[If you kill yourself here, bears will tear your body to shreds.]
"This really is Aokigahara, but where exactly am I? This sign... I'm back where I started!?"
With one hand pressed over his right ear, Tosu Hideo had blundered around Aokigahara's primeval forest like a headless chicken, only to return to the same spot.
The seasoned Brother Ku had stripped him of everything that could identify him, and naturally had not left Tosu Hideo his phone. Unable to call for help, he could only struggle to survive on his own.
In the Aokigahara Sea of Trees at the foot of Mount Fuji, the trees were mostly of the same species. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but unchanging primeval woodland, blotting out the sky and sun, making it impossible to tell north from south or east from west.
Even professional explorers would have found it difficult to determine their direction from the shadows of the trees, the sun, and the stars under such conditions.
Let alone an office worker like Tosu Hideo, who had grown up in the city.
Unsurprisingly, Tosu Hideo had gotten lost.
Although Tosu Hideo was frantic, wilderness survival skills and knowledge were not going to materialize out of thin air in his mind.
Tosu Hideo stared at the sign before him, somewhat speechless.
He could not help looking up, only to quickly lower his head again.
"Amitabha!"
[If you kill yourself here, bears will tear your body to shreds.]
Above the sign hung a corpse that had weathered down to bone. Its coat was still intact, swaying gently in the air.
Aokigahara certainly deserved its name as the Suicide Forest. In just an hour of wandering after waking up, Tosu Hideo had already discovered two sets of skeletal remains.
Ever since