The Mimic: Origins

Chapter 5: Seki.

     A long time ago, when I was a younger girl, my Oto-san often told me stories. He mainly told them to me when I was around the age of nine. I've always believed these stories of several legends were real. It was impossible to consider them false despite knowing I've had encounters with Yokais over my lifetime. My favorite tale growing up was the tale of the Witch. I pictured this witch as a tall woman who wore beautiful silk dresses with an appearance that made her prey gawk from the sight of her. I would imagine her face as a symbol of beauty but pale and expressionless, something I often longed to appear as. My Oto-san told me she would sing or hum to lure her victims into following her. He always told me to be careful when I hear this tune, that I'd become hypnotized into her manipulation without noticing. He used to hum this song as a lullaby for me so I could remember the tune that could lead me to my death. The song was called "Edo komoriuta", it was popularly used as a lullaby. My Okaa-san thought Oto-san was attempting to scare me, but I always knew Oto-san was serious. Why would he joke about something he is passionate about?

     Speaking of the Witch, I admired for years how she could control people as her puppets. Instead of being terrified by the story, I fell in love with it. It amazed me how someone powerful possibly existed during my lifetime. Sometimes I wished I could control my Okaa-san and Oto-san from arguing so much. They were fated to remain together and it made me worry whether they'd be happy being with me or not. There were even people I hated that I wanted to control as well. I only disliked the thought of having to make a deal in order to control those people. It seems difficult to make an agreement with someone, unless they were really vulnerable. However, the Witch does have the power to hypnotize someone, something I would never be able to do.

     It often felt lonely with my family sometimes. Oto-san left daily with his blessed sword to greet terrible yokais that brought dread onto humans. Before he left, he always hugged me while saying, "If I am not back by dawn, please don't ever go into the forest and become her pawn. I love you a lot Hirosa, stay safe until I am back." I wish he didn't leave that day. That was the last memory I've had of my Oto-san, he didn't come back home for years, and it terrified me of my potential fate. I attempted to distract myself from the thoughts of negativity with dreams of freedom and happiness. No matter how hard I tried, I still missed him dearly.

     Here I was in the hospital, miserable as ever. Five years ago, my Oto-san disappeared and I waited patiently for his return. Okaa-san tried telling me to give up hope, that I was believing in a stupid fantasy of him coming back. I glanced outside my window with sad eyes as I thought to myself, Tomorrow is his birthday.. I wonder what we'd do as a family if he was home again. I watched two birds fight for food to feed their family with. I would've searched for my Oto-san myself, but my health was on edge ever since he disappeared. I was told my sickness wasn't curable, something a lot of doctors didn't know how to fix. COUGH COUGH COUGH. I coughed up more blood again. The blood coming out of me seemed to grow bigger by the moment. "I'm really going to die soon aren't I," I whispered to myself.

     A nurse in a black gown walked into my room after noticing the blood in my hands. Seemingly startled, she talked to me saying, "Poor thing! I'll help you clean this up. You've been unwell since Kusonoki left your family. I wonder if that man will ever come back... or maybe he's with a new family." I glared at the nurse in reply, "What do you mean by that?" "I mean that it's common for men to leave a family he doesn't love, isn't it? It'd be reasonable for him to make a new family. One that wouldn't get sick." I was furious at this woman, how could she speak of my father in such a way? I threw everything I could at her while yelling, "How dare you speak like that to me! Don't you know how it feels to be in this room? I've been waiting for my Oto-san to return for five years. Don't come in my face ever again!" What had I done? Oto-san would hate me if he saw me this way. I didn't know what overcame me.