Natsume Yuujinchou Roku

Natsume Yujin-cho Roku

Takashi-kun, can you get that?

Okay!

This is the Fujiwara residence.

Oh, it's you, Natsume.

How've you been?

Um, who is this?

You can't tell?

Shibata!

Shibata?

Shibata... You mean that Shibata?

Who is "that" Shibata?

Shibata was an old classmate of mine.

He fell in love with a youkai.

And then, he also found out that I could see youkai.

Hey, want to meet up? It's been forever.

Come here tomorrow.

You don't have any weekend plans, right?

He's not a bad guy,

but he's very inconsiderate and we don't really get along.

Sorry, but I've got plans with a friend tomorrow.

Bye.

A friend? You?

Yeah.

Does he know that you can see them?

Yeah.

Shibata, it's starting!

Let's go!

Yeah, I'm on my way.

Bring him, too.

I'll get you at the station at noon.

Bye.

Wait—

Shibata!

Nitai-sama

Sorry, Tanuma, I was planning on going to your house.

Don't worry about it.

As long as we're back by dark, it's okay.

The guy we're about to meet, Shibata...

If you find yourself not liking him even in the slightest, tell me and we'll go home.

It's fine.

And you, too, Sensei.

Shibata thinks you're just a cat.

Don't act weird.

Don't worry.

As long as I can hit up the cake places in this town, I don't care about you.

Oh, Natsume!

I thought you were gonna blow me off for sure.

What?

You've still got that ugly cat with you, huh?

So?

This is your friend?

Yeah, this is Tanuma.

Hello. I'm Tanuma Kaname.

I'm Shibata Katsumi.

Nice to meet you.

But you know...

You look like a beanpole.

Natsume doesn't look like a beanpole!

Tanuma doesn't look like a beanpole!

Okay, I'll treat you to someplace good.

Follow me!

Shibata!

Great, huh?

Yeah.

This is...

Why are you spacing out, Natsume?

Oh, no reason.

I'm paying for this. Chew thoroughly.

Right, right.

Shibata is still as forceful as ever,

but I'm a little relieved to see he's doing well.

So your dad's a priest, Tanuma?

So can you see ghosts?

Shibata!

Unfortunately, I can't.

But my dad tells me scary stories and rumors all the time.

He does?

Then have you ever heard of the Doll Mansion of Sotogi?

The Doll Mansion...

Of Sotogi?

No, it's nothing...

What? Tell me.

This isn't what we're here for today.

But now I'm interested.

Tell me, Shibata.

I come to this park all the time.

You know how girls love me, right?

Get to the point.

There's an elementary school girl who comes here.

She's kind of a brat,

but lately she hasn't been doing well.

I asked why, and...

Several days ago, lightning struck the house next to hers.

And ever since then, she hears weird sounds from that house at night.

She's too scared to sleep, she says.

Weird sounds?

Some kind of sound like something's rolling, she said.

But nobody's lived in that house for a long time.

An empty house, huh?

That's weird.

Is that the Doll Mansion of Sotogi?

Yeah.

Is there some reason they call it the Doll Mansion?

Well, just like the name suggests, the last owner collected dolls and stuff.

This is it.

I think a cat or a dog might have moved in, but...

What's wrong, Natsume?

Nothing...

Th-There was a big bug.

A bug?

Don't scare me.

This is bad.

I met the gaze of something strange.

Then you're going to stay at Tanuma's place tonight?

Yeah.

Tanuma's dad's going to be away tonight because of a meeting,

so we're watching the place.

Sounds like you're actually having some fun, huh, Natsume?

Seriously, if you really had something to do, you could've just told me to go away.

I tried!

I'm gonna hit the bathroom.

We're still talking!

Hey, Natsume.

You saw something, didn't you?

Yeah.

So, sorry, but I think I'm not gonna stay over tonight.

It might follow me.

If you wanna fight off something like that, you're better off at a temple, Natsume.

What do you mean "fight off"?

You're sure it's going to follow me?

I don't mind, Natsume.

But...

You don't want Touko and Shigeru involved, right?

Yeah, but...

Don't worry.

My place is better equipped to deal with youkai, right?

Tanuma...

Hey, what does he mean "deal with youkai"?

Shibata!

Damn it, Natsume, you really did see something, didn't you?

Why are you coming with me?

I got you caught up in this.

If a ghost is following you, I'll fight it, too.

You just met Tanuma today. You can't just stay at his place!

I don't care.

We're not playing around here!

Of course!

I'm the one who didn't keep my mouth shut,

even knowing what you can see.

Let me do something, too.

I'm back.

Come in.

Thanks for having me.

Wow, this place is huge.

My place is a condo, so...

I bet hide and seek here must be great.

I always wanted to do that.

Hey, what do we do for dinner?

We make it, of course.

You help, too, Shibata.

What are you making?

You can tell by looking, right?

Rice omelettes?

Fried rice.

I'm the master of rice omelettes.

He just said we're making fried rice!

This is good fried rice.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

What's wrong, Shibata?

You're not eating?

Hey, have you ever heard of Nitai-sama?

Nitai-sama?

No...

I didn't mention it because I didn't want to scare you for nothing,

but the reason the person who lived in that house was collecting dolls...

was to make dolls they could use for spells.

Spells?

Yeah.

I don't really know much about it,

but I guess you can put snakes and bugs in a box and make them eat each other,

and then use the last thing that survives in a curse.

They were doing the same thing with dolls.

They'd pack a room with all kinds of dolls that met some set of conditions,

and then leave the house for a certain number of days.

When they came back,

all the dolls were broken in some place or another.

But if two of the dolls, or "nitai," were unharmed, the ritual had succeeded.

And they become enchanted dolls called "Nitai-sama."

Supposedly, the person who was living there told everyone about it.

Everyone just called him a weirdo, though.

But one day, he started screaming, "Nitai is here! Nitai is here!"

He ran out of the house and never came back.

And all that was left was the rumor about the doll mansion.

What do you think?

What do I think?

That feels too real to be just a rumor.