Snake's backstory

When she woke up, she was inside the Sobue's apartment. She rubbed her eyes, looking around. Maki and the snake lady were sitting beside her. The snake was holding the water bottle in her hand. Maki looked concerned. Sora blinked thinking she might be dreaming it still. "Em, M-maki-san?"

"Oh, you are awake!" Snake jumped up, excited, "Finally, gosh, I thought I would never be able to leave!" She eyed Maki angrily.

"You are not leaving even now, Kiyohime." Maki didn't even spare a glance at her. "Are you fine, Sora-san? You seemed to lose consciousness suddenly. I picked you up and took her back to this place. Hope your friend won't mind."

"Of course he won't! I will eat him, he doesn't need this apartment anymore anyway!" Kiyohime folded her hands and pursed her lips.

"Wow, okay. I just felt a strange sensation before losing consciousness. I have never lost consciousness before, always been interested in how it feels. People in novels lose consciousness way too often, but never like this IRL. I wonder why..."

"Wow, slow down, child. And keep yourself in check, I plan to eat you soon, and you seemed to have gotten weaker than when we first met. This won't work!" Snake was mad and dissatisfied with this whole situation. She tossed the bottle onto Sora's side of the bed.

"It's not the time to discuss it." Maki replied.

Sora lifted herself a bit, "I -I think I am okay. We can go soon. But I think I would like to know what exactly the snake yokai wants from Sobue."

"Oh, please, I had no idea he was involved with you. This asshole, you will be better without him anyway, forget all about him!" Kiyohime threw her hand as if dismissing the weight that Sobue's life was worth.

"No, I won't!" Sora frowned, "I am very worried, tell me immediately where is he, and if he is okay!"

Kiyohime only rolled her eyes. 

Maki said: "She told me all about it. He is fine, she trapped him in her house. She refuses to give me an answer as to why exactly, but we will go there when you can stand up."

"I am okay now, let's move!" Sora tried standing up, but moved too abruptly, sharp pain going through her head. She had to sit back for a moment. "Don't worry, I will be okay in a second," she turned her head around to the snake, smiling, "Kiyo-chan, maybe you can tell me what's with Sobue?"

"Kiyo-chan? I am your elder, so just you know, " Kiyo was satisfied though, feeling cute all of a sudden, she loved it, so she couldn't help but smile in satisfcation. "Well, if you beg me so much, I will tell you. You are soon to be eaten anyway, and he," she glanced at Maki with contempt, "who cares, you can listen too."

Maki sat silently, expression unchanged. Seeing this Kiyo khm-d at him, and looked back at Sora.

"Anyway, I think you might know my story, maybe. I was the daughter of an official back in the day, so just you know. And this gross man, oh I looked for him for centuries, waiting to revenge my pride!.."

"Wait, Kiyo-chan, can we start from the beginning?" Sora smiled as politely as possible, "I can imagine it my head like it's a flashback."

"Like what? Whatever. As I was saying, this was infuriating. Imagine this: I was living my - at that point - young life peacefully, when he appeared, so pure and full of promises, and stories about his adventures (who could've known that it was all a lie, and he never traveled to those places). He was such a smooth talker, told me he loved me, like the two days after we've met. Then that he wanted to marry me, and that he dreamed of spending the rest of our lives together. We would talk for hours. We spent the spring waking around the cherry blossoms, his pretty face always around me. He would take a charry blossom and say that my face is a pure as it was. I should've gussed that it was a stupid metaphor after he trew the petals on the ground. Anyway, he taught me how to make books, and showed me his beautiful drawings of those blossoms. One day he even drew me, and I cherished that painting so much. My parents were not huge fans of his, since he was a commoner, but he was inteligent, and I was so fond of him, that they eventually gave in. He never promised anything in front of them though, I should have known..." 

She sighed, "Then once he mentioned, that he might need to leave soon, but he would definitely return. Because his life was now mine. So he promised and I believed him. That night he asked to stay with me. How could I've refused? I thought we were to get married soon anyway. I disobeyed my parents' will, I disobeyed the rules of how a proper girl should behave before marriage. And for what?

"What did I get? We spent the night together, of course in secret. The cherry blossoms were flying into my room as we kissed, the moon was full, illuminating his face. That night, I loved it. I tried to remember as much as could. But the next morning all I see is a stupid note saying he had to continue his spiritual journey, so we now have to part?! Excuse me?!" She yelled the last part. Sora and Maki both listened intensely, frowning in silence.

"Why didn't he think about his «journey» before telling me lies?" she paused, looking down for a moment, "Oh, I was so mad, I got so mad, I had to kill him. My parent were not even able to stop me. I chased and chased, and soon I saw him on a boat, crossing a river, running away, like a coward. What's more, that bastard, he actually bribed all the fishermen not to let me take a boat. With what money, I wonder. So he knew I would follow?! 

"I was so mad when I started swimming, what felt like eternity. I never noticed how my body transformed. Powered with my rage when I got to the other side I had a serpent body. Bless the gods who gave me this opportunity for revenge. He thought he managed to escape and hid in the temple. Maybe he chose it for his «spiritual journey», who knows? But no, there was no escaping me. I started a fire," her eyes glistened with excitement, "and so he met his fate under a temple bell. He died, screaming, and I was ecstatic then, that the fool was punished for his sin.

"However, the celebration didn't last long. The villagers got mad at me, running around frightened, swearing, and willing to kill me since I looked like a monster to them. Of course, he looked like a human and had to be forgiven, while I, who was cheated of love, was now a monster to be killed. I was so devastated at this point - I was in a rage before, and I didn't think all of that through. I had nothing left of me on this Earth," she breathed out, "my pure self was now gone, as was my purpose, and my love. I had nothing left of me. So I stayed. I let all those stones hit me, all those curses and hatred overflow over my body. They lashed at me, and they almost killed me. I escaped back then," she sighed, " barely, ran off into the woods, full of wounds and blood in my eyes. I couldn't bear it, but I didn't want to die. I wanted to find him again and ask him why he chose me, why he decided to do that to me... So I had to survive. I spent years recuperating, trying to collect spiritual powers again."

There was a pause. She looked sad, hugging herself. Sora frowned deeper, and put her hand on Kiyo's shoulder. Maki cleared his throat and said:

"These questions...The answers you were looking for, they probably would have disappointed you..." Maki looked at her.

Kiyo glanced a him, eyes glistening, "Of course, because I went to the Underworld to find him..."

Sora's eyes widened "It exists?! Oh, this is exciting!" She clapped her hands, but noticed a mad/sad look of Kiyo's and calmed down.

"Khm," Kiyo continued, "as I was saying, I went there, to fight for the answers. The Underworld is crowded, there are many yokai and souls lingering. It is all like big city down there. I spent who knows how many years looking for him, asking people to help me. It was so exhausting, I, again, lost a lot of my powers. And what did I find in the end? He was there, hanging out with some of his dead friends. He didn't recognize me. Or he pretended not to. Imagine that! What an asshole. They kicked me out of the restaurant where he was, never letting me come back again, since I was "too extreme" in their words. I hate that place, all of them are hypocrites! Freaking pigs."

"They were pigs?!" Sora's excitement was overflowing, it was hard for her to conceal it at this point.

"Yes, they were. He, on the other hand, didn't even know how he looked. He was rightfully a pig now, I thought. The lucky bastard forgot a good portion of things, how convenient. So I decided to give up on him and focus on getting my full potential back. I thought my anger has subsided, and my wish for revenge was no more present. Yet, I was infuriated to see him walking on the street, looking so happy. While I have to struggle without my spiritual powers, like a loser, unable to fully utilize my body... He got to reincarnate, and live life?"

Sora thought: I wonder how "happy" Sobue actually looked given his post-break-up depression. Well, he might have bought a figurine and was walking home all ecstatic about it. I get it. She stood up, saying, "We totally should kill Sobue now!"

"Sora-san, I don't..." Maki stood up too.

"Yes, you understand, Sora-chan!" Kiyo jumped in excitement, eyes full of determination. "You understand the pain, right?"

"Kiyo-chan, I will absolutely help you kill him, let's go!"

Maki cried out, "no! What are you doing, both of you? Sobue was your friend, wasn't he?"

Sora cut him off. She now stood with Kiyo hand-in-hand, fists clenched, fighting mode activated. "Friend no more, Maki-san, he is a cheater and a player. I would never forgive that!"

Maki looked at it, tired, he didn't want to get in the way of this fighting spirit? He didn't know how to handle this.

"Sora-san, Kiyohime, maybe we should talk first, it most likely wasn't him, he just looks like him!"

He was ignored, the girls were proudly walking out of the apartment talking about revenge. Maki took the bag with Sobue's clothing the snake previously carried, and Sora's abandoned bag too, sighing to himself. Now he had to babysit these two.

Koga would've handled this way better. Or maybe he would've joined them? Who cares.  Do I need to save the poor guy now?