Chikako sits next to Tsukiko, her hand placed neatly inside the other. They haven't spoken a word in almost ten minutes, but it's a comfortable silence that envelops them. Just the breathes of their partner is enough to calm the usually bland or toxic air.
Their companionship has only grown in the past months, from talking about their pasts and what they wished for the future, and Chikako views Tsukiko as a child of her own. It.. it feels different to be viewed as a child of someone who loves the way Chikako does.
Tsukiko is a grown woman, damn it, she doesn't need to be seen as one. But… it doesn't mean she doesn't like the attention she lacked in this life and the past.
"Tell me more of your world." Comes Chikako's demure voice. Ever since Tsukiko spoke of where she came from, Chikako seems to have taken a liking to it. Maybe the mere thought of a world where death only happened of old age, where things became inconvenient as the technology grew. "Tell me more of the stories you were told as a child, please."
The scent of sweat and blood is prominent in this room, as a fight broke out between Yasuo and Hirohito not too long ago. When Chikako had to break them apart they were already bloody and bruised, swearing at each other to fight again.
"The tale of Cinderella is like no other." Tsukiko begins, the now foreign word odd on her tongue. "Once, in a world not like ours, there lived a kingdom. In this kingdom there was a prince, ready to be married. But, because his parents wanted him to be happy, they had to hold a... party for him."
Translating words is very hard for her, but she manages to find a crude way of saying it. Tsukiko has already told Chikako of this predicament, who did nothing but support her in learning more of this language.
"Cinderella was a slave to her stepmother and sisters, wicked beings with the tastes like the mononoke. The prince, the eldest and only son of the reigning monarch, was… excited, to say the least..."
Days could go on this way, telling stories and myths from their times. It's nice to learn things that are long gone, Tsukiko thinks, and it's nice to remember things from long ago.
Ducking under a punch from Anzu, Tsukiko drops on a shoulder and knees her opponent in the gut, elbows supporting her body off the ground while her knee digs into Anzu's abdomen. Both of them gasp; Anzu out of pain and Tsukiko out of exhaustion.
Anzu lifts her elbow and drops her body on top of Tsukiko, digging the appendage into ribs and holding down the spazzing girl. Tsukiko's muscles spasm in between the bony appendage, causing her eyes to widen and roll out of the way.
She would've kicked the girl, but she is in no position to do something like that. Especially after the move that Anzu just did.
An itching feeling comes over Tsukiko as she stands back on her feet, eyes narrowed and tracking the position of her opponent, she leans heavily on her toes and her back is hunched over. A low growl ripples through her chest, low and threatening, there is a moment where Anzu stands straight in a moment of fear.
Dancing out of the way of a hastily thrown punch, she tosses her body to avoid the other arm. Sweat streaks down her forehead and chin, dripping down her neck and chest. The metallic scent of old and dried blood mixed with the salty ting of sweat brings back the aging memories of Bishamon-sensei and Atsuko-sensei.
It's odd how fast time moves.
Bounding back to Anzu Tsukiko throws back a fist and smashes it on the suspecting face. Shock is evident in Anzu's eyes, but that doesn't stop her from falling to the ground with an audible thud.
Tsukiko drops down on top of the girl, her knees digging inside Anzu's armpits as she hammers the other fist on her chest.
A gasp leaves the downed person's throat and someone takes Tsukiko from the back of her once silver kimono. The distinctive sound of tearing cloth ripples through the air as she's thrown across the room.
"That's enough, Tsukiko-kun." Chikako says, dragging Anzu up from her green kimono sleeve. "While Bishamon-san's teaching method is very effective in a battle, it isn't in teaching young one's to hold a stable sense of training."
"I've killed a boy while under the tutelage of Bishamon-sensei." Tsukiko states, taking a wary step back. Chikako makes a weird face at her, but doesn't comment. "I'm sure that there have been and will be worse teachers."
Taking a glance to be sure that Anzu is alright, Chikako sighs. "Yes, that has been reported. But that doesn't mean you can do that in this group. You're a good girl, Tsukiko-kun, I don't want to send you away to another teacher."
Tsukiko bobs her head in response.
Taking a step forwards, Tsukiko drops into a squat in front of Kyoko, her back towards the older girl. Soft giggles erupt from the body behind her, but all she does is lean back until her shoulders hit knees.
"There, there," A hand pats down on greasy and dirty hair. "The sensei can no longer put you down for simply commencing with the training."
"It never happened in the last spars." Tsukiko mutters under her breath, cranking her neck to look at Kyoko's face from her position. "I even got further than that. It felt like I was with Bishamon-sensei and that last spar with Chinatsu. Why do new things confuse me so."
Another chortle escapes Kyoko's throat. "The new things confuse you is because you have never seen different. I guess it can happen when we live under a giant rock."
"Yeah…" A sigh escapes Tsukiko's mouth, she looks back down at the ground. "This is probably the only thing we'll ever know."
Kyoko nods in agreement, grimacing a little. She digs her knees in Tsukiko's back, aggravating the bruise that Anzu gave her in that fight weeks ago. It's healed up nicely, but that doesn't stop it from giving her ghost pains of what it used to be.
"I heard that once we are a few years older we'll be sent on mission. I know that Chokichi-sempai has already taken his first mission." Kyoko says, bringing her hands down to entangle themselves on Tsukiko's scalp. Tsukiko almost purrs at the contact. "He said that no one should do such things like what this clan does. I wonder what he was talking about."
"Nothing ever gets better the older we get." Tsukiko says, stating that fact like it should be placed on a golden trophy. "We're just lucky that we scored ourselves with Chikako-sensei. I'm sure that we would've gotten someone even worse than Bishamon-sensei if she wasn't around."
Kyoko hums an agreement.
Tsukiko feels a tug at her hair, and looks up at the other girl with a questioning glance. She's smiling, looking at Tsukiko with a warm gaze that only Tsukiko gets.
"I promise you that I'll stay around." She whispers as she pulls some chunks of hair away from her face. "Promise me you'll stay safe."
Warmth blossoms on Tsukiko's neck and face. A familiar beat erupts in her ears and a voice sings her a song.
Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep
...
Think me naive
...
I promise you a heart you'd promise to keep
...
That song is a song that she thought she'd never remember. It was a joke with her long gone friends. It was all just a joke.
This is something that Tsukiko thought she'd never do in this life. Sing. Sing to a friend.
Sing to a friend about unfaithfulness.
Tsukiko feels bad about doing it, but the sudden promise that left Kyoko's lips left her in a shellshock that made her feel… vulnerable.
Friends before Kyoko have made promises like that, and those promises from before had to be broken. Toxic relationships were and still are not on her list of achievements.
It's like a prophecy. She has the worst memory now that she's so old, and it makes things weird that it's this particular song that came to mind. Why would a song, with a meaning like this one, suddenly rear its ugly head the way it did.
Why.
There are so other songs that she sang in the previous life, there are so many other options, with a better beat and better vocals and better lyrics, that her mind could've picked.
While there is the fact that this could all be a coincident, that what Kyoko said has no meaning or relation to the song, that nothing will be faithless and nothing will be gone.
Six, white haired, exhausted and battle worn children sit in a circle, their sensei standing in the center of it all. Her hands are on her hips, a stern look on her face as she looks at the tops of their heads.
"There are multiple reasons why I don't let you fight the way that the other sensei's do." Chikako starts, pivoting on a heel to look at the other children. "And as you know Kyoko and Tsukiko has had previous teachers like that. If there are questions, ask them. But I will not tolerate you harassing them for information. That is for the enemy, not comrades."
"But why do you teach us so differently? Did you have a sensei that taught you the way you do to us?" Yasuo asks, tilting his head to look at their teacher. "And why does it matter? We're going to have to kill some day."
Chikako thinks for less than a moment before answering Yasuo's question. "I teach you the way I do because I know how things can get and I feel… morally wrong when I see students - friends; family - kill each other. It matters because things can't get worse than this."
It's silent for a handful of heartbeats, which is only counted because of the confusion radiating off of them.
"What does 'morally' mean?" Inquiries Anzu, raising a hand above her hand to catch the attention of Chikako.
"It… it's what's right. What makes us human, what divides us from an animal." It's an honest answer, at least.
"Why does morality have an impact on how you teach us? Shouldn't we aim to get stronger, regardless of the impact it has on our friend-life?" This time Hirohito speaks, sitting in the formal seiza, the balls of his heels hidden by his pants.
"There are better things you can do in your life. It may be your only chance at happiness."
Tsukiko mutters a 'I second that' under her breath. Not even Kyoko, who is sitting next to her, hears her.
Sighing, Chikako pivots on her heel again, turning to face Tsukiko and Kyoko. "There are things in life that should be treasured, but this isn't the kind of life where things should. Everyone, stand up. I want to show you something."
They follow her instructions, some, like Masato and Yasuo, make a whining sound. Tsukiko is slow with her movements, slowly rising from the ground and taking a small step back.
Cracking her knuckles, Chikako bounces lightly on her toes. Her woolen clothing bouncing with the movements and a small laugh escapes her throat.
Tsukiko is now on edge, but it isn't the odd laugh that Chikako just did, no, it's the predatory look in her eyes. She's never seen something like that in her sensei's face before, and it's very off putting. Especially at a time like this
She's gone from her spot, leaving behind nothing, not hide nor hair, in her place. Not nothing. Not even a whisper of where she could've gone.
Yasuo audibly gasps and Anzu quickly places her body into a self-protective stance. Kyoko visibly tenses up and Hirohito lets out an unsavory string of sentences and words.
Then there's a whoosh, a human screech, then a crackling of bones against bones and a wet thump of skin against stone as someone is kicked to the ground. Tsukiko can feel her muscles tense under thin skin and an eerie presence behind her back.
Her instincts kick in on that moment and she drops to a knee, swinging the other one out to swipe at the offender. The hard thump of her bony knee on the hard ground makes her wince, but she attempts to ignore it as she's pushed back a few feet. It takes a moment to process whats going on before she cracks a small smile.
Chikako's doing this to scare them.
Playing along with the games, Tsukiko opts to put up a fight.
Chikako's elbow comes up from above to crash down on Tsukiko's shoulder, but she narrowly misses as Tsukiko drops and rolls onto her back, an excited and probably fearful squeal leaving her lips. She sees Kyoko bounding away with a stick of yellow-white bone grasped tightly in her hands.
Feeling the sudden urge to show off, Tsukiko decides then and there that she's going to pull out the big guns.
Her sensei and momentary opponent is now in front of her face, shoulders turned and an arm cranked back for a powerful punch to the throat. She stands up now, not wasting a moment to summon chakra to her back, ribs, elbows, and knees. The hot feeling of chakra coursing through her veins is a welcoming thing, something that Tsukiko thought she'd never say in this life.
Especially since being born into a life like this.
An uncommon and most likely unseen grin over takes her features, and another squeal leaves her lips. Little bones protrude out of the selected spots, hardening the surrounding flesh and opening the skin. This isn't the first time she's done this, but it's the first time she's done it on the heat of the moment.
Hopefully things don't go south.
Tsukiko doesn't give Chikako the chance to hit her, instead she dances away like something akin to a goddess, doing a backflip and landing on her hands to jump back to her feet. She avoids the series of hits that Chikako tries to land, only to fall behind and get jabbed in the stomach. It takes the breath out of her, but she continues moving.,
Taking time to get herself ready again, Tsukiko feels adds chakra to her knuckles, strengthening the bones underneath.
A gasp somehow passes its way through Tsukiko's lips as she's suddenly pushed from the back, a short pain blooming on her face as her face plants on the ground. Chikako lunges, but the already formed bones that protrudes from hardened skin keeps the fallen one safe from the following assault of her back.
When Chikako takes a step back, seen as a mocking gesture, Tsukiko rolls back to her feet with determination haunting her every step. This takes the older woman by surprise, as she's never seen a person like Tsukiko with this kind of determination in either of her lives.
While these two women share the same similarities, rebirth, their cases are all the different. One was a handmaiden to a literal goddess while the other floated about the easiest and best paying jobs.
But that mere train of thought doesn't stop Chikako from attacking Tsukiko. She moves forward with her non-dominant hand, apparently not bothering her opponent as she simply swipes it away.
Apparently Chikako forgot that Tsukiko is ambiguous.
This time Tsukiko goes offensive, leaping forward to take a bite out of the hand that was so kindly handed to her. Chikako quickly swipes her hand away but that takes precious time that she now no longer has. Tsukiko uses this to her advantage, swiping a short leg out to trip up her sensei.
Being the larger one of the two, it's easy for Chikako to not fall, but it's hard for her to see her students plan, letting out a short shout of surprise as a bone-studded fist flies to her face. While this is her first set of students, and her first time to finding someone like her, she's surprised that this one person who has been reborn is so smart, so clever and witty in a scene like this, especially since Tsukiko wasn't born with the knowledge of martial arts and was first born in a world where violence is frowned upon.
There has been worse things to cross Chikako's path, but an anomaly like Tsukiko is something she's sure will cause a road block.
The punch that her student sends her sends her to the ground, a thunderous and unheard of laugh escaping the little girl. While less than half her height, Tsukiko can pack quite the punch. The power and talent in this girl is so deep yet so bare.
Chikako doesn't have time before a yellow-white, straight, and shikotsumyaku-made bone is shoved in her face.
She also knows that Tsukiko is very talented in staff wielding.
A knowing smirk crosses Tsukiko's face, and it's apparent that she also knows that she has finally trumped the sensei. The other students are hiding, forego Kyoko, who has her own short blade in front of her body, standing almost twenty feet away, only feet away from a short but small tunnel that an adult like Chikako won't be able to navigate.
Tsukiko can see that Chikako wants to admit defeat, but she also knows that this is a game to show her other students what other senseis are like. While she will say that this kind of tactic will probably frighten the inexperienced six year olds, she isn't going to condemn her teacher for showing them that they have it easy.
The yellow staff in Chikako's face inches closer until it presses against the tip of her nose. It's a wonderful feeling, Tsukiko thinks, such a wonderful feeling to power over those that have more of it. The staff is yanked away from the white and unafraid face and jabbed towards the older woman's stomach, only battering the cloth as Tsukiko is yanked away from her position above her sensei.
Hirohito hooks his arms underneath Tsukiko's armpits and hands locked behind her neck, pushing her head forwards and arms up. Her bone staff clatters on the stone floors, the sound rattles off the walls and into their ears.
The boy grunts under her strength and at the sides of her eyes Tsukiko sees the other children emerging from their positions behind rocks and inside nooks. They're scared, she can see clearly in their wide eyes, even Anzu is foregoing her open yet cold exterior for the shocked and scared one.
The feeling that Tsukiko gets when she realizes that she's the one that made them this way makes her lift her feet off the ground, forcing Hirohito to take on all of her weight. While she's not as tall as him, she has the most experience in this, she has the most power to get out of a hold like this with someone of his calibre holding her.
He staggers back, leaning heavily on his heels and thrusting her up and leaning back, almost dropping her on her head as he tries to support her and keep steady. His shoulders are arched backwards and Tsukiko can see the floor above her head. This position makes her head reel, but she makes use of it by swinging her legs back down then tossing them up again, flipping over her head and she's back on her feet behind Hirohito, taking a step back before he falls on her toes.
Chikako is now standing with her own bone staff in hand, standing close to Tsukiko's smaller staff before suddenly kicking it away. Now that her main weapon is gone, she has two options.
Take on both Hirohito and Chikako head on, or simply make another staff.
She opts for the latter.
Focusing her chakra into the back of her wrist, she forces it into something like a circle, then pushes it all out. She wastes almost no chakra with the precision and the execution. Feeling her mind cloud with the inevitable pride, Tsukiko smacks the butt of the staff down on the back of Hirohito's heel as he tries to crawl away from her, ignoring the hot blood drip down her hand.
He lets out a whimper and Tsukiko blocks an attack from her sensei. She holds her staff with two hands and redirects the stick in Chikako's hand to her side, using her momentum to lift a leg to kick at the back of Chikako's knee.
While she is short, she makes all of that up in strength. Chikako falls to the ground with a gasp, almost letting Tsukiko to get onto of her with studded knuckles and a staff in the other hand.
The other children seem to get the hint that Hirohito was trying to do, and they jump Tsukiko. Kyoko holds back, still in her corner. It doesn't faze Tsukiko that she's fighting multiple opponents, she's done that before, but what does faze her is that she's fighting some of the most inexperienced children in this cave system.
It's all a fucking joke to her.
She is, once again, pushes off of Chikako with a warrior crying Yasuo, his larger body slamming into her smaller form. Her head whips to the side, and her brain rattles inside her skull.
Her movements are a little too slow for her liking, but she still manages to get away with a claw to Yasuo's face and a back kick to the one approaching behind. They both let out pained shouts, but that doesn't stop the other two from attempting to take her on from behind. With a swipe of her staff, she slams it on the ground, the sound bouncing off the walls and startling Anzu who's foot only stands centimeters away.
Anzu jumps into her stance, feet wide and squatting, and leaps forward with her fist trailing behind. This movement doesn't startle Tsukiko as much as Anzu thought, but it's still better than nothing. Tsukiko avoids the punch, taking a step to the side, but that doesn't mean Anzu is done.
Her outstretched fist follows Tsukiko's face like a magnet, managing to scrape the bottom side of her cheek. It doesn't hurt, so Tsukiko retaliates with her own punch, her fist digging into Anzu's stomach.
A gasp leaves Anzu's lips, tempting Tsukiko further on in her onslaught. Her heart rate rises exponentially, her face reddening and body beginning to tremble. As adrenaline floods into her veins it becomes harder and harder for her to properly stand.
Blocking a hit from the now appeared Masato Tsukiko feels her knees turn to jelly. The adrenaline turns into fear for that moment, but it only lasts a moment before it turns into determination.
While her body still trembles in the adrenaline it's more controllable with the surges of determination and aid of chakra. It, be it the determination or chakra or fear or adrenaline, runs hot in her blood, aiding her as she sparta kicks Masato away from her to twist and block a hit from Yasuo with a stray arm.
She falls back, though, looking for an escape route. It's pointless, though. She's surrounded, and Chikako's gone, disappeared somewhere in the void. The determination ends quickly, leaving her panting and trembling like a wet and cold dog.
Pathetic, something whispers in her ears, you can't even take on children.
Tsukiko shakes off the thought, thinking of something lighter and not so destructive.
She thinks of a way to defeat her opponents. This started out as game game, but she's going to end it as a war.
Slipping as fast as she can, she moves forward, taking Hirohito by the hair and Anzu by the neck of her yukata. She tosses one of them to Yasuo and the other to Masato. In a moment of confusion, she ends up follow Hirohito who she threw at Masato, only to hit them both on the back of the neck, hitting them hard enough that their heads collide to the ground with a hollow thud and short cry of pain.
She takes care of the other two by kicking their faces until their noses flow red and eyes close shut.
Someone clears their throat behind her hunched body over Anzu and Masato, partially scaring the sweating girl to tripping over her feet as she tries to turn around to face the person. Chikako stands there, hands on hips as she inspects the scene laid out before her.
"I thought that I have already told you that you can't just kill them all." She states, dark green eyes then drop up and down Tsukiko's exhausted body.
"They-"
"Are not dead, I know."
"Where did you go?"
"I had to see where Kyoko went. I still cannot find her."
Tsukiko nods her head, pivoting on her heel to point at the black and small hole in the wall about thirty feet away. "She should be in there."
"...Thank you..."
A content sigh escapes Tsukiko's lips as she curls closer to the wall of her nook, forehead touching the warming rockwall. A few months ago, after the scare that Chikako put her other four students into, they began to make their training sessions harder, more violent that the last. This leaves everyone, foregoing Tsukiko and Kyoko, in a sore state that leaves everyone hostile and devil may care.
Anzu, Masato, Yasuo, and Hirohito's blooming aggressiveness leaves Tsukiko mentally tired, having to deal with their incessant and unstoppable complaints of pain and exhaustion. If it weren't for Chikako's constant eyes on her back she is sure that she would have killed one of them by now.
Chikako sits in front of Tsukiko's nook, her back pressed against the stone and her head lolling inside.
"Now that I look at it, your eyes seem to be growing paler by the day, Tsukiko-kun." She comments, voice strained by her current position.
"I think that can happen as a child ages. But with all of this bloodline and chakra bullshit everything's kind of growing from hell."
"Well, what can you say?" Chikako shrugs, rough clothes rasping against the cold stone. Tsukiko can smell the sweet and vile scent of something rotting. "When you've lived a life before chakra it kind of... 'screws you over', I guess. You'll get used to this is due time, I'm sure."
"Are you really?" Tsukiko muses, pursing her lips together. "I know that I'm decent at adapting to a lot of situations, but that was back when my anxieties helped me at knife-point and it was illegal to kill someone out of fury or revenge."
"That must have been harsh of the warriors"
"There were no warriors. Only soldiers, pawns of the government that dictated almost every right to be yourself."
Chikako is silent, she doesn't do anything that says she's anxious or scared or anything else. They sit like this for a few more moments before Chikako sighs.
"That must have been even worse, I guess." She says, a short chuckle escaping her lips, "Who would want to dictate people's personalities?"
"Crazy old geezers, that's who."
It's silent again, and it only gives reason for Tsukiko dream of what things could've been if she was still alive, is she was still in her previous life. She's sure her mother would've thrown a fit about her hospital bills, bitching about why she can't pay them on her own.
She's never liked her mother before, but that's all in the past and the past should remain the way it is. Once done there is no coming back.
"I remember when you told me that story about that one maiden, Cinderella, I believe it is." Chikako suddenly says, breaking Tsukiko out of her thoughts and the foreign word falling odd on her lips. "That sounds familiar, but I can't place it."
"I know that where I am from that there are many stories that influenced how this world was created." Tsukiko says, "So it's probable that you know stories like Cinderella."
Tsukiko's sure that the mere thought that she knows the future and past intimidates Chikako. She feels bad about that, but at the same time she doesn't care. She doesn't care that she scares Chikako, but she cares because Chikako is a friend.
"Yes, but if that's true, then do you not know a story similar to Cinderella?" Chikako asks.
"No, because I know most western stories. This world was highly influenced by eastern folk tales, which I mostly don't know."
Five months have passed after Chikako upped their training regime. The exhaustion leaves them bitter and hostile, but that only feeds their energy in battle.
They've grown muscles, Tsukiko's and Kyoko's arms and legs becoming defined and strong while the others are finally coming in. Tsukiko, while only a year younger than the rest, she is the tallest of them, and Chikako says that quite a few children from the shikotsumyaku group are naturally taller than the rest, and the it's mostly women who get this trait.
She's seven years old, and she's very angry. Tsukiko has yet to see hide or hair of Takeo, even after all these months. She still remembers how to do what he taught her, but she only wishes to learn more. What scared him away the first time?
Kyoko now shares a nook with Tsukiko again, now bunking in a newly found hole that smells like piss and rot. It's much larger than the one she slept in alone, but it doesn't make a difference with the body next to her.
The body next to her moves, her bony back pressing against bony back, and a sigh leaves her body. Kyoko is awake, and Tsukiko congratulates herself for such wonderful deduction skills.
"I'm eight," Says the older child as if she's confessing pregnancy. "Chokichi-sempai was seven when he left his group."
"He probably had a more competent sensei." Tsukiko responds, voice groggy and too high for her liking. "More competent than Bishamon-sensei or Atsuko-sensei or Chikako-sensei."
"Can you sing me that song?"
"You know I'm not a good singer."
"I don't know what a good singer is."
The song that she sang to Kyoko all those months ago has now become a favorite. The only reason why it's a favorite is because it's the only noise that she remembers from her past life, and it's the only noise that blocks out the suffocating buzzing in this bland place.
And she sings.
Her voice isn't the best - she doesn't even try, to be honest - but she hits the notes as best as she can. She hasn't heard the language in six years, consonants are soft and vowels are often hard to make. But she still tries, she tries to remember what the song was about and what it sounded like.
It's all for Kyoko. She doesn't deserve to be in this kind of place, that's why Tsukiko hangs around her so much. They should be in a place that is not this place, somewhere that isn't here.
That's the only thing they have in common. That's why Tsukiko considers her a friend, even if she's horrible at keeping them.
...
This is what I brought you, this is what you can keep
...
This is what I brought, you may forget me.
Original word count; 5,471
I am the absolute worse at planning. My schedual changed and I thought that I wouldn't have enough time to write, but then I did and holy shit did I write. Half of next weeks chapter is planned and a fourth is actually written.
I didn't plan on this chapter being posted, but when I saw that I had already reached my quota yesterday I decided to cut what I want for next week and leave the rest here.
Don't you ever listen to me when I say that I won't be able to upload, because I'll probably call bs and still post the new chapter.
Also, the song is called Kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep by AFI. I don't even listen to their songs because I'm not really into that kind of music, 'cause I'm a total metal head, Sabaton all the way, man, but this one caught my ears and I needed something to fill in the scene, so this is what I got. I know that this song will come up in the next few chapters, so there's that.
Mononoke is a vengeful spirit.
