7 Days

Legend says that whoever can grant the wishes of the dead will be compensated with an immense treasure. What was asked from the dead is to rest in peace and have a mass for his soul to be freed. Many would see the lost soul roaming around asking to rest in peace, but no one would fulfill his wishes. But what they do not know is that not everyone can fulfill this prophecy. Only someone with a pure heart and honest intentions can enter that world to understand the prophecy and the history behind it. A prophecy between good and evil fighting for the truth. The truth was greed, ambition, jealousy, and witchcraft rule. 

Without knowing, Oyuki enters this world full of evil that will soon rob her soul and unravel what's yet to be seen. With the help of Haru they will unravel the mysterious secrets, bringing light and breaking the curse in this small town named Shirakawa-Go. But to what extent and price will Oyuki and Haru pay before fulfilling the prophecy their ancestors have been telling for decades. 

Just a week before Oyuki's flight strange things happened to her that cannot be explained. On the first day she started seeing shadowy figures which looked familiar but felt like strangers. On the second day, Oyuki started having vivid dreams. Dreams that would show her in a place full of green grass and trees, but only certain trees would capture her attention. 

“Where am I?” Oyuki would be puzzled with what she was seeing. “What are those three trees? They are so beautiful.” As Oyuki walked toward the trees, the trees started to wilt, and the temperature started to decrease. 

“What… what? What is happening? It is so cold. But if I take three steps back it feels warmer. What is this? What is the meaning of all this?” Oyuki whispered as she slowly woke up from her dream. For the next three days Oyuki kept having unexplainable vivid dreams, making her wonder and asking herself what they meant. Without any answers or explanations, the day of her departure arrived as Oyuki gathered the last items to pack.

“Toothpaste, toothbrush, lotion, hairbrush, wallet…. hmmm... What else? What else? What am I missing? I have a feeling I am missing something?” Oyuki took another look at her luggage for the tenth time to see what she was missing. “Oh yeah!” Oyuki exclaimed. “That’s it! Where is it? Where did I place my passport? That’s what I am missing, I cannot fly without it, right?” Oyuki told herself as searched for her passport all over her room. “Found it!” She exclaimed. “Time to start heading to the airport.” As Oyuki began to head out from her room, she heard a male voice from the distance giving her the chills and goosebumps all over her body as the room started to get cold at the same time.

“Oyuki, Come. Come Oyuki.” A distant voice whispered.

Oyuki gasped as she grasped on her luggage handle.

“Daiki is that you?” Oyuki asked. “Brother it is not funny. I do not have time for your games.” But there was no answer. “Daiki, I am serious! you need to stop with all this nonsense. I need to start heading to the airport. Where is mother and Father we will be late if we do not hurry?” she asked in an upset tone. “Ugh! fine then, don’t answer me, I will head down stairs. Daiki, for the record, that wasn’t very nice, you’re always trying to scare me, but it never works out.” She said annoyed.

“Mom! Dad! Mom! Where are you guys? It is getting late, and we will miss our flight and that is the last thing we need today!” Oyuki shouted. As she rushed and looked around for her parents around the house, she headed to the backyard looking for them. As her parents were nowhere to be found, Oyuki did not notice that the voice she was hearing earlier slowly began forming into a shadowy figure following and stalking her every movement, as if it was a gust of wind. Slowly the world around her was slowing down and a dark mist started to surround her without realizing it. Oyuki’s surroundings got dark, and the sun was gone. She froze in fear, unable to move as she was back at the place of her dreams. Without any explanation she once again saw those three trees that intrigued her so much in her dreams. The mist turned into a fog with a cold breeze making Oyuki shiver. She took a quick look at her surroundings when she noticed a man sitting on a tree log with his left leg crossed in the middle of the land as if he was thinking. The man no older than thirty-three years old turned around and looked at Oyuki saying, “It is time. Time is diminishing. Time cannot be wasted anymore.” Oyuki, unable to move but able to see the man that was speaking to her, she saw her breath freezing as she was trying to speak. “I do not understand what this is? What is this supposed to mean and who are you?” The man turned around and showed Oyuki a city that began to grow and people appearing as if they have always been there. People building houses and businesses left and right, the man once again spoke and said “Hurry, I am running out of time. Save the trees. Do not let them be cut down. Come fast! I beg for your help. Help me!” As the man vanished in thin air and the sun once again shone bright and the birds sang.

“Oyuki darling.” As her mother placed her hand on Oyuki’s left shoulder.

“AHH!” Oyuki screamed as she jumped, and her heart pounded faster than normal with heavy breathing. “What happened? Where is he? Where is the man that was sitting on that log?”

“Who, Oyuki? What are you talking about? There is nobody here, beside you and me, and your father that is approaching us. Are you ok?” As her mother hugged her and touched Oyuki’s forehead. “Oh, my, you are freezing cold and look at you. You seem like as if you’ve seen a ghost. Come, sit down.” Oyuki’s mom said.

“No, mother, we must go. A lot of time was wasted looking for both of you guys. I will be fine. Let’s go now and tell Daiki to stop playing around, it is not funny.” Oyuki said angrily but deep inside she feared what she saw as the other times she had seen many times before.

As the Kimura family arrived at the airport and boarded the airplane to go to their destination, Oyuki could not stop thinking of what had happened earlier and started to think of the other dreams she had been having for the last few years and putting all the puzzles and signs together as she saw the bigger picture to her dreams. Dreams that were more than dreams and the signs that would come with a message speaking to Oyuki without her realizing it. Once Oyuki buckled up her seat belt everything clicked, and she saw what for so long she had been seeing in her dreams. “Gasp!” As Oyuki’s eyes widened, she froze once again. She told herself in a whisper voice, “I understand now! It makes sense, but who is that man and why me? I do not know who he is and more so, he is dead. For all these years this dead man has been talking to me in my dreams and asking for help. For me to help him so he can rest in peace, without noticing it. How can I help him if I do not even know his name? What am I supposed to do now? Where does this person used to live to begin with? Maybe Haru can help me once I get there.” Oyuki thought. “Or maybe my own cousin will think I am becoming crazy.” Oyuki felt loss for what she had to do and felt this was a dream.

After arriving at Shirakawa-Go, Haru was eagerly waiting to pick them up from the airport. He could not wait to see his cousin Oyuki once again after all these years.

“Maybe, she will not remember me. It has been quite a few years since she came to visit us. I know we were just kids, to be exact, I was fifteen years old, and she was twenty-five years old. What if she does not remember me? What am I supposed to do?” Haru asked in the most worrisome voice.

“Haru! Haru! Over here!” Haru turned around to see who was calling him. Oyuki shouted in excitement. “Haru, we made it.” Oyuki said in a joyful voice as she reached to hug her cousin. “Oh Haru, how much I missed you and I have so much to tell you. Come take us home so I can change from these clothes.”

“You remember me still, cousin?” Haru asked in a relieved tone.

“Why would I not remember my own cousin?” As Oyuki giggled and started to walk out of the airport and to the car.

“Mhmm… that is my same old cousin. She has not changed a bit all these years.” Haru told himself as he smiled and walked behind Oyuki.

On the way to the house Oyuki started to hear a voice saying “You have arrived, I have been waiting for your arrival for so long. Come. Come find me and rescue me. I need your help.” The manly voice said as it faded away. “Haru, did you hear that? Did you hear what the man was saying? Haru, where was that voice coming from?” Oyuki asked in a startled voice.

“What voice, Oyuki? What are you talking about? I do not hear anything.” Haru said in a panicked voice. “What is going on Oyuki?”

“Haru please tell me you heard it too? Please tell me I am not crazy.” Oyuki asked as she started to cry.

“Hold on cousin let me pull over I will go to the back with you. Everything is ok.” Haru said as he parked and went to the back where Oyuki was sitting and hugged her. “Oyuki, what is going on? What is happening? Tell me cousin, how can I help you?”

“Haru, I do not know where to start, but it has started again” As Oyuki buried her face into Haru's shoulder, sobbing.. “I do not know what to do or what it wants but I hear him more often and I have more visions than before. Visions I do not know what they mean. Visions that have been hunting me for so many years. It has gotten stronger ever since I landed here.” Oyuki explained in fear.

“Oyuki, I want to understand but I do not know what is going on. Do your parents know about this or am I the only one that you have told about this?” Haru asked in a worried tone.

“I have tried telling my parents about this for years, but they do not want to listen nor understand what I am trying to say. I just feel I am going crazy, and I do not have a way out if I do not do what he’s requesting.” Oyuki said in a desperate tone.

“Oyuki, what have you done?” Haru asked.

 “I have not done anything yet. But I will soon. Haru, I have been having dreams of this dead person, asking for my help. He wants me to help him so he can rest in peace and in return he has promised to give me an enormous treasure. I do not care about the treasure; I just want him to leave me alone so I can have a peace of mind but at the same time I am intrigued about finding out the history of that man and to see if that treasure is real. I guess this man lives here because he said that I had arrived already.” Oyuki said in a worried tone.

“Oyuki…You said a dead man and treasure? What else have you seen?” Haru asked in a shocked voice.

“I see trees, land, bones, and signs. But what most intrigues me and calls me the most are the three trees that make a triangle in the middle where I am supposed to go and dig until I find his bones and then the treasure would be underneath. I also remember him saying, “Only someone with a pure heart and honest intentions will be able to receive the treasure. If someone with a malicious heart and wicked intensions find the treasure horrible things will happen to them and their descendants to come.” Oyuki explained.

“Gasp… Oyuki, are you listening to what you are saying?” Haru asked.

“What, Haru? I am trying to understand this. Oyuki said.

“This is the legend of the great knight that was killed many years ago while he was guarding their bank. Remember our great grandfather would tell us?” Haru explained in a shocked tone. “Do you not see Oyuki that this knight has chosen you to obtain the treasure he has been guarding for so long, all you have to do is grant his last wishes so he can cross over and rest in peace for once and for all?” Haru kept explaining. As Oyuki grew frightened by what she was hearing.

 “But why me? I am the least pure hearted person in my opinion. And I have done so many bad things in my life, so I do not think I have honest intentions. If this is true and the dead man that I have been dreaming of and have been talking to me is the great knight than I do not want to be part of anything of this. I do not want to die this young or carry a curse in life. This is a burden that can turn into a blessing or a curse if you do not follow instructions correctly. This is insane Haru! We are not going to do anything the great knight is requesting. We do not even know if this legend is real! Moreso, do you believe there is a treasure buried who knows where in this town?” Oyuki exclaimed.

“I do not know if this is true or not Oyuki. But what I do know is if we do not search for the truth how would we know if this legend is real or not? Maybe there is a treasure like the prophecy has been saying and how all this town knows about or maybe is just a legend and there is no treasure at all. We have nothing to lose but a lot to gain. Let’s help the great knight Oyuki, let’s help him cross and give him that mass he have been asking for decades and bury his bones in the cemetery in a pretty casket as the legend says. What do you say cousin?” Haru asked in an eager tone of voice.

”I do not know cousin. I want to say yes but I fear the worse.” Oyuki said. “Haru, hypothetically let’s say I say yes, to all this. Where are we going to start searching? Plus we don’t have the proper tools to find a treasure. I feel like we are about to become pirates in search for a treasure and something beyond our belief. Tell me Haru, what do we need to do or go to start this mission?” Oyuki asked as she chuckled in disbelief.

”We can start by going with grand parents and listening to the story once again and picking up clues of where the treasure maybe be.” Haru explained. “Are you in, chosen one? Haru asked with a stern tone of voice and a firmed stared toward Oyuki.

Oyuki’s and Haru’s lives will never be the same. What they are about to experience, find, and see will change their lives and descendants forever…..