Chapter 6: The carpenter and his cursed puppets
The morning sun wakes him up, pierces through the old curtains of his home and he gets out of bed with his hair in disarray. After dressing in his linen yukata, he walks out the door, beginning to feel the cool autumn breeze. He looks up at the trees with orange and yellowish leaves beginning to fall from the canopy. He picks up his axe, stuck in a trunk cut from the base of a tree with large and extensive roots, and sets it down on a small two-wheeled cart. He rolls up his sleeves, grabs the ends and takes it to a small stable he built many years ago.
His old horse waits for him, strokes his head and serves him water that he has collected from a well the day before. Then, when the animal has finished drinking, he takes him out of the stable and puts the cart on his saddle.
Mounted on its back, he rides in complete silence along the path that leads to the forest where he has been working for the past few weeks. The Okaya forest is full of cedar trees, and is so deep that once he enters it, it seems as if the sun has gone down.
He spends hours felling trees, his axe steeped in cursed energy so as not to tire too quickly. His thin body is covered in sweat and he ends up stripping off the top of his clothes. He selects the best logs, from which he will get the most out of, and also gathers branches and dry weeds that will help him build a campfire later.
Birds fly out in a hurry when he drives his axe into the next log, alerted by the sudden blow. He wipes his brow again and again until finally the wagon is full, but not so full as to exhaust his old horse.
The sun begins to set by the time he emerges from the forest. He often loses track of time inside this forest and it never ceases to amaze him. He calls it a day, his gesture stoic and constantly bored. He climbs onto the back of his old companion and sets out on his return journey along the same path he traveled to get there.
At a slow and gentle pace, with the sun setting in front of his nose, he begins to think about what he should build. He recalls the request of the merchant who usually does business with him and glances at the cart wondering if it will be enough or if he will have to return to the forest the next day when the neighing of a horse catches his attention.
Maybe it's the merchant, he tells himself since these trails are not regularly visited. The last time he saw a stranger was just under a year ago. Perhaps he has come to ask him for something else, some special request.
It is still strange; the trip is a bit long from the nearest town to return before the agreed date just for a request.
The horse's neighing is constant and after a while he realizes that it isn't coming from the trail, but towards the river that flows into Lake Suwa.
The entire lake is surrounded by vegetation, bushes and trees. Intrigued by the animal's roar, the carpenter leaves his horse on the path and ventures toward the lake, pushing through the branches and bushes until he finally sees a white-backed steed struggling against the mud at the foot of the lake.
Such a beast looks like royal cavalry. Its imposing bearing makes him doubt whether he should approach it or not, a single kick from the animal could leave him paraplegic. However, when he notices its presence, he becomes even more savage. He fiercely lifts his forelegs back into the mud, bogged down to the point of not being able to advance a single inch.
The thought of staying with him crosses his mind, but to free him he would have to remove the cart from his horse's saddle and tie the reins of this other one to him to help him out. With that in mind he approaches carefully, raises his hand in its direction extending his fingers hoping it can understand his intentions. The animal stirs in the mud, but not so much as to be dangerous. He smiles to himself when he finally manages to take one of the reins between his hands and pulls it tightly, but it is heavier than he expected.
He gets the impression that it's stuck on something and it's not until he pulls with all his might that he sees a pale hand gripping the other side.
The carpenter falls flat on the ground, startled by the apparition, but soon after he realizes that it's the horse's rider.
Hastily he rushes into the water and pulls hard on the reins until he sees an arm and loads a lifeless person on his chest.
The horse jerks back and forth in the water as he drags the person to shore and is perplexed as he lays him on the ground. The strands of his hair above the fingers of his right hand glow a light blue.
His pale, almost blue face is the clear sign that he has drowned. He approaches his face, with his ear as close to his nose as possible hoping to hear the faintest hiss, but nothing is heard.
He assumes he has a cut somewhere, as he has inadvertently stained his hands with blood.
With some annoyance he looks at his hands, ready to leave the body there and take the horse with him when the beast roars in annoyance behind him.
"He's dead," he says to the horse in a hoarse voice. How long has it been since he last said anything out loud? It must be since he last saw the merchant.
The horse doesn't seem to understand and insists, such attachment to his master makes him sigh... maybe he could make one last attempt.
He kneels again in front of the cold, bluish body of that person and this time rests his cheek against his chest. He opens his eyes in surprise after hearing a faint, almost inaudible heartbeat. A sudden desire to hear it better seizes him and he stretches the fabric of the drowned man's kimono to find a tourniquet of bandages tightly compressing his chest.
Without a moment's hesitation, he pulls a dagger from his belt and cuts the girdle with a single jerk. Kasumi's breasts swell in front of his surprised eyes, as she takes a gasp of air as soon as she is released from her girdle and vomits up all the water she has swallowed, throwing herself to the side.
He, having fallen backwards after the surprise of seeing her naked, stands perplexed as he hears her coughing. Incredulous, he waits for her to finish spitting out all the water she has swallowed, but when she finishes, she doesn't move, lying there, unconscious.
With one hand he wipes the sweat from his forehead that has suddenly left all the heat that rose to his face, it's the first time in his life he's seen a naked woman and the image sticks in his mind for longer than he'd like.
After recovering from his shock, he stands up and looks from side to side, the bogged down horse and then at the unconscious woman. He furrows his brow and then sighs.
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Fuzzy dreams, faces peeking out from her memories, strange and distant. A strong and constant pain wakes her up. She feels as if her head will split in half and when she gets up completely immersed in pain, sitting on the bed, she feels an icy breeze on her chest. When she opens her eyes, she finds herself naked, her chest bare and her tits exposed. Where is her girdle? She wonders, grabbing the blankets covering her to wrap herself up.
When she looks up, she sees an unfamiliar face, sitting in front of a fire with a piece of meat impaled, his mouth open and his face completely flushed.
Kasumi crawls, covering herself, until she feels the wall against her back.
"Who are you? What... what have you done to me?" She tells him, wrinkling the sheets between her hands and her stomach turns at the thought of the answer.
"My name is Kokichi... Kokichi Muta," he says in a soft tone, attentive to the quick movements of the woman who probably considers him a deviant, an idea he doesn't like very much. "I found you a few hours ago with your horse, drowned in Lake Sawa."
"Sawa Lake? Where are we? And... where are my clothes?"
"They're wet... I had to undress you or you'd freeze to death," he answers, looking away. You're welcome."
For some reason, Kokichi doesn't seem like a threat. He can barely hold her gaze and she senses it's because he saw her naked. From a distance she can see her clothes hanging by the campfire, dripping on the wooden floor. He can't wipe the blush from his face, gives her a fleeting glance and, despite her confusion, it doesn't take her long to realize that she's not in danger.
"What happened to you? Did you fall in the river?" he asks her suddenly.
She goes completely blank, blinking a couple of times trying to find an answer to give him.
"I... I don't remember. Did you say Sawa Lake?" He nods, "How far are we from Yokohama harbor?"
"Yokohama?" he asks with a frown. "Quite; it must be a four- or five-week trip. Did you lose your memory? You hit your head..." he says as he raises his index finger and points to the exact spot on his own black-haired head.
Kasumi raises a hand and touches between her hair feeling under her fingertips the bandages that Kokichi put on her.
"I think so... The last thing I remember is... I was fishing and then I was attacked..."
"Well, I guess you owe your horse your life," he says and gestures with his chin towards the window next to the bed Kasumi is lying on.
She cranes her neck, runs her fingers along a thin linen curtain and sees a white horse she doesn't recognize on the other side. She frowns, as she expected to see the old dark brown horse they've had in the family for the past ten years.
"That's not Oshi..." she whispers with a frown, unable to understand what has happened in what seems to her to be the blink of an eye.
She wonders if perhaps those three thieves left her for dead and threw her body into the river, although she doesn't understand how the current could have carried her so far away. Besides, that horse she has never seen in her life.
"You had your hands firmly on its reins when I found you. He's a bit wild... I couldn't get him out of the water by tying the reins to my horse, I had to leave half the logs I cut today so he could rest his legs on something firm... Besides, I wouldn't have room for you in the cart if I didn't..."
"I'm sorry... I'll try to pay you back... I just have to get home."
"Your horse is exhausted; you'll have to give him some time..."
Kasumi blushes. She is completely embarrassed for being in a stranger's house and causing him so much trouble. She doesn't know what to say or what to ask. She is so bewildered that she simply keeps silent trying to sort out her last memories.
"Eat something," Kokichi tells her, standing up to extend a skewer to her.
She looks at his face, he has a scar on his cheek, and dark eyes. The way he looks at her is not very expressive, however, his cheeks are slightly flushed. After accepting the skewer, he puts something on the bed.
"Put this on until your clothes dry," he tells her before sitting back down by the campfire, his back to her.
He listens carefully to the movement of the cloth behind his back and a small part of him feels inclined to look, but he doesn't, he has already seen more than he would have expected. He remains silent as he eats and waits for her to dress and then lifts his face as he watches her walk up to him and sit beside him.
He looks away from her rather quickly, not pleased with how it feels to see her face, probably from having to put himself in the situation of undressing her while she was unconscious.
"Thank you very much for helping me," she says with a smile, holding the skewer in her hands. "I'm very sorry for the trouble I caused you... Could I repay your help in some way?"
Uncomfortable by her smile brimming with innocence, Kokichi swallows saliva. She is too close for his liking and for some reason it's very unsettling to see a woman dressed in his clothes. They are too big for her and he can still see a small portion of her chest from where he's sitting.
"No need," he replies to her, stinging at every word that comes out of his mouth.
"I couldn't eat your food and abuse your hospitality without giving you something in return... I don't have any money, but I could help you with anything else you need. Then I'll see about going home to my family."
"I don't want you to do anything," he tells her, his voice rough and his brow furrowed.
Kasumi averts her blue eyes to the floor and purses her lips so effectively that Kokichi suddenly feels like he should apologize to her. Did he inadvertently belittle her?
"I mean... I-I don't need anything. I live here alone and my job is... I mean... I don't..."
"It's okay. I understand." She replies with a warm smile that leaves Kokichi's words hanging in his mouth. A lock of cyan hair falls over her cheek and she tucks it behind her ear.
Maybe it's because he doesn't usually go to town much and hasn't seen such a pretty woman in years. But Kasumi makes him so nervous that he really doesn't know how to continue this conversation. He'd rather be alone, as he's used to, but he assumes he'll have to put up with her presence for saving her. Maybe he should have ignored the horse and left her there until she finished agonizing?
"You live alone?"
He nods.
"There aren't many houses here... are there?"
He nods again and Kasumi smiles uncomfortably. She frowns, how hard can it be to have a casual conversation? For her it's not that complicated.
Kokichi clears his throat as he eats and she mimics him, both of them silent. Kasumi doesn't stop thinking even for a second where the silence stretches between them making the house feel smaller than it actually is. She looks sideways at him, at his tools and his house in general.
"Thank you for the food," she tells him and he nods again.
Surrendered, Kasumi refrains from making any further comments. It seems that Kokichi is a man of very few words.
"You should go back to rest," he says suddenly, without looking her in the eyes.
She turns her gaze to the small mattress on which she was sleeping and realizes that there is no other mattress for him.
"And you, where will you sleep?"
"On the floor, I guess."
"It's not necessary... I..."
"I don't mind. Gather the strength you need to leave."
Kasumi blushes, not because Kokichi's words are tender in any way, rather because she feels completely out of place and has understood that he simply wants her to take off the way she came.
She nods, in the same manner as he does, and gets up to go back to sleep where she was lying a few minutes ago. She turns her back to him as she covers herself with her blankets. It is night and she is too far from home, she doesn't know which direction she should take to return and feels exhausted. Her body is fatigued, as if she had trained without rest for three days straight. Her head still hurts, her joints can barely bend.
He's right, if she wants to leave quickly, she has no choice but to rest. She'll figure out how to repay Kokichi for saving her life later.
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The icy breeze gently ruffles his hair; long, dark as night. His face holds an expression of astonishment that quickly changes and mutates, his lips move in a sweet way, barely inclined in a peaceful smile. He looks at him as if not a single day has passed, as if only yesterday they had crossed paths. But the passage of time is more noticeable to Suguru than to Satoru, his eyes a little more tired than his, despite having been sleeping outdoors for quite some time. He is taller than he remembered, though Satoru is still the taller of the two. He's wearing a rather baggy monk's outfit and his hair is half up.
Satoru can't help but smile at him, despite the injury to his shoulder.
"A monk with long hair? That's new," he says, as if he didn't just appear out of nowhere.
Suguru laughs loudly and the sound makes him nostalgic. He laughs so hard at his comment that he ends up wiping away a tear, then walks over to him and puts an arm around him.
"Always so extravagant, couldn't you just come on horseback? -he says to him, forcing him to walk along. "Come in, it's cold and you look tired. Then you'll tell me what brought you here."
Satoru sighs.
-I wish there weren't so many stairs...
Suguru laughs again.
"Come on... it's not that far. Have the years made you whiny?"
"Actually, I haven't complained for quite a while..."
"I heard what happened with the emperor. I'm very sorry, Satoru."
"It's okay. It was something that would eventually happen."
After a long staircase in the middle of the mountain, surrounded by a thick forest, a torri rises imposingly in front of them. In the middle of a stone path lies a small red temple with dark wooden walls. On one side a water well, on the other a small prayer space.
"Don't make too much noise," Suguru asks him. "The girls are sleeping."
Hugging his best friend, Satoru continues to walk slowly along the stone path until he reaches the temple gates. Gojo keeps silent as Geto asked, they walk through the darkness until they arrive in a small room where Satoru sits down.
"I'll go get something to treat your wounds," he says before leaving.
Satoru, alone and in the darkness of the room, can't shake off the image of Kai falling into the void. After some thought, he can't see any way he could have gotten out of that situation alive, neither he nor Oguri. A melancholic smile is drawn on his face, sorry for having failed. He had promised to protect him. At this instant he doubts even if the lives of Taishō's illegitimate children will be safe.
Suguru returns a short time later with a tray in his hands and on it some bandages, a bowl with a substance and needle and thread.
"Do you have female disciples?" Satoru asks, interrupting the silence.
"They are my daughters."
The samurai raises his eyebrows when he hears him.
"What a lustful monk."
Suguru laughs.
"No... It's a long story," he replies and sighs, "What happened to you? I felt the cursed energy emerge very close to here and recognized it immediately. Why did you come? It's not that you're not welcome, but I can't help but wonder."
"My spell takes me wherever I want to go, but I must know that place... I can't go to places I've never been. But... when I had to activate it... the only place I remembered was this one."
"I imagine you're in big trouble. Naoya's after you, isn't he?" Satoru nods and Suguru sighs as he pulls back the fabric of his friend's yukata and sees his wound. What's he after? Cutting off your head?"
"I guess so, or have someone else take it to him..." While Suguru cleans his wound, Satoru looks at him. He wears a sorrowful expression. "You never answered my letters," he says suddenly.
"When our ways parted... I found my own. I have started a family and am developing my own discipline, just for sorcerers. For the first time in a long time, I felt that my work made sense, that I'm in a place where I'm needed..."
"I needed you."
"No. You have never needed anyone, Satoru. Still... I felt that if I answered your letters, you would eventually come looking for me and try to convince me to leave with you. Forgive me, for being so selfish... but I have a family of my own to take care of now."
"You could have had it anywhere."
"No, anywhere by your side I would have been an extension of you... I needed to be myself without you."
Although his words make sense, Satoru does not feel completely convinced. Perhaps because he simply doesn't want to understand it, maybe because he would have looked for a way to make the two purposes coexist at the same time. He remains silent for a while as he places an ointment on the arrow wound, stitches it, and then wraps a bandage over his arm and shoulder. When he finishes, he puts the items back on the tray and leaves, but not before asking him to wait for a moment longer.
Satoru finds himself unable to smile. He sits against the wall and waits as he listens to Suguru's soft footsteps moving through the temple. Maybe he's right, he thinks to himself. Maybe he had clung to him in such a way that he left him no room to be himself.
An uncomfortable feeling lodges in his chest. Seeing Suguru again stirs him from within in such a way that he doesn't know exactly if he is happy at all.
When Suguru returns, Satoru makes a poor effort to smile. He has returned with a tray full of food, and when he sees a bowl of hot soup on the tray, he understands what has taken him so long.
"I brought you ohagi," he says in a soft tone. "Have you tried it?"
Satoru bends his face taking the dark ball the monk served him, its irregular shape doesn't look appetizing to him, neither its opaque purple color.
"What does it taste like?"
"Just try it."
He pops it into his mouth without another moment's hesitation, chewing it slowly, expecting something completely different. His lips curl into a wide, strange smile. An m crawls the length and breadth of his throat and he chews slower so as not to miss a second of its taste.
It is so sweet that it fills his chest with joy.
Suguru does his best to hold back laughter, but it's very difficult after seeing the way Satoru wriggles in pleasure.
"I knew you were going to like it. Now, well... Tell me what happened."
"What a way to ruin the moment. I was enjoying it so much that I even forgot the mess I'm in," he says, recovering his spirits. He takes a sip of water and clears his throat while he takes the chopsticks to start eating. "I think Taishō has illegitimate children... He entrusted me to take care of them before he died. I traveled from Kyoto to Yohokama and from there to Osaka until the Zenin army found me, so that's how I ended up here."
"What about the children? Did you find them?"
"No, but I know where they are. They're in a small town called Otari, in Nagano. That's where I should go now..."
"Something tells me you're not sure. You don't want to continue the journey anymore?"
"I don't know, I should. I promised..."
"But you're not convinced," Suguru answers, surprised by his old friend's tone.
Satoru smiles.
"I lost someone when the army caught me."
"Did they catch him?"
"No, but he's probably dead."
"I see..." he says and sits down next to him. "You were fond of him?" Satoru nods as he eats. "It's a difficult decision. On the one hand, you gave your word to the emperor, on the other... I think you still have hope to find that person alive..." Satoru nods again and they are both silent for a while. "I have a little experience on that... you know? Leaving a loved one behind. When I did it, I thought about it for a long time, I wondered if he would be okay without me and I realized that this person was invincible. He was a jerk, yes, self-centered and reckless. And not only that, that person had the most important man in the country by his side. The answer to my question was much easier to find, would he be okay without me? Now you ask yourself the same question, are the children safe?"
"Maybe, they are supposed to be with a guy named Kusakabe. I don't know who he is, but if the children got to him, he may have kept them safe even without knowing who they really are."
"And that other person? Will he be able to survive without you?"
"I don't think so. If he survived, he must be about to die."
"And that doubt, knowing if he's dead or not... will it stop haunting you?"
"No... I think I will always wonder if he survived. Besides, not long ago he saved my life. I have an important debt to settle..."
"Maybe you'll lose everything if you go after him, maybe you'll lose time and you won't find the children. Maybe at the end of it all you won't achieve any of your goals."
"That doesn't sound encouraging. Are you giving me advice or crushing my spirit?"
"I don't want to lie to you. But either way you will carry a regret with you. One is the promise you made; the other is abandoning a friend who needs your help. In any case... if it were me in your shoes... I couldn't rest until I saw the body. I would at least settle for giving him a barely dignified burial and have a place to visit him. But that's for you to decide, which of the two burdens would weigh less on you?"
"I..."
"Don't make the decision now. Whatever the answer you must first rest and regain your strength, eat, sleep, and tomorrow... with your heart a little less restless, choose your own path."
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When she wakes up, she is once again surprised by the strange environment in which she finds herself, she looks for the disheveled hair of her brothers and soon after she remembers that she isn't in Yokohama. She sighs and gets up, Kokichi isn't there. She was so tired that she didn't even hear him leave in the morning.
She wears his clothes, gets up, changes into the old clothes hanging on a rope, which were soaked the night before, and gets dressed again. It's pretty battered, a little more wear and tear and the fabric will rip the next time she washes it. The straw on her sandals falls apart after every step, the water did it no favors.
As she leaves the hut, she finds the white horse that saved her life and approaches him cautiously. She realizes after approaching that it is not fierce, on the contrary, it is meek and gentle. He stretches his head under her hand when she extends it in his direction, looking for a caress.
"You're very docile," she tells him in a soft tone."
'He behaves this way because he likes you.'
The response her mind sends back to her is sudden and confusing. Was it something she heard before or is it a guess she's pulled out of thin air? She is unsure and uncertainty creeps inside her, as if it has planted a seed.
Unable to find a clear answer, Kasumi takes the horse's reins and leads it to the stable she saw a few feet away. She takes a wooden bucket filled with water and fills the animal's bowl. She strokes the horse's back as she wonders what its name will be. His fur is dull, however, just by looking at him one can tell that it has had special care, it is strong, tall and looks well fed. The embossed leather reins are puffy, ruined by water. However, it is enough to see them to know that they are not cheap, the reins, the saddle, the pretal, everything seems to be made for an imperial soldier.
The uncertainty grows, how could she have ended up with such a specimen and such a saddle? The animal must have belonged to someone with hierarchy, a feudal lord, or something similar.
Tired of occupying her mind with questions she can't find the answers to, Kasumi retraces her steps and takes a look around Kokichi's hut. Everything is pretty tidy, because he doesn't really have a lot of stuff. However, it is a bit dirty. She rummages through Kokichi's things until she finds a brush and rolls up her sleeves ignoring his request to rest. She gets down on all fours on the floor and scrubs the wood until she removes layers and layers of accumulated grime. Then she cleans the walls, glass, shelves and tools. She goes out to shake out the sheets and takes the dirty clothes she finds to wash them in the river next to the house.
She covers her face with one hand, looks up at the sky and wonders if she will be able to hang the clothes in time to dry in the sun.
She loads the clothes and a board to remove the stains and walks to the river. Its current is gentle, but when she puts a hand in, she finds it completely freezing. She peeks her face above the water and finds her reflection, but her eyes widen like plates when she sees the color of her hair. She brings both hands to her head and takes strands of hair for a closer look. It is dull, with black streaks. The water not only played a trick on the horse's reins, but also on her hair.
Desperate, she reaches into the river and pulls out whatever seaweed her hands can find, then looks under her trembling hands to say 'no' and 'no' over and over again. Could it be that this algae, doesn't grow in this region? Unwilling to give up, she continues searching until the cold forces her to go out. Barefoot, lying on the riverbank, she looks down at her pale, shivering feet, so cold she can barely bend her toes. She plops down on the gravel and sighs. What else can happen to her now?
Maybe that's why Kokichi is so reluctant to talk to her.
When she finishes washing the clothes, she leaves them lying in a spot where they catch the sun's rays. Then she retraces her steps back to the hut and stands there trying to think of something else to do. Whether he likes it or not, she is going to repay the favor he has done her.
She grabs a rattan basket and heads out again. She walks down the path and curiously hears the white horse's footsteps walking behind her. She smiles at the sight of him, at least she isn't as lonely as she thought.
"Whoever you are, I thank you," she says to the horse whose name she doesn't know.
Not everything dies in autumn, it's the best season to pick mushrooms and fungi. And Kasumi knows particularly well a species of mushrooms that taste excellent in soup. She knows almost perfectly where to find them and spends most of the afternoon picking them until the rattan basket is completely full.
By the time Kokichi pushes open the door, she is sitting in front of the fire tasting the soup. She smiles warmly at him and welcomes him.
He, speechless, attracted by the aroma that came from his own home, cautiously looks around every corner. His favorite kimono was lying on a string outside, clean of mud stains.
The wooden floor shines in such a way that, with a little more effort, he could see himself reflected.
Unsettled by the smile of the girl he rescued and her warm welcome, he sits down across from her. Kasumi holds a wooden spoon and seems intent on getting him to taste what she has prepared. Kokichi stretches his neck cautiously and slurps the soup with the obedience of a well-trained dog. Unfazed by the noticeable change left by her mere presence, he glances sideways at his home as he slurps the soup.
It's the best he's tasted in a long time. It's not too much of a compliment, though, since he's not very good at cooking.
"It's fine," he says with a slightly embarrassed look on his face, and she just smiles. His terse reaction seems to have been enough for her.
"I figured you'd be hungry... you were out early. Are you tired? You're a carpenter, right? I saw some things stored in the stable. You're very talented, did you have a teacher or you learned on your own?"
"I see... you got your energy back."
Kasumi's verbiage is funny to him, but his stoic gesture doesn't show it in the least. She on the other hand is an open book, her white cheeks turn pink almost immediately and he feels a bit sorry for his words just by looking at the expression on her face.
"Am I talking too much?" she asks and laughs awkwardly. "I'm sorry... I didn't ask your permission and I touched your things. It's just... I couldn't lie around all day and I wanted to thank you in some way."
"It's okay..." he says. His voice is husky and masculine. "I-I like... the soup... and the house is clean. T-Thank you."
She regains her spirits, her smile grows as she listens to his terse words, and it makes him deeply nervous and uneasy. A part of him hoped that she would not be there when he returned and that his life would continue as he knows it. The hermit's life is simple, if laborious. So, a hot meal after working for hours is quite a relief. At least he can recognize that. Returning every night to a cold, dark house is very different from this.
His gleaming house, a meal and a smiling woman waiting for him are things he had never imagined. Especially such a beautiful one, almost fallen from the sky.
Kasumi serves him soup in a wooden bowl and holds it out to him, he hears him thank her and pours one to accompany him.
"Are you feeling better?" He asks her and she nods enthusiastically.
"My head still hurts a little from the blow, but I feel better. I'm stronger than yesterday and I think I'll be able to go home in a couple of days."
It is strange for Kokichi to feel suddenly shaken by her response, yet he says nothing.
"Do you have any idea which direction you should take? It's a long trip."
"I was hoping you had a map I could borrow. I'll pay you back, somehow... I don't know, I could clean all your clothes... I can't think what else I could do. I don't have any special talents. I could cook for you every day, I'm pretty good at it. I know how to cook a casserole with just a few ingredients."
"You don't have to do anything... But I don't have any maps to give you. The nearest market is a day's journey north and it's not too big either. But I could take you and buy one there.
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for you?"
"I wouldn't mind," he says without thinking.
She smiles again, and a strange feeling fills his chest. He swallows saliva and looks away, completely suffocated. He eats trying to ignore her pretty face, unable to extinguish the heat of his own face.
"Do you want to go tomorrow?"
"Yes!" she replies so rapturously that she ends up laughing at her own exaltation. "Please... yes, I would like to."
"Can I... ask you a question?"
Surprised by Kokichi's sudden interest, Kasumi nods, looking at him intently. Excited by the idea that the carpenter has the slightest desire to converse with her.
"Why is your hair that color?"
"Ah... yes... that? Well... I don't know, it's just like that. I don't know the reason. It just... well... does it look really bad? do you dislike it? I tried to look for the seaweed I use to dye it black, but I couldn't find it. I don't think they grow in this region. I'm sorry, I know it's not very pretty."
"Dislike it?"
She nods shyly and loses all trace of her cheerfulness.
"It's not. It's... cute," he answers and swallows.
Kasumi opens her big blue eyes in his direction, strokes her hair, a little nervous, intimidated by his words. He can't hold her gaze for even half a second, turns his black eyes towards the fire and continues to drink his soup.
"Really? You're not just saying that so I won't feel bad? If so, don't worry! I can tolerate it! I'm used to it; you don't have to be nice to me."
"I'm not being nice," he says with a frown, sinking his face into his bowl of soup. "It's different and a little strange, that's true... but... it suits you. You look like... a tennyo."
"Tennyo?" she asks, tilting her face to one side, with a confused expression.
"You don't know what they are?"
"No."
Regretting his words, Kokichi doesn't know how to explain to her that he has compared her to a being out of legends he was told as a child. How to tell her that in his eyes she looks like a courtesan from the heavens? Like an angel who tripped and fell at his door.
"Never mind," he replies, "Don't worry about your hair, it's fine like that. Don't darken it, it's not necessary. Much less do it because you think I dislike it."
"Thank you..."
This is the first time in her life that someone has said that to Kasumi and it feels like a caress straight to the heart.
"They used to tease me a lot about the color of my hair when I was little..." she says reminiscing about her past. "I remember being stoned... by a group of kids. It was horrible... When my mom died and we moved to my aunt's house with my brothers she said I was a freak. She told me I had to hide it or everyone in town would start talking about our family. We found a way to dye it black and no one turned to look at me again, not like they used to. So, I continued to do it for the rest of my life. But... she said I could never get married anyway, if my husband found out he would leave me. She said my hair was cursed and my children would inherit my curse."
"Sounds like a bunch of peasant bullshit."
His words are few, but effective. Kasumi has nothing more to say and settles for his answer. She doesn't need to ask anything else and for the first time in her life she feels completely at ease with herself. Kokichi seems sincere, he has no reason to tell her something just to comfort her. He doesn't seem like that kind of man.
In the evening, after eating, Kokichi didn't say much more. He left the cottage to work on the logs he brought from the forest and then, hours later, returned. He looked tired and again relinquished his bed to her despite her insistence to the contrary. His response was simply to lie down to sleep on the floor away from her, and Kasumi had no choice but to lie down to sleep in his bed.
Wordlessly, Kasumi extinguishes the last candle that remains lit inside the hut. In the middle of the night, questions about what has happened come back to her mind. Kasumi can't help but think that there is something missing. As if she had gone somewhere to look for something only to completely forget what it was. Like a missing piece of a puzzle, an essential piece that shapes the picture. It makes her uneasy, so uneasy that it's hard to sleep. What could it be? she wonders. She has a strange feeling that it's not just because there's a chunk of time, she has no memory of, it's something else, something more important. Something is missing.
.
.
.
.
.
In the morning, he wakes up to another tray of food next to the bed. Sleep was particularly difficult, especially after his last conversation with Suguru.
The childish voices of Suguru's daughters are heard enthusiastically through the corridors of the temple and with them the laughter of his friend. Their laughter soothes him, reassures him that all this time he has been fine, though a part of his heart feels tinged with bitterness, he really didn't need him and it hurts his ego.
After filling his stomach, he gets up to find him sitting on the ground enjoying the morning sun, just outside the temple. The girls are further away collecting flowers in a small basket as he watches them with a pleased smile on his face.
Satoru sits on the steps of the temple and sees from afar the girls turn to look at him, giggle and continue their search for the flowers.
"Their names are Mimiko and Nanako. Their family banished them when they began to exhibit the first signs... They are shamans, though not very powerful. They're a bit unruly, but…"
"They look friendly. Sometimes I wonder if I could be a father, it doesn't seem too complicated to me. I like children."
"You could, you have what it takes, but try to find a mother who has all the responsibility you lack," Satoru nods, "Are you ready?" he asks.
"Are you?"
Suguru doesn't seem to understand what he means. His cryptic question is accompanied by a sly smile.
"We have long allowed ourselves to live the lives we wanted. Me, protecting the most important person in the country and you, finding yourself, living away and forming a family of your own. But now things are different, Taishō is dead and with him the barriers that kept the cursed energy in check. I imagine you've noticed how much the energy waves have grown, the curses will get stronger eventually, the shamans, the cursed users, it will affect us all... to a greater or lesser extent. To top it off we are on the verge of a civil war, it will only be a matter of time before they come to destroy everything you have built with your own hands. One day the soldiers will fall on your doorstep and you will have to take sides."
"I will do whatever I have to do to protect my family. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. I'm all they have. And if things get serious... I'm prepared to do whatever it takes."
"When the time comes... if you need shelter... meet us in Nagano. I'll wait for you."
"If all this ends as you're imagining... you know you have another option on your hands, don't you? Claim your place as leader of the Gojo Clan and use their soldiers to your advantage."
"And what happens after overthrowing Naoya?"
"You could become the next shogun. Or wait for the children to reach the age where their cursed technique manifests itself and pray that they have inherited their father's technique. That way you will have someone to sit on the throne and become their loyal servant again."
"I won't be the shogun. No way."
"And you have nothing to say about the other thing?"
"If so... if they inherit his cursed technique... Then yes, it would be my duty to put him on the throne."
"You'll need allies. Many."
"And you, are you one of them?"
Suguru laughs.
"I don't know... I'll have to see how this all plays out before I make a decision. There are many things I have yet to learn about my profession. I haven't fully mastered the concepts of Buddhism... Because even if Japan were to go up in flames in front of my eyes... all I would care about would be the two of them. My heart is tainted with selfishness, my soul isn't pure."
"That makes two of us. Taishō used to reproach me for not following the concepts of bushido, but ultimately no one does. Anyway, if you were to abandon your dream, your family will be safe with me. I will protect you too."
"You can't protect so many people."
"What choice do I have? I couldn't refuse the request of a dying man, what kind of samurai would I be if I did that to my own master? I have no intention of performing seppuku, I prefer to keep my word to the end."
"And what if none of the children inherit Taishō's technique? With no emperor, there would be no choice but to overthrow the current shogun and put another in his place. How long do you think it will be before Naoya begins to stir the waters among the lords of Japan? His army is strong, but the other clans are not going to bow their heads to him."
"After making sure the children are safe, I was planning to go look for a treasure that Taishō hid. But I don't think it's possible to just ignore the whole conflict, is it? -he asks as his lips tighten into a smile. The truth is, I would have preferred to leave the country... I didn't think things would become so serious in such a short time. Naoya is wiping out the smaller villages. Naobito told me they will continue to do so until I present before him. The sick bastard is holding me directly responsible for their slaughter."
"The fiefdoms will be affected quickly and will have to take sides."
"That means they'll help him turn me in."
Suguru nods.
"Which makes the idea of taking over the leadership of the Gojo clan the smartest option."
The girls' laughter is heard closer as they both run in his direction. They intertwine the flowers they collected into a wreath, selecting only the brightest ones, the ones with full petals. Then between the two of them they place the wreath on Suguru's head while he smiles and looks at them in a way Satoru has never seen before.
It is a particular love, tender and devoted. A love Satoru has never felt before.
After watching them play together, Satoru stands up ready to say goodbye and reiterate to Suguru that he will wait for him. He asks him to hold on for a moment and disappears, only to return shortly after with the reins of a horse.
"You have a long journey ahead of you. I wish you the best of luck, my friend. Perhaps we will meet again soon."
Satoru smiles and nods. He walks to the gravel and in the same way he got there, he draws a circle and some runes on the ground. He gives his old friend one last smile and raises his hand to bid him farewell, though his restless heart hopes to see him again. The girls greet him enthusiastically and after a blink of an eye they disappear.
The sound of the waterfall returns, lapping against the rocks behind its mighty cause. It is the same place where he last saw Kai, but the forest is gone, now nothing more than a vast collection of dark trunks, turned to ash and charcoal.
His smile fades. He turns to the waterfall and wonders how far it could have taken him, how far he could have traveled with the current?
He sighs, climbs onto the back of the horse Suguru lent him and sets off in search of Kai, setting aside the promise he had made to Taishō before he died in the hope that he will be able to forgive him.
I wanted to let you know that I have already advanced to chapter 9 so we have guaranteed updates for the next month. If I'm feeling generous I might be able to leave you chapter 7 by the middle of the week. It depends 50% on you and the other 50% depends on the time it takes me to translate them. I am writing quite a lot every day since I have a lot of free time. I hope you liked this chapter and the introduction of Kokichi and Geto, even though the main characters didn't have the chance to interact. In the next one I promise they will see each other again and as you might already guess, Miwa has neither a girdle nor her hair painted black. So Gojo will only have to add two plus two, but the problem will be that now she doesn't remember him. Miwa remembers only her last day in Yokohama, she doesn't remember that they attacked the port or sending her brothers with Kusakabe. But I promise you that it won't take her that long to remember and when she does, will probably happen what most will be expecting. So I ask for your patience and hope with all my heart that you are not bored with this story because there is much left to tell. I hope you find a moment to comment on what you have thought of it so far because for me it's one more encouragement to keep writing.
Thanks to those who always leave a nice comment, Ina, Escarlata, Wandd, Gomi-chan, vicyewtiub and Ohagiri_03. Have a great week.
Glossary:
Tennyo: are extraordinarily beautiful creatures that resemble human women.
Ohagi: is a sweet made from glutinous rice mixed with anko paste.