Suicide Forest Read Free Page A

with the shaggy hair
popular with Japanese guys, almond eyes, and a sharp nose and
cheekbones. He could use a visit to the dentist, however, because
his teeth were crooked every which way. But that was only my
opinion; yaeba , or snaggletooth, was commonplace in Japan
and considered attractive. I’ve even heard of people paying for a
dental procedure to get their own fake yaeba .
    A newsboy cap with a stiff peak sat atop his
head while a cashmere scarf was looped around his neck, the tails
dangling down over a vintage motorcycle jacket. It was leather,
like John Scott’s, but somehow it seemed less pretentious.
    “Who’s hot?” It was Mel. I turned and saw
her stirring. She sat up, blinked, and rubbed her eyes, which were
a sparkling blue. Her blonde hair was messy and all over the place.
She had the same makeup on from the night before. The right side of
her face was red, from where it had been pressed against one of her
arms.
    “Hey,” I said, leaning between the seats and
kissing her on her cheek.
    “Thanks,” she said, brightening up. She was
always thanking me when I kissed her. You might think she was being
sarcastic, or bitchy even, but she didn’t have a sarcastic or
bitchy bone in her. I believe she simply enjoyed it when I showed
affection. I was flattered she felt this way. I’ve known couples
who can’t stand each other after six months of steady dating. The
fact Mel and I still got along so well was a good sign of our
compatibility, I thought.
    “Are we here?” she asked.
    “Almost,” I said. “We’re in the town at the
bottom of Fuji. There’s a bit of a problem.”
    “Of course there is.”
    “It’s supposed to rain. It doesn’t look like
we can climb today.”
    “Good, I can keep sleeping.” She flopped
back down on the seat and closed her eyes. “Wake me up when we get
back to Tokyo.”
    “Actually, we just met a couple who were
supposed to climb Fuji today too. They’re going camping in a forest
nearby. We’re deciding whether we should join them.”
    She opened one eye and peered up at me,
pirate-like. “How far is it?”
    “I don’t know. Right around here
somewhere.”
    She considered this for a moment.
“Okay.”
    “Really?”
    “Why not? We’re already here.”
    “There’s a catch.”
    “What?”
    “It’s called Aoki—?” I looked at Tomo.
    “Aokigahara.”
    “So?” Mel said.
    “It’s also called Suicide Forest,” I told
her, “because Japanese apparently go there to kill themselves.”
    She frowned.
    “I’m sure it’s more hype than anything,” I
added quickly. “A few people have probably killed themselves there
over the years, and it’s gotten a bad reputation—”
    “No, I’ve heard of it,” she said, sitting up
again. She pulled her hair back over her shoulders, revealing her
slender neck. She slipped an elastic band off her wrist and used it
to tie her hair into a ponytail. The pair of emerald studs I’d
given her for her birthday back in June glittered in her ears. “My
students told me about it. And it’s not hype. I think a lot of
people kill themselves there every year.”
    “We don’t have to go far in—”
    “You don’t have to baby me, Ethan. I’m not
scared. I’d like to see it for myself.”
    I nodded, pleased with how easy that had
been.
    I turned to Tomo. “So how about it, T-man?
You up for this?” I waited expectantly for his answer. With Honda
out, he had the only car.
    “Yeah, okay,” he said, flashing those savage
chicklets of his. “Let’s go see some fucking ghost, right?”

 
2
     
    Before we left for
Aokigahara we visited the restrooms in the train station and bought
some extra snacks from a Mini Stop, given that weight was no longer
much of a problem. I stopped by the ticket booth to get a map of
the area. A uniformed woman greeted me pleasantly. As soon as I
mentioned “Aokigahara,” however, her eyes narrowed and her cheery
smile vanished. She studied me, perhaps trying to piece together