Dark Water Read Free

to go talk to the superintendent about this. She was going to his ground-floor office right away.
    The superintendent, Kamiya, was a long-time widower who'd been the building's live-in super for ten years, ever since he'd retired from a hauling company. Although the job didn't pay well, the accommodations were free, and it was an ideal arrangement for an old man living on his own.
    No sooner had Yoshimi handed him the bag than Mr Kamiya unzipped it and emptied the contents on top of the office counter. A bright-red plastic cup bearing the same Kitty motif as the bag. A plastic wind-up frog whose legs were designed to flap. A little bear with a beach ring. It was clearly a three-in-one bath-time toy kit.
    Ikuko cried out and started to reach for the toys, but yanked her hand back when her mother glared at her.
    'How very odd,' the superintendent mused. What puzzled him was not that someone had left a bag on the rooftop, but that a toy set that obviously belonged to some child was found on the premises of this building.
    'You could display a notice and try to find the owner,' Yoshimi suggested. Perhaps the owner would see the bag and claim it.
    'But the only child in the building is little Ikuko - right, Ikuko?' the old man sought the girl's assent. She was gazing intently at the Kitty bag and red cup from where she stood beside her mother. It was only too obvious from her expression what outcome Ikuko desired. She wanted it: the bag, the toys. Annoyed by her wistful look, Yoshimi grabbed her by the shoulder and forced her to step back from the counter.
    'You did mention that a family used to live on the second floor…' ventured Yoshimi.
    Kamiya looked up in surprise and said: 'Ah, yes.'
    'Didn't you say they had a little girl of five or six?'
    'Indeed. Yes. But it's been two years.'
    'Two years? I thought you said they moved out last year.'
    The super hunched his back and began to scratch his ankle audibly. 'Well, yes. They didn't move out until last summer.'
    Yoshimi remembered being told by the super, when she moved in three months ago, that the family who'd been living on the second floor had moved out of the building the previous year because they'd experienced some misfortune. Yoshimi was guessing that it was they who'd somehow left the bag up on the roof.
    Yet, neither the bag nor its plastic contents looked like they'd been exposed to the elements for a whole year up on the roof. The Kitty bag - which was without a speck of dust or grime, as brand-new as if it had just been purchased from the store - refuted the idea that it could've been abandoned for so long.
    'All right then. I'll try displaying it on the counter for a while to see if we can find the owner.'
    In this way, the super sought to end the conversation.
     
    After all, it was only some cheap bag, and he couldn't care less if they found the owner or not.
    Yoshimi, however, did not move from where she stood in front of the counter. Instead, she fingered her curly chestnut hair, debating whether to come right out with what she had on her mind.
    'If the owner doesn't turn up, Ikuko, then you could have the bag, couldn't you?' Mr Kamiya offered and smiled at Ikuko.
    'No, that wouldn't be right. If the owner doesn't turn up, please dispose of the bag.' Yoshimi turned down the offer with a resolute shake of her head. She then left the super's office, pushing Ikuko from behind as if to get her away from some contagious object.
    Yet something troubled Yoshimi as they rode up in the elevator. She had avoided the subject of the so-called tragedy that was supposed to have befallen the family. After all, she did not want to appear the kind of person who entertained herself by talking about other people's misfortunes. But the question needled her and she longed to know the exact nature of that family's misfortune.
    The next day was a Monday. Yoshimi spent longer than usual combing her hair that morning. From the living room she could hear the theme song of a children's