The sun was high in a cloudless sky. Heat, thirst and hunger made Goro Mayugorô's head feel heavy and confused. He continued his search through the mountain guided by nothing more than the initial direction he had received early in the morning in that strange and surprising revelation.
The strange dream he had woken up with and Hanako's peremptory message to "Find me and take me to my family" made him feel anxious. Was she hurt? Could she not move? If so, Hanako could be holed up in some corner of the mountain waiting for help. But what kind of place could that be? He had no clue.
That uncertainty had slowed his progress. He stopped frequently trying to discover signs of Hanako, looking for some clue that would reveal her whereabouts. By noon exhaustion and despair were consuming him as he found nothing.
Goro came to a small pasture bordering a part of the forest that had been consumed by fire. He checked the area for a while, calling out for Hanako. When he got tired of calling her and looking everywhere, he decided to continue moving in the direction of a group of trees on the other side of the clearing that had been spared by the fire.
The trees were on a slope that descended more steeply until it reached a small waterfall that was visible from the top. The waterfall formed a natural pool, not too big, but beautiful to look at.
Thirst and tiredness took over Goro's mind as soon as he saw that spot. He hurried down to satisfy his thirst. He threw himself on his knees beside the pond and began to generously wet his head and neck, grateful to be able to refresh himself.
When he finished, he stood up looking more carefully at the place where he was. He discovered that a few feet away from him there were multiple footprints. They looked recently made.
Goro looked anxiously in all directions, feeling a strange mixture of hope and worry.
"Hanako!... I'm Goro!... Where are you!" he shouted, looking in all directions.
There was no response.
Goro approached the footprints and examined them carefully. As a shoe craftsman he knew well the types of soles that each type of shoe had. Those footprints showed different shapes and sizes. He deduced that they had to be from several people.
Some tracks were of a humble waraji type of shoes, because of the fiber marks in the muddy sand. Others appeared to be from good quality wooden zouris because of the flat, defined marks they had left.
Goro noticed that the shape of the soles on those prints were different from the ones they made in Mayugorô's workshop. In addition, there were at least two different sizes. He understood that the owners of those shoes might be from someone outside Itomori and, looking more closely, he discovered other different footprints.
His heart skipped a beat. He saw the unmistakable footprints of a female geta shoe; were they Hanako's? If they were hers, then whose were those other footprints? Had she fallen into the hands of bandits?
"Hanako, where are you!" he shouted again in desperation.
Again, there was no answer.
The thought that Hanako had been captured by bandits made his heart shrink. He followed the footprints with his eyes and saw them leading away through the trees, down the mountain.
Goro began to move cautiously through the trees, trying not to make noise or be discovered. As he advanced through the forest, he saw no one.
After less than a minute of advancing, a flat field emerged. He discovered that there was no one in sight.
Anguish invaded him again. Where was she then? He cried out for her again, but to no avail.
Then Goro looked carefully at the landscape that opened up before him. It was a grassy area about thirty meters in diameter. In the background he saw the road leading back to Itomori.
He walked a few meters and found several areas where the grass was flattened. Someone had been wandering around for a long time. He looked around and found the ashes of a campfire. He walked over and put a hand close to it. It was still warm! Whoever had been there had left not too long ago.
"Hanako, where are you? Why can't I find you?" Goro asked himself, feeling a lump in his throat.
Goro put his hands on his head trying to think what to do next. He figured he had no way of knowing if Hanako had been there. Besides, if she had passed this way, with the road in sight, she would have made her own way back to the village.
That reasoning reassured Goro for a few seconds, who then decided to continue searching elsewhere. He turned and looked back at the mountain, weighing where to continue his search.
And then, the crisp sound of a Shinto rattle reached him from behind.
Goro jumped back, stunned to see that no one was there.
"Hanako?" Goro asked aloud, making a horn with his hands.
He stood still for several seconds trying to hear the rattle again, or some noise. Nothing happened. But he was sure that what he had heard was real, so he began to walk in the direction from which he believed the sound had come.
After a few dozen meters he reached the road to Itomori. He looked to where the road went into the trees, forming a shady area.
Goro thought that, if Hanako was injured, she would have sought shelter in a cool, shady area like that. He began to walk carefully looking around and then, at the side of the road and a couple of meters from where the shade of the trees began, he saw an elongated rock mound, about sixty centimeters high and about two meters long.
He looked quizzically at the rocks. That was completely out of place. Also, the mound appeared to be very recent as the rocks still had wet soil and grass stuck to them.
Goro was dumbfounded, trying to understand what that meant. He scanned the rocks with his eyes until he reached the end of the mound, and saw that at its end there was a piece of thick, straight branch, cut roughly with some kind of axe, standing upright between the rocks of the mound, about forty centimeters above the rocks. And at the upper end of the branch was a white cloth handkerchief knotted with a colorful rope.
Goro approached the branch and untied the handkerchief. Then he realized there was not one but two different strings: one red at the ends, changing to sunset orange and then blue in the center; the second string was dark blue at the ends and changed to a light sky blue with white lines in the center.
Goro felt as if his heart had stopped, and an icy chill ran through his whole body. Those were kumihimo strings like the ones they made at Miyamizu shrine. And the blue rope was similar to the one Hanako used to wear as a headdress in her hair.
Goro's hands began to tremble with fear.
He looked at the handkerchief in his hand and noticed that there were some dark markings on the inside that were barely visible on the thin handkerchief fabric. He began to carefully unfold it, and saw that someone had made writing marks with a piece of charcoal, hidden from view by the folds of the cloth.
Goro stretched the handkerchief in front of his face and could see:
宮
水
の
美
人
巫
女
With a trembling voice, Goro read it aloud.
«Miyamizu no bijin miko»
("Miyamizu beautiful Miko maiden.")
He began to feel short of breath. He looked at the stones and then Goro Mayugorô understood what the mound of rocks he had just found was: a burial mound.
Fear turned to panic.
"No... no... no! Please don't, Hanako, don't do this to me!" cried Goro in anguish.
In total desperation he began to remove one by one the rocks that someone had placed, carefully, like a castle of rocks to form the burial mound. He threw them away one by one, until he was able to reveal a human figure covered by several layers of thick and elegant colored cloth.
Goro stopped in awe of what he was about to discover.
After hesitating for several seconds, he took the cloths covering the figure's head, closed his eyes, and gently removed it. Then he opened his eyes.
It was Hanako Miyamizu.
Hanako lay inert, pale and cold, her eyes and lips already bruised, but with a deep face of tranquility, showing her final beauty, that which only death can reveal.
Goro fell to his knees, unable to believe his eyes. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he couldn't do anything.
Until, like an uncontainable avalanche, from inside Goro's chest came a howl of pain, and then screams of anguish, despair and anguish, one after another, without stopping.
Goro Mayugorô realized with a torn heart that he had first been deceived, then used as a weapon, and finally he had been betrayed by the dragon god in the vilest way. The dragon god's promise that he would have Hanako had been the final lie. And now he had lost everything. He had lost her forever.
§
The afternoon in the Itomori market square was frenetically busy, but out of the ordinary. The few farmers who had arrived in the morning with their produce had set up a few stalls in just one corner of the place, but by now they had all left unusually early; now most of the space in the place was occupied by dozens of corpses lined up with each other. They were the victims of the fire and smoke that the night before had ravaged Itomori.
Neighbors and family members walked the corridors that formed between the bodies, some trying to find their relatives, others paying their respects to their loved ones lying inert on the ground.
The sound of men and women crying could be heard in all directions as new bodies were recovered and brought to the site, or when someone found a loved one among the rows of bodies.
Some families had gradually begun to take the bodies of their relatives to a different location, where they were organizing improvised farewell ceremonies to proceed to cremate their remains. Usually that activity was led by the priests of the Miyamizu shrine, but with the loss of the shrine there was no one ordained to perform such rites. So, the families were doing their best to remember the required prayers and rituals, and with that memory alone they tried to emulate as best as possible the ritual ceremony necessary to bid farewell to their dead relatives according to tradition.
A significant portion of the deceased were the victims of the shrine. During the morning, several groups of volunteers had supported Masaru Ishida, making multiple trips to Miyamizu shrine, and bringing one by one the bodies of Masaru's relatives, friends and colleagues who had lost their lives at Miyamizu shrine.
In the market square, the Miko priestesses Ayami and Amane took turns caring for Kaori. At first the girl could only cry, until she remained silent, in shock, hugging Ayami. Then Amane had to assume the mission of checking one by one the dead people who were already in the square and who were still arriving; the two adult women almost did not want to verbalize it so as not to overwhelm the girl even more, but they feared that at any moment Hanako could appear among the victims.
But Amane's search was fruitless. Around noon Amane returned to her sister and Kaori. She now had a little more hope that Hanako would return safely, but the length of time that passed without news about Hanako worried her.
Ame-san's family, the owner of the tent that had housed Amane and Masaru, brought them food at lunchtime. The three women ate in grateful but crestfallen silence, unable to overcome the grief and worry that consumed them.
When the last bodies arrived from the shrine, Ayami and Amane confirmed that Hanako was not there either. But seeing all their friends and family at the shrine lifeless drained what little energy they had.
By early afternoon Kaori was desperate. She wanted to find her sister and her newborn baby brother. The lack of news was causing her anguish to boil over.
"Kaori-sama, please don't lose hope," Amane tried to comfort her.
"She said she knew we would be okay. Mom said we would be fine... I have to find her... I have to find her..." Kaori repeated in a muffled voice.
"Who told you that?" tried to ask Amane, who couldn't stop herself when she saw the gestures Ayami made to her not to bring up the subject with Kaori. But the girl understood the question.
"Yesterday... mom... my mom said that she knew that we would be fine... she knew... she... she knew that I was going to be fine. And that... that Hanako will be fine. Why doesn't she show up? Ayami-san, Amane-san Why isn't she with us?"
The girl looked at her teachers and the emotional overload overwhelmed her. Her legs could no longer support her and she fell into a sitting position, sobbing, no longer able to control her emotions.
Amane looked at the girl feeling guilty, not knowing what else to say to her; Ayami hugged the girl, trying to comfort her, and gave an angry look to her sister.
Amane could not stand the situation, and took a few steps away from them. She looked in the direction of where she knew Kyomi Miyamizu's body was, and tears began to well up in her eyes again.
"Forgive me, my lady, I did not mean to..."
But the words didn't come out. She tried to undo the lump he felt in her throat, clearing her eyes, and continued with the task Kaori had given them all afternoon: to ask every person they saw or who came to the market square for some news or clue as to the whereabouts of Hanako and baby Toshiki.
When Masaru arrived back after finishing the task of retrieving the bodies of the deceased from the shrine, he saw the women and approached to report to Kaori. His face showed tremendous weariness and grief.
"Kaori-sama, we have finished bringing everyone in."
Kaori nodded while pouting, but holding back. Masaru decided not to say anything more on that topic; he looked at the girl and wanted to give her encouragement and hope.
"Now we are going to find your sister," Masaru continued. "She is now the head of the clan. And Hanako-sama is a very strong woman, I'm sure she will appear at any moment, don't worry, Kaori-sama."
But his conviction was rather weak. Masaru approached Amane and spoke into her ear in a disguised manner.
"Have you heard from her?"
Amane shook her head softly.
"Then I'll go get her," he whispered back. "Stay put."
Masaru looked toward Ame-san's tent. He saw his father sitting against the wall, staring at the ground, motionless.
"Amane-san, did my father say something?"
The woman looked toward the tent, and shook her head again.
"He ate a little at lunchtime; then we left him sitting there. He hasn't moved since then. And Koba-san hasn't said anything..."
"I understand... I'm going to..."
A strange disturbance in the atmosphere interrupted Masaru, and he stood in silence, puzzled. It was as if suddenly the noise of the place had abruptly started to die down, to the point of being noticeable to everyone. Many people noticed it too, so they all looked around strangely.
Kaori stood up, also puzzled, and looking worriedly in all directions. Then she saw one of the local children running toward them.
"Kaori-chan, it's her, it's her," the boy shouted, gesturing towards the road leading to the square.
That alerted the shrine survivors that something important was going on. Kaori stood up, leaning on Ayami,
"Is she coming? Is my sister coming?" asked Kaori hopefully, who started to walk towards the place the boy pointed to.
The three adults began to follow her silently, expectantly.
As Kaori walked, the people around her began to move, making way for her. From the far end of the square a similar reaction was occurring, causing a corridor to form separating the fifty or so people in the place.
About twenty meters away from Kaori, a young man walked carrying a person in his arms, wrapped in a bright blue silk cloth.
Kaori stopped dead in her tracks, staring blankly. She first recognized the boy and realized it was Goro Mayugorô, the young man who the day before had been captured as a delinquent by his father and uncle at the shrine.
Goro walked slowly, staring at the ground, almost oblivious to what was going on around him. He didn't even look up when dozens of murmurs among the people began all around him.
Kaori looked anxiously at the person Goro was carrying. It appeared to be a woman. The woman's face was hidden, leaning against the young man's shoulder. Kaori could only see her long black hair hanging down. And then she saw one of the dangling woman's arms, sticking out from between the blue cloth wrapped around her.
Kaori discovered that that arm was wrapped in a kimono sleeve identical to the one she herself wore. And then she knew who it was.
"Si-Sister? Hanako... Hanako!" shouted Kaori, running towards the newcomer, who only then looked up and saw the girl and the other shrine members running towards him.
Goro put the girl down as gently as he could, setting her down on the floor, and kneeling beside her, as Kaori and Ayami caught up with him, throwing themselves on top of the girl.
"Hanako! Sister? Hanako?" cried the girl, trying to move her sister and make her react. "Ayami, what's wrong with Hanako?"
Ayami saw Hanako's face on the ground, pale and motionless, and could only let out an exhalation of surprise. She grabbed Kaori by the shoulders and gently pulled her back, separating her from Hanako.
"No, what are you doing, Ayami-san? -Hanako, wake up!"
Ayami, surrounded by Amane and Masaru, looked at Hanako without being able to believe what they saw. Only Kaori continued to protest without understanding.
"Is she... is she...?" Amane asked the man, unable to complete the question.
The man looked up. He was crying silently. He could only nod his head weakly.
Kaori was stunned to see the man's response. She turned her head toward her teachers.
"Amane-san, Ayami-san, what's wrong with Hanako?"
Amane covered her face with her hands, unable to hold back her tears.
Ayami turned the girl toward her and hugged her, answering between sobs.
"Kaori-sama, I'm so sorry. Your sister... Hanako-sama... is dead."
The girl opened her eyes and her arms fell limply to her side. The truth of those words crashed into her mind leaving her paralyzed with pain.
"I'm sorry, Kaori-sama, I'm so sorry..." Ayami kept repeating, trying to comfort the girl.
Masaru was stunned looking at the scene. He recovered from the initial shock, and faced Goro.
"You are Goro-san, right? How...? What happened to Hanako-sama...? How did you find her? And where is the baby?"
Ayami and Kaori's eyes widened in horror. Goro looked at them with a confused look, as if he didn't understand the question.
"WHERE IS THE MIYAMIZU BABY?" Masaru shouted uncontrollably.
Kaori suddenly felt free from Ayami's embrace, and turned around looking at Goro with tear-filled eyes.
"Where is my little brother? What happened to my little brother?"
Goro Mayugorô looked at the women in confusion, his mind blank. What baby were they talking about?
Masaru circled around Hanako and reached Goro, grabbing him by his clothes and lifting him off the ground.
"Where is Kyomi-sama's son? Where did you find her? Please... please answer me... please!"
Goro began to babble incoherently. Masaru released him and Goro fell to the floor, his hands on the ground.
"I-I... I... I... I don't know... I wanted to find her... I wanted to save her, and she appeared in my dreams, she asked me to find her, to bring her... to you... and I followed her call... I walked through the mountain... and... this morning... I found her... she was already... like this... someone had buried her... under a mound of stones... at the edge of the road that comes... to Itomori. And I couldn't do anything... I couldn't do anything... for my Hanako..."
Goro held a hand to his chest, as he gritted his teeth... and then looked up and looked at Masaru, and then at the women.
"SHE WAS EVERYTHING TO ME AND I COULD DO NOTHING FOR HER! And somebody found her... and left her there... alone... without any baby... there was... no baby, and they just left... this..."
Goro reached into his clothes and pulled out a white cloth, wrapped around two kumihimo strings.
Amane reached out and took the bundle of fabrics.
Kaori and Ayami recognized them instantly: they were Hanako's kumihimo rope, and Kyomi's kumihimo rope that she had given Hanako to carry near the baby with him.
"Why, Ayami-san, where is my little brother?" Kaori asked.
"I don't know, Kaori-sama... I... can't know," Ayami replied. "Now... we're alone. Not even... not even Hanako-sama was saved... and baby Miyamizu is gone... if she... if she..." Ayami's voice choked in her throat.
"Kaori-sama, now there is only... you," said Amane, kneeling before the girl.
"Kaori-sama!" Masaru exclaimed, putting one knee on the ground, and bowing to her as well.
Kaori looked around in confusion. Murmurs from the Itomori people surrounding the scene began to spread.
Shuffling footsteps and the thump of a stick on the ground indicated that someone was approaching.
"Dad?" asked Masaru, seeing that Mr. Koba was approaching, with a tired step, leaning on a cane. It was as if the already elderly man had had ten more years thrown on him in a few hours.
Mr. Koba stopped in front of the group.
"Did you, Mayugorô-san, find Hanako-sama and bring her back to us?" spoke the old man, in a tired voice.
Goro nodded slightly.
"Then the Miyamizu family will be indebted to you forever," said Mr. Koba. "Poor Hanako-sama, she was the heiress of the Miyamizu clan..."
The man stood silently with his eyes closed, for a second, making a mental prayer for Hanako, and then raised his head, speaking to all the people around him.
"People of Itomori," said Mr. Koba, raising his voice as high as he could. "This tragedy has hit us hard. Many of us have lost... everything. Our homes, our families, the ones we love... I lost... my wife and my two eldest children..."
More murmurs arose among the people around them.
Mr. Koba had to stop, wiped his eyes with his fingers, and then took a sharp intake of breath so he could try to control his emotions and continue.
"Today we not only lost our family," he continued. "We also lost the Miyamizu shrine, which was the heart of Itomori. That shrine is the reason this town exists, and for dozens of generations the Miyamizu family ran it. The Miyamizu helped Itomori through its darkest times. Many generations of people like you or like my family worked for the shrine, which was our pride..."
Voices of approval were heard all around.
"The most terrible thing is that we almost lost the blood of the Miyamizu family. I saw with my own eyes how we lost our high priest, Miyamizu Hiroshi. His brother Miyamizu Keitaro. Miyamizu Kyomi, the mother of these girls... and we also lost Miyamizu Hanako, who was the heiress of the clan..."
Mr. Koba took a couple of steps and approached Kaori. He put a hand on her shoulder, then looked at everyone around him.
"BUT ALL IS NOT LOST!" said Mr. Koba in a voice torn, almost shouting, in a way that was almost out of keeping with his frail state. "The gods were merciful, and Musubi allowed the Miyamizu to still be with us!"
Mr. Koba turned away from Kaori, and faced all the silent listeners.
"This girl, Miyamizu Kaori, is the last Miyamizu alive! She is the true treasure of Itomori. She is now the sole heir of the Miyamizu clan, and the only hope for Itomori. The shrine cannot die while we still have the Miyamizu among us..."
Mr. Koba opened his arms, as if he wanted to embrace everyone who was listening to him.
"I ask you… No, I beg you all to recognize this girl, as the rightful heir of the Miyamizu clan, and then let's rebuild the shrine, all together, from the ashes. If we want to rebuild Itomori village, we must rebuild the Miyamizu shrine. Then we can truly honor all those we lost today..."
The old man turned to Kaori again, and put one knee on the ground, rested his hands on the other knee, and bowed.
"I swear on the remaining life of this old body that I will continue to serve the Miyamizu family. I swear that I recognize Miyamizu Kaori as the heir of the clan. And I swear that I will fight to my last breath to rebuild Miyamizu Shrine, with the help of the people of Itomori..."
Mr. Koba took a big breath of air, and spoke in the loudest voice he could muster, so that everyone in the square could hear him.
"In the third year of the Kyōwa era, I declare Miyamizu Kaori as the rightful heir of the Miyamizu clan, and now leader of the clan!"
The old man turned to the girl and bowed to her as much as he could.
"Kaori-sama!" asserted Koba san, in the most submissive posture he could manage with his tired old body.
"Kaori-sama!" repeated Ayami, Amane and Masaru, who knelt down and bowed to the girl.
And after a couple of seconds, one by one the inhabitants of Itomori who had witnessed Koba-san's speech began to kneel in Kaori's direction, repeating "Kaori-sama" as a sign of acceptance of their new status.
The girl stood dumbfounded, unable to say anything. She looked at Ayami, frightened, and spoke softly to her.
"But... Ayami-san... I'm just... I'm a child!"
Ayami sat up and approached her, took one of her hands, and spoke softly, close to her face.
"The Miyamizu took me in and saved my life and my sister's life when we were still children. And they educated me, nurtured me and taught me everything I know today. I promise to put myself at your disposal so that everything I learned from your mother, from dances and prayers, will never be lost. I will never be able to replace Kyomi-sama, but I swear on my life that I will take care of you as she took care of me and my sister."
Amane followed in her sister's footsteps, and took Kaori's other hand.
"And I also swear that I will be under your command, Kaori-sama, to pass on you all that your mother taught me of the braiding of the sacred kumihimo ropes, so that your mother's legacy will not disappear."
Masaru stood up and stood next to his father. He took a breath, and with the loudest voice he could, he spoke in all directions.
"We will rebuild Itomori, and we will rebuild Miyamizu Shrine together with Kaori-sama!"
Masaru paused and then gave the ritual cry of sanbon-jime, to close the agreement with the inhabitants of Itomori.
"Ote wo haishaku!"
Masaru began to beat his palms rhythmically, ending with a shout of "iyō'o", three times. His call was joined by everyone present as one.
Then, one by one the more than fifty people in the square approached Kaori to greet her and show their loyalty. They also bowed to Hanako, as a sign of respect.
Goro had watched the whole ceremony from the ground. He looked back at his beloved, who was lying in front of him. Then he looked through the people around them and saw the dozens of bodies of those who had died in the fire, lying a few meters away. Perhaps among those bodies now were his own mother and his sister Sumi. All of them dead.
Goro felt guilt begin to eat away at him. He remembered the image of Hanako in his dream. "It's not your fault," she had told him. But now Hanako was dead. Was that the great distance that would separate them forever?
Unable to contain his grief and guilt any longer, he stood up, and began to walk away from the place, with a weary step.
A neighbor of Goro's who was respectfully greeting Hanako joined in and caught her eye of the boy walking away.
"Mayugorô-san?" shouted the woman, above the ambient noise, leaving everyone silent because of the suddenness of the shout.
Goro turned, looking confused at the woman.
"I... I know you!" continued the woman, her voice rising in an increasingly angry tone. "The fire that burned my house, and that took my husband and my daughter from me, started from your house, from the bathrooms of your house! I myself saw how the fire started from there!"
People began to murmur and swirl around Goro. He looked around fearfully, unable to say anything.
"Aren't you going to say anything? Aren't you at least going to apologize in the name of your family for all the pain you caused?" said the woman in anger, "Say something, you damned murderer!"
The people began to get angry. The faces of several of the inhabitants began to show their hatred for the boy, especially those who had been affected by the fire.
"I... It wasn't my fault!" cried Goro, grabbing his head. "I lost my family too, I lost my mother, I lost my sister, and I lost the woman I loved. I lost everything! But I didn't want any of this to happen, I didn't want it, it wasn't my fault!"
"Did you set that fire, you fucking son of a bitch?" someone was heard shouting from the crowd.
"Answer me, murderer!" replied the woman, at Goro's own self-incrimination.
"I didn't want to do it!" Goro answered. "I didn't do it! It was... it was a kamiyadori! The dragon god that cursed Itomori did it! He got into my body and it was the dragon god who set the fire! I couldn't do anything! He did it! That damned dragon god did it!"
"Mayugorô, you lying murderer!" the woman shouted. She picked up a stone that was near her and threw it at Goro.
Goro cringed when the stone hit one of his arms. Other people became enraged and began to boo him and throw stones or whatever they could get their hands on. He began to back away, until a stone hit him in the head and he fell to the ground.
"Stop, stop, stop!" shouted Kaori, with an authority she herself did not expect in her voice.
The adults in the square stopped, and saw Kaori breathing heavily, looking at them all.
"Mayugorô Goro was the man my sister loved," said Kaori looking at everyone around her. "My sister Hanako would have given her life for him. And now she is dead! She died trying to save my brother! She died trying to save lives! I don't want any more deaths in this place! I don't want anyone else to lose his life! Let… Mayugorô Goro go in peace!"
Kaori looked at her sister. She thought of what Hanako would have done, just as last night her sister had thrown herself on that boy to save him when their father was wielding the spear. She knew then that her decision was the right one.
The woman who had accused Goro began to whimper in frustration, conflicted between the hatred she felt for Goro and the respect for the order given by Kaori, who was now an Itomori authority. The woman dropped the stone she was holding in her hand, and brought her hands to her face, crying inconsolably.
The rest of the people who were attacking Goro hesitated at first, but then followed the woman's example, and stopped attacking Goro, dropping the stones and other objects they were about to throw at him.
"Mayugorô-san, please go away from here," said Kaori, with a lump in her throat.
Goro stood up, holding his head, and began to walk away from the square, leaving through the people who were moving aside as he passed.
Ayami stood next to Kaori, and hugged her by the shoulders.
"Kaori-sama, you have just given your first order. You see, you will be a great leader."
"I'll just follow the path left to me by my father, my mother... and my sister," Kaori replied, grimacing at Hanako. "Let's take my sister to my parents. I want them to be able to... be together again."
"That will be done," said Ayami. "Koba-san, Masaru-san, let's take Hanako-sama to her family."
The men nodded, and prepared to take Hanako, taking advantage of the thin blue cloth that already wrapped around her body like a blanket.
"I promise we will rebuild everything, dad, mom, sister. Miyamizu Shrine will be our home again," Kaori said softly.
"And we will be there with you, Kaori-sama," said Amane.
The girl looked at her two teacher sisters, and hugged them.
"We will place our hopes in your future, Kaori-sama. The future of the Miyamizu clan is now you," Ayami said, wiping the girl's face.
"Will we find my little brother, Ayami-san?" Kaori asked.
"We will look for him. If it's Musubi's will, we'll find him, but..."
Ayami looked at Hanako, who was being carried by Mr. Koba and Masaru.
"If Hanako-sama could not save him, and now... she left us, I fear that your brother... he... is already in the company of your parents and ancestors, Kaori-sama."
Kaori hugged Ayami, pressing herself against her chest. So, she really was then the last Miyamizu.
Amane looked at them, then looked at the kumihimo strings she still held in her hand. She felt like crying again. But she restrained herself. She unwound the strings from the white cloth, tidied them up, and handed them to Kaori with a bow.
"Kaori-sama, this is yours. It is a treasure and an heirloom that you must have."
Kaori took the ropes and held them to her chest. She closed her eyes, thinking of her mother and sister. These strings were the only thing she now had of her family. They would be her treasure for the rest of her life.
And then the three women began to walk, following Mr. Koba and Masaru, who had already walked away slowly carrying Hanako to the place where the cremation rituals would be performed, where the Miyamizu who had left this world would begin their final journey back to their ancestors.
As they were leaving the square, Kaori stopped for a few moments to look back. She looked at the dozens of people still moving in that square. Those people would now be her responsibility, as a shrine leader. They would recognize her as a leader of Itomori and she would have to rise to the heights.
In the distance she saw that Goro Mayugorô had also stopped at the other end and he was looking towards them, watching Hanako being carried away from him forever.
Kaori didn't know whether to thank the man for loving her sister, for finding her and bringing her back to them, or to hate him for the harm they said he had caused. Was he a monstrous murderer? Or was it true what he had said about the dragon god? She did not know what to think. Then she watched as Goro turned and began to walk away until he disappeared from her sight. She never imagined that this was the last time in her life that she, like everyone else in Itomori, would ever see Goro Mayugorô again.
§
Dusk had arrived in Takayama City. The hustle and bustle of the end of the day was noticeable, with merchants closing their stores, and some women and passersby walking hurriedly back to their homes. Light was becoming scarce, and in some properties the lamps were already lit.
Through the darkened streets walked Masao, carrying a baby in his arms, followed by a young woman, much smaller than him.
The woman was wearing a single dark blue kimono, modest in appearance. She carried in her hands in front of her a small bundle of clothes in a kind of makeshift bag.
The woman, barely more than a teenager, walked around curiously looking around, taking in the wealthy residences of Takayama. It was notorious that she did not usually frequent that side of town.
Masao finally stopped in front of the entrance to his house, a medium-sized, distinguished-looking one-story residence. The lamps in his house were already lit. He turned to the girl following him, and spoke to her with nervousness in his voice.
"Please don't say anything until I finish talking to my wife."
The girl nodded her head, shyly, without saying anything.
Masao entered his house, and opened the door carefully, thinking not to startle his wife, who he knew was not expecting his return for almost a week.
"Keiko? Dear, I'm home!" said Masao in a loud voice.
Hurried footsteps were heard coming from an adjoining room. A middle-aged woman peered frightened into the hallway.
"Masao?" she said in a doubtful voice when she saw the man. "Dear! But why...?"
The woman was paralyzed to see her husband standing in the doorway of the house, carrying a baby who just started crying, and a step behind him a young woman she did not know.
"Masao...! What... does this mean? Who... is...?"
"Honey, please calm down, it's not what you think!" Masao hastened to reply. "I'll tell you everything, but please, listen to me until the end!"
Keiko's eyes were riveted on the baby whimpering in Masao's arms.
"Whose... whose baby is that?"
"Honey... he, he is a newborn baby. He must not be more than a few days old... now... he will be my son. Our son."
The woman felt that her legs could not support her and she fell sitting down from the shock, bringing her hands to her mouth. She began to look at her husband, and then at the woman. The girl who was looking at the floor showing clear nervousness about the situation.
"So... that trip... you lied to me, Masao? It was all a lie?"
"No, Keiko, it's not what you think! Listen to me!" pleaded Masao, stretching out a hand to stop his wife. "Yesterday morning we left with Jisuke-sama for that village in the mountains, Itomori, just like I told you. That's all true. But unexpected things happened, a tragedy happened that no one expected. Yesterday afternoon we were almost to the village when a huge fire broke out, destroying the village and killing everyone in the shrine where we were going."
The woman's eyes widened in shock.
"And... are you okay? -Is Jisuke-sama okay?"
"Yes, neither Jisuke-sama, Kiyo-sama nor anyone in the group is hurt, because we didn't get there, we only saw the fire from afar. We had to camp in the forest, we never made it to the village. Then in the early morning Kiyo-sama wandered away from the camp for a moment and found in the forest a Miko priestess who was injured and had escaped from the fire. She was carrying this baby. She was his sister."
"Is it... her?" asked Keiko, pointing at the girl behind Masao. The woman looked up and shook her head vehemently.
"No, no, no, no, it's not her," replied Masao. "The Miko maid was badly injured, she must have inhaled a lot of smoke from the fire. She barely regained consciousness on a couple of occasions, and when she did, she begged me to save her brother. For me to save this baby. I promised her that I would, and she... and she..."
The words stuck in Masao's throat. He had to close his eyes, take a deep breath, and regain control of himself.
"That Miko maiden died this morning from her injuries...; there was nothing we could do for her. And this baby was left alone. He is an orphan, his parents died in the fire, his whole family died too. He has no one left in this world, he is the only survivor...; this baby is not to blame..."
Masao looked at the child, then leaned toward his wife.
"Come, Keiko. Come closer to see him."
The woman stood hesitantly, approached and knelt down in front of her husband, and stretched out her arms almost trembling.
"Well, take it easy."
Masao placed the baby in Keiko's arms, and the woman felt her heart melt.
"He is... he's so small... it's really a newborn!" she said in amazement. She looked at her husband with teary eyes, "Are we... are we really... really going to raise him?"
"Keiko, I know how hard has been to us to have children, and our little girl... no one will ever replace her. She was just a baby girl..." Masao had to stop to swallow and try to undo the lump that formed in his throat. "Our baby was beautiful, but the gods decided she should go back to our ancestors. But I feel the gods put this baby, this child in our path. I promised to save his life. And I promised on my honor to be her father."
Masao knelt in front of his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders.
"No one can ever replace our beautiful Mei-chan in our hearts, but... the gods gave us a new opportunity to be parents. Of this child. Do you... Do you want to be his mother, Keiko?"
Keiko felt her eyes fill with tears, and pouted, as she nodded.
"Yes, Masao, yes I do, yes I do!"
The baby began to whimper louder, then cry.
"Oh, he must be hungry!" said Keiko, looking worriedly at her husband, "How are we going to feed him, he's so small and I... I can't... breast feed anymore!"
"Right! Sorry..." Masao stood up, and stood next to the girl who had been silent all the time, watching the scene.
"Keiko, this is Yui-san. When I arrived in Takayama I asked if anyone knew a woman who could be a wet nurse for the baby. One of my men knew that a girl near his house had recently had a baby, and he gave me her contact information, so I went to look for Yui-san."
Yui took a step forward, and bowed deeply.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Keiko-sama."
Masao nodded complacently, and continued.
"Yui-san had a baby a few weeks ago, though..." the man's face darkened. "She explained to me that she lost him a few days ago."
The girl looked down and nodded weakly.
"Oh... I... I'm so sorry, Yui-san!" said Keiko, touched. "I know... how much... how much it hurts..."
Yui looked up and tried to give a grateful smile, though her face couldn't help but reveal the sorrow she still felt.
"Thank you, Keiko-sama," said the girl.
"Well, but the important thing is that I already talked to Yui-san and her family, and she confirmed that she can still breastfeed. In fact, the baby was very exhausted from the trip, and she was able to help me clean him up, and she breastfed him... and the baby recovered and is much better now."
"But... it looks like he's still hungry!" said Keiko.
"It's true, this day the poor baby has been feeding very poorly. Yui-san, let me show you to your room, and could you nurse the baby now?"
"Of course, Masao-sama."
"Her room?" Keiko asked intrigued.
"Oh... right, right. I decided to hire Yui-san to be the baby's wet nurse. She will live with us. So that the baby can regain strength and grow up healthy. But she can also help you with the housework, every day. Remember you told me you wanted to have someone to help you?"
Keiko's face lit up.
"Thank you, dear! So... welcome home, Yui-san."
"Thank you for receiving me and for hiring me, Keiko-sama! I promise to serve and obey you in everything you command me, my lady. And to take care of your baby as if it were my own child," said Yui, bowing her head.
"Very good. Then please help us with the baby now, Yui-san," Masao said.
"As you command, Masao-sama," said the girl.
Yui stretched out her arms to Keiko, and she carefully handed the baby to her. Then the girl followed Masao, who was waiting for her a little further into the house, and they disappeared down the hall.
Keiko remained seated, at the doorway, and suddenly became aware of the cold night air that was entering the house. She stood up and closed the door. Then she felt footsteps behind her, and saw Masao returning. She couldn't hold herself and ran to him and hugged him with all her strength.
"Darling, I'm so happy you're back safe and sound, and now you've made me a mother again! It's the best gift you've ever given me!"
"My Keiko!" said Masao, tenderly, stroking his wife's hair. "You know that I would give you everything I can to see you happy, and now I know that this baby will bring you the happiness we had lost..."
"Our baby," said Keiko, pulling away from Masao and looking at him sternly.
"Yes, our baby. Our son."
They both hugged again, laughing with happiness.
"And... what is his name?" Keiko asked, realizing that all the time they had only talked about the 'baby' and the 'child'.
Masao opened his mouth and... didn't know what to say.
Keiko looked up at him quizzically and confused.
"You don't know his name?"
"The truth is that the maiden... her sister, asked us to save her brother, but I didn't hear what his name was; I don't know if Jisuke-sama or Kiyo-sama heard it..."
"Then, we can give him any name we want!" said Keiko enthusiastically.
"Well, it's true... I just hadn't thought about it," said Masao, blushing and suddenly feeling very foolish.
"So... how should we...?" Keiko said to herself, thoughtfully.
Masao began to think, and to ramble aloud.
"That child was saved by the gods. He is a gift from the gods to us... and we found him in the mountain..."
"If that's true... How about... Ryousuke?" Keiko said, her eyes sparkling.
Masao began to write the name with his finger in the air, as if he were writing it on a letter:
崚
祐
"Of course! The boy from the "steep mountain" saved by "god's help"! You are very clever, Keiko!" said Masao, hugging his wife.
"Tachibana Ryousuke. I love the sound of that," said Keiko, pressing herself against Masao's chest.
"Tachibana Ryousuke? I like him a lot too. That boy will be a real Tachibana. Our son. Our gift from the gods."
Keiko looked at Masao tenderly.
"Now we are a complete family again. Thank you for giving me a new son, for bringing Ryousuke-kun to our home I love you, Tachibana Masao, you are the man of my life!"
And Keiko gave Masao a passionate kiss, closing her eyes and feeling herself joining him, convinced that her life would now change forever, thanks to her Ryousuke, the child saved by the gods.