The man who held up the world 👻

[mermalaide]

The Shinto Shrine network had placed a call for a priestess to come and bless a pre-war tunnel early in the morning. It seems that they were renovating the tunnel and there were a few odd incidents to be had. Tools were going missing, there were minor and now one major accident. The company that was renovating the tunnel originally tried to appease whatever spirit it was by giving an offering, but that didn't seem to do it. They should have called a priest or a priestess right away,but they didn't and unfortunately were paying for it in the form of broken and missing equipment, and injured employees. Fortunately, no one has died yet, but according to the network, this was the kind of thing that escalated in maliciousness.

From what the network also surmised, and passes on to Mika, is that there was a possible burial site, but that records seemed incomplete. There is a suspicion that it could be a dumping ground as well, but that does not sound accurate. The tunnel was built in the early 20's. It had been part of a new passage through the mountainside connecting two mountain towns together and making a route for trucks. The tunnel itself was a bit old, and while it stood up to a lot, it still was pretty beaten up and needed a bit of a face lift. The history of the area was straight forward, there were a lot of things left over by Shinto ceremonies and such.  Some of the shrines in the area, the ones not completely eroded away that is, were worn by time, wind and rain.

The foreman would be meeting Mika at the front of the tunnel, which was gated in to protect the construction site from thieves and on lookers.   He wore a hard hat and protective clothing that you would expect on a job site. Jeans, a tee shirt and a button up over that. Hard boots that thudded and scuffed when he walked adorned his feet. Frankly, he looked uncomfortable.The whole situation was frightening in his opinion. He never believed in ghosts. It never struck him as something that he should believe in.  That was more for the superstitious elderly, high school girls, and the people from the shrine network. He wrung his hands, looking around nervously. And now, he needed that superstition to help him and  the crew out of a potentially ugly situation.

"You are from the Shrine Network, yes?" 

                                                                                        

[Ram]

Mika held her hands together in a meditative process. Her first official task in a while so appearances must count. She didn’t want to make the same mistakes with every opportunity just because some earlier flukes were passable. Still not a reply back from her own personal inquiries of her shrine but that may still be under review. The nation has no shortage of active and inactive grounds.

She approached slowly in her miko attire and putting on a focused face. Can’t show that she traveled additional two hours and a half from the shrine to this location. Train rides were only convenient as the meals at the station stops. There has to be a faster way to commute but for the time being, no license; no car. Mika tried to not put too much stress on that and what should be far behind her when addressing the worker.

“Good day, sir,” she bowed to the foreman. “Indeed. I am Ajibana Mikazuki of the Ise Shrine network. We received your concerns about the tunnel in question. Have there been other happenings since first alerting us?” She asked when taking a look at the man and the large dark entryway behind him. A construction project some decades ago with a possible gravesite within that was disturbed but no confirmation on who what that was. Something did seem to lurk in there but hard to make out what else than a general impression from this side of the fence.

“If anything else at all happened, we’d much appreciate and keep an eye out going forward. Has this all mainly happened within or around this tunnel? Anyone having unusual sensations or disturbances at home since then? We were also informed of this area being a potential grave site at some point. Would you happen to know if anyone had passed recently or any accidents taken place?” Mika asked in wonder if narrowing down who or what may be the cause of this before making that encounter.

[mermalaide]

"It is good to meet you Ajibana-san. Y-yes, I am Foreman Tanaka. We have been having some pretty odd disturbances as of late." He had thought of lighting up a cigarette, but thought better of it out of politeness. "It's all happened inside and around the entrance and exits of the tunnel. "He paused, recounting from memory as many instances and with as much detail as he could muster. "We had a few incidents before calling you all, however, most of us decided to caulk it up to just odd circumstances. It was when tools really started disappearing and reappearing in odd places, or when we would hear someone call down at the end of the tunnel and not find anyone, that was when we thought we might be over our heads a bit."

He started to unlock the construction gat. "We ruled out the possibility of trespassers or thieves, and.. strangely enough, I caught something interesting on the camera I put up." The gate had a bit of a heavy sound to the chain link fence. "Oh that.. Well, as I know it, it was rumored to be a dumping ground in the 20's, but I am not sure how true that is. What I do know, is that the man that used to build tunnels and structures, particularly this one was caught doing the human pillar ritual on his last two buildings. And, I know he built this tunnel, I researched that myself." He got a cold chill. 

"What I found out about  Yamikutchi  Zaiaku, was that practiced a very old form of Shinto, came from a very backwoods village, and he got into architecture to escape poverty. He had gotten into trouble with the last few buildings he made. But, because they couldn't prove he was involved the four deaths, and the two bodies were recovered for proper burial, he went into retirement not jail." He turned on his flashlight, which flickered despite new batteries. "His name was on the tunnel's construction, and I had never heard of this architect before this set of research." The light disappeared ahead of them, almost appearing to be swallowed by shadow. "I will have to write it down for you, but even the kanji in which the man signed his name made my skin crawl. Let's go into my office trailer. I can show you the video footage I took as well as write that down for you." He also realized something else. I have copies of the original blueprints in there as well, there are some weird things on that as well."

[Ram]

No recent deaths and relatively low body count. The acts committed so far has been lost tools and minor disturbances. A ghost that appears to generally keep the workers away for some reason. Mika accompanied the foreman with the light to go a small check with the tunnel’s entrance. They didn’t get far as the batteries seemingly died yet Mika can see some sort of cloud before her. An embodiment of darkness with nothing penetrating it. Best not agitate till that foreman was no longer around in the tunnel. “Appears the batteries may be acting up but it’s best we not venture further together.” Mika advised which turned to be in line with his notions too.

“That no one died during these hauntings is a blessing. Much appreciation to the research on short notice. We’ll put this knowledge to good use. Now what did you record sir?” The miko followed him back to look over the footage. The name of the builder on her mind. Hearing their name spoken couldn’t be more than a fancy name to throw about. This surely can’t be the name he was born with. Mika could form the letters in her mind. Oddly, part of the name could describe a tunnel. Strange.

“And you say there is something off about the blueprints? What do you mean exactly?” A tunnel should be straight forward. This did remind her of the original builder’s roots. Burials of importance blessed that it’ll remain standing. What could have gone wrong there? Mika considered to look for any signs of the unaccounted for bodies in these blueprints. Then figure where to go from there but for all Mika could think of is that she’ll have to go in and search.

[mermalaide]

"It really is, a few of the accidents were really close. One man is still on leave I think he was the man that was supposed to repair some damaged wall." Tanaka felt a chill, even if the tunnel was humid and damp from the summer weather. "Over here." He had most of the tunnel being recorded at the moment. With a compute program and some close circuit cameras. He brought open a window and started to play some footage. He sped up the time a little. "Watch the right hand corner. There is a humanoid shadow, but when you look closely it stays in shadow. It just looks like a dark outline. It seems to dissolve over a hammer and the hammer seems to absorb into the shadow." Tanaka shook his head. "Each tool is marked with a number burned or etched on the bottom so that we can check out and turn in tools at the end of the day and that hammer later reappears on the opposite end of the tunnel two days later. In poor shape too. The wood on it looks almost rotten." He gets up and goes to a locked cabinet. Inside, he retrieves a zip lock baggie containing a hammer. The hammer looked almost ancient compared to the gleaming tool it was in the video. What was worse was that it was rotten in places on the handle in the way someone would hold it. "I have a few other tools like this." He pulls out a tape measure and and a wrench. Both have a similar issue, though in metal.


He placed the items down and wandered over to the table that the map had been laid out on. Everything had been unfolded there and held down with a few paper weights. "The walls are thicker in a few places than they should be. There is an unaccounted for section of support on the side there." He moved closer and circled it in mechanical pencil. He had to go light as the pages were a bit fragile in spots of the paper. Mostly where the folds and creases were. "Come to think of it, the fella that was hurt was working on that section of wall.." He made the connection between the two. "Can I offer you some water or tea? The Office doesn't have a lot, but it's here if you are parched." He saw something move on the monitor of the pc and went over to check. One of the cameras went completely black and he let out a gasp, backing up from the camera, horrified.

[Ram]

Mika made a mental note about a damaged wall and wanted to look there right away. She always wanted to make a beeline to the problems first but leaving the foreman right now would be rather rude. She kept her reservations of heading into the tunnel to continue reviewing the map and video footage. The hauntings and behavior didn’t seem right or make sense to the girl. Normally repairs would be welcomed yet it’s doing everything in its power to avoid that. The miko marveled at the footage shown of the hammer disappearing into the shadow. It must have sunken in from the video!

“And what became of it?” She asked and was presented with the found hammer. Aged and heavily worn by the grips. “Very strange…it looks as though someone used this relentlessly.” Mika remarked. “Would that mean the shadows rapidly age these items?” Or maybe they were used but… where? “Even if these tools were used somewhere in the shadows, no one has reported any changes to the tunnel’s structure, haven’t they?” As far as anyone dared to know.

Her head tilted back and forth when investigating the map before her. The prints looked to be the original from how careful it was handled. Mika took her phone to try taking a picture for what was shown. For a simple tunnel, the building of it was far different than she assumed. Mika made note of the odd thicker pillars when the man moved to the cameras he had monitoring the structure. Mika quickly shuffled over to look as well and there was a shadow. Someone standing there or the shadow didn’t appear above ground.

“Where is that? And what is it doing?” Mika asked before heading out of the small trailer to look around for the shadowy figure if he happened to be nearby to witness first hand.

[mermalaide]

"It was found a few days later, close to the spot where it disappeared, and part of it was extremely oxidized." He looked just uncomfortable. The whole thing was illogical. "I-I don't know. I mean, it's possible. You can see the weird looking finger marks, like it looks used, but I assure you, I had just bought some of these tools. This one included. I have never seen a hammer or wrench age like that, even left out in weather." There was an odd feeling to it if she touched it. It had heft, but also felt like there was some kind of hot charge running through it.

"No, no changes in the structure. Most of what we were doing was building reinforcing supports so that the tunnel wouldn't collapse as we worked on it." It was one big tunnel from the map, but there were older support walls, an access area and possibly a store room for what looked like electrical work for the inner bits of the tunnel, then there was a pedestrian walkway which seemed to be caged in with metal railing on the outer side of it (so someone could walk through the tunnel and not disturb cars or get hit).

He looked pretty pale in the florescent light, like the color had drained out of his face. "That is standing near the walk way, where one of the main support pillars is." He swallowed hard. It was just standing there, and then the window went black. Eyes opened very close to the camera and stared at them, wide eyed. "Oh god.."


It was looking right at them, staring as if very aware that the two of them were talking about it. The way it stared at Mika, and at the foreman was almost provoking. Or was it? It was a stare that was for sure. The camera glitched out, and all of the cameras went static. The foreman reached for the flashlight he had just put down, and the power in the trailer flickered.

[Ram]

Mika looked around outside the trailer. Nothing else she could find in the darkness. “Maybe they also saw something…” She turned to head back and check on their client. After that unnerving moment of being stared at, it reminded her too much of Orochi standing around and staring. Mika was going to have none of this game again. The lights in the trailer flickering upon her return. The miko closed the door behind her and clicked her tongue. “So it’s here somewhere,” she thought aloud when checking the trailer for anything amiss. That shadow was looking right at them in that moment before Mika left the trailer. She held her chin and went to the foreman.

“Hold out your hand,” she instructed and handed him a charm of hers. A small bead thar looked like an ordinary marble. “Keep this in a secured pocket. It’s a blessed charm that’ll keep you safe for a while if anything comes up for the night.” Mika explained. The charm would do just that when Mika puts some serious blessings into it but it’ll only absorb so much negative energies before breaking. This one should keep the foreman away from most dangers. Not a good time to leave a client hanging now. “We’re going to start searching the tunnel then. From what you’ve shown, so far there are missing tools and that it seems to prohibit workers from reinforcing the structure. That correct so far? We’ll see if we can make direct contact for some answers.” The footage and map only gave so much to speculate that it seems the course is left to reason or eliminate it.

“Any further warnings to bear in mind before we head out?” She asked. No telling if this foreman will stay here or try following her into the tunnel with that dying flashlight of his for the whole night. Upon to him if he sought the same answers but Mika hoped they can get results quickly.

[mermalaide]

He held out hand. The foreman was sweating a little. What he had saw was looking right though them and it unnerved him. Tanaka swallowed hard and listened. He had a button pocket in the flannel he was wearing, that was pretty secure. It was on his person too. "Yes that is correct. One person got into an accident, but no one was watching, and it was before the cameras, so I am not sure what he did." He secured the charm in his pocket. "Thank you Ajibana-san." He did feel a little better, but they would see when they encountered this thing.

He grabbed a bigger flashlight, one that was almost as strong as a car headlight. He also grabbed an extra helmet and handed it to her. "We should be okay, but there might be some debri. The ground is stable but the walls and parts of the celling are crumbling good." He folded up the map just in case and put it in his coat pocket. "The wall near the walkway seems like it would be the best place to start looking." He made sure his own hat was strapped down and the big flashlight was ready to roll, he started out the front of the office and when Mika followed, he would lock after himself. He had wanted to make sure that no one could tamper with the office. He was on duty today alone, so it was unlikely that any of the men had tampered with this.

He turned on the torch and led the way, the sound of his boots crunched on the decaying ground and gravel. Somewhere not too far, there was the sound of dripping water.



The rocks on the ground crumbled underfoot and the tunnel itself was cold. He walked close and held the light to where it would shine very well in front of them. There wasn't really graffiti, unless you counted the orange spray paint that the workers had used to mark lines. The tunnel seemed to extend far and as they walked, some spots seemed wider. The place he had been talking about had a pedestrian walkway and was connected to what looked like an abandoned tunnel, leading to a long dead line of subway train. 

[Ram]

Feeling all the next step leads to what to meet this ghost, she produced a paper talisman and traced a few words on it with her finger. The little rectangular paper blinked a faint light once she finished writing. “It’s an precautionary ward,” Mika explained to put the foreman’s mind at ease for what she wrote. The miko didn’t think she needed to provide further explanations after presenting the beat to the man and hopefully that ghost watching them would be more occupied seeing them move.

Mika headed out with the foreman to guide through the tunnel entrance. Their flashlight not piercing the darkness. She left quietly left the talisman behind to fly off into the night before turning her attention to what little the light can provide. Somehow, or rather by the will of the spirit, the two were allowed to venture inside the tunnel in full view wherever the light shone. More over she can see how the place was in dire need of repairs based on whatever material was hanging from the ceiling. Something fiber like to her knowledge. “I was under the impression more progress was done to the structure to quickly restore it to service. Was this considered condemned at some point?” The miko questioned to the low echos of her voice carrying with their footsteps. If she didn’t know any better, this was far less a tunnel and more of a route to a den of monsters. The purpose of this route coming to mind for what the builder designed all this for. when making their way to the marked points on the map.

[mermalaide]

He guided her with his flashlight leading the way. The light being swallowed like that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He felt like someone was watching them in the darkness, it was so hard to see though. He stepped very carefully, and tried for the most part to lead her safely through the tunnel's construction. "It was. The tunnel was almost caved in, we had to clear out a lot of plant life and animal debris in addition to some of the decayed concrete." The air was muggy. It made him wheeze a little when he spoke.

Something moved in the darkness. It sounded like something scraping or dragging. "Hey! Who's there!?" He sounded scared but tried to be brave. Something dark moved in front of him and he backed off, holding his flashlight up and holding out his arm to protect Mika if need be. Whatever it was moved past and the flashlight died. He tried to muffle his own scream. It was quick. A black humanoid thing moved in front of him, then disappeared when the tunnel's red floodlights kicked on. He could have sworn something was staring into his face.

"Oh..kami."

His heart beat into his chest, like the sound of taiko drums. "A-re are you okay?" He made sure she was okay, and still there. "If we can, let's try to get to the electrical closet. It isn't far, and we will be close to the section of wall everything has been happening near." He felt something brush against his neck and preyed it was a spider in the dark red light.

[Ram]

Mika glanced at the tunnel entrance while following her guide. Hopefully that guy can even read her request if he noticed anything in the shadows. Though that was more of a question if he understood the intent. With the foreman heading the lead, Mika kept fairly close while making the most of what she could observe of the deteriorating hole in the hill. She began to notice that vague blackness on the edges of the light cone. Something seemed to draw close again. Mika thumbed through how many talismans she had on hand when the foreman called out in the dark. It’s close.No, correction, here.

Her eyes searched to catch any signs but nothing fully tangible. Tanaka stopped moving and put his hand out in caution. Mika walked up and put a hand on his arm to move it to see past. A haze stood before them. The builder? Mika squinted for a better look but it was gone. Red lights filled the corridor leaving Mika to wonder aloud, “Back up generator?” She asked. More of the power has gone off now it seems. First the cameras and now the lights in the tunnel. Mika began to second guess about the builder’s unusual name. If it meant the whole tunnel is a demon then they shouldn’t be here. Yet there were the pillars to look into that was marked on the map. “How far are we, do you think? From this electrical closet.” If he can get the lights back on, they can worry less about the flashlight.

“Let’s move along,” she tugged his arm gently. “I’m fine but we shouldn’t stop too long.” Mika spoke, trying to give some voice of reason while keeping close to the light. Knowing something can come out of the shadows did have her on edge since the last time the miko went roaming in the dark.

[mermalaide]

Tanaka-san tried to keep it together. "That was intense." On being asked about the generator, he gestured with the flashlight and began to move again. "It's a few more feet. I think I see the little stairs and platform there." He was pale and sweaty in the dark. "Things like this make me realize that there is an afterlife.. and this whole time I have been kidding myself." He swallowed hard. "I have always believed in scientific things, tangible things. None of this makes sense to me."

The platform came into view, waist high on him, likely a little high over Mika's head. He shivered and pointed the flashlight about, looking for the stairs. His breath was deep in the wet, humidity, and for a moment, it looked like a man's leg had been visible in the doorway. The pant leg looked like it had been a hospital like trouser. It was such a quick movement, and Tanaka san had not seen it, but maybe Mika had.

"This way."

He started to move toward the concrete and rusty metal steps to get on the little platform. The stairway was eight to ten steps up and the walkway seemed to have a slimy, mossy guard rail. There was a caved in bench and what had been an entry way on the other side, which had seemed to collapse. There was a plastic trash bin that had been brought up and an abandoned broom to sweep debris. "No one had come up here since the last accident. We were trying to clear away debris to assess everything. The only light was from his torch, and they were definitely being watched by something in the dark.

[Ram]

Good he’s moving. Mika considered pushing him along if he didn’t move. Her mind focused to see the fuss about this tunnel to start worrying over fears. If she started to lose it then what good would that impression be upon her instructor in Ise? The girl kept telling herself it would a short task of getting in, deal with the problem, get out. The bigger details is left to worry about her plans for the shrine. Completing this job should get her one step closer to that. As for convincing that Orochi to behave, well, probably a lost cause when all her attempts dry up.

She clenched a small fist before her at this tiny promise when a leg caught her attention to pause. Barefoot, plain linen, simple pale bluegreen color of hospital smocks. Why would such a person be here? Any hospital isn’t remotely close nor a graveyard ward. “….” She breathed quietly and hurried to catch up to the small stairs and platform. Mentioning it would only scare the poor man but how to approach this. The miko shuffled her thoughts. In the time of the old construction and the builder, Mika had to consider a lighter topic to draw out a plausible conclusion.

“This place must be important to have had its own inaugural ceremony. The people ought to be grateful there is a short cut than taking a winding mountain road. Some folks would be looking forward to taking the new connection, yes?” She spoke as she went to climb up on the platform. It looked sturdy enough anyway.

“Last accident. You mean some earthquake loosed the structure?” Mika asked as she noted how neglected the space looked for moss to take hold. “I don’t follow the meaning to have shut this down. This their route was of key importance then there shouldn’t have been a delay. What happened?”

[mermalaide]

"Yes, we did have a small tremor, and it knocked loose something with one of the supports." He saw the room with the power box in it. Maybe if he could turn the lights or emergency lights on, it wouldn't be so horrible. "One of our workers broke his leg from falling rubble. If he hadn't been pulled out of the way, it would have been far worse. It exposed a section that wasn't on the map as well. A narrow space that seemed to go down a ways into the earth."

He led her to the room, and had to unlock the door, like one would a supply closet. "We haven't gone down there, but since that day, bad things have been happening. I can lead you to that as well, it is near here, but I want to try to get flood lights or something on first. It's so dangerous.." He was still pretty disturbed from the thing that he had gotten close to, but he was shaking it off. "I am sorry if I am beginning to be unnerved, I.. I don't know what that was but I felt like death was staring me in the face." He got the door open and led them inside. Like the office, this was clean and orderly, there were some supplies for building and some spare spools of wires, but that would be it. On the wall was a big circuit breaker. 


The door shut behind them, due in part, to it's weight. It was a loud metallic slam, and though he was jumpy, it did not scare him. Tanaka-san made quick work of it, but only seemed to get the emergency lights on. They would be able to see, but the tunnel system would be filled with eerie red light. "Alright, this will have to do. Let's make our way, yeah?" He was trying to have courage, but it sure was shaken. When he turns around to get the door, the knob starts rattling, as if someone is trying to open the door. A dull scraping noise can be heard, like bare feet on concrete or stone.