Chapter Text
[Flashback]
“I’m afraid to say this but your son is blind.” The world came crushing down for the woman in her late twenties. She inhaled deeply and pick up her son from the basket. She then stood up and walk slowly towards the exit, but before she left she gave the man a warning, “If words of my son’s incapability to see them reach my husband’s ears I will not hesitate to kill you and your family.”
Giving birth to another blind heir would no doubt anger the main house; they will not hesitate to kill off the baby that was just born. She knew in herself that she has to run away and hide her son. It will be considered betrayal against the main house and she has no doubt that if she were ever caught, even greater tragedies will await her children.
After the dinner, Hanae’s mother instructed her son to wash the dishes and prepare the bath. “I wanted to have a little chat with Abeno-san about you Hanae. It’s better if you don’t listen you wouldn’t want me to spill all the embarrassing things you did when you were a child right?” she teased her son.
Hanae’s face turned red as he gave up in joining my conversation with his mother. Ashiya’s mother invited me to join her to watch the television in the living room while Ashiya was left in the kitchen to wash the dishes. From my past experience and conversation with Hanae, it would seem that he is oblivious to the fact that his mother is related to the arts of exorcism. I could imagine as to why she kept it a secret, from Hanae’s stories he was only able to see yokais and akasyashi when he was possessed by the hair ball, he would have found it unbelievable if his mother told him about her secret occupation.
Once we were seated, his mother offered me snacks from the basket lying on the living room table. When I refused what she offered, she let out a sighed and went to talk about her past action. “I would like to apologize, Abeno-san. I was suspicious of you. After hearing stories from Hanae about you, I immediately knew that you were an exorcist. I was afraid that you were one of them.” Her words were not making sense. I could not decipher what she meant by “one of them” was Ashiya’s family running away from an enemy? Though I am aware that there are established families in Japan that deals with exorcism in a different manner, it never occurred to me that Ashiya’s family may be involved in one of them.
It was very rare for humans to have the ability to be able to see yokais, only about 1 of ten thousand people has the spiritual ability to see them, and an even smaller percentage of them could use the spiritual arts to seal or permanently destroy their existence. Established families in the field of exorcism used to be famous around Japan, but as they gradually lost heirs who could see the supernatural, the families also stopped practicing the field. To my knowledge, only one family is still in the practice of exorcism, the Asakura Family.
She must have seen my confused look, as she rubbed her forehead and continue what she was saying, “Ashiya is a well established family in the field of exorcisms. They were seen as the heroes of Edo after Abe no Seime’s death. Lately, the family has been running out of heirs that would continue the family business. I am the wife of one of the sons of the main family. It is my duty to give birth to children who would learn the technique and pass it down to their children.”
“But neither of your children could see yokais when they were born, am I correct?”
“Yes, when my daughter and Hanae were born, both of them could not see the servants who were attending to them. The main house has no room for children who would not have any use in the family, they would not think twice in killing them. Now that Hanae could see them, I am afraid that they would come and take him away.”
Disgusting. There was no other word for it. The family only thought of their children as nothing but puppets that would do their bidding and if they are no longer in need or they have no use for them they would not hesitate to toss them aside and dispose of them. Humans have never failed to continuously disappoint me. I looked at the figure in front of me. Ashiya’s mother must be in her early 40’s. She was still young, but years of living in fear must have taken a toll on her. I imagine her sitting behind the counter of the flower shop, worrying whether her son would be back home safely. I wanted to offer her kind words but I doubt saying anything would lift the burden that she was carrying.
“I would like to thank you for everything you have ever done Abeno-san, I was happy seeing Hanae toge- “ when she was about to finish her sentence a sudden bright light engulfed the house. Unable to do anything, I used my hands to cover my eyes. But once the light was gone, a screamed echoed throughout the house.
It was Hanae’s voice.
The moment the light faded from the room, I immediately blink twice until I could have a source of awareness to my surroundings. I ran towards the kitchen to look for Hanae, but only the unwashed dishes were left on the sink. Trying to be optimistic about the situation, I tried looking for the bathroom to see if he was there preparing the bath, but the moment I saw that the lights was closed, I already gave up, I have to admit to myself that..
Hanae was gone.