Well, they were all crazy, but Habiki felt that if he had to rank the people he'd met in that weird shop in order of craziness, there was one of them that was going to be at the top of the list, and he was staring right at her. He let her in, because it would have been rude not to - especially because he had invited them here, after all. Of course she went right to the pictures on the wall, and of course she had questions about them.
Or... maybe that was just a normal thing that normal people did, and Habiki wouldn't have been nearly as rankled by it if he hadn't seen her pulling out the crazy back in the shop. He tried to make himself settle down - it didn't work entirely, but he could at least pretend they were normal people having a normal conversation. He didn't know if he was all that good at pretending, but with this crowd, he probably didn't need to be.
"Yes, that's her. She's with my mother today. I didn't want her here for... this." Whatever this was - Habiki still wasn't entirely certain himself, he had just known that whatever it was going to be, he wanted his little girl far away from it - somewhere safe, with someone who loved her and cared for her. Not here. Not with them.
“Thank you for allowing us into your home.” Rei said with a dip of her head as she stepped inside. The skin on her left wrist prickled, like little needles were probing for a reaction. Which, maybe that wasn’t as far from the truth as she would care to admit, Noroi always had a knack for probing the places that made one weak. It was one of those little blessings, after all it meant that something was here. As Kasumi and Mr Suden spoke, Rei slid her pack off her shoulder and placed it down on the cleared top of a coffee table, though she kept the long fabric case on her shoulder.
If she had to guess from the looks of things, Suden had taken some time to tidy up before they arrived which she found a little amusing. Or maybe that was normal and she’d simply spent too much time sticking her nose into the sorts of abandoned places more reputable hexbreakers wouldn’t deign to do.
“That’s good, with any luck we should be out of your hair by supper time.” Rei added as Suden explained that he had dropped his daughter off for the day. She opened her bag and removed several items which she neatly laid out; a few baggies of white salt, a metal flask of sake, some chalk, and a handful of familiar paper charms. “Thinking of, I don’t believe you’ve been properly introduced. The girl with the glasses is Kasumi, she’s a little odd but her knowledge for dealing with these sorts of matters is nothing to scoff at.” Rei said flatly, before tilting her head towards the other woman with her lamp.
“And this is Toudai-hime, she’s agreed to lend us her talents, which I greatly appreciate.” With that said, Rei zipped her bag closed. “So, the plan is simple enough. First, we’ll need to set up a simple perimeter, putting these charms on the windows and doors should be enough to keep it from leaving the apartment. Second, we’ll need to agitate it to draw it out, salt and sake should work fine for that. Third, Miss Toudai will trap the Noroi, and from there we’ll be able to cleanse this space of it. If we run into complications we can’t handle, the park outside will be where we retreat to, and so long as the charms are in place it shouldn’t be able to follow us there.”
Nice and simple.
“If you have any objections to us doing this, please air them now Mr Suden.” As she spoke, Rei picked up the stack of charms and split them into four roughly even stacks. “If not, let’s get to work.”
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
Kasumi let out a hm of interest as Mr. Suden confirmed that this was, indeed, his daughter. She studied the picture, noting aspects that, at a glance, bore a resemblance to those of Mr. Suden. He further explained that he’d sent his daughter to be with his mother during this visit. The man seemed sheepish, but he had some sense about him.
“Good,” Kasumi said, still facing the picture. “There’s a not insignificant amount of Noroi that have a fascination with children. Drawing it out with her here could have endangered her and made the situation far worse.”
She took a deep breath through her nose, drawing in the scents of the apartment. Most of them bore the sterile sting of chemicals and cleaning products, but underneath them all was a faint, familiar scent, pungent and cloying. Kasumi turned to face Mr. Suden, her red eyes locking with his.
“The good news is that whatever Noroi is here wasn’t attached to her. Its scent still lingers. If it had attached to her, this process would be entirely different, and your daughter may never have been the same.” She gave a small smile that may have been meant to comfort before going to the table and picked up one of the charm piles, heading to the nearest window and beginning to place them.
Chie slipped into the apartment behind the pair, eyes narrowed, scouring the small interior with the intense appraisal of a health inspector in a backroom noodle shop. Ears perked for the questions and answers - always important to know the context of the victim - she scanned the doorways, drew her fingertips over the countertops, and sampled a droplet of water from the tap of the kitchen sink.
The social aspects of this job often eluded her. It was nice, having others to ask the questions, while she could focus on investigating the premises. She supposed, for that at least, it was useful to have the pair here, though she would've preferred only the company of the hunter, and not the sin eater beside. Hex breakers were allies, crass as this one's methods may be. The spirit-taken, though?
Attack wolves.
Her lip curled. Useful sometimes, sure, but with all untamed, a risk of danger.
Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a twined bamboo mat, unfurling it on the counter. Inside, a bundle of white wax candles and a stack of silver holders. Methodically, muttering under her breath, she set aside five candles, pushed them into holders, opened the door of her lantern, and lit each in turn with the flickering pale flame.
"Many Noroi have fascination with children, yes," she said abruptly, sharply, not looking in the group's direction as she moved to each corner of the room to set one of the candles. "But they have little problem with sinking their vile claws in any profane flesh that presents itself to them. The dangers of this cannot be understated - they are a disease of the spirit, bringing blood to your hands and death to your lips."
She turned, then, a sidelong glance to Kasumi. Just a glance - but enough to say something.
"While it is important to understand any personal emotional elements or circumstances that may influence this Noroi and how we choose to handle it, your presence here is a danger, and by participating in this ritual with us, you do place your life at risk, Mr. Suden."
She approached him, holding the final candle out for him wordlessly.
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
Mr. Suden had objections. Mr. Suden had a number of objections. He had just determined that voicing them, while suggested by Rei, was probably not actually in the best course of interest. He could have objected, for example, to the fact that the weird lady was apparently going around sniffing his apartment. That was definitely something to object to.
At least it was clean, anyway. He didn't know what she was looking... er, smelling for... but he hoped that his apartment, at least, was unobjectionable. Well... aside from the part where the roof had fallen in and it was apparently infested with demon spirits or whatever happened to be going on here. That was worth objecting to.
But Rei was so unfailingly polite that he would have felt bad, so he just shook his head a little. The weird one was apparently Miss Kasumi, and Habiki wasn't sure he had really wanted an introduction there. The new one was Miss Toudai, emphasis on the honorific. He didn't know what to make of that - generally, Habiki felt that most people who insisted on it were stuck in the Nobunaga era, but it was possible that Rei was just again being polite.
Miss Toudai did not sniff the apartment. Habiki was relieved, and bothered that apparently this was something now on his list of considerations. She was... not as polite. Blunt, even. Interesting - he'd have expected more flowery words from someone with a -hime attached. She was doing something with candles, which was remarkably fine with him. Habiki knew where he stood on candles - he didn't keep them around because he didn't want fire around the baby, but candles were an understandable quantity.
She offered him one, with a warning of potential death. He still wasn't sure that he believed in all of this, but she seemed serious.
And it's not like you deserve to live, anyway.
He took the candle, frowning slightly at the thought, then letting it go to swim around with all the others like it. "She'll be all right, though? My daughter - she won't be in any danger?"
“Noroi thrive on the connection between people and places, it’s how they spread their curse.” Rei said with the sort of matter-of-fact tone that was typically reserved for commenting on a particularly dreary day rather than the occult. As she spoke Rei removed a worn flashlight from her bag and clicked it on, casting a dull blue glow on the tabletop. She nodded slowly, turning her attention back towards Suden. “If the question is today then so long as she is with your mother, then yes your daughter will be safe, as Kasumi said the Noroi is attached to you, not her. That said, if anything were to happen to you, you and your daughter are linked and that means it could very well follow that connection back to her.”
Rei opened the end of her cylindrical carrying case and drew out a bamboo sword, the shaft covered by interlocking slips of paper. She looked the wooden sword over, gently tugging at the paper to ensure that nothing was loose. It was no rifle, but it would work.
“Though I suppose there’s always the chance that the Noroi will decide one of us three would make for a better target.” She added, lowering the bamboo sword. ”As Miss Toudai said, this will be dangerous, but it’ll give us the best opportunity to deal with this Noroi so you won’t have to see any of us ever again.”
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
Kasumi paused in her application of charms as Miss Toudai spoke. The woman seemed to feel that speaking was frivolous, keeping her words to herself, only deigning to let others hear them when they were important or, more likely, when she was talking down to them. At least that was how it had seemed from their short time with each other. She turned to face the room, her eyes following Chie as she floated to each of the corners, placing a lit candle before moving to the next. Kasumi caught her eye, her lip curling faintly to expose a suggestion of sharp teeth. There was enough understanding there. Thankfully she owed Miss Toudai no loyalty, and felt no need to protect her, if it should come to that.
She returned wordlessly to her charm applications, ensuring that each one was put into its proper place. She wouldn’t be surprised if Chie decided to follow up and check every single thing she did, ensuring Kasumi wasn’t sabotaging this in order to gain some form of power.
You could, though.
That cold voice dragged a single long fingernail down her spine.
Just a slight tweak, nobody would notice, not unless they looked really closely, and by that point it would be too late.
Kasumi squeezed her eyes shut, mentally ensuring the locks were solidly in place. All she got was a raspy chuckle in response.
Before this is over, you’ll wish you had me free.
Kasumi realized she’d been standing still and hastened to continue applying charms, keeping an ear on the conversation as Ichi’s oppressive presence faded.
“There is a chance that even if this fails, the Noroi wouldn’t be passed to her, but instead linger here. Some of them have a fascination with certain objects after all.”
Kasumi would feel a cold presence behind her, the scent of incense roiling up in the air. Just as expected, Chie looking over her shoulder, eyes scouring the charms. After a few nosy, uncomfortable seconds, the priestess gave a huff of approval, then moved between Habiki and the rest of the apartment, her lantern raised.
"It fears the fire," she explained without a question. "The candles are echoes, but hold the same chilled burn to its kind. When the beast arrives, it will be forced to face the flame, and if fates provide, be consumed in them."
She lazily swung the lantern back and forth, trails from the pale fire twisting in the air. It was more like mist than smoke. Thick, clinging, billowing out in strands, carrying with it a scent of jasmine and fresh loam. Chie closed her eyes.
"Well, ronin? We're waiting."
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
They were not exactly reassuring. Habiki had wanted something more concrete, something along the lines of "Oh, don't worry, even if everything goes horribly wrong, your daughter will be safe." He didn't know why it even bothered him so much, when he didn't believe in any of this anyway. Still, it was not what he wanted to hear, and no doubt his frowning expression made that quite clear.
But what else could he do? If this noroi thing was real, then it had already almost killed her once. If they tried to get rid of it and it went wrong, her life could be in danger - but if they did nothing at all, it would be. He sighed, and shook his head, drawing in a breath that smelled like jasmine and... something else. Maybe soap.
He let the breath go. "I wouldn't mind seeing you again, Miss Rei."
Hopefully it was not entirely apparent that had been you, singular. Miss Kasumi had at least seemed to settle down a little bit, but now Todai-hime was acting oddly. Rei seemed to be the only normal one among them, and even she was brandishing a wooden sword. She seemed to know what to do with it, at least, and...
...and no, he wouldn't mind seeing her again.
And his daughter's life was in danger, and what was he even thinking? It's not like he deserved-
“Good work, Kasumi.” Rei said, without checking over the girl’s work. Todai-hime had given what was likely the most disapproving grunt of approval that Rei had ever heard, so chances seemed good that every charm was exactly where they needed to be. It helped to have orny people like that around sometimes, it made her job a little easier. She added a small bag of salt, and a little bottle of sake to the table next to her flashlight. She glanced up at Habiki’s comment that he wouldn’t mind seeing them — her — again, and a faint smile traced her lips.
“As I’ve said, the door to my shop is always open.” She said, though once said she exhaled. Rei couldn’t very well deny the implication behind Chie’s words, Rei knew she was trying to put this part off. Rei picked up the bag of salt and the sake. “Very well, it looks like everyone is ready, Mr Suden, if you’d excuse me.” Rei stepped close to the man as she opened the bag of salt. She took a healthy pinch and sprinkled it over his head and shoulders before tossing a fair amount onto his back. She opened the small bottle of sake and held it out for him to take.
“Take a sip of this. If anything feels wrong once we get fully started, splash some onto your head and back.” She waited a moment for Habiki to do as she had instructed before she picked up her flashlight and bamboo sword. She stepped behind Habiki and clicked the flashlight on. She shone the light on his back, and the shadow was there, it moved and quivered as one might expect a living thing to when touched by something deeply uncomfortable, and extending out under the touch of the light where long black filaments. Like long strands of uncombed hair, twisted and knotted and leading away to something dark and hungry.
“This might feel strange, but please bare with it.” Rei said, with the same tone a nurse might offer up when saying that a shot would sting for a moment. ”Once I cut these, the noroi will react, and it will be drawn to Todai-Hime’s lights.”
Rei raised her bamboo sword up, her attention on the long black strands that quivered with a wind that Rei didn’t feel, then she sliced down. The black strands offered a moment’s worth of resistance as the shaft of the sword made contact, there was a sound too which was sharp like a tea kettle left on too long, then the sword passed through. There was a change in the air, as if things were just a little cooler, or the flames of the candles burning just a little hotter, or her breath remaining in her lungs just a touch longer than she expected. Then, with a sharp electric crack, the lights overhead turned off. The blue glow of her flashlight and the shivering light of the candles filled the room, and there was a sound like wood cre-aking under weight.
Shit.
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
It wasn't exactly how Habiki would have hoped this was going to go, but it was at least a tolerable sort of weird. It all just seemed a little... unrealistic. If there were really noroi out there and they could be defeated with salt and sake, why weren't they all gone? Maybe it was just a farce. Maybe next time he'd just invite Miss Rei out for lunch like a normal person.
Maybe next time his roof wouldn't cave in.
He shook his head a little and took a sip of the sake - sweet and mild. Maybe he could recommend that next time they start with a whole bottle of sake so that the rest of this seemed less odd. A quick glance and a skill of reading the room showed that this wasn't the time, and Habiki knew that if you wanted to impress someone, you didn't make fun of their friends or their hobbies. Even if those were weird. Maybe especially if those were weird. Miss Rei moved behind him with the sword and slashed it down behind him, which made an odd sound. The candles flared, and then the lights above went out.
The cre-ak lingered in the air, like wood being slowly turned and tested to find where it was weakest. Dust fell in strange swirling streams from the ceiling, and with a quick hand Rei trained her light upwards to the source of the noise. Black strands hung from the ceiling like thin worms which quivered with an unfelt breeze as they reached for Habiki. Ah, right, that was a problem. She tapped the back of her hand against Habiki’s shoulder.
“Get behind me and stay behind me. Keep a hand on my back so we don’t get our legs tangled.” Give people things to do. The candles hadn’t gone out, so the magic there would be strong enough if no one panicked. The two of us need to move to the circle, you’ll need to guide me, okay?” She paused for a moment before turning her head to her associate.
“Kasumi, catch!” Rei called, tossing her flashlight to the girl with little extra warning. She took a step backwards, taking the hilt of her bamboo sword up with both hands as she held her weapon out in front of her in a mid level stance. Another step back. The ceiling around the doorway sagged, slowly at first with a wooden squeal before it gave away all at once with a crash of plaster and a splintered wooden beam. Something followed after, flowing like brackish water into a shivering mass which gathered itself upwards into the almost-shape of a person. Rei felt her wrist pricking again, and she tightened her grip.
The Noroi wasn’t acting right, when she cut the connection it should have been drawn to the flame, but this one was…
“Back towards the candles, keep your pace steady. Kasumi, keep the light on it, Todai, can you help with your lantern?” She should have checked that beforehand, that was a mistake.
The noroi advanced, its shape never quite holding, like a ball of hair removed from a drain.
//... into the dark she stepped, but never did she feel free of the gaze...//
If Chie were disconcerted by the noroi's odd behavior, it didn't show on her face. She maintained that same, stoic, chilling stare as the spirit appeared above them - a writhing mass of hairs cast in sharp relief by the low, dim lights. The ceiling buckled, then collapsed. Chie took a step back. A shape rose up from the wreckage, form shifting and knotting, turning its malevolent aura upon them. The lantern dimmed, then flared.
"I can."
There wasn't any hidden snark in her voice, now. All business. One didn't live long if they didn't take situations like this seriously, after all. Lifting the lantern, pole held out, Chie faced one palm to the back. A beam flared out of it like a spotlight. Were this a weaker spirit, it might lose itself in the glow entirely, torn apart in an instant. This was not a weaker spirit. Still, the light would do part to slow and weaken it, burning away its edges and drawing its full, undivided attention on her.
"In the divine spirit world of infinite but tangible powers, in the throne of the heavens where the spirit of the gods is born into fire!"
She strode clockwise around the manifested noroi, eyes locked on its form, light unyielding.
"By the powers of divine fire and water, ruler of all that exists, ruler of man, I invoke the Amatsukami, True Light, Creator!"
Yesterday, upon the stair, I met a man who wasn't there! He wasn't there again today, Oh how I wish he'd go away!
Kasumi took Rei’s praise in silence, figuring more words would give Todai more reason to criticize her. She merely watched as the ritual was prepared, the salt splashed against Habiki, the sake sipped. She paid extra attention as Rei shone the flashlight, eager to test her knowledge, to prove she knew something.
The shadow defied the light, clinging to Habiki’s back like a mollusk to its shell, wavering this way and that. The black strands drew out, twisted, knotted. Rei sliced the threads, and everything seemed routine. That is, until the lights shut off, wood creaking and shifting as only the flashlight and candles lit up the small apartment.
Something was definitely wrong.
Rei trained her light back on it, the black strands now hanging from the ceiling. Kasumi clumsily caught the flashlight as it was tossed to her, keeping the blue light fixed on the Noroi. She wracked her brain, sifting through her knowledge. Something was off about it, something she couldn’t quite place her finger on. The ceiling by the doorway shattered, a loose mass following the plaster and wood, amorphous, made of hairlike strands.
Hair, something about hair was the key. Not on the head, loose hair, idle strands, stuck to clothing, and once removed clinging to whatever displaced them.
Attachment. That was it.
“Habiki,” Kasumi said slowly. “The child’s mother. Is she dead?” She waited for him to confirm her theory before continuing.
“Rei, it’s attachment through loss. Habiki lost his wife, and it attached to him. It lost its connection to Habiki and, well.” Kasumi swallowed nervously.
But Rei was just a girl, and he shouldn't be standing behind her. He ought to be standing in front of her, protecting her. Shielding her from the darkness or the roof caving in or whatever else happened to people when they were around her. He shouldn't be standing there watching her get hurt. It was just like...
...just like...
...just like standing there doing nothing and there was all the blood and screaming and then the screaming stopped and the blood was still there and all the noises were mechanical and the screaming started again and this time it was him...
"I killed her," he said, quietly. Not to Rei, to the other one, the one with too-sharp teeth and too-sharp eyes. The one who saw too much, or not enough, or nothing, because she was all wrong and it didn't mean anything and nothing of this was real. None of it mattered any more. She should have been here. Not him.