3 bar menu

V13 Story I – Part 06

“You’ve seen the houses outside, haven’t you? This is what a well-crafted imprisonment looks like. But I’m not complaining. I decided long ago to live as if I were already dead. Wanting anything more now would be stupid. A casket, even if it’s someone else’s, suits me just fine. You told me not to die, didn’t you? Well, this is the result. From the outside, this house might look like a decent place to live in. The construction is top-notch, at least.” There was resignation and bitterness in his voice.

Listening absently, I glanced around. Calling it a decent place to live in didn’t seem right. To the uninformed, this room might seem like nothing more than a peculiar space filled with random items. But in reality, it was dominated by the memories of a person’s life.

No, that wasn’t quite right. Mayuzumi Azaka wasn’t dead yet. But Asato called this room, filled with her belongings, a casket.

Snap.

He opened the parasol he was holding. Bright red burst forth in the muted space.

Asato twirled the parasol, obscuring his face as he continued, “The houses out there keep monsters imprisoned. These doors don’t just keep people in. They seal away obsessions, twisted desires for Mayuzumi Azaka. They will never be fulfilled. All their longing for Mayuzumi Azaka will rot away here, confined forever. They could choose to love the next Azaka instead, but no one had been selected yet.”

The parasol twirled, the red a blur of motion. Asato’s words made me frown. I recalled something Mayuzumi had once told me: after Mayuzumi Azaka’s death, the clan was supposed to hold a ceremony to choose the next Azaka.

“Whenever an Azaka dies, they gather all the girls of the clan and choose a new Azaka. I hear it’s a spectacular sight. All the young children have this desperate look in their eyes.”

The chosen girl would be taken in by the main family and raised to ensure she could never return to being human. But Asato had just revealed that the crucial ceremony that formed the foundation of the Mayuzumi clan hadn’t been held. This was a very unexpected turn of events.

“Are you saying the Mayuzumi clan no longer selects a living god?”

“Yes, Odagiri, but that’s just on the surface. They’re likely still choosing a girl in secret, but only as a backup—a sacrifice for when the scarlet woman demands a successor. There’s no point in nurturing someone destined to be offered to a monster in the spirit world, is there? The era of worshipping a living god has passed. The Mayuzumi clan has been overtaken by the times. You know about the Ugoshi clan, yes? It’s the same thing. They relied solely on their supernatural abilities and nearly collapsed because they couldn’t adapt to modernization. Dark rumors are just shackles in the public sphere.”

“It was only a matter of time before the Mayuzumi clan faced the same fate. And then, the old disease was purged by Kotori. The clan can’t defy Mayuzumi Azaka out of their innate fear. So, they simply decided not to create another living god. My sister was swallowed by the spirit world at a perfect time indeed.”

I recalled the tragedy that unfolded in the house of crows. The Ugoshi clan had trapped a woman in a birdcage to preserve their supernatural powers. And now, the Mayuzumi clan had chosen a girl as emergency meat.

The sacrificial offering probably had no rights. But until the scarlet woman demanded her, she should be free from any obligation. Which was more humane: raising a living god or selecting a sacrifice?

The answer was clear. Both were madness. The very notion of designating a sacrificial victim or a god was sheer insanity.

“And besides, for better or worse, the current Mayuzumi Azaka is far too powerful,” Asato said, twirling the parasol.

I agreed. She reveled in tragedies, mocked the dead, and showed no mercy to anyone. The current Mayuzumi Azaka, too twisted for a human being, possessed a toxic kind of charisma. She was a natural-born Mayuzumi Azaka. The other Mayuzumi Azakas were merely forced into the role due to a lack of suitable candidates. She was the first genuine one since the First.

“Her poisonous charisma left a lasting impression on those who worshipped the living god. Even after her death, few would truly revere the next Mayuzumi Azaka. So, without even the will to resist, the surviving elders accepted the change.” Asato paused. “But a subject of faith is necessary, whether it be bones or blood-soaked cloth.”

Snap.

Asato closed the parasol and cradled it in his arms again. The red color vanished from sight, and the room seemed even duller than before the parasol opened.

“The god is dead,” Asato mumbled, “but not even her bones remain here.”

Mayuzumi Azaka was swallowed by the spirit world. Her body wasn’t here.

Not even a fragment of her remains, which could bring comfort to the living, was left in this world. There were no bones, no ashes, not even the cloth that wrapped the deceased. Yet, some of her belongings still existed.

My eyes widened. This room was filled with records of Mayuzumi’s life. I finally understood Asato’s words. This truly was Mayuzumi Azaka’s casket—a place where her belongings were packed into an empty box.

“You finally understand, don’t you? In every sense, this room is my sister’s casket. Imprisoned elders come here seeking traces of her, then leave. It’s ironic. They were kept away from her when she was still alive, and now they long for a place they never even knew.”

“So why…”

“What is it, Odagiri? What exactly do you find puzzling?”

“What are you doing in this casket?”

This was Mayuzumi Azaka’s casket. The items packed into this empty casket were treated as a substitute for her remains. But why was the fox living inside it? Wasn’t his presence out of place here?

“It’s simple. I’m also a part of Mayuzumi Azaka’s life.”

“What?”

“Even though we’re not blood-related, I’m Mayuzumi Azaka’s brother. I was even considered a potential husband. Among the Mayuzumi clan, I’m the most similar to her, as I was also connected to the scarlet woman. That’s why Sadashita asked me to watch over this place. He originally planned to create a memorial hall, but he feared that making it too grand would diminish Mayuzumi Azaka’s mystique and possibly wake the elders up from their trance. To keep them forever intoxicated, he asked for my cooperation. But don’t get the wrong idea, Odagiri.”

“This is just a job. There’s nothing painful about it. This is how people end up where they belong. I wish I could show you how spineless the main family became after her death.”

I recalled the events on the isolated island that Kotori invited us to. The elders of the Mayuzumi clan had tried to save the current Azaka by killing a candidate for the next one as a substitute. Even after she vanished into the spirit world, the main family continued to cling to her. But that didn’t matter to me. The frustration made my temples throb. The cage that held the Mayuzumi clan had been shattered, yet the fox refused to seek freedom. I fixed him with a glare. The question I had in the school that night remained unanswered.

What did the past mean to Mayuzumi Asato? What was his entire life about? What did Mayuzumi Asato truly want to become?

But this wasn’t the time for such questions. I had wasted enough time, distracted by this casket-like room. I didn’t come here for idle chatter.

I took a breath and paused. Finally, I voiced the real reason I visited this place.

“Asato, you can enter the spirit world, can’t you?”

The air seemed to freeze. Asato looked up at me. A thin smile spread across his lips.

It slowly twisted. Finally, the fox’s lips moved.

“So what if I can?”