EXTRA: The Spirited Aiha

“Mother, what is that stone placed on the stand in the garden?”
Aiha asked her mother.

“It’s a pickling stone with a man-eating oni sealed inside. I sealed it twenty years ago, but the seal is starting to break, and I’m wondering what to do about it.”
Her mother smiled gently.

“Did you defeat it, Mother?”
“Yes. I made various plans, but in the end it was over with a single punch.”
Aiha gazed at her troubled mother with eyes full of admiration.
And she also wished that she, too, could defeat a man-eating oni in a single blow.

“Are you going to wait until the seal breaks?”
“There’s a limit to how long I can keep watch for it to break, so perhaps I should unseal it once and then seal it again — or maybe I should simply bury it.”
She looked away from her daughter, seeming to think.

Aiha was thinking desperately with her young mind.
If the pickling stone were buried as it was, she would not be able to fight the man-eating oni her mother had defeated.
That would not do.
“Mother, that oni has been locked up for a long time, hasn’t it? That’s pitiful. Let’s let it out.
…It might have repented, you know?

Her mother smiled and stroked Aiha’s head.
“Well, how kind you are. Then shall Aiha try unsealing it? The seal has already grown quite weak, so I’m sure Aiha can do it.”

“Yes! …But what if it hasn’t repented?”
She clasped her hands before her mouth and lowered her eyes.
Her true aim was not the unsealing, but to fight.

“If it hasn’t repented, you can give it a good smack.”
She clenched her fist tightly to show it.

At those words, Aiha’s eyes sparkled.
“I’m scared… but I’ll do my best!”
Her heart was pounding, but in front of her mother, she made herself look a little afraid.

“I’ll be right there with you, and if anything happens, I’ll help you immediately!”
“That oni has properly repented too, right? I’m sure it has, right? So it’ll probably be fine!”
She showed her mother a smile.
Rejoicing that she had been given permission to fight, and hoping the oni would suddenly attack her.
And she set her goal on defeating it in a single strike — so that she could come even a little closer to the mother she admired.

The following day, Aiha stood facing the pickling stone placed on the stand.
Her mother watched over her from a short distance away, with the pickling stone between them.

Aiha stared at the pickling stone with a tense expression.
If she failed here, she would not even be able to fight.
And her mother might be disappointed in her.
Even so, it was a seal cast by her mother, who was said to be one of the finest wielders of jintsūriki in the Tengu village.
Though there was a flaw in it, could she really unseal it?

She closed her eyes and steadied her mind.
Letting out a small breath, she began to unseal it—

Before Aiha knew it, a man was standing before her.
She had been told it was a man-eating oni, but in appearance he looked like a large-built human.

The man was staring at his own hands and feet.
He was likely confirming that his body had returned.
He clenched and opened his hands, and lifted and lowered his feet as if testing the firmness of the ground.

Before long, he turned his gaze to Aiha.
“Much obliged. I thank you.”
As he said that, he extended his hand toward her.
His eyes were not smiling, though the corners of his mouth lifted in an eerie curve.

At first, the gesture could have been taken for a handshake, but his palm soon turned downward, clearly reaching to grab something.
However, Aiha did not notice the malice in it.
On the contrary, she felt dissatisfied that he did not suddenly lunge at her.

Taken aback, Aiha silently brushed aside the hand extended toward her and drove her jintsūriki-filled fist with all her strength into the man’s face.
In the next instant, his massive body was slammed onto the ground on its back.

Seeing that the man had not lost consciousness, Aiha was shaken.
Within her, it had been the finest strike she could deliver — and yet the man was still conscious.

Taking the feather fan that had been secured against her back with her sash, she raised a wind with her jintsūriki and blasted the man high into the air.

After confirming that he had risen high enough, she cried, “Ei!” in a cute voice as she swung the feather fan down with all her might.
As if in response, the man’s body was slammed into the ground.

Aiha looked at the fallen man with a dissatisfied expression.
She felt as though their eyes had met, but he soon stopped moving.

A sound of clapping echoed — when she turned toward it, her mother was smiling at Aiha warmly.
“That was amazing. As expected of my daughter!”

After tucking the feather fan back into her sash against her back, Aiha ran toward her mother, calling out, “Mother!”

Her mother embraced the daughter who had run up to her.
“You must be tired, right? Would you like some dango?”
she asked gently.

“I will!”

Aiha’s mind was already full of the dango she was about to eat.