At the Base of the Hill

“What will you leave me when you’re gone, besides memories and well-wishes and prayers?”

“I thought that was enough.”

“Memories can’t hold a candle to you.”

“But I can’t stay. Not like you. I wouldn’t want to”

“Am I not enough?”

“I-”

There was no kind end to the thought.

As Hitode laid upon the cold tiled floor of the fish shop, he had his first calm and un-lobotomized thought. Everything was just a rowboat on dry land. Nothing was moving forward and yet, day after day, more of him was scraping itself off and being left behind.

He didn’t know who was on the boat. Only that he understood their experiences, as though told by a vague sailor who had spent far too many hours at sea.

These were the things he would talk about with Kenichi. And as he lay there for hours, looking at the wood from an old ship lining the walls, in the silence he could hear his own breath echoing. It reminded him of his friend.

He touched his lips. No, not his friend. It didn’t have a name. It merely had a feeling.

It bubbled up like an angry ocean. And yet, the boat was still without water.

He felt like sinking.

“Why isn’t he chasing us?” asked Hitomi frantically. “Why isn’t he chasing us?’

Water suddenly began pouring from the shrine doors. It smelled heavily of brine and saltwater.

“I think that gate is connected to the ocean.”

“Maybe he’s stuck at sea.”

“I don’t think so. He’s been alive for way too long to just…lose. He’ll just come back again”

“I’ll just blow the shrine up then.” Her hair began to singe.

“That’s just delaying the inevitable.”

“What do you propose then?” Hitomi raised an eyebrow.

“One night. We’ll rest, breathe, heal. Whatever we can. Hell knows we need it.”

Hitomi nodded.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“I-” she remembered Daniel’s voice. “I think we’re okay for now.”

When Hitomi got home, she tried to turn on the TV but only rainbows and static came through. She left it on just for the noise and laid down on her couch to think for a while.

“I’m not a bad person, right?” she asked the TV. “I just…wanted different things.”

“I was impulsive…I was angry but…does that make me a bad person?”

She thought about her mother who was harsh. Hitomi hated her but never thought she was a bad person. All these things ebb and flow like the pulse of white noise coming from her TV. It was never only one color of something.

Hitomi ran her hand through her short singed hair which had begun to curl at the ends–would Daniel like my hair like this, she wondered. Did she care if he did?

Her heart beat faster at the thought, but she was unsure if this was anxiety or excitement. She shut off the TV for silence and let her mind wander for a little longer.

In the silence, it felt like there was no floor and no ceiling, like her entire world had disappeared and was replaced with a clear featureless sky. The only thing keeping her in place was this feeling pecking at the back of her head. It felt like a hook digging into her skull holding her in place. She just wanted to put that hook inside of the Historian.

For the moment nothing means a thing but that.

There were no dreams that night. Just anguished schemes and planning. When the sun rose the next day, they rendezvoused at the fish monger’s shop, eyes the same shade of angry red.

“So where do we begin?”

Hitode sighed. “We’re going to need a boat.”

“How big?”

“...a smaller boat.”

It wasn’t hard to find a boat. They were already by the water. However, Kenichi’s boat was a little too large to get on land.

“Why can’t we just look for where the gate dropped us before?”

“It’s never in the exact same place. It could take us weeks or months to find him and by then he could have already made his move.

“If that’s the case, why don’t we blow up the shrine?”

“Because we want this to end, not to go away.”

“Alright.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s not okay. I need your resolve in this. Not you running.”

“So let’s share our doubts now.”

“Huh?”

“We need to know each other’s moment of weakness so that when the time comes for the final blow, if we can land one, then we do not hesitate. Because shots like that come only once and rarely again against immortals.”

“Ugh, fine!” Hitomi. “Part of me doesn’t want to kill him because I’m…I’m afraid that everything I’ve done, the way I’ve lived just...stops having meaning.”

“Is that all?”

“Yeah and he’s immortal and so I don’t actually know how we’ll deal with him.”

“Just leave that to me.”

“How about you then?”

“What about me?”

“What are your misgivings?”

“He killed someone I loved,” said Hitode. “You of all people should know I need no other reason.”

“I didn’t kill you.”

“You’re kind. I’m not.”

Hitode angrily ripped an old chunk off Kenichi’s old boat.

“Let’s go back to the fish shop.I have an idea.”

The fish in the tanks watched as they began tearing the displays off the wall, filling the shop with dust and chipped paint.

“Do you think Kenichi would’ve been okay with this?” asked Hitomi.

“I’m sure he would’ve been happy to see the old family boat get used one last time.”

They dragged the pieces together in a sack up the hill. The flow of water had increased to that of a small waterfall, with it slightly flooding at the base of the hill.

When they reached the top, the clearing where the shrine was placed was half submerged, with a pool of serene water surrounding its entirety with a polished reflection of the sky, like a bit of mirror glass.

They assembled the boat by the water, shoddily hammering it back together, A nail fell into the pool, revealing that the pool was reflecting a separate sky.

“Was there ever a time magic was truly magical for you?” asked Hitomi

“Once,” said Hitode…then I started getting stabbed. You?”

“When I was younger, before my mom started yelling at me, I think most things were magical to me. Although truly magical things are scary.”

“I don’t think it’s magical once it becomes scary. That’s just plain danger. Magic is when the scary thing stops being so…scary.”

They finished the boat by midday. The sun was high but dark clouds were already moving in. The boat was hardly perfect, but it floated without leaks.

Hitode stepped into the boat, gently distributing his weight so it wouldn't tip over. The boat dipped slightly but remained afloat.

“My turn.”

Hitomi swung her leg over as best she could without tripping. The boat rocked back and forth violently. She quite nearly fell into the water if it weren’t for Hitode’s timely intervention.

“That was close.”

“Indeed.”

“Do you think he’s done any prep at all?”

As the Historian drifted towards the watery depths, he was reminded of a whalefall. A whalefall, as he recalled it, was an event that involved the death of a whale and its vast ecological and environmental effects.

As a being of great stature and size, its death brought along with it countless scavengers and creatures, bringing in an entire food chain's worth.

Watching his compatriots drift to the bottom, he could see those dark yokai coming in to feed on their bodies. Inspired, he decided, he should probably do the same.

I’m not quite sure what one can do to prepare themselves in the ocean. But I will be vigilant.”

“I’ll?”

“How much do you weigh again?”

“That’s a bit of a personal question, don’t you think?’

“Nevermind, I’ll just chuck you.”

Hitode, with relative ease, flung his smaller companion back to shore.

“I didn’t ask for this, alright? He did.”

“Who?’

“You know exactly who.”