Inside what can be identified as a guest room is a group consisting of two humans and a spirit.
One is a young man, has bright blonde hair, a pair of beautiful blue eyes, and wears Onmyōji clothing. He takes a seat at one side of the table, while drinking a cup of tea.
The second person is a lady with a stoic expression, her long black hair is tied up in a complicated hairstyle, she has brown eyes and wears priestess clothing. She too stands at the side of the table, though she has nothing to drink.
"In the end the old man knew the same thing as that boy, well they were father and son. Saya, don't you have any idea about this?"
Speaking in a carefree manner, the young man, who is obviously Asahiko, behaves as if he were in his own home. On the other hand, Saya, who is the spirit of Clouded Fang, listens to his words and closes her eyes.
"I have never heard of such a thing as sakura practitioners... Although I have heard of the purifying abilities of sakura trees. But she must know more about this subject."
Braiding his long silver beard as he delivers his opinion, Saya the spirit, pauses for a few moments and hands the floor to Kikyo.
"Sakura trees have never had the ability to purify, but their materials are perfect catalysts for priestesses."
Without changing her expression, Kikyo briefly narrates what she knows about the matter at hand.
"So it's about a group of spiritual humans?"
"Very unlikely. Humans with spiritual power are few, while those born with great power..."
Cutting off her words and leaving the air heavy with expectation, Kikyo looks towards Saya for him to explain further.
"Humans with great spiritual power are the first to be killed by demons, either because of their future danger or because devouring them counts for dozens of normal people."
"Maybe they don't have to be naturally strong, they just have to have a little energy and the shard will do everything else."
Asahiko seemed to understand why Kikyo let Saya finish the explanation, but without showing any weirdness, she continued with another line of thoughts.
"Not likely... From what we were told there were about five people and they all participated in bringing down the so-called holy tree."
"You're right, we barely managed to take a few during our travels, plus the competition is fierce for each of the fragments."
Both seem to fall into deep reflection, causing them both to become quiet and still. Luckily that state doesn't last long, as Saya states the obvious.
"All will be revealed when we go to that place, they shouldn't be wasting their time here."
"Umm... Umm. Ahhhhhh! Damn, you're absolutely right!"
Shouting suddenly and rubbing her blonde hair messily, Asahiko stands up from her relaxed position, then finishes her tea in one sip.
"Let's get out of here."
"Right."
...Christopher/Asahiko pov...
Just as we enter the village, we leave the village, that is to say quickly and efficiently. By the way, I noticed that Kikyo has been hiding something from me, more exactly what was inside that shrine.
I'm sure it's because it's something interesting, cof, cof... Important... Hehehehe. Leaving that aside, we move again on a dirt road, although now we have horses.
Yes, we have borrowed them and with no time to return them. Well nobody cares about those little details.
"Shall we comb the area?"
Shaking the reins with a small movement, the horse below me, approaches in a weak trot up to Kikyo's.
"I need more information to confirm something."
"Oh~, would it be about what you found inside that shrine?"
It's not a question, it's a fact and her actions have confirmed it to me. He said, Kikyo not talking about a matter with how cold and stoic she is... It can only be something that reminds her of the past or something.
"Yeah, it's about that."
"You're just going to accept it just like that, without any secrecy or anything."
Looking at Kikyo with a "I'm serious, you're not going to deny it" look, I continue to move forward beside her as she seems ready to respond.
"No need."
"You mean you trust me~"
"[...] If I try to keep the secret, you'll become more incessant. Better nip it in the bud"
"Ahh! It hurts, it burns, I'm dying!"
I had noticed her moments of contemplation and I feel proud, if it was earlier I'm sure she wouldn't have even answered me.
But that doesn't stop me from making a scene in the middle of the road, you know, if you start it you finish it... Although that only applies when I have to annoy others.
...Some time later...
After a rather large detour that even made us march through a forest, as there was no direct road there, in the night we arrived at the place in question.
It was a rather small village, something normal for this time, I guess, although that wasn't important, since there's the same thing here as in the previous one... That damn stale smell!
"Let's make this quick... Otherwise I'm going to die!"
Scrunching my nose and avoiding smelling that disgusting smell, by the way it didn't work, I saw Kikyo's brown eyes and pointed towards a specific direction.
The difference with the previous one is that this shrine is right in the middle of the village, but it's built in the same way and materials.
"I'm going to start."
"Wait, aren't they going to get up and everything?"
"Here it comes."
Watching as Kikyo removes the seal from the shrine without caring about anything else, I can only place a smile of surrender and grab my fan.
Just like before what comes out from inside the shrine is a rancid black mist, though it quickly transforms into a creature, well maybe calling it a creature is wrong.
"Will he have a carrot?"
"Just finish him off..."
Hearing Kikyo's discomfort was unbelievable, I even thought I heard a "Please" under my breath, well I'm pretty uncomfortable with this thing too.
The thing in front of our eyes that is the protector of the shrine, it is a sumo wrestler. It wouldn't be correct to call it that, as its head is missing, its muscles are huge, it has long black nails and strange grunts come out of its severed neck.
"Moon shape:Crescent gibbous."
With a fanning motion I easily dispatched the hideous creature, obviously I restrained myself from raising the surrounding villagers, but it was still enough to make it burn to ashes.
"Job completed! Now then, what's in there?"
"Something nasty."
It was a surprise to have Kikyo respond to me like that, normally she keeps a cool and stoic expression at all times, though now her frown was clearly furrowed.
"You're right... Very unpleasant."
It is a dirty and shoddy glass container, well more accurately a small jar capped by a wooden cork. What was really important was not that, but what was inside.
It was a dark red liquid with strange things floating inside, the former was blood, while the latter were fingernails that you can see traces of flesh on them.