The Looking-Back Ghost Tale (A Hoichi the Earless Side Story) [Second Night] Amekichi Learns the Taste of an Oni (Serialized Short Story)

A ghost tale told by a woman of Seikanji, night after night.
What is told is the ending of someone who lived in Gion—
But that ending is not just one.
The same mystery, different endings.
The truth is left to the ears of the reader.
A Hoichi the Earless side story, 'The Looking-Back Ghost Tale,' now begins.

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Second Night: Amekichi Learns the Taste of an Oni

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Thank you all for coming.
Tonight, too, I shall tell you one or two strange tales of the Gion night.
I, a nameless woman, shall be the one to tell them—

Pluck... pluck...

Now, the man in the title is named Amekichi.
A beggar by day, a thief by night. With a mean look in his eyes and rags for clothes.
But in the town of Gion, he was a somewhat famous man.

O-Haru the candy seller, Danzo of the 'Sanpuku' teahouse, O-Hana the florist,
and then Tobei the fishmonger—
it is said that all of them had been angered by his misdeeds at least once.

However, this Amekichi is no mere villain.
He, you see, learned the taste of an oni—well, that is how it is.

...Pluck-pluck... pluck...

Now, let us begin with the unfortunate version of the story.
Are you ready? Then... let it begin!

◇◇◇◇◇

That was on a certain night.
A night without a moon, without a wind, yet with a strangely lukewarm air—
Amekichi was wandering alone through the back alleys of Gion.

He was hungry.
No matter how many candies he licked, how many dumplings he stole, or how many flowers he ate, the hunger in his belly would not be satisfied.

'Damn it... isn't there... something more... something delicious that hits the core of my body...?'

As he walked along grumbling like that, an oni appeared, looming out of the darkness.
Twice the height of a man, face wrinkled, fangs two shaku long.
But its appearance was somehow like that of a starving person—
in other words, the oni was also hungry.

Amekichi saw it.
The oni's belly was translucent.
Floating there were... Tobei's face, O-Haru's white hand, Danzo's potbelly—

'They ate those guys...!'

The people he hated were contained within that belly.
That lit a fire in Amekichi's chest.

'Give that taste to me!'

Amekichi shouted and picked up a stone to throw at it.
The oni flew at him in a rage.
But Amekichi did not run. No, he could not run.
The oni's hand reached out—at that moment,

Rumble...

the ground split open.
Crawling out from under the oni's feet was an even blacker, even larger shadow.
That thing—as if to protect Amekichi, it dragged the oni down.

That shadow swallowed the oni whole in one bite.

What remained was...
The oni's heart, which dropped right in front of Amekichi.

He ate that pulsing thing...

A slimy sensation.
Bitter, metallic, yet strangely sweet.
It was truly—

'D-delicious...!!'

Amekichi laughed.
Baring his teeth, rubbing his belly,
a cry of ecstasy that echoed through the Gion night—

'Delicious! Oni are delicious!'

That was the beginning.

◇

From that night on, Amekichi's eyes became red and cloudy,
his fingers grew long, his tongue split in two,
he spoke little, and a low growl began to leak from his throat.

O-Haru the candy seller said,

'Lately, I feel like I saw horns on Amekichi's back...'

Danzo whispered,

'His ears were split in two, and they were breathing fire.'

O-Hana the florist cried,

'...Misuzu-chan said that Amekichi smells sweet...!'

Yes—
Amekichi was no longer human.

He ate an oni, became an oni,
and it is said he began to wait patiently for the day he would be eaten by 'something.'

And then, one autumn night.

Amekichi appeared at Danzo's teahouse, 'Sanpuku.'
Without a word, he went to the back and placed his hand on the shoulder of Danzo's daughter, O-Sachi.

'...A sweet, sweet scent...'

That voice was no longer a human voice.

Just like that, he...
vanished in the back room.

What remained was a burnt smell and characters carved into the wall with claws.

'Ate it. Want more.'

It is said that after that, Amekichi never appeared again.

◇◇◇◇◇

...Pluck-pluck... pluck...

—Truly, it is a story with a very unpleasant aftertaste.
Now, let us pull ourselves together and change the mood a little.

This time, it is the story of the 'version that was not unfortunate.'
Are you ready?

Then... let us move to the next act.

◇◇◇◇◇

Well now—
It is a night similar to that one.
The moon was not out, the stars were hidden by clouds, and the autumn humidity drifted through the back alleys of Gion.

Amekichi was wandering around again.
He was hungry.
But tonight, strangely enough, there was no sign of an oni anywhere.

'Boring... an oni, a dumpling, anything will do... if I don't eat, I'll die...'

With bloodshot eyes, tongue slipping out, he walked through the darkness with a beast-like gait.
That was when it happened.

Clink.

A small sound rang out at his feet.
When he looked, a candy ball was lying there.

A red and white candy—
the one with that gentle sweetness that Misuzu used to hand out long ago.

'...What is this, a child's game...?'

Even as he clicked his tongue, his hand picked it up on its own.
Suddenly, a small shadow stood at the end of the back alley.

It was,
O-Haru the candy seller's daughter—Misuzu.

She smiled softly,
said nothing, just smiled... and held out her hand to Amekichi.

'...What are you doing? ...Aren't you going to run away?'

Misuzu shook her head.

'...I'm going to eat you. I already know the taste of an oni, you know?'

Even so, she smiled.

The candy ball in Amekichi's hand began to grow warm.

Plop.

Tears fell from between his fingers.

'...How foolish... for something like this, something like this...'

His throat felt choked up.

'...What I wanted to eat was...'

Just like that, he put the candy ball into his mouth—

Clink.

—A quiet, singular sound.

At that moment,
a wind blew through the Gion sky.
The clouds covering the sky drifted away, and the stars peeked out.

Amekichi was... crying.

The candy ball rolled on his tongue, and then, slowly, it melted away.

'...Sweet. A gentle... taste...'

His raspy voice did not speak to anyone, but simply seeped into the night.

Just like that, he sat down in the corner of the back alley, shoulders shaking as he huddled over.
Even when his worn-out knees touched the cold ground, he no longer had the energy to care.

'What... on earth have I been eating...?'

His fingertips were trembling.
The trembling soon turned into sobs, and it continued to strike his chest, quietly and deeply.

At that moment.

Misuzu stepped forward softly—
without a word, she simply reached out to Amekichi's back.

With her slender palm, she patted him, tap, tap,
gently, over and over, as if soothing a baby.

'...'

At the warmth of that hand, Amekichi bowed his head even further,
and cried without a sound.

Someone being saved by a single candy ball.
Isn't it fine for there to be such a night?


◇

A few days later,
Amekichi's figure disappeared from Gion.

No one saw him anymore.
But... there was one strange thing.

In the back room of Danzo's teahouse, 'Sanpuku,'
one morning, a package was left there.

When opened, there were two red and white candies and a small note wrapped in bamboo skin.

'I have repaid my debt with this.
Sweet things ward off oni.
...Please protect that child.'

The writing was messy and blurred.
Whether it was ink, tears, or... candy syrup, no one knows.

From that day on, in the back alleys of Gion,
rumors of oni and shadows of mysteries vanished completely.

◇◇◇◇◇

Now, everyone—
While both bear the name 'Amekichi,'
one became an oni, and one cast the oni aside.

Which is the truth and which is the illusion,
even this storytelling woman does not know.

...Pluck-pluck... pluck...

However, the one who listened—you—
the one you think 'this one is better' in some corner of your heart,
might have been the true story.

Hehe... well then, until next time.

On a night without a moon, I will be waiting with candy.

—It seems the time has come to an end.

...Pluck... pluck...

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