Chapter Forty-Five The Third Bottle of Sake
Chapter Forty-five
The Third Bottle of Sake
一杯目人を酒飲む二杯目は酒酒を飲み三杯は酒人を飲む
Ippai-me wa hito sake o nomi, nihai-me wa sake sake o nomi, sanbai-me wa sake hito o nomu.
It is the man who drinks the first bottle of sake, then the second bottle drinks the first, and finally, it is the sake that drinks the man. Hana realized that she had not fully understood this old saying until this evening at the train station. She emptied her cup and wiped the sake dribbling from her chin with the back of her hand. The platform and all the tents on it swam around her. She waved a fourth bottle of sake away when Keiko tried to refill her cup.
“I am sorry.” Keiko poured out the last of the sake into Hana’s cup. “But this is necessary.”
“Cheers.” Keishin tossed his head back and swallowed his drink in one gulp. A shadow play, cast by the bonfire, danced over his face.
Hana squinted, watching the shadow story unfold through the haze in her head. Keishin was a hero on a quest with no idea how close the monsters really were. She drained her cup and slammed it down on the train station’s floor.
Keiko nodded. “Now you can go.”
“You still haven’t told us how we’re supposed to leave,” Keishin said.
“This next part is simpler,” Keiko said. “All you have to do is talk, and all I have to do is listen. The sake inside you should make it easy to speak your mind and select which words to whisper.”
Hana massaged her temples, unsure if it was the sake or the exhaustion in her bones that made Keiko’s words difficult to grasp.
“There is nothing that travels faster than a rumor,” Keiko said. “And rumors that bear the most truth are the swiftest of them all. Tonight, you will choose a rumor to spread and ride it until you reach your destination.”
Keishin rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m drunk enough to comprehend how we’re supposed to hitch a ride on a rumor.”
“You do not need to understand it for it to work,” Keiko said. “But you do need to trust me. My family’s stall at the Night Market sold more than just trinkets. We offered a way out. Before my father died, he taught me how to do it.”
“Tell us what we need to do,” Hana said.
“Hana.” Keishin drew her away from the fire. “Are you sure you want to do this? This could be a trick. Keiko could betray us to the Shiikuin.”
“You were a complete stranger just a few days ago,” Hana said. “And you have not broken your word yet.”
Keiko approached them. “Are you having second thoughts?”
“No,” Hana said.
“Then choose your truth and be on your way.”
—
The choice was obvious. Hana would have never agreed to sharing it had she been sober. But the sake inside her made a convincing argument. There was no rumor that would travel faster than Keishin’s secret. Keishin gripped her hand as he whispered it into Keiko’s ear.
I am not from your world.
Hana watched herself fade. Her feet were the first to vanish. Her legs were next, disappearing in small increments from her ankles. The last to go were her eyes, and when they were gone, only darkness remained.