-rolls- o-o
Chapter 8: A day with the Fujimoto Family
And so…
“Ancestor…?” Rika leaned backwards, supported by pressing her body against her arms. The woman was unsure whether to feel stunned or to feel angry towards that conclusion. Being stunned would mean she would have to be surprised that such a woman was a relative of her’s. Being angry would mean she would have to feel pissed that such a psychotic and homicidal spirit was her relative.
“Undergoing shock or just angry at the events which accumulated ‘til now?” Miki rested her arms on the table, on of which was raised so Miki could rest her head against it, losing all energy of the day’s events and now simply looking lazy, lethargic, and bored.
“I don’t know what to think really…” the cursed woman returned to a formal sitting position, worrying if she was committing a rudeness to the people giving her their hospitality. “It’s just… Out of the ordinary… Everything just came up and slapped me in the face.”
“Oh believe me, it’s going to keep bitch-slapping you now, with what we’ve done,” Yuko’s face became sullen, causing a few wrinkles to show up here and there to contribute to the folklorist’s age.
“You mean you’ve made it worse somehow?”
“It’s not that… Sorta… Uh…” Yuko became shifty-eyed, curling her finger in her lion mane-like tresses.
“Spit it out! My life is on the line isn’t it?!” Rika’s internal panic began to leak out through her face.
“The Shibata family. They’ve killed women like you before. They would find anyone with any trace of that tennyo’s ancestry and eliminate them to prevent the tennyo from appearing. As for how they do that, I think they take the date of when they kill the maiden’s host and keep an eye on the people born on that death date.”
“But didn’t you say things like ancestry and such? They would have to focus on a certain family, right?” Miyabi piped up.
“Yeah, but that’s if the family wants to preserve itself and marry into eachother, which obviously isn’t the case here. Since Fisherman-chan and Tennyo-chan banged and had children… The children wouldn’t want to marry eachother to carry out the blood line, wouldn’t they? So they just went off marrying different people and then their children would marry other people, and the chain would go on…”
“Anyone could be a tennyo at this time period. Well, not really, but maybe one out of a ten-thousands could be it…” Rika concluded.
“However…” Yuko began, “That’s just the maiden in your blood…In my research, there are countless tales of the tennyo varying from prefecture to prefecture, even around the world, but Japan is our main focus. Now… If we include the current tennyo in your body along with the rest of the others of her kind…”
“…Then my ratio would be one out of hundreds…”
“One out of five.”
Rika’s eyes widened at the woman in front of her.
“That’s just the likeliness of you having that blood though…The likeliness of a tennyo being able to ‘wake up’ and influence your body is one out of a hundred.”
“So many numbers confuse me…” Miki rolled her eyes about, “Damn it, I’m hungry…”
“Thank you for ruining the moment, idiot Neechan…” Yuko threw a burning hot teacup at Miki’s head, to which the hit connected and left a scalding and berserk Miki running about fanning her head at the heat while the main house keeper, Kei, rose from her seat to try and help Miki nullify the pain by using a cool table cloth.
Ignoring the commotion in the background, Rika spoke up, “So the Shibata family… Are they only looking for the maiden that would resurface as a whole instead of just people who merely have the blood in them?”
“Correct, Charmy-chan.”
Rika raised a brow at how she was addressed as by the elder woman. So Miki-san and Miyabi-chan rubbed off of her… I really need to get used to these eccentric people…
“Don’t become too emo, I have the blood in me too,” Yuko said, holding her hand out in the air and then a on the other side of the tatami mat room they resided in, a scroll hanging on the wall unhooked itself, then rolled itself, and then came levitating towards Yuko’s hand, much to the shock of Miyabi and Rika (along with Miki and Kei, who had paused in their commotion to stare in awe).
“My power is telekinesis. I have the slight tennyo influence in me, but it’s definitely not like you, who is genuine descendant.”
“Wait! So that means you cheated! All that throwing knife crap about you is fake because all you did was use your telekinesis to control your aim!”
“So what if it’s fake?! It’s still freaking useful and kept me alive in dreaded situations where I’ve been chased by bears when I was looking at hidden shrines in forests!”
Knife-throwers, gunner ninjas, and a groping demon that fights with chopsticks…This is quite the crazy family…
“Oh, one last thing…” Yuko said to Miki as she searched for something in the sleeve of her kimono, “Hmm… Where is it… Ah ha!” Yuko took out a rather interesting collar and what seemed to be matching wristbands. The design seem to irk Rika however, for it had the patterns of dark blue outlines of lotuses and butterflies sewn on black material. “The collar can stretch out really far, so you shouldn’t have problems putting it around your neck.”
“Weird lookin’, but I’ll wear it for awhile before I’ll rip it to shreds,” Miki said in a fake giddy high voice before putting on the aforementioned objects.
It didn’t look too bad, Rika thought to herself. The collar part did look a bit cute with Miki’s neck, and the wrist bands seem even bigger than the normal for it had extended from her wrist to almost her elbow…
“I call them the ‘bitch bands of doom’ and I made them myself!”
“Is that seriously the name you gave them?” Miki uttered gloomily as she inspected how the wristbands looked on her.
“Nah, the real name is ‘obey the heavenly maiden’ bands,” Yuko smiled as she waved her hand dismissively.
“I like ‘bitch bands’ better…” Miki looked off to the side shifty-eyed.
Rika was amused as Yuko glared at her younger sister, wondering if Yuko had looked any eviler, she might have spontaneously combusted.
“Nevertheless, SUCKER~!” Yuko made a childish face by pulling on her bottom eyelid and sticking her tongue out, “now that you put them on, you can’t take them off unless we tennyo bloods permit you to!”
“Say what?!” Miki tried to go for her collar but as she pulled outstretched it too far trying to pull it off, there was an electric spark administered to her wristbands which caused her to scream out in pain. “Damn it…” Miki was laying on the floor, twitching and convulsing as if she was having a seizure, much to everyone else’s amusement.
“Do you want us to show you around the house or no?” Yuko stood up, still amused at the younger sister of her’s having seizures.
“That’s not going to kill her, is it?” Rika also stood up, eying the woman beneath her having spasms.
“Those bands have some of my powers infused in it, so they know how much to shock her, so no worries,” Yuko motioned for Rika to come with her, to which she obeyed.
“And Neesan has a stubbornness that even the devil’s jealous of, so no worries either. It’s very hard to kill her,” Miyabi laughed, following the two elder women.
Perhaps the wealth of the Fujimoto family can’t be measured. Rika saw that what made up the majority of the mansion were simply the empty rooms made for the dance classes held at this place. It was a dance school after all. The upper floors of the traditional Japanese home were for the residents of the mansion. Climbing the stairs was an event of itself, for as Rika came up, she saw beautiful calligraphy depicting mottos or themes drawn on scrolls which hung up on the walls next to the curving stairs. It seemed that the entire second floor was made similar to that of inns or hotels. There was an elaborately designed hallway which had made diagonal paths around various rooms, big rooms judging by the sheer length of the walls by which the wooden paneled hallways surrounded.
Miyabi’s room reminded Rika of any normal school girl’s room. There was a simplistic twin bed whose foot was next to the door entered. There were some random academic achievements hung on the walls. Then there was a drawer which was right next to the bed. Also, there was a desktop computer in the opposite end of the room, huddled in the corner. It seemed that with this arrangement, Miyabi is a seemingly tidy person and likes it best when its simple.
The room of her older sister, Miki, is saying otherwise.
Miki’s room was just slightly organized, albeit messy and untidy. To Rika, it seemed that Miki was the sort to be organized in ways only she would know. Give Miki the request to find something and she would be able to find it amidst the junk lying about. She had a flat screen TV on the wall, maybe a little less than a meter wide? Regardless, Miki also had a low table with a few cushions around it. Hanging on her walls were various paintings of… iron chefs? Rika blinked again, there was Hiroyuki Sakai, Masahiko Kobe, and many others of that famous melodramatic TV show. Miki’s bed was not made, but she was sure it was at least queen sized…
“Miki’s room, huh…?”
“Yeah, ignore the iron chefs, she has an obsession with that show. Since she’s a cook-to-be and all…” Miyabi waved her hand.
“Yeah but she’s really good at cooking, so it’s all good,” Yuko said hastily as she lead Rika into the other rooms.
Yuko’s room was eerily reminiscent of a savannah, probably to house a lioness such as her. The room was almost entirely beige or was a color based off of it. There was a long drawer with random odd artifacts (of Japanese folklore, Rika thought) strewn across it. There was also a ceiling fan in front of the king-sized bed. In fact, the bed had all the netting and such, making it seem like it was fit for a princess. If anything, Rika definitely believed this sister of the Fujimotos to be the most extravagant of them all. She wouldn’t find it surprising if Yuko happened to have a love of wearing furs with leopard print.
Rika came to realize that there were at least four big rooms in the inner hallway diagonals (call it the shape of a drunken square if you must) while there were two more rooms in the outer. The rooms she had just visited were in the outer square, and they all had their own balconies; there was the exception of Miyabi’s room, which was diagonal of Miki’s room within the four big rooms of the center. Yuko and Miyabi showed her that the other rooms were simply guest rooms. All of them had the exact same simplistic theme as Miyabi’s room, only they alternated between color themes of dark blue and light blue. The room Rika was to be staying in had a light blue theme… And happened to be right next to…
“What do you mean I have to stay in the room next to her room?!” Rika yelled, pointing accusingly at Miki’s room.
“I dunno, assassins might come through your window?” Yuko shrugged, “Besides, Miyabi’s room is right across from your room.”
“Yeah but…!” Rika waved her pointing finger rapidly, “Miki will be ahead of the Shibatas! She’ll probably ravage me in my sleep or something!”
“Haha! As if! You know I just made her wear those bands just now!” Yuko laughed.
“Yeah yeah… keep talking…”
Speak of the devil.
Miki appeared next to them looking slightly gruff, probably from all the shocking that the bands did from her struggling to take them off. Rika wasn’t sure whether to pity her or laugh at her, but she kept silent.
“As for wardrobe, since everyone’s about the same size, just borrow our clothes until we buy you a new set of wardrobe.”
“Oh! I can’t burden you with that sort of thing! I can work and pay for my own new clothes!” Rika looked at Yuko.
“No need to be nice, you’re living here and this is our house, we’re protecting you,” Miyabi retorted.
Rika looked at the three sisters with a look of inferiority. Despite being weird and eccentric, they are still wealthy and productive. Rika’s family definitely weren’t as rich as this, but the Shibata family is definitely richer than the Fujimoto family…
“Thank you for your hospitality, I will find some way to repay you…” Rika bowed to the sisters.
“Such a kind girl...” Yuko laughed, “you can help around by joining the staff.”
“Cleaning staff?” Rika raised a brow.
“No silly! The maids under Kei’s charge are doing that. Yuko-nee was referring to the dancing staff. You could help us by assisting us in whatever, whether it be Yuko-nee and her classes, Miki-nee in her cooking preparations, or me with my studies,” Miyabi said with a smile.
“University student, right? You can make yourself useful in many ways here,” Miki said nonchalantly, “I’m off doing my business of lunch, have fun!” the chopstick woman went off, itching her neck where the collar resided.
“Is she always like that?”
“Yup. Miki the lazyass. But show her a kitchen and she’s happy.”
“For someone like that… Why does she like to cook?” Rika looked at the taller teen.
“Why don’t you ask Miki-nee herself?” Miyabi replied, “Anywho, we need to take you out shopping!”
Introductions have been officially made.
“Still not awake, huh?” came a voice behind Hitomi.
Hitomi turned in her chair, facing the door in which someone was obscuring the way. “I’ve seen you a few times before.”
“Of course you have, silly!” The other woman took another chair and went on the other side of Ayumi’s bed and sat down. “I’m one of the scientists back from the lab.”
“So that’s where I last saw you…” Hitomi smiled, “What reason do you have to come here for?”
“Let’s start by telling you about me!” the woman smiled widely, reaching over to give Hitomi what seemed to be her business card, “I am Abe Natsumi! I’m into anime and video games! My kind of lover has to nice and macho, like Kilik from the Soul Calibur series! Nice to meet you!”
“Uh… Kay… Nice to meet you too…” Hitomi raised a brow. Why do we have an anime/gaming otaku on the staff…?
“But please call me Nacchi, please? Please treat me well from now on~!”
Hitomi could have sworn that if they were speaking on a chatting service, Natsumi would have added a heart to just about everything she said. It wasn’t that she found the scientist annoying, but she’s just a little odd for her tastes.
“I wonder how long Ayumi-chan will stay in this coma… She can’t be down for THAT long… can she?” Natsumi looked over at the sleeping woman’s face.
“Yeah…”
“Oh! I came by to tell you that the chief wants you to go be the surveillance for Ishikawa Rika now. I think he must feel bad for you having to watch someone bedridden for the past four hours.”
“Oh really? How kind of him,” Hitomi smirked.
“So tell me, Hitomi-san, what was it like meeting that maiden?” Natsumi became business-like all of a sudden, interlacing her fingers and resting her chin on them.
“It was a little scary actually… She’s very powerful, despite appearances… I’m just glad I was armed before she could do any damage to me. But I discovered something about myself that was a little funky…”
“And that is?”
“I dunno… All of spells didn’t work on me. It’s like I have this invisible barrier protecting me… What did she call it again, ‘magic nullification’ she said it was?”
“My my, that’s interesting… I’ll have to look into that matter!” an odd glint appeared in Natsumi’s eyes, probably those of a mad scientist’s.
“…Please don’t jump me and experiment on me…” Hitomi went shifty-eyed.
“Don’t worry, I won’t, but that is pretty interesting…” Natsumi stroked her imaginary beard. “Magic nullification, huh? At least you will be useful in the future project…”
“Why isn’t anyone telling me about this future project?”
“Oh, I’ll tell you about the future project then; you’ll be a part of it anyway~!”
“Alright, I’m listening.”
Let us turn the page…
“What a day of shopping!” Rika huffed, ripping tags off of her new clothes and placing them in the closet. Even though they were rich, Rika made sure to buy outfits that were nice and cheap to satisfy even the money savers. They bought enough outfits to mix and match for about a week’s worth before articles were to be reused. Rika argued that this was enough for her to use, but the other family retorted that she must absolutely buy more clothes so that she wouldn’t have to reuse clothing for about a month. As much as this went against Rika’s ‘code’ of outfit wearing, these were still the people who were giving her a roof (an expensive roof at that) to live under, therefore, she must abide by their rules or risk getting the crap beaten out of considering that these generous sisters were composed of a telekinetic lioness, a gunner ninja, and a groping demon who fought with chopsticks.
“I wonder who taught them those things… With their sort of skills… They seem like assassins… Or something like that. Then again, assassins protecting me against assassins are a good idea…”
“What’s this about assassins?” came a voice that startled Rika. Startling her to a point where she even jumped in the air and landed face flat on the floor. Suddenly realizing who the voice belonged to, Rika became even more discomforted. She quickly stood up, arming herself with a coat hanger.
“Whaaat? It’s me, honey, what’s with the threatening glare, huh?” Miki pretended to look hurt and sound like she was offended with Rika’s defensive stance.
“Where did you come from?!”
“You left your balcony door open, so I just jumped from my balcony. Of course, I could’ve killed myself in the process considering that it’s such a wide gap, so you should be concerned for my wellbeing instead of yelling at me, dear.”
“Get out!” Rika brandished her coat hanger threateningly.
“Pssh, this is my house,” Miki scoffed, moving closer to Rika, who decided to dual wield coat hangers.
“Alright fine, get out of my room. I refuse to deal with you unless I decide I want to be abused by you by entering your room.”
Miki showed absolutely no signs of hearing Rika whatsoever. The woman continued advancing forward nonchalantly, feeling unthreatened by the (lack of) skill in dual-wielding.
Rika swung at Miki with her right hand, only to be caught by the wrist by Miki’s left hand. When she tried swinging with her other hand, Miki swerved around with the still caught hand, and then grabbed the other so that the chopstick woman ended up behind Rika, holding both of her wrists from the front making it seem like Rika was hugging herself.
The cursed woman tried to struggle out of the other’s grasp, even resorting to toe-stepping, but it was all shot down in vain: Miki still had her in that intimate grasp.
“So were you jealous when I kissed that woman back there?” Miki asked into Rika’s ear amidst her struggling, “Is that why you’re trying to avoid me?”
“Anyone would stay clear of a groping demon like you,” Rika retorted, skillfully dodging having to answer that question.
“I don’t grope THAT much… Maybe five times a day or something,” Miki smirked.
“Oh, five times a day isn’t ‘that much’ to you, eh?” Rika finally stopped struggling, knowing that she couldn’t escape, “It is to everyone else.”
“It’s better than being shot at by some assassins five times a day, so you should be thankful that you’re in this house and that I, along with my sisters, are your guardians…” Rika’s skin began crawling with goosebumps, hearing Miki sound so husky and even lusty in her ears. Even though the other woman was right in a sense, that Rika would rather be molested by Miki than be killed by firing squads, but still…
“Don’t you have a million other people to go pining for besides me? I’m sure there’s better.”
“Nah, I’m too lazy to go out, so you will do…” Miki proceeded to nuzzle against Rika’s neck, leaving a wet trail of kisses, “And besides, you taste better than a lot of them…” Evidentally, this woman wasn’t all about flirting, she was good with her tongue too… For Rika felt herself growing flustered at the contact.
Of all the times I ACTUALLY want that spirit to take over, how come it isn’t happening?! Isn’t it supposed to take over me whenever I’m in situations like these?! Rika internally yelled at herself, trying to stop that inevitable blush that’s coming to her. She hated this woman advancing on her like that, but why did her advance have to be so… arousing?
“Please… Just stop it right now? I order you to stop,” Rika nearly pleaded if it weren’t for that strong tone in her voice. After a few seconds of not obeying that order, Miki’s bands proceeded to shock her, making her jump back at the familiar pain. “Thank you,” Rika said, referring to the bands as she rubbed at the places where Miki had kissed. “Now I order you to leave this room now.”
Miki didn’t question Rika’s words. She let out a smirk, nonverbally telling her that she was saved by the bands and won’t hesitate to keep going if she had lacked them before she left.
Rika sighed, letting herself collapse on the bed. This was her first day staying and Miki already tried to get into her pants? At least she figured how to use the bands efficiently. Just add use the “I order you” as a prefix and it will not be able to be disobeyed, otherwise Miki will be faced with electrical consequences.
“Let’s see how the rest of the day pans out. If the rest goes smoothly, I think I’ll be able to have a good night sleep.”
…And take a step closer…
The time of darkness rolled quickly onto the sky, turning all which it trailed behind into a darkness vaguely illuminated by the shining stars, giving the land beneath them a black and white visage. Some would call it creepy, for the spell of loneliness cast upon the world below would be bothersome and frightening. Some would call it beautiful, for the spell of shadows cast upon the world below would awe should admirers stop to gaze.
There was one admirer that did stop.
But this admirer was not fascinated by the imageries provided by the light of darkness.
She was interested in something else.
Someone else, rather.
Hitomi sat on a tree branch, side leaning against the tree trunk, watching Rika sleep by the window. With her given angle, she knew Miki wouldn’t be able to see her from her window, considering the wide gap between balconies. Unless that woman was crazy enough to jump across three meters of air to try and ravage the poor cursed woman or something...
“So weren’t you jealous when she kissed me?” Hitomi asked in a smile. “Were you thinking of me when she was kissing your neck?” That smile lessened.
“In truth, there was something in me that felt a little irked when she did that…” the guard crossed her arms as she leaned her head against the trunk as well. “So is that the feeling of jealousy? I can’t say I liked that feeling, but I’m going to have to get used to it. Not supposed to make myself stalking you known to you after all, Rika…”
She wondered if talking to herself was a favorite past time, but digressed.
“Emotions really are interesting… I wonder if any other amnesiac person feels new to this sort of thing as I am…” Hitomi straightened herself out, her back feeling awkward at an angle.
“You seem to make me question myself, and that’s a new thing, Rika… Normally I’d just do anything without really thinking about it. When I learned something new, I never asked questions, I just knew it as it is… But with you… Now you make me want to question things I’ve learned…Is that love? Or is it just the feeling of curiosity?”
Nothing answered her.
Only silence accompanied her.
“Which is it?”
“What’s the feeling that’s supposed to be ‘love’ like?”
A half-malicious grin.
A half-happy glare.
Together, a scheming smile.
“Only you could answer that, Rika.”
Closer to the end…
“Ah! A good sleep for once!” Rika stretched out her arms. This was the second night where her dream lacked spirits and blood and all that other gorey icky stuff she had hated. But then she blinked again. She sighed in relief afterwards though.
“First night in this house, eh?” the cursed woman rose in bed, looking around her. Everything was exactly as she remembered, so she didn’t worry about Miki trespassing. She was sure to lock the balcony too, in case that crazy chopstick woman was daring to make that big jump again. She rolled sluggishly off the bed, landing on her feet when she came to the end of it. Then she fixed the covers and the pillows to make it look like no one had ever touched it. Looking at the clock, it was seven in the morning. In another hour, she would have been preparing for her ten o’clock class, but that wasn’t the case here.
She had to become accustomed to a new life. Life without university. Life without normalcy. Life without Ayumi.
She wanted to hate it. She really did. But these people are protecting her from being killed. She had no choice.
Without a question, obligatory showering was needed.
Rika grabbed a set of clothes chosen for the day and a spare towel the family provided for her and went off to the bathroom of the upper floor.
Hitomi said Ayumi was fine but… With all those scars, are they even healing?
I wonder if Hitomi’s healing well too… The scars I gave her didn’t seem too bad…
Does the Shibata company know where I am?
They probably do, but it’s probably stupid of them to try and rush me while still here… So they must be plot—
She had happened to walk in on a fully naked Miki, who just got out of the shower.
Rika became flustered. Flustered with anger that is.
“Um… Hey?”
BAM SLAP BOP POW WHAM SNAP CRUNCH BASH SLAM KAPOW
“This is so WRONG!” Miki retorted as she rubbed her cheek with an ice pack. “YOU walked in on ME!”
“Who cares? It was disgusting to see in the morning!” Rika said as she ate some rice from the bowl she was holding with her chopsticks.
“What do you mean disgusting? I have what you have, so you’re saying the same about yourself!”
“What do you mean you have what I have? You have half of what I have!” Rika motioned to Miki’s chest with her chopsticks.
“OH NO YOU DIN’T!” Miki snapped her fingers three times in a diagonal manner like those of stereotypical American preps/cheerleaders.
“OH YES I DID! I WENT THERE!” Rika also snapped her fingers in the same manner.
“Bah, you’re only here because a woman past her prime made me bring you here!” Miki retorted as she hastily shoved the food in her mouth, unknown of the rather demonic presence towering behind her with glowing grey eyes with an aura that was even stronger than the devil’s.
Watching Rika’s rather frightened expression, Miki couldn’t help but wonder what sort of monster was behind her. But then the realization of the words she said before hit her… She slowly turned around, catching a very dark figure standing behind her…
“WHO’S PAST HER PRIME, HUH?! YOU PUNK!” Yuko screamed, “I ORDER YOU TO APOLOGIZE RIGHT NOW!”
“I’M—” Miki began her apology, but the electric shocks from the bands saw to her first and immediately, the chopstick woman began fidgeting abnormally and twitching from the unusually powerful shocks she was receiving at the moment. “I-I’M S-s-SOR-SORRY!” She managed to shout out amidst her electrocution.
“Itadakimasu~!” Yuko sat down, delightfully eating nonchalantly, ignoring the twitching sister next to her.
Then Miyabi came in, still in her pajama pants and T-shirt. Before she sat down, she sniffed the air, before looking down at Miki.
“Did you burn something, Neesan?”
How will each day from now on be like?
Hope there were a few nice giggles there xD I'll probably start enforcing the comment rule a little after chapter ten or so. SO YOU LURKERS BETTER ENJOY YOUR FREEDOM WHILE YOU CAN! <3
Topic: Our Cursed Gift II [NON SEQUEL] Chapter 22: Another side: Another Story (10/6) (Read 84438 times)