Naoe ended up spending that night in Matsumoto
, and went to the castle to perform a spiritual sensing the next day while Takaya and Chiaki went to school.
Coincidently, Takaya’s Fine Arts class for Fifth and Sixth Periods were canceled that day, so he went to meet Naoe at Matsumoto Castle that early afternoon.
“Yo. Anything?”
“Everything looks normal on the outside, but there is something out of place here, as we thought.”
Naoe, sitting on a bench beneath the wisteria trellis, looked up at the tower beyond the moat. Apparently there were several tourist groups here; the stand next to the bridge was filled with people taking souvenir pictures. Seen like this, it was the usual ‘famous sightseeing spot, Matsumoto Castle’, but...
“I can feel the presence of a strong spirit here, an aura that was not here before.”
“Huh, right. Any signs that Sanjou-no-Kata’s still around?”
"No. Her presence has disappeared from this place. It appears now to be another spirit. I would guess that the disturbance caused by Shingen and company, rather than the Kasuke, stimulated this spirit. Perhaps it’s a spirit who originally dwelled in the castle that became active in opposition to being ousted by Sanjou.
“A spirit who lived in the castle originally... So it really is...”
The human pillar...?
The crowd of pigeons feeding at their feet suddenly took wing simultaneously. They wheeled before the stately towering blacks walls of the castle nicknamed “Crow Castle.” Its roof tiles would gleam with dazzling brightness on a clear day, but these majestic remains of the Sengoku gave the impression of solemn gravity beneath today’s lowering clouds.
“Matsumoto Castle has a long history, so many things may have happened during that time. The question is what this ‘Princess’ is doing here. And if we need to perform «choubuku».”
“The Bon-Bon parade...? But it’s not quite time yet.”
Leaning against a pillar of the wisteria trellis, Takaya followed the swans skimming across the full moat with his eyes for a while. The sound of ambulance sirens approached from somewhere, and suddenly noise erupted near them. The ambulance entered the Second Wing ; perhaps someone had fallen ill within the castle.
Next, the sound of loud weeping came from the direction of the bridge . It was a group of tourists with the appearance of office ladies 1 who came towards them as if they were running away from something, crying hysterically.
“Oh no, oh no! I’ll never come back to this horrible castle agaaaaain!”
Something clicked in Takaya’s mind, and he rushed over to them.
“What happened in there?”
“There was an accident on the stairs!” A young woman, her eyes swollen with tears, appealed fearfully to Takaya. “Some of the people from the tour group fell down the stairs on top of each other.”
“What?”
He knew that the stairs in Matsumoto Castle were steep. Their almost vertical angle seemed quite dangerous at first glance, but with the handrails, anti-skip treads on the stairs, and some care when going up or down the stairs, accidents were quite rare.
“This child said that she saw a white hand at the top pushing people off the stairs.”
“A white hand?”
“It was a woman’s wrist.” The office lady who had witnessed it was so pale that even her lips were colorless. “I only saw the hand. I was so scared. There’s a woman’s ghost who’s not at rest in that castle! Don’t go in!”
Takaya and Naoe exchanged glances.
Happily, no one died from the fall off the stairs, but there did appear to be some broken bones and back injuries. There was testimony from those who fell first that they had been pushed, but other tourists affirmed that there had been no one behind them.
There was less and less doubt that it’d been a spirit who’d done it.
Naoe was full of regret for the fact that he hadn’t stopped himself from pausing for food beforehand.
“My deepest apologies. I wish I had sensed this when I did the reisa earlier...”
At the Yobashira Shrine on Nawate Street which ran along the Metoba River, Takaya and Naoe rendezvoused with Chiaki.
Chiaki said to the despondent Naoe, “But we didn’t sense any malice last night. The princess is probably edgy because we’re moving.”
He grimaced around a mouthful of bean-jam pancake. There was no guarantee that someone would not die next time if they were pushed off such a steep flight of stairs.
“Anyway, we should do something before this escalates. So it’ll have to be tonight.”
Takaya, sitting on the stairs of the main building of the shrine with his chin in his hands, looked up at Naoe and said, “You shouldn’t push yourself too much, since you’re still injured. Chiaki and I’ll take care of it.”
“I’m fine. Besides, you cannot say with any certainty that you’ll be able to use «choubukuryoku».”
“Don’t worry ’bout it. When push comes to shove, I’ll be able to do «choubuku» just like that time with Ranmaru,” Takaya declared optimistically, but Naoe still seemed worried.
“I understand. But please allow me to be of assistance. I will not hinder you.”
The agreed-upon rendezvous point: in front Matsumoto Castle’s Black Gate at midnight.
In order to hunt down the onryou plaguing Matsumoto Castle once more.
Though the humidity was rising, a strangely lukewarm wind blew through the night streets.
The lighting already finished, the majesty of Clow Castle had melted completely into the darkness. Takaya and Chiaki, who had changed out of their school uniforms, were standing by the moat looking up at the tower.
“The spiritual aura here has risen considerably, hasn’t it,” Naoe said as he came across from the Black Gate to their side. The spirits had apparently become active as soon as darkness had descended upon the castle. It was the same as last night. Ghostly fire danced in the tower.
“Well then. Let’s crash the party one more time.”
The lanterns formed a progression.
The floating line of lantern lights and their plangent song was swallowed up into the castle.
“So they really are singing the Bon-Bon song.”
“Please be careful, Kagetora-sama. There is one among the spirits who is acutely sensitive to and hates those with strong spiritual powers. If you become agitated, it will be able to conceal itself from you. Please proceed calmly.”
“Let’s go in, Kagetora.”
The three of them entered along with the lantern procession. The number of lanterns gathered within the court of the Second Wing was even greater than last night.
‘Oh, the Bon-Bon is only today and tomorrow
The day after tomorrow—the bride’s dried grass
Place the withered grass upon the scaffold
Seen from below, the peony blossom...’
“It’s a woman’s voice...” Takaya strained to hear. “A young woman. It’s coming from the tower.”
It was as if the castle itself were singing.
Takaya, Naoe, and Chiaki approached the tower with great caution, pushing their way through the line of lanterns. They paused before the stone walls to look up, and...indeed, they could see the silhouette of a pale floating shape on the topmost floor of the tower.
“!”
There was a ripple of movement through the line of lanterns, and the singing stopped.
The wind rose. The swarm of lanterns all suddenly charged towards the tower and scrambled up the stone walls. Oh! Takaya thought, as fires began to sprout to life one after another.
“Hey! The fire is...!”
Oh no! The flock of lanterns blazed ferociously. Fire engulfed the handrails and the wooden door.
(Shit, the fire’s spreading!)
“Dammit...so this is what they were planning!”
One by one, the phantom lanterns began to assemble in Matsumoto Castle.
Their goal was ‘fire’.
This was the purpose behind the summoning of the Bon-Bon procession. The spirit had been calling fire.
She was planning to burn down the castle!
“Chiaki, put out the fire with your power! Don’t get near it!”
“Humph!”
Chiaki and the others knocked out one after another of the phantom lanterns swarming into the castle. There were a staggering number of them. Two more gushed into flame for every one that they brought down; there was no end to them. Exasperated and out of temper, Takaya leapt out, intending to sever the root.
“Kagetora-sama!”
He sprinted for the castle entrance and wrenched open the doors, brushing away the lanterns crowding in with him. He twisted around.
“Take care of the lanterns! I’ll get the spirit.”
“Wait! «Choubuku» is not yet within your...!”
The door had already been shut. Naoe tsked and began to savagely clear the swarming fire.
Takaya stepped into the tower.
It was pitch black. No illumination shone, and even the storm doors were shut.
“...She’s here, isn’t she? The Lady Princess or whatever.”
The sense of menace thickened.
Takaya, moving around the castle by memory, walked with creaking footsteps towards the stairs. The tension caused by the brimming spiritual aura within the castle was no trivial matter.
With a faint woosh a dim light appeared in front of him.
It was a will-o’-the-wisp.
(What the?)
Takaya navigated the inside of the castle by its light. The ghostly fire illuminated the stairs as if in invitation.
(It’s trying to lure me...)
He hesitated for a moment, thinking back to the accident from earlier that day. But something had made people fall then—he changed his mind, and suddenly began to ascend.
As he went up the floors, the atmosphere became colder and heavier. Even Takaya could sense the spirit’s aura now.
Sweat trickled down the nape of his neck.
“!”
Something cold suddenly wrapped around his neck, and he started. It was a person’s arm. A horribly wet, white arm had Takaya’s neck in a stranglehold.
“Uhgh...!”
He tried to tear the arm off, but it was so cold that he started. It felt as if he’d been submerged in ice water. He reached behind him in an attempt to catch the person strangling him, but his hands met only empty air—the arms had no shoulders.
“Damn...you, let...go of me...!”
He wrenched at the arm around his neck with all his strength. The arm abruptly disappeared, and he staggered. He looked down with surprise at his palms; they were dripping.
“What the hell...?”
The will-o’-the-wisp was at the top of the stairs, waiting for Takaya. As if to see what he would do next.
(Dammit, fine, I’ll go!)
As he climbed towards the topmost floor, the ‘white arm’ obstructed him countless times. Each time he was somehow able to shake it off, but before he knew it his entire top half was drenched.
He could hear a woman’s voice singing.
“...I’m coming, Lady Princess. Or whatever you are.”
At last the arm stopped grappling with him, and he arrived at the stairs leading to the highest floor.
A pale white silhouette lingered vaguely in a corner of the scaffold.
“Why are you gathering the Bon-Bon procession? Are you looking forward to the Bon holiday? If you have anything to say, I’ll listen. So?”
The singing stopped.
The white shadow turned.
(A kid?)
The girl was even younger than he’d thought—only around ten or so. Her long hair trailed down what appeared to be a pure white uchikake; though she did indeed look like a princess, she was still a little girl. And her appearance was strange. That snowy uchikake-like garment was odd, and what looked like wet seaweed clung to her long black hair. Her entire body was dripping wet, and she stared at him out of sunken, haunted eyes. Takaya, still unused to the existence of spirits, shuddered violently as he came face to face with this eerie sight.
(Guess I’m scared after all...)
He plucked up his courage, though he felt more like cowering.
“—...What are you doing here? If you cannot rest in peace, is there something here that you’re still attached to? If there is, I’ll listen.”
«...Wa...ter...»
“Huh?” Takaya asked. Like it had been with the Kasuke spirits, what he caught from her was nothing so clear as language. She «thought» at him.
“Water? Are you thirsty?”
«The water...is coming...I’m scared.»
He finally realized how terrified the child spirit was.
“The water is coming? What are you talking about? Aren’t you the princess of this castle? The daughter of the lord or something?”
«Help me...»
The child spirit approached him.
“H...hey.”
«The big water...is coming...from the mountain!»
“!”
Behind him was the stairs—he couldn’t escape. He could see that the spirit’s hand had been absorbed into his chest. A sensation as if sand was being packed into him instantly spread from that spot.
“Ugh...ah!”
The spirit entered Takaya’s body. He couldn’t repel it. He moaned at a violent physical malaise the like of which he had never before experienced.
(Is this possession...?!)
He sank helplessly to his knees on the floor, feeling as if a school of minnows were swimming around within him. So this was what it was like to have a spirit enter him? Had Yuzuru felt this, too?
He could sense another consciousness within him, and desperately fought to expel it.
(Dammit! She’s trying to occupy my body!)
There was a sensation of something brushing against his consciousness. From that point something invaded him as if it had burrowed through his skin. They were images. Strange images flowing into his consciousness!
(What...is this?)
He saw a mountain village. A flash-flood from the river advanced on the village with a terrible roar. The bridge collapse, the bank crumbled, and the village people were washed away. They were people wearing farm clothing, obviously not from the present era.
Crash! Roar!
The muddy torrent drew closer. The violently raging billows, swirling with earth and sand, dispossessed all else in his sight. His body was frozen in place. No place to run!
He suddenly understood with terrible, violent clarity.
“U-uuuaaaaagh!”
“Kagetora-sama!”
A voice. It was Naoe, who’d chased after him and sprinted up the stairs in one burst. Arriving at the top floor, he stared at Takaya crouched in agony.
“Please hold on, Kagetora-sama! ...! You’re...!”
Sensing that the spirit had entered into Takaya, Naoe immediately moved to perform an exorcism.
“Wait, Naoe...!”
Takaya, in Naoe’s arms, stopped him.
“Don’t. This is fine...!”
“But...!”
“Just a little longer...I’ll catch her...” Takaya screamed in agony. “Just a bit longer...I’ll catch her true form!”
“Kagetora!”
Another cry from the stairs. It was Chiaki, who had chased after them after making a clean sweep of the phantom lanterns. He took in the situation from a glance at the crouching Takaya. This time Chiaki stopped Naoe, unable to bear the sight of Takaya’s anguish, from starting the exorcism.
“Wait! He’s trying to attune himself to the invading spirit’s consciousness!”
It was all unconscious.
Takaya was trying to read the deepest memories of this child spirit who had entered into him.
Naoe was dumbfounded.
“Takaya-san...”
Takaya appeared to be conversing with the spirit as he crouched there upon the floor. He finally raised his head. Though he was sweat-drenched and completely exhausted, yet for some reason a smile still curved the corners of his lips.
“....So that’s...what it is. Then don’t hold back, say it...”
“Takaya-san...?”
"Naoe, Chiaki, this spirit that’s going to come out of me—she says that she wants to rest in peace. Do «choubuku».
“This spirit wants to be purified?”
“Yeah. But there’s a curse on this castle, so...it seems that she can’t go to the next world. Without something as powerful as «choubuku», the thread that binds her here...can’t be cut...”
Chest heaving with harsh panting, Takaya looked over his shoulder at Chiaki from his position on the floor.
“...I’ll push her out on a count of three, and you guys do the «choubuku». I’ll break the curse wrapped around her. Naoe, catch her with «choubuku» from directly opposite. It’ll be like catching a wild bird. We need to do this at the exact same time, so don’t be late.”
(Kagetora-sama...)
Though he should still be memory-less.
Though he neither looked nor sounded like the Kagetora of old, as the days passed his mannerisms were certainly more and more reminiscent of Kagetora’s.
Takaya drew in a deep breath. Collecting the strength of his entire body at his abdomen, he curled inward upon himself before thrusting out his arms to spit out the thing in the innermost part of his body.
“One, two, three...!”
A white form was pushed out from within Takaya—a child’s spirit clad in a pure white uchikake. Naoe clasped his hands in the ritual gesture immediately to catch the spirit dancing wildly in midair.
“ (bai)!”
“The key to the curse—!” Takaya thrust out his hand. “That white coat!”
Takaya seized the collar of the uchikake from behind. The coat crackled with fire sparks in violent rejection. Indeed, it was no ordinary coat. The child spirit screamed. Takaya didn’t let go; instead, he put more force into tearing it off.
“Chiaki!”
“Got it! (bai)!”
The coat came off half way. Gebaku could be used to stop the spirit from moving as well as to remove any foreign matter that might interfere with «choubuku». Takaya, covered in more fire sparks, put as much power as he could into getting the coat off the child.
“Kagetora-sama!”
“This white coat is what’s tying this child to the castle! Fine! Just do «choubuku» now!”
“Noumakusamanda bodanan baishiramandaya sowaka!” Naoe and Chiaki chanted in unison. A multi-hued shimmer rose from their bodies.
“Namu Tobatsu Bishamonten! For this demon subjugation, lend us thine power!”
A fiery energy gathered within their hands and in an instant grew into a radiant sphere of white-hot light. When it reached the height of its density, they cried out with one voice, “«Choubuku»!”
The sphere of light exploded. The ferocious blast of white light filled the scaffold in an instant and engulfed both the child spirit and Takaya. The white coat, refusing to allow the child to rest in peace, resisted the «choubukuryoku» violently, but Takaya stubbornly gritted his teeth and ripped off the coat in one motion.
“Yaaaaaah!”
Eeeeeeeeee!
A screech pierced their ears. In the instant the coat was torn completely off the spirit, the «choubuku light» released by Naoe and Chiaki completely consumed that space.
The merciless light swirled and converged. Then all that remained was the sound of birds’ wings flapping, and the darkness fell around them.
The «choubuku» was over.
“Kagetora-sama...!”
Though choubukuryoku was ineffective against kanshousha, who had bodies of their own, being engulfed in that energy was still an overwhelming experience. Takaya sank to his knees on the floor, panting wildly.
“Are you all right?”
“...Yeah.”
“What is that...?”
In Takaya’s hand was an old charm.
“Guess this is the true form of that white coat.” Its amalgam of symbols and characters marked it as a spirit charm of the Shugendou school. “...It was this charm that prevented that girl from resting in peace.”
“What?”
“She was...” Takaya said, crushing the charm, “...the human pillar of this castle.”
The phantom lanterns which had flooded the castle had completely disappeared.
In the court of the Second Wing , silence reigned.
Coming out of the castle, Takaya, Naoe, and Chiaki returned to the wisteria trellis by the moat.
Matsumoto Castle soared quietly against the starry sky on the other side of the moat, as if nothing at all had happened. Takaya, looking up with his chin on his knees, suddenly shifted his gaze to the reflection of the waning moon on the surface of the moat. He threw a pebble into it, and the ripples distorted the moon’s image.
“That girl was someone who drowned in a flash-flood up stream of the Metoba River a long time ago.”
Naoe, standing beside Takaya, looked down at his profile.
“In a flash-flood?”
“Yeah. It happened about a year before they finished construction of this castle. After being carried around by the river, the body somehow washed up here. They found it during the construction.”
The spirit, who came to be called ‘the Princess’, had been soaked from head to foot because she had drowned in the flash-flood.
Accidents befell one after another of the castle construction workers who had discovered the body, casualties of the curse of a drown victim seeking a proper burial. Such was the judgment of the head mountain ascetic of the construction. He enshrined her spirit, and suggested to the building overseer that she be made guardian deity of the castle.
“I see...so it was a memorial charm in name only,” Chiaki nodded, leaning against the wisteria trellis.
“They dressed the corpse in white burial robes and took her up to the scaffold, probably performed some kind of ceremony. I dunno what kinda ritual that mountain ascetic conducted, but it looks like he buried that girl’s body and this charm together in the foundation of the castle.”
Afterwards, they called her spirit ‘Princess’, and she became the guardian of the castle and its domain against flood disasters.
“That uchikake was the mark of her guardianship. But she wanted to take it off. Being engulfed by Sanjou’s fire probably gave her the stimulus. She called the Bon-Bon procession because she thought that if the castle burned, then she would be free,” Takaya explained. “Poor kid.” He took out a 100-yen lighter from his pocket and held it up to the crumbled charm.
Pushing the tourists hadn’t been an act of malice, but an appeal of her own existence. In truth they had fallen not from being pushed, but from surprise.
“She wanted to go to the other world with her parents rather than be the water guardian.”
He threw the burning charm into the moat. The flame illuminated the surface of the water like a floating lantern for a moment before disappearing into its dark depths.
“I suppose we cannot just say that ‘happily, it wasn’t a living human pillar’.”
Naoe also looked up at the solemnly rising tower. A soul had been chained beneath it for more than four hundred years.
“There are probably many such people here in this country...”
“Yes, there are. Like the one from just yesterday,” Chiaki muttered, taking out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it with a small match.
The black castle said nothing.
Takaya continued staring at it as if he were conversing with silent history, the night breeze blowing against him.
footnotes
- For some insight into the ‘Office Lady’ phenomenon, try the interesting article, “The Office Lady in Japan”.