Kaoru was busy drifting off to a slumber. His lips slightly parted as he leaned toward the window. Toshiya gently nudged Die and pointed to Kaoru using his chin. The corners of Die’s mouth drew to a mischievous smile. In the meantime, Shinya, who sat adjacent to Kaoru, was snapping pictures of a finger puppet Cheburashka next to an ekiben on his Iphone.
Toshiya laughed. “Shinya, take off your sunglasses. No one is going to recognize us here.”
“I refuse,” Shinya remarked.
Kaoru awoke from his sleep.
“Are we there yet?” he said groggily.
“Nope. We still got 15 minutes or so,” said Die glancing at the ticker tape above the aisle.
At the Hiraizumi stop, the band navigated their way out to the entrance. The sun was ready to dip into the horizon. Like Toshiya suggested, there was not a single soul that would recognize them. The streets were void of people and stores opened for business were sparse in proximity. Compared to Tokyo, Hiraizumi was much colder. Die’s nose was turning pink from the breeze. He his the rest of his face snug under a gray scarf.
“Ok. Where is the ryokan? Lead the way,” said Die muffled under the scarf and hands dug into his pockets.
Kaoru drew a long breath and cleared his throat. He whipped out his phone to check his map.
“It shouldn’t be too far according to this, but it will be a lot of walking,” he said.
After much misdirection and unnecessary turns, the reached the modest ryokan. Two maple trees and a string of dried mugwort guarded the entrance. At the front desk, an old man with gray whiskers greeted them.
“Welcome, my name is Genma. I’ll be your host and show you to your room. You are the only guests at my ryokan.”
He led them through the narrow hallway and slid open the paper doors.
The floor was covered entirely in green ochre tatami. A low beechwood table and four floor chairs were arranged in the center of the room. Hanging on the wall was a long scroll of calligraphy. Beneath the scroll was a twisted old tree branch modified for display. The glass windows showed the view of late autumn foliage waning in the blue night. A small drawer by the window had two more guest chairs resting side by side.
“I’ll leave you to get settled. Dinner will be served promptly at 7lm.”
Toshiya opened one of the sliding doors. Inside were hangers and compartments to leave their bags. He then opened another door. The futon were folded and stacked atop each other next to fresh yukata.
“This place is pretty neat for a simple ryokan,” Toshiya commented. “Is this all coming out of our pockets?”
“Inoue-san said our company will cover it. I just wish they weren’t so stingy,” said Kaoru. “We only have a week here for a work-related excursion.”
“We deserve a vacation,” said Die. “I want to do some hiking.”
“We’re not far from a lot of things. If we take the JR line, we can get to the famed Chuson-ji Temple. Take another local train and we can reach Geibikei Gorge. Do some more traveling back at Hiraizumi station, there should be soba restaurants,” said Shinta as he read aloud from a tourist pamphlet.
“I want to try their wanko soba. You know the type served Hidehira-style that they show on TV?” said Toshiya.
“I’m up for it. Let’s do that tomorrow,” said Die with eyes lighting up.
“Iwate is famous for their Maezawa beef, your favorite thing, Die,” said Shinya. “And alcohol, your other favorite.”
“Shin-chan, don’t label me an alcoholic.”
“Kaoru, you wanna join us tomorrow?” asked Toshiya.
“Nah. Leave this old man to do his old man things,” laughed Kaoru.
Dinner was served in their room. Genma opened the sliding door and brought in the stacked trays. Each tray had several lacquered bowls painted in red and gold. Under the lid of one bowl was piping hot miso soup. In another bowl was stewed vegetables cut in the shape of sakura and another with greens neatly trimmed. A more oblong plate had stewed beef and rice. Each tray had a complimentary dish of pickles. It was truly a feast for the eyes and stomach. Genma quietly bowed and exited the room.
Die beamed at his meal.
“Why are you looking so happy?” asked Toshiya.
“There’s beef. I love beef,” Die replied.
“What are you, some foodie?” laughed Toshiya.
“You know steak is life to me,” smiled Die.
The slight breeze rustled the maple trees in the garden. Toshiya drew the curtains shielding the glowing lawn lights. Shinya sat cross legged on his futon scrolling through his phone.
“Whacha doin’ Shin-chan?” said Die peering over Shinya’s shoulder.
“Nothing,” Shinya said absent-mindedly.
“Get some sleep, Die. You don’t want those eyebags of yours to multiply,” said kaoru.
“Tch! You barely sleep too,” said Die.
“And I still look good for my age,” smirked Kaoru.
Toshiya’s high pitched snigger rang in the room. Shinya hid his curving lips with his hand.
“Alright, Leader-san said it’s bedtime. Lights out!” said Die.
In the enveloping darkness, Kaoru walked alone. He saw the pentagram inscribed within a circle before him on the ground. Following the lines were orange flames bursting from below. A rhythmic chanting and sound of sleigh bells reverberated. Kaoru turned to see the source of the sounds. There was nothing, but looming darkness. With his eyes tracing back to the flaming circle, Kyo now stood within it. The fire was consuming him yet he did not utter a single cry.
“Kyo!” Kaoru cried out.
“The deed has been done,” said Kyo.
Kaoru turned behind to see Kyo face to face with him. He was unscathed and no longer in flames. The pentagram from before disappeared.
“Beware of the mountain. When the darkness comes to prey on the helpless, look for the sleeping rock,” echoed Kyo’s voice.
“What’s that suppose to mean!” Kaoru shouted.
He didn’t mean to shout at Kyo, but he couldn’t control his unstable emotions at the moment.
Kyo’s form had dissipated in front of Kaoru’s eyes. Kaoru then heard a familiar laugh echoing from far away.
“I want to try their wanko soba. You know the type served Hidehira-style that they show on TV?” said Toshiya.
““I’m up for it. Let’s do that tomorrow,” said Die.
“Kaoru, you wanna join us tomorrow?” asked Toshiya.
“There’s stuff we got to do here! Not play!” Kaoru raised his voice.
“Tch! You’re no fun,” said Toshiya.
“Leave this crusty old man alone to do his old man things,” Die said coldly.
Kaoru noticed that he was no longer in the dark, but in a club with a lot of people. Almost too much people to his liking. The strange activities that he saw struck him as bizarre to see in a club setting. There was a gigantic wheel that people were spinning though it appeared that it was not for prizes. Some players had the look of utter despair when the wheel landed on certain pictures. Kaoru couldn’t quite make out the pictures from a distance. At a high table were three older women in white lounge dresses sipping glasses of martinis. Strangely enough, a mess of string covered their table.
Looking around again, Kaoru spotted Toshiya drinking and talking to some stranger next to him. Beside Toshiya was Die munching on a bucket of red chili peppers as if it were popcorn. Shinya sat on the lounge chair wearing an over-sized Cheburashka hat unwrapping candy.
“What are you doing here? We need to go,” Kaoru ordered sharply.
Of course, he had no idea where to go or what to do except that he desperately wanted to leave. Toshiya completely ignored Kaoru’s words and carried on with his own conversation. Die continued to eat his chili peppers. Kaoru grabbed the bucket, but Die withdrew quickly and hugged the bucket close to him.
“It’s mine! Get your own!” he said.
“I don’t want your chili peppers. Why are you eating them in the first place?”
“I have to finish them or else someone else will eat them instead.”
Annoyed at the ridiculous response, Kaoru walked to Shinya who was still busy unwrapping candy. The little mountain of wrappers littered the ground. Kaoru didn’t even need to start and Shinya spoke instead.
“Cheburashka needs them. I’m very busy.”
Convinced that his band was a bunch of lunatics, Kaoru stormed off. The club was now empty. The band was gone and so were the rest of the previous guests. In his hand were three paper dolls slowly staining with black ink. Kaoru had no idea where they had come from. From the corner of his eye, he saw an exit that had not appeared before. He was not sure why, but he had the urge to run.
Kaoru’s legs were growing increasingly heavy with every stride. The tinkling melody of “Pop Goes the Weasel” played faintly in the background. Something about the childhood song now felt worrisome. At the sound of “pop”, Kaoru tripped over his own step and tumbled down. He was tumbling down a staircase that had not been there before. Mavros stood at the very bottom with a twisted grin and a butcher knife. When Mavros came into close view, the knife dangled over Kaoru’s face only a few inches away. At that very moment, he woke up.
Everyone was snoozing away. It was still dark in the room. Kaoru lifted his head to take a peek at everyone. Die kicked away most of his blankets and occupied a portion of Toshiya’s futon. It calmed Kaoru down knowing there wasn’t a bucket of chili peppers next to Die. Still, the unsettling image of Mavros and Kyo’s strange warning did not sit well for the rest of the night.
*****
BGM: Ruten no Tou by Dir en grey
I'm back from my hiatus. In this chapter I introduced a new character and an entirely new setting from Tokyo to Hiraizumi. What did you think of Kaoru's strange dream? Do things even make sense or are they suppose to make sense in the first place? If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a vote and a comment. I'll see you in the next one.
