"I don't?" I mumbled, he caught what I said though because he nodded.
"It's sad but humans don't have a place here in the spirit realm, ones that accidentally enter this world lose their way easily, usually the only solid thing that grounds them here is eating some food, but its punishable by the High lords to tell humans to eat if they don't want to disappear at nightfall, it's a strange rule, but I guess it's a regulation to keep all human population out and under control or let them die off. However if they do eat then they wander around until their short lifespan expires then they eventually turn into the stray. I guess I have a soft spot for humans since it's in my blood."
"The stray were humans?!" "Yes! Wow are you clueless?" I looked away, I could feel tears stinging my eyes threatening to fall heavily. "Thank you for your help Makoto, but I have to find a way home now." I slowly tried to stand. I'm getting out of here, I need some space to think. I almost fell on my ass again but he was quick to stand and support my arm before I fell.
"Hey, I didn't mean that." He could probably smell the sadness in my scent too. "Look it's nothing personal, I've just been through allot the past couple of days, I don't know how much more I can take." He nodded in reply "I can be inconsiderate sometimes." He said, I pulled myself together, I can't afford to lose my shit now. "I think you're just lost, do you know where you're headed? I can help, as a messenger I know allot about these parts" He asked. "Being half Okami has its perks you know, I'm born to roam the outdoors so navigation comes easily." He smiled again I shook my head 'no' and looked up at him. "So you don't know where you're going, and you don't know your name. Where did you even come from? Let me guess, you don't know that either?" He stated, shit I didn't want to give away so much about myself, I still don't know if I can fully trust Makoto or not and it puts me in a vulnerable position.
"Hmm, sounds like you've been through hell." I chuckled. "Feels that way…" Just then our conversation was interrupted by my growling stomach, the adrenaline has long since warn off and I was beginning to feel the exhaustion of using so much energy. "You're hungry? Have you eaten anything today?" "No, I haven't…" He pulled his pack in front of him and dug through it before pulling out a small loaf of bread. "Here! Take this, I was saving it for later but I think you need it more than I do." He held it out; I was reluctant to take it from him though.
"How do I know it isn't poisoned?" He smiled and laughed at my question. "You don't, here we'll split it. If I pass on then you know it's no good. Deal?" "O…Okay." I REALLY wanted that bread, but I can't be careless. It seemed fair enough to split it. He ripped it in half and handed me the larger piece. He began eating his part, I waited a few minutes to see if he was having any kind of bad reaction to it.
It was clear the bread wasn't hazardous so I started nibbling on the soft loaf. Bread has never tasted so damn good in my life! I don't know much about this guy but he sure was getting on my good side. "Hey if anything this proves that you aren't human, live humans who don't eat within their first hour fade away." I remembered the voices in my head earlier, one voice was a little girl saying 'I'm seeing through'. Weird, it seems to be connected to what Makoto was saying. Is she human? Did I know her? Have I been here before? My thought processes was interrupted by a light nudge on my shoulder.
Makoto was handing me some folded clothes. "Here, it's my spare change, I always come prepared. Get dressed you look like a harlot." He placed them on my lap, it was a simple long-sleeved white shirt and some dark pants to go along with it. I turned to look at him, "thank you, for everything." He tensed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair.
"No problem." He replied, I smiled and walked behind a close tree to get dressed.
"Do you have a job?" He asked from afar, I slipped off the shoes to put the dark pants on. "Um, no. Do people usually have jobs in the 'spirit world'?" "Well yeah, it's the one thing that keeps spirits like us sane and protected, it gives us usefulness on solid ground so we have a chance to find ourselves and cannot be cast out to our doomed fate like the stray." There was a moment of silence, I wasn't really sure how to react to that state meant.
"Where can I find a job around here?" I asked. "Well you can come with me on my routes if you like, you can be my assistant…" He suggested. "I guess that's alright, it's not like I have any other option now." I stepped out from behind the tree. "How do I look?" "It's way too big." He chuckled. "I'm not exactly tall now am I" I said sarcastically, I stand at a mediocre 5'5, and he was obviously over 6. "You look like a little kid in those clothes, it's cute." I giggled. "Don't underestimate what this child can do, I bet I could take you on." I said playfully, his attitude helped me get in a better mood, it was nice to have some fun after a day full of hell on earth.
"I'm sure you can little bird. Well as my new assistant, I say let's get a move on! I have been assigned to deliver a message from the Jasmine Palace to the lord of the northern bathhouse, and I would have by now if I hadn't run into you little bird. He's definitely expecting our delivery by now, but we can go slowly if you don't feel well O.K.?" He stood and slipped his pack over his shoulder.
"How long will it take?" I asked
"We'll be there before nightfall."
I guess that means I'm on my way to a bathhouse.
A/N: Hello everyone! I just wanted to say that I had a blast writing this chapter. This first time two main characters meet in this story, and it was a ton of fun brainstorming, writing, and editing this chapter several times over. It ended up being twice in size so I just went ahead and split it into two parts to keep the chapters even.
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think so far!
Have a wonderful day!