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MAYOI walked silently along the moonlit Bookhouse corridors, twirling around every couple of steps.
As she moved, the long sleeves and full skirt of her ink-black kimono flared out, the lace trim fluttering. Mayoi had a huge smile on her face.
It wasn’t just because she was wearing an outfit she really liked. It was because she had been accepted by a human.
It wasn’t a Narrator who had come to the Bookhouse this time, but an ordinary young woman who called herself a custodian.
Mayoi, who had grown so tired of being mistreated by humans, could hardly believe it.
Her fellow resident, Tomohito, had let her be when she’d stopped caring for the house and had never said anything, not even when she’d ceased cleaning it altogether. She’d grown used to things the way they were. So the coming of the young woman had been a shock to the system.
First off, the most surprising thing of all was that Tomohito had brought the woman here in the first place. Tomohito had never shown any interest in Narrators, or indeed any inclination to learn anything about humans in general. She’d thought he was the same as her, having given up on humans almost completely, and finding out otherwise had felt like betrayal.
Mayoi had thought the woman looked quite impressive, actually, clomping about the house in her boots. But Mayoi had lashed out at her in pain. She regretted that now, a little bit. But the woman hadn’t turned her back on Mayoi.
“Please tell me about yourself, Mayoi…”
How happy those words had made her! How she had hungered to hear someone say that!
Ever since she’d been enshrined as a Mayoiga, Mayoi had continued to care for the house as she was commanded.
That, after all, was her reason for existing and had been so even before she’d become a Kotogami.
But a housekeeper wasn’t all she was. Even as a Kotogami, she had a story. A story recorded in the pages of her spirit tome.
She had so badly wanted to be recognized. To be seen as Mayoi, not just the Mayoiga category of Kotogami. And then Akari had arrived and noticed her. Unpretentiously, she’d read her Kotogatari. All to get to know her—to know Mayoi.
She was a Mayoiga spirit, the spirit of abandoned houses. But she was so much more than that too.
When she’d been enshrined in a Kotogatari volume and categorized as Mayoiga, she’d realized that humans love to take things at face value, never going deeper. But Mayoi still remembered how warm the touch of a human could be. How grateful they could be, for a job well done. She remembered how precious and lovely it was to be heard by them, to be answered by them…to be on the receiving end of their smiles.
So she wanted to believe the words of the woman…Akari.
What would make this new mistress happy? She’d told Mayoi to do as she liked, but Mayoi very much wanted to please her too. Nothing gave Mayoi greater joy than to please the humans who brought life and warmth to her household.
Akari seemed to like Western-style cooking. Perhaps next time she’d try cooking a different country’s cuisine. There were so many Mayoi wanted to try. The new mistress would surely let her. At least, she was pretty sure she would.
As Mayoi twirled and spun her way down the moonlit corridor, sleeves flaring out, a moonbeam slanting through the windows illuminated the form of the other resident Kotogami, Tomohito Yagyou.
His expression was blank, lacking the expressiveness of the daytime. But Mayoi wasn’t concerned. Over the past decade, she’d grown used to his empty looks.
Mayoi’s job was to keep the Bookhouse neat. Tomohito was a Kotogami who had been assigned to this Bookhouse. She didn’t need to know anything more than that.
It was none of her concern who Tomohito was or what his circumstances were.
But now that she’d met someone she could respect as her mistress, things were different.
“Tomohito.”
Perhaps he was surprised to be addressed by her. He turned to her, his brows slightly raised. Then he grimaced, as if pained.
Perhaps he was still sore over having half of his chores taken away by Mayoi earlier that day. But she had every right to take them. She’d been indentured to this house for far longer than he. She had years of experience stored up, and she wasn’t about to concede to him on matters of housekeeping.
But why did he care so much about serving Akari, anyway? It didn’t track with his previous indifferent handling of the Narrators. Mayoi wasn’t a bit concerned about the changes in him, but there was one thing she wanted to clarify.
“How long are you planning to serve her as your mistress?”
Tomohito blinked in surprise before quickly answering.
“I told you. Until she finds a peaceful and comfortable place in the world for herself.”
That wasn’t what Mayoi had wanted to know, but it was a satisfying enough answer for now.
“All right. Then I should do my best, to make it a nice house for her. So that she’ll decide she wants to stay.”
Akari had said she’d only be staying at the Bookhouse for a short amount of time. But she’d probably change her mind, if they could just make her feel at home. And after all, Akari had told Mayoi to do as she liked. Tomohito had brought Akari here, but as long as he didn’t plan to interfere, then Mayoi would, indeed, do as she liked.
“You know, I’ve always appreciated that determined spirit of yours.”
Tomohito had seemed somewhat anxious over whether Mayoi would get on board the Akari welcome train, but now he only nodded mildly. It was as if he was saying: Yes, good, that’s exactly what I want you to do. Mayoi puffed out her cheeks childishly. I was gonna anyway, she thought.
“As long as I have this body, I plan to serve Mistress Akari. That’s all I need.”
“Yeah, well…you seem to be getting on her nerves.”
Mayoi grinned slyly as her cutting remark made Tomohito’s mask of indifference slip. The woman, Akari, seemed to know well enough that Mayoi wasn’t a child, but she couldn’t help seeing her that way. It was clear she had tons more sympathy for the cute girl spirit than she did for Tomohito, who inhabited the form of a full-grown man.
But Mayoi was an old house spirit, not a little girl, and she had sharp powers of perception. Moreover, she planned to use every tool at her disposal to get closer to Akari. She had always been the spirit Mayoi, but now she was a Kotogami too. And she wanted nothing more than to be close to the one person who’d taken an interest in her, who’d read her Kotogatari for no other reason than to get to know her.
“I won’t let you keep her all to yourself, Tomohito. So there.”
Tomohito’s poker face suddenly melted away entirely, and he looked flustered and upset. Grinning with satisfaction, Mayoi floated off to the kitchen to plan tomorrow’s menu.