The Crepuscule Lethe - Act II Begins

The revolving pointers of a clock ticks, then it ticks back.

Then it ticks to the past. 
And it temporarily stops here.

The story has been pressing onto the future.

It will only take a moment.

Onward then, to a far away place at an incredible speed.

What lies there, is the truth behind the several facades.


--

1867.
10 years ago.

The village lays buried beneath a blanket of white silence.
Smoke curled lazily from steep, thatched roofs, vanishing into a violet sky.

Inside a gasshō-style house, the family gathered around a glowing irori.
The Nanushi (village head) visited to bless the home with sacred rice.
Children pounded mochi while elders chanted prayers older than the stories about this festival.

Outside, a lone torii gate, half-buried in snow, marked the tiny shrine where frozen offerings waited.
Bells remained silent. Only the mountain wind howled, passing through the valley like a restless spirit.

This was Shōgatsu—ancient, secluded, spiritual, older than the nation itself.

“Ten, come on! We have to leave now!”

“Coming, Mom!”

"Mmm…" Tenmichi seemed absorbed, her small hands arranging an offering with utmost care.

“There.” She beamed. “Yay! I’ll place this custom offering for Toshigami-sama myself!”

The full moon painted the snow silver as she stepped outside.
Her mother held a torch, though every villager carried one, lighting the night like scattered stars, causing an orange and white scenery beaming across Shirakawa-go.

“Good grief… what took you so long?” her mother asked.

“I was making this amazing offering for Toshigami-sama!”

“Heeeeh? We’re already taking sake and mountain herbs—what are you planning to bring?”

“This!” Tenmichi held up a bundle of..

..dried Ayu and Iwana, roped together.

“TEN-CHAN! Just because we offer dried fish doesn’t mean you rope them together to offer!” her mother exclaimed, half-scolding, half-amused.

Tenmichi grinned. Her meticulous, creative idea was hard not to forgive.

--

A few minutes pass by as they start their journey, Tenmichi held her mother’s hand, walking toward the ujigami (the local guardian shrine), carrying offerings to Toshigami-sama.

“Aaa! Always love Shōgatsu,” her mother squealed, eyes sparkling. “So peaceful… so blissful.”

“Sweetheart, this is your first time knowing about Shōgatsu properly, isn’t it?”

“Yes! Shōgatsu is New Year, and we must offer goods to Toshigami-sama, our New Year deity!” Tenmichi replied.

“The old woman next door says Toshigami-sama brings health, long life, and a prosperous harvest. Whatever ‘prosperous’ means,” Tenmichi continued.

“Correct! You’re smart,” her mother acclaimed.

Tenmichi grinned at her mother with all the cheer a six-year-old could muster.

“So, Tenmichi… what will you wish for?”

“Huh?”

“People make offerings for protection—famine, illness, bandits… what will you wish for?”

“Ehhh, nobody told me I could wish for anything!”

“Well, suppose you can. What will you ask?”

Tenmichi furrowed her small brow, thinking hard.

“Hmmmm…”

"Hm?" Her mom audibly questioned.

"HMMMM."

“No good! I can’t think of anything!”

“Oh, that’s fine, sweetie. Not like you have much on your mind yet.”

“Mom, are you saying I’m dumb?”
“Huh?! No, no!”
“Okay!!”

The wind howled through the torii gate, curling around Tenmichi’s small frame. Snowflakes dusted her eyelashes as the scent of roasted mochi drifted from the neighboring people, sweet and warm against the crisp winter air. 

At the shrine, Tenmichi and her mother knelt, eyes closed, calm and tranquil. Tenmichi’s attention, as expected, wandered. She peeked at her mother’s composed face.

“Mom’s praying really hard… I wonder what she’s asking for.”

“Maybe… that Dad comes back faster! Or… maybe that I grow up beautiful!”

"Mmm… I should make a wish too." She closed her eyes tightly, furrowed her eyebrows, and thought hard.

"Hmmmm. Dang it, I can't think of anything.

Come on.. Okay something simpler but nice. Hmm.."

“I… I wish that hunger never befalls us! Like.. ever!

Or.. I can be a responsible mom just like mine!

Or umm.. I wish..

I wish..

I can always be brave and kind, even when I feel scared or sad.

Even if scary things happen, I wish I am strong enough to never run from it, but towards it."

The wind hurls.

And it's almost as if,

It carries Tenmichi's thoughts along with it, paving it's way through the skies, soaring through everything to reach the heavens.

--

The next morning.

"Bet you can't carry all these dried fish at once!" Danjiki challenged Jinko.

A few minutes go by as the kids pant and converse after playing, “Heeehhh? That’s what you wished for?” Jinko and Danjiki asked Tenmichi.

“I personally wished for better beverages! You telling me I gotta wait until I’m super old to drink sake?!” Danjiki admitted.

Jinko muttered, “I wished my brother would come back.”

“Oh yeah, where’s your brother even at?” Tenmichi asked.

“Takayama, as far as I know.”

“Huh… what’s he doing there?”

“I don’t know. Ma and Pa say he won’t ever be back. They barely talk about him.”

“Probably hiding from your ugly face.” Danjiki joked.

“SAY THAT AGAIN GROSSY-FACE!” Jinko snapped.

“SAYS YOU, MOP-HEAD! Hahaha!!” Danjiki provoked further.

“Tch…” Jinko grunted. “Anyway… I don’t think they had a fight. Ma and Pa told me if I ever need help, I should go to him. But I don’t like that idea!”

“What do you mean? How would he help?” Tenmichi asked.

“I couldn't tell ye about that. All I know is he’s growing old and he still hasn't married, so I can’t have a sis-in-law making me mochi!” Jinko said.

“You idiot. If he married, you wouldn’t get any mochi anyway; she’d live in Takayama with him,” Danjiki replied.

A moment of silence. The whistling wind cuts through the village.

“AAAAHHHHH!! HE COULD BE MARRIED RIGHT NOW AND SHE WOULD BE MAKING NEW YEAR’S MOCHI FOR HIM, AND I WOULDN’T KNOW!! NOOO!!” Jinko raged.

Tenmichi smacked him on the head. He crouched, covering himself.

“You fool! Just grow up and get your own wife.”

“Ouuuch! WHAT'D YE DO THAT FER?! JIST FER THAT I HOPE YER MOCHI CRACKS!”

“HUH?! MOCHI CRACKING MEANS BAD FORTUNE, YOU KNOW?!”

“EXACTLY, YE FOOL!”

“Tsk… Looks like I’ll need your brother more than you, you're hopeless.” Tenmichi crosses her arms.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Jinko asks.

“To kill my father, obviously.”

Danjiki and Jinko froze.

“H-hey buddy… whatever work he’s doing in Takayama, Ma and Pa didn’t mean killin' people,” Jinko faltered.

“We are kids y'know? Who in their right mind matures so fast to say things like that?!” Danjiki added.

“But I’m serious. I saw Mom crying last night after we returned home.” Tenmichi said, her face unreadable.

Danjiki and Jinko exchanged bewildered glances.

“I can’t do it myself… I wished to be kind and brave, remember?”

“You idiot. How are you kind if you want your father assassinated?” they protested.

"Besides, what makes you think she cried 'cause your dad isn't around? She's well aware of his work and still decided to marry him." Danjiki further emphasized.

"That's the problem.."

"Huh?" Danjiki and Jinko are confused.

"My mom never mentioned anything near "marriage" when it came to talking about dad."

"What do ye mean? I ask ye." Jinko asks.

"I don't know. Sometimes I feel like mom and dad never got married in the first place." Tenmichi smiles in an odd fashion while explaining.

Danjiki and Jinko stared at Tenmichi, at a loss for words.

"Well it could be she's just uncomfortable talking about marriage to her 6 year old daughter!" 

"Yeah yeah that's what it oughta be!"

“Mmm… I guess so!

Anyway, Jinko! Danjiki! My mom's making mochi today, why don't you guys come over!"

"Now we're talkin'!" 
"Let's go! First to her house gets to eat 3 more than the others!"
"Hey don't make your own rules up!"

Jinko, Danjiki and Tenmichi make a run for her house, although it seems odd for the thoughts that run through just a 6 year old girl's head, just what has she seen and will see that shaped her this way?

The pointers of a clock still ticks in the past, but not for long, for we have to see more of,

Seiko Tenmichi.

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Afterword*: Hi guys! Firstly WOAAHHH! As of making this I have 345 views on the previous chapter like WTF? That's kind of awesome but also unsettling that almost all of the readers there have no pretext or context, but we take it! As you can see, the cover of the novel has changed and I really like this one, though I don't know if it will be a reoccurring theme to change the cover every Act. I also wanted to address something, I've proofread and heavily edited the formatting and stuff of all the previous chapters to befit to your liking, so if you haven't read those, please do me a favor and do it! Secondly, researching about festivals people would celebrate at the time is hella fun, gives a lot to the world that's being built, but with that a lot of research goes behind studying different philosophies, I will try my best to keep my excitement of not addressing them so readers can subtly understand and perhaps relate, but every character holds a distinctive philosophy (i.e Nihilism, Zen, Confucian Ren, etc.) so please keep an eye out to always enjoy the characters and what they stand for, thank you again for reading Dream Seclusion!