"What are you talking about? We told you everything! This is all I know! There can't be any other person being pissed at us! Who else should it be?!" The door jerks, the barriers shine red and the screech of glass being so deeply scratched, a hundred times louder, fills the room. Natsumi cries again. "They are all over my body, help..."
In the eye of death, they blink. Do they expect to live with a lie?
"It is not quite true!" Atsumotchi yells over to the seller. With all power he can find, in the depths of his soul, he collects it and pushes it against the barriers. Should the Mononoke come through, then it would be their end. "What are you saying-"
"I was in love with Sugemi!" The walls fall in pieces, the seller quickly throws seals, as many as they make a wall on their own, where the monster smashes against it with their thick body. Has it grown bigger?
More screams, Tori and the maid as he can identify, probably run away to another door. Or maybe just the maid, he can barely focus. With the centipede all over his body, the seller has a hard time with concentration, as they tickle and touch everything. "What were you? I thought you loved me!"
"I did but you couldn't make children!" The centipedes abruptly stop. Ōmukade's legs vibrate, the probes upright.
Love with Atsumotchi was the best since forever. Sugemi was alone for a long time since her parents demand a lot of her. But with him, there is finally some life inside of her again. "She was my mistress but never officially or with anyone knowing. At first, I just wanted to spend some time with a woman alone, as men always do. Sugemi is a beautiful woman, even if her skin is darker than the usual tone of the people. But she became more to me than my bedtime companion."
Sugemi throws the chess figure over, chuckles at him. "I won." Her voice as light as a feather, with the beauty of roses. She takes a piece of paper out of her pocket. Word after word, her handwriting resembles a chicken. Atsumotchi rubs over his eyes. "I have written a story for you. Do you desire to read it?"
"Nothing lovelier than that."
"She was an intellectual. So smart, for just a peasant. She intrigued me with her sharp mind, her unbeatable chess skills, and her writing skills. Her stories were honey after a month of eating only bread daily in wartime."
"I must leave now." Atsumotchi embraces her in a tight hug, rubs over her tender back. Sugemi rests her head against his. "Will you write me some more when I come back?"
"I will for sure, darling." He holds her even closer, squeezing her for a few seconds. "I love your story about Natsumi who seeks the use of life. And who thinks and philosophizes about the nature of human, and the nature of demons and gods."
These words of praise leave flowers blossom in Sugemi's heart. She giggles and gives him a light kiss on his neck. "I'll continue the story."
"I felt like I finally had found someone worthy of me, mind-wise. You see, women only care about their appearance and filling their wombs but she...she was so much more. She was the intelligent wife I always dreamed of as a young man. Her beauty was only a side point. I would've taken her even if she was the ugliest creature on earth. It soon happened that the reasons I visited her were not sex but her stories and playing chess and philosophizing and debating."
Sugemi pets over her swollen belly, speaks sweetly to the child that has yet to come. A child from her beloved Atsumotchi, what better there could be. She wasn't his wife but he would eventually acknowledge her. For him to come, when he visits her at night, she'll read her newest piece of Natsumi's story to him. How wonderful it would be if he named their daughter Natsumi.
"I bought her, told her parents that she'd be working in our castle and be our maid. She first didn't want to, but her parents didn't want her. They gladly sent her away. They were happy."
Mother would like the name. Oh...Sugemi lowers her head, tears drop onto the maid's cloth. Why did they hate her so much? What had she done to them? She always tried to be good...always tried to please them. Now, they won't care even if she birthed her son or daughter.
Goddamn them. She'll not have this happen to Natsumi. She'll always love Natsumi or her son Nariaki. Sugemi clenches her fists, hits the bed multiple times. Her insides grow hot, burn in the fire of herself. They always favored her siblings.
She'd show them what they lost by abandoning her!
"But...I couldn't just acknowledge her in the public. I was married and a noble, that'd ruin my reputation. I told her to..."
"What? Why? Why should I give my child to your wife? It's mine!"
"I told her that you'd be here in compensation of her infertility, that you'd give us children and she'd get them. That was the only way I could get you in here!" Sugemi's blood boils, with all her power taken, the last drop inside of her, she hits him as hard as possible with her bare fist.
He falls to the side; the red liquid of life drops in venom on his clothes.
"Lie! You're her husband, why didn't you just make me your mistress and let me have the child! I trusted you...I thought you had some sense."
"I do! That's why I did that! But the title mistress would have made you a woman to spit on. Being a maid is way better, don't you see? We wanted to live together and have children! And this is the most harmless way to do so. I...it's not that easy to just remarry with a peasant."
Sugemi fetches a dagger from the sleeve of her white Kimono, jumps on Atsumotchi who tries to fend her off, but seemingly fears to hurt the child and gives her control. She holds it onto his neck, waiting to spill his life in her hands. "If I wasn't pregnant...and if my family hadn't abandoned me..." Her knuckles turn white from the force on the dagger's handle. "I'd leave you this instant. But now I'm dependent on you. And you on me. You need me to uphold your lie. That your wife is pregnant when it's me."
"I love you." Atsumotchi's whisper flies past her like pollens of summer. "I do really, that's why I did this..." Sugemi wraps herself up, leaves him alone in the room.
"She felt betrayed and hurt. I didn't know this would happen. I thought she would be happy. But like I said, as an intelligent woman, she isn't so simple-minded like the others. I should've seen it coming that she won't just give her child away like a dumb sheep."
"See, do we have a choice? I told it, everyone. And everyone knows it. They think Tori is pregnant, we are acting it out. Please, play along. I promise you that I'll eventually acknowledge you. I just need some time. I can't just send Tori away, not at this crucial moment."
Birds chirp outside the window, wind brushes through her hair and Kimono. With a sharp voice, Sugemi hisses at him. "You better do." She comes close to him, Atsumotchi flinches. "You'll have to do that. You'll have to leave her! They are mine after all. And also, you'll give them the names I chose for them."
Atsumotchi swallows and nods.
"Time passed and she birthed Nariaki. But still, I couldn't just send Tori away and divorce her. She hadn't done anything. I...was...I tried to push it away as far as possible. Sugemi had no one else in her life and no place to go to so this continued three years long. She reminded me countless times and I didn't do anything. One night in particular we had a huge fight. I...if I had...I didn't want to lose her love or her in general. I made up for it...and then she became pregnant with Natsumi. I didn't know until later that Tori had bullied her all this time..."
Heavy breathing, she clenches the linens, cries out in pain. "Your wife is pain...she made my time here terrible..."
Atsumotchi holds her hand, cradles her. "I'll get her punished for this!"
"I hate her...she's such a...monster...she'll pay...for what she did..."
"What did she do?" Another scream, another huff, she moves her head to both sides rapidly.
"I'll call the maids to help you with birth!"
"If I had known that Tori left her to die..."
Struggling child, wrapped in red silk; her chest that lifts and sinks. "Natsumi..." She stretches her arm and pets the child's arm. "Natsumi..." The silk as red as the life that spreads across Natsumi's skin, blends her in with the blanket. Steps from behind, echo from the walls, someone tramples on her back. A flow of warm liquid streams from between her legs. "Stop...I'm...hurt...bleeding..."
"For all I care, you whore." Tori's voice, a hit of thunder. "Your service is over now. Shall the hellhounds take you now."
"What?...No..." Sugemi frantically murmurs the same word. "No...No...No..."
Tori comes to the other side and lifts Natsumi, takes her away from her. No, she should...why is this happening? Where's Atsumotchi? Why isn't he here? Atsumotchi...the pain is so unbearable. So much, so, so much, it rips her apart. "Nobody will come for you. Die here, peasant. Now, you'll face death, be happy with it. Even if I wanted to, nobody could save you, watch how much blood you lost."
Is it true? Is she going to die? To die...in this...dark room? All alone? All alone?
Death...death...no! No! Sugemi tries to yell but nothing more than a whisper escapes her lips. "No..."
Tori laughs. "Let me...let...me...hold...them..."
"No, they're not your children. You'll see no one here. Your parents didn't want you and you were only our birth maid. Now you're useless. So, say bye to my daughter, you'll never see her again."
"Natsumi...no...Nariaki...Natsumi...Atsumotchi..." Tori doesn't stop the ill laughter, her face distorted, the white paint crippling and dry, with fissures in it.
"I shouldn't...have trusted...him." Her vision blurs, Natsumi's now a bubbly unsharp picture in the arms of Tori. Tori... "I...should...why...why only...why...me? Sorry...Natsumi...I...trusted...the...wrong...man."
"Die!"
Weak, faint lines of something dark that crawls and moves quickly, multiple things move. What is that? So many legs...a bug...a centipede? A centipede! "Tori...Tori...A...centipede..."
"Shut up, I can't hear you!"
"Centipede..." Sugemi aims at taking it away, but she doesn't even come close to Tori's leg. "Take...it...Natsumi...Natsumi...Natsumi..."
"I hope these were your final words." Tori spits at her, laughs again, and turns around.
"No...Natsumi...centipede...Natsumi..." Sugemi sobs, the air bursts against her lungs and throat, and leave gurgling sounds. "Natsumi...save...me...Natsumi...come...back...No...Natsumi..." She can't die, she can't! What will happen? Will she come to hell? Such young life...she never accomplished her dream. Never lived the life she truly wanted. The tears stream as much as her blood she loses with each second passing. Natsumi is gone in the dark of this castle, in the wrath of this demon. Her beloved Natsumi...and Nariaki.
"I...hate...you. Atsumotchi...this is...your fault...had I never...trusted you."
Within the gloom she vanishes, her soul molders into dust, carried away by her rage and grief.
"I can't believ-...ho..why..." Tori sobs so much, neither of them understand her words. "Why did you let her die!? For what reason!?"
Tori hisses at him. "I, why, I thought-"
"To hell with you!"
The sword shuts its mouth closed, the clicking sound reassures the Seller.
To his surprise, the centipedes crumble on his skin, turn into something that comes close to ash, but isn't. Soft like the fur of a fox glitters in the untouched, pure light of the candles. All the time over the Ōmukade stayed silent, like an obedient child, listening to the tale of Atsumotchi. The seller would have laughed alone. The centipedes made it impossible for them to move and now they disappear like a ghost's trail. It was surely not his seals and the sword of his that held it back.
And yet, he misses a piece. The final piece, the key to unsheathing the sword. Reason and form resonated, but the truth is blurry. The story isn't wrong this time, though it comes down to the same result. But already proven before, this Ōmukade isn't the woman's spirit that manifested into it. What only is the truth? What is the state of being? What roams inside of it? The connections make little sense to him. If Sugemi never raged that far to become a Mononoke...
The Ōmukade's legs spread wide up, collect energy inside of them. The medicine seller turns around, with still all his power bundled. "Run!" The others don't wait to get this told twice, Atsumotchi fetches his son from Tori's arms and altogether they sprint and stumble through the back door. "Natsumi!" Her father calls for her, but the girl seems stuck in place. The Seller pushes her away from him with his leg, which leaves her confused and irritated. "Come!"
"I don't want to! Mr. Medicine seller won't know the way!"
"Go, child. I know where you will be." He tries his best to bring forth a comforting tone. The room trembles, the monster screeches, hits its back part of the body against the walls, let's the wood and other hard materials rain on them. One part lands on the Medicine seller's head, the pain stitches through his head until his eyes, though he shakes it off and holds the power-up.
Atsumotchi grabs her arm, drags her along even with her squealing and struggling. "Why are you taking this child!?" Tori's voice rips the air, the Seller can barely concentrate on them. He glances back at her. "She's still my daughter-"
"Get rid of her! Without warning, she kicks her away, where she hits the ground and cries bitterly. "Give her to this monster! Then finally this woman will leave us alone! Do you hear me!" Upholding his power eats on the last reserve of his. "Run..." he pleads another time. "Take her!" With force, she pulls at her husband, who baffles at her, refuses to go away. "Run!" A last yell, the power strips from him, the members disappear into the hallway wherever this may lead. There is no way he can hold against this monster now.