Chapter 2: その、別世界に繋ぐ屋敷
The rest of the school day passed without incident and when sun burned to a soft mellow orange-red above western hills, the dismissal bell rang. The students stood, waved goodbyes, and went home.
"See you tomorrow," the boy in desk in front of Homura waved goodbye to Homura in English.
Homura return the pleasantry and headed out the classroom, down the stairs, through the courtyard, and out the school gates. It was long walk back to her uncle's house and she needed to be back early enough to help auntie with dinner.
A child of tragedy Homura lost her parents, her siblings, and her home in an earthquake over four years ago. Homura herself had been hit by a falling bookshelf and was severely injured and had lapsed into a deep coma from which all the experts and doctors thought she would never wake. Unsurprisingly, the doctors were wrong and, after a lengthy six-month struggle, Homura Akemi reopened her eyes.
Perhaps it was through the kind mercy or God, or perhaps His infinite cruelty, but the twelve year old Homura Akemi opened her eyes to an indifferent and lonely world. With everything of her former life shaken and washed away, Homura spent the next few years reassembling the pieces. But such things, difficult enough for competent and experienced adults, are near impossible for twelve year old girls on the cusp of puberty.
More than once, Homura had found herself wondering along the ledges of Tokyo Tower, thinking to herself just how easy it would be to kick off against the railing, ride the howling wind and fly far, far away from this gray and ashen land. But whenever she got close to working up the courage to take that leap, a soft and warm voice - probably her mother's - would always call her back.
This, coupled with several soft and warm grants from generous philanthropists helping the victims of the earthquake, kept her alive, in school, in a small but comfy apartment, and eventually in contact with her uncle and aunt in Okinawa.
And though Homura's father had voluntarily left his childhood home and vowed to never return, Uncle Akihiro Akemi nevertheless welcomed back his daughter with open arms.
"You've been through a lot, Homura," her uncle had said when he and his wife first arrived at her solitary apartment in the bustling metropolis near Tokyo, "but you're still young and you need a family to love and support you. You need to get away from this crowded hustle-bustle city where you could lose yourself in the sea of cars and people. I want to help you rediscover a place where you can belong."
"And don't worry about Kai - he is your cousin," Homura's aunt had added, "He's well behaved for his age."
Homura initially had her reservations about following two practical strangers aboard a plane to an unknown land; she was smart enough to know that was how little girls were kidnapped and sold abroad to no good end. Yet even if this man somehow managed to feign the look of sincerity and genuine concern and was, in fact, a criminal, Homura had nothing to lose by following him. This sad realization drove her accept his offer. That, and the Japanese legal system tended to do its best to keep little girls in loving homes and off the streets. In a flurry of papers and stamps, Homura was officially placed under the legal guardianship of her uncle. And in the blink of the eye, Homura was sitting in an airplane some thirty-thousand feet over the Pacific Ocean bound for her new sunny home.
And lucky for Homura, aside from Uncle Akemi's insistence on nattou being present during breakfast, life in Okinawa exceeded her wildest expectations. The island, with its clear skies, crystalline waters, and the carpet of greenery that hugged the buildings, was worlds different from the steel and stone monoliths that obstructed the sun in her mainland home.
Even now, as she descended the Koyo Hill that that the Koyo High School sat upon, the scent of the salt carried upon the back of the ever-present ocean breeze whispered softly and sweetly in her ears and tossed her black hair in front her. The spring sun hung low over the distant hill like a candle, embracing the sky in mellow alabaster. The long shadows of telephone poles and stretched out before her on the small street as the distant barking of dogs as their owners returned home echoed in the distance.
Turning the corner at the end of the slow descent, Homura reached the yard of the comfortable two-story villa that was her Uncle's home. A few decorative marble tiles on the residential wall that surrounded the front garden spelled out the surname.
暁美
Homura opened the low gate and stepped in. Almost as soon as she did, Manfred the dog, who slept lazily next to the decorative rock in the middle of the garden, piqued his head up. Seeing his new favorite toy return, the large black-and-white Newfoundland propped up on its legs and ran at her excitedly, his tongue out and his tail wagging.
Homura swallowed, always somewhat nervous around large unrestrained animals almost twice her weight. She backed up a step and considered momentarily stepping back out the gate, but as she had already shut it behind it, it was too late. For a wild moment, she thought Manfred was going to plow right into her and she prepared to leap out of the way.
But the docile dog slowed down as he approached and simply nuzzled against her hand with his nose. He looked at her with the sort of happy friendliness that only a dog could and nudged her leg expectantly.
"Hi Manfred," Homura began, a little unsure what to do in this situation. She was not so much afraid of dogs as she was afraid of anything getting so close to her. So she stood there unmoving like a boulder in a river, her hand half petting half dodging Manfred.
This interlude did not last long for momentarily, familiar footsteps sounded behind her. Homura turned her head to see Kai returning home.
"Sunshine!" Kai called out his nickname for Homura in his heavily accented English as he passed through the gate.
Homura felt her face burn at the nickname. When Kai had first referred to her that way, Homura had demanded from him why he was calling her something like that. Kai had shrugged and said to her what is quite possibly the most embarrassing few line she had never heard, "Because hidden deep in you is a ray of sunshine that makes the people around you smile. Also, nankurunaisa!"
Homura had not been pleased with that answer and, noticing this, Kai had smiled conciliatorily, "Okay, how about this, you get call me a nickname too. I suggest 'onii-chan'."
Homura felt awkward calling Kai something like that and, since she could not come up anything better, returned to calling Kai by name.
"Manfred really likes you." Kai commented as he bent down to pet the dog.
"Hi, Kai" Homura return her cousin's greeting quietly, exchanging a momentary glance with her cousin then looking away. Unconsciously, she swiped her hand - the same hand that Manfred's wet noise brushed against - against her skirt and fidgeted in her uniform. Still, from the corner of her eye she studied her cousin as he happily played with the large family dog.
Kai Akemi was two years Homura's senior and enrolled in the local technical high school. His hair, the same shade of deep black as Homura's hair, was cut short and combed neatly. And in his black blazer and black slacks had the aura of Jet Li moments before a fierce fight scene, but the insistent smile on his face and contagious cheeriness in his eyes reminded Homura of Jackie Chan. At least, that was what Homura had first thought when she met him a few weeks ago; now she thought herself odd for thinking her nerdy tech-savvy cousin reminded her of Chinese martial arts actors.
After scratching Manfred behind the ears - the dog wagged his tail in furious ticklish happiness - Kai stood up. "All right, let's go inside," he beckoned to Homura as he led the dog along into the house.
If the outside garden of Uncle's villa was elegant and beautiful for its overflowing gardens and bountiful trees, then the inside was elegant and beautiful for its simplicity. The entrance hall turned and quickly led into the living room. White marble veined with spots of sparkling quartz paved the entrance and living room. No couches or coffee tables sat in the living room as one would have expected in a western household. Instead, a thick aquamarine rug sat squarely in the center of the room on top of which rested a traditional low Japanese table surrounded by colorfully adorned pillows for kneeling. The television, powered by a plasma fountain generator, rested against the wall in front of the table.
Further in, the living room discreetly shifted to the dining room as a large, delicately shaped rose-quartz table rested near a rose-quartz counter. To one side of the room was the stairway to the bedrooms upstairs and the other a gateway into the kitchen.
"We're home," Homura and Kai announced as was standard in a Japanese household as they removed their shoes and stepped up.
Manfred, having been well trained, wiped his paws on the nearby doggy-mat before jumping up and joining his owners. He too announced his return with an enthusiastic bark.
"Welcome home," Auntie's voice called back from the kitchen where she was probably busy with cooking, "Dinner will be ready when Dad comes back."
Dinner, in keeping with the decor, was simple and elegant at the Akemi household. A bowl each of excellently prepared Hiyashi Chuuka topped with thin slices of raw tuna tasted truly restaurant quality. And to Homura, who had spent the last few years eating modest meals of rice and rice-seasoning, gorging on her aunt's cooking seemed almost criminally luxurious. After the meal, the conversation at the dinner table turned from Homura's first day at school to what Kai was planning to do for his first date with a girl from his class.
"So," Auntie Ayari, a tall lithe lady who managed to somehow look only half her age, spoke with a glitter in her eye, "where are you taking her?"
"Uh..." Kai fudged; he was on good and open terms with his parents - something rather unconventional in the typical Japanese family - but he still had little intention of sharing his love-life with his parents.
"C'mon, spill it," Auntie Ayari said in a coaxing voice as she rested her chin on her palm.
"Well, it's not really a date... we're just going to check out the haunted mansion," Kai explained, "we were both curious if the stories are true." Homura, who was not looking directly at Kai, noticed from the corner of her eye that his face was slightly red.
"Oh...? A haunted house?" She considered this for a moment, then confidently stated, "She must really like you," Auntie Ayari nodded with an impressed expression on her face, "You should bring a jacket with you so that you can give it to her when she gets cold."
"But it's thirty-degrees C," Kai replied, a little flustered; a little disturbed at how much his mom could be a girl. And how much his Dad could just sit and watch in amusement.
"Nonsense!" Auntie Ayari waved a hand dismissively. A few strands of her black hair rolled down from her neat bun. "Girls can pretend to be cold in the Sahara under forty-degree weather while a volcano erupts nearby. Girls your age love it when the boy she likes pays attention to them, right Sunshine?" Auntie Ayari nudged Homura.
Homura, interrupted from her person thoughts, nodded with a sigh.
The very same sigh escaped her during lunch the next day in the club room.
For whatever inexplicable reason, Homura felt she drawn to the Magical Adventure Club and rather at ease with the upperclassmen there. And just like yesterday, the four girls, Maaya, Sayaka, Madoka, and Homura, sat around the simple club table eating lunch. Today, however, everyone had brought packed lunches from home and, incidentally, everyone had apparently brought the same thing: rice, egg rolls, and tofu.
"What's wrong?" Madoka asked, noticing the downcast look on Homura's face.
"It's nothing," Homura replied; it wasn't too far from the truth. She picked up an egg roll and bit into it; it was too sweet. Auntie Ayari had taught her how to make them this morning, but she must have put in too much sugar.
"Your happiness escapes between the breaths of your sighs, as they say," Maaya commented lightly as she sipped tea and watched Homura pick at her food. She herself had finished her lunchbox in the time it took the other girls to open theirs and so had plenty of time to observe Homura and the other girls. "You shouldn't bottle things up, you know." she said, after a pause.
Madoka nodded in agreement.
"It's really nothing..." Homura insisted, then added, "It's just I put too much sugar into my egg rolls." it wasn't a lie.
Sayaka snorted in a laugh, while chewing her own egg roll, "Ah, that happens to me a lot too, I always try to make my cooking special and it usually ends up tasting weird." then, suddenly remembering her manners, quickly covered her mouth with a napkin before continuing, "Apparently, that is the supposed beginner's mistake in the culinary arts."
Maaya smirked at Sayaka, "Klutzy in the kitchen and a tsundere, any other anime stereotypes you're hiding from us?"
"I'm also perfectly average high school student but also secretly a magical girl and my parents are always overseas," Sayaka replied wryly.
Maaya laughed, "Sounds like a trashy show."
"You guys really watch a lot of anime..." Madoka commented more to herself than anyone else. As usual, she was a little lost in the conversation. Then, turning back to Homura, she smiled, "Do you watch a lot of anime?"
Homura shook her head. Back on the mainland, she had been too busy with school, work, rent, the utilities, and whatever else a lone orphan had to do to survive to sit down at some scheduled hour each day to watch television.
"So what do you do for fun?" Madoka asked the natural question.
Homura thought for a moment, then answered, "My uncle and aunt took me around the island a bit before school started," then, almost guiltily, she admitted, "I really enjoyed that."
"Oh," Madoka's face split into a beaming smile, "I love exploring! Well, we probably all do since this is the Magical Adventure Club." An idea apparently blinked into light in her head for she asked, "Is there anywhere you haven't been to yet but want to go?"
Homura considered, but ended up blurting out the thing that had been on the top of her mind, "I heard there was a haunted mansion here..."
Hearing the words haunted and mansion in the same sentence, Maaya's ears perked up and she quickly jumped in on the conversation, "You must mean the Grief-Seed Mansion up on the hill."
Homura turned to Maaya as did Madoka and Sayaka. "Grief-Seed?" Homura repeated, the words sent a sliver of chill down her spine.
Maaya nodded nonchalantly, a tassel of orange hair fluttered down and she casually brushed it behind her ear, "A few years ago, the mansion was original owned by Edward Grief and Raymond Seed – they're Americans," she explained, seeing the confused looks on the girls' faces, "but since they sold the place, no one has been able to stay there for more than a few weeks before moving out. As a result, it's been abandoned."
This apparently came as news to all the girls and Sayaka's eyebrows shot up high, "Are you making up another one of your stories?" She asked suspiciously.
Before Maaya could answer, Madoka jumped in, "How is it haunted?"
"I'm not too sure, actually, I've never seen anything," Maaya replied, "but I hear there are supposedly a lot of shadows and ghosts in there who only come out at night."
"Sounds pretty bland," Sayaka said with her arms folded across her chest, she was clearly unimpressed, "Like the haunted houses at a cultural festival."
"You're not afraid of spirits and ghosts?" Madoka asked nervously, her rosy cheeks and flowery smile seemed a bit more pale than usual.
"Psh, no," Sayaka replied with much bravado, her nose confidently in the air.
"Ooh?" Maaya raised an eyebrow curiously, the Cheshire cat grin on her face made her eyes glitter, "Then I guess you won't mind touring around the house after midnight."
"Well, yes I would mind, you're probably going to set something up to scare me now," Sayaka returned Maaya's grin with a crooked knowing smirk.
"But you said you aren't afraid of ghosts…" Madoka pointed out.
"Hey," Sayaka glowered at Madoka for giving her lip, "Mommy and Daddy are talking, go finish your vegetables."
"Eh?" Madoka cried in that sort of girlish disbelieving way that only a Japanese girl could.
Homura, catching herself giggling, cleared her throat.
Maaya, seemingly lost in thought while sipping her tea, suddenly slammed the cup loudly onto the table causing the tea water inside to swing dangerously close to the edge, "All right," she began, her voice firm, "I have decided, this Friday at midnight, we will meet at the Family Mart near the northern end of the Makigawa and then explore the Grief-Seed Mansion."
"What?" Sayaka exclaimed in disbelief, "Where is all this coming from…?"
But she was ignored as Maaya continued, "First one to chicken out and run home has to buy dinner the next night. Also, no buts," Maaya turned to Sayaka who still resisted, "President's orders."
Sayaka, turning to Madoka and then Homura for support, found only a rather excitedly nervous smile on one and a blankly stoic look on the other. Sayaka sighed, "Fine, I guess I can postpone my super romantic date with Edward," it was, of course, a lie; the only date Sayaka had that Friday night was with a movie rerun of a certain popular American film.
"Who is Edward?" Homura, who had said little throughout the conversation and had instead simply sat and sipped at her tea, finally asked quietly.
"The most dreamy, talented, and handsome –" Sayaka began to answer, but was cut off by Maaya.
"Vampire from Twilight. Sayaka is going through her pubescent rebellious phase – don't ask."
Homura collected her long black skirt about her and sat down on a nearby boulder. The polyester fabric did little to smooth out the roughness of the stone. Homura's thin gray shirt and dark blue track blazer did little to ward off the chilly sea mist that fluttered in the wind. But Homura was accustomed to even colder environments and so did little to care.
Pulling her sleeve back, Homura check her wristwatch – midnight. The stars were already glittering brightly in the deep black night sky and a small distant moon cast its silvery light straight down from its apex directly overhead. It shone in the darkness of the now empty street outside the now closed Family Mart like a beacon, as if it were a spotlight waiting for the main actor to enter onto the stage…
But the main character has yet to arrive.
"Where is that Maaya," Sayaka wondered aloud as she paced impatiently. A pause, then she stopped, and stared upward and northward in the direction of Maaya's home, "It's already midnight…"
Madoka, Sayaka, and Homura, as per command from Maaya, were all gathered outside the Family Mart near the Makigawa River. Dressed not in uniform but in their plain clothes, the girls waited patiently for Maaya, the group lead, to show up and begin the night adventure. But when Maaya failed to show up, Homura took the time to sit down on an ornamental boulder and observe the private clothes of her seniors.
In the hoary light, Sayaka seemed to glimmer like a sea fairy. Her short hair, with its light dye of azure, fluttered gently in the night breeze and reflected the occasional beam of moonlight. Her aquamarine cardigan fluttered about her white V-neck like watery angelic wings. And her bell-bottom dark blue jeans gave the impression that she was walking on water in the dim light.
"She didn't call and say this was cancelled, did she?" Madoka asked as she pulled her cell phone out of her skirt pocket to check for missed calls – there weren't any. She slipped her phone back into her pocket.
Homura's eyes shifted from Sayaka to Madoka. If Sayaka dressed to look enchanting, Madoka dressed to be cute. Fluttering frills decorated the sleeves of her pink one-piece dress. Playful red ribbons, matching the one in her hair, swirled around her waist and skirt hem. Her hair, tied into pouty pig-tails, gave Homura the impression that she was a magical girl out of some day-time anime made for little girls coming home from elementary school. Madoka completed the image with white puffy boots.
Which look would suit me better?
Homura smiled ruefully at the thought. It really did not matter. She could not afford to go shopping for new clothe, and it is not as if she had the stylish tastes to know what to buy even if she did. Besides, simple skirts, shirts, and whatnot worked just fine for all her intents and purposes.
Still though…
Staring at Madoka's skirt, Homura sudden saw a soft light blink on around her pocket followed by the sound of Doraemon's introduction song echoing into the darkness.
"Ah, that must be Maaya," Madoka said, quickly fishing out her phone and answering it, "Ah, hi Maaya."
ああ、すまん、すまん。あたし、両親に捕まれちゃったさ、もう家から脱出できないだ。
"Maaya says her parents caught her so she can't sneak out anymore," Madoka explained the situation to Homura and Sayaka as she listened to Maaya over the speaker.
"Oh really?" Sayaka said with her arms crossed, not believing, "Let me talk to her…"
"Sayaka wants to talk to you," Madoka handed the phone to Sayaka.
"I guess you owe us all dinner, eh, glorious leader?" Sayaka trolled into the phone, laughter in her voice, "Chickening out before you're even here and claiming you've been discovered by Mom and Dad?"
あ、もう、わかったよ!明日、みんなを吉野屋のどんぶりでおごるから。
Sayaka laughed, her tone wry, "Wow, beef bowl at Yoshino-ya, aren't you generous," she paused, and became more serious, "although, it's rare of you to accept defeat so early, I guess something really did happen."
後で説明するよ。
"Ask her when we should reschedule this," Madoka suggested.
Sayaka nodded and asked.
えっとね、あのね、あたしはもういい、一度行くごとがあるからさ。ですけど、あんたたちはまだよね。ならば、今夜で行きなさい。
"Huh? But we don't even…" Sayaka's incredulous reply broke off midway as she saw the confused looks on her friends' faces, she quickly explained what Maaya told her, "She says she doesn't want to go anymore because she has already been there once, but we should go anyway tonight." Sayaka then continued to protest to Maaya, "But we have never been there! What if we get lost?"
あら、あら、この天上天下無敵のさやかさまがびびってるかしら。よしよし、泣き叫びたいのならば、ほむらちゃんの肩はあいてるぞ。
"Hmph! I'm not scared," Sayaka shot back with bravado, "and Homura looks lot more ready to cry than I do! Here, I'm giving the phone back to Madoka," Sayaka handed the phone back.
Homura looked up at Sayaka questioningly.
"Maaya thinks I'll be too scared crying to go, but I said you'd probably be more scared than I am," Sayaka explained, then with a rather sheepish grin on her face, she scratched her head and apologized, "Hehe, I didn't mean anything mean by that, but it's okay if you're a tiny bit scared."
Homura did not reply.
"Understood," Madoka, who was conversing still with Maaya, announced to the crew, "All right, we're going then. To tell you the truth, I'm kind of looking forward to this; it'll be an adventure. Ooh, I'm kind of nervous." Madoka paused, apparently, Maaya had more to say.
じゃ、あたしは電話で案内するから、切らないでね。面白いものを見つけたら、報告してね。
"Maaya says she will walk us through over the phone," Madoka translated Maaya's instructions to the other girls, "and we should tell her if something interesting pops up." She turned back to the phone and asked excitedly, "Okay, which way?"
Following Maaya's instructions, the girls navigated a few narrow streets and climbed a hill. Soon, whatever remained of the city lights faded behind them as they stepped onto a dirt path flanked by wild grass and summer willows. The path curved and snaked along the hillside and soon, all sounds of the crashing ocean waves and occasional passing car faded into the distance. Around them, the gulping sound of frogs, the dripping of water, the chirps of the cricket mixed with the rest of the whispering melody of the wild spring time forest.
Guided by Maaya's voice and the slivers of silver moonlight that bathed the night, the girls rounded a corner and, suddenly before them, stood a tall and opposing wooden structure. The silver night of the moon seemed to avoid the dark and blackened wood of the three-story house. Its windows and doors, open and empty seemed to beckon menacingly at the wandering traveler, yet not even would willing filter into that haunted place.
Homura swallowed. She looked at Sayaka, who clutched at the hem of her cardigan.
Madoka's voice quivered a bit as she spoke, "Okay Maaya, we're here. We're at the Grief-Seed Mansion…"
