Chizuko and Muichiro gaped at the antique streets before them.
The wide, tiled road was lined with glowing red lampposts and busy traditional houses. The duo stumbled aside as an oiran strolled down the way. Her metallic hair accessories clanged with each small step she took forward, her lips were as red as the maple leaves of autumn, her kimono the colours of the rainbow.
"Caw! The mission!" Hachi whisper shouted at them.
"A-Ah, right," Chizuko pulled out the piece of paper stolen from Obanai, "Let's see..."
Do not look at the mirrors
"E-Ehhh!!? Th-That's it!!?" Chizuko frowned, she should have asked Giyu for more information.
Ginko cleared her throat, "Caw! Stupid! IDIOT!"
"Caw! Only idiots call others idiots!" steam came out from Hachi's nostrils.
"Enough of it!" Chizuko shushed Hachi and Ginko, "Someone will hear you!"
"What is that," Muichiro pointed to an alleyway. Chizuko, Hachi and Ginko's gaze followed his finger, Chizuko squinted her eyes, "A-A child?" But wasn't that too small to be a little kid?
Startled, Chizuko gripped Muichiro's arm as the child's head turned one hundred and eighty degrees in a shaky and robotic manner. Both Chizuko and Muichiro regretted having dinner, it is a child's head stuck on a mechanical doll's body.
The doll moved on with a peculiar creaky noise from its wheels, disappearing from their sight.
Eh?
"A-After it!" Chizuko ran.
***
Chizuko had lost count of how long they had been walking.
They had passed a forest of scarlet maple trees, scurried across a bamboo groove, went by five or six temples. But still the doll was leading them deeper and deeper into the mountains.
Lost in her thoughts, Chizuko bumped into Muichiro who halted abruptly.
"Welcome to my home," a silky voice echoed in the empty garden, "dear guests, please enjoy some tea."
The gates to the castle-like mansion covered in fog slid open slowly. Chizuko and Muichiro had their hands on the hilts of their swords, only to find three dolls emerging from the hazy lobby. Two had ornate ceramic teacups on their trays, while the other one held a flickering red lantern.
Chizuko's face paled as the dolls with tea approached. Inside the cup for Muichiro was tea, but the one prepared for her was crimson, gooey blood. What is the meaning of this? Chizuko shuddered involuntarily, how do they know of her 'condition'?
Clang! Muichiro severed the two dolls in front of them, shattering the teacups into pieces, "Back off."
"This way, please," the child doll and the lantern doll ignored their smashed comrades, leading the duo into the misty lobby, "the master would like you to take off your shoes by the door."
"W-We are not taking off our shoes," Chizuko answered, "Take us to where your master is." The two dolls paused for a moment before gesturing to the stairs, "The master is upstairs. He does not like guests to damage or dirty his collection, please be extremely careful when walking around with shoes on."
Collection? Chizuko and Muichiro glanced around. The once vacant halls were filled with dolls draped in silk kimonos, and dozens of majestic paintings lined the walls, it was like they were in an art museum.
"This way, please," the dolls gestured to the stairs at the left corner. Nodding to each other, Chizuko and Muichiro stepped forward.
There are no mirrors aro-
Chizuko shrieked as she fell through a trapdoor that opened right beneath her.
"Chizuko!" Muichiro's yell was the last thing Chizuko heard before her head hit the cold, hard floor.
***
Following the row of flickering andon*, Muichiro arrived the end of a long corridor.
"Welcome to my mansion, dear guest," a young boy around Muichiro and Chizuko's age was sitting at the back of the room, "please have a sit."
"Where is Chizuko," Muichiro drew his blade, his voice was dangerously calm and his stare held nothing but wrath. He could still feel his fingertips brushing the fabric of her uniform, if only his arms were an inch longer.
"Dear guest," the handsome boy lifted his marked eyes from the cup he was decorating, "please take a seat."
Fear pulsed through Muichiro, his body moved to the side uncontrollably as if it were pulled by invisible strings. His legs buckled and he plopped down on a zafu*.
"We will now play a simple game of kōdō*, I would be our host today," Lower Moon One plastered a smile on his pale face, "Shall we begin by explaining the rules?"
***
"Ouch," Chizuko bumped face first into an icy surface.
She woke up in the middle of a labyrinth mirrors. Remembering Obanai's warning, Chizuko wrapped her handkerchief around her eyes while avoiding to look into the mirrors surrounding her.
She had been literally blindly navigating around this maze of mirrors.
"Mui-kun? Hachi? Ginko? Where are you?" Chizuko called out, her voice bouncing off the walls of the awfully quiet basement. Uneasiness brewed in her stomach, she doubted if she could find her way out before Muichiro ran into danger.
"Ow."
"Sorry!"
"Oops."
"Ahhhh! It's not this way either!"
Chizuko picked up her pace, trying to steady her hitched breaths. She mustn't panic, all she had to do was find some stairs, right?
She almost bent over in pain as her hip crashed into what seemed to be the corner of a table.
"Take off your blindfold, dearest," a voice sounded, "We have something to discuss."
"Who are you?" Chizuko unsheathed her blade, "Where is Muichiro?"
Chizuko almost gasped in shock as her handkerchief disappeared in a blink of an eye.
"I said," a round eyed girl wiped her bloodied lips with Chizuko's handkerchief, "Have a seat, we have something to discuss."
Chizuko jolted and stepped back instinctively, she didn't know what to focus on.
The table full of broken body parts.
Or the the demon's marked eyes.
***
"I'm sorry, but you have the wrong answer," Lower Moon One declared for Muichiro, "The three prepared censers all contain different scents."
Muichiro's blood froze in his veins, he had tried his best.
But the scent given to him was blood, and of course he couldn't tell the difference, it all smelled the same to him.
"As what we said earlier," Lower Moon One snapped its fingers, revealing three people behind the screen.
"They are to die if you loose."
Blots of blood were splattered across Muichiro's cheeks.
Move, kill it, end this game before more people are brought in, sweat dribbled off Muichiro's forehead, but his limbs were glued in place. Move, move now. Gritting his teeth, Muichiro couldn't even lift his fingers although he had mustered more than enough strength.
"We shall continue," Lower Moon One licked the remaining blood on his fingers.
***
Chizuko rubbed her temple, trying to ease the growing dizziness in her head.
"He wants you to join him," Lower Moon One stood from her chair, "he had been watching you, you are his newest favourite."
Chizuko knitted her eyebrows, "T-Tell Muzan I would rather die than join him!"
"Ara Ara, don't jump to conclusions so soon," Lower Moon One shook her head, "I don't plan on consuming you. You are the talk of all demons now, you know? He said that whoever is able to capture you alive can have more of his blood."
Wobbling, Chizuko had to hold onto the table for support as Lower Moon One inched closer and closer. "The closer you are to his blood, the more influenced you are," it remarked smugly.
Searing cramps erupted in Chizuko's left eye. Falling on one knee, she nearly screamed in pain while clutching her bleeding eye. What does it mean? Chizuko's fingers trembled while the inhuman desires she desperately tried to bury were excavated like ancient relics, her vision became blurry.
"Ah, you're still fighting it?" Lower Moon One rubbed its chin, "In that case..."
Chizuko thrashed as Lower Moon One yanked her up by the hair and shoved a cup against her mouth. Dread twisted in Chizuko's gut as a sharp metallic taste spread across her tongue, she coughed and choked, preventing the syrupy substance from going down her throat. Spit it out! Spit-
But it is so... so... flavourful.
Chizuko swallowed a bit.
A bolt of panic struck her, idiot! Regret washed over Chizuko like a wave, that was blood.
Chizuko's back arched suddenly and she fell to the floor, her limbs jerked and convulsions seized her body. Tears spilled from Chizuko's eyes, Tamayo and her friend aren't here to save her this time.
"Chizuko-chan!"
Footsteps approached her, Chizuko could see spider lilies around her, but they all vanished in a wisp of smoke as Lower Moon One stepped through.
"Your connections to the people you lost are incredibly deep," Lower Moon One kicked Chizuko's sword away, "but the dead should not meddle with the living!"
"Tell me, what is the point of living in inferiority? Humans are frail creatures writhing in constant pain, why not join him and be rid of the worthless human life?" Lower Moon One crouched down to Chizuko's level, "Look how pitiful you are right now, you are tired right? Instead of struggling your whole life, why not become a demon and live carefree?"
Chizuko crawled for her blade, yet her arms and legs numbed before she could reach it. Groaning, Chizuko gritted her teeth while claws, muscles and veins popped from her left arm, growing into twice its normal size, tearing the sleeve of her uniform. Absolute terror engulfed Chizuko, this didn't happen last time, is she turning into a demon? She grimaced, fight it, fight it, fight it!
Lower Moon One stroked Chizuko's cheek, "I don't understand people like you. Haven't you suffered enough? Fighting for the happiness of others, how idealistic. The reality will always be that there are people you can't save, you are rendering yourself insensible with an impossible dream from people in the past."
"What do you say? Give up struggling, choose to live for yourself, set yourself free from the restraints built by others."
"Y-You may be right," Chizuko's mumble turned into a cry while she swung her nichirin blade with her right hand,
"But no one lives without pain!"
*andon : paper lamb
*kōdō : the art of appreciating Japanese incense, and involves using incense within a structure of codified conduct.
The game Lower Moon One plays is inspired by 'The game of three', where three unique kinds of aloeswood are used in this game. Each wood is cut into three pieces, about the size of a grain of rice, and wrapped in separate packets. This produces a total of nine packets. Each packet has a small hidden label inside which denotes the type of aloeswood it contains. The packets are shuffled and three random packets are chosen to play the game with.
Each guest experiences each wood and determines if the fragrances were identical or different. Each guest scores on a sheet using vertical lines to indicate each wood. Separate lines indicate woods were different. Horizontal lines connecting two or more woods indicates the guest to believe those woods were identical.
*zafu : a round cushion