Ijin: An outsider who may have displayed signs of psychic powers that may result in them being either worshipped or feared; often both. An early edo term when Japan's villages were close-knit communities and outsiders rarely showed up. Most people who were deemed Ijin are often wanderers.
Mai Taniyama lived near the outskirts of Edo city under the care of a retired Samurai, who taught the local children as well as Mai. Although most of the neighbours doubted the use of teaching a girl how to read, write and do math instead of teaching her household chores , Sensei or Jii-chan, as Mai liked to fondly call him, believed that the education would certainly help Mai, even if he cannot provide for her as securely as he would have liked to. He believed that Mai would eventually learn the ways around the house but the extra skills would just set her apart if she found the right place for her.
Growing up Mai had two friends, Kanzaki Keiko and Haruna Michiru with whom she shared an interest of the paranormal. The three of them would religiously set up camp in an abandoned barn that was owned by Michiru's parents, to share ghost stories with each other. They each would bring a lamp and when one of them finished telling a story they would extinguish their lamp. Once the last lamp had been put out they would count, "Ich...Nii...San..." and then they would wait and see if a ghost would continue with "Shii..."
Most of the time they would hear nothing but the crickets and the wind and both Keiko and Haruna would relight their lamps and go to bed. Mai would follow but would occasionally turn back and sometimes she would tell herself how stupid she is for feeling disappointed that no ghosts appeared. On one of these nights the three girls did the exact same thing as they did the other nights, however, this night was different. As they were counting a deep male voice continued, "Shii..."
The three girls paused, wondering if they had heard correctly, before clutching each other in fear of actually summoning a ghost. Suddenly the room was lit up by a relatively large lantern, which illuminated the tall figure of a handsome teen standing in the doorway. He had black hair and unusually deep blue eyes. His mouth cracked a smile, which Mai noticed didn't reach his eyes.
"I'm sorry." He spoke without any accent. "I didn't mean to scare you. Do you mind if I join?"