Puppet Skin [OHSHC]

Chapter 9

After a few days of mostly trying to stall the inevitable, Iiyo finally chose the book for her father to read: The History of the Occult. It was the first book she ever read from the Black Magic Club. Fittingly ironic. She wasn't too worried about the deal going south—he was a newscaster, so his job was to find out the truth and stay neutral about it. At most, she figured that the worst that would happen would be that he would forbid her from actually participating in rituals, or making charms, or casting spells, which was completely fine with her. However, she still had her mother to worry about. She never approved of Iiyo's research, mostly because of what she was researching—physical illnesses, mental disorders, human parasites, ancient medical treatments, home-made bombs, at one point even modes of ancient and modern torture, but her mother never found out about the last one. It was also her research that had kept her mother away from her stories. She wanted no part of it, thinking that there may have been a chance that her one and only child, a daughter, would be a normal girl interested in normal things, like gardening, or crocheting. Alas, she didn't get what she wanted. Iiyo, more than anything, wanted her mom to see her as her, and not as something she wished she was.

For a while, she even pretended to be a good daughter, but it was too much of a hassle, and it just made her feel depressed. The day she fully stopped pretending, and showed her mother what she really liked, was the day that their close relationship seemed to crumble. It wasn't completely destroyed, but Iiyo wasn't sure if the could be repaired.

It was strange. Normally, there would be horror stories between the step-parent and the child, but she had no problems with her step-dad. They were close enough where she didn't mind calling him 'Dad.' He never minded the subject matter when she wanted to share an interesting fact with him, and she often asked him questions, or asked him to help her research something because she didn't know where to start. He probably thought she was weird, but still encouraged her on. Now it was weird that the first opposition she received from him was about the occult, and it seemed pretty harmless to her—just don't piss someone off who knows black magic.

After a couple more weeks, her dad finished the book, and deemed it OK to carry on as she was, but he had been trying to get her mom to understand. She wouldn't have any of it and stopped talking to her completely, but she still argued with him. That was over a month ago, and she still hadn't uttered a word to her, even when Iiyo tried explaining it all, but when she did, her mom just left the room.

Iiyo felt bad—horrible—but she didn't want to stop just because her mom disagreed with it—she didn't even know what it really was. All the sacrificial blood offering in a golden goblet shtick Iiyo had originally assumed came from her mom. Overall, it just dampened her usual spirits.

"You're not feeling well," Umehito stated. "Is it because of your parents?" They were in homeroom, and because it was nearing Halloween, all the classes were voting to see what would be done to celebrate. It seemed to be more like free-time because no one was paying much attention.

"Mom." Iiyo didn't want to explain the situation she was in at home, and Umehito caught the signal.

"Since Halloween will be on the weekend, what are you going to be doing?"

"Staying home most likely. Someone at the late night news casting quit just in time, so my dad got promoted to that spot. Since he won't be home, I can't go anywhere, but it's fine. He and I have a bet going on counting down how many acts of vandalism, fires, and fights will be happening on the thirtieth and another bet for the thirty-first."

"Do you two have bets like that every year?"

"Yeah, but he usually wins on deducing precisely how many of each happen. I usually have better guesses on which of the places actually make the news. I'm assuming you've made special plans for Samhain. Thanking your deities for the harvest?"

"Precisely. It's too bad our club can't participate on its own for the school festivities."

"Why?" Iiyo had been wondering what the club would be doing, but for it to not participate at all seemed to be unfair.

"We just simply don't have enough members. It's disappointing, but it's fine as long as the club is continuing at all. I had some plans I had wanted to do for the school festivals, but I guess we'll just have to wait until next year."

Iiyo could see the sadness beyond the tresses of the wig. "Maybe I can help, what kind of plans did you have in mind?"

He smiled, but before he could disclose his plans, the class president yelled, "Hey, you two in the back! Nekozawa and," he took a minute to look at the seating chart, "Fukuda." They looked up to see that the entire class was looking at them. "You two are the experts here. What are your ideas for this year's Halloween? We want to beat the upperclassmen."

That's when Iiyo had an idea. Maybe the club itself couldn't participate, but they could do something individually to promote their club, so when the next festivities rolled around, the club could celebrate on their own. "We could make and sell clay charms that represent Halloween. Or we could sell papier-mâché monster masks. Or treats like cookies . . . ?" As she was spouting out ideas, the president didn't look at all thrilled to hear them.

"The clay charms would be fine, maybe, but a few classes are already selling masks and cookies. Try thinking of something more elaborate, or better yet, original. Where you're from you probably can only afford to think small-scale."

Iiyo had a strong urge to throw her bag at his head, or run over there to kick him.

"Fortune telling," Umehito uttered, standing up. "Some of us can learn simpler methods of divination so we can sell those services, the rest can sell the charms. Fukuda-san and I can also make talismans for those who would prefer something more authentic, along with my wooden Beelzenef dolls. I can guarantee that no other class would know how to tell fortunes, or know about talismans, so how about it?"

The president sighed. "I guess it's good enough." He turned to the rest of the classroom population and asked, "Would anyone like to talk about this further? Does anyone at all think this is a horribly bad idea?"

There were murmurs, but no one outright said anything to argue with Umehito's idea.

"Alright then. Who would like to help out with the fortune telling side of business?"

No one but Umehito and Iiyo stood up. Iiyo wasn't very particularly excited about telling fortunes, but since she was the only other club member, thus the only other person who had a clue about divination, had to stand up. Annoyed by the lack of participation after they had been called upon, Iiyo asked in a slightly haughty manner, "Come on girls, I know you do fortune telling amongst yourselves anyway, so what's different now? You'll just learn other methods to show off to your friends. And guys, if you haven't figured it out already, girls like fortune telling. It'll definitely give you an interesting pick-up line, so what do you have to lose? We're not soul snatchers here."