You can be the most powerful witch in the land, but you will always have a weakness, and that will always make you believe you have no power when someone exploits it. There is no greater strength than the ability to understand and accept your own flaws.

It is not in my nature to be interested in the living.But there are many things, I have found, that defy nature.

Funerals seem less about comforting the souls of these dearly departed than aboutcomforting the people they leave behind.

There is a thrill in relishing the suffering of strangers, and they hide their interest with worried faces.

The air changes. Then that invisible spider crawls up my spine, tickling the hairs behind my neck. I have come to know this spider these last couple of years. It whispers there’s something else in the room, breathing with you, watching you, grinning at you.I hate that damn spider.

Even then I found the word fitting, soothing.Fireflies.Fire flies.Fire, fly.

Dad says there are more than three thousand letters in the Japanese alphabet, which could pose a problem. There are only twenty-six letters in the English alphabet, and I get into enough trouble with them as it is.

Dinner that night is a feast of flavor. To celebrate the successful exorcism, Kagura has cooked several more dishes than the shrine's usual, simple fare- fragrant onigiri, balls of rice soaked in green tea, with umeboshi- salty and pickled plums- as filling. There is eggplant simmered in clear soup, green beans in sesame sause, and burdock in sweet-and-sour dressing. The mood is festive.

Then perhaps we should carve a world one day where the strength lies in who you are, rather than in what they expect you to be.

There are so many other fun ways to dishonor the family name that buying girls’ underwear shouldn’t be one of them.