The archery hall was barren; most of the archery club members had already gone home. That wasn’t the case with Sumire, however. Currently, she was the only one there, deep in her thoughts.

For her, archery was not only about having perfect aim. 

It was more of a way of life, in a way — it dictated the way she moved, walked, and breathed. From her childhood to this point in her life, it guided her in a single, linear path toward a certain future. A future where she would continue her family bloodline as one of the oldest yokai hunter clans.

This was a fate that had been decided for her since birth. This was the purpose of her life.

She was fine with it.

Her attentions narrowed into the bullseye of the archery target. She released the arrow from her fingers, where it found home right where she wanted it. She exhaled her breath and relaxed her shoulders, the bow dropping as she grabbed another arrow.

She really was fine with it.

But recent events had made her… well, not quite question things that had been decided for her. But it was confusing, to say the least. Natsuno had saved her life from the enenra that night — Sumire refused to acknowledge the ‘method’ he had used — but then he was acting so antagonistic afterward.

It was confusing. It confused her.

And she wouldn’t lie that it made her feel… something that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

She didn’t like it.

Her life had been decided for her. All she had to do was to go with it.

Everything else was not of her concern.

—

It wasn’t really late when she was done with her archery practice. The sun was still sliding westward, and she walked through a peaceful neighborhood. Alright, the peaceful part might be a bit of a stretch — as the day was turning into night, small yokai began to slither out of their hiding places, ready to make mischief.

But it still made her stop in her tracks when she sensed a strong, malicious energy. It wasn’t as strong as the one she had sensed back in the shopping district a couple days ago, but she couldn’t leave it alone. A particularly strong yokai would pose a danger for the neighborhood. As a yokai hunter, it was her duty to take care of it.

She followed the malicious energy, cautious and fully prepared to fight, until she arrived at a park.

She didn’t know which surprised her more — that Natsuno was already there, or the blood-soaked, weeping ubume that loomed before him.

An ubume was the spirit of a mother who had died during childbirth. They were not malicious, usually, and they were most certainly not a yokai, but a human soul at their core. They could be easily placated to go to the Underworld.

This one, however, seemed to be following a child. A girl, who couldn’t be older than four, was chatting away with Natsuno while the two of them were playing seesaw. Natsuno didn’t look at all bored, and seemed to be entertaining the little girl — all while completely ignoring the ubume that had been glaring at him.

This didn’t make sense to Sumire. An ubume shouldn’t be emanating such strong, malicious energy — especially since the little girl didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger.

“Oi, Princess!” a voice broke Sumire out of her musing. “When will you stop watching from the distance? That’s creepy! You’ll scare my new friend!”

Sumire thought it was amusing that a high-schooler like Natsuno was befriending such a young child. Still, she approached the odd pair and gave the weeping ubume a slight acknowledging nod. The ubume still wept, but didn’t do anything besides.

“Hi, Big Sister! Can you see my mama too?” the little girl asked excitedly.

Sumire eyed the gap-toothed girl with twin pigtails before her, then the ubume behind her.

“She most certainly can!” Natsuno answered for Sumire. “You see, Princess here is a very strong yokai hunter!”

The little girl looked concerned. Meanwhile, Sumire was still at a loss for words.

“Are you going to take mama away?” the little girl asked.

“No”, Sumire answered before she could stop herself. She was a yokai hunter, not a cleanser.

The little girl accepted Sumire’s answer with a nod. Such innocence…

“Now, now, Yuuko. Why don’t you tell me and Princess what’s been troubling you lately?” Natsuno asked. “How’s your uncle? Did he treat you alright?”

“You mean that weird uncle?” the little girl — Yuuko, it seemed was her name — asked. “He’s not my uncle, y’see. But today he tried to give me candy, but mama scared him away!”

Alarms rang in Sumire’s head. A strange man trying to give children candies was not in her capacity to subdue, but it still made her concerned.

“You’re lucky you have your mama”, Natsuno told Yuuko. “Don’t go around accepting candies from strangers, you hear me?”

“‘Kay, Big Brother!” Yuuko said. “Does that mean I can accept candies from you?”

“Nope! Not even from Princess!” Natsuno returned cheerily. “I only have sour candies anyway. Do you even like sour candies?”

“No, they’re yucky”, Yuuko pouted, sticking her tongue out.

“It’s almost dark”, Sumire felt compelled to say.

“That’s correct, good kids come home before dark!” Natsuno agreed, and helped Yuuko off the seesaw despite her protests.

In the end, they walked Yuuko home. She chattered about her mama, who she only knew from photos and stories. Something pulled at Sumire’s heart, and she realized that she and Yuuko couldn’t be that different after all.

They arrived at an apartment where Yuuko lived, just as the sun was setting behind the cityscape. The cheerful girl waved her hand before disappearing from their sight — the ubume still following her closely behind, still weeping. 

Once the two of them were alone, Natsuno let out a deep, deep sigh.

“You sensed it too, right?” Natsuno asked, his demeanor turning serious.

“Mm”, Sumire agreed. There was something wrong with that ubume.

“If this keeps up, that ubume is going to turn into a yokai”, Natsuno said. “When that time comes, are you going to insist on sealing it too?”

“That won’t happen”, Sumire returned, confident. A human soul would not turn into a yokai.

“Guess we’ll see”, was all that Natsuno said.

As Natsuno walked away, Sumire could only watch him, a foreboding sense settling in her stomach.

Something was coming.