★ The latest novel from Takatoshi Igarashi, winner of the Horror Suspense Award! His “Rika” series has sold over 750,000 copies and been adapted for TV and film. A bestselling author who moves effortlessly between mystery, coming-of-age stories, and historical fiction.
★ Set in 1901 Kobe, the story brings real historical figures — entrepreneur Eiichi Shibusawa and parapsychologist Tomokichi Fukurai — into a chilling mystery based on Japan’s sensational “clairvoyance incident.”
★ After a session of “kokkuri-san,” a séance game, a young woman begins to foretell death. An Imperial University psychologist seeks to challenge the supernatural with science, while a police inspector pursues a series of grotesque child murders — three paths converging on one mansion.
★ A battle between scientific conviction and the demons lurking in the human heart. This horror mystery layers suspense against the backdrop of Meiji-era enlightenment and dark superstition.

“Poor thing. That person will die today.”

In the darkness of the heart, a demon dwells.

A brutal, bizarre incident unfolds in late Meiji-era Kobe.
An Imperial University psychologist, a prefectural police inspector, and a woman with clairvoyance close in —
a chilling paranormal mystery begins!!

Kobe, 1901.
At the Shikishima family mansion, backed by industrialist Eiichi Shibusawa, the daughters start playing “kokkuri-san.” From that night on, the second daughter Haruko begins to predict others’ deaths, uttering chilling words in a low, unnatural voice.
Meanwhile, a series of grotesque crimes targeting children strikes a nearby village. Just as Inspector Katagiri of the Hyogo Prefectural Police, sensing something amiss at the mansion, launches an investigation, a new victim shakes the Shikishima family!
Called in to solve the case, Imperial University psychologist Tomokichi Fukurai attempts to challenge the paranormal with science, but...

Takatoshi Igarashi
Born in Tokyo in 1961. Graduated from Seikei University, Faculty of Letters. Won the 2nd Horror Suspense Award for “Rika” and debuted the following year, 2002. The book became a series, a bestseller with cumulative sales exceeding 750,000 copies. Since then, he has written freely across genres — police novels, coming-of-age stories, suspense, historical fiction, and more. Other works include “The Negotiator: Maiko Tono Zero” and “Papa to Musume no Nanokakan” (Seven Days with Daddy).