I had a dream last night. I saw a creepy woman. She looked like a rotten corpse. She wore a torn-up flower-patterned red and white kimono, carrying two small sickles. Her hair was tied up in a bun, a small fan-like pin holding it in place. She was menacing. She crawled up from the ground, and she charges towards my direction, causing me to wake up.
I ignored what happened with the dream and continued my day.
At breakfast, I told Hanzo everything that happened. About how the hotel was for ghosts, and my encounter with Thanatos, and how he is asking me to help them at the hotel.
"I don't know, I think you should do it," Hanzo says after chewing his food. "I mean, I think you're their only salvation. They have been stuck in this realm for almost a decade, I think they deserve peace."
"I know, I know," I replied. "Everything is just too much to take in and hard to process. The other day, I was just a normal guy who used to see ghosts. Now, I can see ghosts again and this time, I am more involved."
"I get what you're saying. If I were you, I would also feel the same. I would do it because I don't want to suffer the same fate. Roaming around this world, waiting for help."
I nod. I guess he has a point. "Yeah, you're right."
I finished my breakfast and placed my plate in the sink. "I'll go there now. This thing might take long so I'll do it pretty early on so I can finish it early."
"Well, good luck!" He says as he smiles.
I smiled back, then walked out of our dorm.
****
I walked in the hotel, and instantly, Cerby ran towards me, his heads barked cutely at me. I rubbed his heads. "Aww, you're so cute when you're not trying to kill me!"
Cerby walked towards inside the hotel and I followed him. In the reception table, Thanatos sat there, sleeping. I approached the table and decided if I should wake him up or wait. Cerby walked to his feet and barked. Thanatos got up and stood properly."
"Oh, you're here!" Thanatos joyfully exclaimed. "So, have you decided to do it?"
"Yes," I answered straightforwardly with determination. "I will do it."
"Great." He said with a satisfied smile.
"Oh yeah," I called as I pulled out the pouch that Thanatos gave me yesterday. "I don't think
these are talismans."
"Hmm?" He took the pouch from my hands and grabbed one paper inside and saw that it was a paper doll. His eyes widened. "Crap, I gave you the Onmyodo Paper dolls."
The paper doll that he grabbed has a ribbon in it. It was the Kotengu that I sealed last night. "Huh? EH?!"
"Why, what's wrong?"
"You sealed a freaking Yokai?!"
I chuckled. "Oh, that."
He turned around the paper and read it. "Ko-ten-gu. You sealed a Kotengu? How? And how did
you know how to seal a Yokai in this paper doll?"
I explained to him everything that has happened last night. How the Kotengu just came inside our dorm and tried to kill us after we took its trinkets.
"I see, well, you did good! That is exactly how you would seal a Yokai! The purified salt burns their body, making them easier to touch. This is also the way they are expelled."
"Hmm? Expelled?"
"Yes. You see, not all Yokai wants to be a Shikigami and be sealed in a paper. There are some Yokai out there that does not give up easily. Some fight the sealing process to prevent them from being sealed. The purified salt not only helps you come in contact with a yokai, but it also helps the seal to take effect because it weakens them and they become more vulnerable, but sometimes, it doesn't work if the yokai has a lot of fight in them. To prevent them from spreading chaos, you must expel them using a talisman and they will be banished from this world temporarily."
"Temporarily?" I asked. "You mean they don't permanently disappear?"
"No." He replied. "But banishing them is good enough since it will take them more than a hundred years to return."
I was in awe. That is a long time. "I see, I see."
Thanatos held up the paper doll. "Not only you have sealed the Yokai, but you can also summon them by pulling this ribbon."
Thanatos gave me the paper doll. "Try to summon it."
"Eh?!" I exclaimed. "You do it! This thing tried to kill me last night!"
"I would, but I didn't seal that Yokai, and if I tried to summon it, it would throw fits and tantrums that would be hard to control."
I sighed. I pulled the ribbon. As soon after that, the ribbon flew in the air and it formed into the Kotengu. I slowly backed away, remembering what happened last night. But it just stood there and looked around the hotel. As it spots a couch, he approached it and sat there."He's pretty tame now huh," I said, slightly chuckling to myself.
"Since he's your Shikigami, you can seal him back in this paper."
"Huh? My Shikigami?"
"Yes! Like I said, every Yokai that you sealed will be YOUR shikigami." Thanatos gave me back the paper dolls. "Keep them. Some Yokai might be helpful to you as you help the ghosts around here. I guess you're also an onmyoji now."
Since I already accepted the job, I won't complain.
Thanatos gave me another bag. It's color red, this time. "Here's the talismans that I was supposed to give you yesterday." He laughed.
I laughed as well.