The Pains of Guilt

Chapter 26

Third person POV

After an hour, she was at Takumi's place.

"Did something come up?" He asked.

"Nope, she was just bored. I thought you'd be able to do something about it." She handed her to him.

"Oh. I'll see what I can do."

After about ten minutes...

"And?"

"Nothing. She's not interested in doing anything."

"I don't believe this. The Natsumi Sakata-Rengoku is actually bored. I never thought that I'd see the day. I don't know if I should be celebrating or worried."

"Wait, she has my last name too?"

"Why do you sound so surprised?"

"I always thought that you gave her yours."

"That was the plan but I decided to do your parents a favour. It's actually more of a compromise. Her middle name is Felicia by the way."

"Any reason for it?"

"No, I just liked the name."

"Mama, Papa, can get ice cweam?"

"Uhm, winter isn’t exactly the best time for ice cream. But since it’s a little warmer today so I guess we can." Twilight responded.

"At least there's something that she wants to do. I know a good place we can get some. Are we taking your car or mine?"

"Yours doesn't have a car seat so...yeah."

"It doesn't have a car seat...yet. But alright, I'll just give you the directions."

"Maybe you should first start by at least changing out of your pyjamas. And when I say change out of your pyjamas, I don't mean go back to bed for half an hour and then change out of them."

"When have I ever...actually, don't answer that. Speaking of, when did you get a new car?" He asked referring to the metallic eiger grey Range Rover Sport SUV.

"Two years ago; about a few weeks after I found out about Natsumi. The child safety ratings of my old one weren’t that great so I sold it and got an upgrade.”

“What happened to the Audi?”

“I kept her. I thought about trading her in but then I decided that since she’s small and a second-hand car, Natsumi can practice driving with her one day. Anyway, go get dressed already.”

Third person POV

"The i***t doesn't mind you going out with us, right?"

"What i***t?"

"Matako, obviously. That wasn't what I wanted to call her but what I wanted to call her isn't child friendly so yeah."

"Not really. We don't live together yet and she's only coming over later. The way I see it, she'll only mind if you bump into each other. Besides, it's not wrong for me to spend time with Natsumi."

"Good. I don't want her to annoy me more than she already has because I swear, one of us is going to die one of these days. I have a pup to think about so it's sure as hell not going to be me."

"Anyway, we're here but looks like there's no parking space."

"That's what I get for buying a big ass car. You guys go ahead while I look for a spot."

"Sure. Anything I should get you?"

"Just a rocky road sundae with Oreos. Maybe add a scoop of chocolate chip mint to it. No wait, salted caramel. Actually, you know what, just add both."

"Alright."

He got out and took Natsumi with him before entering the shop.

"So, which one do you want?"

"That one." She said pointing to a picture of a banana split.

"Are you sure about that?"

She nodded.

"Ok then. One banana split, rocky road and chocolate chip mint sundae with crushed Oreos and rum and raisin."

A few minutes after they got their ice cream, Twilight came in.

"What did I miss?"

"She wants to go to the park afterwards."

"Please, Mama."

"Ok. I found a spot near one anyway."

"What she's having is fine, right?"

"She didn't have that recently so I guess it's fine. And I see that you still have no taste in ice cream."

"You're only hating because you don't like raisins."

"Why would I like dead grapes?"

"But you like meat."

"Meat tastes good but the same doesn't apply for dead fruits. I like my fruits alive, thank you very much."

"They're just dried is all."

"Dried. Dead. I don't see the difference. Especially since they look like they've had their souls sucked out. Sounds pretty dead to me."

"It's not as bad as you make it seem. I think I should call you out for deciding to have rocky road, chocolate chip mint and salted caramel together. As if that wasn't bad enough, you also decided to have crushed Oreos as a topping. You basically made a mess of flavours and because of that, I don't think you'll be tasting much of any of those."

"Tsumi, tell your Papa that rum and raisin is not delicious."

She only shrugged and reached over to eat a spoonful of Takumi's ice cream.

"It yummy, Mama."

"I told you so."

"And I feel sorry for her."

"Why?"

"Because you gave her your lack of taste in good ice cream."

"I'm pretty sure that you giving her your stubbornness is a hundred times worse. And what did raisins ever do to you?"

"They almost killed my taste buds; that's what."

"Let's just agree to disagree before your hot-headedness melts the ice cream."

After finishing their ice cream, and arguing about raisins, they left the shop. While they were on their way back to the car, Natsumi noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"Wait. Go thewe?" She asked pointing to what looked like a festival.

"What happened to the park?"

"Go thewe instead. Please."

"I don't see why not." Takumi said.

"Don't you have work today?"

"No, it's my day off. I should be asking you."

"I kind of ditched the first hour of work to bring her over so..."

"Please, Mama."

"Sigh. I'll probably regret it when I get back, but I guess I could extend the ditching period."

"Won't you get into trouble?"

"I'll just call in sick. And other than that, Youhei's running things while I'm away so it's not that much of a problem. Wait, what's the date today?"

"January 15th."

"Oh, Santera Mairi Festival. Tsumi, are you sure that you want to go?"

She nodded.

"Ok if you're sure. But first, I have to go take care of something in my car."

“Ok, we’ll wait here.”

When she came back, she found the two of them in kimonos.

"Where did..."

"They were renting them over there and there’s lockers to put your stuff in since you know, no pockets. We got you one too."

He was holding up one that was icy blue with frost-like patterns and faded into a white colour at the hems of the sleeves and skirt.

"I'm not putting that on."

"C'mon, it's all part of the experience."

"And I'm going to experience not wearing it."

"C'mon."

"Fine. But only if you admit it."

"Admit what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Ok then. Raisins are the disgusting dead grapes that they are."

"I was hoping that you weren't going to."

"A deal's a deal. You can get changed in there, we'll wait for you."

When she came out, her hair was done up and kept in place with snowflake hairpins that reminded him of the one he gave her years ago on their first date. Her whole look made her look like the personification of winter or what he’d imagine Yuki-onna to look like and she blended in with the terrain.  

"Mama pwetty. Wight Papa?"

"Yes, she is." He muttered under his breath.

"Geez, you two, you don't have to stare at me like that. I knew I shouldn't have put it on."

"It's far from being as bad as you think. Your hair looks nice."

"The ladies who helped me put it on offered to do my hair too."

"They did a pretty good job."

"Lookit, fishies pwetty." Natsumi said while leaning over by the river.

"Careful there. We can't have you falling in, especially when it’s this cold." He picked her up and put her on his shoulders.

"Whoa, see evewything now."

For the next few hours, they spent time walking around and enjoying the festivities. At one point they spent an entire hour looking for Natsumi who decided to play an unexpected game of hide-and-seek. After running around like a pair of lunatics, they eventually found her by one of the sculptures. From then on, she was always kept within arm's length and in their line of sight.

After some time, it got dark and they decided to rest at a bench before heading home and Natsumi snuggled in between them and made herself comfortable. Just then, fireworks went off. They were so mesmerised that they unconsciously held hands. She then leaned against him and slightly enjoyed the mini explosions that erupted from their contact.

When it was over, she was snapped back to reality then sat up straight and let go of his hand.

“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.” She blushed.

“It’s ok.”

“I think it’s time to head back.”

“Yeah.”

They returned the kimonos before heading back.

"Why is she so quiet?" Twilight asked.

Takumi turned around to check.

"Looks like she wore herself out."

"That's a relief. I almost thought that she disappeared again."

"Had fun with Mama and Papa." She mumbled in her sleep.

"At least her boredom was cured."

It was a pretty quiet drive.

"So..." Twilight started. "I'm part demon."

"Since when?"

"Since the day I was created obviously. Yesterday, I found out that my grandma from my mom's side is a demon. Weird, right?"

"If by weird you mean it explains a lot then yes, it is."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Some things never change. And you know what I mean."

Within minutes they arrived at his place.

"Bye bye, Papa."

"Bye. And one more thing."

"What?"

"I take it back. Raisins are not the disgusting dead grapes that they are. They're quite delicious actually."

"Hey, taking it back wasn't part of the deal."

"It's a little too late for that. And you still had a snowflake in your hair." He removed the pin and gave it to her.

On their way home...

Twilight POV

"Do it again, Mama? Like having fun with you and Papa."

Well, if that's what makes her happy then I guess I can suck it up and deal with it.

"Ok. We'll do it again when we're not too busy."

Third person POV

He obviously wouldn't tell her that he knew that the festival was today. He just needed a way to get her come and hence, the previous day, he called Ichiya to help him out. Ichiya agreed and asked Hanako to get Natsumi to pretend to be bored and want to see her dad when she got the chance to.

Once that happened, he got Natsumi to want to get ice-cream together and once they were done, he got her to ask Twilight to go to the park then the festival by drawing her attention to it as they were leaving. He knew that Twilight couldn't say no to Natsumi asking for small favours. Once that happened, he would take it from there.

He didn't expect his plan to go smoothly nor did he plan for Natsumi to wander off. He especially didn't plan for the fireworks and what happened thereafter but he was glad that it did.

Did he feel bad for using his own kid? Of course he did and if there was another way he could've gotten his plan to work, he would've taken it. On the other hand, his plan worked better than he thought it would and it did help him spend more time Natsumi than he usually got to.

And despite what she said about never liking him or giving him another chance, he wouldn't give up that easily. Not after her little confession when she was drunk. And he refused to let a misunderstanding tear them apart.

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Merry Christmas!!!!

And fun fact:

Hida Furukawa Town in Gifu Prefecture holds an annual event "Santera Mairi Festival (Three Temple Pilgrimage)" on January 15. Participants make pilgrimage to three Buddhist temples (Enkoji, Shinshuji, and Honkoji temples) in the town of Furukawa to pay their respects.

The festival with a history of over 300 years was traditionally used as an event for young men and women of the town to meet, kind of like a Japanese konpa (party for singles). Today, the event is more like a temple visit to pray and wish for a good relationship. Young people from across the country still flock to the festival in the hope of falling in love, or at least seeking a little help with their love lives.

The Santera Mairi Festival features hundreds of snow candles and lanterns that light up the town for the event. During the festival, one thousand candles line the Seto River along with 40 or 50 ice sculpture candles made of snow, which are around 2 meters in height and can be seen in the main streets of the old town. The soft flickering candles gently reflect off the ancient white-walls of the storehouses creating a wintertime fantasy. The candles used for the festival are specially made in Hida Furukawa and are called warosoku (Japanese candles).

This spectacular lighting looks amazing with the soft snow falling, creating a dreamy and romantic atmosphere that is perfectly fitting with the history and romantic tradition of the festival.

The participants of the festival make pilgrimages to three Buddhist temples in Hida Furukawa (Santera Mairi in Japanese), which are Enko-ji, Shinshu-ji and Honko-ji to pay their respects. By visiting the three temples they receive three stamps which allow them to put their candles on the side of the Seto River to wish for a good relationship. The white candles signify a prayer or wish for fortune in love, while the red candles represent thanks for love found during the previous year.

To enhance the memorable experience even further, you can rent a traditional Japanese kimono and walk around the town during the festival to soak up the amazing atmosphere.