Chapter Text
In the quiet Harumaki village, there lived a small family of seven, named Kanroji family. Mitsuri, the eldest daughter, was a kind-hearted and hardworking person. She helped her parents working on a bakery every day, alongside her younger siblings.
One day, she heard some kids around her neighborhood chattering.
"Hey, did you know the news?"
"Nope, what is it, lil' bro?"
"Yesterday, me and my dad saw something weird. A giant spider was seen stealing some sheep, apparently it's from Fujiwara farm!"
"A giant spider? You can't be serious."
"I saw them with my own eyes. Whenever it appears, theres a large amount of light purple mist around it. It looks very scary!"
"Ok, and?"
"And it suddenly disappears in a blink of an eye after eating those animals!"
"Damn, that's crazy."
Mitsuri heard these rumors all the time and she initially brushed it aside. She thought the giant spider the people were talking about is just a typical divine punishment. The next day, while she was busy selling some chocolate-filled bread to the villagers, she heard the same rumors again, albeit different...
"So, what's the giant spider doing now?"
"Nah dude, I don't exactly remember. But the last time I heard about it is that it stole some cattles from the Minamoto farm!"
"Again? Damn, that runt should learn some manners."
"Yeah, I'm afraid due to its size, it can devour a human."
"Really? I hope you're joking."
"I mean, it looked ferocious, right? Other people told me that it can shapeshift into a young lady. Don't be fooled by that form of hers— she's still a menace."
Burning with curiosity, Mitsuri wanted to see what did the giant spider look like. She wondered whether it was real, or just a telltale myth to scare people off. Despite all this, she's still working hard to help her family.
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It was almost nighttime. While Mitsuri was walking home after selling some pastries, she felt something ominous at the way home.
Mitsuri then saw the unusual shadow of the giant spider on a field not far from her residence. From her brief deduction, it looked like a wolf spider, with a strange violin marking on its back. She was petrified with fright.
The spider then shapeshifted in an instant. The shadow looked like a young lady around her age, but with four pairs of spider legs appearing from her back. She was wearing a purple kimono with a multicolored obi that was tied in front, and donned a butterfly hairclip. The obi also has butterfly wing patterns. Her hair was black with purple tips, and was done in a flat, yakai-maki bun. Last but not least, Mitsuri noticed that her enticing, purple eyes glowed for a split second. She realized that the giant spider was real, and not a dream.
She noticed a lot of purple-colored mist appearing around the lady, then started to hold her breath not to inhale her scent. She knew the fact that some spider species use pheromones to communicate. However, the scent of the spider lady made her really overwhelmed. It smelled like a mix between wisteria and lavender.
After a couple of minutes, Mitsuri couldn't take it anymore. She felt a painful sensation on her chest and she passed out. Her scent was too much for her. She thought her life will end here anytime soon.
But, something unexpected happened.
The spider lady then approached her with a worried expression. She regretted that she was unable to control her pheromones earlier. When she took a closer look at her face, she instantly blushed and wanted to protect her instead of killing her. She held her wrist, feeling the weak pulses of her heart.
"This lady... she is too beautiful for me," she thought. "I don't want to kill her, she's too precious. In fact... I have this heartwarming feeling when I'm with her..."
She instantly carried Mitsuri's unconscious body and vanished in a blink of an eye, leaving a thick layer of smoke.
"I'm terribly sorry for this, young lady, but you need to be under my care for now. I'm so, so sorry..."
They went to the spider lady's cave, located right in a dense forest, a bit far from Mitsuri's village.