Raitoburingā

A Sensorama Smart Home Drama (E04) – Flash Fiction [#14]

Raitoburingā | Photo by Alexander Ipfelkofer

Gōsutokirā zapped through the air, leaving crisp blue streaks of light lingering in the cold mist, steel humming, bearer shrouded in darkness, a mere silhouette, sword and shadow moving in a dance of ethereal calligraphy. The light intensified, and with one last stroke, the Between bent and twisted, the air crackled and split, and through the tear stepped two bold figures, followed by a third.

“Subayai! Akuma ga yattekuru!” Seresuto raised her katana, facing the portal.

Hatori pointed Gōsutokirā, slashed the jagged line and turned the sword. “No demon shall pass!”

The opening diminished and was gone. He dropped to his knees. Seresuto sheathed her weapon and flared at her father, her lips a thin line.

“It worked,” said Hatori.

“Lucky!” scolded Seresuto.

“Where are we?” Jamie looked around the empty lot.

“Baka gaijin,” Seresuto walked past Jamie, almost knocking him over.

“Seresuto!” Hatori stood up, sheathed Gōsutokirā and sighed. “Forgive my daughter. She is very angry.”

Seresuto scoffed, shook her head and kicked a pebble, sending it flying into the night.

“What happened? Where is the house?” Jamie rubbed his shoulder.

“Time flows differently in the Between, and when we stepped out, we stepped into the past. The house has not been built yet.” Hatori watched him from under his long, bushy white eyebrows.

Jamie stared back, mouth open, forehead in one deep frown. “What?”

“It was the only way. We must stop the cycle. For that, we have to go back to the beginning.”

“What?” Jamie heard the words but understood nothing.

Seresuto kicked another stone, muttering under her breath.

“The demon spirit that possessed your friends, we tried to stop it, but we were too late. We’re still in the same place, long before the man who will live here becomes its host.” Hatori explained in his deep, calm voice.

“Wh—”

“You have left your Self behind. You saw, from the window. This cannot be undone. It will always happen. You will save your friends, and you will pay the price. I am sorry.”

“I saw myself!” Jamie realised. “I… I am dead?”

“No. You are neither dead nor alive, not in the normal sense. You walk the Between. A privilege and a burden only a select few get to carry. You will understand. Come. We have work to do.” He turned to his daughter. “Seresuto. It is time.”

For years, the three chased Evil across space and time, always eluding them, always one step ahead, locked in a forever stalemate, leaving a gruesome trail of blood and misery.

Jamie learned, the more he learned, the less he thought about his former Self, a sliver of who he once was, the boy a distant memory, a mere echo, fading with every day, every fight, every step towards mastering the sword, the hunt, the kill.

Hatori Yokomatsu and his daughter, cursed by the same Evil, became his family. While Seresuto still called him stupid at every turn, her tone softened by the prowess he showed, and for the first time since the Evil had taken her mother, she allowed herself a glimmer of hope. They taught him the Dance of Blades, the Way of the Light, the Runes of Redream—all the Secrets of the Between.

“Motto ganbare, Raitoburingā!” she would tease.

“I’m trying as hard as I can!” he would reply, only to feel the flat of her blade on his burning cheeks. Lightbringer, by means of glowing buttocks.

Hatori was hard on him, but Seresuto was merciless, a constant cascade of mental and physical exercise, excruciating and humiliating, a rigour that would either make or break the tool needed to defeat the demon they were hunting.

“Mōichidō!” she shouted.

“Not again!” Jamie was tired, his whole body all blue and bruised.

“Hajimeru!” The blade would whip him into action while Hatori drew ghost symbols in the air, conjuring sparring spirits for Jamie to fight, and even they seemed to grow weary of the endless repetition.

“Kid, give it a rest. He had enough. He’ll push us into some poor devil’s dream and give them a bleeding heart attack.” The ghost reasoned without voice.

Jamie traced fizzling runes in the air with shaking hands, nails broken, vision blurred, coughed and spat out a phlegm of slimy red, ready to cast a Redream spell, sending the ghosts back into the Between from whence Hatori had ripped them.

“Eww. Watch it, Sonny.” Another ghost flared, hovering next to Jamie.

Hatori stopped. His glyphs faded, and the ghosts vanished with a sigh of relief. Seresuto grumbled.

“It has been 44 years, Seresuto. He is ready.” Hatori went to the butsudan in the corner, lit the candles next to the shrine and kneeled. “We leave at first light,” he said and fell silent.

The candlelight flickered, throwing their long, wavering shadows onto cave walls covered in warding runes. Outside, the storm raged, heavy rain drummed on stoic rocks, and the wind howled, carrying with it the desperate bleats of a goat trapped somewhere on the steep ridges along the mountainside beneath.

Lightning tore through the night sky, and for a moment, Jamie thought he saw the mountains move beyond the plateau. Thunder crashed, and the goat bleated in feeble response.

“Look!” Jamie gasped, standing at the cave entrance, pointing into the sky.

Hatori jumped to his feet, Gōsutokirā drawn. “Get back inside!”

The ocean far below a heaving cloak of tar, clawing the cliff with foaming tentacles, a wet embrace, a last bleating drowned.

A thunderbolt hurled down at them by unearthly force struck the blade and seared through Hatori. The rock burst, black schemes rose, formless, faceless, shrieking and hissing, encircling Hatori, inching closer with every breath. One by one, he cleaved the darkness. Growing weaker with each blow, he swung Gōsutokirā until it sang no more.

The shadows receded. Steel clattered.

“Otō-san!” Seresuto cried.

The clouds parted, and in the red light of the blood moon, there lay Hatori. Tears in her eyes, she leaned closer.

“Raitoburingā,” he whispered.

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Author’s Note

When I started this series, I was going to explore Reginald Helfinger’s story, but it turned into a Halloween Special after the first episode, and I went with it from there. It has become Jamie's story. Is he the Lightbringer? What happens now? Is Hatori dead? Is that even possible for those who walk the Between? We’ll have to find out next time when Jamie faces his demon.

Namahage

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