Blessing of the Spirits

by Yuri Kitayama

  Prologue: Endo Suzune

  One rainy day, when the skies were pouring down from above...

  “Weh... hic... sniffle...”

  It was a little before the afternoon turned to evening— at the time, I was still in the third grade of elementary school... and I was crying on the bus after school.

  The school was far from my house, which was why I normally took the train to school. But on days with heavy rain like this, I often ended up taking the bus instead.

  Today was a little different from all those other days, though.

  After exerting all of my energy at the athletic meet, the movements of the bus lulled me to sleep. When I woke up, I found myself staring at unfamiliar scenery outside. As an elementary school student, I wasn’t given any extra pocket money to use—only the bare minimum needed.

  I immediately fell into a panic, and naturally burst into tears.

  That was when an older boy, around university-age, noticed my demeanor and called out to me with a gentle voice.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Hweh...?”

  My body twitched with a start, and I looked up at him. He seemed like a really cool, like... an older brother. He smiled softly, as though he was reassuring me.

  “Did you get on the wrong bus?”

  “Huh? Ah, no... I missed my stop...”

  “Oh, I see. Where were you meant to get off?”

  I sounded a little surprised when I responded, but the boy took it in stride as he continued to ask me questions.

  “T-The park at the third district...”

  “Got it. Then let’s get off at the next stop. I’ll take you to the stop closest to your house.”

  “...O-Okay.”

  While I had been taught at home and at school not to follow strangers, I didn’t hesitate to trust this person completely. I was overly excited at how he was just like a hero in those popular shoujo manga, appearing out of nowhere to save me, the main character. But...

  “Ah, I don’t have... any money...”

  I immediately remembered the fact that I didn’t have any money on me.

  “It’s all right,” the boy said, smiling and gently shaking his head. Once we arrived at the next bus stop, he paid for my share of the bus fare and we both got off. Then, he headed towards the opposite bus stop and stared at the timetable. I was very nervous, so I silently watched his back.

  “The next bus will be here soon, so let’s wait together.”

  “O-Okay!”

  Looking back on it now, I should have thanked him for paying for me. But I was so nervous at the time that I rudely forgot to. In the end, I remained silent and stared at the floor as my heart thumped in my chest—

  “You shouldn’t really follow strange adults anywhere, but this is an emergency. Forgive me,” the older boy suddenly said with a strained smile. He probably mistook my continued silence for suspicion towards him.

  “N-No! That’s... That’s not it!”

  I tried to deny it in a hurry, but my fluster seemed to cement it instead. After that, the older boy kept talking to me so that I wouldn’t feel awkward. It was considerate of him... But I was so embarrassed, my answers were all over the place.

  Just like that, time flew by and we arrived at the bus stop closest to my house.

  “Will you be okay from here?”

  “Huh? Ah...”

  It was like a spell had been lifted, dropping me back into reality.

  This is... goodbye?

  No. I still haven’t said thank you—people often told me I had a meek personality, but I never felt it more strongly than in this moment. That was why...

  “I-I! I have to thank you! For the bus fare!” I blurted out without realizing.

  “It’s fine— don’t worry about it. Bye now.” He shook his head as though declaring that his job was done here.

  “Ah... no...”

  Watching the older boy’s retreating back, I squeezed out those words with a voice on the verge of tears. I had so many things I wanted to tell him, yet I hadn’t said a single word of them to him.

  “Ah... Umm. I guess I’ll accept your gratitude?” He said in a slight panic at seeing me about to burst into tears.

  “T-Thank you very m-much...!” I tried to respond in a hurry and stumbled over my words from nervousness.

  Then, the older boy giggled... I was really embarrassed.

  “T-Thank you very much...” I repeated once more, blushing furiously. I didn’t stumble this time.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Y-Yes. It’s... this way.” I said, leading the older boy to my house. It was a one minute walk from the bus stop. Once we arrived, I rang the familiar doorbell. Mom came outside immediately.

  “Welcome home, Suzune... What’s wrong?” Mom looked between me and the boy in confusion.

  “Mom! We... we have to thank him! This boy saved me, and...!” Overwhelmed, I let out a jumble of words that confused Mom even more.

  “Actually...”

  The boy filled out my explanation by explaining the situation to Mom.

  “Oh my, we must have caused you a lot of trouble then. Thank you so much.” Mom bowed her head deeply and thanked him. “No, I’m just glad I was able to safely bring her here. I shall take my leave, then...” The older boy tried to politely excuse himself.

  “Oh, would you like to stay for tea?” Mom called out to him. Nice one, Mom!— I rejoiced quietly in my head. “I’m sorry, but I have a shift at work now. I appreciate the thought, though. Thank you.”

  He had something to do after this and needed to leave immediately. Mom went back inside for a moment to grab some money for the bus fare, then tried to offer him a little more. The older boy tried to respectfully reject her, but Mom forcefully handed it to him in the end. He thanked us rather apologetically and left.

  “What a nice man.” Mom said, watching him walk away.

  “Yeah...”

  That wasn’t all. He was really cool, too.

  “And he was really cool, too, wasn’t he Suzune?” Mom said, as though she had read my mind.

  “Yeah... huh?” Strung along, I nodded without thinking. I looked up at Mom in a panic to see her grinning back at me. Of course, I flushed again at that.

  “Fufufu, you’ll have to tell me about what happened in detail.” There was nothing I could hide from Mom, so I started to tell her about what happened on the bus.

  “Do you want to take the bus from now on?” Mom said after I hastily finished my story.

  “Huh? C-Can I really?”

  “Sure. Amakawa Haruto, was it? It’d be nice if you could get closer to that young man,” Mom said, chuckling to herself at how my voice rose an octave higher when I’d replied.

  One year later, on a certain summer day...

  I was attending a swimming class held at the school pool during summer vacation. The class ended at noon, and I hurried to the bus stop afterwards.

  Yay! He’s here today too! I got on the bus home and spotted the older boy sitting inside, making me cheer inside my head. My happiness nearly made me break out into a huge grin, which I desperately tried to hold back.

  The older boy’s name was Amakawa Haruto. The very cool university student who saved me a year ago, when I was at a loss for what to do on the bus home. He often took the bus at this time of day.

  Just between you and me.... The reason why I decided to start taking swimming classes when I wasn’t any good at sports was because the swimming class ended at a time where I could see the older boy more often.

  Well, Mom figured it out right away.

  But that aside, maybe it was because of summer vacation... but the bus was a lot emptier than normal that day. Haruto was sitting in his usua
l spot— fourth row from the back, next to the left window— and I sat in my usual spot, which was next to the window in the last row. Unfortunately, I hadn’t spoken to him once since the day he saved me. The most I had been able to do was watch his profile from diagonally behind him. I knew it was kind of stalkerish of me, but thanks to that, I learned a lot of things.

  For example: he liked to gaze out the window a lot, he would often sigh these small sighs, and he always had a sad look on his face.

  Was he worried about something? I was so curious about his story that I was drawn to him without even realizing it myself. That day, as I continued to stare at him... he noticed my gaze again. Once in a while— or rather, quite often as of late— he would notice me staring at him. I sensed he was about to turn back to look at me, so I ducked my head in a hurry and looked away.

  Then, as I slowly raised my head again to peek at him, I made eye contact with the high school-aged girl sitting two rows behind Haruto. She was a really pretty girl who seemed really mature. She quickly turned to face the front, but she was smiling quietly to herself, as though she had seen something funny. But it wasn’t in a malicious way... She had a gentle kind of air about her.

  Actually, this older girl often rode the bus at this time, too. And— I might be wrong, but— it felt like she would stare at Haruto a lot too. Could this older girl like him too? If so, I can’t lose to her— I thought to myself in determination.

  At that moment, the bus gave a sudden, lurching jerk. I felt like I was floating for a moment, before intense pain immediately traveled throughout my whole body. My vision abruptly darkened, and I couldn’t see anything in front of me.

  Then... Wha...?

  Without realizing what exactly had happened, I lost consciousness.

  Chapter 1: Journey to the Neighboring Country

  The morning after his farewell with Celia at the Royal Academy, Rio was walking around the market outside the city walls to gather equipment for his journey.

  He needed food, water, cooking utensils, clothes, bedding, medicine, weapons... humans clearly required a vast amount of resources to live. But since there was a limit to how much he could carry when traveling alone, Rio had to carefully screen his necessities and purchase only the barest minimum. He would take only those items with him on his journey.

  Right now, he only had his casual clothes that were typical of a noble, and a single sword. It was much too lightweight a weapon for him to be comfortable traveling with.

  That being said, ever since Rio had enrolled into the Academy, he had spent his entire life inside the city walls. While Celia had taken him to the markets within the city walls to go shopping before, this was his first time venturing into the markets that were outside the city.

  He was at a bit of a loss, now.

  I have no idea which store to go to...

  He had gone around several stores already, but there were just so many of them. A few among them had sold such crudely-made products, making him furrow his brow on many occasions. Because he wanted to buy quality items that would last him a while, he didn’t want to randomly pick a store to buy from. After wandering through the crowds pondering this and that, he grew tired, and stepped into a back alley to take a quick break.

  That was when a delicious aroma wafted to him, immediately piquing his appetite. It was coming from a street stall in the alley.

  There weren’t many customers at the moment— possibly because it was that quiet period of time between breakfast and lunch, or maybe due to its unfavorable location— but the smell that was wafting from it truly smelled delicious.

  Come to think of it, I haven’t had breakfast yet. I’ll buy something from that stall and ask them for shop recommendations.

  Spurred into movement by his hunger, Rio’s feet carried him towards the stall. A little girl was behind the stall counter, looking somewhat bored by the lack of customers. Behind her, a woman that seemed to be her mother was busy toiling away at cooking.

  “Ah, welcome!”

  As Rio approached the stall, the little girl beamed from ear to ear and greeted him. She must have been around seven or eight years old. She was a cute child, if a bit thin.

  However, the instant she saw Rio’s noble clothes, her expression stiffened. She had surely mistaken him as a child of nobility.

  In the Kingdom of Beltrum, where society was based on social status, it was quite common for nobles to act violently towards commoners. That was why commoners feared the nobility. This little girl had probably learned that sentiment from her mother.

  “Ah, erm, I mean...” Realizing she couldn’t act rudely, the little girl forced an uncomfortable smile on her face.

  “You don’t need to be so nervous. It smells really good here... Are you selling something?” Rio spoke to her gently in an attempt to reassure her.

  “Umm, it’s bread with sauce and vegetables and fried meat inside, sir.” The girl did her best to speak politely to Rio.

  “I see. Then, I think I’ll take some.” Rio smiled softly, eagerly expressing his desire to purchase their product.

  “Oh my, is it a noble? ...Huh? Ah, umm...” The mother noticed Rio’s presence and hurried to greet him, but her eyes widened dramatically when she saw Rio’s face.

  “Is something the matter?” Rio asked her curiously.

  “Ah, no... It’s nothing. P-Please excuse my actions.” The woman fearfully apologized for her strange behavior, but she continued to watch Rio with observant eyes.

  “Oh, is it about my hair color?” Rio guessed at the reason as to why the woman reacted with shock, touching a hand to his hair. Black hair was rare in Beltrum; he had been ridiculed numerous times by students at the academy because of this hair.

  “Umm, that’s... Yes. I actually knew someone a long time ago, a boy with black hair. So I thought that maybe... But there was no way that child was nobility, so it was just my mistake. I-I don’t know how I can apologize enough to you for this...”

  “...May I ask what the name of that boy was?” Rio questioned the trembling woman. She kept her head down out of fear. Perhaps she was someone he knew back from when he lived in the slums.

  “I-I believe it was Rio...”

  Bingo—apparently, Rio had met this beautiful woman before.

  Unfortunately, Rio was on the run right now, and couldn’t afford to confirm her suspicions so easily. If she had mistaken him for a noble’s son, then it was to his advantage.

  “I’m sorry, I have no recollection of that name.”

  “Is that... so...”

  Rio decided to feign ignorance, and the woman showed her clear disappointment.

  “Have you been looking for that boy?” Rio asked. He couldn’t remember any situation where he had met this woman before.

  If he had to take a guess, he would assume it was through the gang of thugs that he had lived with in the slums. If that was the case, then the number of possibilities were narrowed down significantly. If it was someone who knew him well enough to remember his name, then it was most likely one of the people who frequented the small shack Rio lived in back then. Most of the women who frequented the shack were prostitutes that the thugs called over. The ones they favored the most had been Gigi, who had been killed in the shack, and her little sister Angela. There were several others they had liked as well, and Rio guessed this woman had to be one of them.

  That being said, it had been over five years since he last saw them. The woman in front of him was not wearing any makeup, so she didn’t have the air of a prostitute at all, making it hard for him to place her.

  “It’s just that he may have witnessed the final moments of my older sister.” The woman’s expression clouded over as she spoke. The little girl looked on in confusion at their conversation.

  An older sister... Could it be Gigi’s little sister, Angela?

  Thanks to her words, Rio was finally able to place the woman in front of him. He fixed his expression so that his surprise wouldn’t show, then swallowed
a breath at their coincidental reunion. She used to wear thick makeup in the past, but he could see traces of her old self now that he knew who she was.

  Come to think of it, Gigi had mentioned how she wanted to start a store with Angela one day... But he didn’t want to drag the conversation out any further, so he changed the subject.

  “...I’m sorry, I asked something very intrusive of you.”

  “N-No, it’s because I acted rudely to begin with. It’s my fault... Please accept my apologies!” Angela bowed her head reflexively at Rio’s apology.

  “I’m actually rather hungry right now. Could I take two?” Finding it unproductive to continue their back-and-forth, Rio cut to the chase.

  “I-I’m not sure our products would suit the taste of a noble like you, sir...” Angela replied, ashamed. She was worried that Rio would change his mind the moment he took a bite of the food. It wasn’t strange to meet nobles like that.

  “That’s all right. I’m used to stall foods like this,” Rio explained with a strained smile. His words made Angela lower her guard just a little.

  “Then... that’ll be eight small coppers for two.”

  “In that case, you can take this. I don’t need change,” Rio said, offering one small silver.

  “I couldn’t possibly accept that...” Angela hurried to take out his change. For her, a single small silver was over half her usual daily earnings.

  “It’s to apologize for scaring your child. Please take her to eat something delicious.” Rio shook his head, smiling at the little girl standing quietly.

  “But...”

  “How about, in exchange, you tell me of any good, trustworthy stores that stock equipment for traveling? I’m actually not too familiar with the shops in this area...” Rio bashfully scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. For a brief moment, Angela stared back at him in befuddlement— before she broke out into giggles.

  “In that case...”

  She proceeded to tell Rio about several stores she recommended. He stored the shop names and their specialties in his head as he watched Angela prepare the food.

  Just as she finished her explanation, the food was done.

  “Here you are.” Angela offered him the completed sandwich. The ingredients were enclosed in a crispy baguette, the well-cooked meat and special salty sauce blending together thickly to waft a savory aroma. It was enough to make Rio drool.