Haguko’s Curse

Shock was written all over Daiki’s face, as he listened to Kaede explain the mysterious phenomenon of the mountains. As stories of people disappearing and theories of evil spirits, demonic possessions, and serial murderers began pouring out of his mother’s mouth, all he could do was sit with his eyes wide and think about how his summer vacation had ended as soon as it began.  

“Huh. It’s over.”, Daiki put his head between his arms on the table.

“What?”, Asa retorted.

“My summer is over”

“People are disappearing and you’re worried about that?”

“Asa, you also wanted to go see the mountains and the forest. Don’t pretend to care about people now” 

“I never wanted to go see the mountains. It was you and Botan who wanted that. I spend all my summers holed up in a room anyway”, Asa remarked without taking her eyes off of the kitchen stove. 

Daiki threw his hands up in frustration. In his mind, the first summer after college began was supposed to be a magical vacation. New friends, new freedom, new phase in life, everything was new. He always attended the town’s school and had never spent any considerable part of his life in the big city. After college started he had been attending classes everyday and working part time at a cafe, where the very heart and soul of the city unraveled before him. 

After dinner, Daiki walked outside and sat on the porch with a can of coffee. The nostalgic cries of cicadas filled the night. He had spent much of dinner eating quietly. 

“Nakamura”, Botan’s voice replaced the silence.

“Why are you still calling me that sometimes?” Daiki took a swig out of the can.

“I don’t know. It sometimes feels better to call you Nakamura”

They sat listening to the cicadas for a couple of minutes.

“It’s warm”, Botan said.

“It’s June”, Daiki replied.

“Yeah, that’s to be expected, I guess”

Daiki put his can down on the wooden porch and leaned back, “The mountains are cold”

“Is that so? In June?”

“Yeah. We used to go up there after playing all day, every summer. Most of the time we just followed our dads when they went to get wood. It was cold there. We would run around for a bit and then sit on a log and enjoy the view at sunset while our dads worked.”

He smiled automatically as the picture from his childhood unraveled in his mind.

“We? Who else was there?” Botan asked.

“Me, Kaito, and some of our friends from the town”

“And Hiroko and Masako?”

“Not in the beginning. They started joining in when mom decided they were old enough”, he let out a chuckle. Botan laughed with him.

Daiki looked into the night. Beyond the gate, across the street, and behind the opposite row of houses, trees swayed gently in the summer breeze. They reminded him of the trees on the mountains. The mountain trees were taller than the road trees of course but they were the same kind. He looked on and imagined what the cicadas’ life must be like out there. The warm light from their living room contrasted against the cold darkness of the tree line across the road and he wondered if the critters who lived among them felt safe. 

“Botan”, Daiki said, taking one last swig out of the coffee can.

“Mm”

“Let’s go see the mountains”