(Yamame)

"My sister came home."

Satori said that after I had finished eating. I was stuffed full-I had never eaten so much before in my life-and her words snapped me out of the daze I was in. The flavor of the meal still lingered in my mouth, but that wasn't enough to lessen the sour feelings I had upon hearing that.

"She did?"

Satori nodded. Her face didn't show any surge of emotion upon saying the news, and she continued on.

"The business I had to attend to was to talk with her at the front door. I told her that you were here… and she said she would stay inside her room without another word from me."

Satori's expression still didn't change, which made me wonder whether she cared about her own sister. For a slight moment, I saw a twitch out of the corner of her mouth, and I frowned. Of course I thought about that before considering why she was acting this way, since it was the first conclusion to come to mind.

"I'm… I don't want to make you feel bad, since she has nothing to do with what I offered you. However, I felt you had a right to know she was here." Satori explained as calmly as possible. It was clear what I had immediately thought made her upset.

"I'm sorry." Satori was being really kind. She could have lashed out at me for what I had thought, but she held back because she was being considerate. I haven't met someone willing to be so nice to me, and I truly didn't want to upset her like I did.

"No, it's fine. Really. Nobody can help what they think, and thinking something doesn't make one disagreeable. It's how they act upon those thoughts. You haven't done anything wrong." Satori gave me a small smile and it made my chest hurt. I still felt guilty, even though what she said was reassuring. "Let's move on. The bath should be warmed up, unless you'd like to sit around for a little while beforehand?"

All of the food I ate made me want to stay still. Satori nodded without me saying anything, of course, since it was obvious what my decision was from reading my thoughts. But now there was an uncomfortable silence upon the room. Even if she knew what I wanted to say, I figured talking was better than nothing.

"So… where are your pets? Orin and Okuu, right?" I looked around and we were the only ones there. The aforementioned pets of the manor were nowhere to be seen, even during dinner.

"They eat at different times from me."

"Huh? But they're your pets, aren't they?" It's strange for them to avoid their owner.

"Oh, I don't mean we don't interact at all. We sometimes sit by the fireplace in the living room and snuggle up underneath some blankets."

"O-oh." It sounds personal, but I guess it's fine to talk about?

"Is it?" Satori seemed worried that she said something strange.

"Well, I haven't talked with anyone properly for a long time."

"Neither have I…"

"Eh? But don't you have your sister?" I asked that without thinking about how I felt towards her.

"Ah. She… It was difficult to speak with her for a very, very long time." Satori looked down at the table, seemingly contemplating something. "...Would you like to hear why?"

Hearing Satori talk about her sister, huh. I fiddled with my spider legs under my dress much one would with their fingers, thinking about it. Based on the conversation I had with her, I could come up with a reason why she was difficult to talk to, but I doubted she acted that way towards her own sister. Curiosity winning out, I nodded and replied, "Yes".

"...Have you ever heard of what happens to an earth yōkai that seals away their third eye?" Satori asked that question and I couldn't say that I had. "My sister had grown tired of the treatment of the other yōkai, so she decided to seal away her third eye, thus removing her ability to read the minds of others. Of course, she's no longer like that now, but for some hundreds of years* she had her eye sealed. This did indeed get rid of her ability to read other people's minds, but… it came at a cost." Satori closed her eyes and let a sigh out. "Her existence became a question. Nobody except for me and the animals remembered her, and even then our memories of her started to become foggy. With sealing her powers away, she lost the ability to think consciously, or even be registered consciously by anyone, for that matter. For those hundreds of years… I could only speak with her on the whims of her subconscious mind when she spoke to me. That's why… it was so difficult to talk to her, you see."

Opening her eyes, Satori looked up at me with a troubled smile. "I may have rambled a bit. Sorry."

"...No, that's okay." I blinked at her, trying to register the entire story. It was a little hard to take in all at once, since I never would have guessed that such a thing had happened. There was a brief consideration in my mind that it was so unbelievable that it could have been a lie, but that thought was quickly pushed aside, as I didn't think Satori was lying to me.

Besides that, I never understood why Koishi had yelled at me, or what she meant from her words, but after hearing the explanation from Satori some of what Koishi yelled at me made sense. It wouldn't make me forgive her, but I was glad that I finally knew what all of that was about.

Satori quickly changed the conversation to stories about what her pets and the types of trouble they got into. When she started mentioning how a red-white shrine maiden came to find out that Orin was the cause behind the geysers, I smiled bitterly upon realizing who I had to thank for getting beaten up that particular day. Honestly, the residents of this manor cause me nothing but trouble.

"...And she has since said that she could take over the world easily, but that would be too boring." Satori gave a tired, yet amused smile as she finished her recount of the tale.

"That's a lame excuse." I said with a laugh.

"Hm, what else? I have a lot of tales to tell, since I have a great deal of pets…" Satori trailed off and her eyes widened. It was only a brief moment before she closed them and shook her head. "Ah, my apologies. That was a bad joke just now… Would you care to get in the bath before it gets cold?"

Oh that's right, the bath! How long has it been since I finished eating? "Yes, please." I had gotten so swept up in Satori's stories that I completely lost track of time.

"...You go down this hall to the left, then go straight down the following hall until you reach the big, double doors." Satori gave me directions to go there. I wanted her to guide me, but then I realized that might have been a little selfish of me. I was getting a little too used to the nice treatment, a little too quickly. Remember, you're only here for the bath and then you're gone.

Thinking that, I thanked her and left her alone. ...Maybe I could stop by and thank her again before leaving though.

Opening the doors led into the change room, a small, wide open space with a bench and hand woven baskets on the side. I quickly threw my dress off to the side, perhaps a little too quickly, and stretched out my spider legs. The feeling of discomfort I had the last time I was naked wasn't there this time, but I just assumed it was because I was excited.

There was a wall partition blocking off the bath and I walked around it to see a huge, warm, room. There were statues of some type of creature pouring water from their mouths and a complex design on the tiled floor. The closest thing to fancy I had known was my dress, but this bath was shattering my perception of that word. I gulped dryly and was about to step foot in the bath when I noticed something.

In a out of place nook on the edge of the bath, there was someone lying there already. With her third-eye elevated away from the bath, I already knew who it was: Koishi.

I wasn't happy to see her face, especially since Satori had told me Koishi locked herself in her room. Why was she even in the bath, then? Maybe she decided to take one, not realizing I was offered one as well? I was just about to leave the bath, irritated, but I really wanted to try the bath… and upon closer inspection, it looks like Koishi is sleeping?

I cautiously tested the water with my human legs. Then, I put the tip of one of my spider legs in there as well. The water was warm, but not very hot to my human legs. To my spider legs, it was just barely within the threshold of being comfortable enough to go into. I guess it was lucky I had lost track of time, because getting into any hotter water than this might have been a bad idea.

I sighed in appreciation as I fully submerged my lower body into the bath, and waded quietly over to Koishi. Like I had originally thought, it appeared as though she was indeed sleeping. As for the out of place nook, it was an elevated part of the bath that appeared to let Koishi keep her ankles and head above water. Looking at the third eye, floating lazily above her, I guess it was designed that way so she could keep it dry. It made sense, since this was a manor where earth yōkai* lived.

That's when I realized I was staring at Koishi's naked body. Her pale skin was unblemished, and that made her small nipples darker color stick out more. Her body was very slender and soft-looking, so much so that I felt like even gently poking her with my sharp spider legs would break the skin. Her silver hair also added to the image of something precious and beautiful.

Koishi was very pretty, and that made my frown grow as I looked at myself. I… oh no, if she woke up and saw me like this- I need to get out, now!

I hurriedly moved as far away from Koishi as possible, not caring that I couldn't enjoy the bath longer. But then I heard a voice from behind me, and realized it was too late.

"Nee-san, is that you?"

(Koishi)

Nee-san had a plan for me to apologize to Yamame. Based on what she was hearing from her mind, it seemed as though she was looking forward to trying out our bath, and if I just so happened to be in there as well, nee-san thought that Yamame would take the bath anyways. When I questioned whether this would actually work (without the use of my power) nee-san then suggested that I should simply pretend that I was sleeping. After all, who would get angry at a sleeping person if they are doing nothing to you? Then, when I can tell the time is right by reading her thoughts, I "wake up" to talk and apologize to Yamame.

I didn't have any better plans outside of using my power, so I agreed. I also thought that nee-san was quite devious to come up with the plan, to which she gave me a light bop on the head as she tried to hide her blush. Ahh, nee-san, you're so cute~ But I was seriously grateful for her help.

Everything was going according to plan: Yamame saw me, but wanted to take the bath anyways. Then, she started observing my body… which threw me off guard, but I needed to pretend to be asleep. After that, however, she panicked and had every intention of leaving.

What?! This wasn't how it was supposed to happen! Why are you leaving so suddenly? Either way, I need to speak up now, but not in a way that's suspicious!

"Nee-san, is that you?" I said that, trying not to be hasty with my words, but I still felt anxious as I opened my eyes and got up, perhaps a little too quickly. A frozen Yamame looked back at me over her shoulder, her eyes wide with terror, but I didn't understand at all. Even her mind had stopped working; not a single thought could be heard, but after a quick look at her subconscious, I finally understood why she didn't want to be seen.

"...Yamame?" I spoke as I would have, even if I hadn't known what was freaking her out. There wasn't any need to say anything different. Yamame didn't respond, and I could see the fear in her expression-it was strange since she had shown me quite the threatening gaze last time I had saw her-and it was obvious she had no intention of answering me. She was also ready to fly out at a moment's notice, so I needed to give her a reason to stay.

"Sorry… should I leave?"

Her eyes widened even further and with her mouth agape, she audibly said 'huh?'. With that reaction, I felt like this plan to apologize would work, more so than I had originally thought.

"I know you don't want to see me. I'm sorry, I didn't know you would come in here. I'll leave now." I stood up and flew towards the exit, to Yamame's growing shock. It was as I flew near her that she grabbed onto my foot, just below where my third-eye connected.

"W-wait!" Yamame's voice cracked, her brown eyes looking at me with confusion as I looked back. I tried to give a surprised expression of my own. Yamame's mouth opened, then closed as though she decided against saying something, but she still spoke. "Don't you… see anything odd?"

I looked around the room, then back at Yamame and gave her the most honest statement I had given her so far. "No… am I supposed to?"

Yamame's mouth turned into a smile, but from the way she was thinking, it appeared as though she hadn't noticed, and was trying her hardest not to smile. It was little cute. "I-if you don't see anything wrong… then you can stay."

I almost wanted to say something in regards to what was bothering her, but I kept quiet out of fear of ruining what little chance I had of apologizing. "Okay… I'm going to go lay back down over there, if that's alright."

"S-sure."

"...Can you let go of my foot first?"

"Huh? O-oh, right!" Yamame hastily withdrew her hand and put it behind her back. While she did, her face was bright red, and her smile was strained, still thinking that she was trying her hardest to hide her happiness, but failing miserably. It really was cute.

I flew back to my spot, content that I was on much better ground with Yamame than I was before, and sank back into the groove. I still needed to apologize, but I felt like going into it right away after that would have been too quickly. Instead I looked back at Yamame, whose eyes met mine briefly, before turning away.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"...No. There's nothing wrong, really." Yamame had calmed down, but she still had that smile, even if it was smaller than before.

She must not have been used to controlling her feelings of happiness. Maybe because… she rarely felt that way? ...I shouldn't think about that right now, however.

I let myself enjoy the warm water as I listened in on Yamame's thoughts. She was wondering why I wasn't disgusted with how she looked, but to me, I had expected her to look that way since she was a Tsuchigumo. Without her dress on, it was painfully obvious Yamame was anything but human; her spider legs and body merged into her human body at her waist, lifting up her human body easily, and the contrast was startling. Her beauty as a human was exceptional, but if any normal person saw her like this, they would be horrified and call her a monster.

Based on how she was acting, it appeared she was expecting me to be afraid of her, a fellow yōkai. I wondered if the other yōkai treated her roughly not just because of her powers, but her looks as well? A yōkai that was more of a monster to people that other yōkai… this isn't to mention how the other yōkai treated her on top of that. It upset me greatly, but I tried not to think about it, since that's part of the reason I irrationally yelled at her to begin with.

I hadn't even felt off about seeing her that way though. I mean… I had seen her spider legs before, and I knew what type of yōkai she was. If anything, I was more disgusted with the yōkai in old hell for discriminating against her because of it, but, like I said, I'm trying to ignore them for now.

After a while of silence, Yamame was the one who broke it, surprisingly.

"U-um… I'm sorry for threatening you earlier." She said.

"...You shouldn't apologize for that. If anything, I'm the one who needs to apologize. I said some horrible things-" The apology just left my lips without me thinking. I was trying not to be impulsive, but I got swept up the moment she tried apologizing to me.

"No, I mean… Yeah, it was awful and I didn't understand…" Yamame wanted to say that she understood me better after hearing me from nee-san. But then she shook her head. "...No, you're right. So apologize to me then." The sudden change in what she was saying stemmed from a thought she had earlier, about how even though she understood me better, it still didn't excuse my actions.

I guess nee-san had something to do with that. Either way, I got up and out of the bath, and kneeled onto the hard tiles, bowing my head.

"Yamame, I'm really, truly sorry for what I did! I…" I was about to make excuses, but I bit my lip. "I'm sorry I made you go through that. It was all my fault, and I will never do anything like that again. Can you please find it in your heart to forgive me?" I didn't look up once as I said all this, nor did I look into her mind. If I did, I would have been too tempted to change it so that she would forgive me had she chosen not to. But it wouldn't have mattered if Yamame herself didn't forgive me on her own.

"...If I said no?"

"Then I would do anything you want to make it up to you!" I can't help but say whatever's on my mind, so I said something impulsively again. But I meant it.

I waited for Yamame to say something again for a good minute. I wondered if I had done something wrong during my apology, then she finally spoke.

"Then I don't forgive you-"

I inhaled sharply as my heart sank-

"-unless you do a favor for me."

-and exhaled in relief as it rose.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, raising my head.

Yamame was fiddling with her hair, which hadn't gotten that damp, and looked at me like she was deep in thought.

"...I don't want to walk back out through Old Hell alone."

I gave a smile when I came to the conclusion that she wanted me to go with her back to her home, but then that smile was replaced with shock at what she said next.

"So… If your sister's okay with it, can you maybe let me stay here for a little while?"

(Satori)

Ah, I slipped up. It didn't seem Yamame noticed anything, however. I was glad, because I didn't want to even hint at that yet.

...I'm a horrible person. I said I wanted Yamame over to thank her, but the truth is different. Koishi has changed drastically from who she once was, even before she lost her conscious thought, and had… some strange thoughts. Among them were dreams of various individuals in… vulnerable positions, including herself.

At first, I thought of them as simply that, dreams. But then that blond witch found her way here and made me help her with a prank… although I knew better from reading her thoughts. ...But the most important thing about her memories is that she almost always focused on how she, herself, felt.

Koishi, my darling little, self-centered sister. I actually despised you for wanting to leave. I've had dreams… nightmares of that day, where you promise you'll be back, and then I never see you ever again. And when I finally decide to chase after you a year later, I find you in a field of sunflowers… with your third-eye closed again.

It's scary. Not just because of how that thought makes me feel, but because that dream feels real… way too real. That's why I don't want to let you go again. That's why I helped the witch, because knowing where you were, even if I'm not there, makes me feel better. Am… I horrible for thinking and acting this way? Can you forgive me for being selfish, like I forgive you for being selfish?

...But it's not just your forgiveness I need. I'll also need Yamame's forgiveness as well. The truth is that I'm using her simply to mend your broken memories and heart. Despite how she says she hates you, I've been around her all day and I've heard her thoughts and I know: she cares. No matter how she tries to deny it, she's reaching out for contact with others.

And I've also heard your thoughts, Koishi. You don't remember… no, you've chosen to forget what happened to all of our pets, haven't you? That's why you can't help but want to help others, because you can't forgive yourself for what happened to them.

…

All of these thoughts are swirling around, and a stinging pain sears through my eyes as tears drop down. At some point, Orin had curled up on my lap in cat form, sensing my sadness, and I gratefully stroked her head.

I told Koishi I was going to help her help Yamame.

But the truth was, I was manipulating the unwitting Yamame into helping my sister.

Despite how horrible it was, I called out silently, irresponsibly, to someone other than myself, because I was never able to help Koishi when she needed me the most. I was afraid of failing her again, so I cowardly chose to have a stranger do it.

"...Please…"

Notes

* = Koishi and Satori are actually a type of yōkai called "Satori". It was an error of mine that I kept referring to them as earth yōkai, but it would feel strange to call Satori a "Satori" yōkai, so in the end I will still call them earth yōkai.