Something may be quite comforting, by and large: even if you have been taught Buddhist and Taoist wisdom –and that clearly gives you pre-eminence upon human trivialities -you may not be spared of having stupid ideas.
Like, bringing home your little niece, her eyes-burning overalls and her whims when you have a nasty allergy to anything aged less than eight.
I’ll spare you the details about our trip, the crossing of the few streets from the kindergarten to my brother’s house. I looked like a damn fool and I don’t like it. I find rather funny to be able to catch a yôkai by its nose and tell him it’s unwanted here and not being able to handle a five-years-old snotty kid. She ran away from me twice, nearly ended crushed under a bus -said bus brakes screeching and calling me every name under the sun-, and she hit me repetitively in the ankles with her red shoes calling me “mean” –that is so true, my niece-. As I am quite optimistic, I was able to see the hand of destiny within this ordeal: I shall never reproduce. Definitely.
My sister-in-law Miyumi opens the door. She looks me up and down for a long time and allows herself to smirk –I remember this smirk quite well. When I saw it at the wedding, I had a small sadistic thought about my brother. He was going to have a hard time.
“Well, well… Looks like you’re nearly a man now? I wouldn’t have bet any money on that…”
Was that SO LONG AGO?
“No need to look so stunned. Last time I saw your face, Satoru-kun, it was hidden under layers of teenage acne.”
Told you she was a sweetie…
“Talking about youngsters, here is your offspring.”
Miyumi looks at her daughter, almost surprised.
“How did she follow you up there?”
Smiling, I remove the fuda stuck on Naoko’s face and dispel the magic.
“You know how I am, I have my little thing to make them behave.”
“I hope for you, dear brother-in-law, that she will not have any nightmare.”
As if I was doing after-sales service… I let my niece running at her mother and she invites me to come in. The main feature in Kanata’s home decoration is a total lack of home decoration. There is barely a vase, furniture looks quite ordinary and looks like entry-level-cheap-price product, walls are blank, layout is practical. I sit on a rock-hard sofa and Miyumi offers me a tea so dark I can clearly see my own face in it.
“Is there a problem with Naoko? You were quite evasive on the phone.”
“Maybe. But I need some information before. What happened last week?”
“Last… ?”
She tightens and casts a glance at Naoko, playing at some distance. She leans to me.
“Did she talk about it at school?”
“Precisely, no. But it may be linked to weird events happening at school. They asked for me this morning and I find rather odd that I picked out your daughter’s name… especially when you know about her ancestors.”
“Naoko has no onmyôjitsu tendencies. We talked about that with ôka-san.” My sister-in-law’s face is clouding over. She still looks bothered by my job, as if everything supernatural gives her the jitters. I make a disapproving sound with my tongue.
“She “sees”, doesn’t she? She told you before about weird people crossing the house… she hears wailing next to cemeteries. Even if you ask her to shut her mouth, you can’t hide such a gift forever.”
Miyumi looks at me, still silent. Sometimes, I feel like she pities me. Kinda. And I don’t think that is nice of her. Kanata never told me about his wife’s antecedents, but when I watch such a reaction she reveals me more about her than if I was reading her secret diary. I guess she had a very “delicate” face-to-face with a spirit.
Slowly, I repeat my question:
“What happened a week ago?”
“Naoko, go to your room.”
As the kid looks like she’ll protest, her mother puts her on a spit with her gaze and she flees without further ado, toys loaded in her arms. It’s only when she leaves that I realize actually how much this living-room is cold, empty, nearly scary. One may even expect to see… ghosts? As I know Miyumi, I guess she never left Kanata choosing anything here. I really look forward to leave… I certainly put my sister-in-law ill at ease, but, so she does to me. When she finally speaks, she looks at me straight in the eye:
“Sunday evening, a car accident occurred in front of the house. I heard tires screeching, but I was busy, and Kanata-kun was working in his office. Naoko went by the window to watch, and couldn’t be heard for about half an hour. I wondered where she was and I finally found her outside, next to the road. I didn’t grasp immediately what happened, when I noticed blood on her hands…”
***
This morning, while I walk Naoko to school, I find she looks somewhat quieter. Arguing with her parents last night was quite stormy but it was when I had to tell her about this fuss that I really found myself walking on thin ice.
Actually, she accepted the facts way easier then her genitors.
Walking, she keeps on looking over her shoulder as we cross the road to the kindergarten, and I sigh heavily.
“Yes, it is following us. Stop fidgeting.”
“Will it flee if I fidget?”
“Maybe…”
To be true, I could have said anything to stop her moving like a flea high on cocaine.
Shimi and the receptionist’ faces dries as I enter the school, at least until I tell them my job here is nearly done. Especially when I tell them that I have good news.
Once in the classroom with Naoko, I kneel next to her while she sits on these colorful little chairs and she starts to silently take felt pens out of their box. At this time of day, the sun is not yet bright and the building is totally empty. Shimi closes the door when I wave at him and casts a puzzled look at us.
“What now?”
“Now, we wait.” I tell him quietly, leaning to Naoko’s drawing table. Waiting. That’s what I usually do. I am quite familiar with the exercise. Awkward silence, a bit lazy, fells slowly in the room and Shimi finally comes near his pupil too.
“What are you drawing, Naoko?”
I show him the children’s drawings on the wall, the kid’s sheet and its black fuzzy shape.
“Her cat. Isn’t it, Naoko? You’re drawing Shûya, are you not?”
She nods without letting go of her pens and keeps her gaze on the paper. Her face is tense and she frowns as she tries to draw the ears.
“I don’t understand what the…” the institutor sighs. I command him to be silent and raise a finger to tell him to prick his ears. At first, there is only Naoko’s pen scratching, because the street rumor can’t be heard from here.
It’s low, but still audible if you’re paying close attention: a gentle scratch, coming from the playground-side door.
“Here it is. Your guest...”
I stand up with a light spring, stop Naoko’s pen using the tip of my fingers and nod to her. She stands up too and takes my offered hand.
“You weren’t allowed to let him enter your room, true?” I say in a soft voice, eyes nearly squinted. I have to keep my distances if I want it not to run away…
Slowly, I cross the classroom, hand in hand with my niece. Shimi looks at us, nearly frozen. Even the dumbest can feel these moments: when the “other side” is on touch, on your fingertips, departed not yet gone, deads watching us, sometimes with kindness. And sometimes not human.
Animals too.
I stop at the door and look at the girl.
“So you never opened to him. Not even the front door. And Sunday… he was run over by a car. And you told yourself you were a bad girl, letting him outside to die. Was it what happened, Naoko?”
She says nothing, looking straight before her. She’s afraid, she guesses that’s not a living being scratching nearly furiously now behind the blue plastic door. I kneel before her.
“It wants to enter. That’s all. It can follow you, but it will enter only if you open the door. It is not angry.”
I can hear the sound growing louder, becoming plaintive meows, and I can now feel the little ghost’s aura… so it was this raw, rough feeling I had when I opened the door. An animal’s aura…
Naoko steps a few seconds, looking hesitant, then she comes closer, raises on her tiptoes and opens the door. I feel my stomach twisting as Shûya’s soul enters the classroom, and I breathe heavily to prevent staggering. They often think –wrongly- human souls to provide a stronger influence than animal souls. Based on my experience, I can assure you I would rather enter in a human cemetery than in a pet cemetery.
A few awkward seconds, and Naoko looks in the air, smiles and holds out a hand that I immediately pull down.
“You can’t touch him.”
“What did you do?”
Shimi came behind us and looks at me with a totally incredulous face. Lucky him, he suffered no aftereffects and probably wonders if he has to call men in white for both the uncle and the niece. Getting up, I suddenly feel dizzy as “Shûya”, now guarding Naoko, looks at me with a pensive glare. I stand still.
“Kondo-san?”
Won’t he leave me be? Well, I can understand that witnessing one of your pupils marveling at a draft may be disturbing. Shûya arches its back when the institutor comes closer.
Smiling like a salesman who just flogged ten pounds of rotten soy bean, I put my hands on Shimi’s shoulders, seizing the moment to keep him away from the kid. Her guardian spirit watches me, ears flat on its head and emitting a sort of low growling –purring, I suppose-.
“Congratulations! Your class has just won a guardian. What a chance for you, to be at the cutting edge of esotericism. Every tarot and feng-shui adept will have their brats tied to your apron. So then, my advice: put a cat-flap on the door. Ghosts are creatures of habits, you have no idea how much they are homebody.” I explain him, then I slip in a secret tone: “By the way, if I was you, I would go low on punishing Naoko during the next weeks… let’s say months. Guardians can be easily upset. Will you remember everything?”
He stares at me with the look of an anchovy dying in a pot of salt.
“Well, I was saying that for your door.”
Shimi briskly frees himself from me and raise his voice.
“Will you explain anything to me, in the end? What were these noises we heard?”
“Man, what a slow one… I’ll say it again so listen closely: Naoko’s dead cat.”
“That is not funny.”
So you think my face when she opened the door was a prank?
This guy asked for an onmyôji to exorcise his classroom, but he can’t imagine a cat’s spirit coming back for its owner? Maybe he would have found it easier with a furious oni?
“Okay, look, I don’t have the whole day and I admit I don’t want to kick your heels. We’ll do as if. Let everything boil down and call me back when you understand by yourself.”
Another smile to Shimi. No improvements for his dead fish face looks. On her side, Naoko casts a contrite look at Shûya.
“How will I explain that to mommy?”
I clear my throat and roll my eyes.
“If I was you, I would wait a bit before telling her. Waiting until you’ll be legal would be a good idea.”
The idea of telling my sister-in-law about the spirit guardian her daughter got is definitely more than she and I can handle.
Then, i'm leaving for Saitama (my family home). See you later.
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