"Keiki protected me from the kochou. Keiki is my friend."
"Really? Is he? And since coming here, exactly how has he helped you? It was that one time only, no?"
Youko stared long and hard at the monkey. How could it know about what had happened before she came to this world? The tone of his voice gave her the creeps.
"What do you mean, that one time?"
"Over yonder, I mean. When you were attacked by the kochou, I mean."
"How could you know anything about what happened there?"
The monkey screeched, "Oh, I know everything about you, little girl. I know how much you distrusted Keiki. How hard you tried to get away from him. You don't want to believe it, how much he totally used you."
Youko averted her gaze and stared at the dark road. "That's not … it's not true."
"Then why hasn't he come to help you?"
"Something must have happened."
"What possibly could have happened? Did he not say he was going to protect you, little girl? Let us think this thing through. It was a trap, right? Do you get it now?"
"Other than at the school, I can't be sure that I really saw him those other two times. It couldn't have been him!"
"Have you been seeing a lot of golden-haired chaps around these parts?"
I don't want to listen to this.
"And wasn't your Jouyuu as well convinced it was Keiki as well?"
How could he know about Jouyu? As she thought about this, staring off into the distance, the monkey's mocking eyes suddenly collided with hers.
"I know everything. Just like I told you."
Taiho. That voice was suddenly alive in her memory. She shook her head. She would never forget the surprise contained in that one word
"No. That's not right. Keiki is not my enemy."
"Are you certain? Really certain? Yes, but that would be nice."
"Shut up!"
The monkey turned its eyes towards the heavens, laughed. He whispered, "Want to know what I think?"
"I don't want to hear it."
"It was Keiki who sent those youma to attack you."
Youko couldn't move. The monkey looked at her blank, wide-eyed stare and leered at her.
She said, "No way."
The monkey roared with mirth, peals of laughter that went on and on like the ravings of a madman.
"There's no way!"
"Are you so sure about that?"
"He'd have no reason to do anything like that!"
"No reason?" the monkey inquired, with a crooked smile.
"Why would Keiki do something like that? It was Keiki who saved me from the Kochou, wasn't it? He gave me this sword, and put Jouyuu inside me. It's only thanks to him that I'm still alive."
The monkey giggled gleefully.
"If he wanted to kill me, he could have done it right then and there."
"He had you attacked on purpose, so he could save you and be your pal. Did you ever think of that?"
Youko bit her lip. "Yes, but now that I've got Jouyuu, it won't be so easy. If he wanted to kill me now, he'd have to exorcize Jouyuu out of me first."
"But maybe his goal isn't to kill you."
"Then what?"
"Hmm, I wonder. Well, you'd better figure it out eventually. They are really going to come after you after this."
Youko scowled at the bobbing, chortling head and quickened her pace. "You can't go home." The monkey's voice followed after her. "Not at all, little girl. You're going to die here, my dear."
"No way."
"But there's always a way, isn't there? If it hurts so much, it could all be over in an instant."
"Shut up!" Youko shouted.
Her words were swallowed up in the darkness.
Part IV
4-1
Youko continued on her aimless trek for two more days, with only the blue monkey as her companion. She had no other goal but to get as far away from Hairou and Kasai as possible.
At every city the gates were closely watched by the guards and travelers were carefully inspected. Perhaps it had gotten out that a runaway kaikyaku from Hairou had shown up in Kasai. At the smaller towns, the small number of people coming and going meant that it was impossible to mingle in with the crowds and get past the guards.
She had no choice but to keep to the highway and camp in the fields at night. On the third day, she arrived at a city even larger than Kasai, surrounded by a high, fortified wall studded with parapets. "Takkyuu Castle," it said above the gate. This, then, was the district capital.
Shops lined the thoroughfare all the way up to the gates of the city. At other cities, the fields and farms spread out from the shadow of the walls. Here at Takkyuu peddlers had set up a market outside the city walls and the fields were covered with tents. Buyers and sellers jammed the roads that encircled the city.
Inside the crude tents there was something for everybody. Pushing her way through the throngs in front of the gate, Youko spied a tent with piles of clothing stacked up inside. It occurred to her that it might be a good idea to buy some used boy's clothes. Traveling alone as a young woman was only inviting trouble. With Jouyuu's help it was easy enough to get out of trouble, but better not to get caught up in it in the first place.
The outfit Youko purchased was made of a thick material that resembled canvas. It consisted of a sleeveless, knee-length tunic and a pair of short trousers. It was the kind of clothing she'd seen farmers wearing, as well as poor people and refugees from Kei, including women.
She snuck away for a moment and changed clothes out of view of the street. In only half a month she'd completely shed all the roundness in her body, so much so that the fit of men's clothing wasn't half bad.
Youko had mixed emotions seeing her lean, fat-free body. Her arms and legs had gone through a hard, grueling workout. Her scrawniness only exaggerated the definition of her muscles. At home in her old world, she approached the bathroom scales with great trepidation. The diet she could never stay on she had now taken to with a vengeance. It was really quite funny.
She suddenly thought of blue, a deep navy blue, a bright kind of indigo. The color of jeans. She'd always wanted a pair of jeans.
When she was in elementary school, there was an athletic field day she got to participate in. The boys and girls were split into two teams and competed against each other. Because you couldn't really move around in a dress, she talked her mother into buying her some jeans. But when her father saw them he was livid.
Your father doesn't think girls should wear clothing like that.
But everybody wears them!
Your father doesn't like it. He thinks it's indecent for girls to dress up like boys, and talk like boys. He won't stand for it.
But there'll be races. I'll lose if I have to wear a skirt!
Losing to boys is nothing to be ashamed of.
But . . .
When Youko wanted to argue further, her mother took the upper hand. She bowed deeply. I'm sorry, Youko, but you have to apologize to your father.
So she did, and the jeans were returned to the store.
This stinks.
Have patience, Youko.
But why did I have to apologize to father? I didn't do anything wrong!
You'll understand when you get married. It's best this way … .
Remembering it now, Youko burst out laughing. If her father could see her now, to see the look on his face! Wearing boy's clothing, carrying a sword, camping out in the fields when an inn wasn't available. She could just imagine his face red with apoplectic rage.
That's the kind of person he is, my father. A girl should be charming and chaste. That's what mattered most. And humble and reserved and obedient to a fault. A girl didn't need to be smart or strong. She'd believed it, too, for a long time.