Looking around me, I felt as if I was not living in the "contemporary" part of human history anymore. Pedestrians walked around chatting with one another, street vendors loudly announced their products, looking for their next patron and children ran after each other without a care in the world; all of them were clad in traditional Japanese clothing; the entire village looked like something you would find during Japan's Edo period. I noticed I stood out a lot, not only because my clothing was very different from the rest (blue T-shirt, short jeans and leather sandals), but because people JUST WOUDN'T STOP LOOKING AT ME. They just stared and whispered between themselves, not bothering to greet us or anything. Becoming increasingly annoyed by their attitude, I decide to take action.

"HELLO THERE!" I turn to a random group of people who were looking at us and greet them loudly.

It seemed to do the trick, as they quickly scattered and went back to doing whatever they were doing.

"Whew…" I turn to Rin, who seemed to be a bit better. "Are the people here always like this?"

"Outsiders are not something they see every day." She pauses for a moment. "You are not the only one they were looking at, too. The presence of a youkai here makes them uncomfortable, even if said youkai means no harm to them."

"Isn't that a bit extreme?" I ask her, wanting to know her opinion on this.

She looks ahead of us, saddened by the reality of her situation. "Maybe, but considering that many youkai are stronger than the average human and that some actively attack them, the people here have every reason to be terrified of me."

I pat her on the back, trying my best to cheer her up. "Don't worry. I'm sure that if they got to know you better, they wouldn't be afraid anymore."

She looks back at me, her eyes shining a little bit with hope. "You… think so?"

Without hesitation, I nod my head. "Of course! I haven't known you for very long, but ever since you found me in the woods, you've been nothing but kind and welcoming to me. You're a great person... youkai."

Upon hearing this, her cheeks heat up and she looks away, embarrassed. "Ah, t-thank you…" And a few moments after that, she regains her composure. "O-okay, let's go to the market now."

"So, what exactly are we gonna buy?" She never told me what we needed, as far as I remember.

She pulls out a grocery list from somewhere inside her dress and checks it. "First we're going to buy some leek and then…" She raises her head and her voice trails off as she looks in the distance.

"Erm… Rin?" I keep looking at her, expecting an answer. After a while without responding, I follow her gaze.

There was a girl walking towards us. Her eyes were brown and her hair was silver-colored. She was wearing a dark blue dress with white sleeves that came up to her elbow, a red ribbon was tied to the bottom of her collar and she was wearing a hat that looked like the top of a shogun castle, a red ribbon adorning it too.

"Good morning, Rin!" The girl waves one of her arms at our direction.

"G-good morning, Keine!" Rin returns the greeting and looks at me.

"This is Keine Kamishirasawa. She is a schoolteacher as well as the guardian of this village. Say hello to her."

I walk up to her and hold out my hand. "I'm Nakamura; good to meet you, Miss Keine."

She grabs my hand and shakes it… "Good to meet you too. I suppose you were the one making all that racket?"

I defensively raise my hands. "Hey, they were the ones who just kept staring at us. I was getting weirded out."

She apologetically bows her head. "Please forgive their rudeness. Their lifestyle is really sheltered so anything from outside is completely alien to them."

I shrug. "Eh, it's fine."

Keine then turns to Rin. "So, what brings you to the village today?"

Rin shows her shopping list to the guardian. "We just came here to buy some groceries. How has the village been lately?"

Her expression turns grim. "Worried. A few weeks ago some of the villagers left with the intention of creating a new village, but we haven't heard from them ever since."

This information instantly piqued my interest the moment I heard it. I raise my hand to ask her a question. "Where exactly did they go to?"

Keine points behind us. I step aside and turn to see where she was pointing at. Beyond the gate where we had entered, a forest could be seen in the horizon. It was the same forest that I had seen when coming here; a road led from village's entrance towards it. "Right there, the Forest of Magic. I've tried searching for them there, but found nothing so far."

I rub my chin, thinking about some possible scenarios. "Sounds pretty intriguing. Maybe they were attacked by youkai?"

The guardian shakes her head. "That's unlikely. Finding youkai there is really difficult because of-"

*DING* *DONG* *DING* *DONG*

Suddenly, the rings of a bell echoes through the village, making her stop mid-sentence.

"Ah! I've got to go now; the kids' break time is over!" Keine turns to me... "And Nakamura… I'd like to speak with you better some other time! Have a nice day!" …and hurries down the road thereafter.

I stand there watching as she disappears from sight. She must be really strong to be chosen as the guardian of this village…

A light tap on my shoulder grabs my attention; it was Rin. "Come on, let's not waste anymore time."

I nod my head and start following her again. Not too long after, we arrive at an open-air market. There were many vendors in stands lined up selling different types of goods; a mixed scent of raw fish, pastries and other foods hanged in the air. Not far from us was an empty wooden bench under the shade of a tree. It seemed really cozy and cool.

"I'm going to sit on that bench over there. Call me when you're done." I start to walk towards it, only to feel something grabbing my wrist and stopping me.

"No way, you're coming with me!" Rin pouts at me as she holds me in place.

"Oh come on! The sun is killing me here and I couldn't put on some sunscreen!"

She starts to pull me to the stands. "But you said you wanted to see the village! And I also need someone to carry the groceries for me!"

"Ugh, fine." I concede to her.

The next two hours were spent walking around from stall to stall, watching Rin negotiate with the vendors and carrying the groceries for her. During this time, I noticed the variety of the food was incredible, with fruit from different climates being displayed side by side, and that she was pretty good at negotiating prices. After getting everything she needed, we left the village and started going home. We were now flying on our way back.

"You know, I can never get enough of this view. It's mesmerizing enough to distract me from the pain I'm feeling from carrying all this food." I say as I happily look at the landscape around me.

"Be careful not to drop the groceries. It was hard earning the money to buy them." Rin warns me while holding me.

"How did you even get the money to buy this anyway?" I look up at her.

"I sold some of the crops I grew in my plantation." She answers, attentively looking ahead of her.

Now hold on a minute. I open one of the bags that I was holding, and there were some vegetables in there.

"Why not just grow them yourself?"

Rin sighs sadly. "I have tried, but they always dry before I can harvest them."

"Oh, ok…" Then something clicks on my head. "Say, is Keine your friend or something?"

"Why do you ask?"

"She seemed acquainted with you, while the other villagers didn't even bother greeting you."

After a moment, the youkai nods, answering my question. "Yes, she is an old friend of mine."

After some time flying, Rin starts to lower her altitude, signaling we were close to her house. We land in front of it and she walks to the entrance to unlock the front door. After stepping inside, she grabs some weird instrument and a bow.

She then turns to me. "Set the groceries on the dining table. I'm going to the backyard and tent to the crops now."

"Right." I do just as she asked me. Then I start thinking to myself as I lean on the table.

This style of life is quite relaxing. Living in a cozy cabin surrounded by nature, planting your own food, making just enough live by. I could get used to it. Living a rural life has always sounded pretty appealing to me. Maybe I should ask Rin to teach me about agriculture so I could help her in the backyard.

Suddenly, an alluring music makes its way to my ears from outside, drawing my attention. I exit the house and make my way to its back. There, sitting on the grass next to the plantation, was Rin. I silently walk next to her, sit down and watch. She had her eyes closed as she played her instrument, a peaceful smile on her face. The music had a soothing feeling to it; listening to it felt like my mind was being completely washed off, leaving me in a trance-like state. All the sounds around me that were not related to the music were getting drowned out; everything else was completely irrelevant now. It was all I could hear and needed to hear.

"..ura?" I think I heard a voice, but it was too distant for me to make anything out of it.

"Nakamura!" I hear the voice again, this time louder enough to snap me back to reality.

I shake my head and blink a few times, my vision gradually becoming less blurry. Rin was in front of me, waving her hand over my face.

"Are you alright?" She asks me, looking concerned.

I nod my head weakily. "Y-yeah, I was just... appreciating the music."

The kirin smiles upon hearing that. "I'm glad you like it! I always reserve some of my free time to practice my music skills!"

"Well, all that practice is paying off." I point at her instrument. "What is this instrument called anyway?"

"Take a guess." She grins.

I rub my chin and think deeply. "Hm… a skeletal violin-banjo!"

My answer makes her smile go away and be replaced with a blank stare. "Actually, that's an erhu."

I think 'skeletal violin-banjo' sounds way cooler.

"By the way, why are you playing music here of all places?"

She points to the plantation with her bow. "I was playing some music for the crops. It helps them in their growth."

I raise my eyebrow, a bit incredulous at the veracity of her statement. "And it really works?

She nods enthusiastically. "Yeah! Not only do they grow faster, but they also taste better when I do it!"

"Hm... I see." Is all I'm able to say as I look at the ground straight-faced.

Seeing my extremely energetic response makes she slump her shoulders and sigh dejectedly. "...you think this is a sham, don't you?"

Breaking away from my thoughts, I desperately wave my hands to deny it. "Oh nononono, you've got it all wrong! It's just that what you said made me think about something related."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

I raise a finger as I start explaining to her. "You see, I saw a story on a news TV channel a long time ago. It was about a farmer playing music for the crops to help them grow not unlike you did just now. The only difference was the size of the plantation; his was too big, so he had to use some electronic devices to play the music for all of them. I was just a kid when I saw it, so I didn't really believe it worked, but now... yeah."

After hearing it, she sighs. This one, however, had relieved tone to it. "Phew, I thought I was the only one who would do something weird like this!"

"By the way, are you done playing the music?"

"Not really. I still have to play for a while before I'm done here. Why do you ask?"

"Mind if I stay here with you and listen to the music? I really enjoyed it." I smile awkwardly.

"Of course not! Just make yourself comfortable, because it will take a while." The kirin closes her eyes in concentration and goes back to playing her music.

Wanting to make the most of it, I lay down on the grass on my side, resting my head on my arm. Her music slowly starts to allure me, my head clearing again.

We then kept at it for quite some time. By the time she snapped me out of it again, the sun was already starting to set and we went back inside the house. Rin started preparing the food right away and was very happy when I offered to help her, giving me a knife to cut some of the leek stalk that she had bought in the market. After I was done, she told me to take shower to relax while she took care of the rest and so I did. Now feeling refreshed and clean, I joined her at dinner. We were silently eating until I started talking.

"Hey, Rin."

She shifts her look from her bowl of rice to me. "Yes?"

"Have you ever regretted deciding to live far away from everyone?"

The kirin stares at me blankly and then speaks up. "Why do you want to know that?"

I explain myself to her. "From what you've told me, you have been living like this for quite some time. Doesn't the loneliness kind of get to you or something? I'm pretty sure it would for me."

Hearing my explanation, she sets her bowl of rice on the table and closes her eyes. "Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I didn't. Things were really hard back when I first came here."

I stay silent and wait for her to continue.

"I had to start the plantation from scratch with a very limited budget because I used almost all of my savings to build this house, and I had to use the cheapest building materials available because the better ones were still too expensive, I had no one to rely on but myself to build it and look how it turned out... All of this just so I could live isolated from everyone; I don't even know how I am still here right now."

I extend my right hand and put it on top of hers. This takes her by surprise as she opens her eyes to look at me. "I'm really sorry about that. It wasn't my intention to make you feel bad."

She nods comprehensively. "Don't worry about it, I'm used to being like this."

I shake my head. "Just because you are used to it doesn't mean it's okay. What I mean to say is... you don't need to be alone anymore because I"m here with you, for now at least. I'm more than willing to help you, be it by helping with the finances or being near when you need a shoulder to lean on. Don't hesitate to ask if you need me, alright?"

Hearing my supportive words seemed to make her feel much better as her lips curl into a smile and she puts her other hand on top of mine, a sunny smile now present on her cute face. "T-thank you, Nakamura. Just knowing you're here for me makes me feel much better."

I pull my hand back and grab my bowl of rice, smiling. "Now let's go back to eating the food. You don't want it to get cold, do you?"

"Y-yeah, let's do that."

The rest of dinner was uneventful and we soon got prepared to settle for the night. After saying our good nights, I went to my bedroom and closed the door, only to get up and kneel on the floor beside the bed, my hands together, fingers intertwined and eyes closed. After finishing my prayer, I stayed still for a moment. For some reason, I could see something shining through my eyelids. I slowly opened them to see my hands glimmering for a moment before fading.

That's weird; out of all the times I've ever prayed, something like this never happened up until now. Was that… some sort of signal? Eh, I'll probably figure this out tomorrow... Right now I just want to sleep.

I get up and go back to bed. It doesn't take too long before I drift away.

*** HALT ***

Start date: 29/10/17

Finish date: 09/11/17

Post date: 23/06/18

Total number of words in this chapter: 2956