“I'm home! We're home!” Ayame sang, running around the wooden docks. Tsubaki stood rigidly, only her eyes moving to scan the scene.

“He's not here.” Eitsu nudged her gently. “Let's go.”

“Where?”

“Hm... Hey, Aya-chan! Any idea where your dance company is right now?”

“Nope!” The young girl continued to run about giddily.

“No idea!” Eitsu grinned. “So... anywhere?”

Light flashed off the small red stone, glowing, hung around Tsubaki's neck as she fiddled with it. Eitsu arrested her fingers.

“Those guys gave us a bunch of protective talismans, and I'm stronger than I've been in lives. We'll be fine.”

A warm inland breeze blew their hair about, making Ayame laugh wildly with happiness. “It's so warm here! The mountains were too cold!”

“A warm summer day, huh?” Eitsu's golden eyes sparkled. “Well, if we've got nowhere else to go, I have an idea.”

---

The port of Chikyou mostly catered to the fishing industry, with only a small but regular trickle of travellers bound for Yuhai. A single old dock with a sea-battered sign indicated this destination. Only one other dock had a signpost, and it was barely legible and never used. The dock piers had begun to give up, sagging into the ocean and festooned with barnacles and seaweed as though it was not being reclaimed, but was some deep sea creature rising from the waters. Tsubaki said that the characters read as Meitsuki¹明月 (meitsuki) – Bright Moon., Bright Moon, but no-one seemed to recognise the name.

As they left the salty air of Chikyou behind, following the path eastwards, the sea breeze dropped away and a humid heat rolled in behind it, and soon Tsubaki and Ayame were sweating. Gossipers at a roadside teashop told them that the dance troupe was in the north, almost at the border of the secluded kingdom of Chup-Tuk²Shuup-tuk - Sunrise., the land of eternal winter, and Ayame groaned at the thought that she would have to return to cold weather.

For now, the muggy heat kept her happy, although Tsubaki was drooping like a wilted flower.

There was still no sign of Rei.

This was odd, but a welcome development. Eitsu had fully expected the kitsune to pounce on them as soon as they left Hanasan, but the days rolled on and there had been no sign of him.

“Where are we going, Eitsu-sama?” Ayame asked, as they left the teashop and continued at a leisurely pace.

“To find a bigger town. Why, are your feet sore?”

“Nope! I got really strong at Hanasan!”

“What about you, Little Flower? Want me to carry you?”

“Behave.”

“No.”

That afternoon, they eventually reached large town, around the same size as Koenmachi. This place was called Shyakumura³芍村 (shyakumura) – Peony Village.. Tsubaki had performed here a few times. Ayame was too young to remember.

“I don't want to be recognised.” The dancer hung back outside the town walls, her hands across her face. Their Hanasan garments had narrow sleeves, making them difficult to hide behind.

“That's perfect. I was going to get something to disguise you anyway.”

“Don't spend all our money!” Ayame yelled as the kaibyou took off into the city. She was back within a span of four incense, carrying several bundles in her arms.

“You spent all the money that Master Zhou gave us, didn't you?” Ayame grumbled, preparing to criticise the goods that Eitsu had brought back. She gasped as several pretty garments unveiled themselves, along with two exquisitely rendered masks.

“How much did this cost? Take them back!”

“Nothing.”

“Did you steal them?”

Eitsu covered the girl's face with one of the masks. “No. Don't be rude.”

“Then how...”

“Do you know what's happening tonight, Aya-chan?”

The two humans looked suspiciously at the kaibyou, whose face bore a wicked grin.

“Why is it that you know something that we don't?”

“Is it... something to do with youkai?”

“Oh, good work, Tsu-bo. Have a kiss as a reward.”

Tsubaki blocked the kiss with an unimpressed hand in Eitsu's face. “What is it?”

“You'll see. Hurry up and get changed, it's getting dark.”

At this point, the two humans realised that the town and its surroundings seemed oddly quiet. They could safely change their clothing under the shelter of the nearby woods without concern.

Pretty in a mauve summer yukata patterned with wisteria, Ayame helped Tsubaki tie the light sash of her red and white robes.

“I couldn't find camellias, I hope butterflies were okay,” Eitsu remarked, emerging in her new outfit. She nodded her head in satisfaction at the others. “I chose well. You look good.”

Eitsu herself was wearing an unfamiliar style of robe, bright red and covered with blocky, intricate designs in white. It fitted loosely, the two halves of the front pinned one over the other, rather than bound with a sash like a yukata.

“What is this?” Ayame asked. “I've never seen anything like it.”

“I've seen something similar,” Tsubaki said. “In the north. This... is a Chup-Tuk style. Why are you wearing a Chup-Tuk style garment?”

“Hm... It just felt right.”

“You're avoiding answering.”

“Sorry, sorry. I'll tell you tomorrow, okay? Now that I'm back here, I'm remembering so many things... But I just want to party tonight. Put these on.”

The mask she gave Ayame was of a pretty woman's face, with a cheerful smile and red cheeks. She gave the other to Tsubaki with a grin.

It was a kitsune's face, white with sly, narrow eyes and a red mouth. Tsubaki smirked and put it on.

“What about you, Eitsu-sama?” Ayame's voice was a little muffled behind her mask. “Do you need to hide your face?”

“Not at all. But you do, so never take that mask off, understood?” Eitsu dropped a sudden kiss on the top of Ayame's head, and a more lingering one on the skin of Tsubaki's jaw, the only place she could reach with the fox mask blocking the dancer's face.

“For luck. Now-”

Eitsu transformed.

Her black hair grew long and pure white, a vibrant gold creeping up from the tips. Glowing red stripes lay like claw marks, or whiskers, along her cheeks, and decorated her forehead and chin. Red diamonds bookended her lips and red lines crisscrossed her wrists, disappearing up her arms into her sleeves. Gold rings glittered at her fingers. When she moved, there was a tinkle of bells – small ones on hoops at her ears, and a large one on a red collar around her neck.

In the fading light, the effect was at once mesmerising and eerie. Ayame felt herself sway, and suddenly her knees had met the ground. Tsubaki closed her eyes and breathed deeply.

Eitsu covered the eye holes on Ayame's mask with a long-nailed hand. The nails glittered red and gold in the dusk light.

“Don't look too long, Aya-chan. Take one of those talismans from Hanasan and put it in your yukata, against your skin. You too, Tsu-bo. And stay close to me. We're joining the Hyakki Yagyou⁴百鬼夜行 (hyakki yagyou) - Night Parade of One Hundred Demons., the Hundred Demon Parade tonight.”

---

The sun dropped over the horizon, and faintly, as if from a far distance, there came a clash of drums and cymbals. The sound grew louder, until even the humans could hear the additional cacophony of wild voices and laughter. A dark fog appeared on the horizon, along the road they had walked not long ago.

The summer heat was heavy with potential rain as the first youkai appeared in their line of sight. Eitsu squeezed the hands of the two humans beside her.

The pack of youkai was led by several creatures: an old man with an enormous, misshapen head that seemed too big for him to keep balanced on his scrawny neck, and three huge, moving mounds of long black hair. Occasionally a thick arm with blue or red skin would flash out from beneath the hair, or there would be a glint of white tusks.

Behind them cavorted a parade of inhuman creatures – hairless things that resembled giant moles with single eyes at the end of their snouts, gigantic heads floating and glowing from the eyes like lanterns, a woman with a long and undulating neck like a snake, a man with a spider's hairy face and multiple glittering eyes. Some played instruments, others danced or sang or yowled or writhed.

Ayame began to shake. Eitsu picked her up with one arm, holding her close so she could hide her eyes, and took Tsubaki's hand with her free one.

The procession halted before them, and the front-runners bowed to Eitsu.

“Lady Kaibyou, will you join us tonight?” sang the old man with the giant head in a reedy voice. “Who are these with you?”

“My family, my wife and child. I was looking forward to tonight.”

“What pretty skins you all have,” cooed a group of women, pale as the dead. Their hair was wet and dripped without without pause.

“Thank you, oneesans. We wore our best for tonight, and I see you have too.”

They all blushed, their cheeks turning a dead purple rather than a lively pink.

“Pretty kitty.”

“Lucky wife.”

“Play with us!”

They joined the march of demons, polite bows exchanged as the parade moved on and youkai came and went.

“Why are you wearing a kitsune face, oneesan?” a delicate young girl asked Tsubaki, floating along beside them. “Is it fun?”

“It's for a friend.”

“A friend,” the girl sighed. “All the trees around me are too young. I cannot see others except on nights like this. You're lucky to have a wife and child. No one comes to see me.”

“Tell me where you live, I'll bring friends to visit,” Eitsu offered with a smile, pretending not to notice when Tsubaki pinched the back of her hand.

“Thank you. I'd like that. My tree is in a grove by the village here. They named the village after me, but no one ever visits anymore.”

The man with the spider-face offered Ayame some candy, which she accepted after receiving Eitsu's approval. He blinked his multiple eyes benevolently and scuttled away to offer sweets to some little tanuki children. Ayame stared at them as she licked the candy.

“Would you like to talk to them?”

“Can I?”

“Just don't go too far, and don't take off your mask. You have the talisman on you?”

“Yes.”

Eitsu set Ayame down, and she immediately hurried over to the other children.

Tsubaki was unconsciously watching the dancing youkai, her steps occasionally skipping as she copied their movements. The dancer noticed her watching and immediately pulled her to join them, clapping excitedly as she picked up the steps quickly, floating between the revellers like a flower petal.

“What kind of flower is she?” asked the floating girl.

“Tsubaki,” Eitsu replied, smiling.

“Ah, I've heard of them. I've never seen one though. They say a little further north of here, peonies and camellias grow together. I would have liked an oneesan like her nearby. How did you meet?”

“Years ago, north of here... She had a captivating scent.”

A strange space had opened up in the middle of the parading youkai, as if something was moving among them that even they were afraid of. The parting crowd revealed a black-robed, a broad, flat straw travelling hat on her head. The top of the black hat was adorned with white candles. She had a white bird's head.

Youkai curled their lips involuntarily and backed away. Some looked like they were about to spit on the white-haired woman, but refrained at the last minutes. Others backed away with reverent fear.

Eitsu stepped forward boldly, and bowed, ignoring the curious looks of the moving youkai. “A pleasure to meet you, oneesan. I am Eitsubyou.”

“Well met, Eitsubyou-sama. My name is Jihi⁵慈悲 (jihi) – 'mercy'/'compassion', also 'a hawk-cuckoo'..”

They fell in step beside each other.

“You have a question for me, Eitsubyou-sama? Kaibyou are eternally curious.”

“You're a shinigami, right?”

“You knew that, and yet you're still talking to me? Everyone else has run away.”

“Well, kaibyou are eternally curious... and I think only you can give me the answers I'm looking for.”

“Then, please, ask away. I will do my best to answer you.”

“Thanks.” The red markings on Eitsu's body glowed in the dark. “Do you know a shinigami called Rei?”