"Love Lost on Me"

Shigeko wasn’t entirely idle as April turned to May. Supernatural injuries required supernatural cures, and shrine maidens such as her had plenty to choose from. The rot on her flank was most likely lich infection, caused when a weakened body was injured by contact with ghosts, and Shigeko had been contacted with extreme prejudice twice now. As for a weakened body, well, they say those who are lonely die earlier.

For the cure, Shigeko applied miko potions consisting of knotweed and mugwort, growing wild in the hill meadows not too far from the shrine. Her mother once tended to a garden at the shine itself, but it had fallen into disarray following the various tragedies of Shigeko's life. 

So imagine Shigeko’s surprise when she heard the sound of Dick struggling with a hoe. She opened a back window of the house and saw him carving through the dirt of the wild garden, a pile of vines and weeds previously hacked away and pulled out towering high next to him.

“Dikkun,” she called out, but Dick wore headphones and seemed lost in his own little Dick world. When he finished using the hoe, he tossed it aside, and raised an arm. It was covered entirely with bandages, exactly as it was during the fight with Hanako. Dick began shadow-boxing, sneakers bouncing across the overgrown section of the dirt, practicing his footwork amid the snarls and snags of the weeds and vines.

“Dikkun!”

This time, Dick finally heard her, and removed the headphones, letting them rest around his neck. “Hey, Shigeko. What’s up?”

“What are you doing in my garden?”

“Ehhhh? Earlier in class today, you told me it would be great if someone would fix it up for you.”

“Nani? I don’t remember saying that.” Shigeko rubbed her temples. She found it increasingly hard to focus nowadays.

“Eh-heh-heh…well, you said it after I asked to go inside your house.”

“I-I was just deflecting you, then!”

“But you also said gardening would be good for training.”

“That’s right,” said the Old Man. It was the height of August then, and the tomato plants standing proud and tall in the garden were ripe for plucking.

“But why,” Shigeko asked, fidgeting with her yellow elementary school hat. “It’s just gardening. What do tomatoes have to do with fighting?”

“Everything is about the physical with you,” the Old Man explained. “But you’ll only be physically healthy once the mind is healed first. And you see…”

The Old Man knelt and gently tugged on a plant, pulling off a plump tomato. Shigeko exhaled and smiled when she saw her own reflection on its surface.

He nodded. “Before Zen - chop wood, carry water. After Zen - chop wood, carry water.”

“Tomatoes,” Shigeko suddenly mumbled.

“Huh?”

“Tomatoes would be quite nice for the garden.” And then Shigeko shut the blinds to the window.

BRILLIANT

BATTLE

FIRST CORINTHIANS

Shigeko still refused to come out of the house, and her injuries forced her to sit often. She couldn’t tell if she was feeling better or not. She usually didn’t feel anything. But she did usually sit near the window, or the opened front door, gazing outside, watching Dick meditate, or fix up the garden, or sweep the courtyard, or bring her manga, or konbini food, or just talk about their day together. The days seem to blend together warmly in the sun of late spring.

“Matte, matte, matte,” Shigeko realized, a copy of My Government Death Squad Couldn’t Possibly Be This Cute in her hands, gentle May breeze on her face, her injuries feeling okay, Dick in the courtyard bobbing and weaving, hitting the practice dummies that she let him haul out of the shed. “This is all wrong. This is making me weak.”

Dick didn’t hear her, of course, since he had his usual headphones on. Shigeko wouldn’t let him practice with the ofuda paper talismans yet, wanting him to work on his form and gather up his strength, since using magic without proper training could lead to utter catastrophe. The deal with the fire talisman while fighting Hanako was a one-time thing and rather risky. If it went the wrong way, Dick would’ve felt a strong burning sensation, if not catching on fire entirely.

But this right here! Wanting to train Dick and all…

“That’s wrong,” said Shigeko. The Old Man was in the hospital because he was elderly and ill. Shigeko stood at his bedside. “Strength isn’t peace, and strength isn’t kindness. You’re the kindest man I know. So was okaa-san and otou-san. If you’re all so strong, why do you all leave me!”

The Old Man spoke gently. “Because we all have a time to go. For some, it’s earlier than others.”

“But why do kind people die, while cruel people live?”

“Because that’s the way it goes sometimes. We must make peace with that fact, and strive to be kind while we can.”

“Who cares about kindness? Who cares about what goes on in your mind? Physical strength is all that matters. You say okaa-san was at peace, but if she was stronger…”

And then Shigeko stopped, because that's when she noticed the single tear rolling down the Old Man's face.

“I have served your family for generations,” he said. “I watched your okaa-san grow from a little girl into a strong woman. She may have died young, but she lived her life kindly, and that kindness continues to make an impact, even after she’s gone. No one’s ever truly gone.”

“What impact?”

“She allowed an old man who had lost his way, after his own daughter died, to remain at the shrine, even as he shirked his duties and strained the temple finances with his uselessness. And she helped this man recover, and now this man is still here, helping another girl, the most precious girl in the world to your okaa-san, grow into a woman of her own.”

Shigeko gritted her teeth and looked away. “I don’t need your help. You’re leaving me, too.”

“Dikkun,” Shigeko called out.

It took a bit, and Shigeko had to raise her voice, but Dick finally heard her and removed his blocky headphones.

“Mattaku,” Shigeko mumbled. “You’re gonna go deaf, wearing those things. How can you train with those on, anyway?”

“Music will transform you!” Dick proclaimed. “What kind of music do you like?”

“I don’t listen to music. I find it trite.”

Dick chortled. “I’m not surprised. Then take these. I’ve been meaning to buy a newer retro version anyway.”

He scooped out his antiquated personal music player from his pocket, and together with the headphones, tossed them to Shigeko. Unfortunately, his arm was off, and unfortunately, his bandaged chuuni arm had grown quite strong now, and the projectiles merely succeeded in smashing through one of the house's windows.

“...eh-heh-heh.”

“Mattaku,” Shigeko muttered. But then she shook her head, tired of tangents. “Dikkun…I’m sorry, but you need to stop coming here after school.”

Of course, right on cue, storm clouds gathered overhead. Rainy season was upon Higashikatsushika.

Dick blinked. “Eh? What’s up?”

“Well…don’t you have basketball practice?”

“...I come here after basketball practice!”

“What about homework?”

“I do that after training here!”

“Then what about sleep?”

“After watching anime!”

“Mattaku,” Shigeko said again, aware she was becoming a broken record. “Truly, Dikkun, why do you insist on coming here day after day?”

Dick rubbed the back of his neck. “Eh…aren’t we friends? We fought Hanako together, after all. And we’ve been talking about gardening, and manga, and training, and you look a little less pale and green each day now, and I swear, I might’ve even seen you smile once or twice along the way.”

“But I’m the shinigami, that’s what they call me. You don’t want to be associated with me.”

“What nonsense is that? Those who bully are scum, that’s true…but those who turn their back on their friends are worse than scum!”

Shigeko’s face grew bright red, and steam billowed from her ears. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you see what I’m trying to say! What’s the point of being friends if you’re just gonna leave at the end of the year?”

Dick paused. “I guess I never really considered that…it seems so far off.”

“It’ll be here in the blink of an eye. And then we’ll go our separate ways, and we’ll each be so sad, so sad that it’s not even worth having that friendship in the first place. You’d just be another person I’d grow close to, only to leave me.”

“Shigeko…”

Thunder clapped in the distance, and then a few seconds later, the rain began. The drops felt angry, sharp drops splattering with a vengeance all across the city, the peak of the intensity seemingly concentrated on the temple courtyard. Dick’s blonde hair grew damp and lost its spikiness, flattening out, droplets streaming down his face.

“If that’s how you feel…hah, I’m sorry." Dick rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes. "This is just like me. I get way too excited and rush into things. I didn’t realize this was bothering you so much.”

He bowed. “Thank you for everything, Shigeko. I’ll respect your wishes, and leave your life.”

Shigeko said nothing. She simply watched him go, disappearing into the wall of rain down the shrine steps, leaving the empty courtyard behind, just a sighing Shigeko and the window he broke. Shigeko glanced at it, seeing the way the water ran down the shards, her reflections glancing back at her in a thousand shattered ways. Guess that’s why they call it window pane.

BRILLIANT

BATTLE

FIRST CORINTHIANS

The rain lasted all night. Shigeko lay in bed, her side hurting more than ever. The dreariness of rainy season usually brought along a few nefarious water spirits, especially along the riverside, that would need to be cleaned up before they used their siren charms on any civilians. Groaning, she retrieved her wooden Statue of Inari from her bedside, and ran a thumb along her detailed features. She made a light cut along the splintered snag, a drop of blood now on Inari’s face.

The Scythe of a Thousand Truths struggled into existence. There was minimal lightning, and the weapon itself appeared smaller than usual. She felt it was a sad, pathetic display, for a sad, pathetic girl. “Even you’re leaving me too, huh…” She let the scythe retreat back into its natural statue form.

Shigeko put the statue back on the nightstand, only for her fingers to brush across Dick’s Walkman and headphones. With nothing better to do, she put on the headphones, stopping for a moment as she felt Dick’s scent wash over her. He smelled like sweat and a young summer. She pressed play and closed her eyes.

Yeah, she so nasty.

Yeah, she so nasty.

Yeah, she so nasty.

Yeah, she so nasty.

Yeah, she so nasty.

Yeah, she so nasty.

Yeah, she so nasty.

But then…

Sasuke,

Sasuke,

Sasuke,

Sasuke,

Sasuke,

Sasuke.

This is not no Naruto, but I chop that like Sasuke.

Shigeko found herself no longer in bed, but floating away entirely, the room disappearing, carried by soft musical notes along waves of hi-hats and synth-drums, the sky the same the deep blue color as the ocean below, so blue that you couldn’t tell where sky ended and ocean began, and then Shigeko rested along a cloud, finding that the more she let the notes into her heart, the more beautiful the world became, because as Dick said, music can transform you.

“That’s right,” said the Old Man. It was springtime then, and the two sat on the grass by the riverside, sakura swirling around them. A local band was playing at a gazebo further down the river, and the music drifted over here, lapping at Shigeko’s face.

She decided not to ask why this time, because she didn’t need to.

When the song ended, Shigeko paused the music player and removed the headphones.

“Why…why am I crying?”

She looked through the window, seeing the garden out there, little tomato spouts poking their heads out from the dirt. She wanted to see the tomatoes grow up, and she wanted Dick to see them as well. But she wanted the Old Man to see her grow up, and he didn’t. So Shigeko closed the blinds and rolled over into an uncomfortable sleep.

She failed to notice the girl in the fox mask crouching on a tree branch, mutely studying the shrine through the darkness.