Himuro Mansion
Kirie Himuro kept her hands before her, and her head down as the other woman led her through the long hallways and passageways of her family's ancestral home. Around her, the sounds of the housekeepers and other attendants of the house moved to and fro, and occasionally giggling children ran past her and down the hall, though they peeled to the left at the great mirror and went toward the Great Hall as they played. There were always many people at the Himuro Mansion; their family was expansive, and an old family as well. The Himuro family progenitor was one of the earliest landowners of the area. The Himuro Mansion was still the main family house, and so there were always relatives of some kind or another visiting the massive property. Even though the surrounding lands were tranquil and serene, there was never a dull moment at the Himuro Mansion.
It was April, and in one week, Kirie would be starting school again; starting her third and final year. When the next year's spring came around, she would graduate and be on her way toward...
Well, her future wasn't so certain. In many ways, she wanted to strike out on her own, see more of the world outside of the big manor of her family's property; go to college, get a career, meet more people. At the same time, she had been chosen as a child to be the successor to the shrine, and had to bear that in mind; though her father was not so old yet that she needed to take things over, and she had, she prayed at least, plenty of years to see the world as she wanted to see it before her father would need to step down. She had spent most of her life in the tiny mountain community that surrounded her family's home, learning how to run the shrine, to communicate with the other nearby shrines, to keep the connections forged that her family held with all the other landowners in the area, and also to all the residents of the community, and that was all on top of her other schooling.
When she had been given the chance to go to a private boarding high school out in the city, feeling stifled as she had - as though in a cage for her whole life - she had jumped at the chance, and her pleading had not gone unheard. Normally, the next chosen Himuro would not be allowed to go so far, and would be required to stay and study her duties, but her father was sympathetic, and she was insistent. She wouldn't tell him there were other reasons she wanted to leave, and about the dreams of death and destruction she had been having before she left for high school.
Unfortunately, leaving the house did nothing to alleviate the visions. They scared her to her core, and coming home made her feel, more and more, that they would be coming to fruition. Perhaps not this time she was there, but soon.
She climbed the familiar stairs and went into the study, to find her father mumbling something to himself over the books kept in the back room. The housekeeper, bustling ahead of her with a pot and cups for tea - something the older housekeeper insisted on doing, even though it wasn't technically a part of her job - set the tray on the table then turned and left as soon as Kirie stepped through the threshold, closing the door with only a soft scrape as it slid shut. Without another word, Kirie sat at the table in the center of the room, and glanced to where the doors to the small balcony were ajar to allow some fresh air into the stuffy upstairs room. The partition normally on the far side of the room was pushed up against the wall, making the room feel larger. The warm golden glow of the early evening sun was distracting, and Kirie didn't notice her father returning to the room until he crossed her field of view on his way to sitting across from her.
"You are looking well, Kirie," her father stated, interrupting her thought process.
"I am well, father," she replied, and bowed her head to him. She reached to serve the tea, as she was used to. "Thank you for having me home."
Kirie was interrupted by her father raising a hand, and shaking his head. "I'll pour this time. How has Tokyo been?"
She couldn't help the excitement, and she looked up, suddenly, smiling from ear to ear. "Oh, father, it is wonderful! There are so many wonderful people, and all the sights are so different!"
What Kirie did not miss, however, was the strained smile her father gave at the news - as though he wanted to be happy for her, but a part of himself just couldn't do it. She faltered a little bit, sinking down under the weight of that realization.
"You're really happy out there, aren't you?" he finally said after a moment, and couldn't look at her, so he took a sip of his tea instead.
Kirie tilted her head, and leaned forward a bit. "Is something wrong?" She had a hunch - she was becoming too used to the outside life, and all of their family traditions dictated that she shouldn't even be allowed out of the town in the first place. That was a tradition already long since broken.
"No... not as such," his lips pressed together as he lowered his cup. "Just remember what I said."
"I know, father," she nodded. It had been his one firm, never wavering condition of her being allowed out of the town; she was not allowed to become involved with any boys. To her, it had seemed a normal request from a strict father, and so she had done her utmost to ensure such a thing never came to pass, because she preferred the other freedoms, and didn't want to betray his trust.
Though she had to admit it was a bit difficult sometimes.
His look relaxed a bit, but he remained pensive about something, and Kirie found the question jumping to her tongue, but there it died as she couldn't figure out how to phrase it, suddenly.
"There have been more earthquakes out this way lately," he said, suddenly, and Kirie frowned, still pondering how to ask her question, and just like that, forgot it at all.
"Really? I didn't hear anything at all in town... was anyone hurt?"
"Luckily, no. Hopefully, people will stay cautious until we're sure they are over," he sipped his tea as he fell quiet. Finally, after a moment of savoring the liquid, he continued as though he hadn't paused in the first place. "The mirrors remain."
Kirie smiled at that, and looked honestly relieved. It was probably just an old superstition, but the Himuro Mansion was a supposed focal point for energy from the surrounding shrines. In each shrine was a mirror, with the four surrounding shrines converging their energies toward the one mirror underground in the Himuro Mansion, under the Moon Shrine. It was said there was a great evil that was being kept at bay by the mirror, but Kirie had never experienced it; the scariest thing she had experienced the few times she had visited the supposed "Hell Gate" beneath the family's abode had been manifestations of her own imagination from the name "Hell Gate". Of course, it was the same reaction she had to the Demon Mouth beneath the other library in the house. Still, she was relieved that everything seemed to be in order; she didn't want their house cursed with bad luck should the supposed energy flow from the other mirrors be broken.
"Good," she finally said, after the silence stretched on for a moment too long, and made her feel like squirming. Her father was something of an intimidating man, and it was difficult to talk to him sometimes. Besides, the mirrors being unharmed meant there was less chance her father would call her to her shrine maiden duty.
They sat in a stiff sort of silence for a few moments after that, and it seemed it would stretch on for quite some time, when a soft knock at the rice paper sliding door behind them interrupted the terse silence, and Kirie visibly jumped at the noise.
"Yes?" Her father called, and the door slid open with a soft scrape.
"Lord Himuro," the housekeeper bowed as she stepped in - it was the same woman that had brought the tea up to the study ahead of Kirie. "Your guests have arrived; I apologize for bothering you, but they're early."
"Ah, thank you," he nodded, and the housekeeper disappeared out the door, leaving it ajar for the family head to exit after her. Kirie's father stood from his spot, and nodded again at his daughter. "We can speak more about how your last year went. I must attend to these guests."
Kirie nodded, stiffly, and stared at the teapot as her father left the room, trying not to meet his gaze. She was curious, truly, but as awkward as things had just been, she didn't want to try to follow her father down to greet their guests. Instead, she focused on sipping the last of her tea and watching the clouds slowly turn from bright gold and orange to darker reds and purples as the sun continued to set. Finally, after the housekeeper had taken the tea from the table and the deep reds and purples of the sky indicated the sun would be but a sliver on the horizon, Kirie stood with a sigh, preparing to return to her room. However, as she did, the sound of one of the downstairs doors sliding open, followed by a curious silence caught her attention. She stood, and walked to the door to the balcony and opened it, just in time to see a young man pause by the cherry tree in the atrium. He had a camera on a strap around his neck that he picked up and focused through the lens into the branches of the tree, likely to take a picture of the early pink blossoms. However, just as he was about to snap a picture he stopped, and lowered the camera, looking beyond it and up to the balcony where Kirie stood.
The young priestess felt a hot, embarrassed flush wash over her as he did, as she realized she was in the way of his picture. Or at least, that's what she told herself as she bowed quickly and ducked back into the house, snapping the doors shut behind her.
The next day, Kirie woke early - normally a blasphemous thing to happen on the first real day of the short spring break, but she did know that the visitors from the previous night were staying the night in the expansive manor, and she wanted a chance to meet them. It was her duty, after all, but at the same time, she wanted to meet the young man she had seen the previous day.
She had her chance at breakfast, as the large, bustling family table was served their morning rice and vegetables. Her father sat at his usual place at one end of the table, and flanking him on either side were four guests; an older man, two younger men, and a woman. The younger children couldn't help their curious gazes and giggles, and Kirie felt a little guilt that she was just as curious as them, though she did manage not to make her interest obvious.
Especially not at the one younger man that sat just across and a two people down from Kirie. Just by overhearing the older man speak to her father, and the excited chattering of the children, she had come to deduce that the group were folklorists, out in the mountainous regions of Japan researching old ghost stories and religious practices. They were visiting the Himuro Mansion to learn more about the mirrors and the supposed "Hell Gate" beneath the house.
Kirie thought she had heard of the folklorist before - "Takamine" sounded very familiar to her somehow, but she couldn't recall where she had last seen the name. Of the other three, one of the young men was his editor, the woman was his assistant, and the youngest man, the one that had caught Kirie's eye the previous day, was his protégé - or something like it, at least. The young man seemed a bit flustered whenever someone would call him as such, citing instead that he was just another assistant and that he was paying Mr. Takamine back for a previous kindness. Kirie mentally filed the knowledge away so as not to bring up anything in later conversation that would embarrass him.
The rest of the day, Kirie spent in a sort of distracted trance, working her way around the house, but really she was just going through the motions. One of the aunts that Kirie was closer to and her family were visiting, so the future priestess spent some time with them, but even still, she found herself wondering when she could stop to talk to the youngest assistant to the folklorist. Conversation was short and distracted; enough so that several times Kirie's aunt and even one of her cousins inquired about her health.
Finally, Kirie received her chance in the late afternoon. It seemed the young man - and Kirie had learned his name to be Mafuyu Hinasaki from her youngest sister - had stepped out to the atrium, likely to escape the multitudes of questions and greetings he had received from the Himuro family so far. The family didn't get many visitors, after all; usually just patrons during certain holidays or times of year visiting the shrine from the nearby village or surrounding areas. It was very rare they were visited by someone from the city. Even those of the family that lived in the city normally seemed bursting with curiosity about the outsiders.
The atrium was quiet during the midmorning. Kirie's father and the other priests were up the hill at the moment, cleaning and tending to the Narukami Shrine. The children were out in the woods exploring and playing their games of hide and seek and tag, while the adults would likely be relaxing and enjoying the break elsewhere. She knew she should be at the shrine, but she didn't feel like wearing her hakama at the moment, and what was more, she had a chance to talk to the stranger. She was not about to let it pass her.
She took a glance at her reflection in the mirror at the corner of the room where the stairs to the second floor landed, ensuring that she looked properly like a lady of the household greeting her guests, and then stepped out into the atrium.
As he had the previous day, Mafuyu was focusing his camera up into the branches of the large cherry tree on the eastern wall of the open space. Quietly, but not so quietly to startle him, Kirie made her way out and down the stairs, onto the path. The camera he held gave a soft click, and he straightened up from his slightly hunched over pose to look at who was joining him.
Kirie was almost certain that young man's smile could melt even the coldest ice. It certainly seemed to work on her.
"Ah, hello Miss Himuro," Mafuyu said, speaking first, and bowed to the young woman. Kirie felt herself smiling broadly in response, and bowed in return. He continued as he stood back up. "I'm sorry, but your tree is very beautiful. I felt I needed to take a picture of it."
"That's alright," Kirie quickly assured, perhaps a little too quickly, but she felt a quickening of her heart rate, and it sped up the rest of her with it. "And I'm sorry for getting in the way yesterday, as well. How has your stay been so far?"
"Comfortable. I can't thank your family enough for being so hospitable to us while we're here," he replied, and he looked so genuinely grateful that it took the young Himuro by surprise. Was it so odd that people be so friendly? She hadn't thought the people of the city to be so rude before. Busy, yes, likely without much time for charity as they bustled to and fro, but rude, she hadn't really seen.
Of course, she smiled graciously as soon as her composure returned, and bowed in thanks. "Of course. We don't get many visitors that aren't family out here, so it's a special occasion when they do arrive."
He smiled, and it was a brilliant, beautiful smile that Kirie couldn't help but feel herself blush in response to. She ducked her head a bit, letting her long black hair fall over her face to partially obscure it. Not only was she embarrassed that the young man had made such an impression on her, but she was failing at her duty to be the next house head, and she wasn't sure which was worse.
Finally, he interrupted the tense silence with a soft laugh, and it brought Kirie's attention directly back to him. The laughter proved to be contagious, however, and a moment later they were both chuckling at their own awkward faux pas. Conversation seemed to come easier after that, but it remained mostly smalltalk. Kirie learned that Mafuyu was a college student, and that he had a younger sister that was actually Kirie's age. What was more, was the other girl went to school near Kirie's high school. She didn't ask, but from the way he spoke, she deduced that he and his sister were probably their only family, and with he being the eldest, it was up to him to provide for the both of them, at least until his sister was able to.
After some time, the silence came again, and the two parted ways. The visitors would be leaving the next morning, Kirie had discovered, but she had no real more reason to speak to the young man, and her father's advice about boys niggled at the back of her mind until she felt guilty enough to not pursue things further down that route.
The next morning, she watched as the quartet of researchers bid cheerful goodbyes, packed up into an older, silver hatchback, and disappeared off into the woods. The shrine maiden felt a pang in her chest as the car disappeared around a bend, and sighed.
Her father, lingering behind, but near her, noticed.