Chapter XXII.

When I woke up, the first thing that I became aware of was that I was sleeping in an unusual position and that there was a lot of light all around me. 

Rubbing my eyes, I pushed myself up slowly, only to realize in a panic that it was already daytime and I was not in my bedroom, but still in Gōjun's car! Not only did I fell asleep in his car last night, but I had made myself comfortable at some point by resting my head on his lap in my sleep! Worse, I had drooled on his clothes!

Instantaneously, I jumped backward, wiping the corner of my mouth with my arm, staring at his face awkwardly. My brusque movements had awakened him, and immediately, he looked at his wet lap, and cried, 'Oh, yuck!

'I'm really sorry!' I apologized, fervently, but there was more important for the time being. I was completely panicked at the idea of what Ojii-san and Obā-san would think of my absence from home during the whole night. 

'I have to go!' I told him, breathlessly, and got off the car without losing a minute to rush upstairs. 

As I reached out for the door knob of the apartment, suddenly, it turned on its own and the door opened. 

'Obā-san!' I gasped. 

She was standing in the doorway, her expression seething. 

'I'm going to explain everything to you!' I said when, suddenly, she lifted her hand in the air, preparing to slap me across of the face. 

I froze into place with shock, my heart skipping a beat. 

But, her hand didn't come down upon me; she had stopped herself. 

I lowered my head, tears brimming in my eyes.

'Oi!' Ojii-san uttered at her, running up to us to grab her hand and lower it. 'What are you doing?! We've never raised our hands on Kozue! And it'll be the same thing for Hime!'

'There's no need to explain anything to me,' she muttered at me, ignoring him, and flinging around, she walked up to the kitchenette, grumbling, 'When I think about it! Not only is she a free-loader, but that girl is hell-bent on getting our nose cut in society!' 

Swinging back around, she called out angrily at Ojii-san, 'And you, aren't you going to tell her anything?! Do you intend to remain quiet until she comes back with a bun in the oven?!'

'Shigure, please, calm down!' Ojii-san told her, going towards her in a pacific gesture. 'We heard the young ones arrive last night. They were only downstairs. We've checked on them several times. Hime will never do anything like that!'

'It's also what you said about Kozue!' she snapped at him, abruptly, only for her voice to break. She covered her mouth with her hand, tears filling up her eyes. 'You had said that she'd never choose him over us! But she still did!'

My heart clenched. 

Obā-san… 

She is in pain! She could never forgive Okā-san!

'I'm sorry. I'm terribly sorry,' I murmured, voicelessly, apologizing for the pain that both my mother and I have caused her.

'Hime,' said a familiar voice, out of the blue, and my head snapped around to look at Gōjun, who had appeared on my right, my heart skipping a beat.

Since how long has he been standing there on the staircase? 

It was clear that he had witnessed the whole scene.

'You forgot your hand-bag in the car,' he informed me, in an awkward tone, and he handed it over to me, while he studied my expression carefully.

I lowered my eyes, feeling a bit ashamed and uncomfortable that he had heard everything. Worse, Ojii-san and Obā-san were now having a terrible dispute.

'I should-' he began, taking a step forward to enter the small apartment to speak to them, but instantly, I grabbed his arm and stopped him.

'No, don't!' I told him, looking at him in the eyes pleadingly.

It was really kind of him to want to talk to Obā-san to try to calm down the situation, but the problem wasn't really about last night; it was probably better that he didn't get involved into this.

'Alright,' he replied, uncertainly, and on this, he left.

***

A short while later…

After I had freshened up and returned to the living room, the dispute between Ojii-san and Obā-san had ceased. Obā-san refused to speak to me anymore or even to look at me, and it made my heart clench. 

But worse, Ojii-san and Obā-san weren't speaking to each other anymore either, and they were sitting as far as possible from each other, cutting each other's dead. It made me feel even more terrible.

Some times after I had taken breakfast, I left the small, silent apartment to visit my mother at the hospital. Even if it was difficult for me to see her in this state, it lifted my mood a bit to be with her. And my mood lifted up completely when I ran to meet up with Katsura-san for our rendezvous. We had planned to clean up the shrine together on this day, and I had been waiting for this Sunday with great impatience. 

'Ohayō!' she called out, cheerily, waving her hand at me from the head of the staircase, where she was waiting for me, looking for my arrival.

The brown-haired woman had clothed herself in a yellow dress, and a beige hat, and was carrying a good number of cleaning items under her arms.

Her sight, instantly, filled me with a wave of freshness.

'Ohayō!' I greeted, happily, waving back at her, and I rushed up the stairs to meet up with her.

'I've brought everything that we should need!' she told me, lifting up the broom in one of her hands, and similarly, I lifted the basket in my possession in the air, announcing, 'And I've prepared us a few things to eat!'

We chuckled joyously together.

'Shall we get started?' she asked, and I bobbed my head up and down, readily. 

And thence, we started cleaning the shrine. 

It was only when the sun was at the zenith that we decided to take a pause.

'Shall we take lunch?' I called out to Katsura-san from the Sandō. 

Just as she looked around at me to reply yes, abruptly, she cut her finger onto something and winced.

Immediately, I rushed up to her side, where she was under the Haiden, and taking hold of her hand worriedly, I looked at her injury. Her finger was bleeding.

'Oh no! Does it hurt a lot?' I cried, only to flinch when I caught her expression. 

Her face didn't show any sign of pain, but instead, she was gloating at the wound, or rather, at the blood.

'Oh, it's blood!' she murmured, as though, in trance. 'That color… It is so beautiful!' 

'Eh??!' I shrieked, jumping backward by at least one feet.

She- She is creepy! 

'You must be thinking that I'm creepy, ne?' she giggled, and scratching the back of her head and pressing her eyes shut, she admitted in an embarrassed tone, 'I'm sorry. I really can't help it! I like it when it's scary and when it hurts!'

She let out another giggle.

I stared at her, awkwardly.

She sure is creepy!

A few minutes later, we were sitting at the head of the staircase and taking our lunch together. I looked at the young woman as she was eating her Onigiri. She was definitely a puzzle, and I wanted to know more about her.

'Katsura-san, do you work?'

'Hm-hm,' she nodded, and swallowing the food she had in her mouth, she informed me, 'I work in a morgue.'

I paled. 'Re-Really?'

She chuckled at my expression, and shaking her head, she replied, no; that she was only pulling my leg.

I laughed, uncertainly.

'No, in fact, I'm a novelist,' she declared, taking a deep breath and staring straight ahead with a smile on her face.

'I see,' I replied, smiling too, recovering my composure. 'And what kind of novel do you write?'

'The supernatural genre! The kind that are full of monsters, ghosts, spirits and demons!'

I laughed, believing that she was pulling my leg again.

'Oh, but I'm very serious,' she asserted, with a cheery smile, putting her forefinger up at me. 

And I broke into cold sweat, all color draining out of my face. I was totally terrified by everything that was supernatural and scary. It would suffice that there exists a rumor that a certain house was haunted for me to stop passing along the street where it was situated. 

'You're not very much in tune with the supernatural, are you?'

I hugged my shivering self, shaking my head from side to side in answer. Just thinking about the supernatural terrified me to the bones!

She chuckled again, and picked up another Onigiri to bite into it.

Another couple of minutes later, when I had regained my calm once again, I decided to ask her, very shyly, 'Ne, ne, Katsura-san, are you married?'

She lowered her eyes to smile meekly at her lap, answering, slowly, 'No, I'm not married.' Then, with a small squirm, she added, 'But there was someone that I used to like in high school; I guess that I could never get over him.'

I became silent as I studied her face carefully. It was clear from her expression, the look in her eyes, and the sound of her voice, that she still had feelings for the person she was talking about.

Turning to me, she asked me, pleasantly, 'Did I tell you that I used to go to Shigeizumi High School just like you?'

'Eh?' I was filled with surprise. That makes her my senpai! 

'Yes, after elementary school, I obtained a scholarship and joined Shigeizumi High School. That's where I met him.'

She stared at her lap again. 

'We used to study in the same class. I fell in love with him during our first school year itself. And some times before the end of our last year at school, I decided to confess my feelings to him.'

I blushed.

'He rejected me.'

Eh? My expression changed instantly. 

She rested her cheek on her knees now, her arms hanging loose by her sides, the atmosphere becoming depressed around her.

***

Flashback

Many years ago…

'Well?' said the dark-haired young man, cocking his eyebrows up at Katsura Hiō, waiting for her to speak. 'You wanted to tell me something, right?'

It was after school and they were standing in the middle of the courtyard. The sky had gone to orange by now, with the day about to come to an end. All the students were leaving for home. Some of them, as they walked by, took regular glances at the peculiar girl and the said-young man, curious to see these two talking to each other.

'Yes,' Katsura replied, breathlessly, keeping her eyes down, her heart beating so fast that she felt like it was trying to claw its way out of her chest. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she pressed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and exclaimed, 'I love you!' 

Her heart had gone into palpitation now, so much that her hands, which were balled up at her sides, began to shake. 

She opened her eyes slowly to look at his face. 

The dark-haired young man was staring at her, his expression showing nothing. 

Then, came the words, 'Well, I don't!'

She felt her whole world shook. Her shoulders dropped, her fists loosened, and she felt herself sway a little.

'You're too creepy!' he stated, blankly, and turning around, he started to walk away, with his friend tagging along with him. 

The latter took a look backward towards Katsura, telling the dark-haired male, 'I think you went a little too hard on her!'

'I prefer to say things as they are! It's better than to beat around the bush!' he uttered, while Katsura remained standing there, motionless, staring after their retreating figures, her eyes stinging with tears, her heart in pieces. 

***

I cringed backward.

He's cruel!

'I didn't return to school for two whole weeks after that. I was heartbroken. But I was also feeling a bit ashamed. I didn't know how to face him again, but also, I was scared to see my peers. I had feared that he had talked about it at school and I would become a laughing stock; not that I was particularly liked by my peers. And then, that day-'

She paused.

That day...?

'After two weeks, when I returned to school, something quite terrible happened. He didn't talk about it to anyone, but-'

***

Flashback

'Ah, Hiō!' a familiar voice called out loudly from behind, in the school corridor, as Katsura was preparing to leave for home. 

The brown-haired girl clutched the handle of her bag tightly, her heart picking up speed.

That voice! It belonged to Dōsetsu Inaba, his friend! And this meant that- 

She turned around slowly to face the said-young man, and just like she believed, the dark-haired male was accompanying him. The moment her eyes fell onto the latter, she looked away immediately to avoid his look.

''Glad to see that you're back, aye!' Dōsetsu Inaba exclaimed. 'We thought you had decided to drop out of school! We were almost worried!

The young man paused down to give her a small amicable tap on the shoulder, while his friend continued his way without addressing her a single look. Inaba ran to catch up with the dark-haired male, while Katsura kept her eyes glued on the floor.

They were worried?

Her heart fluttered as she thought about the dark-haired male was worried about her, but very quickly, she slapped herself mentally. 

It doesn't mean anything!

***

She sent her arms around her legs now, hugging herself.

'I knew that he didn't share my feelings. But despite of everything, I couldn't stop myself from stalking him that day like every other day. I promised myself that it would be the last time that I would be doing that.'

I cringed again. She- She used to stalk him?!

'It was raining heavily that day. The roads were slippery. And there was that incident. Or rather, that accident.'

My heart trembled. 

An accident?!

Thank you for reading!

Glossary

Ohayō - "good morning"

Sandō - visiting path; the path to approach a shrine, straddled by a torii (a traditional Japanese gate) at its point of origin

Haiden - hall of worship in a shrine