"Mark my words, you'll regret this!"
Ikumi spat those words hatefully behind her with both hands on the asphault. Ohkawa Tomio looked down at Ikumi with his own spite bared, wordlessly taking the shutter door in hand. How she wanted to rise up and rush at Ohkawa to give him a kick, but with the store's lighting illuminating him from behind, Ohkawa looked all the more the part of a giant. All the more so to Ikumi who was small, splayed out on the roadway below. While she stewed in her indignation the shutter closed. That was a form of rejecting Ikumi more concretely than simply closing the door.
"What now! A person's telling you this out of kindness and this is how you react! And on top of that, I'm a customer!"
Ikumi stood up and gave the shutter a light kick. The liquor she'd drank at the Ohkawa liquor store's counter was pulling Ikumi's emotions high and low.
While drinking at the counter talk turned to to the suspicious events in the village. There were a lot of them in the village nowadays. Ikumi informed Old Man Nishida who likewise came to drink that it was Kanemasa, that it was Okiagari, but he dismissed it with a sneering laugh. Ohkawa openly belittled her and when he condemned her for going to the Shimizu Gardening's place it turned into a fight. No, it wasn't what could be called a fight at first. It was more like an exchange of sarcasms. Their tone was flippant but it was clear that the air was growing dangerous. Nishida who had remained until that point escaped in the heat of the confusion as Ohkawa drove Ikumi out. Ikumi herself didn't want to see Ohkawa's face any further but Ikumi had no money on her.
"How dare he, the cheapskate!" Ikumi spat towards the shutter. Ikumi did come here to drink sometimes but she'd never brought money for her drinks even once. If she talked to those at the counter, they'd eventually say "Why don't we drink together?" If she said that she didn't bring any money with her, somebody would usually treat her. Tonight was the same, with Old Man Nishida was the one to offer. It was his fault for leaving and forgetting to pay her portion.
This kind of thing had happened before now though. Ohkawa too knew how things went and had never taken money from Ikumi. He might have asked someone who said they'd treat her for it afterwards, but at any rate he likely found some way to break even. Ikumi wasn't a strong drinker to start with. When one said she drank it meant she had a single cup of either sake or shouchuu that she'd lap at throughout the night. So he'd never come after payment that aggressively until now.
[TN: Shouchuu - A type of Japanese liquor made from distilling one or more ingredients, typically grain, potatoes, rice, or their koji molds, or possibly brown sugar. There are less common shochuu made with sesame or chestnuts. It's usually about 25% alcohol, weaker than whisky or vodka but stronger than wine or sake.]
"It's one cup of cheap booze! What's all this over! Treating people like some kind of thieves!"
She was pressed to pay and when she said it was Old Man Nishida's treat, she was called a mooch. Calling Ikumi's behavior insane by the end of it, she was literally put out of the shop.
"Don't like that I told about your uncle, do you?! Ain't it all true though! That uncle of yours turned into an Oni and is spreading misery all over! What'll you do if I leak that to the people of the village!"
Ikumi once more kicked the shutter. She could remain calm when she was divinely inspired and yet looked at with suspicion, but to be called a mooch, to be spoken about like a thief, she had never felt such disgrace.
"You won't make light of me! Mark my words, you'll regret this!"
Lately the villagers had been coming in now and again to consult with her. They would bow their heads low before Ikumi with their hands folded. With the charms Ikumi wrote out in hand they would say their thanks as they left. That engorged Ikumi's pride. She had the feeling that she was a cut above the rest. This was not an attack on her decency, it was as if trying to bring her down; she could not forgive the affront of being called a mooch by Ohkawa.
As Ikumi once again kicked the shutter, Ohkawa Atsushi appeared from the alleyway beside the shop. A boy taking after his father, he glared as if threatening Ikumi. "The hell're you doin'?"
Hmph, Ikumi snorted. She felt some unease at Atsushi's young and large body but she wasn't about to show it. "That's not for you to know."
"You just kicked the shop's shutter now, didn't you?"
"And what of it! Your father was also violent towards me after all! What's fair is fair!"
"You think you can just do whatever the fuck you want?" Atsushi started lumbering forward. "All you do's come around drinking for free!"
Don't kid yourself, Ikumi wanted to say but as Atsushi's kick came her words became a screech.
"You're just a dried up old hag, get over yourself!"
"Stop! Stop it!" Ikumi huddled in the street where her body rolled. Atsushi laughed, further mocking her. Ikumi let out a scream but there was no sign of anybody on the night road. On the other side of the village road that the shop faced was a corner lot, on the other side was the town hall. No matter what happened, there was nobody to open a window, to come flying into the street to her aid. "Atsushi," came a voice from somewhere stopping her attacker, but that voice belonged to Ohkawa and that only wounded Ikumi's pride all the more.
"Don't you bother with her." Ohkawa's angry voice echoed from beyond the shutter. With that at last the kicking stopped. As Ikumi timidly raised her face suddenly water was forcefully assaulting her.
"You wanna drink, you can have all this you want," Atsushi laughed. Ikumi held up both hands trying to stop the spray of water from the hose, chased off and leaving the place. Tears of vexation blurred her vision. Hearing Atsushi's loud laughter she turned the corner and, once she escaped to the village road she sobbed.
"Damn you... I'll remember this!" Ikumi said through grit teeth. With her soaked state, she felt nobody tried to help her, pathetic. "I'll show you just who's right---I'll have you know without a doubt in your mind who's important!"