Chapter 1

"Aieee, why does it have to be so hard?! Can I help it if I'm not used to this sort of work?"

A young lady tramped the forest path with a weighted tread, her back bowed, her naturally-pouty lips stuck out even further in an expression that was doubtlessly the very face of dejection. Still her mind repeated to itself, in the voice of the tavern owner:

"Huh, Kayo-kun! Put the saké down gently, can't ye? Don't slosh it about like it's a bucket of well-water!"

"Eh, just who does he think he is, calling me 'Kayo-kun' after only two days of working there! Even the mistress used to talk to me better than that!" Whether that was true or not – which it most likely wasn't – it made the girl feel more indignant, and therefore better justified in her self-pity. "Can I help it if my hands aren't used to doing this sort of work? I usually did carry the water in from the well, and I-"

She paused. The statement had reminded her of something, had made her go back with her mind to her old home… the Sakai family household…

Tamaki… a girl who had died, and been buried beside the well…

It made her shudder to remember how, every day when she had gone to draw the water, she had come so close to that final resting place, to the source of the evil that had lurked within the house… the bake neko…

The sun was starting its descent towards the horizon. The last of its rays were lancing through the trees, illuminating the trunks beneath their halo of red fire and casting heavy shadows upon all beneath them. Kayo shivered again and muttered to herself: "I hate having to walk home this time of day. I wish this wasn't the only way back to the village…"

Though the gloom was increasing and the twisting tree roots seemed to rear their heads like snakes out of the undergrowth, Kayo's feet continued on, stepping among them with an ease made possible by frequent practice. Her steps, however, were more hesitant now. A large smudge of shadow came into view on what had hitherto been a featureless road. A small roadside shrine stood in the afternoon shadows, the weathered faces of its idols wearing seemingly sinister expressions in the gathering dusk. Kayo sighed.

"I hate having to walk past that. It gives me the creeps, somehow."

Normally she didn't mind shrine statues. Sometimes they even looked quite cute. But these statues were particularly old, cracked and crumbling, overgrown with lichens as though they were diseased. It was unnerving to look at them even in broad daylight, but even more so at this time of day, and with the frame of mind Kayo was now in. She drew parallel with them and watched them closely as she walked past, even though she really wanted to look away; it was as if some strange fascination compelled her to look, as though the statues would come to life and leap upon her if she turned her head away for even a moment. There were a pair of Inari foxes, crouched low over their heavenly gems, looking somehow demonic with their slender faces and pointed ears. There was the saintly bodhisattva, her face quite pretty despite its solemnity, staring benignly out from beneath the dust and grime. There were several jizo statues, guardians of workers and wanderers; their sightless gaze seemed to look straight through all before then, staring straight through Kayo and the trees, towards an unseen horizon…

Kayo's eyes took in all of these, one by one, and she felt a faint wave of relief wash over her as her eyes slid from what she knew was the last one…

Her eyes fell on another figure, one that she hadn't noticed before. It was stranger-looking than all the other statues put together. Though it stood in a tranquil pose, something about its appearance was unsettling, somehow full of impending motion; a mass of wild hair floating around its elongated ears, and its eyes, which were downcast, were surrounded with strange markings. Kayo stared and stared. She was sure that that statue had never been there before… though it looked somehow familiar…

Suddenly, the statue raised its head. Kayo stopped, frozen in horror, as slowly its eyes opened, revealing a steady gaze radiating from two narrow pupils. It looked back at Kayo, and it smiled.

"KYAAAAAA!!!!"

Kayo stumbled away from it so violently that she tumbled over backward and landed in a heap in the ditch on the other side of the road. Slowly, recovering from the shock, she sat up, kneading her back where the tree roots had indented themselves upon her tender young flesh.

"Ow, ow… that really smarts… but what was th-"

"Let me help you up."

"Huh?!"

Kayo glanced up in surprise. The voice that had unexpectedly come out of nowhere was accompanied by a hand which stretched out towards her. It was pale and slender, with unusually long nails which were tinged almost bluish, so intense was its pallor. It was a hand she recognized, as was also the voice she had heard, and the face she saw beyond the hand. It was the face of the statue, half-hidden by an unruly mane of long hair, under which a streak of red was visible running along the ridge of the nose, and more crimson lines rimmed both eyes heavily, like a parody of a noh mask painted onto living flesh.

"M-Mr. Medicine Seller?!"

She took his hand and he hauled her easily to her feet, his grasp was surprisingly strong, given the slim hand from which it came. He had stepped back a bit from her, and she looked him up and down, making sure it was really him. There was no mistaking the brightly-coloured garb, filled with a strange geometric pattern that made the eyes wander over it dazedly until they bumped into each other; there were the heavy wooden geta that should've hindered his steps, yet didn't, clinking softly each time they touched the ground; and the heavy-looking box that he always carried on his back, full of drawers containing all manner of medicinal concoctions. He looked exactly the same as she remembered from last time, from the smallest wisp of hair to the very fold of his clothes.

"I-It was you standing next to the jizo?! What are you trying to do, frighten people to death?! What do you mean, standing so still next to a bunch of statues? You shouldn't be allowed to do that! You may be a powerful man, but even you can't pretend to be a god!"

The medicine seller was silent during this tirade, and silent for many moments more after it had ended. As Kayo stood glaring at him with her fists bunched, he merely smiled a small smile and said at length: "Ah… is that so?... I see."

"Just what do you see? You're still putting on that mysterious act! Didn't I tell you girls aren't impressed by that? Sheesh! You're a hopeless ca- Ah!"

Kayo had taken a step and fallen over again, this time tripping over a tree root and falling flat on her face.

"Ow, ow!" she uttered weakly as she sat up, wincing and rubbing her head. "Why do such bad things always happen to me whenever you're around?"

A little way along the road was a small shelter for travellers. Its walls were made of woven straw, and its roof was thatched with the same material. There were large gaping holes in both walls and ceiling, and the entire hut indeed looked like it needed the large tree growing behind it to shelter it in turn. Both tree and hut looked like they had been standing on that exact spot long before the forest had sprouted up around them. Despite its forlorn state, people frequently stopped at this paltry shelter. The rice-planters often took their midday meal here, since the road ended at the paddy fields just around the corner. There was no one else here today, though occasionally a gentle splash could be heard from a distance as a farmer plunged a hand into the flooded fields to plant another stem of rice, and more peasants filtered past along the road on their way home, looking rather like large, hump-backed turtles as they stumbled past in their wide-brimmed straw hats, shoulders hunched down after a long day bent over the paddies. Thick, dark streaks of mud still clung here and there to their work-worn limbs.

The shelter contained only a single long stool against the back wall, and on this, Kayo and the medicine seller sat. Kayo wore only one sandal; the other was in the medicine seller's deftly-working white hands. The seller had set down his pack and taken from a drawer a length of hemp rope which, despite the fantastic contents Kayo knew the drawers contained, seemed disappointedly ordinary, except that it was dyed an eye-scorching shade of crimson. The medicine seller wove it into the gaping hole in Kayo's sandal where the previous strap had been torn off during her fall; he tied it off expertly and handed it back to her.

"Thank you very much." Kayo slid it back onto her foot, marveling as she did. "Wah, perfect fit! Great job!" Her eyes went back to the man before her, and it occurred to her that the rope looked the same as the cord he wore tied around his sash. He must keep more as a spare, she realized. "It's a wonder that a medicine seller and exorcist can do something like that!"

"These things require only precision and knowledge. Once all is known and the actions are clear, there is no difficulty in either."

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen you work before, and there's nothing 'easy' about it. What are you doing out here? It feels almost like you are following me. Are you here to exorcise more ayakashi?"

Her voice took on a fearful tone. No matter how many times she saw them, she was still not accustomed to the presence of ayakashi; there were so many and they were so unsetting and sinister – in her experience, downright murderous – and ever since her previous encounters with the medicine seller, she had rather dreaded the possibility of more of them suddenly jumping out in front of her at any moment. Rather like the medicine seller jumped out at me, Kayo thought to herself. The medicine seller didn't answer immediately – what an annoying habit! Kayo muttered inwardly – but he leaned back on the seat, folding his arms across himself, and said:

"I'm… just travelling."

"Hmph. Somehow I don't believe that. That last time, on the sea passage to Edo, you were 'just travelling' as well." The incident still lived vividly in her mind; she had seen enough ayakashi on that trip to last her a lifetime.

"Oh, yes; what are you doing so far from Edo? You said on the boat that you were going there to look for a job."

It was Kayo's turn to pause before answering. She looked at her feet, at the new red strap on her sandal, without really seeing it; her shoulders slumped forward and her bottom lip stuck out again. "I-I went to Edo for a while, but… it didn't really work out…"

"Aiieee, Kayo-chan! Look what you've done! That thing was expensive!"
"Oh! I-I'm so sorry!"

"Kayo-chan, these seams are all crooked! And you say you used to work as a seamstress?!"
"I-I'm sorry, I don't know how that happened!"

"Kayo-kun! Geez! If you're going to work here, you can't be such a klutz!"
"S-Sorry Sir!"

"Kayo-chan, the mistress doesn't want someone around the house who always spills the tea."
"I'm very sorry, I-I'll try not to let it happen again!"
"Well, we're going to make sure it won't happen again."
"Oh. I-I see."

And so it had gone. Kayo sighed vexedly, yet said in a voice that sounded somewhat defeated: "The worst thing is I only have myself to blame. I didn't do too well in the big city – I guess it was a bit ambitious of me – so I thought I'd come back to my home village. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to stay stuck out in the backwoods for the rest of my life – that would be such a waste of my looks!" She seemed to pause unnecessarily for a moment, as though waiting for him to agree; when he didn't take the prompt, she rattled on: "But I'll give it a bit of time first, so I can learn how to become a beautiful wife someday, ready for some rich, handsome guy to come along and sweep me off my feet." Her tone then changed from almost flippantly full of vanity, to a more humble, confidential tone. "Still, until that happens, I have to earn my own living, and I just don't seem to be a very good worker any more. I used to be good with my hands, but now it's like they won't do what I tell them to. I don't know why it's happened all of a sudden, it's not like I'm old and infirm; my hands still don't have any wrinkles yet – though they're not as white as yours," she added, darting an envious glance at the medicine seller's slender, almost dainty hands.

"Is that so."

"What kind of thing is that to say?! You're supposed to say something comforting!"

"Right. I suppose so."

"Huh! You're completely hopeless!" Kayo sighed again. "Mr. Medicine Seller, do you have anything to cure clumsiness? Any medicines you could give me?"

"Ho. Well, there are a few medicines that are good for that—"

"Really?!"

"—but they are all for the old and infirm. If I give them to a younger person, there might be side effects, and your skin could end up all bloated. And we don't want that, not if you're waiting for your future husband."

"Oh. Right." Kayo had started up exuberantly in her seat, but now slumped down in it again.

"However… medicine may be no good, but a charm…"

"You have a charm that might cure clumsiness?"

"Hmmm. Hold on a moment."

The medicine seller reached into a drawer – the same drawer as before, she realized – and pulled out a handful of something. His hands twisted something together, pulled at something; she caught a glimpse of something shiny between his fingers, and there was a soft clink.

"Hold out your right hand, please."

Wondering all the while, Kayo did as she was told. She felt the medicine seller's cool fingertips against her wrist, then something was slipped over her hand.

"There we are. A special home-made remedy."

"Oh!"

It was a charm of sorts, made of more hemp-string in the same bright-red as her sandal, and also a string of black rope this time, woven together with small, intricate knots to form a bracelet. Dangling from it was a single shiny gold bell.

"Heh! It's really cute!"

"Well, Kayo-san makes it so. Let me tighten it a little; Kayo-san has such delicate, slender hands, it might slide right off."

"Ho, really! Perhaps you're not such a hopeless case after all!" Kayo blushed slightly at the double-compliment. It was true, the bracelet slid down her wrist a bit as she moved her arm. With steady hands, the medicine seller took in the slack of the string, smoothed it between two slender nails, and instantly the excess string was gone, as though his fingers had acted as the twin blades of shears, though the string was still whole with no signs of being cut at all.

"W-Wow! How did you do that?! I want to learn how to do that, I could use it in sewing!"

"Trade secret."

"Hmph. You're no fun. Oh- that's right! How much do I owe you?"

"Hmmm. Some… time… is fine."

"Huh? I can pay you now-"

"It hasn't worked yet. I don't accept payment under false pretences. You can pay me when you know it has worked."

"Eh? When will that be?"

"When the bell rings."

"What do you mean? Doesn't the bell already- oh." Kayo nudged the bell with her finger. It didn't make so much as a sound, not even a muffled rattle. "But I heard it before-"

"-when I held it. I don't need treatment. You do."

"I-I suppose so."

"However, Kayo-san, the charm won't work on its own.

"Eh? There's something else?"

"Medicines for physical ills only work when they are taken into the body. For charms and spells which cure the mind and psyche, the patient must allow their soul to accept the treatment. Otherwise, all the charms and remedies I could possibly give you could never work. Take that to heart."

"Oh. R-Right. And just how do I do that? You're being mysterious again, you know."

"Really? I suppose… yes."

Kayo merely sighed, and looked again at the little bell swinging soundlessly from her wrist.