The Tatami Prophecies (Part 3)

October 12

Woke to a delightfully clear autumn sky.

Overslept first period, so I only attended second and fourth.

After classes went back to my apartment in Jōdoji where Gotō and Tamako were standing beneath a lonely streetlamp in the falling darkness. Tamako must have been really excited to dig into the mystery of the diary because her face was shining like a hard-boiled egg.

Went to the landlady’s house behind the apartment building. Went all the way around the hedge and when we opened the gate, the lights flipped on like we were expected. The door creaked open a crack. I stopped in my tracks. Tamako frowned. Gotō smiled faintly. We went through the gate and when we got nearer the door the landlady appeared.

“Come on in, come on in,” she said. “You’re right on time.”

She ushered us into her living room and took out her special tea set and her special tea leaves to make us her special black tea. We hadn’t told her that we were showing up yet she wasn’t in much of a hurry to ask what we wanted. Musty smell in the air put me a little on edge. Through the window I could see the trees looming in the garden like black spectres. I cleared my throat.

“So we found an old diary in my closet.”

Gotō quietly laid the notebook down beside the tea set. Landlady took one look at it and nodded slightly like she knew exactly what was going on.

“So you found it, too.”

“Too…?”

“They always come on October 12th.”

She told us that every few years a student would come to see her. Always whoever happened to live in my room. Apparently she’d been expecting me to visit ever since I moved in last year. Whoever visited would always bring a notebook left behind by the previous resident entitled 4½ Tatami Diary. So my predecessor had found their predecessor’s diary, and my predecessor’s predecessor had found *their *predecessor’s diary. Bizarre 4½ tatami chronicle. Started to think this diary is a creepy time traveling artifact.

“Whoa…” Tamako breathed. Her eyes were glittering.

But the landlady didn’t know much else about how the chain worked. Her job was just to introduce us to someone else.

“Tomorrow at 4 o’clock, you’re going to go see Professor Akasaka.”

“Is that part of the prophecy, too?”

“Apparently so. That’s what they end up doing every time, at any rate.”

“And where do we find Professor Akasaka?”

“He teaches engineering. Ask around at the college, you’ll find him.”

Tamako almost fell on her face in her eagerness.

“How long has this been going on?”

“…Long enough for me to forget how long it’s been.”

So that’s how we learned of the ghastly secret of the diary from the landlady.

After we left her mansion we wandered around town in a daze, like we’d been bewitched by a kitsune, and without knowing how we had gotten there found ourselves walking through the door of the same ramen place we had visited yesterday. Couldn’t think about anything else. Gotō ordered a beer and took a big gulp, then Tamako stole it and took a huge gulp of her own. Her pale karukan-like cheeks were flushed pink, never seen her this worked up before,.

“I don’t believe it. This is the most interesting thing that’s happened to me ever!”

Interestingly even though we’d read the diary beforehand there was no repeat of yesterday’s misfortune. Landlady had said that our visit was preordained. “Does that mean it was prophesied in the diary?” asked Tamako. “Obviously,” said Goto, holding up the diary in his right hand. “It’s all in here.”

“But you still won’t let us read it,” glowered Tamako.

“Only five days remaining. If you want to know the future, you know what you have to do.”

“How much?”

“10000 yen per day. The price is only going to keep going up, you know.”

Tamako and I just sighed.

Agreed to meet at the clock tower tomorrow at 3:30pm then went our separate ways. Back at my room it felt like my head was being pulled apart. The diary prophesied that I would read it and then go see the landlady. Author of the diary had also read the diary. Meaning the prophecies in the diary had already been prophesized. How many students before me have lived through the exact same events? Lost 4½ Tatami Diaries.

Feel like I’m going to pass out. Time for bed.

October 13

Set timer on my rice cooker last night so I had fresh rice and miso soup for breakfast.

Made it through math in the morning, ingredients in the dining hall curry were MIA. Powerful wave of drowsiness in 3rd period physics, but I gallantly battled it back until my eyes were red and sore. Aimlessly browsed a used book store on Imadegawa Street then headed to the clock tower at 3:30.

Tamako already looked up Professor Akasaka’s lab. Positively champing at the bit.

When we got there the professor was already waiting for us, like the landlady was yesterday. In his late fifties; seems like a perfect gentleman except for the cold look in his eyes which reminds me of a Russian assassin. 100% all of his students think he’s a tyrant like Qin Shi Huang.

Invited us to his office where we all stood there nervously like we were taking an oral exam.

“So you’re the owner of the diary,” he said to me with a stare.

“Actually, I am,” said Gotō. “It was transferred to me.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whoever lives in the room is the owner.”

“Did you live in that room?” asked Tamako.

“I did. Without that diary I would not be the person I am today.”

Couldn’t imagine this dignified, self-assured professor ever having lived in that cramped little room. But there was no doubt that he had once been the good-for-nothing student living out the good-for-nothing events recorded in that diary. When Gotō showed him the diary, he gave it a glance and snorted, then waved his hand to put it away. Gotō shrugged and took it back.

The professor didn’t say anything so we just sat there awkwardly. Room was filled with warm afternoon sunshine. Felt like taking a hike on Mt. Yoshida.

Finally the professor said, “I have no intention of revealing the secret of the 4½ Tatami Diary to you.” Sounded as stiff as though he were reading from a legal statute. “In any case, all will become clear on the 17th. That is how it has always worked. I ask the landlady to send you to me, not so that I can reveal the secret, but because this meeting is foretold. If the prophecy is not abided, a great misfortune will befall both you and me. Perhaps you have already experienced this for yourselves. My talking to you was preordained. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve given this warning already. Frankly I’m fed up with it.”

He stood up. “That’s all.”

We sat there not sure what was happening. Professor Akasaka got up and opened his office door. “Out you go.” No debate. As we filed out Tamako raised her hand and said, “Can I ask one question?”

Professor responded with a little jerk of his chin.

“What are these prophecies?” she asked.

Professor had a cold little smirk. “‘What’ is a simpleminded question. The prophecies exist, that is all. The question we ought to focus on is, ‘how’ we should live with the prophecies.”

With that he ejected us from his office.

Thought that we were going to get some answers and instead came up against a thick concrete wall. Came out of the engineering building to a cloudless autumn sky. Twilight slipping between the buildings, campus reminded me of a forlorn, forgotten town.

“The 17th really is going to be a problem,” muttered Gotō, flipping through the notebook. “I told you something crazy was going to happen on the 17th. You’d better buy the rest if you know what’s good for you.”

Without warning Tamako snatched the diary right out of his hand, moving faster than I would have thought a karukan could. As she turned to run Gotō threw his arms around her. “Pervert! Pervert!” she shouted. “Thief! Thief!” yelled Gotō.

As I looked on in shock Tamako yelled, “Catch, Matsumoto!” and tossed the diary to me. I finally caught on, and snatching the diary out of the air I took off like a jackrabbit. “Hold it!” Gotō yelled, and taking advantage of his distraction Tamako executed a perfect leg sweep.

Leaving the hobbled Gotō behind we ran through campus. “We got it! We got it!” yelled Tamako behind me. “Let’s hurry and read it!”

Once we’d made it to the Hyakumanben intersection we flipped it open. But the pages were all empty. It was a decoy diary. “He got us…” we grumbled, and behind us we heard Gotō’s cackling ringing out over the intersection. In his hands he held the real diary.

“Everything you do is foretold,” he sneered imperiously. “Now, buy the diary! Buy!”

We walked away.

Made two cups of rice and ate with some side dishes from a bentō shop. Now that I think about it I’ve been eating rice all day. Stomach felt like it was going to explode, rolled around in agony. Must be a really pathetic diary if it includes this stuff too. Not a single page with any significance. Kind of understand why Professor Akasaka sounded so fed up.

October 14

No 1st period today so I slept until 9:30. Cinnamon donut with black tea for breakfast.

Special lecture for 2nd period, went to the co-op with department friends for lunch. Time passed slowly during afternoon lectures. Rained on and off the whole day, hard to feel motivated in such gloomy weather.

What a stale few days it’s been. If not for the 4½ Tatami Diary these last two weeks would have been even staler. As I trudged through the damp streets at the foot of Mt. Yoshida, started to feel like I didn’t know how I want to spend these empty days―these wonderful, empty, insignificant days. At least this diary thing’s given me an opportunity to talk to Tamako a lot more. Won’t say I’m in love just yet though.

Despite that I found my feet taking me towards Ryokūdō.

The 100-yen crate out front had been put away, but the lights were still on inside where I found Tamako squatting behind the register, surrounded by the musty smell of old books. Apparently Gotō had left not too long ago.

“I was on the verge of ponying up,” she said. “I’m just dying to know what happens on the 17th. But he said that the 17th alone would cost fifty thousand yen!”

“At that price, I’m not even sure he even wants to sell it.”

“He just keeps teasing that whatever happens is going to be unbelievable. I want to know so bad!”

Whatever it was, the diary’s word was absolute. No point in dithering, when the 17th arrived I’d just have to accept it and face whatever happened head on. Little surprised by my own un-me-like resolve.

“At any rate it’s all over on the 17th,” I said.

“That’s kind of depressing to think about,” said Tamako. “I’ve always dreamed about seeing the supernatural, but I never had the chance. So I was so thrilled when you and Gotō told me about the diary. And now I learn that it’s going to be over in just a few days…”

“Once it’s over, you’ve still got the back door to explore.”

“Hehe,” she chuckled. “I’d forgotten about that.”

She turned to look at the piles of books at the back of the shop. Even the shop owner had forgotten that thing existed. Most people would say it’s pretty unlikely that the door leads to anything strange or unusual. Probably just a row of scuffed flowerpots or forgotten laundry racks left out in the rain. But after the appearance of the 4½ Tatami Diary, wouldn’t be surprised if I opened it and found it led to the surface of the moon.

“One day,” she murmured dreamily to herself.

Got to thinking back in my room. That diary records my insignificant life. Wonder if it includes how I feel about Tamako too.

October 15

What happens on the 17th?

When Tamako asked that question a few days back Gotō’s answer had been “the end of the world.” Was he bluffing or was that really what the diary said? To put it in Nostradamus terms, was a giant-breasted devil going to fall out of the sky? Fine with me, bring it on.

In the morning it felt like the fog of the last two weeks had finally lifted.

With the end of the world before me, I dispassionately accepted everything the day threw at me, mind clear and serene as a monk. Studied a little bit since there might be a test in 1st period, but couldn’t stave off my hunger so I wolfed some natto rice for breakfast at the co-op but was late to class. Thankfully the professor was late and besides there wasn’t a test. But I simply accepted it all. Dispassionately listened to lecture. Dispassionately fought off sleepiness. Dispassionately fell asleep.

Went back to apartment in the afternoon and meditated quietly by myself. State of enlightenment was rudely interrupted by that unwashed philistine Gotō. With only two days left in the diary he did his best to convince me to buy it. But my soul was as pure as a new pair of underwear. He did his best to fan my anxiety so that I’d pay up, but his appeal fell on deaf ears.

For some reason he had bandages on his right cheek and chin and he was wearing a muddy tracksuit and his hair was all askew. The temples of his glasses were reinforced with scotch tape and his eyes were puffy like he hadn’t gotten any sleep. Complete 180 from the cackling Gotō at Hyakumanben a few days ago. Whole time he was talking to me he was listening closely to the sounds from the hallway and every time someone else made a sound he twitched like he was a fugitive running from the law.

“You don’t look so good, Gotō.”

“What do you mean? I’m perfectly fine.”

He definitely didn’t look fine. Was so desperate to sell me the diary that he finally burst into tears. “Please, just buy it! I’ll drop it to 10,000 yen!”

“Why are you freaking out?”

“Freaking out? Me? I’m not freaking out…it’s just been one disaster after another since last night.”

It was an impressive list. First his ex suddenly tried to get back with him right as his current girlfriend came along, then his bathtub overflowed so his downstairs neighbour came to yell at him, then he learned that his girlfriend was cheating with his neighbour, then his parents came by because they learned that he hadn’t been paying his tuition, then the fire extinguisher exploded, then he tried to get away on his bike and crashed, then he tried to hide in a manga café only to run into an old work colleague who tried to shake him down, then he ran away and fell into the Takase River, then he felt this funny gurgling in his stomach…

Don’t know what any of that had to do with me. When I told him flat out I wasn’t buying the diary he let out this horrible screech and bolted out of my room.

Little later Tamako called. Apparently he came running into Ryokūdō and tried to sell her the diary. When she said no he screamed at the ceiling, “I’m done!” slammed the diary onto the counter and then ran off.

“Can you come to Ryokūdō tomorrow evening?” she asked.

“I could come right now.”

“It can’t be today. The diary said we meet tomorrow,” she said and then hung up.