Haguko’s Curse

Three old mountain bikes were collapsed against a wall, outside the Nakamura household, where Junichiro Nakamura lived with his wife, Kaede, his oldest son Kaito, his second son Daiki, and his youngest, the twins, Hiroko and Masako. The Nakamura family has been woodcutters of Haguko for generations. Junichiro’s father had been a vain and clever man who was keen on saving up so that he could build a big house that famously belonged to his family and its descendants. 

Junichiro inherited it upon his father’s death, and although he wasn’t vain like his old man, he surely was clever. His primary goal for saving up was to give his children a good education so that they would move out of the family house and into the city, leaving him and his wife to indulge in its grandeur alone. 

His dream came true. Twice. Both his older sons were now college students, with the oldest only a few months away from graduating and moving out. Daiki, his second, was only a semester into college but he also seemed to be getting the hang of it.

“Hell yeah I got here first Botan, you loser, you unathletic idiot!”

“Shut up Daiki, your bike is fairly new”

“Yeah and it doesn’t have that weird squeak that Botan’s bike has”

“And why do you only race me? Why not race Asa?”

“Don’t wanna race chicks”

“She’s not a chick”

“I need to get paid for babysitting you high schoolers”

Daiki and his friends Botan and Asa sat in the kitchen drinking melon soda out of three cans. His parents had insisted that Daiki come straight home when his classes ended for the summer vacation. “We’re doing this because we don’t want you to get the coronavirus”, they’d said. But Daiki knew they were just concerned that he’d go clubbing or drinking with his friends thanks to his new-found freedom.  

“Don’t snack too much, children, I’m going to make dinner now.” 

Daiki’s mother was a tiny but round woman with hair up to her chin. She was always cheery—polar opposites with her husband, Junichiro—and can always be found cooking or making wagashi that she would just eat by herself. 

“Your uncle brought some eel when he visited yesterday so I thought of making some for dinner”

“Thank you for having us for the whole vacation, Nakamura-san”, Botan chirped and brought his head down in a 90 degree bow, running it into the kitchen counter with a loud thud. 

“What’s wrong with you? Can’t you go a day without embarrassing yourself?”

“Shut up, Daiki, seriously”, Botan rubbed a faintly reddened spot under his bangs.

Kaede watched Daiki and his friends with a smile on her face, “Kaito should be here any minute now”

“What?” Daiki finished his melon soda, “Why is he coming?”

“I told you. There’s a virus running around and there’s travel restrictions. So we want you both home”

“Great, prepare to spend the entire vacation listening to his art student bullshit and his lame jokes”

“Daiki don’t say that!”

“Don’t say what?” Kaito stood at the kitchen’s archway, leaning against the wall with his hands crossed. He was lean and tall with shoulder-length raven hair that some swore had a hint of dark blue at times. His luggage bag rested snugly on the floor next to him and his eyes gave away an insurmountable amount of weariness. 

“Uhhh…n-nothing. Nothing about you anyway.” 

“Oh yeah? Why are you struggling to speak then?”

“You guys… come on, you haven’t seen each other in so long. Don’t fight now.”, Kaede chipped in and placed a bowl of sliced apples on the counter. Everyone dug right in.

“Either way mom, you can’t stop me from stepping outside this summer. I promised Botan and Asa that we’d visit the mountains a lot. And I’m going to take Hiroko and Masako too.”

Kaede’s face turned serious. She placed the meat that she’d taken out of the freezer in a bowl and sighed. 

“Children”, she turned to face them, “There’s actually something you need to hear about the mountains.”