The Winter of the Ubume
拾壱: 除夜
❆Viktor❆
"Dobro pozhalovat' v Yaponiyu."
The moment I heard those words was the point at which I must have been caught. Suddenly my eyes were held in glad and incredulous surprise. There came floating a goddess.
There was really no other word for it. The perfect features, the dark hair, the exquisitely shaped body in a business suit. She walked like a goddess, floating without effort, seeming to swim nearer and near. A glorious, an incredible, a breath-taking girl!
Something had to go. In my excitement, there went my rationality. I had seen here before, right? "If I recall-"
She held my wrist. "I don't know you."
"Right... my mistake," I regrouped myself. I wouldn't mind knowing her.
She let go, and I fell on rubbery legs back onto the ground. "The katsudon is delicious," her comment floated through the buzzing in my ears.
I agreed – the katsudon here was made for the gods. I would have agreed to anything to stay in her presence-
A bark sliced through the haze, causing me to jump.
"What's up with you, Viktor?! And when did Makkachin multiply?!" Yurio complained as my throbbing headache set in. And Yuuri...
Yuuri was following her inside.
I'd seen her before – at the party. The party of demons and monsters. It did not take too much to realise that anything I had felt in that moment where she spoke to me was some nechistaya sila.
The black beast of hell continued to growl actively, though its back was to me right now. Though I didn't like its fighting with me for Yuuri's attention, I had to admit that it had saved me. But its growls increased in volume as I stood up.
"I have to get Yuuri," I pointed out.
It shook its whole body.
"Yuuri's under her evil influence," I pointed out.
"Huh? Viktor, what're you saying?" Yurio demanded, slamming his fist onto the table. The broccoli bounced as he did so.
"I have to get Yuuri."
"The pig's an adult, he can take care of himself."
"No, I have to get Yuuri!" I insisted before the door opened once more.
"Sorry, Hamasaki-san needed help with Mari-neechan," Yuuri said as he walked in, sat down and kept eating. "Viktor?"
"You... you followed her and- and-" I stared at him.
"Oi," Yurio laughed at him. "So, how does your sister know a lady like that?"
"Mari-neechan works part-time for her," Yuuri's eyes fell to Yurio. "She doesn't date kids, so give up."
"I- I didn't say anything!" Yurio fiercely defended.
Oh. Yuuri didn't want to mention it in front of Yurio. "But you were very excited talking to Yuuko today, Yurio. Just remember that she's married, alright?"
"Shut up, Viktor!"
❅Yuuri❅
I waited outside the repurposed banquet room that Viktor had taken over for however long he was going to stay – six days, until the end of the Grand Prix, or he'd left five minutes after being magically hypnotised.
I don't know which option to hope for.
There were other things to reply to. Phichit-kun had found out about Vicchan's... head... and was spamming me with all sorts of offers – his mother recommended a bomoh, apparently. Celestino sent his regards, with an oblique reference that his Italian-American grandmother had dropped some questions about my well-being. Since said old lady was apparently part of the Sicilian strega tradition, I felt disinclined to accept her help, however well-meaning.
The doors opened before I could knock, and a hand dragged me inside.
"Yuuri, only Aeroflot has kept me waiting for as long as you have," Viktor shut the door. "How was the funeral?"
"Ah? A- Ah, it's on hold, pending an investigation," I swallowed. "Erm... about Hamasaki-san, sorry for letting you get caught-"
"W- What was that?" Viktor's eyes narrowed, his hands still caught on the lapels of my shirt in the tight grip of panic. "It felt like... I lost all my senses?"
"It's a... charm," I decided. "You know how, in fiction, vampires and the like make themselves look more attractive than they should?"
Viktor nodded. "Glamúr. In English, glamour. Another form of nechistaya sila – devilry."
"We call that miryoku in Japanese – supernatural attractiveness," I explained, thankful for once that the English language's messiness meant that there was a word for most things, even if it didn't have kigo or the expansiveness of other idioms. "It wasn't deliberate, I swear!"
"But you weren't affected?" Viktor seemed to ignore any danger to himself in favour of peering at my eyes. "I need a light."
"Huh?" I blinked as he moved to switch on all the LED lamps in his room. "No, I'm good. Our family's shrine has power, and there's other rules involved when the yōkai come into contact with the hosts of an inn. Erm, I understand if you feel unsafe, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to get you an omamori for protection against evil at the shrine, I thought the shrine's assurance would be enough-"
"Yuuri, calm down." Viktor was smiling, his mouth forming a little heart-shape in his saccharine cheer. "Well, Yurio went to the temple today, and later this week he'll be going to the waterfall. As for me, I'll try not to speak to unnaturally attractive women. And tomorrow, we can go visit the shrine again! I haven't been there during the daytime, it'll be fun!"
Because there aren't monsters there in the daytime, I wanted to say, but he was leaning close again. "I'm so happy I get to learn some more about you, Yuuri." His breath brushed past my cheek – he'd brushed his teeth.
Much as I wanted to marvel some more at his dental hygiene, Viktor then sat back down on his couch – the one that he'd had flown all the way from Russia – with Makkachin. "But, do... those amulets work? Not to offend you..."
"Ah... I don't know," I confessed in confusion. Actually, that's a valid question. "Erm... are you practising?"
"Might have lapsed," Viktor ruefully admitted. "I would however like to know if sacraments of different faiths... cancel out."
"Maybe for others, but Shinto is a bit... nebulous," I wiggled my fingers to make the point. "You can believe in multiple gods, you can believe that they're all different facets of the same god, but they're all there to help humans. I don't think God – the Christian one – would mind borrowing some help from the gods in another country."
I mean, I might not follow any organised religion or believe in a deity – Atarime-hiko and Unihime don't count, since I know them. I would make it a point to find osechi in New Year, drop by an Obon celebration when I could find one in the United States, and Phichit and I once went to celebrate – or, more accurately, to gatecrash – a Vesak Day celebration together along the north-east.1
"Okay!" Viktor looked excited. "It'll be my first shrine visit."
"Erm... you're not... offended, right?"
"I'm sure I can keep an open mind," Viktor cheerfully replied. "As long as nothing like that dog's head appear again."
It'll be fine. There is no way that not observing the traditions would screw things up. Sure, the miyamairi was held for newborns, but this was Viktor!2 Unihime would surely understand.
"So, have you found your eros?"
"Ah..." How would he react if I said that I had to ask Kyō-san? Though I already decided that her help was kind of pointless, since I can't use magic. "I..."
"That demonic charm looks effective," Viktor mused. "Perhaps it'll make even your head spin."
"I'm not going to do that!"
Viktor froze on his couch, blinking. Makkachin barked as a scratching sounded by the door. A low growl echoed.
"It's fine, Vicchan." I tried not to look at Viktor's face as I turned back to talk through the shōji screens of Viktor's room. The growl stopped, and I turned back. "Viktor... that miryoku could not be eros to me. Because, to me, eros is a certainty. It is something solid to chase after, not a dream! I- I want to eat katsudon with Viktor! So...! So... that's it for me..."
"What? What is it?!" Viktor pressed me, so I gave the answer straight.
"It's katsudon!"
A thump resounded.
"Viktor?! How'd you fall off the couch?! I'm sorry!"
"No, nothing... that's... its uniqueness just... blew me. Right..."
Critiquez, s'il vous plaît !
1 Sometimes informally called "Buddha's Birthday", it actually commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha in the Theravada or southern tradition. Though I don't know much about the US, I checked that Detroit has a fairly significant Asian-American population who probably brought their customs and festivals along. For Phichit and Yuuri, Vesak Day would probably be a familiar sight – though in Japan, Vesak celebrations include pouring amacha on statues, which is what we do in Singapore as well. You don't really gatecrash a Vesak Day celebration since they're a time when Buddhist temples are far busier.
2 Miyamairi is a traditional Shinto rite of passage in Japan for newborns. Approximately one month after birth, parents and grandparents bring the child to a Shinto shrine, to express gratitude to the deities for the birth of a baby and have a shrine priest pray for his or her health and happiness.
From my understanding, Japanese religion is more spiritual than religious – you can don't believe in them, but you still have to do those family rituals. This is the country that, might I remind you, has people born into Shinto, married as Christian, and buried with Buddhist rites.
Opinions might differ, but let me clarify that no, Viktor is not converting.
