Aki

The bright summer green had faded from the forest’s leaves into deeper shades of reds, yellows, and browns before I knew it.

It had been months since I’d ended up here, and we were no closer to figuring out how or why.

“Kou will be here shortly,” Hoshihiko swore two weeks ago. But the look in his eyes had been more sadness than hope.

“I will miss him when I go back,” I admitted quietly to the cool breeze blowing through the grounds, “to whenever, wherever I am from.”

It seemed like every glimpse of a memory I got, I lost another. For a moment, I remembered living with my aunt, only to forget my own last name.

“Asahi.” Hoshihiko startled me out of my deliberation.

I turned to face him, and he was surprisingly serious. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a problem in a coastal town about three days from here. I must journey there and help the citizens.”

“You’re going without me?” Pain lanced through my heart.

“I need to get used to your absence.” He didn’t meet my eyes, choosing to gaze at the autumn leaves instead.

“Take me with you,” I asked, voice soft.

He paused for only a moment. “Do you mean it?”

“I want to be of use to you.”

“We depart this evening then.” And the light was back in his eyes.

*

We borrowed horses from the town, leaving Noroshi to guard the shrine grounds in our stead.

Hoshihiko found places for us to stay the night along the way, although most of the time we ended up talking instead of resting.

When the first scent of the sea hit my nose, I couldn’t help but race a little faster on the path until the trees broke way.

The mountains and islands rising out of the water were gorgeous.

Lining the shore were a collection of houses with areas for boats to dock on the bottom.

“It’s a fishing town, but too many boats haven’t been returning,” Hoshihiko explained as we descended into the village.

“What is happening to them?”

“I think it is a funayurei.”

I considered it for a moment. “That’s a sea spirit that sinks ships, right?”

He nodded. “They were once humans though.”

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“Good day!” an old man called from the side of the road. “Would you and your wife like to rent a boat?”

“Oh, we’re not—” I began, but Hoshihiko cut me off.

“We’d love to. I want to show her the sunset and stars.”

I blushed as the man frowned.

“I wouldn’t take her out at night. The waters have been rough around here lately.”

“We’ll be careful,” Hoshihiko promised, paying the man for the use of a boat as well as a room to sleep in.

*

Once the full moon was high in the sky, we left the room and embarked onto the ship below us.

“I’m not sure you should come.” Hoshihiko quietly loaded his bag of tricks onto the boat.

“You’re not going without me.”

“It’s dangerous. You—” he stopped himself short.

“‘I’ what?” I crossed my arms, refusing to leave the boat.

“Never mind.” He smiled sadly before pushing us off.

As the land grew smaller behind us, Hoshihiko steered us out into open water.

“Are you sure it will appear?”

He gave me an odd glance. “Yes. I don’t know what it is about you, but you really seem to attract trouble.”

Just as I was about to dispute that, ice cold water brushed against my toes. “Ah!”

Next to the boat was a giant figure in a white kimono with a shaved head and horribly distorted face. His arm swept out, filling a giant ladle with water and poising it over our boat.

“Wait!” Hoshihiko grabbed a small sack out of the supplies he brought. “Claim no more lives as the sea claimed yours. Bathe in what the purest flames have left.”

He threw ashes at the creature as he recited a purification prayer.

The creature shrank slowly, sinking into the water until it was the size of just one man. Its face no longer held the many layers of tortured facial features.

“Rest well,” I murmured before bowing my head, hoping the dead could at last find peace.

*

Hoshihiko led us back to shore in the still night. No more water entered our boat, and for that, I was grateful.

“What did you mean earlier, that I invite trouble?”

Hoshihiko was silent for a few moments before answering. “There’s something about you that attracts ghosts and creatures. Like the tanuki when you first came here or even the tsurube-otoshi that showed last week. I had never even seen one before that.”

“Are you serious?” Surprise flickered through me. “Is that why they’ve all been coming after me?”

“It’s just a theory.”

“So you brought me out here tonight to be bait to test that theory."

“If you remember correctly, I tried to convince you thrice to stay at home. At least you know how to swim.”

“And you don’t?” Anger filled my voice. "How could you be so reckless?"

"I would gladly trade my life for the lives of the people in this town. Who would miss me otherwise?"

"I would!" I yelled, trying to knock some sense into him. "I would miss you. I will miss you no matter what world I am in."

He smiled sadly. "Your kindness is wasted on me."

*

It took us only two and a half days to get back, tension still lingering in the air from our argument on the boat.

A cold wind blew through the forest, bringing with it the first snowflakes of winter. As we walked up the now familiar shrine steps, I caught a glimpse of someone ahead. She had long light blonde hair that almost seemed to tuck and form ears at the top of her head.

Kou was here, and I was going home.