Things weren't normal anymore. The people around me seemed shunned
from human contact and their usual social life. The village streets were
barely dotted with the usual residents like they used to be...It seems as if
the town were dead somehow. How did all this happen so suddenly?
Crops and harvesting were a big problem now. There was seldom rain and little sunshine. A thick fog enshrouded the whole residence and the forests beyond the mountain trails were almost invisible. Small tremors were felt throughout the lands and thunder would be heard in the distance but there was no rainfall. Was it coming...so soon? Was the dreadful wrath of God not appeased? The village acted out of fear of their lives. They didn't feel the mercy of the victims...
I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. I was filled with fear. My brother Mutsuki wasn't enough to appease the Malice...our ritual was a failure, another ritual was soon to follow, it seems. Through the observations of the villager's actions, it was easy to see what was going to happen.
The door behind me slid open just a crack, "Itsuki...?" I turned to the small voice.
Chitose was crawling into the room. She was in her small white kimono with the bell I gave her strung around her tiny wrist.
"What's the matter, Chitose?" I turned completely around to face her. She crawled up to me and sat in front of me. The small jingles of the bell broke the quiet moment just a little.
"Big brother...I can't sleep tonight. Can I sit in here with you?" She looked up at me. Her full round pale face framed by her feather soft hair was a bit flushed. Her big black eyes were blurred by her slight impairment. It made it difficult for her to see clearly. Her small hands were clasped in her lap.
"Yes...but it's late so you just lay there on the extra mat..." I turned to the small candle burning on the tall candelabrum. It cast eerie shadows on the walls. Chitose was probably a bit frightened by them. "I take it you don't want to sleep near the shadows...?"
She looked up at me. She made the smallest movement of her head. "All right, I'll take the extra mat then." A small smile tinged her tiny lips. She bowed her head and I did the same. "I'll be right here if you need me, I won't go anywhere no matter what."
Her smile broadened as she reached in for a hug. I hugged her dear. She was the last thing I wanted to lose in this world now. I held her close to my heart like my brother. "Brother Itsuki? Have you been writing in the dark again?"
I pulled away from her just a bit to see her face. "Yes, I guess I have forgotten about that. I will remember next time to put a candle closer to the desk."
She glanced towards the diary on the desk. "Was it about Sae and Yae Kurosawa? Were you writing about them?" I felt my face change. I fought to keep it blank.
"No, I was not. I was worried about the village's conditions. The village occupants are thinning out because of famine and disease. Our food supply is running short day by day...It worries me...and I wonder if the Repentance is near..." I looked away. Chitose didn't know about the Repentance or the rituals. It's better if she knows little about the two of them. She crawled away without a question and made her spot. I watched her in her sleep. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost her next.
The village was no different from former days and months that passed. I'd received a note from the Kurosawa twins saying that the foreigners were going to be used in the next ritual. They were planning to help the foreigners escape; one, I knew from my childhood, the apprentice. Sae mentioned that one of the foreigners was a folklorist and the other was an apprentice. She'd said that the foreigner was supposedly asking questions about the Crimson Rituals. She said that she and Yae were going to give him a key to leave the village before he was used as a Kusabi. I was worried about the two foreigners. I hadn't seen them enter or heard any rumors about the foreigners but I know that this will upset the Malice...
I had no purpose now that our ritual was performed. I was The Remaining and I was feared. I'd often be reminded by my strikingly white hair and nightmares of the haunting ritual. I'd awaken in the night with my hands clenched tightly into fists. Imprints of my nails marked my palms and I'd feel the skin give way under the pressure. I'd wake up and think that he's watching me, hating me for not turning him into a butterfly...
Chitose was worried the most. She'd ask me questions about our beloved brother and wonder when he's coming back...I want to tell her that he's never coming back but its so hard, not for her but for me too. I'd tell myself over and over that I murdered my brother with my own hands...These very hands.
WEEKS LATER...
I wandered the great house with my sister in my tracks searching for a hiding place for a special item. I finally found the greatest place. "Chitose!" I turned to her and she jumped in surprise. It brought a smile to my face. She clutched the bell around her wrist to stop it from tinkling. I set my hands on her shoulders. "I want you to hold onto this key. It is important and a visitor will come today and pick it up. Give this to him," I set the key in her hands. "And tell him to leave as soon as possible. Don't be afraid of him, Chitose, he's our friend." She closed her fingers around the metal key.
"I won't lose this...I promise." She turned and ran off. I wanted to stop her but I let her go. She was going to my room where she feels safer. I continued to walk down the small hall. The floorboards creaked under my feet as I descended down the shadowy hall. The candle's single flame flickered in the darkness. My heart's beat quickened every foot covered and my hands began to unsteady.
"Itsuki...?" I gasped and turned. Chitose stood a few paces away from me. She'd strung the metal key onto her bells I gave her and tied it around her wrist. Her bright red kimono looked dark blood red in the shadows. I watched as she walked closer to me.
"Chitose...?" I advanced a step closer to her then paused. "Are you okay...?" In the dim light of the candle she looked...near death-like. She finally reached me and stretched her hand out to grasp mine. Her skin was clammy and cold like wax.
"Brother? Don't leave here...I don't want you to help the twins. Please don't kill me..." My heart nearly burst out of my mouth as she spoke. A hard strike of surprise and fear struck me.
"Chitose, what are you saying? Those girls have to escape! They will suffer the same fate as Mutsuki and I...I don't want that to happen to them. They are my friends..." Her grip tightened on my hand until it was almost numb. "What are you doing?"
"Itsuki, don't kill me, please!" Her hands began to shake from how hard she was holding on to my hand. "I want you to stay with me forever! Don't help the Kurosawa twins!" Her small body was engulfed in a black mist as she cried into my hand...She began to disappear in front of me.
Sweat formed from my face as I thought over the dream. The thought of it sent a chill over me. I glanced over to the extra tatami mat closest to me. Her small frame under the blankets diluted the nightmare to a simple delusion. I was calm again. Days and weeks had passed as the twins and I discussed our secret escape. Cleansing was completing and time between now and the ritual was running short. One of the foreigners, Ryozo Munakata and I had exchanged letters for quite a while. He was to escape days before the ritual along with his partner. Sae and Yae gave the folklorist a key to exit the village. It should be possible.
Some time ago, the seal keeping all refugees from fleeing the village was resealed due to a cave-in on a pair of twins that tried to escape. After that, the Ceremony Master sealed the exit and banned all Remainings and twins from going near the Kureha Shrine and The Old Tree where the Remainings' bodies were kept after they died. Ever since the day I returned from our failed ritual, I prayed to God that this plan will carry through. I didn't want the same thing that happened to Mutsuki and me to happen to them. What was that dream about?
Chitose tells me that the Kiryu House is supposedly haunted. Since his death some time back, she says that she hears children running and saying things. I told her it was nonsense. Rumors say that he was strangled by a rouge doll he created to resemble his Remaining daughter, Akane Kiryu. They said that the bad incarnation of her sister's spirit took over the doll and slowly drained Akane's spirit away. The butterfly that carried Azami to Heaven came to old Yoshitatsu in his sleep and told him to get rid of the doll and save Akane's spirit. He tried but was strangled to death by the doll and killed Akane by taking away her spirit.
Did I believe it? I could have but I didn't want to. It was a bit farfetched to me. I thought nothing of it...but it made me wonder...Would Mutsuki do a thing like that to Chitose and me? Would he kill me and his sister because he wasn't turned into a butterfly like he wanted to to save this village? What was I thinking...? He told me in his own breath that he would forgive me, no matter what happened. I'm sorry, Mutsuki...
I escaped later that night while Chitose was sound asleep...she is not to know. I set out towards the forest, slipping discreetly into the shadows of the night. The Kurosawa twins were out there somewhere beyond the Old Tree. I slipped past, into the All God's Village Cemetery.
I tried my best to keep my sounds as low as possible as I crossed the cemetery grounds. I finally found it! I saw their white kimonos against the dark of the shadows. They looked so scared, as was I. I was terrified to do this but it was the only way to keep them safe.
"Run." I said as I approached them. "Run and don't look back! Keep running." They turned and came to me with open arms. I hugged them both, exchanging our last goodbyes. Then they ran. I watched as they ran through the black trees, a sliver of crescent moon as their guiding light. A smile curled my lips, completing a small satisfaction deep in my heart. I wanted to escape with my brother but he was too ill and I couldn't hold his weight. This was the next best thing. After this my work was done here in this village now all I have left to do is stay near my sister.
I took the way I came to this place back to the village. I took a shortcut through the brush where it was the darkest. My kimono made it a bit difficult to maneuver through the high grass and bushes. A stray branch caught onto the bottom of the kimono and tightened the harder I pulled on it. The movement to get myself untangled caused a wandering villager to become curious. I ducked as low as I could onto the ground. He came closer to the area and my heart began to beat faster.
Another rustling sound came a bit further away along with a voice. "The Tachibana boy helped the twins escape! Get Mr. Kurosawa right away!" He emerged from the path and told the curious villager. I saw the man's eyes go wide.
"What? When?"
"Just a moment ago. If we don't get those twins back to the village, the—." I jumped from the shrubs and ran towards the house. My plans were destroyed. "Hey! There he is! Get him before he gets away!"
I rushed to the house and slammed the door shut. I didn't remember them following me but I took the long way into the house, the closest to Chitose. I ran through the Sliding Screen Room and down the Hallway of Contrasts. Our room was just inside a small nook off of the hall. The door was hidden behind a small curtain.
I crashed into the room. "Chitose!" I searched for her in the dark. "Where are you?" A small paper lantern in the corner flickered dimly. I got on my knees and searched on the ground for her, feeling around in the dark. The light was barely enough. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
The doors below rumbled. The villagers pounded at the entrance doors. My heart was in my throat. She wasn't in here. She must have ran and hid when I came in...
The sound of splintering wood filled the house. I yelped in fear and surprise. Was I doomed? I ran into the hallway calling my little sister. I had no reply. Maybe she's in one of these closets...
Multiple sounds filled the house now. Yelling, footsteps, pounding...I was fearing for my life and my sister's. She was the only thing I had left in this world. The footsteps were getting closer. I ran through the Tatami Room Hallway to the Clock Hall and up the stairs. I called for Chitose and still had no response. Did they take her away from me? I ran through the halls and rooms calling for her. I heard faint shuffling. She is up here!
"Chitose!" I ran towards the shuffling. A villager stepped out and blocked my way. I screamed. He smiled a devilish smile.
"Going to kill us all were ye? Not this way ye not." I stepped back from the man. He stepped closer trying to close the space between us.
"What did you do to my sister?" I backed away more.
"Sister? She was in on it too? God, help you both." He closed in on me and I reached for the tall candelabrum beside me and swung at him. I hit him and heard him scream. I opened my eyes and ran past the villager. I ran to the hall and went through the door that led to the Raised Tatami Room.
"Chitose! Where are you!" I yelled for her. "Come out! It's me, Itsuki!" I turned to go up the small flight of steps and saw a figure on the floor dressed in red.
"Chitose...?" It moved and stood up. It wasn't her. I ran and hit into something. Arms grabbed me and I screamed. A small voice and tiny bells jingling was heard over all the noises was calling me...
I woke up in a small room. It was still dark so I haven't been out too long. There was a small desk, bookcase and tatami mat in the room. Where was I? I sat up and looked around for Chitose. I was foolish. This room wasn't big enough for the both of us.
I stood and went to the small barred window and looked out. I spotted a Twin Deity Statue near the edge of the dirt path way. I knew where I was now...They locked me in the storehouse at the edge of the village. I found an empty diary and began to write...
So many things clouded my mind. Did the twins escape without harm done or received? Is my sister still alive in our house? What were they going to do with me as a prisoner? I was no use to this village and I was not about to expose anything I knew. I had only one way to escape...I leaped from a small height and felt my head suddenly start pounding, my blood coursing through my neck, and every second growing darker as my memories faded into the light which carried me away without worries...
Crops and harvesting were a big problem now. There was seldom rain and little sunshine. A thick fog enshrouded the whole residence and the forests beyond the mountain trails were almost invisible. Small tremors were felt throughout the lands and thunder would be heard in the distance but there was no rainfall. Was it coming...so soon? Was the dreadful wrath of God not appeased? The village acted out of fear of their lives. They didn't feel the mercy of the victims...
I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. I was filled with fear. My brother Mutsuki wasn't enough to appease the Malice...our ritual was a failure, another ritual was soon to follow, it seems. Through the observations of the villager's actions, it was easy to see what was going to happen.
The door behind me slid open just a crack, "Itsuki...?" I turned to the small voice.
Chitose was crawling into the room. She was in her small white kimono with the bell I gave her strung around her tiny wrist.
"What's the matter, Chitose?" I turned completely around to face her. She crawled up to me and sat in front of me. The small jingles of the bell broke the quiet moment just a little.
"Big brother...I can't sleep tonight. Can I sit in here with you?" She looked up at me. Her full round pale face framed by her feather soft hair was a bit flushed. Her big black eyes were blurred by her slight impairment. It made it difficult for her to see clearly. Her small hands were clasped in her lap.
"Yes...but it's late so you just lay there on the extra mat..." I turned to the small candle burning on the tall candelabrum. It cast eerie shadows on the walls. Chitose was probably a bit frightened by them. "I take it you don't want to sleep near the shadows...?"
She looked up at me. She made the smallest movement of her head. "All right, I'll take the extra mat then." A small smile tinged her tiny lips. She bowed her head and I did the same. "I'll be right here if you need me, I won't go anywhere no matter what."
Her smile broadened as she reached in for a hug. I hugged her dear. She was the last thing I wanted to lose in this world now. I held her close to my heart like my brother. "Brother Itsuki? Have you been writing in the dark again?"
I pulled away from her just a bit to see her face. "Yes, I guess I have forgotten about that. I will remember next time to put a candle closer to the desk."
She glanced towards the diary on the desk. "Was it about Sae and Yae Kurosawa? Were you writing about them?" I felt my face change. I fought to keep it blank.
"No, I was not. I was worried about the village's conditions. The village occupants are thinning out because of famine and disease. Our food supply is running short day by day...It worries me...and I wonder if the Repentance is near..." I looked away. Chitose didn't know about the Repentance or the rituals. It's better if she knows little about the two of them. She crawled away without a question and made her spot. I watched her in her sleep. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost her next.
The village was no different from former days and months that passed. I'd received a note from the Kurosawa twins saying that the foreigners were going to be used in the next ritual. They were planning to help the foreigners escape; one, I knew from my childhood, the apprentice. Sae mentioned that one of the foreigners was a folklorist and the other was an apprentice. She'd said that the foreigner was supposedly asking questions about the Crimson Rituals. She said that she and Yae were going to give him a key to leave the village before he was used as a Kusabi. I was worried about the two foreigners. I hadn't seen them enter or heard any rumors about the foreigners but I know that this will upset the Malice...
I had no purpose now that our ritual was performed. I was The Remaining and I was feared. I'd often be reminded by my strikingly white hair and nightmares of the haunting ritual. I'd awaken in the night with my hands clenched tightly into fists. Imprints of my nails marked my palms and I'd feel the skin give way under the pressure. I'd wake up and think that he's watching me, hating me for not turning him into a butterfly...
Chitose was worried the most. She'd ask me questions about our beloved brother and wonder when he's coming back...I want to tell her that he's never coming back but its so hard, not for her but for me too. I'd tell myself over and over that I murdered my brother with my own hands...These very hands.
WEEKS LATER...
I wandered the great house with my sister in my tracks searching for a hiding place for a special item. I finally found the greatest place. "Chitose!" I turned to her and she jumped in surprise. It brought a smile to my face. She clutched the bell around her wrist to stop it from tinkling. I set my hands on her shoulders. "I want you to hold onto this key. It is important and a visitor will come today and pick it up. Give this to him," I set the key in her hands. "And tell him to leave as soon as possible. Don't be afraid of him, Chitose, he's our friend." She closed her fingers around the metal key.
"I won't lose this...I promise." She turned and ran off. I wanted to stop her but I let her go. She was going to my room where she feels safer. I continued to walk down the small hall. The floorboards creaked under my feet as I descended down the shadowy hall. The candle's single flame flickered in the darkness. My heart's beat quickened every foot covered and my hands began to unsteady.
"Itsuki...?" I gasped and turned. Chitose stood a few paces away from me. She'd strung the metal key onto her bells I gave her and tied it around her wrist. Her bright red kimono looked dark blood red in the shadows. I watched as she walked closer to me.
"Chitose...?" I advanced a step closer to her then paused. "Are you okay...?" In the dim light of the candle she looked...near death-like. She finally reached me and stretched her hand out to grasp mine. Her skin was clammy and cold like wax.
"Brother? Don't leave here...I don't want you to help the twins. Please don't kill me..." My heart nearly burst out of my mouth as she spoke. A hard strike of surprise and fear struck me.
"Chitose, what are you saying? Those girls have to escape! They will suffer the same fate as Mutsuki and I...I don't want that to happen to them. They are my friends..." Her grip tightened on my hand until it was almost numb. "What are you doing?"
"Itsuki, don't kill me, please!" Her hands began to shake from how hard she was holding on to my hand. "I want you to stay with me forever! Don't help the Kurosawa twins!" Her small body was engulfed in a black mist as she cried into my hand...She began to disappear in front of me.
Sweat formed from my face as I thought over the dream. The thought of it sent a chill over me. I glanced over to the extra tatami mat closest to me. Her small frame under the blankets diluted the nightmare to a simple delusion. I was calm again. Days and weeks had passed as the twins and I discussed our secret escape. Cleansing was completing and time between now and the ritual was running short. One of the foreigners, Ryozo Munakata and I had exchanged letters for quite a while. He was to escape days before the ritual along with his partner. Sae and Yae gave the folklorist a key to exit the village. It should be possible.
Some time ago, the seal keeping all refugees from fleeing the village was resealed due to a cave-in on a pair of twins that tried to escape. After that, the Ceremony Master sealed the exit and banned all Remainings and twins from going near the Kureha Shrine and The Old Tree where the Remainings' bodies were kept after they died. Ever since the day I returned from our failed ritual, I prayed to God that this plan will carry through. I didn't want the same thing that happened to Mutsuki and me to happen to them. What was that dream about?
Chitose tells me that the Kiryu House is supposedly haunted. Since his death some time back, she says that she hears children running and saying things. I told her it was nonsense. Rumors say that he was strangled by a rouge doll he created to resemble his Remaining daughter, Akane Kiryu. They said that the bad incarnation of her sister's spirit took over the doll and slowly drained Akane's spirit away. The butterfly that carried Azami to Heaven came to old Yoshitatsu in his sleep and told him to get rid of the doll and save Akane's spirit. He tried but was strangled to death by the doll and killed Akane by taking away her spirit.
Did I believe it? I could have but I didn't want to. It was a bit farfetched to me. I thought nothing of it...but it made me wonder...Would Mutsuki do a thing like that to Chitose and me? Would he kill me and his sister because he wasn't turned into a butterfly like he wanted to to save this village? What was I thinking...? He told me in his own breath that he would forgive me, no matter what happened. I'm sorry, Mutsuki...
I escaped later that night while Chitose was sound asleep...she is not to know. I set out towards the forest, slipping discreetly into the shadows of the night. The Kurosawa twins were out there somewhere beyond the Old Tree. I slipped past, into the All God's Village Cemetery.
I tried my best to keep my sounds as low as possible as I crossed the cemetery grounds. I finally found it! I saw their white kimonos against the dark of the shadows. They looked so scared, as was I. I was terrified to do this but it was the only way to keep them safe.
"Run." I said as I approached them. "Run and don't look back! Keep running." They turned and came to me with open arms. I hugged them both, exchanging our last goodbyes. Then they ran. I watched as they ran through the black trees, a sliver of crescent moon as their guiding light. A smile curled my lips, completing a small satisfaction deep in my heart. I wanted to escape with my brother but he was too ill and I couldn't hold his weight. This was the next best thing. After this my work was done here in this village now all I have left to do is stay near my sister.
I took the way I came to this place back to the village. I took a shortcut through the brush where it was the darkest. My kimono made it a bit difficult to maneuver through the high grass and bushes. A stray branch caught onto the bottom of the kimono and tightened the harder I pulled on it. The movement to get myself untangled caused a wandering villager to become curious. I ducked as low as I could onto the ground. He came closer to the area and my heart began to beat faster.
Another rustling sound came a bit further away along with a voice. "The Tachibana boy helped the twins escape! Get Mr. Kurosawa right away!" He emerged from the path and told the curious villager. I saw the man's eyes go wide.
"What? When?"
"Just a moment ago. If we don't get those twins back to the village, the—." I jumped from the shrubs and ran towards the house. My plans were destroyed. "Hey! There he is! Get him before he gets away!"
I rushed to the house and slammed the door shut. I didn't remember them following me but I took the long way into the house, the closest to Chitose. I ran through the Sliding Screen Room and down the Hallway of Contrasts. Our room was just inside a small nook off of the hall. The door was hidden behind a small curtain.
I crashed into the room. "Chitose!" I searched for her in the dark. "Where are you?" A small paper lantern in the corner flickered dimly. I got on my knees and searched on the ground for her, feeling around in the dark. The light was barely enough. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
The doors below rumbled. The villagers pounded at the entrance doors. My heart was in my throat. She wasn't in here. She must have ran and hid when I came in...
The sound of splintering wood filled the house. I yelped in fear and surprise. Was I doomed? I ran into the hallway calling my little sister. I had no reply. Maybe she's in one of these closets...
Multiple sounds filled the house now. Yelling, footsteps, pounding...I was fearing for my life and my sister's. She was the only thing I had left in this world. The footsteps were getting closer. I ran through the Tatami Room Hallway to the Clock Hall and up the stairs. I called for Chitose and still had no response. Did they take her away from me? I ran through the halls and rooms calling for her. I heard faint shuffling. She is up here!
"Chitose!" I ran towards the shuffling. A villager stepped out and blocked my way. I screamed. He smiled a devilish smile.
"Going to kill us all were ye? Not this way ye not." I stepped back from the man. He stepped closer trying to close the space between us.
"What did you do to my sister?" I backed away more.
"Sister? She was in on it too? God, help you both." He closed in on me and I reached for the tall candelabrum beside me and swung at him. I hit him and heard him scream. I opened my eyes and ran past the villager. I ran to the hall and went through the door that led to the Raised Tatami Room.
"Chitose! Where are you!" I yelled for her. "Come out! It's me, Itsuki!" I turned to go up the small flight of steps and saw a figure on the floor dressed in red.
"Chitose...?" It moved and stood up. It wasn't her. I ran and hit into something. Arms grabbed me and I screamed. A small voice and tiny bells jingling was heard over all the noises was calling me...
I woke up in a small room. It was still dark so I haven't been out too long. There was a small desk, bookcase and tatami mat in the room. Where was I? I sat up and looked around for Chitose. I was foolish. This room wasn't big enough for the both of us.
I stood and went to the small barred window and looked out. I spotted a Twin Deity Statue near the edge of the dirt path way. I knew where I was now...They locked me in the storehouse at the edge of the village. I found an empty diary and began to write...
So many things clouded my mind. Did the twins escape without harm done or received? Is my sister still alive in our house? What were they going to do with me as a prisoner? I was no use to this village and I was not about to expose anything I knew. I had only one way to escape...I leaped from a small height and felt my head suddenly start pounding, my blood coursing through my neck, and every second growing darker as my memories faded into the light which carried me away without worries...