A Winter of Ghosts

Chapter Two

Kara knew there had to have beena time in her life when she had been more bored, but she couldn't think of one.Her father had gone into school to make final preparations in his classroom andoffice for the new term, which started tomorrow. His lesson plans were done,but the principal, Mr. Yamato, wanted all of the teachers to organize their ownmaterials so that all was in order when classes began. They were also takingturns overseeing the return of the boarding students to the dormitory behindthe school. Kara had wanted to go along — she couldn't wait to see herfriends — but her father had discouraged it. Mr. Yamato would havefrowned upon it.

So she waited, and the wait wastorture. She fiddled with her guitar for a little while, but found it impossibleto focus long enough to play any song all the way through. Television in Japanusually bored or appalled her, depending on what was on, and she didn't havetime for a movie. . she hoped.

Finally, she logged on to hercomputer and started to upload her favorites among the most recent batch ofphotos she had taken in and around Miyazu City. Her friends back home inMedford loved when she posted them on her Facebook page.

As she studied the pictures onher computer screen, she shivered. December had been chilly, but now thatJanuary had arrived, it really felt like winter. The shirt she had on had beenfine this morning, yet for some reason she felt colder now. A glance at herwindow showed her that the day had turned gray, as though threatening snow. Theforecast hadn't called for any of the white stuff, but with the sun gone, itcertainly was cold enough.

Kara jumped up from her chairand pulled a green, V-neck sweater from a drawer, tugging it on over her head.

Tea, she thought. Niceand hot.

The photos temporarilyforgotten, she went out into the kitchen, and as she reached for the teapot, asoft knock came upon the door. She glanced up, smiling, and hurried to answerit.

Kara opened the door to discoverSakura and Miho on the stoop wearing matching grins. For once the two girls,polar opposites in so many ways, looked almost exactly the same in their graywool coats and winter hats.

The three girls let out a chorusof squees and threw themselves into each other's arms as though they had beenseparated for months instead of weeks. They all began speaking at once, talkinginstead of listening, and then laughing at the absurdity of it. Somehow in themidst of this Kara managed to usher them inside and close the door, and thenthey were taking off their boots and jackets and hats, and suddenly they werethe Miho and Sakura she knew. Sakura was tall, with eyes the color of brass andspiky hair. Miho was a couple of inches shorter and had a shy, bookish demeanorthat was punctuated by her glasses and her long hair, clipped up on one side tokeep it from hiding her pretty face. The two girls had become her closestfriends in the nine months since school had begun.

"Okay, okay, let's allbreathe," Kara said. "Come in and sit down. I was about to make tea. Doesanyone else want some?"

Miho raised her handimmediately, tucking a lock of hair behind one ear.

"Me, too," Sakuraagreed. "It's cold out there. I think winter should be over on New Year'sDay."

"It's just starting,"Miho said, frowning at the impracticality of the statement.

"I know. I'd just like itto end now."

"No way," Kara said asshe put water in the teapot. "I look forward to snowball fights andsnowmen. And there will be tubing."

Miho and Sakura shared a dubiousglance. Kara pointed at them with the teapot, water sloshing inside.

"There will betubing!"

The girls laughed, raising theirhands in surrender, and another giddy wave went through Kara. She was sograteful to have them back. As the girls chatted to her about their New Year'sEve activities — they had all updated each other about Christmas already — she put on the teapot and then joined them at the table.

"My father and I got up tosee the sunrise on New Year's Day," Sakura said. "It's good luck."

Kara blinked in surprise. "Youdidn't tell me that. Was it your idea or his?"

Sakura gave her a tiny, sheepishshrug. "His. I know. It is strange."

"Not strange at all. It'samazing that he actually noticed you were there," Kara said.

"Actually, Sakura had agood time with them," Miho said.

Kara looked at her, then atSakura. Her hair had been freshly cut but she had not altered the style. Shortin the back, but longer in the front, it framed her face in two slashes ofblack hair, highlighted by dyed streaks of bright red. Yet she wore a black andwhite checked sweater, and her face had an uncharacteristic softness about it,a lightness that took some of the edge away from her rebellious image.

"That's huge," Karasaid. "That's great!"

Sakura nodded. "I suppose. Idon't want to make too much of it. I'm back, now, and it will be easy for themto forget me again."

Even before her sister, Akane,had been murdered, Sakura's parents had not paid their children much attention.And with Akane's death it had only become worse. Kara had spoken to her fatherabout it once and he had suggested that their grief might have made theMurakamis afraid to love Sakura. But Kara refused to let them off the hook. Theyhad lost a daughter, but they had one still alive and they barely acknowledgedher existence, traveling on business or on holiday, leaving her at boardingschool even when she was on break, hardly ever coming to visit. Their neglecthad reached a level where Kara had been genuinely surprised when Sakura hadtold her she was going home for the holidays. And now to hear that her fatherhad made an effort to spend time with his daughter came as an even greatersurprise, but a welcome one.

"I don't think they'llforget you again," Kara said. "If they're trying to. ." Shecouldn't think of the Japanese words for 'amends.'

"It's a start, at least,"Miho said.

"It's great," Karasaid, but she could see that the conversation had begun to make Sakurauncomfortable, so she changed the subject. "Anyway, I have something Iwanted to talk to you both about."

Flashes of worry flickered inthe girls' eyes and Kara realized they had misunderstood her.

"No, no," she saidquickly. "No demons, no curses. Nothing bad. Something good, I hope."

"Don't scare us like that,"Sakura said, her tough-girl core resurfacing.

"Sorry."

Miho smiled. "It's not yourfault. We're all trying not to think about the curse, but it is always in theback of our minds. I guess it always will be, even if nothing happens foryears."

An awkward, dreadful quietdescended upon the house. It lasted only a few, nervous seconds before Kararose and went to get them tea cups.

"A new year, a newbeginning," she said. "We can't live with that shadow over us all thetime. And nothing's happened for months."

"I know," Mihoreplied. "It is just difficult to put it out of my mind."

Miho was right. Kara had to workat forgetting. It took an effort not to be afraid of the dark, to be able to goout at night or feel safe being home alone. It helped that they weren't theonly ones who knew about the events of the spring and fall. Her father and MissAritomo had been involved, and Mr. Yamato, the principal, knew. So did theMiyazu City police, who had instructed them all to report anything unusualimmediately, but otherwise not to discuss it with anyone. Officially, those thingsthey had experienced had never happened. The deaths of the students andteachers who had been killed in both instances were attributed to human causes.Human killers.

Last spring, they had stopped anancient demon called Kyuketsuki from entering into the modern world. In theprocess they had learned that some of the spirits and gods and demons that hadonce been worshipped in Japan still existed, weak and nearly extinguishedbecause most people did not believe in them anymore. They were kept from vanishingentirely by legends and songs and plays, but most did not have the strength tomanifest in the real world anymore.

The combination of Akane'smurder and Sakura's grief over her death, and an act of pure happenstance — or fate, if such a thing was to be believed — had been enough to stir thedemon Kyuketsuki. Kara and her friends had stopped the demon and driven it fromthe world, but not before it had cursed them.

Little remains in the worldnow of the darkness of ancient days. . but what there is will come to you,and to this place. All the evil of the ages will plague you, until my thirstfor vengeance is sated.

Kara shuddered at the memory,the words burned into her mind. There might not be many supernatural evils lefton Earth, but Kyuketsuki had marked them all for death. For months, nothing hadgone wrong. Nothing strange had occurred. And then students had begun todisappear. A new demon, the Hannya, had possessed Miss Aritomo and nearlykilled them all.

They had destroyed the Hannya,but not before it had confirmed that the curse had drawn it to them. If therewere other ancient evils still strong enough to manifest in Japan, they mightappear at any time.

Kara and her friends knew this,but they still had lives to lead.

"So what was it that youwanted to talk to us about?" Sakura asked as Kara set their cups in frontof them and went to get the teapot.

"Well," Kara said,excitement dispelling the shadows from her mind. "My dad and I areplanning to go home for a visit at the end of winter term, before the newschool year starts."

"You're going to be gonethe whole time?" Miho asked, her disappointment obvious.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You'renot listening. It's great news! That means they're coming back for next year!"

Miho's mouth dropped open andthen she clapped her hands like a little girl. "I wasn't thinking. That isgreat. That's wonderful!"

"Hey, I couldn't pass upthe chance to be seniors with you two," Kara said as she poured their tea."But there's more. I talked to my father about it, and he agreed. If youcan get your families to pay for plane tickets, you can come with us."

This resulted in an eruption ofbabble, some of it so fast that Kara could not translate, as the girlsspeculated on whether or not their parents would let them go, and if they wouldbe willing to pay for airfare. Sakura felt fairly certain she would be able togo, but Miho seemed less sure. Still, they started making plans about all ofthe things they would do and see if their parents could be persuaded.

The shadows had been driven backfor all of them, at least for a while.

The house Kara shared with herfather was just up the street from Monju-no-Chie school. There were times whenit still felt awkward to her, being the only gaijin girl — the onlywestern student, period — at the school, but she loved the foreignness ofthe whole experience, the challenge and constant stream of new culturalinformation that came with each day. Like any school, there were teachers thatshe liked better than others, there were mean girls and jocks and cliques, andthere was gossip galore. But she enjoyed her classes and her calligraphy club,and she had made the best friends of her life.

Kara would not have wanted tostay in Japan forever but, as much as she missed her friends back home, when ithad come time to discuss staying another year she had not hesitated a moment. Shewanted to graduate with Sakura and Miho. Her father wanted to see where hisrelationship with Miss Aritomo would lead, and Kara wondered as well.

And then there was Hachiro.

Growing up, she had had crusheson any number of boys, and once or twice she had thought she had fallen inlove. Now, though, something was growing inside of her that made her think thatthose other times had been just her wishing to be in love. Maybe thereal thing was something entirely different, not just the space between akitten and a cat but between a cat and a Bengal tiger.

She tried not to think about it.Over the past few months, the idea of love had started to frighten her almostas much as Kyuketsuki's curse. All she knew was that, just as her father wantedto see where things would go with Miss Aritomo, she was curious to discoverwhat the future had in store for her and Hachiro. And she couldn't wait to tellhim she would be back for her senior year.

For a long time, they had done akind of dance, hesitant to open their hearts fully when they knew that shemight be returning to America in the spring. After their encounter with theHannya, knowing that life was too short for such hesitations, they had becomecloser than ever, but the question of the future remained.

Now she hurried down the streettoward the school, hoping that his parents had already left, though that seemedunlikely. If they were gone, Hachiro would have called her by now. She slippedher cell phone out of her pocket and double-checked — with her hat on andthe thickness of her new winter coat, perhaps she hadn't heard the ring tone — but there'd been no calls.

She crossed the street to thearch at the edge of the school property, but immediately veered off of the paththat would have led to the front door. With the short winter day's lightalready dimming toward late afternoon darkness, she passed beneath the shadowof the school building, its architecture still so reminiscent of some ancientfortress out of feudal Japan.

A cold wind blew off the baybehind her, whipping around the corner of the school, but now she put thebuilding between herself and the bay and the wind dropped to almost nothing. Thelast of the day's sunlight glowed gold through the trees to the west. Her newboots crunched in a patch of snow left over from the last storm, though most ofit had melted away from the low-lying areas for now.

Sakura and Miho had only visitedfor a couple of hours. They had rushed right over to visit her upon theirarrival, and had to get back to prepare for the next day's resumption ofclasses. Plus, they wanted to eat dinner in the dormitory's dining hall withthe rest of the boarding students.

Kara had hung around at homeuntil her father had come back, about two-thirty in the afternoon, and they haddiscussed their own dinner plans. But then Kara had finally gotten a text fromHachiro telling her that he was back on campus. Her father had recognized thelook on her face immediately and told her to go, but to be back by six o'clock.

She walked across the quad tothe dormitory, noting the cars in the lot to the right of the building. Someparents were only just now dropping their children off, and several studentswere walking up from the parking lot. A guy she vaguely recognized used his keyto unlock the dorm's front door and Kara picked up her pace to catch it beforeit closed again.

Hachiro's parents couldn'tpossibly still be here. He hadn't brought anything but a suitcase home, sodropping him off should only have taken a few minutes. But he hadn't calledyet. She told herself he was just putting his things away, but a part of herfelt hurt by this. Miho and Sakura had rushed over to see her first thing, notbothering even to unpack, but Hachiro seemed in no rush. Had he had secondthoughts during the holidays? Had he met someone in those two short weeks?

She told herself she was beingfoolish, but still quickened her pace up the stairs and down the hall to hisroom. After hours, girls weren't allowed in the boys' halls, but for now thecorridors were busy with friends getting reacquainted, laughing and gossipingand trading small New Year's gifts. She and Hachiro had agreed on no gifts atthe holidays. People tended to put too much weight on such things, interpretingany gift as if it defined the relationship, and she didn't want that kind ofpressure for either of them. Now she regretted it a little. A sign of hisaffection would be nice.

Oh, great. Doubting him already.He just got back. She rolled her eyes at her own insecurity, even as sherealized that she had never cared so much about what anyone else felt abouther, except for her parents.

Amused at her own nervousness,she rapped on his door. She waited eight or ten seconds before knocking again,bouncing impatiently. Kara glanced up and down the hallway, wondering if hemight be visiting Ren or one of his other friends. That wouldn't bode well,either, priority-wise, though he had texted her, so that counted for something.

As she debated whether to knockagain, the door opened.

In his Boston Red Sox cap and arumpled sweatshirt, he looked very cute. She had often told Hachiro he was herown giant Teddy bear, which always got a shy smile from him. But for a moment,as he pulled the door open, she caught sight of a look on his face that wasanything but a smile. He seemed sad and tired.

And then he saw her, and hisface lit up in a grin, and she knew that all of her angsting had beenpointless.

Without a word he pulled herinto his arms, crushing him in his massive embrace, and she squeezed back forall she was worth. Hachiro kissed the top of her head — receivingwhistles and hoots from other boys in the corridor for the effort — andthen took a step back, holding her hands in his as he looked down at her.

"Hello," he said.

Kara exhaled contentedly. "Hey."

Hachiro lifted her chin and gaveher a gentle kiss. She pulled off his Red Sox cap, revealing his unruly mess ofhair, and donned the hat herself, setting it backward on her head.

"You gonna let me in?" she asked.

"Of course," he said,standing a bit straighter.

Hachiro had been raised to be aproper Japanese boy, with all the courtesies and formalities that implied. Karahad broken him of some of those manners, but he still treated her as a guestwhenever she visited his room. Now he stepped back to let her in, and she wentto his desk and slid herself up to sit on top of it.

He left the door open. Theschool had rules governing all areas of conduct, and were very strict about theinteraction between male and female students, but Kara thought he would haveleft the door open anyway so that no one would get the wrong idea about whatwas or wasn't going on behind closed doors.

Not that she would have minded alittle time behind closed doors. But that was what late night walks were for.

"Happy New Year," shesaid.

Hachiro gave her a very formalbow, but she knew that now he was overdoing it for effect. "Happy NewYear," he said in English.

"I'm sorry I didn't waitfor you to call, but I have news and I really wanted to share."

Hachiro sat on his bed, lookingmore than ever like a giant bear. The bed was too small for him. "Whatnews?"

"Well, there's a littlebad, but also some good. Which do you want first?"

His smile faded and she saw atrace of that uneasiness and exhaustion again. "Bad first, please."

"Don't worry, it's not thatbad," she said, swinging her legs where they hung over the edge of thedesk. "At the end of this term, my father and I are going home — "

Hachiro glanced downward,disappointment etched into his face.

" — for two weeks. Andthen we'll be back for senior year."

He laughed out loud. "You'restaying?"

Kara nodded. "Staying."

Hachiro got up and went to her,picked her up off the desk and swung her around. When he set her down, she feltlike she was still flying. He brushed a lock of her blond hair away from herface and traced his fingers along the cheek and the curve of her jaw. Karaswallowed hard, staring into his eyes, and for several long seconds she wasspeechless, despite a thousand unsaid things that blossomed in her heart.

He kissed her again, not nearlyas gentle as before, and they only stopped to breathe.

With a quick knock on the opendoor, Ren stepped into the room. "Hachiro, can I borrow — " hebegan, halting abruptly when he saw them and covering his eyes. "Ahhh, I'mblind."

Kara and Hachiro both laughed.

"What do you need?" Hachiro asked.

Ren shook his head, longbronze-dyed hair falling across his eyes. "Nothing. Go back to what youwere doing. I'll come back later."

Before either of them couldargue or ask him to say, he darted off down the hall. Kara hugged Hachiroagain, but as she did she found herself looking around the room, realizing thatsomething was out of place. Or, rather, not at all out of place. Hachiro'ssuitcase had already been stowed away, whatever clothes he had brought homealready integrated back into his school wardrobe. Even his books for the newterm were organized on his desk.

A little tremor ofdisappointment went through her as she stepped back from him.

"You've been home forhours."

Hachiro's happiness fell awaylike a mask and she saw again the sadness that weighed on him. He seemedexhausted by it.

"Since last night,actually," he confessed.

Her heart sank. Part of her mindimmediately started making excuses for him, mostly to make herself feel better,but the hurt was too much.

"What? You didn't. . whydidn't you tell me? Or come see me?"

"I meant to," he said."I came back on the train. I wanted to surprise you, but somethinghappened on the train and I've been trying to make sense of it, trying tofigure out if I really saw what I think I saw."

Kara felt a chill dance alongher spine. "What do you think you saw?"

Hachiro looked away from her,out at the darkness beyond his window. When he looked back, his face had gonepale.

"Jiro's ghost."

Her breath caught in her throat.Jiro's ghost. Oh, my God.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure of anything,"he said. "Once I would have said it was impossible, but — "

"But 'impossible' doesn'tmean much anymore," Kara finished for him.

"What do you think itmeans?" Hachiro asked. "Do you think it's just. . I don't know,symptoms of the curse? That we've brushed up against so much of thesupernatural that we're more aware of it now? Or do you think it's somethingelse, that something else has come to try to finish what Kyuketsuki and theHannya started?"

Kara shook her head. "I don'tknow. But we've got to keep our eyes open. We have to be on guard."

"I'm always on guard thesedays."

He took her hand, then, and shestepped into his embrace, relishing his warmth and strength and how safe shefelt in his arms. But she knew it was an illusion.

As long as the curse remained inplace, they were never really safe.