They were surrounded by two dozen candles that looked far too human than they should. But they were once human, once people who had simply come to the inn to stay. Some looked like adults but others looked like children.
The medicine seller stood on the table in the center of the dark room in a defensive stance, mostly watching the door cautiously but still keeping a close watch on the mononoke now surrounding them. The candle mononoke approached one by one, outstretching their waxy arms towards the pair on the table.
Kayo gasped. "W-what are they-"
The medicine seller placed a single finger on her lips to interrupt her. "Just watch." He'd felt it before when he looked up the stairs at the single toudaiki that appeared to be crying. They weren't angry. They were sad.
"I want to go home."
The medicine seller knelt down on the table, taking the outstretched hand of the smaller candle. "I can release you from this world if you tell me your truth and reason."
Kayo stared. The smaller candle that spoke had the voice of a child. Perhaps even more surprising was how gentle the medicine seller was with the mononoke. She had reasoned him a mononoke hunter before. He seemed to revel in finding mononoke and fighting them, but there was more to this than she had realized, wasn't there? It was as if he truly just wanted to help them by removing them from this world. He'd mentioned they were bound here before. Perhaps he was just the one who could sever those ties and let the vengeful souls rest.
"It all started a year ago," one of the other toudaiki spoke. "My wife and I were simply staying here as we traveled. This inn offered the most pleasant rooms in the area. It was truly nice. Then that night, Tadasuke attacked. He poured wax over my wife while Hidehiko made me watch. Then he did the same to me."
The taima sword chattered. "I see. You were the first. This is the reason for the mononoke, the reason you are all bound to this realm. But do you know why they did this?" Knowing who had been the source of the reason was important. Eliminating that source would release all those bound to it.
"Extortion," another replied. "I saw it myself. They waxed my son and me, then tried to tell my family that we never paid our bill. He told them it was an unfathomable amount, much more than the actual price."
"It happened to me too!" another agreed. "My poor son did his best to foot the bill but it must've destroyed the household!"
"My poor daughter couldn't pay the fee," an elderly candle added. "When she realized that something was amiss, she threatened to go to the local lords to expose them, but she soon met the same fate as I." He indicated a petite candle sobbing in the corner.
The taima sword chattered in response. There it was, the last piece of the puzzle. The medicine seller had reasoned jealousy involved, but extortion and greed were also very strong emotions that mixed with the pain of what he'd done to these people. That was more than enough to create a mononoke in this world.
It was somewhat surprising that the candles hadn't moved about before today. Yet perhaps now the feelings had become so overwhelming in a combination with being within reach of someone who could help them had truly caused them to bridge realms and manifest here in the human one.
"I just want to go home," the child repeated.
"We all do," yet another replied. "We just wanted a nice place to stay for the night! It's not our fault!"
"It rarely is." The medicine seller stood up, pulling the sword from his obi.
"You can do this with that taima, right?" the first spoke.
"I can now that I know your form, truth, and reason," the medicine seller replied. "Miss Kayo. You may wish to cover your eyes." He held the sword up above his head, staring up at it as it hovered above him. "Release."
"Release! Release!" the sword chattered as the medicine seller unsheathed it. His inner self appeared, standing between his outer self and Kayo, who had quickly covered her entire face with her hands. The medicine seller merged with his inner self who drew the taima sword from its sheath. It was time to put these souls to rest, to end the suffering of the mononoke gathered here. The toudaiki didn't put up a fight. They welcomed the rest.
Round and round the sword went, slaying all the mononoke present. The last one was the samurai, the first whose ire and sadness had created the mononoke in the inn. He offered the medicine seller a smile, happy to finally be able to rest with his wife.
The shoji door rattled before it was forcefully shoved open and pulled off its tracks. The medicine seller stood crouched on the table, arms outstretched as if he'd slashed the now-sheathed taima sword in a massive arc. Kayo stood behind him with her hands over her face. The toudaiki candles now looked like regular columnar candles scattered around the room.
Hidehiko and Tadasuke both gaped. The latter recovered first. "We can't let you leave after you know all this, after what you've seen."
The medicine seller never really expected gratitude from people after he killed the mononoke and released their anger. Some were more grateful like Lady Inu, but others like the two before him seemed less than pleased. He stood up, tucking the sword in his obi. "I'm just a simple medicine seller. I haven't seen anything."
Kayo peeked between her fingers. After everything they'd seen and heard, he was just going to pretend it didn't happen? They sure seemed ungrateful for how much the medicine seller just did for them. She turned, huffing, but when she noticed how calm the medicine seller's expression was, she didn't say anything yet.
The innkeeper stared. "That's it? Just like that?"
"I'm just an ordinary medicine seller," he replied. "No one would believe such a fanciful tale from someone like me."
"You're hardly ordinary," Hidehiko pointed out.
"I think you're mistaken," the medicine seller shrugged off the idea, hopping off the table. "If you will excuse me, I do believe I would like some rest before I head off in the morning."
Tadasuke practically leapt out towards the medicine seller. "How dare you-" He was quickly thwarted by the innkeeper holding him back. The pair watched the medicine seller walk past him and head for the stairs.
"He's right, you know," Hidehiko understood. "No one would believe him. The unfortunate status of a merchant nowadays. But I suppose we could use the story to attract customers a legitimate way. How good are you at carving wax?"
Kayo glanced at the two talking about future business endeavors even after the atrocities they had committed were laid bare. The medicine seller had been so nonchalant about what the two had done, but instead he showed sympathy to the mononoke. There was definitely more to him than she understood.
Hopping off the table, she shuffled past them and up the stairs. He hadn't gotten that far. "I don't really understand you, you know."
"Most do not," he replied simply as he continued up the stairs.
"They did horrible things, and sure, you killed the mononoke, but that doesn't really excuse what those two did," Kayo stared at his back, following him up the stairs. "How can you just ignore it so easily?"
He stopped on the next step, turning to meet her stare. "Humans are capable of terrible things. Greed, lust, jealousy, anger. Those emotions and more can create mononoke."
The way he spoke, Kayo almost felt like he wasn't human at all. He did have an unusual look to him, but he walked among people as a merchant and no one questioned it.
"Such emotions do not always do so, but in death, a grudge can be passed on," he continued. "Sometimes that grudge stays within the spiritual realms, but when it passes into the human realm, it must be dealt with. The mononoke suffers and the grudge cannot end."
She peered up at him some more. She never really thought that killing a mononoke would end its suffering. "So like with Lady Tamaki…."
"Once the bakeneko was slain, her and the cat's soul were at peace," the medicine seller revealed. The bakeneko incident really had really stuck to her mind like glue. He couldn't blame her. She'd been there with Odajima to see the bakeneko reveal its truth in vivid detail. Perhaps it affected her more than she let on. Perhaps he actually cared what she felt.
She stared up at him. She'd never really considered what happened after a mononoke was slain, but then again, before she crossed paths with the medicine seller, such things seemed like nothing more than stories.
He turned, peering up the stairs. Apparitions of people began to appear. First the samurai and his wife, then several other samurai, ladies, lords, and merchants along with a dozen children. One by one, they descended the stairs, smiling and laughing with each other.
"Do you see them, Miss Kayo?" He watched them travel down the stairs with a surprisingly soft expression tugging at his features.
The samurai offered him a nod. The child cheered him on. The people were all happy.
He offered them a polite bow as they all passed by. "Do you see the souls who finally aren't bound by such negative emotions?"
She squinted at the stairs, trying to look where the medicine seller was looking. She couldn't see anything at all, but for a moment, she thought she heard children laughing.
…
The medicine seller left the inn behind him with more than just some extra yen in his pocket. There was a lot of yen in that small pouch. Hidehiko had been more than generous, shoving yen at him perhaps to keep him from talking. Not that the medicine seller often talked about what he did.
But now he also had a companion. Kayo insisted she come with him. "You're sure it's good to come with you, right?"
"I did say yes," he replied.
She had no idea what she was getting into. She knew nothing about medicines or the supernatural but she did manage to get him to agree to teach her. She wanted to find her place in the world now that she'd been wandering for so long. Ironic that she thought maybe her place was wandering. But she knew that wandering wouldn't be so boring with someone like the medicine seller as her companion. "You know, I was kinda expecting Mr. Hidehiko to be more insistent than he was. Or kill us in the middle of the night."
"Humans may be capable of horrible things, but they are also capable of decency," the medicine seller point out.
There he went again, referring to people as 'humans' instead of just 'people.' She stared at him for a moment. "Are you human?"
"I wonder," he replied vaguely.
She puffed up. "What's your name?"
"Who knows?" he replied.
She huffed evey more. "If I'm going to travel with you, at least stop messing with me!"
"Uh oh, you caught me," he teased.
"You're frustrating, you know!" she fussed.
A slight grin tugged at the edge of his lips. Perhaps this would be interesting.
...
Author's musings
Uh oh! Looks like the medicine seller now has an apprentice! I had favored the idea that Kayo probably took to a lot of wandering after the Bakeneko incident and the Ayakashi Sea, particularly since word about the Bakeneko incident had spread pretty far by the time that Kayo and the medicine seller cross paths a second time.
After crossing paths again, it only seems natural to travel with him now. And I sure wouldn't stay in Hidehiko's inn after that either. Yeesh.
I also like the idea that the medicine seller does what he does not out of necessity but some kind of desire to help mononoke who are suffering because of regret.
I do wonder where this will lead us.
