Mononohare: The Mystery of Shinjubiki

            The world is infinite, yet what exists inside the world is finite.

            Humans like us can only live for a hundred years, but somewhere within that hundred years are where most people meet their demise and then get replaced. A cruel cycle that’ll never end unless the world becomes eradicated by its demise, but because the earth can never meet its demise is the reason we, humans—that can meet our demise—exist for such reasons. We unconsciously destroy a part of the world without even knowing what effect this can cause. Likely, that someday, the end of the world might as well appear in a hundred decades or a thousand decades.

            And even after that, I might not exist anymore to watch the world fall on its creation.

            Like how the moon and the sun see each other but they don’t meet, they don’t collide and they’ll end up chasing each other endlessly. This is an undeniable proof that in the eon of time, those who have wisdom are nothing but a pip of history. A real existence who’ll never reach the end of the world yet speaks as if they can predict what will happen next. This is to say that no matter how far we proceed, it’ll only take us to a never-ending cycle of happiness and sadness. 

            Now that I have died from such a thing called fate. I will become the observer of the world if there is ever that kind of option, and if I were to be reincarnated in a new world, then so be it. I’d live there to become stronger and have all the girls. But surely, I would be reminiscing the past with sorrow and regret, not knowing what happened to Atsushi.

            Wait, what if you can’t have your memories to be reincarnated?

             …I wouldn’t even dare make that my sacrificial choice because my knowledge will make me a lot of money by setting up a store with things like touch screen televisions or some real edge of glory for cooking and if I don’t have the skills to create those, then I’ll manage somehow by finding a craftsman.

             I, itself, calls for a genius doing all of the good stuff with a plan and it just makes me want to chortle proudly. Fine then, I’ll make sure the world kneels from my knowledge that was born solely from genetics. But if I turn into a woman in that new world… then I’ll just give up life and become a housewife.

            But first of all… why does it feel heavy? Is this what it feels to die?

            No. I could even feel that I am lying on a floor with a heavy object in front of me and it’s making a coos sound for some reason. This must be some pigeons, thinking I am their stepping stone.

            As the cicadas cried, the dogs barked and the birds chirped. I clenched my fist and opened my eyes to see if I have died while also trying to understand the situation in front of me. But the moment I opened my eyes, I wasn’t dead. I don’t have any injuries and I am still breathing and the one that was weighing me down which I thought were a bunch of pigeons is a small girl with blonde hair wearing a sunny outfit and a shawl. And for some reason, she looks nostalgic.

              Atsushi’s gambling instinct that came as a gift from his parents is very dangerous and is something I can really count on future situations.

             …But wait, a blonde-hair? Could this little girl actually be her? The one I met from the stairs?

            “You’re finally awake. You were caught trying to raid this shrine, right? Walked right in front of a Yuki-onna ambush. Same as us, and that small sleeping girl over there.” Piped Atsushi.

            “That’s actually what happened—Of course, not!”

            “Yeah, like that’s going to happen.” He laughed. “Anyway, that’s the girl that just saved our life by creating a disastrous hurricane which is surprising, but I can’t do anything about that.”

            I put the palm of my hands in my forehead and said, “Fūjin.”

            “That name… that’s what made her appear out-of-nowhere. If by chance, maybe my guess is right, after all.”

            “What is it?”

            “Remember when you said she wore a shawl? Don’t you know that a Japanese god of the wind wears a shawl too? There is also that moment you said her name, Fūjin, and a hurricane appeared out-of-nowhere, which blew the two of us—putting us unconscious—only to figure out that we are fine. The name Fūjin is actually the name of a Japanese god of the wind, letting me understand that this girl is actually a Japanese god of the wind.” Atsushi briefly explained.

            “But Fūjin is portrayed as a terrifying wizardly demon that’s resembled to be red-headed green-skinned, but that girl is nothing from what has been portrayed,” I responded.

            “She might not look like what has been said, but those details are just a myth, and myths are just the misinterpretation of the truth, assuming that Fūjin might not have been a man with red-headed and green-skinned, but a woman that has the same face as us.” He said, rebuking.

            “This just seems to be getting more and more unbelievable. The Japanese god of the wind and a Yuki-onna? And what basis made you think that the hurricane and that girl who appeared out-of-nowhere are correlated? That just might be a coincidence” I said in denial.

            “A coincidence? You know you shouldn’t be thinking such stuff like that. We’ve seen the whole shrine filled with snow even though it’s still midsummer, and how are you even going to explain that?”

            He is right. There is no scientific explanation that I can say nor can I make-up things to explain why it’s snowing in this shrine but not outside the shrine.

            “…” I silenced myself, defeated while looking at Fūjin, sleeping comfortably.

            “I know this is unbelievable, but denying their existence because you don’t believe in them isn’t going to change everything. We’ve already seen them and that’s enough to say that apparitions and deities really exist.”

            But for this kind of thing to happen is something I can’t keep up inside my head and for them to exist just loses my sanity, making me realize that they were the cause of my suffering.

            “I… I’ll go out to see what happened outside.” I spurned and left outside the shrine building while letting her sleep on the floor alone.

            How am I supposed to react to such a revelation? I am no child and I can’t just accept everything so easily.

            Because if they exist, then they are my mortal enemy. They are the reason that created this twisted and cursed black shoulder of mine, that’s putting enough pain that I’d want to kill myself. This unbearable pain that’s torturing me in my wake and sleep. This incurable suffering that’s inexorable. They become more and more difficult to bear as it spreads from my arm, distorting the color, and then breaking every layer of my skin. I tried to keep this to myself to make sure that this won’t affect anyone, so I covered it in bandages and pretexts while wearing long sleeves.

            I clenched my right hand holding my left shoulder with force. 

            When did this happen? How did this happen?

            Those questions that still linger in my mind that are difficult to figure out, are helplessly forcing me to give up and just bear the pain. But no matter what, I know that before I die, I will do most of the things I can achieve while making sure that Atsushi finds his destined one. But knowing that I will die is somehow putting a relief in my back, comforting that even if I make a lot of mistakes or failures, I’ll still keep on going forward without nothing to fear. 

            Suddenly, the door slid open behind me and I could hear a footstep coming in my direction.

            It must be Atsushi, trying to convince me to stop sulking around like a dumbass, or rather, to stop gawking around. I should stop denying everything.  

             But instead of Atsushi, it was Fūjin that appeared embracing my back, emanating a fragrant scent while her soft pleasant body made me feel miserable that I am looking like this, and is making me want to stay like this forever. She continued for a little longer and then asked, “Why aren’t you smiling?” which made me open my mouth in astonishment.

            Why am I not smiling? I’ve never laughed or smiled before when this curse appeared on my shoulder that made me desensitized while also breaking my soul, never putting an effort in my own emotion that I have shown. 

            “I do smile… but that’ll make me a fake if I do.” I murmured.

             “Why is that?” Fūjin curiously asked.

             “Because I don't know who I am smiling for and why I should be smiling in the first place.” 

             I’ve lost my purpose a long time ago, and I don't know where to find them nor will I ever have the chance to find them.

            She touched my right arm clenching on my right shoulder with ease and then said, “You know, I’ve never met an interesting person like you, holding such a great burden. I’ll make sure to make you smile someday.”

            The moment she said that, my soul became soothed like I have been given a second chance to change everything, and that I realized that I have someone I can hold onto if I am ever in pain. Even if I cannot tell them my situation, I know that they’ll understand what I have gone through. 

            I gripped her hand with my right hand firmly and said, “Will you be my lule?”

           Right now, I realize what I should be doing and I’ll make sure to make that happen. Thanks, Fūjin Kohana for giving me a push forward. Or rather, my Anemone.  

           “I promise. So stop sulking, okay?”

           “I’m not.”

            The door then was opened by Atsushi, “Are you two finished or… Uh, was I interfering or some sort?”

            “…Nothing really.” Fūjin released her arms.

            “Ahem, Fūjin, are you ready to answer our questions? There are a lot of things I want to know and I am sure, Shunichi also has a lot of questions.” He impatiently said. 

            I looked at the two of them behind me, while Fūjin answered, “I will, but are you sure this is your decision?”

            “Why?” He perplexedly asked.

            “I do recommend the two of you to never be involved in things like this, or not knowing information that will affect your ordinary life. That’s why I want your permissions.” Fūjin suggested.

            “I am okay with all of these. What about you Rei?”

            I don’t really think I have any choice, to begin with. The moment we encountered an apparition, I know that my life was never meant to be ordinary.

            “I don’t have any problem with that,” I said.

            With all of these emotional scenes that were just another day for me, the three of us went inside to talk about what happened yesterday and why we are encountering such apparitions. It really is giving me such an anxious feeling.

            I decided to take a step to ask a question first. “I was thinking about how this whole place was filled with snow and was even falling snowflakes? And if the cause is the Yuki-onna. I just want to know where the Yuki-onna came from.”

            “The Yuki-onna existed in a place called the Nether realm, where all of the apparitions exist, including me and the seven deities in their seven shrines. It’s just that we have been hiding our identity as a human being, while on the other side, the apparition exposes ourselves and causes trouble.” Fūjin explained carefully.

            “What’s the difference between the apparitions and the deities?” Atsushi interfered.

            “As you can see, they are both the same. The difference is that apparitions who become the owner of one of the eight shrines here become a deity, and they get to stay longer for an unlimited amount of time.”

            “I see. So in order to conquer one of the eight shrines, they’ll have to eliminate the owner and then take it?” I unsurely asked.

            “It’s more like apparitions cannot interfere with each other nor can they kill each other. The solution is to manifest inside a human’s desire and use that human to take this place over, but remember that killing us will remove our ownership.”

            Atsushi and I became surprised, but we decided to take the time to hear the answer to our questions. “Then what was that about the Yuki-onna turning this place into winter itself?” Atsushi posed.

            “Apparitions like us can create devastating things from the power we have. Like how I can use my wind power to create a hurricane or change the sudden wind flow or how the Yuki-onna can change her environment to winter while also having the ability to such the life force of her prey and then controlling them. Too bad. I already threw her somewhere else, yet she might come again to re-enact revenge.” She said.

            Apparitions are very powerful, but that further creates more proof that this cursed shoulder of mine was caused by an apparition, yet what apparition is it? That’s the problem I need to solve first after thinking about how to deal with it.

            This could really be the cause of the end of the world, and that’s something I don’t want to happen.

            “So how do we stop them?” I curiously asked.

            “You won’t basically do something foolish, right?” She worriedly asked. 

            “I was just thinking that if apparitions can cause a lot of threats like that Yuki-onna, then the whole world will be in danger.”

            “Rei, did you already know what happened yesterday? We were completely powerless, and… we were just goofing around mostly. We were almost killed!” Atsushi worriedly stopped me.

            What the hell is that ‘It was your fault’ nonsense?

            “Besides, you were almost killed, that is,” I said.

            “What do you mean?” He asked, baffled.

            “When we were talking in the school about this shrine, a certain memory came into my mind, like it was giving me information about the future and what would happen next. That is the actual reason that I figured out Fūjin’s name too.”

            The two of them became astonished, and Fūjin asked. “But I only have one name and it’s Fūjin!”

            “…Besides, isn’t Fūjin Kohana is a nice name. It totally fits you.”

            Atsushi butted with suspicions, “That makes no sense. And even if you are not lying, if you do have the power to foresee the future, then does that mean you are an apparition yourself?”

            He has a point, but I don’t have anything to know about all of this stuff. I don’t know what it’s called and how it works. Although it’s something I am proud to have, I may have to sacrifice something to use it which is scary.

            “That’s called ‘Clairvoyance’. The ability to perceive things or events soon but other than that, I don’t know much about the use of your power,” She smiled. “You really are an interesting person. As you can see, I still don’t know how you got that power, but we can assume that you are an apparition for now.”

            I see. This power is called clairvoyance, but being called an apparition feels like I just became the very thing I swore to destroy. It’s not like it’s already proven that I am an apparition, it just looks like it because I have this power. And even if I do become one, then I’ll accept what I have become.

            As the two of them thought deeply, I interfered. “Well, this discussion is too serious which is very bothersome to me. So I was thinking, why not introduce ourselves since we still don’t know each other very well?”

             “That’s fine for me. Although I might forget your names, so you’ll have to make me remember someday.” Fūjin agreed.

            “You do feel like an old woman, even though you are small.” I murmured.

            “Rude.” She said, glaringly. 

            That’s the scariest reaction I have ever got. I should just shut my mouth when I am near her, she might trigger some wind explosives below me and I’ll surely die.

            “Forgive me, ma’am!” I recoiled back, as Atsushi laughed at me.

            I swear I’ll destroy that laughing face of yours.

            I went in first to introduce myself, “My name is Shunichi Rei, a second-year student who loves to walk. And this is—”

            Atsushi interrupted, “Atsushi Naoko, a second-year like Shunichi, and other than that, I love small-breasted girls.”

            “…You didn’t really have to introduce the last parts, and I don’t go to school so keep the second-years yourselves too.” She said.

            “Right…” I apologetically said.

            She didn’t really look like an apparition when I first met her which is really astonishing and made me change a better perspective on her like how she is such a nice person and has a nice proportion. Even though her smiles don’t end, I do understand that gets mad and sad.

            But this scene is just like the one when I was talking to Atsushi and it seems some things changed due to my actions. And knowing that some things have changed makes me anxious as to what I have done to change the future.

            “That’s too bad. I really wanted to ask a lot of things before you interrupted the discussion, Rei.” Atsushi disappointedly said.

            “Why?” I asked, perplexed.

            “Because we still have classes and we don’t want to get punished because we are late.”

            I checked my watch and was surprised.

            We're closer to becoming late!

            “Well, now that the two of you have learned the secrets—I don’t let just anybody to learn… don’t expect anything ordinary to happen in your life because the more you involve yourself into this problem, the more you’ll encounter greater suffering, your greater rival.”

            As she concernedly said those words, our discussion ended, while Atsushi and I, hastily went to school.