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Yuki grinned as though daring me to complain. If she could handle it, then I sure could. I wouldn’t back down before she did.
We started moving toward the shrine. With every step, that pole jolted onto my shoulders. I gritted my teeth.
Bodies rubbed against mine and even in this cold, I worked up a sweat. I wasn’t sure if it was from the weight of the mikoshi or the worry about being discovered.
After a little while, we stopped. I assumed that was for the priest to do his thing but I wasn’t sure exactly what that thing was. I couldn’t see him, stuck under this shrine. All I could see was other people’s backs, sweat soaking through their jackets already.
Someone chanted and bells rang close by. I needed to see what was going on. I squirmed around until I could peer through a tiny gap between shoulders.
The chanting continued and I spotted an older guy in robes. Was he the priest? I should’ve asked about that before we started.
Then a bright light flashed around me. Just a brief burst, then Yuki clicked her fingers and everything went back to normal. The gasps died down around me before they’d even really started.
But it wasn’t a real normal, just one of Yuki’s illusions. She blocked anything Jin did from other people’s sight. Smart.
But that meant I didn’t know if what I saw was real or illusion. The chanting continued. There was drumming and bells and sweaty bodies.
I held my breath. If the priest started yelling that the kami was gone, Yuki couldn’t stop that. She couldn’t fool everyone forever.
Even though I couldn’t see Jin’s light any longer, I sensed something. A prickling of my skin, a slight buzzing sensation.
Then, for a brief second blackness, like someone had turned off the DVD player of my life. I gasped, not sure what it meant.
Just as suddenly, real life came back to me. The drums, the bells, the weight of the mikoshi on my shoulders. I sagged under the weight.
We started moving. Did that mean we’d gotten away with this? As far as everyone was concerned, the kami was in the portable shrine? We’d fooled the priest?
Yuki gave a curt nod.
We’d done it. Now we were just trapped carrying this shrine. I squirmed around, trying to get a better position. The only thing that saved me from complete collapse was that there were a few taller guys behind me and they took the brunt of the weight.
As we moved, the bodies around me stepped in time and the chanting started. “Wasshoi, wasshoi.” Just like Yuki had said. One wasshoi with every step.
I kept adjusting my position but nothing stopped the pain shooting down my shoulder. If I kept down low then the people around me took the weight but then we’d move and — bam — that pole drove into my shoulder again.
A cheer went up. We got a break?
But, nope, instead everyone started jolting the mikoshi like crazy. If the weight had been bad before, having that pole bouncing on my shoulder became a whole other level of hell.
Bells rang all around me and the drum beat became louder. The jolting and the noise and the movement of bodies became frenzied.
Yuki had told me before they did that because the kami loved it. If I told them the kami wasn’t actually in the mikoshi, would they give up? Then I could go home and ice my shoulder.
“Stop being so lazy!” a voice yelled.
Huh? Who said that?
“It’s my special day so keep on jostling. This is fun.”
The kami. My kami. I froze, not sure if my senses were addled but the person behind me slammed into my back then swore a lot. I stepped again.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I told you. It’s my special day. All these people love me. Look at them, celebrating me.”
“I didn’t mean like that, you fool. I meant where have you been? After you were stolen.”
The kami didn’t answer and I almost screamed as the pole came down extra hard on my shoulder bone. I knew why that old man had been drinking his rocket fuel now. Anything to dull the senses.
“A place with no chocolate. I kept asking you but you didn’t answer. Where did you go?”
“Someone took you away. I’ve been looking for you.”
Before I could say any more, the parade slowed. We put the mikoshi on blocks and climbed out from under it. I shook my arms, trying to ease the pain. There was no way I’d go back to that thing. No matter what, no one could convince me to carry that weight for a minute longer.
I found Yuki and Shun.
“The kami is in the mikoshi,” I said.
“No way. How?” Shun asked.
“He can’t tell me. I don’t think he has concepts like that. But he’s definitely there. I could speak to him. He’s having a ball in that thing. So let’s all go home or maybe go for massages. That thing nearly killed me.”
I stiffened, waiting to counter any argument that the two of them put up. But screw tradition and religion and doing the right thing. Nothing in this world would convince me to stay.
Shun put his arm around me. Gingerly, so he didn’t hurt my shoulder any further.
“That works for me. Maybe a long soak in the bath. Those fools can carry the mikoshi around for the next six hours.”
I grinned. We’d had a long day. Some sleep would be good too.
The three of us snuck away while the other mikoshi bearers filled up on drinks. We didn’t go back through the carnival atmosphere of the shrine grounds but down a tree-lined path running behind the shrine. That way was a lot less crowded although there were still food vendors and a few revelers sitting on blankets drinking and eating.
“Where’s Jin?” I asked, noticing that he wasn’t with us.
“Who cares?” Yuki said. “He did his job. We don’t need him anymore.”
“Hey, guys, we did it. We got the kami back in his rightful place without Yamaguchi suspecting a thing.”
I grinned. I grinned so wide because it was all over.
And then I looked up. Oh shit!
I shouldn’t have said anything. I jinxed us, for sure. Because the words had barely left my lips when two of Yamaguchi’s goons stepped in front of us. They did not look happy.
And, behind them, stood Yamaguchi with Jin beside him. That asshat had betrayed us.