Bright sunlight streams through the windows, bathing the room in a beautiful golden hue and warming the inhabitants of the room with its embrace.
In the small room that is rather plain in decor, furniture or appearance, two people are sleeping.
One was Asahiko, who already seems used to sleeping on the floor from doing it so much. The other person was obviously Kikyo, who rested on a futon in the middle of the room.
"Ughh, I'm already cramped from waiting, are you going to get up or not?"
Opening his blue eyes and throwing a look of annoyance at Kikyo, the young man shuffles across the floor, half dizzily getting up and fixing his blonde hair in an instant.
"Well, I'll wait for you downstairs~"
Speaking with a smile on his face as he notices Kikyo's small reaction, he quickly fixes his clothes and then Asahiko quietly walks out the door.
"What... What happened?"
Holding her hand over her face and covering her eyes with her palm, Kikyo lets out a soft, indifferent voice, but there are faint traces of emotions in there.
...Christopher/Asahiko pov....
"Have you enjoyed your stay?"
Relaxing my body on the simple local bench, I turn my face and see the owner of the establishment. He's a rather old man even has gray hair or two.
"It was a perfect night, besides the food has nothing to envy to those of the big cities."
"Hahaha, it fills me with pride that you think so, but it's all thanks to the temple and the head priestess."
Now I understand why delivering compliments is an ancient art, no one and nothing can remain static in the face of good compliments.
"On our way here, we have seen the miracles that the priestess has been doing, she is clearly an amazing person."
"More than incredible, she is our savior. Not long ago, the surrounding land had lost all its life and farming was impossible."
Taking a seat right in front of me, the old man waves his hand and a young waitress brings us a couple of glasses of green tea.
"Thank you."
"For nothing, very few want to listen to the ravings of this old man. As he was speaking, the land was barren as dead land, in those moments came the temple from the hands of the monk Kazuya."
Pronouncing Kazuya's name, the old man's eyes seem to glow in fanaticism, before speaking normally again.
"Kazuya was a great man, even this couples festival was organized by him at one time. He later passed away, but he got the honor of having his body buried on the temple grounds."
"Yes Mr. Kazuya has passed away, who is in charge of the festival now?"
"The head priestess, Miss Yaeko. Everything follows her orders inside the temple."
Placing a cordial smile, I watch as she turns her face and I do the same, causing my eyes to fix on Kikyo. She is wearing a white yukata, it has sakura flowers printed on it and together with her black hair, it makes her stand out.
She seems to have finally deigned to stop pretending to be asleep, although it was quite interesting to see her act like this, when she always says she doesn't need to and is just resting to assimilate the new souls.
"Well I'm leaving you, I don't want to get in the middle of your breakfast."
"Sure, see you later."
Waving a hand at the departing old man with a knowing smile, I signal with my eyes to Kikyo, for her to take a seat.
Adjusting her posture in front of me, Kikyo waves her hand as if she's pushing away a mosquito and an energy tries to surround us, though it stopped when I grabbed her hand.
"There are too many mosquitoes, pushing one away will only attract the attention of a few more."
"All of them?"
"Almost, at least two out of three."
Kikyo quickly catches the hint I send her about the situation, basically and in a nutshell, we are well surrounded.
Everything here is infected with Eien's seeds, the food, every drink, those beautiful sakura leaves, the people walking down the street... Everything is infected!...!.
"Let's leave this topic aside, now there is something more important, what place are we going to visit now!"
"Which one is it going to be?"
"Well, if you're going to give me a say... The fertility temple is a good choice."
Ignoring the smile of the old man behind the bar, I finished drinking the green tea that was still left in my glass, then got up and started to leave.
"We're leaving dear~"
"You're going to go through with it."
"Of course I am, we're only going for one day and you've shattered my heart twice. Once for once, seems like a fair deal to me."
...Some time later...
The so-called temple of fertility, is located on the outskirts of the village, more exactly among the once barren farmland.
"Before you ask, it's necessary and it's not just to enjoy the moment."
"I understand, then."
"No, I don't plan to let you go. Look at the surroundings."
Pointing to the surroundings, Kikyo turns her face towards the sakura trees on the side of the road, before nodding and silently playing along with me.
"With that said and so you don't get mad later, I'm going to tell you what I've learned thanks to our walk. The one who presides over the fertility blessing for couples is Yaeko."
"Yaeko?"
"Yes, Yaeko is the head priestess and the one who presides over this blessing in honor of the former monk Kazuya. Although I still don't understand why to give so much importance to couples."
I've noticed it the last day, well it's hard not to notice, but the whole town is full of couples, plus they seem to be attracting them, either with the festival or other more subtle measures.
"Sakimitama... He must be after that."
"Explanation for the poor uneducated man standing here next to you."
"Sakimitama (Love)... It is one of the four forces that make up the pearl of shikon, along with Aramitama (Courage), Nigimitama (Friendship) and Kushimitama (Wisdom)"
Luckily he had given an explanation besides just blurting out the name, because who understands that Sakimitama or Aramitama, the closest thing I've heard is something that goes from the Buddhist religion.
"So it goes after the love of these couples, wow what a sad creature the truth. Sorry, just kidding."
Laughing worriedly at Kikyo's prickly look, he tried to raise his hands, though one was clutching Kikyo's arm, so I could only give up.
"Let's move on from that slip up, the important thing is if this is of any use, can it make the pearl better or something?"
"No, but positive emotions can purify it and negative emotions can taint it, making it work better for humans or yokais."
"Wait, wait, wait!"
Slipping out of the grip of her arm, as at some point it wasn't me forcing her, but the two of us were doing it on our own.
I run a few steps in front of her, raise my head proudly, point my finger at her and speak with a smile on my face.
"I noticed that my fragments are a light pink, even more than yours you could say. Doesn't it mean that I am a soul full of Courage, Love, Friendship and Wisdom?"
"It's broken, completely broken."
"What kind of answer is that! Hey, wait for me, don't go!"
Turning on myself, I started to follow Kikyo who had already left me behind.