Miko followed the directions of the tanuki. She had pointed her towards the city center, which was far away. She wanted to leave a note at Tashi's place first, saying she would be out for the day, and would not be comming back for the night. She started walking by foot, to save coins, which could be used for meals. She still had half her pay left, which was about fifty silver. When she arrived, it was already at dusk. Usually at this time, she would cultivate for awhile too, absorbing the evening qi. However, there was no safe spot to do, as everywhere was crowded with humans. Thus, she decided to skip for the day, and headed into the library. Of course, they were many libraries and bookshops in the previous town, but they usually didn't contain historical records. Even if they did, they were extremely vague, at least according to the tanuki. As she entered, a young man in his thirties immediately greeted her. Assuming he was a librarian, Miko asked to go to the section where there was historical records. She followed the man's lead, and arrived to the corner of the building. The man bowed his head politely before leaving. Of all the books here, the history section dosen't even take up a whole shelf! There were just simply a few books, though thick, nothing more. She gestured for another librarian to come over.
"Why are there so little history books?" Miko asked.
"Well... that may be because history books don't sell well since nobody like reading it, so there are very few authors willing to write them." The librarian answered. Before Miko could ask anything more, the librarian quickly hurried away. Strange...
Miko gathered all of them and settled down on a comfortable, woven couch nearest to that shelf, although still quite a distance. Due to how little there were, she was able to carry everything over and settle them in a thick pile. She picked up the first one that was tittled: Historical events in the past thousand years. She read for awhile and barely got halfway, when she realised it was probably useless. Still, she convinced herself that there might have been something crucial in the second half, which was obviously, wrong. It was entirely useless. Just as she was about to give up and pick up her second book, a librarian walked over.
"Sorry darling, but the library is closing. Its already nine, maybe you should head home." she gently adviced. Miko looked up at her and then the window. It was already nightime! She thanked the librarian and went on her way. Then, she suddenly remembered something important. She had no place to stay! As she exited the building, she thought of staying in an inn for awhile. However when she asked the manager, places around the city center were about seventy silver coins per night cheapest! Miko didn't even have that amount on her, so she had to refuse the tempting thought of staying in. She headed to the back and knelt down. She couldn't stay out much longer either. Dark clouds were covering the bright, silver moon. A loud rumbling could be heared in the distance. It was obvious the whole city was going to be drenched soon. As Miko knelt down, something caught her eye. It was a small pebble, angled just correctly such that the remaining moonlight shining through was reflecting off it. An idea sprout into her head, same as the past. If she couldn't pay her way through, she was going to have to trick. Using the silver coins she had on her as reference, Miko performed a series of actions again with her hands and fingers, shooting a ray of light onto the pebble. The pebble glowed, and when the light subsided, a beautiful, gleaming silver coin appeared! Miko repeated this process several times, but on a bigger quantity of stones, which in turned produced more coins. She made a surplus of them, in case she needed more. She mixed them in with her current bag of coins. Now, even she was confused on which were the real ones. Great! If even she could fool herself, no one would be able to tell either.
Miko headed into the inn, this time presenting it to the inn keeper. Surprised at where she got the money, the inn keeper questioned her. It was suspicious how someone could churn out money just like that.
"Oh, I am visiting a friend. Their home had no space so I am staying here. I got some money from them," Miko smilled. Seeing a beauty explaining things to him so innocently, he naturally belived her. He gave her a room upstairs, and took the amount of coins needed as payment.
Miko headed upstairs, reached the room and shut the door behind her. She wasn't sure how long the coin illusion might last. When she was stronger, her illusion could last longer, up to a week. Now, she was unsure. She changed into a kimono she just bought earlier, after trying for some time to open her space. Usually, this type of magic could only be learnt at the foundation building stage. However, since she still had the proper knowledge how to do it, it was just a little more challenging. Okay, alot more challenging. She headed into the bathroom to take a bath and relax before sleeping. The moment the hot water touched her bare skin, Miko instantly felt relieved. Of course, this bath was not as good as the ones in the village, which was imbued with spiritual energy, but it was decent enough if it was made by humans.
When Miko was done, she exited the bath, quickly dressing herself in some clothes she bought. She took a matchstick and lit up the oil lamp, the flames dancing and flickering in front of her face while illuminating the area. She took it to the windowsill, where she sat next to it, admiring the stars in the sky. They were twinkling in delight as they hung in the sky. A meteor shot by, burning bright white in colour while leaving a trail of blue behind it.
"Shooting stars..." Miko mumbled. She couldn't remember the last time she saw such a thing. It was beautiful.
"Then do I get to make a wish?" She mumbled again, this time with a sadder tone, with lesser curiosity in her voice. She looked intently at the flying star, her eyes not leaving it for even a second. She could feel her eyes getting hot, her throat tightening as a lump began to surface there. Unable to keep her full human form any further, she transformed into a half fox. Huge, pale pink ears popped up on her head, while her human ears dissapeared. Near the base of her spine, a long, fluffy tail appeared, swishing from left to right. Her disguised, brown eyes changed back to a bright pink, reflecting the light of the stars. Even though they were a hot pink colour and very bright, they still looked dull. A tear slid down her cheek and dripped into the lamp, as her lips parted to wish,"Takei, On this shooting star tonight, I wish that I would see you again, and live to rest of my life with you, even if its impossible. Even so, when you die and reincarnate again, I will use the few remaing hundred years I have to look for you, where we will then grow old and die together... I want to enjoy the company of being a human, and spend the rest of our remaining days together, till death do us part..."