36 Wishes of an Ant, Part 3

Mura had left with the container of hot takoyaki in hand moments earlier, returning to his bench where he found Lilith standing.

"Just couldn't wait, huh?" the demon remarked with a light-hearted smile. He sat on the bench as she plopped next to him, opening the white box of grilled goodness. Snapping a pair of chopsticks that were included, he expertly plucked a single ball of the succulent meal between both of his sticks. Lilith on the other hand simply used her fingers to snatch up the sizzling orbs.

Both of their eyes lit up in delight as they tried the first bite. Mura took his time to chew, savoring the flavor while Lilith filled her cheeks with four more of the takoyaki in a gluttonous rush to fill her aching stomach.

"Where has this been all my life?!" Mura exclaimed, in love with the newfound delight.

"I forgot how good this tasted!" Lilith cried out, her words barely distinguishable from the food in her mouth.

"Hey, you pig! Don't eat them all at once!" he snapped, smacking her sauce-stained hand away. "We each get ten, got it? Don't eat any more than that, or else I'll kick your ass."

"Yeah yeah, hurry up. I'm starving to death over here!"

Lilith greedily licked her lips, taking the box from her friend and eating the rest of her portion. Meanwhile, Mura looked off down the street to where the parade was moving away from them.

Memories from the dark chamber he encountered Mara within washed over his mind like a murky wave. The words he spoke muddled together into a mash of phrases and sentences as Mura struggled to brush them away. Were humans a cancer, their ways and actions a dismissal to those lesser than themselves?

From what he had seen, it was simple ignorance. They were unaware of their role in the larger scheme of the universe. Unaware they were not alone, yet clung to tales and myths of gods and the great unknown. It wasn't their fault. Yet despite these truths, Mura felt something unpleasant in his heart. A dark presence in his mind that felt foreign, but also familiar.

—Humanity. What a petulant breed… so absorbed in their self-righteousness. How dare they make a mockery of our people… of us.

Mura shook his head in shock at what ran through his head. What was this presence? Shutting his eyes tight, he fought to push the thoughts from his brain.

—Go away! Get out of my head!!

"Never…" Mura uttered to himself.

"You say something?" Lilith turned, munching away at her food.

Mura blinked rapidly, sweating slightly. What he had just said didn't feel like it came from his mouth.

"N-Nothing, sorry bud. You done?"

"Yep! Here's your share, Mura!"

The demon took the box back from Lilith. As he went to grab it, he felt his fingers and palm peel away from the steel armrest affixed to the bench. In his disillusionment, he had inadvertently melted the metal within his grip. The armrest was now molded into a crushed yet smooth shape, as if he had squeezed a lump of putty in his hand.

"T-Thanks!" he said, trying to hide the evidence by leaning against it. As he ate once more with his chopsticks, Lilith looked at him with a scrutinizing glare.

"You feeling okay, dude?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just a lot on my plate lately…"

Fortunately, the thoughts from earlier had left his mind. Instead of dwelling on what it could have been, he resigned himself to eating the now lukewarm morsels.

"Lemme guess, the girl again? We could always leave after finding more evidence, try to explain it to the big cheese and whatnot? Something just doesn't sit well with me about this," Lilith sighed, resting her small chin atop interwoven hands.

"I feel you… let's follow her home and secure more evidence. Her mother recently fell ill, remember? No way that's mere coincidence. The girl however… I'm not so sure about. She's either completely aloof or acting is her natural gift."

Across the street and within the shrine, the last remaining maiden bid farewell to Hangaku for the night and walked down the stone steps on route to the shuttle bus.

"Alright, let's go. I think she's ready to leave now," Mura said, quickly finishing the last of his takoyaki and throwing the trash into a garbage receptacle next to the bench.

Sure enough, Hangaku slung a green handbag over her shoulder and made her way to the same forest trail Mura had met the shaman at.

"She must live near the property. Guess it makes sense, both her and her mom are pretty invested in this business," Lilith said.

"Exactly. We gotta trail her carefully though; no telling what she'll do or what powers she may have."

Hangaku made her way along the tranquil stone walkway dividing through the path of trees and bamboo. Various insects chirped and buzzed in the background. Their noises went unnoticed as Hangaku placed white plastic covers over her ears, covering them entirely. On the bottom, a blue light blinked every so often to visibly signal they were connected to her smartphone.

"Wow! Those headphones are so cool! They must have released those sometime after I died!" Lilith exclaimed, getting a good look at the technology from afar.

"Now isn't the time, Lilith. But hey, if we have to kill her you can take them at least?"

Lilith chuckled in response. Mura and her trailed behind the girl, roughly three meters away. It helped that she was listening to music, as the ear-encompassing headphones masked the sounds of her stalkers.

It was approximately two minutes straight of following the forest trail before Hangaku took a right when approached by a branching path. Mura could see through the gaps in the trees that a quaint little home awaited them in the distance.

"Well that wasn't too hard. Must be her mother's house," Mura remarked to his partner.

Sure enough, Hangaku took out a house key from her bag and unlocked her front door. Mura and Lilith scurried to a thick tree. Without any sort of suspicious behavior, Hangaku casually closed the door behind her and locked it.

"What do you think she has inside there?? Potions? Or… maybe a cauldron?" Lilith whispered.

"More like school books and dirty laundry," Mura replied back.

The house was traditional, appearing like any typical Japanese-style home you'd see out in the country. Mura had seen a few homes around Yomi designed like this. Seeing it in the human world, he wondered if this was where demonkind had received some of its architectural inspiration.

"We aren't gonna get any answers standing around out here. Come on, let's go—"

A small rush of Tamashiryoku assaulted the Jikininki's senses. Something otherworldly was present within that abode.

"You felt it too?" Lilith said, now focused and unsheathing her dagger.

"Mhm, let's confront her now. Her mother could be in danger," Mura replied, whipping out his sword with a flash of his ring.

The duo rushed up to the door, breaking it open with a single. There in the foyer of the home was Hangaku's mother, pale and lying on the floor. Her daughter was standing above her, half-naked and wobbling slightly with her back turned to the intruders.

"Freeze! Back away from her, now!" Mura said, his voice deep and commanding. He directed his sword at her in a two-handed stance, eyes narrowed.

Hangaku ignored his words, outstretching her arms. A thick sheen of sweat adorned her jaundice body like a coat. Upon assuming her current position, her veins began glowing pink. Almost immediately, a pinkish aura flowed from her mother's torso and into Hangaku. Pained moans escaped from the middle-aged mother's lips as her daughter absorbed some sort of energy.

"That's enough! By the decree of the Empire of Yomi, you've been sentenced to death!" Mura shouted.

Rushing forward at her and aiming to kill, Mura had all of the reason he needed. His doubts were settled. This girl had been playing him the entire time, just as Shuten had. He wouldn't allow another innocent life to end if he could help it.

Mura yelled out, his blade inches away from the human girl's back.

"Wait Mura!" Lilith cried out.

The demon hesitated his deathblow. With the point of his sword centimeters from her exposed soaked flesh, the girl did nothing but wobble and continue to absorb the pink aura from her ailing mother.

"… Why won't she do anything?" Mura murmured aloud.

"I don't know, but it's weird!" Lilith said in a concerned tone.

Mura shoved Hangaku with the end of his hilt, knocking her aside. He watched as the human wobbled and clumsily struggled to regain balance. She tripped over her mother's prone body, barely catching herself. The pink ethereal stream had been broken, causing her mother to finally relax slightly.

"What the hell?" Mura remarked, his confusion steadily increasing.

Hangaku turned and looked up towards his direction, revealing the eyes that had rolled back into her skull. The girl's face was sweating profusely as every vein was illuminated like the rest of her had been. This was clearly not the same girl they had seen before.

"No… I've seen this before, not too long ago actually… She's possessed, but I've never seen it this bad," Mura concluded.

"Could it be her Thralls?"

"Possibly, if she had more than one. But to have this effect on a person, you'd have to have several within your soul. More than I've ever seen!"

Hangaku moaned unintelligently, slowly rising back to her feet like an undead zombie.

Mura, not hesitating, pushed her back down and knelt upon her neck. He did so slowly, so as not to snap her spine but methodically; placing his weight on the major artery located there.

Hangaku struggled and smacked at the wooden floor, but eventually succumbed to unconsciousness. Once she had passed out, Mura took his weight off her and stood back up. He sheathed his blade back into the slipstream ring, crossing his arms in one smooth motion.

Nothing substantial happened as Mura watched the body. Her veins slowly returned to normal, causing the illumination underneath her flesh to dissipate.

"What's happening, Mura?"

"Well… she should have some type of Thrall within her, but… well, once a host falls unconscious, their Thralls are automatically forced back out. I don't know what's going on here."

Clearly something was amiss. This wasn't the cut-and-dry assassination he had thought it to be. His doubts immediately resurfaced and were stronger than before. What was doing this to Hangaku? Was this some sort of test?

"We should stay overnight, keep an eye on these two. For now, we need to heal her mother. I can try to contact Naraka afterwards for advice," Mura instructed, motioning for her to fuse with him.

The two joined together, causing Mura's green eyes to invert color. As the duo proceeded to heal the sick woman, they were unaware of the suppressed presence hiding deep within the trees.

A green-haired man leaned against the course bark, arms crossed. He sighed to himself, lamenting the fact that his fun with the possessed girl had been so rudely interrupted.

It was Grendel, Fourth of the Jikininki Ten. The demon opened a notebook, penning down the actions Mura and Lilith were currently taking regarding the mission.

After he finished, the demon snapped the notebook shut and placed it within his coat pocket. A steady gust of nighttime wind coursed over the plot of land, taking Grendel with it as his body dematerialized into minuscule grains of black sand.