𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐀𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜;; 𝐒𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐮

𝟑.𝟏

When Sayuri returned to the village, she was immediately pointed to Kaede's location by a kindhearted resident. With a smile, she thanked him and adjusted the clothes she'd worn prior to her bath to her other hand. "Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked the elderly man, but he just waved her off.

"I'm just waiting for my granddaughter to come home," he said as he sat in front of his house, bearing a wide smile. "I have a surprise prepared for her and everything."

"I'm sure she'll love it," Sayuri promised, and the man's eyes sparkled.

She continued on her way to find the one-eyed priestess, who stood in the doorway to a home. The woman who called her away from the river stood behind her, and Sayuri began to wonder if it was a bad time. She would've continued on her way if the elderly priestess didn't shout, "Stay back!"

In an instant, Sayuri was at Kaede's side, peering over her shoulder to see a young girl lay on a futon. She was rather plain looking, with dark hair splayed over the pillow and cute freckles dotting her nose. Then she began floating. Her head drooped like she was asleep, but her arms were spread out as she spun in the air to face the doctor, the miko, and her mother, who all stood in the doorway.

"Hair?" Kaede questioned, and Sayuri's eyes widened. Though she couldn't see any hair, she trusted the miko's judgement. Perhaps the hair was controlling the girl, like a marionette? That seemed most likely.

As she theorized, the knife on the floor began to shake before it floated into the girl's hand. The girl swung it back down with enough force to chop Kaede in half, had Sayuri not been there. Her hands were clapped around the sides of the blade and effectively stilled it.

"Kaede-chan, leave this to me," Sayuri said, her voice casual. "Can you check if anyone else has been cursed? Don't engage them, but give me an estimate of how many we're dealing with. Or - if there are more than, say, three - get all the villagers somewhere safe." The girl - or perhaps the demon controlling her - wasn't particularly strong, so it would be easy for Sayuri to defeat her once Kaede and the other woman were gone. The issue was how to do so without killing her in the process.

She thought for about 30 seconds before deciding on a plan.

After shifting her weight to her back leg, she let go of the knife. As the girl swung it downwards, Sayuri stepped backwards with the grace of a dancer while simultaneously pulling out the four acupuncture needles she always kept tucked in her sleeve. Once she launched a side kick that thrust the possessed girl back into the wall, she threw the needles, pinning her there by her clothes. When she double-checked the girl couldn't get down by herself no matter how hard she struggled, Sayuri backed out the door - but not before murmuring an apology. After all, getting kicked in the stomach hurt.

Outside, however, Sayuri quickly got the answer to the question she'd asked Kaede: It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say all the young women in the village had been possessed.