Chapter 5: The Village in Memory

When the man came to, he was lying on his back in the garden.
He had no idea how long he had been unconscious.
Forcing his aching body upright, he saw a veranda in front of him.

There, the child from earlier and a female tengu with large black wings were sitting side by side.
The female tengu calmly tilted her teacup, while the girl, with sweet bean paste on her cheek, was stuffing her mouth with dango.

Shown a peaceful scene that had long been taken from him, he could not hide his anger.
He tried to press forward, but was blocked by an invisible wall.

Is this a seal? No… a barrier.

“What did you do to the humans? Did you kill them? You wretches!”
The man recalled the days that had once been both nostalgic and joyful, and in his frustration hurled abuse at them.

The female tengu lowered the teacup from her lips, took a quiet breath, and spoke softly.
“This has long been a village of the tengu. The human village from when you were sealed was in a different place.”

The man felt a momentary relief.
If he could somehow manage this situation, he could return to those days again.
The humans who had known him might no longer be there, but he could surely build a good relationship once more.

“Why would we ever kill anyone? It’s not as if we were you.”
The female tengu said it with a tone of exasperation.

It was something the man could not understand.
What was this woman talking about?

“…That village said a man-eating oni was coming! It was one’s doing! I know nothing about it!”
If he were to be sealed again over a false accusation, it would be unbearable.
He desperately cried out his innocence.

“That man-eating oni is you.”

At those words, the man’s thoughts froze for a moment.
But he could not afford to fall silent here.
“…How could that be! I got along well with that village!”
“You may have felt that way, but the villagers were at their wits’ end.”

“I even saved the village when it was being attacked—more than once!”
“Are you referring to the times you picked fights and killed the villagers?”

“I even hosted lively feasts at my dwelling!”
“There were anguished pleas that several young women were taken away and never returned,” the female tengu replied flatly.

“Why won’t you believe what I say!? Are only the humans’ words considered true!?”
It was a cry from the bottom of his heart.

The female tengu let out a small sigh.
“Have you truly forgotten what happened twenty years ago?
When you saw me back then, didn’t you say this? ‘Is this woman the offering this time?’
Would you demand offerings in a good relationship?”

In the man’s mind, the face of the female tengu from that time overlapped with the one before him.
So she was that woman from back then.

The memories of that time came back to him with vivid clarity.
“If you hadn’t resorted to such cowardly means!”
he roared at the top of his lungs.

He had not even understood what had been done to him, and by the time he realized it, he was already sealed away.
The man did not know the words to describe that despair.

The female tengu frowned and said,
“It is true that I had prepared various measures, but they all came to nothing.
Isn’t it simply that you are too weak, to be knocked unconscious by a single punch?”

She continued, stroking the head of the girl who was still struggling with her dango beside her.
“Have you already forgotten that you lost to my daughter earlier?
She has only just turned ten.”

The man realized that no matter what he said, it would be useless.
This woman had already decided from the start that he was the villain.

“Well then, that will be enough. This time, I shall seal you deep beneath the earth.
When the seal breaks— you will likely be crushed to death. You would do well to pray that it never breaks.”

“Wait! I was wrong! I repent!”
Casting aside all pride and shame, the man pressed his forehead against the ground.
“So please! Spare me from being sealed!”

The female tengu let out a long sigh.
“Have you truly repented?”

To the man’s ears, her tone seemed to have softened somewhat.
It had been a spur-of-the-moment action, but if it had worked, that was all that mattered.
If only he could get through this— just this—!

“I’ve repented. I won’t go near any human villages again! I promise.”

“I see. Well, since you are about to be sealed deep beneath the earth, you won’t be able to go near them anyway.”
She declared it in a cold voice devoid of emotion.

“Wait! That’s not what we agreed!”
The man lifted his face and stretched out his hand as if begging for mercy.

“Now then, I do not recall making any promise.”
Her cold gaze looked straight at him.
As though pierced by those eyes, the man found himself unable to utter a single word.

“And— you tried to attack my daughter, did you not? It was this girl who released your seal.
Because she said, ‘You had been sealed for so long that she felt sorry for you.’”

At the female tengu’s words, the man turned his gaze toward the girl.
The girl, perhaps uninterested in the adults’ exchange, was blowing on her teacup.

“Wait! I didn’t know! If I had known—”
He hurried to offer an excuse.

“If you had known— what? Would you have attacked someone else instead?”
“Y-Yes! If I had known, I would have looked for someone else!”

“I see.”
The female tengu narrowed her eyes.

The man let out a sigh of relief.
Surely she had understood him now.

The woman picked up the pickling stone that had been set beside her and threw it down in front of him.
It landed with a heavy thud.

“Please spend the rest of your days in the manor you have grown so accustomed to.”
Despite the polite wording, her expression was cold.

“Wait! I’ve repented!”

The female tengu rose to her feet and stepped down into the garden.
“It seems that your idea of ‘repentance’ differs from mine.”

She spread her wings wide.
The man tried to say something, but the female tengu did not wait and completed the sealing.

And as declared, she buried the pickling stone that sealed the man deep beneath the earth.
If she were to report this, the people of that village would surely be able to live in peace.

“Aiha, I am going to the human village. Would you like to come?”
She looked at her daughter with gentle eyes.

“I’ll go!”
she answered brightly with a radiant smile.
On the girl’s back, her small wings fluttered happily.