Hanabishi Fusai no Taima-chou - CH 2.2

A few days later, Takafuyu prepared an old-fashioned carved metal hairpin that designed to be worn in traditional hairstyles, and it was made to resemble a peony that had just began to open. The peony was undeniably beautiful. Each petal fluttered delicately as though trembling in the wind, and it seemed as if the bud would open at any moment. The workmanship was so convincing that it could even be called a work of Kano Natsuo, the Meiji engraver who was extolled as the “Engraving Saint,” and no one would object.

“What a beautiful peony,” Suzuko, who had opened the box containing the hairpin, said in sincere admiration. “You must know a talented engraver, don’t you.”

If her half-sisters saw this, they would no doubt fall in love and order it immediately.

“This is the work of an engraving master I’m acquainted with. I explained the situation to him and he gave it to me. Do you like peonies?”

“Yes, I love flowers.”

“What’s your favorite flower?”

“Well…” Having been suddenly asked that question, she was at a loss as to how to answer.

“I suppose you like lilies? You use the ‘White Lily’ incense, from ‘Flora.’”

“You’re very knowledgeable.”

Suzuko pressed her hand against her kimono sleeve. The ‘White Lily’ incense was kept in the drawer where she kept her handkerchiefs. That caused the scent to transfer faintly to the handkerchiefs, giving off a nice scent when she used them.

“I’m happy that you use it. Do you like it?”

“Yes.”

Rather than liking it or not, she thought that she should probably use it. After all, she was going to be Takafuyu’s wife.

Now that their marriage had been decided, Suzuko believed that she must act accordingly. The Takigawa family would be the one who would suffer embarrassment and disgrace if something went wrong. She owed them a debt of gratitude for taking her in from a slum and raising her, and she didn’t want to cause trouble for Chizu and the others.

Suzuko took out her handkerchief from her sleeve, and the faint fragrance of “White Lily” wafted into the air. It was a white lace handkerchief with the words “flower crest (hanashirushi),” Suzuko’s crest, sewn into a corner. Raising her head, she saw that Takafuyu was looking out the window. It seemed like he had averted his gaze just then. Was it just her imagination?

“…About the ‘pine crest…’” Suzuko peered into Takafuyu’s eyes. “You’re willing to cooperate with me, right?”

“Yes, of course,” Takafuyu immediately replied and smiled. It was a formal, conventional smile. Suzuko didn’t like it, as it was difficult to tell what he was thinking when he smiled this way. “Are you not satisfied with verbal promises?”

“No. Even if you write a signed note of assurance, there is nothing I can do about it. I can’t punish you in any way if you go back on it, after all.”

“There will be a punishment. I would no longer be trusted by you, and I don’t want that.”

“Do you think I trust you now?”

Takafuyu laughed in amusement. I like this smile from him, she thought. Feeling strangely embarrassed by this thought, she cast down her eyes.

Mitsumame was brought to their table, and Suzuko returned the hairpin box to Takafuyu. The two were at a mitsumame restaurant in Ginza. In the past, mitsumame was a children’s snack sold by street vendors, but it was modernized and improved in the latter half of the Meiji period and became very popular. The silver bowl was filled with red peas, agar, gyuuhi, apricot umani, and fruits such as pineapples and oranges, and it was served with brown sugar syrup. The sweetness of the syrup and saltiness of the red peas were just right.

As a sweets establishment, the restaurant was filled with young girls and ladies. Among them, Takafuyu stood out quite a lot due to his beautiful appearance. However, he didn’t seem to care at all. He was probably used to being the center of attention. As for Suzuko, she was also used to attracting attention from her time as the Clairvoyant Girl. Especially after becoming a part of the nobility, she had come to expect the intense gazes from women directed towards her luxurious kimonos. That was the kind of pull extravagant kimonos had.

Her kimono today was a dark lilac tie-dye, the obi was ivory-white with wisteria embroidery, and she was wearing a dark purple yuzen haori made of silk gauze and woven with rabbit-ear iris patterns to match. The obidome was carved with jade in the shape of a peacock feather, and the haori cord was made of a string of keshi pearls. It was Taka who chose her outfit. The sparkle of the understated gemstones and the colors of the showy but elegant kimono accentuated with Suzuko’s cool and white face.

“I’m sure you’ll look beautiful as a bride.”

Takafuyu said in a heartfelt tone as he gazed at Takafuyu. Suzuko wondered how such words could come out of his mouth as he watched her stuff her mouth with mitsumame, but she silently brought the agar covered with syrup to her mouth. The texture of this agar was also good.

Speaking of bride…Suzuko stopped her hand.

“Where will the wedding be held? Have I already heard about it?”

Don’t tell me it’ll be on Awaji Island, she recalled her half-sisters saying.

“Oh, yes. For the Hanabishis, we’ve only had a small ceremony since ancient times. We don’t have any grand, modern-style Shinto ceremonies.”

“What do you mean by, a ‘small ceremony’?”

Suzuko stared at Takafuyu’s face suspiciously.

“What are you so suspicious about? It truly does only take a few minutes. If you want, we can do it today after we finish this business.”

“Today?”

“The ceremony will take place at the Kojimachi mansion with just the two of us, so it’ll be quick. There’s no need for both families to be present.”

“Even if you say that so suddenly…”

Suzuko was perplexed. Even if it wouldn’t be a modern-style Shinto ceremony, she had assumed that there would be still be a celebration or something of the sort, at the very least, a ceremony with all the relatives from both sides of the family.

“We can also hold a Shinto ceremony if you want one. Do you want to do that?”

Asked, Suzuko shook her head. That would be a pain. Even though the reception was also a pain.

In that light, wasn’t a ceremony that ended quickly better because it was less troublesome?

Takafuyu grinned, as though he had completely understood Suzuko’s changing thoughts.

“Then, let’s do it today.”

Feeling annoyed that things were going according to Takafuyu’s plan, she defiantly reminded him, “But it will only happen after we finish today’s business properly.”

“Yes, of course,” he nodded magnanimously. “I hope she will accept it.”

Takafuyu said as he looked at the box containing the hairpin.

Their business today was to give the hairpin to the Kinzanji-ya’s daughter. Takafuyu had investigated everything, including the full name of the Kinzanji-ya, where he lived, and where his daughter had married. Suzuko felt like she wanted to ask him how he had found those things out, but she didn’t ask him in the end.

The daughter’s name was Shioi Roku, and she lived in Nihonenoki in Shiba Ward. Her husband was an earthenware dealer. There were many temples in Shiba, and Sengaku Temple, famous for the 47 Ronin, was also located there. In the area of Shiba Takanawa, there was the Crown Prince’s Palace and the estates of the nobility, and on the other hand, to the north, there was Shinami-cho, a large slum that was on par with Shitaya-Mannen-cho and Yotsuya Samegahashi. In the Edo period, this area had also become a red-light district, with teahouses lining the Takanawa coast which ran along the highway. Nihonenoki-cho was located in Takanawa, and the Shioi family lived in a corner close to Sengaku Temple. Although the house was small and compact, the gate and garden gave the impression that this was a well-maintained and clean house. Parking the car nearby, Suzuko and Takafuyu headed for the house. However, Suzuko stopped in front of the gate. There was a woman standing before the gate with her head down. Her black crested haori, plain brown kimono, and chignon on the back of her head gave the impression of tiredness and melancholy.

“Suzuko-san, you mustn’t deal with her. Let us finish our business first.”

Takafuyu put his hand on her back. That was when Suzuko realized that the woman wasn’t alive. Prompted by Takafuyu, she passed through the gate. The woman with her head hanging down paid no attention to them. A dark shadow was cast over her face. The woman showed no inclination of going through the gate and simply stood there.

What’s wrong with her…

Who was she? Why was she here?

Despite her questions, she was determined to fulfill her promise to the Kinzanji-ya. Roku, who appeared at the entrance, was a pretty woman in her thirties with strikingly determined eyes.

Takafuyu explained their reason for visiting. “My grandfather was partial to the Kinzanji-ya’s miso and had promised to give Roku a hairpin when she married, but he died before he could fulfill that promise, and we didn’t know about the promise either. Recently, I found my grandfather’s note with the promise written down, and we have come here to fulfill his wish.”

“Oh my…” Roku seemed shocked, but she invited Suzuko and Takafuyu to the tatami room and offered them tea.

“Taking the trouble of coming all the way here, you really shouldn’t have. I had no idea about that promise.”

“I heard that many customers looked forward to seeing your father’s box-car. I heard that his food was delicious, he wasn’t overbearing just because he came from a hatamoto clan, and was very amiable.”

At Takafuyu’s words, Roku’s expression was half-happy and half-sad.

“Father really did have a lot of customers who were his regulars, and they helped me out when he died. I couldn’t have dealt with everyone alone, so it was very, very…”

“I know that your father would have loved to see you as a bride.”

Takafuyu said softly, then opened the silk-wrapped bundle and held out the box with the hairpin.

“I hope you like it.”

When Roku opened the box, her eyes widened. She hurriedly put the lid back on and returned it to Takafuyu.

“This is too high-quality…! I can’t accept it. I have nowhere to wear this.”

“Do you have a daughter?”

“I do have one, but…”

“Then please use it when your daughter gets married.”

Roku had gone beyond joy to bewilderment. “But…”

“Please accept it for my grandfather’s sake as well. He must be furious about the delay in giving the hairpin on the other side.”

He truly was a smooth talker. Roku finally smiled and drew the box closer.

“Okay. I’ll keep it for my daughter. I never would have expected to receive such a wonderful gift now.”

“I’m sure it is the personal grace of your father.”

Roku lowered her head and wiped her eyes a little.

“Thank you very much. For my sake, my father worked until late at night, and that was how he…because he was in that sort of work, he had the strength to fling that drunk away to break up the fight. But he was a merchant…I’m sure he thought that if he caused trouble, it would interfere with my marriage. He should have hit that drunk back. I would rather he had fought back and retaliated than die. I wouldn’t have cared at all if it ruined the marriage talks.”

Seemingly unable to hold back her tears anymore, Roku buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders trembled as sobs escaped. Neither Suzuko nor the well-spoken Takafuyu had any words to say. A wind blew through the tatami room, which had its sliding doors open. The sound of children playing could be heard from somewhere. Perhaps they were playing in the precincts of the temple. Was Roku’s daughter among them? The voices were bright, like overflowing light.

After putting their palms together in front of the altar, Suzuko and Takafuyu left Roku’s house. The woman was still standing on the other side of the gate. They hadn’t been able to ask Roku indirectly about who she was. They passed by the lady with her head hanging down and came out into the alley. They turned around and stared at the woman’s thin shoulders.

“…Who is she?”

It wasn’t Takafuyu who answered her murmured question.

“Ah, that one, you see, is a pitiful lady. She keeps coming here to apologize like that, poor thing.”

A high-pitched, discordant whistle-like voice sounded from overhead, and Suzuko looked up in shock. Half of a woman’s face was peeking out from the top of the temple’s stone wall. Her hair was in a round chignon on top, and her smiling eyes were arched like crescent moons.

The woman was clinging to the wall with both hands. That was unusual. The wall was taller than Takafuyu’s head, and it wasn’t something that could be peered over for just a moment or two.

Takafuyu pulled Suzuko over to him and put her behind his back.

“Suzuko-san, you mustn’t deal with her.”

That was the same thing he said about the woman standing in front of the gate.

She’s a dead person.

“Don’t make eye contact with her.”

After hearing that, Suzuko looked down. She heard a rustling sound like an insect was crawling on the wall. She moved her eyes to see where the sound was coming from and saw that the woman was crawling on the wall. She managed to stifle a scream.

The woman crawled along, moving her arms and legs. The bottom of her striped meisen silk kimono was opened wide, exposing her red undershirt with a crimson leaf pattern.

“You see, that lady was from Yamanote. Her husband got drink and killed a peddler, so she came here to apologize to his daughter. Poor thing. Even though she was also being beaten by her drunkard husband. But the newspapers savaged her, saying that it was because she was a former geisha, and everyone made it as though she was the one to blame, poor thing. The truly pitiful one here is her daughter. Her relationship with the man she loved was ruined, and she jumped to her death from Asakusa Juunikai.”

While saying, poor thing, the woman was laughing so hard that her mouth seemed to split apart. The high-pitched and loud laughter was so piercing that Suzuko wanted to cover her ears.

“Even so, in order to apologize, the lady couldn’t die, and even after she fell ill and died, she kept coming back to apologize. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the only one still alive was the husband. That kind of person just doesn’t die, you know?”

Goosebumps rose on Suzuko’s flesh as she felt a chill so strong that she couldn’t stand still. Was this no longer a ghost, but a monster?

“Suzuko-san, feel free to cover your ears. These kinds of ghosts are to the jourou’s taste.”

Before she could ask him what he meant, she smelled the soft scent of incense. A clear fragrance. Before Suzuko’s eyes, Awaji no Kimi appeared.

Awaji no Kimi glided over the ground and grabbed the woman’s chignon. The woman screamed. Awaji no Kimi’s clothing and hair fluttered outward. In the next moment, the woman’s head disappeared. Awaji no Kimi’s hand wandered through the air and grabbed the woman’s arm. As she did so, the woman’s upper body disappeared like she was torn off. When Awaji no Kimi grabbed her shins that peeped out from her open meisen kimono, the woman’s lower half disappeared completely. Awaji no Kimi’s beautiful hair became even more lustrous and billowed in the air. She turned around and raised the corners of her lips in a smile.

She slunk back toward Takafuyu and held his head in her arms, as though to twine them around it. Her figure faded into smoke and melted away. All that remained was the smell of incense.

Suzuko pressed her hand to her chest. At the moment she disappeared, Awaji no Kimi had looked at her and smiled mockingly.

“Are you feeling well?”

Suzuko’s head jumped up at Takafuyu’s voice.

“It’s not a very pleasant sight, after all, to see her eating ghosts. You don’t have to see it.”

“No…” Suzuko looked at the wall the woman was crawling on. “Was that woman from earlier also a ghost?”

Takafuyu turned his eyes to the wall. “It would be more fitting to call that thing a ‘demon’ or an ‘evil spirit.’”

“Demon…”

Suzuko thought back to that woman’s appearance. That was something that evoked spine-chilling, instinctive fear and loathing.

Then, what about that ghost?

Suzuko looked back at the gate. However, the ghost of the lady wasn’t lingering there anymore.”

“…Just as that thing said earlier, that lady was the wife of the Kinzanji-ya’s murderer,” Takafuyu said. “But creatures like her mix in falsehoods with truth, so it is best not to listen to them. Well, for this case she was mostly telling the truth.”

“So the lady keeps coming here to apologize, and her daughter killed herself?”

“Yes. But it was a lie that the daughter jumped from Asakusa Juunikai. I believe she hanged herself.”

“”

“…Where did you hear such a story from…?”

Takafuyu smiled at Suzuko. “Do you want to know?”

“No, not particularly.”

“I heard it from a reporter. I also learned Roku-san’s address from him. I also learned the address of another home in the process.”

“Another home?”

“The house where that lady lived.”

What will he do with that knowledge?

Just when she thought that, Takafuyu started walking towards the car.

“Shall we go?” he said. Even without asking where, from the flow of the conversation, there was only one possibility.

“To that lady’s house.”