Hoichi with Ears [Episode 5] Gion's Demon Eater (3)

──The sound of the bell, the echo of impermanence...

Click here for the beginning

Click here for the previous episode

Chapter 3: Mother's Voice, Sinking into Darkness

◇

As the first signs of morning faintly touched the town of Gion, the candy shop's noren curtain had not yet been raised. Inside, O-Haru sat up in her bedding and stretched.

“...Misuzu, wake up. We have to knead the dough for the dumplings...”

She called out, but the futon was cold.

“...Hmm? Oh my...?”

She stood up and looked around the room. Misuzu was nowhere to be seen, not by the pot, nor behind the counter.

“...Don't tell me, she went outside again...”

She opened the door and poked her head into the morning mist. The town was still devoid of people. Yet, a strange unease stirred in O-Haru's chest.

――

◇

“She was walking toward the back alley while singing. It was early morning, when I went out to draw water...”

That was the testimony of O-Sachi, the teahouse girl.

Nodding beside her was O-Hana, the florist's daughter.

“Yes... that's right. She was wearing a white kimono and humming happily... But I wonder what she was looking at... That girl, she was laughing all by herself.”

O-Haru gripped her sleeves tightly as she listened to their accounts.

“How can this be... Misuzu...”

Her thoughts swirled. The edge of town, toward the river? But... if so, why hasn't she returned? Did someone—

As if to shake off that anxiety, O-Haru raised her voice.

“I'll go to Hasuya... I'll check if Misuzu has come to Hasuya!”

Leaving those words behind, she ran toward the center of town with quick steps.

◇

At the Hasuya counter, the proprietress, O-Kane, was preparing for the morning.
As she brewed tea and gazed idly at the still-dim town, there was a knock at the door.

“...Yes, yes, who is it?”

When she opened the sliding door, O-Haru was standing there, out of breath.
Her cheeks were stiff, and her eyes wavered with agitation.

“O-Kane-san...! Misuzu, my child hasn't come home since this morning!”

O-Kane frowned.

“Eh? Surely she isn't playing by the river again... No, at this hour?”

O-Haru shook her head.

“She left while singing, and that was it. She went through the back path... I thought maybe she had come to Hasuya...!”

“...She hasn't come here.”

O-Kane tightened her lips and immediately turned toward the back of the counter.

“Yasubei!”

“Yes.”

Emerging from the kitchen was a young man with a straight posture—a cook and O-Kane's only son, Yasubei.

“Go look around nearby. ...Alright?”

“Understood. O-Haru-san, let's go together.”

“Yes...!”

O-Haru followed Yasubei's back, then turned to bow deeply to O-Kane.
O-Kane waved her hand lightly in response, then sat back down at the counter.

◇

A quiet morning.
Just as O-Kane, left alone in the empty Hasuya, was about to sip her tea.

“...Hey, Proprietress.”

A man with a worn-out straw cape on his back poked his face in.
It was Amekichi.

“I've come to ask for your charity again...”

His voice was strangely dry.

Amekichi, who appeared at the counter with his soot-stained cape over his shoulders, turned his grinning face toward her.

“...I heard about this morning. That candy shop girl, she left while singing.”

O-Kane appeared from the back of the counter and fixed a cold gaze on Amekichi.

“What did you come here for?”

“Just some idle chatter, I thought.”

“Idle chatter, huh...”

O-Kane said with a sigh, but immediately furrowed her brows and stared intently at Amekichi's face.

“Come to think of it, you were at the counter yesterday morning, too.”

Amekichi shrugged.

“That's right. Hoping to receive some alms. But I was chased away quite bluntly.”

“Are you unhappy that I chased you away?”

“Not at all. The proprietress's voice was so magnificent, it even appeared in my dreams...”

“Don't spout such nonsense.”

O-Kane's eyes flashed.

“Money went missing from the Hasuya counter in the morning. ...You come every morning, why is that?”

The corner of Amekichi's mouth twitched.

“...Are you suspecting me?”

“I certainly am! Did you think I forgot how your eyes were glued to me? ...You were targeting Hasuya for the money, weren't you? Or is there some other, more mysterious 'reason'—

“Calm down, Proprietress...”

“Shut up!”

At that shout, the light at the counter flickered, and the air changed completely.

“...Don't make a fool of me, Amekichi. The money at Hasuya is the town's trust. I'm already on edge about Misuzu... and then a man like you!”

O-Kane's back arched sharply.

Her eyes opened wide, the pupils spreading like ink, and her entire gaze dyed in darkness.

“You... you thieving scum!”

The voice was no longer human.

The moment Amekichi stepped back, O-Kane's body swayed—
Behind her, a black shadow emerged faintly on the floor of the counter.

A slimy presence appeared as if seeping from under the floor, forming the shape of a woman.

A white face, crimson lips.
Yet, those eyes reflected nothing.
It was like—a hollow 'face for devouring,' as if peering into a deep abyss.

Before Amekichi could even gasp.
The woman slid her form as if crawling on the ground—

WHAM!

Suddenly, she leaped onto O-Kane's back with supple limbs.
White, slender, beautiful arms and legs constricted the proprietress like a snake.
The crimson lips were drawn to O-Kane's ear.

CHOMP.

The wet, squelching sound of biting into an earlobe tore through the silence of the room.
O-Kane stood frozen, her eyes wide open.
Amekichi's gaze pierced her cheek.

The woman turned her face toward him slowly while she fed.
Amekichi was reflected in those eyes—no, she wasn't just 'looking'.
She was 'showing' him—the bottomless 'thirst' that nested in this town.

And then—

SLURP...

As if the darkness behind her had suddenly begun to move like a living creature.
O-Kane's body tilted backward,
and she was dragged into the darkness along with the woman.

The air at the counter turned cold in an instant.
Even without a breeze, the shoji screen rattled faintly.
And then, it returned to normal.

There was no one there anymore.

All that remained were an empty teacup and a faint residual heat.

◇

In the second-floor guest room—.

“...Just now, a scream...”

“That was the proprietress... right?”

Kakuichi and Hikoshichi looked at each other.

The angry voice heard through the shoji and the eerie silence.

“...As I thought, that beggar did something...”

“Don't say it... If he hears us, we'll be next...”

The two lowered their voices and dove into their futons.

Outside, someone was singing.

In the voice of a young child. But who it was, they did not know.

※I post around 7-8 PM every day. I would be very happy if you could press the heart mark (Like). Thank you.

Click here for the continuation

Please take a look at this as well