1939: On the Coldest Winter Night

1939, September 5th

On a cold and snowy night in the winter of 1939, Haruki Hayaosama stumbled out of the local tavern, his head heavy with sake and his mind clouded with thoughts of his family’s legacy. The Hayaosama Mansion, with its dark history and haunted reputation, weighed heavily on Haruki’s mind, and he longed to escape the burden of his family’s past. Haruki’s life after the fi re was one of aimlessness and despair. His once-promising future had been dashed in an instant, and he found himself drifting from day to day without any real purpose. He took up drinking as a way to numb his pain, and soon it became a nightly ritual for him. He would stumble home from the local bar, his thoughts a blur, and pass out on the couch in his small apartment.

But on this particular night, for reasons he couldn’t quite remember, Haruki found himself drawn to the old family mansion. He had avoided the place for so long, unable to face the memories and the pain that it held. But tonight was different. Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was something else, but he felt an urge to see the mansion with his own eyes, to confront the demons of his past. He stumbled through the forest, the snow crunching under his feet. The wind howled around him, whipping his hair into his face. The mansion loomed ahead of him, its dark silhouette ominous against the night sky. Haruki felt a chill run down his spine, but he pushed it aside and continued forward. As he approached the mansion, memories fl ooded back to him. He remembered playing hide and seek with his siblings in the grand halls, and sitting by the fire with his parents as they told stories. But those happy memories were quickly overshadowed by the horror of the fi re, and the screams of his family that still echoed in his mind.

Haruki stumbled into the mansion, the cold air biting at his skin. He stumbled through the empty halls, the fl oorboards creaking beneath his feet. He reached the room where his family had died, and for a moment he was frozen in place. The room was frozen in time, the furniture covered in dust and ash. He could almost hear his family’s voices, laughing and chatting as they went about their daily lives. But then the memories of the fi re fl ooded back, and Haruki collapsed to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. He cried out to his family, begging for their forgiveness, but there was no answer. The mansion was empty, filled only with the ghosts of the past. As he was leaving the mansion to fi nd his way back to the apartment his mind was filled with thoughts and memories that he couldn’t control. Not even alcohol could numb the emotions that had awoken inside of him by visiting his old home. Years of repressed trauma and feelings that he could no longer neglect left him in a chaotic state that he was unable to handle. For the first time he realized that he was actually lost inside himself and the traces of his old persona was no longer there. He was but an empty shell of the person that he used to be.

But then, as he stumbled through the snow, he saw her standing by the side of the road. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, with skin as white as the snow and hair as black as the night sky. Her eyes were deep and dark, and they seemed to draw him in like a moth to a fl ame. Without hesitation, Haruki approached her. She smiled at him, and her voice was like music in his ears. She spoke of a place deep in the forest, a place where they could be alone, away from the prying eyes of the world. Haruki followed her into the woods, the snow crunching beneath his feet. As they walked deeper into the forest, the snow grew thicker, and the air grew colder. But Haruki did not care. He was lost in her beauty, lost in her words, lost in the promise of a new beginning. And then, as they reached a clearing, she turned to him and embraced him. Her skin was cold as ice, but Haruki did not care. He felt the heat of passion rising within him, and he gave himself over to her completely. For a brief moment, they were lost in each other, lost in the snow and the forest and the night. But then, as they lay together, she kissed him, and the world went dark. When Haruki woke, he was alone in the snow, his body numb and his soul empty. He stumbled back to the road, but without any sense of direction. All he knew was that he had to go back to the mansion. As he made his way back to the Hayaosama Mansion, he knew that his family’s legacy would continue, haunted by the ghosts of the past and the spirits of the dead. And he knew that he was now one of them, forever lost in the cold and lonely world of the unliving.