Car Call

Many teens can’t wait to move out of their childhood home.

Unfortunately for Ryoma, he wasn’t one of them.

There was a part of him that didn’t want to leave Tokyo, but he knew he had to. There was no place for him to stay in the big city. At least, not a place that would let him be close to family.

The boy stared out the window of his aunt’s packed car as restaurants and buildings he went to as a child passed by.

He remembered how scared he had been when he first saw the skyscrapers looming over him as a kid. Then out of nowhere, seeing them made him theorize that the buildings were actually alien mechas who would protect the city from evil. That had to be why the buildings were so tall and scary, he thought. Because of that, the boy saluted toward the buildings before walking away.

Ryoma wanted to chuckle at that childish belief. Despite being nineteen, ‌part of him still believed in that far-fetched theory.

Meanwhile, sitting next to Ryoma was his aunt, Satsuki, who clenched her teeth and slammed on the horn, honking at the car in front of them.

“Hello?! Wake up, mister! Stop staring at your phone!”

Satsuki scoffed as they continued down the street.

“This is why I can’t stand the city!” she said. “There’s idiots all around. Not to mention the sad energy surrounding this place."

Ryoma glanced at his aunt.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked politely.

His aunt Satsuki sat up.

“See, there’s a lot of people who try to make it big in the city. They want to get a good job, have a nice place to live, and… get married.”

Satsuki shuddered at those last words.

“Oh, ew,” she spat. How terrifying.

“What’s so wrong with getting married?” the boy laughed.

Aunt Satsuki shot her most disgusting glare at him.

“Don’t start that talk with me now, boy. You know firsthand just why I’m so wary of marriage.”

Ryoma knew what she meant by that. She was talking about his parent’s marriage.

It was messy, to say the least.

But that was a long time ago.

Ryoma hadn’t heard of his mother since he started middle school.

All of that drama was behind him now.

So, the boy pressed his back against the seat.

“Yeah, I understand. I don’t think I can ever see myself getting married.”

“That makes two of us,” his aunt Satsuki scoffed. “But anyway, what I’m trying to say about all this sad energy stuff is that people come to the city with their hopes and dreams. But ‌not everyone achieves it. So the sadness of that reality lingers in the area, which sucks because it’s not only bad for your spiritual energy, but for your skin as well.”

Satsuki dabbed at her perfectly smooth cheeks. Breaking out was the last thing Ryoma would ever expect his aunt to worry about. He never saw his aunt with a pimple in his life.

To him, with how well-groomed and dressed she was, he saw her as a sort of diva, but there was more to it than just that.

Satsuki was a woman whose appearance and personality argued that a woman’s peak could never be in her twenties.

She was an icon, so to speak, as well as Ryoma’s role model for how she carried herself with such confidence and bravado in any situation—though the boy could never admit it outright.

Staring out the window once more, the two drove forward.

At some point, Ryoma moved to say something, when suddenly, his Aunt Satsuki slammed on the brakes.

The boy sprang forward and gasped. The words in his mind flung forward with him, and out of his head. He didn’t know what to say.

But his Aunt Satsuki did.

“What’s the big idea?!” she screamed, slamming on the horn repeatedly.

“You were practically speeding the whole way here, and yet the moment the light turns yellow you go ham on the brakes?! How does that make sense?!”

From the backseat, which was crowded with boxes of clothes, household objects, bags, and a wooden katana pushed to the side, a bent spoon sprung towards the front, hitting Satsuki’s purse at the center console.

Satsuki glared at the nasty object.

“Speaking of things that don’t make sense! Ryoma! Are you seriously bringing all this garbage down to my place?!”

“It’s not garbage,” Ryoma shot back.

“Oh, come on.” Satsuki raised the spoon. “This thing is bent and dirty! It’s the definition of garbage!”

“That’s my dad’s favorite spoon!” Ryoma said, snatching the spoon from her. “I can’t throw that away!”

Satsuki then reached back towards the boxes of clothes.

“Then what about this shirt!” she yelled, raising it. “At least throw this one away! It has holes, for crying out loud!” Particularly at the bottom of the shirt.

“No way!” Ryoma said.

He snatched the shirt from her as well.

“My dad wore this every week. It’s his special shirt! And it’s not garbage, so stop calling it that!”

Ryoma’s voice grew colder with every word.

Satsuki glanced at the boy’s eyes. There was a twinge of anger but an ocean of grief.

It had only been three months since Ryoma’s father had passed away, and only a few weeks since the two lost track of his cursed-spirit. To Ryoma, these boxes were the only items that kept his memories alive.

And Satsuki knew that.

She turned to the road and sighed.

Man, did she feel like a jerk.

Her expression softened.

“Okay. I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have gotten angry like that.”

The anger in Ryoma’s eyes faded.

“It’s alright, Auntie. I feel the same way.”

He apologized shortly after.

“But—” Satsuki went on, “I only said those things because I worry about you.”

Worried, huh?

Ryoma turned to the window.

He didn’t say a word, and neither did his aunt.

The two drove in awkward silence.

Ryoma thought about Satsuki’s words. She was right to an extent. Keeping so many mundane items from his father’s apartment may be going a bit overboard.

But at the same time, these were his father’s belongings. How could Ryoma throw any of it away? Every one of his dad’s items had value to him. He was sure of it. Even the spoon that Ryoma argued to keep. Because that was how his father viewed the world. With an infectious smile and a pair of eyes that could find value and joy in anything and anyone he came across.

It was his superpower in a way. A superpower that Ryoma wished he had.

The two drove forward.

In the awkward silence, Ryoma’s mind flashed images of his father and how his spirit had formed into something so dark, so hateful, and so unlike him.

It was unfair. His father’s spirit should’ve passed on. He was originally a loving spirit. Once he made amends with his death and saw that his loved ones were safe and secure, ‌his spirit should’ve passed on.

At least, that’s what Aunt Satsuki told Ryoma. She told him over the phone that she was able to have one last conversation with his father and had gained some closure.

She even told him that his father was going to speak with him next.

But then the Leech came and filled his mind with anguish, his eyes with anger.

Those energies grew stronger, and in minutes, his spirit cracked and corrupted.

And all the while, Ryoma was away—visiting his grandma to comfort her about his father’s passing.

Ryoma’s eyes softened.

He should’ve been there. That’s what the boy would think from time to time. But he knew that being with his grandma was the right choice to make.

Still, Ryoma always wondered if he could’ve made a difference if he had been there with his aunt. Though he knew the soul-crushing answer to that.

His mind flashed back to when he and his aunt chased his father and the Leech. He remembered the horde of cursed-spirits that surrounded him.

He remembered the pain in his lungs and the way his knees trembled when he saw his father’s spirit in the back of the group, watching what would’ve been his last moments with hatred in his once kind eyes.

If it weren’t for his Aunt Satsuki, then…

Ryoma sighed.

He didn’t want to think about it any longer. It was all in the past now. They did all that they could back then. There was no point in getting sad or angry.

Gripping the wheel, Satsuki glanced at the boy, hoping that he wasn’t so hurt by her words.

“Ryoma,” she then said.

“Hm?”

“Get my phone and play a song for me, will you? Any song will do.”

As long as it lifted the mood and dispelled all this negative energy, then Satsuki was alright with any genre of music—even death metal.

“Okay,” Ryoma said.

He dug through Satsuki’s purse and played some classical music.

Satsuki tapped her finger over and over on the wheel.

“You know, Ryoma, you could play any song you want, right?”

“I know,” the boy said. “This is what I want to listen to. Do you not like it?”

“I do,” she lied. “But I didn’t think you’d enjoy something like this.”

His aunt then sighed.

“Oh well. At least it’s something to calm me down after dealing with all these idiots on the road.”

The two hummed along to the music as they continued driving. Their destination was ‌Satsuki’s apartment all the way in Kanagawa.

That was until Satsuki’s phone started ringing.

The boy’s aunt kept her eyes on the road.

“Who is it, boy?”

Ryoma tilted his head.

“I don’t know. All it says is Boss with a bunch of devil emojis.”

“Oh, my goodness. That’s one of the monks from the temple. Come on, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!”

“Okay. Okay.”

Ryoma paused the music and brought his aunt’s phone close to her.

“Hello? Boss, is that you?” his aunt asked.

“Yeah, it’s me. I've got important news for you, Satsuki. Are you busy?” His voice was deep and without a hint of playfulness.

“No, not at all,” Satsuki replied. “I’m with my nephew, that's all. So, what’s going on?”

The boss went quiet. Then he spoke.

“Me and the other monks have news about the Leech’s location, as well as her underlings.”

Ryoma’s heart ached at those words. Then there was heat. A heat that grew from the pit of his stomach and a heat that rose through his chest.

Everything. He needed to know everything about this! But he remained silent. He needed to stay level-headed.

His aunt Satsuki peered at her nephew’s face and saw the blaze that flickered in his pupils.

She knew what the boy was going through. She felt the same way herself, but her anger was nowhere near the same level as Ryoma’s. Because to her, this wasn’t something to get angry over. No, this was something to celebrate.

The boy’s aunt smiled.

“Where is she?” Satsuki asked.

Where was the wench who took her brother?