That night, the orange lights of a procession of paper lanterns could be seen illuminating the dark mountain path. From far off, it must have looked like floating balls of fire or the spirits of wandering ghosts. Only if you strained your ears to hear the faint crunch of earth, leaves, and branches would you be relieved to find those lights belonged to humans after all.
Those humans were the villagers of Kageishi Village. Clad in traditional kimono and masks, they followed after Kageishi Kou, the head of the group, without exchanging a single word. There, hidden beneath the large shadow of Kageishi Kou, was the main focus of the ceremony: the couple. One of them was, of course, me. The other, the woman next to me, was wearing an eerie outfit. The atmosphere and surrounding darkness amplified that eeriness.
She wore a fox mask over her face. It was white with a red smirk and eyes. The kind of mask you only saw at traditional Japanese events, in historic art museums, and in horror movies. This was matched with a white kimono, with long sleeves and a hem that trailed over the ground. You could only tell she was a woman by the subtle curves of the thick material over her tall body.
In the past, covering the bride up like this was probably to protect her identity and to avoid any ne’er-do-wells interfering with the event. Nowadays it amounted to nothing more than a gimmick; a gimmick which contributed to the unsettling air around the procession.
“Ah!”
“Sumire, a—Sensei? Are you okay?” I quickly reached out to support her as she tripped over a particularly thick tree root.
“I-I’m sorry.” Though I couldn’t see her face under the mask, she sounded bashful. “I’m not used to wearing shoes like these, so I’m a little unstable.”
“Try and watch where you’re putting your feet. It wouldn’t do to have you show up covered in dirt. The mountain god would never forgive us!”
“He’s right. It is the duty of a Kageishi woman to stay steady and resolute at all times, Sumire,” Kou said.
“Y-Yes, grandfather,” Sumire replied, dejected.
I held out my hand to her. “You can hold my hand until we get to the shrine.”
“Thank you, Akiteru-kun.”
She took my hand. I could feel her warmth from her palm. It was soft, warm, and ever so slightly sweaty. She must have been nervous.
I couldn’t blame her. We were about to attempt to outwit not just the giant lumbering on in front of us, but also every last villager bringing up the rear.
We kept on walking hand-in-hand for a few more minutes till the procession came to a sudden halt. Kageishi Kou raised his lantern, illuminating the faint outline of a building in front of us. It was way bigger than I had expected for a shrine buried in these lesser-traveled mountains. Granted, it wasn’t as big as one of the shrines you’d find out in the city, but it was sizable nonetheless. Made from wood, parts of it looked to have been damaged by wind and rain. However, the fact that none of the wood was rotting showed that it underwent regular repairs. The zigzag strips of paper hanging over the entrance gave it a mystical feel.
“Take this, Akiteru-kun.”
“Yes, sir.” I carefully received the lantern Kou passed to me. Until now, we had been led by the lights of others, but once we entered the shrine, we’d be completely alone. That was what this lantern symbolized. I nodded gravely and led Sumire forward towards the shrine.
“Akiteru-kun.”
“Sir?” I turned around at the sound of Kou’s voice.
He grinned at me with his bearlike face, and gave me a hearty thumbs-up. “My granddaughter belongs to you now. GLHF!”
“Guh?”
I wouldn’t know how to pronounce “GLHF” if I saw it written on a page, but he somehow pulled it off perfectly. Before I could ask him to teach me the art, he pushed Sumire and me forward towards the shrine.
We’re finally at the rumored shrine...
If the claims about this place and its divine power were true, then my fate would be linked with this woman’s for the rest of eternity. I couldn’t think of anything worse. But the two of us were different. We knew it was a trick and that there was no supernatural force here. We continued towards the shrine, both our hands damp with sweat at this point.
Kou’s solemn voice thundered out behind us. “You two are to spend the night here together. You must not leave until the morning.”
“What would happen if we did leave?” I dared to ask.
“You shall become feed for the mountain dogs.”
He didn’t even hesitate. I was expecting him to say something about a curse or evil spirits, but the words out of his mouth smacked of reality. If anything, that just made things scarier.
“Step forth. While some villagers will stay on watch further down the path, they will not be close enough to hear you. There will be no witnesses to what you do inside the shrine. Allow me to repeat myself. No matter what you do inside there, there will be no one to blame you, nor to get in your way, so rest assured.”
“Y-Yes, sir.” I could do nothing but nod, despite how uncomfortable it was for him to be reiterating that point.
“Good night, grandfather.” Sumire gathered up the ends of her white kimono and bowed.
“Good night.” Kou gave a satisfied nod.
We turned and stepped into the shrine, closing the sliding door shut behind us. Kou’s voice boomed outside.
“We’re going back down! Some of you stay to keep watch, okay?”
There were footsteps as the villagers moved away from the shrine. I opened the door a crack and peered out to see that the lanterns were already a good distance away. It was just me and Sumire now.
“We’re all alone, huh?”
“Yup.” She began to chuckle under the mask, her shoulders shaking. She was enjoying this way too much.
You’re way too talented.
“We got ’em didn’t we, Senpai?” She flung her mask aside. Underneath that mask was not the cold-hearted beauty that was our pitiful math teacher, but Iroha, the smirk on her face as annoyingly smug as ever.