The medicine seller had expected a small yokai or a cat to be the source of the kitchen catastrophe. Perhaps it could've even been a small neighboring child breaking into the parlor at night. Yet the tendril squeezing into the room from between the floorboards was a pretty good indication none of the above were the source.
Kayo yelped as the door to the room slid open and a nest of black filled the entire doorway. Thick tendrils lashed out, grasping the nearby empty tables and drawing them into the darkness.
The medicine seller quickly reacted, throwing ofuda spell papers from his sleeves as a defense barrier. The tendrils struck the ofuda repeatedly, attempting to break through. The tendril then broke apart, fraying like the end of a rope. The small frays wrapped around the individual ofuda, wedging them free from the barrier and dragging the papers into the darkness.
"D-did that thing eat the ofuda?!" Kayo yelped.
"This is unexpected." His ofuda weren't infallible. They had their limits, as most things did, but he didn't expect the mononoke would find a way to take advantage of that limit. Most mononoke attempted to burst through, and this one simply pulled the bricks out of the wall.
The small jingle of a bell indicated the taima sword had responded to his call. The sheathed blade burst through the darkness and into the room, but the mononoke had responded in kind, wrapping a large tendril around the taima sword.
Wedging free of Kayo's grasp, the medicine seller leapt forward, reaching out to grasp the sword before it was pulled into the darkness. The taima sword was the only way to relieve the mononoke of its suffering, and without the blade, the suffering would be endless.
As he grasped the sword, tendrils reached out and wrapped themselves around his arms and body. They felt soft to the touch but their grip was suffocating, trying to wring the life from his body. He had to think quickly, preferring not to enter the form of a mononoke until he knew the shape, truth, and reason.
He turned back towards the mahjong tables. With a flick of his wrist, he drew the sweets tray towards him and used it to slice the tendrils from their base. As the tray struck, he quickly shut the door, plastering it with ofuda to seal it shut.
The detached tendrils wriggled for a moment before falling limp and scattering about. He knelt down, picking up the pieces of the tendrils on the tatami mat. "Hair?"
"What do you mean 'hair'?!" Junsuke yelped. "What was that thing?!"
"A mononoke," the medicine seller replied calmly, shaking the last of the hair off his kimono.
"Y-you said that before," Hiroshi stammered. "W-what is that?"
"A creature borne of strong human emotions," Kayo replied for him, her voice shaky from watching the hair mononoke nearly claim the medicine seller in its grasp. "Negative ones that cause regret. Did someone die here?"
"D-die?!" Hiroshi stammered. "Why would you even go right to that?"
"Death is often part of a mononoke's truth," the medicine seller explained, "the means of how it was born. We must discover the truth, the shape, and the reason for its regret. Only then can I slay it relieve it of its pain."
"That's insane!" Tama shouted.
"A giant hair mononoke just invaded the room and what he said is what's insane?!" Kayo fussed.
"It's all insane!" Tama insisted.
"It might be best to calm down a bit, Miss Tama," Junsuke attempted to quiet her.
"I am calm!" Tama screeched.
The medicine seller propped the sword between the palms of his hands. "The strange activities began a week ago, according to Miss Tsuma. Did something occur then?"
"Nothing with hair," Hiroshi quickly replied.
"Hair aside," the medicine seller clarified.
"Perhaps it was something at the tea house," Junsuke suggested. "Didn't you say there was an incident last week?"
"Nothing to create some monster!" Tama insisted loudly. "What about your inn?"
"Are you insinuating something, Miss Tama?" Junsuke scowled.
"Nothing more than you!" Tama hissed back.
"I doubt that has anything to do with it," Hiroshi attempted to quiet the argument.
"Like you weren't involved!" Tama shouted. She hissed, curling up in terror as the door to the parlor began to rattle again.
The medicine seller glanced around the players gathered where the table once was. "Those seals will not hold forever."
"Well then make more!" Tama hissed.
The medicine seller stared at her flatly.
"Do you want to be stuck here forever?!" Junsuke panicked. "We could've caused this! That girl died!" He clamped a hand over his mouth. He wasn't planning on saying that much.
"Oh~?" The medicine seller questioned.
"Shut your mouth, Mr. Junsuke!" Tama hissed.
Several strands of hair began to wedge between the tatami mats, reaching up for anything it could snag in its grasp. Tama shrieked, attempting to smother it with a pillow. The hair thrashed outwards, emerging from beneath the pillow prison and attempting to ensnare Tama's arms.
As she tumbled backwards away from it, the medicine seller used the taima sword to repel the advances. Perhaps it wanted revenge or to ensnare someone specific. While it had grasped him earlier, he'd drawn close to it to retrieve the taima sword. It seemed to harbor nor ill will towards him, only filled with desire for revenge against someone else in the room.
Each time the hair had invaded the room, the mononoke had specifically avoided Kayo despite her sitting right next to the tatami. It had targets, but killing them likely wouldn't satiate the need for revenge. It rarely did.
He watched the tendrils for a moment before forcing them back and sealing the gap with an ofuda. "This mononoke," he observed, standing upright as he watched the seal activate then fall quiet, "is after one or more of you." He indicated the trio by pointing the taima sword at them.
"It's that girl, isn't it?!" Junsuke panicked. "Her perfect hair is haunting us!"
The taima sword hadn't reacted just yet. "Tell me more."
"Don't say anything!" Tama hissed.
"And get eaten by hair?!" Junsuke hissed. "It has to be Yoshino! She's doing this!"
"Yoshino?" the medicine seller repeated. He knew the meaning of the name. It was a popular name for 'maids' and 'waitresses', prostitutes that worked at teahouses and inns along major travel and trade routes. While prostitution was an illegal practice under era law, it was largely ignored.
"She was a maid at my inn," Junsuke explained. "Sometimes a waitress at Ms. Tama's tea house. Always favored by travelers and traders for her beautiful hair and body. Everyone demanded her company. Even we did."
"Mr. Junsuke!" Tama hissed.
"Even you!" Junsuke hissed back. "We took her here for a game when a player became rough with her, demanding her attention. She refused to give it, stumbled backwards, and died when she hit her head on the corner of a table."
Kayo wrinkled her face. "What a terrible way to die."
"She was well cared for!" Junsuke insisted. "We treated her well, gave her everything she ever wanted.
"Right." Kayo had heard that story before, the false story of how the bakeneko came to be. She peered up at the taima sword in the medicine seller's hand. It hadn't reacted to the story in the least. It remained silent, listening to the tales.
"Go kill that thing now!" Tama insisted.
"The truth, form, and reason all still remain hidden," the medicine seller remained stationary. "There is more to this story."
"Then it's not Yoshino?" Junsuke questioned, panic lacing his voice.
"We do not know the full story," the medicine seller insisted.
"That is Yoshino's full story," Hiroshi finally spoke. "There's nothing more to the tale."
The medicine seller glanced towards the back of the room, noticing some stray hairs seeping through the tatami mats. They were rather far away, searching for something.
Kayo wrinkled her face some more. "Someone else? Did anyone else die?"
"No one else died that day," Hiroshi shook his head.
"Any other days?" Kayo pressed on. "Mononoke don't manifest from someone's happy life and an accidental death. Or was Miss Yoshino really not treated well."
"No no, Yoshino was our best girl!" Junsuke insisted. "Treating her badly would be a discredit to her skill. She knew exactly where to touch-"
"Don't finish that," Kayo interrupted.
The medicine seller watched the hairs travel a bit, snagging the konpeito candy that had been scattered when he flipped the snack tray. The tendrils wrapped around them, dragging the star candy down between the cracks on the floor.
"What are you watching?!" Tama demanded, noticing the medicine seller's gaze had been diverted. Untangling herself from the kimono layers, she stood up and shrieked, seeing the hairs had invaded the room once again. "It's back! Kill it, you weird medicine seller!"
"Just watch," the medicine seller deflected the demands.
The tendrils reached out once again, seeking out the star candy and dragging the sweet victims back down between the floorboards.
"I-is it eating candy?!" Kayo stared in shock.
"It is," the medicine seller confirmed.
"W-why?!" Junsuke stammered. "I thought it wanted revenge!"
"A mononoke always has a reason for its actions that may not be understandable to humans," the medicine seller explained. "It may seek revenge, yet it may also seek other goals. To protect family, to return home, to reveal a hidden truth, and perhaps in this case, consume food."
Kayo stared, unsure what to make of the mononoke's actions. She was reminded somewhat of the candles who simply wanted to go home. This one wanted to consume candy. "Did Miss Yoshino like konpeito?"
"She never touched it," Hiroshi shook his head.
The medicine seller watched the tendrils disappear as soon as the konpeito was completely consumed. "I believe the mononoke's form is a futakuchi-onna."
The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
...
Author's musings
Mononoke are weird. And this one wants candy! Surely a mononoke made of hair is a strange one, right?
There sure are a lot of accusations flying about. During the Edo Era, prostitution was technically illegal but it happened all the time. Oftentimes it happened under the guise of teahouses and inns much like it's happening here. It was easier to tell which one was a prostitute by her name. Women's names during the era were two syllables but prostitutes tended to have multi-syllabic names like Yoshino.
There were of course legitimate inns and teahouses, but there are also these sorts.
I wonder what the real story is behind the inn, the teahouse, and the parlor if Yoshino's story isn't the cause of the mononoke.
