Kaleidoscope of Death

Chapter 91: Teru Teru Bōzu

Ruan Nanzhu looked serious, like he wasn't joking at all. He slowly placed the teru teru bōzu on a stone bench nearby, then undid the cotton string tied at the bottom of the white fabric. The string loosened and revealed the thing wrapped inside the cloth—Lin Qiushi saw a human head, white from soak.

The head seemed to have sat in water for a long time, the skin soaked the awful white of dead fish. Its eyes were staring wide in terror and disbelief, like they'd pop out of their sockets any minute.

When Ruan Nanzhu released his hold, the head rolled down the bench until it hit the wall with a thunk, and came to a stop.

Lin Qiushi looked at the head, and asked, "someone died?"

"Perhaps," Ruan Nanzhu replied. "Have you heard the legend of the teru teru bōzu?"

Lin Qiushi, "yes, but only a bit." He knew both Japan and Chinese folklore had this sort of thing, but that China's "sunny day doll" or "rain-stopping girl" was a bit different from Japan's teru teru bōzu.

Ruan Nanzhu spoke slowly, "in Japan, there's a legend about the teru teru bōzu. A monk passing through a town told the townspeople that he could stop the rain. But as he read his sutras, the rain didn't stop, so the angry townspeople chopped his head off, wrapped it in white cloth, and hung it up high... After that, the rain stopped."

Lin Qiushi eyed that water-steeped head and sank into silence.

"There's actually about the doll..." Ruan Nanzhu, softly, "Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu, make tomorrow a sunny day. Like the sky in my dream, if it's sunny I'll give you a golden bell. Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu, make tomorrow a sunny day. If you make my wish come true, we'll drink lots of sweet sake. Teru-teru-bozu, teru bozu, make tomorrow a sunny day. But if the clouds are still crying tomorrow, I'll cut off your head."

After Ruan Nanzhu finished reciting the rhyme, Lin Qiushi heard a sudden rush. He looked outside to the courtyard, and saw raindrops as big as peas falling from the sky. The rain became like a curtain, completely separating the yard from where the people were.

"So that's what the head's for," Ruan Nanzhu said. "It really is a good weather doll."

Because the doll was taken down, the cleared skies began to rain again in an instant. Lin Qiushi looked on, a bit exasperated, and said, "if we hang this thing back up, think we can salvage it?"

Ruan Nanzhu, "we can try." So Ruan Nanzhu wrapped the head back up in the white cloth, tied back the cotton string, then returned it to where it had hung. As they predicted, once the head was hung back, it wasn't long until the skies outside cleared once more. The thick storm clouds practically disappeared within moments.

"Interesting," Ruan Nanzhu said, staring at the doll made from a human head.

"Let's go see who's died first," Lin Qiushi said, glancing at his watch.

"Okay," Ruan Nanzhu nodded.

Then the two went to the dining hall.

Presently, almost everybody was eating inside the hall. Lin Qiushi saw Lin Xingping and her handful of friends. In just less than a day, she'd become good friends with Wang Ronghua, the newbie they'd just met. And Wang Ronghua already seemed to trust Lin Xingping most in this entire world.

Lin Xingping saw them come in and greeted them with enthusiasm, waving them over to eat.

Ruan Nanzhu plastered himself against Lin Qiushi natural as could be, cooing, "Linlin, my tummy's grumbling." If he'd been at his height outside the doors, this kind of flirting would definitely seem very discordant. But as it were, he'd shrunk a whole size in this door, so it wasn't so hateful-looking.