Subaru

Chapter LXIV.

Each one of the Tsukumogami had a different story. Some had seen their proprietors die. Others had been abandoned by them because of long use. They had seen human pain. They had experienced pain themselves. They have all been scarred by their relationship with mankind.

Tonight, for the very first time since eras, they were partying with humans around a bonfire.

'Are you alright?' called a young male voice, and I looked on my right at the young boy who had approached me where I was sitting by the bonfire on the trunk of a tree.

The young boy was around eleven and without any doubt, it was Emaki, the animated scroll.

I touched my bruised cheek, replying, 'It still hurts a bit. And you?'

'Fine.' He sat down next to me on the trunk. 'Thank you for having protected me like you did.'

'Don't mention it!'

He opened his mouth to say something, but then, he seemed to hesitate.

Can it be that...

'You know, I have a friend- well, he's more like a brother to me- and he doesn't have any weapon to combat maleficent creatures. Do you think that you'd like it to pass a contract with him and to become his comrade-in-arms?'

'Yes. A lot!' he answered, utterly rejoiced.

I smiled.

'Who is that?' I asked him then, when my eyes fell onto one particular Tsukumogami that was keeping away from the others and watching Tsurayuki and I from a good distance away without participating in the party.

'Oh, it's Ichiren-Bozu,' Emaki informed me. 'He- He doesn't appreciate the company of humans at all. He's especially bitter after what happened earlier with the two other monster-hunters. It's really too bad, you know? He is one good luck charm like you can no longer find today.'

I gave Emaki a bewildered look.

'I- I've heard your conversation with your mission partner earlier today.'

At this, I glanced at Tsurayuki who was sitting close-by.

"I'm jinxed. All the bad luck ever since we've undertaken this mission- it's me. I attract disaster like a magnet. It is, as though, I have a demon entitled to me that brings misfortune upon me and all those around me. My mother has died while giving birth to me. The members of the organization- I used to make part of in the past- have been decimated. I had isolated myself after that; I wanted to be all alone, until I met Master Kagami. Bad luck and misadventures accompany me in my everyday life."

***

In the meanwhile, at the Ametsuchi Bar...

Sitting at the bar counter with Hatsu Sho, Tsunan Hitachiin took out his wallet to fix their bill, when, without any warning, his blond friend snatched his wallet from his hand.

'What's taken over you? Give me my wallet back!' said the doctor, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Giggling, Hatsu took out something from the back pocket of his jeans and slipped it into the wallet, before handing the object back to the doctor.

The latter realized that it was a copy of the picture he had taken with Shun during Hanami.

'What will Shun think when she'll see that I have a picture of the two of us in my wallet?'

'Oh, I can already imagine her flushing tomato red!' cooed Hatsu, squirming like a girl. 'Ne, don't you miss our little Shun? I do miss her a lot!'

The blond male saw his friend's expression change, all suddenly.