Chapter Text
A light rain shower began outside. The droplets hit the glass in a soft pitter-patter and Naoya Fukamachi couldn’t be happier. He always appreciated the sound of rain, whether loud or quiet it drowned out the voices of people around him.
“Fukamachi~ we have a new case to look into and its quite an interesting one.” the Associate Professor for the Folklore Studies II class, Akira Takatsuki, sat next to Fukamachi before opening his laptop and presenting the submission to his pupil.
Reading out loud, Fukamachi raised an eyebrow at the text submitted by a student by the name of Yuriko Itsuki:
“’I’m in the possession of a necklace that curses those who wear it and take it off...My friend borrowed the necklace but when she took it off, she experienced awful things like witnessing a car crash, was followed by a black cat, and her boyfriend broke up with her. She returned the necklace to me and once it was back around my neck every bad occurrence stopped for her, but it came with a cost: every time I take off the necklace my luck seems to turn for the worse. The curse seems to have transferred to me and I’m stuck with this necklace.’”
“Odd, isn’t it? I haven’t ever had the privilege to personally investigate a case like this. It’ll be my first time looking into a curse that transfers and cancels itself out from person to person.” Professor Akira contentedly drank from his overly-sweetened hot coco, a wide smile plastered on his handsome face.
Fukamachi side-eyed his professor and thought it odder that the older man could get such a kick from this at his big age.
Fukamachi was a first-year college student, he is currently employed by his Professor, Akira. They investigate and attempt to identify strange paranormal occurrences, usually connected to Japanese folklore. Both are believers of the paranormal having been victims of some inexplicable events: In his youth, Akira disappeared for a week before mysteriously appearing in the middle of a street. He seemed to be unscathed except for the two large scars on his back that looked as if he had clipped wings, eyes that seem to change hue, and the ability of perfect memory despite having no recollection of his disappearance. He theorizes that he was taken by a tengu, a spirit of sorts.
As for Fukamachi, at the age of eight he was cursed as a result of attending what the pair thinks to have been a festival for the dead. His curse was the ability to hear a lie. He could detect the lie by the warping sound that accompanied the voice of the liar.
Although they use this ability to their advantage when investigating a case, Fukamachi easily gets distressed from the physical pain that comes with hearing the warped sound of a lie. The younger man has lived a very solitary life in order to prevent any physical or social conflict from constantly hearing lies from the people around him, which is why he has dotted on the professor who leads an honest life. (And because he has a voice that Fukamachi finds soothing.)
“I’ll send an email inviting this Yuriko Itsuki to a meeting with us after class on Wednesday, she’s in the same period as you. She sits in the middle row with two of her friends.”
“Third period?” Naoya tried to rack his memory for a description or image of the girl, he could’ve sworn he’s heard that name before.
Akira seemed to have read his mind. “She has dark brown hair and is kinda short, she talks with your friend Noichi Noumuya quite often.”
A vague image of Yuriko appeared in Fukamachi’s head; he slightly remembers her face but he clearly remembered hearing her lie to Noumuya once.
_
It was now Wednesday and the pair was sitting in the staff room while listening to Yuriko Itsuki recount her story of the necklace. The cursed object sat on her chest; it was a silver chain necklace with a circular pendant.
“It all began when I went shopping at the thrift. I, uh, found the necklace all rusty but I could tell by the nice engraving on the pendant that it was a beauty, I knew I had to buy it and clean it up. Which I did, the rust came off to reveal a shiny silver and the pendant actually turned out to be a locket!”
Akira’s eyes widened with curiosity. “Have you opened it? I’m sure you did, may we see?” He extended a hand across the table, his palm faced up to receive the necklace. Yuriko clutched the locket close to her, leaning back in her chair. She gave an uneasy glace at the hand and back to the professor.
“Sir.” Naoya’s voice firm with reprimanded tone “You’re making her uncomfortable... back off, will you?”
“Oh. Right.” Akira retracted his hand and gave an apologetic look to the young lady before quickly returning to his usual aloof expression “I apologize, but you could you please show us?”
“Uh, sure” With shaky hands she took off the necklace and opened the locket to reveal a small painting of a lily flower, the petals made up of various small blue rhinestones. Aside from the shiny gems, it was truly amazing with the amount of detail in such a miniature painting.
Naoya’s mouth gaped, fixing his glasses as he leaned in to take a closer look.
“Are you aware of the type of gems they could be? Looks like sapphire.” The older man asked.
“No, but I’ve been meaning to. I have a few options but I’m not sure of how to approach a jeweler considering the curse...” She locked the necklace back around her neck and sighed. “Would it be too much to ask for you two to accompany me? I desperately want to get rid of this curse.” Clasping her hands together, she gave a pleading look to the pair.
The professor placed a hand over his chest and spoke with a soft voice “Of course, it’ll be my pleasure to help you out, though I must make it clear that I cannot cleanse the necklace of whatever curse that may lie within in. I am sorry.”
Naoya noted how detached Yuriko became after hearing that last part.
“A-alright.” Her once hopeful expression now replaced by that of a sullen smile “Anyways, I had let my friend borrow the necklace for a week after first cleaning it, she was the first person to wear it. She then told me that the days when she decided not to wear the necklace something bad would happen; she witnessed a car crash, she would often see black cats, and her boyfriend even broke up with her out of the blue! We hadn’t come to the conclusion that it must be cursed until I wore it and took it off...” Her voice began to tremble. Despite being clearly afraid of the object, she repeatedly fidgeted with it in her hand.
“...That’s when I experienced awful things of my own like, um, my-” Yuriko fell silent for a moment, her eyes watering.
“You don’t have to continue if you don’t feel comfortable.” Akira placed a hand down on the table close to Yuriko. Naoya nodded his head in agreement. “We can continue this conversation another day when you feel-”
The professor was cut off by Yuriko raising a palm and slowly shaking her head, cutting him off. “No. There’s no need.” Calming down, she continued her story.
“My parakeet, Toto, suddenly died one morning...I-I lost my job, and I was almost admitted to the hospital from sickness. This all happened within about a week, a while ago.” Yuriko sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. “Since then, I’ve been afraid to take off the necklace.”
‘Talk about a rough week...’ Naoya thought to himself.
“I’m sorry for your loss and all that happened, my deepest condolences. That does sound like quite a nasty curse...according to your submission you said that ‘every bad occurrence stopped for her’ once you wore the necklace, transferring the curse onto yourself.” Akira brought a hand to his chin as he thought of a plan. “Hm. Well, what I can only suggest is that we start with the origins of this necklace, specifically those gems. I bet they’re real precious stones and those are bought with records, jewelry shops keep account of purchases of the stones they sell and buy. You said you had a list of options, correct?”
“Yes, sir. We can check out the first shop on my list, Jewelry Étranger, I’ve heard that its staff is rather trust worthy and charming. I will request an appointment and get back to you with a date and time.”
“That’s perfect, thank you.” Akira stood up from his seat. “We greatly appreciate you trusting us with this information, Ms. Itsuki. I’ll walk you out.”
Naoya offered her a warm smile and walked her towards the door.
The men bowed lightly as the door closed behind Yuriko left the staff room.
“Man, I should've suggested the curse be passed onto me so I could experience it for myself...at least that way the burden would be lifted off her shoulder.” Akira rubbed his neck and looked wistfully at the floor. “Maybe I’ll have a chance to next time.”
Naoya on the other hand couldn't believe what he was hearing, he mumbled under his breath “You’re insane.”
“Hm? What was that?” Amused, Akira chuckled.
“I said you’re in insane, sir.” He responded in a much clearer voice, sipping on his bitter coffee.
-
A few days had passed and a trio made its way through the streets of Ginza on a cloudy afternoon.
Takatsuki leaned in close to Naoya as he spoke “Ginza, huh? Hey, Fukamachi, how about we take a break after the meeting and look for a cafe with some sweets, hm?” Naoya only nodded and Akira hummed, pleased. He knew he had to stick with his professor, the older man was bound to get lost without him.
The two men followed Yuriko as she led the way up the staircase of a second-story building. She hesitated before deciding to press the doorbell, it buzzed, and the door soon opened. A young man with black hair greeted them with a bright smile, the slightest smell of something sweet wafted through the air behind him. Akira’s eyes widened at the smell, a smile of his own beginning to form.
“Welcome to Jewelry Étranger! Please come in.” The young man bowed and opened the door wide for them to enter.
In the middle of the room was a sitting area: two pairs of sofa chairs on either side of a coffee table. But sitting on one of the chairs facing the door was a foreign man with a captivating presence.
“Hello, my name is Richard Ranashinha de Vulpian.” He stood up and greeted the trio with a bow, gesturing for them to take a seat “I run this establishment and this is my assistant, Seigi. It’s nice to meet you. Could I offer you three a cup of tea?”