Antique Shop?BEAR? - Chapter 26
Chapter 26 – Forget-me-not Vase
August 7th
Since his daughter and grandchildren were planning to visit him, he went to the supermarket in the morning to buy sushi and snacks. This was the first time since Golden Week that they would be coming.
“Grandpa?!”
“Oh, Keita, you came.”
His grandson, Keita, was enrolled in kindergarten.
“Keita, you’re going to go put your hands together first, right?”
Her daughter, Misaki, with her husband by the side, Masaki, was warning Keita at the entrance.
“Well, get in here.”
“Thanks for having us. Father, I bought you some flowers.”
“Fill the vase on the altar with water and place them there, will you?”
Misaki was grasping a chrysanthemum flower in her hand. After the three of them prayed at the Buddhist altar, she carried a vase of flowers over to the kitchen.
“This vase seems familiar.”
“Yeah, it’s from grandmother’s.”
“Oh, yeah!”
“It’s a nice vase, isn’t it?”
Kamata and Keita made an eggplant and cucumber for Shoryoma and kept them at the Buddhist altar.
“What’s this?”
“It’s called Shoryoma. Grandmother would ride it when she visits us.”
“Wow. But isn’t this too small?”
“I guess so. If grandmother were to ride it, the vegetables would be destroyed.”
As Kamata burst out laughing in front of the altar, Misaki exclaimed in dismay, “Father!”.
They both brought fruit and animal figures on top of the sushi mat and set out bon festival lanterns next to the Buddhist altar.
“I want to light it up!”
“It’s beautiful.”
When the shoji and fusuma were closed and the bon lanterns were lit, Keita was delighted and said, “Beautiful, beautiful!”.
Then the three of them enjoyed sushi and went to visit the grave, after which Misaki and the others headed home.
After finishing his bath, Kamata was alone, drinking beer and picking up some sashimi that he had bought for himself. Since becoming a single man, he had been more selective about what he ate, and the amount of alcohol he consumed had increased. In between drinks, he would smoke a cigarette. Even meals and television were dull when he was by himself. Kamata let out a sigh.
Later that same night, Kamata put on a bon lantern and offered incense.
“I know it’s a little early, but Keita made animal figures for you.”
Once again today, Kamata laid out his futon next to the Buddhist altar and retired to bed. It was quite hot and humid, so he opened the window, switched on the fan, and drifted off to sleep.
“Wake up!”
“Wake up!”
The voice of the nostalgic Hitoe can be heard.
“What, Hitoe… It’s still midnight.”
“This is not the time for this.”
“What is it?”
“The incense stick is knocked over!”
When Kamata sprang up, he found a fallen incense stick on the cushion. Although it was not on fire, the incense was still red. Kamata promptly poured water from the vase onto the cushion.
“That was a close one. Hitoe…” Kamata went pale. “What the hell…?”
August 13th
Kamata came to the office on his own because he had no plans for the Bon holidays and was too idle to stay at home. He was working on getting a lot of old documents into the computer, but it seemed that it would be years before he could be done with it. For now, there was no one to take over the company, but in his heart, Kamata hoped that someone would succeed him if possible. For that reason, he would have to ensure the data management was in order.
Kamata took a breath and smoked a cigarette.
Since then, nothing had changed, but he wondered absentmindedly if Hitoe had come to him on the animal figures.
That evening, Kamata contacted Kuma on his way home and he replied that he would open the store early, so he dropped by Kuma’s shop.
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“Good work, boss.”
“Thanks for meeting me.”
“Are you searching for something?”
“No… you know. Ever since I bought the vase, I have this weird feeling that Hitoe is at home.”
“… Isn’t it because it’s Bon Festival?”
“Hahaha. She’s back, isn’t she? But ever since the day I bought the vase, strange things have been happening.”
“It was August 1st. That day was the day of the opening of the cauldron, the cauldron of hell.”
“What, Hitoe’s stuck in hell?” Kamata laughed.
“Rather, it is the day when the lid of the other world opens and comes into this world.”
“A day of the cauldron.”
“I have lit candles in my store.”
“Hmm?”
“All the items in my store have been well cared for, and I have made preparations to welcome the souls of the owners into it.”
“Such superstition.”
“Who knows. Each of the objects in this room is special. The vase must have been particularly special to you.”
“Kuma, you know, you buy all sorts of weird stuff.”
“Do you recognize the flowers on that vase?”
“I never paid any attention to it. What about it?”
“It’s forget-me-not.”
Upon returning home, Kamata placed his hands on the Buddhist altar. Looking at the vase with the chrysanthemum flowers, Kamata muttered to himself, nearly in tears.
“How could I possibly forget?”
Kuma told him that the word “forget-me-not” meant “don’t forget me” or “true love”. Kamata replied matter-of-factly in front of Kuma, “I see”, but when alone, he felt like weeping.
On that night, Kamata had a dream about the day he went to sort out the belongings of Hitoe’s grandmother.
“You’ve got a lot of stuff.”
“Well, it’s an old house.”
“Is there anything you want to keep as a memento?”
“No, I’ve checked it all out.”
Kuma, who had recently joined the company, was talking to Hitoe with a camera around his neck.
“Excuse me, Hitoe, is this vase okay too?”
“Oh, it’s from the Buddhist altar.”
“Are you going to get rid of it?”
“That’s… Why?”
“I would like to acquire it.”
“Eh?”
“It’s a really nice artwork.”
“Are you going to use it?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can have it.”
“Oh… is that alright? But… the rules…”
“This is a vase I bought. Since you are from the same company, it’s okay to give it to you. My grandmother and I used it to decorate our house for the Bon Festival.”
“I see. Thank you very much.”
“It’s a vase representing forget-me-not.”
“Forget-me-not?”
“For remembering loved ones, the forget-me-not vase.”
?????
On the 16th, the last day of the Bon Festival, Kuma opened for business in the evening and lit the candles on the candlesticks.
Originally, this was a send-off fire and the souls would return to where they came from. However, as Kuma walked into the store and took a picture with his camera, the souls possessing the antique were not heading to leave at all.
“Oh dear, such superstition.”
T/N:
Shoryoma – Animal figures made from a cucumber and an eggplant, used by the spirits of the deceased to come and go between this world and the other.