THE SHRINE GIRL AND THE ANTIQUE STORE GIRL
Himekawa Yayoi was a shrine girl. Her family’s lineage could be traced far back, and they ran a fairly big shrine.
Her household had blood ties to Kamei, who acted as parishioner of a small shrine in Asakusa. Kamei was the older brother of Yayoi’s father, making him her uncle. The whole family was pretty close, so she went to Asakusa with her parents every summer vacation. Having no children of his own, Kamei doted on her, and she of course didn’t mind all the tourism and eating out at restaurants they did.
When she went to Asakusa about two years earlier, she became friends with a girl living nearby, and they’d stayed in touch by writing letters to one another. Yayoi looked forward to meeting her again.
The day they arrived in Asakusa, they dropped their things off at her uncle’s house and took a rest. With her parents’ permission, she left the house and immediately made for the shrine where she’d promised to meet her friend in their letters.
“Yayoi-chan, it’s been so long!”
“It has, Nanao-chan.”
She arrived at the small shrine to find an energetic, short-haired, suntanned girl waiting for her—Yunohara Nanao.
Yayoi turned eleven this year, and Nanao was fourteen years old, in her second year of junior high. They were three years apart in age, but Nanao’s outgoing bubbliness and Yayoi’s deep curiosity about everything let them get along well. They had become good friends in no time at all.
“Nanao-chan, you’ve grown taller.”
“Haven’t I? And you’ve… Hm.”
Yayoi had grown, but she was still on the small side for her age. Her long hair, pale skin, and short height made her look like she was still in the lower grades of elementary school.
“It may not seem like it, but I’ve grown,” Yayoi said. “It’s just that everybody else has grown more.”
“Don’t worry, you still have plenty of time! I didn’t start getting taller until junior high myself!”
“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right.” Yayoi balled her fists to encourage herself. Seeing her spirits lift, Nanao nodded in approval.
“Have you been well?” she asked.
“I have. From what I can see, I take it you’ve been well too?”
“Of course! But, wow, you’re really mature, huh? When I was your age, I couldn’t have replied that sharply.”
Yayoi’s family ran a shrine, so she was trained in the basics of etiquette. She still got scolded a lot, though, so she was happy to be praised for once.
“It’s hot outside. You should come over to my place! Mom said she would make us some shaved ice!”
“Okay.”
The two happily ran, hand in hand and without a care in the world. Things would only get hotter from here on out, but it was a comfortable summer afternoon for the time being.
✦ ✦ ✦
THE SHRINE GIRL AND THE DEMONIC SWORD
Time flew when one was having fun.
Those summer days were long. It stayed bright well into the evening, but if they stayed out any longer their parents and Uncle Kamei would get worried.
“Bye-bye, Yayoi-chan!”
“See you tomorrow.”
They returned to the shrine they’d met at and parted. Nanao waved her hand vigorously before running off, somehow still full of energy after a full day of playing.
Yayoi was about to go home as well since it would be dark soon, but she stopped, feeling something off about the shrine. “Huh…?”
This shrine, whose name she didn’t know, had a pair of komainu guardian lion-dog statues by a torii gate, a stone path leading up to an offertory box, and a tiny shrine building. For a shrine where no dedicated chief priest was stationed, the place was of decent scale. But to Yayoi, whose family ran a shrine, it was a small one.
She looked around, trying to identify what felt so off about the place to her, and soon found it. The shrine’s wooden lattice grid sliding door was slightly ajar. She was sure that it had been closed during the day and that her uncle Kamei managed the keys. She wondered if perhaps he had forgotten to close it completely. But then she recalled something Nanao had told her: “Our family heirloom is kept here!”
An heirloom passed down through the family of Kogetsudou, an antique store, was sure to fetch a price. To herself, Yayoi murmured, “Could someone have broken in?”
Looking from afar, it didn’t seem like anyone was inside. Nobody was in the area either. The only sound was the usual incessant cries of cicadas.
Though she was mature for her age, she was still only an elementary schooler. She couldn’t think far enough to consider that a potential thief might still be hiding somewhere and carelessly approached the shrine building. She saw a strangely shaped rock inside, likely the go-shintai—an object of worship believed to house a deity. In front of it was a sword holder made from plain wood, which held a single long tachi blade. Immediately, Yayoi realized that this was the family heirloom Nanao had mentioned.
“Oh, thank goodness. So nothing was stolen…” She felt relief, even though it was something that belonged to someone else. Now relaxed, she began to take interest in the sword, the first real one she had ever laid eyes on. Unlike the swords she had seen in period movies, it rested in a plain, unadorned scabbard. Though young, she was still a shrine maiden and was thus drawn in by the sword’s air of divinity.
“One look wouldn’t hurt, right?” Forgetting what she even came for, she double-checked her surroundings to make sure no one was around, then reached for the blade.
The summer heat had seeped into the metal, making it warm to the touch. She held it out of curiosity, but she had no naughty intentions. It would be a real problem if she somehow broke the blade, so she planned to only take a quick look and then return it to where it had been.
She put her hand on the sword’s handle and tried to unsheathe it—but a voice suddenly called out.
“Don’t.”
“Eek!” she yelped out of surprise. She checked her surroundings again but saw nobody. Whose voice was that, then? An eerie thought crept into her mind, only exacerbated by the fact that she was at a shrine. The sun was lowering in the sky, and ghosts liked to come out at this hour.
A chill ran down her spine. The voice didn’t sound particularly frightening, though, and she was almost certain it had come from close by.
She dropped her gaze down to the Yatonomori Kaneomi blade she held firmly in her hands. Weakly, it trembled all on its own.
“Don’t. A girl like you has no business drawing a demonic blade.”
The voice was unmistakably coming from the blade. This time, she let out a scream of terror.