The school bell rang, telling students that afternoon recess was over. Sumire was about to enter the classroom, when she crossed paths with Natsuno by the door.

“Princess”, Natsuno mocked, dipping his head slightly as he allowed Sumire to enter the classroom.

She ignored the mockery, but walked into the classroom so as to not block the other students. She waited until Natsuno followed behind her before approaching him.

“May I know from which yokai hunter clan you came from?” she asked, trying to be as polite as possible. But it still drew a derisive snort from Natsuno.

“Of course that’s all you big clans care about”, he said, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.

“I—” Sumire paused. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I believe that everyone can be a yokai hunter as long as they possess divine ancestry, no matter how diluted.”

“Diluted, huh”, Natsuno hummed, dropping himself on his seat by the window. “I don’t have any divine ancestry, as far as I know.”

“Yet you possess spiritual relics”, Sumire argued.

“I’m a yokai cleanser”, Natsuno said, effectively shutting down any argument Sumire might have. “I don’t need divine ancestry to do a cleansing ritual. Which you probably knew from your lessons already, Princess.”

Of course, Sumire had heard about yokai cleansers before. Yokai hunters and yokai cleansers were people with spiritual powers, standing at different ends of a spectrum. Whereas yokai hunters vowed to seal all yokai into Yomi, yokai cleansers believed that yokai were corrupted human souls that could be guided back into the afterlife.

Needless to say, their ideals often clashed.

Sumire was about to say something, when their math teacher walked into the classroom. Sumire took to her own seat, but her mind still whirled with questions.

—

Back in her family archive, Sumire looked for anything she could find about yokai cleansers. She found one of the biggest ones that died out three centuries ago, the Kujo clan. They possessed the divine blood of Amaterasu Omikami, but died out due to a territory dispute with the Kazahana clan.

She wondered what kind of territory dispute they had — it wasn’t unusual for yokai hunter clans to clash, whether from differing ideals or territory disputes. But yokai cleansers, as the scroll said, preferred to avoid conflicts with yokai hunters due to their peaceful nature.

Sumire was still deep in thought when the door to the archive slid open. Her grandfather walked in and saw the scroll bearing the Kujo clan sigil still in her hands. He frowned.

“Has the Kujo clan made an appearance once more?” he asked.

“I’m not sure, Grandfather”, Sumire answered. It was the truth — there was no indication that Natsuno was a distant descendant of the Kujo clan. She wondered if he would answer if she asked nicely.

Fuyuta cleared his throat and sat down on the tatami next to the bookshelf, patting the space next to him for Sumire to sit down. She obliged, but only because she was curious. She took the seat across to him and bowed her head slightly in respect.

“Why did yokai hunters of old find that sealing yokai into Yomi was the best option to fight them?” Fuyuta asked.

Sumire blinked confusedly. This was the first lesson his grandfather taught her as a yokai hunter, back when she was little. “Because a yokai’s malicious energy is too much for a cleanser to handle”, Sumire answered, almost in textbook manner. “Powerful yokai such as Tamamo no Mae, Shuten Doji, and Yamata no Orochi, for example, cannot be cleansed due to their innate evil nature. In those cases, sealing them into Yomi is the only option.”

“That is correct”, Fuyuta said, rubbing his short white beard. “But a cleanser cannot simply cleanse a yokai without absorbing the miasma it carries within into their own core. Eventually, a yokai cleanser will die — or worse, be corrupted — by the miasma.”

Sumire couldn’t help but think about Natsuno — his sarcastic remarks and antagonizing nature… was that caused by the miasma he absorbed?

No, Sumire decided. He was probably simply being a jerk.

“Grandfather…” Sumire said, pausing briefly. “You taught me that only those with a pure heart are capable of wielding spiritual weapons. Then, in that case, won’t a yokai cleanser eventually lose their ability too?”

“You are very sharp”, Fuyuta praised. “Yes, that is the fate that awaits every cleanser, actually. One cannot cleanse when one’s heart is not pure.”

That was actually… quite sad. Sumire wondered if Natsuno knew about the fate that awaited him. He probably did.

And why was she thinking about him again?

“It’s almost dinner. Your sister frets that you don’t eat enough”, Fuyuta said as he stood up. He was about to leave the archive when he turned to face Sumire again. “Keep our creed in mind. Only by sealing the yokai into Yomi can we keep this world safe.”

—

The next day, Sumire noticed that Natsuno didn’t show up in class. She briefly wondered what happened to him, before Momo distracted her with her excited babbling about taking a walk after school.

That was how Sumire ended up accompanying Momo to the shopping district near their school. It wasn’t as crowded in the afternoon, and Sumire actually enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. She didn’t get to spend time with friends after school — mostly because she was busy with practice, both archery and yokai hunting practices, or she was off yokai hunting. Partly because she didn’t really have that many friends to begin with.

The lulling peace was shattered immediately when Sumire sensed the strong, malicious energy of a spiritual entity. It had to be close, and Sumire eyed the crowd of highschool students and office workers going home as she tried not to panic.

Where did it come from? Where was it hiding?

She knew her power. She knew she would be no match for whatever spiritual entity lurking among them. However, before she could pinpoint its exact location, the malicious energy dissipated as quickly as it appeared.

Sumire blinked.

Was she only imagining it?

“Sumire, are you alright?” Momo asked, worry clear in her voice. “You had a scary look on your face.”

“I—” Sumire swallowed. “I’m okay. Just a little bit tired.”

“Oh, well. We should definitely rest! I know an ice cream parlor nearby”, Momo chirped excitedly. “I was going to ask you if you want to go to this new udon shop, but you don’t look really good. And I know that nothing can beat ice cream to perk you right back up!”

Sumire smiled to herself, allowing Momo to pull her to the ice cream parlor.