ekaterin24; The Education of Doumeki Haruka, part one; PG
Title: The Education of Doumeki Haruka
Author: ekaterin24
Rating: PG to R
Summary: How Haruka became the skilled, wise, and
good-humored dream-ghost he is in Xxxholic canon. (childhood
and teenage years only--there's more in the works if
anyone's interested.
The Prompt
Something with Haruka. We don't have enough stories about him as we should, considering just how awesome he is...
Something about him and Shizuka as a child, or perhaps a story about a young Haruka learning to handle his powers... or maybe even something about him as he is now, lurking in the background and occasionally visiting Watanuki in dreams to advise him on how to deal with his grandson. Because we all know he wants Watanuki as a grandson-in-law, right? ;D
But no Haruka/Watanuki, please. There's something in me that cringes away from that pairing; I just can't get over their age difference, despite appearences. And in my eyes, Watanuki sees him as an adopted grandfather of sorts...
"The Education of Doumeki Haruka" (approx. 12,175 words)
Notes:
Part 1 rated PG for mild descriptions of war, injury and death.
I've found conflicting accounts of the ages for boys and girls for the Shichi-go-san ceremony (a Shinto ceremony for children of certain ages) and have used a fairly reliable source that suits the story.
Zashiki Warashi are traditionally house spirits that bring prosperity to the home. They seem to also be spirits of certain locations. The Zashiki Warashi in Xxxholic canon apparently "belonged" to the mountain mentioned in the manga.
Part 1: Childhood
Haruka's first memory was of going to the local Shinto shrine for Shichi-go-san the fall after he turned three. Before they left, his cousin Kiku had insisted on telling him everything that would happen, because she had her ceremony last year and knew all about it. Everyone went. Haruka rode with Grandfather, Mother and Father in the horse-cart, since Father couldn't walk that far because of his bad leg. His uncles, Aunt Kuni, and Cousin Kiku all walked. Mother had made him a blue kimono with fish on it, and after the ceremony Father bought him a fancy stick of candy. Haruka let everyone have a taste-they didn't get candy very often anymore. "Times are hard," Haruka heard the grownups say, often. And they always seemed to get harder. Haruka cried when Grandfather had to sell both his horses that winter so they would have enough coal to heat the temple, and enough rice for everyone.
The next year was no better. Father and his friends often talked about a new "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." They must have talked about it a hundred times, so Haruka finally asked Father about it. Usually he asked Grandfather questions because Grandfather was the head priest and seemed to know nearly everything. Father knew more about modern life and things going on around the world, though, because he worked for a newspaper. He explained to Haruka that Japan needed more things like metal and food, and was going to take over other parts of Asia so everyone in Asia would be able to have more nice things.
"Can't the Emperor make everyone hurry?" Haruka asked. "We need more food now." He wanted candy and white rice, and Grandfather's horses back again.
"It's not that simple, Haruka," Father said. "You'll understand better when you're older."
"When I go to school next spring?"
Father shook his head, smiling a little, which he didn't do often those days. "Not that soon, Haruka
That was the fall Haruka wore hakama and a grownup-style jacket for the first time, to celebrate being five at the Shinto shrine. Grandfather paid to have a picture taken of everyone after they went to the shrine, with everyone smiling in their new clothes, so maybe co-prosperity was finally starting.
Haruka wasn't as happy with his new school clothes the following spring. He had to wear shorts, which meant his bare knees got itchy when he played in the dirt. He also had to wear a stupid cap that he was always forgetting at school, at his friend Shinobu's house down the lane, or out at the pond. He liked school, though, especially learning how to write.
"Using a brush is fun!" he told Father, showing all the strokes he could make.
Kiku made a face at him. Whenever she wrote, she got smears on the page and on her clothes. Finally, he could do something better than she could. Maybe that was why Uncle Kazuo seemed unhappy. Uncle never said anything, but Haruka saw him frown sometimes when he went into the temple to help with a funeral or other ceremony. He never did it in front of Grandfather, though!
"Can you make Uncle Kazuo happier?" he asked Zashiki Warashi. Zashiki was his best friend, next to Shinobu. She was in the kitchen sometimes, and liked when Haruka brought her flowers. Kiku teased him and said he'd made her up, but when he asked Grandfather about her, he smiled and replied, "So, you can see her too?"
"Is she your friend also, Grandfather?"
"Spirits aren't exactly friends of humans, but we are friendly. Yes, I do see her, and I talk with her at night when everyone is asleep. Your Uncle Taki could see her when he was younger, but Taki says he can only feel her presence now."
"So Kiku can't see her because she's a girl?"
"No, your Uncle Kazuo and your father never could, nor could my brother. And my great-aunt could always see and talk with her. Only a few members of the Doumeki family can see and talk with her.
"Does that make me special? Does it mean I will be a good priest?"
"It means you have a gift that will bring you special work, and dangers, Haruka. I will teach you all I can. Being able to see spirits is a great responsibility. When you're older, you may be able to make them go away too."
"I don't want Zashiki to go away!"
"No, of course not. She watches over us, and helps to make our home happy and prosperous."
"I want to help keep her happy more than ever, then!"
"My great-aunt said she likes peach blossoms the best. Next spring you can bring her some."
Zashiki couldn't stop Uncle Kazuo from going away that fall, though, or keep Grandfather from being angry about it. Grandfather found the letter Uncle left on the dining-room table. Everyone came running when they heard Grandfather shouting.
"How could he? A son of mine, and a Buddhist priest, joining the military! He shall never cross this threshold again!" He passed the letter to Uncle Taki, who read it out loud.
"I have gone to join the Imperial Air Force. I could never be content as a priest, and my duty to the Emperor and to follow my soul's calling to fly in the air calls me."
"What rubbish! Ah!" Grandfather sat down heavily. "I am sorry. I should not allow myself to become so angry."
Haruka slipped away to talk with Zashiki.
"I do not have the power to stop him, and I'm not sure it would be right." she told Haruka. "He was very unhappy here. Your uncle is truly called to fly the machines in the sky. I cannot protect him out there, though." She hid her face in her hands. "Haruka, stay close."
"I will," he promised. "I know I want to be a priest. And I could never kill a person; I don't even like to kill flies."
Mother came in to make breakfast, with Aunt Kuni. "Haruka-san, please go get ready for school."
"I have time-" he began, but he knew better than to do anything but obey when Mother wore that face. He ran out, catching only Aunt Kuni's first words:
"Kanae, I knew he was unhappy but I...."
Two days later, Aunt Kuni and Kiku went away on the train. "I'm going home to help my parents with the farm," Aunt Kuni told him, kneeling beside the bundles she had made for the trip. "Send me a letter, Haruka, I want to read about your adventures."
Haruka didn't miss Kiku one bit, but Aunt Kuni had made delicious udon soups, and Uncle Kazuo had drawn marvelous pictures of trains and automobiles and, most often, airplanes. Also, Haruka didn't like seeing everyone in the house so unhappy, Grandfather the saddest of everyone. Haruka tried to cheer up Grandfather when he came home from school. He was careful not to talk about the magnificent Zero airplane Shinobu's father had bought him. He asked about Buddhism instead. Grandfather started teaching him to read the sutras on Saturday afternoons, when school was only half a day. He didn't understand why Shinobu thought he was crazy to do extra schoolwork.
"Reading the sutras will always help you, Haruka-kun," Grandfather said, "even when you don't understand them. They are a comfort to me now, as you are." He rested a hand on Haruka's head, something only Mother usually did.
Mother was unhappy too. Sometimes one or two of her friends would come for tea, and they would talk in quiet voices. Haruka wanted to hear, but Grandfather would shoo him away. "Women have their own sphere," he explained.
"Like the Co-Prosperity Sphere?" Haruka asked.
"No...ah, perhaps a little. They help each other. Your mother is missing your aunt. She has to do the housework alone now, and they were good friends. Also, she has...other women's concerns."
As the year went on, everyone slowly became happier again. There was more good food to share with the ancestors at the O-Bon festival that summer, and Mother made everyone new clothes for the fall. Haruka got a new store-bought school uniform for the fall term too. Mother put the old one away.
"I hope we'll need it again someday," Haruka heard her murmur.
Then came the news that Japan had started fighting the United States. Shinobu wanted to play "bomb the gaijin harbor" all the time.
"But they killed people," Haruka objected. "And some of our people died too, Father said."
"They died for the glory of the Emperor!" Shinobu shouted. When Haruka just shook his head, though, he asked, "Would you rather play with your new ball?"
"Yeah!"
They started kicking the ball around, two other boys came running to join them, and they all had a fine time.
Mother scolded about Haruka's dirty school uniform, though, and the cap that he'd left somewhere in Shinobu's yard again.
"Mother's very tired these days," she said, shaking out the shorts in the courtyard to get out as much dust as she could.
"You've been eating a lot," Haruka pointed out, staring at Mother's round stomach. "That always makes me sleepy."
Mother laughed. "It's not that I have been eating so much, but...Haruka, come inside with me." She led the way to the living room, carefully lowering herself onto the nearest cushion. Haruka sat beside her, wondering at the little smile on Mother's face.
"Haruka-kun, my belly is getting bigger because there is a baby growing inside me. You're going to be a big brother in a few months."
"Oh." Haruka remembered that sometimes one of Mother's friends would grow a big belly, and then be thin the next time he saw her. And, yes, once she was thin again she usually brought a screaming baby with her. "How did the baby get inside there?"
Mother coughed and turned red. "When you get older, your father will explain that to you."
"Is it complicated?" Everything grownups wouldn't explain, like how a train worked or why Grandfather and Haruka were the only ones in the family with gold eyes instead of black, was complicated.
"Yes, it is." Mother was sort-of-smiling again.
Grandfather came in just then, with a small basket. "Kanae, a parishioner just gave us these walnuts. Can you use them for dinner tonight?"
Mother started to rise, but Grandfather shook his head. "Stay and rest a little, Kanae. I'll put them in the kitchen."
That was unusual. Grandfather must be extremely happy about the walnuts.
The baby arrived on a spring morning just a few days before Haruka started fifth grade. Little Keiko cried a lot, just as his friends had warned him, and when she wasn't crying, she was nursing. Haruka talked with Zashiki about her.
"She sounds very healthy." Zashiki said. "Strong."
"Loud," Haruka added.
"Almost as loud as you were." Zashiki smiled. "I remember. Everyone was so happy there was a baby boy in the family."
"Boys are more important, aren't they?" As soon as he said it, Haruka remembered that Zashiki was a girl, or at least, a girl-spirit. "Umm, I mean, they're the ones who do work that brings in money so everyone can eat. Girls are important because they, ahh, cook, and have babies."
"Some girls do more than that." Zashiki said.
"Like you. You're a spirit, and you keep good things happening in the house."
"Human girls do special things too. They are midwives, like the woman who helped the mother have your little sister safely; and teachers; and some of them can see and work with spirits and youkai like your grandfather can, and like you will when you are ready."
Haruka remembered what his grandfather had said about his gift. He'd learned about all kinds of spirits and youkai-umbrella-youkai were his favorite, because they looked so odd-but he hadn't seen any but Zashiki so far.
She seemed to read his mind. "The gift, and using it, gets stronger with puberty."
"What's that?"
"When you start becoming a man. Your father will explain it when the time comes."
Haruka wanted to know things now, though. The world was so confusing sometimes. For instance, he couldn't understand why so many people were happy about the war, even the parents who brought in their son's remains for a funeral. He asked Grandfather about it as they sat in the courtyard on a bright autumn day.
"They consider it a great honor for their son to have died in the service of the Emperor, for the glory of Japan," Grandfather explained.
"But is it a great honor?"
Grandfather sighed. "What is honorable depends on what one believes. I believe that serving the Buddha as a priest is one of the greatest honors in the world. One of which I do not feel worthy."
"But you're the best priest ever!"
Grandfather chuckled. "I do my best, but Haruka, I have failed many times. My heart is still not entirely quiet about my eldest son, and I have not always followed the Eightfold Path in other ways as well."
Just then, Harada-san, the only priest who wasn't one of Haruka's relatives, entered the courtyard. He bowed. "Doumeki-sama, a person is waiting for you out at the gate."
"Harada, why did you not bid him enter, and ask Kanae to bring him some tea?"
"He is a military man. I think it is best that he not set foot inside the temple grounds."
"I'll go to him." Grandfather quickly stood, and strode heavily toward the front of the temple compound. Haruka hurried behind.
Haruka recognized the man's Imperial Air Force uniform from posters he'd seen when his parents took him into the city. Grandfather listened to the man and nodded once. He spoke quietly, then each of them bowed. The airman turned smartly on his heel and headed toward the automobile parked at the edge of the street.
Grandfather's face was solemn. "He came to tell me in person. Kazuo has entered the afterlife, in service to the emperor. His airplane was completely destroyed in the air, so they could not retrieve any of his remains. The man who came to deliver this information is bringing similar news to other families in our area, and out to the countryside to tell Kuni-san."
Haruka bit his lip. He hadn't seen Uncle Kazuo in a long time, but he still missed him, and now he would not see him again in this life. And Kiku wouldn't have a father anymore, not even one far away in the war.... No, I won't cry, I'll be a good Buddhist and remain serene...
Haruka burst into tears, rubbing his eyes with his fists.
Grandfather put an arm around Haruka's shoulder and turned him around, guiding him back toward the house. After a few paces he stopped. Haruka felt his grandfather's arm shake. He blinked and looked up to see tears on his grandfather's face, and wrinkles he had never noticed before.
"Grandfather..." He pulled his handkerchief out of his sleeve and held it up. Grandfather took it and wiped his face. They walked slowly to the doorway. "We will sit here and compose ourselves a moment. Then I will go in and tell your uncle and mother."
Just after New Year's, another military man came to the temple gate-this time from the Imperial Army. Haruka was just coming home from school and greeted the officer, bowing and offering assistance.
"I am here to speak with Doumeki Takishima" the man replied, not nearly as politely as grown-up visitors usually addressed Haruka. He was definitely not going to invite the man in-he'd probably killed people, or sent others to kill them, which Father and Grandfather agreed was just as wrong.
"I will see if he is here. Please wait here a moment." Haruka bowed again and ran into the house, where Uncle Taki usually spent afternoons going over temple supplies and finances, and sneaking a bit of whatever Mother was making for dinner.
Mother looked up from the soft tofu she was preparing and explained that Uncle Taki had walked down to the shops to buy incense. "Your grandfather is in the temple readying it for a funeral; please let him know."
Haruka did, and accompanied Grandfather to the temple gate.
The officer bowed quickly to Grandfather, then introduced himself without apology. "Your son Doumeki Takashima is needed in the Imperial Army. And I understand there are other adult men living here, another Doumeki and...Harada-san?"
"My son Doumeki Takashima and Kenji Harada-san are both priests at this temple. My son Jiro resides here as well."
The officer looked at a clipboard in his hand. "We require all three men to appear at the Second Imperial Recruitment Station at this address." The officer handed Grandfather a small piece of paper. "They are to appear within the week, for a physical examination and other preparations for entry into the Imperial Army."
"I am concerned that there might be confusion regarding this summons." Grandfather responding, holding the paper away from himself with the tips of two fingers. "Harada-san and Doumeki Takashima-san are both Buddhist priests, as I am, and as such are forbidden to take life in any way."
"The Imperial Army is in need of all men capable of serving the Emperor as soldiers. We can no longer allow priests, even our Shinto priests, to remain in their temples and shrines when they are needed to serve the Emperor and secure Japan's victory in this war."
Grandfather was still and silent as the temple gate itself. And as firmly rooted. Haruka thought he would simply stare the officer out of the gateway and down the road. But eventually he asked, "And myself?"
"Men of your years can serve best in local defense work. And we are aware that some priests are needed in order to conduct funerals for those who have had the honor of sacrificing their lives."
Haruka nearly took a step back, seeing his grandfather's golden eyes burning like a flame in a lantern.
"My son Jiro suffered an illness as a child and has a withered leg. He cannot stand without a cane. Is he required to appear?
"He must appear so our doctors can confirm his unsuitability for military service," the officer replied.
"I will pass this information on to my sons and to Harada-san. Thank you for your trouble." Grandfather bowed about as deeply as he did to Mother's friends when they visited.
"Thank you, Doumeki-san." The man bowed to exactly the same depth Grandfather had, and stiffly turned to stride down the street to the next building.
Grandfather turned away, heading back toward the main temple building. Harada-san met him at the door. Haruka ran to the kitchen to tell Mother the whole story.
"The soldier," he nearly spat the word, "never apologized to Grandfather, not once! And he didn't trust Grandfather when he said that Father's leg didn't work well enough for him to be a soldier! I hate this war, I really do! No prosperity is worth all this. They're killing people, even if they are gaijin, and our soldiers and sailors and pilots-even Uncle died and now they want-Mother! What if Uncle Taki gets killed too?"
"Shh!" Mother insisted. "Don't even say such things!"
Haruka gasped. "Could it happen just because I said it?"
"Probably not. Surely not." Mother sounded uncertain. "Haruka, dear, is Keiko awake? I haven't felt her move, but sometimes she wakes up without fussing." She turned so Haruka could check the baby, who was in a bundle on Mother's back.
"Still asleep," he answered softly."
"Good. Time for a snack for you, and for me," Mother rose and set a pot of water to boil for tea.
Haruka didn't hear what Grandfather said to his father and uncle when they returned just before dinner, because Mother had taken him to Shinobu's house and arranged for him to have dinner there. He'd really wanted to know more about it. He told Shinobu about it, and learned that the soldier had given Shinobu's father a summons also.
"What about the store?" Haruka asked.
"Mother will have to run it herself. And I'll help." Shinobu seemed more grown up with those few words.
The next day, Uncle Taki and Harada-san both joined Father on the train into the city. Father was quickly rejected, but the army took both Uncle Taki and Harada-san. They took Shinobu's father too, and most of the fathers who hadn't already gone to the war. Everyone's mother and grandmother and big sister was putting stitches into thousand-stitch belts.
"Do you pray over them?" Haruka asked his mother.
"I think of how the man who will wear it is loved by the woman who started it-by his mother, his wife, his sister, or whoever he has to make one for him."
Mother had made Uncle Taki's belt, since he had no wife or sister, and Grandmother had died before Haruka was born. Harada-san's mother sent him one with five hundred stitches already in it from women in and around his hometown.
That spring Father's job at the newspaper ended. No one wanted translations of international news anyway; they only wanted to read about how the Americans were being defeated by the Imperial forces. Father helped Grandfather as best he could with temple duties. Grandfather grumbled about how no one would trust a priest they thought was cursed, so Father didn't perform any of the ceremonies. He kept the inventory and finances as Uncle Taki had, cleaned whatever temple objects he could clean without standing, helped with preparations for funerals, and wrote the special names for people going on to the afterlife in his beautiful calligraphy.
Father also made Haruka stop going to school, once he got a good look at the textbooks.
"These are not going to help you learn everything you need to know about the world, Haruka," he said. "Also, you will be a priest in the temple someday, so you need to learn more from Grandfather. You and I will learn some things together."
The school principal was a Buddhist and a friend of Father's, so he made arrangements for Haruka to be allowed to be taught at home. Father taught him classical and modern literature, kanji , calligraphy, history, geography, and mathematics. Grandfather helped both of them with the sutras, taught about priestly duties and Buddhist traditions, and taught them some Shinto practices as well, especially purification and healing practices. He also taught Haruka to care for the plants and trees in the temple compound, which had been one of Uncle Taki's tasks. Haruka was happier because he found his home studies more interesting than what was in the new textbooks, and he could still play with his friends after school. He didn't even mind that he was missing the thrill of attending junior high school, especially when he saw the stiff high-collared jacket Shinobu and his other friends had to wear.
Food was getting scarce again-there wasn't much food for them or the ancestors at O-Bon, and it was cold even inside that winter because of coal and wood shortages.
One winter day Haruka and Shinobu were racing around the temple courtyard, as much to keep warm as to have fun, when Haruka felt a shadow overhead. "It doesn't feel like snow-" he said, looking up. There were planes, dozens of them. The air-raid siren began to sound.
Father came hobbling outside. He looked up at the sky. "Holy Buddha," he whispered.
"Perhaps I should go home," Shinobu began.
"Please stay here, Shinobu-kun." Father's voice was quiet. "Your mother knows you are here, and we will keep you safe. Come inside, now." Father touched Haruka's back, something he rarely did, as he guided the boys inside.
"There are nearly a hundred American planes overhead." Father announced.
"We shall be protected," Grandfather stated.
Father shook his head. "I don't think the Emperor can save us, Father"
"My trust is not in the Emperor or in human soldiers, Jiro. We are Buddha's servants, in his temple. And I've seen in a dream that this temple shall stand for decades. Haruka will bring his bride to this place, and raise children here."
They stayed in the cellar under the temple, nearly beneath the statue of Buddha. Haruka could hear the bombs go off, and a rushing sound that Father said was like a typhoon wind. When it was all over, Haruka begged to accompany Grandfather to see what had happened. He smelled smoke before Grandfather even opened the door. The temple and outbuildings were undamaged, as Grandfather was quick to point out, as was most of their neighborhood. But their old elementary school, just ten minutes' walk away, had collapsed, and most of the wooden homes near it had burned to the ground..
Two days later, Haruka and Shinobu were climbing around on one of the piles of stone and charred wood. Shinobu saw something glittering and ran toward it. Haruka felt something behind him, though, and turned around. There was a lady, withered and in torn clothing with black stains on it. "What is wrong, auntie?" he asked. "Should I get the doctor?"
She didn't say anything.
Shinobu turned around. "Who are you talking to?"
"This lady," He turned to ask her name-maybe Mother or Grandfather knew her.
"There's no one there!" Shinobu objected.
"She's right in front of you, in a blue jacket. Are you blind?"
Shinobu insisted no one was there.
"Idiot!" Haruka yelled, and ran home. Something was extremely odd about this person but he knew that, somehow, Grandfather could help.
Grandfather listened patiently to his story.
"I think I know what she needs," Grandfather responded quietly. "Take me to where you saw her-but wait a moment first."
He rummaged in Mother's rag-basket and took out a long, bright-red scrap of fabric. Haruka led Grandfather to the ruins of the house. The lady was still there, whispering something in a broken voice. Grandfather stood stock-still and listened.
"Can you see her again, Haruka?"
"Yes."
"And hear her?"
"A little. Grandfather, why aren't you trying to help her?"
"We can't help her anymore, Haruka. She's dead. Her body must be somewhere in this rubble."
Haruka didn't understand at first. Then he remembered some of Grandfather's stories. "Is she a ghost?"
"Yes, she's a ghost. She can't rest, probably because her family hasn't been able to recover her body and bury her properly. We need to find them and arrange for a proper funeral.
Grandfather recognized the house; the family had been to the temple many times. Two days later, the lady's ashes was brought in for funeral rites. The woman's mother-in-law, who had been at a friend's house when their home was burned, brought a small sack of rice as payment.
"It's not very much, I know. But I have little else, until the Army send the next pension check from my late son. I do have something for the boy who found her." She handed Haruka a small book of adventure stories, with colored illustrations. "My son loved this book when he about your age. He'd hoped to pass it on to his son someday, but that won't happen now."
Haruka wished he could show the book to Shinobu, but his friend been sent to the country along with all the other school-age boys and girls in town. Haruka had been left behind because he wasn't on the school attendance list.
Their district was firebombed again, right when the Cherry Blossom Festival would have begun, if anyone had been able to celebrate. The fires didn't come as close to Haruka's neighborhood as they had before. But the third time, a firestorm came like a wall of flames, so hot that they could feel it even from the cellar in the water-soaked clothes Father had insisted they all wear. This time Shinobu's house was destroyed--Shinobu's mother had heard the wind and run to the temple, pounding on the trapdoor Mother had told her about so they could open it and help her inside. Only the bare ground Grandfather had plowed to plant herbs stopped the fire from attacking the temple compound, though Haruka was sure Buddha and their Zashiki were protecting them as well.)
Afterward, both Haruka and his grandfather went out, actively looking for ghosts. Haruka had thought being able to see ghosts like Grandfather and Uncle Taki would be fun, but it was only sad, especially the pregnant lady who wouldn't stop crying until Grandfather finished reading a sutra for her after her funeral. If it weren't for the funeral payments, they would have been very hungry. As it was, they ate only two small meals a day. Even though little Keiko was old enough to eat regular food now, Mother kept nursing her. Haruka thought she was lucky, because Mother's milk had to be better than the acorn-flour dumplings that were all they had to eat besides a few spring herbs.
By early summer, even two meals a day were hard to come by. One night the payment for the latest funeral was all they had for supper: two small, somewhat wrinkled peaches with brown spots on them.
"How shall we divide these?" Mother asked.
"Each of us gets a half." Grandfather said. "You and Haruka each should have half of the larger peach-he is growing and you need to feed both yourself and Keiko."
"But Father, you and Jiro should..."
"No, my wife," Haruka's father responded quietly. "Father is right. Take a larger piece for yourself and the child."
Haruka ate his half a peach slowly. It was the only sweet food he'd had in weeks.
The news about the war was getting worse too. It seemed they might even lose. "What do we do if the American soldiers come up to our temple?" Haruka asked his father and grandfather one afternoon. They were so worn-out and hungry that neither of them was teaching him anymore.
"We sit in the temple and pray to Buddha," Grandfather replied. "Right up until the moment they kill us. I don't think it will come to that, though. Remember, I saw that you will raise a family right here in this temple."
"But what about you and Father and Mother? And Keiko?"
Father looked...oh, no, he looked scared.. Haruka had never seen Father frightened of anything.
There was a knock at the door. Haruka jumped.
"Doumeki-sama?"
Haruka sighed in relief. It was Shinobu's mother.
"I just heard on the radio. The Americans dropped a new kind of bomb on the city of Hiroshima this morning. They want us to surrender."
"Surrender." Grandfather shook his head. "I can't see the Emperor and the military surrendering."
"They might," Father said. "If it will save the Imperial family, and if the generals are offered an honorable death."
The news spread from families with radios outward, passing from neighbor to neighbor. "How could the Japanese surrender when everyone is willing to fight, even with pitchforks and staffs?" some people asked. "The Americans will do terrible things to us if we surrender." "We will fight to the last child old enough to stand. Japanese do not surrender."
But then another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the rumors of surrender seemed stronger. Haruka's parents brought him to Shinobu's house-Shinobu was still in the countryside with other schoolchildren-to hear the news on the radio. The Emperor had surrendered, and he spoke on the radio himself. Haruka knew from when he had been at school that the Emperor was divine, almost like the Buddha-but he had a voice like a human being, even though he used a way of speaking that almost didn't sound like real Japanese. Father understood most of what the Emperor was saying, so he explained.
No one wanted to believe the words but it was true. Somehow, in spite of the Emperor's power, the gloriousness of Japan, and all their brave soldiers and pilots and sailors, Japan had lost the war and surrendered. The Emperor even said he wasn't divine, though some people said that wasn't true, the Americans just made him say that. Other people were very angry because he was letting American soldiers come into the country and take it over. Haruka had seen many ghosts and what the terrible fires had done, but he shivered when he heard that. Americans were huge and ugly and terrible, like oni. Anxious as he was, though, Haruka couldn't help wondering if they would bring Western food, and if it would taste better than acorn dumplings with only wild onions in them.
No one was killed, fortunately. The American soldiers weren't nearly as big or ugly as oni. And a few weeks after they arrived, Grandfather and other heads of families were instructed to go to the market square for donations of Western food. He brought back normal food: wheat flour and canned fruit and even rice!
People still didn't have much food of their own, though. When they came to the temple to request a funeral and prayers for death anniversaries they offered household goods instead of food: formal silk kimono, cooking pots, and books. The first book they received was a beautifully bound old volume.
"This is the from my father's day, or perhaps even earlier." Grandfather spoke with awe as he opened it carefully. "It's an old history of the Heian era. Haruka, when you are older, this may help you with your studies."
A few days later a man who was older than Father brought two large, thin books as payment for three funerals. He handed the books to Father, standing right in front of Haruka so he couldn't see.
"What are they about? Haruka asked, standing and trying to peek around the visitor without being impolite. "They're very special books, aren't they?"
Despite Father's dark complexion his cheeks seemed a little red. The older man merely chuckled.
"This one is...certainly, ah, unusual." Father responded, shutting the book quickly and picking up the second one. After a quick look, he shut that one also. He thanked the man, bowing, and picked up the books, asking Haruka to see the man to the gate.
Later, Haruka begged to know more about the books. They weren't anywhere he could find in the house.
Father shook his head. "This is not the time for you to know what is in those books. Perhaps in a few years if Grandfather and I agree you can look at them. Although," Father looked intently at Haruka, "There are some things I should explain to you. You're growing up, and need to know about becoming a man, and about women..."
Now that the war was over, there were fewer ghosts for Haruka and his grandfather to find. Some people had nothing to give them in thanks, but Haruka didn't mind. Although the work made him sad, the people who wanted to know about their family members were even sadder, and if they didn't have anything to pay with it meant they had so little for themselves. It was his duty to help them, as a good Buddhist, and as someone with a gift few people had.
Still, Haruka was glad when he stopped seeing ghosts, and could simply enjoy a few moments sitting with Zashiki in the kitchen. He was starting to see some other beings now, and was glad Grandfather had taught him how to ward off the smaller ones with salt or short prayers. He was amused by the kappas, mostly because of their odd appearance, and actively searched for them. One day, though, Haruka got too close to one at the temple pond, and it spotted him. Fortunately he remembered Grandfather's lesson: he bowed politely to the kappa. Just as Grandfather had said, it bowed in return-spilling the water on its head that gave it power to do mischief. After that, it slunk away.
Haruka returned from that adventure to find the family murmuring over the latest funeral payment-a small tin with odd squiggles on it.
"It's Western food, that's for certain."
"I wonder how that young lady came upon it-"
"Best not to ask."
"Do you think it's meat?" That was Mother asking Father, since he knew English.
"I'm not sure. I don't understand the words that would tell me whether it's meat."
Meat? Haruka knew some people ate it, but of course they'd never had it in the temple.
After reading the can carefully several times and looking at the metal key-like object stuck to the top of it, Father succeeded in opening the can. Mother took out the pink loaf and sniffed at it.
"I think it is meat," she said. "I haven't had any since I left my parents' house, but it smells like pork. It's certainly not like any vegetable or fruit I've ever seen. What should we do? We have nothing else to eat except a few herbs from the healing garden."
"And the next shipment of food from Western organizations isn't arriving until next week." Father added. He turned to Grandfather. "Perhaps, Father, we should eat it."
"The Buddha-"
"The Buddha," Father said, looking quickly at Haruka, and at Keiko fussing in Mother's lap, "would understand that we have little food, and hungry growing children."
Grandfather's eyes widened, but he nodded. "Haruka should have some then, and Kanae, since she is not a priest."
The "meat" was good. Mother cut half of the pink loaf into slices, saying, "We'll save the rest in the cold cellar for tomorrow." She cooked it in a pan, and she and Haruka ate every bit, except for a couple of tiny pieces Mother put in Keiko's mouth. They both watched her chew it with her little white teeth, swallow it and grin.
Afterward, Mother opened the kitchen windows wide and washed the pan carefully. Father and Grandfather, who had eaten their dinner on the porch, didn't come in until hours later.
When they finally came in, Haruka asked Grandfather, "Can I still be a priest when I grow up, even if I've eaten meat?"
"I think so, since you're not a priest yet," Grandfather said. "Perhaps we can do a purification ceremony. Jiro, can you review the sacred texts for us?"
"Certainly. Haruka can help me; we should start lessons again, as best we can."
The next day, as Mother was preparing a "breakfast" of weak tea, a soldier came to the temple again. Grandfather met him at the front gate, and invited him in. Nakamura-san had scars on his face and left hand, and a large bundle that he placed on the table. After meeting Father and Haruka, he explained the reason for his visit.
"I served with Doumeki Takishima-san in the war, often at his side. We were both injured in the same bomb-blast five months ago. He was badly injured and had lost his identification and his memory. I saw him a few days ago, after his bandages were removed, and I recognized him in spite of the damage he'd taken. I talked with him and that seemed to help restore his memories. Yesterday he remembered this address. He borrowed against the back pay he is owed, and asked me to buy and bring you the best food I could find." Nakamura-san indicated the bundle. "I am honored to carry out his request on his behalf; Doumeki-san is a man of considerable spirit and as pure a soul as one could find on the bat-under the circumstances we endured."
"Thank you very much," Grandfather said, bowing, accompanied by Father and Haruka. "We are all most grateful to you for bringing us this news."
"I am sure you would like to visit him," Nakamura-san went on. "The hospital is several miles away. I have only a bicycle, but I can bring one of you back with me. I know how to ride without using the seat-my brother and I used to do so-and I have enough strength to take another with me."
Grandfather's eyes were bright. They had heard nothing about Uncle Taki in months, until today. "I would like to visit my son as soon as possible."
Father nodded agreement. "And I will visit as soon as I can."
Mother entered the room, bowing and offering cups of weak tea. Grandfather opened the bundle.
"Daughter-in-law, please make us a breakfast. Nakamura-san, please share some tea with us while she prepares it."
Mother took the bag, bowing deeply to Nakamura-san. "Thank you very much," she murmured. Haruka noticed the brief but grateful smile she gave the soldier.
They all had miso soup and rice for breakfast, and simmered kabocha pumpkin with rice for dinner when Grandfather came back with news about Uncle Taki. He still couldn't remember most things about the war, had completely forgotten about Keiko, and thought Uncle Kazuo was still alive. Also, Uncle Taki was now blind in one eye, scarred, and had lost most of the use of his right arm. But he was alive. The family said heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving that night.
Haruka wanted to see Uncle Taki, but it simply wasn't possible. All their money had to go for food, not train tickets (Nakamura-san had gone home and none of the neighbors could afford fuel for their cars), They had to start chopping down the healthy trees on the temple grounds for firewood so Mother could cook and they could stay warm on colder fall nights.
School started again, though-with the junior high classes right on their temple grounds. Neighbors who had been teachers taught Haruka and the other seventh graders plus the eighth graders in the largest room. Father taught the ninth graders in the courtyard in good weather, and in the temple itself in bad weather. Father also spent an hour each day teaching the younger students English, knowing it would be useful while the Americans occupied their country.
Haruka still had temple duties in addition to schoolwork. One winter morning he was sweeping the front walk of the temple when, two American soldiers came to the gate. The older man, who appeared to be about the same age as Haruka's father, had hair the color of summer grain, with eyes blue as the sky. The other one, a younger man with hair and eyes nearly as dark as a normal person's, bowed and spoke in slow, oddly accented Japanese.
"We have learned a school is taught here. Captain Johansen and I are of the Education Office and wish to observe your classes. May we enter?"
Haruka stammered. The foreigners weren't quite as frightening as he thought, but...was it all right to allow foreigners on temple grounds? Or could they force their way in? He couldn't see any weapons, but they Americans were running all of Japan now.
Bow, you idiot, he told himself sternly. Lower than the soldier did. And apologize. He spoke in Japanese because all the English he'd learned had flown from his mind. "I am sorry...ah...please wait just a moment..."
Fortunately Grandfather rounded the corner of the main building, and came walking quickly, dusting off his hands.
"My grandfather is coming." Haruka added, speaking more evenly now. "He is chief priest of this temple, where our school is."
The dark-haired man spoke to the captain. Haruka was pleased that he recognized the language as English, but he didn't understand a single word. Foreigners spoke so quickly!
Ah, Grandfather's here.
"Good morning." Grandfather bowed low. "Welcome to our temple."
"They want to observe classes, Grandfather." Haruka explained as the two men spoke in their quick, pounding English.
"Please be welcome," Grandfather gestured, and and led them into the house.
The students were quieter than usual, and stumbled over answers to the teachers' questions. Then the two soldiers spoke with just the teachers. Haruka tried to hear what they were saying, but Grandfather quietly pulled him away from the door.
At dinner, Father explained that the soldiers had wanted to know each of the teachers' educational and career backgrounds, the plans they had for the rest of the school year, and what they had done during the war.
Two days later, the dark-haired man returned, bringing a report. Father read it to the other teachers. Their classes and books were approved, but they would need to find another ninth-grade teacher. Father was required to end his teaching duties in order to translate and teach for the occupying government.
"I am concerned this will make trouble between us and the other people in the neighborhood," Father said at the dinner table.
"It is not as if they are giving you a choice," Grandfather pointed out. "And they are paying you."
The school continued to meet in the temple. Some students didn't come anymore, but after the Americans hired several out-of-work neighbors to rebuild the schools with American-supplied materials, most of their parents sent them back to classes. The soldiers shopped in local stores-mostly to buy kimono and gifts, Shinobu reported. Also, the money Father earned paid for enough food for the four of them, plus coal so a few of the larger trees on the grounds could remain standing. Father also brought home Western food occasionally-not just wheat flour and canned vegetables, but sugar and Haruka's first chocolate bar, which he shared with Keiko.
The old high school was rebuilt to start off the new school year, just after the cherry-blossom festival. A junior high school opened the following fall, so Haruka and Shinobu spent their last year and a half of school in an actual building. Neither of them was going on to high school. Shinobu was going to work in the family store, now that it was getting busier and his mother would be having a baby soon.
"After all these years!" Shinobu scoffed. "You'd think they'd be too old to do that sort of thing anymore."
"She's not the only older mother who's going to have a baby, with all the soldiers back from the war," Haruka pointed out. "I suppose one is not too old to do the marriage act until one is very old."
"I just wish I could start."
"You'll probably start sooner than I will. You can get those things that keep a girl from getting pregnant right in your father's store. I'm going to be in a monastery for a year, as soon as Grandfather arranges it." Haruka made a face. He didn't tell Shinobu-nor was he entirely sure himself-whether he was disgusted about the prospect of the monastic life or about adult relationships. Judging from what Father and Grandfather had told him, both seemed rather daunting.
part two
Author: ekaterin24
Rating: PG to R
Summary: How Haruka became the skilled, wise, and
good-humored dream-ghost he is in Xxxholic canon. (childhood
and teenage years only--there's more in the works if
anyone's interested.
The Prompt
Something with Haruka. We don't have enough stories about him as we should, considering just how awesome he is...
Something about him and Shizuka as a child, or perhaps a story about a young Haruka learning to handle his powers... or maybe even something about him as he is now, lurking in the background and occasionally visiting Watanuki in dreams to advise him on how to deal with his grandson. Because we all know he wants Watanuki as a grandson-in-law, right? ;D
But no Haruka/Watanuki, please. There's something in me that cringes away from that pairing; I just can't get over their age difference, despite appearences. And in my eyes, Watanuki sees him as an adopted grandfather of sorts...
"The Education of Doumeki Haruka" (approx. 12,175 words)
Notes:
Part 1 rated PG for mild descriptions of war, injury and death.
I've found conflicting accounts of the ages for boys and girls for the Shichi-go-san ceremony (a Shinto ceremony for children of certain ages) and have used a fairly reliable source that suits the story.
Zashiki Warashi are traditionally house spirits that bring prosperity to the home. They seem to also be spirits of certain locations. The Zashiki Warashi in Xxxholic canon apparently "belonged" to the mountain mentioned in the manga.
Part 1: Childhood
Haruka's first memory was of going to the local Shinto shrine for Shichi-go-san the fall after he turned three. Before they left, his cousin Kiku had insisted on telling him everything that would happen, because she had her ceremony last year and knew all about it. Everyone went. Haruka rode with Grandfather, Mother and Father in the horse-cart, since Father couldn't walk that far because of his bad leg. His uncles, Aunt Kuni, and Cousin Kiku all walked. Mother had made him a blue kimono with fish on it, and after the ceremony Father bought him a fancy stick of candy. Haruka let everyone have a taste-they didn't get candy very often anymore. "Times are hard," Haruka heard the grownups say, often. And they always seemed to get harder. Haruka cried when Grandfather had to sell both his horses that winter so they would have enough coal to heat the temple, and enough rice for everyone.
The next year was no better. Father and his friends often talked about a new "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." They must have talked about it a hundred times, so Haruka finally asked Father about it. Usually he asked Grandfather questions because Grandfather was the head priest and seemed to know nearly everything. Father knew more about modern life and things going on around the world, though, because he worked for a newspaper. He explained to Haruka that Japan needed more things like metal and food, and was going to take over other parts of Asia so everyone in Asia would be able to have more nice things.
"Can't the Emperor make everyone hurry?" Haruka asked. "We need more food now." He wanted candy and white rice, and Grandfather's horses back again.
"It's not that simple, Haruka," Father said. "You'll understand better when you're older."
"When I go to school next spring?"
Father shook his head, smiling a little, which he didn't do often those days. "Not that soon, Haruka
That was the fall Haruka wore hakama and a grownup-style jacket for the first time, to celebrate being five at the Shinto shrine. Grandfather paid to have a picture taken of everyone after they went to the shrine, with everyone smiling in their new clothes, so maybe co-prosperity was finally starting.
Haruka wasn't as happy with his new school clothes the following spring. He had to wear shorts, which meant his bare knees got itchy when he played in the dirt. He also had to wear a stupid cap that he was always forgetting at school, at his friend Shinobu's house down the lane, or out at the pond. He liked school, though, especially learning how to write.
"Using a brush is fun!" he told Father, showing all the strokes he could make.
Kiku made a face at him. Whenever she wrote, she got smears on the page and on her clothes. Finally, he could do something better than she could. Maybe that was why Uncle Kazuo seemed unhappy. Uncle never said anything, but Haruka saw him frown sometimes when he went into the temple to help with a funeral or other ceremony. He never did it in front of Grandfather, though!
"Can you make Uncle Kazuo happier?" he asked Zashiki Warashi. Zashiki was his best friend, next to Shinobu. She was in the kitchen sometimes, and liked when Haruka brought her flowers. Kiku teased him and said he'd made her up, but when he asked Grandfather about her, he smiled and replied, "So, you can see her too?"
"Is she your friend also, Grandfather?"
"Spirits aren't exactly friends of humans, but we are friendly. Yes, I do see her, and I talk with her at night when everyone is asleep. Your Uncle Taki could see her when he was younger, but Taki says he can only feel her presence now."
"So Kiku can't see her because she's a girl?"
"No, your Uncle Kazuo and your father never could, nor could my brother. And my great-aunt could always see and talk with her. Only a few members of the Doumeki family can see and talk with her.
"Does that make me special? Does it mean I will be a good priest?"
"It means you have a gift that will bring you special work, and dangers, Haruka. I will teach you all I can. Being able to see spirits is a great responsibility. When you're older, you may be able to make them go away too."
"I don't want Zashiki to go away!"
"No, of course not. She watches over us, and helps to make our home happy and prosperous."
"I want to help keep her happy more than ever, then!"
"My great-aunt said she likes peach blossoms the best. Next spring you can bring her some."
Zashiki couldn't stop Uncle Kazuo from going away that fall, though, or keep Grandfather from being angry about it. Grandfather found the letter Uncle left on the dining-room table. Everyone came running when they heard Grandfather shouting.
"How could he? A son of mine, and a Buddhist priest, joining the military! He shall never cross this threshold again!" He passed the letter to Uncle Taki, who read it out loud.
"I have gone to join the Imperial Air Force. I could never be content as a priest, and my duty to the Emperor and to follow my soul's calling to fly in the air calls me."
"What rubbish! Ah!" Grandfather sat down heavily. "I am sorry. I should not allow myself to become so angry."
Haruka slipped away to talk with Zashiki.
"I do not have the power to stop him, and I'm not sure it would be right." she told Haruka. "He was very unhappy here. Your uncle is truly called to fly the machines in the sky. I cannot protect him out there, though." She hid her face in her hands. "Haruka, stay close."
"I will," he promised. "I know I want to be a priest. And I could never kill a person; I don't even like to kill flies."
Mother came in to make breakfast, with Aunt Kuni. "Haruka-san, please go get ready for school."
"I have time-" he began, but he knew better than to do anything but obey when Mother wore that face. He ran out, catching only Aunt Kuni's first words:
"Kanae, I knew he was unhappy but I...."
Two days later, Aunt Kuni and Kiku went away on the train. "I'm going home to help my parents with the farm," Aunt Kuni told him, kneeling beside the bundles she had made for the trip. "Send me a letter, Haruka, I want to read about your adventures."
Haruka didn't miss Kiku one bit, but Aunt Kuni had made delicious udon soups, and Uncle Kazuo had drawn marvelous pictures of trains and automobiles and, most often, airplanes. Also, Haruka didn't like seeing everyone in the house so unhappy, Grandfather the saddest of everyone. Haruka tried to cheer up Grandfather when he came home from school. He was careful not to talk about the magnificent Zero airplane Shinobu's father had bought him. He asked about Buddhism instead. Grandfather started teaching him to read the sutras on Saturday afternoons, when school was only half a day. He didn't understand why Shinobu thought he was crazy to do extra schoolwork.
"Reading the sutras will always help you, Haruka-kun," Grandfather said, "even when you don't understand them. They are a comfort to me now, as you are." He rested a hand on Haruka's head, something only Mother usually did.
Mother was unhappy too. Sometimes one or two of her friends would come for tea, and they would talk in quiet voices. Haruka wanted to hear, but Grandfather would shoo him away. "Women have their own sphere," he explained.
"Like the Co-Prosperity Sphere?" Haruka asked.
"No...ah, perhaps a little. They help each other. Your mother is missing your aunt. She has to do the housework alone now, and they were good friends. Also, she has...other women's concerns."
As the year went on, everyone slowly became happier again. There was more good food to share with the ancestors at the O-Bon festival that summer, and Mother made everyone new clothes for the fall. Haruka got a new store-bought school uniform for the fall term too. Mother put the old one away.
"I hope we'll need it again someday," Haruka heard her murmur.
Then came the news that Japan had started fighting the United States. Shinobu wanted to play "bomb the gaijin harbor" all the time.
"But they killed people," Haruka objected. "And some of our people died too, Father said."
"They died for the glory of the Emperor!" Shinobu shouted. When Haruka just shook his head, though, he asked, "Would you rather play with your new ball?"
"Yeah!"
They started kicking the ball around, two other boys came running to join them, and they all had a fine time.
Mother scolded about Haruka's dirty school uniform, though, and the cap that he'd left somewhere in Shinobu's yard again.
"Mother's very tired these days," she said, shaking out the shorts in the courtyard to get out as much dust as she could.
"You've been eating a lot," Haruka pointed out, staring at Mother's round stomach. "That always makes me sleepy."
Mother laughed. "It's not that I have been eating so much, but...Haruka, come inside with me." She led the way to the living room, carefully lowering herself onto the nearest cushion. Haruka sat beside her, wondering at the little smile on Mother's face.
"Haruka-kun, my belly is getting bigger because there is a baby growing inside me. You're going to be a big brother in a few months."
"Oh." Haruka remembered that sometimes one of Mother's friends would grow a big belly, and then be thin the next time he saw her. And, yes, once she was thin again she usually brought a screaming baby with her. "How did the baby get inside there?"
Mother coughed and turned red. "When you get older, your father will explain that to you."
"Is it complicated?" Everything grownups wouldn't explain, like how a train worked or why Grandfather and Haruka were the only ones in the family with gold eyes instead of black, was complicated.
"Yes, it is." Mother was sort-of-smiling again.
Grandfather came in just then, with a small basket. "Kanae, a parishioner just gave us these walnuts. Can you use them for dinner tonight?"
Mother started to rise, but Grandfather shook his head. "Stay and rest a little, Kanae. I'll put them in the kitchen."
That was unusual. Grandfather must be extremely happy about the walnuts.
The baby arrived on a spring morning just a few days before Haruka started fifth grade. Little Keiko cried a lot, just as his friends had warned him, and when she wasn't crying, she was nursing. Haruka talked with Zashiki about her.
"She sounds very healthy." Zashiki said. "Strong."
"Loud," Haruka added.
"Almost as loud as you were." Zashiki smiled. "I remember. Everyone was so happy there was a baby boy in the family."
"Boys are more important, aren't they?" As soon as he said it, Haruka remembered that Zashiki was a girl, or at least, a girl-spirit. "Umm, I mean, they're the ones who do work that brings in money so everyone can eat. Girls are important because they, ahh, cook, and have babies."
"Some girls do more than that." Zashiki said.
"Like you. You're a spirit, and you keep good things happening in the house."
"Human girls do special things too. They are midwives, like the woman who helped the mother have your little sister safely; and teachers; and some of them can see and work with spirits and youkai like your grandfather can, and like you will when you are ready."
Haruka remembered what his grandfather had said about his gift. He'd learned about all kinds of spirits and youkai-umbrella-youkai were his favorite, because they looked so odd-but he hadn't seen any but Zashiki so far.
She seemed to read his mind. "The gift, and using it, gets stronger with puberty."
"What's that?"
"When you start becoming a man. Your father will explain it when the time comes."
Haruka wanted to know things now, though. The world was so confusing sometimes. For instance, he couldn't understand why so many people were happy about the war, even the parents who brought in their son's remains for a funeral. He asked Grandfather about it as they sat in the courtyard on a bright autumn day.
"They consider it a great honor for their son to have died in the service of the Emperor, for the glory of Japan," Grandfather explained.
"But is it a great honor?"
Grandfather sighed. "What is honorable depends on what one believes. I believe that serving the Buddha as a priest is one of the greatest honors in the world. One of which I do not feel worthy."
"But you're the best priest ever!"
Grandfather chuckled. "I do my best, but Haruka, I have failed many times. My heart is still not entirely quiet about my eldest son, and I have not always followed the Eightfold Path in other ways as well."
Just then, Harada-san, the only priest who wasn't one of Haruka's relatives, entered the courtyard. He bowed. "Doumeki-sama, a person is waiting for you out at the gate."
"Harada, why did you not bid him enter, and ask Kanae to bring him some tea?"
"He is a military man. I think it is best that he not set foot inside the temple grounds."
"I'll go to him." Grandfather quickly stood, and strode heavily toward the front of the temple compound. Haruka hurried behind.
Haruka recognized the man's Imperial Air Force uniform from posters he'd seen when his parents took him into the city. Grandfather listened to the man and nodded once. He spoke quietly, then each of them bowed. The airman turned smartly on his heel and headed toward the automobile parked at the edge of the street.
Grandfather's face was solemn. "He came to tell me in person. Kazuo has entered the afterlife, in service to the emperor. His airplane was completely destroyed in the air, so they could not retrieve any of his remains. The man who came to deliver this information is bringing similar news to other families in our area, and out to the countryside to tell Kuni-san."
Haruka bit his lip. He hadn't seen Uncle Kazuo in a long time, but he still missed him, and now he would not see him again in this life. And Kiku wouldn't have a father anymore, not even one far away in the war.... No, I won't cry, I'll be a good Buddhist and remain serene...
Haruka burst into tears, rubbing his eyes with his fists.
Grandfather put an arm around Haruka's shoulder and turned him around, guiding him back toward the house. After a few paces he stopped. Haruka felt his grandfather's arm shake. He blinked and looked up to see tears on his grandfather's face, and wrinkles he had never noticed before.
"Grandfather..." He pulled his handkerchief out of his sleeve and held it up. Grandfather took it and wiped his face. They walked slowly to the doorway. "We will sit here and compose ourselves a moment. Then I will go in and tell your uncle and mother."
Just after New Year's, another military man came to the temple gate-this time from the Imperial Army. Haruka was just coming home from school and greeted the officer, bowing and offering assistance.
"I am here to speak with Doumeki Takishima" the man replied, not nearly as politely as grown-up visitors usually addressed Haruka. He was definitely not going to invite the man in-he'd probably killed people, or sent others to kill them, which Father and Grandfather agreed was just as wrong.
"I will see if he is here. Please wait here a moment." Haruka bowed again and ran into the house, where Uncle Taki usually spent afternoons going over temple supplies and finances, and sneaking a bit of whatever Mother was making for dinner.
Mother looked up from the soft tofu she was preparing and explained that Uncle Taki had walked down to the shops to buy incense. "Your grandfather is in the temple readying it for a funeral; please let him know."
Haruka did, and accompanied Grandfather to the temple gate.
The officer bowed quickly to Grandfather, then introduced himself without apology. "Your son Doumeki Takashima is needed in the Imperial Army. And I understand there are other adult men living here, another Doumeki and...Harada-san?"
"My son Doumeki Takashima and Kenji Harada-san are both priests at this temple. My son Jiro resides here as well."
The officer looked at a clipboard in his hand. "We require all three men to appear at the Second Imperial Recruitment Station at this address." The officer handed Grandfather a small piece of paper. "They are to appear within the week, for a physical examination and other preparations for entry into the Imperial Army."
"I am concerned that there might be confusion regarding this summons." Grandfather responding, holding the paper away from himself with the tips of two fingers. "Harada-san and Doumeki Takashima-san are both Buddhist priests, as I am, and as such are forbidden to take life in any way."
"The Imperial Army is in need of all men capable of serving the Emperor as soldiers. We can no longer allow priests, even our Shinto priests, to remain in their temples and shrines when they are needed to serve the Emperor and secure Japan's victory in this war."
Grandfather was still and silent as the temple gate itself. And as firmly rooted. Haruka thought he would simply stare the officer out of the gateway and down the road. But eventually he asked, "And myself?"
"Men of your years can serve best in local defense work. And we are aware that some priests are needed in order to conduct funerals for those who have had the honor of sacrificing their lives."
Haruka nearly took a step back, seeing his grandfather's golden eyes burning like a flame in a lantern.
"My son Jiro suffered an illness as a child and has a withered leg. He cannot stand without a cane. Is he required to appear?
"He must appear so our doctors can confirm his unsuitability for military service," the officer replied.
"I will pass this information on to my sons and to Harada-san. Thank you for your trouble." Grandfather bowed about as deeply as he did to Mother's friends when they visited.
"Thank you, Doumeki-san." The man bowed to exactly the same depth Grandfather had, and stiffly turned to stride down the street to the next building.
Grandfather turned away, heading back toward the main temple building. Harada-san met him at the door. Haruka ran to the kitchen to tell Mother the whole story.
"The soldier," he nearly spat the word, "never apologized to Grandfather, not once! And he didn't trust Grandfather when he said that Father's leg didn't work well enough for him to be a soldier! I hate this war, I really do! No prosperity is worth all this. They're killing people, even if they are gaijin, and our soldiers and sailors and pilots-even Uncle died and now they want-Mother! What if Uncle Taki gets killed too?"
"Shh!" Mother insisted. "Don't even say such things!"
Haruka gasped. "Could it happen just because I said it?"
"Probably not. Surely not." Mother sounded uncertain. "Haruka, dear, is Keiko awake? I haven't felt her move, but sometimes she wakes up without fussing." She turned so Haruka could check the baby, who was in a bundle on Mother's back.
"Still asleep," he answered softly."
"Good. Time for a snack for you, and for me," Mother rose and set a pot of water to boil for tea.
Haruka didn't hear what Grandfather said to his father and uncle when they returned just before dinner, because Mother had taken him to Shinobu's house and arranged for him to have dinner there. He'd really wanted to know more about it. He told Shinobu about it, and learned that the soldier had given Shinobu's father a summons also.
"What about the store?" Haruka asked.
"Mother will have to run it herself. And I'll help." Shinobu seemed more grown up with those few words.
The next day, Uncle Taki and Harada-san both joined Father on the train into the city. Father was quickly rejected, but the army took both Uncle Taki and Harada-san. They took Shinobu's father too, and most of the fathers who hadn't already gone to the war. Everyone's mother and grandmother and big sister was putting stitches into thousand-stitch belts.
"Do you pray over them?" Haruka asked his mother.
"I think of how the man who will wear it is loved by the woman who started it-by his mother, his wife, his sister, or whoever he has to make one for him."
Mother had made Uncle Taki's belt, since he had no wife or sister, and Grandmother had died before Haruka was born. Harada-san's mother sent him one with five hundred stitches already in it from women in and around his hometown.
That spring Father's job at the newspaper ended. No one wanted translations of international news anyway; they only wanted to read about how the Americans were being defeated by the Imperial forces. Father helped Grandfather as best he could with temple duties. Grandfather grumbled about how no one would trust a priest they thought was cursed, so Father didn't perform any of the ceremonies. He kept the inventory and finances as Uncle Taki had, cleaned whatever temple objects he could clean without standing, helped with preparations for funerals, and wrote the special names for people going on to the afterlife in his beautiful calligraphy.
Father also made Haruka stop going to school, once he got a good look at the textbooks.
"These are not going to help you learn everything you need to know about the world, Haruka," he said. "Also, you will be a priest in the temple someday, so you need to learn more from Grandfather. You and I will learn some things together."
The school principal was a Buddhist and a friend of Father's, so he made arrangements for Haruka to be allowed to be taught at home. Father taught him classical and modern literature, kanji , calligraphy, history, geography, and mathematics. Grandfather helped both of them with the sutras, taught about priestly duties and Buddhist traditions, and taught them some Shinto practices as well, especially purification and healing practices. He also taught Haruka to care for the plants and trees in the temple compound, which had been one of Uncle Taki's tasks. Haruka was happier because he found his home studies more interesting than what was in the new textbooks, and he could still play with his friends after school. He didn't even mind that he was missing the thrill of attending junior high school, especially when he saw the stiff high-collared jacket Shinobu and his other friends had to wear.
Food was getting scarce again-there wasn't much food for them or the ancestors at O-Bon, and it was cold even inside that winter because of coal and wood shortages.
One winter day Haruka and Shinobu were racing around the temple courtyard, as much to keep warm as to have fun, when Haruka felt a shadow overhead. "It doesn't feel like snow-" he said, looking up. There were planes, dozens of them. The air-raid siren began to sound.
Father came hobbling outside. He looked up at the sky. "Holy Buddha," he whispered.
"Perhaps I should go home," Shinobu began.
"Please stay here, Shinobu-kun." Father's voice was quiet. "Your mother knows you are here, and we will keep you safe. Come inside, now." Father touched Haruka's back, something he rarely did, as he guided the boys inside.
"There are nearly a hundred American planes overhead." Father announced.
"We shall be protected," Grandfather stated.
Father shook his head. "I don't think the Emperor can save us, Father"
"My trust is not in the Emperor or in human soldiers, Jiro. We are Buddha's servants, in his temple. And I've seen in a dream that this temple shall stand for decades. Haruka will bring his bride to this place, and raise children here."
They stayed in the cellar under the temple, nearly beneath the statue of Buddha. Haruka could hear the bombs go off, and a rushing sound that Father said was like a typhoon wind. When it was all over, Haruka begged to accompany Grandfather to see what had happened. He smelled smoke before Grandfather even opened the door. The temple and outbuildings were undamaged, as Grandfather was quick to point out, as was most of their neighborhood. But their old elementary school, just ten minutes' walk away, had collapsed, and most of the wooden homes near it had burned to the ground..
Two days later, Haruka and Shinobu were climbing around on one of the piles of stone and charred wood. Shinobu saw something glittering and ran toward it. Haruka felt something behind him, though, and turned around. There was a lady, withered and in torn clothing with black stains on it. "What is wrong, auntie?" he asked. "Should I get the doctor?"
She didn't say anything.
Shinobu turned around. "Who are you talking to?"
"This lady," He turned to ask her name-maybe Mother or Grandfather knew her.
"There's no one there!" Shinobu objected.
"She's right in front of you, in a blue jacket. Are you blind?"
Shinobu insisted no one was there.
"Idiot!" Haruka yelled, and ran home. Something was extremely odd about this person but he knew that, somehow, Grandfather could help.
Grandfather listened patiently to his story.
"I think I know what she needs," Grandfather responded quietly. "Take me to where you saw her-but wait a moment first."
He rummaged in Mother's rag-basket and took out a long, bright-red scrap of fabric. Haruka led Grandfather to the ruins of the house. The lady was still there, whispering something in a broken voice. Grandfather stood stock-still and listened.
"Can you see her again, Haruka?"
"Yes."
"And hear her?"
"A little. Grandfather, why aren't you trying to help her?"
"We can't help her anymore, Haruka. She's dead. Her body must be somewhere in this rubble."
Haruka didn't understand at first. Then he remembered some of Grandfather's stories. "Is she a ghost?"
"Yes, she's a ghost. She can't rest, probably because her family hasn't been able to recover her body and bury her properly. We need to find them and arrange for a proper funeral.
Grandfather recognized the house; the family had been to the temple many times. Two days later, the lady's ashes was brought in for funeral rites. The woman's mother-in-law, who had been at a friend's house when their home was burned, brought a small sack of rice as payment.
"It's not very much, I know. But I have little else, until the Army send the next pension check from my late son. I do have something for the boy who found her." She handed Haruka a small book of adventure stories, with colored illustrations. "My son loved this book when he about your age. He'd hoped to pass it on to his son someday, but that won't happen now."
Haruka wished he could show the book to Shinobu, but his friend been sent to the country along with all the other school-age boys and girls in town. Haruka had been left behind because he wasn't on the school attendance list.
Their district was firebombed again, right when the Cherry Blossom Festival would have begun, if anyone had been able to celebrate. The fires didn't come as close to Haruka's neighborhood as they had before. But the third time, a firestorm came like a wall of flames, so hot that they could feel it even from the cellar in the water-soaked clothes Father had insisted they all wear. This time Shinobu's house was destroyed--Shinobu's mother had heard the wind and run to the temple, pounding on the trapdoor Mother had told her about so they could open it and help her inside. Only the bare ground Grandfather had plowed to plant herbs stopped the fire from attacking the temple compound, though Haruka was sure Buddha and their Zashiki were protecting them as well.)
Afterward, both Haruka and his grandfather went out, actively looking for ghosts. Haruka had thought being able to see ghosts like Grandfather and Uncle Taki would be fun, but it was only sad, especially the pregnant lady who wouldn't stop crying until Grandfather finished reading a sutra for her after her funeral. If it weren't for the funeral payments, they would have been very hungry. As it was, they ate only two small meals a day. Even though little Keiko was old enough to eat regular food now, Mother kept nursing her. Haruka thought she was lucky, because Mother's milk had to be better than the acorn-flour dumplings that were all they had to eat besides a few spring herbs.
By early summer, even two meals a day were hard to come by. One night the payment for the latest funeral was all they had for supper: two small, somewhat wrinkled peaches with brown spots on them.
"How shall we divide these?" Mother asked.
"Each of us gets a half." Grandfather said. "You and Haruka each should have half of the larger peach-he is growing and you need to feed both yourself and Keiko."
"But Father, you and Jiro should..."
"No, my wife," Haruka's father responded quietly. "Father is right. Take a larger piece for yourself and the child."
Haruka ate his half a peach slowly. It was the only sweet food he'd had in weeks.
The news about the war was getting worse too. It seemed they might even lose. "What do we do if the American soldiers come up to our temple?" Haruka asked his father and grandfather one afternoon. They were so worn-out and hungry that neither of them was teaching him anymore.
"We sit in the temple and pray to Buddha," Grandfather replied. "Right up until the moment they kill us. I don't think it will come to that, though. Remember, I saw that you will raise a family right here in this temple."
"But what about you and Father and Mother? And Keiko?"
Father looked...oh, no, he looked scared.. Haruka had never seen Father frightened of anything.
There was a knock at the door. Haruka jumped.
"Doumeki-sama?"
Haruka sighed in relief. It was Shinobu's mother.
"I just heard on the radio. The Americans dropped a new kind of bomb on the city of Hiroshima this morning. They want us to surrender."
"Surrender." Grandfather shook his head. "I can't see the Emperor and the military surrendering."
"They might," Father said. "If it will save the Imperial family, and if the generals are offered an honorable death."
The news spread from families with radios outward, passing from neighbor to neighbor. "How could the Japanese surrender when everyone is willing to fight, even with pitchforks and staffs?" some people asked. "The Americans will do terrible things to us if we surrender." "We will fight to the last child old enough to stand. Japanese do not surrender."
But then another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and the rumors of surrender seemed stronger. Haruka's parents brought him to Shinobu's house-Shinobu was still in the countryside with other schoolchildren-to hear the news on the radio. The Emperor had surrendered, and he spoke on the radio himself. Haruka knew from when he had been at school that the Emperor was divine, almost like the Buddha-but he had a voice like a human being, even though he used a way of speaking that almost didn't sound like real Japanese. Father understood most of what the Emperor was saying, so he explained.
No one wanted to believe the words but it was true. Somehow, in spite of the Emperor's power, the gloriousness of Japan, and all their brave soldiers and pilots and sailors, Japan had lost the war and surrendered. The Emperor even said he wasn't divine, though some people said that wasn't true, the Americans just made him say that. Other people were very angry because he was letting American soldiers come into the country and take it over. Haruka had seen many ghosts and what the terrible fires had done, but he shivered when he heard that. Americans were huge and ugly and terrible, like oni. Anxious as he was, though, Haruka couldn't help wondering if they would bring Western food, and if it would taste better than acorn dumplings with only wild onions in them.
No one was killed, fortunately. The American soldiers weren't nearly as big or ugly as oni. And a few weeks after they arrived, Grandfather and other heads of families were instructed to go to the market square for donations of Western food. He brought back normal food: wheat flour and canned fruit and even rice!
People still didn't have much food of their own, though. When they came to the temple to request a funeral and prayers for death anniversaries they offered household goods instead of food: formal silk kimono, cooking pots, and books. The first book they received was a beautifully bound old volume.
"This is the from my father's day, or perhaps even earlier." Grandfather spoke with awe as he opened it carefully. "It's an old history of the Heian era. Haruka, when you are older, this may help you with your studies."
A few days later a man who was older than Father brought two large, thin books as payment for three funerals. He handed the books to Father, standing right in front of Haruka so he couldn't see.
"What are they about? Haruka asked, standing and trying to peek around the visitor without being impolite. "They're very special books, aren't they?"
Despite Father's dark complexion his cheeks seemed a little red. The older man merely chuckled.
"This one is...certainly, ah, unusual." Father responded, shutting the book quickly and picking up the second one. After a quick look, he shut that one also. He thanked the man, bowing, and picked up the books, asking Haruka to see the man to the gate.
Later, Haruka begged to know more about the books. They weren't anywhere he could find in the house.
Father shook his head. "This is not the time for you to know what is in those books. Perhaps in a few years if Grandfather and I agree you can look at them. Although," Father looked intently at Haruka, "There are some things I should explain to you. You're growing up, and need to know about becoming a man, and about women..."
Now that the war was over, there were fewer ghosts for Haruka and his grandfather to find. Some people had nothing to give them in thanks, but Haruka didn't mind. Although the work made him sad, the people who wanted to know about their family members were even sadder, and if they didn't have anything to pay with it meant they had so little for themselves. It was his duty to help them, as a good Buddhist, and as someone with a gift few people had.
Still, Haruka was glad when he stopped seeing ghosts, and could simply enjoy a few moments sitting with Zashiki in the kitchen. He was starting to see some other beings now, and was glad Grandfather had taught him how to ward off the smaller ones with salt or short prayers. He was amused by the kappas, mostly because of their odd appearance, and actively searched for them. One day, though, Haruka got too close to one at the temple pond, and it spotted him. Fortunately he remembered Grandfather's lesson: he bowed politely to the kappa. Just as Grandfather had said, it bowed in return-spilling the water on its head that gave it power to do mischief. After that, it slunk away.
Haruka returned from that adventure to find the family murmuring over the latest funeral payment-a small tin with odd squiggles on it.
"It's Western food, that's for certain."
"I wonder how that young lady came upon it-"
"Best not to ask."
"Do you think it's meat?" That was Mother asking Father, since he knew English.
"I'm not sure. I don't understand the words that would tell me whether it's meat."
Meat? Haruka knew some people ate it, but of course they'd never had it in the temple.
After reading the can carefully several times and looking at the metal key-like object stuck to the top of it, Father succeeded in opening the can. Mother took out the pink loaf and sniffed at it.
"I think it is meat," she said. "I haven't had any since I left my parents' house, but it smells like pork. It's certainly not like any vegetable or fruit I've ever seen. What should we do? We have nothing else to eat except a few herbs from the healing garden."
"And the next shipment of food from Western organizations isn't arriving until next week." Father added. He turned to Grandfather. "Perhaps, Father, we should eat it."
"The Buddha-"
"The Buddha," Father said, looking quickly at Haruka, and at Keiko fussing in Mother's lap, "would understand that we have little food, and hungry growing children."
Grandfather's eyes widened, but he nodded. "Haruka should have some then, and Kanae, since she is not a priest."
The "meat" was good. Mother cut half of the pink loaf into slices, saying, "We'll save the rest in the cold cellar for tomorrow." She cooked it in a pan, and she and Haruka ate every bit, except for a couple of tiny pieces Mother put in Keiko's mouth. They both watched her chew it with her little white teeth, swallow it and grin.
Afterward, Mother opened the kitchen windows wide and washed the pan carefully. Father and Grandfather, who had eaten their dinner on the porch, didn't come in until hours later.
When they finally came in, Haruka asked Grandfather, "Can I still be a priest when I grow up, even if I've eaten meat?"
"I think so, since you're not a priest yet," Grandfather said. "Perhaps we can do a purification ceremony. Jiro, can you review the sacred texts for us?"
"Certainly. Haruka can help me; we should start lessons again, as best we can."
The next day, as Mother was preparing a "breakfast" of weak tea, a soldier came to the temple again. Grandfather met him at the front gate, and invited him in. Nakamura-san had scars on his face and left hand, and a large bundle that he placed on the table. After meeting Father and Haruka, he explained the reason for his visit.
"I served with Doumeki Takishima-san in the war, often at his side. We were both injured in the same bomb-blast five months ago. He was badly injured and had lost his identification and his memory. I saw him a few days ago, after his bandages were removed, and I recognized him in spite of the damage he'd taken. I talked with him and that seemed to help restore his memories. Yesterday he remembered this address. He borrowed against the back pay he is owed, and asked me to buy and bring you the best food I could find." Nakamura-san indicated the bundle. "I am honored to carry out his request on his behalf; Doumeki-san is a man of considerable spirit and as pure a soul as one could find on the bat-under the circumstances we endured."
"Thank you very much," Grandfather said, bowing, accompanied by Father and Haruka. "We are all most grateful to you for bringing us this news."
"I am sure you would like to visit him," Nakamura-san went on. "The hospital is several miles away. I have only a bicycle, but I can bring one of you back with me. I know how to ride without using the seat-my brother and I used to do so-and I have enough strength to take another with me."
Grandfather's eyes were bright. They had heard nothing about Uncle Taki in months, until today. "I would like to visit my son as soon as possible."
Father nodded agreement. "And I will visit as soon as I can."
Mother entered the room, bowing and offering cups of weak tea. Grandfather opened the bundle.
"Daughter-in-law, please make us a breakfast. Nakamura-san, please share some tea with us while she prepares it."
Mother took the bag, bowing deeply to Nakamura-san. "Thank you very much," she murmured. Haruka noticed the brief but grateful smile she gave the soldier.
They all had miso soup and rice for breakfast, and simmered kabocha pumpkin with rice for dinner when Grandfather came back with news about Uncle Taki. He still couldn't remember most things about the war, had completely forgotten about Keiko, and thought Uncle Kazuo was still alive. Also, Uncle Taki was now blind in one eye, scarred, and had lost most of the use of his right arm. But he was alive. The family said heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving that night.
Haruka wanted to see Uncle Taki, but it simply wasn't possible. All their money had to go for food, not train tickets (Nakamura-san had gone home and none of the neighbors could afford fuel for their cars), They had to start chopping down the healthy trees on the temple grounds for firewood so Mother could cook and they could stay warm on colder fall nights.
School started again, though-with the junior high classes right on their temple grounds. Neighbors who had been teachers taught Haruka and the other seventh graders plus the eighth graders in the largest room. Father taught the ninth graders in the courtyard in good weather, and in the temple itself in bad weather. Father also spent an hour each day teaching the younger students English, knowing it would be useful while the Americans occupied their country.
Haruka still had temple duties in addition to schoolwork. One winter morning he was sweeping the front walk of the temple when, two American soldiers came to the gate. The older man, who appeared to be about the same age as Haruka's father, had hair the color of summer grain, with eyes blue as the sky. The other one, a younger man with hair and eyes nearly as dark as a normal person's, bowed and spoke in slow, oddly accented Japanese.
"We have learned a school is taught here. Captain Johansen and I are of the Education Office and wish to observe your classes. May we enter?"
Haruka stammered. The foreigners weren't quite as frightening as he thought, but...was it all right to allow foreigners on temple grounds? Or could they force their way in? He couldn't see any weapons, but they Americans were running all of Japan now.
Bow, you idiot, he told himself sternly. Lower than the soldier did. And apologize. He spoke in Japanese because all the English he'd learned had flown from his mind. "I am sorry...ah...please wait just a moment..."
Fortunately Grandfather rounded the corner of the main building, and came walking quickly, dusting off his hands.
"My grandfather is coming." Haruka added, speaking more evenly now. "He is chief priest of this temple, where our school is."
The dark-haired man spoke to the captain. Haruka was pleased that he recognized the language as English, but he didn't understand a single word. Foreigners spoke so quickly!
Ah, Grandfather's here.
"Good morning." Grandfather bowed low. "Welcome to our temple."
"They want to observe classes, Grandfather." Haruka explained as the two men spoke in their quick, pounding English.
"Please be welcome," Grandfather gestured, and and led them into the house.
The students were quieter than usual, and stumbled over answers to the teachers' questions. Then the two soldiers spoke with just the teachers. Haruka tried to hear what they were saying, but Grandfather quietly pulled him away from the door.
At dinner, Father explained that the soldiers had wanted to know each of the teachers' educational and career backgrounds, the plans they had for the rest of the school year, and what they had done during the war.
Two days later, the dark-haired man returned, bringing a report. Father read it to the other teachers. Their classes and books were approved, but they would need to find another ninth-grade teacher. Father was required to end his teaching duties in order to translate and teach for the occupying government.
"I am concerned this will make trouble between us and the other people in the neighborhood," Father said at the dinner table.
"It is not as if they are giving you a choice," Grandfather pointed out. "And they are paying you."
The school continued to meet in the temple. Some students didn't come anymore, but after the Americans hired several out-of-work neighbors to rebuild the schools with American-supplied materials, most of their parents sent them back to classes. The soldiers shopped in local stores-mostly to buy kimono and gifts, Shinobu reported. Also, the money Father earned paid for enough food for the four of them, plus coal so a few of the larger trees on the grounds could remain standing. Father also brought home Western food occasionally-not just wheat flour and canned vegetables, but sugar and Haruka's first chocolate bar, which he shared with Keiko.
The old high school was rebuilt to start off the new school year, just after the cherry-blossom festival. A junior high school opened the following fall, so Haruka and Shinobu spent their last year and a half of school in an actual building. Neither of them was going on to high school. Shinobu was going to work in the family store, now that it was getting busier and his mother would be having a baby soon.
"After all these years!" Shinobu scoffed. "You'd think they'd be too old to do that sort of thing anymore."
"She's not the only older mother who's going to have a baby, with all the soldiers back from the war," Haruka pointed out. "I suppose one is not too old to do the marriage act until one is very old."
"I just wish I could start."
"You'll probably start sooner than I will. You can get those things that keep a girl from getting pregnant right in your father's store. I'm going to be in a monastery for a year, as soon as Grandfather arranges it." Haruka made a face. He didn't tell Shinobu-nor was he entirely sure himself-whether he was disgusted about the prospect of the monastic life or about adult relationships. Judging from what Father and Grandfather had told him, both seemed rather daunting.
part two