Chapter Text
“What are you talking about?”
Even Osomatsu noticed the incredulous, almost mocking tone of his voice as he spat out the question. He leaned forward, undoing his relaxed posture, his long tails moving nervously behind him. “C’mon Karamatsu, that’s just human foolishness! You’ve been hanging out with humans so often that their ridiculous games got to you.”
Karamatsu stood up on the branch, his blue monk’s clothes turning purple as the sun set on the horizon.
“It’s not foolishness, but love.”
There wasn’t any anger coming through his statement, only a hint of melancholic resignation. It made Osomatsu’s blood boil as he recognized what it meant. Karamatsu couldn’t be thinking of actually going through with this!
Or was he?
Osomatsu laughed with scorn, “What, you’re leaving already? Don’t tell me you got upset so easily.”
Karamatsu’s wings spread wide open, and a sudden gust of wind hit Osomatsu’s vision with a feathered rain. The black sea of feathers danced in rapid circles around him, and the air was filled with the howling of the treetops.
“You… What do you think you are doing, Karamatsu?!” Osomatsu shouted, trying to cover himself with his tails.
In the middle of that pandemonium, Karamatsu’s voice was somehow still clear. “I’m sorry, Osomatsu.”
With the flapping of wings, the wind currents got stronger, and it was impossible for Osomatsu to distinguish anything behind the blur of uncontrolled feathers and leaves. Suddenly, he was falling through a black hurricane, dragged by the changing direction of the wind, hitting branches he couldn’t see. His mind was in a state of confusion, but the echo of Karamatsu’s words was stuck inside his head.
“You are just like the others!” Osomatsu yelled as loudly as he could. His throat hurt from the effort, but the physical pain didn’t register in his mind. “You can go and rot with those humans! Karamatsu!”
He felt himself grow numb. His surroundings became foggy. The wind, the feeling of gravity dragging him down, the rapid fall; slowly, everything faded away.
“What…?” he mumbled, dragging his hand towards his cheek as a wet sensation spread all over his face. There was a brushing sound coming from someplace next to him, but he couldn’t see anything.
Osomatsu blinked, and the fog started to clear. A whimper came from his right, and a soft, furry thing rubbed itself against him. He realized he was now laying on a firm surface. Squinting as he made sense of the space around him, Osomatsu tried and failed to sit up.
The dim light coming from the outside cut through the entrance of the cave, illuminating softly the walls and the contour of his belongings laying on the floor, confirming that he was in one of his hideouts. Osomatsu sat up, and a fluffy animal jumped over his lap. He immediately recognized its long and delicate face.
“Kogane?”
The red fox licked his hand, leaving there the same damp sensation he had felt on his face.
So it was just a dream, Osomatsu thought. It had been way too real, if not a little quicker and weirder than the actual event.
“Dammit,” he cursed under his breath. Couldn’t he get a break even in his own dreams?
Osomatsu pulled his hand away with a frown, sudden bubbles of irritation bursting up inside him.
“Didn’t I tell you to not bother me today?” he snapped at the fox.
Suddenly agitated, Kogane talked back to him in a series of short barks.
“What? Are you sure about that?” Osomatsu’s long, equally fluffy ears twitched. “What kind of dumbass would do that?”
By the shake of her head, Kogane seemed to be as confused as him.
Osomatsu thought quickly, going over the facts Kogane presented him. A human intruder at this time of the year? That was strange. As of late, they had been avoiding entering too deep into the mountain, and even in the old times, it had been unusual to see them around during Mutsuki. Who could be the idiot that had entered his domains?
Osomatsu snapped his fingers. “You know what? I think this is the perfect time for a visitor. Bring them here, and tell me when they’re heading this way.”
Kogane bolted out in the blink of an eye, leaving Osomatsu to think of a plan. The skins covering him slipped to the ground as he got up. This was an opportune moment for something unexpected, something fun to happen.
By the sound of it, the lashings of the wind seemed to be getting worse outside.
Just as he was finishing the last details on his attire, Kogane came back.
“You wasted too much time,” Osomatsu complained with his back turned to the fox. “Anyways, I chose a princess this time. The human will be thankful to be found by this beauty, don’t you think?”
Though not for long, he thought as he glanced at the mirror. It was an immaculate disguise. A small face with a glint of mischief in her almond-shaped eyes stared back at him. It was quite difficult to design a replica of a typical princess’ heavy dress, with all those colorful patterns and layers, but now that it was done it was impossible to distinguish it from a real one. The reflection of the red lips bent in a smile. Despite the long time since he had received a guest, his skills were still extraordinary.
“Well, it’s time to play,” he said while turning around to go through the cave’s entrance. The gelid wind landed snowflakes over his sultry hair as he stepped outside, and his ankles got buried in the snow. It was good to be back in the game, Osomatsu thought with satisfaction.
The sky was clouded, and what could be seen of it was grey; it had to be past the afternoon by now. As he followed Kogane, he gradually got sight of the human. It was a man of average height, dressed in clothes of Western cut the likes of Osomatsu had never seen. The human followed Kogane’s floating blue fire with difficulty as it moved towards them, incapable of spotting them yet.
With a flicker of his hand, Osomatsu put out the fire, leaving the human aimless. Some wild animals’ howlings in the distance would be the perfect welcome, Osomatsu thought to himself, muttering a grumbled spell.
“You can go now,” he said, and Kogane disappeared again.
Osomatsu approached the human, putting in the work to make his movements look as graceful as he could. Getting closer, he got a better view of the man’s face. He was young, maybe around his mid-twenties, Osomatsu speculated. The soft-looking cheeks were an intense pink, with quivering pale lips as a contrast. His movements were quite slow, and his legs seemed to be on the brink of faltering with each step. This one had to be a weakling, rebelling against common sense by daring to come here, Osomatsu could bet on it. It would be fun to see how long he’d last.
With grunts so low they couldn’t be picked up by a human Osomatsu set up his next spell. He stood close enough to be seen and gestured with his white, delicate hand for him to come close.
“Are you a lost traveler?” he asked, and his voice came out delicate and warm like a lullaby amidst the cries of the wind. “Come here. I am the guardian spirit of this mountain.”
The human stood quiet for a moment, probably contemplating his appearance in awe, before taking a step forward without making a single question. Each step seemed to take him effort, as if he were lifting a sack of rocks each time he moved a foot. Despite that, he kept his eyes on Osomatsu as he advanced, who stared back, waiting for him to lose composure.
It never happened. Step by step the human persevered, closing the distance between them at an excruciatingly slow but sure pace.
With one last step, the human man stood in front of Osomatsu, looking into his face, his mouth hanging half-open as he panted for air. He kept on staring into Osomatsu’s eyes expectantly. Osomatsu felt as if those dark, tired eyes were creeping under his disguise, even under his skin, but he discarded it as a stupid idea. ‘Why aren’t you freaking out?’ is what Osomatsu would have asked if he hadn’t stopped himself.
Realizing he had lost control of his expressions, Osomatsu closed his mouth. This one human might be a little more resilient to illusions than most, he thought. It came to his mind a similar case from a long time ago that he couldn’t remember well, but it had happened before. Actually, it was better like this, he convinced himself. It meant the game would last longer than he had anticipated.
Osomatsu smiled, recovering his confidence. This one would take a little more to break down, which would make it all the more satisfying when it happened.
“There’s a humble refuge close by, a cave where it is possible to rest for the night. I can guide you there if you so desire.”
“I’d be relieved to receive your help,” the human replied, sounding coarse.
“You must follow me closely, or you might get lost again.”
Osomatsu mentally patted himself on the back. His acting skills were still on point. Certainly, he was the one in control, in more ways than the human could imagine.
“I didn’t get lost.”
Osomatsu had begun walking back to the cave, but those words made him stop abruptly.
“How is that possible?” he asked, maintaining the tone of his voice light and calm as he resumed with faster steps. “It can’t be that you were planning on coming this far into the mountain, and at this time of the year no less.”
“Once I came far enough, I followed up a clue that brought me here,” the man made a pause, and an ugly coughing fit followed his silence. “I doubt that counts as getting lost.”
“A clue?”
“Yes.”
Osomatsu waited for him to add something else, but he only heard the human’s steps coming from behind as they broke through the snow.
“I have some difficulty imagining that kind of thing,” he insisted as an especially cold wind current hit them. “There’s hardly anything here that could be discernable to the unknowing eye. A clue or trace in these conditions is unlikely.”
The human took some seconds to reply. Way too many seconds for Osomatsu’s liking.
“It’d be best described as a strange phenomenon than a clue. I thought I saw a blue light moving further into the mountain as I followed it.”
“There are strange creatures and spirits in the depths of this forest. It could have been that you were following a ghost to the place where their bones reside.”
“It dissolved before you appeared, so if that was the case, wouldn’t the person present there be the ghost?”
Osomatsu laughed. “Do I look like I am a ghost?”
“No, you don’t look like a ghost at all.”
The man’s factual tone caught Osomatsu’s attention. “You talk as if you had already seen ghosts before.”
The human coughed again.
“It’s only logical reasoning. A person who died in a place like this almost surely had a rough end. They wouldn’t have such a polished appearance after their death.”
Osomatsu laughed softly. “Is that so?”
He looked up at the sky which was completely dark by now. Though it didn’t mean much to him, it was different for humans, whose senses became obscured without the sunlight. This one was talking about ghosts and causes of death as if he hadn’t been dangerously close to the same fate. Osomatsu had to hand it to him, he was quite daring for someone with such a weak body.
Though he thought about playing a little with him before getting to the cave, Osomatsu discarded the idea. It’d be too troublesome if the human hurt himself, and the night was long anyway. That didn’t mean that he couldn’t spook him a little though. Human cries would be enough to test him, he decided, walking at a faster pace, grumbling the needed words under his breath.
As he glanced over his shoulder, he heard the steps stop. The man looked behind his back before turning his head and passing his gaze over the trees under which Osomatsu had disappeared into the darkness. So he had heard them.
“There you are,” Osomatsu commented in a regretful voice as he came back over his steps. “With only the light of the stars to guide you, it would be a difficult situation if we happened to lose track of each other again. Thankfully, we’re almost there.”
“It gets quite rocky just before reaching the cave, so you’ll understand if I do this.”
Osomatsu got a hold of the man’s right hand, who let out a yelp. It surprised Osomatsu how cold he was. “This way it’ll be easier for both of us to get into the cave without any incident.”
“I see,” the man nodded, looking quite exhausted even under the soft starlight.
Finding the way with the less amount of rocks, Osomatsu kept on pulling the man back up as he slipped, preventing his fall at least three times. It was probably the first time he was being this careful with a human, he thought, but it couldn’t be helped in this specific environment. Never before had he had to look after the person he had chosen to torment. In all honesty, he found it difficult to believe, but he was sure it would pay off; there weren’t a lot of places that could top a somber, lonely cave when it came to scares.
“Here it is,” he said as he gave the human one last pull to help him into the cave.
The man supported himself against the wall on his right, taking in deep breaths with his eyes closed, and slowly sat down with his back against its irregular surface.
This was the moment. The real game started now.
“I’ll search for some fallen branches to put on a fire.”
Osomatsu smiled to himself. As soon as he stepped away from the entrance, the shadows would start to creep closer to his victim, slippery fingers holding onto his skin, incapacitating him from moving at all.
He didn’t receive a single word as a response, not even a ‘Why would a spirit need wood to work a fire?’ The human just gave him a weak nod.
While the illusory spell worked Osomatsu gathered some wood, humming to himself. Ten minutes would be good enough, wouldn’t it? He should sing something ominous too. With his voice set in a lower register, he began to sing, spreading each syllable of the made-up lyrics. The song mixed into the sound of the wind as if it had become an additional manifestation of nature. Reaching the last line, he let his voice sink deeper until it faltered.
This had to have made an impression on his guest. Osomatsu had to see the terror on his face.
He had been standing under the large trees of the forest down below. A ghostly pale face mere inches away from his own confronted him as soon as he teleported back. Osomatsu screamed, stepping on the back of his dress as he tried to backtrack. He fell on his butt, with the branches he’d brought falling all over him.
“Ouch!” Osomatsu whimpered, then cursed lowly. “Fuck.”.
He looked up at the confused human from his place on the floor. The man’s expression swiftly changed into one of understanding and then, of amusement. Cocking his head, he let out a snicker that made the heat rise on Osomatsu’s face, prompting him to jump to his feet. He did so in such a hurry that he lost his balance again. He almost fell forward, but was caught by the grip of icy, small hands on his sleeved arms.
“Ah! Uh…”
Osomatsu stared at the man with round, startled eyes as he processed what was happening. The gaze of the person in front of him had gained an amused spark that made him look almost lively despite his weariness.
Straightening his back, Osomatsu broke apart from his touch and looked at his feet.
“I brought the wood,” he informed, stunned. What the hell had just happened to him? Someone had to get spooked tonight, and it shouldn’t have been him! How could he be taken aback by the cheapest scare in the book? How come the human had just been in the right place at the exact moment in which he had teleported for that to happen? What were the odds?
His ears didn’t miss the human’s sigh. Osomatsu watched as the human squatted down and began feeling about the ground. With his human senses, he couldn’t see the branches laying a few centimeters away from his hand. He probably had been much more scared than Osomatsu could have been, Osomatsu told himself. Maybe that could count as a point in his favor.
Growing impatient as the human repeatedly managed to miss the branches by millimeters, Osomatsu kicked a pair toward him. He crouched down, picking up the other ones as his mind started to focus again. How had this weak, slow, average human escaped the grasp of his illusions? How could he be so calm? His lack of reaction was making a mockery out of his incredible abilities.
This time Osomatsu would make sure to learn what was going on. He got up and went deeper into the cave. With his back turned to the human he threw the branches on the floor and manifested a small fire over them. The light spread like orange paint over the walls, creating obscure forms and creases where it couldn’t reach.
The human sat in front of the fire, letting himself fall as if his strength had left his body, shivering from head to toe. His breath created small clouds that evaporated in the air.
“I couldn’t help being worried about leaving you alone while I was away,” Osomatsu commented. “Thankfully, such feelings seem to have been unfounded, as you seem well enough, so I must assume that nothing strange has happened during my absence.”
“Why is that?” the human asked with a trembling voice, stretching his hands closer to the fire.
“Why is what ?”Osomatsu asked back, incapable of suppressing his irritation.
“Why would you be worried? What is it that you find worrisome?”
“Well, the why is self-evident, isn’t it?”
That was the closest to ‘That’s a stupid question’ Osomatsu could say without compromising his disguise. “It’s common for abnormal happenings to take place in this mountain at night. Yokai become increasingly excited as soon as the sun sets, so it is understandable that I’d be worried you would be encountered by something harmful while I wasn’t here.”
“That’s what I don’t understand.”
The human crossed his arms, tilting his head as he mused out loud.
“You said you are a guardian spirit. That would give you authority over the mountain and its creatures, can’t you ward off any suspicious presence? Can’t you do anything while away, even by a short distance? Can’t you even set a protective barrier? I thought you’d at least know what’s going on in the place you’re supposed to guard even if you aren’t everywhere at once. How can you do your job, if you don’t know when someone needs your help right away? It doesn’t make sense.”
Staring at the man’s face, Osomatsu felt his face and shoulders stiffen. “Well, I…”
He cleared his throat for longer than necessary.
“I have informants that help me keep track of intrusions and, uh, events of importance in the mountain, but my powers are limited. I mean, I’m not a god…”
“That means you’re a fallible guardian. Have you considered that those possible ghosts you were talking about earlier may have died because you couldn’t find them on time?”
Osomatsu’s eyes fell on his lap as he fixed his clothes.
“I don’t know about that, I started working here last week. In any case… Nothing strange happened after all, right? I need to know, er, to register it on today’s account.”
The human sighed, letting his arms fall off their position. “No, nothing that I know about.”
Osomatsu furrowed his eyebrows, closing his hands into fists. How could he not know? It wasn't possible that he just hadn’t noticed his best illusion! Was he lying? With what purpose? No, why would he even do that? Osomatsu was suddenly annoyed by this anomaly. How could this man keep so calm and logical in this situation?
No matter what was going on in his mind, it still had to be susceptible to his powers in some way. Osomatsu just had to find out more information about his guest. It would take a more straightforward approach, he decided. And some of his natural charm too.
“I must confess, there’s something that I don’t understand either,” he started, fixing his dark hair behind his ear while bathing his eyelashes. “You might ignore my question if you think I’m intruding, but since you were the first one to bring up your doubts, I’ll proceed to do the same.”
The man’s neutral expression did not change in the least.
“That’s valid. Go on.”
“It just occurred to me that it is unusual for a human to come into the mountain during early Mutsuki. Is there a special reason for the timing of your intrusion?”
The human leaned back, resting his body on the cave’s wall and closing his eyes, a slight smile trembling on his lips. “Mutsuki?”
“You act as if I said something wrong.”
“It’s not that it’s wrong, but your choice of word is out of fashion.”
“How else would you call it?” Osomatsu asked, obfuscated.
“We call this time of the year Ichigatsu nowadays.”
Osomatsu was baffled. Seriously? That was just the words for ‘one’ and ‘month’ combined. Since he had last interacted with them, was that all that humans could come up with?
“Ichigatsu… Don’t tell me each month is just named after a different number.”
“It’s practical.”
“And so boring,” Osomatsu laughed softly, leaning in so that the sound could reach human ears. “Risking seeming pushy, I must point out that you haven’t answered my original question.”
The human furrowed his brow, taking some seconds for himself.
“This is the best time to find what I want to see,” he finally said.
Osomatsu contained the urge to roll his eyes.
“That just makes me think of more questions.”
“If I had found it, I could set a record of it, but…” he glanced at Osomatsu. “I don’t think I did after all.”
Osomatsu tilted his head in confusion. What was this human talking about?
“If that’s the case, it is a pity, since you undertook such great risks to come here to find it.”
The human shook his head weakly. His speech was turning more challenging to understand because of the slur of his tongue.
“It doesn’t matter. I got something different, but interesting nonetheless.”
“Couldn’t you be more clear? I fear I don’t understand what you’re referring to.”
The man didn’t seem to have much interest in responding, as he said no more. His chest trembled as it slowly went up and down. Osomatsu thought he might have been less irritating when he was making troublesome questions; at least he wasn’t ignoring him then.
Osomatsu had let the conversation distract him for too long. He flapped his hand over the fire and it disappeared, making the shadows fall all over them once more. The human opened his eyes from behind quivering eyelashes.
“Oh my, I didn’t even notice we were running out of wood,” Osomatsu lamented, a smile threatening to show on his lips. “And I fear I’m too anxious to leave you by yourself again to search for more.”
He let out a concerned sigh, slowly getting up from his sitting position. “I think… It may work…”
The murmur of his clothes rubbing against the hard ground arose as he got closer to the human, whose eyes didn’t seem to focus on anything, eyelids only half pulled back. Sitting next to him, Osomatsu leaned slightly on the man’s body, letting his curtain of hair fall over his shoulder like running water.
Strangely enough, the human didn’t seem to react to his actions; not even a question escaped his lips. Instead, his teeth chattered, and his body kept shivering.
“If we stay like this, maybe the cold will be more bearable for you,” he whispered in his ear.
“You are warm.”
Osomatsu slipped a hand over the human’s stiff fingers. “Indeed, my hands are warm for you.”
Again, the human stayed silent. Maybe he had been caught off guard, or maybe he couldn’t believe his luck. If so, pressing him further was a must.
“It’s strange. At least tonight, it seems like we’ll have to stay like this, only in the company of each other, but I don’t even know your name yet.”
Once again, Osomatsu got nothing in reply. What was going on in that head? This man had to be stupid, or impotent, Osomatsu thought.
“What’s wrong?” Osomatsu asked, getting hold of the man’s face and pressing a finger against his inferior lip. “Did the fox eat your tongue?”
“You are…”
By the trembling of his lips, the human seemed to be struggling to get the words out of his mouth. “You are not a guardian spirit…”
Osomatsu stayed quiet, unable to respond. For how long had the human known? How could he know? Had his comments been so obvious? It couldn’t be due to a mistake of his own! That just wouldn’t be fair, after all the work he found himself putting into this.
He let go of the human’s jaw, a laugh that sounded too tense coming from his throat. “Don’t be silly! It wouldn’t make any sense for me to not be one. What else could I possibly be?”
The human didn’t add anything else to his daunting statement. Osomatsu thought that a good scare would have made him spill the truth already.
“Why would you say such a thing? And at this very moment…”
Positioning himself in front of the man, he held his hands between his. “I have helped you until now as much as possible, what reasons do you have to be suspicious of me? Just tell me, and I’ll make sure to dispel each and every single doubt.”
It almost seemed like the human wasn’t listening to him. His eyes were closed again as if his every word bore him to sleep. Ok, he was asking for it, Osomatsu thought. He’d make sure to keep him awake!
“You don't believe what you just said… You just…”
With a low whimper, Osomatsu let himself fall over him. In a low, hollow voice, he added, “You just don’t want me.”
Wrapping his arms around the man in a swift, bestial embrace, he dug his growing nails into his back, pricking the fabric of his clothes, tongue licking his neck, teeth grazing the skin. He moved his right hand towards the back of the neck, scratching the zone. Still, no cry, no wail, nor whine came reverberating from the throat. Osomatsu left a bite, teasing him to overcome his silent fright, but he didn’t even receive a shudder.
If he hadn’t lost all of his patience, he would soon; this had been going on for too long for the outcome to be so unrewarding. It occurred to him that even if no other reaction was given, the man’s body wouldn’t conceal its natural response. Positioning his head on the human’s chest, he listened. Slow palpitations. Too slow. It was as if his heart had grown stagnant.
Osomatsu separated himself from the human, thinking that something was clearly wrong. Spitting on his hand, he smacked the man on the cheek, just in case, sending his face some millimeters to the left with no reaction provided. His provocation hadn’t been ineffective, the human had just fallen unconscious. Maybe it had been due to his fright, but his low temperature and almost glacially slow heartbeat indicated otherwise.
He had to take him out of this place, Osomatsu thought as he took away layer after layer of his own clothing; they changed back into skins as they fell. It was a shame after how much effort he had invested in playing with this guest, but the game had no winners. Victory just couldn’t be called such when one of the players was laying almost lifeless. Maybe he had overdone it. The thought stung. Making sure the human was well draped with the skins, Osomatsu picked him up in his arms.
Outside, the snow had started to fall profusely. Myriads of snowflakes were thrown at them as they made their way through the sky, being hit mercilessly by the wind. If only Osomatsu could teleport while carrying someone else, things would be easier, but even fox magic had limitations. As it was he could only try to make his way to the human village faster. It had been so long since he set foot there, that he doubted he could actually still trace the path back. His memory was disorganized, and the elements weren’t helping his visibility either.
Destabilized in his trajectory by a specially strong current, he tried to clear his mind. He had to stay focused. His gut feeling was enough, he told himself. It had to be, just as it had been countless times in the past. There was no point in overthinking; he would only get lost in useless mental mazes. What had he told Karamatsu that other time? Something about simplicity. Whatever it was, he wanted to trust his past self’s wisdom. Simple minds find simple ways.
The extra weight seemed to be of some help to strike back his balance. With the human clutched against his chest, he tried to control his bodily temperature by sending heating waves through his palms. Even through the fabric, each of the man’s pulsations ran rhythmically into Osomatsu’s fingertips. It was as if his heartbeats ruled over Osomatsu’s own heart.
Descending from the skies into the town had to be an experience of its own kind, Osomatsu thought as he walked the streets covered by concrete, a material he had never seen. It was considerably warmer down here, in between the neatly divided blocks of houses, but… They were too foreign, devoid of the spirit of the old times; strangers that stared at him with their dark, transparent windows. Long gone was the marketplace, with its wooden stalls and shimmering lanterns. It had been replaced with colorful signs and tall lampposts that shone far too strongly.
Osomatsu couldn’t help being disconcerted. It all was so… dead. Like the crystallized corpse of an old friend, the town’s original, simple beauty had been covered by layers of opaque sediments until it had turned into something else. Something that could only be recognized by its general shape, but its former nature couldn’t be apprehended by the eye. The only thing that hadn’t changed was the snow, spread over every surface it could reach like a pampered cat.
As he advanced, Osomatsu read the signs, trying to find a resemblance to the place he remembered, a known name, but even some words were different! Some had been simplified, left with fewer strokes, and some sounded just wrong when he read them, like they didn’t belong to the same language at all.
There was only one establishment open, with a sign that read ‘free rooms’. Transforming his clothes into something resembling the human’s fit and disguising his fox tails and ears, Osomatsu hurried inside.
The elderly man behind the counter was falling asleep, but gave himself a shake and looked up as he heard the door creak open. His eyes widened, falling on the person in Osomatsu’s arms.
Jumping from his seat, he croaked out, “What happened? Is he-?”
“He’s not dead, but he needs to be treated as soon as possible. His body has lost too much heat.”
The inn owner nodded, a trembling hand drawing a small key from under the counter. “Follow me.”
As he guided Osomatsu upstairs, he mumbled to himself.
“I told him… I warmed him…”
“So you already know each other?” Osomatsu asked.
The old man took a sharp breath, holding onto the handrail at the end of the stairs. He then resumed walking into the hall ahead as he explained.
“We met yesterday when he rented a room… He left me his key before parting, saying he didn’t want to lose it in the mountain. What else could I do when he went away despite my warnings, but to keep the inn open and wait for him to come back?”
Reaching the right door, he unlocked the room and walked in first. Osomatsu followed him, scanning the small room. The floor was covered by a tatami mat, and the only things inside were a low writing desk and a travel bag.
The inn owner retrieved a rolled futon from the closet and set it up on the floor. As gently as possible, Osomatsu laid the young man on it. The exterior layer of his clothing was damp, so it had to go. Though the zipper looked odd at first, Osomatsu found out it was easy to undo. Despite the low temperature of the body, there were traces of sweat over the skin.
Osomatsu turned to look at the old man, “Aren’t you going to help me here?”
The old man came back carrying a tray. Osomatsu was sitting next to the futon. The young man’s clothes were on the floor, together with the ID card that had been tucked inside one of the pockets, identifying him as Choromatsu Matsuno.
“I made some tea,” the old man said, placing the tray next to them. “We only had left some rice balls my wife made earlier today.”
If Osomatsu’s fox ears were on sight, they would have twitched at the words ‘rice balls’.
“How do you manage a ryokan but don’t even have food to serve?”
The old man laughed. “Ryokan? That’s too grand for this little inn in this stale town. We only serve breakfast.”
Osomatsu dedicated some thought to those words as he munched on a rice ball.
“I guess that makes sense. It seems like this place has gone through a lot of changes these last decades.”
Or centuries, but he wouldn’t know.
Staring at him with a humorous look, the old man replied, “True as it is, how would you know? I can tell you are not from this town, and you’re too young to have seen such changes.”
“How can you be sure about that?” Osomatsu asked, reaching for his second serving. “Didn’t they teach you that appearances can be misleading?”
“You have the spark of youth dangling in your eyes,” was the reply he got as the man exited the room.
What could that even mean, Osomatsu wasn’t sure. He dismissed it as just the pretension of wisdom elder humans liked to wear. They had to compensate for the lost strength with something, he thought.
There were two cups on the tray. Osomatsu took a sip of his green tea. The mellow taste permeated his tongue, bringing in a slight sense of unclear familiarity. The rice, too, provoked a similar sensation. It was soft, mild flavored, and fell apart into pieces with each bite, leaving grains stuck on his face. Somehow, his mind went back to past days of time spent around town, of bets and now forever unpaid debts, and especially, it recalled well-known faces. How much time had passed for everything to have changed this much? How long had it been since...?
Now the rice ball didn’t taste as good as he initially thought. It was dry and difficult to swallow. He drank the remaining tea in one go and slammed the empty cup on the tray. Leaning over the human, Osomatsu checked his pulse; still weak, but his skin was just a tad warmer. He would most likely be able to recover. The inn owner had turned on the heating, but it didn’t seem efficient enough for Osomatsu. It couldn’t compare to fox fire.
He took a deep breath as if that would help him forget. Pressing a hand against Choromatsu’s forehead, Osomatsu tried to focus on channeling his magic to his fingers, feeling sparks running down his arm. Small flames sprinted from under his touch, gently licking skin and hair. It was a lot easier to use his magic now that he wasn’t battling the weather in the middle of a storm. This was probably the first time he was putting his efforts into operating with such precision, sensing the temperature of each body part and distributing the heat accordingly. His own senses started to feel numb, the only clear sensation being that of the human’s heartbeat regulating the flow of his own blood.
Through this process, unpleasant thoughts dissipated under the rhythmic bombing of this man’s heart. Gradually, the lips regained some color, and the spasms of the muscles stopped. At last, even his breathing became more natural and easy, as if a great weight had been taken off his chest. Now that he resembled an actual human more than a ghost, Osomatsu couldn’t help staring at his face as if he was seeing him for the first time. Choromatsu’s resting expression seemed to be calmer now, and the rosier tint on his skin suited him better.
It dawned on Osomatsu just how vulnerable a human could be. Which begged once more the question of just how reckless this one was to put himself in such a risky situation. Osomatsu leaned back with a sigh, putting out the flames, his heart being his own once more. ‘Now what?’ he asked himself. His job here was done. The old man could take care of the rest. If he left at this moment, it would be like his botched attempt at haunting hadn’t taken place, but…
Osomatsu’s gaze was still fixed on the other man the same way one’s eyes would stare at an unknown kanji, trying to dissect its meaning from the look of its compounds. Choromatsu. Unlike his name, he couldn’t be simply written off at all! His motives and thoughts through the entire ordeal had been unclear to him, and the possible explanations for his behavior were honestly too many for Osomatsu to just sit there and ponder about. This walking set of questions couldn’t be left alone yet, he told himself.
After all, how could he walk away from such a challenge?
Osomatsu was starting to fall asleep when a low grunt took him out of it, making him shoot his eyes open in time to catch Choromatsu waking up. It was time already, he thought, stretching his back.
Focusing on the light bulb, Osomatsu mentally added heat to it. It exploded, throwing dozens of shards flying around.
Sitting up in an instant, Choromatsu looked around, but only the light coming in from under the door threw some diffuse clarity inside. His bleary gaze passed over Osomatsu, falling on the dimly lit tray on his side instead. Getting a hold of the last rice ball, he quickly chewed it down and got out of the futon. Rice grains were now glued to the borrowed yukata the inn owner had struggled to put on him while unconscious.
Just as Choromatsu got up, Osomatsu pushed the teacup to the floor, spreading cold tea on the tatami. Stumbling on the cup with one foot while having the other one tangled on the quilt, Choromatsu fell on his back over the futon.
“Ugh…” he groaned, taking a couple of seconds before sitting up a second time. Rubbing his head, his mouth was pulled in a frown that Osomatsu would’ve commented on if he weren’t trying to hide his presence.
This time, Choromatsu successfully evaded the cup on his way toward the door and pulled it open. Becoming invisible, Osomatsu followed him closely through the hall, sliding behind him into the bathroom. The glossy tiles on the walls captured Osomatsu’s attention.
Choromatsu checked himself on a rectangular mirror; he turned his face to one side and then to the other. Looking over his shoulder, Osomatsu admired how clear the surface was. Not even the best glasses from Nagasaki had been so polished!
Osomatsu’s gaze landed on the red scratch he had left on the back of Choromatsu’s neck last night. He blew a puff of air on the spot. Choromatsu placed a hand over it, visibly shuddering.
Despite this, Choromatsu didn’t look back nor showed any other sign of uneasiness. He began to take care of his hygiene. Strange. Everything was strange down here, Osomatsu thought with a bit of annoyance as he shook the curtains on his right.
The curtains weren’t of much use to attract Choromatsu’s attention. Without even a glance at them, he went back to his room and tried to dry the tatami mat with a towel. Well then, Osomatsu would force him to care. He let himself fall on Choromatsu’s back, taking an ‘eek!’ out of him. He sat there with his legs crossed, feeling the body under him bend down.
The inn’s owner poked his head into the room.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Uh, no! I mean…”
Choromatsu began to reply. With an abrupt movement, he threw Osomatsu off his place, making him hit the matted floor.
Choromatsu was already up before Osomatsu could start to make sense of what had happened. “Some tea fell on the mat. And…” he looked around, “the light bulb exploded. Wouldn’t you have a spare broom?”
The old man stepped into the room, glancing upward.
“It exploded, you say? It must have been an electrical fault.”
“You wouldn’t be able to extract the glass with a broom. Don’t worry about it, I’ll have someone else clean it. In the meantime, you may have breakfast in the living room.”
“Oh, well, if it’s not too troublesome for you, then I guess I’ll do that.”
Osomatsu sat up, containing the urge to groan. He had been dropped on the floor like a sack of potatoes, and nobody batted an eyelash at his tricks. Just what was wrong with these humans, and what even was an electrical fault?
“Where’s the other young fellow?” the old man asked. “I told my wife to make soup for four.”
“Until now, I haven’t seen anybody else this morning. Should I know about that person?”
“Why, don’t you have any recollection of him? A young man brought you back yesterday. The last time I saw him I had brought you both some late-night snacks since I let him stay in this same room. Your skin was freezing to the tact, so I left him to take care of you overnight.”
“Is that so?”
Choromatsu’s expression was difficult to read. “There wasn’t anybody here when I woke up.”
“How strange. I thought he’d still be in this room, as my wife and I haven’t seen anybody leave this morning. And I locked the front door before going to sleep…”
There was a pause.
“It’s almost like the old stories folks used to tell when I was a kid.”
The inn owner followed that with an undignified giggle. “Well, perhaps he just got out through a window on the first floor. He might come back on time for breakfast. It must be ready by now.”
Despite the illusion set to make the food look unsettling, Choromatsu ate with gusto, as if it wasn’t there, which was proving to be the norm with him. If he had seen the smiling man on the surface of his miso soup he hadn’t let it show in the least. Osomatsu had never felt so impotent. His illusions just didn’t seem to have an effect on him. Why didn’t they work?
Osomatsu was not willing to give up. Choromatsu was a tougher nut to crack, but Osomatsu had always managed to crack the others. It would be stupid to be unable to crack a single nut!
Thinking such things Osomatsu followed Choromatsu back to his room. Choromatsu hung his travel back to his shoulder and lifted the low writing desk with both hands. He was going down the stairs when the bag fell off his shoulder with a little push from Osomatsu, making it collide with the floor. Choromatsu also ignored that, simply taking it back.
The desk was placed in front of a window in the living room. Sitting there, Choromatsu took out a long case, some washi paper sheets packed together, and a small dark bottle (also made of glass! Osomatsu wondered just many things composed of it were available now).
There were a bunch of brushes inside the case. Osomatsu stood behind Choromatsu, observing him as he charged a brush with ink and pressed it down on the paper. Taking the end of the brush, Osomatsu distorted the way it made over the paper, making circles where there should be a straight stroke. Containing a chuckle, he leaned down, looking directly at Choromatsu’s face. With annoyance in his eyes, Choromatsu threw the paper sheet aside and tried again, struggling to move the brush on his own accord. He tugged his hand and knocked over the bottle, spreading ink all over the paper, his hands half-dyed in black.
Choromatsu observed the liquid spread on the paper. Closing his eyes, he took a big, deep breath and exhaled slowly. When he opened them again he got up and went away. Osomatsu heard him talk with the inn owner before he came back with a spraying bottle and a piece of cloth. He sprayed the wooden surface and wiped off the ink. Osomatsu watched him with interest. He found Choromatsu funny in the way in which he held himself together, moving carefully and gently cleaning off the stains with pursed lips. What was he thinking? Osomatsu wished to have his ninth tale already to be able to read his thoughts.
Once Choromatsu was done cleaning, he took out another ink bottle. Osomatsu thought that for all Choromatsu knew, it should be obvious that was like inviting the same thing to happen again. What was he so determined to write about? Osomatsu sat on his left, bending slightly over the desk.
Choromatsu made a long first stroke on the upper half of the sheet. As if waiting for another stroke to appear on its own, he paused for a minute or two. He did the same thing after almost every trace was drawn. The lines started to converge and break away, delineating delicately a figure relegated to be alone in the center of the white paper.
Black hair flowed around the face and shoulders as the ink did on the surface, disappearing around the silhouette of a dress. Long sleeves were cut in angular folds. Choromatsu changed his brush for a smaller one. He traced the contour of vivid black eyes looking up from their position on the colorless face, accompanied later by a fine nose and smiling dark lips. Exchanging his brush again for another one from the case, he traced the finer details in the clothes, making them appear over them as he moved his hand just as Osomatsu had done with his magic.
It wasn’t an absolute replica, but a striking representation of Osomatsu’s disguise. He looked at Choromatsu, evaluating the serious, absorbed face as he finished his work. This had to be the best portrait somebody had done of him, and it wasn’t even his real appearance that had been depicted! Osomatsu absolutely would take this back home with him. He remembered their conversation back in the cave. What was a man with these skills doing here, risking everything to climb a mountain? Was this what he had wanted to record?
Interesting, Osomatsu thought. Very interesting.
They spent a long time walking around town, and Osomatsu still didn’t know for what purpose. Choromatsu occasionally stopped in his tracks and entered some shop, looked at the exposed goods without touching anything, and went out again. At least it was entertaining to look at the myriad of new human things. Like the very flexible and squishy yellow duck Osomatsu was inspecting at the moment.
There was something off about these objects. Despite their novel aspect, they stiffly stayed on their shelves, like the hairpins and brushes in the old marketplace. They were totally mundane, everyday things for these people.
As Choromatsu made his way through the narrow space between shelves, Osomatsu got a hold of a crimson red rock. He looked at Choromatsu, who was now crouching, staring at a shelf with his back turned to Osomatsu. The rock cut through the air from one end of the room to the other, and then…
Choromatsu had not been looking, but the rock was now caught in his hand. Standing up, Choromatsu turned around, searching with his eyes.
He began to walk in Osomatsu’s direction, getting closer and closer until he stood only a couple of steps away from him. Looking over the shelves, Choromatsu found the place in which the rock had been located and put it back with the other colored rocks.
Osomatsu stared at his side profile. What even…? What kind of human was he? He had caught it as if he had eyes on his back!
The clerk had not even noticed anything. In befuddlement, Osomatsu followed Choromatsu out of the store. While they walked away, Osomatsu mentally replayed what had just happened. Choromatsu’s reflexes were so sharp! Now it made sense why his powerful spells hadn’t worked. He had a higher resistance to spells and acute senses. Was he this naturally gifted? Or had he acquired such attributes? Was he aware of them?
A sudden gust of wind hit them, but it felt like a breeze to Osomatsu; last night’s weather had been a hundred times worse. In front of him, Choromatsu’s body seemed to disagree, as he started shivering. He walked faster and entered the first business he came across. Osomatsu sighed disapprovingly; Choromatsu shouldn’t be exposing himself to the cold after almost freezing to death!
The middle-aged woman at the counter greeted them as they approached her. Empty, very high tables and seats surrounded them, barring one table next to the door that was occupied by a single client.
“How can I help you?”
“It’s my first time here, so I’d like to know what’s on the menu.”
“Here,” she replied, reaching under the counter and passing him a pamphlet.
“Thanks.”
Choromatsu paused to read, and Osomatsu peeked over his shoulder at the neatly listed items. “I’d like to order chicken tempura and green tea.”
They both waited seated at a table near the counter. Osomatsu was already hungry when they had left the inn, and now his eyes kept going back and forth between Choromatsu and what he assumed was the kitchen door. How boring it was to not be able to strike up a conversation while they waited for lunch. On the other hand, being able to just walk into a place and get served food he wouldn’t have to pay for was always great.
Once their food was served, Choromatsu barely glanced at it, focusing on the woman instead. “Could you tell me the shortest way to get to the local shrine?”
“It’s located along the main road on the edge of town, almost two miles towards the west.”
“Alright, thanks.”
Choromatsu smiled cordially, his face softening so easily in that way that Osomatsu couldn’t help smiling back. He found it a real shame that Choromatsu’s smile vanished as quickly as the woman left.
Choromatsu barely ate. The tempura pieces disappeared into the air one after another, yet Choromatsu never looked their way. Another thing that Osomatsu could not understand. How could Choromatsu be so absorbed in his thoughts as to not notice half of the chicken legs were missing?
Osomatsu would be annoyed, but the food was too good, so he ate as quietly as he could while mentally judging him. They didn’t make tempura like this back then. This woman’s cooking was amazing!
Choromatsu got up all of a sudden. He left some paper money on the table and went away. Osomatsu couldn’t be more mystified. Wasn’t he going to finish off his food? Not even the tea?
Osomatsu nibbled on the last chicken leg as they walked along the route to the shrine. Once they arrived, Osomatsu waited for Choromatsu next to the torii at the entrance, watching him as he cleansed himself and proceeded to pray silently. What could Choromatsu be doing that for? Maybe he was actually scared, despite putting on a brave face. Did he realize he was being haunted?
Osomatsu couldn’t enter the god’s grounds, and Choromatsu was taking his sweet time praying. It had been fun to follow him around at first, but there wasn’t anything entertaining in being left to wait like this. Osomatsu dropped the clean bone on the floor and threw it on the deserted route with a kick.
He perked up when he lifted his gaze from the floor and saw Choromatsu had finished his prayer. Osomatsu followed him as soon as he passed under the torii, entering once again a realm where he could reach him. Choromatsu had had his little devotional session in there, now it was Osomatsu’s turn to test the use of those prayers.
A couple of snowflakes drifted aimlessly in the air, being blown around by mild winds. Choromatsu started to shiver again.
“Are you cold, darling?” Osomatsu asked in the voice Choromatsu knew him for, slipping his invisible arms around his neck. “I can warm you up.”
“I’m fine,” Choromatsu replied in a dry, low tone.
Osomatsu felt the hand on his wrist as clearly as he felt the drumming inside his rib cage. “You, on the other hand, seem to need something. What is it that you want from me?”