Hyakki Yagyou

Chapter Four: Airfield, Video

Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.

-        Arthur Schopenhauer

December 2nd, 9:30 AM

Emi could not remember the last time she felt this nervous. Perhaps it was when she was just starting high school, after fairly turbulent years of junior high. Perhaps it was when she graduated and started a job hunt. College at the time was not an option since she did not have enough money, and it was just around the time when her foster father fell ill and lost his job. In the meanwhile, he recovered but she lost her all desire to attend a University. She had no idea what she wanted to study.

When she was in primary school and junior high, her dream was to become a journalist. In high school, Emi’s biggest interests were computers and IT. When she was graduating, she thought that pursuing a career as an IT expert was the best possible choice. But in the end, she taught herself how to be an expert in the field and never attended college. She did not mind though.

She had a job – a crappy but stable one – and was slowly getting some order into her life. Or so she thought. College was not that important. But, what could she complain about anyway? She had her own apartment, the cat, the job… Emi sighed a little.

Her brother.

After eight years, she would see Keita again. She only saw him on a picture once or twice but that was a year ago. He could have changed a lot since then, couldn't he? He had grown into a handsome man but she knew nothing about him. He was like a stranger to her. She had no knowledge of his hobbies (except the photography he had once mentioned in a group chat), his likes and dislikes, his favourite food.

And he knew nothing about her.

As far as anyone was concerned, Keita and Emi were perfect strangers, with blood ties. It was sad, though, for her to know that she was so estranged from the only person with whom she had such relations.

It was also a pity that they had to meet under such circumstances. They could have met before, though, she thought. Eight years ago, when they last saw each other, they made a promise they would see each other again. Emi was taken into a foster family a day later and never heard of Keita again, until a year ago when she joined the website.

It was around the time when the website was still a novelty in the world of IT freaks. It had just been a couple of months since it was started and it was slowly becoming more and more popular. She heard from some co-workers about it and later got a link from someone (she could not even remember if it was one of the co-workers or someone else that provided her with the said link) that led to the website. Once she became a member, Emi remembered, she was greeted by almost everyone and among them was Keita.

He had recognized her immediately.

After all, how could he forget the face of his own flesh and blood?

She was guilty of the crime though. When she saw him, a year ago, Emi could not believe it was him. He had grown so much! And seeing his face on a picture made her feel even more alienated from him. If she would see him on the street, she knew she would just pass him by without recognizing his face as that of her older brother. It was normal that he changed but she was stricken with such a strong wave of disappointment in herself that she would (or could) not recognize him that it took her days to accept the fact that people simply… Change.

She never thought of it before. Of course everyone changes. Time flows like a river and stops for no one. It just goes on and on and the human bodies change, twist, wrinkle, eventually deteriorates and then… Bam! Darkness takes over and the journey is over. But Keita…