To be honest, I don’t like afternoon naps.

When I sleep at abnormal times, I dream of painful past memories.

The most painful memory is the one in the dark room. I could only wait for my mother to come back, a life filled with loneliness and hunger.

I never saw my father, My mother would often leave me at home, and I would have no clue where she went.

It was abandonment

I would lie on the freezing floor, pained from hunger, staring at the white ceiling. There was no hope there and I didn’t even have the energy to cry.

My mother hasn’t been home for a week.

At that time a wonderful yokai showed up and saved my life.

The yokai appeared next to me hiding in the dark. Wearing only a noh mask it watched over me.

I spoke to the monster hoping to sooth my own loneliness.

The yokai would chat with me, and even share their food with me.

Who was the Yokai anyway?

At the time my consciousness was clouded and I don’t remember much. I don’t know content of the conversation or what kind of food was shared with.

Since the yokai  wore a mask I don’t even know what it looked like.

The only thing I distinctly remember was how delicious the food was.

About a week after my mother disappear a group of adults who I didn’t recognize came to take me away.

I never saw my mother again. I was put in nursery and spent a bit of time there.

After I entered elementary school, I never saw the yokai who shared food with me again.

Although I missed him, the memory seems to be sealed in my mind.

When I talked about yokai in the nursery the other kids got scared and I was bullied for it.

The teacher also didn’t understand either, and didn’t know why I was acting like yokai actually existed.

Because the yokai liked me the kids were often terrorized by them so I tried to avoid them.

The nursery brought more loneliness. Being Isolated from a group is more lonely than just being along after all.

When did grandpa come pick me up?

I think I was probably second grade.

I wake up feeling a chill. Opening my eyes, I see my surrounds have become shrouded in the dim dusk.

I must’ve had the dream because of my surrounding. It reminded me of that room again.

“Are you awake?”

Suddenly, there was a sound next to me. One that sound very familiar, it was the voice of the young master.

The young master was sitting in the darkness smoking a pipe on the bar. He was playing around with a Carmelia bulb shaped hairpin in his hand.

The red in his eyes matched the color of the hair ornament.

"Did I... just fall asleep?" (Aoi)

"Yes, it's already evening." (Young Master)

I sit up, my head still stuck in a half dream half awake state. My heart in in turmoil after just having the nightmare.

Looking out the window, I see the lavender sky turning to sunset.

“You gave a very pained sound”(Young Master)

“Eh, Really?”(Aoi)

“Did you have a bad dream”(Young master)

“No…” (Aoi)

I feel embarrassed. The young master gazed at me while smoking his pipe. He then got up, holding the hair pin, he took my hand.

I felt a stabbing pain in my wrist.

“Let go please, your nails are digging into my wrist”

“Oh?”

The young master looked shocked as if it was something he was never made aware off.

“Yokai have long nails.” He said defensively.

“Perhaps, but it still hurts, see how there are nail marks on the inside of my wrists”(Aoi)

The young master holding my hand looked on the inside of my wrist as if he was looking at a treasure, and while touching it with his finger tips spoke.

“Humans are truly fragile, weak flesh and bodies.”(Young Master)

“Well, we’re not yokai”(Aoi)

If I was a yokai I wouldn’t be in this situation.

"Aoi, I would like to compliment you for today's matter. You did a good job."(Young master)

"Huh? Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"(Aoi)

“Matsuba-sama, I didn’t expect him to enjoy your cooking to much… It’s time”(Young master)

The young master said “Come here”.

Having just woke up my hair and clothing were a mess, but the young master didn’t seemed to mind and waved for me to follow him.

Where are you taking me? My thought are all over the place but I decided to obediently follow him.

“You should hold onto that fan”(Young master)

“Why?” (Aoi)

“It’s not obvious? The fan will protect you from danger” (Young master)

“You seemed to be suggesting I’m currently in danger” (Aoi)

My heart sunk, The young master chuckled softly.

“That’s a difficult item to get a hold of. You should treasure it.” (Young master)

“Oh?” (Aoi)

“It’s such a valuable item that if it were sold it would be enough to pay off your grandfather’s debt” (Young master)

“Alright, lets find a pawnshop then”(Aoi)

I took a big step before the young master held my collar and pulled me back

“Wait” (Young master)

“Didn’t you say you were going to pay for Shiro’s debt all on your own?” (Young master)

“Since this Fan is mine, I can sell it and pay the debt back, that’s my own effort” I say with a righteous attitude.

Generally, if I sold a gift that was given to me I would feel bad, but if I had to do it, I would. I feel like I inherited this attitude from my grandfather.”

The young master noticing my resolve started panicking a little.

“Hold on, lets let calmly think this through” (Young master)

“I’ve been calm for a while now” (Aoi)

This is the spirit world. If a young girl like you where to leave this place and wander around she would be eaten before she even found a pawn shop, follow me” (Young master)

The young master was acting different from yesterday, I raised my head and looked at him with the suspicious eyes.

“… What are you going on about? Yesterday you clearly told me you were going to eat me and hand me to the Tengus”

“You, who have such a fragile body, somehow decided to intervene in a dispute between yokai. Your body is fragile if I hold your arm my nails will hurt your wrist. If you leave this place you won’t last long.”

The young master pushed opened my bangs.

Ah! I suddenly remember I hurt my head the other day.

It’s was too my embarrassment that I realized I was walking around all day with cross shaped bandage on my face.

“it’s not healed yet?”

“it’s stopped bleeding, so it’s fine”

“Ok.”

The attitude of the young master is quite different from yesterday which confused me. But I took my fan and walked with him.

There was a big pot along the walk way and I imagine being pushed into the pot and eaten, but I didn’t stop.

I was taken to a boat.

It was a large boat that could fly in the air. The sails had the tennji-ya logo on them and red lanterns were strung across it. It was much more magnificent than the other ships in the air.

From the boat, I excitedly watch the streets lights below.

“So awesome! And High!”

“This is a flying ship, its one method of transportation in this world. Tennji-ya has several of these boats for hosting banquest. This is a the kaikamaru, it’s smaller than the others but the latest model.”

“I love it, I like being in the air”

The young master looked at me with a rare expression of excitement and then spoke

“Just like a kid”

“Wow, tennji-ya is so large!”

The tennji-ya is surrounded by a deep valley, which looks like it is surrounded by endless darkness. The hotel and the lively street directly in front of the gate seem to be connected by a suspension bridge.

tennji-ya takes up a large area, and the main building is even more vast.

In addition to the main building, countless buildings can be seen scattered in the tennji-ya site. I can also see that the annex where I live is at the farthest point.

Several wildfires were lit on the red brick roof.

"Because of the temporary closure today, it's a little underwhelming. Normally, the ghost fire performance is much more exciting."

On the bridge that led to tennji-ya several yokai who were puzzled about the sudden closure were being talked to by the staff.

I wanted to see what tennji-ya looked like while it was in business. It must be a lively sight.

The ship floated away from the tennji-ya building and I started to stroll around, I was soon stopped by the three masked sisters.

“Miss Aoi we’ve prepared the bath for you”

“Huh?”

It seemed that those girls were also on the boat as well. Like before they lifted me up and moved me.

“Come Miss Aoi, we’ll tend to you in the bath.”

“Let me put on some makeup for you”

“Let me fix up your hair”

The sisters chatted while stripping me down and throwing me in the bath to scrub me. I was enjoying this.

Once, the whirlwind of activities was finished. I was changed into a beautiful blue Kimono patterned with red carmellia flowers. The obo also had a delicate pattern and I began to panic over the quality of it.

“Wait, what’s the catch? Am I really allowed to wear this.

Asong* tied my hair

*I think this is one of the sisters name?

“Of course, this is a gift from the young master”

Asong tied the belt for me and I watched with shocked.

Why did the young master give me such an expensive Kimono?

It was  question I wanted to ask him, but the cloth were so beautiful. I admired the patterns on a nearby mirror while the three sister finished putting it on me.

“Oh, this is quite nice Mrs. Aoi”

“The young master will be very happy to see you like this”

“Your beauty will definitely make the young hostess give up”

“Amei, please filter yourself!”

Amei was scolded by one of her sisters.

My hair was combed and styled and a thick lip gloss was applied.

I turned around to look at myself in the mirror. I looked quite good. The kimono pattern was cute, and I was in a good mood.

“Is this good?”

“Uhuh, It’s pretty good…”

I was looking in the mirror and observing myself, the sister chuckled it seemed like I didn’t need to say I was happy for them to know.

Hmm… this Kimono won’t be added to my debt right?

“It looks like I was right, carmelias do look good on you”

"When did you come in!”

The young master was standing behind me looking at my figure in the mirror.

Didn’t he see me enjoying myself just now?

“I’m very happy to see you like it Aoi”

He squinted his eyes the edge of his mouth upturning into a smile.

I blushed and bit my lower lip. I felt embarrassed.

The young master approached me and took out the carmellia hair pin from his sleeve.

“Put this on too, with out a hair pin, I feel like something is missing.”

While speaking he inserted the hairpin into my bun. His hand that was close to my face made me nervous, and I tensed not wanting to admit defeat.

“Okay look in the mirror”

He grabbed my shoulders and turned me in the direction of the mirror.

I felt like the hairpin looked different than before.

“Why did the flower bud grow?”

The bud on the hairpin seemed to have swelled up a bit.

“The hairpin will change, and then blossom into a carmelia”

“Oh, so there is such a thing in this world”

“It will eventually die…”

The young master looked at me through the mirror. I unconsciously looked at him through the mirror as well.

“What? The hairpin will only last a short time, will it disappear?”

To be honest I was shocked. The young master looked at my face and laughed. I really wanted to ask him what he found so funny.