Ameonna was a rain-making spirit.
Her powers exceeded those of an Amefurikozō.
Ayame and I headed for the mountain to find her.
'I really hope that that little monster didn't lie to us. If so, I'm gonna skin him alive!' Ayame muttered under his breath. I guessed that if he decided to believe him it was because he had a few doubts that an Amefurikozō had enough power to dis-regulate the weather like this.
We ascended the mountain, scouring the forest. We had nearly reached the summit when I heard wails rousing above the sound of the rain.
I glanced at Ayame to check if he was hearing the same thing as me. Apparently, he could as he paused to listen too. In tacit agreement, we headed in direction of the spot where the wailing seemed to come from.
The first thing that caught my attention was the gigantesque tree standing right ahead of us that seemed to eclipse all the other trees by its impressionable size and height.
When we arrived at the foot of it, we found a young dark-haired girl of around eighteen of age, who was sitting there under the tree, on a flat stone. The girl was clothed in a knee-length simple white dress and was holding her face in her hands, as she wept.
'Excuse me,' I called, timidly, 'Are you Ameonna?'
She looked up instantly, her bloodshot eyes widening at Ayame and me. She jerked to her feet then and began to back away in fear.
'Are you here to kill me? I know that I'm troubling all the villagers and I'm sincerely sorry for that. I really can't control what's happening! I wished I could leave.'
'Should I conclude from what you've just said that you're actually the one responsible of this incessant rainfall?' demanded Ayame who took out three kunai, holding them together.
The girl or rather spirit tripped and fell down on her behind at the sight of the weapons. She backed away as far as she could, dead scared.
'Why are you doing this, huh?'
'I told you. I'm not controlling anything. My emotions are tuned with the weather and I'm slave to my emotions.'
'If I kill you, it'll set the weather right and the villagers will be able to go back to their old lives.'
Suddenly, Ayame's kunai became coated into a green flame each.
Master Kagami had told me about Ayame's power before I had left for this mission. The blond teen possessed the power of Divine Flame. He could enchant any weapon with it- but he mainly used three kunai which he always kept on him. He only had to stab a monster with the bewitched weapon for the fire to consume the target to the bones.
Ayame readied himself to throw them at the spirit who was utterly petrified.
'No, Ayame, wait!' I exclaimed, jumping in the middle. 'If I understood well, she's not making it rain intentionally. We can't kill someone who's not responsible of her own actions.'
'Don't be ridiculous! She's the cause of this rainfall and her death will eradicate the problem! Now, get out of my way!' he snarled.
I didn't budge and looked around at Ameonna.
She's controlling the rain only in the region; if she leaves the area, evidently, it'll cease to rain.
'You said that you can't leave. Why?'
'I'm a nature spirit. My life is intricately linked to this tree.'
She pointed towards the tree under which we had found her.
Thus, it was a sacred tree.
'I am bound to the earth in which it grows. If I go too far away from it, my vital force will leave me and I'll die. I cannot leave this mountain.'
'Did you hear her?' barked Ayame. 'She can't leave. And she can't control what's happening. The only solution is to finish her off!'
'No,' I whispered, my mind working very fast to try and find another solution.
'Get out of my way, or else, you'll also become my target,' the blond male threatened me, making my blood run cold. He was perfectly serious; I could tell from his piercing look.
Taking a deep breath, I stood my ground.
'I'm not going to let you kill her until we've explored all other possible solutions. I'm sorry. Do what you want,' I asserted, in a murmur.
'Dammit! What's your problem?! It didn't hurt your conscience to kill the Karasu-tengu, then why are you reticent to kill her? Is it because she has human form?'
His eyes tightened at me then and he added, as if unable to control himself, 'Or perhaps, because she's not making it rain deliberately... If you're projecting yourself on her, it's really twisted! I already told you; no one believes your possession story! And let me tell you another thing! If you think that you can atone for your sins by working for the organization, you're dead wrong 'cause it won't erase anything that you did! If you're looking for forgiveness, go see a priest! Or even better, kill yourself!'
I felt gut punched, but I didn't allow it to show and let the digression slip away.
'Contrarily to the Karasu-tengu, she's not a mindless sanguinary fiend. She has a conscience and she's also a victim,' I said, in a pleading tone. 'She can still be saved. Why can't we help her and the villagers at the same time?'
A change seemed to occur in him abruptly. He began to consider what I was saying and then, after a long unbearable minute full of suspense, he lowered his kunai, disenchanting them.
I sighed in relief.
I turned to face the spirit Ameonna who was still crying hot tears.
'If it's raining, it's because you're sad, isn't it? I guess that something must have happened. Will you tell us about it?'
I heard Ayame exhaled behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see him lean back against a tree, crossing his arms over his chest, a deep frown on his forehead.
Ameonna swallowed back her tears and cautiously, she came back to sit under the gigantesque tree again.
'I have been alone for nearly all my life,' she said, her voice filled with sorrow. 'When I was kid, the children of the village used to come to play with me. But as they grew up, they began to understand that I'm not like them and gradually, they ceased to come. The only people I would come across are some villagers who would come to collect herbs or fruits from time to time or travelers who've lost their way in the forest. I had resigned myself to solitude. But then-'
She bit down onto her trembling lips, more tears gushing down her face.
I waited for her to continue.
'I met someone, a boy of my age a year ago. He grew up at the capital and after having finished his studies, he came back to live at the village.' She paused. 'That day, I had ventured too far away from the sacred tree. He was on his way to the village when he found me half-unconscious on the road. He brought me back here where I'm safe. That's how we became acquainted. After that, he began to visit me regularly and we became very close. At some point, I began to fret over my growing attachment towards him. I feared that someday he'd leave and never come back; that I'd never see him again.'
She moaned, 'He told me that he has feelings for me despite the fact that I'm not human. He told me that we'll build a small house in this place and we'll live together in it after we get married. I fell madly in love with him.'
She shook her head, pressing her eyes shut for a minute.
'And then, one day- around a month ago- he simply turned over his coat. He began ignoring me and I realized that all the things that he had told me were just lies; his promises airy. He abandoned me!'
'That guy played with your feelings, ne?!' I mumbled.
It was known that in matters of relationship between beings of two distinct race, usually it was the human who suffered. But this was a false idea. Sometimes, it happened that it was the monster or creature of the sort who became hurt.
'What's his name?'
'Seishi. Seishi Narusawa,' she answered.
I turned back around to head back to the village and find the said-guy.
Ayame tagged along with me silently and I wondered what was going on in the blond teenager's mind. Apparently, he was letting me take the lead.
Back to the village, we were still left with the task to find Narusawa's house. The best thing to do was to ask around; in a village this small, everyone knew everyone.
And so, I did just that.
I knocked onto a villager's door at random and asked about Seishi Narusawa's address and was immediately indicated the way. His house was situated in the middle of the village and like all the other houses, it was one storied and rather small.
It was a whole moment after I had knocked, that somebody came to open the door and we found ourselves facing a disheveled young man accompanied by two young women. These were dressed in kosode and were giggling amongst themselves.
The guy whom I supposed was Narusawa, flushed up in embarrassment and it wasn't hard to guess what had been going on inside. He bid the girls goodbye and these scurried away, still giggling.
Ayame and I presented ourselves as members of Gushiken Paranormal Organization and the young man let us in, showing us to the low table in the minuscule living room.
'Let me guess! You're here because of Ameonna!' he muttered, as we all took seat. 'Listen! It's not my fault if that girl's chasing after me!'
'She told us a completely different story,' I pointed out.
'She's completely crazy! The proof, she's making it rain without stopping, just so I would get back with her! She's obsessed with me!'
I kept my expression neutral.
'You're believing her, and not me?!' he demanded, with an indignant look.
Gritting his teeth together, he looked away, agitated. Then, closing his eyes for a few seconds, he took a deep breath and exhaled, 'Alright, I've made a mistake, okay?! When I was a kid, my grandfather would always tell me stories about humans marrying spirits and monsters. These people were considered as heroes.'
I realized with anger that he went out with her just to flatter his ego! And then, he got cold feet!
'But these things exist only in literature! We've got to be lucid, dammit! She's a spirit while I'm human. I can't love a monster; I don't want to be with a spirit. I'm not a hero and I'm glad I realized it.'
'Ask her for forgiveness,' I told him.
His eyes widened at me in astonishment. 'What?'
'Ask her for forgiveness,' I repeated, in a murmur. 'She's hurting. Sometimes a single apology can bring peace into somebody's heart.'
'I'm not going to apologize to her!' he asserted, darkly. 'And why haven't you stopped this damn rainfall yet by killing her!'
My heart skipped beat at his venomous words.
Without any warning, Ayame smacked his hands onto the table angrily, jerking to his feet. I flinched, while Narusawa tensed up.
'Why won't you apologize to her?' demanded Ayame. 'Because she's not human?! You consider that it's undignified of a human to apologize to a monster?! It's okay that she dies because she's a spirit?'
Narusawa jerked to his feet too, really upset. 'I think it's time for you to leave!'
He showed us the door.
'You can still prove that you're not as big of a bastard as you appear. Think over it!' the blond spat at him before we came out of the house.
Ayame's reaction surprised me a bit. I hadn't expected him to react.
As we began to head back to find Ameonna, we came across of the Amefurikozō from earlier again, just outside of the village at the start of the forest.
'If I were you, I'd hurry up to find a solution,' he called, without looking at us, still playing. 'She doesn't have much time left. The god of rain has accorded her seven days to stop this rainfall. Tomorrow, at daybreak, it'll be the end of the time she has been accorded and then-'
He stopped hopping, remaining still on a single leg, his eyes tightening at the ground.
'He'll come for her and kill her if it's still raining,' he said, his voice strained.
My breath caught.
The god of rain was definitely not happy that Ameonna was disrupting the weather like this and the Amefurikozō was a messenger sent on the part of the god of rain to the female spirit for warning.
Without any doubt, the young spirit had sympathy for Ameonna.
I was extremely disturbed by the news of Ameonna's impending death at the hands of the god of rain.
When we reached the latter again, Ayame and I found her still sitting under her sacred tree and crying.
The chances that Seishi Narusawa might change his mind and come to apologize to the broken hearted spirit, were very thin. But I decided to wait for some time. It was starting to be dark and every minute that ticked by were precious, not only because of the god of rain's warning, but also, because of the damage the rain could cause.
I glanced at Ayame who was standing a distance away from where I was.
'I find you quite cooperative suddenly,' I said, timidly.
'It's only because I'm hoping that Master Kagami will expel you when you make this mission go kaput!' he muttered.
It was a logical answer. Though, I thought I heard his voice waver towards the end. I had the impression that he has begun to sympathize with Ameonna too and he wanted her to stay alive.
Because of the whooshing rain, we didn't hear somebody approaching until that person showed up in person in front of us.
We were both rather surprised to see that it was Seishi Narusawa. Cutting us dead, he began to make towards a puzzled Ameonna. He stopped a few feet away from her, his posture stiff.
'There! I'm sorry. I ask you for forgiveness,' he declared to her, his tone even.
For the matter of a few seconds, time seemed to stand still. And then, Seishi Narusawa turned around and walked away.
'What made you change your mind?' I called at him, Ayame and I catching up with him.
'I didn't do it for her, but for the sake of the villagers,' he stated, half-turning around to face us. 'But apparently, it didn't serve anything.'
He glanced upwards, before he set back walking, getting out of sight.
'Che! Still trying to act like a hero, huh?! That guy has got a big problem with sincerity!' Ayame muttered under his breath, shaking his head.
I lifted my eyes upon the still pouring sky, feeling both disappointed and distressed at the same time.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Kosode - a basic genderless Japanese robe with a looser fit that the kimono