I took off my mask and Natsune Kazehaya stared at me in stupefaction.
'You- You're not Shion!'
'No,' I replied. 'I have orchestrated all of this to get you to confess your crime.'
Shion Urameshi had been supposed to perform the role of Lady Rokujō and this was why I had chosen this disguise, knowing that it would disturb the ginger-haired girl a lot.
Burabura has been able to copy Shion Urameshi's voice from a video tape where we could hear the latter's voice and the small yōkai had projected her voice, as though, it was me, alias Lady Rokujō, alias Shion Urameshi, who was speaking.
On its side, the chōchin-obake has taken the appearance of the Hannya from Momijigari, while Shimitzu-san, who has accepted to help us, has disguised herself as the Hannya in Kurozuka.
Under the Noh mask depicting an Oni was Katsuya, while the second Oni mask was worn by…
Natsune Kazehaya's eyes zeroed onto the person who was standing in the doorway which led to the corridor, the latter having removed his Oni mask.
And that person was none other than Kazue Nagai, who has heard her confession without mistake.
***
After this episode, Natsune Kazehaya was arrested for murder and when Katsuya and I went to return Shion's comb to the Urameshi the next morning, we were greeted by the ghost of the defunct girl whose soul has finally been able to find peace and was ready to join the Kingdom of the Dead.
And this was how our mission in Hirota ended and we set our way back to Toda.
'Which date are we today?' wondered Katsuya out loud, as he began to write his mission report while we were in the train heading back home. 'Right! The first of the month!'
My breath caught at the mention of today's date.
In a few days, it's going to be...
***
The sun was setting as I walked my way home, my heart heavy.
Lost in my thoughts, I slipped the door of the house open and stepped in, only to bump into somebody's chest abruptly.
Looking up, I met Tsunan's gaze.
'Okaeri nasai!'
'Th-Thank you,' I whispered, lowering my eyes, my voice sounding strange to myself.
Going past him, I put my bag down and was about to take my zōri off when, the doctor told me, 'No! Don't take your zōri off! I was about to go out to dine at the restaurant. Accompany me!'
'Thank you, but I'm not feeling very hungry. I think that I'm going to go directly to bed.'
'Shun, you're not going to sleep on an empty stomach! You need to feed yourself correctly.'
'I'm... really not hungry,' I murmured, and on these words, I scooted away to my room.
***
The following day, I felt even more depressed.
I went to hand in my mission report to Master Kagami at the organization.
'Shun!' came Tsunan's voice, out of the blue, as I was about to leave.
Instantly, I looked on my left in the hall to see the doctor there.
I had been so absorbed in my thoughts that I had gone past him without noticing him.
'You didn't even notice me.'
'I'm sorry,' I whispered, holding the side of my head awkwardly.
'Are you alright? You seem preoccupied.'
'Hn?'
So, he has noticed?!
'It-It's nothing. We'll see each other at home,' I told him in a murmur, before I hurried out of sight.
***
The next day...
The depression seemed to have grown up by another notch. My heart was in so much pain that it was almost hurting me physically.
I went to the supermarket to buy a few groceries before I headed my way back home.
'Hey, you!' called a loud booming voice, in all of a sudden, breaking through my reverie.
I lifted my head up to look at the two men who had cut my way, realizing by the same time, that I had been so distracted that I had already gone past the entrance door of the Hitachiin's family compound.
'You're the bunny girl of the other day, aren't you?' said one of two men, and I recognized them at that moment.
They were two of three punks Tsunan had trashed in front of the supermarket on the evening of the town's annual festival.
'Your boyfriend hasn't been gentle with us that day. We're not going to be gentle with you.'
'Oi!' came a familiar elderly voice from behind, out of the blue.
Turning my head around, my eyes fell onto Tsunan's grandfather who was standing by the door of the family compound, a broom in hand.
'I've been waiting since a moment now for you to come to help me do some brooming,' the old man called at me, and the two punks stared at the retired doctor, then at the name plate atop of the door, their expressions becoming filled with awe.
'Ha! Ha! We were just saying hello to this young girl!' they gabbled at him, before they scooted out of sight.
'Thank you,' I said to Tsunan's grand-father, as I moved up to him.
'It wasn't for free. You're going help me broom the yard in front of my house.'
Handing the broom in his possession to me, he began to stride away, for me to follow after him, which I did.
Setting my bag of groceries down under the veranda of his house, I turned to face the old man- who had grabbed another broom- asking him, 'Should I clean this side?'
There was a stone path in the middle of the yard that divided it into two parts.
He nodded in answer and moved away to clean the other side.
I was almost done cleaning my side of the yard when, the retired doctor moved up to me, suddenly, inquiring, 'Are you feeling well?'
I paused down to look at him in surprise.
'You don't seem as usual. Have you got a fever?'
To my astonishment, he brought his hand over my forehead to check my temperature.
'Indeed, yes,' he confirmed and lowering his hand, he turned around and began to make towards the house, calling at me over his shoulder, 'Come with me. I'm going to give you something.'
'No, it's okay,' I refused, politely. 'Once I'm done cleaning, I'll go lie down a bit.'
'Leave that broom. I'll finish later.'
I was quite shocked. 'What? But no! My mother has always told me that once we've started to broom, we should never hand over our broom to another person for the latter to continue in our place. If we do that, this second person is going to have a terrible headache.'
He seemed to want to insist, but finally, he didn't. I went back brooming again and left after I was done.
Having put the groceries away in the kitchen, I thought about going upstairs to rest in my bed but instead, I ended up lying down onto my side in a ball under the veranda, my emotions in turmoil at the approaching date.
Tears threatened to fall but I held them back.
I didn't realize how many hours had gone by until I heard Tsunan's voice in the living room, the latter having returned from work.
'Shun, what are you doing, lying on the floor like this?' he exclaimed, his voice filled with concern, as he hurried up to me.
I picked myself up into a sitting position.
'My grand-father told me that you have a temperature.'
He put his hand over my forehead for a few second, before he helped me to my feet, ushering me indoors.
***
The following day, at the infirmary of the organization…
'Oi, Tsunan...'
The doctor glanced at Hatsu upon the latter's sudden change of tone.
'Don't you find that Shun is behaving strangely ever since she's returned from mission with Katsuya?'
'We're becoming really worried,' seconded Heihachi.
'I'm sure that Katsuya must have told her something that has put her in this state,' stated Hatsu, grumpily, making a move for the door. 'I'm going to have a talk with him immediately!'
'Stop there!' Tsunan ordered, and the blond male paused down. 'He has nothing to do with this.'
The doctor's eyes shifted onto the calendar.
The moment Shun had crossed the doorstep of the house at her return from mission, her unusual behavior hadn't escaped the doctor's attention and that, no matter how much the red-haired girl was trying to make everyone think that everything was at it's normal.
She didn't have to tell him anything, for him to know what was wrong.
***
In the late afternoon…
Knocking once, I cracked the door of the office open, calling timidly, 'May I come in, master?'
'Yes, come in!' the latter called back and I entered the room, closing the door behind me.
I wondered why Master Kagami has asked to see me. Tsunan was there too in the room, standing by the older man's desk.
'Please, sit down,' the master told me, and I took a seat into one of the chairs facing him, taking a glance at the doctor.
'Shun, I'm going to give you a few days off such that you can go visit your parent's graves.'
I stared at him, then at Tsunan, in shock.
Day after tomorrow, it was going to be my parents' death anniversary. I had told Tsunan the date of it once. And he remembered it!
'No!' I gasped, frantically. 'I can't!'
To visit my parents' graves, I'd have to go back to my natal village. And the very idea of going back there terrorized me completely.
'Shun!' protested the master.
'No, I can't go back there!' I exclaimed, my voice shaking.
All the emotions I had kept bottled down during the last few days, exploded to the surface at that moment, and breaking into tears, I jerked to my feet and rushed out of the room.
Tsunan came running after me out of the office into the corridor, the doctor calling after me, but I didn't stop.
He caught up with me easily.
Seizing me by lower-arm, he flung me around and pulled me against him into a tight hug, one of his hands resting behind my head.
For a second, I froze in puzzlement, before I relaxed into his hold and cried into his chest.
'I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice,' I sobbed. 'It's just that the very idea of going back there terrorizes me...'
'Shun, I would never have asked for you to go back there if I didn't have the intention to accompany you,' he told me. 'It's been six years now since you haven't visited your parents' graves and I know that you want to visit them. You won't be all alone.'
Yes. I really, really, wanted to visit them. When I had come out of prison, it had been the first thing that I had wanted to do but I had never been able to muster the courage to go back to my natal village.
How many times had I wished that I could visit my parents' graves during the past six years!
I looked up into the doctor's eyes.
'Are you really going to accompany me?'
He whispered, 'Yes.'
Thank you for reading!