Angering the Kami

(Images credit to Bing Create)

Hana didn't believe in superstitions.

Ghost Stories; Folklore and Mythology; A bunch of magic mumbo-jumbo that carried zero scientific explanation for any subsequent phenomena.

They were all bullshit to her.

Rushing towards the train station, the familiar scent of incense breezed past her as she thundered towards the platform. There wasn't any time to pay respects this morning - she had a meeting to attend and nothing could stand in her way.

A jostle here, a tussle there. The smell of some fat dude's body odour incessantly hanging in the air like the dreaded stench of a gas chamber - a product of mankind's design and Hana's hubris - her fault for waking up late and needing to battle the morning rush hour on her way to work. As expected, the train car was packed to the brim - people crammed into a tight, confined space with no concern about personal space.

And just as expected, the train's air conditioning could barely cool down the sheer mass of warm bodies from the piercing summer heat. The intense humidity only made things worse as she could feel the breathing of the man behind her scratching at the nape of her neck, the warmth travelling down her shirt as beads of sweat tickled her spine. Hana could feel the stickiness of her shoes, every sensation of discomfort nagging poking and prodding their way into her mind.

No. I have to stay sane. I can't let this heat get to me before my presentation. Hana mumbled to herself.

Just as she thought she was going to pass out from the heat, the doors of heaven opened and Hana charged out of the train carriage - a attempt to get the fuck out of there. Just as Hana was leaving the station, it was just her luck that she'd turned a corner too fast and accidentally knocked over an incense pot of a tiny shrine. The ashes and joss sticks immediately painted the sidewalk a shade of blackened char - but Hana kept running along, the thought of apologising and fixing her mistake cast away like her concern for those who prayed at the shrine.

After all that running, Hana had finally made it to the meeting room, bursting in to find -

Nobody there.

Confused, Hana took out her phone and went straight to her calendar. Panting, she realised her mistake - Today was Tuesday.

Her meeting was set for Thursday.

She fucked up.

Defeated, Hana plopped herself on the armchair in the corner of the meeting room, kicking off her shoes to let her poor doggies breathe. Trapped in their shoes and to accompany her on a sprint from the train station to her office, her feet were all kinds of hot and bothered. Letting them air in the cool comfort of the meeting room was the first thought she had, especially since she had the entire meeting room to herself.

Hana sunk into the armchair, the sensation of felt brushing against her back, the cold air stinging her glassy skin - It was ethereal. She could've laid there for hours; just taking it all in.

"Some nice feet you got there."

Hana's eyes shot open, stunned by the bluntness of the comment. Her gaze darted around the room in front of her, desperately sweeping every visible nook and cranny to find the bastard who had it in for him.

"A shame we have to do this to you."

Another voice chimed in, this time much more audibly. Hana turned around, ready to fight whomever this posse belonged to, until she glanced up.

Hovering above her was a sea of disembodied faces, their skins rubbery, almost like machined silicone. Other than a set of facial features, their visage carried no other distinct marks. Some had picked up a spare pair of glasses or two from those lying about on the office cubicles outside, while a majority were just faces - nothing more. No hair, no ears, no arms, no neck. No visible sign of any entrails or corpse they'd been forcibly removed from. Just a bunch of disembodied, claymation-esque faces hovering about above Hana's back.

"You trampled our shrine." One face said.

"I'm Sorry!" Hana said frightfully, hands clasped together in front of her.

"You disrespect our people." Another replied.

"You should be punished." A third face chimed in.

"I believe you should." The face closest to Hana responded. Its voice was gravely yet ethereal - like a gust of wind through the cracks of a waterfall. Hana was taken aback at the sheer nonsense transpiring before her. While she knew she was in the wrong, she awaited the judgment of the beings before her before pleading her case.

Maybe they'd suggest some simple reparations? A cleanup of their shrine, or maybe just a series of dumb prayers that she'd have-

"If you wish to silence the truth with such nonsense as yours, perhaps you should learn to listen more. You are frequently unaware of your surroundings." The face responded.

"Kami aren't real!" Hana shot back. "I've never seen your kind in person! How can you expect somebody to believe in spirits when they never show their faces!"

"She speaks some truth." One of the Kami responded, looking at the rest. "Perhaps she should be enlightened."

Hana cocked her head. "Enlightened?"

As if disregarding her question, the kami circled above her in their swarm, avidly discussing Hana's fate right before her eyes. They spoke in a tongue she couldn't decipher, yet their tones were sharp and precise, as though she was listening to a static broadcast and expected to scribe out its version of Macbeth.

In a shocking turn of events, the Kami halted all momentum, freezing in suspended animation above her. Hana's inner psyche was going wild as she dreaded her verdict.

"The council has made judgment." The largest face boomed. "We will spare your life, but we bestow upon you a gift of enlightenment. May you forever hear the voices of the unheard and act upon their desires. To assist you in your path to enlightenment, we will grant you a boon to supplant your journey, so you may, in your own words, 'believe in spirits when they never show their faces'."

"Wait, what?"

Before she could even contest their decision, the kami's faces lit up in beams of radiant yellow, as though rays of piercing light were tearing through the kami's very being. Hana immediately felt a burning sensation at the back of her skull, a searing sensation unlike any other. She clutched her head to try and stop it, but the tighter she closed her eyes, the more painful they got.

But just as fast as they came, they had gone, and Hana was left alone in the meeting room once again. Wiping the sweat off her face, Hana hastily put her shoes back on, and beelined it for the door, hoping to get some fresh air