Hilo to what few readers I have for this story. Finally, I have updated, it's several months late, but I have done it. Sorry for the slow update. Poor class planning equals drained energy until the weekend where I tend to sleep in. I'm surprised I woke up as early as I did for a Saturday. I had the first paragraph in my document folder for a long time, and wrote the rest last night, but I was too tired to update that second.
"When you kill one enemy, you then must plan for the one hundred enemies you have now created. No enemy ever stands alone. He comes with a mother and father, brothers and sisters. He has a wife and children, friends and neighbors. When you kill this enemy, you must be ready to face the angry revenge that comes from the grief of this loss for all the people who knew and loved this man. The only way to stop this endless chain of enemy is to forgive it. And in doing so, teach each one that life is the most important, precious and valuable thing." - Anwarsha Anwary
Maybe I shouldn't have asked that outright, I thought. After answering the second question, Ayano refused to answer any more, took the sewing into her room, making sure the door was firmly closed, and not tilted or hanging. Goh, narrowed his eyes at me as if I had done something wrong, and then said that he needed to start dinner, before walking to their small kitchen to steam the rice. Then he went outside, leaving me to try and fix whatever was broken. I had to take all of the drawers out and lay out the contents to make sure that I hadn't missed anything.
After only a half hour, I noticed how quiet it was. No birds, the cicadas seemed to be taking a break, and I couldn't even hear any scurrying animals. Heck, not even the wind. If any one of those villagers came close to this place, the two would have had enough time to get some decent distance, and hide. It's probably how they heard the bell when I was trapped in that net.
"Why was there a trap there anyway?" I mumbled aloud. I was still a little irked about getting trapped and left dangling.
"They're my brother's," someone said suddenly, right behind me, and a little over my right shoulder, making me jump with fright.
I quickly turned around with wide eyes, and saw that it was only Ayano. "Oh, really?" My voice lightly cracked, giving away my attempt to hide that she had scared me. How the hell did she get so close without making a sound? The thought of how close she could sneak up on me, along with how dangerous she was rumored to be, was scary.
"They're to catch boars, so he sets traps all over the place, and checks them every week or so." There was a short pause before she continued. "We didn't expect to catch a person since the trap was clearly visible." The corners of her mouth quirked up some.
I gave her a blank stare, not appreciating the mock, since that day had been a bad day for me. Walking aimlessly until a rumor came my way, rude vendors who thought I didn't have any money to pay for food, rude people, my box getting repeatedly damaged, and that was only the first half of the day. It was probably her revenge for me staring at her earlier. "It was getting dark. I couldn't see it," I tried to explain, but from the look of her biting the inside of her cheek, it looked as if she didn't believe me. I lightly sighed, to show her I wasn't going to put up a fight about it, and asked, "Mind if I smoke?"
Her eyebrows sank to the middle, and asked, "Why would a doctor smoke if it's not healthy?"
I gave her a light smile. I honestly felt sorry for her, for being pegged a murderer, even though she seemed guileless. She wanted to trust people, but, with what had been happening, Goh was right to be overprotective. "I have this condition, so I need to smoke something so no one else gets hurt."
"'No one else?'" She quoted. She was confused, not that I gave her any real information.
"Do you know what mushi are?"
"'Mushi?'" She tilted her head to the side, and relaxed her eyebrows. "No, I haven't. What are they?" She didn't sound as timid or cautious as before, which was a good sign that she would be more cooperative.
I scratched the back of my head, not exactly knowing how to explain something they probably couldn't see. "Well, let's put it this way: they are sort of like ghosts, with odd forms, that have a tremendous impact on life, and other creatures. Some are harmless, some are actually helpful, while others are annoying, or they are extremely dangerous to mess with." She looked like she was taking the information in, but she was still skeptical about it. "It's hard to explain if you can't see them."
"What do you mean? Not everyone can see them?"
"No, most can't. Most of those kinds of people are the reason that mushi are misunderstood, and are automatically thought of as nuisances that should be gotten rid of." Even though I didn't get my answer, I took out a cigarette, and lit it anyway. If they didn't like it, they can tell me. Ayano didn't seem to mind, it looked like she was still thinking about what I told her about mushi.
She looked at my supplies, and furrowed her eyebrows again at a small jar that were next to a couple of my instruments that were out while the wax dried. I didn't want to interrupt her, since this was my chance to observe, just in case. I never got any finer details on Ayano, so I didn't know what 'triggered' her violence, if there was a trigger at all, or even if it was something else entirely. She carefully picked up the glass jar that fit in her palm, and asked, "So, is this a 'mushi' that you were talking about?"
"Oh, so you can see them." It wasn't entirely surprising that she could see mushi. I seemed to meet at least one with every journey I make, and maybe with her sight, I could get some answers on how this all began.
"Is this one of the dangerous kinds?" She looked back at me, curious, and cautious to know the answer. The mushi inside were small yellow specks that clumped together, or floated around in the jar. Even the people that could see mushi would have a hard time noticing that the yellow dust actually had life, from the way they moved, or that they clumped in a specific way, which was in a cone shape. It would have looked like I just snipped off the center part a lily.
"Nah. That particular kind of mushi merely helps flowers bloom to increase the pollen count. They disguise themselves as pollen so birds, or bees that go to get food, pick them up and go somewhere else help the mushi fertilize new potential homes. However, if there are too many of them, people or animals can inhale them, and they grow inside their lungs to make them sick. No one has died from them though since they seem to have short life spans and whither away before they can do more harm."
"Oh." That was all she had to say about it. She looked interested enough, and seemed to take in all of what I told her, but just didn't know how to respond. Being isolated from others tended to make people socially awkward. She took another look at the mushi, turning the jar to inspect different angles, and then, just as carefully, put the jar back from where she picked it up.
I saw her scarred wrist again. Since Goh was gone, for who knew how long, it was probably going to be the only chance I got. "What happened to your wrists? Were they from previous 'healers?'" I asked casually. I analyzed her as I took another drag of my cigarette.
Her eyes widened slightly as she swallowed a nervous lump, and her hands started to shake.
"It's okay," I said, changing my mind. "You don't have to talk about it. I already have some sort of idea, but I could still be wrong. I was just a little curious about them." For now, I had to focus on what was happening, and not what methods other people used before I came.
She visibly calmed down after that, and took a calming breath. She asked if I had other jars that I could show her, ones with mushi that weren't dangerous, which I readily complied. It wasn't often that someone was interested, even if she didn't physically show enthusiasm, at least she was willing to learn about them. After a couple of samples, and a look at a few scrolls, she commented that she used to see a lot of mushi in the forest, but she only just realized recently that nearly all had disappeared. They had slowly started moving on, and then they suddenly just left after the villagers set part of their home, and the trees on fire.
That was what I needed to hear the most. I didn't even need to physically examine her to know that a mushi was definitely involved, most likely somewhere inside of her. I only felt sorry that a mushi-shi didn't come sooner to realize the problem, and not some monks or purifiers who didn't know a thing about this stuff, but still claim for a cure. We talked a little more on mushi in general, and was more specific in my condition, but staying away from hers for now.
"It must be hard to travel all the time, not being able to stay in one place for long. If it makes you feel better, being forced to stay in one place isn't so swell either, especially if your neighbors are out for blood." I think she was trying to joke with me again about her situation, but it wasn't funny due to lack of practice with other people.
"It's hard, but it isn't so bad. I get to study plenty of different kinds of mushi, I sometimes get souvenirs to sell, and I heard new stories all the time."
It was getting easier for her to talk to me, probably because I hadn't hurt her like the siblings were expecting. There was a hint of hesitation before she asked, "Have you ever heard of my situation before?" She was getting desperate for answers inside. It got me curious as to how long her feeding on people had been going on.
"To be honest, I haven't, but I know where I can get information. I just need something before I go there."
"What do you need?" She looked like she knew where I was going with this, but she needed to ask anyway.
"A demonstration. I need to know how you behave during those lapses."
She obviously didn't like it, and tried to change the subject by picking up a scroll. When she opened it up, she asked, "Can you read this to me?"
"You can read it if you want. I don't care as long as you don't lose it. It's not exactly mine."
She looked at me, then looked away with a light blush. "I can't read," she said quietly, as if she was ashamed of it.
I kept the hand with the cigarette on my mouth. "Oh," was the only thing I could think of saying. Then there was more silence, and the longer it lasted, the more awkward it seemed to get. "Didn't you learn when you were younger?"
"I was taught only a little, but Mother died and there were only a few times where Father was teaching me. Then he died, and Goh didn't seem to have time to teach me any more." She didn't seem to as ashamed after she explained, but she was still embarrassed about it.
At that moment, Goh finally came back from checking on the traps, and gathering mountain vegetables. The instant he saw Ayano sitting next to me with one of my scrolls in her hands, he sent me a glare harsher than all the previous glared, but didn't say anything. Ayano seemed relaxed, and we supposed that it was a good thing. It was better than her hiding in her room.
Hilo again. Hope you enjoyed this installment so far. I hope for you patience with the next chapter.
"In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost." - Dante Aligheri