"I suppose there are things that never change."
Walking along the small stones that serve as the river's boundary, Kikyo looks toward the opposite bank and easily spots a line of clothes hanging in the sun.
There are classic rough-cloth shirts there, mostly in dull colors, patched trousers, pieces of fabric that are very likely underwear, and priestess outfits.
What's strange about the latter is that there are two sizes—one larger than the other—although oddly enough, the smaller size seems to fit Kikyo perfectly.
"As a matter of fact, praise the sun! Ah, right, you were talking about hanging the clothes here and not about drying them in the sun."
"… Just… go away, I'm going to change."
"In the middle of a river, with stolen clothes and in broad daylight… Could it be that the intense one in this relationship is actually her?"
Stroking his chin the same way Saya does when he plays at being wise, Asahiko turns around and jumps onto a small tree, which gives him a good view of the village located about 500 to 700 meters away.
It seems quite prosperous, since dozens of wooden houses can be seen, wide rice fields, dirt roads, and even a large shrine nestled at the top of a mountain.
Of course, since it is midday or perhaps a bit later, villagers can be seen walking everywhere, although the one that stands out the most is a young monk with black hair and eyes, who has a small fox on his shoulder.
"Wow, they seem pretty… liberal. I was expecting more hatred toward a demon. Wait, is that monk confessing right there in the middle of the street?"
Amplifying his senses in that specific direction, Asahiko narrows his eyes by pure instinct and slowly begins to understand what is happening.
"You are the light of my eyes, the most beautiful lady I have ever seen… Please, no, grant me the blessing of becoming my wife."
"… Your excellence, I am Rinne's mother, the one who was confessed to yesterday."
Trying to pull her hand free from his gentle grip while blushing, the older woman widens her eyes when the monk moves even closer.
"Like father, like daughter. Now I understand why Miss Rinne was such a beauty. But it doesn't matter if you have a daughter—love can overcome that."
"Miroku… there's a man coming this way and he looks angry."
"Who dares interfere with—oh, damn it, she was married! Run, Shippo! Elder Kaede will kill me if I cause this kind of trouble again!"
Grabbing the small fox child—basically a small child with brown fox legs and tail—Miroku throws him toward the furious husband who is approaching before fleeing.
This makes Shippo's brown eyes widen in surprise, but he quickly insults Miroku with truly childish words and, with a puff of smoke, transforms into a pink balloon that floats up into the sky.
"Jajaja, with friends like these, who needs enemies? I think—agh, who was that?!"
Retracting the senses he had directed in a straight line toward the village to listen, Asahiko instantly spreads them around the area, thus detecting the audacious one who hit him with a stone.
It was a small boy of five or six years, with sunburnt skin and a fishing net over his shoulder, who also hides behind a bush while whispering with two other children of similar age.
"We have to call the adults, that clothes thief doesn't seem scared by the stone."
"Guys… don't you think he wouldn't steal a priestess outfit? He's a man, you know?"
"You never know! Maybe he's a weirdo like Miroku—he asked my three sisters to marry him… one after another!"
Finishing their discussion, the three children drop down on all fours and start crawling away from the place. But they don't even make it two steps before crashing straight into someone—more precisely, a pair of legs, which belong to Asahiko.
"Well, well, what do we have here—three little piglets, and I just happen to be a hungry wolf~"
Lowering his head, which has a pair of wolf ears, to be at their level, Asahiko puts on a smile that shows all his sharp, shark-like teeth, then exaggeratedly sniffs one of the children.
This makes the children fall backward onto their backsides, cold sweat running down their foreheads as tears start streaming from their eyes.
"I-it's a demon!"
"R-run!"
"Mommy!"
Screaming and trying to run, the children become even more terrified when Asahiko slowly approaches and transforms his nails into sharp claws.
It truly seemed like the end for them—one even dropped to the ground playing dead—but just at that moment, when all hope was lost, a cold voice was heard nearby.
"What are you doing, Asahiko?"
"Eh… teaching them the terror of nature? Yes, that's it! I'm showing them how dangerous it is to go out carelessly, because that's what a responsible adult does."
Beating his chest while lifting his face, Asahiko makes all the transformations disappear and returns to his normal appearance. Then he tries to turn to look at Kikyo, but before he can, all the children rush past him and jump onto her.
"Miss Kagome!"
"He's a demon! We have to call big brother Inuyasha!"
"Guys… wasn't Miss Kagome supposed to have left?"
Grabbing her from several places, two of the children try to drag Kikyo along with them, unsuccessfully, while explaining a bit of the situation.
"She doesn't look bad in the priestess outfit now that she's healthy, Miss Kagome."
"Do you want to die?"
"Sorry… but you're scaring them more than you're scaring me."
Raising his hands at Kikyo's icy stare—which always appears whenever she's compared to Kagome—Asahiko points with one finger at the now-silent children.
"I-I-I told you she wasn't Miss Kagome!"
"So then…"
"She is too—agh, that hurt!"
"And the next one will hurt more if you keep accusing anyone of being a demon."
Blowing on his freshly used fist, Asahiko grabs the head of the one who seems the smartest of the three and then crouches down to be at eye level with him.
"I, uh… how can I help you?"
"Tsk, smart kid. Alright, little brain, I assume you know Kagome and Inuyasha, right?"
"… Yes?"
Hesitating more because of how Asahiko refers to him than because of the question itself, the boy remains silent for a few moments before answering awkwardly.
"That's what I like. Now then, is either of them in the village? Don't look at me like that—she and I aren't bad people, right, Kikyo?"
"…"
"Why are you looking to the side, Kikyo?!"
Pointing at her while opening his blue eyes wide, Asahiko tries to calm the children with his gaze as they start looking at them strangely.
"We're good…"
"You heard her! So start talking before my good mood disappears!"
"Y-yes! In the village there's only big brother Inuyasha, the monk Miroku, and Shippo, because Miss Kagome went back to her home, according to them."
Blurting out everything he knew and more, the boy turned pale and began hyperventilating, but just when everything seemed to be getting out of hand, Kikyo calmed him with a few actions.
That earned her the trust of the other children, who hide behind her and keep staring at Asahiko, causing him to narrow his eyes threateningly.
"That's enough, Asahiko. They're just a group of children."
"Why are you taking their side, Kikyo? I thought we had something special—a relationship of trust… you know, friends."
"At most, I consider you an acquaintance."
"Ahh, so I'm not a stranger~ No, you can't take it back now~"
Hugging himself while his face turns red, Asahiko wriggles like a worm and winks at Kikyo, managing to leave her speechless for the first time in a while.
But of course, being a reasonably logical woman—unless it involves Inuyasha—and also someone far more accustomed than she would like to Asahiko's jokes, Kikyo simply fixes her expression and speaks coldly.
"The plan doesn't change just because Kagome isn't here, but you'll have to find another way to draw them out."
"All me, all me… honestly, I don't know what you'll do when I'm gone."
"Are you planning to leave?"
"No, but—"
"Then think of something, because I'm leaving right now."
Cutting off Asahiko's words—perhaps so she wouldn't hear what came after the "But"—Kikyo gently frees herself from the children and walks away, leaving behind a chilling cold.
"You made her angry."
"… What?"
"He's right, my sister gets like that when she's angry."
"Um, um, you're just as dense as big brother Inuyasha with Miss Kagome."
Nodding among themselves like a group of old sages, the children keep verbally beating down Asahiko until he knocks them out with a blow and stacks them into a human pyramid.
Of course, Asahiko doesn't just leave them there; instead, he leaves a small amount of his energy imprinted on them so that yōkai or wild beasts won't come near.
"Hmph, that'll teach them to respect their elders when they wake up. That aside, I suppose we can say the feather failed… so let's use the sword!"
Slamming his right fist into his left palm, Asahiko puts on a grin and fixes his gaze on the distant village.