RP What Shadows Lie

Kasumi flinched as she took her seat, the sound of shattering emerging from the last known position of Hana. Luckily, the crash also hid her small surprised motion as Hibiki sat to one side of her, the teenage girl sitting on her other side. Hana came in as a whirlwind once again, but Kasumi did her best to ignore her and tried to do her job. Kasumi listened to the girl's story, noticing as she tugged at the ribbon. She half-expected her head to fall off as the ribbon was pulled down, but was immediately interested with what lay underneath.

Interesting, interesting. Ichi's voice trickled darkly into the back of her mind, a crooning that carried with it the smell of half-rotted tea leaves and bitter fire. Kasumi resisted the urge to itch her nose as she gazed at the girl's neck, perhaps with a little too much interest. The bruising was intense, a physical manifestation of the hold on her. Whatever had bound itself to her and left a mark such as this must have been powerful, yet unrefined. Like a ship's chain made of crude iron, there was no elegance to it, simply function.

Sloppy work.

Kasumi itched her nose, unable to resist both the smell and shaking her head to silence the noroi in her mind. There was something else on the girl, and it took Kasumi a moment to understand it, what lingered beneath.

"When did you interact with a kami?" she asked bluntly, finally blinking and reaching to take a scoop of rice onto her plate.
 
“An abandoned building up on the east side, it’s called the green house I think—” Seika paused, looking a little lost as Kasumi cut in with a question of her own. The girl raised her hand to run the tips of her fingers over the bruise, she didn’t wince but her hand didn’t linger long before she pulled it away. She eyes moved from Rei to
Habiki before she finally looked at Kisumi. “Do you think that’s… that’s the problem?”

“Its possible, but it might also just be related to what’s going on.” Rei said. That didn’t seem to make the girl look any less concerned, but she nodded.

“It was maybe ten years ago I think, there was a mudslide after heavy rain and I was found asleep in a shrine the next day. I… don’t really remember much about it though.” Seika said, chasing some rice around her plate with her fork.

“Thank you for sharing, I doubt that’s the direct cause but it’s something we’ll look into.” Rei said, her tone a little gentler. The girl nodded, before finally taking a bite of food.
 
None of this made sense.

Habiki found he was strangely fine with that. It made no sense at all, but it didn't have to make sense. He wasn't one of Rei's spirit-bashers or whatever it was they called themselves. He was just here for lunch. Remarkably, it simplified things quite a lot - he could just listen to the conversation, and eat his lunch, and nod along at random points as if he had the faintest clue what was going on, which he didn't.

Kasumi was being practically normal today. He rather thought that was the strangest part.

He felt bad for the kid, though. He remembered what it had been like, that pressing fog over everything that he'd done or wanted to do. Not feeling right, or not feeling anything. The guilt, the despair... he still felt them, a little, sometimes. It was hard, with her gone, but he had a little girl, and he would do his best by her and hope she never ended up running into anything like all of this.

And if she did... well, if she did, at least he knew where to go. And he'd go with her, so she didn't have to come alone, like this girl had.

"Will you be going to the shrine?" The question was mostly directed at Rei, but it could have been for anyone. He looked over at the girl again, watching her eat nervously. It wouldn't be that long before his own little girl was that age, not really. "Her uncle's shrine," she'd said. "I might tag along. I don't do the ghosts and spirits, but there's usually something that needs to be fixed."

Rei and his group could take care of the spirits, Habiki could patch the drywall or make sure the roof wasn't leaking. It wasn't the same as getting rid of angry ghosts, really, but it was something he could do, and knowing how it was with a lot of those smaller shrines, it probably needed to be done.
 
“The shrine? Yeah, it’s worth looking into I think.” Rei said, picking up her glass. Attachment was always a messy thing, Noroi and Kami alike, and it was hard to know what irrational whim would spur them into action. Best to mark off possibilities anyway. “Her uncle’s temple too after that, I think.” If it was a Noroi behind it, there might still be something lingering around the temple. Or evidence for what it was. In theory, it wasn’t like there were constants in this line of work.

“Oh, are you a carpenter, sir? It’s an old building so I’m certain it could use some upkeep.” Seika said, her brown eyes turning to Rei. “They’re on the same property, but the shrine is further up the mountain. They keep the path fenced off due to instability, but I can get you the key.”

“That would be helpful.” Rei said, with a quick smile before she looked at Hibiki. “Maybe you can get some work done in the temple too while we’re poking around.”
 
It was about an hour’s drive from Last Rites to the city of Hannō, and not quite fifteen from there to the temple. It was an old building, larger than what Rei expected for a local mountain Kami, though, it wasn’t like she was well versed in the myriad gods of the land. Still, the temple was impressive in the mid-afternoon light which glittered off lacquered wood and scarlet pillars.

Rei parked under the shade of a large tree and cut her van’s engine. From the temple’s main entrance she could see a middle aged man and young woman stepping outside, checking to see how had arrived no doubt. Rei turned in her chair and looked back into the van.

“I want everyone on their best behavior, alright?” Rei said. Maybe it was for Kasumi, maybe it was for Hana, Rei gave them both a glance. “Kasumi, you and Hana should take a look around to see if you can detect any Noroi, have Seika lead you around. Habiki and I will have a chat with the priest. Sound good to everyone?”

Simple enough for an exploratory poke around, anyway.
 
"- but that was really my uncle, yeah? And then, well, he tried to run off with the money, but when he was heading to the airport to get into his private jet - oh, I completely forgot to tell you about the private jet! He was an aviator, right? It was a hobby, of course, but he took it really really seriously, so he thought, when he got the money, he'd be able to just sneak out because nobody would be there to check him at the airport, they'd all assume he'd try to escape on the train like his partner! But he was clever, yeah? Or, like, thought he was clever, and - oh! We're here!"

Hana stepped out of the van, brushing her skirts down and unfurling her umbrella with a flourish. Three tiny plastic toys clacked together on the handle. Giving the parasol a twirl, she half walked, half skipped out from under the tree, staring at the temple with wide eyes.

"Waaah! So that's a real temple? I've never actually been inside one. I don't travel a lot, yeah? It's a lot bigger than your temple. But your temple isn't really a temple, is it? It's more just a shrine, and it's more of a conbini than a shrine, but that's not a bad thing, your place is lovely, especially after a bit of cleaning! Do you think they need to clean a lot here? Or do the spirits do it for them? Are temples normally cleaned by spirits? I've read stories about spirits cleaning if you feed them, yeah? But you'd think more people would know about spirits if they were running around cleaning up temples!"

She beamed at Kasumi and Seika.

"I bet you two see a lot of spirits, yeah? How good are you at finding them? Do you have any special tools for it? Or - or magic tools, yeah? Like a - spirit compass?!"
 
The car ride had not actually taken several hours. It had merely felt that way. Habiki was fairly certain that Hana had talked the entire way. He'd expected her to stop when she ran out of things to say, but apparently that wasn't actually a determining factor. Really, it was sort of impressive in its own way, or it would have been from the standpoint of someone who wasn't likely to have to ride back as well.

At least she was happy, or seemed happy. He supposed he couldn't really begrudge her that. Sometimes he still had to remind himself that people could do that.

Still, he was somewhat relieved when they arrived at their destination, and more relieved when Rei split up the groups the way she did. Because of the chattering, of course - not just because he was looking forward to spending a little more time with Miss Rei.

He did not say anything about that. "Of course." That could go for behavior or for the plan. He didn't really feel the need to say too much more. No doubt someone else was going to have that covered, after all.
 
Sixty-three minutes.

The van ride took a mere 63 minutes, and yet Hana had talked for nearly the entire ride. Kasumi hadn’t even been sure if the girl had taken a pause for breath in between all her incessant chattering. Yet she couldn’t tell you one word of what the girl had said, it all just washed over you like someone spraying you with a hose. And by the end of the ride, Kasumi felt cold and shaky.

She was very much glad to be out of the confined space with Hana, breathing in the clean mountain air that burned the back of her throat a little bit. A half-formed snarl rose as Hana once again babbled on at her, but she bit it back, trying to ignore how warm her hands had become, just as she ignored the dull chuckle in the back of her mind. It wasn’t Hana’s fault that nobody had told her to be quiet.

“I’ve seen my fair share of spirits, yes. As for finding them, well…” Kasumi trailed off. The explaining part never got easier, no matter how long she’d worked at Final Rites.

“I have a kijo inside of me trying to take over my soul.” She said bluntly. “I have access to her power, but it also comes with a risk. Fortunately I can use her power to locate Noroi without risking my soul.”
 
It felt kind of like when she went on the class camping trip back in junior high, all loaded up into the van like they were. Mr Habiki even sort of reminded her of the school’s PE teacher, though he didn’t yell half as much as Mr Sawa. Though, maybe he just couldn’t get a word in over Hana? The other girl did an impressive job of talking for everyone in the van, for an hour. Miss Kasumi looked like she wanted to start biting, but Seika was starting to get the impression that she always looked a little bit like that.

As soon as the van came to a complete stop and Rei had split the group up, Seika had the door open and she took a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. She moved away from the door so the other girls could get out, and stretched the car out of her legs.

“Magic tools? We might have some things like that in the storeroom.” Seika offered up as well. She gave Miss Kasumi a wide eyed stare when she mentioned a kijo, but she composed herself quickly enough. “Oh, right, so should we check out the ritual space first then?” She asked, leading the trio to the temple.

————————

For a long moment, Rei watched the backs of the other three as they made their way to the temple, her lips drawn into a tight frown. She could trust them to keep to their best behavior, right? Those three could do that, one of them was the niece of the head priest, so it should be fine. Just fine. The sinking feeling did not leave her stomach as Rei stepped around to the back of the van, and popped the trunk.

“Want to grab your tools now or just check the structure for later?” Rei asked as she ducked inside to fish out the bamboo sword. Black lines crossed the torn talismans that still covered the sword, like veins through broken skin. With some hope she could get the thing refitted before the next regret tried to strangle her, and if not it should work on anything that might be clinging to the temple.

She slid the sword over her shoulder. She raised her hand to an approaching priest, a middle aged man with a crop of close cut black hair.

“Welcome,” the man gave a warm smile, and offered his hand. “Sekia called ahead, said you were looking to tour the grounds?”

“That’s right, thank you for having us.” Rei said, taking the man’s hand and giving it a shake.
 
"I'll grab a few basics, but I'd rather not carry everything until I see what needs to be done." Habiki didn't want to be carrying an entire kit to every corner of the shrine, if he could help it, especially since there was often quite a bit that could be done just with a hammer and a screwdriver and a nail gun, at least, if you knew what you were doing. Most repairs didn't even need what he'd think of as professional work, it was just that a lot of people never learned the basics, or didn't have time to do them themselves.

He assembled a few things into a backpack and hefted it over one shoulder - not too heavy, not too lumpy - it would do for a start. It was certainly less auspicious than Rei's sword, although maybe that was more normal at a temple than a set of tools.

The priest approached, and Habiki stood back respectfully, letting Rei handle the introductions, and hopefully find out what was needed here.
 
“Makes my shoulder sore just looking at it, if I’m being honest” Rei said with a grin that lasted just as long as she looked Habiki’s way. “Excuse me, Mr Suden is a contractor, and he was hoping to take a look around to see if anything needed to be worked on.” At that the priest smiled.

“Oh, is that so? The temple is beginning to show its age I’m afraid, I’m nowhere as handy as my grandfather, so I’m sure there’s plenty to keep you busy.” The priest laughed, a bit like a brass bell. He turned to Habiki, and offered “I’ll take you around to some troublesome areas if you’d like. Loose floorboards, a leaky patch on the roof, nothing too disastrous. Would you like to join us, Miss?”

“Ayoama, Rei. If it isn’t any trouble, your niece mentioned a shrine up the mountain when she was with us. I doubt it’s related, but worth checking out while the rest of my team inspects the prayer room.” Rei said. She could trust that to Hana and Kasumi, she could definitely trust them with that.

“Ah, the shrine. It’s no problem really, but I do ask you to watch your step. I’ve been told the structure is stable by previous contractors, but ever since the landslide the building’s been temperamental.” The priest’s smile faded to the hint of a frown. It returned soon enough. “If the two of you would like to go there first, I’d be more than happy to take you.”
 
"Awa! Inside of you? Inside inside?"

Hana leaned in close to Kasumi, as if she'd be able to actually see the spirit roiling around in the back of her head somehow.

"That's got to be a bit scary. I mean, a lot of spirits aren't as scary as people act like they are, as long as you're smart about it, but to have one inside you - and actively trying to possess you? Or - or even become you? I don't know if I'd be able to sleep at night, honestly, what if it decided to gobble me up in my sleep, yeah?"

Hefting up her parasol, she waved the handle under Kasumi's nose. A tiny plastic toy dangled off it from a keyring chain.

"I keep mine here!" she beamed. "I've got three noroi already! I don't know - why, but it felt right putting living things in things that were kinda alive, yeah? And they don't seem too worried about it! Or maybe they can't be worried. They all seem a little single-minded, and sometimes they do act out a bit, but it's all part of the territory of magic. My gran said this sorta stuff would get me killed, especially with how I look at it, but I'm not dead yet, yeah?"

She smiled and patted Kasumi on the shoulder.

"And you're not either, so you're doing something right, too! I know it!"
 
"I'll stay with Miss Rei, if she's inspecting the shrine," Habiki put in. He supposed that the words had come from some sort of theory about keeping her safe, but realistically speaking, if anyone were going to be doing the protecting, it would be her. It had been a nice thought, he supposed. Well, perhaps he could protect her from... loose floorboards or a leaky roof or something. It wasn't heroic, but it was at least something sensible.

"And I'd be happy to have you show me around later and point out what needs to be done. I don't know what I'll have the time or materials for, but I'll see if I can leave the place a little better than when we arrived." He'd never really given a second thought to shrines and spirits before, but after everything that had happened recently... well. He still wasn't quite sure what he believed in, but whatever it was that he believed in, he wanted to be on its good side. If fixing up a few holes could do that - he didn't really know, but he supposed at the very least it couldn't hurt.

"I'll stay behind you on the way up, Miss Rei. If there's bad footing, I don't want to knock you over if I fall." She'd be light enough that he could probably catch her - and the old priest, too, for that matter. Probably it wouldn't be an issue, but keeping the heaviest person in the rear just seemed like simple good sense. Miss Rei probably had precious little of that around her, what with Miss Kasumi and Miss Hana.
 
“Yes, inside inside.” Kasumi said slowly, as though speaking to a child. Truth be told, with the way Hana acted it felt like she was dealing with a child more often than not. “Don’t worry, I’ve made sure that she’s bound tightly.” She said nonchalantly. “She barely has enough free movement to drink from a teacup.”

She reeled back as a plastic child’s toy was shoved into her face. Kasumi dimly remembered having a toy like that when she was a lot younger, but the wide-grinning alligator sprite inside was like nothing she’d seen before. She nodded along as Hana explained her own Noroi and gave what Kasumi believed was supposed to be encouragement about her current state. Regardless of the girl’s intentions, she at least seemed to put her all into everything she did.

“Thank you…for that?” Kasumi said, her statement trailing off into almost being a question before she remembered that she was supposed to be on the job. She turned back towards Seika and bowed apologetically as she saw the wide-eyed stare.

“Yes, the ritual space would be ideal. And please, try not to worry. I am a professional, and have the situation well under control.” Rei had told her once that if she had to bring up Ichi, it was best to reassure clients that the kijo inside her would not break free of its chains and devour all of their souls in an instant. They didn’t like to think about that.
 
“Of course,” the priest said with a nod before motioning for the two to follow him. A small path lead around the temple’s main hall and followed along to worn stone stairs which lead up the side of the mountain. A pair of old trees wrapped in hemp rope stood on either side of the path and Rei felt needles prickling the skin of her wrist as she passed them. “Please do watch your step, it isn’t a long climb but the steps will be loose halfway up.”

“Thank you for the warning.” Rei said, taking the lead up the stairs. She probably wouldn’t squish Habiki if she tripped. Probably.

“I’ll be waiting in the main hall for your return.” the priest said, stepping back onto the path to the shrine. Rei gave the man a nod before she began climbing.

“Hope you brought your mountain climbing boots today.” Rei said. It was probably a joke.

———————

“Oh? So that’s why—” Seika stopped herself before she finished her thought with an absent tug of her shirt’s collar. It seemed like it would be just a touch rude to tell someone that they felt evil when they mostly seemed to be a fine person just with red eyes, a ghost in their blood, and very good bowing posture. The excitable girl didn’t seem to be worried in the slightest by what Miss Kasumi had said or particularly concerned with her own noroi she had locked up in a toy. Were all hex breakers like this? With a clearing of her throat which also didn’t alleviate the feeling of something pressing against her skin, Seika instead turned to Miss Hana. “So, can they do things other than cleaning?” Seika asked, to turn the conversation away from Miss Kasumi.

The doors to the ritual hall were propped open as the trio approached, the gloom inside the hall not quite spilling out into the sunlight. Bells hanging from hemp rope strung along the door jingled gently in the breeze. An altar sat at the back of the hall, golden cloth draped over it with a wooden box sat on top. Two rows of five cushions lay on the ground before the altar and shadows clotted behind wide pillars painted red.

“Here we are, it’s a little creepy right?” Seika said with a light laugh.
 
"Mountain climbing? No. But I do climb around on roofs, so I'll probably be fine." Steel-toed boots with good tread were a necessity, especially on some of those buildings that got up pretty far. Habiki wasn't too worried - he was pretty sure-footed, and he knew how to handle himself if something shifted under him.

Actually, that was kind of a strange feeling, wasn't it? The not being worried. He'd been so convinced for so long that he was going to do everything wrong, that he deserved to do everything wrong, that just finding out that he could reasonably say he probably had this one covered and actually feel like he did was... strange.

But it wasn't bad.

He let her get started, keeping a couple paces behind her so he'd be able to grab her if she did stumble - she didn't look like she weighed enough that he'd need to be worried about not being able to do that - and then followed up as well, keeping the priest's words about the loose footing in mind as they went.

"Thank you again. By the way."
 
If Hana had noticed Kasumi's discomfort, she didn't show it, instead falling back as Kasumi moved up to respond to Rei. There was a moment - a beautiful moment - where she was quiet, rocking her feet back and forth and bouncing on her heels as she looked around at the temple while Seika led them through, but at the girl's question, she perked up and took a long breath.

"Oh, they can do lots and lots and lots of things! Well, probably. I haven't really used them for anything but cleaning, but I don't see why they can't do anything else, especially when they put their mind to it! If - if they have minds. Noroi have minds, right? I talk to them a lot, and sometimes it feels like they talk back, but it'd be really sad if I was just talking to them for nothing, yeah?"

They moved into the ritual hall, but it took Seika pointing that fact out for Hana to notice it.

"I think Kuroki's - oh! Okay! Um - one sec -" Rummaging through her purse, she fumbled out a penlight, clicking it on. "Kasumi's the expert here, but I think this place is really way darker than it has to be. You could stand to by a few lamps. Gold lamps! Oh, that would look so cute - you could even use one of those paper lantern covers to keep it all looking traditional and stuff! Oh, and flowers. This place needs flowers."
 
“Oh? So that’s why-” Seika stopped mid-sentence, but Kasumi knew what she had been about to say. Or at least, she could hazard a guess as to the meaning behind the sentence. She knew what she looked like. Hair that was ragged and unkempt no matter how hard she tried to keep it in place. Sharpened teeth and nails that she sometimes cut herself on, that stayed sharp no matter how she might try to file them down. Red eyes that she could never truly hide, that contacts simply made blurry and wet.

Kasumi knew the price that she’d paid. If she had the choice, she wasn’t sure if she’d pay it again. But she could never get back what had been lost.

Ironically, it was Hana’s loud, chipper voice that overcame the clamor of chains that filled Kasumi’s ears for that brief moment. She stepped into the room further, leaving the other two behind as she inhaled deeply through her nose. It was musty, stale, weak. Ichi could devour it whole if she wanted to.

“There’s something here. Small, feeble.” Kasumi’s words came hollow, almost like she was speaking without really knowing what she was saying. “Not the type that would wrap around your neck. Either they’re linked, or you have an infestation.” A small giggle at that, certainly out of place from everything else about her.

"An infestation of little Noroi. That would be interesting."
 
“We’ll be fine then, doesn’t look near as bad as some of the trails back home.” Rei said, as she stepped over a rather precarious looking pile of rocks, grit sliding down from the touch of her heel in swirling puffs of dust and crumbled earth. She looked back over her shoulder as Habiki thanked her, her eyes catching his for a moment before she looked back forward.

“I’m glad you’re doing better.” Rei said. She reached up for the branch of a snag as she found footing where the dirt had washed away and left a few paces of solid stone exposed. She ran her fingers along her wrist as she walked, but that habit was normal enough at this point. “I know how heavy it can be with the Noroi, so I’m just happy you were willing to trust m– us.”

Between the trees a small shrine stood at the top of the hill, paint peeling from bare wood. To one side under an old crooked tree a collection of broken boards and bits of statue had been left there to languish after some attempt at cleaning after the landslide. There was a small lip that had been formed between where the duo stood below on the loose earth, and above where what remained of the old stone steps lead to the shrine.

“Give me a boost and I’ll help you up?” Rei said, already sliding her bag off her shoulder and tossing it up onto the stone steps above.

——————

“I suppose that would make things brighter in here. Don’t think my uncle would like it though. ” Seika said, scratching her cheek. Was that why the corner shrine had all the fairy lights strung up? Though, it might be good to put some electric lights into the room too, it could help put people coming for rituals at ease.

Miss Kasumi gave her own two cents, speaking in a tone that made Seika’s skin prickle. In the corner of her eye, where the shadows lingered thick and the light from the windows overhead did not reach, the girl was almost certain she saw the shadows twitch as Kasumi addressed them. Seika turned, and where the dark squeezed against the wall it was still.

“So, if there’s an infestation would you guys be able to clear it out?.” She asked.

The door leading back outside creaked as it drifted closed.
 
"Trusting you wasn't hard," Habiki answered. "Believing you was." Maybe, to some, there wasn't really a difference - but hopefully she knew what he meant. The whole thing with the noroi wasn't exactly something that was easy to believe. It wasn't something that seemed common - it had all seemed crazy at first, completely impossible. How could that possibly have been true, how could any of it be true? Getting over that had been the hard part.

And the first part... okay, maybe he shouldn't have said the first part. Was that too far? Could he excuse that as having been you, plural - except, was that really believable when the other part of the plural was Kasumi?

He was getting used to Kasumi, which was weird in and of itself, but...

But maybe he should pay attention to what was going on here and not... what was... going on here. Thank goodness for broken shrines taking the weight off of awkward conversations. He knelt down and cupped his hands together to give her a place to put her foot and boost her up, glancing over the woodwork and the stonework.

"I... think the boards are probably a loss, there. Maybe we can save some of the stones."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top