The Cursed Oiran - Part II
Part 2 of 3
For those who haven’t read part one yet, here it is!
The Cursed Oiran: A Tale of Love and Betrayal
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!!! So crazy!!! Thanks for the love and support!The year was 1983. Edo is now known as Tokyo. The city has evolved and changed with time. Filled with bright lights, tall buildings and the streets filled with people. However, the bamboo grove remains the same and the ghost of Tsukiko continues to haunt it.
Atsuki, a young salaryman fresh out of college, was spending the night out in town with his new coworkers. After spending a whole day at work, Atsuki was invited by his colleagues to go drinking. They went to an Izakaya for beer and snacks.
As the evening wound down, Atsuki called it a night after feeling a good buzz. He bade his colleagues goodbye and stumbled out into the warm summer air. Rather than heading straight home, he decided to wander around a bit to clear his head. Tipsy and lost in his thoughts, he wandered aimlessly and found himself at a bamboo grove.
Under the moonlight, it felt eerily serene. He felt a gentle breeze around him and could hear it whisper through the tall stalks. He continued towards it and noticed a woman. He called out to her, “Excuse me,” thinking it was not safe for her to be here alone at night. She did not respond, so he went closer. As he got near her, she turned towards him; he froze when he saw her, for she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Her pale, luminescent skin glowed under the moonlight. She was wearing a kimono, and her hair was fully done up like an Oiran. Her beauty struck him, and he felt a force drawing him closer.
She smiled at him, a delicate and kind smile that made his heart race. With liquid courage, Atsuki drew up the confidence to start a conversation. To his surprise, she responded, her voice soft and distant. They talked about how beautiful the night was, and before he knew it, he promised he would return to her.
The following day, while at work, Atsuki was distant, for he couldn’t stop thinking about the woman he had met the night before. He felt a sense of excitement about seeing her again, but he was also afraid that she wasn’t real and that it was the alcohol that conjured her up. That night, he returned, and she was there again. He learned her name was Tsukiko.
For the whole week, Atsuki visited the grove every night. At work, his colleagues noticed a spring in his step and how he would light up when talking about Tsukiko. They would playfully tease him, and he would laugh it off.
One night, Tsukiko led him deeper into the grove. There, they sat and spoke like previous nights. All of a sudden, she asked him, “Do you love me?” Atsuki hesitated, feeling the weight of her question. He fancied her, yes, but love is a strong word for someone he had just met. He hadn’t even kissed her yet. But he responded, “I’m falling for you…”
Before he could continue, she asked another question, one that sent a chill down his spine. “Would you love me if I looked like this?”
Within that moment, Tsukiko’s form began to change. Her once flawless face turned into one that was rotted away, exposing bone underneath. Her hand, now skeletal, protruded from the sleeves of her tattered kimono. Atsuki stood up from the log they were sitting on and stumbled back. He felt a lump rise in his throat. He felt his thoughts race through him. She was a ghost the whole time?! But she felt so real. He knew this was too good to be true. He tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Tsukiko’s eyes, once so beautiful and inviting, were now fully black and filled with sorrowful rage. “You’re just like the others!” She screeched. Her mouth opened wide, an abyss of darkness, and before Atsuki could react, everything went black.
Days went by when his coworkers realized something was wrong and went looking for him. He had mentioned the bamboo grove before, so they went there. They found his watch lying on the forest floor; its face was cracked and covered in dirt. There were no other signs of him, only the quiet rustle of bamboo leaves. Atsuki was never seen again, and the legend grew, a cautionary tale of a young man who fell in love with a ghost, only to be consumed by her sorrow.