She's actually getting this information from a man ankle-deep in the water of the rice paddies, behind a plow attached to an ox. Kaede is holding the hand of a kid on each side, because those little bastards sure like clinging to her split skirt.The man says that immediately after Inuyasha and Kagome returned, they rushed off to that bone-eating well again. Kaede twists to cast an exasperated look behind her, which I assume is the direction of said well.
Cut to the forest, where someone is shouting at Kagome to fucking wait, and I bet I know who is is. Inuyasha (called it) yells that she won't get away as he chases her bike. She pedals hard, but shouts back behind her that she'll be back soon, just like she told him. He jumps over and in front of her right as she reaches the well and asks her won't she PLEASE think of the Shikon no Tama. She tells him to move out of her way, because she has exams the next day.
She tries to explain to him that she's a third-year in middle school and she has high school entrance exams coming up, but at this rate her attendance won't be good enough. He's not really listening.
Before Kagome makes the jump, she tells Inuyasha she'll be back in three days, and not to come after her. Then she leaps with her huge backpack and everything. And leaving Inuyasha with his face in the mud once more.
Back in Tokyo, more specifically in the well house on the other side, Souta is asking if the prayer his grandfather is doing will really work. Grandpa says it's an authentic prayer that's been handed down through the generations, so of course it will work! Authentic prayers ALWAYS work, don't you know? While he sits on the steps up to the door and watches Grandpa burn paper charms in full priest regalia, he points out that Grandpa has been praying for three days straight with no discernible success. Grandpa just keeps chanting over the well that Kagome will come back.
Kagome DOES happen to arrive at this time, and looks up in confusion when she sees the ashes of the paper charms raining down from above. Grandpa grabs a bucket sitting next to him, saying it's time for the ceremonial wine.
In a taxi zooming through the metropolis, the driver asks their passenger if they're heading to the Higurashi Shrine for an early morning exorcism. The passenger, a woman carrying a box in her lap, says that's correct. A relative passed away, and she inherited a creepy mask that was never allowed out of the house before. The driver asks about the mask, and the woman tells him that it's a mask they say can only be removed in death, which is why it's known as "The Adhering Mask". This is all exposited over a picture of a woman wearing kimono in a storage house trying to take off the mask unsuccessfully. The driver is totally right when he says that sounds a bit scary.
The woman goes on, telling him that it was supposed to have been made in the Sengoku Jidai and people say it can't be destroyed by even fire. The backdrop this time is a man on horseback in Japanese armor riding through some fire.
She looks down at the box in her hands and says that the thing is just so creepy. Then she hears some scratching noises from within it that have her staring.
Up at the actual property, Kagome's mom calls to Kagome that her uniform is dry and Kagome thanks her. Had to wash all that wine off it, clearly. As she and Souta are going down the steps on their way to school, Souta asks Kagome if she didn't bring the dog-guy with her. She tells him that it was hard enough ditching him. Dog-guys, amirite? High-five, girl!
They see something at the bottom of the stairs that makes them pause. The woman is standing there, box uncovered and opened at her feet, and broken glasses lying right beside it. Souta supposes she's a customer while her hair blows across her face.
As they pass the woman with a wide berth, Souta says she's kind of creepy. Kagome shushes him, telling him not to be rude, but she can't help but think that the woman's face reminds her of a Noh mask, and the scars aren't very flattering either.
At least she's not vomiting pea soup all over you.
Wind blows back the woman's hair as Kagome takes a discrete look behind her and she doesn't see the edge of a mask, so Kagome concludes that it IS in fact her real face. The woman turns and walks away, swaying a little. Kagome has to be urged along by Souta, because she had paused to stare. You're one to tell Souta not to be rude, Kagome. Sheesh. Kagome feels a little weird, but she assumes that there aren't any demons around, so she allows herself to be led away by Souta. The woman twists to look back at Kagome's retreat.
At school, Kagome runs up to her friends and they're surprised to see her, asking if it's really okay for her to come back to school right now. Kagome's confused, so one of her friends explains that when they called to see why she's been absent so much, they heard a range of excuses from a hurt back to being in the hospital being tested for diabetes. Kagome hangs her head to hide her irritated expression as she imagines her grandfather on the phone making up those things. She wonders if he couldn't have come up with some better lies. Maybe ones that aren't so evocative of the health problems that come with AGE.
A boy on a bike rolls on up and asks Kagome if she's feeling any better. Her friends gush about him being Houjou from Class B, but Kagome doesn't look so much excited as bewildered. He says it must be really hard for her to have gout at such a young age, and Kagome has to hide another exasperated look as she mumbles that gout isn't it. Seriously, everyone should have suspected that Grandpa Higurashi was using his own experiences as a base to lie through his teeth at the mention of fucking GOUT. Houjou says he knows he can't do much to help, but he hands her a package that she unwraps to find contain a pair of sandals. He says they're for her health and she should wear them as he rides off. Kagome seems genuinely perplexed.
Her girlfriends surround her like a pack of wolves, interrogating her about whether or not she's dating Houjou. Kagome tells these assuming assholes that she doesn't have time for that nonsense. One of them says that it's obvious Houjou is into Kagome, while another says this is quite the shocking information. Why? Because a guy is interested in Kagome? You're a shitty friend, Barrette-Girl.
Yes, I realize I could use the name the anime gave her, but since she's pissing me off and I'm not reviewing the ANIME here...
In the classroom, Kagome is STILL being harassed by these douchebags. Short-Hair-Girl asks if Kagome isn't interested in Houjou at all, and as Kagome tries to protest being put on the spot like this, Headband-Girl asks if it could be that she actually already has a boyfriend. Actually, Headband-Girl starts the question and Barrette-Girl finishes it, like they're movie-twins or something. The point is that they're all completely interchangeable and don't matter in the long run.
Anyway, Kagome says that she is ABSOLUTELY NOT dating someone else, thank you very much. Geez, defensive much, Kagome? Short-Hair-Girl leans invasively on Kagome's desk, asking if she REAAAAALLY doesn't have a boyfriend and Headband-Girl does the same, asking what Kagome's type would be if she did have one. Guys, is it really so hard to believe that Kagome just isn't interested in dating right now, or what?
Exasperated, Kagome leans her head on the heel of her hand and says she doesn't know. Then, in complete opposition to that statement starts listing off all the qualities she WOULDN'T want: selfish, violent, malicious. She WOULD want someone kind and obedient, though, so that's something. Nothing like having someone who will be at your beck and call, right?? She has her fingers laced in front of her chest like she's praying when she thinks that this description is someone the exact opposite of Inuyasha. He scoffs, even in her head.
Meanwhile, back in the village...
We return to Tokyo again, at nighttime when Kagome is seated at her desk hunched over a workbook and claiming that her body can't take much more of this before she ACTUALLY gets sick. At least your grandfather won't be lying this time, eh? Kagome places a finger on the stoppered bottle holding their only two fragments of the Shikon no Tama so far and wonders just how long this will go on. I'd say about ten to twelve years, kiddo.
Kagome starts to daydream and sigh, but then snaps herself out of it when she reminds herself that her math test is tomorrow and that's certainly not her best subject. Soon she's napping at her desk though, like the crappy math-student she is.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? These early interactions between Inuyasha and Kagome are great because they're still in that stage of denial of wanting to be around each other. I wouldn't say that they're full-on in love yet, but they definitely feel a bit more comfortable interacting with each other and being around one another than they would like to admit. Their chemistry is really clear; working together in their high-stress job is making them dependent upon one another really fast.
Inuyasha has become so used to Kagome being around that he's trying to prevent her from going home, and in an especially dramatic way. I'm not talking drama in the sense of mourning her absence, I'm talking in the sense of a toddler throwing a fit. He's trying to keep her attention on him and whatever HE wants, and because he's not all that great at expressing himself, he's just doing so in a way that he knows will work - irritating the HELL out of her. It also helps that he clearly finds getting her riled up is amusing, judging by that stupid grin on his face while he was holding that boulder over the well.
Kagome, on the other hand, is a more subtle kind of immature in regard to Inuyasha. She will deny she wants anything whatsoever to do with him, but he IS always on her mind. So much so that she's using him as a base to decide what she would want in a boyfriend. Granted, she lists qualities that are the opposite of Inuyasha's, but he still pops into her head first and foremost as a fundamental example of a boy.
The horror elements of this chapter were spot on, but they were put on hold for the scene at the school where Kagome is being interrogated by her friends. Yes, I DID like that the characters got to have this conversation to start indicating the way in which Kagome thinks about Inuyasha at this stage, but it ended up bringing the main plot of the chapter to a screeching halt. I wonder if that scene couldn't have been delayed until an arc came around that could better hold it, or been altered in some way to incorporate Kagome's thoughts on the weird woman. Besides, there's an entire day there in between when the woman was possessed by the mask and when her head showed up in Kagome's window.
What has it been doing this whole time?
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