Whatever caused the lull we experienced last week seems to have been put out of commission. Early this morning, the noises were back, though they don't seem to be at a different gradient than before, which is a relief for now, I suppose. Though it's hard to tell what might constitute as things getting "worse," at this point. The weather has been mostly normal for this time of year; the air is getting colder and wetter, and it's rained nearly every night since we came back. I'm glad for the sweaters Takafumi bought. They'll be coming in handy soon, although I suspect I'll be taking the extra blankets and kotatsu out soon enough, even if only for myself.

I still have been unable to decide if what we experienced was a dream. That Takafumi confirms it is the only thing I have to suggest it was real, that and Kokana and Yi's enduring annoyance. I'm sure Yu-chan thought we'd abandoned him for good; he's been sticking unerringly close since that night, and meows pitifully when we put any door between him and us.

I am sure we will have to go back, though. We've spoken of it some, but not a lot. I don't think either of us are sure what we would do if we did go back, though I'd like to thank Mr. Black for his kindness. Our first step, I suppose, would be to see if we can't gather more information about that creature that took off with the tadpoles. It seems strange that it might want them for food - after all, Takafumi and I were right there, and the tadpoles were in a jar. I'm not even sure that that thing was made of anything that might require sustenance, but then why would it take Mr. Black's mouse, if not for food? Maybe that was too much of an assumption to make... it could have been entirely unrelated.

The fact that we know next to nothing about that place doesn't help matters. It's hard to even speculate what might be going on. Our next step would have to be some kind of recon, but it seems too daunting to think of that now. What if something happened? What would we do with the cats?

For now, at least we're home. And something special is coming up, so I hope that we will be for awhile longer, ne?

( Private. )

The cats walk on the kitchen counters during the day, while Takafumi is away and I am in the study busy. But since I've been out more this week, I've noticed them doing it, and it's a little annoying because I'm sure their feet are dirty. So I began to clean the counters, and then it ended up that everything else seemed dirty after that. It's very hot now, and with all the sheets hanging up on the tiny balcony blowing in the wind, I'm sure the apartment must look like it's about to sail away.

It's been a little noisy

I have decided to go to the Muggle library for awhile. I haven't completed everything else, but maybe taking a break will help me concentrate. Anyway, there are some things I want to look up about... photons.

But then I will come back and make dinner, so please don't do it, ne, Takafumi?

( Private. )

Takafumi?

I feel unwell-

The rain has made things very wet and heavy.

It feels a lot like that time before

Tomorrow maybe I will ask Obaa-san for something






The teru teru bozu are not working.

Takafumi, let's play another game.

I have gone to the Muggle library and signed up for a card that will allow me to borrow many books. Misaki-san showed me how to use the scanning card so I could bring some home, but because we had to take the bus, there were only a few I could carry.

I think I have found the reason for the moon being red. It is a thing called photons.

Photons are particles that are also waves. Actually, photons are light that sometimes act as waves and sometimes act as particles. But anyway, the Muggle books say that the reason there are different colors is because different photons have different wavelengths, and different wavelengths produce different colors. Longer wavelengths are colors like red and orange, and shorter ones are purple and blue. The shorter wavelengths are easily refracted by other particles, such as things like molecules, which I think are small dust motes, and that's why the sky is blue, because more of the blue dust motes are being bounced back and forth. But also, when there are many other things in the air, for example, dust and smoke and other pollutions, the smaller photons hit them and are thrust back toward, say, the moon. Because the moon is the thing that is providing the light. So, because we were standing behind the many particles and smokes and molecules, the only light that was able to get through was the longer photons, which were the color of red, and that is what made the moon appear to be red.

I believe this theory is basically correct, and that the moon was red because of some pollutions in the atmosphere that only the red photons could get through. I visited Kamikoani this morning and talked to Chichiue, and he has never heard of such a thing happening because of any kind of magic. He said he had heard of photons, though, and maybe that they are a bit like jumping beans (but I have not read that in the text yet).



Muggle physics is difficult to understand. I think I'll keep these books for awhile.

Also, I don't mean to bother you while you're working...but ne, have you seen Yu-chan, Takafumi?

The time goes so quickly. Inside the house, there is much to do. I pick my way from room to room, trying not to leave fingerprints in the dust while polishing others out of the wood, preparing this place for the ceremony that's to take place in just over a week. Shunsuke-san has said that it's strange to see me doing these things, as if some other would be better fitted to sort and arrange this house that must inevitably belong to me. It had seemed so empty at first; the sparse furnishings of sparse lives that have already passed on, and yet somehow with every re-emergence in to one room or another, I find something new.

It's like the spring coming on. When we began, the snow hadn't yet melted, the frost still choking the new buds at every attempted gain. Now, opening the doors into the backyard, everything has blossomed, and the fragrant scent of the wildflowers past the garden is thick in the air. Obaa-sama was never much for gardening. I suspect that all these years, the tiger lilies and amaryllis that rim the paths in flame-like colors have been the result of a hired gardener's tedious efforts, but they too are showing shoots, promising heat among the green. The rain that has dogged Kyoto seems to have been gentler in Akita-shi, but the humidity is terrible. We pant on the veranda after moving furniture to clean, and all is wet with sweat.

The sun is very bright, and the sky is so clear above where I write. It is hard to think that I must go back to work after lunch.

All of it is coming together, though. I had first thought we could not possibly ready by next weekend, but perhaps I will be proven wrong. There are only two rooms left, but I will do these on my own while Shunsuke-san and the others prepare the rest for the reception.

That reminds me... Takafumi, please do not try to move the furniture that I have put in the genkan by yourself, ne? But maybe decide where you want it, and when I get home later we can move it. I think it is everything we decided we could use, except for the chest. I cannot open that one, so maybe it will just have to be decoration... if there is nowhere for it, I will find a place in the den.

/Takafumi.

There is something...

The city is stranger than I thought. Maybe I am not quite so well acquainted with it as I had imagined.

[ This journal has been spelled to a default of private, viewable only to Abeno Takafumi unless otherwise specified. ]

The last two months have been so busy, and yet somehow it seems I've managed to fit everything it's comprised of into less than two boxes. The NEWT certificates, the relocation papers, the Fujiwara inauguration paperwork. It's not easy to change a name, but I suppose I should have expected that; slipping into a shoe the size of Fujiwara has been a long process, the efforts of which are strewn throughout the study in hand wide stacks and fallen mountains. I think Kokana and Yi must go in every day just to slow my progress. More than one form has needed to be recopied for the bite marks, and I'm sure the cats have ingested more ink and paper than is absolutely healthy for them. Shutting them out is useless--unless there's some kind of hidden gateway into the room, I suspect they've learned to open doors.

To be contrary: I find it's nice coming into that room to see my things strewn about. The cats' tiny voices are leaving me with the impression that even they are missing me during the day. Or perhaps they're just trying to return the apartment to its original state. We have had few things to unpack, but the mess was at first a little daunting.

Whatever the case, I find the homecoming is... inviting. So much so that I might leave only to return and experience it. It's strange, living in the city. Though our genkan allows apparation, I've found that I almost prefer coming in from Akita to arrive at one of the authorized zones instead so that I can walk in through the neighborhood and become acquainted with it. Besides that, I think it might be necessary. Our neighbors are muggles. The landlord, thin and sporting a strange smile, seems extremely old, though he'd boasted to us of being only 70; and our neighbors. They're a diverse bunch: two women that stood on the tiny balcony across the way and waved as we surveyed the grounds (pretending to move boxes inside), and another, who Takafumi is certain is some kind of yokai. But I do not think yokai pay rent. Probably, he just wants to be left alone.

The apartment seems so empty, but at least the bedroom and cupboards are full. From the sitting room, where we have only zabuton for now, you can see the canal and what I think are a few cherry trees alongside the road. It's so different from living in Akita; with the windows, there's so much light here that twilight is almost surprising. After all that, and with the lights all around, night hardly seems to fall at all. I think we'll like it here.

Private.
Still no word from Korea. Somehow, I'm still expecting that there might be... Even the news seems to have pulled up anchor.

I wonder what Takafumi will do here these days while I'm gone. The cats can hardly be enough to keep him entertained, and I have no idea when he'll begin his training. I want to stay here, but there's so much to do in Akita, so much I must prepare for. I'm lucky they even agreed to allow me to put up in Kyoto... I think they were so surprised by the fight I put in that it shocked them into submission. But if I'm to do this... I have to have Takafumi to come home to. That person whose smiles don't stop...

I think he knows I'm writing about him. I will have to try not to provoke him so much.