Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 6 Chapter 3 (section)

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Leaving only Lin-san to keep watch of Naru and the equipment, we exited the shop in a group and walked along the cove in the garden. There was a stone stairway, which was in the process of collapsing, in the very innermost of the cove. Since the middle of the stairs was becoming a mere steep slope, it would be close to almost impossible for people to use.

“Why is there a stone stairway in such a place?”

When Bou-san asked, Akifumi-san answered,

“I don’t really know, but it seems to be considerably old. Since it was here from the time when the shop was built. When my grandmother was a child, she went to the cave using this stone stairway. Though it seems it was already half broken since that time.”

Tentatively along the cove, there was a surrounding handrail and low fence, and at the exit of the stone stairway there was a decent iron gate. From the gate, there was a small distance until the stone stairway, and from this side of the fence the water surface of the cove was not visible.

“When was the shop built here?”

“I heard it was during my great-grandfather’s generation. Originally, there was a shop in Kanazawa, which likely transferred to here.”

“So up until that time, the family didn’t live here?”

“Right. But it’s likely that the location where the [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Main_Household|main household]] originally lived was here. My great-grandfather came here several times, and it seems because of that he decided to transfer the shop to here.”

“Do you know when the main household moved to this land?”

Akifumi-san tilted his head to one side.

“Let’s see, it was…The oldest person of those with a tomb in the family temple was born in the [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Ansei_Era|Ansei era]]. I know little before that. If you would like, I could ask my grandmother for you.”

“Please do. By the way, when was the Ansei era?”

Akifumi-san tilted his head.

“If I remember correctly, it was during the [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Edo_Period|Edo period]], but as for the details... anyway, it’s been a long time since I was tested on that.”

“Current high school students.”

Bou-san suddenly looked back at me.

“My school is still on the [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Genji_and_Heike_war|Genji and Heike war]].”

“What about you, Masako? Don’t you go to school occasionally?”

Masako coldly looked the other way.

“Occasionally is more than enough. Mine is not yet out of the activity of Genji no Kimi.”

“Masako, you go to high school!?”

“May a junior high school graduate do as they please? Of course I go.”

Bou-san smiled smugly.

“It’s a certain famous high school for entertainers.”

Huh, is that so? As one would expect, a major medium is serious.

“I guess you’re essentially busy? You came quickly, didn’t you?”

When I asked, Masako blushed slightly.

“I am busy. I was still in the middle of supplementary lessons… I will say this in advance, however, that the supplementary lessons are to compensate for my attendance.”

Single-minded. So, you’re saying the reason you flew over was to see Naru. How touching. —hmm? Wait a minute!

“Masako, what do you wear when you go to school?”

When I asked, Masako’s expression was sincerely scornful. 

“There is a uniform of course. Or did you think I go to school in a kimono as well?”

I didn’t think such a thing! Well, I was thinking something to the extent of, ‘is it a [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Hakama|Hakama]]?’ *mumble*

“That is the teahouse.”

Akifumi-san raised his hand. Having come walking on the sidewalk of a large garden (I wonder what that is), a small building was visible before our eyes. 

“Is the cove not completely visible from the garden?”

“On the opposite side of the tea house and flowers— we can go to the cape point. It’s possible to see from there.”

Exactly as was stated, when we walked farther past the teahouse, we came forth into a neat little garden, and we were able to look down at the cove from there. Beyond the low hedgerow was the cliff of the opposite shore and the building, which projected from the slope. A set of beams could be seen, which supported the building. And carved out of the rock surface below the set of beams, a narrow path extended. Right of the path was the crumbling stone stairway, and to the left was the gaping hole of the entrance of the cave.

“Do you want to go a little farther?”

Akifumi-san said so and opened a small door in the hedgerow using a key. From there until the cape point, short pine trees sparsely grew in the meadow.

“Beyond this point there aren’t any fences, so please be careful.”

Walking just a little bit fearfully, it was fifteen steps until the point. Although called a point, it was not a vertical, precipitous cliff, but more or less a gentle slope with shrubs growing there. Beyond the slope became a cliff, and from there it was the sea. To the right of the point, the crack’s open mouth formed the entrance to the cove.

“When viewed from above, it doesn’t even feel like that much of a cliff.”

When Bou-san said, Akifumi-san smiled. Suddenly, Ayako said,

“Hey, [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Young_Master|young master]].”

“Young master… But I won’t actually succeed as the family head.”

“I’m not worried about minor details. What are those?”

Ayako pointed to stones lined up between the pine trees. Five stones, each of which was about the size of an armful, were neatly arranged in a row.

“Oh, those? Even I don’t know that. My grandmother doesn’t seem to know either. They look like gravestones. I was told to leave them as they are and not touch them.”

“Oh.”

There were rocks of various sizes protruding from the sea. Waves were breaking white against them. In front, there were conspicuously large rocks. One like a hill and the other a little smaller. In that place, a sacred shrine rope on each tied them together. John pointed with his finger.

“Yoshimi-san, what are those?”

“That’s [[Ghost_Hunt:Volume6_Translator's_Notes#Okobu_and_Mekobu|Okobu and Mekobu]]. Okobu is the large one and Mekobu is the small one.”

“Okobu and Mekobu… Is that a sacred shrine rope tying them together?”

“Yes. But I think it’s unrelated to any Shinto rituals. Since I think that rope is also rehung by local fishermen at New Year’s.”

After saying that, Akifumi-san spoke to me,

“You know, it’s said that those rocks are a man and women who became like that after jumping into the sea from here.”

I looked up at Akifumi-san.

“It’s a local legend. Although her exact name was forgotten, a long, long time ago, there was a certain princess in this land. The princess had a lover who was a local fisherman, but there came a man who coveted her.”

“Oh?”

“The man who coveted her was the son of a nearby noble and tried to force the princess to be his bride. The princess was unwilling and tried to escape with her lover. —They eloped. However, the letter with the written plans of the elopement had been secretly switched by the nobleman’s son, and the two did not meet.”

I looked up at Akifumi-san with astonishment.

“The princess realized the mistake and, in a panic, went searching for her lover, and as for the lover, he had killed the nobleman’s son. He thought he had been betrayed since the princess had not come and the nobleman’s son came instead. The two were able to resolve the misunderstanding, however, it was too late. So, they jumped into the sea from this cape. The story says that the gods felt pity for them and, so that there would be no possibility of them being separated again, changed the lover into Okobu and the princess into Mekobu.”

That was the story… As I thought this, I inwardly blushed. I thought I was just being a bold woman. Was my role the princess? Moreover, was Akifumi-san the nasty nobleman’s son and Naru the fisherman? Unbelievable miscasting.

“Is there something wrong?”

Akifumi-san asked and I panicked.

“T-t-t-t-there isn’t anything, certainly.”