Volume 16

The sixteenth volume of the manga.

Synopsis
In exchange for a life, the link between this world and the next has been severed. Even so, Nene and Kou continue looking for a way to reach the boundaries, a search that leads them to the cursed "Red House." Inside, they find a boy who looks just like Hanako-kun and may have the answers they've been looking for-but they soon find the Red House is much easier to enter than to leave...

The Red House Part 1
When Kou and Nene open the door, they are great by a mysterious boy. Nene jumps forward and grabs the boy hugging him in the process. She quickly turn to Kou and asks him why they came to the Red House. He answers telling her that they wanted to go to the Boundaries. She says that they came here to find something connect to Sosuke Mitsuba in order to travel to the Boundaries. She also points out how the boy has some similarities to Hanako. When touch the boys hand, she can feel his pulse. Which means he is a living, breathing human. Without hesitation she says that he might be Hanako's descendant. Stunned by that statement, Kou starts inspecting the boy. He questions both of them about who Hanako is. When getting a closer look Kou starts to see more similarities with Tsukasa more than Hanako. Nene agrees with the claim that he looks like Hanako. While she continues her statement, the floorboards break beneath her. Her and Kou come in agreement that they should exit the house since it was too dangerous. She picks up the boy and all three of them exit the room. When walking down the stairs, the boy asks why they are leaving with him. Nene says that the house is too old and dangerous to play in. He then says that it's dangerous to leave with him because they will get mad. Nene tells him not to worry and asks if Kou could contact Teru. When putting in his number, his phone goes to static and shows an image of the front door. Nene asks him if he's ready to leave. He quickly says that something weird is going on in the house. She opens the door and bugs leap out of the cracks of the door. They start dragging Nene through the door. Before Kou could reach her, he passes out. When he eventually wakes up he is greeted by him sitting on a sofa surrounded by stuffed animals while he's hold one. He notices that this was the room the boy was in. He looks around the room to see the boy humming a tune. He turns around and greets Kou. He rushes over to him and pins him to the ground saying he's not just a regular boy but that his is Tsukasa. He ignores Kou's response and says that Nene is through the door. Kou looks over to see the windows of the door covered in a dark liquid. He tells him that it was in fact dangerous to take him out of the house. He also says that he is unable to leave the house at all. Since Nene tried taking him outside 'they' got angry. He notices that Kou is unharmed and says that he can leave without her. He points to another door that has the view of the outside in it's windows. Kou thinks that he can call Teru if he leaves but then hesitates because he might not be able to get back in. He walks through the pile of stuffed animals and ignores Tsukasa. He turns to him and telling him that he will never forgive him for what he did. He opens the door and slams the door shut behind Tsukasa. When he enters the room the roof is covered in clocks and the walls are cover faucets. He continues to wander through the rooms one by one. While trying to see if he can look out a window, Tsukasa pulls on his leg asking if he likes Nene. He denies it quickly but Tsukasa keeps on asking him questions. After giving up, he asks if he can hold Kou's hand. Kou gives him a looks and walks away. Tsukasa still follows behind him and trips in the process. He gets back up and follows Kou around a turn and hits his head into the wall falling over.

The Red House Part 3
Picking off from the last chapter, Kou is demanding that Tsukasa tell him what his wish is, too. He says that if what Tsukasa says is true, in that people who come to the Red House have a wish they want granted, then Tsukasa being here must mean that he also has a wish he wants granted.

A flashback to Tsukasa's past begins, where he's rummaging in the garden outside of the Red House. He's pulling cosmos out of the ground, and places them next to groups of other items he's collected. The other collected items are a toy car, the skeleton of a small mammal, cicada shells, bottlecaps, and roly-polies. He says they're all "Amane's favorite things."

Finding a stray cat, Tsukasa takes it and the rest of the stuff he gathered into the house. He walks in on his mother talking to a visiting doctor, and waits outside of the room with the cat while she talks to him.

The doctor says that despite her and her child's great efforts to try and improve her child's naturally weak circulatory system, there's nothing they can do for him with modern medicine. Tsukasa's mother interjects, and asks the doctor if he'll never get better. Tsukasa looks shocked at her question, and it cuts to a frame of Amane, sick in bed and wheezing. The doctor doesn't answer her question and says that she should make sure he doesn't exercise or play with his brother, but even then Amane might not have more than a month left.

Flash-forward to November 25th, 1959. An older man is taking a picture of Tsukasa and Amane, who is confirmed to be their father. Their mother gives them their presents, which are two near-identical teddy bears. She then asks if they're hungry, and confirms that she's prepared donuts.

At the dinner table, Amane and Tsukasa's mother and father congratulate them on their fourth birthday. The dining table is full of many foods, including a giant buttercream cake with four candles on it and plain home-made donuts.

After an eating montage, their mother comments that she is thankful, and she didn't know what was going to happen to Amane for a while there. Their father says that the doctor also called it a miracle.

They ask if Amane is completely healed, and Amane makes a show of pumping his arms and confirms that he doesn't feel any pain. He says that he can do so many things that he couldn't before, like going to the pool, playing in the garden, and going on adventures. He's asked where he wants to go, and Amane says he'd like to go to foreign countries and space. Tsukasa is eating a donut, and turns to stare at Amane.

Shouting his name, Tsukasa leaps from his chair and tackles Amane. From their tall chairs, they topple onto the ground, with Tsukasa falling on top of him. Their parents ask if they're okay, and Amane confirms they're fine. He asks Tsukasa what that was all about, and Tsukasa asks him if he feels better. Amane once again confirms that he's feeling better.

Clinging to Amane's shirt, Tsukasa asks Amane if he loves him. Amane silently stares back for a moment, before beginning to pet Tsukasa's head. He then pulls Tsukasa's cheeks, and laughs as Tsukasa makes a wry face. Still laughing, he answers Tsukasa:

"Isn't that obvious!?"

Tsukasa, cheeks squeezed, reflects on his words. After a moment, he breaks out into a big smile and says, "I see!"

Their father chides them for rough-housing during their meal, and leads them away. As they leave, a door of the house creaks open, and Tsukasa hears a voice calling out to him. "Tsuuukasa-kun."

Tsukasa leaves to follow the voice, doors creaking open for him and leading him further into the house. He arrives in a room full of toys with a deep hole in the center, which is where the voice calling him is coming from. Once he's in the room, it tells Tsukasa that it has granted his wish, and asks him if he remembers their promise. Tsukasa confirms, and it tells him to offer a sacrifice of equivalent exchange.

Since Amane has gotten better, Tsukasa accepts. As he dangles his legs over the edge of the hole, Amane's voice can be heard calling through the hallways. He asks where Tsukasa has gone, and if he's playing hide-and-seek. Tsukasa smiles, and going unheard, he says goodbye to Amane.

Amane enters the toy-filled room, and finds neither Tsukasa nor the hole inside of it.

Coming back to the present, Kou looks confused, and Tsukasa begins to speak again. He tells Kou that his wish has already been granted, and that's why he can't leave this house anymore.

The Red House Part 4
In search of information related to the Seven Mysteries, Teru and Akane are inside of the Nagisa Shrine. They're speaking to Nagisa Kunishige, the chief priest, who is asking Teru what business he was with him.

Akane asks who this person is. Teru explains to Akane that shrines and exorcists have partnered up for ages, wherein exorcists help priests whose clients have supernatural issues that can't be solved by the priests themselves. He says that they're sort of like the middleman for exorcists.

After Teru angers Kunishige with a barbed comment about their business relationship, Kunishige threatens Teru by reminding him that he's the one that puts the food on his family's table. He asks if Teru would rather they sever all ties, and force the Minamoto family to attract business on their own by putting billboards outside their house.

Teru counters him back by saying his family wouldn't be the ones at a loss for work, and that the priests would be the ones in a worse position. The priests can't settle the supernatural disputes on their own, and their customers would lose faith in them without the exorcists. The town would then be overrun with supernaturals, leading to people dying, all caused by the priests and exorcists trying to destroy each other.

After Teru taunts him about actually letting that happen, Kunishige changes the topic and asks why he came in the midst of the Severance. Akane is a bit surprised that Kunishige knows of the Severance.

As Teru is about to explain why they came, his phone begins to ring. Teru asks Akane to get it for him, as he's busy talking to Kunishige right now, and Akane sees that it's a call from Kou. Teru talks in the background about how they came to find a clue to travel to the boundaries, and that the Nagisa Shrine was once the Misaki Shrine. Before he can continue, Akane answers the phone, and a loud screech emanates from it.

The phone emanates a staticky noise before a loud voice is heard, one that seems to belong to a child. It calls Akane "Akane-kun", and asks to grant his wish. Teru takes the phone and hangs up before it can continue.

Teru asks who that was, and Akane swears it was from Kou. Visibly terrified, Kunishige yells that Akane has been cursed, and asks why he got a phone call from that child. Teru immediately questions Kunishige back, asking him if he knows anything related to that mysterious phone call just now.

A flashback begins, as Kunishige begins to explain himself. Decades ago, when he was only a senior priest, a woman and her child visited the shrine. The child had been missing for 6 months before miraculously coming back. They call it being "spirited away."

His mother says that she was happy at first, but noticed there was something wrong with him. She claims that whatever had come back was not her son, despite them looking the same, and that whatever was originally inside of him had been replaced entirely. She then begs for the chief priest to change her son back, but upon investigating him they were unable to find any abnormalities. He looked normal, and there was no sign of him being possessed an evil spirit. Kunishige notes that he thought something was instead wrong with the mother, rather than the child.

As the other priests attempt to soothe the mother, Kunishige approaches the child, who is drawing in the dirt with a stick. Kunishige makes friendly conversation with him, introducing himself and asking what he's drawing. Instead of responding to his question, the child points at him, and mysteriously states that Kunishige-kun's wish will be granted tomorrow. The next day, the chief priest dies; and the image of his dead body looks vaguely similar to what the child was drawing before.

Kunishige explains that the chief priest had previously insulted his family and made off with the shrine's money, leading to him wishing he would just disappear. He says that while the death was claimed to be an accident, he couldn't confidently state that the child's words were mere coincidence.

Additionally, years later, the same child died in his house in what was called a family suicide, and any individuals that approached that house thereafter died mysterious deaths. Kunishige says that the harm was supposed to stop after the Minamoto clan had forbidden any interference with the house, and chastises Teru for getting involved with it and letting his brother enter inside. He questions whether Teru is prepared to handle the blame for any damage this misstep might've caused, and Teru ruefully apologizes, saying he will take full responsibly.

Furious, Kunishige then proclaims that he'll be making a report to Teru's father about all of this, stating that children need to be scolded by their fathers once in a while. He then locks them inside of a room, forbidding them from leaving.

Akane tests the doors, but they won't budge. He asks Teru what they should do, saying they can't go and help Kou like this. In contrast to Akane's panic, Teru is instead spread out on the floor, complaining about nothing ever going right for him.

Teru suddenly questions if Akane knows about the Misaki Shrine, and goes on to explain it's history. Although it was located in No. 2's boundary, it used to exist in the real world, too, before being absorbed into the modern day Nagisa Shrine. Due to this, the past property of the Misaki Shrine is now kept within the Nagisa Shrine. He also states that Kunishige is a descendant of the Misaki household.

Because of the connection between these two shrines, Teru thought there might be some sort of artifact located within the Nagisa Shrine that would allow them to cross over to the boundaries. Teru thought he could use his position as the eldest son of an exorcist family to gain access to these artifacts, but his plan had ultimately failed.

He continues to whine, saying that he feels like he's no good at anything. He laments how the other day, that despite saving his town and community from supernatural menaces, and losing his glory days of youth to fighting them, his brother had asked him over breakfast what he'd do if he'd suddenly turned into a supernatural. Which he states as being "the worst."

Teru then curses Kunishige for not working with him, despite Teru trying his best to be polite and courteous, and Akane comments on how unbecoming all this whining is of him. Teru switches the topic to how he saw Akane doing inappropriate things with Aoi in the boundary, causing Akane to spit his drink out. Enraged, he begins shaking him as Teru laughs, Akane yelling about how Teru planned the awful timing of his entrance at the end of Chapter 69 all along.

Continuing in his self pity, Teru goes on to state how he's actually not very nice, and certainly no model student. He says that while Nene wishes to see No. 7, and Kou also seems to have some sort of objective, he simply just wishes to bring Aoi back.

Taken aback, Akane questions if Teru actually really does like Aoi. Evading the question, Teru states that Aoi is necessary to fulfilling his dream. Akane imagines this dream as Aoi being Teru's housewife, but Teru doesn't elaborate further.

Fed up with him now, Akane kicks Teru and tells him to shape up. If he doesn't, then Akane will just go and save her himself, telling her that Teru was useless all the while. Teru says that would be a bother, but Akane's words seem to spark some motivation inside of him.

Jumping to his feet, Teru whips out his katana and slashes the doors locking them inside to pieces. He then goes to Kunishige, who is currently making a phone call, and causes an explosion inside of the shrine. Afterwards, the other priests, including Kunishige, appear visibly shaken, saying that their heirloom has been stolen.

Outside of the shrine, Teru is victoriously holding up a small chest in his hand, exclaiming that they're going to the boundary. Akane is more ruffled in contrast, muttering an apology to the people of the shrine.