“How come I don’t have a personal heater for a partner?” Rie asked, smiling at Kou. The tiger shook a bit of snow from his fur and blinked.
“So how many people will be here tonight?” David asked, curious about his first New Year’s Eve in Japan.
“A bunch of people from town. There will be other gatherings of course, but this is the biggest Shrine in Nakano, and the only one with a bell,” Rie answered, her voice light on the cold breeze.
“Shouldn’t you two change back to your human forms? I mean, what if someone sees you. I have Takumi’s clothes.” Despite her words, Natsuki did not appear too eager to give up Reimi’s fiery heat.
Reimi popped her head out, saying “Fine, but only if you let me go flying later. We never get to practice.”
“That’s because I end up climbing twenty trees when you do,” Natsuki said. “I’m not some flying squirrel.” Though her words were true enough, Kou easily saw the smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Chuckling with their tiger growl, Kou loped off to his clothes. Though he had a special set of armor that would transform with him, he could not very well run around in tiger striped armor while groups of outsiders were on the Matsumotos’ Estate. In a blink, Kou had David’s clothes in his mouth and was gone. Natsuki left Takumi’s clothes behind a tree and walked away with Rie.
David was the first to rejoin the girls. Jumping out from a tree, he smiled at Natsuki’s foot, an inch from his face.
“Tsk tsk,” David shook his head seriously. “You really shouldn’t go around kicking everything that jumps out at you. I mean who else with my skin and hair color would be around here?”
“That’s why she stopped,” Takumi said in a voice newly deepening. Shorter and slighter than David but coiled and strong as a snake, Takumi ducked out from behind a tree. His thick winter kimono melded into the dark shadows of evening despite the white snow behind him. “She still has better control than you. Sorry about Reimi, she really wanted to fly.”
“We better go. It’s almost eleven-thirty,” Rie said. With a smile, she took the lead, weaving through the familiar trees of her ancestral home.
“Good. Kou might be warm, but I’m freezing,” David said. Appearing naked in the snow was not fun for him after being warm and comfortable as Kou.
Covered in white, the clearing looked completely different than it had the last time David visited it. The bright colors of fall were gone, but so too was the crater. After its destruction when David had saved Rie, the Matsumotos had expertly rebuilt the shrine in secret. Waiting before the Shrine, Masao and Yukiko Matsumoto stood with Natsuki’s parents. On the right side of the clearing, tents had been set up with some of the local restaurants offering variations on toshikoshi soba, a traditional New Year’s Eve noodle dish. David spotted several of his classmates crowded around the tents, enjoying the warmth of the steaming food and lights.
Masao turned the instant they stepped out of the forest’s shadows. He touched a small box next to the stairs leading up to the new Shrine. A gentle glow sprang from rows of lighted lanterns that marked a path through the trees. With a gesture, Yukiko led the way left from the Shrine. Hidden among the trees, a snow covered pagoda blended into the forest. The lanterns encircling the wooden structure added a warm glow and illuminated a large bronze bell.
“What’s that?” David asked.
“It’s a Buddhist tradition to ring a bell one hundred and eight times before midnight. Though not Shinto, it has become a tradition here. Everyone will have a chance to ring the bell. It’s a way to purify ourselves before the New Year,” Masao said, leading them around the pagoda to a set of stairs. Behind them, David realized the rest of the townspeople had followed and were lining up for their turn to ring the bell. Kou chided him for not paying better attention to his surroundings. They were both relieved to note that the local school bully, Koji, had not shown up.
After Masao, Natsuki, and the rest of the Matsumotos went, David walked up the stairs and grabbed the rope he had seen the others use. The rope pulled a chained log that he swung forward. When the log hit, the bell rang with a loud, solemn peal. David shivered as the vibrations washed through him.
‘It’s like something really is gone. I guess my old life is over, isn’t it,’ David thought as he walked back down the stairs.
‘It is, but in return we both have a new life to live. A powerful one, full of meaning. Together, we are a Jitsugen Samurai, the culmination of hundreds of years of tradition. Traditions are an important way of learning from the past. Let’s go find some toshikoshi rat before midnight strikes.’
‘We’ll go hunting later, I promise,’ he thought in reply. ‘You know, most people would be concerned if another voice answered their every thought. But I’m glad you’re here.’
Within him, the kami growled in pleasure as they walked back out of the forest in search of food. As the last bell tolled at midnight, David felt other possibilities, the other ways his life might have turned out, fade away with the deep, low sound.
Rie found him a bit later staring off into the forest. Noting his still familiar vacant look, she pulled him gently toward the Shrine.
“Talking to Kou again?” she whispered. “Come on, we have to pray to our ancestors for a happy New Year.”
Though he had been talking to Kou, David felt on edge. The Matsumoto forest usually felt like home, but with the snow covering familiar paths, the whole place felt different. David followed Rie after one last look into the forest’s depths. As he neared the Shrine’s steps, his mind drifted back over the many times he had been there. The accident that had left him possessed by a Japanese god, his triumph during their Golden Week games, Rie’s possession by an evil spirit, and his success at bringing her back all flashed before his eyes. Then Takumi appeared beside him and jerked him out of his revere.
“Here take this. It’s good luck,” he said, handing him a small brass coin with a round hole in the center. David recognized the five-yen coin. “Throw it in the box, and then follow along.”
Takumi bowed to the Shrine then took his own coin and threw it into a small box. Reaching up, he shook a thick white rope, which rang two large brass bells. Then he bowed twice, clapped his hands twice, and bowed again. Turning, he moved aside for David who repeated the movements, a bit unsure what to think about it all.
‘You know, I was brought up in a semi-religious family. Is it okay to do this without really knowing what it means?’ David thought, hoping Kou would answer.
‘You know by now that there is something to the Japanese legends and traditions. What harm can it do to ask your ancestors for a good New Year? We must be mindful of those who came become before us. The Matsumotos, kami, and even your ancestors may prove to be powerful allies if only we ask.’
Thoughtful, David looked up from his last bow and caught a glimpse of Ryohei, the Matsumoto Estate’s resident obake floating around one of the trees up the mountain. With a wink to him, David turned away to make room for the next group of people.
“So what happens now?” David asked. “In America we usually make a lot of noise, have fireworks and stuff. It’s strange having an almost somber New Year’s.”
“Some people will probably do fireworks in town,” Natsuki said, smiling. “Most will just go home and spend their time quietly. We are going for a hike.”
“A
