ともおの呪い
*** Cursing Tomo? (Ume POV) ***
“‘Cursed?’ What do you mean?” Shishi asked.
“Let’s find a place to sit, and I’ll tell you.”
I looked down the road that led away from the Hiroshima ruins toward a verdant green forest. The first trees were about 300 meters away, sheltering a dōsojin statue and a couple of nice sunny rocks from the wind.
I pointed at the rocks. “Let’s go sit there and I’ll explain. We deserve a rest.”
On the way there, I sorted through what I knew about Kashima, deciding to keep it brief. The spot was pleasant, not what I expected in Kakuriyo. Snow lay in the shade, but early grasses with a sprinkling of white anemone and other wildflowers appeared in the bare patches. In the distance, I could see communication or radar towers on a hilltop rising above the trees, a reminder of the grim reality just out of sight.
I began speaking as Shishi nervously played with a pink fawn lily she’d plucked. “Kashima-san appears three times. The first two times an incantation can drive her off. I used the first incantation, which is the only one I remember. But regardless, the third time she’ll kill you unless you’ve passed the curse on by telling someone else her story.”
“So, who can we tell?”
I was a little taken aback by Shishi’s willingness to throw someone under the bus. On the other hand, the plan I’d come up with reflected just as poorly on me. Worse, since it involved someone I loved.
“The only thing I can think of is calling Tomo, telling him the story, and having him pass it on. Somewhere I read that if you tell enough people, the sheer number of options will paralyze Kashima-san.”
“Tomo-san, hmmm. I can see that. If you tell him how to break the curse, he’s safe. I was thinking of someone I hate like the manager of Tamoto Suzume, or the hostess manager, Yamabuki. Good thing, I don’t know how to contact any of them. I suck don’t I?”
“Please don’t talk about yourself that way.”
She shrugged and threw the battered fawn lily down. Despite her comment, she didn’t look repentant at all.
With a sick feeling, I took out my phone. Who knows if the phone would even work? It had the last time I called from Kakuriyo. Well, actually not. Mikawa-san had bewitched me, hadn’t she? Serve her right if I repeated the Kashima-san story to her.
I turned on the phone and waited for it to power up. A wave of relief washed over me when there were no bars. It would’ve been hard to live with myself if I’d used Tomo that way.
“No signal,” I said to Shishi. “We’ll have to figure something else out.”
“Be funny if Kashima got us, not Mikawa. The prophecy doesn’t say who is going to kill me.” Shishi didn’t appear alarmed as she said this, just kind of philosophical. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” She had more faith in me than I did.
“Wait, there was a message from Tomo,” I said, noticing the notification. With trepidation, I opened it and read, “They are still after me!”
*** Tomo’s Curse (Tomo POV) ***
“Tomo, they’re going to be alright,” Kan-chan said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“Maybe,” I said as I watched my wife and her “girlfriend” walk across the field toward Himekawa Hospital. I’d maintained a brave face while driving them there, but almost broke down when Ume hugged me goodbye. Now that they were on their way, the realization I might never see them again hit me even harder. Kan-chan must have sensed that.
She continued, “I don’t know if it’ll do any good, but we’ll pray for them at the temple.”
I didn’t have any faith in prayer, but Kan-chan saying that encouraged me. She was an enormous support, a friend when I needed one. Now that Ume was gone, I would have felt utterly alone in the world without her.
Neither of us were big talkers, so we drove back without talking. Reaching Higashimatsuyama, she broke the silence. “There’s an izakaya near here that serves wonderful yuzu chicken skewers and sublime shochu. Bet you need a drink; I sure do.” I nodded in agreement.
The result was I didn’t get home that night and crashed at Kan-chan’s. I didn’t want to bother her family, but Kan-chan insisted, saying, “Kao won’t care as long as it doesn’t happen too often, and Shiro-sama will ignore it. They think I’m a lush, anyway.”
When I arrived home the next afternoon, I vaguely noticed a man standing next to the vending machine across the road. At the time, it meant nothing to me. With irritation, I picked up the Yorokobun No Gakuryoku pamphlets lying on my doorstep. They reminded me of Ume’s plan. So, I walked to my neighbor’s, knocked, and greeted Meguro-san when she answered the door. Holding out the cult pamphlets, using them as an excuse for my visit. “These folks seem persistent. Have they been bothering you, too?”
Annoyance flickered on her face. Whether it was because of me or the cult, I couldn’t say, but she denied they had been bothering her.
“I’m glad,” I said. “They were rude to my wife and made a fuss about our charms. Before she left for her aunt’s, she asked me to check on you.”
“There I worked it in,” I thought.
Unfortunately, Meguro-san didn’t ask how long Ume would be away and I couldn’t figure out a way to work it in. Instead, I said goodbye and went home to a lonely house.
It had been years since I’d been away from Ume. True; she was messy and talked too much when excited, but that didn’t mean I cared any less for her. She was clever and a good sport when I teased her. When I said something, she listened respectfully. If I couldn’t work, she never complained and paid the bills I couldn’t. She liked to joke I’d only moved in with her so she could support me. Like the best humor, there was a grain of truth in it. Just a grain. I truly loved her.
Yabai, I even missed Shishi with her inane conversation about idols and dark music. She took good care of us, especially Ume. Once you got to know her, you realized she was a good egg.
To avoid my loneliness, I began cleaning the bedroom. Of course, Ume hadn’t made the bed. As I straightened the sheets, I stopped for a moment to stare at a cigarette butt Ume had left in an ashtray. She never had been very neat.
“Come on,” I said to myself. “It’s only been a day since she left.”
With the bedroom straightened, I moved to the living room. The first thing was to throw away the cult flyers. That was when I discovered a map mixed in with them. An icy chill ran down my back when I realized it was of Itoigawa, Niigata. The feeling got worse when I saw the location of Himekawa Hospital circled in red.
I stared in disbelief. This made no sense.
My hand shook as I read the note in the margin. “You’re next.”
“They’ve gotten Ume,” I thought. “But no, I have to believe Ume is still safe. They’re messing with me.”
Regardless, I didn’t feel safe here, so I grabbed a change of clothes and, on impulse, Ume’s computer and left to find a hotel near where I worked. I considered calling Kan-chan, but decided I shouldn’t bother her. What could she do?
By morning, I reconsidered not involving Kan-chan. Ume always complained that I pretended I was tough and refused to ask for help. She was right, I thought. I’d every right to be scared. The cult hadn’t gone away the way we had hoped. With those thoughts, I called Kan-chan and told her what had happened and we agreed she’d accompany me home the next day to check out the situation.
By the time Kan-chan met me, I’d convinced myself that I shouldn’t be bothering her. If they wanted to hurt me, they’d have already done it. The note had just been to mess with me.
When I apologized, she answered, “No, you were right to call. But if it makes you feel better, you can buy me a drink if it’s nothing.”
“Sure, I’ll pick something up and food.”
It wasn’t a bet I needed to pay off, though. Kan-chan was the first to spot my watchers. “There’re two today, but don’t look. Pretend you don’t see them.”
I did as she said and parked behind our privacy screen, obscuring their view of us. It was only a few steps from the door, but I stopped right outside, staring at the flyers on the doorstep. “They never give up,” I thought. My habits of neatness kicked in and I scooped up the litter, shoving it into the supermarket bag along with the food and shochu I’d bought.
When I looked up, I followed Kan-chan’s eyes and exclaimed, “Yabai, the wards! Destroyed!”
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Note: If they are messing with her, they are succeeding.
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Story by Nara Moore
Twitter/X:@nara_moore
Mastodon: sakurajima.moe
WordPress: Josei Yuri and Paranormal Romance
Art by Mai-sensei
Twitter: @Maiisheree
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