Something was fishy. Whenever I heard a knock at the door, no one was there. When my cell phone rang, no one was on the other end. In addition, there was no record of anyone having called.
I told the island policeman about it, thinking he might need something to do. He took note, but told me not to worry. After all, on a Japanese island of just 666 people in the middle of the Seto Inland Sea with zero crime last year, the likelihood of trespassers was small. A visit from the devil, however, was a possibility.
I've always felt this strange relationship with nature, and I've come to understand that nature is a creepy thing. Take vines, for example. I saw this bicycle that had been parked next to a fence a little too long. Within a couple months the bicycle had almost completely disappeared among vines.