Chapter 15 – 15. Yokai (2)
Leaving behind that unpleasant feeling, I arrived at the shrine.
Yes, the shrine.
But as soon as I got there, I couldn’t help but notice something strange.
The weather around the shrine felt chilly, like it was autumn.
Just moments ago, it had been so hot I felt like I was losing my mind.
I wasn’t stupid enough to chalk this up to just a feeling.
‘There’s something here.’
Something here was making the weather strange. That was my conclusion.
Perhaps that was why. The senses in my body, which hadn’t been working properly for the past few years, began to awaken.
My hearing became more sensitive to the surrounding sounds.
My sense of smell picked up the scent of blood, not just the smell of grass.
My vision expanded to see more, sending more information to my brain.
With my senses sharpening, I prepared to defend myself from predators like a hedgehog, ready to raise my quills the moment one approached.
I remained on high alert, scanning my surroundings for a while.
‘There’s nothing here.’
The information gathered by my heightened senses told me that no one was here.
No matter how many times I reviewed the information, the answer was the same.
There was no ‘enemy’ here.
Reaching that conclusion, I calmed my sharpened senses and let out a deep sigh.
“Right… what would be here anyway?”
I guess I was just overreacting because of what happened in the past.
Frankly, even if I found something strange, what could I do?
With this weak body, all I could do was report it to the police.
‘Get a grip, I’m not who I used to be.’
I was Takuya now, not the me from before the possession.
After scolding myself for a moment, I headed to the back of the shrine to eat with Misaki, who was waiting for me there.
And when I arrived at the back of the shrine, I was speechless at the sight before me.
Because, the ground behind the shrine was covered in a thick layer of snow.
I was stunned by this surreal scene for a moment.
“Miss. It seems like he’s not coming?”
“No, he said he would come for sure!”
I heard Misaki’s voice, along with another voice that seemed refined, coming from the veranda where there was no snow.
I turned my head to look at the veranda, and there were two people there.
One was Misaki, whom I had seen the day before yesterday, and the other was…
“Oh?”
Pale skin, a white yukata, long white straight hair.
“It seems that he really did come, just as you said, Miss.”
It was a woman with a truly inhuman appearance.
***
Have you ever heard of a Yuki-onna?
Anyone who watches anime or likes yokai probably knows about this yokai.
She’s a snow spirit or yokai often found in Japanese folklore, and she’s a common character in Japanese literature, manga, and anime whenever yokai appear.
So, why am I suddenly talking about this?
“It’s cold, so if you drink it right away, your head will throb.”
“Ah. Okay…”
Because the Yuki-onna was right in front of me.
I shivered from the intense cold emanating from the teacup the Yuki-onna had handed me.
I was bewildered by this confusing situation, but the person who had brought this yokai here didn’t seem to care at all.
“Try it. Yuki-unni’s tea is really delicious!”
No, she seemed completely oblivious.
I was so nervous I felt like I was going to die, but she didn’t seem to care at all.
I wanted to smack her on the head, but I desperately held back the urge and asked Misaki.
“Drink this when it’s a little lukewarm, and so, why did the Yuki-onna… I mean, why is she here?”
Misaki looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked.
“Well, because you didn’t seem to mind?”
I was about to smack her on the head for that, but thankfully, Misaki explained herself.
“W-well, that was a joke, actually. Today, the family is having a large-scale yokai extermination, so they took almost all the ghosts and yokai. I just brought one of the yokai who was assigned to be my escort.”
In other words, she just brought her because she was the only one left?
If that was the case, I could understand.
As I nodded in understanding, Misaki asked me.
“So, did you bring the lunch box?”
“Of course.”
I said that and took out two lunch boxes that I had bought to eat with Misaki.
“Two today?”
“Are you saying I should starve? Anyway, now that I have the lunch boxes, are we friends now?”
“Hehe. Okay! But, can we still be friends even if there’s a big age gap?”
“Friends are made with the heart, not age.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s how it is.”
Misaki and I chatted about trivial things while eating our lunch boxes.
Honestly, at first, I wondered what I would talk about with a kid, but surprisingly, we got along well.
The reason was simple.
‘She’s knowledgeable.’
Misaki was very knowledgeable, unlike her airhead or ditzy appearance.
Thanks to that, we could have comfortable conversations about topics that adults would be interested in, not just things that kids would care about.
I even slipped in some economic talk to lay some groundwork.
By the way, after we finished eating, I told Misaki that she was smart, and what she said was hilarious.
“Of course! The family members also call me a genius!”
It was true, but her confidence was so annoying that I wanted to smack her on the head, but I held back.
Anyway, after we finished lunch without any problems, I asked.
“Ah. Now that I think about it. I’m curious about something. Are there any other ghosts or yokai here besides the Yuki-onna?”
“Other yokai besides Yuki-unni? Hmm… there aren’t any for now, why?”
“No, I was just curious because I didn’t see any.”
I pretended to be nonchalant when I heard the answer, but inside, I was cheering.
Because seeing the Yuki-onna had made me want to try an experiment.
To do that, there couldn’t be any ghosts or yokai around, so it was a relief.
After that, Misaki and I had a normal conversation for a while. It was almost time to say goodbye.
“Ah. Oppa. I think I should go now…”
Around 2 PM, Misaki said to me with a sad face.
I smiled and told her that we could meet again at this time next time, and then I comforted her.
After comforting her for a moment.
I asked a question that I had wanted to ask earlier.
It was about how I could see the Yuki-onna.
“But, how was I able to see the Yuki-onna from the beginning?”
And to my question, Misaki answered as if it was obvious.
“Ah. That? Yuki-unni wasn’t born as a spirit, so she has a physical body.”
When I heard that, I almost said, “What the hell are you talking about, you weeb?” but I just pretended to understand, hearing that she just had a physical body unlike other ghosts.
Just as Misaki was about to call the Yuki-onna to leave the shrine.
I asked Misaki for a favor.
“Could I talk to the Yuki-onna for a bit? I have some personal questions about yokai.”
It was a request to be left alone with the yokai to talk.
Misaki said that I should just tell her if it was about yokai, but I said that it was personal and I wanted to talk separately.
Misaki made a “pffft” face, but she said that she would allow it since she was only escorting her to the car at the bottom of the stairs.
I grabbed Misaki’s arm and thanked her, and for some reason, her face turned very red when I held her hand, but anyway.
And so, I was left alone with the Yuki-onna at the shrine.
The Yuki-onna, who was sitting in front of me, asked with a questioning look.
“So, what do you need from me?”
“Ah, it’s nothing much.”
I said that and handed her ‘a certain bottle’ from my pocket.
“I would be grateful if you could drink this bottle.”
By the way, that certain bottle was, of course.
[Aphrodisiac].
That’s right. What I was curious about was whether this thing would have an effect on non-human beings like yokai.
And the perfect specimen to resolve this question was right in front of me.
“You want me to just drink this?”
“Yes. It’s nothing weird, I’m just curious what will happen if you drink it. Haha.”
“Hmm…”
The Yuki-onna looked suspicious at my words, but thankfully, Misaki had spoken well of me.
“Okay. It’s not a really weird medicine, right?”
“Of course (it’s definitely a weird medicine).”
The Yuki-onna willingly decided to drink the aphrodisiac I gave her.
-Gulp. Gulp. Gulp.
The Yuki-onna, who had downed the aphrodisiac in one shot, was confused about what effect it would have for a moment.
Then, her face started to turn red little by little.
“Ugh♥ W-what is this…♥”
Soon, she started writhing her body, her clothes became disheveled, and the Yuki-onna’s shapely legs, which had been hidden under her yukata, popped out.
Her voice also started to become flirtatious.
I watched the Yuki-onna becoming more and more lewd in real-time and thought.
This thing is even more amazing than I thought.
