9: A Pot

I'm going to tell my fearest experience ever. 

In autumn of my first year of the university, my master of occultism was in slump. He seemed to lose his motivation and his hunch. He didn't even join me when I asked him to take me to haunted spots, vacantly mumbling "Nope. It shows a bad sign," as he took some coins out of his pocket and tossed them. Then he lay down on the floor. 

But one day, Master suddenly took my hand. "Let me read your palm," then he continued "Oh, my goodness. This is bad. Too bad to read. You are worried, aren't you? I know you are." 

Selfish. 

"Okay, you're going with me. Let's go." 

I was glad that he was motivated even though it was a bit pushy. Though he didn't mention where we were going, I decided to tag along and got on a train with him. 

We arrived at the station in a regional hub city of next prefecture. We left the station and went into an arcade across from the station. There was a middle-aged man in the arcade. It read 'Palmistry' on a piece of paper stood on the desk in front of him. 

After giving a friendly greeting to the man, Master introduced him as his relative to me. The man introduced his name as Suoh.  

"You came here to see that," Suoh said in a grouchy tone. He was famous among local folks who used the same technique as Hachiro Asano, a well known fortuneteller. Although he read my palm while I didn't understand about palmistry, he didn't say anything bad aside from it indicated that I would suffer from a woman in the future. 

I was pleased when he said a line called Kinsei-kan came out from the base between index finger and middle finger to the base of pinkie clearly drew a half circle. According to him, it was an aspect which was often seen in artists' palm.  When I asked Master if he wated to be read, Suoh glared at him and said, "I don't even need to read his closely. Looks like he's going to die," Master just simpered at it. 

Suoh didn't close his booth earlier than usual for us, having us fully waited for him. After closing his booth, he took us to his house. It was a large Japanese house. It seemed that he did palmisry just for fun. We partook dinner and I took a bath as Suoh recomended us to stay the night at his house. As I finished having a bath, Master came to me.  

"Come with me," he said. We headed to a storehouse in back of the house. There was Suoh wated for us, saying, "I have to admit that you have the right to see that, but I'm not very happy with you to do it." 

"Don't be straight-laced," Ignoring Suoh, Master entered the storehouse. We climbed down a ladder led to the basement. It looked like there was Master's purpouse of this trip there. I felt my heart beating. Because Master had beady eyes. I knew there would be something dangerous for sure when he got the eyes like that. 

The ladder was longer than I previously thought. After whole two floors of going down, we found a basement with tatami-mat flooring. Yellow lamp lights were hung on the ceiling. The basement appared to be approximately 11 square meters, exposing soil on the walls. The tatami-mats seemed to be directly on the earth as well. I was taught later that it was originally a bomb shelter.

There was something strange in the corner of the room. It was a huge pot, hight to my chest and width that I couldn't hold. Moreover, it was neither of the porcelains nor the potterys familiar, but an unglazed pot marked with bondage.

"Isn't it a Jomon pottery?" As I asked, Suoh shook his head.

"No, that's a Yayoi. A vessel for storing grain. "

――Why is there such a thing? As a matter of course, I wondered.

In the meanwhile, Master began to look hard at the pot as he walked up to it.

"This pot was snitched in the chaos of  WWⅡ by his grandfather," Suoh mentioned a very famous ruin which even I knew.
At that time, Master opened his mouth. "You just said this is for storing grain?"
He seemed to be laughing. Even under the yellow lights, the pot showed a dead dark color on its skin.

"His grandfather said that this pot had been for storing human bones. He said he could see the faceof the dead when he looked into this pot," Suoh growled to himself.

I was trembling. Although it was fall, it was still early autumn. I was attacked by a cold, while the season had to be too far from chillness.

"He told me that sometimes the dead crawl out of the pot. They are filled in the room, in the sotre house then cry and howl loudly to be heard all over the town. 

I was shocked as if being beaten on head. It even gave me a diziness. It seemed a swarm of the flies were flying about in my head.  A strong bad smell began to stink around me.

――Dengerous.
――This pot is totally dengerous.

I'd experienced quite a lot of spiritual experiences and  those experience warned me.
Master was looking into the pot saying, "They're coming... crawling up. Crawl up now. Come on, " He had  glaring eyes there. I had an obnoxious noise in my ears. Just like buzzing of a crowd of flies. It suffered me with a ferocious noise I'd never undergone.

The lights suddenly turned off with a crack. At the moment, undoubtedly, I saw pale phosphorus rose into the air from the pot.

"Oh, crap. We've gotta get out of here," Said Suoh, flustered.

"Look! They're still trapped in this pot after all these two thousand years! "

Suoh holded Master who was screaming insainly.

"They've eaten men! This is our original sin! "

I felt like my knees gave away.

"Come over here. If you're my apprentice, come and look at this. Look into and see the darkness inside the pot. You'll find out the darkness of this world is bottomless! There's no salvation like life-in-nirvana. I'm so sure of that, every time I see this! Human beings, full of shits in nature, have no right to be alive!"

I climbed the ladder recklessly to run away. Suoh managed to pull Master out of the storehouse and shut the door behind him saying, "Go to bed for tonight. Depart here tomorrow."

That night, I was asleep blocking my ears from a howling gale blew all throught the night.

After the incident, Master got recovered and motivated again, while I got a mixed feeling.