Thomas Randall - Spirits of the Noh

Mai stared at her, eyes wide. “You admit you’re cursed? That this whole thing is happening because of you?”

Sakura got up off the bed, hands clenched into fists. “Don’t even say that again. Yes, we have a curse on us, and maybe that’s what brought the Hannya here. But it all started with your friend Ume murdering my sister. The less you remind me of that, the less often I’ll have to struggle with the urge to hurt you.”

“That’s the other reason I want you with Mai,” Kara said, keeping her gaze fixed on Mai. “If she does anything that could put us in more danger, you’re the only one who won’t hesitate to beat the crap out of her.”

Mai lifted her chin. “It might not be as easy as you imagine.”

Sakura grinned, shrugging. “Hopefully we’ll never know. Friends aren’t supposed to fight.”

“We’re not friends,” Mai quickly corrected.

“No,” Miho agreed. “But for now, we’ll have to be.”

Kara nodded. “All right. Let’s go get the boys. We don’t want to be late for Aritomo-sensei’s meeting.”

I am still committed to bringing Noh theater to life at Monju-no-Chie school,” Miss Aritomo said, standing at the head of the classroom. “But I am certain that you will all understand why, for now, it is best to suspend any further preparations or rehearsals for Dojoji.”

Kara shifted awkwardly in her seat. Several times while she was speaking, Miss Aritomo had focused on her, as though speaking directly to her. Kara wished she wouldn’t do that. All morning she had been trying to erase from her mind the image of the woman sitting at the breakfast table with her father, hair unkempt, sipping tea, as though she belonged there. As though she’d woken up there.

You’re not family, Kara thought now, trying to communicate the message through her gaze. Yet when Miss Aritomo did glance at her again, Kara looked away.

Muttered whispers went through the room. Normally the Noh club would have been far more orderly and respectful, but the situation unnerved it. With members of the club as well as volunteers present, the room buzzed with voices and bulged with too many warm bodies. People stood in the back and along the side walls.

A girl at the front raised her hand. “How long before rehearsals begin again?”

Everyone had wanted to ask the same thing. Miss Aritomo smiled politely as always, and inclined her head.

“All preparations are canceled until further notice,” the teacher said. “This is a time of great sadness for all of us, and of questions and cautions. We should all be reflecting upon the loss of our friend, and yet remain aware of our surroundings. Whoever killed Yasu did so on Ama-no-Hashidate, far from school. There is no reason to believe a threat exists here, but this is a reminder to us all that we must take care of ourselves and one another.”

Silence fell upon the room. In the seat next to Kara, Miho fidgeted. Sakura cleared her throat a little, glancing around expectantly. Ren hadn’t come in-he was upstairs with Hachiro and Mai-but if he’d been there, Kara imagined that Miss Aritomo’s tone would have erased even his ever-present smile.

“Are you saying we’re in danger?” one guy at the front of the room asked.

Miss Aritomo cocked her head, hesitant, as though they’d caught her saying something she hadn’t meant to.

“No,” she said, the lie sounding hollow. “There is no reason to think that. As I said, the attack on Yasu took place during the festival, nowhere near the school. The police are investigating, of course, but no one has suggested-”

A girl from Hachiro’s homeroom raised her hand, but did not wait to be called on.

“Excuse me, Aritomo-sensei,” she said, “but what about Daisuke and Wakana? I know the police say they ran away to be together, but what if they didn’t? They were also in Noh club. I’m… I’m frightened that something might have happened to them, too. Doesn’t it seem a huge coincidence that these things are happening only to students in the Noh club?”

When Miss Aritomo smiled now, her expression seemed brittle and her face had gone pale.

“I understand, Chiyoko, but it really is a coincidence. As much as we may worry about our missing friends, and grieve for Yasu-and Mr. Yamato has suspended school for these few days so that we can properly grieve-no one has suggested any connection among these cases.”

Her attempts at reassuring the class were having the opposite effect, Kara thought. Miss Aritomo spoke with no conviction at all, and it was obvious that she feared the very same things, but refused to speak about them. A silence spread among the students as they recognized her fear, and Kara could see in the art teacher’s eyes that she knew they had seen through her.

“For my part,” she said, forging ahead, “I still look forward to working with all of you to bring Dojoji to life in the grand Noh tradition. To honor Yasu, and to reflect, we will simply cease work for a time, and when we resume our work, we will dedicate our efforts in his honor as well.”

Kara stared at her, fascination overcoming any lingering awkwardness from the morning. Miss Aritomo had been shattered by Yasu’s murder and by her fears about what might have become of her other missing students. If anything, she was more afraid than the club members about what might come next. Kara didn’t think that Miss Aritomo had any inkling about what was really going on-that there was a hideous reality to her dream of bringing Dojoji to life-but the events of the past week obviously weighed horribly upon her.

When she dismissed the students, Miss Aritomo glanced over, but Kara pretended not to notice, standing and shuffling out of the room with Sakura and Miho. Whatever her father’s girlfriend-for that’s what she was now, wasn’t she?-wanted to say to her, it could wait.

“What do you think?” Miho whispered to Kara and Sakura as they moved with the other students toward the stairs.

“I think she’s falling apart,” Sakura muttered.

They started up the stairs. Hachiro, Ren, and Mai would be waiting for them outside the front door.

“That’s not what I meant,” Miho said, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. “I mean, if the production is canceled, do you think it will stop now? Do we still need to follow through with the plan?”

Kara frowned. “You think it’s just going to go away?”

“Well, if there isn’t going to be a play-”

A ripple of unease went through Kara. She moved nearer to Miho, whispered in her ear, knowing her tone was harsh but not at all sorry.

“Have you already forgotten that thing that chased you in the dark? Or the glimpse we got of Yasu’s body in the woods? Hannya or not, whatever it is, it’s on the hunt now. As long as it has prey, it isn’t going anywhere.”

Had it not been for Ren’s presence by her side, Miho would never have stayed out after dark. Even with Ren there for company, she glanced nervously at the darker shadows they passed, wary for any sign of the Hannya, or even the sense that they were being followed.

For her part, the girl, Chiyoko, seemed to have no sixth sense at all when it came to being pursued. Miho and Ren had followed her from the dorm, across the grounds of the school-keeping a reasonable distance-and down the street past Kara’s house and the train station, to arrive at a tiny sweet shop called Cherry Blossoms. The aromas of the candy coming through the door made Miho hungry, but she and Ren remained outside, across the road, while Chiyoko and a female friend they didn’t recognize browsed inside the sweet shop.

“You do know this is hopeless, right?” Ren said, his voice low.

Miho flinched and looked at him, wondering for a moment if he meant the task at hand or the crush she’d been nurturing for him. She assumed the former, only because in the past couple of days, the awkwardness between them had begun to dissipate. In fact, now that she’d made a fool of herself by basically asking him out, only to learn that he didn’t like girls, their friendship had grown much stronger. They had originally gotten to know each other because both were friends of Sakura, but now Miho and Ren had forged their own bond, thanks to her embarrassment and his kindness.