Chapter 5

We weren't the only ones who had decided to hide under a roof.

There was nothing surprising about that, though; the Gozen School wasn't the only one that had planned to have lunch "At the Mountain." That was understandable. What wasn't was the fact that some guy was holding me when my hands were full. I wasn't about to drop the girls' gifts!

Misaki and Haruka, by the way, were frozen behind me, as if they didn't know what to do. It seemed they couldn't decide whether to carefully pull me aside or shout, "Let her go!"

"I miss you terribly," I said without missing a beat. "Almost as much as I miss oyakodon with rice and chicken. Do you happen to know if they make it here?"

Hideo was a little taken aback.

Well, yeah, it's not very pleasant when you're trying to make an impression on a beautiful lady, and she asks what's on the menu. A bit insulting. But I was really much more interested in food. And some hot tea, too. Even though we hadn't gotten properly soaked in the rain, it wasn't a good idea to neglect my health.

"Yes, of course," he recovered. "They have everything."

"That's great," I smiled.

"Why don't you two just kiss already," Satu scoffed from behind me, squeezing past us.

It was at that exact moment that Hideo awkwardly stepped away from me, and I, like a nimble snake, hurried after the girls. Boys weren't bad, but...

It felt like they belonged in that past life, when you could spend time on things like crushes and dates. Now I had other things to do. So, I sat down between Haruka and Misaki and looked around with interest, taking in the room. It was... nothing special. About thirty people could have lunch here, and a few more could fit by the wooden counter. The table setting was very simple: stands with napkins, chopsticks, and soy sauce. It was clean and neat, and there were a couple of paintings hanging on the walls, some braided things whose names I didn't know, and wooden masks.

There were about eight people inside for now; the rest had clearly not yet realized that they could take shelter in the eatery. Or they were so engrossed in their walk through Nozu that even the rain wasn't an obstacle.

I felt a kind of warmth and peace inside, almost purring like a cat, holding the kaiken with the cobra head close to me. I had what I needed. Everything else was uninteresting. Ribbons for my hair? Mesmerizing kanzashi? A new kimono? Jewelry? To the tsumi with all of that! I wasn't going to a training session with Ayu, after all. And who knew what would happen again, and kind, kind Koji would send me to do some kind of work. I'd look great in pearls and flowers while sweeping the garden paths!

"Aska, you look so pleased, as if you've already had lunch," Satu, who was sitting across from me, remarked.

Ugh. I had to sit right across from that pest. I hoped she wouldn't spoil my appetite. Though... I didn't care right now. Let Teacher Yachiharo sit here, or the Weaver herself — a healthy young body craving a good lunch doesn't notice such trifles!

"Not everyone can be as sullen and pretentiously sad as you, Satu," I winked.

She narrowed her eyes. Oh, here we go.

"Watch your mouth."

"Whose?" I asked gently. "And by the way, we're in an eatery again. Do you want to fight?"

Satu opened her mouth to answer, but Misaki unexpectedly asked quietly, "Why is no one here?"

Suddenly, arguing wasn't important. She was right. Even if this wasn't a high-class establishment where they greet you at the door and lead you to a table, someone should have at least come out and paid attention to us. Because a crowd had come in, everyone was chattering, and there was no reaction. I doubted that the owners of the cozy "At the Mountain" place were so careless that they weren't interested in what noisy birds had flown into their establishment.

"And it's a bit dim in here," one of the boys from the Tokugawa School pointed out.

And it was true. It was daytime outside. Even though it was raining, it was a long way from dark. But here... You could, of course, think that it was because of the mountain nearby, but that was unlikely. The mountain couldn't block out all the light.

And there was also a strange feeling that it was a bit cold in here. At first, when we came in, we didn't feel anything. Hideo's conversation had distracted me, and then Satu's sarcasm.

I carefully placed the packets of okashi next to me; my fingers gripped the kaiken's handle more tightly.

Silence reigned in the room. A strange, lurking, and menacing silence. It was as if someone or something was watching us. The tension began to build. It was as if the very walls were waiting for our reaction. But who and why?

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"And there's no teachers," I noted grimly. "I wouldn't be surprised if they blamed us again."

But that thought immediately vanished, because the teachers weren't idiots, and it would be stupid to blame the students for who knew what.

One of our girls, the one in the blue keikogi, got up from the table and walked over to the window. She looked out, apparently thinking the owners might be in the courtyard.

"This didn't happen before," Haruka muttered.

I turned my head to her.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we used to come into a bright and cozy eatery, eat our fill, and have a little time left to run around Nozu. But here..."

"And they aren't waiting for us, and they don't want us here," Hideo said, having overheard our conversation. "Even though Mr. Tsochi is usually always happy to have guests. Last year, as soon as we came in..."

A desperate scream cut off our conversation.

I would have twirled my finger at my temple, but I saw that the cute, bright window had turned into a snarling maw with a crimson-black throat and teeth as sharp as needles.

At first, I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"A hallucination? I thought. But one for a whole group of people?"

But the blood...

The maw snapped its jaws shut.

"Over here too!" Misaki shrieked, pointing to the window across from us.

There were four windows in the eatery. All four had turned into gruesome maws, ready to devour anyone who carelessly came close.

"And the doors!" Garu roared.

The situation with the doors was no better. A maw, too, just a different shape. More vile and larger. It looked like if you just got close, it would swallow you in the blink of an eye.

We jumped to our feet, chairs clattering to the floor. It seemed everyone instinctively took a fighting stance, though it was unlikely that would help against such fangs.

"Are you sure you were in this exact eatery last time?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the nearest maw.

How do you fight this? If I at least had a sword on my belt, I could try to fight, but like this... just chopsticks and a knife. Not much to work with.

"It's here," Satu, who was looking around, scowling, and also not understanding what to do, answered me for some reason.

"And everything was fine," Hideo added, assessing the situation.

Though there wasn't much to assess; it was obviously horrible.

"Apparently, the rules have changed," I remarked. "Now the eatery doesn't feed the guests; it feeds on the guests."

Someone let out a nervous chuckle. Well, you couldn't argue with that. One thing was a relief—no one had attacked us yet.

I was trying to figure out what all this meant. Some special kind of tsumi? Or were such houses a normal thing here? Judging by the pale faces of my companions, they were not normal at all. Well, that's something.

"Does anyone know how to fight this?" I asked quietly, just guessing.

You couldn't see the ears of these creatures, but who knew, maybe they could hear us? Anything was possible now. I really wanted to think that the teachers hadn't forgotten about us and would try to do something from the outside.

"Shenghai, do you think you're the smartest one here?" Satu snapped.

It was amazing. Even in a situation like this, she managed not to think about how to fight the creatures around us, but she didn't forget to get her jabs in. You're a bad warrior, Satu Ikeda. But a venomous viper—not bad at all.

I didn't answer, but I quickly sized up the situation. So, there were ten of us here: five girls and five boys. One of ours was wounded, so we couldn't count on her, but we'd have to cover her.

One of the Tokugawa boys bravely stepped forward, but Hideo grabbed him by the belt and pulled him back.

"Stop, you'll be an appetizer if you do something stupid."

But the guy scoffed, pushed him away, and began to walk around the room with purpose, occasionally touching the walls with his palms and carefully avoiding the windows and the door.

I really didn't like something about this. Exploring the area was one thing, but doing it with empty hands was nonsense.

"This is mado-noroi," the girl in the blue keikogi, who was standing behind us, said barely audibly. "Cursed windows that devour those who are in the house."

"Chou," a memory suddenly surfaced. "Her name is Chou. That's what Tehiko called her."

"Can they be defeated?" Satu and I asked in unison.

"A mado-noroi is a curse; only a sorcerer can cast it," she said, licking her lips. Her black eyes were filled with horror. "The curse can be removed. An onmyoji is needed to perform a cleansing ritual."

"Is there an onmyoji among us?" Satu asked condescendingly.

And she gasped when I jabbed her in the side.

"You..."

"Shut up," Haruka hissed.

"What do we do if there's no onmyoji?" I asked tensely.

Of course, I wouldn't mind a person who could cast out a spirit, remove a curse, and beat up bad monsters, but we had to fend for ourselves.

Chou closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm down. The wound on her arm was terrible; it should have been bandaged, but I had a strange feeling: the girl knew what to do.

"You can break through a wall," Chou exhaled. "Usually, a spell-bound steel is used, but..." She looked at all of us. "But..."

"We don't have any steel," I concluded. "And a spell-bound one is out of the question. So we'll work with what we have."

Of course, I had the kaiken, but what was it good for? It was just a toothpick for the creatures' fangs.

"And how do we... work? Should we perform the Dance of the Black Cranes?" one of the boys snickered.

I squeezed my left wrist, feeling the scar from the goddess's gift. The Weaver didn't help me for no reason; the main thing was to figure out what to do now.

I had no idea how to cast a spell. But there had to be some way out.

The boy who had been exploring the area suddenly listened intently.

"There's someone there," he said, pointing to the wall.

To prove his words, a roar was heard that made my hands go cold. Now this wasn't just jaws in the windows.

A low rumbling sound came from somewhere.

"Get away from the wall!" I roared and lunged forward.

At that very moment, clawed paws burst from the wall. My left arm was scorched, and a purple kumihimo burst from under my skin and lashed out in front of them like a glowing whip. Two paws clenched, but one reached the boy. He shrieked, tried to twist away, and there was a wet crunch.

I lashed out with the kumihimo again — the clawed fingers unclenched. Hideo and someone else quickly dragged the victim to a safe place.

The wall was now trembling, the growling grew louder, and paws with razor-sharp claws appeared here and there.

"Stay back!" Misaki shouted.

A paw lashed out a centimeter from me. Crying out in surprise, I pulled out the kaiken and struck the long, crooked fingers with it. A shriek was heard. The cobra's eyes on the handle flared with a lilac flame, heat rushed through my body, and one word echoed in my mind:

"Strike."