Dreaming Ritual

The tradition goes like this.

After dinner, the guests were to have a bath in the bath house. At bed time, they would find a piece paper and pencil on their pillow. Here, the guests were to write out their greatest question and slip it under the pillow. They would receive the answers by morning.

Back at dinner, Princess Hera range her silver bell again.

“It is now time for the dessert!” she said. Naoko and the other guests looks up to see the men in their fancy suits wheeling out fancy strawberry-lemon cakes on black carts. They couldn’t help but look at how pretty the treats looked.

“Thank you,” Naoko whispered as his cake was served. The man servant nodded and stepped back. Hera pressed her hands together.

“Let us all bless the food,” she said.

“Bless!” the guests replied. Naoko couldn’t keep track of all the recipes that he wanted to give Midori once they met up again. Hera put down her spoon and smiled.

“Thank you for dinner,” everyone said. The princess rang her silver bell.

“Ladies, show them to the bath house,” she commanded. The women in white robes came out and escorted the guests out of the dining hall. Naoko looked back to see the man servants cleaning the table. Princess Hear rose to her feet and walked out of the dining room with her remaining maids.

--------

The bath house had the appearance of Heaven surrounding a steamy lake. Naoko whistled to himself. This place never seemed to stop surprising him. One of the women walked over to the giant tub.

“Everyone disrobe,” she commanded. “Men to the left and women to the right.” The guests divided into two lines. Naoko slipped over to the right near the back of the line.

“Fresh pajamas will be waiting in your rooms,” the woman said. “Write your wish down on the paper waiting for you and then slip it under your pillow. You will have your answers by morning. Good night.” She turned and walked out of the bath house. Two more women in robes came and took the women away. Two more women led away the men.

The guests stripped down into the changing room and walked out to the bath. One by one, the men climbed in. Naoko shivered as the warm water touched his bare skin.

“Ah,” he said. More memories flooded his head. He and Midori were in a bath house in Hokkaido on the night he proposed to her. It had started to snow as if to make the mood more romantic. He turned to her and told her that he had a surprise for her. Midori giggled and kissed him on the lips.

“I love you,” she told him.

Naoko frowned as he came back to real life. Did I ask her to marry me? And what did she say? He hoped that he did and that she said yes. The mouse boy couldn’t even remember what the ring looked like.

After their bath, the guests were shown to their rooms for the night. The women went around unlocking the doors. Naoko ended up in room 21.

“Good night,” his maid said, bowing. Naoko bowed back as she walked away. The mouse boy walked into the room. Only candles on the chest and dresser lit up the inside. The perfumed air added to the vintage style around him. He found a pair of fresh pajamas sitting on the foot of the bed, waiting just like the main female servant said. A piece of pink paper sat on his pillow with a golden pen on top. Naoko took off his robe and changed into the pajamas. He was supposed to write down his great wish and shove it under his pillow. Fair enough.

Naoko walked over to the bed covered fresh white sheets. He climbed onto the bed and picked up the pen. There was only one wish that he wanted. When the mouse boy finished writing, he folded up the paper and stuffed it under his pillow as instructed. He crawled into bed and went to sleep.

“Show me where my Midori-chan is.”

Around midnight, Princess Hera came into his room. She held her hand over the sleeping Naoko’s head and closed her eyes. A tremble raced through her body. The princess opened her eyes.

“I understand,” she said. Hera waved her hand over the mouse boy and disappeared.