Crows of Kyoto: Part 5

CAWHA CAW Ha ha ha!  CaHa ha ha ha!

“What’s that?” asked Momo.

“It sounds like the crows are laughing,” said Dominique.

“That’s impossible! Crows can’t laugh,” scoffed Ichiro.

CAWHA HA HA HA  CAWHA HA HA HA!

“It sounds an awful lot like laughing to me!” cried Momo.

“Calm down Momo, now is not the time.” said her husband.

“When is the time then Yoshiro?  When we are all dead, will that be the time?” retorted Momo, “something strange is going on here!  Can you give an explanation for what you just saw?”

“I can,” interjected Captain Kusumo, who entered the room with two other officers.

“Please enlighten us.” snarked Ichiro.

“Well it’s pretty obvious these birds are all trained.  Someone has taught them to attack and crows are known to be able to mimic human speech perfectly.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  All we have to do is find their master and have him call them off,” said Kusumo.

“What about the dead people at the Torii!?” exclaimed Momo, “How do you explain that?”

“It’s simple really there must be a poisonous gas around the perimeter of the estate and if you are exposed too many times you die,” explained Kusumo.

“So we are looking for a psycho with enough access to the house to plant poisonous gas all around the perimeter, that just so happens to train birds to laugh and kill on their off time.  This should be easy,” said Ichiro sarcastically.

“I know it’s a tough job, but that’s why I’m asking for everyone’s help.  Do you know of anyone who would want to do harm to the Hayashi family?” asked Kusumo.

“It’s not just the Hayashi family, the entire Sato family is here too,” said Yoshiro.

CAWHA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Makoto and Nana knew the house the best, so they worked out a plan on how to get to the door without being seen, but they still had the problem of the servant at the door.

“We can wait until nightfall and then we can sneak out the window,” suggested Makoto.

“No, the crows will get us before we reach the shed!” said Nana.

“She’s right, we have to get there as fast as possible,” said Misha.  He paced the room for a while thinking. “I have been thinking this for a while now,” he said with a grim look on his face, “One of us will have to stay here, in case our parents come to check on us.  Yuuki, It has to be you.”

“No, I’m scared to stay by myself!” whimpered Yuuki.

“It will be worse for you running through the crows,” explained Misha, “you won’t be able to make it to the shed Yuuki.”

“But what if Yamada Sensei comes for me?” cried Yuuki.

“You’ll be safe here Yuuki,” said Nana and she stroked his head.  For as much as she tormented him she really did care about him.  She looked at Misha for reassurance and he nodded his head.

“Now what should we do about the servant at the door?” asked Makoto.

“Well I’ve think I have a way to get away,” said Misha, “we will tell the servant that our parents called us and told us they want to see us.  The she will bring us there and we will get scolded for lying, and they will send us back to the room.  Then when we are far enough away from our parents I suggest we race back to the room.  The servant will not be able to keep up because she is wearing traditional clothing.  Yuuki you make sure she sees you at all times and go straight for this room.  Make sure she sees you enter and shut the door.  She will assume that we all went inside, but really we will be hiding in a different room.”

“That’s brilliant Misha!” exclaimed Makoto.

“But what if our parents come in the room when we are gone?” asked Nana.

“We will put pillows under the covers and Yuuki will tell them that we are sleeping” answered Makoto.

“Alright let’s do it!”

The children knocked on the door and told the servant their parents wanted to see them.  She took them to the room where they were being questioned.  Their parents scolded them for lying to the servant and ordered them back to the room at once.  On the way back the three older children started the race and Yuuki followed behind leading the servant back to the room.  The servant yelled after them to stop and the three in front quickly turned a corner and hid in an empty room.  Meanwhile Yuuki and the maid past them and headed towards Makoto’s room.  Yuuki Slammed the door shut and laughed.  The servant cursed under her breath and went back to keeping watch over the room.

“It worked!” whispered Makoto.

“Yeah now all we have to do is sneak all the way over to that door and get out without anyone noticing or stopping us,” hissed Nana.

Makoto balled up her fist in anger.

“Shhh, someone’s coming,” whispered Misha.

A dark figure wandered past the door of the room they were hiding in.  The children held their breath.  Misha felt his head swim as it slowly shuffled past the door.  After a while Makoto stuck her head out of the room and looked around.  The coast was clear and the children headed out on their predetermined path.  They carefully slipped past rooms full of guests and servants, as well as police guards stationed at various doors and exits.  They got to the door next to the shed and saw that it was locked with a padlock  and chain but otherwise unguarded.  They looked outside at the shed through a round window next to the door.  There were dozens of crows surrounding the small shed.

CAW HA HA HA HA HA!  HA HA HA!

Makoto shivered.

“They’re laughing at us,” said Nana, “there just out there waiting for us to die so they can peck out our eyes!”  Nana began weeping uncontrollably.  “I can’t go out there!,” she cried, “I won’t!”

“Nana you have to.” said Makoto.

“Says who?  We don’t even know what’s in that shed! This is crazy!  I staying here!” demanded Nana.

“It’s okay Nana you can just stay here and keep watch,” said Makoto, “we’ll be back soon.”

“No, it isn’t safe,” said Misha, “she can’t stay here.”

“Why not Misha?  You can see she’s in no shape to be running!” said Makoto.

“I have this feeling, this isn’t time to explain we have to leave now,” said Misha.

“But how will we get out?  The door is chained shut!” said Makoto.

“I think there’s enough slack that we can squeeze through if we hold our breath,” said Misha, “I’ll go out first then I will help pull you through.”

Misha opened the door as wide as the chain would allow and held his breath.  With some difficulty he was able to squeeze through the door.  He was outside the door but now he was staring down a whole murder of crows.  Misha slowly let out his breath as Makoto wiggled her way out of the door.  Misha put his finger to his lips as Makoto slowly moved away from the door. Finally Nanna emerged from the door.  Her eyes were red from crying and her body shook like a leaf.  Of the three of them she was the skinniest and fit easily through the small opening.  Misha looked in her eyes reassuringly and put his finger to his lips.  He stretched out his hand  to help her through, but then she let out a loud squeal.

“EEEEE! something’s got my hand!” she screamed.

Misha grabbed her other hand and pulled hard.  Sure enough clasped tightly around Nana’s other hand were pale slender fingers.  All of the crows in the yard were shocked by the scream.  They all cawed loudly flew up into the trees.  Misha held onto Nana tightly and dug his feet into the ground.  The hand gripped tightly, dug it’s sharp fingernails into Nana’s wrist and pulled her towards the door.  Makoto rushed over and grabbed a hold of Nana.  They all pulled as hard as they could.  Nana screamed as her hand was ripped away leaving deep gashes in her hand where the nails ripped her skin.  They backed away from the door.  The person inside pushed and pulled at the door violently trying to open it, but the door held strong.  Misha and the others collapsed on the ground.  Nana held her bleeding hand tenderly against her chest as tears rolled down her cheeks.  Suddenly the the thrashing at the door stopped.  All was silent for a while and then the door slowly creaked open as far as it could go.  Against her better judgement Makoto looked through the cracked door.  She saw Yamada Sensei peering out at them with a devilish grin on her face.