Preparing, acquainting, learning

Arriving at home, I saw two pairs of shoes at the entrance. Glancing into the living room revealed both of my parents.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome back. How was the sleepover?”
“Good. We had some fun, playing games and stuff.” I knew this talk could turn lengthy, but I had places to be, so I tried to keep myself short.
Mom picked up on it. “Are you in a hurry?”
“Not really, but I will head out soon again.” I knew she would be curious, so I added. “I will be meeting someone at the shrine.”
“Oh. Are you sure about that? They should be busy with preparations.”
“I thought so too. …Say, since dad is home, is he done with his work?”
As a rare occurrence, he answered me. “Yes. We finished the last bits yesterday. Therefore, they can focus on manual work today. I offered to help, but was rejected. Instead, we got invited to attend.”
Mom hugged him. “And so the both of us will go too. We planned to anyway, but if we are even invited, it is like we have no other choice.” She was clearly happy about it. “Don’t worry, you can still go with your friends. And we won’t embarrass you when we meet you by chance.”
They huddled together on the couch, which made me happy. It was good when they got time for each-other. As to not disturb them, I headed up to my room. After dropping of my luggage, I grabbed a few things I thought might be useful, and changed into easy to move clothes. If they were currently setting up the stalls, I could guess that was what I should help out with.
Once done with my preparations, I head down again. My parents were still together on the couch, watching a movie. I quietly said goodbye. They still registered it, as mom told me “Try to be back before dark, or write us.”
I still couldn’t get past her without being noticed.

Roughly ten minutes before twelve, I arrived at the shrine grounds. And they were bustling with busy people. They were carrying ladders and lanterns, moving wooden beams around, or transported other supplies. At the head of this mass, I saw a shrine priest directing people. With nothing else to do, I walked up to him.
“Good day.”
He looked at me. After a moment of trying to recognize me, he spoke. “Good day. How may I help you?”
“Well…” ‘Guess I just tell the truth.’ “Suzune asked me to come here, and.”
“Ah, is that so.” A serene smile appeared on his face. “I can find her over there.” He pointed to a part closer to the forest.
“Alright. Thank you very much.”
“You are welcome. And be careful.”
“Huh?” ‘Where did that come from?’
“There are people carrying large and heavy objections, sometimes obstructing their view. Please try to not collide with them.”
‘Oh, that is what he meant.’ “Alright, will do.” With a quick wave, I went on my way.

As I got closer to the tree-line, things in my field of view started to shift. The feeling I got was similar to when I approached Mori’s café. ‘So there must be some kind of barrier here to keep normal people away.’ My suspicion was soon confirmed. Past a certain point, things cleared around me. And with that, I could see what was actually going on.
This wasn’t a narrow space between the main walkway of the shrine and the forest anymore. It was a wide free space, perfectly for setting up a festival. In fact, I could see more stalls being prepared here than in the main venue.
The main giveaway were the people though. Here, no one seemed to care to keep up a human appearance. I saw oni carrying heavy objects and kappa working on small objects. A rokurokubi was testing out foods while a yuki-onna kept the ingredients cool. Bakeneko were lazying around next to kitsune engrossed in conversations. In the air a pair of crow tengu flew through the sky.
‘…Now that makes it really feel like I am part of the magic world.’ Transfixed by the display around me, I hadn’t noticed the small person approaching me.
“Excuse me.” Now spoken to, my attention got drawn down. The child in front of me had cat ears and a single tail, looking like a younger and kinder version of Suzune. “What are you doing here?”
While there was innocence in the eyes before me, I could imagine how quickly that could turn. Same with a certain lazy shrine maiden when I angered her. So, making sure to offend no one, I crouched down to be at the same level, then spoke. “I am looking for Saitou Suzune, a shrine priestess from around here.”
“Ah.” The young kid spun around, and ran away into the crowd.

Half a minute later, I saw a familiar looking person walk towards me. Once she stood in front of me, I got a greeting. “Welcome. So, are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
She got slightly annoyed. “Help out, what else.” Suzune jerked her thumb back, pointing to the crowd.
“Sure. What should I do?”
“No clue.”
“Huh? …Aren’t you in charge here?”
“Yes, I am.” After a sigh, she prepared herself for a longer explanation, letting her eyes fall over the scene in front of me. “You see, festivals like these are a chance for everyone to come together and celebrate. Which means, everyone should help out in either preparing it or cleaning up afterwards.” She gaze fixated on me now. “As a new member of our world, you should do your part too. But as you can see,” Her outstretched hand motioned over the preparations. “we are already very much in control of the situation. If you ask me, it is too many people. But not showing up is frowned upon, leading to this overcrowded mess.” Suzune heaved another sigh.
“Okay, I got that. But, if there is nothing to do, should I be on standby, available when needed?”
“No. Try to make yourself useful. Walk around, ask people if they need help. If you really can’t find anything to do, try to make small-talk with folks around here. It will leave a good impression on them, that you try to integrate yourself. And as we said before, don’t worry too much about offending people. Stay sensible, and worst case, explain yourself. And if everything fails, tell them to take their complaints to me.”
“…That seems uncharacteristically nice of you.” To be honest, it actually fit her pretty well. No matter the rough demeanor, Suzune had a habit of making sure things were alright. That was also probably how she got to be in charge here. And by now, we could tell when the other was joking around, so she played along with my words.
“Seriously, you never got anything nice to say about me? …Jokes aside, I would actually be tasked with introducing you to a few people first. But my current duties keep me from it.” For once, she had a forlorn look on her face.
To dispel it, I gave her a hearty clap on the back. Not expecting it, Suzune stumbled a few steps forward. “What the hell was that?!”
“Sorry, seems like I overdid it.” After giving her a sheepish smile, I went for a serious tone. “Don’t worry too much about me. I know you care. Not only that, I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of work you have to do.” Sure, I saw her relaxing from time to time, but everyone needs to rest. So, when no one was looking, she was probably working hard, only putting on the nonchalant display to not worry others herself. “So, if there is something you can’t do, tell me. Just as I am supposed to help out here, I might be able to help you out with your duties. …Though I might lack some requirements, I won’t be lacking in spirit.” After all, I owed her. If it weren’t for her intervention, I would have probably never found a path to learn about the truth behind that dream. She could have simply resealed it without a care in the world. And while she had intended to do so, it was out of concern for me. Therefore, no matter what would happen, Suzune would have an ally in me.
After actually saying something nice about the person in question for once, she quickly turned away from me. Giving me a short “Make yourself useful.” she hastily departed.

With her retreating figure, I let my gaze wander over the assembled crowd once more. This time, it wasn’t in wonder. Instead, I looked for opportunities where someone might need help. Unable to find anything specific, I got another idea. With that in mind, I made my way over to a group I had spotted previously.
Next to what was probably going to be a food stall, I walked past the people cooking, and to one of the yuki-onna carrying for the ingredients. “Excuse me?”
To my innocent inquiry, I got greeted by a glare containing disdain and contempt. ‘Could it be, she doesn’t like humans?’ There were some bad stories, after all. Still, keeping Suzune’s advice in mind, I continued. “As you have food her for cooking, I assume you might have drinks here too?”
Her expression softened a bit. “Sure. Suit yourself.” She pointed to them.
“Actually.” I got stared at again. “I wanted to take a bit more.”
“What for?” She seemed angry.
“Well, everyone here is working hard. And since I do not know what I should do, I thought I could at least carry some drinks with me, handing them out to people.”
“…” She continued to stare at me, but it looked like any anger was gone.
A few second later, someone else approached, and handed me a crate. I took it, and took a look inside. The contents were beer and sake bottles. “Take these to the oni in the back where the lumber is stored. Those idiots continue to work without a break, and forget to drink.”
“Yes.” Now with instructions, I went on my way.
But got stopped by a call. “Wait.” I turned around. It was the yuki-onna from the beginning. “You are new here, right?”
“Yes.” To my reply, she simply gave a nod and turned her back to me.
I didn’t know what that was for, so I went on my way again. Only to be stopped once more. However, this time, it was because a face appeared in front of me. With an audible gasp, I stumbled back two steps. The face in front of me looked hurt.
Now, a bit less shocked, I could see the long neck that connected it to the body of the owner. To smooth things over, I gave a short sigh, followed by an explanation. “Please don’t surprise me like this.”
“Surprise?” Dejection turned into wonder.
“Yes. Anyone would get shocked if someone suddenly appeared in front of them.” To make the point carry home — that I was not afraid, and really got startled — I kept eye contact with the rokurokubi I was talking to. And it seemed to work, as the uncertain body posture relaxed. “So, did you need something of me?” I spoke in a normal voice.
“You are a good person.” The face in front of me smiled. “I wanted to ask you to forgive my friend for her curt behavior. She had some bad interactions with humans in the past.”
I sighed. “I thought as much. But don’t worry, I do not intend to dwell on these things. Everyone has their problems. And as a newbie here, I am in no place to judge anyone. Still, thank you very much for the clarification.”
The smile widened. “You are welcome.”
From behind us, someone called. “Could you turn your face back here for once? If you continue to look away from the food like this, it will burn again.”
“Yes.” During the reply, the head moved away, and my path was free once more.

As third time’s the charm, I expected another delay, but there was none. Walking through the busy people, making sure to avoid crashes, I got through until the end. There were some people that looked at me, but it was the minority. Despite still feeling like an outsider, it seemed that most of the attendees didn’t care.
Arriving at my goal, a muscular hand grabbed my arm, and pulled me to the side. “Be careful, further in and you might get hit by accident.” The voice was strong, as was the grip. But turning to the face of the speaker, I didn’t see a hint of anger, only concern.
“Sorry. I wanted to deliver this.” Giving my crate a quick shake, the oni’s focus fell to it. The sight of its contents sparked a joyous smile.
“Say so from the beginning!” I received a hearty clap on the back, that made me stagger. ‘So this was how Suzune had felt.’ Then, a bellowing voice near my ear exploded. “Guys, break time!!!”
In response, I could hear the cluttering sound of wood hitting the floor. Following that, many people rounded up around us. They bore the characteristics one would usually associate with oni: The most prominent ones were one or two horns on their heads, and most had unusually colored skin. Not to mention their build: nearly all of them were very muscular and tall. Some did not look that way, but I wouldn’t underestimate their strength. And apparently, they also had a liking for liquor.
After everyone had grabbed a drink, the previous man turned to me once more. “Thanks bud. By the way, I haven’t seen you around before. You new here?”
“Yes.” ‘I should have thought of an introduction…’ But the kind people around me didn’t seem to care.
“Is that so? Well, no need to fear anything of us. You brought us something to drink, after all. Hahahahaha!!!” His volume was impressive.
While talking among themselves, a few eyes flickered to me. None of them showed any hostility. Some light curiosity, that was it. ‘Looks like I got accepted by at least one group.’
“Say, what brought on this little present?”
“Well, I tried to make myself useful. I am not aware of the finer technical details needed for preparations, and I couldn't hold a candle to you when it comes to manual labor. So helping out with support seemed like the best option.”
“Oh. I am taking a liking to you kid!” I got another hit on my back. “You are still going to school, right? One of us actually managed to get her feet in there.” He pointed at a younger looking oni, who had kept her distance. But, as I looked over, our eyes met. I couldn’t quite tell the expression on her face, but she showed some kind of reaction. Had I maybe met her before in her human form? Before I could think about it, I got interrupted. “If you ever need help with heavy lifting, do not hesitate to ask us through her. It is the one thing we are good at, after all! Ahahahaha!!!”
They laughed and shared a few toasts. Soon after, I was released and allowed to be on my way once more. As I walked away, I tried to find the girl that attended school, but was unable to locate her.

The short walk back was uneventful. Why did I walk back? Well, if I could bring drinks to one group, I could always hand out more. And it seemed more useful to me than only talking to others, as that might distract them from their own work.
As I had no idea who was in charge in this area, I simply talked again with the same yuki-onna from before. “Drinks were delivered. The oni were happy about it.”
“I am sure they were. Those oafs do like it very much after all. Some even claim they need it to survive.” She regarded me for a second. “So?”
“Well, I thought if I there was one delivery I could do, there might be more?” In essence, I hoped for work. Luckily, there was always a need to move some things.
“Fetch the hand cart back there.” I did as I was told. Once I pulled it back to her, she unloaded a lot of water bottles into it. “For normal people, water would be the drink of choice. Short tip: Never offer an oni water when you can hand them alcohol. Just keep that in mind.” ‘I guess that is her way of being kind?’ “So for now, walk around and see if someone needs…” She trailed off. Looking at her eyes, I could see they were fixated behind me. I turned to look the same way, and saw someone approaching us.
“Is that how you are going to play, hm? First time among youkai, and already flirting with a yuki-onna. I know they look good, but you are pushing it.” With a devious smile, Ayame leaned in close.
Though it was meant as fun, the other woman didn’t seem to pick up on it. In fact, she was shaking slightly, and bowed her head. “I am sorry Miss Fujiwara. But that is a misunderstanding. We weren’t-”
“Yes yes, I know he wasn’t, it was just a little joke.” She pouted. Then, turning to me. “So, what are you actually doing?”
“Planning to distribute something to drink among the workers. And this kind woman over here helped me with starting the task.” I tried to put in a good work, to help the yuki-onna out with overcoming any fear she might have of the current situation. She gazed up, looking at me. Then, I continued on Ayame. “Or did you really think I was so tactless to flirt with someone I just met?”
“No. And you wouldn’t have the guts to do so.” She started walking away.
“Hey!” I raised my voice slightly. She stopped, looking at me inquisitively. But as she didn’t say anything, I was the one who had to ask. “What?”
“I am waiting for you.” “Huh?” “I will accompany you, so come on.”
Since she had already decided on it by herself, there was nothing I could do to change her decision. “Got it.” I walked up to her. On the way, I quickly turned around, and gave the not anymore frightened lady a short bow, which she reciprocated.

We then made our way across most of the field, handing out drinks as needed. During this, Ayame kept making small talk with many people we came across, and offered chances for em to introduce myself. This way it was way more effective than if I had gone by myself. On our round trip, we came through a quieter patch, so we started talking among ourselves.
“So, what did you do before I showed up?”
“I had delivered drinks to the oni.”
“Oh… Lucky I didn’t come earlier…”
“Why?”
She pondered for a second. “It’s not that I can’t stand them or anything. For me, they are just hard to get along with, you know? Everyone has types of people they don’t mix well with.”
“Kind of.” ‘I never really had any problems like that until now. But then again, among youkai may be more types of people than I have ever met.’ But that left me another question. “Where have you been? Isn’t everyone supposed to help out somehow?” Sure, she might have been part of the clean-up half, but I doubted that. Same as Suzune had called me for today, my guess was that I had fulfilled my obligation, and wouldn’t need to miss a day at school. So the same should go for Ayame as well.
“My duty is a bit different.” She stopped, and took a seat on a nearby tree-stump. A few seconds later, several messenger foxes appeared around her. “You see, many youkai have a different sense of time than humans. Others live far away, and can’t tell when a specific day is. So someone has to send out invitations.”
“And that is your job?”
“Yup. As I can ask these little ones to take care of it. Of course, I still need to organize them, so it isn’t just leaving it to others.”
Taking that into account, combining it with the scene from shortly ago, I came to a certain question.
“Ayame,” She turned to face me. “might you be some kind of important person?” With many spirits following her orders, and someone else nearly cowering in front of her, it seemed like something that might make sense. Not only that, but a lot of the folks we talked to treated her with respect, despite her probably being younger than them.

“…” She turned her head away. It was clear she didn’t want to talk about it. Several seconds passed in silence, before she spoke up. “If I were, would you treat me differently?”
I didn’t need to think about that. “Even if I wanted to, which I do not, I doubt I would be able to. So there is nothing to fear.” I smiled to reassure her.
It must have had some kind of effect, as she relaxed her shoulders. After a deep breath, I got an answer. “Well, I am not really important. But my grandmother holds a high rank and has a lot of authority. Explaining more would take too long, as you are missing very foundational knowledge.” She eyed me carefully.
“Alright, got it. If I ever meet her, I should be extra polite.” There wasn’t much more I could say to that. Another thing though “Then why was that yuki-onna afraid of you.”
“Oh, that is what you meant.” Realization spread on her face. “It’s just that our compatibility is bad.”
“…How am I to take that?”
“Hmm… how to explain. Oh, yeah. Have you ever heard of fox fire?”
“Yes, why- Oh!”
“See, now you got it.”
‘A youkai that has an affinity for fire and a youkai that has an affinity for ice.’ “Do you guys have elemental affinities?”
She shook her head. “Not really. But it was the easiest way to explain it without delving into hour long recounting of stories. Also, that specifically was in part due to my misfired joke. I mean, if you had actually done anything like that, she would haven frozen you solid. So it was obvious that nothing of that nature had happened.”
‘Yikes.’ “Wouldn’t that be a bit of an overreaction?”
“Sure would be, but it would be in character. You see, many yuki-onna, when they choose to reveal themselves to humans, get surrounded by men. They get drawn in by their beauty, start flirting, which annoys them. Sure, not the first or second time. But for it to happen every time for hundreds of years, I is obvious they would get annoyed.”
‘That explains the reaction I got when I first approached her.’
“Anyway.” Ayame got up, and dusted herself off. “Now that our lecture is taken care of, let’s go.” Smiling at me, she took my hand, and pulled me forward. With my other hand, I continued to pull the cart.

The sun was setting, and would soon fall behind the tree-line. Deftly walking through the crowd, Suzune came for us. “Good work.”
““Good work.”” We replied to her greeting in kind.
“You two have done enough and can go now.” She stated bluntly.
“Is that really okay?” I asked her. I had seen a few people leave, but many were still busying themselves on the final touches of their work.
Suzune caught me looking around us. “Yes. You are still a human minor. If you get seen wandering around here late, others might get suspicious and come here. Sure, we can deal with them in many ways, but it is an annoyance that can be avoided. Plus it will be your first festival here, and we want out to enjoy it.” With a kind smile on her face, she neatly laid out to me why I should leave.
Seeing no reason to refuse, I accepted. “Alright, will do.”
“And don’t worry about the amount of things you did. We have so many workers, it is more the gesture that counts.” She cut me off before I could even start questioning myself.
“Okay.” Still, it gave me a satisfying feeling. I turned to my partner that had accompanied me for nearly the entire time I had been here. “Are you coming too?”
Ayame shook her head slightly. “As much as I would like to, I still need to talk about something with Suzu.”
The shrine maiden looked confused for a moment, until her face showed her remembering. “That’s right, you had wanted to talk abo-”
To prevent her from finishing the sentence, Ayame shoved her hand in front of Suzune’s mouth. “Yes. Good that you remembered.” She forced a smile.
“I can wait if you’d like.” She had kept me company throughout the day, and without her help, I doubt that many introductions would have gone of successfully. So I wanted to repay her the favor.
Her smile saddened a bit. “That would be nice, but this is going to take a while. Maybe another time?”
“Alright, you got it.” This seemed to cheer her up again a bit. “Then, I guess I will see you guys tomorrow?”
“Yes, definitely.” Ayame gave an enthusiastic nod.
Finally clawing her way to freedom, Suzune answered too. “Of course. Though I might be busy and be unable to talk, we will at least see each-other.”
“Good. Then, see you tomorrow.”
“See you.” “Until tomorrow.”
After passing them a greeting, I walked out of the special area, back to the shrine proper. I didn’t see many people here, but the entirety of the stalls and decorations were finished. I gazed over them for a minute, when a man spoke behind me. “You might best want to go home, before your parents start worrying.”
I turned to the source of the voice. It was the same shrine priest from this morning, who had apparently overseen the proceedings. “Sorry, I was just on my way out, when I looked at everything here.”
“That is not good.” His voice dropped, but still contained a playful note. “If you do that, you will miss out on the surprise of seeing everything in its glory for the first time tomorrow. You are essentially spoiling yourself.”
With a light shove against my shoulder, he sent me off. “You might be right. Then, I will be off.”
“Take care on your way home.” He waved at me as I walked away. And soon, he was out of sight as I descended the stairs.

With a warm feeling in my heart, and excitement for the next day, I made my way home.