kurenaiyou…”

Facing the laptop on the desk, I repeated the phrase like a chant.

“What is it that you wanted so badly?”

The dead of night. The very middle of midnight.

I had been sitting like this for about an hour, without turning on the lights.

After taking the laptop from Momiji, I had tried typing in various things, but all of them were misses. I thought I’d try again tomorrow and crawled into bed, but I couldn’t sleep. The phrase “kurenaiyou, kurenaiyou” kept echoing in my head.

Unable to sleep, I returned to the desk.

I knew it was bad for my eyes, but I kept staring at the only light in the darkness.

“Kurenaiyou no hi, huh? Kaede-chan… what was it that you couldn’t get?”

My best friend’s little sister, somewhere in Japan.

Asking her for an answer was pointless—not because the question wouldn’t reach her, but because the Kaede-chan in my mind couldn’t speak.

I had visited the Fumino household many times, but I had never had a proper conversation with Kaede-chan. Even before she became a shut-in, back when her mother was still alive, she had always been shy. Even when introduced, she would exchange a word or two and then retreat to her room.

I had even forgotten what her voice sounded like, so I couldn’t imagine it.

“Kurenaiyou, kurenaiyou… kure, nai, you…”

Even though I had been bathing in blue light for so long, I was getting sleepier.

“Kurenai, you… kurenai, you.”

Without realizing it, as I segmented the words, kurenai naturally transformed into kanji.

Kurenaiyou no hi—the day she couldn’t get something she wanted. That’s how I had interpreted it, but now I wondered if it meant something else.

“Kurenaiyou, kurenaiyou, kurenaiyou.”

As I thought about it, my mind began converting it into kanji.

“Kouyou… kou… you!?”

I jolted forward, the boat of sleep I had been rowing capsizing.

The password I had arrived at was truly eye-opening.

Driven by impulse, I typed in a four-digit number. The password was rejected. Immediately, I entered an eight-digit phrase.

“Open sesame!”

The tightly shut digital gate opened.

“Ha, haha… I can’t believe it.”

Laughter spilled out from within me.

It wasn’t the simplicity of the password. It was the thought behind it—Kaede-chan’s feelings. Thinking about that made me happy.

The hint, kurenaiyou no hi. When I thought about it, it was a ridiculously simple problem.

Kurenai means ‘crimson’ or ‘deep red,’ and you means ‘leaf.’ Together, they form the compound word kouyou or momiji—both meaning ‘autumn leaves.’

One reading is kouyou. The other is momiji.

Momiji no hi—Momiji’s day.

The magic phrase to open the gate was Momiji’s birthday.

Not using a family member’s birthday as a password is basic IT literacy.

According to Momiji, Kaede-chan was good with computers. She even connected her monitor to her laptop and worked on dual screens.

Yet, Kaede-chan had used her sister’s birthday as the password.

Momiji’s love for her sister wasn’t one-sided.

That thought made me so happy, as if it were about me, and my eyes grew moist.

…Wait, could it be?

Maybe she had deliberately reset the password before leaving home. Otherwise, there would be no reason to set a hint.

If that were the case, there might be something left behind beyond this gate—something that could lead to her whereabouts.

The desktop screen was clean. Not a single icon remained, not even the trash bin. Instead, an internet browser was pinned to the taskbar, so I decided to start there.

When running away from home, she must have done some research. Checking the browsing history might reveal something.

As I connected to the internet and tried to check the history, my eyes caught a bookmark folder named:

‘To Nee-san.’

Without hesitation, I opened it.

‘I’ll be waiting here.’

That was the bookmark left behind.

So, this laptop was indeed left for Momiji.

Why had Kaede-chan run away without telling Momiji? What feelings did she have toward her sister, who should have been her ally? How much did she trust her? I didn’t know.

But she had left this for Momiji. Maybe Kaede-chan wanted her sister to find her.

I hesitated to look at what was left for Momiji first. Part of me thought I should show it to her immediately, but seeing how exhausted she was, I didn’t want to wake her. I wanted to let her rest.

I had been entrusted with this for a reason. I decided to thoroughly examine its contents before handing it over.

I clicked on the bookmark.

“…Huh? What’s this?”

The page that opened was titled ‘WHERE’S WALDO?’ with a picture of a man in a red-and-white striped hat next to it.

Where’s Wally? The Japanese translation, ‘Wally o Sagase,’ popped into my head.

I had imagined a map, photos, or a homepage that might indicate Kaede-chan’s destination, so this threw me off a bit.

Thinking it might be a mistake, I clicked the bookmark again, but the same page opened.

There was a start button in the center.

I pressed it, and an old-fashioned tune began to play.

That was the only change. The game of Where’s Waldo? had truly begun.

Why had Kaede-chan left something like this behind?

Was it a mistake? Or did she see herself in Waldo? Did she leave this as a message, hoping someone would find her?

But even if I found Waldo, I wasn’t sure if it would lead to any clues about Kaede-chan’s whereabouts. Still, I couldn’t believe she would leave something meaningless, so I decided to keep looking.

“Huh?”

The music suddenly stopped.

The abrupt silence felt ominous, but I didn’t think it was over yet. I kept searching.

If I found Waldo and clicked on him, maybe I’d reach a new page—one that held clues to Kaede-chan’s location.

Believing that, I kept staring at the screen.

‘Uwaaaaaaah!’

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

A loud scream suddenly blared from the speakers. I let out an equally loud scream in response.

My body jerked back, and I toppled over in my chair with a loud thud.

“Ouch!”

I hit the back of my head, writhing in pain from the dull ache.

Even after the pain subsided, I couldn’t get up. I was left in a daze.

What on earth was that?

When the scream played, a pale face with red, swollen tear bags appeared on the screen. Even when I closed my eyes, the image floated behind my eyelids. It was burned into my mind, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, let alone dream.

I must have stayed like that for about ten minutes.

When I finally turned back to the laptop, it was back to the initial screen with the start button.

Who would press start now!?

I screamed internally but forced myself to calm down.

Why had Kaede-chan left something like this? I couldn’t begin to guess her intentions.

Maybe she had made a mistake while renaming the bookmark and left the wrong thing behind.

Perhaps what she really meant to leave was still in the browsing history.

With that thought, I pulled myself together and opened the history. Only two entries remained.

‘Don’t Look for Waldo.’

‘To My Sister’s Friend.’

The first was from the most recent time. The second was dated the day before Kaede-chan left home.

Not ‘To My Sister,’ but ‘To My Sister’s Friend.’

Confused, I clicked on it and was redirected to a forum post.

“Ah… ah…”

My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped as I stared at the screen, making a sound like a crushed frog.

The bookmark wasn’t a mistake. I realized it had been left there intentionally.

‘To My Sister’s Friend’ was the thread title.

There was only one comment written there.

“Serves you right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lolololololololololololololol”

It was a mocking applause, dedicated to the one who had danced so beautifully in the palm of her hand.