Here it is! Sorry about the delay.

Chapter 2

"Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them."-Oscar Wilde

She was filled with relief as soon as she entered the door. Nowhere else felt more safe than home. She kicked her shoes off and tossed her bag in the corner. She pulled an elastic band from her wrist and pulled up her medium-length brown hair before continuing into the hall. Jirou heard her father coming down the stairs and she went to greet him.

"Jirou! What took you? You were supposed to be home thirty minutes ago!" he exclaimed as he came down. She could sense anger in his tone.

"Just traffic, father," she lied, "Have you eaten yet? I can get dinner ready," she perked up at the thought. She loved cooking, especially for her father.

"Oh, I had some takeout already. You should have called if you were going to be late," her father said when he came up to her. She tried to hide her shame. Takeshi Takagawa was tall with a regular build, but a particularly round face which got red when he was angry. His short black hair was turning gray and he was beginning to get a gut from all the good food Jirou had learned to cook.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know," Jirou bowed apologetically.

"It's excusable. There are some leftovers in the fridge. After you eat, I want you to work on your homework," he told her.

"Of course, father," she said before he turned and headed back up to his room.

Jirou heated up her food and brought it up to her room. She was surprised she didn't get scolded even more for whatever reason her father didn't see fit. Luckily, she didn't have any homework to do; she had done it during break at practice. As Jirou ate her noodles in the takeout box, she gazed at the book shelf in her room by her door. There she had her mother's books and some random things she thought were interesting that had belonged to her mother. On one of the shelves was a velvet jewelry case in which Jirou had found a cute charm necklace that she has worn everyday since she found it in her mother's stuff. She pulled the necklace out from underneath her shirt to look at it. The necklace was a silver chain that held a piece of jade with weird carvings like an Egyptian cartouche. She wasn't sure what it was for, but her mother wore it all the time in photos Jirou had seen.

When Jirou was done eating, she pulled out one of her mother's books and began to flip through it. It had no title, and was bound by a black ribbon. Her mother's name was on the first page and the book was handwritten. Could it have been her mother's journal?

Jirou quickly put the book down and ran downstairs to grab a drink Her father didn't allow pop or any caffeinated drinks in the household, so all there was to drink was water, milk, or green tea. She heated up a cup of milk and brought it up to her room. She was excited to read something her mother had wrote but she needed something to calm her nerves on the way. She opened the book back up and began to read.

I met with Heisuke Matsudo today to further my studies. He is a very funny little man. I was frustrated because I felt that he wasn't teaching me anything, but later that night I found that I had actually learned a lot more than I thought I did.

Was her mother still a college student when she wrote this? No, the date was only 18 years ago, a year before Jirou was born. Then who was Heisuke Matsudo?

Heisuke taught me a new protection charm today. Ever since I got attacked in the forest, I've felt that all the protection charms I had were insufficient. He also mentioned there is a charm to protect against S-Class ayakashi as well, but he didn't think I was ready to learn it.

Jirou's eyes widened when she read the word. Ayakashi? So they are real and evidently, one had attacked her mother, and she survived. She skimmed a couple pages excitedly.

I've become better at casting spells to protect myself and to inflict pain to the ayakashi. Heisuke was very pleased with my progress. I was glad I practiced in the forest again on the smaller ayakashi. I believe I killed a couple the other night, but I can't be sure. When I heard the growling, I ran as quickly as I could back home where my husband scolded me for casting again. Heisuke is helping me make the S-Class protection charm. I had to do a couple of jobs for the ladies down the street to earn the money, but I was able to buy the jade piece to make the charm.

A jade piece? Could it be…?

Heisuke instructed me to bury the jade for a whole lunar cycle so I planted a rose bush beside it, not only to mark where I had buried it, but also to make an excuse as to use the shovel.

Jirou forwarded to the next month's entry anxiously.

We performed the ritual today. It was ghastly. In order to make the charm impenetrable to S-Class ayakashi, you must bind an S-Class ayakashi to the charm by killing it with the charm. Heisuke carried out the deed, as I still have a heart for such creatures. The sacrifice is necessary, as it makes the charm like a repellant, or as Heisuke said the pole of a magnet. It will repel other S-Class ayakashi, and all ayakashi types under that.

Underneath the paragraph was a rough sketch of the charm, which looked just like the one Jirou wore. She stared blankly at the page in amazement. If the charm protects against S-Class ayakashi, and Kaguro was an ayakashi, then that's why he couldn't kill her! The protection charm didn't totally protect against them, since he could touch her and push her, but if a sword is drawn, then the charm kicks in.

She pulled out her school laptop and uploaded the search engine. She hurriedly typed in Heisuke Matsudo and pressed enter. The results loaded onto the screen and Jirou understood then, who her mother was that her father never told her about. Heisuke was an occult enthusiast, specifically in the ayakashi field of studies. He didn't live too far away either. She wrote down his address and thought of a million questions to ask him, not only about her mother, but about ayakashi, and Kaguro.