Chapter Text
Yui knew she wasn’t supposed to be here.
She tried to keep her head down as she made her way through the bustling street lined with vendors hawking their wares. Hanging lanterns and the full moon overhead bathed the bizarre crowd in an eerie light as she wove her way through. Some were human, most were not. And when it came to the ones that were not, well, Yui tried her best not to stare.
The popping sound of a charcoal grill caught her attention and she peeked over at one of the food stalls which appeared to be selling dango. However upon closer inspection, it turned out that what was actually on those skewers were human eyeballs.
Yui made a note not to look at any more of the vendors and kept walking.
Ghost City.
The very heart of the ghost realm. And from the grotesque scenes Yui had seen so far, it certainly lived up to its reputation for being a hellish cesspool of evil.
Under normal circumstances, it was absolutely a place that a heavenly official like her should stay far, far away from.
But she had a very good reason for being here.
It had all started a couple of days ago when she had ascended to heaven for the third time after wandering the mortal realm for around 800 years.
After eight centuries, quite a bit had changed and aside from the martial emperor, none of the other gods were familiar to her anymore. But the one thing that stayed the same was that as a heavenly official, she had a duty to answer prayers from the mortal realm.
It should have been a standard mission. There was a certain mountain near a certain village where every once in a while, brides would go missing when their processions passed through. It didn’t happen too often. Only a couple dozen over the past few hundred years. Thousands of other wedding processions went off without a hitch. But eventually, a legend began to spread of how the mountain was haunted by a ghost groom who would kidnap any bride that caught his fancy.
Naturally, families in the area would pray to the gods for the safety of their daughters. But since it was quite a rural area and none of them came from prestigious houses, their voices never reached the ears of anyone willing to help.
However even if heaven considered this particular case to be of low priority, there was just something about it that Yui couldn’t let go. Not to mention, she did find it quite ridiculous that prayers were answered in the order of who had the deeper pockets.
So she accepted the job, went down to the mortal realm, and volunteered to pose as the decoy bride for a group looking to lure out and catch the legendary ghost groom so they could claim a reward offered by the local governor after the last girl went missing.
And by either luck or misfortune, something did happen. Not long after entering the mountain, Yui had begun to hear a strange song. One that none of the others could…
O, where are you going? To Scarborough fair,
Savoury sage, rosemary, and thyme;
Remember me to a lass who lives there,
For once she was a true love of mine...
Yui wasn’t sure exactly what happened afterwards. Although she suspected the song had put her to sleep since she’d woken up to find her bridal sedan had been somehow transported to the inside of an old burnt-out temple.
She’d heard a young man’s laughter and footsteps approaching. Thinking that it was the ghost groom she’d been looking for, Yui had prepared to attack and suppress the evil spirit like she’d come here to do.
But before she could make a move, another person had arrived and begun attacking the ghost groom! Yui couldn’t tell exactly what was happening from inside the veils of the sedan. All she could hear were screams, a blade tearing into flesh, and even stranger, the sound of falling rain. But how could it rain inside a building?
When everything went silent outside once more, footsteps approached her sedan once more. But this time, they were different. Once they arrived before her, the curtain was lifted and a hand was extended towards her. It was slender and dainty, the skin fair and smooth like jade, clearly belonging to a girl. And coiled around her wrist, was a silver bracelet in the shape of a dragon.
Yui hesitated to take it at first. She knew nothing about this person and what her intentions were. But nothing about her demeanor seemed threatening. In fact, she was being downright chivalrous.
Making up her mind, Yui reached out to take her hand and as soon as they touched, was filled with an overwhelming sense of familiarity. Once Yui stepped out, she was surprised to find that the stone underfoot was wet, as if the entire temple had been flooded with rain water.
There was the light pitter-patter of raindrops from above, but Yui didn’t feel a single one hit her head. Glancing up, she realized that the girl was holding up an umbrella over her.
Still with one hand supporting hers and the other holding the umbrella, the girl then began to guide her forward. Yui couldn’t see much through the veil on her head, but through the gauzy fabric she could just barely make out that the girl was wearing a deep blue hooded cloak that hid her face.
The entire experience was just so surreal. Who exactly was this girl? And why did it feel like she knew her?
Eventually, they reached the doors of the temple. Yui had been about to give her thanks, but at that moment came the tolling of bells to signal the arrival of backup from heaven and when she turned around, the girl was already gone.