Holmes of Kyoto: Volume 19 [Parts 1 to 6] by Mai Mochizuki

Author:Mai Mochizuki
Language: eng
Format: epub

6

The problematic Oido tea bowl was temporarily entrusted to a museum, with one of Reito’s sealing talismans slipped under it. We later heard that Tatsuo’s skin had recovered, perhaps as a result of that.

“I really didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Reito, who was visiting Kura. He was wearing a haori coat over a kimono and sipping coffee at the counter.

I was cleaning the store, while the manager sat at the end of the counter with his pen and notebook, listening to Holmes and Reito’s conversation with great interest.

“Even with your wealth of experience?” Holmes asked. “Was it that fearsome?”

Reito shook his head. “The exorcism itself was simple. However, if Aoi’s face had swollen for even a brief moment, the thought of her reaction—and worse, yours—had me in a cold sweat.”

“Ah, so that’s why.” Holmes laughed.

He didn’t deny it. I stopped cleaning and gave a strained smile.

“Honestly, I’m sure it was quite the struggle since you can see things that we can’t,” Holmes continued.

I was curious about that too, so I stepped behind the counter and asked, “Um, what did the scene look like to you, Reito?”

“Hm, well...” Reito put down his coffee cup and explained what he had seen that day. First, the moment he had opened the storehouse door, he had felt burning heat, as if it had been the door to a furnace instead. His face and body had been so hot that it had been difficult to breathe, but he had managed to step inside, and there he had found a cluster of flames at the far end of the room. Inside the fire, he had seen faces of men, red, swollen, and groaning.

“Oh my gosh,” I murmured. I couldn’t believe that the scene had been so different through his eyes.

Reito explained that the flames had been the passionate thoughts of the tea bowl’s creator, while the faces had been the thoughts of those who had died while captivated by it. “It was a large blaze, but at the time, it didn’t seem like it would be possible to move it from that spot.”

“Why is that?” Holmes asked.

“My grandfather’s seal was still in effect. Since the tea bowl was in a glass case, my grandfather had turned the case into a sealing barrier.”

Holmes hummed and folded his arms. “That’s a clever idea. If it’s in a glass case, you can admire it without taking it out.”

“Indeed. But the warding effect was also tied to Tatsuo’s father’s contract, so it weakened when he passed away.”

“Despite being a contract, it wasn’t annulled on death?”

Reito nodded. “It was barely able to remain because it hadn’t been forty-nine days since his death. However, at times when yin was strong, what little was left of the effect diminished even further, allowing the thoughts to wander around the house. I was planning to wrap the tea bowl in a new talisman right away, but then Tatsuo opened the case.” He slumped his shoulders.

“That must’ve been a shock.” Holmes and I gave a strained chuckle.

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