“Satsuki! Did you hear?” One of his sister’s friends loudly ‘whispered’. “There's a pretty good fortune teller booth this year!”
“How exactly can you tell she's good? Just cause she gave you a good fortune doesn't mean she's good. What if it doesn't come true?”
“Trust me, you can just tell!”
As their conversation dragged on he tuned them out and began to focus his attention elsewhere. Tending the dojo’s festival booth and doing other tasks for friends of his parents here and there had kept them both busy all through the afternoon and evening. All he really wanted to do was get something to eat and sit down for a while. Maybe look for fireflies while he waited for the fireworks. Satsuki was turning back to speak to him.
“Alright Seiji, Tomoe and I wanna go meet up with some of our other friends by the fortune teller, let's go!” His sister grabbed him by the arm to drag him.
“Satsuki! Knock it off, you don't need to drag me.”
“What? Bummed out that Mom and Dad made you take me with you? Were you hoping to meet up with your crush or something?”
A sigh escaped him. “You know that's not what it is.”
Her annoyed, bratty expression softened up a bit. “Yeah I know. You are all polite chit-chatted out. But for whatever reason, a 14 year old girl can't go by herself when her brother could when he was 14.”
“If I recall,” A little smugness came out in his voice. “Mother said I was to keep an eye on you because of last year’s little incident.”
“It was just a stupid little prank!” Satsuki yelped. “Anyway, just let me do this one thing and then we can go sit in the dark or whatever else it is you do for fun other than swords.”
With a wave and a half amused eye roll, he ushered her on. “Right, you know how much I love to sit silently in the dark and do nothing. Go on, lead the way.”
“Are you sure you're not planning to become a monk out of high school?”
“Get going!” He gave her a light push and she started jogging on ahead, laughing at her own stupid joke.
The little tent didn't take too long to find, despite the fact that it was dark purple and could easily be passed by in the relatively dark spot it was sat in. It was a bit more.. Western influenced maybe? Heavy velvet and gold trim faintly glittering in lantern light. A little group of giggling teen girls were gathered by the tent, whispering to one another. His sister and her friend ran over to meet with them and he noticed one of his own classmates near by, holding onto the hand of her little brother. He turned his gaze elsewhere and still he could feel her notice him. When he turned to acknowledge her she shyly looked away. Really he would rather not be bothered anyway.
Satsuki rushed over to him. “Hey hey! Why don't you go Seiji? Get your fortune told!”
Several of his sister's friends chimed off as well with “Yeah you should!” and “She's really great!”
“I thought you wanted to do this?” He sighed.
“I-I do!” She sputtered. “But I want to ask about something specific and I'm trying to decide. You might as well anyway! You're already here!”
“There's nothing I want to ask-”
“It doesn't matter! Just go for it!” Satsuki pushed him through the tent flaps and ran back to her friends giggling.
A withered old woman sat at a worn wooden table within the dark confines of the small tent. She gestured toward the seat opposite of her.
“Have a seat young man, you look tired.”
“Thank you.”
He took his seat as gracefully as one could with a rickety folding metal chair.
“Let's see your palm, dear.”
Pretty standard as far as festival fortune tellers go, he offered her his hand with his palm up turned. The old woman sat thick glasses on the bridge of her nose and gently took his hand.
“Let's see here… Oh, it seems you have been through much hardship…”
With all due respect, you have no idea. He thought.
“...Your life line is a little vague, you should take better care of your health! Youth can only carry you so far.”
“I will try to do better ma’am.” Not inaccurate perhaps, but still vague enough.
“You certainly should…there may be a young lady in your near future!”
He could not contain the eye roll. “It seems there often is when I decide to get my fortune told. Thank you ma’am, but I am quite tired and -”
There was only so much “You should meet my granddaughter!” one could take in 24 hours but to his surprise suddenly the old woman squeezed his hand tightly- her long, black-painted thumbnail biting into his hand.
“Just a moment.” She crooned to him in a quieter tone.”Just a moment of your time, if you will.”
That second line was something else though. He heard the old lady’s voice for sure, but there was another voice in his head layered over it. A deep, otherworldly voice. He glanced down to see the back of the woman’s hand bore a tattoo of a black and green eye. How had he not noticed before?
“What do you want?”
The shadows cast by the dim candlelight in the room seemed to shiver and there was an uncanny feeling that there was something very large in the tent that he could not see.
“I don't want much of anything.” Both voices replied. “Sometimes I can't help but meddle a little bit when I stumble across something interesting and you are…quite…interesting. You are all sharp and bright inside, I know it. I can see it. And all that aside, green is my most favorite color!”
Seiji scoffed. “I was not aware that demons had favorite colors.”
The voices laughed, a bassy sound that made the little wooden table vibrate under his arm. The candles dimmed.
“A demon! My! How passé! Ah, how unfortunately often I am mistaken for something else. Ah well, it doesn't matter. Here I was, minding my own business, watching this little old woman do her ‘fortune’ routine. So content I was to merely observe these festivities! But how can I not have a little fun when someone so intriguing shows himself before me? How can I resist giving you a real fortune?”
“Whatever kind of fortune you have I am not interested in hearing-”
“Shush now, little light, and listen!” Her -its- fingernails dug into his hand painfully. He suddenly felt he could not move.“Don't just listen but listen- there are depths darker than any of these flickering shadows, yes? You and I know this. What is the dark? The night? The shade cast in contrast to the light? Nay, my friend. The real darkness- it chokes out every single fragile, little, good thing doesn't it? It is in all things that live, threatening to swallow them whole, dragged down into the emptiest abyss. It is all too easy to become lost in that place. That is all just to say this: If you find any lonely wanderers out there lost in the dark, perhaps use that light of yours to guide them back?”
The tent seemed darker, the air heavy with the thing’s presence, whatever it was. Behind the old fortune teller her shadow stretched strangely.
“Oh and you never know, if you do meet a girl maybe it would be nice. Who knows?”
He heard the deep voice laugh alone. Whatever this entity was, it didn't like to show itself, but seemed strangely confident all the same. It tapped the old woman’s long nails across the table and hummed to itself.
“What kind of game are you playing?” He readied himself, though this kind of fight in the middle of a festival was certainly not ideal.
“No games here, little light! No fights here either. Truthfully, I detest violence! It's why I hesitate to show myself in these sorts of situations. Surely you understand?”
“It sounds cowardly to me. Hiding behind this poor woman so you can taunt me like this.”
“Taunt you? Young man, I don't wish to show myself to save us both the trouble.” It sounded exasperated. Still, past experience kept him on edge, he could not afford to let his guard down. Not again. Even if he had to fight here…
“Hm.” The deep voice hummed thoughtfully. “Still you are afraid-”
That was enough. The still fresh memory of what had occurred in America filled his mind and he saw red. He began to call the armor to him, but suddenly his body felt terribly cold- as if an unseen hand of ice had seized him.
“SIT.” The voice boomed. The volume it reached despite being in his mind made his head hurt and his ears ring. He was firmly but gently pushed back into the metal chair and at once the cold vanished.
“What…what did you do to me?”
“AHEM. I merely sat you back in the chair. Forgive me, it seems I have struck a nerve. I do not experience the emotions that you do, and I forgot myself. I have overstepped, I will take my leave.”
“Wait. I'm sorry.” Seiji took a deep breath. It felt unwise to speak with something like this but…“You spoke of a darkness? What is it? Will you tell me what is coming?”
There was a silent pause. He could almost feel it tilt it's head curiously.
“It is already here.” It said at last. “It is always here. It is in you, and nearly compelled you to lash out at me. It is despair, my friend.”
He felt a weight settle inside his heart.
“I see.”
“But you have beaten it before, haven't you? And you will again. Perhaps even for more than just yourself.” The old woman leaned back into the darkness, leaving only the strange green eyes shining out from nothing. “Go well, little light. Enjoy this modicum of rest.”
Gradually the whole room brightened and the heavy air cleared. The eerie shadows seemed to slide out of the tent, rustling the edges as they passed. He could see the fortune teller again, looking dazed as if she had just woken up.
“Oh dear!” The old woman cried, fortunately only in her own voice this time. “I must be more tired than I thought. So sorry dearie, I think I'll need to close up early. I must have waited too long to eat.”
“That's alright ma’am.” Whatever had been there was gone now, leaving him only with a sense of unease.“Should I get something for you?”
“Oh no, that's quite alright. My granddaughter should be right outside. I'll be fine.”
“Take care, ma’am.” He bowed and quietly left the tent. Almost immediately his sister was upon him.
“C’mon! Stay in there for more than a minute at least! I still haven't decided!”
It had certainly been more than a minute, at least half an hour, he thought. Whatever spoke through that woman seemed to have altered the passage of time. Perhaps that explained while no one else came in during their entire exchange. “Unfortunately, she is feeling unwell and needs rest.”
“Really?!” Satsuki groaned. “But I didn't get my fortune told! What a bust!”
He watched his classmate he had spotted earlier run up to the old fortune teller and take her hand. Overhead, the fireworks began, filling the sky with colors. Beyond them, Seiji thought he could see the stars themselves shift ever so slightly, as if pushed by a dark shape like an eel moving beneath the surface of water.