Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [59]
He found himself in an unfamiliar room. The ceiling light in the middle of the room was square, with a gold frame. It looked expensive.
“Welcome to my home,” Mr. Daimatsu said. “To the guestroom, to be exact. I hope the bed’s not too hard.”
Uncle Lou was standing next to him, looking very distraught. “I found you lying on the ground in that building. Do you remember? I left you in there to take a phone call, and when I came back in, there you were, at the bottom of the stairs…” His uncle began to sniffle.
Mr. Daimatsu smiled and clapped his uncle on the shoulder. “Your uncle was so worried about you I feared he might faint on me too. He dragged you outside the tarps and was about to take you to the hospital when I happened along,” he said over the sound of Uncle Lou’s sniffling beside him. “I brought you both here.”
“I didn’t know what to do,” Satoru said, wiping his nose, “but Mr. Daimatsu noticed you didn’t look particularly pale and you seemed to be breathing normally. You appeared to have just fallen asleep. I’m afraid I was on the phone quite a long time, you see…anyway, it was his idea to bring you back here and give you a chance to wake up on your own before going to the hospital.”
“Why, all I could see was a boy taking a rather peaceful nap. You were even smiling. Have any good dreams?” Mr. Daimatsu smiled.
When I was in Vision, my body must have stayed behind…asleep.
“I’m fine,” Wataru said, shaking the last of the fog from his head. “Thank you, Mr. Daimatsu. I’m sorry I went into your building.”
Wataru’s words seemed to snap his uncle back to reality. He immediately began to apologize. “Mr. Daimatsu, I can’t tell you how sorry I am that we trespassed on your property like that…”
Mr. Daimatsu laughed out loud. “Like I said, please, don’t worry about it. Wataru, I heard the story from your uncle. If there’s someone in that building who is threatening children—I don’t care who it is—we need to take appropriate action. Don’t worry, I’ll do everything necessary to make sure that building stays safe.” Mr. Daimatsu scratched his head with a thick-fingered hand. “We never really took it seriously when that rumor about the haunting was going around. I thought everything would be fine if we just dropped by every once in a while to check up on the place and make sure no one was getting into trouble.”
“That’s why he came by tonight, to check the place out,” Satoru said, practically cringing with embarrassment. “Good for us. By myself, why, I had no idea what to do.”
The relief on his face was evident, but something didn’t quite fit. Uncle Lou was a lifeguard with years of experience. He had saved countless lives before. So why did he get so flustered when it was me? Does that make sense?
“If you’re feeling okay, perhaps we should get going?”
Wataru nodded. Mr. Daimatsu offered to give them a lift, but his uncle politely refused. “It’s not far, and I wouldn’t dream of imposing any more than we already have. I’m terribly sorry about all of this.”
“As you like. Wataru, I’m glad you’re feeling better. And you needn’t be concerned about that building any longer.”
Wataru nodded again, and said he understood—although secretly he was disappointed. If Mr. Daimatsu really did intend to put proper security on the building, it would be more difficult to reach the Porta Nectere.
I have to talk to Mitsuru.
Wataru wouldn’t avoid him or run away this time, and he wouldn’t let Mitsuru dodge him again. Wataru wouldn’t back down, not even if he was made a fool of again.
Was Mitsuru really one of the Travelers he had heard about? How did someone get accepted by the gatekeeper? And what was he doing, going between this world and the other, anyway? Wataru had no shortage of questions wanting answers.
As they left Mr. Daimatsu’s and began walking down the darkened road, Satoru held Wataru’s hand. It made Wataru feel uncomfortably like a little boy.
“I’m fine, really. You don’t have to hold my