As the bright morning sunlight sipped out of the lush green leaves from the tree branches in one fine day, Ame closed her eyes before inhaling deeply and then exhaling.
"The weather's so nice today!" She remarked, a bright smile painting her lips. One hand holding onto a woven basket with a light blue ribbon tied on the lower handle of the basket. She turned her head back when she noticed Kazuto not entering the strawberry field with her.
"Don't just stand there, silly." A soft chuckle escapes her lips. "You can come in and eat as many as you want!" She urges the little boy who looked a tad bit terrified to enter the ground she is currently in.
"B-But-"
"No buts!" She firmly announced, a small pout replacing her smile on her lips. "You're my guest right now, Kazuto. The other servants won't have a say if I'm with you." She flashed him a warm smile.
Seeing her smile made Kazuto nod his head and happily entering the field with her. Never in his life has someone shown him such kindness and generosity, only the to be appointed wish angel Ame. And to his heart's content, he ate a lot of strawberries, not minding the other older male servants who only stood outside.
"You can play the biwa and flute, older sister?" Kazuto asks as he, for the first time, stepped foot inside the private room of Ame.
Ame nodded her head, taking a quick glance at the instruments that were carefully placed on top of her dresser. "Do you know how to play the flute or the biwa too?" She asks but Kazuto shook his head.
"Servants aren't given education, older sister." Kazuto truthfully confessed, sitting down on the cushion on the floor.
"That's terrible!" Ame gasps, shaking her head as she picked up the flute and handed it to him. "Everyone should be given equal rights. And children should be given access to education." She frowned, sitting besides Kazuto on the floor. "I didn't know the two households could be so cruel." She mumbled, her eyes wandering every item inside her room - from her ornate and colorful kimonos to her collection of exquisite jewelry to her flowing scarves, Ame no longer saw them the way she used to back then.
"Say, Kazuto" Ame begins to say, turning her head back to look at the boy with her. "Have you heard of the story called Hagoromo?" She asks, a smile on her lips and a glint in her eyes. Kazuto shook his head in response.
"It's a popular dance drama I've seen before!" She announces, "In the dance drama, they say that hagoromo's or feathered kimonos are what makes an angel fly!"
"Is that why you can't fly right now, older sister?" Kazuto innocently asks, his hands holding onto the cream colored flute.
Ame turned her head down to look at her black kimono with large lotus blossom designs, letting out a chuckle afterwards. "I guess so!" she chirps. "In the story, an angel came down to earth. And while she was bathing by the river, a fisherman spied on her and stole her feathered kimono to force her to marry him. The angel and the fisherman got married and then, some years later, the fisherman confessed of what he did, the angel found her feathered kimono again and then returned to heaven!"
"What would happen if the fisherman didn't return to the angel her feathered kimono?" Kazuto asks
"Well" Ame blinks her eyes, "It's just like the story, the angel won't be able to return to heaven." She shrugs her shoulders. "When you think about it, the angel did have a choice. Since she married the fisherman and stayed him with for a couple of years, that would mean she would bear feelings, even if its a little amount, right?"
Kazuto nodded his head
"But the angel took her kimono and then returned to heaven..." Ame let her words wander off. "It's kind of sad, isn't it?" She chuckles softly. "What if the fisherman fell for the angel? Did the angel really want to return to heaven? Did she not love the fisherman at least a little bit?"
"I think it's what the story maker intends, older sister." Kazuto says, "It's up to us to interpret the moral behind the story!"
"I think so too!" Ame beams, "We still have a lot of time before dinner and that time consuming coronation." Ame lets out a huff, "For the mean time, I'll teach you how to play the flute!"
. . . . . . . . . . ♡
Later that night, Ame lets out a breath as she wore twenty layers of clothing and a heavy headpiece ornament on her head. The thick makeup that the other female members of the Takajo household painted on her face was beginning to feel clammy on her skin.
"It's summer, they should know that I sweat too." Ame complains, using her hands to produce air for her. "Do they really think I'm some heavenly being that can really grant wishes? What if I'm just a phony?" She huffed, letting out a sigh before dropping her hands.
"Where is mother?" She asks to herself. Turning her head both left and right before wandering off to the back of the kitchen. "Surely they won't mind if I go for a bit of walk." She mumbles to herself. "They are taking so long and my body feels like dropping on the ground." she huffs, walking around to the back of the kitchen.
On her way there, she spotted on a table a white dove with broken legs. Ame felt really bad for the animal, watching it try to flap it's wings despite its hardship to carry it's legs.
"I bet the male servants are going to serve you to me tonight." Ame says, walking closer to the white dove on top of the table. The white dove began to flap it's swings as it found her getting closer.
"Oh, I mean no harm!" Ame defends herself, raising her hands besides her head. "But may I look at your legs? I'll try to see for myself if I really am graced by the sun goddess." Ame spoke, mocking the last parts of her sentence. Slowly, she leaned closer and found the legs of the white bird twisted in such an angle. Lifting the sleeve of her right hand, she snapped her fingers and immediately, the legs of the white dove molded back.
"Guess I'm no phony then." Rather sounding pleased, Ame sounded dispirited. "But oh well, fly free now, white dove! I have spared you from being my dinner!" She spoke to the bird before walking away. On her journey back to return back inside the house, she felt something light resting on her shoulder, turning her head, it was the white dove she saved earlier.
"Did you take a liking to me?" Ame teases, caressing the head of the white dove with her left hand. "When I said you could fly free, I didn't exactly mean it as for you to stay by my side." She chuckles, resuming in her walk.
The white dove chirps before speaking. "Shirohato" the white dove spoke to her, causing Ame to stop in her tracks once more and turn her head to look at the bird on her shoulder.
"I guess I did more than just saving your legs." She said, smiling to herself before walking back inside. Not knowing that the devil has fully manifested within their home and has started to kill each member of the Takajo's one by one, starting with her mother.
. . . . . . . . . . ♡
The fear of the unknown is almost considered as the root of almost all hate. Born from the ignorance of humans, the fear feeds itself off from what causes people to be divided, yet the fear is also the reason why people are divided.
Unlike others, the fear of the unknown may not be seen by the naked eye, but it still has the power to break people's sanity and hearts. "Intolerance of uncertainty" - a state of mind that can take a toll on people's heads if they intensely feel upset or anxious about an unknown situation.
The effects of fear? Fast heart rate, quick and shallow breaths, tense muscles and feelings of weakness. Just like Ame who arrived back inside, she felt the thumping of her heart inside her chest quicken, her breathing becoming quick and shallow and the muscles of her arms and legs becoming tense at the sight before her, not being able to do anything as feelings of weakness consume her.
Before her, bodies of the Takajo and Miyakojima women and the male servants lay lifeless and bloody on the ground. Her mind told her to move, to run away from the scene, but she couldn't move her own self. And just like the story she told Kazuto earlier, the hagoromo, or the feathered kimono, is an angel's prized possession.
But what if the fear of the unknown takes form on an angel's prized possession? The very only reason that'll make an angel ascend to heaven?
"Run away, Ame" Shirohato whispered into her ear, looking away from the feathered kimono as it kept stabbing people using a sharp, plucked feather. "If you start running now, the hikers from the west will be able to see you. Help is on your side, Ame. Get moving." Shirohato kept whispering in her ear.
But Ame still couldn't move. She couldn't leave yet, because among the lifeless, cold bodies on the ground, she still hasn't seen Kazuto among them.
"Older sister!" Kazuto shouted, catching not only Ame's attention, but the Unknown Devil as well. Without hesitation, Ame began to take control on her body again, instead of running away, she ran towards Kazuto, extending her left arm out for him to take so they could run away but the Unknown Devil was cunning. Just like it's name, you never know what it could do next. Unanticipated, Ame lets out a scream as she felt sharp teeth sinking down on the skin of her left arm.
"Older sister!" Kazuto shouted, pulling her arm out of the Unknown Devil's grasp but to no avail. Shirohato flew out of Ame's shoulder to help Kazuto, using it's claws to poke through the devil as it lets out an ear splitting screech afterwards.
"I got you, older sister." Kazuto says, grabbing the older girl who's experiencing a great amount of blood loss within her under her arms, dragging her out of the main hall of the Takajo senate. Shirohato kept poking through the Unknown Devil, its scream ringing inside Kazuto's and Ame's ear drums.
"The hikers from the west are slowly approaching! In less than five minutes, they'll be able to smell the blood from here!" Shirohato chirps, flying away from the devil to help Kazuto pull the anemic girl.
As for Ame, her eyelids were slowly falling down on her, any minute now, she too could end up like the dead people on the floor. But that didn't mattered to her, what mattered more to her was that Kazuto and Shirohato will be able to get out of here, get away from this hellish nightmare and be able to live to tell the tale.
But before her eyelids could fall down on her, the Unknown Devil set the place ablaze. Fire surrounding the household everywhere. The dead bodies that once laid on the floor suddenly stood up, their horrific faces looking at Ame while pointing at the three of them.
"A curse has fallen upon you. No man or woman will be able to save you." They begin to say, the sight of them sending chills down Kazuto's and Shirohato's bodies.
"Angel begone! Angel begone! She who will grant two thousand wishes will forever wander on this earth. Playing heaven and earth with her companions, she who will grant two thousand wishes will never know what real love will feel like. Playing heaven and earth, will never ascend to the skies. How long will her play go on?"
On that very same night, majority of Ame's organs had stopped functioning, leaving her half dead. But granted by her bloodline, the angel genes helped her other organs work normally, half of it functioning well like nothing happened. So now, Ame is both half dead and half alive.
Kazuto and Shirohato were able to get themselves out of the burning house and was able to get help from the hikers. Despite getting out and receiving help, Ame herself received a souvenir from the Unknown Devil. On her left arm was a huge purple bruise that occupied the majority of her left arm; no water from her blood nor plasma circulating through, causing it now to be called 'golden blood', the blood in which majority of the devils seek to this day.