Chương 13: 13. A Festival?

"It's time~! It's time~!"

"Mia, I'm scared. He's happier than usual."

"Ehe~ Well, that's to be expected. The biggest festival of the year is here."

"And that means more work for you enchanters, while we security just have to do our usual gig," Akihiko said as he was leaning against the door of Mia and mine's room.

He would often drop by for an hour or so before had to start working for idle chat. Mia would take the time to go over some paperwork she had to do before the day started, while Taiyo and I furthered our studies.

It's become a part of our regular morning routine, something that the three of them had prior to me coming to Himura and had let me join.

"Wait, what festival?"

"Oh, yeah you wouldn't know would you," he started, "The Obon Festival is a week long celebration where we remember the dead. This city was originally founded by settlers centuries ago, and apart from the clothes it's one of the few connections we have with the Eastern continent."

"The homeland celebrates it in July, but we celebrate it in August," Mia followed, "According to my grandmother, that's so that the spirits of our ancestors can visit their descendants overseas and have enough time to make the journey."

"Of course, the distance has also given us time to add our own traditions to the celebration. When my uncle took me overseas a few years back, they celebrated it with dancing and lanterns," Aki continued, "Everything felt pretty similar to Magnolia's Fantasia Day Parade, in all honesty, but if you pack a basin of a mountain with a bunch of pyromaniacs you're going to get an even louder festival."

"Aha! I remember when I went to the Fantasia Parade and a few people asked how our city is still standing after all this time. Apparently quite a few people think we live in a volcano that becomes active every year!"

"Well, we do create a lot of smoke…," Mia sighed after Taiyo's comment, "We set the mountains on fire each year, afterall."

"You people are psychopaths…"

"Hey, we light bonfires in a controlled environment!"

"Ehe…you can't deny, Aki, that we do use a lot of fire for no real reason. The hospitals get plenty of fire related injuries each year. If it wasn't for our familiarity with burns half of Himura would have matching scars."

"Not to mention a certain police squad given the architects and enchanters plenty of work rebuilding entire neighbourhoods each time they're deployed."

"I won't apologise."

"You people really are psychopaths…"

"Hey, houses can be rebuilt, but bandits and criminals will destroy lives."

"It makes for entertainment, at the very least. Your popularity with the girls only seems to rise, Mr. Vice-Captain~."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Anyways…what happens at this festival? You said it's a week long?"

"In practice, yes," Mia answered, "But officially the spiritual part only lasts from the thirteenth to the fifteenth. The first two days are dedicated to giving people time to show up from other parts across the continent and make their own preparations, while we make sure we have everything prepared on our side after taking the first half of the month to prepare."

"The festival begins on the third day in truth and it's a time of worry for us on the guard. The families take paper lanterns to the graves of the deceased and light them, using them as beacons for the departed to guide them home. They then use the lanterns as firestarters to ignite a premade archway in front of the homes that acts as the gate the souls can pass into and out of over the coming days. Plenty of idiots try to defame the graves of the departed throughout this time frame though, so guards watch over the tombs and graveyards during the celebration as part of our contribution to our ancestors."

"On the fourth day the celebration begins in earnest. Dancers will perform from dusk to dawn, the singers carol the deceased as welcome, and all the best chefs prepare the best food they can, sometimes even offering festival exclusive cuisine. It isn't uncommon for people to get drunk and confess their woes and grievances, the joys and tribulations they have faced since last year's celebration to the ancestors who might worry for them."

"The festivities calm down during the day on the fifteenth, with most even contributing to helping clean up the streets from the aftermath of the celebrations from the night prior and taking them to the mountains to help make the bonfires. At night, the festivities resume again on a smaller scale as part of our farewell to the departed as the arches begin to extinguish themselves. Candles are put in the lanterns used the days prior as they are reused and paraded to the mountains where the bonfires rest."

"As we send them away with dance and song five bonfires are lit in the mountain side that are shaped in symbols. Lanterns, gates, and a boat to ferry them away. Each bonfire is filled with the waste from the celebrations that act as offerings so that the spirits will have the memories of the festival. They're lit in thirty minute intervals with the lanterns displayed over each fire, and once the fifth, the boat, is lit at midnight the Obon festival officially ends as the smoke and lanterns act as the ferry that returns them all to the land of the dead."

"The last two days are meant to refresh ourselves, reconvene with family that we may not have met over the past year or few years, and get ready to make more memories to tell to our ancestors next year."

As they talked, I found myself absent mindedly fiddling with Grandpa Rob's cufflink.

"What if we don't have graves for the dead?"

Taiyo draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me into him, ruffling my hair with his free hand.

"Worry not, firecracker. You can just go to the temple and light your lantern there. These two doofuses will spend the festival with their families but we orphans can stick together, alright?"

I just nodded simply, glad that the ever happy teen and I could connect through that unfortunate circumstance.

"Whatever. You three have fun, my shift at the precinct starts in an hour and I gotta go."

"See you, Kiki~!"

"Bye, Kiki~!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Wait, so you three have stupid nicknames for each other? Mimi, Kiki, and Yoyo?"

"Yep, and you can't ever call us that, you hear?"

"Now hold on, Mimi-"

"Stop it."

"-now that she knows our dark secret, she needs a terrible nickname, too~!" Taiyo spoke with a mischievous smile, "Wouldn't you agree, Lyly?"

"That just sounds like an off brand Lily, you idiot."

"That's the point, dammit!"

The conversation drifted off to discussing celebrations in general after I asked about the Fantasia Parade. Taiyo, apparently having become a connoisseur about food stands and cuisine, happily ranted about his favourite foodstops.

"Speaking of parties, when is your birthday, kiddo?"

I looked at Taiyo as he ate the second bowl of eggs and rice for his morning breakfast, my own book about algebra provided by the school teachers resting on my knees as I sat on the bed that was provided for me half a month back, while his studies on parasites were strewn on the opposite side of the couch he sat on.

When he asked the question, Mia, who was sitting at her desk by the window, momentarily stopped writing to hear my answer.

I knew these people valued kindness in the droves they provided it, so I felt awkward about my answer.

"Last…umm, last week?"

"What!?"

"Yeah. I was dropped off at Rosemary's orphanage on July 22nd, probably only a week or so after being born, so my birthday was always on the 22nd as a result."

"Why didn't you tell us!? I would have made a big cake!"

"And ate it, too."

"That's not…true…"

— * —

"We'll need to make sure to prepare for an influx of people if last year's charts are any indication. A lot of people have families growing outside of Himura that they still have close contact with. What are the projections for this year, Ricky?"

"Last year was an influx of 120% of people, and over 30% of families have at least one person that has left. We've had an immigration of-"

"Skip to the point, Ricky. We're running short on time."

"150% to 160%, Mayor Enpeece."

"Are the food stocks stable enough for the restaurants and markets to have a reservoir to fall back on without financial loss, Captain Himura, Captain Lockheed?"

""Yes, Mayor Enpeece.""

"Good. Are the police and guards prepared to guide everyone and watch over the proceedings, Captain Ito?"

"Vice-Captain Ito is running the drills as we speak."

"Are the temples prepared to perform their duties, Lady Himura?"

"The ceremonial braids have all been prepared for the grand arch, however we may need help from another source to make more lanterns and prepare the bonfires."

"Captain Ito, have your trainees help make the bonfires. We can have the schools make cheap lanterns and post fliers to encourage families to make their own."

"Might I suggest making it a public event that they can participate in the days preceding the Obon festival?"

"Good idea, Ricky. We can set something up in the town square. Is there anything else we need to cover in regards to the upcoming festival?"

""""No, sir.""""

"Good. If something does pop up, message me and anyone it may concern as soon as possible."

With that closing statement, the city's mayor and his assistant Ricky left the four people to sit at the meeting table inside of the town hall.

"That boy has always been so busy," the elderly Captain Ophelia Lockheed said with a sigh.

"While we're here…," the even older Captain Ito Tatsuo started, drawing the attention of the others, "The pyre has grown hotter."

"Impossible," the proud middle aged Captain Himura Ohta said, "That damned pit has stayed the same for almost a millennium."

"Well, something has caused it to change."

"Are you certain, Captain?" the young shrine priestess, Himura Ayako, asked with slight nervousness in her voice.

"Aye, I've spent decades bathing in that demon's ethernano. Ohta, you should investigate the seal."

"I don't know what you expect me to find. Even I remember that ice-make wizard's word on Iced Shell and its similarities with the magic Allaheargh must have used. Even if the seal breaks, I doubt that demon will have any flesh to move. That is, if it itself is even alive."

"Don't underestimate the depths of magic. Even if it doesn't have the ability to move, a threat that ancient must have a few tricks up its sleeve. Even to this day, without that barrier keeping that magic sealed almost no one would escape the basin of these mountains with their flesh attached to their body. Something must be fueling it to this day, and I would have been content to think it's the residual magic burning itself out in that pit but something about this feels off."

The weight of the experienced magi's words pressured the remaining three in a way they couldn't quite explain.

"Alright," the bald man said in response to his elder, "If it'll ease your concerns, old man."

"Oi, I might be old but I can still kick your ass!"

"Yes, yes, we know," Ophelia said, patting her friend's shoulder, "You'll outlive us all."