Woman In the Ceiling

The singing began just as Mr. Suzuki said, when the sun set and the last rays of that day disappeared beyond the horizon. Sumire broke out of her meditation and stood up. On the next couch, Natsuno tucked his phone into his pocket and did the same.

A woman shrieked from another room, jolting the two of them. Sumire rushed out of the room, Natsuno following behind, and they found Mr. Suzuki and his son surrounding a woman. She had to be Mrs. Suzuki; Sumire remembered that she was the one most affected by the yokai.

A housemaid was trying her best to calm Mrs. Suzuki down, while Mr. Suzuki stood back helplessly. His son was also standing nearby, looking agitated.

“Told you we should just bulldoze the house and build a new house over it!” Shigeru said in annoyance.

“That won’t solve your yokai problem”, Natsuno piped up as he and Sumire joined the family. He turned to his ‘boyfriend’. “You said the problem came from the attic. Well, can we go check it out?”

“Erm—” Shigeru hesitated. He eyed his father.

“Can’t you get rid of it without entering the attic?” Mr. Suzuki asked.

“Tenjokudari is a yokai with corporeal body”, Sumire answered. “That means we need to pinpoint its exact location to be able to seal it.”

Mr. Suzuki let out an annoyed grunt. He looked like he was going to argue what Sumire said, but Natsuno was faster.

“What’s wrong? Do you have things you don’t want outsiders to see up there?” Natsuno asked sarcastically. “Skeletons in the attic, perhaps?”

“Why—” Mr. Suzuki looked like he was going to explode.

“Mr. Suzuki, the longer the tenjokudari plagues your house, the more dangerous it will become”, Sumire stated, casting a glance at Mrs. Suzuki.

Mr. Suzuki looked incredibly torn, and Sumire couldn’t understand why. Perhaps it was like what Natsuno said; he had something he didn’t want others see. Perhaps Sumire should say something to reassure him — like she would keep whatever secret the family was hiding to herself — but if it was something illegal…

“Fine”, Mr. Suzuki said eventually. “Fine. Get into the attic and— and get rid of that thing!”

“Thank you, Mr. Suzuki”, Sumire said, as she turned her bracelet into a cherry-blossom wooden bow. “This won’t take long.”

A maid showed her and Natsuno the stairs to the attic. It was dark and dusty, as if no one had stepped foot in there for years. The floorboards creaked under her feet, but other than that, it was eerily quiet.

Natsuno took out his ungaikyo and used it to light the room. He whistled.

“More like dolls in the attic”, he said.

“Bunraku puppets”, Sumire agreed. The lifelike puppets were hanging lifelessly from the ceiling, their beautifully painted ever-smiling face seemed to judge the intruders in their midst.

Dark shadow flitted at the corner of Sumire’s eyes. Natsuno seemed to catch it too, because he directed the ungaikyo’s light to where the shadow was. But there was nothing there but rows and rows of dolls.

Using her smaller stature, Sumire parted through the hanging dolls, careful not to break anything. Natsuno tried to follow, but his height put him at disadvantage. Soon, he was tangled by the doll strings.

“Found you, my love~” a woman’s voice said in a sing-song voice. Sumire stopped, and watched as a shadow drop over Natsuno’s form.

“Natsuno!” Sumire yelled, as she tried to reach him. It was a woman who looked eerily similar to one of the puppets. Her skin was so pale it was almost grayish-blue under the ungaikyo’s light.

A blade slashed through the woman’s form, which didn’t seem to cut through anything. The woman giggled once more as she floated away, her layered kimono fluttering.

“So cruel. I only want to take a sip of your warmth”, the woman, the yokai, said.

“I’m underaged, you creep!” Natsuno hissed as he pointed his Dojigiri toward the yokai.

“It’s—” Sumire began, surprised.

“An aonyobo, I know!”, Natsuno finished, annoyed. “I’m gonna cleanse it!”

He didn’t have the chance to do so, though, as the aonyobo flew toward them. Natsuno dived aside, while Sumire ducked and shot a binding arrow toward the yokai. It struck its back, causing it to shriek out in pain as golden threads bound it.

“I will not allow you take my love!” the aonyobo shrieked, and suddenly, the puppets around them rattled as if trying to break free from where they were hanging. Their hands reached out to Sumire.

“Watch out!” Natsuno yelled as he slashed the puppets’ arms. They clattered to the floor harmlessly. Natsuno turned to face Sumire, but the aonyobo used the chance to break free from her binding.

More and more puppets rattled ominously as they inched closer to the two of them. Natsuno warded them off with slashes of his blade, while Sumire shot more arrows toward the aonyobo. In the end, she managed to pin down the aonyobo under five binding arrows.

“You who reign over Takamagahara, whose blood runs in our veins, lend us the light to fight the darkness and put these evils in chains!” she recited, and shot one final arrow to where the aonyobo’s core rested.

Golden tendrils wrapped around the aonyobo like a cocoon, before absorbing it entirely. With the aonyobo sealed away, all of the puppets fell to the floor noisily. No doubt everyone downstairs would hear it.

“Ew”, was all Natsuno said. His foot poked at the nearest unmoving puppet.

“Let’s go”, Sumire said, and the two of them climbed down the stairs. It wasn’t until they were back downstairs Sumire realized how filthy they were.

Sumire sighed. And she had to wear her favorite shirt.

“H-how’s the—” Mr. Suzuki tried to ask.

“It’s been sealed”, Sumire told him, watching the change in his demeanor curiously. “It’s not a tenjokudari, but an aonyobo disguising itself as a bunraku puppet.”

“Yeah, about that”, Natsuno began. “You might wanna throw them out or something.”

“See, Dad? Told you we should just dumped them away!” Shigeru cried out from where he was cradling his mother. Mrs. Suzuki looked like she was asleep.

“Shigeru, shush!” Mr. Suzuki scolded, before turning to Sumire again. “Many thanks for your assistance, Miss Kazahana. Please extend the courtesy to Master Kazahana too.”

“Of course”, Sumire said, bowing to Mr. Suzuki before being escorted out of the mansion.

From the corner of her eyes, she could see Natsuno and Shigeru sharing an embrace.