Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-9

As Shaun walked out of the bathroom, he abruptly caught a glimpse of the ghost on the stairs. Indeed, she appeared to be wearing a white kimono, however her face was indistinguishable as she had her back to the detectives. 

"Follow her!" signalled Shaun as they raced up the staircase onto the second floor.

When they reached the second floor, the detectives thought they had lost sight of the ghost. Nevertheless, it appeared again at the end of the corridor. Shaun raced through the corridor and placed his hand on the phantom's shoulder. In fact, in the previous mystery, Playmobil Detectives: The Demon's Jade, Shaun accidentally discovered his ability of probing through a spirit's memory by touching it. Therefore, he decided to use this method in order to discover the origin of the ghost in the white kimono. 

The instant Shaun touched the phantom, he temporarily lost his own consciousness and was plunged into the abyss of the ghost's memories before her death. Vivid images of her past life flashed through Shaun's mind. He saw Yuki's father, her childhood friend Haru and her husband Tatsuo. Exactly as Professor Kiriyama had said, since Yuki was deaf mute, all the images Shaun perceived were mute as well. In the end, the memories were so overwhelmingly melancholy that Shaun started weeping involuntarily. He could feel warm tears trickling down his cheeks, but he was unable to stop them flowing out of his eyes. He was experiencing the phantom's emotions as well as her thoughts. After seeing that her cousin was beginning to turn pale and weak from long contact with the phantom, Blythe quickly dragged Shaun away. The moment his hand lost contact with the phantom, the memories terminated and Shaun finally regained his own consciousness. 

"So, what did you see?" enquired Jeffrey eagerly.

"It's.....it's too tragic," stuttered Shaun as he struggled to find words to describe what he saw. His eyes were still flowing uncontrollably with tears despite his endeavours to free himself from the horrible memories of the phantom. "It was exactly as the professor said. Yuki's husband cheated on her with her maid and childhood friend and by whom she was cursed to death."

"So that old fox was right after all," mumbled Jeffrey. 

"But there's something more," continued Shaun, who had gradually become calmer. "I've also discovered who freed the spirit."

"Who?" questioned Blythe. 

"Professor Kiriyama," answered Shaun. "I saw him breaking the seal with a pickax."

"Wait, what! How is this connected with him?" exclaimed Jeffrey, awestricken. 

~To be Continued~

Playmobil Custom Figures: Mar26-Father Brown 摩比人偶改造：26.3-布朗神父

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-8

After finishing the story, the professor calmly sipped on his matcha. Only then did the detectives notice that he had finished almost all the food on the table. In fact, they were so concentrated on listening to his story, they did not realise that the professor had not stopped eating all this time whilst he was talking. 

"That's all I know about it," said Professor Kiriyama curtly as he wiped his mouth on a tissue. 

"So, would you say that this is a real story?" enquired Shaun.

"Well, it's just a folklore, after all. No one can prove whether it actually happened. As I mentioned earlier, there aren't enough reliable sources. ごちそうさま!" said the professor as he stood up to go. "失礼します, I have a lecture at 2, I have to be on my way."

"Damn, that was such a rip off!" complained Jeffrey after Professor Kiriyama left. "That old fox told us nothing useful, we have to pay for all the food he's eaten and he barely left us anything to eat as well!"

"Well, I won't say it's entirely useless," replied the optimistic Blythe. "At least we learnt more about the story of 'The Lover's Curse'."

"But we don't even know if it's true, let alone if it's actually related to our investigation!" exclaimed Jeffrey, frustrated. 

"I guess there's only one way to find out!" said Shaun pensively. 

Playmobil Custom: Taiwan Rechao Restaurant 摩比改造：台灣尚勇熱炒店

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-7

Caused by Haru's curse, Yuki grew thinner and uglier by the day due to a consumptive disease, which gnawed on her, bit by bit. Giant spots and warts began to grow on her formerly beautiful face. As a result, Tatsuo had another excuse to shun her society more and more.

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-6

On the following day, Yuki's father called her into the living room, saying that someone would like to meet her. Upon entering the room, Yuki was astonished to discover that it was no other than Tatsuo, the man whom she met on the street on the previous day. In fact, Tatsuo came from an aristocratic family which had gone bankrupt. Having heard about Yuki long ago, Tatsuo coveted her extreme wealth and was determined to marry her in order to save his family's financial condition. Even the encounter on the previous day was no coincidence, instead it was planned in advance. 

Yuki, who was oblivious of all this, was so surprised to see Tatsuo again that her heart almost skipped a beat, deeming that it must have been destiny which had joined their paths together. At the age of 18, Yuki still did not have any suitors despite her extraordinary beauty. Her father very well knew the cause to be his daughter's disability and, after sensing her affection for the young man, agreed on their marriage. Yuki was absolutely ecstatic on the night before her wedding. She could not have imagined in her wildest dreams that a man like Tatsuo would fall in love with a deaf mute like herself. Nevertheless, her ignorant bliss would soon end with painful realization.

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-5

"So, we'll get straight to the point. In fact, we are extremely interested in your story 'The Lover's Curse'. In your encyclopedia, it seemed like the story was extraordinarily brief and lacking in detail," said Shaun. "Is it possible that you could tell us a bit more about it?"

"もちろん, I'm glad someone is still interested in this kind of things. Nowadays, people don't care about folklores anymore. They think science and technology is more important than culture and tradition," sighed Professor Kiriyama as he picked up a thick slice of taro sashimi with his chopsticks and slowly put it in his mouse. 

"すみません, I've wandered off topic," continued the professor. "The reason why I've left out some details is that they could not possibly be verified. The problem with folklore is that many things can't be cited, which means it can never go into published material. Anyways, here's how the story goes:

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-4

After having finished their talks, the detectives were invited in to the headmaster's office so they could discuss their findings together without being overheard by the students or other members of staff. Blythe communicated the details of what they heard in the canteen with Shaun and Jeffrey, and the detectives decided to do some further research. Inside the headmaster's office, there was a large bookshelf lined with documents, including the personal information of staff and students, as well as some old files detailing the history of this piece of land on which the school stood. Apparently, the land used to belong to a wealthy aristocratic family during the Edo period. However, it was later sold at an extraordinarily cheap price to the ancestor of the school's owner for unstated reasons. It had served as a local primary school since then for over a hundred years before the old buildings were knocked down about a decade ago and was recently rebuilt into a more modern campus. 

"Hmm, I wonder why this land was sold at such a cheap price," said Shaun pensively. 

Playmobil Custom Figures: Feb26-Alex Honnold at Taipei 101 摩比人偶改造：26.2-霍諾德@台北101

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-3

On the following morning, after a well-deserved rest at the 5-star hotel, the detectives set off to investigate further on the mystery of the haunted school. They hailed a cab at the hotel to drive them to the school, with Tiffany and Blythe entering the school first, acting as new students, and Shaun and Jeffrey followed a few hours later. The headmaster, a Japanese man in his mid-fifties whose name was Mr Enomoto, greeted the detectives at the entrance of the school.

"It is my absolute pleasure and honour to welcome you here, Mr Donovan and Mr Lee," said Mr Enomoto in Japanese-style exaggerated politeness. "I have heard from Mr Sanchez that you are private detectives looking into this case. On behalf of the school management team, we will do our utmost to assist and support you in your investigations. However, I have to ask you to kindly keep this whole investigation a secret. The last thing we want is for the students and parents to know and become alarmed since the financial situation of the school has only gone downhill after the rumour started to spread."

The detectives promised the headmaster that they will do their best to conceal their investigations to the public.

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-2

After around 14 hours of flight time, Shaun, Jeffrey and Blythe arrived at Tokyo Haneda Airport at noon. They hailed a cab at the airport, which took them straight to their hotel at the city centre. When the cab halted at their destination, they were amazed to discover that the accommodation which Tiffany had booked for them was a luxurious 5-star hotel in a Georgian-style building located in Ginza. They checked-in at the hotel reception, placed their luggage in their respective rooms and refreshed themselves. At half past three, they received a SMS from Tiffany, inviting them to enjoy afternoon tea at her presidential suite. Immediately after Jeffrey knocked on the door, they were invited into the opulent suite by a waiter dressed in a smart tuxedo. 

"I'm glad I wore a suit," whispered Shaun to Jeffrey.

"This all seems a bit extra," replied Jeffrey.

Upon entering the living room, they perceived the familiar figure of their old acquaintance, Tiffany, wearing a lush gown, sitting on a Victorian-style long chaise. 

"Hiya, ma friends! How're ye doing?" greeted Tiffany. "OMG, Jeffie, you look especially handsome today in your smart suit." 

Playmobil Detectives: The White Kimono-1

One gloomy afternoon in London, Shaun Lee, a fourth-year PhD student doing research on astroparticle physics, was writing up his thesis in his office at university. Despite having achieved a lot during his three years of research, Shaun was still struggling to put everything together into a thesis. 

"I should've started the habit of writing up in detail as I went along," thought Shaun to himself. "The notes I made in my first year were far too brief to trigger my memory on exactly what I've done. I guess I'll just start with my most recent work and work my way back. Hopefully, it'll all come back by the time I get there."

Suddenly, a notification popped up on his screen. An email from Tiffany, the ex-high school classmate of Shaun's sister, Claire. 

"Wait, how did she find out about my email address? And what is she emailing me for?" wondered Shaun as he clicked open the attachment, revealing an electronic flight ticket to Tokyo.

Playmobil Custom Figures: Jan26-Japanese Lady (Purple) 摩比人偶改造：26.1-日本女士