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Natsume Yuujinchou - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

Published at 3rd of March 2016 10:55:01 AM


Chapter 2

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2

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Regarding the difference between coincidence and fate.

Or, regarding merely one meeting.

How are these two separated?

In the air, many molecules flutter about. Those are measured using the unit of measurement called the mole. Molecule and molecule randomly collide, moving around and drawing complex trajectories like billiard balls, but within the unit of measurement called the mole, that is always balanced, and it draws the whole image that is a tranquil and peaceful world. A god that governs the whole world probably does not care at all about the gasps small beings like us make at the pain we feel from the daily collisions of coincidences. Even so, what are these coincidences?

Sako Yoshimi was thinking about the theory that everything in the world was governed as she looked at the face of the man she had never met before sitting in front of her.

‘This is troubling. I had been certain that the proprietor of Antiques Suzuki would be here.’

'We were surprised as well. Since Suzuki-san said he would introduce a good exorcist to us, we had thought for sure that you would be someone older.’

'My family has known Suzuki-san’s for generations. I can’t refuse a request from them. But it’s a secret that I do this sort of work.’

Mischievously, he pressed his index finger against his lips.

'Ah, yes, that’s clear.’

'For work that is referred to me, I try my best not to meet with the person who makes the request. My face is rather well-known, after all.’

'Certainly. We were surprised, right?’

Yoshimi’s mother waved at her, but Yoshimi gave a vague reply: 'Well.’

Of course Yoshimi knew that that man was the famous actor Natori Shuuichi. However, if she had to pick, she liked old films more and did not watch television dramas often, so she could not say he was that familiar of an actor to her. As a matter of fact, she had heard the name from a friend in the same seminar when discussing a group report at the students’ hall.

'Did you hear, Yoshimi? They’re filming for a movie at the science department right now. Natori Shuuichi’s here.’

'Natori Shuuichi, as in that Natori Shuuichi?’

The science department building at Yoshimi’s university was an antique built before the war. She had heard that it was sometimes used for films, but she had not thought that would happen while she was attending.

'Hey, want to go look? We might be able to get his autograph.’

Yoshimi was invited by her friend, but she did not go. She knew Natori Shuuichi’s face and name, but she was not really a fan. It was not that she did not want to see a famous person, but she did not want to be thought of as one of those crazy fans. Nevertheless, when she returned home and turned on the television, suddenly, his face appeared. It was a rebroadcast of a drama, and Natori put on a good performance as the heroine’s partner.

– Oh, he’s pretty cool.

I should’ve gone to see him too. She regretted it a little, but well, it had just not been meant to be. She gave up and put the thought away in the back of her head. In any case, she had to clean up some troublesome matters tomorrow.

Her grandmother had passed away, and at a meeting between relatives, it was decided that Lamp Hall would be closed. First, the owner of the building wanted to rebuild the deteriorated building. While they paid rent, the shop had almost no sales. The most important reason was that there was no one to take over the shop.

Yoshimi thought that it was a bit unfortunate that her grandmother’s shop was closing. Her grandmother had been the relative she lived closest to, so when she had been a child, she had often gone to that shop to play. When her grandmother saw her granddaughter open the door cheerfully and come on, she would always smile from the bench at the back of the shop and say –

'Welcome!’

– as a greeting. The inside was dim, blanketed in the colours of the rainbow. That was because of several lamps hanging from the ceiling. All of them were for sale, and the lamps were taken out, so all that was left hanging from the ceiling were the stained glass lampshades. They had naturally gathered at this shop from before her grandmother’s time. They reflected the faint light that came in from the window beside the entrance, making the shop look like a room of dreams. Then, in the most conspicuous spot, as if it were the queen of the other lamps, was a light stand. It was patterned with gently curving plants. On the large, open cover, there were butterflies and dragonflies in the glasswork. That stand, an art nouveau piece of rare beauty, was not plugged in, but it always appeared to glow faintly. That light gave new life to the antiques that had been thrown away and were not being used anymore by anyone. The ceramic Chinese doll and the sumi-e characters on the wall scrolls, and even the bowls and plates and old objects with unknown uses had a 'presence’, like they were saying something. For the young Yoshimi, the shop was a small wonderland.

– There are undoubtedly souls resting in old things.

She remembered something that her grandmother had often said. Things with value and things without, my grandmother loved them all the same. Yoshimi also liked playing with doorknobs that had lost their purpose and broken toys whenever she came to this shop.

Maybe it was because of those experiences she had when she was young, but Yoshimi ended up with an exceptional interest in products of old civilisations. Her major in folklore was also because of her interest in antiquity.

Accordingly, she had been very against destroying Lamp Hall when she silently sat at the foot of the table during the meeting with her relatives, but in the end, she could not say that aloud. After thinking about various situations, it was impossible for her or the other relatives to take over Lamp Hall.

To run an antique shop, it was necessary, because of the law regarding business in second-hand items, to send a report to the police in order to receive permission to do business. The licence for selling second-hand items could be acquired by anybody who was not bankrupt and did not have a criminal record, but the problem was knowledge. When somebody comes to the shop to sell antiques, what price should they be bought at? Then, what price should they be sold at? If the shop owner cannot make the judgement, the business will not do well. Yoshimi’s grandmother had tended the shop ever since she was young and learnt directly from Yoshimi’s great-grandfather. There was no way that Yoshimi, who was just dabbling in folklore at university, could have contended.

For those reasons, it was decided that the shop would be closed and that Lamp Hall’s wares would be sold, but then there was a strange incident.

It happened when they were going to have the many antiques left in the shop appraised. They had gathered friends of her grandmother who also dealt in antiques from a register of names her grandmother had kept. Yoshimi was there since she was recruited to help.

'Oh, this is rare. This is good.’

'This one has no certificate. It’s probably cheap.’

The professionals continued to appraise the items. There were a fair number of items of value, but more than expected were worthless odds and ends and could only be put out as rubbish. In any case, the items to be thrown out were to be put outside the shop, and Yoshimi’s uncles were going to take them out, when – there was a clattering noise.

'A rattling house?’

For a moment, words that she had heard in one of her lectures flashed through Yoshimi’s mind.

The uncles stopped for a moment, but, probably thinking they had misheard, picked the items up again. This time, there was a noisy rattling sound.

'It’s a poltergeist!’ shouted Yoshimi’s horror-loving nephew.

'Hm, this is bad.’

The person who said that and stopped their work was the proprietor of Antiques Suzuki, who had been an old friend of Yoshimi’s grandmother.

'The antiques are making a racket, Suzuki-san,’ agreed the owner of Antique Store Koujitsuan.

'This sort of thing happens sometimes. The antiques make a fuss when it’s time to part.’

'Probably because this shop is filled with Ichiko-san’s memories.’

The uncles thought the antique shop owners were being ridiculous, so they tried to carry the items out by force, but the rattling became even worse, and even the uncles who were not superstitious felt resigned.

'Um, what should we do?’

'Hm. One of my acquaintances specialises in this sort of thing, so shall I make a request? Our families have known each other for generations, and his has a long lineage of exorcists. They had stopped for a while, but they started their family business again recently and have a reputation for being very skilled at what they do.’

Yoshimi’s relatives accepted the offer of the owner of Antiques Suzuki and decided to request for that person’s exorcism services. After, Suzuki contacted them to ask that they open the shop this day because that person had just had some work to do in the area.

'Yoshimi, will you come too?’

Yoshimi’s mother asked her that two days ago.

'Eh? Why me?’

'You’re studying this sort of thing at university, aren’t you?’

'Well, I can’t say it’s unrelated, but I’m not studying exorcism.’

'Even if he’s somebody Suzuki-san introduced, it’d be troublesome if I was tricked. Please come with me.’

Yoshimi’s mother was Ichiko’s third daughter and married into another family, but as she was the one who lived closest to Lamp Hall out of the relatives, the duty of meeting the exorcist had fallen upon her.

Thus, on that day, Yoshimi went together with her mother to the appointed café to meet that skilful exorcist.

Before leaving the house, Yoshimi chose a couple of technical books on charms from the bookshelf and put them in a paper bag. Then, since it might come in handy, she also put in a notebook, in which she had copied out portions of her grandmother’s diary that had caught her interest. When she was about to leave her room, the mirror caught her eye and she noticed that she looked extremely plain. There was no need for her to dress up, but it was unlikely that she would look like she was putting on airs if she dressed up a little before meeting someone. With that in mind, Yoshimi took out a necklace with a Native American charm from a box full of accessories. It had a net weaved with ivy and string, with bird feathers attached to the net. The charm was called a dream catcher and was supposed to catch bad dreams. Then, Yoshimi tied her hair up in a ponytail and started feeling like she was really going to go exterminate youkai.

Even so… While sitting quietly next to her mother, Yoshimi brought her cup of coffee to her mouth and thought things over again.

– Why is this person here?

The exorcist who appeared was the actor Yoshimi had seen the day before in the drama – Natori Shuuichi.

After the owner of Antiques Suzuki had paid him, an urgent exchange meeting had popped up so he left in a hurry. The exchange meeting was a market that was only open to fellow antique dealers. Yoshimi’s mother, who had been on guard before coming to the café, was also excited about meeting someone famous and so could not care less about Lamp Hall’s exorcism.

'If you could tell me where the shop is, I would like to continue by myself.’

'Eh? But…’

'I always work like this,’ Natori said firmly.

'It’ll be all right. Exorcism is for peace of mind. It’s fine as long as it’s done. Then everyone will feel that it has been effective.’

'Will the strange occurrences stop with just that?’ asked Yoshimi’s mother.

'They will. I guarantee it. It’s not as if you seriously believe in this either, correct?’

The reason Natori suddenly turned to me was probably because I looked sceptical, Yoshimi thought.

'I, um… I think that exorcism, charms and things like that are conventions to preserve the community.’

'Oh?’

'This girl is studying folklore at university.’

Her mother followed up with a comment. The reason Yoshimi had looked sceptical at Natori’s words was not because she did not agree with his explanation. Rather, it had just been unexpected that somebody who did exorcisms thought the same way she did.

'Could it be the university on the mountain? I was filming there yesterday.’

'I know. My friends were making a fuss.’

'Isn’t that a coincidence? In order to accept some work in this area, I took some work in the area nearby.’

For a moment, Yoshimi was confused as to which work Natori meant, but it seemed that he had chosen his work as an actor in order to accept the request for an exorcism.

'Then, could you show me the way to the shop, miss? We can discuss while we walk.’

Standing up before Yoshimi could say yes or no, Natori quickly took the receipt to the register.

'U-um, wait… We’ll pay!’

Yoshimi’s mother wanted to go with them to the shop, but Natori turned her away and he and Yoshimi walked toward Lamp Hall by themselves. Along the way, Natori asked Yoshimi again about the thoughts, so she explained her theory in more detail.

'I think that the reason exorcism and charms are effective is that there is an agreement to have those sorts of things be effective. Conventions are like that – members of the community are obligated to believe in them. In short, exorcisms and charms bind people in the same way that the law does.’

'Then does that mean you don’t believe at all in youkai or spirits?’

'Well…’

'That’s fine, for most people. People are happier that way.’

'How about you, Natori-san? Though you do this sort of work.’

'Because this is my work, I believe in them.’

Yoshimi did not like the way Natori said that. It felt like he had dodged the question.

'Exorcism binds people – that is exactly it. Do you know the word kotodama?’

Yoshimi remembered hearing it in lecture.

'Saying that there are souls in words is just a metaphor, but words really do have the power to bind people. That was what people of antiquity called kotodama. We exorcists just use that theory well.’

Just as expected for an actor, his words were very persuasive.

'But Natori-san, if that’s the case…’ Yoshimi persisted. 'There wouldn’t be any effect if you didn’t gathering all of my relatives for the exorcism, right? Isn’t the power of your language meant to bind us?’

'Well.’

Natori smiled playfully as he spoke.

'That’s a trade secret.’

In the meantime, they had arrived at Lamp Hall. Yoshimi unlocked the door to show Natori in, when Natori gave the inside of the shop one look and said, 'Ah.’

'I see. I will continue by myself then. Things should be cleaned up by evening.’

Since Natori was very firm on the issue, Yoshimi handed over the key to the shop to him and decided to meet up with him again in the evening.

When she had started to head back to the station while thinking about where she should spend her time, she was asked for directions by a boy who looked to be in high school. Unexpectedly, at this chance meeting, that boy had asked for the directions to Lamp Hall.

'If you’re looking for Lamp Hall, if you turn left there and walk north along the river you’ll reach it in no time…’

She observed the boy as she replied. He was short and had a slim frame, but he had kind eyes. The cat he brought with him was round and fat, so it stood out quite a lot.

'But that shop is already…’

'Ah, I know. I just have a connection…’

A connection? What sort of connection could it be?

'Oh, OK…’

When Yoshimi looked carefully, she noticed that he was holding an envelope. For a moment, she thought, Eh? and was in disbelief, but in the end she left without saying anything. But when she thought about it, she was sure that that was that letter. The letter from her grandmother that she had found in the drawer at the register in Lamp Hall.

The mysterious letter that had been left there for so long without being sent. But that should have reached its intended recipient.

The person who had mailed that letter to the addressee on the front, Taki Shinichirou, was no other than Yoshimi herself. Just the day before, a polite reply from Shinichirou’s grandchild had arrived, saying that Shinichirou had already passed away and that the letter could not be understood. Because of the fancy stationery and the shape of the letters, Yoshimi had thought that the grandchild was a well-brought-up girl who liked cute things.

What kind of divine mischief was this?

In the reply to the reply, Yoshimi had wrote to Shinichirou-shi’s grandchild to say that Lamp Hall would be closed and before that, the shop would be exorcised, but there was no way for the grandchild to know that that that was to occur today. No matter how hard she thought, Yoshimi could not think of a reason for the male high school student to idly come by the shop today.

Was there a governing force controlling all the coincidences in the world, taking pleasure in trifling us who know nothing? Yoshimi felt like there was.

– Ah, I was such an idiot.

While walking on the road back to the station, Yoshimi regretted not questioning that boy back. If she had asked the reason there, it would have definitely been an unbelievable story. It could have been thought of as coincidence, but she understood that it was a “possibility” that occurred because of a series of inevitable coincidences.

Yoshimi arrived at the bus roundabout. She had thought to spend time at a bookshop or a café, but when she was looking absentmindedly at the manga magazines on sale at the front of the bookshop, she suddenly noticed her 'misunderstanding’ and said, 'Ah.’

Yoshimi felt the urge to go back to Lamp Hall now in order to confirm her misunderstanding with the high school student she met earlier.





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