Maki ans curl.
Raijin is a G.o.d of lightning, thunder and storms in the Shinto religion and in j.a.panese mythology. He is typically depicted as a demon-looking spirit beating drums to create thunder, usually with the symbol tomoe drawn on the drums.Fuujin is the j.a.panese G.o.d of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto G.o.ds. He is portrayed as a terrifying wizard-like demon, resembling a red headed green-skinned humanoid wearing a leopard skin, carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders.Together, statues of Raijin and Fuujin are found all over j.a.pan at the gates of j.a.panese shrines and temples as protectors. Visitors to these sacred places must pa.s.s by the intimidating gaze of the G.o.ds before entering.
Raijin (left) and Fuujin(right)
Maruyama Oukyo, born Maruyama Masataka, was a j.a.panese artist active in the late 18th century. He moved to Kyoto, during which he studied artworks from Chinese, j.a.panese and Western sources. Maruyama Okyo was well known for his true-to-life paintings. The story, ill.u.s.trated by the below print, tells of the ti Oukyo painted a ghost so realistically that it ca to life and frightened him.
A Girl With a Na / A Boy Without a One
My cla.s.smate Kisshouin Reika-sama was idolised by all the girls.It was no surprise; Reika-sama looked like a princess and was as gorgeous as her na sake. Not only that but was a mber of the elite Pivoine, and on top of that she was smart too. She was like the perfect girl.A lot of girls had dreams about becoming close to her. I did too, but her group was filled with nothing but girls as beautiful as she was. When I thought about what might happen to socially if I sohow upset her I could never find the courage to try.Sotis I wondered what her life was like.I pictured her sipping tea gracefully as she sat in a garden field of flowers, maybe hosting a poetry recital. Mn, it fit her so well!
When I entered my second year of middle school ca an unbelievable chance to get closer to her.Of all things, Reika-sama was coming to the sumr camp! It should have been one of the last places anyone would expect her.None of her other friends were partic.i.p.ating. It was just her, which was how I ended up sharing a room with her.Sharing a room with Reika-sama! My heart was beating so hard from the anxiety that I might do sothing to offend her, but thankfully she just smiled at and said,
This will be my first ti at Sumr Camp, so I hope you will look after .
Even though Reika-sama was our age she was always calm. I had hardly ever seen her lose her composure. I wished I could be like that.
When night fell, it was ti for the fireworks event. Reika-sama had started off by my side, smiling happily as she watched, but before I knew it she had disappeared. I looked around for her a little, only to find Reika-sama and Cla.s.s Rep alone in a corner enjoying sparklers together.
Eh-!? Dont tell it was a forbidden love between lady and servant!?
Not that I actually believed that, but it was fun to interpret it that way.My friend Miharu-chan couldnt co this year because of her family so I decided to text her about it later. It was like the love between a princess and the chamberlain. Miharu-chan would definitely find it interesting too.To be sure, amongst us girls it was agreed that the one who suited Reika-sama best was Kaburagi-sama. But out of nowhere, a shocking rival appeared in the form of the Imperial Chamberlain, getting in between the Princess and the Emperor. I wondered what would happen next.
I never could quite fall asleep unless I was in complete darkness. When we found out we were sharing a room I told her about my worries, but Reika-sama agreed with a smile. Thank goodness.When it ca ti for lights out, it was ti for bed. I had been lying in the darkness for a while when suddenly I heard Reika-sama.
Daro da- de ni da na nara!
Eh? What was that just now?For so reason it sounded like the mnemonic for rembering na-adjectivesWas she awake?
Reika-sama? Whats wrong?
Um, Reika-sama?
Eh Dont tell , sleep-talking!?But she was speaking so clearlyNo, it must have been my imagination.I decided to try and sleep.
After a little while, Reika-samas voice rang out in the darkness again.
Karo ka- kuu ii kere!
This ti was the mnemonic for i-adjectives!?
Reika-samaa~? Are you awaake~?
Apparently Reika-sama studied even in her dreams. As expected of her.I pulled my futon up over my head.
I hoped she wouldnt begin reciting the Tsurezuregusa essays next
The next morning was the hike. For so reason Reika-sama had taken a tal pole from sowhere and was using it like a travellers walking stick.Reika-sama?
That night, a ghost appeared.When the noise woke up, Reika-sama was already awake and peering into the hallway as she combed her hair. Having just woken up, her curls were a little looser than usual.There was a huge fuss in the hallways. I asked soone what had happened and they told that a girl had seen a ghost. It had been eating gore when it turned around and glared at her with eyes filled with hatred! So scary!Everyone was in a terrified panic, but Reika-sama cald us down and took control.
No ghosts will appear again, she declared.
Reika-sama was amazing! Just hearing her say that made us feel like nothing would hurt us!Soon afterwards our teacher ca and promised that they would carefully patrol the hallway. Appeased, we all went back to our rooms.When I went back inside mine, I said to her,
That was scary, wasnt it?
Im not Maruyama Oukyo
She seed despondent. I didnt quite catch what she said, but knowing how diligent she usually was, she must have felt responsible for all this as the leader of the girls. Even though it wasnt her fault at allJust as she said, the ghost didnt appear again that night, and morning ca around. I thought that it was wonderful how she could act and think so calmly in a situation like that.
From sumr camp onwards, I could now chat with Reika-sama.Reika-sama was a rare type of Pivoine mber who would accept the duties of a cla.s.s rep. As another cla.s.s representative, sotis we planned and consulted with each other for the various school events. As sobody who really admired her, I was really happy about being able to do so.Sotis I saw Cla.s.s Rep talking to her intimately as well. Reika-sama was like a rose beyond anyones reach, so it was rare for any boy to casually speak to her. Not bad, Chamberlain.
One day the shadow of another boy appeared around Reika-sama!It was none other than the burly Iwamuro-kun from the Judo Club. Standing next to each other they looked like a princess and her rcenary bodyguard.I asked about it with my friend in her cla.s.s. Apparently Iwamuro-kun was Reika-samas favourite these days, and she had had fun making him crossdress during the athletics carnival and school festival.Iwamuro-kun hadnt been able to refuse her, and had obediently let her put make-up on him.
The Beauty and the Beast thing is surprisingly nice, said my friend, but I was staunchly in the Emperor camp.
None of us wanted to see Kaburagi-sama end up dating soone unsuitable. If he had to date sobody anyway, then we wanted it to be sobody wonderful that we could accept.Of course, everyone knew that Kaburagi-sama had been pining after Yurie-sama all this ti, but if it had to be sobody other than Yurie-sama, we all agreed that only sobody as wonderful as Reika-sama would do.Honestly, compared to so other girls I didnt even like Kaburagi-sama that much. If he ended up with so boring girl, though, I had no idea what so of his more hardcore fans would do.
In Suirans first year high schoolers, there were three people that you absolutely could not cross.
One of them was the Last Boss of the girls, Kisshouin Reika.She was the daughter of the prodigious Kisshouin family, and a mber of the Pivoine.It was whispered that making an enemy out of her equated to making one of every girl in Suiran. She was that powerful.It was rare to ever seen her angered, true, and she was always surrounded in her clique with a confident smile, but rumour had it that when Tsuruhana Maki conceitedly tried to overthrow her, she used her folding fan to slap the girl into submission.It must have been crazy Fights between aristocrats are incredibleTsuruhana Maki and those like-minded friends of hers had really kicked up a fuss, but in the end they werent a match for G.o.ddess Kali(Curly).Having said that, it wasnt like we were a match for Tsuruhana either. That chick is scaaary.And G.o.d was it heaven and earth with how she treat us and Kaburagis like. When it ca to she just dropped all honorifics and ordered around! And if you tried to refuse shed start threatening you!
If Tsuruhanas gang go too far again, well snitch on her to Kali-sama! we said amongst ourselves.
Actually directly talking to Kali-sama too scary to actually do, though!
Anyhow, Kisshouin Reika was guarded by her own Raijin and Fuujin. Kazami Serika and Imamura Kikuno. These two were scary too.If anybody slighted Kisshouin-san, these two would lead a huge group of girls to pressure them.It had happened to too, one ti. I had just entered the sa cla.s.s as Kisshouin-san and happened to forget one of my forms.Her followers all surrounded and glared.
Stop making trouble for Reika-sama or else.
I imdiately got sobody to bring the form from ho.
One ti, this one guy got dared to say Kali as she pa.s.sed by. He was taken away by Kazami and Imamuras gang later that day. When he ca back he was deathly pale, and quiet like sobody else. What on earth did they say to youThank incident scared the c.r.a.p out of us, so we all decided not to use that na anymore. After all, what if by so chance Kisshouin-san herself found out? Maybe it wouldnt be her group this ti, but shed co after us with her fan herself!
Actually, Kisshouin-san had a lot of other nicknas that we called her in secret. Right now there was Maki Maki Makkie, which her group hadnt seed to know about yet.Hm, also D(olly Gi)rll I guess. During the athletics carnival we had this huge joke about D(olly Gi)rll doing the quadrille. I was kind of looking forward to it too, but Kisshouin-san didnt partic.i.p.ate. What a sa. Even leaving the pun aside, it would have been cool to see sobody with hair like a princess do the quadrille.
For so reason though she entered the costu race dressed as a rat carrying a pumpkin!All of the laughter from the previous entrants suddenly stopped. The Empress dressed as a ratWere we supposed to laugh like all the other entrants? Were we supposed to pretend we hadnt seen it? n.o.body knew what to do.Its so tragic! seed to be written all over the faces of Kazami and Imamuras group as they cheered her on though, so we realised that the right choice was not to laugh.The Emperor and Enjou-kun were wide-eyed at her costu too, but
Do your best, Kisshouin-saaan! laughed Cla.s.s Rep as he cheered her on.
What a shock. Was Cla.s.s Rep actually a huge deal!?
Still though, once her cla.s.s realised that Kisshouin-san was okay with costus, this ti theyd decided on a cross-dressing caf for the school festival.Since Satomi was in her cla.s.s, I asked him about it.
Kisshouin-san was pretty cute as a mouse, but shes cute as a butler too. You should co see, on the day, he laughed.
So they really were making Kisshouin-san cross-dress!?There were definitely roles in the back she could have taken instead I asked Satomi why she wasnt in one of those instead but he replied,
Well lots of people know our cla.s.s for being the one with Kisshouin-san in it, so why not use that to attract custors? Wouldnt it be a waste otherwise?
What the h.e.l.l. Arent you afraid?
Of what?
Of treating Kisshouin Reika that way. Wasnt she outraged?
No wayy. Kisshouin-san is a big softy. Shes like a sheep inside. Oh! Maybe she could wear sheep ears on top of that. Ill go ask about it!
SATOMIIIIIIIIII! THERES SUCH A THING AS TOO MUCH GUTS!
Reika-san in a male butler suit with sheep ears
I decided I would go see the train-wreck.
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