The Time Traveler of Kyoto: A Century-Old Bond Sleeping in the Ancient Capital - Shinonome Hall's Notebook

Tachibana Yui couldn't stop thinking about that night standing before the mirror, even during class. Yesterday, she had touched the mirror in the main hall. The light had wavered. For just a moment, the contours of the Taisho era had reflected in it. But that was all. She hadn't been able to cross over completely. (I still don't understand how to use it.) The professor's voice flowed from right to left. The notebook page was filling with scribbles unrelated to the lecture. Musubi's mirror. Spirit veins. Chiyo. And——the name Shinonome Sousuke. After class ended, Yui slung her backpack over her shoulder and stood up. She had already decided where to go. Today, she would visit Shinonome-do. She had decided that last night, so there was no time to hesitate. 　＊ Just one turn into the alley off Shinmonzen-dori, the air changed. The crowds and car sounds from the main street faded away, replaced by a quiet corner lined with stone pavement and old wooden buildings. Yui proceeded through the alley, checking the address printed on her palm. The autumn afternoon light streamed in at a low angle, creating orange stripes on the old wooden lattice doors. Shinonome-do stood quietly at the back of the alley. It was a machiya-style building that had easily surpassed 90 years of age, its exterior wooden boards darkened by time. The noren curtain was navy blue with "Shinonome-do" written in small white characters. Through the lattice at the front, the interior was faintly visible——hanging scrolls, tea bowls, aged wooden boxes. Everything had good taste. Yui pulled open the sliding door. "Welcome." There was no voice. But she sensed a presence in the back. Stepping inside, the scent of old paper and wood drifted toward her. The shop was about 20 tatami mats in size, with shelves arranged along the walls. In front, hanging scrolls and tea ceremony implements were quietly displayed. The problem was beyond the shelves. Paulownia wood boxes were arranged in neat rows. Each one was an ordinary wooden box. But the moment she approached——something felt different about the air. It was heavy, or rather, the quality of the air in that vicinity had subtly changed. It resembled that unique stillness she felt when standing before the sacred object in the main hall. She instinctively took a step back. "As long as you don't touch them, you'll be fine." A low voice came from the back of the shop. Shinonome Sousuke emerged from behind the noren. His jet-black hair fell across his forehead, and deep green eyes turned toward her. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, apparently in the middle of work. The silver piercing in his left ear glinted in the shop's dim light. His expression was the same calm, serene look she'd seen at the cafe. "Are all those boxes... that kind of dangerous stuff?" The words had escaped her mouth before she could stop them. She thought there might have been a more refined way to ask. Sousuke paused for a beat. "The expression 'dangerous' is accurate." His face was serious. Yui laughed in a slightly odd way. So it was accurate. She hadn't expected that kind of answer, but strangely, it reassured her. This person doesn't sugarcoat things, she thought. Sousuke lifted the noren in the back and gestured with his hand. "Please, this way." 　＊ The work room was a six-tatami Japanese room with bookshelves covering one entire wall. Book spines were packed tightly together. Old books, foreign volumes, Japanese-bound pamphlets. Beside them, several paulownia boxes were also stored on shelves. In the center of the room sat a low work table with Sousuke's tools——fine brushes, a magnifying glass, white gloves——arranged neatly. When Yui sat in seiza, Sousuke walked toward the kitchen area. After a while, he returned carrying two tea cups filled with tea. He placed one before Yui and one before himself. The tea was a clear, pale green color. Sousuke began speaking while looking toward the bookshelves. It wasn't because he was embarrassed or bad at conversation. He was carefully choosing his words while thinking——that kind of way of speaking. "I grew up in my grandfather's antique shop. In a corner of Shinmonzen-dori, just like here." "From childhood, when I touched old objects... I would sometimes feel something like people's memories." Yui listened silently, holding her tea cup. "At first, it was unbearable. When I picked up an old tea bowl, I'd see blurred images of someone crying. Standing before a hanging scroll, I'd feel the anger of the person who wrote it entering my body. This was when I was a child." "But my grandfather taught me. That it could be used as a spiritual appraisal ability." She had already understood from their meeting at the cafe that he was a person of few words. Yet this Sousuke was now sharing his past. His gaze remained fixed on the book spines, his profile looking into the distance as he spoke. Watching his profile, Yui thought: This person has been facing these things alone all this time. Carrying a sensation he couldn't tell anyone about, learning how to use it, and now running this shop. Her chest tightened slightly from within. "My grandfather was researching Musubi's mirror. It's the sacred object of Kagura-mori Shrine." Yui set down her tea. "I know." "My grandfather was researching the relationship between spirit veins——the flow of spiritual energy running beneath Kyoto——and that mirror. He discovered that multiple spirit veins intersect beneath Kagura-mori Shrine." He took a sip of his tea. He was silent for a while. Then he stood and reached toward the back of the bookshelf. 　＊ What he retrieved was an old notebook. About A5 size, with a light tan cover. The corners were worn, and the paper edges were slightly yellowed. Fine characters were written on the cover: "Shinonome Research Records: Taisho to Showa." Yui's eyes were drawn to those characters. Sousuke placed the notebook on the work table and carefully turned the pages. The dry paper made a rustling sound. "Here." He turned the open page toward Yui. Fine brushstrokes in classical script were arranged vertically. Some parts were difficult to read due to old-fashioned characters mixed in, but Yui slowly followed with her eyes. ——Musubi's mirror, the sacred object of Kagura-mori Shrine, is a special mirror that resonates with the spirit vein intersection of Kyoto's Higashiyama. In autumn of Taisho 13 (1924), multiple phenomena that cannot be explained by normal means were confirmed around the mirror. Details are recorded in the attached document, but the connection to the Tachibana family shrine maiden requires investigation—— The text ended there. She looked at the next page. It was blank. "The attached document has never been found." Sousuke's voice continued quietly. "Why my grandfather separated only this part into an attached document. Where that document is. I still don't know." Autumn of Taisho 13. Something connected in Yui's mind. The Mikazuki-ro fire incident was also Taisho 13. A high-class restaurant on the west bank of the Kamogawa had burned to the ground, killing three people. The torn pages in Chiyo's diary. Chiyo's sorrow. Everything converged in the same year. "...The connection to the Tachibana family shrine maiden..." "My grandfather never recorded what he saw. That's why I wanted to ask you." Sousuke looked at Yui quietly. "Did you see anything before that mirror?" Yui hesitated for several seconds. She didn't know if she'd be believed. Jumping to the Taisho era——if she told a normal person that, they'd laugh. But this person felt different. He handled spiritually charged antiques, his grandfather had researched the mirror. He had the face of someone who knew something. Besides——it was this person who had said at the cafe that "there's something special about that shrine." Yui told him everything. How light had overflowed in the main hall on a rainy night. How she had suddenly found herself standing in the main hall of the Taisho era. How people walked in the light of gas lamps. How Chiyo had been waiting. The words "You really came." And how she had been pulled back to the present with intense dizziness. How she had stood before the mirror again last night but couldn't cross over completely. Sousuke never interrupted her story. Only his gaze remained quietly fixed on Yui. When she finished speaking, silence came. "I understand." That was all. He didn't look surprised, didn't ask "Really?" or any such reaction. He simply said quietly, "I understand." Something slipped away from Yui's shoulders. The weight she had been carrying alone seemed to have halved. "Let's investigate together what happened around the mirror in autumn of Taisho 13." Sousuke held out the notebook toward Yui. "Please keep it. It means more for you to have it." Yui accepted the notebook with both hands. In that moment, Sousuke's fingertips touched hers. Neither moved. For about two seconds, their fingertips remained overlapping on the notebook. Sousuke withdrew his hand first. Yui drew the notebook closer to her chest. Her cheeks grew warm. (That's... strange.) Something jumped in her chest. But she couldn't think about that now. Yui lowered her eyes to the notebook and pulled her feelings back to the matter at hand. "Speaking of autumn of Taisho 13, the Mikazuki-ro fire incident was also that year. A high-class restaurant on the west bank of the Kamogawa burned to the ground, killing three people. One person's identity was never determined." Sousuke's eyes moved slightly. "Mikazuki-ro was used for meetings of the Kurogane Society——a secret society of businessmen and politicians based in Taisho-era Kyoto. There are records suggesting it was used for their gatherings." The Kurogane Society. Yui had never heard that name before. Sousuke continued. "Officially, they called themselves the Kyoto Industrial Promotion Society, but there are indications they were actually trying to exploit Kyoto's spirit veins. Records show they had an abnormal obsession with the land and sacred object of Kagura-mori Shrine." They made a promise to cooperate. 　＊ When Yui left Shinonome-do, dusk was beginning. The western sky was dyed orange, and the stone pavement of the alley glowed warmly in the striped light. Yui carefully stored the notebook in her backpack and walked along Shinmonzen-dori. Her mind was swirling with today's conversation. The Kurogane Society, spirit veins, autumn of Taisho 13. The whereabouts of the attached document. And the torn pages in Chiyo's diary. Her smartphone vibrated. A calendar notification. ——Tomorrow: Misogi Purification Ritual (First day of the month). Her feet stopped. The Misogi Purification Ritual, passed down through generations at Kagura-mori Shrine, was performed on the first and fifteenth of each month. The shrine maiden offered clean water to the mirror in the main hall. Yui had continued this ritual for years. But now it caught her attention for a different reason. (The first time I crossed over was on a rainy night. The mirror might have been in a more responsive state. If my emotions heighten during the purification ritual, the mirror might——) Activate. Anticipation and tension ran through her simultaneously. Yui quickened her pace. She boarded a bus heading toward Higashiyama where the shrine was located. 　＊ When she reached the top of the 87 stone steps, her father, Soichiro, was sweeping the grounds. "You're quite late." "I was doing some research." Her father stopped sweeping and looked at her. "Don't forget tomorrow's purification ritual." "I could never forget." Her father didn't know the meaning behind those words. Yui returned to her room and placed the notebook on her desk. She got into bed after 11 PM, but she couldn't sleep. Staring at the ceiling, she thought about tomorrow. Will it work? And if it does, I'll see Chiyo. Anticipation and

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Episode 3

Name: The Time Traveler of Kyoto: A Century-Old Bond Sleeping in the Ancient Capital
Author: Novelia

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