I found this frail, hungry, pitiful girl child after her mum had abandoned her. She was crying out for her Mother. Despite that, she looked delicious to eat. I was deciding what to do, whether to eat her now or go and leave her till nature had taken its course. While I pondered this, she looked at me with gorgeous eyes that captured my heart straight away.

"Who are you? Did you come to eat me?... If you want to eat me," she said with tears running down her face, "you can go ahead. I am going to die soon anyway, so eat me when I die...don't go anywhere, please."

It broke my heart to see this child offer herself to be eaten in exchange for company. I wanted such a beautiful person to live as she was thinking of others, even in death. I surprised myself; I wanted her to be my bride and honour her request to eat her upon her natural death at the end of a long life for her...

"Aren't you scared of me? Aren't you going to call for help?"

"No. I am not scared of you at all...because I am going to die soon anyway. "

I take her hand, and she flinches. "Don't worry. You don't have to be scared any longer...because you are not going to die. Don't you want to leave this place?"

I was carrying a rice ball for my lunch as it was a more reliable food source than humans.

I gave her that rice ball and decided to cook for her while she was there stuck.

"Your very kind," she murmured as I left her in a bunch of cherry blossoms. I left that way as I thought the colour might cheer the little girl up.

I visited her again. She was lying down. "What do you wish?" I ask

"My name...call out my name." She answered with her head turned away sadly.

"Aoi!" I said, and the girl smiled. "Do you have another wish?"

"I'm hungry. I wanna eat my mum's curry and rice."

"That wish is hard to grant." I say, "but" I hold out another rice ball" she takes it and eats it like it is the most delicious food in the world.

She reminded me of her grandfather, in her own spiritual power, the irresponsible scamp who came and went as he pleased from our world. So, I want to look for him. I thought it might take a while to track him down, so I asked Ginji to look after her for me until I found him. After all, I still needed to strike a bargain with him for her hand in marriage. She's way too little yet, though.

"I promise you will grow up, little one, and you will be my bride," I say to her, meaning every word. "It's okay. Nothing will scare you any longer."

I looked for Shino and found him out of control in debt at my Inn. I made him agree to give his granddaughter up in place of his debt. He didn't think he had one, so he readily agreed and signed the paperwork. I had Ginji look after her while I was away cooking and chasing down Shino. When I returned to Aoi for the last time, she said to me, "I can't leave here...because I'm scared of thunder and lightning."

I replied, "But if you don't leave this world, you'll die while suffering from hunger. There's a world where you need to go eventually. It's a place that certainly needs you. Promise me one thing. Someday, after you become an adult, I'll come to get you. I'll surely make you my bride, so when that happens, it'll make me happy if you come to love me."

"Wait... who are you?!" Aoi asked.

"Eat this." Handing her a rice ball. "Is it good?"

"Yeah. It's really good," said Aoi crying.

I cup her face and wipe away her tears. "Wait. Are you leaving?" Aoi asked.

"I won't be coming here ever again...because there'll be no need for it anymore," I replied.

"What...? I can see you again, right?"

"I want to see you again."

"Eat well, get your energy back...and live."

"We will certainly meet again... when you become an adult," I promise her.

I escorted Shino back to the human realm and showed him his granddaughter in the orphanage. The orphanage director was more than happy to release her to her grandfather's care. I lectured him that he better look after her well and teach her to cook for us properly as she was his debt guarantee. He smiled and then welcomed the granddaughter as if nothing had happened.

After striking the bargain with Shino, I requested that he teach her to cook for the ayakashi and use the ingredients from the hidden realm. I introduced him to a hidden realm shop for buying ingredients.

I did this because I was selfish. I don't think that I will love another as I have her, no one ever captured my heart and mind as she did, and she wasn't even fully grown. I know from watching the emperor of the hidden realm and his wife that her life can be prolonged considerably if she eats only hidden realm food and lives there too. I can't do anything about her childhood and growing up in the apparent realm, but if she eats mainly ayakashi food, she will live longer than any other human, meaning I will have my precious bride for longer.

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