lunaris | akaashi keiji

𝚠𝚊𝚡𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝

When you awaken, the sight that greeted you is of a ceiling you've woken up to almost every morning of your life.

"(Name)!" The frantic tone of your grandmother was enough to stun you into alertness, glancing her way as you wondered why she sounded so relieved.

Her lips were stretched into a kind smile as she hovered over your futon, replacing the damp cloth you didn't even notice was on your forehead with a fresh one. The cool feeling of the fabric was more soothing than it should be, but you couldn't pay the sensation any mind because someone else was in the room with you.

"How you do," greeted the gravelly voice of Fujimoto, one of the older monks at your family shrine.

Confused, you hauled yourself by your elbows, wincing at the way your joints threatened to snap off if you weren't careful. Your mouth felt barren of moisture, but it's as if Fujimoto read your mind when he offered you a glass full of water. You hesitantly took it from him, bringing the rim to your lips as you took tiny sips.

"Fujimoto-san just happened to pass by your school when he saw you being carried into an ambulance," your grandmother explained, the worry on her face enough to invoke guilt over something you didn't even remember. "The medics said that your vitals were normal, but you wouldn't wake up. He insisted to have you taken home, instead because he had...an idea of what came over you."

"What?" you managed weakly, turning to the elder man. "You know what happened to me today?"

"Yesterday," he corrected. "You've been unconscious for more than twenty-four hours, young lady. Amatsuki-sama kept insisting for you to be brought to the hospital, but we all know your affliction is not a physical one."

With furrowed brows, you finished the rest of your drink with a satisfied sigh, wiping the edge of your mouth as you asked, "Are you insinuating that I was hexed?"

Fujimoto chuckled. "I'm not insinuating, I know you were hexed. Your little friend, ah, what's her name? Fukuzawa?"

"Furukawa," you replied. "Furukawa Itsumi."

"Yeah, her. She told me that they saw your warding charm glowing like a LED bulb, or at least that's how that girl described it." The way Fujimoto was speaking with a taunting tone about Itsumi, as if him claiming you got hexed wasn't more outlandish, didn't sit well with you. "Well, that just means you were in close contact with a yokai, young lady."

Your heart stopped at that. "A...yokai?"

Growing up in one of Tokyo's oldest shrines had its perks. Instead of child-friendly picture books, you grew up reading manuscripts that depicted the legendary creatures that lurked in your shrine's designated territory alongside your grandmother. She would teach you how to string a proper warding charm with the appropriate beads, for each one invoked protection that repelled specific entities. But for some reason, your grandmother gave you a charm with nothing else but a golden bell hanging from the blessed string. You glanced at the bracelet that still sat idly on your wrist. It looked like it always had been—just a harmless little bell on the string and not the glowing orb of light that nearly scorched your skin.

Your grandmother never really told you what exactly it warded off, but apparently, you'd encountered it yesterday.

"The charms made by the Amatsuki Shrine were specifically made to keep yokai away. If it had been a vengeful ghost or an estranged deity, it wouldn't have reacted so strongly." There was a pause in Fujimoto's words, as he lowered his head in contemplation. But then, his eyes widened with a realization that you couldn't quite follow. He turned to your grandmother, face looking grim.