Edo was a bustling city. It was the capital of Japan, and had most of the trades and jobs going on here. The streets were busy with people.

Under the blue sky, a solitary man, alone but not lonely, strolled past the busy merchants and buyers in the marketplace. He strode rather on a medium pace. Not too slowly, or too quickly.

Kusuriuri had a poker face most of the time, except for a few rare exceptions.

As he reached a shrine, outside of the busy marketplace, his surroundings rather quiet, he looked ahead, and started to mutter something under his breath.

The shrine was that of the Goddess of the Sea, Inari.

Inside the shrine were a number of people. Six, to be exact, including the shrine maiden, and the monk taking care of the shrine for the day.

However, he felt the presence of another person.

He looked behind. It was a lady. She looked to be young. Her skin was pale, even paler than his own, which was a surprise, because his skin was already considered very pale.

She had almost snow white skin, and her hair was pitch black and open, with cut bangs that decorated her forehead, a headpiece on the side of her hair, near her left ear. She wore a beautiful kimono of mostly white and colours of some other designs such as red and yellow.

Her eyes were a deep maroon. And they looked incredibly empty. He had never seen eyes so empty. Even Ochou, who thought she murdered an entire family and was ready to accept a Mononoke as her ally as an escape from her hellish life, didn't have eyes so empty.

He had come across many people in his task to slay Mononokes, but this young lady was the first person he thought had a gaze that looked beyond human.

She smiled, "Hello."

Kusuriuri nodded, "Hello, miss."

She also nodded, "Are you going inside the shrine?"
"Yes."
"So am I. Let's go in then?"
"Sure."

They both walked in with gentle steps, not too loud. And what greeted them, was of course, the inside of the shrine. A simple building of brown painting, a table filled with offerings and incense sticks and a statue of Inari.

There was a woman who looked to be a noble, a samurai, and a merchant, with the shrine maiden and a monk. There was another familiar face for the Kusuriuri though.

"Ahhh, Kusuriuri!"
"Genyousai-dono."

The young lady looked at them and asked, "You both seem to know each other?"

The minstrel answered with a smile, "Yes miss, we have met before. Although, under tacky circumstances. I assume, right now is one of them as well."

Kusuriuri nodded, his face still poker, "You guessed it right."

The monk greeted them, "Greetings, everyone." He smiled, the shrine maiden also bowed and greeted them.
Kusuriuri also greeted them by bowing, "Hello, I am a Kusuriuri. I sell medicine."

The young lady in the white Kimono looked at him sharply. Kusuriuri felt the gaze even though she was looking from behind.

'This girl is bad news.' He couldn't help thinking that.

Genyousai snorted, "What nonsense. You are here for slaying the Mononoke, aren't you?"

Kusuriuri said nothing, but the monk asked with an anxious expression, "A mononoke? Is there one here?"

The shrine maiden frowned slightly too.

The woman who was looking like a noble, gazed at them and spoke in a rushed manner, "What is that?"

Kusuriuri explained in his buttery smooth voice, "A mononoke is born when an ayakashi latches onto the negative emotions of the people. Grudge, vengeance and anger."

A pair of eyes was observing everything.

Kusuriuri continued, "I am here to slay the Mononoke that lingers here. Only, I cannot slay it just like that. There are requirements for drawing the Sword of Exorcism, which I use to slay the Mononokes."

Genyousai nodded, "You mean the shape, truth and regret?"
"Yes."

"What do you mean by truth and regret?" asked the samurai, who was quiet up until now. He wore a dark green and grey kimono, his hair tied behind, and a sword hanging by his waist. His hands and neck contained scars of battle. He had a voice which wasn't too deep, but it had the weight of a samurai.

Kusuriuri explained as usual, his voice magnetic, "The truth is the state of the being, while the regret is the state of the heart."

The young woman in the white kimono, who was quiet up until now, laid her eyes on him, "Just who exactly are you?"

The said man smirked slightly and answered, "I am just a simple Kusuriuri."

The woman wearing expensive jewelry was immediately frightened, her face scrunching up in fright, "What should we do then?"

"We need to figure the three conditions out." Genyousai opened his fan and added with a sly smile.

The young lady suddenly leapt towards the front and quickly brought back the woman by the wrist, "Look out!"

There was a sudden piece of wood flying towards her from the door.

Thr merchant fainted from the shock and fear immediately.

Kusuriuri looked at them both and frowned slightly, drawing his eyebrows in closer.

"We need to start figuring things out soon. First, the shape." he walked towards the piece of wood stuck deeply into the wall.

He looked at the deep claw marks in the wood.

"This is an Akebeko."

Clink!

He turned around, a small smile on his lips, of whether triumph or amusement, the matter unclear, "The truth and regret remains. And it lies with the people here. And thus," he drew his sword close to him, "I ask you to tell me, the truth and regret!"

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

The young lady looked at him with curious eyes, but then she looked outside, "A red crow spirit. So someone must have done something to a crow to do it."

The pair of maroon eyes were drifting from one place to another.

Genyousai refuted, "Who would do it among us? Has anyone here done anything to the crow?"

Kusuriuri looked around, however, he still could feel the pair of maroon eyes darting from here to there. Her gaze bore deep wherever she led her eyes down. Sometimes it was on Kusuriuri himself too.

"I have my children at home.....what if I die here...what will happen to them....?" the woman was close to crying.

"Otama-san, you will reach home safely. Don't worry. We are here!" Genyousai assured with a proud smile.

With that, he started reciting an evil warding spell.

"What was this shrine before it became a shrine of Inari?"

Kusuriuri asked the monk.

The monk seemed to have gotten startled. He fidgeted a bit, "A-ah, I do not know, I am afraid."

Kusuriuri brought out a scale, and soon enough the scale flew to the entrance of the shrine.

One, then another, and another. Scales after scales flew towards the entrance of the shrine.

Genyousai looked at the scales, "Already? This one is impatient, I see."

Kusuriuri said nothing, and continued to look at scales.

Another piece of wood flew towards them, this time, it was towards the young lady in white.

This time, the throw was even faster than before. She dodged it by moving a step backwards, as her eyes narrowed a little, "Things will escalate soon."

Even though she said that, there was no anxiety in her tone. Her voice was high pitched, but it sounded more grounded than ever. Even her verbal style was slightly rough and casual.

Kusuriuri looked at the scales and his lips straightened into a thin line, "It's coming."

The samurai stood on guard, the woman screamed in fear, the shrine maiden and the monk hid behind and Genyousai readied himself. The young woman stood where she was, simply watching.

Kusuriuri brought a series of ofuda talismans as he plastered them all over the walls of the gate.

The shrine started shaking, and there were noises of a crow outside, mixed with a demonic voice.

"Akebeko is a spirit that usually takes care of shrines. Why would it be angry like this?" Genyousai woundered out loud as he gritted his teeth, "Someone here must have done something extremely bad to anger this spirit."

"It may not be that complicated." The monk replied meekly, slightly shaking from the fear, and the shake of the building. Instantly he felt eyes on him again. Deep, and intense. The gaze bore down at him.

The shaking stopped, Kusuriuri let out a small sigh, "This shrine, has anyone done anything to arouse the anger of this Akebeko?"

This was the last time he was going to ask before taking matters into his own hands.

The young woman looked at the shrine maiden, "Ask her. She probably knows."

The shrine maiden flinched. The young woman in white spoke elegantly, "You have been fidgeting since the beginning of this entire thing. The moment Kusuriuri spoke about a Mononoke being here, you have been fidgeting."
"I..." she finally spoke up, "I am just nervous..."

The young lady smiled slightly, "Is that so? Are you sure you don't know anything?"
"I...am not sure if I do..." she answered softly, her eyes unsure and darting.

Bang!

There was a loud banging outside the closed door of the shrine.

The samurai growled, "Where even is this going to end? Are we just going to keep running in circles?"

The shrine shook violently. Kusuriuri put out more ofuda talismans. And afterwards a scale flew to his hand, as he put the scale in front of the monk, not the shrine maiden.

Because that's where the young woman in white seemed to be staring at.

The entire scenario changed. There was the normal shrine in front of them.

However, this time, the shrine maiden was different. She wore white and red clothes of that of a shrine maiden. Her face was gentle and all smiles, a slight crease in her eyes, significantly showing her age.

"That's the previous shrine maiden, am I right?" The young woman in white asked the monk. The monk kept looking at the shrine maiden. His eyes seemed dazed.

Otama spoke up, her eyes widening, "That's the current monk!"

The previous shrine maiden was quite old. But she seemed simple and kind at heart. The monk stood beside her to see the offerings and set them up properly.

Suddenly, there was a loud caw of a crow.

A crow flew to the shrine maiden, she smiled, "Ah, Goranmaru. You are here. See, there are so many offerings here. People here are religious as always." the shrine maiden slowly tapped it’s beak. The crow seemed to show affection to her by nuzzling to her hand.

She seemed genuinely happy about the shrine receiving many offerings. And took great care of them.

"We can soon hold our festivals." she was extremely happy about it.

"So dedicated." The previous shrine maiden couldn't help but say so.

Kusuriuri narrowed his eyes.

The scene changed, the shrine maiden looked at the monk, "Jougen, I hope things go well with you. I will keep in touch with you." she smiled.

"Her retirement." The young woman in white spoke up, "See carefully now."

The day of her retirement was uneventful. However, from the next day, something unexpected happened.

The next day, they saw a little shortage of the offerings that initially were there.

"Someone stole the offerings." Genyousai spoke up in surprise.

Kusuriuri kept his poker face as he analysed the situation. He knew already where this was heading.

The next picture showed the previous shrine maiden, surprised at the gates, and angry. She shouted, "JOUGEN!!! HOW DARE YOU STEAL THE OFFERINGS' MONEY???!??!"

Jougen was a newly appointed monk who was poor as well. He needed more money than he earned. Especially with his mother being ill very seriously.

Jougen, in a fit of impulse, took out a knife out of his clothes and stabbed the previous shrine maiden. Furiously.

Again. And again. And again.

The only witness to that was the crow she often pet, that she had named Goronmaru. That crow came to her defence, as he repeatedly used his beak to hit the monk.

Jougen, eyes red and murderous, screamed out as he murdered the crow, "Die already!"

He loved his mother a lot. And didn't want her to die so easily. The money he got here with the offerings barely made up for the treatment which was very expensive. But without the shrine's offerings, the money won't even suffice.

And thus, he stole.

Even though he knew it was wrong of him to do so.

It was as simple as that.

It was the dead of night. The murder was staged as an accident by him. And the crow he killed, got buried by the present shrine maiden the next day. Only that, she didn't know it was the crow that the previous shrine maiden was fond of.

The young lady in white closed her eyes as the illusion ended.

"You-you murdered-" Otama scrambled away from the monk who was still the entire time.

"It was for my mother..." he mumbled out, "It was for her..."

"But she died this morning anyway." The young woman nonchalantly added, "And you were here to kill yourself, am I right?"
"..."
"No matter what, you still have your own conscience. Since the source of your crimes is gone, you have nothing left to motivate you. But of course, you didn't want to be killed by a Mononoke, which can be cruel, and painful. In the end, you don't want to die after all, even after everything you did, even after all you have done." she added with a smile that looked extremely...vague. It wasn't a sincere smile, or an insincere one. It was just...there.

Kusuriuri looked at the ofuda talismans being burned out, "The truth is found."

Clink!

"The regret of this Mononoke, is to not protect the previous shrine maiden. And thus, wants revenge on you. Jougen-dono."

Clink!

"With shape, truth and regret collected together, my sword shall be unsheathed!"

The surroundings for him changed, in the real world, everything seemed to still completely. Everything was a blur. Kusuriuri switched to his other body which allowed him to enter into the planes of the Ayakashi.

His long white hair flowed freely down his back, the Sword of Exorcism elongating. His yellow kimono annunciated his dark toned skin. His scleras were black as his pupils were red. Golden marks covered his entire body, and he felt the power he held in every inch of his being.

The crow was now in front of him, and as he finally dealt it a large strike, his movements swift. He was fearless against the seemingly large and threatening Mononoke.

The final strike was about to be hit, as he said, "Forgive me, but I must exorcise you."

The final blow was dealt, and the Mononoke had been put to rest.

Kusuriuri from afar could feel another pair of eyes drift towards him. And it was not that of a Mononoke.

This time, he felt rather uneasy. Who could enter the planes of the Ayakashi except him in this place.

As he laid his eyes on who it was, his red pupils dilated, his eyes widening slightly.

It was the young woman in the kimono from before, except she wasn't wearing a white kimono this time. In fact, she wasn't wearing a kimono at all.

It was an entirely different attire, one that he was entirely unfamiliar with, much to his uneasiness.

The young woman wore something that resembled a quarter sleeved dress, a black one that went upto her....well that was difficult to say, as the dress actually was more on both sides than the other the middle, the highest length was upto near her ankle, while the lowest length was under her knee. Her shoes were...what even was that?

[It's heels bro.]

Her long black hair, was set open in the back as usual, she wore dazzling red but small earrings. She wore golden thin bracelets on both of her wrists.

Her eyes were still a deep maroon, and that ever present smile was still there on her lips.

Kusuriuri felt goosebumps all over his body as he stared at her way too lifeless eyes.

'This girl really is bad news.'

But he didn't show any of his thoughts on his face. And asked slowly, "How are you here?"

She looked at the floor, amused, "I am not sure either, although I do have a hunch."
"Which is?"

She chuckled softly, "Not telling you."
"......"

Now he was even more curious! It's not everyday you get to see a human in the planes of the Ayakashi when you are slaying Mononokes.

However, if she didn't want to tell, he wasn't one to push either. He simply looked away.

Either way, he wasn't ever going to cross paths with her again most probably. And even if he did, it wouldn't be much of a problem, as she didn't do anything to harm others anyway.

......Not for now at least.

Kusuriuri was good at reading people, he could develop a general idea of how a person could be by their vibe and overall way of carrying themselves through their talks and behaviours.

But that was the problem. He had no idea what the fuck she was like. She had fast reflexes, had an extremely relaxed posture, and rather a quick mind. She didn't even seem afraid of the Mononoke. Unless people were familiar with spiritualism, they would usually get afraid of the otherworldly as they lay their eyes on them and experience them first hand.

But that wouldn't explain how she had such fast reflexes. Was she some sort of warrior? That was even more unlikely.

It just came back to nothing no matter how many times he thought about it.

And there was no way she was just a girl in the household.

"Would you at least mind telling me who you are?" he asked with his deep, smooth voice.

"I am just a simple Otome."

"......."

What goes around comes back around, he supposed.

"Otome, huh?" He mused, his eyes narrowing in as he thought of things, unknown to her. Crinkles and gingles were ringing as they both came back to the real world. She was back to her white kimono, and he was back to his worldly body.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

"Hey." Kusuriuri heard a voice as he was leaving the shrine.

It was her, Otome.

"Yes?" he turned around, wanting to end the conversation as soon as possible. However, he already had a bad feeling about what she was going to say, considering her calm posture.

"Take me with you."
"....."

Seriously??? He knew his gut was right, but seriously?????

He shook his head, "I am afraid I can't."
"I am afraid I have to go with you." she protested. Her gaze was more intense than ever now. He felt the uneasiness creep into him again.

Kusuriuri raised an eyebrow, "Why so?"

She looked hesitant, that was surprising. She then replied, "You may not believe this, but I am not from this time."

....Huh?

"You don't believe me, do you?" she looked at him from behind her eyelashes and sighed, "It's true, I am not from this timeline. I am...from a few hundred years from the future." even she sounded like she didn’t believe it.

Kusuriuri kept his poker face, but his mind was a string of questions.

However, he had seen the most bizarre things happen in his journey of slaying the Mononokes, so although this was his first time witnessing a time travelling case, he wasn't very surprised.

"How can you prove it?" he asked slowly.

"...How do you want me to prove it?" she was starting to get deflated. She didn't have any proof with her, it seemed.

"Even so, why would you seek me?" Kusuriuri asked as a matter of fact. Why him of all people?

She looked a little dazed at that question, "You can help me return back to the future."
"How so?"
"Because...I got sent here because of a powerful Mononoke."

....A what?

"Are you sure?"
"Yes." She didn’t seem to lie.

Kusuriuri was still skeptical, "How do you know?" he started suspecting her of lying this time.

Otome didn’t budge from her position, "I have encountered Mononokes before, I know how they feel or look like, also that one accidentally dragged me here. Of course I know it's one."

"That still doesn’t prove anything." Kusuriuri further pushed. If anything, it proved her to be suspicious even more.

"How about I travel with you and you find out?" she grinned refreshingly.
"How can I trust you?" He definitely couldn’t just trust someone he had met.

"I have no weapons with me." she reasoned with a calm voice.

Kusuriuri countered, "How do I know you are not lying?" he couldn’t obviously see into her kimono.

"You can see my pockets if you want." she didn’t seem to mind.
"...Really? Are you sure?" he didn’t think she would agree.

"Yes. Go ahead." she actually agreed as she approached. Kusuriuri seemed to take a look in all her pockets with his sharp eyes, and felt the presence of no weapons neither did he see one. He sighed, "Alright, I believe you have no weapons." he eyed her carefully, "That still doesn’t prove your first claim."

Otone frowned in disappointed, "Did I not tell you to see for yourself? Besides, if it’s true, you will have to go slay it anyway."

This was true. If she was telling the truth, he had to go slay the Mononoke after he found it anyway.

But, would it be wise to take her with him?

[A/N: Yes, this girl is basically Ayanokoji combined with a lot of Dazai's personality mixed in. Lmao. I wonder how this is going to go. :3 Can't wait to traumatise them.]