My Heart was Swimming in Words Gathered by the Wind (3/8)

[astrangestorm]

It’s rare, having dinner with his mother. Now that Grandma doesn’t get up, they haven’t felt much need to eat at the same time. If his mother is upset that he leaves the house freely, she never says so aloud. Odawara is a large city, and he’s already twenty-one. There are many places that wouldn’t connect him with the boy eleven years earlier, the boy that had even confounded the head priest of Odawara Jingu.

Kazu is anonymous, just another body, taking odd jobs as they come. There are unpleasant ones that pay better and pleasant ones that don’t. There’s a box inside one of his old shamisen cases rapidly filling with coins. He’s not exactly hiding it from his mother. Surely she hears the plink of each coin he adds to it before setting it back in the corner of his room.

Where’s he going? Kazu doesn’t know yet. Taichi is starting a family of his own and promise or no, he cannot be responsible for two families. Since Kazu is technically the man of the house, he saves almost everything and spends little. He’s accustomed to going without many comforts, and it’s rare that he splurges. There’s a brothel close to the upper city passages on the northwest side of town. A good hike and pricier than the ones closer to home, but the girls there are clean, pretty, and don’t seem to mind if he makes up a new life story every time he visits. Besides the occasional need for that kind of companionship, he lets work and his savings be his satisfaction.

He’s still too weak, too small for much manual labor, but he’ll earn his mon with pride even while doing a job his father might have considered beneath him. His father isn’t here to pass judgment anyhow. He mucks out stables, scrubs floors and toilets at the bath house, incinerates garbage. No job is insulting because he’s earning. Every moment he can manage, he’s earning.

He thinks he’ll have better luck out west some day. Odawara may be the safest city in Wakoku, but it comes with a higher cost of living, with a hierarchy. Businesses have deep roots, and since Taichi has his father’s store, who would even recognize him? Who would respect a newcomer? He’ll convince his mother to leave, and Grandma too, and together they’ll all start fresh. No Ninomiya Sundries, no neighborhood gossip, nobody who knows what Kazu is. Nobody who knows how his father left their family.

For now, he contents himself with this rare family dining occasion. The food his mother usually covers to keep warm for him is fresh and hot, rice and fish. She never asks about his work, mostly tells stories of the neighborhood, the people who come into the shop. Sometimes it seems like she’s speaking to herself since she never looks across at him, never pauses to let him join in. He wonders if she’ll ever look at him if he gets her out of Odawara and away from the neighbors who don’t sit in judgment like she imagines they do.

Even if she never looks, even if she worries about seeing his eyes go black, she doesn’t hate him. He can see it in the way the light in her room stays on until he returns at night. He can see it in how he comes home to find his clothing laundered and his room dusted. He’s accumulated a lot over the years on account of having been stuck inside for most of his life. But you’d never think of his room as messy, not with how thoroughly his mother cleans.

It’s been three years since Lord Kimura brought the Calm, and there have been rumblings in town that Tsumi may have already returned, terrorizing the south. It rarely sends ripples through Odawara with its high walls, but everyone knows that many Sin Eaters had given their lives the last time. So many dying without coming close to reaching their goal. And yet it’ll start all over again. It always has and always will. How long before the 10 year old children found this year will be out on the road, fighting to save them all? Kazu thinks that Sin Eaters, the ones who face Tsumi anyway, should be older, people who have lived for a long time. But it seems that only the younger ones can endure the full journey. In exchange, they never grow old. Most never marry, most never have families of their own. They live on only in stone, in the memories of the people they’ve left behind.

If the Calm is ending, then Kazu will have to wait until another comes before he can leave. He’d wager that most people born in Odawara die here, content to stay within the walls. Content to never see anything else their entire life. Kazu only knows Wakoku from his books and scrolls, the reading materials that he passed long hours with as a teenager, cooped up in his room. He thinks maybe his mother would like to see the world, to maybe see a little bit of what Ninomiya Hiroshi saw when he ventured out.

But for now all he can do is wait, saving his coins and imagining his future.

-

Aiba Masaki’s goodwill seemingly knew no limits. Where Nino had expected Aiba’s caravan to return from Mikawa within a week, he’d received a letter instead, hand delivered by one of Lord Shingo of House Murakami’s army of guardians. Aiba’s handwriting, Nino discovered, left much to be desired, but at least he got right to the point for once.

“Tsumi struck a small village a few miles from Sekijuku Temple. I’m lending out my wagon to haul away rubble, and Lord Murakami-kun is coming along so we can help the survivors and he can do his Sin Eater thing. Sorry for the delay, I have new potions for you! Ah, and I broke my kendama!!!!”

Nino had crumpled the letter, rolling his eyes at “Lord Murakami-kun,” which made no sense. Who knew how long Aiba would be backed up with his charitable endeavors? It meant Nino’s stocks would remain low, in potions and in other basic staples. Heiankyo prices were outrageous, and he didn’t have Aiba’s connections with the traders and shopkeepers there. Tsumi’s return was terrible for business to begin with, and now Nino could barely keep afloat with wares for pilgrimages.

Instead of sending Ohno to work one day, Nino decided to send him shopping instead. He was out of potions and curatives for poison entirely, and you never knew when something might slip in and try to take a bite out of you. But where Nino had hoped Ohno would return with his satchel filled with vials and potion-infused bandage rolls, he returned instead with more people.

Nino came out of the shop after spotting not one person but four coming up the road. An Ohno-shape soon materialized, Ohno himself appearing with the satchel and with his usual calm expression that could mean anything from “I’m thinking hard about something” to “I’m not thinking much at all right now.”

Even Sho was confused, lumbering out of the shop as the group of four came within earshot. “Satoshi-kun!” the Sin Eater called out. “Oi, Satoshi-kun!”

Nino, arms crossed and hoping he looked unapproachable and unfriendly, deactivated his intruder detectors and stood his ground while Sho called out to his friend.

Ohno’s three companions were a rather odd assortment. A woman leading the way in the front dressed in a colorful yukata dotted with small oranges and pineapples, her hair a mess of brown piled up on her head haphazardly with a couple unmatched ribbons. She was shorter than Ohno and thin in a way that made Nino wonder if a swift breeze might knock her over. But she walked with confidence and a cheerful, bright smile that made Nino think of Aiba and his wagon far up the road.

The two figures who trailed behind Orange and Pineapple girl and Ohno-san were thankfully a bit more subdued. The serious-looking woman with a traditional Hama Yumi-style bow and quiver at her back was not that much bigger than her rainbow-colored friend. Another candidate for the strong wind contingent. Her long hair was jet black, and she was walking alongside a small cart being tugged by the third member of their group. The man, sword sheathed at his side, was Aiba’s equal in height but a bit broader and clearly strong enough to tug their supply cart along without looking too exhausted. He was a handsome one, the type who would have been fawned over in Heiankyo or Odawara, lured to the stage or to a brothel. Instead he was pulling a cart piled high with bedrolls, supply packs, and camping equipment that might have seen better days.

Before Ohno could even explain, Orange and Pineapple girl came hurrying ahead without letting up on that dumb toothy smile of hers. Her sandals kicked up dirt but she didn’t seem to mind if her clothes were affected. At first Nino thought she was going straight for Sho (the jilted bride, maybe?) but instead she came within spitting distance of Nino.

The sound of the southern islands, an irritatingly jolly Aiba sound, was evident in her voice. “Ah, you must be Ninomiya-san!”

Nino ignored her, wiggling his hand in Ohno’s direction. “What’s all this?”

The girl didn’t particularly seem to like his dismissive attitude, walking closer and revealing the pearl handle of a dagger sheathed in the stiff pink obi around her middle. “Hey, I was talking to you. You treat all customers this way?”

At that, her two companions grinned in a manner that suggested this girl was not to be trifled with despite her kind of sloppy appearance. “Well excuse me then,” Nino said, bowing to her ostentatiously. “You’ve come at a bad time, Customer-san, as my stores of supplies are rather low and the idiot who brings them has been delayed.”

She sighed, turning to Ohno. “Oi! Now you said this shop was the cheapest. You didn’t say anything about it being cheap because he didn’t have anything to sell!”

Ohno, clearly overwhelmed by whatever had brought these three into his company, only held up his hands in apology. “I…well, he’s got…he has…”

“You’re a Sin Eater,” Sho said, breaking his silence. The grin on his face matched the girl’s companions. It should have been obvious from the start, Nino realized. A strange person had arrived with a swordsman and a lady archer in tow. And Sin Eaters were the strangest people in Wakoku.

“Obviously!” the girl replied, flapping her arms in frustration like some goofy bird. “And just because I’m not independently wealthy, nobody in Heiankyo wants to help me!”

Oh no, Nino thought, was Sho’s record for most pathetic Sin Eater about to be broken by the girl Ohno had just brought to his door? “Why won’t anyone in Heiankyo help you? They bend over backwards to throw stuff at those leaving on pilgrimage.”

At this the girl’s arrogance faltered, and she started fiddling with the sleeves of her gaudy yukata. “Well, you see, Ninomiya-san, we’re not…we’re kind of…”

“Not on an official pilgrimage,” Sho finished for her, seemingly over the moon with the thought of a kindred spirit. Nino thought he was going to run up to this girl and kiss her, he was so excited. “That’s okay! I’m not on an official pilgrimage either!”

The girl’s eyes brightened, and she clapped her hands. “Wonderful! We’ll show those stuck-up temples what’s what, won’t we?”

Nino rolled his eyes at this convention of stupidity taking place before him. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point. Sho-san here is just as poor as you, that’s great, wonderful. But as you can see, this is not actually a public square for you to chat each other up. This is a place of business, my place of business, and unless you’re here to shop and hopefully buy, then I’m not exactly sure what more I can do for you, Miss…”

“Becky,” she introduced herself simply.

Sho held out his hand encouragingly. “Of House…?”

Becky stared at him. “Huh?”

“Becky of House…?” Sho continued awkwardly.

The swordsman let go of the cart and its contents settled roughly. He shoved his way past Ohno, his face an open book turned to page irritation. “What’s with the interrogation? This is a Sin Eater, and the Sin Eater who is going to save the world and keep you alive. You should show her some respect.”

Becky placed a hand on the man’s sleeve. “Jun-kun…”

“No, I’m sick of this!” the man continued, eyes furious. “Every place we go they treat you this way, and I can’t stand it. Just because we’re not rich, just because we didn’t bribe anyone at the temple to pray for us and make this official…”

“Jun-kun, stop,” Becky said more firmly.

Nino sighed at all the drama taking place. “Look, it’s been a bit of a rough go here. I’m not a Heiankyo shop. I’m low on supplies, but please will you come inside and take a look? I won’t turn a Sin Eater away if she has the mon for it. And if a Sin Eater doesn’t have the money, I obviously have a credit plan available if Ohno-san has spoken to you about it.”

Ohno turned away in embarrassment while Sho looked at his feet.

The swordsman, Jun, relented and turned back to haul their supply cart closer, speaking to the lady archer in harsh whispers. Becky’s guardians, and from the dark circles under their eyes, it had been a long journey already. Ohno moved to help them, and Sho stood by in his usual awkward way, trying to make small talk with them. Nino held the door for the Sin Eater, letting her inside. He quickly hurried around her, kicking Sho and Ohno’s pile of blankets toward the corner of the shop floor. It really had been a while since he’d had a customer.

If the Sin Eater was confused by this, she didn’t let on, her sandals gently scuffing along the floor as she perused the merchandise. “Where’d you find Ohno-san?” Nino asked once he was settled behind his counter.

“He saw me trying to haggle at one of the stalls in town. It’s a much more aggressive process up here than where I’m from,” she said with a sigh, fingers brushing over the fletchings of some arrows he had for sale. “And they get more aggressive when you start low to begin with.”

“Where are you from? The south, obviously.”

She chuckled, turning around to send another of her cheerful smiles his way. “A place you’ve never heard of. Dazaifu.”

She was right. He’d never heard of it. “Where’s that?”

“The south, obviously,” she said, and this actually got a laugh out of him. She moved on from the arrows to blade sharpeners. “It’s an island, a small one. Our temple’s a bit non-traditional…”

“Thus the unofficial pilgrimage.”

“You got it,” she answered. “You’re snobby up here, you know. A Sin Eater’s a Sin Eater, but if she’s not decked out in a fancy white kimono or she isn’t Lord So-and-So’s daughter, then who’s going to care?”

Nino didn’t know what to say to that, simply because it was the truth. Sho may have been Lord Sho of House Sakurai but he’d left with zero fanfare. He supposed it was the same for Becky and her guardians, a Sin Eater on pilgrimage with no connections, no money, no reputation. And recognition would only come if she crossed the Nihonbashi and defeated Tsumi. Recognition she’d never get to experience because she’d be dead.

He opted for a bit of humility. “I’m sorry if I insulted you,” he said. “I’ve had Ohno-san and Sho-san here for a while, and I’ve never been a sociable kind of guy. Between those two weirdos and your arrival, it’s kind of a social overload.”

She nodded, moving from the weapons to the more boring supplies. Blankets, cloth to patch up tents. “Ohno-san said you might be a bit difficult.”

“Did he now?”

She smiled again. It seemed to come to her so naturally. Didn’t she know she was heading east to her own death? What was there to keep smiling about so much? “But don’t worry. I’m used to difficult. With Jun-kun and Kei-chan for guardians, I’m amazed I’ve gotten this far.”

“I heard that.”

Nino and Becky both turned to find the lady archer had somehow slipped into the shop without them hearing. “Ah, not that Kei-chan is a bad guardian. She’s the best guardian,” Becky corrected.

“I’m Keiko,” the woman introduced herself, inclining her head before going straight to the arrows Becky had examined the closest. “The other Sin Eater, Sho-san, he helped Jun get the cart into the shed.”

Nino’s kindness evaporated. “He did what?”

Becky’s hand flew to her mouth, and she gasped. “With all the commotion, I didn’t even say it! We’re staying overnight.”

“Since when?” Nino cried, confused.

“Well lodgings in Heiankyo are hard to come by when you’re on a budget,” Becky explained. “I mean, even staying in the shadier side of town was a bit pricey considering our need to replenish our supplies, so we didn’t want all our money going to that. And then Jun-kun says it’s not right for a Sin Eater to stay in some back alley flea-infested inn, his words, not mine. And then Ohno-san said…”

“Becky needs to rest,” Keiko said simply, arching an eyebrow at Nino as though challenging him to tell her no. “Before we start up the Tokaido in earnest, she needs rest.”

Nino scowled. “May I ask what terms Ohno-san presented you with?”

Becky looked around, arms out. “Well, he said that he and Sho-san sleep here on the floor for free. And so long as there are no fleas, I don’t see why Jun would have cause to be angry.”

Nino came out from around the counter. “You ladies…please…” He swallowed down his rage. “If you ladies would please continue your shopping…”

If Ohno Satoshi thought that building up the walls of Heiankyo was painful, he had no idea what painful could be.

-

“They taste all my food,” Becky was whispering to Sho as the six of them sat around the small campfire beside the shop. “Like who is going to poison a nobody Sin Eater?”

Sho chuckled, shoving even more food in his mouth. Keiko and Jun, the pilgrimage chefs, had taken Nino’s odd assortment of garden vegetables and some of their own rice stores and had made a massive batch of fried rice for everyone to eat. “Satoshi-kun, maybe you ought to be my food taster.”

Ohno laughed. “You always start eating before I even sit down.”

The group laughed, save of course for Nino, who was feeling increasingly like an enemy invasion had taken place right under his nose. He would have five people under his roof that night, five unwanted people. Becky had, of course, been absolutely honest when she’d admitted to having hardly any money. The trip from Dazaifu had already taken a toll on most of their finances.

There’d been a series of island hopping boat journeys from wherever Dazaifu was just to get to Sanyo. Then the esteemed Lord Shingo of House Murakami and his massive party had managed to book an entire boat for themselves in Sanyo, and had refused to take on three more, leaving Becky, Jun, and Keiko to wait two weeks for another. And then they’d been blown off course between Sanyo and Heiankyo because of Tsumi’s overactive destruction schedule. The attack that had caused so much grief to Sanyo and the subsequent ones that had ravaged the Inland Sea had made a week’s journey by boat take almost three. They’d only arrived in Heiankyo that morning, pale and a little green from the rough seas.

It was fortunate (for them at least) that they’d managed to encounter Ohno on the outskirts of town. For a person who was as quiet as Ohno was, it simply amazed Nino that he hadn’t just approached them to tell them about Nino’s shop, but that he’d said “sure, just come stay with us.” Nino wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive him for it, but he hoped that come daybreak all of his guests would get the hell out and leave him in peace. Money be damned.

The meal continued, and the guests both old and new got acquainted. Nino said very little, trying to pretend that his food was merely edible and not surprisingly delicious. Their home, Dazaifu, was a Tsumi bait island. All three had been born during the baby boom of Lord Kondo’s Calm. Jun was the eldest of the three but a few months younger than Nino. Becky had been born the following year, and Keiko, the youngest, had arrived two years after that.

The three had grown up together in what passed for an orphanage on such a small island. Only Jun remembered his parents, who perished in a Tsumi attack when he was six. That very attack had claimed Becky and Keiko’s parents as well. They’d all had family names, but in the orphanage they left them behind, taking on the last name of their caregiver, a woman named Matsumoto who was Jun’s aunt. Despite such sad circumstances, Dazaifu was a paradise in their eyes. Palm trees and fruit trees (the oranges and pineapples of Becky’s yukata) and the sea on all sides. Sand between your toes, lagoons with water so clear you could see all the way to the bottom.

But no walls, Nino thought. Huts that were destroyed and rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt. If Tsumi came, he came with a fury that could not be softened.

When dinner ended, Becky had already fallen asleep, head resting on Jun’s shoulder. Though she’d been perky and noisy since her arrival, she’d probably been hiding her exhaustion the entire time. Jun picked her up as though she weighed nothing at all, carrying her inside. Nino followed, holding the door.

“I sleep upstairs. This is my house,” he complained weakly, but Jun ignored him.

He woke the woman in his arms gently. “You’re going to climb a ladder now. I’ll be right behind you.”

“Don’t wanna climb,” she muttered, voice already heavy from sleep, but with Jun’s help she got upstairs. Without even asking, Jun settled her in Nino’s own futon, tucking her in.

“Women will stay up here,” Jun said, as though there was no room for arguing. Why did people keep coming to his shop and acting like they owned the place? The man was deeply suspicious when he met Nino’s eyes. “Men downstairs.”

“What, you don’t trust me?”

“I don’t,” Jun replied almost instantaneously.

“You’re a guest here.”

“And you’re a selfish, grumpy bastard,” Jun replied, climbing down the ladder.

Nino climbed down, appalled at the man’s behavior only to find Keiko-san waiting for him. While Jun was in the shop setting up blankets and pillows for four, she nodded apologetically.

“Don’t mind him. He’s overprotective of us,” Keiko whispered to Nino quietly. “He sees every other man as a threat.”

“I’m not a threat,” Nino insisted. “And Ohno and Sho aren’t either, for the record. Especially Sho-kun after he’s eaten, you can barely move him.”

Keiko smiled at that, though it was a less showy smile than Becky’s. There was a sadness in her eyes that better matched Nino’s idea of what a person from a southern island would be like. “We can handle ourselves just fine,” she said. “Especially against an overstuffed Sin Eater and a guardian who looks like he doesn’t know which end of the sword to hold.”

Of all his unwanted houseguests, Nino suddenly decided he liked this Keiko the most.

“We won’t trouble you for much longer, Ninomiya-san. Please pardon our intrusion.”

With that, she climbed the ladder up to join her friend. Out the shop window, Sho and Ohno were dousing the fire and cleaning up. When they came inside, they seemed to read the atmosphere quickly enough, making sure that when they settled in for the night the two of them were between Nino and this “Matsumoto” Jun.

-

It won’t be long now, and Kazu is glad of it. It’s been so hard, watching her like this for so long. Soon she’ll be able to find peace. Soon she’ll be reunited with the grandfather Kazu never knew, her son as well. It’s best when they leave this way, he thinks. Having lived a full life, having seen children and grandchildren born.

His mother has gone off to fetch Taichi, who will negotiate with the temple nearby. Though Kazu doubts their family would be turned away (he’s the one who is the problem, not his mother or grandmother), his mother has decided that having Taichi’s help will bring his grandmother’s spirit to rest without any problems. He’s heard of families with bad reputations being asked to consult a different temple. Odawara doesn’t forget an unkindness. Thieves, murderers, it seems the temples will do anything to ensure they aren’t responsible.

It makes little to no sense to Kazu. After all, the whole point of a Sin Eater is to absolve a spirit of sin. Does it matter what the sin is? His grandmother has probably committed few, and Kazu’s existence, the wrongness of him, shouldn’t reflect on her. And the more sin there is to absolve, the better, right? To send a troubled soul off to the afterlife purified of all the problems they caused others? One would think a Sin Eater would jump at a chance to help a tormented spirit like that, to ensure they aren’t left unabsolved to cause more damage in death than they had in life.

But like most things in Odawara, gossip and rumor often outweighs the temples’ spiritual mission.

She’s been in and out of consciousness all morning, and Kazu has been by her side mopping her brow and holding her hand. He’s already cried for her. He’s spent years crying for the woman who never lost faith in him, not so much the forgetful, ill soul that remains in her body. She’s coming out of one of her unconscious times, her body stirring. She’s staying out more and more each time, and soon she simply won’t wake up, passing on without pain.

“Hiroshi,” she says, looking up into Kazu’s face and trying to smile. “Here you are, Hiroshi.”

“I’m here,” Kazu says, not bothering to correct her.

It’s the last words she gets to say. He can see when the light starts to fade from her eyes, when her face starts to slacken. Kazu knows he needs to let her go. His mother will be back soon with the Sin Eater to consume her spirit and pray one last time for her.

Somehow he can’t let go of her hand. He wants to be with her until the very last since her husband and her son couldn’t. He needs to thank her for always trusting him, for never fearing him. But if he doesn’t let go soon, her spirit will be affected.

There’s a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, and even as he thinks to pull away, his body isn’t cooperating. He stares in confusion at his hand, still held tight in his grandmother’s. “No,” he mumbles, willing himself to move. “No, not with her, please not with her.” He isn’t even sure who he is pleading with.

The more he wants to struggle, the less he’s able to move, and when he knows it’s over and the light makes itself known, pain of a kind he hasn’t felt since childhood emerges. “Stop,” he begs. “Stop!”

Everything goes black in an instant. The last time, the time with the earthworm, he’d simply passed out. He’s never known what would happen if he was this close to a spirit again. A far bigger spirit with a human lifespan’s worth of sin to account for. He must be in trance, but what kind of trance can it be if he’s not a Sin Eater?

Finally there’s light in the darkness, and he sees her spirit. He’s somewhere else, and he doesn’t know where but the fear starts to slide away when the shimmering spirit reaches out, comes his way. He can feel the spirit embracing him, wrapping around him. He knows this feeling, despite all he’s endured. It’s love, enveloping him totally. He’s floating, drifting, surrounded by darkness except for the love that’s keeping him tethered.

“Take it,” his grandmother’s voice says to him. She sounds so far away. “Take it.”

Then his eyes open, and he’s in the house again. There’s blood, droplets of it dotting his grandmother’s arm and he knows it isn’t hers. His nose is bleeding, hemorrhaging more like. Their hands are still clasped together, but her spirit is gone. His grandmother is at peace. Had he absolved her though? The priest said it wasn’t possible.

“Take it,” she’d said. Take what?

He turns, lightheaded and weak, when the door slides open.

“Mama, she’s gone,” he says, tasting the copper tang of his own blood on his lips. “She told me to take it.”

The priest, standing beside his mother, catches her when she faints.

-

The day Tsumi attacked Heiankyo was a fairly ordinary one.

Despite the promises that Becky and her party would set off up the Tokaido, she’d woken exhausted. She’d pushed herself too hard traveling from her home to Sanyo and to Heiankyo. It wasn’t safe for her to travel yet. When Nino woke, the last of everyone that morning, he could hear Keiko whispering quietly to Sho that Becky had absolved at least a hundred spirits in Sanyo after Tsumi’s attack, and before that a few dozen on the long voyages between Dazaifu and Sanyo.

“She’s tougher than she looks,” Keiko was explaining, arms crossed almost defensively in front of her. “But she’s only one person.”

Sho turned, clearing his throat when he heard Nino approaching. “Morning.”

“Morning.” Nino stared the guardian down. “You’re still here.”

“I apologize,” Keiko said quietly, inclining her head. “As Becky’s guardian, I should have seen how weakened she was.”

Sho interrupted. “Don’t blame yourself. We’re kind of stubborn.”

“And stubborn almost got you killed, Sakurai,” Nino pointed out. “Leave whenever, eat whatever, sleep wherever, everybody just do whatever the hell you want.”

With that he stormed outside, slamming the door behind him. He didn’t care if it woke Becky up or not. Unsurprisingly, Ohno hadn’t gone down to the city, perfectly in tune with the rest of the freeloading attitudes happening that morning. But that wasn’t to say Ohno wasn’t occupied.

Even in the mid-morning sun, Ohno was sweating profusely, his arms shaking as he stood with a wooden practice sword out in front of him. Across the grass, Jun was barking orders at him. “Your dominant hand is your right hand! Then why are you swinging like you’re left handed?”

“I don’t know,” Ohno mumbled sheepishly.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know…”

Before Ohno could protest some more, Nino watched Jun launch himself forward, releasing an over-the-top battle cry that would have sent Nino running. But to his credit, the shaking Ohno stood his ground, most likely because Jun was only coming at him with a lighter bamboo training sword. “Block me!” Jun screamed at him. “Block me!”

Ohno held up the wooden sword, attempting to defend himself but Jun was faster, knocking the training weapon from his hand. To add insult to injury, Jun lifted the bamboo sword, placing it against Ohno’s neck.

“You’re dead. And Sho-san’s long dead. Is that what you want?” Jun took the sword away and returned to his previous position. “Again!”

Nino stood by in the shade from the shop roof, watching Jun’s tough love training session continue. Ohno, a placid individual, seemed a little annoyed at first, but as the ferocity of Jun’s attacks grew, he started to fight back. Nino knew it was mostly because Jun repeatedly taunted him with cruel lines like “You let Sho-san die.”

Before too long, it was Ohno charging forward, swinging angrily at the guardian. Nino almost wanted to applaud him for it, but Jun deflected his attacks one after another. He eventually heard the door open behind him, and soon there was an orange and pineapple-dotted fashion eyesore beside him. Becky stood in silence for a while, watching Jun’s training.

“He’s been swordfighting since he was eight years old. It’s not exactly fair to poor Ohno-kun,” Becky pointed out, hands on her hips.

“But it’s for his own good, you figure,” Nino replied, seeing her frown.

“Everyone has to start somewhere,” she said. “He should teach him the basics before running at him like some unabsolved bandit.”

Nino chuckled at that. “Seems like an intense guy.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “Oh, you don’t even know. He was a scrawny little kid, and his sensei at the dojo called him every name in the book. Coward, weakling, you name it.”

“Nice sensei.”

“In the end it made him stronger. Jun’s a nice person at heart, though, much as he likes to hide it. I’m very sorry you’re only getting to see his negative qualities.”

“Keiko-san said he’s overprotective. Seems like a quality you’d want in a guardian.”

Becky shrugged. “Guardians come in all shapes and sizes. I think Ohno-kun will serve Sho-san well.”

“If they ever get out of here.”

She gave him a playful little shove. “You don’t mean that.”

“You’ve been here one day, Sin Eater,” he said, looking at her in annoyance. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“Ooh, how mysterious,” she said with a laugh, shoving him again. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

Seeing that Jun was still busy with his lessons and that Keiko was apparently in the shop talking to Sho about arrows, he didn’t have much reason to decline the walk with the strange girl. It had been a while since a pretty girl had been nearby, despite all of Aiba’s willingness to change that. Even if she was off on pilgrimage soon, it couldn’t hurt to enjoy her company for a little while. After all, she had spent most of her savings in his shop the day before.

There was a lookout point nearby that afforded beautiful views of the entire valley, not blocked with a handful of trees like it was by the shop. She walked slowly and carefully, seeming to conserve what energy she had, as they walked down the dirt path. Sho had been training himself rather thoroughly in this area, so Nino doubted anything was liable to attack them along the way.

“It’s gorgeous!” Becky cried as soon as the path curved around. “Oh, this is great! Ninomiya-san, you have this view every day!”

He shrugged, jogging a bit to catch up with her. So much for conserving her energy. “I guess.”

Her eyes were wide, her mouth open and ready to catch flies. He had to admit that her enthusiasm, which had annoyed him considerably the day before, wasn’t really so bad. Perhaps Nino’s tolerance was growing as it had with Sho and Ohno. “It’s such a big city,” she was saying, gesturing out. The river, the farmland, the sea stretching off to the horizon beyond Heiankyo’s walls.

“A bit different from where you’re from, huh?”

She nodded. “I thought Sanyo was huge. I mean, you really don’t get the sense of it when you’re down there, but from up here…” She plopped down in the grass, letting the sun beam down on her cheerful face. “Ah, Wakoku is amazing.”

He stayed standing, looking out in confusion. “It’s just a city. There’s fancy estates, sure, but most of the people are crammed in, living on top of each other. That’s not so amazing.”

“Well, if you say so,” she replied. “Dazaifu’s still the best. You should visit sometime.”

“I’d ask you to give me a tour, but…”

That didn’t dampen her spirits. “Ah, Auntie Ritsuko would show you around. That’s Jun’s aunt, I mean. We’re not cramped there, Ninomiya-san, so you couldn’t complain about that. It’s a little warmer, too, if you like that sort of thing.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s likely, no offense. I don’t do so well on boats.”

“Seasick?”

“Just hearing how many boats it took you to get this far made me dizzy.”

She hugged her knees close, the hem of her yukata brushing against her ankles. “Well, it’s mostly river crossings from here.”

The reminder of the tough journey ahead kept them quiet for a while. Finally Nino gave up and sat down in the grass, looking out at the view he’d seen for eight years, wondering what it looked like through her eyes. They sat for at least an hour, and Nino was surprised she was able to stay quiet that long. He grew intimately acquainted with the pattern of her yukata, and she didn’t seem to notice him staring. He thought the thing was rather ugly as far as clothing went, but he thought he understood it. Becky was carrying Dazaifu with her, stitched into her clothes.

He was just about to ask more about her life in the southern islands when he noticed that the quiet they’d been sitting through wasn’t actually that quiet any longer. He could hear the hum of the cicadas, a usual sound up here in the hills, but it was growing into a ferocious buzzing. Birds weren’t singing but flying away, and flocks of them at a time were starting to dot the horizon, heading northeast from the city and up into the hills, up the Tokaido. Sometimes the clouds left dark shadows on the surface of the sea past Heiankyo, but it was only then that Nino noticed that one of the shadows had started to move.

“Becky-san…”

“Ah, you can just call me Becky, it really doesn’t bother me if…”

He got to his feet in a hurry, barely giving her a chance to hold out her hand as he tugged her to her feet. “Becky, we need to get back to the shop.”

It was then that she seemed to see the shadow too, freezing in place as he tried to pull her away. “They’re fine, they have walls…”

Nino ignored her, tugging roughly to get her away. It was Jun who found them, pulling Becky away from him. “We’re miles out,” Nino said, but that meant nothing. The wind was picking up even this far from the sea, blowing through the trees.

You never knew sometimes until he was already there. “Tsumi,” Becky was saying quietly as Jun hauled her away. “Even here.”

Even from the shop they had a line of sight down the valley, and the six of them could only stand there in front of Nino’s shop as the shadow moved under the surface of the water, sending a massive wave crashing toward the shore and the walls of Heiankyo. The wind carried the alarm bells from the guard towers, a harsh clanging that was echoing for miles around. It was only stirring up the wildlife more, and they jumped back, seeing mice and rats racing past, seeking higher ground and shelter. They’d come all this way from the valley, fleeing Tsumi for miles on instinct before any of the humans even knew it was coming.

The wind howled through the trees, and Nino could only imagine how much harsher it was down on the ground. It was like watching from another world as the wave smacked into the Heiankyo walls. They stood firm even as more waves surged forward. There could be no evacuation. People could only hide, wait it out.

“Go inside,” Jun ordered, trying to get Becky and Keiko to move. “Go!”

Becky shook her head, standing her ground even as the wind blew her hair around and the rain clouds that had formed almost instantaneously upon Tsumi’s arrival were being carried up into the hills. As they watched the onslaught, the waves growing so high that they were finally starting to crest over and flood into the Heiankyo slums, Sho finally reacted.

“I have to go,” he shouted, rain starting to fall around them in sheets, soaking through their clothes in an instant. “I have to go!”

But before he could take off, Ohno caught him around the middle. Despite Ohno’s size he put everything he had into it, physically hauling a struggling, panicking Sho back towards the shop. Becky, soaked to the bone, finally relented, letting Keiko lead her inside. The practice swords were left in the grass, the shed door blew open with Becky’s cart inside, but they left it all behind. The six of them got inside and bolted the door. Even this far inland the rain fell with the fierceness of a typhoon. There were no boards to cover the glass, so the six of them huddled, dripping wet in the center of the shop furthest from the windows as Tsumi’s wrath extended across the valley.

Sho, having been prevented from racing to town, was now sitting in a stunned silence. Ohno, whose family was in Heiankyo as well, sat by his side. Becky was sitting on the floor, her back against the counter squeezing Keiko’s hand so tightly, Nino was surprised the woman didn’t shout. Jun was like a caged animal, pacing the floor impatiently.

Nino just sat, unable to digest what had befallen the valley that Becky had called so beautiful not so long before. Tsumi hadn’t come so close to Heiankyo before, and here it was attacking directly. And when they’d entered the house, they hadn’t even seen it emerge from the water yet. He knew how packed those slums were. Even if they reinforced the walls, it didn’t much matter if the waves wanted to jump over it.

It was nearly three hours before the rain stopped, before the wind died down. Halfway through they seemed to realize it wasn’t ending and they’d changed clothes before they all caught a cold, each slipping up and down the ladder to switch into dryer things. Nino was so frightened he didn’t even bother to tally up the costs of the items taken from his own store.

Jun ventured out first and the others followed slowly. The ground was soaked with water, each footstep soaking through their shoes. The Tokaido had turned to slippery mud. It would be dangerous to go anywhere. Together they looked out at a different world.

The skies had cleared as though it had never happened, but Heiankyo and the valley told a far different tale. Some of the houses toward the center of Heiankyo looked as though they were still standing, that they had endured. It was most likely that Sho’s family was going to be fine. The city walls remained, but where Nino knew many buildings had been there was only muddy brown. Sea water, massive flooding. There was smoke rising at various points all over the city, fires. Nino stepped forward, gasping in shock when he looked out for a usual sight.

The Sanjo Ohashi, the bridge that started the long road to the end of the world, was destroyed. The river churned through the valley in reverse, carrying along sea water and the wood that had allowed Becky and her party across just a day before. If they’d stayed in Heiankyo, in the slums, it was entirely possible they’d be dead right now.

“It’ll be a while before they even let anyone in the gates,” Ohno was saying, arm around Sho’s back. “They’ll lock the city down so they can absolve everyone. They’ll have people out already to get to them.”

“I want to help,” Sho shot back, tears in his eyes. “We’re so close and I can’t help them.”

Becky was crying too. “How many do you think? How many people live there?”

“Thousands,” Sho said bitterly. “Thousands of people were in those slums.”

The destruction was far more minor up in the hills, though a tree had fallen during the storm, landing on top of the cart shed. The roof had partially caved in, but it seemed that the carts, both Becky’s and Nino’s, had not been destroyed. The shop building itself had survived the storm. There was only a crack in some of the glass upstairs, some flooding in the corner of the shop that had always had trouble during naturally-occurring storms.

They went back inside, knowing there was nothing any of them could do for Heiankyo. Dinner was a considerably more quieter affair than it had been the night before. Sho and Becky seemed to be taking it the hardest, knowing that there were spirits down in the valley desperately in need of absolution, and they could do nothing about it. An attack from Tsumi was simply not something that happened here, and even though the Sin Eater and her guardians from Dazaifu had endured far worse, everyone knew this was bad. The Tsumi of this cycle had a rage that was ugly, ferocious, worse than any of them had seen in their lifetimes.

They cleaned up after dinner and without discussion or even protests from Jun, all six of them sprawled out on the floor of the shop to sleep, huddling together in their silence and their fear.

part four