Haguko’s Curse

 

“Akiko-san, Murasaki-san”, Riku called out, as they made their way through the forest, looking for Himari, Asa, and Botan. They turned to glance at him, his face as stern as ever. 

“What is it, Riku-san?”, Akiko asked.

Then suddenly he looked down. 

“A-Akiko-san, how much further do we have to go?”, he asked dutifully. But was it really a hint of bashfulness that Akiko detected from him?

“Just a few meters, I expect”, she answered.

“Yeah I can already hear voices up ahead”, Murasaki joined in.

“I can see a fire”, Kazuyuki said blankly.

“I see”

Akiko turned to face him, “Riku-san, what’s wrong?”

“Truth is..”, he muttered. But before he could finish his sentence, a loud growl escaped his stomach. 

Akiko and Murasaki exchanged glances. 

“Oh, a-are you.. hungry, Riku-san?” 

“Truth is, Akiko-san..”, Riku muttered, trying to maintain his composure, “I haven’t had lunch yet. S-sorry. The driver’s license exam took longer than I expected.”

Akiko smiled and fished out her bag of peanuts, “Here. Eat some of this. It’s not much but –”

“TH-THANK YOU!!”

Riku took the bag and bowed aggressively. Then he took a handful of peanuts and munched on them as politely as he could. 

“Oi, oi if you were that hungry you should have just said so earlier”, Akiko said.

During this whole ordeal, Kazuyuki was distracted by something else. She could have sworn that the light she was talking about was from a fire. But soon she noticed that it was visible over the treetops. How could a campfire be that big?? Now that she saw it properly, it wasn’t even a warm yellow fiery light. It was a cold flashy blue – like lightning.

“Kazuyuki-san?”, Murasaki called out quizzically, noticing her distraction. 

“Murasaki”, she said, a speck of rare curiosity in her voice, “What do you think that is?”

“Oi Kazuyuki!”, Akiko rolled her eyes and turned towards them. She began to say, “That’s Murasaki-san for you”, but was then caught up in their joint inspection of something far away. Akiko’s eyes followed their gazes; then widened. 

“Oi, oi..”, she muttered, “What the hell is that??”

The giant blue and white orb of light near which Himari, Asa, and Botan have camped, glowed, barely visible to Akiko’s group over the treetops in the distance. But its aura extended above and beyond that particular point, making it look like a portal to another dimension. 

At some point Riku had also turned to see what all the fuss was about, and then once he’d seen it, he’d begun to say something but started violently choking on the peanuts instead.

“What- cough cough- what in the world is that- COUGH”

“Riku-san, take it easy..”, Murasaki said, giving him pats on the back. Then he observed the light carefully and noticed its curved top, “It looks like.. a giant.. ball of energy”

“Energy?”

“Yes. See the light squirming and moving inside it? It looks like electricity or.. some kinda energy”

“Hm..”, Akiko thought for a second. They’d got so far by following trail blazes left by Himari, Asa, and Botan. 

“Let’s go there”, she said finally.

Murasaki looked at her, baffled. “Go where?”

“There”, Akiko pointed at the light, “I think that’s where Hima-chan is”

“Huh??”, the other three looked at her as if she’d gone crazy.

“Akiko-san, with respect, what makes you think she’s there?”, asked Riku. 

“A hunch”

“A hunch??”

“Well, they must have come here, right? We’ve been following their trail markers after all”, she explained, “And if they came here, then they must have seen that thing. And Himari would definitely have wanted to check it out”

After giving it some thought, the others had no solid counterarguments. So they decided to go with Akiko’s hunch and check out the giant ball of energy.

---

The group of skeleton samurai stood before Daiki, Nolowi, and Jupong. 

There’s absolutely no coming out alive this time, Daiki thought. His strength was waning and so was Nolowi’s. 

Jupong had been a major help but Daiki still doubted his ability to solo a group that looked this powerful, without using his nua. 

Gōgul, the guard, drew an ōdachi sword and held it up with both hands. Then he began muttering a prayer in Mirzil. For Daiki, it translated to something like this, 

Seas of the world

Mountains of old

Trees undying

And lands scorched

Bind these souls

Bind them to the steel

Force them down

Vanquish their wills

As he finished, the sword made a great sound – a distant roar that seemed to echo from the depths of hell. And suddenly, Daiki couldn’t move. Sure he was frozen in fear all this time, but now, he couldn’t even try to move. 

“N-Nolowi.. What’s.. going on?”, Daiki asked, barely moving his mouth. He couldn’t turn to look at her but from the corner of his eye he could see that she was struggling to move too. 

“I.. don’t.. know..”, she muttered.

Two other skeleton samurai guards began walking towards them. 

It’s over, Daiki’s head flooded with panic, it’s completely over.

And as he waited, his eyes closed, sweat rolling down his face, a panic-induced shock running through his body, something wonderful happened. Wonderful and unexpected. 

He first noticed it as he waited with his eyes closed. He could hear noises – like a commotion.

Daiki then opened his eyes to check what was going on. 

“Bavaka!”, Nolowi muttered, excitedly. She could still barely move her mouth due to being bound by the incantation. But Daiki’s rising suspicions were confirmed. 

Bavaka dashed through the guards, making sure to entrance anyone who was in her way. Her goal was to get to their leader. Anyone she couldn’t touch with her nua, was dealt with by an invisible force that accompanied her – a masterful invisible combatant. 

“Zyc..”, Daiki whispered with a smile. 

Gōgul roared a thundering roar and brought the great sword down aggressively. As he placed it on the floor the bindings on Daiki, Nolowi, and Jupong tightened. He then turned towards the tall green woman entrancing his comrades, clanged the braces on his arms together, and roared once more. 

“Fu– I..can’t..breathe..”, Daiki tried to squirm as the grip suffocated him. 

“H-help..Ba..va..ka..”, Nolowi’s voice began to fade.

Gōgul drew a katana. He swung it at Bavaka but she ducked and with a sweeping kick, threw him off balance.

He stumbled back and regained his footing in a second, ready to slice his opponent in two – But too late. Bavaka had closed the distance between them. She looked deep into his eyes and gave him a tap on the shoulder. Suddenly he was in a trance.  

She looked around, vigilantly, still in a fighting stance. But no guards were left to fight. Everyone laid on the floor, knocked out. She spotted Zyc, now fully visible. Having tackled the guard leader to the ground and knocked him out, he was sitting atop his motionless body. 

“It’s like.. at least give me a challenge, you know”, he said smugly. 

“Ba..va..ka..”, a soft whisper called out and Bavaka turned her head.

Her heart almost stopped. “Kids!”, she cried out.

Nolowi, Daiki, and Jupong now lay on the floor. The other two have completely passed out while Nolowi was slowly losing her consciousness. She softly called out to their saviors in her last seconds of being awake. 

When she next opened her eyes, Bavaka was crouching over her. She looked concerned but a warm smile lit up her face as soon as Nolowi woke up. 

“Hey..”, she said softly.

“Bavaka..”

“Are you okay?”

“I think so..”, Nolowi looked around. Jupong sat, hugging his knees next to the laicon corridor. Daiki lay on the floor next to him, trying to smile at her weakly.

“They’re okay..”, she said with relief.

“Yeah we used some emergency first aid”, Zyc joined in, “Hey”

Nolowi beamed, “Zyc..a-are you guys..okay?”

“We’re fine. Fought off about a hundred guards today I think. If I’m being honest, I feel more than fine”, he smiled. 

“Well we’ve gotta go”, Bavaka urged, getting back up, “we can catch up later. They might mobilize the Kaalian”

Zyc’s eyes lit up when Bavaka mentioned this name. 

“Kaalian? W-what’s that?”, Nolowi asked. 

“A guard troop directly under General Mugulo’s command.”, Zyc answered, “Top fighters. You never know when to expect them.”

Bavaka walked up to a feeble looking samurai guard that had been brought back to consciousness. 

Daiki glanced at him slowly. 

The expression on his face was a mixture of elation and confusion, as if he’d lost all his memories but he didn’t even care because someone was bringing him his favorite flavor of ice cream.

Ice cream. I’d kill for some ice cream right now, Daiki thought.   

“We’re taking this one’s fingerscan”, Bavaka said, picking up the guard’s frail hand. 

Then she pressed one of his strange fingers into the bioluminescent scanner. It beeped quietly and a much louder metallic sound from the corridor followed. 

“Did it work??”, Nolowi beamed excitedly.

“Yup. Sticking to the right conditions. Works every time.”, Bavaka answered with a wink.

With that, Nolowi’s happy face changed quickly into a guilty one, “Sorry for messing up..”

“Oh don’t apologize to me. If we haven’t come they’d be torturing you right now”

Bavaka smiled and knocked the entranced guard out. Then she walked into the corridor.

“Well?”, she said gesturing at the others, “Get a move on then”

---

The thing about ignorance is even though they say it’s bliss, it only applies when you’re completely ignorant of something. For instance, if Botan had spent the vacation in his own hometown, he wouldn’t have known about anything that happened in Haguko during this time; not a single thing. He would have only heard about it the next semester from his friends – if they had survived. 

Alternatively, if he had jumped onto the tracks that one evening..

Then he wouldn’t have known his friends to begin with. Or had a life to worry about at all. Complete ignorance. But thanks to Daiki, he was alive and here. And he knew things. Strange things that were happening that he probably shouldn’t even know about. But he didn’t know all of it. He didn’t know what was happening; just that something was. He didn’t know where his friend was; just that he was gone – dead, even. And that kind of ignorance wasn’t bliss, it was just torture. 

“Did you hear that?”, Asa’s voice brought Botan back to reality. 

“What..?”

“That..sound. Did you hear it?”

Botan listened. 

“Mm no. I don’t hear anything..”, he said.

But Asa suddenly gasped.

“There it is! There.. Didn’t you hear that??”

For a second Botan couldn’t hear anything. But then it came. Slow but steady..

“Footsteps.”

“What..?”, Asa whispered.

Botan looked at her and whispered back, “Someone’s coming.”

They both looked at Himari who was still concentrating on trying to get inside Daiki’s head.

If I could reach his mind, she’d said, I could see where he is. Don’t interrupt me while I’m doing this. It could disturb the process. 

“Let’s wake her”, Botan urged.

“She’s not asleep”

“I know I mean let’s call her”

“Botan, no!”

“We don’t know who’s out there. We could get attacked again!”

“Ssh! Dude, she asked us to leave her alone, we leave her alone. Here..”, Asa picked up a small log of wood, “Use this”

“This?? To fight?? And what if it’s fucking kamen rider?? What if it’s like a firebender or something?”

“Then..”, Asa picked up a log for herself, “I guess we’ll see”

The footsteps got closer and closer. Soon four people emerged from the trees, looking as confused and bewildered as a child seeing sunlight for the first time. They were all fixated on the giant orb of energy in front of them. At first, Asa lifted her log up instinctively and took a defensive stance. But then surprise and comfort overcame her as she realized who they were. 

“Akiko-san! Murasaki-san!”, Botan exclaimed. Then he noticed the other two, “Kazuyuki-san and Riku-san are here too” 

“Oh! You guys were actually here??”, Murasaki said with a smile, “Akiko-san, you were right.”

Seeing that everyone was safe, relief washed over Akiko’s face for a second. Then she glanced smugly at Murasaki.

“Of course I was”

Looking around again, Akiko noticed Himari sitting with her eyes closed, holding onto a rolled up paper. 

“What is she doing?”

“Oh..she asked us not to disturb”, Botan said.

“She’s trying to get inside Daiki’s head”, Asa answered, “so that we’ll know where he is and if he’s okay” 

Akiko and Murasaki exchanged suspicious glances of concern.

“She can do that? Without him here?”, Riku asked, a sense of awe and wonder in his voice.

“What’s that she’s holding?”, Kazuyuki pointed at Himari’s lap.

“Oh that.. Uh..”, Botan hesitated, “It’s a map. Uh.. there’s Daiki’s blood on it” 

Akiko did a double take at Botan, “Blood..?”

“Y-yeah..”

“That doesn’t sound good, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t! We looked everywhere.. We can’t find him.”, Botan blurted.

“But he can’t be that badly hurt, right? I mean.. he wouldn't have gone that far if he’s badly hurt. Right..?” Asa asked.

“Y-yes, you’re right..”, noticing the rising panic from the kids, Akiko answered as positively as she could.

Keeping Botan calm was always a challenge at times like this. Asa did her best to keep him in check all this time, but seeing Akiko’s reaction to Daiki’s blood seemed to stir up his panic all over again. 

“Daiki!!”, he screamed.

“Ssh!!”, startled, Asa tried to shush him, but to no end. He continued to yell.

“Daiki!!!”

“What the fuck are you doing? Shut up! You’re gonna disturb Himari-san”

“She’s been at it for hours!”  

Asa paused. 

"No progress at all. If we had gone further, searched more, we could have found him by now. DAIKI!!!"

He called out and began moving out of the clearing, towards the dark forest. 

“Botan..”, Asa mumbled but he ignored her.

“DAIKI!!”

“Botan!”

“OI DAIKII!!”

“Aoki Botan-kun!”, Murasaki called out this time. His voice was loud and clear. And his tone was gentle but commanding. Botan was caught off-guard. 

Then, discouraged, he fell silent. 

He slouched and exhaled. And with a sigh he turned around, “Murasaki-san, I’m sorry. I’m ju…st-”.

But Murasaki and the others were already distracted by something else. They all glared in Himari’s direction. Botan stopped mid-sentence and followed their gaze. 

Then he saw it. Some disturbance in the air around Himari. The leaves were dancing in a light breeze around her. But this was no ordinary breeze. No one else could feel it from where they were standing. It was like Himari herself was creating it. 

“What’s going on?”, Botan whispered.

“I don’t know…”, Asa whispered back. 

“Wait, did it work? Is she gonna talk to Daiki now?”

“I don’t know. How would I know?”

The breeze around Himari got stronger and began howling. Then the trees and the grass around her began to sway. Soon everyone began to feel it. 

“Marvelous! How is she doing this..?”, Riku wondered out loud, looking around him. 

Gradually everything got louder and louder until they could hear each other no more – the wind’s howling, the trees’ wringing. And with it all came the most unbearable feeling of terror too. Because slowly it started to look as if the whole forest was going to tear up by the roots. 

The collective cacophony of it all frightened everyone. Especially Asa and Botan. They’ve never seen anything like this. Only in movies. 

“Aoki-san, Kobayashi-san, are you okay??”, Murasaki yelled over the noise.

All they could do was nod aggressively. 

“Come over here, guys!”, Akiko screamed, gesturing everyone to huddle together. 

They ran over to her, all of them, and braced for what was yet to come.

---

At this time, a world away, Daiki, Nolowi, Bavaka, Zyc, and Jupong were making their way up the prison. Silent vigilance was thick in the air as they watched out for the Kaalian, General Mugulo’s top guard. 

Daiki, perhaps even more vigilant than the others, looked around nervously. He wondered if they could consider this mission a success so far. It hadn’t gone exactly as planned. There were a few hiccups. But then again, they’d been prepared for hiccups. Back in the tunnel, they’d discussed many backup plans and emergency plans. And that had, so far, helped them.

But can you call this a success? Will they ever save Takashi?

Then they heard something – something menacing; repeated thuds. The group stopped in their tracks. Bavaka and Zyc assumed defensive stances.

Daiki listened intently. At first they seemed to come from behind them but then they spread around and started coming from every direction. 

“What is that??”, Daiki asked. 

Bavaka answered immediately “It’s them – the kaalian” she scanned their surroundings vigilantly, “We need to find a way to avoid them”

“Avoid them?? Why?”

Bavaka glared at Daiki in bewilderment, “In the mood to fight, are we?”

“I mean.. that’s all we’ve been doing since we got here”, he confessed in frustration.

“We can’t fight them”, Zyc replied. 

“Why not??”

He was met with silence. Neither Bavaka nor Zyc seemed too keen to continue talking about them. This made Daiki even more curious. 

Were they hiding something? Why were they so scared of the kaalian? They had no trouble fighting everyone else. 

But then his train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a violent rush in his head – a sudden pump of adrenaline. As if it was about to split in two. His heart began to pound in his ears. 

Back in the woods, everyone was still huddled together, watching the forest get nearly uprooted, petrified in both fear and awe, when suddenly it all came to a halt. The noise, the trees, the grass, the wind, it all stopped – unnaturally fast. And then it all stood still in deafening silence. 

For a full minute after that, nothing happened. And for that whole minute everyone was speechless. 

Akiko was the first to break the ice. “Hima-chan..”, she whispered.

And this was because she’d noticed something. Something the others yet haven’t. Himari’s face – her eyes were now wide open. It wasn’t clear as to whether or not she was really seeing them, but they were open. Her brows were furrowed with visible confusion and disbelief. And her mouth was agape. 

The adrenaline rush in Daiki’s head didn’t subside. The feeling that it was going to split in two only intensified as they walked. 

“This way..”, Bavaka gestured to the others to follow her into a corner that was hidden from view. The thuds, menacing as they were, became louder and closer. The Kaalian were near. 

Was it the entire guard? Or was it just one person this time? Daiki wondered. 

They quickly occupied the dark corner. Daiki, distracted largely due to his throbbing headache, had to be dragged into the hideout.

“Daiki!”, Nolowi hissed, lugging his weakening body behind her, “Get your shit together!”

Once they were hidden, Bavaka was on alert. She watched intently for movement in their surroundings; for movement in the hallway that they’d just left. They had a good vantage point. 

The thuds got closer and closer. And Daiki’s head got worse. 

“Ah..”, he held it with both hands and squatted. Strange vibrations moved through his whole body. What the fuck is going on???

“Oi Daiki..”, Nolowi whispered. She felt a sense of panic shoot through her when she noticed that Daiki was no longer responsive. 

Soon Bavaka, Zyc, and Jupong noticed this too.

“What’s going on??”, Bavaka demanded.

Nolowi looked at her helplessly, “I-I don’t know, he just..”

“Daiki, can you hear me?? Daiki??”

Daiki..

Daiki..

Daiki-kun..

Can you hear me?

Daiki-kun..?

Can you see..?

Bavaka’s voice faded in his head. And it somehow warped into another voice that he knows. A voice that he was more familiar with – that the whole town was familiar with. Himari’s voice. 

Daiki-kun..

Can you hear me..?

Where are you?

Let me help..

The splitting sensation now grew stronger and stronger. Daiki sat on the ground, his hands around his head, hyperventilating. Then suddenly, something snapped. A switch flipped. The pain stopped. His heartbeat was steady and so was his breathing. 

“Daiki..?”, Nolowi called quizzically, “A-are you okay?”

Slowly, he got up, head still hanging low. 

“Daiki??”, they called him but he was mostly unresponsive; as if he was someone else, failing to recognize them. 

The thuds too got closer and closer, until it sounded like it finally found them. And then it stopped – only inches away, separated from them only by a wall. 

“Daiki?”, Bavaka whispered, “Are you okay? Can you walk?”

“We need to get out of here!!”, Nolowi added. 

Bavaka made a gesture asking Nolowi to calm down. Vigilantly, she looked to the left over her shoulder. They had just one escape route from here – a small tunnel-like path and an opening; they had to take it – fast.

“Can you walk?”, Bavaka asked Daiki again. 

This time Daiki nodded. Slowly.

They moved quietly towards the escape route. Everything was silent and the thuds were no more. But the air was dense with the feeling that someone or something was watching them; from up close. 

Discreetly, they snuck through the opening and out into a much larger and darker space. It was docked with equipment and machinery. There were screens all over one side of the room which displayed footage from different parts of the building. And a single chair was placed in front of them. But no one was there. It was silent and empty – and quite eerily so. 

“Where are we?”, Nolowi asked, glancing at Bavaka.

“Well.. it looks like a control room.”

“Then this must be where they operate cell doors from!”

Bavaka didn’t answer. A threatening feeling was lurking in her mind. The fact that it was empty didn’t really sit right with her. Was it an abandoned control room? If so, then why were all the screens turned on. 

And the chair, now that she looked closely, was turned from its default position. She took that as an indication that someone had been sitting there before getting up and leaving. But leaving to go where? 

Her train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by something. The sound of footsteps.

“Someone's coming”, Zyc said, looking around alarmed. 

“Shit!”, Bavaka hissed, “Fall back! We can’t get caught!”

There was a doorway in the room, hidden away in a small dark corridor, flanked by two walls. Even with the light, you couldn’t see the door or even half of the corridor itself. 

As soon as Bavaka gave the command, Zyc went invisible and everyone hurried out of the room. She clenched her fists tight and braced for what was coming.

Just as they descended the stairs leading up to the room, a soft creak came from the doorway. Like it was being opened. 

“No..”, Nolowi muttered in fear, “They’re here..”

The door closed. And a light foot-tap on the floor followed. 

Then soon, another. 

And another.

Bavaka glanced at her crew. Nolowi and Jupong were frozen in fear. Zyc was invisible. And Daiki.. there was something off about him. 

She motioned her hands and created a dense misty wall around them.

“What’s that??”, Nolowi asked.

“Curtain of dreams. We’ll be hidden.. for a while at least”

The soft footsteps got closer and closer. 

But then, something happened. Something unexpected. 

From the darkness of the doorway, something was thrown violently, into the light. 

Something that they all recognized; someone that they knew. 

Bruised, lifeless, and very badly hurt, but they recognized him all the same. 

Nolowi’s eyes widened in horror. She struggled to scream. Or even make a sound at all. In the end, all she could manage was just one word.

“Zakuvo..”