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I slept most of the next day until it was time for me to take my shift again. I needed to shower fast so I had time to eat before I was back in Yuki’s apartment. This wasn’t a situation that made for an engaging Instagram feed. I hoped my parents appreciated that I was doing all this work to get their stone back. If they didn’t, I’d tell them tonight as soon as I got on Yuki’s Wi-Fi.
I’d actually hoped her signal was strong enough for me to connect from my apartment but no such luck.
After showering, I tried on my new skirt. I’d been dreaming when I’d thought that thing would fit me. It might fit one thigh. How did Japanese girls stay so skinny? Oh well, I’d be sitting around the apartment doing nothing so no point dressing up too much. I put on some leggings and a long t-shirt, then remembered how cold it’d been last night so I added a few more layers. I’d probably have to spend half my time standing out in that freezing courtyard while Yuki smoked.
I could get Shun to talk to her about it. He wouldn’t expect me to be exposed to her secondhand smoke.
I walked to the store and grabbed some food for later. I got back to Yuki’s. Shun opened the door and, when I went in, Yuki was curled up asleep. She sure loved sleeping.
“Any issues?” I whispered.
“No need to whisper,” Shun said. “When Yuki’s asleep, it takes a lot to wake her. If you have any trouble, make sure you shake her. That’s the best way.”
That disturbed me in a few ways. Firstly, it meant touching Yuki. Even if she’d warmed a little, we didn’t have that kind of relationship. And, secondly, how long had Shun spent around sleeping Yuki?
“It’s been fine,” Shun said. “Almost disturbingly peaceful. Do you have plenty to amuse yourself? Yuki might sleep for hours so she won’t be much company.”
I bit my tongue and didn’t say that even awake she wasn’t much company.
“I’m fine. I’ve got a heap of movies and books on my phone. And lots of food,” I said, indicating my bag.
Shun took the bag off me and put stuff in the fridge.
“If you need me, just call me,” he said. “You can use Skype.”
I got his details off him. Then I noticed the overflowing ashtray on the coffee table.
“Oh Shun, there’s one thing. Yuki smokes in the apartment.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that a problem?”
“Yes.”
I got up and emptied the ash tray in the rubbish bin. Burnable rubbish.
“Maybe you should ask her to open a window or smoke under the kitchen fan.”
Well, he’d been a lot less understanding than I’d expected. I guess he didn’t want to get into the middle of things. I doubted Yuki would stand under the fan and smoke even if I asked her.
At least she couldn’t smoke in her sleep.
After he left, I got back online. My shopping haul had a heap of likes but that didn’t excite me as much as it had once. Then I sent a message to Mum updating her on things and telling her I’d agreed to work for Yamaguchi for a while.
“Oh dear,” she sent back.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. I’m sure it will be okay. LOL.”
I always tried to explain to Mum that LOL didn’t mean lots of love but she never cared.
“Be careful.”
That didn’t reassure me at all. What had she expected me to do? I hadn’t had much choice about this. If her and Dad hadn’t been so furtive before I’d left, things would be much easier now.
I asked her how things were at home but she said she had to go and didn’t answer.
That box on the table tempted me. Even if Yuki had said the spirit had no corporeal form, I wanted to check for myself. She’d been so shocked, though, when I’d suggested opening the box.
As I thought that, the box jumped, like something inside called to me. Maybe my curiosity made me imagine things. Just to be sure, I tore up some strips of paper and sat them on the table to mark where the box sat. That way, if it moved again, I had scientific evidence.
I sat back and ignored that box. Yuki would kill me if she caught me anywhere near it and she’d said I wouldn’t see anything. I started watching a movie. That’d distract me from even thinking about the box.
But the words “open the box” echoed in my head. Not like I thought them but like someone else put them there. I turned up the volume on my movie. Idle curiosity was one thing but hearing strange voices led to bad things. Obeying those voices led to even badder things.
I went to the window, wanting to check if my crow was still around. When I saw him on the wall, I waved. If I went outside, I could ask him if I should open the box.
Then I shook myself. I’d actually been planning to ask a crow if I should open a box filled with air? That was not the act of a normal person. Sitting around in an apartment with someone who hates you while you watch a box can make a person go a bit stir crazy.
After a while, Yuki woke up.
“I’m starving,” she said. “Want some...” she seemed to be searching for the right word. “Beans?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. Shun had said they were sweet but I wasn’t sure. Beans didn’t sound that delicious.
“I’ll give you a small bowl to try.”
She went into the kitchen. If these beans tasted disgusting, it’d be a totally awkward situation.
When she came back, she handed me the bowl then sat down, cross legged on her futon.
“Stop moving,” she said. “You jiggle too much.”
I hadn’t even noticed my legs jiggling. Sitting still for all this time proved a real challenge. My energy built up inside me with nowhere to go. All I’d done was sleep and sit.
I picked up the bowl and tried a small bite. Strange texture but the beans weren’t awful. They were sweet but not sweet like sugar.
“Why are there bits of paper on the table?” Yuki asked.
I screwed up my mouth, not wanting to tell her but her expression said I couldn’t avoid explaining.
“I thought the box moved so I wanted to test it.”
Yuki laughed. “The box can’t move.”
She kept laughing. It wasn’t that funny. She could stop laughing now. And the box had moved. I was sure of it.
“What is this kami the kami of?” I asked. She’d said many things have kami so I wanted to know and, more than that, I wanted to shut up her stupid laugh.
“It is hard to explain,” she said. But then she said that about everything. “He is a victory god.”
“So, he will lead us to victory?”
“Maybe not you,” she said then turned away. It didn’t take long for her friendliness to disappear. “I think he’s an ancestor of Yamaguchi,” she added.
She went back to the kitchen with our empty bowls.
If this god was an ancestor of Yamaguchi’s, that added a whole other layer of danger to this job. I couldn’t imagine Yamaguchi being too forgiving if anything happened to his ancestor god.
“I’m going to the conbini,” Yuki said.
“Conbini?”
“Shop. Convenience store.”
“Aha.” I nodded. I got it. Conbini was short for convenience store. That made sense and saved saying a whole lot of syllables. Then it hit me what she’d said. “Wait. No. You can’t. I’ll go instead.”
I’m pretty sure she wasn’t allowed to just pop out to the shops, leaving me alone to protect the kami. I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t do magic or create illusions. All I’d be able to do is scream like a little bitch.
“I need more beans and you won’t buy the right ones.”
She’d just had a bowl of beans so I didn’t see the urgency.
“Can’t you wait until Shun gets here? It’ll only be an hour or so. Or call him and get him to pick you some up.”
Yuki laughed. “I’ll only be five minutes.”
“If anything happens, are you going to tell Yamaguchi you popped out to buy beans?” I asked her.
From the way her face blanched, I knew I’d got her there. She might act all full of bravado but that bravado didn’t extend to Yamaguchi.
“I’ll take my phone,” she said. “You can call me. Seriously, I haven’t been out of this apartment in so long, I need some fresh air and a break.”
I hadn’t thought about how hard this must be on her. At least Shun and I got breaks but she was in this apartment the whole time.
Yuki put her nose in the air and sniffed. “I can’t smell any danger. You’ll be fine.”
Could she actually smell danger or was she messing with me? I went back to the window but there was nothing unusual in the courtyard. Just crows. Quiet, calm crows. That reassured me. I could’ve sworn that cheeky one winked at me.
“Five minutes,” she said and rushed out the door.
As the door shut, I realized what she was doing. She didn’t want beans. She’d gone to buy cigarettes. I’d bet good money on it.
With Yuki gone, the tapping from the box got louder and more insistent.
“Let me out of this damn box. Now.”
That voice had definitely come from the box. The kami spoke to me.