And Takashi

~~~❤️~~~

Two fearful yet excited youths walked along the narrow path of the Inari shrine. Cold stone statues stood as the only witnesses to the impromptu rendezvous between Takashi and Nao, portrayed in the Underworld just where conscious Takashi and Inari were.

"Just like your first day in Takachiho, that night Nao decided to bring you to my shrine," Inari continued explaining.

Both figures in the illusion clasped their hands in front of the Inari statue, slowly closing their eyes.

"Inari," Nao spoke up, her voice carrying a mix of hope and longing. "Grant Takashi all the luck he deserves, and let his dreams come true."

A small smile played on Takashi's lips, his pose unwavering. "Inari, may Nao find her place in the world and be surrounded by happiness and love."

Their eyes met, blush painting their cheeks, both visibly softened and content.

"Shall we?" Nao asked.

"Yes," Takashi replied. Nao hadn't hesitated to extend her hand, her fingers intertwining with Takashi's, brimming with excitement. Another meeting of intense gazes accompanied the firm grip, conveying what words couldn't.

"She's so lovely," thought the observing Takashi, admiring not only Nao's beauty but also the genuine happiness in the illusion's Takashi.

"From that moment on, Takashi, you also became my protege. And naturally, I watched every move you made at the festival."

The atmosphere shifted once again, stunning Takashi while transporting him to the festival's main street. Ahead of him, the illusion couple walked with dreamy gazes, radiant smiles, and abundant joy.

"Why do you prefer dogs?" Nao could barely speak through her giggles.

"Huh? Come on! Cats are hard to catch!" Takashi at her side tugged her hand, bumping shoulders and prompting an endearing reaction from both. They separated slightly but kept smiling, still holding hands.

"Despite all your reservations, your shyness, and your anguish, you made Nao laugh like she hadn't in a long time. She stopped believing that the person beside her would hurt her, realizing those fears were unfounded."

"But... I did live all of this, right?" Both of them stood just a few meters away from the couple, able to hear their conversation.

"Oh? What's wrong, Nao?"

The memory Takashi noticed his companion's gaze fixated on a beautiful silver necklace with a delicate pendant shaped like a soft pink and white flower, a prize in the ring-toss game. The very same necklace from the third day. He looked away, which Takashi recognized as his fear of failure, but resolved.

"One, please!"

Takashi threw the hoop and scored a hit.

"Congratulations!" the booth attendant exclaimed, handing over the necklace.

Takashi gripped it and offered it to Nao. "Here, it's for you."

A blush ignited on Nao's cheeks like kindling, and a smile spread across her face. "Thank you. Can you help me put it on?"

Just as in his room before, Nao turned around, allowing Takashi to fasten the necklace around her neck, the pendant resting against her yukata's neckline.

"It... looks beautiful on you," Takashi's own cheeks now matched her rosy hue, if not more.

And suddenly, Takashi felt a déjà vu, as only his duplicate in the memory began to walk.

"Is something wrong?"

Nao turned fearfully towards him, hesitating.

"Do you remember when she wanted to win the necklace for you too?"

“As if I wouldn't remember such a beautiful moment, Inari.”

"No. Let's go," Nao simply said.

"She didn’t try. It really is different."

"But despite all her barriers, she wanted to be with you. Even if you lived in another city, even if you left that same night, her desire was to stay with you."

The scene changed once more. The secret hideout on the hill appeared, filled with fireworks painting the sky as a backdrop. The scene he had seen while in the shrine appeared: The illusion’s Takashi looking ahead, but Nao looking at him beside him.

"You were looking at the fireworks, genuinely happy for having met her. But she couldn't take her eyes off you. What she had felt in the park had grown much stronger, and that's why she tried to do something."

Nao approached him slowly, seeking his lips. Takashi seemed not to have even noticed.

"She wanted to kiss me," whispered the actual Takashi.

"Yes. And she really wanted to, but she didn't succeed."

Nao looked at him with longing eyes before stepping back to where she had been before.

"Again, something in her heart prevented her from doing it, maybe the fear of losing you. And yet, she enjoyed every second she was by your side, and her heart skipped a beat when she got excited about 'growing together.'"

Takashi remembered the warmth he felt in his chest when, in the infirmary, he remembered that same phrase from Inari.

"Do you want me to... see you again?" asked the memory Takashi, a Takashi full of doubts.

And there it was; the glimmer in Nao's eyes. That gleam she always had when she smiled, excited, radiating warmth to everyone around her.

"Yes. I'll be waiting for you," she replied.

The atmosphere had become serene and calm after the fireworks had ended, only their hearts beating a thousand times per hour emitting some noise.

"And thus, with a little help from me, a new couple had formed. You still had to confess, but you really liked each other. And I hoped that the next time you met, after a separation, you would open your hearts and stay together for a long time."

"I don't understand," Takashi took a step forward, as if wanting to embrace the girl. "Why didn't I do so? Why didn't we grow together?"

"Because, Takashi..." the grief in Inari's voice grew larger. "Someone else had plans."

Takashi still didn't understand, but he didn't ask, overwhelmed by his strong astonishment.

"The team left Takachiho in the early hours of the morning, as Shiraito decided to get drunk and sleep for a while instead of celebrating something that hadn't been achieved, and since the main road tunnel was under construction, they had to take the alternate route before it flooded due to the heavy storm. By that time, the festival was over, and I couldn't do anything."

"Do anything?"

A new scene change brought them to a street in the suburbs of Takachiho. The peaceful calm of the night reigned in the village, but from there they could hear the multiple sirens of emergency vehicles heading to one of the nearby mountains. From kilometers away, the flashes of ambulances and the thundering of a helicopter interrupted the serene closure of the festival.

"Izanami, the deity of death and the Underworld, decided to undo my work in the cruelest way."

It took Takashi a moment to realize they were outside Nao's house. He realized it when she ran out and stood in front of him, watching the situation in terror.

"No..."

Immediately, she took out her phone, and Takashi approached as he noticed she was hyperventilating. The chat between them showed cute emojis exchanged as their last messages, at least until Nao finished typing through tears:

What happened? You are okay, right?

"While the whole village was asleep after the festival, the bus carrying Tsuno's team back home lost its brakes without warning. Shiraito couldn't react in the storm, and the bus fell off the cliff on the first curve into the riverbed."

Everything changed again. Now Takashi saw Takachiho, but from the mountain. A priest was leading a procession under a cloudy morning sky, the atmosphere so gloomy that no other sound could be heard.

"In this solemn procession, we raise our voices to Inari, the protector of souls..."

The priest's words echoed in his ears without importance. Takashi approached the small memorial, crouching to get a clear look at the photos hanging from it. Of the twenty there, he focused on the ones that caught his attention the most. “Shiraito. Kenjiro. Hiroshi. Jun...” His mind froze when he saw, near the center, the photo of a boy with black hair and a gentle smile. The caption read, "Takashi Ueda."

"No passenger survived the accident."

The wind made him feel a deep chill, not from the cold cloudy weather, but from the horror of the scene. As if his soul was separating from his body, ironically. He had died. He had died, but now he didn't cry, or scream. He just stood there in silence, stunned, until he turned to the crowd. There, in the front row, with heavy, lifeless eyes, she was.

"Amidst the pain, Nao closed off, not telling anyone about their relationship. She couldn't help it when she saw that the only person she had opened up to and decided to trust, the person she wanted to change with... was gone forever, and she couldn't do anything about it."

A new distortion took them to Nao's dark room, where she lay on the futon with the phone in front of her face.

"Nao became even more withdrawn than before. She cried at night when she agonized over her behavior because maybe it would have been different with you. She asked for my help again and again, longing for it all to have been a nightmare and for you to show up with a thousand roses at her house. But slowly she lost the ability to trust because she knew, or believed, that everything would fall apart in a second, like her relationship and her own heart."

“That everything would fall apart...” Takashi recognized that behavior. "I used to think that way when things went wrong in soccer. But Nao..."

"She had lost you, yes. And I know what you're thinking. Your worries were nothing compared to hers."

That's exactly what Takashi thought, and he was speechless. The pain intensified a thousand times.

"It's not fair for you to think that way, anyway. We all carry our own cross, and no one's to blame for it. But I understand why. After all, she also felt guilt. Many nights she thought, 'What if I had invited him to spend the night? What if I had kissed him, would he have stayed?' Always looking at the senryu in her notebook: 'Amidst obstacles, your light shines brightly. Never give up.'"

"It wasn't her fault."

"Neither was it yours that she died."

Takashi opened his eyes, hit by a sad realization.

"The reason I chose both of you, Takashi, is because you both suffered the same way. You rejected and closed off from one another for no reason. But when the other did it, everything seemed to hurt less because it's easier to forgive others than to forgive oneself. No one should try to carry the world with their hands."

That was the consolation from Inari that always made him feel better. Why not at that moment?

"But I had to watch, helplessly, as so many people felt sadness for that injustice. Your parents, who were devastated by your departure. The families of your teammates and teachers, shattered. The neighbors of Takachiho, after living through a sad event, decided not to organize the tournament again."

"And..."

"Despite that, what hurt me the most was watching Nao. That girl who, like a beautiful abandoned flower, withered every day, closing off, without asking for help. The very afternoon she met you, she had gone to the shrine to ask me to help her change her life. And when it really mattered, I couldn't protect her."

Inari paused, just as they were beside each other. Perhaps it was an illusion within the illusion they were in, but Takashi swore he saw a tear run down Inari's face beneath her left eye.

"I couldn't do anything for a year, but when the new festival started... I decided to fight back."

Another transitional noise, now more gradual and relieving, brought them back to that hill at sunset, the sun almost setting.

"Fight..."

Takashi emerged from the confusion that had been tormenting him, and a sudden clarity came to his mind. A clarity he might have wished he didn't have because it made him remember what Inari had told him a few moments ago.

'The reason I chose both of you.'

"No..."

"For the last memory, you'll have to go to Nao's house, where she is being kept prisoner. You’ll... Takashi!"

He didn't care about anything else and ran off quickly. He started dodging the yūrei as if they were ants on the ground, because he no longer cared about his fears. He had to rescue Nao.

“Nao... you...”

But now he wasn't sure from what.

“This can't be...”

His determination shielded him in some way, but the shadows again grew larger and denser. There was something that hurt him more than facing death, even more than confronting it. More than not having been able to help Nao beyond her fears, of which he knew very little.

You let her die.

His fears returned like a hurricane, stronger than ever.

Not because she couldn’t save him, but because he couldn't save her in time.