In the next instant, a little girl about five years of age was standing in front of Akari.
Her hair was so black, it seemed to absorb the morning sunlight. And it was so long, it obscured her little body and fell to the floor in coils.
Through a gap in the girl’s hair, Akari could see a pale, cherubic face. But as cute as she was, the face was expressionless, as if she’d been made out of clay. She wore a long-sleeved black kimono tucked at the shoulder, and Akari noticed, with some surprise, the lace on the hem and sleeves.
As the little girl stood stock-still, Akari thought the contrasting Japanese and Western elements of her clothing somehow seemed to make sense with the mismatched surroundings of the peculiar old Bookhouse.
But Akari still wasn’t used to Kotogami appearing out of thin air, and she realized she was staring. She also remembered that there was work to be done.
“Hello. I’m the custodian, I guess. I moved in yesterday. My name’s Akari Mitsukuri.”
“I know.”
Oh, she speaks, thought Akari. The girl was so lovely and otherworldly that it came as something of a shock.
“Well, I’d like to ask you to help with cleaning and tidying and decluttering.”
Akari was slightly put off by the contrast between the girl’s sweet voice and the harsh tone she used. Mayoi, meanwhile, continued to gaze up at her through scowling, night-sky eyes.
“No, I won’t help.”
“Mayoi!”
Tomohito reproached her sharply, and Mayoi turned her scowl on him. The next moment, she whirled her long curtain of hair and disappeared on the spot.
There was a pointed silence. Why was the little Kotogami so hostile? Tomohito turned to Akari, bowing apologetically.
“I’m terribly sorry, Mistress Akari. Mayoi was very rude just then.”
“Never mind that. I have a question.”
Akari was starting to get used to the unpredictable behavior of these spirits. She looked up at Tomohito and continued.
“How long have you two been living here together, anyway?”
“Let’s see…ever since I came here, so I think it’s been about ten years?”
“Don’t you get along?”
“I’m mostly just the Kotogami in charge of running the Bookhouse office branch, so we’ve only ever chatted in passing.”
“Well, still, it makes perfect sense. You’re the one at fault here.”
Tomohito’s eyes widened in disbelief as Akari rubbed her forehead. She was getting a headache.
“You know what I think? I think Kotogami are surprisingly human. With their own will and desires.”
“Yes. Being enshrined in Kotogatari volumes is what defines our existence. When that happens, we do tend to develop our own independent will, more or less.”
“Right. So after knowing each other for so long, you can’t suddenly bring a strange human into her home without discussing it with her first and expect her to be fine with it.”
Perhaps it wasn’t appropriate to compare Kotogami and humans. But Mayoi’s childish attitude just now—Akari understood it well. After losing her parents, she’d been passed off from one relative to another.
According to Tomohito, Mayoi was sort of like the landlord of this house. A stranger coming in and trying to invade one’s place of work—who’d accept that willingly?
Akari sighed. This wasn’t going well at all. Then she realized Tomohito was watching her anxiously, chewing his lip.
“Are you displeased, Mistress? I mean…a Kotogami who doesn’t even follow orders…”
Akari blinked at him uncomprehendingly. Displeased? Hmm, come to think of it…Tomohito wasn’t human, was he? He was a spirit, created to serve humans. “Mayoi’s duties involve household maintenance and repair. That’s the whole reason she’s here. This is complete abandonment of duty.”
“But I’m not a Narrator. I’m just lodging here. I have no intention of using such a sweet little girl as a servant. I’m fine just having a place to stay.”
Akari wasn’t exactly excited about having to live with a bunch of strange Kotogami either, but Mayoi’s honest, childish reaction had really tugged at her heartstrings.
Akari looked Tomohito up and down. Yes, she preferred the little girl, whom she could understand, to this walking, talking question mark.
“Anyway, I was in the wrong for not considering the feelings of other residents. And you were even more in the wrong.”
“Me?!”
“You betrayed that poor girl, don’t you get that? Was she cold with you last night as well?”
“Now that you mention it…when I spoke to her, she didn’t answer me.”
As Tomohito considered this, realization began to dawn on his face. Finally, Akari thought, putting her hands on her hips.
“Well, whether she likes it or not, I’m going to be living here. And since she didn’t say anything about me not being allowed to clean and tidy, then clean and tidy I shall. Where are the supplies you used last night?”
“Ah, yes. They’re right this way.”
Akari followed as Tomohito got up from his seat in a half daze and wandered out of the room.
Akari picked a room on the second floor to be her bedroom. She’d start there, and then she’d fix up the entrance hall and clear a path between her room and the dining room. If she got those areas done, at least then the house would be livable.
“Why is there…so much…JUNK?!”
Covering her mouth with a handkerchief, Akari put down the box she was holding. She’d picked an empty room on the ground floor to stuff with all the boxes and things that were currently cluttering the hallways. The box in question was filled with ornaments she couldn’t identify.
The boxes stacked high in the entrance hall were filled with an assortment of bric-a-brac, like ornaments, porcelain tableware, and artwork of questionable quality.
When she examined the stuff in the other rooms more closely, she realized a lot of it consisted of random swords and daggers, farming tools, and other items that had no business being in a house like this. One of the rooms was filled with nothing but rows of Jizo Bodhisattva statues, a sight that made her pause. Tomohito, who had joined Akari in hauling boxes around, mistook her expression of frustration as a genuine question.
“All these items are things left behind by prior Narrators. You know how spirits and demons tend to take up residence in old objects? Well, one of a Narrator’s jobs is to transfer those spirits and demons into dedicated Kotogatari. These are the objects left behind after the transference. They’ve been stored here until they can be properly assessed and taken away by antique stores. Anyway, that’s why there’s so much stuff here.”
“It sounds like some sort of storehouse is in order.”
“Well, there was a storehouse once, but a Narrator had it torn down a few years ago.”
Akari could think of a few choice words she’d like to say to that Narrator, but there were more pressing matters.
The thing weighing on Akari most heavily was the mountain of books, which filled more than half the room.
“Why are there so many books? These aren’t Kotogatari, are they?”
Most of the selection seemed to consist of old newspapers and magazines, as well as printed books. They must have been of some value. But piled up carelessly in a heap like this, they seemed like junk to her.
Several volumes had slid off the stacks and were lying open. Akari pursed her lips, realizing she could read the text on display.
“All fiction.”
She could tell from the titles that while some of them were scholarly books, the majority of them were novels or collections of stories. These books were meant for recreational reading. Why were there so many of them here?
Akari gingerly picked up the fallen books and returned them to the stacks, trying hard not to look at any of the words. Tomohito watched her do this, his expression baffled.