Yamiyo no Hotaru

Volume 11 Epilogue

 "What in the world is this?"

 That was the first thing said upon stepping into the room. The ghost (亡霊/Nue) couldn't help but wonder if he had fallen into some kind of illusion.

 "What in the world...? Isn't 'that' the Minister-sama?"

 "No, it's not that, is it?"

 The ghost couldn't help but interject towards the shrine maiden-like girl who was guiding him. It was obvious. It was already clear. After all, she had come to see him.

 "If it's not that, then what is it?"

 "Well... let's stop playing with words. Will you explain it to me?"

 Trying to make another retort to the words of the princess daughter of the Miyataka, the ghost immediately understood that getting caught up in this girl's absurd way of speaking was pointless and returned to the main topic.

 "An explanation, huh? Where should I start..."

 Shrugging at the ghost's uncooperative attitude, the shrine maiden-like girl, seeing the figure in the back of the room, withdrew her usual charming behavior and wore an indescribable expression, at a loss. In reality, explaining how the person in front of her had ended up in his current state was extremely difficult.

 "Well, I'll be in trouble if you don't explain... Look at that. His knees are split into three."

 Not only that, the Minister was upside down, tears and drool streaming from his sunken face on the tatami mat. He was creating a pool on the floor. Just like a figure with a face like a Buddha, with eyes rolled back... It seemed insufficient to describe, but in reality, there was no other way to express it. Not even Nue had the vocabulary to accurately describe the art before him.

 "Well, you see, he fell silent as soon as he met the guest. Then he claimed to feel unwell and left immediately. The tea party was ruined and ended abruptly. By the time he got into the carriage, he was already like this."

 If one were to add, the shrine maiden-like girl went out of her way to accompany the Minister just to cover up this abnormal situation. Her attitude of annoyance was certainly necessary, considering it had to be similar to this in the carriage.

 "That was unfortunate. But, a tea party..."

 "There was a shrine maiden on the place."

 As Nue stroked his chin in puzzlement, the old man interject from the side with the depths of his throat. The shrine maiden-like girl and Nue (the ghost) then look towards the mass of flesh at the back of the room together.

 "Ah, ah, ah, ahhhh!"

 The old gentleman opened his mouth wide, howling or roaring, screaming in delight.

 "Yes!! That's it!! That's it!! That must be it!! That's... that's right... of that person! Correctly, correctly, correctly!! The fate, eeeexcellent fate!!"

 His eyes bulged out, spitting out saliva with a roar that shook his whole body, reaching a climax. Slowly, the shrine maiden grimaced at the ghost as a stain spread on her hakama. How much had been spilled?

 "...I see. I roughly understand the reason. I never thought he would break down just by seeing her. It seems I misjudged."

 The ghost seemed to understand everything from the reaction of the old man who was both his disciple and collaborator. Normally, he had some semblance of composure, at least enough to maintain a his surface reasoning... but the torrent of emotions that had been accumulating at the bottom of his heart, the explosion, seemed to be more than he had anticipated.