The young girl rested the point of the nomi over the empty ink stone as though she were dipping its needles in ink. Ink flowed from the tips of the needles, filling the ink stone’s shallow well. It glowed bright blue.
“She’salive.” Hana gasped. “Do you know where she is, Horishi-san?”
“The ink does.”
“Tell me, please.”
The Horishi shook her head. “Your mother played her part when she birthed you. Beyond that, she has no place in your story. You cannot stray from what has been written.”
“Please.” Hana prostrated herself by the Horishi’s feet. “I beg you.”
“I am sorry. That knowledge is not meant for your eyes or ears.”
“How about mine?” Keishin blurted. The sight of Hana crumpled over the floor twisted like a knife between his ribs.
The Horishi tilted her head his way, and though she was blindfolded, Keishin felt her gaze bore into him.
“Ah. You speak. I wondered what your voice might sound like.”
“Can you tell me where Hana’s mother is?”
Hana sat up and urgently mouthed a silent word.Stop.
“I can,” the Horishi said. “Ifshe is in your path. Minatozaki Keishin, would you like to know your story?”
“Thank you for your help, Horishi-san.” Hana grabbed Keishin’s arm. “We should go.”
“My story?” Keishin said, his eyes fixed on the Horishi.
“The road to all that must happen next. People learn their path before they can walk or talk. You are older.” She tilted her head, touching her chin. “But also very new. Your map is unlike anything I have seen before.”
“What do you mean by ‘new’?”
“Kei.” Hana gripped his hand. “Don’t.”
“We can’t leave,” Keishin said. “She knows where your mother is.”
“But one thing cannot be revealed without unveiling all that is linked to it,” the Horishi said. “Your beginning, middle, andend. You will see your entire path stretched before you as clearly as you see me.”
“Then tell me everything.”
“You misunderstand. The ink will speak. Your skin will listen.” She picked up a nomi. “Do you consent?”
Keishin stared at the nomi, thinking how such a small thing could soon silence every question that woke him up at night. Everything from this day forward could be certain. Set in skin. He would never again have to wonder if his life was going to mean something more than just a byline in another research paper, or if he was massless and invisible, a waste of time and space.
All he had to do was say yes.
Chapter Fifteen
Consent
Hana’s eyes watered, but she didn’t dare to blink. She feared her thoughts would wander from the full moon quivering in the fusuma’s painted lake and escape. She knew exactly where they would go. The second they slipped from her, they would dart away and find Keishin behind the sliding cloth panel, lying on the Horishi’s table, making a cruel trade so that she could find her mother.
Hot tears stung her eyes. Hana blinked. A small boat drifted over the lake and scattered the moon’s reflection, leaving Hana with nothing to stare at except the truth: Though it was the Horishi’s hand that gripped the nomi, it was she who was stabbing it into Keishin’s skin. She cursed under her breath and pushed the fusuma open. “Stop!”
“Hana!” Keishin sat up from the table, his clothes in a pile on the floor.
“I cannot let you do this.” Hana’s eyes darted over his bare skin. The Horishi’s map revealed itself only when touched by the rain, leaving Hana to wonder if she was too late.
