It was the third night of the hunt, and Kogasa had run out of places to hide.
She trembled under a large bush, her arms wrapped around her knees and her eyes squeezed shut, pretending not seeing others would make others not see her as well. She prayed that the sound of her thumping heart wouldn't give her away.
The sound of footsteps, like thunderclaps in Kogasa's ears, grew louder, then disappeared altogether. Shuddering, Kogasa finally dared to take a peek, and nearly yelped out after seeing just how close the shrine maiden was standing. Her survival instinct barely kicking in, and she pursed her lips as to not allow a single sound escape.
After the initial horror, she peered through the leaves once more, sighing in relief mentally when she realised the shrine maiden had her back turned. The shrine maiden's hair, the colour of fresh blades of grass, fluttered in the breeze, as did her detached sleeves, richly dyed with youkai blood that had seeped into the once snowy fabric.
Kogasa buried her chin in her knees. Why was this happening to her? Why had she chosen to leave the cemetery just in time to cross paths with this exterminating angel of a shrine maiden of all people? Why did things never work out for her? All her life, all she had wanted was a peaceful life, to surprise people like she was put on this earth to do. And yet, her life had been nothing but a string of insults and injuries, culminating in this disastrous moment: wet to the bone, heart in her throat, kneeling on the ground like a frightened child, all with her life hanging by the thread.
The shrine maiden twitched, and Kogasa felt an inexplicable urge to jump out of hiding and yell "Surprise!"
She didn't, her need for self-preservation saving her once more. Instead she tore her gaze away, letting it fall on her own hands. Her knuckles were white from the pressure she applied to the umbrella's handle. Why wouldn't the shrine maiden leave? Had she, by some hideous coincidence, decided to take a break from the hunt just in front of Kogasa's hiding spot? Had she already spotted Kogasa and was now just toying with her like a cat with a captured mouse?
She scrunched up her eyes again, no longer able to bear the sight of the dreadful world. There was nothing left for her save for what there had always been: prayer and hope. She clung to these two lifelines, reciting in her mind the names of every single deity she could remember, hoping against hope one of them would hear out her squeaky prayers and show mercy. She didn't want to die yet. Not before one successful surprise.
She heard a rustling sound and looked up despite herself, only to see the hem of a dark blue skirt. Looking up revealed the rest of the shrine maiden, holding a gohei in one hand and using the other to hold up one of thick branches of the bush. Her horrible, scalding gaze was fixed on Kogasa's face; her mouth was a firm line, its meaning unreadable. Kogasa's world froze.
"This is the end of the line."
As soon as those leaden words sunk through her skull into her petrified mind, Kogasa swallowed, knowing it really was the end. In a way, she was almost relieved; the constant pursuit had driven her beyond exhaustion, and while she feared death, she feared the continuation of the hunt almost as much.
Of course, she could fight back...make it a memorable last stand. But what was the point? There was no one around to go and spread the tale of her demise. She herself most certainly couldn't, and she doubted the green-haired shrine maiden in front of her would remember any of this for longer than a few days. Wasn't she nothing more but hapless prey to her? Heck, was she anything other than that to anyone?
"Well?" the shrine maiden said, her voice steely and void of emotion. Kogasa noted hazily the dark circles around her eyes. She wasn't the only one who hadn't been sleeping properly.
She did nothing to resist the iron grip that grabbed her by the collar and flung her on the wet grass none too gently, focusing her attention on clutching her umbrella. She lazily turned onto her back, her eyes still shut. Why bother trying? She had seen what had happened to those preceding her in this situation, friends and enemies, acquaintances and strangers alike: no matter how they had reacted, whether they had hissed and clawed at everything they could reach, struggled to escape, or laughed jovially, cracking jokes until the last moment, they had all gone down the same way. A small sigh came out of Kogasa. At least she wouldn't be alone wherever she was going.
She heard the shrine maiden crouch down next to her, felt a surprisingly light hand land on her shoulder to hold her in place. It tickled. Kogasa suppressed a giggle, overcome by a sudden mirth for how easy giving up was. No more hiding, no more struggling against sleep as tantalising as it was lethal, no more failures. It was only death, after all, nothing to fear about, she had yet to see the shrine maiden actually extinguish anyone's soul. Surely she'd cross the river, and while her virtues were few, so were her sins. She would survive, in one form or another.
Kogasa sighed feebly and made herself more comfortable, waiting for the final blow. Maybe next time, she'd be a little more successful: maybe next time, she'd be born as some powerful youkai no human could touch. Maybe next time, she'd actually be able to surprise someone.
A faint smile appeared on her lips despite herself. Oh yes, she would get another chance...and her current situation was kind of nice too, just lying down doing nothing...the grass was soft, and the wetness no longer bothered her. Maybe she should have given up earlier? Well, no point thinking about that. Better just stay still and let the shrine maiden exterminate her...speaking of which, the shrine maiden sure was taking her time, wasn't she? Kogasa had expected to be dead by now...
Just then, she heard the shrine maiden let out a long and profound sigh. She frowned and looked up, with a slight twinge of fear at the risk of witnessing the blow that would separate her soul from her body. Her assailant remained crouched down, and staring back down at her, her free arm limp against her body.
"Is something wrong?"
At Kogasa's question, a jolt ran through the shrine maiden's body, and she stared down at Kogasa as is she'd just seen a giant robot rise from the earth. Kogasa herself was no less affected, marvelling at what ever possessed her to speak up at a time such as this. Deep down, she also felt tickled at the look of pained surprise on the shrine maiden's face. If this was to be her final deed, it was one she could recount proudly in front of the enma.
After several long moments, the shrine maiden shook her head wildly. The pressure on Kogasa's shoulder increased.
"I can't just exterminate you when you're lying down waiting me to do it," she mumbled, so quietly Kogasa at first thought she was imagining it. There was an unexpected wretchedness to her tone, a note of despair that made her sound more like quarry than hunter.
"You want me to fight back?" Kogasa asked incredulously, cringing at how loud her voice sounded after the shrine maiden's whisper. "I'd really rather not."
Now it was the shrine maiden's turn to look incredulous. "Do you want to die?"
Kogasa shook her head. "I see no point in resisting the inevitable, that's all." She let her head fall back, tilting her chin upwards the reveal her throat. "You have no reason to spare me and are far stronger than me, so why bother?" She glimpsed at the arm pinning her down. "Add another coat of red to your clothes if you want, but I'm not going to make you feel better by struggling for no reason."
There was another bout of silence. Kogasa half expected the shrine maiden the shrug her shoulders and continue on with the extermination anyway when she heard her breathe out: "I don't want to exterminate you for no reason either."
Kogasa looked up, resisting another mad urge to laugh out loud. "All the more reason not to struggle." Distressing images sprung to her mind, memories of blood and despair. She wasn't the first to not struggle, she was sure of that. Bile rose to her throat.
"No offence, miss Kochiya," she bit, emboldened by her memories and the certainty of her doom, "but that never stopped you before."
No immediate retribution followed. The shrine maiden blinked at her owlishly, grasping for words. She averted her gaze. The pressure on Kogasa's shoulder disappeared. "Now it will. Go."
Kogasa's mouth fell open before she could catch herself. She stared at the shrine maiden, absolutely flabbergasted. "...What?"
"Go." The shrine maiden stood up gingerly, turning away. "You're safe. I won't come after you."
It had to be a trap. It had to be. How many corpses had the shrine maiden left behind during the last three days alone? Was she so enamoured by the chase she wanted it to continue, to allow Kogasa to remain at liberty only to be recaptured, to let her breathe a few precious breaths before tightening the grip around her neck for the final time?
"But why?" Kogasa heard herself asking, and her eyes widened as the shrine maiden visibly flinched at the words. "There will be other youkai to hunt. Just because I'm not running doesn't mean-"
"I don't want to hunt youkai!" the shrine maiden snapped, turning on her heels and facing Kogasa. Whatever response Kogasa had begun to compose in her mind vanished when she saw the shrine maiden was biting her lip.
"I don't want to exterminate you," the shrine maiden continued when no response was forthcoming, hands curled into tight balls. "I don't want to exterminate anyone. I didn't-" she paused to swallow, then continued with downcast eyes. "I want to stop. I want to go back to before this," she gestured helplessly at herself, "before this happened. All I want is..." she trailed off, then stared at Kogasa like she only just noticed the karakasa was there. "What are you waiting for? Go!"
Kogasa mustered her courage and looked the shrine maiden in the eye. For the first time ever, she really looked at Sanae Kochiya's face.
It was then that Kogasa surprised even herself.
"Tell me what happened."
Sanae blinked, as if disbelieving what she saw as Kogasa got onto her feet and extended her arm. She stared at the hand offered to her like it had fangs. "What?"
Kogasa found that she couldn't smile, not properly, so instead she took extra care to speak as tenderly as possible. "I don't know what happened beyond what I saw for myself. I'm not..." she faltered here, unaccustomed to this kind of speech, "I don't have a lot of experience at listening, but I can at least try."
"You shouldn't...you're the last person I should burden with...I was trying to kill you, for heaven's sake!" Sanae snapped. There were feebly concealed tears in her voice.
"And I want to know why you didn't." Her stomach fluttered with fear, yet she continued. "I want to know the whole truth. Please." She held her hand further up as Sanae began to tremble in earnest. Was she really offering a helping hand to her worst enemy? Would she really accept a hand stained by the blood of her kin? Guilt and terror rushed through her, like a tidal current sweeping away all before it.
But even they couldn't wash away her overwhelming sense of pity as tears finally began flowing down Sanae's cheeks.