“You didn’t tell your girlfriend about Okiku, did you?”
“Absolutely not! And she’s not my girlfriend!”
“Then what’s wrong with Okiku?”
“I might have inadvertently compared her to that woman without meaning to.”
This shuts Callie up for a minute. Finally, she exhales noisily. “Well, if you’d compared me to her, I’d be pretty pissed off too.”
“Thanks,” I say.
“Just trying to make you feel better.”
“You’re not very good at it.”
Callie’s smile fades. “Maybe I’m just trying to make myself feel better. I’m worried about Kagura too, Tark. I hope she’s okay.”
“Yeah,” I say, and we fall silent for a few moments, thinking about the shrine maiden and about all we owe her for the debts we may never be able to repay. “I hope so too.”
***
I meet with Kendele only once before leaving. She’s hanging around the lawn the next morning, waiting for me.
“Are you stalking me now?” I ask, glancing back warily at the house to make sure Callie isn’t watching.
She smirks. “You wish. I was running errands, and this is my route. And now that you’re here, I wanted to see if you were okay after everything that happened last week.”
“You didn’t need to—but thanks.”
“Wanna hang out?”
“I have a plane to catch later.”
“Oh.” She looks disappointed. “Where are you going?”
“Visiting friends in Japan with my cousin. It’s kind of a thing we do every year.”
“Maybe next time then,” Kendele says, smiling at me before walking away. I watch her leave, still not sure about her motivations. I’ve never had any close friends, definitely no girlfriends, but she’s making me rethink everything I’ve missed out on, making me wonder what else I may have missed.
Kendele pauses at the end of the block and turns. “This is the part where you’re supposed to run after me,” she calls back. “Ask me for a rain check.”
“Huh?”
“Ask me for a rain check, dummy.”
“Uh…how about a rain check?”
“I’ll hold you to that.” She laughs and turns away again. “So dense.” She says that loudly, in case I couldn’t hear.
I head back to the house and find Okiku studying me from the window of my room. She gives me a small smile and disappears.
***
Callie and I meet Saya at the Shizuoka Airport after a brief layover at Shanghai. It’s always disorienting to see her and Kagura out of their shrine-maiden outfits. Saya wears a thick blouse and a long skirt, which exudes a much different aura than Saya in a red hakama and her white haori.
“You’ve gotten so tall, Tark-chan!” she exclaims, cupping my face with both her hands. “And Callie, even more beautiful now! I wish we could have met again under better circumstances.”
“You are looking lovelier than ever, Saya-san,” I tease. Japanese people tend to be very reserved, even with friends, but Saya surprises me by hugging me tightly, then latches on to an equally startled Callie.
She fills us in on more details as her Toyota Prius chugs through the green landscape to the small inn that Kagura runs with her elderly aunt. “She’s been missing for nearly a week,” Saya informs us, fingers drumming worriedly against the wheel. “Kagura’s aunt, Fujiko-san, is nearly wild with anxiety. Many international news crews have arrived at Mount Fuji, and the local police are not used to this attention. The American crew that came here to film is more popular than we thought.”
This is true enough. News about the inexplicable disappearances of Adams and the Ghost Haunts team have been coming through mainstream American media, though Kagura was never mentioned by name.
“We’re going to find her, Saya-san,” Callie says fiercely. “We’re not leaving Japan until we do.”
Saya smiles at us in the rearview mirror, though the worry continues to crease her brow. “I hope so. It is too late to join the rescue efforts at Aokigahara today, so I propose that we go to the Kamameshi Ryokan and leave for Mount Fuji in the morning. I believe Kagura’s aunt would like to speak with you two first anyway.”
I nod. She’d know best what’s going on.
The Kamameshi Ryokan is a quaint inn offering some of Honshu’s fabled hot springs. Kagura’s aunt, Fujiko Kaji, is waiting for us by the entrance, looking much older than her sixty-five years. Still, the smile she bestows on us is warm and genuine.
“We are so happy to have you both here again, Tarquin-san, Callie-san,” she says. “Kagura has been looking forward to your visit for weeks.” The corners of her mouth turn down at the reminder that her niece is missing. The Ghost Haunts crew also stayed at the inn, and I know she’s blaming herself for their disappearance as well.