Forgotten things

Chapter Ten

Forgotten things (wasuremono)

“*Yawn* My, I fell asleep.” Kagami stretched her body and got up from the ground. “I must have had poor posture while I slept; my body is sore and achy.” She said to herself.

There she was, beside an interestingly shaped piece of limestone that had been eroded by water. It was getting late, so Kagami took the handful of pieces of flint that she had picked earlier in the day, and headed back to Kageyama.

“Akishi Oneechan!”

“Kagami-chan, how was your trip to town?”

“The townspeople were friendly and helpful. I will get my own tailor-made clothes in about two weeks’ time.”

“And for the rest of your day?”

“I looked around and had a lovely time.”

......

Kagami’s life resumed its normal pace, and she kept herself fairly busy with recipes, kitchen duty, picking flint, and practicing fracturing stones.

A couple of months later, just around the time when Kagami was getting ready to practice cutting low grade sapphire, her training with the sword had to be halted.

As soon as Kagami broke a sweat, usually near the end of warm ups, she would get an allergic reaction to, as it seemed, her own sweat. Every inch of her skin was red and swollen, and felt itchy and painful, as if there were ants all over her body, biting and stinging.

[Author’s note: This actually happened to Hitomi when she was in England, and continued for about a year afterwards, which is partially responsible for the fact that Hitomi is terrible at sports. If you haven’t noticed, much of this novel references real life. Chapter 8 and 9, for example, draw some of their source from history and politics.]

Akishi asked every instructor to help find a cure or some way of providing relief, but neither the department of magic, nor the department of alchemy and potions, or even the chancellor herself, could find the cause, much less a solution.

After much agonizing, Kagami and the chancellor met in the office and reached a conclusion:

Kagami could not possibly continue her study in swordsmanship, despite her earlier display of talent and potential, until after the situation improved.

Furthermore, due to her mysterious skin condition, it would not be safe for her to continue in the capacity of kitchen staff, in case it was somehow a contagious disease. For sanitary reasons, Kagami should refrain from entering the kitchen until further assessment.

Kagami lost her income.

The heat of summer days didn’t seem conducive to mental peace, and Kagami cried herself to sleep every night.

(“Yes, Akishi Oneechan assured me that magician or gardener, we are all part of Kageyama, but it’s still painful to suddenly fail at everything.”)

Kagami buried her face in the pillow. (“I was planning on having a great life, and making jewellery for Arashi and Akishi. What is even the point of jewellery making now? I don’t know when I can pick up the sword again, and I don’t feel the call to magic or alchemy. I haven’t had a spiritual experience since I went to town that day for the first time.”)

Kagami flipped onto her back.

(“Did I eat something bad that day? Everything started going downhill afterwards. Did I forget something? What COULD have happened to me?... Do mosquitoes and ticks in this world carry special diseases? Poisonous spiders or scorpions? Did I react to some grass I was lying on? Or maybe it’s fungal or mites? What could it be?...)

It took a few more days, but in the end Kagami wrote to the lady of the jewellery store that, due to the loss of her income, she could not possibly continue with her project. She would consider becoming her apprentice in the future if she was still open to the idea then.

That day after dinner, Kagami knocked on Arashi’s door.

“Arashi Oneesama, I am very depressed. Could you please help me somehow?”

Arashi stood for a short while at her door, and put on her outdoor clothes. “Come.”

Arashi took Kagami to the west cliff. The scorching afternoon sun had become gentler. The glow took on a softer hue as the sun sank toward the horizon. Clouds became more visible and vibrant, first yellow, then deepened their colour to orange. Wind blew some of the clouds into fans of feather, casting shadows to the sky above. The greyish blue of the shadows contrasted with the reddish glow at the bottom of the cloud, and the sky behind caught a dye of indigo. Some of the shadows further away from the setting sun took on a hint of lavender, as the celestial dome celebrated with the tint of pink diamond.

The line of shadow, cast by the earth, slowly rose in the sky, and in front of Arashi and Kagami, the sun had bid them farewell. Kagami wanted to lie down, but did not want to speak. She leaned over lightly toward Arashi, yet kept her distance, in case Arashi was concerned by her health condition. Arashi did not seem to mind. Slowly, softly, but with no hesitation in her movement, Arashi placed her hand on Hitomi’s head, and guided it onto her lap. The universe went on changing its palette, and the two stayed together, in stillness, in silence.

At last, a thin band of light was all that remained of the day. Slightly yellow at the horizon, it quickly moved through the spectrum to the deep dark blue of the night. Lying there, with her head on Arashi’s lap, Kagami felt warmth in her heart; Kagami felt the chill that stung even to her bones; Kagami felt hope as she had not been left all alone, and she felt despair, seeing no future ahead of her.

Finally, Kagami looked down, shifting her focus from the horizon to her hands which had been resting on Arashi’s lap, “Arashi Oneesama...” she whispered.

“Kagami...” Arashi petted Kagami’s hair.

“Oneesama... I won’t be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Oneesama...”

“I am still your Arashi Oneesama.”

“I may have to quit all my studies someday”

“You are still my Kagami.”