That day was a sticky and sweltering summer day.
Rui, the second son of the Ayaki family, had been bedridden with a high fever for several days. According to the doctor, he had caught a severe summer cold.
Worried about Rui, whose fever barely went down despite medication, everyone in the mansion, from the master to the servants, had become sensitive lately. The summer heat fueled irritation, and no one had any room for composure.
Someone seized that opportunity.
"It would be best to drive out that albino."
(*albino: a nickname for albino)
The one who said that was a woman.
A petite woman who looked under thirty, wearing a vibrant wisteria-colored kimono that could be recognized even in the darkness of night.
To anyone's eye, a woman with the air of a fortune teller, and indeed, she was one who told fortunes from across the bridge. If it was a fortune teller in a wisteria-colored kimono, perhaps it was the renowned fortune teller from the crossroads.
Through the rumors spread by young maids, her reputation had reached the Ayaki household. It was said she was an excellent fortune teller boasting a hundred percent accuracy.
But due to that accuracy, there was also a terrifying rumor that following her predictions brought luck, but going against them brought great misfortune.
As for why such an excellent fortune teller appeared at the Ayaki mansion, it was because the shop clerk Ryōkichi brought her.
According to Ryōkichi, he heard a voice calling "Is anyone there?" from the back door, and when he went out, this woman was standing there. And before Ryōkichi could ask who she was, the woman spoke first.
"There is a child with white hair and red eyes here, isn't there?"
Everyone had kept their mouths tightly shut about the appearance of Rei, whom the Ayaki couple had taken in. Without someone telling, there was no way the child's existence could leak out, but the woman pinpointed it accurately and added.
"That white-haired child is a demon. It is clinging to the youngest child in this house."
Ryōkichi said he felt something mysteriously and overwhelmingly from the woman who spoke in a chilling voice. In an exaggerated and theatrical manner.
Guided by Ryōkichi, the woman entered the Ayaki mansion and, despite the late hour, gathered the master and mistress Ayaki and the problematic white-haired, red-eyed child, Rei. And the situation led to the opening dialogue.
"That white-haired child will bring calamity. It would be best to drive it out immediately before someone dies."
The Ayaki couple's eyes widened, and they were speechless. Of course. To them, Rei was someone who brought good omens, not one who spread misfortune.
To the couple who sincerely believed that they finally had their own child in the womb thanks to Rei, the fortune teller's words sounded like a distant foreign language.
Rei, pointed at by the woman's long nails, also blinked in confusion.
In that situation, someone moved. It was the shop clerk Ryōkichi.
He shouted "You brat!" and rushed onto the veranda, roughly grabbing Rei by the collar and slapping his cheek.
Seeing Rei tumble from the veranda into the garden, Mrs. Ayaki covered her mouth and swallowed a scream. Raised as a daughter of a distinguished family, it was the first time she had seen someone being hit.
As Mr. Ayaki was about to shout "What are you doing!" Ryōkichi's yell drowned out his voice.
"Repaying the kindness the master showed by taking you in with enmity, you're just as shameless as your father!"
Pointing at the child fallen in the garden, Ryōkichi shouted as if spitting venom. He had a past of being bullied for fun by Rei's biological father in his childhood.
The resentment harbored since boyhood had not faded over time; rather, it had been exaggerated and inflated, turning into a massive hatred that extended to his son Rei.
No matter how well-behaved Rei was, helping others and doing good deeds, it did nothing to soothe Ryōkichi's past wounds.
Instead, Ryōkichi would flash eyes clouded with hatred, saying he would beat Rei down at the slightest mistake.
But since Rei, unlike his father, was a well-behaved child, the scenario Ryōkichi expected did not occur, and he had to suppress his anger with a frustrated heart for a long time.
But that only lasted until today.
Ryōkichi acted like a beast with prey before him, licking his lips.
"Ryōkichi, calm down. Rei couldn't be that kind of child!"
"No, master, you are being deceived! This brat might fool others, but he can't fool me!"
"Stop it, Ryōkichi! On what grounds are you saying such things!"
"I have grounds!!"
Before the master could even ask to explain, Ryōkichi shouted.
"This guy was feeding poison to the young master!!"
Pressed by Ryōkichi's momentum, the mistress who had turned pale, and the master who had raised his gaze, let out something indistinguishable between a breath or a sound.
It was a dazed reaction, as if their hearts flowed out without understanding Ryōkichi's words.
"I saw it! You making something secretly in the kitchen and taking it to the young master's room! Every night the young master was bedridden! This brat, you were making poison there and feeding it to the young master, weren't you, weren't you?!"
A yell that seemed to tear the eardrums. One side of the mansion became noisy. It was where the servants' bedrooms were. They must have woken up from the sound just now.
Perhaps Rui had also woken up. Remembering his younger brother who had been lying down with a high fever, Rei finally came to his senses.
"……Please lower your voice. Rui is sleeping."
"Isn't it because of you that the young master is bedridden!"
As if irritated by the childishly calm tone, Ryōkichi's momentum did not wane. Rather, he shook his shoulders more violently and glared at Rei with bloodshot eyes.
"You were jealous of the young master, who receives the love of the master and mistress, so you tried to kill him. If you killed him normally, you'd be found out, so you disguised it as death by illness, feeding him poison when he was weakened by sickness!"
"It wasn't poison…"
"Shut up! Get out, get out, get out right now! You cursed bastard like a murderer, this demon in child's disguise! The young master is suffering because of you!!"
Ryōkichi pressed on loudly, as if not giving Rei a chance to say a word properly.
From afar, the sound of clattering footsteps was heard. Servants who had woken up were running over to see what was happening.
"The master and mistress must be fed up with you by now!!"
Rei's face stiffened. His red eyes looked up at the couple pleadingly. The couple's gazes were wavering.
It wasn't eyes that believed Ryōkichi's words outright, but nor were they eyes that completely denied them.
If it were the usual couple, they would have laughed it off, saying what foolish talk, comforted Rei telling him not to mind it, and scolded Ryōkichi severely. The two were always composed and thoughtful.
But recently, with their son's condition not improving, the couple had grown weak-hearted. That weakness was what the fortune teller woman slithered into like a snake.
"That white-haired child is the source of all evil. If left as is, including your own son, the people of this household will meet the most miserable death in the world."
The couple said nothing.
That silence pierced Rei's heart more sharply than anything. He, too, had no composure in his heart.
The summer heat, his brother's condition, the pain of his slapped cheek, the wavering gazes of the couple, the fortune teller's prophecy. The child now had no composure to swallow and let all this flow.
"Rei! Wait!!"
Not looking back even at his uncle's words, Rei, fluttering his nightgown, ran barefoot out of the garden.
"No, no, Rei!"
Even the mistress's anguished cry, the boy left behind, and in the blink of an eye, the white hair was swallowed by the darkness.
Mr. Ayaki hurriedly jumped into the garden, stumbling as he chased after Rei. With feet without shoes, he desperately chased the boy whose figure and even footsteps had already grown distant.
"Wait, come back! Uncle… Dad was wrong!!"
The voice growing farther away was soaked in sobs. That voice trembling with all-out regret did not reach the boy who had disappeared far away.
The mistress was looking at her husband and the darkness where her child had disappeared with a face as if her soul had left.
Even as the head maid who had run over at the noisy commotion asked what happened, the mistress stood dazed, and a shadow approached her.
The fortune teller woman held out a yellowed talisman.
"It would be best to attach this talisman so that the demon cannot enter again."
A single piece of old paper with worn-out writing that couldn't be recognized. The mistress stared at it blankly for a moment, then roughly brushed away the fortune teller woman's hand, glaring at it.
The talisman fluttering in the air like an old butterfly. Before it even fell to the ground, the mistress covered her face, burst into tears, and collapsed.
Even though her hand was roughly brushed away, the fortune teller woman was not particularly angry, nor did she pity the mistress with disheveled hair and tears. She just slowly took in the mistress's pitiful appearance, then turned her steps as if she had no more business here.
As she left, the fortune teller woman gave a glance towards Ryōkichi. On a moonless night where even moonlight didn't reach, the woman and man's lips distorted wickedly, drawing a curve.
The darkness swallowed everything. The figure of the fortune teller woman, with malicious pleasure brushing her crimson lips, also melted and disappeared into the darkness.
Soon, morning came.
Only one person returned home: Mr. Ayaki with a tired appearance. Beside him, behind him, no matter where he looked, the child with white hair and red eyes was not there.
"That child…?" asked his wife in a hoarse voice, and Mr. Ayaki silently shook his head. The mistress wept silently again.
──The fact that what Rei was making in the kitchen was not poison but hard candy, the couple later heard from the head maid.
Learning that he had been secretly making it for Rui, who had to drink bitter medicine, the mistress was seized by a feeling that she might not be able to do anything but cry for the rest of her life.
──Meanwhile, the manager heard a rumor among the maids that there was a fake fortune teller impersonating the crossroads fortune teller, deceiving people.
It was said that this fake fortune teller only made up non-existent calamities to instill fear in others, just to see people suffer or terrified.
The manager interrogated Ryōkichi. If the fortune teller was fake, it was strange that she accurately knew there was a child with white hair and red eyes in the house.
It was reasonable to think that someone had leaked it, and the most suspicious person was Ryōkichi.
The manager, who had been monitoring the clerks' movements, knew that Ryōkichi hated Rei intensely, and also noticed that while everyone was gloomy after Rei disappeared, only Ryōkichi was happy.
Above all, Ryōkichi's claims didn't add up. He said he misunderstood what Rei was making in the kitchen as poison, but Ryōkichi always threatened that if Rei did anything, he would beat him down immediately.
So if he thought it was poison, he should have caused a commotion right then and there.
The fact that he didn't meant that perhaps Ryōkichi also knew it was hard candy, and just lied to drive Rei out?
Ryōkichi initially evaded, but under the manager's fierce interrogation, he finally raised the white flag and confessed.
Of course, he knew that what was being made was hard candy. He just couldn't bear it, wanting to drive Rei out. So he brought it up to the fake fortune teller.
But seeing Ryōkichi coming out shamelessly, asking what was wrong with that, the manager realized it was useless no matter what he said, and just let out a long sigh.
The full story of the incident soon reached the ears of the Ayaki couple. Although not a child born from her womb, Mrs. Ayaki's heartache at losing her child was great, and Mr. Ayaki's sorrow was deep.
Since they could no longer keep the man who caused the loss of their child in the Ayaki family, Ryōkichi was transferred to another wholesaler. Even so, there was no way Rei would come back now.
After that, every night, Mr. Ayaki and his attendants went out to search for Rei.
Rei, with white hair and red eyes, feared his own appearance catching others' eyes, and since he couldn't be exposed to sunlight, he could only move at night.
Even during the day, in between work, they asked passersby, "Have you seen a boy like this?" but those who had seen such a child rarely appeared.
Rei's existence seemed to have disappeared without a trace or form.
"When is brother coming back?"
"……He'll come when he gets better."
Rui does not know that Rei, whom he followed like a brother, is missing.
He innocently believed the couple's excuse that Rei had caught an illness and was convalescing in a distant place.
"I want to visit him."
"You can't. You have to cross three mountains, and you might get sick on the way."
"Then a letter? Is a letter okay?"
"……Yes. But let's do it tomorrow. If you overdo it, you might cough again."
"Okay."
Hearing that while he was bedridden with a high fever, Rei had gone to a distant place, Rui was deeply saddened.
He grumbled that he couldn't even say goodbye because he was lying down, and even though the fever had already subsided, he lay sick for several more days.
Now he has barely calmed down, but if Rui were to know the truth—that Rei left the house—how sad would he be.
Fearing that he might sink into sorrow and never get up again, the couple never told the truth.
Knowing that it wasn't a deception that would last forever, but unable to lose even the one remaining child, Rui, the Ayaki couple had no choice but to deceive their child from now on.
The clumsily written letters in childish handwriting only piled up one after another. The mistress didn't even have the courage to throw away what couldn't be delivered anywhere, and merely hid them where Rui's hands couldn't reach.
In Rei's room, the paulownia wood dresser. The top drawer is being filled with hearts that will never be read.
＊
I have a brother six years older. His name is Rei.
When I was young, I thought Rei was my real brother. But actually, he is my cousin, they say. The shop clerk Ryōkichi told me so.
Ryōkichi hated Rei intensely for no reason, and whenever he opened his mouth, he poured out slander. He was a man who seemed to live to pick on Rei's congenital hair and eye color, especially cursing. Telling me that Rei and I are not real brothers was probably just out of spite.
But even hearing that Rei wasn't my real brother, I didn't particularly mind. Because to me, he was still my kind and reliable brother.
I never thought his white hair or red eyes were ominous at all. Rather, since childhood, I was familiar with them and even envied them.
Hair that shimmered like silver thread under the moonlight.
Pomegranate-colored eyes that curved softly when looking at me.
All of that felt beautiful even to my young heart.
For me, who was weak by nature and always lying sick, brother always took care of me with devotion. When I threw a tantrum because I couldn't play outside, he even made a bamboo water basin where I could float flowers or small boats to play with.
I once thought that perhaps he wanted to play outside rather than deal with me, but brother said he had sensitive skin and couldn't play under the sunlight.
But even if he had a body that could play outside, I believe he would have stayed by my side unchanged. He was that kind of affectionate person.
Brother was skilled at bamboo crafts.
He often made things like snake toys that rattled when shaken or dolls woven from bamboo strips, and most of the toys in my room were made by brother himself.
Among them, my favorite is the bamboo tube carefully kept in the drawer.
It looks like an ordinary bamboo tube, but in fact, this is also a toy brother made himself. What he called a kaleidoscope, when looked into from the end, unfolded a fantastical world.
Watching the sparkling scenery change every time I turned it, I didn't feel any regret at all for not being able to go to flower viewing or summer festivals.
For me, who couldn't even walk properly, let alone run, going out far was a dream-like thing. Not to mention garden walks, I couldn't even move around the house properly. Brother carried me on his back and walked through the garden or inside the house.
Due to brother's constitution, he could only go out to the garden at night, but thanks to that consideration, I was able to experience the flowers and plants of all four seasons.
Even considering the age and size difference, carrying a child on his back must have been difficult. But brother showed no sign of fatigue and offered that back as my special seat.
I liked brother's back. The time looking at the world from the same eye level as brother was so precious.
On days when my physical condition was miraculously good, I stood side by side with him and walked in the garden. Holding hands, when I asked "What's that? What's this?" brother told me each flower's name.
I liked it so much when brother told me in his kind voice that I kept asking even flower names I already knew.
Brother was knowledgeable and also helped with my studies. It was almost brother who taught me how to read and write.
The first thing I wrote after learning letters was my own name. Next was brother's name.
Happy that the characters for Rui and Rei resembled each other, when I excitedly said, "Brother and I have friendly names too!" brother also smiled happily and patted my head. That kind touch is unforgettable no matter how much time passes.
My beloved brother disappeared when I was five years old.
While I was bedridden with a terrible summer cold, I heard that brother had caught some illness and gone to convalesce with a skilled doctor in a distant place.
Hearing that, I burst into tears.
It was unfair that I couldn't even say goodbye, but due to the unpleasant dream I had while lying with a high fever, I wanted to see brother even more at that time. I wished brother would fill this lonely heart.
It was a really bad dream. The shop clerk Ryōkichi shouted at brother, calling him cursed bastard or murderer, and eventually yelled at him to get out. After brother left like that, a dream where even mom and dad, and the servants, all cried.
The place where brother is convalescing is said to be so far away that you have to cross three mountains. I am too weak to ever go to such a place.
Instead, I wrote letters. I wrote a lot. But no reply came from brother.
Mom said that no news is proof of good health, but feeling somewhat deceived, I suspected that perhaps brother was so unwell that he couldn't even hold a brush.
I want to become healthy. I want to become a child who doesn't get tired no matter how much I walk.
Then I could visit brother.
Even knowing that that night was just a bad dream, if I don't see brother's face directly, the unease doesn't fade.
Even though I woke up long ago, I still feel like I'm in that nightmare and can't bear it.
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