“I’m late!” whined Mitsuru, running out of the school. He had to stay behind after school to be lectured by his homeroom teacher. It all happened because he got into an argument with Hisako, the spirit inhabiting his sword. Their relationship was a little more shakier the longer they spent together. Even though they had an agreement, she seemed to take no endless entertainment from teasing him. Not too unlike Chie in that way.
So because of yelling at her, he got caught and received a good long hour worth of lecturing on manners. It was supposed to be a special day too. Special for Tsuki at least and he hated that he was ruining it for her.
While he ran across the street, he nearly collided with a girl and her friends. He managed to evade them skillfully, though not without giving them a start. Unfortunately, his reflexes might have been improving, his balance still left something to be desired. He fell over just after clearing them. “Ouch…I almost had it…”
“Oh my, are you alright…” the girl asked turning around before recognizing him. “Oh Mitsuru!”
“Huh?” He did not know who he bumped into and did not think anyone that he knew was still around school. But as he looked up it was Aiko along with her friends Yumiko and Moriko. “Aiko! I didn’t see you there! I’m so sorry, I was in a hurry!”
She bent down to help him up. “Are you back from the war in India?”
“Eh?!” He blinked in pause not really sure what happened. “War? India?” Mitsuru froze up not sure what was going on. It took him a few more moments to remember what Aiko was like.
“I should probably mention this, the girl before me is Aiko Kitabatake. I met her before through a series of circumstances. Her defining characteristic seems to be lying, unfortunately she is both bad and over-the-top about her lies.”
He took her offer of a hand, though he made sure he was mostly using his legs to stand. “Right, I sort of forgot about that. You really aren’t consistent like they said. But we all know the truth, Aiko. There is no need for lying.”
Yumiko and Moriko both looked away from Mitsuru with some unease. They seemed to remember still very much the last time they met. Impressions all around were not the best. Though Mitsuru did leave them with a lot to think about.
“It’s compulsive for her,” Yumiko answered, “Even when it’s not necessary she’ll lie.”
Mitsuru could not help but sweat a little at that thought. Though his interactions with her so far had been limited, since they were in different classes. She left a very unique impression on him. He could not do a lot about something that made a lifelong instinct, at least immediately. ‘Hopefully, I can help her overcome her need to always lie. I’m not sure how much I can trust them to do it, I don’t approve of their methods.’
“What are you talking about, Mitsuru was recruited to help fight in the guerrilla war in North India after he proved his worth in a ritual of blood and strength. He nearly lost an arm from it!”
His face turned a little blue from the thought. “Wow, you really do enjoy going dark with these stories.” Mitsuru bowed politely to her needing to get away for more than one reason now. “I’m sorry, but I have somewhere I needed to be. The next time we meet I hope I can tell you something truthful about me so you don’t have to make stuff up about me to your friends!” He smiled his usual warm and energy filled smile at them.
Aiko stared at Mitsuru long after he stopped looking at her. She watched him get further away from them. He even tripped again deeply apologizing to the stone statue he bumped into.
Her friends leaned forward to look at each other in conference. “Aiko?” they called, hoping to get her attention.
Eventually, she noticed them and red ran through her cheeks. She jumped away from them trying to cover up her face. “Yumi, Mori, what are you looking at?”
“Something interesting.”
“Something very interesting.”
“Guys!”
Chapter 14 – Hard Luck and Hard Work
“I’m so late!” Complaining really was not going to fix anything. But Mitsuru could not do much of anything else. It was only getting worse with each passing moment. He was late. But it needed to be handled. “Why now?”
An oni stared down at him with what looked like a wood sword made out of a tree. There still seemed to be a leftover branch on the back of the blade. He pondered if it was actually possible to make a blade out of wood. Yet with the size and strength of the oni, sharpness did not really matter. It would kill just from the weight alone.
It roared down at him with a foul enough breathe to kill flowers. It also felt like it fried his hair as well. “Why can’t you learn better timing?! I don’t need this today!” He flailed his arms about at the oni, not that it really cared about his personal problems. It just smelled the strong and delicious spiritual power coming from him.
Hisako popped out of the sword, strung over his back still in its cloth sheath. “You need to kill it. Your complaining is just delaying you further.”
“Yes I know!” He pulled at the carefully arranged knot on the sheath to free the hilt. Grabbing the hilt of the sword, he swung it free and transformed all in the same motion. “Alright! I’m going to take you down in a single blow!” he shouted with Hisako’s soft voice.
As he started to build his spiritual power, a shadow appeared over him flying towards the oni. In the next moment, the oni fell over split in two. Half of it already disappeared into particles of energy.
Mitsuru’s mouth hung open completely interrupted and having his stage stolen from him. He barely even saw who it was before they were already gone. “Akira?” He knew from Tsuki that she reported seeing him going around the town keeping it safe. The fact that he just lost out to Akira left Mitsuru not completely sure how he was supposed to feel about it.
“If you didn’t spend all the time talking, you might have gotten the kill.”
Returning the sword back to the sheath with a click, he was himself once more. “I didn’t think he’d just show up like that.”
“Well if you want to be successful, you’re going to need to be faster and more proactive.”
“This isn’t a competition! I don’t care that he’s going to doing it. It means that Tsukiko doesn’t have to overwork herself.” He started to walk away from the scene. Thankfully, it was over before it drew any sort of attention from the townspeople. “But why are they just appearing in the town? The portal is in the forest, shouldn’t they be marching down from there?”
“With the seal broken, the portal no longer has a fixed location. It’s tied to this area still, but it can shift around a little. But the other holes are much too small, it is only because oni’s are so weak that they can fit their being through. You will only find stronger ones actually coming through where the portal is anchored as it is most stable.”
“I see. And you still don’t know how to close it?”
“The portal was made long before I was alive and it was sealed sometime after we died. The knowledge of such arts are not known to us. We were only meant to be the guards of the portal. We’re soldiers. Such knowledge would not have been granted to us if any in the family even knew.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? That was our life. What we were born and raised to be.”
“It just sounds sad.”
“It’s not so bad. We could protect everyone else. It’s a very important role.”
Mitsuru glanced over at his sword on his back as he ran. ‘Is that why they act like this now? Freed from the bonds that tied them to a fate they couldn’t escape.’ He was not sure if he could fully believe that as their cause. However, it did not change that he felt a little bad for them. He never really gave their situation much thought. Even dead, they were forced to be part of the world of the living. Their role followed them even in death.
“It’s kind of you to worry about us, but we accepted it a long time ago. Focus on your own life and what you can do, not about us.”
“I…” Mitsuru came to a pause in his conversation with Hisako. He dropped his speed down to a slow crawl as well. Across the street, he saw something that he was not completely sure of being real. He had to stop just to confirm it for himself. “Is that Chie in a dress and apron?”
Leaning forward, Hisako popped out to see what Mitsu saw. She hovered around his head level with his cheeks. Nodding in agreement, she saw the same thing. “I thought she’d be back at the house begging for food or chatting up Daishou.”
“Yeah. I don’t think I’ve seen her leave the house since she showed up. What she doing?”
“If I had to guess, working.”
“You think she’s trying to make money to pay for her student loans?”
“Maybe, but doesn’t she has a research grant?”
“I think so, but I haven’t really gotten into a deep conversation with her on almost anything.”
“She does seem to find teasing you more fun than a serious talk.”
“I don’t need the reminder.” Then Mitsuru remembered he needed to be somewhere else. “I’m late!” He ran off leaving Chie to whatever she was trying to do. It was not something that really needed him.
“You’re late!” Tsuki declared at the arrival of Mitsuru.
He bent over trying to recover his breath from all the running. “I’m sorry, Tsuki! A lot of things happened!” The rest of his friends had gathered at the park already. Which meant on the schedule that Tsukiko came up with they had already finished buying their snacks.
Kiyome pulled on Tsukiko to get her to sit back down on the blanket. “You know he was going to be late. We all did, that’s why we took care of the shopping beforehand.”
“Yeah I know…” She crossed her arms and sat back down not really have anything more she could say.
They all grinned a little and laughed letting Mitsuru find a spot to sit. She arranged the whole event, much like the rest of her efforts. This time it was just supposed to be them hanging out in the park. It was something simple with just their friends, but he knew how important it was to her. He hated being late to it. ‘I’m glad she has this time…’
“An hour, Mitsuru,” Kichiro noted, the time that he was gone for. Well it was actually longer than that, but it was the estimated time with travel time factored in. “That’s pretty impressive you were only there for an hour. Normally most students easily get two hours of lecturing.”
“Yeah, our homeroom teacher isn’t known for short lectures,” Hisoka added. He had been subject to one personally near the start of the year.
Mitsuru became a little fidgety at the remark. He quickly grabbed up one of the chocolate sticks. Taking deliberate action to eat slowly, his friends could tell there was more to the story. They stared at him with begging and eager eyes wanting to know the rest. Eventually, the stick had to end, though he did an amazing job making it last. It did finally run out and he had lost his excuse. “What?” Which just meant he had to eat another.
“Don’t be so stingy, Mitsu,” begged Kichiro.
Then his ghost companion popped out to them. She carried in her hand a teacup acting like she was part of the gathering. “The teacher ended up giving up after an hour.”
“Giving up?” Kiyome inquired.
“Mitsuru played his doe-eyed innocent face for the first thirty minutes before collapsing into tears for the rest of the time. After an hour they lost the will to continue.”
His friends clapped impressed by his achievement. “Wow, you made our teacher bow.”
“Your face is truly a frightening weapon.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my face!”
Laughing and joking around, time passed with ease. The mood was good and it was exactly what Tsukiko wanted. Peace was a rare thing. Taking the time for it when available was needed, at least in her mind. But the time had to come to an end.
It was time to leave, they were going to be late on getting one of the last buses back out of town. Tsukiko had to be dragged out a little still feeling like they had the time. But Kiyome dragged her along. They started on their walk back.
During their stroll, Mitsuru came to a stop. He stared over at the storefront again that he saw Chie standing out in front of. ‘Did she really find a job?’ Curiosity built up inside him quickly. ‘I don’t know much about her. I wonder if she likes this sort of thing.’ He looked over at his friends, who had stopped a little later realizing he was not with them. “Go on without me.”
“Mitsu?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll get on a later bus.” He ran across the street towards Chie with Tsuki’s voice disappearing from his thoughts. He only saw Chie, standing out in front of the store. The more he thought about it he figured out a little of what she was probably doing. “Hey!”
“You’re so reckless running across the street.” Chie put down her basket that she carried to grab Mitsuru up against her chest. “Did you finally warm up me feminine charms and blindly come to see me with a confession of love in your heart?”
Mitsuru immediately turned red at the notion and started sputtering random sounds unable to form a word. The sight of his embarrassed look made her laugh. To his misfortune, she grabbed him a little tighter. It did not take long for him to start have trouble breathing, both from being smothered and choking on his embarrassment. “Air! Air!”
Pleased for the moment, she released him to catch himself. She leaned down towards him with a grin still all over her face. “Did my beauty steal away your breath?” Chie giggled a little watching him jump around.
“N-no-no-no!”
“Aw, you’re so mean to a woman. Beauty’s very important to us, you’re going to make girls angry if you say that to someone else.”
“I-I-I didn’t mean it like that!”
“I know. You’re too easy to tease.” She picked her basket up and returned to what she seemed to have been doing before. “So why’d you come to see me?”
The switch sobered him up real fast. It took him longer than he wanted to catch up, but he could finally talk to her. “Did you get a part-time job?”
“Something like that.”
He got a surprisingly vague answer from her. Mitsu still wanted to know more. It was a small piece, but she was a guest at their home. He wanted to know her better and hopefully make her feel more comfortable. “Have you done this before?”
“Nope, first time!”
“Are you getting many sales?”
“Not too much. It’s slowed down a lot now that people are heading home.”
“How did you pick this? I didn’t think old man Ashikaga would let anyone work for him.”
“I won him over with my charm!” Chie flaunted her body a little for Mitsuru to tease him again while demonstrating how she supposedly succeeded in convincing one of the most famous storeowners in town for being too stubborn to hire anyone.
Mitsuru leaned back a little. While trying to hide his embarrassment, he held her declaration in suspicion. ‘The old man is notorious for running out anyone trying to help him. How’d she really do it?’ In a bid to ease his heart, he slid around her reaching for the door. “Well I won’t keep you then. I’ll just say hi to the old man.” Doing so would also give him a chance to ask why he hired her.
“Alright! Don’t forget to buy something, my little Mitsuru.”
“Er, right!” He quickly opened the door and jumped inside to escape. The longer he stayed worse she seemed to get in her teasing. Inside, the smell of bread and sweets wafted through the air. It had been a while since he was inside Ashikaga’s store. Despite his attitude, he did have good food. They were all handmade and naturally, all by him. His recipes were a closely guarded secret by him.
“Good evening!” greeted the old man, not seeing Mitsuru immediately.
Mitsuru bounced over to the counter where he stood. “Hey Mr. Ashikaga! It’s been a while!”
“Is that you? Hyobanshi’s kid?”
“That’s right! I wanted to get some of your mochi for Grandfather! He always talks about how good it is.” It certainly was not a lie, but it did help to make talking to him easier. Mitsuru did not want to open with the landmine.
The old man moved out from the counter going over to one of the carefully arranged displays. “Is that right? Hyobanshi raised a very thoughtful kid.” He pulled out a small set from under the glass. They slid carefully into a paper bag that he folded up for Mitsuru.
“Thank you, sir! Both Tsuki and I are very grateful for him taking us in.”
Ashikaga walked back over to the counter handing the bag to him. “He always has been a very giving man.” Clicking through the register, he went through the motions even if it was largely an unnecessary act. “300 yen.”
“Thanks! He’ll be really happy to get this!”
“You take care of yourself, Mitsuru. The forest gets dangerous at night.”
He nodded in reassurance. ‘Little does he know…’ Mitsuru looked back at Chie working hard outside talking to someone passing by. It was no or never. “Mr. Ashikaga, how is she working out for her first day?”
A gruff sound barked out of him for a moment. “What are you talking about?” He seemed to understand Mitsuru’s question partially, but naturally seemed to have some reservations.
“You hired Miss Chie to work for you. That’s what she said.”
“Is that what she said?”
“Y-yes…” Mitsuru could feel the atmosphere start to change quickly. He did not want to be on the bad side of him, but it seemed impossible to avoid. “Is that not true?”
“Of course not!” he yelled with strength that nearly knocked Mitsuru on his butt. “I’m the only one that needs to run this shop!”
“R-Right, sir! But she’s trying to sell for you.”
“Yes.”
‘There is something more going on here. I knew it.’ Fear or curiosity, he had to weigh to the two against each other. But it was Chie and he wanted to know. It might have been meaningless, but he wanted to know. Anything to understand her better. “Did Miss Chie do something, sir?”
His crossed his arms increasing the menace of his presence. Ashikaga really did not like talking about her, but for Mitsuru he answered. “The arrogant girl had the gall to say she could do better.”
“What do you mean?”
“This morning, she comes waltzing in here brimming with confidence and tells me that she’s been watching my shop the last few days. Tells me that I’m not doing enough marketing or some such word I don’t remember.”
Sweat built up on Mitsuru listening to the tail. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Chie. ‘Miss Chie what did you do?!’ Mitsuru only had half of the story. Regret or not, he could not let his curiosity stop only there. “What did you say?”
“I told her to leave if she was just going to be spewing nonsense. Then she went on some crazy rant. So I told her, if she felt that there was something wrong she should do it herself.”
“You did?!”
“I figured that being the empty hot headed girl like them that she’d back down once I called her bluff. But she accepted my challenge.”
“Really?”
Ashikaga sat down on his stool. The weight of it all seemed to get to him. “I never thought she’d called my bluff. Now I have to deal with her for the whole day.”
“I see.” He looked back at Chie. She went running after someone across the street that she spotted. Once the innocent man spotted her, he went running off trying to escape. Mitsuru sweated a little watching it. “Has it helped?”
“Not one bit. I get the same customers as I do every day, except for you.”
“Oh…” He watched her come back from a failed sale. The run looked to have made things worse for her appearance. She straightened out her hair and dress before coming into the store. “Miss Chie.”
Chie looked down to see a bag in his hand. “Found something to buy, I see!” She then went over to the counter. “Mr. Ashikaga, may I have a few more lemon bread loafs?”
“If you’re going to try to sell don’t run after the customer. It ruins the food.” He then went to the back of the shop and retrieved what she asked for.
Smiling brightly back to him not even fazed by his reprimand. “I’ll remember, sir!” She then marched out of the shop no less determined to succeed.
“How long are you open for?”
“Another hour.”
He stared out the door at Chie. She kept looking around for the next customer. At the hour it was, she was going to have a hard time finding anyone really. Mitsuru turned around and went back to the counter. “Do you have another apron, sir?”
“Huh?”
A quick change later from a confused and reluctant Ashikaga, Mitsuru charged outside. Armed with basket just like the one Chie had, he marched off down the street looking for anyone. “Excuse me! Would you like to buy some pecan bread or maybe some almond cookies?” he asked to two approaching housewives.
They stared at Mitsuru for a moment. “I don’t know,” one of them hesitated. But she was already trapped. They looked back at each other and then Mitsuru once more. The soft pleading eyes crumbled her indifferent hearts. He could not be ignored it would be too painful to see such a face disappointed. “Alright, the cookies sound good.”
“Thank you so much!” After he cleared the sale, a hand grabbed him from behind. “Miss Chie?”
“What are you doing?”
“Helping sell baked goods.”
“I can see that, but why? Don’t you need to get back?”
“There’s still enough time.”
“Mitsuru…this is mine. Don’t interfere.”
He stared up at her. She figured him out. It probably was not too hard, since he was inside the shop for a while. “I can’t just ignore this!”
“Mitsuru!” She nearly shouted at him. It surprised him a little. Though more surprising was how serious she looked when she faced him. There was no longer the jokester that he was familiar with seeing out of her. The expression she made clearly read on how important this was to her. “This is for me to do. It wouldn’t be fair if you helped me. I’ll clear this on my own!”
“But—“
“No! I decided to do this and I won’t back down on this! Go home!”
‘She’s really set on doing this…’
Mitsuru recalled something his Grandfather told him once. “Mitsuru, remember there will be times when you must stand aside. Where determination and resolve are more important than the success.”
‘Grandfather…I…I have to just watch don’t I?’ Mitsuru gave up his basket to Chie. He untied the apron finalizing his sign of resignation. “Alright, but I’m staying until the shop closes.”
“Go home!”
“No! Miss Chie, I’m staying.”
Chie sighed witnessing the determination that he bore for her. “You’re stubborn about the strangest things. Fine, just hang out in the shop. If someone sees your face next to me it might skew the results.”
“Alright.” He smiled a little back at her to give her encouragement. ‘It seems impossible, but maybe she can pull it out in the last hour…’ Mitsuru walked back with her and returned to Mr. Ashikaga. “I’m sticking around for a little while, Mr. Ashikaga.”
“Why?”
“Just a promise.”
“Huh?”
The hour quickly passed by for them. It was almost painfully swift with no mercy. He watched the whole time out the window as Chie tried to pitch the food to anyone passing by. She even tried to convince a dog, though Mr. Ashikaga noticed and chewed her out for trying to give something away for free.
At the end, she walked back into the shop at closing time with no additional sales. Mr. Ashikaga stared at her for a while before accepting the basket and apron back. “Well?”
Chie bowed deeply to him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ashikaga. I failed to get you anymore customers. You were right in the way you were advertising. This is my mistake.”
Ashikaga peaked his eyebrow looking genuinely surprised to see such an earnest apology. It seemed the hard shell of his cracked a little. “If you understand that then get out. You’re nothing but trouble!”
“Yes, sir.” She nodded and walked out of the shop without a further word.
All Mitsuru saw was her back. It seemed lonely. He just stared unable to move until he heard the door close. Then as though it has cut the bindings that held him, he bolted for the door. “Miss Chie!”
“Mitsuru!” called Mr. Ashikaga.
He turned around and barely had the time to catch the two bags tossed at him. One was the bag of mochi he bought and the other he did not know. “Mr. Ashikaga?”
“She might have failed, but she was an employee for a day. I can’t pay someone for failing, but give these to her. Effort is still effort.” Opening the bag, he saw there was a full bag of tea cookies, perfect for snacking on while drinking green tea. He knew how much Chie seemed to enjoy her tea, they were just right. Mitsuru looked back at the old man wondering how he knew. “She looked like that sort of type.”
Mitsuru smiled widely back at him. “Thank you, sir!” He then turned and pulled open the door. Once more he was late, but this time he planned not to let that stop him. In the distance, he saw Chie walking away. ‘She tried so hard and yet…’ He ran after her quickly catching up to her before she made it to the intersection. “Miss Chie!”
Chie tilted her head over her shoulder in the direction of his voice. She smiled at him, not actually looking sad as he expected. “We going to be bus buddies? You can snuggle up next to me if you need to warm yourself in the cold night air.” Putting out her arm, she grabbed him in tight against her side.
He saw the smile, but still worried about her. Despite the teasing, he managed to keep himself together. “You don’t have to be brave, Miss Chie. Even if you fail, you can still keep trying again.”
“Huh?” Her gripped loosened a little staring at him. “Wow, you’re serious, Mitsuru. Normally, you’d be red as an apple at this point.”
“Of course I’m serious!”
She let go of him and allowed him to stand on his own next to her. “Alright, alright.” Chie pulled her purse strap back up to her shoulder. “But you’re wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re assuming that I’m down for failing to prove that stubborn old man wrong.”
“You aren’t?”
The light finally changed and they started across the street. She bounced out ahead of him doing a small spin. “Sure I’m disappointed, but I’m not going to let it get to me.” The smile on her face was real. “Even if I fail, I still learn something. And next time I’ll do better!”
Mitsuru caught up to her side. He grinned back at her pleased. It relieved him, though he sort of felt a little useless. “You’re amazing, Miss Chie.”
“Just now realizing that? I’m older than you though.”
“I mean it. Most people wouldn’t just throw themselves out there like that and those that do would probably be really sad and upset failing. But not you. You can see the positive even in your failure and look forward. I always just thought you liked to tease me, but you’re determined and passionate.”
“Oh I still like teasing you,” she giggled as they came to the bus stop, “But careful with those words, Mitsuru. You’ll make me fall for you.” She leaned down as close as possible. He immediately turned red and lost his speech ability. “Glad to see you’re still innocent.”
“Miss Chie!” pouted Mitsuru, seeing her teasing him again. She grinned and sat down inviting him next to her. He snapped out of his embarrassment and settled down. Then he remembered the cookies. “Here, it’s a gift from Mr. Ashikaga.”
“That old man…he’s too smart for his own good,” she said seeing the cookies inside.
“You really are amazing, Miss Chie. You’re an adult to look up to…”
Chie grabbed him once more teasing him with her body as they waited on the bus.
“…some of the time…”
To be continued…
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