Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [53]
“Maybe he doesn’t come here.”
“Of course he does. What about that deal with the ghost photo?”
“Well, I’m not asking him.”
He’d just make fun of me again.
“You should talk to your mother and father about this when you get home. And the neighborhood association should…”
Satoru’s cell phone rang in his breast pocket. He pulled it out and put it to his ear. “Hello? Huh? Oh, hey, Akira. Wait, I can hardly hear you. Hang on a minute.” He nimbly stepped down the stairs with the flashlight in one hand and his cell phone in the other. “Hello? No, I’m getting static here too. What’s that? Can you hear me? Hello?”
Uncle Lou looked around for a place with better reception, eventually giving up and going back out under the tarp.
All these steel beams are probably interfering with the cell phone signal.
Wataru headed toward the front tarp, turning off his flashlight and sticking it into his back pocket. He crouched down to pull up the tarp when he suddenly realized it had gotten much brighter inside the building. He could see the heavy stitches in the tarp in front of him. Still in a crouch, he turned his head to look back up into the building.
Wataru’s jaw dropped. On the third-floor landing, right where his uncle had just been standing—where he had seen the wizard—was…
A shining gate!
The gate had two doors, their upper halves covered in ornate decorations, with sweeping old-fashioned curves.
It’s closed.
The gate was closed tight, outlined by a bright white light around the edges and down the middle seam. Whatever space was behind the gate must be brightly lit. The white light spilled out into the haunted building.
When did that get there?
Wataru stood up shaking. He went to the stairs and began to climb. With each step it seemed that the light leaking in from the door grew brighter. Wataru couldn’t look away, even when he nearly tripped on the narrow steps. Relentlessly, he moved toward the door, as if drawn by some force beyond his control. By the time he neared the third floor landing, he was crawling.
As he got close to the door he could feel the light’s warmth. Wataru began to smile. As he stretched his hand before him, he thought he could hear a sound like falling spring rain.
The light…so pure, so bright, so gentle…
Wataru reached the landing. Now standing, he reached for the door.
Chapter 7
Beyond the Door
The band of light down the middle of the gate grew wider and brighter, almost as if to welcome Wataru.
It’s opening!
The door was being pushed open from the other side, from that world filled to overflowing with light. Wataru brought his hands up before his eyes to shield them from the warm radiance that spilled out over him like a tidal wave. It was so bright he couldn’t look straight into it. He crouched as if caught in the middle of a rapidly flowing river, barely able to stand.
Then his eyes discerned a form: somebody was walking straight toward him. He was able to make out a human figure through the glow. It emerged from the gate with a leap, abruptly standing before him. It was a boy. It was Mitsuru.
“Just what are you doing here?”
He was close enough for Wataru to feel his breath on his forehead. He stood, eyes wide, legs planted firmly. One accusatory finger pointed forward.
“What are you doing here?” he shouted again, but before Wataru could form a response, he spun around and ran directly back into the pearly whiteness of the gateway. In the blink of an eye, the brightness swallowed his form, and he was gone.
Wataru couldn’t think. He didn’t have time to hesitate or feel scared. The next thing he knew, he was heading toward the gate, toward that light, running after Ashikawa. He crossed over the threshold and, unconsciously, he leapt. Into white emptiness. Into an ocean of light. The warm, flowing air of…
The sky. I’m in the sky.
It was like being