29. Oath of The River Princess
[ CW: mentions of sexual assault]
I’m enamored.
This is such a great hair cut. I love the bounce. Didn’t know I could look this good.
In front of the mirror I give it another good shake, unable to stop grinning. It’s so pretty.
Once I’m a girl I’m definitely going to wear my hair like this, it totally enhances my features and girls with shorter hair can be pretty too.
I always thought if I were a girl I’d wear my hair long so I could play with it every time I got a bit too nervous.
But now? No, this is way too cute to not commit to. I’ll do the longer hair thing when I’m middle aged woman in the neat little bun my old teacher used to do.
Taking a look at whole demon-hunter shrine maiden outfit I’m wearing, I have to say this hair cut kinda breaks the look. You do need the ponytail with the cute bow to complete it.
Yes, I think I’m still going to wear the wig for tonight.
The temperatures have been rising sharply, soon I won’t be able to use it anymore. I’ll enjoy the long hair while I’m can.
Though I also need to do something about my outfit. I got the base with the stiff collar and over that the white short kimono and then the dark long skirt with black thighs underneath, and the loose white jacket, which I’ve already ditched for the last hunt.
Still that’s a lot of fabric for summer, especially when you have to fight in it.
Maybe I’ll loose the tights and undergarment and find a white yukata as a kimono replacement?
I’ll see what I can find online, I need more of these training bras against the chafing anyway. But that’s stuff for later.
I have to get ready, the girls are waiting.
────୨ৎ────
The closed metal gate in front of us that's shedding its bright blue paint to reveal the rust underneath is about as inviting as the whole overgrown run-down scenery surrounding us. Meaning it’s supremely not inviting! A dark splotch at the edge of a small satellite community which had been swallowed by the city long ago.
Behind the bars of the gate rises the dark tower of a former water slide as a black clean-picked carcass against the glow beyond. Where once families and children stood to buy their tickets, only thick shrubbery is loitering about. The asphalt and concrete are a cracked mess, sprouting all kind of weeds.
This is the last place one should be visiting at night!
Eep!
It’s creepy as fuck!
I want to go home!
My demon-hunting has led me to some frightening places, but the depilated school building with a literal fear demon felt downright cozy compared to this open hostility.
It’s the plants. This place has lain abandoned for a long time, that much is obvious.
It's only denizens, the sun-bleached mascots on the wall are nothing but ghostly apparitions clinging to the concrete for dear life. A place nature is in the process of reclaiming but has yet to fully devour.
And we are interrupting its mealtime.
I shuffle nervously behind Mayumi. I want to take her hand, but no—I’m a fierce demon-hunter, a mysterious shrine maiden with the blessing of a spirit! I can do this!
But… uh like… Haruki can be the spear tip.
Not me.
I told the gang that I got the tip from one of Hikari’s friends and that is technically correct so it’s not a lie. So no judging allowed!
As far as we know, this park closed back in the nineties and people disappeared even before then, but after it’s closure it definitely increased. The last year was the worst so far, three young men around our age, a father in his forties, and an old man and prominent member of this district. He was some sort of local politician back in the day.
We checked the app, but the disturbances indicate the occasional D-class at best, which doesn’t mean that our demon isn’t here. If it likes to lay low like the denial demon I fought, there's a chance it evaded detection. From what I can remember of Tarō fighting this thing, it’s either a high C-class or weak B-class. In appearance a drowned woman, who hides underwater and is a literal people eater. The demon rips its prey apart and eats every last piece of them, that’s why they vanish, never to be seen again.
Haruki pushes at the gate, which answers with a bone-chilling metallic creak.
“It’s open”, her lips part for a smirk, “After you, ladies.”
Mayumi goes first with me right behind her, then Chie and Hotaru. Haruki naturally takes up the rear.
I have my lantern cranked to the max, while the rest of the girls brought flashlights. Chie even has a headlamp, but Haruki asked her to keep it turned off until it’s absolutely needed. It made it super uncomfortable to look at her while talking.
Following the map of the waterpark Chie found and sent to all of us, we slowly make our way as a group through the general dilapidation.
With the grass emerging from the cracked pavement as high as my knees at times, I feel as if I’m on some kind of safari, hunting some great beast of old under the light of the stars.
Not that there's many stars visible with the city so close, but whatever.
The plan is to stay together and systematically comb this place clockwise, keeping an eye on any places of water.
Creeping shadows and sounds without a source have me on edge as I imagine the visage of a drowned woman in the kaleidoscope of light and dark which our different torches cut through the night.
We walk forward, always staying close to one another, never letting anyone stray to far. A close bundle of bright lights forging a path among the weeds and broken things.
Being on high alert to this degree for a prolonged period lets time slip, it lets everything slip. It takes Chie’s disappointed sigh for me to recognize that we are back at the gate.
We made a full round.
Nothing.
The place isn’t big, a modest regional waterpark probably built two or three decades before its closure. We found a few pools, some filled with a bit of collected rainwater and a small natural river running along its far southern border, but no demon.
We're all quiet for a while as we stand there, unsure of our next move.
I speak up, “It was a solid tip. It has to be here.”
Mayumi leans in, “Not your fault miko, but the fish aren't biting tonight.”
I turn to Chie, “Can I have my thing?”
“Sure”, she produces a small wooden box from her messenger bag, from which I in turn retrieve my small bell tree.
Mayumi immediately snickers, “Are you going thank me that I’ve come to worship next, miko?”
I choose to ignore her little jab. “Demons hate the sound of these. What worked for Mr. Monkey will work for our drowned lady. Watch and learn Mayumi.”
I stomp back to the far end of the park the girls in tow. That shallow river gave me the creeps so I’ll start there and then work my way back to the entrance.
I know this demon has to be here. That creepy ass concrete tower which once held up the slides was described exactly like that in the novel. We're in the right place, so why isn’t the demon attacking us? We’re on its turf and we’re juicy humans it can devour, so why hasn’t it shown itself?
I’m not letting you get away, lady! It’s my fault Tarō hasn’t slain you, so I’m going to make sure that you get taken care of! So stop hiding!
Under the curious eyes of Mayumi, Chie, Haruki and Hotaru, I perform my little dance next to the shallow channel of water with its concrete boundary. It’s an actual dance. It may have been a while since I took my lessons and I never learned ritual dances, but still, I’m not an amateur.
With every ring of my bells, I feel an echo, some kind of warmth spreading from me. Maybe it’s my imagination. Maybe dancing feels nice in general and dancing in a skirt that swings with you even more. I lose myself in the moment. The chime of the bells declaring my rhythm, one I follow with my body. I almost want to sing when I remember my voice.
In exactly that thought, cuts a hiss horrifyingly close to me.
“Can you stop that!?” The words are cold and sharp.
Not half a meter from me, sits a young woman on a stone, running her fingers through her long, wet hair. She's wearing nothing but a simple robe that isn’t closed properly. Two red glowing pinpricks where her pupils should be.
Everything falls.
In an instant there is a sword in my hand, it’s glowing rainbow blade on course for the demon’s neck.
But she is close.
Too close.
She reaches up, evades the sword and grabs my arm that’s holding it.
I get pulled down and the world drowns.
The river isn’t deep.
We hit the ground fast.
It hurts.
My lungs scream.
Her face is right in front of mine.
She grins a deeply sardonic grin.
She speaks but no air escapes her mouth, her voice is clear even through our thrashing, “Our little samurai girl found her calling at a temple? Shame I don’t harm women, including you.”
There is no time to react. I feel her hands wrapping around me and the next thing I notice is me getting violently ejected from the river back onto land.
I cough.
Wet footfalls beside me.
“With the maiden’s incessant play silenced for the moment, might we talk like civilized people? What is this?”
A scan across the scene before me shows me Haruki with her large blade resting on her shoulder, to her right, Chie, pistol and flashlight pointing at the demon. Mayumi has her bow summoned and a glowing arrow in her hand yet to be drawn, and to the far right stands Hotaru, a cold almost doll-like expression on her face. I’ve never seen her like this. She looks off.
The girls are assembled, ready to strike. But they haven’t moved yet, because I’m in harms way. Lying on the ground completely drenched, terrifyingly close to the demon standing next to me. I’m the hostage, the bargaining chip. Whatever the gang tries, it’ll leave enough time for the demon to kill me.
Our drowned lady has demonstrated she is faster and stronger than any human. From Tarō’s description I expected a hideous monster, not a regular girl that looks not much older than us.
Okay, the red glowing pupils kind ruin her girl next door vibe, but still. She actually looks nice. What am I thinking? She is a people eater! A killer that nearly drowned me and I’m musing how she isn’t bad looking?
I really need to get my priorities straight.
She barks, “What, are you all mute all of a sudden? I heard you before, you know? I know you can talk.”
“We're hunters,” Chie says, “What do you think we're here for?"
The demon forces a laugh, “Me? Why?”
“Because you kill people!”
“You girls can’t be seriously mad at me for the old creep, the three incels, that pervy salaryman and the asshole with the rope. I’m doing the community a favor. Always have. This is my bridge!" She looks back to the river, clearly bridgeless. "Well, you have to stay with me here, there was a bridge here once, they tore it down when they built the park. But my ways remained the same; a man approaches me with obvious intentions. I tell him no; he ignores me. I say no again; he continues to ignore my will. I say no for the third time and then if he still persists; I throw him in the river and suck out his life-force, leaving nothing but a husk.”
The demon finishes with a proud smile.
Mayumi narrows her eyes, “Really?”
“They… assaulted you?” Haruki continues.
“Yes. I gave three distinct ‘no’s, making it clear that I did not want what they were doing, and they still forced themselves onto me. Not that you girls would know, but if they had simply listened to me and left me alone, I wouldn’t have taken their life-force. Without them ignoring my wishes, it’d taste like uncooked unseasoned chicken, rather vile. But with each of their transgressions these pervs are basically seasoning themselves for me, so by end they taste delicious.”
Mayumi drops another, “Really?”
“Yes, I can show you their forum posts. I was getting confused why I had so many snacks all of a sudden. In a good year I get like, one or two guys, so that sudden influx had me baffled. I asked one of the assholes before I emptied him out. Someone posted on a message board that there's a homeless girl washing herself in this old waterpark, and how she's an easy target no-one would care about. I can show you the post. It got shared around and you can read all their vile comments and fantasies for yourself.”
No-one says anything.
“What!? No takers?” the demon spits.
After adjusting her grip, Chie asks, “If you don’t eat them, only extract their life-force, where are their bodies? People vanished and were never seen again.”
“Oh in the days before the park, I let the river take them out to the ocean. These days I have a rot demon take them off my hands. You have to ask them, probably getting composted somewhere.”
Chie makes an expression I can’t interpret, but doesn’t say anything further.
The demon huffs, “So, girls, move along and let me be. I would prefer not to fight you. I swore an oath to never harm another woman, one I intend to uphold.”
Wait, I remember that was in the original story! The demon was raving on and on about how Tarō forced her hand to break her oath and in the end when she was defeated she remarked how she welcome her death because of it. Rin was with Tarō that night, and she got hit, so that’s what that whole oath thing was about. It all makes sense now.
Suddenly I feel the demon’s hands on me. Is she going to make an example out of me? With one hand she lifts me off the ground and… puts me on my feet?
Huh?
Taking my chin she gets way too close, “Sorry little samurai girl, you needed a bath. You were reeking of fox.”
Leaving no time for me to react, I get shoved into Haruki’s direction.
“Now leave me!”
I nearly stumble.
Tall and imposing as ever Haruki probes the demon, “You only kill men who violate your consent?”
“Yes, I don’t do women. Or men who can keep their hands to themselves for that matter. If you heard anything else, you’ve been misled. They like to do that, to paint me as a vixen seducing innocent men. And they can’t leave it at that, they have to make me out to be a gruesome monster; ripping, tearing and devouring people. It’s always the woman’s fault, never the man’s. I tell them to leave me alone, but they rarely listen. Problem for them is, there is no fourth ‘no’ with me. No continued struggle, no further violation. The only thing they get is the big nothing.”
“Show me the messages,” Chie commands.
The demon crouches low, picks something from the dirt and starts fumbling with it.
A phone gets thrown to Chie. Studying its content paints a grave expression on her normally so cute face. Mayumi and Haruki lean in to follow along.
I watch Chie swallow, Haruki frown and Mayumi bare her teeth in disgust.
Finally Chie tosses the phone back, “We're leaving.”
I move, “She's killing people! I don’t care what they did, she can’t just kill people! She is a demon, a murderer. She’ll continue if we let her.” I have to fix Tarō's mess!!!
After being silent the whole time, Hotaru’s words come laced with contempt, “She's not just killing them. She is snuffing their light, she's eating their souls.”
Waving her hand around dismissively, the demon proclaims proudly, “Yes I’m removing bad seeds. No reincarnation, no afterlife. Removed from the ledger all together.”
Hotaru snaps, “People are not bad seeds. It’s how they have been taught. It’s our teachers, mentors and environment that shapes us. Everyone deserves a chance to grow and you rob them of that! Eating their souls is not a lesson, nor a proportional punishment. I’m with Katsumi we can’t let her continue.”
“Read the messages Hotaru,” Mayumi sneers.
“I don’t care what they wrote. They didn’t deserve an end like this.” She turns to look at Mayumi, “If you want to leave; leave. Katsumi and I can take her alone.”
I stare at the demon, with her flawless human appearance, a sign she is at least B-class, not to mention the strength she demonstrated earlier. I’m not sure Hotaru and I are enough to defeat her.
A cold haughty laugh escapes the demon, “You cannot seriously tell me, shaman girl, you believe that some pervy grandfather will come around and change his ways. Even you cannot be this naive. There is a limit to growth and one needs the willingness to grow. It is a choice. One-”
“Then let the rest go.” Hotaru cuts in.
“What?” the demon exclaims, visibly taken aback.
“Take the old, but let the young go! Scare them, take a small piece of their soul, teach them a lesson, but let them go!”
A devilish smile on the demon’s face, “But what if it doesn’t take? You haven’t thought this through. What if their next victim isn’t one that can fight back?”
“Then you’ll make sure your lesson sticks. I know you can’t lie to us but you can lie to men. So lie and scare them, do whatever it takes to make your lesson stick, but don’t take their soul!”
Confused I ask Hotaru, “Wait she can’t lie?”
Her eyes on me, “She can’t lie to women, for her it would be a violation of her oath. No demon would be as forthcoming otherwise. She can’t lie to us, that’s the reason she’s so talkative.”
“Clever shaman girl.” It comes from the demon.
Staring her down, Hotaru inquires, “Do we have a deal river princess?”
“You won’t let me go otherwise?”
“No.”
For a moment that holds longer than comfortable. There is nothing, only Hotaru and the demon glaring at another. Visible displeasure runs across the demon’s face as she weighs her options. If she fights us, me and Hotaru, the rest of the gang would help us out of principle. But does the demon know that?
Its class is high, it would be a tough battle, but she is not a fighter, just a girl with a lot of raw physical strength and the ability to eat your soul. Okay the soul eating thing—that’s a terrifying thought.
But is she even making the calculation of how a fight might play out?
Her action up to now speak to something else; she doesn’t want to fight us. Fighting us would mean she’d break her oath, something that appears to be very important to her. That’s the option she is weighing here.
“Yes, yes, I suppose.” The demon rolls her eyes. “You have my word; only the old. The rest get taught a lesson. Now take your fox-faced samurai girl and leave.”
Hotaru gives a deep bow, stomps towards me, takes my hand and pulls me away from the scene.
To our backs, the voice of demon rings out again, “I shall pay my respects at your grave, shaman girl.”
Hotaru’s expression remains icy as we walk briskly in the direction of the entrance, the other three a few steps behind us.
“What was that last thing for?” I ask.
“The demon is only bound to its word as long as I live.”
“Wouldn’t she then try to kill you or send someone after you?”
“No. It would violate its oath. It'll wait it out, hoping I’ll find an early grave.”
Hotaru drags me all the way down the access road, back to lit street lamps and civilization far away from the entrance of the abandoned waterpark.
We all come to a stop and say nothing for a while.
“Play stupid games, win stupid prices,” Mayumi laments at Hotaru.
Followed by Haruki stating, “It’s monsters preying on other monsters. Let them eat each other, I say.”
“I don’t care how you justify it. I don’t.” Hotaru replies, “I’ve trained hard for the gift to undo the harm demons cause others, to heal the wounds they leave behind. I would be a betrayal of all that I’ve learned—of all that I’m doing to not even try to make a case for them. They were people, despicable people, but still people. One was a father. There are children out there who lost their dad. Are we now hoping that he was a monster to them too? So it’s justified that he’s gone? Are we wishing he wasn’t the bread winner? That the family is better off without him? They were human beings!”
Mayumi chides, “Oh please don’t play the high and mighty. You’re powerful witch. If someone were to assault you don’t tell me you wouldn’t defend yourself.”
“Yes I would defend myself! I would hurt them, I’d make them pay. But I wouldn’t kill them and I would never destroy their soul, even if I were able to. At no point is that demon ever in danger. You saw what it did to Katsumi. It isn’t defending itself. It’s hunting.”
I’m glad my crossdressing is convincing enough that I was able to fall under the demon’s no-harming-woman oath. Don’t want to imagine what would’ve happened otherwise. Saved by crossdressing, isn’t that a funny thought?
All eyes are on me, standing there still dripping water.
“Are you okay?” Chie asks, with her big puppy eyes.
“I’m a bit cold but otherwise I’m fine,” I say shivering. Which I'm doing because I'm cold and not because I was about to wet—wait I'm not wearing pants… I totally wasn't scared for my life back there that's the important part!
Nope, not a scaredy cat at all!
I'm such brave girl—I mean boy, uh young adult man in a wet wig and probably running eyeliner.
“Let’s get you dried up. My flat is the closest. Think that’s okay? Or should we ring someone out right here?” Haruki offers.
“No, your place sounds good.”
“I’ll let you borrow some of my clothes.” she winks.
“Thanks.”
“Let’s go.”
On my way home, I can’t stop thinking how this wasn’t what I had expected. In the original story, in Tarō’s timeline before I ruined everything, it had been so clear cut. He acted just like me, drew his sword and attacked without talking to the demon, going off what he'd pieced together, a false incomplete picture.
And I did the same.
I did what Tarō had done.
And it feels wrong.
I don’t know if mine is the better timeline. I don’t know if it’s better that the demon is out there, killing men who would… do these things. I’d like to think it is. Monsters eating monsters… and the young get taught a lesson.
If I wasn’t so easily overpowered by the demon, if she didn’t mistake me for a girl, I would have done exactly what Tarō had done and it would’ve been wrong.
Something… something to keep in mind going forward.