Bittersweet chapter 27
Still still in Egypt.
Ayumi had it all covered. She had taken the address sneakily from Tsukasa, and had done all the necessary preparations for her unprompted meeting with Ai. Although she didn't know what exactly, it was clear that the mysterious woman was very much with the spirits, and knew something about her blood line for sure, otherwise she wouldn't of winced when Ume had introduced her. Ayumi was just desperate for any information that might help with the breaking of her curse, so she could finally live a normal life with out worrying as much as she did now. Yoshiki had been at work all day, skipping school, to make up for the lack of shifts he had attended now that Ayumi had half moved in with him, so he wouldn't stop her. She was free to discover what she willed.
Ai's house was about the size of her own, with authentic decoration lattice work across the stone near the roof. She could see the same glittery black mist coming out of the chimney; most people would think it was smoke from an open fire, but Ayumi knew it was Clèlestial Steam that often seeped out after someone met with spirits or something like that. Hinoe may of mentioned it when showing Ayumi some special spirit involved items a while back. Without hesitation, Ayumi knocked on the tall door with the brass knocker, which was in the shape of phinoex or some sort of mythical bird. There was a rattle at the doorbell, until it was pulled open, by a pair of small and curious hands.
"Oh Miss Shinozaki!" greeted Ume sweetly, leading her into the reception room. "I didn't know you we're coming to play today!"
"I'm sorry, but I've got to speak to Ai today!"
"Mummy?"
"That's right. It's very important, but I promise I'll play another time."
"And Kis...Mr Yoshiki too?"
"I'm sure he'd like to see you again, Mikuni-chan."
Ume giggled, leading Ayumi further into the reception room, towards a slim flight of midnight blue carpeted stairs.
"Mummy spends a lot of time in the Brewery but she doesn't really like to be disturbed."
"Is that where she is?"
"Uh-huh. She's been there all day today..."
"Do you have anyone to play with? Does you father work?"
Ume stuck out her bottom lip, a cloudiness surrounding her usually bright eyes. She shrugged, taking Ayumi up the stairs.
"Daddy died along time ago."
"Oh," Ayumi apologised with a quick hug, before following the small girl past the last few stairs. "I'm sorry to hear that!"
"S'ok." Ume replied quietly, reminding Ayumi of Yoshiki in a small way. 'I was only two. Don't really remember much."
Ayumi nodded understandably, wondering if the Mikuni bloodline had a similar curse, although she couldn't think of a reason for it. They had reached the landing, and Ume pointed to the first door which had a simple plaque nailed onto it.
Brewery.
"Huh. Is this it?"
"Yup."
"Okay. Thanks!"
Ume smiled at her though she still looked a little wistful, and rushed towards a bright lilac door that Ayumi presumed to be the little girls bedroom. She couldn't help feeling sorry for Ume since she looked ever so lonely all by herself all day. As she shook her head in disproval, the door of the 'Brewery' sprung open, inviting her in spookily. Cautiously, she walked into the room, smelling the same whiff of lavender she smelt every time she walked into Hinoe's room, which she hadn't done very recently. Ai was sitting at a desk, scribbling something down furiously on a loose piece of paper.
"I was starting to think you weren't coming Shinozaki." she said, meeting Ayumi's nervous gaze. "But the spirits are never wrong."
"Explain. Why you flinched at my name, Please."
Ai nodded though she looked slightly bored. She pointed to the seat opposite her and made her sit down.
"You do know the curse on your bloodline by now?"
"Yes. Hinoe told me."
"Of course, she was worried was worried about you wasn't she?"
"It doesn't matter. What do you know?"
Ai sighed, putting the paper back in the draw. Ayumi still had so much get to learn in the world of the spirits.
"If your asking me how to break it, search me."
"You must know something!" Ayumi retorted in disbelief. "Is your bloodline cursed too perhaps?"
"No, but my brother nearly messed it up several years ago. Can't trust men."
"Oh yeah? I don't mean to be crude, but what about your husband?"
"All men are the same."
"What happened?"
"He died."
"How?"
"Geez, your just like your sister, super nosey! He messed around with some potentially dangerous spiritual items and accidentally killed himself. It was really sad of course, but there's nothing I could do about it."
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine. Your not effected by it."
"Your brother, Tsukasa-"
"Yes unfortunately. I am very fond of him yet he brings me so much trouble. Well he used to."
"What did he do?"
"He met this girl, Shishedo, who's fate was already determined, and almost got himself killed in the process. I don't know the details but her existence just faded one day and he forgot about her."
"Ms Yui..."
"Hmm?"
"Nothing." Ayumi recovered smoothly. "Look, is there anything, even the slightest piece of information that can help me break the curse?"
"Oh you can't do it alone."
"So you do know something then?" Asked Ayumi, smirking at her, which was replied to with a glare.
"Argh, alright fine."
Ai walked over to one of the tall bookshelves, running her pale fingers along the rigid spines, muttering the names to herself as she passed each one. Eventually she picked one out, placing on the table with a thump.
"As I said before, you can't break it alone. You need the help of Kishinuma of course."
"Right. What do we do?"
"Is he aware of the curse?"
"Yes."
"And after that he didn't leave you?"
"No. He said he'd help me any way actually."
"All men are the same." she muttered, turning the yellowed pages to a certain one, the outsides of it inked in green dye.
"The only way to break a bloodline curse,' she explained, "Is to prove that...hang on, let me find the right curse...here we go. That your love is worth a sacrifice."
"Is that all?"
"Nope. There are several spiritual items needed for the ritual; evidence of the doings of the curse, ancestry charts, blah blah blah. It's all listed."
"What's the probability of me...us breaking it."
"No ones done it and survived."
"Well that's just great!" laughed Ayumi sarcastically.
"You were the one who wanted to know Shinozaki."
Ayumi got up, taking the book out of Ai's hands, looking forward to flicking through it later on.
"Good luck. And one more thing."
"What?"
"Yoshikazu. Takamine. The Crazy Torched Guy. Lavender. Okay, time to go, bye bye!"
"No, wait, what?"
"Time to go!"
-–
"Oh Naomi, what are you going to do now?"
Naomi's mother was pacing around the corridor, perplexed after the fire of the school. Everywhere her daughter went, trouble soon followed her, and that scared her senseless. Was there anywhere she could go safely? School was though, so she decided to send her again, even though she would miss out on her highly anticipated nursing course. Of course, Naomi was disappointed, but there were loads of different schools out there with similar courses out there she could go to. Or she could just wait until she finished the half year left and just do it in collage. Time didn't really matter in particular to Naomi.
Her mother kept on apologising, stressing all the time, so Naomi decided to give her some space and slid off to the quiet of her room. Glancing at her clock, she realised how late it was, and rushed over to the window where she could see the skyline. A beautiful sunset sent orange rays everywhere, the sky salmon pink amongst orange and blue. It was really quite stunning. She closed her eyes in the breeze, and felt something hard hit her shoulder, so force her eyes open to see what it was. Looking down, she realised it was a paper aeroplaneye, the same one she had sent to Seiko not that long ago. Curiously, she unfolded the tight paper, only to see it was the same writing she had wrote before. Her heart sank with disappointment, however, she turned it over just in case, and spotted a few lines of Seiko's scrawled handwriting. It was hard to determine what was written, since she couldn't tell what she had used to write it. It was something like "Love you Naomi never forget'
She couldn't believe it. Had her message really reached her, and if so, how? It could just be someone playing a trick on her, but she had believe it was real.
This could be proof Seiko existed after all! Picking up her pen, she wrote a couple of joyful lines near Seiko's and trust it out of the window, not waiting for it to disappear from view. It absolutely had reach her, no matter what. Sighing, she leapt onto her bed, grabbing her phone, and scrolled past the various posts on her social media. Most people were still talking about the fire in St Cross Girls school, or stressing that their school would be next. In fact Naomi knew that Kisiragi were going to be taking special precautions, just in case, and hoped that other schools were going to do that. Her mind wondered to Azusa and Ran all of a sudden. What would they do? Kisiragi did have good drama courses, but it wasn't a specialised drama school like theirs once was. But maybe they would join, just for the end of the year perhaps so they could keep on studying without a gap before collage. She quickly logged on to her school website and clicked on 'available student slots' and sure enough, there were four ready available ones for her year. The application form wasn't very selective, and they should be able to pass the exam without studying too hard.
So she texted Azusa with her plan, and a reply pinged back instantly, making Naomi smile. She said her parents had told her on the phone they thought it was a good idea, but they still wanted her to attend drama club In order to not miss out on her studies. Well that was just fine. Everyone would get on with the girls if they joined, just fine!
Right...?
Okay I'm gonna let you guys decide what major factor was said her. It could be in the first or second part. There could be two. There could be four. Maybe just one. New chapter when ever I right it and find wifi in this hotel. Love ya.