Thirty-Fourth Spell: Mount Ōe
The week after the Tanabata Festival, the First-Year Secondary Students had the option to go on a class field trip to Mount Ōe near Kyoto. While some students had already gotten their parents to sign permission slips ahead of time, Haru found himself unsure of what to do. He wanted to go, but since his adopted parents were dead there was no one who could sign his permission slip. But then to his surprise, Higa showed up at the Byakko Sitting Room the day before the field trip on Saturday with a signed permission slip in his hands.
"Is that…mine?" Haru almost fell out of his cushioned seat. "Where did you get it? I tossed that slip in one of the self-eating garbage bins."
"Well, I talked Ako into giving the permission slip to me before she triggered the Susuru garbage bins in exchange for helping her patrol the school at night since all these kids keep wandering around—according to her."
"So why did you sign it? You're not related to me."
"And that's why I came over." From the fold of his crimson-red robe, Higa pulled out an official document. "Beginning this month, I am your legal guardian which gives me the right to sign any permission slips you'll need in the future."
Haru couldn't speak, reeling back from this news.
"You don't have to say anything," Higa responded. "But I really did mean what I said about being here for you."
"Even so, why don't you trust me?"
"Trust you? What makes you think I don't?"
Looking around the Byakko Sitting Room, which was fortunately empty, Haru continued, "You still haven't told me what happened when you tried to avenge your father's death, and what was in that sachet you took from the Gaikin vault. Because clearly, it's important enough for you to lie to the Wizarding authorities and have the headmistress of this school bail you out."
Sighing, Higa said, "It's not that I don't trust you with the information. All I'm doing is saving you from the danger of knowing it, because of how it might negatively affect your time here."
"How? You're not making sense!"
"Avenging the Dendes' murders is not the best way to handle their deaths! It'll only lead to more suffering and pain, just like what happened to me."
Thinking about what Higa vaguely said about his father's murder, Haru made a sudden realization. "Did Warumo kill your father?"
Gripping the black hilt of his katana tightly, Higa turned away. "That's none of your business, and neither are the contents of the sachet. What Nuru is guarding is strictly between Dōmeki-Sama and Tamanoya-Ue!"
While Haru was confused, Higa drew in a sharp breath. He cursed himself and then left the Byakko Sitting Room dropping Haru's permission slip in the process.
On Saturday, the class field trip began with the First-Year Secondary Students getting up bright and early. They gathered in the courtyard of the school wearing casual clothes and carrying cloth-wrapped bags full of food items and water jugs.
"It's too bad Nayu couldn't join us," Rui said regretfully. "She was too scared to go because of Mount Ōe's reputation for being occupied by Oni."
"Aren't those the big guys with the horns and the metal clubs?" Haru guessed, recalling the oni statues he saw when his adopted parents took him to the Mizuki Shigeru Road in Sakaiminato many years ago.
"Yep, and they have tiger skin loincloths," Rui added. "Fortunately, most of the oni on Mount Ōe were exterminated during the battle between Minamoto no Yorimitsu and the oni leader Shuten-dōji. But the real hero of that story was Sakata no Kintaro, whose mother was a mountain witch impregnated by a dragon."
"How did that happen?"
"I'm…not sure. Anyway, the reason Kintaro deserves more credit is because he was the one who enchanted the sake Yorimitsu used to make Shuten-dōji and his fellow oni more susceptible before they were killed. The Manai version of the story claims the sake came from the gods of three shrines Yorimitsu and his men visited on their way to Mount Ōe disguised as monks, which was how they were able to get into Shuten-dōji's home without arousing suspicion."
"But Shuten-dōji wasn't always an oni leader," Seita interjected. "Supposedly, he was studying to be a priest but was a constant troublemaker and drunk. Then during a party, he wore an oni mask to scare people and the mask fused to his face transforming him into an actual oni."
"That sounds like a cursed object," Rui remarked. "Maybe the mask Warumo-Uragi wears is the reason he's evil."
"He always wears a mask?" This news surprised Haru.
"Yeah, it's why no one has been able to figure out who he is," answered Rui. "There's also a theory that Warumo might be more than one person, considering his attacks go back 40 years."
"Really?"
"Okay, kids, time to go!" Maruhi Midorime said, causing everyone to look at her. "Now I want you all to hold hands in a big circle."
Doing what Midorime instructed, Haru and the other First-Year Secondary Students did just that. Midorime then joined in, along with Sayuri Shō and Anzu Dōmeki who were also present. But unlike the students, they were still wearing robes instead of casual clothes.
"Arasuite zhēngfā!" Dōmeki annunciated.
In a matter of seconds, everyone holding hands was dissolved into tiny water droplets that rose into the air and carried on the wind heading north toward the mainland of Japan. From there, the droplets made their way up to a mountain near the city of Kyoto and reconfigured into the First-Year Secondary Students, teachers, and headmistress at the mountain's base.
"What was that?" Haru said, remembering Higa used the same spell to transport the two of them away from the Dendes' house.
"The Body Evaporation Spell, Ryuji-Kun," Dōmeki answered. "It's similar to the Apparition Spell used by European Wizards for traveling purposes, only it dissolves the person into water droplets to take them from one place to another instead of merely dissolving them."
"But if the spell is not cast correctly or the multiple people who are traveling aren't holding each other in some way, they risk dissolving into water droplets permanently instead of reforming at the intended destination," Shō-Sensei said ominously.
A few students got nervous after Shō spoke.
"You didn't have to tell them that," Midorime said to Shō before turning back to the students. "We can assure the spell is perfectly safe as long as we're the ones casting it."
"Now let's go," Dōmeki said, picking up the edges of her lilac kimono. "We have a long journey ahead of us if we hope to reach the summit of Mount Ōe before nightfall."
To be continued…