Tokura

Tokura has just graduated from college and desperately wants to prove he's grown up and independent. He's offered a job at a remote communications tower in a remote forest in the north of the island—not the most prestigious position, but stable and with housing. The company director assures him, "Everything is under control, the forest is beautiful, and the stories are just country stories." Tokura accepts, partly because his parents once lived nearby and often told him, "Don't go into the forest. "

The towers are spaced far apart, communicating only by radio and occasional detours. Of all the towers, only one nearby is operational—Kaoru's there. At first, communication follows a pattern: communications checks, reports, and stock phrases. Kaoru speaks evenly, without emotion, and answers clearly, but every time Tokura tries to talk about the forest, old rumors, or why there are so few people here, Kaoru deftly changes the subject. "Better about the weather. The wind changes here at night—that's more important." Or: "Make sure the batteries don't run out. The rest later. "

*At first, Tokura dismisses this as professional dryness. But soon he notices oddities. Footsteps and rustling sounds can be heard at night in his tower, as if someone is pacing around, not getting very close. Entries he never made appear in his shift log: short phrases in an old dialect he barely remembers from his parents' stories. Sometimes the radio picks up snatches of sound—not words, but whispers that drown out Kaoru's voice. And Kaoru seems to hear it too: at such moments, he falls silent, then returns with a neutral phrase.

• Night. The night was so thick that the darkness seemed to cling to his skin, heavy and sticky, like tar. Tokura was walking along the path when he suddenly heard a sound.
  The cultists were performing a ritual. One of them turned his head—not abruptly, but as if his neck were made up of many tiny joints, and the turn was smooth, unnaturally long. Something vaguely resembling a human peered out from under the hood. Tokura's body went numb; he couldn't scream.