2 a.m.
A thought struck Nagisa that the castle wasn’t just haunted, but perhaps also stuck in a time loop. It was crazy when he said it in his mind like that, but then again a building had just popped up out of nowhere and he voluntarily entered said haunted building to rescue a stranger.
Yeah… crazy didn’t quite cover it.
Deciding against using the phone’s flashlight in the end, Nagisa placed it back and wandered from room to room, checking each one to see if it was Seiho’s. He wasn’t very confident he could find it on his own through all the halls. Last night, he hadn’t noticed any light coming through the cracks in the doors. And yet, Seiho’s room had a few lanterns lit inside. It seemed Seiho’s quarters functioned after their own rules too, beyond Nagisa’s understanding.
“Seiho,” he whispered, after realizing he was completely lost. “Seiho, it’s me.” He swallowed the knot in his throat. What if he couldn’t find Seiho? Or what if the creature found out Seiho saved Nagisa and took his heart, killing him?
With every passing minute, that nauseating feeling that the walls and floor were closing in on him returned, but he braved on, opening doors left and right.
Paintings adorned the chambers, the same ones he’d seen hours ago. There was a recurring theme: the young lord dressed in a red and golden kimono playing the flute on the grass. He must’ve been handsome during his time alive, and talented based on the mesmerizing sound of music from last night. Nagisa wondered how such a person could turn into a corpse-eating monster after his death. Perhaps he’d been cursed. After all, being beautiful on the outside didn’t mean he was beautiful on the inside too.
The lord looked almost real in the pictures, the golden kimono shimmering and his black hair, tied in a high ponytail, moving in the wind. Nagisa’s brows furrowed. How was it shimmering? It was pitch black inside the castle. How was he even able to see the paintings? He took a few steps back until he reached the other wall of the room. The picture was as clear as daylight.
Blowing a breath, Nagisa left the room, eager to get away from those strange paintings. The lord was a bit obsessed with his own self. They hung on the walls of all the rooms he’d checked.
The damp, rotten smell of the castle was becoming unbearable. He needed to find Seiho soon or abandon all hope.
A sweet, lulling sound reached his ears. The flute. Was the creature playing it? Nagisa couldn’t imagine how with that awful mouth full of sharp teeth. He scrambled, wanting to avoid whatever part of the castle the monster was playing in, but somehow, his uncooperative feet took him straight toward the flute.
He turned around a corner and sniffed. Clean air. He was approaching an exit. How was that possible? Had something happened to the jikininki? Or was this its trick?
The flute’s melody was louder now. Soft like feathers. Enthralling like magic. Its silky notes traveled right through him and Nagisa seemed to have no more control over himself anymore. He turned right at the next corner and came to a halt.
Seiho sat on the floor, cross-legged, his back resting on the open door and ashinobueflute to his lips. Purple, shimmering veils of wind twirled about him, undulating with the rhythm of the flute. It had been Seiho’s melody he’d heard this entire time.
Nagisa’s gasp made Seiho stop and look up at him. His face twisted in horror and the purple veils disappeared. Seiho stood up and rushed to Nagisa.
“What are you doing here?” he whispered, grasping Nagisa’s arms. “I told you not to return!”
He was angry. Of course he was. Seiho had warned Nagisa and yet, here he was with no damn idea what to do now that he had proof it wasn’t all a dream.
“Is the flute yours? Is the creature making you play? What’s that colorful wind? Why did the castle disappear?” Nagisa fired the questions one after the other.
Seiho blinked, surprised, then hushed him when a rustle of leaves and twigs came from outside the castle. He shoved Nagisa into a half caved-in room and they both held their breath. Nagisa recognized the creature’s wheezes and heavy slog. He couldn’t see it from his spot, but it seemed to stop once every few seconds and search through the foliage, then trudge again.
Nagisa stood still, his back against the wall, while Seiho’s body was pressed to his, giving a faint scent of earth and wild flowers and something more fragrant resembling incense. Seiho looked at him with a cautious and curious gaze, then mouthed “Why?”
Leaning in to Seiho’s ear, Nagisa whispered as low as he could, “I want to help you.” He lingered there for a second longer, feeling Seiho’s hair tickling his cheek and their shoulders brushing. Pulling back, he bit his lip when he saw Seiho’s mouth curled up in a smile. Maybe it hadn’t been a bad idea to return, after all.
Seiho turned his head back, focusing on the noises in the castle’s yard, probably waiting for a safe moment for them to leave. Nagisa’s eyes travelled to the V shape of the collar, showing a peek of Seiho’s chest and collarbone then up to the column of his neck. Nagisa swallowed the dryness in his throat and along with it the urge to lean closer and press his mouth on the throbbing pulse of Seiho’s throat.
Worst time to gawk at him, man. But his hands landed on Seiho’s hips of their own accord, and he held tight onto him suddenly wishing the clothes would just disappear so he could feel Seiho’s naked skin.
Seiho’s attention returned to him as the rustling faded in the distance. His eyes glinted purple in the darkness of the night. This jolted Nagisa from his ogling and his fingers dug into Seiho’s flesh through the clothes. Was he like the creature? He couldn’t be. He looked nothing like the jikininki. But the purple veils of wind and the glint and the strange flute—
A light kiss interrupted his thoughts and Nagisa drew a sharp breath as he felt Seiho’s mouth on his. Soft and warm lips sent a vibration deep inside him and he relaxed against Seiho, wrapping his arms around Seiho’s waist. He opened his mouth, their tongues brushing one another, but the kiss ended way too soon as Seiho pulled away.
“Wasn’t sure you’d like that,” Seiho whispered.
“I do. Very much. You can—”
Seiho pressed a finger to his mouth. “Not here. Let’s go to my room. The lord can come back at any moment.”
He twined his fingers through Nagisa’s and peeked out the open door. There were no more sounds and Nagisa let himself be guided through the dark hallways toward Seiho’s bedroom. Before they turned the first corner, Nagisa looked over his shoulder seeing the earlier open door slowly closing on its own.
They reached Seiho’s room and, just as Nagisa expected, from outside, the room looked pitch black like the rest, but once Seiho slid the door open, light poured out from inside.