Man and Demon
1
IT WAS A NIGHT with a cool breeze near the end of spring. Scattered petals danced through the air, and fresh buds adorned the sides of the road with verdant green. The maiden leaves of early-summer cherry blossom trees, petals freshly strewn, displayed a divine beauty Mother Nature rarely brought to light. A night like this—where the fresh foliage had only just supplanted the light pink and the sky hung just a little heavier—felt ever-so slightly of summer, save for the wind that dashed through the leaves with spring’s residual chill.
The branches swayed, scents wafted clear, and a curtain of stars presented themselves above. By all means, it should have been a pleasant night. But the chill of the wind dashed it all. The night felt of metal, cold and stiff to the touch.
On this leaden night, a young man waited alone. He leaned against a cherry blossom tree, his fierce glare trained on the twilight ahead. Nearby, along the road, stood a solitary milestone marking the distance to Edo.
The young man’s name was Jinta. Despite being only eighteen years of age, he sported an impressive height at six shaku1 a full head taller than the average grown man. The body under his pale blue-green kimono robe was well tempered, and a two-shaku, six-sun2 length sword hung at his waist in an iron scabbard, sharp as the air he exuded.
“Excuse me,” a voice called from the road.
Jinta glanced sideways and saw a young woman standing nearby.
“Might you know the way to Kadono?” she asked with a carefree smile. Her smile was bewitching, uncannily so for someone of her apparent age.
“I do. That happens to be the village I’m from,” Jinta replied in an emotionless voice, cold and stiff like lead.
The woman fluttered her eyes with relief. “Oh, I had hoped so. Would you be willing to show me the way?”
“That depends. What business do you have there?” he asked, stepping forth. Slowly enough that she wouldn’t notice, he braced his center of gravity. His left hand already gripped the object at his waist.
“I have an older sister who married and moved to Kadono. I was hoping to visit her.”
“…I see.” He stepped swiftly forward and to the right, closing the distance between him and the woman. Both his feet dug into the earth, and he showed no hesitation as he drew from his scabbard and sliced upwards and across the woman’s body in one fluid motion.
“Gagh…?” Fresh blood and air spat from her mouth. A naked blade had cut her body.
To a bystander, this might have appeared to be a random act of violence, but there was more to it than that. In an unfazed, leaden voice, Jinta spat, “Your human guise was almost perfect. But your eyes remain red…demon.”
There existed a number of ways to distinguish humans from demonkind, but the simplest was through the color of their eyes. Demon eyes were almost always red. Powerful demons could conceal their demon eyes when disguised as humans, but such a feat was remarkably difficult for the weaker ones.
The woman’s red eyes were proof she was not of humankind but a spirit.
“Y-you bastard!” Her face lost all trace of humanity as her eyes glared at Jinta, full of hatred. Her body swelled, and her muscles bulged abnormally. Her skin turned a pale blue. She was trying to revert to her demon form—but it was too late.
Jinta kicked off the earth with his left leg and swung down on her neck for the finishing blow. This time, the demon didn’t even have time to groan. It fell dead to the ground, halfway between its human and grotesque demon form. A white vapor rose from the corpse, more steam than smoke, as the body faded away like melting ice. Jinta watched the demon go, feeling nothing. He flicked the blood off his sword and slowly slid it back into its scabbard.
As the sword guard hit his scabbard with a dull clink, the demon corpse vanished completely. Thinking nothing further of it, Jinta began to walk along the road. He still had some distance to cover before reaching Kadono.
It was year eleven of the Tenpo Era (1840 AD), a period of repeated floods and frozen crops. Great famines occurred in the Mutsu and Dewa provinces, and many people lost their lives before conditions improved. The people of the Rising Sun suffered greatly, and many had their spirits broken. And when spirits broke, demons had free reign to run rampant. Occasionally, a demon would find its way into human settlements and deceive them for sport.