When Sū ěr and Think teamed up to repel the uninvited Kazami Yūka, Yakumo Yukari was secretly trailing at the very edge of her vision, peeking. She was hiding entirely within a gap, leaving only an eye-sized opening to look at the outside world.
In just the blink of an eye, without even seeing the details of the clash, Yukari saw the male yōkai's arm pass through Yūka's chest. The green-haired corpse just hung there on his arm—in Yukari memory, it was usually Yūka who hung other people's corpses like that.
It was too sudden. It shouldn't have happened.
In the plans Yukari had never shared with anyone—on the arduous path of driving out or exterminating the gods who had descended to Ashihara no Nakatsukuni [The Central Land of Reed Plains] in the past and refused to leave, or even more ambitiously, leading the yōkai up the Milky Way that connected heaven and earth to attack Takamagahara [The High Celestial Plain] and the Moon... throughout this process, the immensely powerful and battle-hungry Kazami Yūka would have played an irreplaceable role. She should never have been lost here.
If she had known the male yōkai possessed that level of power, Yukari would never have recklessly lured Yūka into testing him. But now that it had happened, such hindsight was meaningless. Before this scene actually occurred, neither Yukari nor Yūka would have believed there was a yōkai who could kill them in a few breaths.
For these powerful yōkai who had carved out a place for themselves in this era, if they didn't believe in their own strength, what could they believe in?
Not daring to risk approaching the bamboo house, Yukari could only draw closer bit by bit in the slowest, most harmless manner. She wanted to confirm if she could still feel that familiar yōki from under the field where Yūka had been tossed—come on, you're a flower yōkai! Show some backbone!
If Yūka truly hadn't died this time, she could probably tease her about this for a very long time.
Yukari chuckled to herself.
Inverting concepts and advancing in the slowest way that wouldn't be sensed by the male yōkai and his soul, Yukari finally felt a sliver of fresh yōki under that field. Though weak and faint enough to be almost imperceptible, it indeed existed, not yet assimilated by the yōki leaking from the other dead yōkai corpses.
But it was enough.
Sighing in relief, Yukari silently estimated the time needed for that weak sliver of yōki to recover... She would postpone the meeting for a while.
She really wasn't safe alone.
"I am deeply ashamed for intruding without an invitation. This small gift is a token of my apology; please, do accept it."
After countless snowfalls in winter, Sū ěr yawned and pushed open his door one morning. Amidst the rising white steam of his breath, he saw the blonde yōkai in her purple robes, half-bowed and speaking sincerely.
Two beautifully woven rattan baskets were filled with various fruits Sū ěr didn't recognize. They floated before him, held up by Yukari slightly raised arm. Not only that, but the snow in front of the gate had been swept clean by the blonde yōkai, saving Sū ěr the work. Furthermore, she had thoughtfully built two rows of identically sized snowmen on either side of the entrance using the swept snow, with red fruits for eyes and mouths, wearing tiny purple vests.
"..." Sū ěr didn't know what expression to make; there were too many things to nitpick.
As if afraid Sū ěr wouldn't give her a chance to speak and would just attack, Yukari stood several paces away, and the fruit baskets were delivered from a distance. But truthfully, such surface-level pretenses were unnecessary.
No matter why Yukari appeared here with such a theatrical display, Sū ěr resolve to kill her hadn't changed—provided the one standing before him was truly her.
It was undoubtedly a double [fake body]. Yukari hadn't even bothered to hide the fact that it was a fake, as if she were intentionally declaring it.
Coming with a double yet putting on an act of fear, this female yōkai was truly an incomprehensible existence.
"What is this?" Sū ěr poked at the fruit in the baskets. Good, he realized he didn't recognize a single one. He was truly a failure as a farmer.
"Ah~ just a bit of 'Possession Arts,' nothing to boast of," Yukari answered with a smile as she straightened her back.
"No, I mean these," Sū ěr said, picking up a red fruit and flicking it with his finger. His expression didn't change much.
"These fruits? They are all fruits favored by the gods and god-men of Yamato and Izumo... I was far too rude during our first meeting. Considering your interest in 'humans,' I specifically went to collect them as an apology." Here, Yukari suddenly raised an eyebrow at the fruit in Sū ěr hand and continued: "For instance, the one you're holding—it's the favorite fruit of the god who rules over all in Yamato, Amatsuhiko-hiko-ho-no-ninigi-no-mikoto. It is called Zhāohuī [Morning Radiance]."
"...Huh?"
For the first time, Sū ěr wore a look of utter confusion before Yukari. To be honest, the second half of the blonde yōkai's sentence sounded like a tongue-twister to him, a complete buzz in his ears.
"Huh?" Yukari tilted her head and echoed him, seemingly not understanding his confusion.
"...God-men(God of Human)?" Setting aside that ridiculously long name for a moment, Sū ěr flicked the red fruit back into the basket, selectively skipping that question.
"Yes, gods... and god-men," Yukari said fully, having carefully considered that this male yōkai, who called himself human, actually had zero knowledge of Yamato and Izumo and had clearly never been there. "Amatsuhiko-hiko-ho-no-ninigi-no-mikoto is the grandson of Amaterasu-ōmikami, and is the most noble among all gods currently staying in Ashihara no Nakatsukuni."
"And god-men are as the name suggests: half-bloods of gods and humans... Although it sounds incredibly noble, in truth, under the reckless and wanton behavior of various gods, they are no longer scarce." Here, Yukari suddenly gave a contemptuous sneer, whether directed at the gods or the god-men. She then added as an afterthought: "Of course, the first-generation god-men remain noble. Having half god-blood still grants them long life and great power—except for the lineage of the grandson of Amaterasu-ōmikami."