The choice of love: The problems to come

Breakfast time with my girlfriend's family was honestly pretty great. For the most part.

The moment we stepped into the living room, I was immediately met with both warm and cold reception. All of Sakuya's sisters rushed forward to check up on me, while Aunt Kanna barely looked in my direction as she went back into the kitchen.

Sakuya followed her.

"Holy crap, are you alright?" Ayane, the blonde middle sister, asked.

I was just about to answer when someone else spoke up.

"Bro, last night was insane! The way you crashed into the temple, man—the way you was lookin’!"

Shiun was my absolute favorite sibling, hands down. I already knew most of the energy behind the purple-haired girl's accent was manufactured to impress me, but because she had even tried to do so to begin with—to try and make me feel welcome while others were skeptical—she automatically took number one priority after Sakuya.

I knelt down to her level to answer her first.

"Lil’ sis, I’ma get right with you for a sec. Real talk, I can’t remember nothin’ from last night," I told her.

Shiun gasped in astonishment.

"None of it?!" she asked.

"None, dawg. It's all dust and echoes," I replied, borrowing a line from my favorite video game franchise.

She looked a little disappointed.

"Well, no stress, dawg," she said. "Just glad you came back. Ayy, pull up and peep this real quick?"

She gestured for me to follow her outside as she ran. I stood up straight, then gave a small bow to Ayane, who was still standing beside me.

"I am feeling much better now, Ayane. I appreciate your concern. And sorry about storming off last night."

"Dude, what's with the bowing? You don't have to be so formal with me, you know," Ayane said. "But I'm glad you're alright."

I smiled.

"And," she continued, "about last night..."

She took a step closer to me, then lowered her voice as she spoke.

"I'm sorry you heard that. Look, you are important to our sister, which means you are important to us too. Aunt Kanna might be having a tough time understanding that right now, but I just want you to know that you are one of us now. So."

She stood up straight and brought her voice back to normal volume.

"Welcome to the family. Again."

She extended her arm, and, still smiling at her, I shook it.

***

"Wow," I said, not really believing what I was looking at.

The three of us—Shiun, Ayane, and I—stood outside, staring down at the thing Shiun wanted me to see.

A massive crater in the center of the temple courtyard.

"And you said I did this?" I asked the girls in horror as I gazed at the thing. It was deep. Deep enough to swallow Shiun if she were to jump inside.

"It's so cool," Shiun said. "I mean, dope." She instantly corrected her words to fit with her slang. I ruffled the top of her head to show I was still proud of her efforts.

"I really don't remember any of this," I told them.

"It was like an asteroid struck last night when you landed," Ayane said. "It was so loud, the entire house shook."

We stopped staring at the hole simultaneously. I paced around a bit to see if I could jog my memory. Nothing.

"Sakuya told us," Ayane said. "It's called Ogun, right? The spirit you turned into? Ogun, the god of war and iron. He was so big... and honestly kind of scary."

"And cool," Shiun chimed in. "I mean, dope."

"When will you stop talking like that?" Ayane asked the purple-haired girl.

"Never. I mean, ain’t never gon’ stop, sis. Get used to it."

...

Just then, the doors to the temple gates gradually opened, and a white-haired, heavily armed, 14-year-old girl with swords on her back came walking in.

Ash.

There were bloodstains on her hair, shirt, and parts of her face. But none of it seemed to belong to her.

"Yeesh," Ayane said. "Looks like it was a busy morning," she added, loud enough so the other girl would hear.

"Inugami attack," Ash replied. "Three of them. By the south fishing side of the village."

"Again?!" Ayane asked. "Didn't a bunch of them just attack the marketplace like, last week?"

Ash walked toward us and eventually stopped in front of me. Up close, I struggled to understand how the blue-eyed teenager was already a trained killer. Not saying a word, she reached out a fist and slowly opened her gloved hand. And in the center of her palm was the ring. My ring. The one I had lost the previous night.

"Umm, thank you," I said, taking the ring from her.

"Hm," she replied with a nod before proceeding to walk past us toward the house. But then, she stopped. And turned.

"Welcome to Mitsuzawa Temple, Jumo-san," she said, performing a bow. "And I apologize on behalf of my mother and her words. She is just trying to follow tradition, not intentionally hurt you."

"Oh, it's completely fine," I replied, trying my best to flash a genuine smile. But deep down, I already knew my problems with the older woman were just beginning.

The issue wasn't that I was African trying to go out with their Japanese daughter. In fact, that wasn't the case at all. The main problem came from the fact that, by being with me and choosing to potentially have children with me, Sakuya was putting the succession of the spirit guardian's powers at risk of being tainted by foreign blood. Basically, our daughter was going to be significantly less powerful than her mother, and that was what Aunt Kanna didn’t want. That was what the elders wouldn’t want either.

Ash gave another quick nod before turning toward the house. Then she removed her swords, dropped them on the floor, and went in.

***

When Sakuya entered the kitchen, she found Aunt Kanna hyper-focused on preparing more fish and miso soup, despite there already being enough breakfast for everyone.

The older woman was stress cooking.

"Auntie," Sakuya said, making sure her voice was calm, soft, and less defiant than the previous night. But Kanna did not respond. At least, not immediately.

"Auntie?" she tried again.

Silence.

The woman just kept on preparing more food, trying to pretend as if Sakuya herself wasn’t there. Having no other choice, Sakuya decided to help her. She walked over and began handling the fish. This was what finally caught the older woman's attention.

"Child, what exactly do you want to tell me? What exactly do you want to say that you haven't said already?" Kanna asked.

It was Sakuya's turn to be silent. Back when she was little, she and Kanna would always play this game. It was a way to quickly show that either of them was unhappy about the other’s decision on a matter—her curfew for staying up late, the kinds of foods she sometimes wanted to eat, and sometimes didn’t want to eat. And now, her choice of life partner in Jumo.

"You decided to ignore my cautions, Sakuya. You decided to ignore long-established tradition and culture. It is clear you will never change your decision, no matter what anyone tells you. Then what else is there to talk about?"

"The elders," Sakuya spoke, giving the batch of fish in the frying pan a little shake before placing it back on the cooker.

"I know what they are capable of, Auntie," Sakuya said, turning to face the woman who had played the role of a mother figure to her and her sisters for over fifteen years. "I know what they can do to us in retaliation for my actions—to Shiun, to Ayane, to you, and Ash," she continued. "I don’t want that for any of you. Please, Auntie."

She walked over to Kanna, who had been frozen over the sink, washing cutlery.

"Please help me prepare for the inevitable backlash when I tell them soon. Please, Auntie," Sakuya added, holding the woman gently on her shoulder. "You don’t even have to support my decision or like Jumo, even though it would make me extremely happy if you did. I just need you to not abandon me or my sisters if you are asked to. Please, Auntie. This is all I ask."

The woman was quiet for a while. Eventually, she simply chose not to reply and returned to working.

This was okay. At least, Sakuya hoped. It was not a direct no, but it was also not a direct yes. It just had to do for now.

"Mother? Sakuya?"

Sakuya turned her attention to the doorway and found Ash standing there. The girl didn’t want to step into the kitchen because she was covered in spirit blood—fortunately, not her own.

Kanna turned in the direction of her daughter.

"What is it, child?" she said. "I hope you are not injured."

"No, Mother." Ash shook her head. "But there is a problem."

"What’s happening?" Sakuya asked.

"The situation with the inugami spirits is slowly developing into an issue," Ash said. "There have been more sightings by the villagers since the fight in the marketplace, and they only seem to be getting more frequent."