The Curse of the Matsukawa Spike - Epilogue

Epilogue: The Sound of the Rails at Dawn: Imperfect Choices and the Handed-Down Baton

【Synopsis】
The grandmother’s intense, lifelong confession ends, and a profound silence settles over the hospital room.
The "memory of weakness and regret" that ninety-year-old Haru has carried for nearly eighty years deeply shakes the heart of her twenty-five-year-old granddaughter, Chihiro, who had been left completely stranded in a modern maze of endless information.
By learning of the lives of her grandparents—who accepted each other's imperfections and survived the turbulence of the Showa era covered in mud—Chihiro finds the courage to make her own choices.
As twilight gives way to the deep Kyoto night, what is the first step Chihiro takes?

"God and Buddha... they knew all about our weaknesses. You don't have to be perfect. Covered in scars as we were, we decided to live on together."

By the time Haru finished speaking, the window of the hospital room was completely enveloped in the deep navy blue of the night.

In the distance, streetlights began to flicker on one by one, quietly casting the reflections of Haru and Chihiro onto the glass pane.

Chihiro was lost in thought, staring silently at Haru’s small, wrinkled hand resting over her own knee.

Her grandmother’s thin fingers, the prominent veins, and the faint but warm pulse that vibrated through them upon touch.

It was this very hand that had once wrapped around her trembling grandfather’s hand in that dimly lit antique shop, folding layers of newspaper over that terrifying, rusted rail spike.

And it was this very hand that had quietly carried the "indelible memory of guilt"—of betraying the sacred offering to the temple out of shallow, human fear and dragging others into their plight—for nearly eighty years.

"Chihiro."

Haru gently peered into Chihiro’s face from beneath the duvet.

"You've gone so quiet. Was your grandmother's old story a bit too frightening?"

"No..."

Chihiro shook her head, but her voice was hoarse and barely came out.

An indescribable emotion welled up from deep within her chest, tightly squeezing her throat.

Chihiro looked down at her smartphone, which had been left cast aside on the bedside table.

Its dark, blank screen.
Her own face reflected in the black glass looked incredibly fragile and filled with fear.

I don't want to fail.
Which path is the "one hundred percent perfect" answer for me?

Until just moments ago, Chihiro’s mind had been entirely consumed by that single question.

Choosing a new job. Deciding her future career.
In this day and age, a quick search online yields an endless flood of phrases like "job-hunting techniques to never fail" or "career choices you won't regret."

Opening social media reveals peers who seem to be walking a perfect, straight line from the very beginning without a single doubt, competing to showcase their dazzling records of success.

Every time she saw those posts, Chihiro felt as if she were suffocating.

If she made even a single wrong choice, would she immediately become a

"loser"?

Would she fall into an irreversible ditch, never to climb back up?

It felt as if her entire life were a precarious game of catch on thin ice that would shatter into pieces with one misstep.

She had been so terrified, so paralyzed, that she couldn't even move a single finger.

But.

"Grandma..." Chihiro whispered, her voice barely audible.

"I... I feel so ashamed and pathetic.
You and Grandpa were living on the edge of life and death, with a gun pointed at your faces, yet you still desperately fought, covered in mud, to protect each other...

And here I am, only worrying about which company has 'better cost-performance' or which one is 'a little easier'...

Staring at reviews written by god-knows-who for hours on end, terrified, and just standing there, utterly lost."

Tears began to spill from Chihiro's eyes, dripping down and wetting the back of Haru's hand.

"I was so scared of getting hurt.
I was deathly afraid of making a mistake and regretting it.
I was so terrified of making an irreversible mistake that I was left completely stranded at the crossroads of information, unable to move forward or take a step back.
But that... compared to the heavy burden you and Grandpa carried, my worries are so small and incredibly luxurious, aren't they?"

Haru gently wiped away Chihiro’s tears with the dry pad of her thumb.
Her touch was remarkably tender and enveloped Chihiro in a deep, soothing warmth.

"Chihiro. There is no such thing as a 'small' worry in this world.

To you, your current hesitation is your entire life. That is only natural.
...But there is just one thing your grandmother wants to tell you."

Haru looked straight into Chihiro’s eyes.

Deep within those pupils lay an unyielding, bottomless vitality—one that had weathered the turbulent Showa era, survived the post-war ruins, and endured the nightmare of Rokudo-no-Tsuji.

"We betrayed the temple's offering.

We were truly shallow, weak human beings who could not believe in Buddha to the very end.

Your grandfather and I were never perfect heroes.

We made choices riddled with mistakes, and we lived our entire lives carrying scars and guilt that would never fade."

Haru paused for a moment and looked up at the ceiling of the hospital room.

Her expression was filled with regret, but also with a quiet, profound forgiveness that transcended it.

"But Chihiro.

God and Buddha never abandoned us—even as we lived covered in scars and mud, desperately struggling to survive.

The morning sun does not shine only on those who are perfectly righteous.
It shines just as warmly and equally on the cowards who make mistakes, run away, and cry their eyes out.

No matter how many mistakes you make, no matter how many times you run away... as long as you are alive, you can start over. You can always walk out into the world again."

"I can... always walk out again?"

"Yes. Life isn't such a fragile thing that a single wrong step ruins it all.

Your grandfather and I shared our weaknesses on that morning, taking up half the burden each, and we started walking.

There is no such thing as a perfect answer anywhere in this world.

So, Chihiro...

Close your phone, and step firmly onto the mud with your own feet.
It is fine to make mistakes. Because that is exactly where your own path begins anew."

Haru’s words felt like a warm ember quietly lighting up the coldest, darkest depths of Chihiro’s heart.

There was never a "perfect answer" that guaranteed zero failure from the start.

Even if she made a mistake, fell into a ditch, and ended up covered in mud, there would be someone to share that burden with her—just as her grandparents had lived, leaning on each other through all their imperfections.

Chihiro let out a slow, deep breath.

The suffocating tightness that had gripped her chest vanished as if it had all been a lie.

"...Yes, Grandma. I'm going to stop looking at my phone. No, not just looking... I'm going to stop expecting this thing to give me the answers. From now on, even if I have my phone with me, I won't get lost anymore. I will move forward on my own feet, and I will decide for myself."

Chihiro picked up the smartphone from the bed and quietly slid it deep into her bag.
In the dark glass of the powered-off screen, she felt as though she could see her own eyes reflected—no longer trembling with fear, but looking slightly forward.

Chihiro squeezed Haru’s hand once more, this time with a firm, resolute strength.

"I’ll decide for myself. Whichever way I go, I'm sure it will be hard... but if I make a mistake, I’ll just get covered in mud and start walking again. After all, I'm the granddaughter of you and Grandpa."

Haru narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and let out a soft, girlish laugh.

"That's right. You are the grandchild of that vain but incredibly kind Genzo-san.

What is there to fear about making mistakes? Go on, hesitate all you want, and move forward."

As Chihiro left the room, the hallway was filled with the silence of the night.

She walked out of the hospital entrance and breathed in the Kyoto night breeze with her whole chest.

The cool autumn wind felt incredibly refreshing against her flushed cheeks.

Looking up at the dark night sky, the ancient shadows connecting this world and the next still lay quietly in the direction of Rokudo-no-Tsuji.

But there was no longer any fear in Chihiro’s heart.

As she began to walk toward the station, a distant yet distinct, powerful sound vibrated through the air.

Clack-clack, clack-clack, clack-clack...

It was no longer the terrifying rumble of the vengeful spirits that had once haunted her grandparents.

It was the sound of the rails at dawn, cutting through the dark night and charging powerfully toward a new morning.

It was the echo of a train carrying the weaknesses, the love, and the unyielding will to survive of imperfect human beings, rolling steadily into the future.

Chihiro smiled softly, gripped the strap of her bag firmly, and took a powerful first step into the Kyoto night.

"The End of 'The Curse of the Matsukawa Spike'"   

 📖Previous Chapter:https://note.com/ttukumoo/n/n86ee0cee0d09
🌐OriginalJapanesehere:https://note.com/juicy_laelia8513/n/n29213c69f796 

"Thank you so much for reading to the very end!"💗