Chapter 2: I Lucked Out

That day, in the forest, Sayuri was being chased.
A strange black haze—something like the shape of a person, and yet not quite.
Whether it was because of that thing, or because Sayuri herself was panicking, she couldn’t tell, but wherever she ran, the haze was there.

“Ah…”

A sound slipped from Sayuri’s lips.
Before she realized it, the haze was standing right in front of her.

—This is it.

At the moment Sayuri gave up, the haze dissipated.

She couldn’t make sense of anything.
In front of her stood a single spirit, like a monk, wearing a woven hat pulled low over his face.

“Did you save me?”

Even when Sayuri spoke to him, there was no response.
Instead, he held out his right hand.
In the palm that should have held nothing, a necklace was floating before she knew it.

The monk’s spirit said nothing and kept his hand extended.

“…Are you giving this to me?”

No matter how Sayuri asked, there was no response.
She waited a little, but when he still said nothing, Sayuri took the necklace from his hand.

Then, the monk’s spirit drew his hand back, turned on his heel, and vanished as he headed somewhere.

Before she realized it, only the necklace remained in her hand.
Perhaps it was the monk’s lingering presence—sweet, yet smoky—such a scent drifted in the air.

Sayuri examined the necklace she had been given closely.
At the end of a chain where tiny stones sparkled, a cat with a forked tail was hanging, as if sitting neatly in place.

“Wow… it’s cute. I kind of feel like I got lucky.”

Putting the necklace around her neck, Sayuri, in high spirits, headed deeper into the forest.