"A haunted well? You say it's the work of a yokai?" said the young man. He wore a perpetual frown and looked as if he disliked what he saw and what he heard.
The old lady nodded and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Keikain-kun, you are onmyouji no? Please help me! My grandson is too young, so he gets really frightened! I'm old and I can't really move around..."
The young man sighed and looked at his brother. "Mamiru, you go back to the house and tell them I'll be a little late."
Mamiru nodded and turned, walking away.
"Lead the way granny."
The house was on the outskirts of Kyoto and it was old and looked like it had been around for centuries. It was almost at the point of collapse and the residents would have to fear their roof caving in rather than a well-dwelling yokai which pooped there daily.
"There!" the old lady pointed to the well. It was in a worse condition than the house and it had all sorts of fungi and worms crawling over it.
For real? They'd die of contamination, thought the young man.
"We try to clean it, but the monster wrecks it each time!" exclaimed the granny.
"I see. I'll get rid of the little runt. Where's it?" he asked.
On cue, dirt coloured water spouted high into the air from the well and a green coloured frog yokai jumped out. It was the size of a monkey and it was covered in all manner of foul things. The stench soon filled the air and they started to get dizzy.
"Like I'll ever let you catch me!" it screeched and the water shot out in all directions, but instead of touching the ground, it hung in the air, blocking their vision. The yokai seemed to be struggling against some invisible wall.
A voice came out of nowhere. "Ah you little troublemaker. You should put your meager talents to better use. I'll send you where you belong."
There was a flash of bright colours, like a fire, but there was no smoke and no flames. The water finally hit the ground, missing the two humans and the yokai seemed to have vanished.
The onmyouji was busy trying to protect the old lady from having a heart attack and dying right there when he saw it. The figure of a woman. She was walking away, as if dissolving into thin air.
There was smoke now. It blurred his vision, his eyes began to water. The figure was slender, about the same height as him but she had cat ears mounted high on her head and a long tail which swished happily as she walked away playfully.
"Oi, you! Wait!" yelled the onmyouji, pulling out a shikigami container from his overcoat. The figure had already vanished but a soft voice floated to his ears. "Weak yokai that are not even worth killing will be protected. You could go after stronger ones instead. Like me!"
The old lady was freaking out, crying and clinging to him so he couldn't even chase after the voice. "Calm down!" he said to the tiny figure. The smoke had just begun to clear out but the changes could already be seen. The well was clean. There was no sign of the little yokai.
The old lady finally calmed down after seeing this and she thanked him profusely; she had no idea what actually happened.
"Not that I really know either..." he muttered to himself. He refused the money from her and quickly made his escape from the gloomy, dilapidated house and walked to the bus stop, where he had got off with the old lady a little while ago.
Several thoughts came to his mind-the cat-like yokai had saved the yokai from the well. But she had effectively helped the humans of that house too. And she did not pick a fight with the onmyouji. As far as he could tell, she could have eaten the yokai or used some kind of spell to spirit it away. From her words, it seemed to be the latter but the onmyouji didn't believe in words, especially those of a yokai.
By the time he reached back, it was already dark. He was greeted by his younger sister, Yura. She scowled as he walked in through the gate.
"You're late!" she said in an angry tone.
"You don't need to worry so much about your brother," he said, sticking his tongue out. Yura looked flustered and said, "Who'd be worried about a nii-chan like Ryuuji?"
"Oi, oi, you call me Ryuuji right after calling me nii-chan? Where have your manners gone? Is this also because of that yokai friend of yours?"
She was now pissed in earnest. "Nura-kun has got nothing to do with this. Now get in and help with dinner."
"Baaaka, as if I'd help an ungrateful little brat like you," he teased.
Yura stamped her feet in annoyance and said, "You're so mean! One of these days..."
"Yeah, yeah fine. Mamiru got back?"
Yura looked confused. "Wait, I thought he was with you. I was wondering where he was when you walked in..."
Ryuuji's frown deepened. "I'd asked him to come home and tell you guys that I'll be late."
"I see...What were you doing anyway?"
"Some old lady had yokai trouble...Anyway, you check again around the house, see if you missed him. You always slack off, maybe he's here and you just didn't notice."
"As if!" Yura shot at him, but made her way inside anyway to look for Mamiru.
Is it that cat's doing? Ryuuji wondered. Maybe she was something to worry about after all. By the time Yura came to him, panting and clearly having searched everywhere, Ryuuji had gathered some more anti-yokai effects.
Shaking her head, Yura said, "He's nowhere. No one's seen him since the time you left to exterminate that mall yokai."
The older brother scratched his head and thought for a while as Yura regained her breath.
"Maybe he ran into some trouble on the way back. I'll start looking from the place we parted. You stay here and give a call if he returns, ok?"
Yura nodded and said in a small voice, "Come home soon, nii-chan."
Ryuuji looked at his little sister for a moment. She was stronger that him; all set to be the next head of the Keikain house, yet she was friends with yokai. She was innocent and naive, but also reliable and headstrong. He wondered how she'd be as the head...
He shook himself mentally and started to walk towards the gate. "See ya."