A Fateful Encounter in Mid-Summer Part 1

"Haaaaaah~!" Ume sighed as her stomach growled for the nth since sunrise.

The journey from the last village was five days ago and she'd already burned through her rations on the second day. Throughout the rest of the journey, Ume snacked on some wild berries and a rabbit that she caught. By day five, from morning to sunset, her only meal was some jerky that she got from trading a hastily made painting with a passing merchant.

However, it did next to nothing to satiate her gluttonous stomach. Ume truly hoped that she was close to another village because she was beginning to wonder how edible the tree bark was.

Nighttime had descended. The sounds of numerous cicadas chirped in harmony with the whistling of the wind and the shuffling of the leaves.

It was a very relaxing mood.

Until her stomach decided to break the harmony again.

"Haaaaaah~!" She pouted in frustration wondering who'd she offended to be stuck in her misfortunate situation. 'Maybe it was that nosy old hag that I spilled ink on because she made me drop my onigiri.'

"AAAaaaaaHHhhh!" Two loud, young-sounding wails erupted, pulling her out of her petty daze.

"Hmm?" Ume looked over her left shoulder with a newfound curiosity, the sounds of the screams were coming from the forest off the dirt path that Ume was walking on.

Her grip on her giant calligraphy brush tightened and she excitedly dashed with inhumane speed towards the sound like a child being called for dinner.

"Hihihi~! My, my. What do we have here~?" A tall, anorexic figure with an eerily elongated neck and sharp scythes jutting out of his forearms peered down at two crying boys, both no older than eleven, as he — it — jeered with bloodshot eyes and fanged teeth. "Didn't your mommies tell you not to play outside so late~?" The demon in the form of a skeleton-like old man let out another cackle.

One of the boys who had shaggy brown hair pulled into a ponytail shivered in fear as he peered up at the malevolent figure of the demon that was towering over them.

He and Kyou had gone a bit further away from the village to catch some freshwater fish from the nearby stream. Since it was the middle of summer, with longer days and shorter nights, they'd figure they could stay to catch more fish and head home before the sun would set.

However, he sprained his ankle when he slipped on a rock and their trip home got delayed. Then the sun had set and they were met with a horrible misfortune.

Their backs were up against a cleanly chopped off tree. His friend, Kyou, fainted when the monster swung its long arms and instantly turned the tree into a stump. His friend was unconscious and he had a sprained ankle. They were too far from the village to yell out for someone to help them, but even if someone did hear his pleas, what could they do against this monster? This demon?

"Oh~" The demon narrowed his eyes, only furthering his sickening expression. "Now that's not a nice expression when trying to help out an old man. Now be a good kid and let this old man enjoy his meal."

"No…" The boy tried to move back but all that was behind his was a decapitated tree. "H-help!"

"Okay~"

A loud rustling of leaves caught the demon's attention as its head darted upwards to see a silhouette of a girl garbed in a kimono gripping a giant brush in an overhead swing against the illuminating moon.

She swung her brush that glowed in a vibrant blue ink downwards matching her own descent.

SPLASH

An explosion of an art-like waterfall came to life as it crashed down at the demon.

"Gah!" The swift demon leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the full brunt of the crashing waterfall that crushed an arm and leg. "You—! A Blood Demon Art?! That means you're also a demon. Have you come to steal my prey?"

Ume landed with ease as she ignored the demons bewilderment in favor of looking at the two kids that she just saved.

The boy's hopeful expression was dashed when he heard the demon's proclamation as he peaked at his savior(?) with a face mixed with fear and confusion.

'She doesn't look like a demon.' He thought.

The girl in front of him looked to be a teenager with very long, straight ink-black hair with bangs parted in the middle and matching ink-black eyes. She wore a plum-colored kimono decorated with flowing white rivers, golden snowflakes, and red and pale pink plum blossoms dancing at the hem. The long sleeves were tied back with a white tasuki[1]. Her obi was black with cords wrapping around her waist hanging three wooden canisters, two scrolls, and a pouch on her hips.

Rather than a demon, she looked more like a well off miss from a wealthy family than a man-eating demon. However, the strangest thing about her was her two possessions: the giant brush that was as a head taller than her and the large scroll strapped across her back.

"Yoshi~ yoshi~"

"Eh?" Snapping out of his thoughts, he felt his head being patted.

Ume cheerfully smiled down at the boy, "Pain, pain go away~ Now let this onee-san get rid of this rude demon."

For a moment, the boy thought he saw fangs when she smiled.

She straightened up and pulled the huge scroll over her head, dropping it on the grassy ground. She playfully twirled her black-laquered brush in her hand as she took a few steps closer to the furiously growling demon.

"You're going to regret interfering with my meal." The demon's obliterated limbs regrew during the short time she spent petting the boy.

It immediately dashed at her like a speeding bullet.

Ume sidestepped the incoming assault but could feel the air being cut following the demon's passing body and noticed that some strands of hair fell to the ground.

However, her ever-present carefree smile never faded.

The demon quickly followed his attack by swinging his sickle-attached arms creating wind blades that flew towards her.

Ume gripped the handle of the brush with both hands as she swung diagonally upwards. Just like with the waterfall from earlier, the tip of the brush turned a verdant green and out came a powerful gust of wind full of newborn leaves.

The demon's wind blades collided with her gale. Their momentum changed courses and ended up shredding the tops of the trees. The verdant leaves that she produced also got sliced as they faded out of existence as black motes.

"What a lucky day to catch a demon with a Blood Demon Art." Ume cheered in excitement.

"Gaah!" The demon did not share her joyousness and sent more wind blades at her as it dashed towards her hoping to personally rip her to shreds.

Ume ducked and dodged the near-invisible blades this time and sent another upwards diagonal slash releasing a crescent blade of water. The demon took the full brunt of the attack as it continued to shorten the distance between them. She quickly changed her stance to an overhead slash, bringing down a strong torrent of art-like water.

"Hya—Gu—!" The demon tried to create a wind sickle to cut apart her attack but was overpowered by the rushing pounding of water. Its body caved under the pressure as its body was rapidly being disintegrated into the water.

The bright blue of the waves turned red with blood. Ume uncapped one of her dangling canisters. The red rushing waters spiraled into the canister filling it up with red blood before being capped.

And just like that, it was over.

Ume walked over to the boy who witnessed the events that had only lasted up to a minute.

She puffed out a laughter seeing the boy's goldfish-like expression. "You'll catch flies if you keep hanging your mouth open like that, you know." She teased as she crouched down to his level.

"U-um," Catching his bearings the boy switched from being stunned to a bit fearful. The demon did say that she was also another demon, right? "Y-you're a demon too right? What a-are you going to do with us?" He nervously asked, subtly holding his friend a bit closer.

"Hmm~?" She hummed in bemusement at his question. "I guess you can call me that. But don't worry, I don't eat humans~ Unless you're ochazuke[2], oden[3], sukiyaki[4], gyoza[5], takoyaki[6]…"

GROWL

As she was listing off more food, salivating more with each dish, her stomach reminded just how hungry she was.

"Hey, you two are from a village nearby right?"

A slow nod.

For some reason, he suddenly didn't feel as intimidated. Maybe it was because of her daydreaming face as she began to drool or maybe it was because she gave off the impression of an airhead. Probably both.

"Alright, let's go!"

She strapped on her oversized scroll onto her back and unlatched one of her hanging scrolls. She unfurled it revealing a clean parchment before taking out a regular brush from her pouch. Cradling the scroll with one arm, Ume quickly drew a big dog with the brush dipped in black ink that appeared out of nowhere.

The black dog began moving before jumping out of the scroll and stood by waiting for her commands.

"W-wait!" The boy struggled when she suddenly picked them up. "O-our basket!"

"Hmm?" Ume dropped the flailing kid on the back of the ink wolf as she looked around before focusing on the tipped over basket full of spilled fish a few meters away from them. "Do you need this too?"

"Yes," the boy answered, "Our village is holding a festival in two days. Kyou and I were out to catch some fish for my parent's food stall."

"Eh? A festival?" Ume sparked in excitement. "Lucky~ Lucky~ Let's hurry back then. I'm sure that your friend here would like to wake in a nice bed and not a cold forest, yes?"

"Okay." He nodded.

"The name's Sumitomo Ume. What's yours kid?" She asked as she slung the woven bamboo basket over her shoulder.

"I'm Tsukuda Riku." Riku glanced at his unconscious friend, "He's Tachibana Kyou. Are you sure you can carry all that?" He warily eyed all the weight.

She had her giant scroll hanging on her back along with the basket of fish on her shoulder, Kyou on her other shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and her other hand holding the tall brush.

"Don't worry a thing." She'd reassure, "This onee-san is really strong. See?" She began walking without a sign of trouble, beckoning his steed to follow.

Riku then turned his attention onto the dog that he was riding. The fur looked like it was painted from brush strokes like what he had seen. It felt slightly grainy, but the fur was surprisingly soft. He could even feel its muscles moving in pace with their walking. He brushed his hands through the fur in fascination, it almost felt real if not for the lack of body heat.

"So the way to the village is this way, right?"

"Ah, yes! It's about ten minutes from here. I think my mom is still waiting for us since we didn't come home for dinner." Riku added to his worries.

"Dinner… that'd sound great right about now."

"Umm...Sumitomo-san, when was the last time you ate?" Riku asked, noting her yearning tone.

"I had some jerky this afternoon, but I've been snacking on what I could find for the past few days." She glanced upwards in thought. "Hmm...I think my last proper meal was five days ago in another village."

Ume actually bought enough food that would've lasted for a week by normal standards before leaving the last village. However, her voracious appetite shortened it to a mere two days.

"I also lost my bag."

She also lost her backpack that she could've used to carry some of the fruits and nuts she foraged for later.

"It was very difficult."

She cried for the past three days due to hunger.

"O-oh."

For some reason, Riku suspected that she just forgot to bring it with her when she took off her stuff and left without it. It was quite the plausible guess as he watched her say all this with a carefree expression.

"I'll ask okaa-san to make some extra dishes for you when we get home." He offered.

"Thanks!"

"So are you a traveler?"

"Yup, I'm a wandering artist."

"And the monster from before…"

"That's a demon," She stated as if she was saying the sky was blue. "Next time you shouldn't be out this late, it's dangerous you know."

"Alright." Riku nodded, the experience firmly traumatizing him. He was still pale from fright. "Kyou and I were planning to go back before sunset but I sprained my ankle and he had to help me while carrying our catch back home."

"That's still no excuse." Ume lightly chided. "You should've brought an adult with you in case these things happened."

He could only nod in response, "Everyone was so busy preparing for the summer festival. We thought we'd be fine by ourselves. Next time, we'll ask someone to go with us if we want to leave the village." He promised.

Ume hummed in agreement, "Yup, smart one, ain'tcha?" If her hands weren't full, she'd probably be patting his head again.

And so, their walk home continued in idle chatter.

Riku learned that Ume left her home to go on a journey. She previously lived with her grandfather that she affectionately calls "jii-chan" and he was a successful merchant that sold textiles and kimono.

In return, Riku told her stuff about his family. Kyou was his adopted brother after his mother was found dead and his father disappeared a week ago. Riku's parents took him in since their two families were close. He wanted to make this festival a success to cheer up Kyou.

"So who's older?" Ume asked.

"I'm the older brother. Kyou is eleven, I'll be turning thirteen next month," Riku answered proudly.

"Eh?" Ume eyed the boy a bit, "You're pretty short then."

She thought he was the younger one since Riku was the smaller one of the two.

"Hey! I'm not sho—"

"Riku!"

His rebuttal was cut short by a deep voice calling his name.

"Otou-san!"

A man wearing a navy and dark gray-striped jinbei came running towards them. They were currently right outside the village gates.

The man picked up Riku to give him a worried embrace.

"Riku, where were you? I thought you said you'd be home with Kyou before dinner? Your mother has been worried sick."

"Otou-san, I'm so sorry!" Riku cried into his father's shoulders. "I got hurt...Kyou had to help me back. T-Then a scary monster came. It wanted to e-eat us! Th-Then onee-san came and helped us."

"There, there." The father shushed his son's sobs. He looked over at Ume who was standing by the side unperturbed by the touching reunion. "So you're the one that helped out Riku." He lowered his head in thanks.

"Wasn't a problem. I just so happened to be walking nearby and came to their rescue when I heard a cry for help."

"I give you my thanks." The man noticed her luggage. "Here let me carry these two for you."

He seated Riku back on the back of the black dog and took over carrying the basket of fish and the still passed out Kyou.

"I'm Tsukuda Masaru, please just call me Masaru. I take it that you're not from around here. Please stay to have dinner with us. My wife will surely want to know the one who saved our sons."

"I'll take you up on that offer. My name is Sumitomo Ume. Just call Ume as well."

He led her back to his home where a petite woman in an apricot-colored yukata and dark green sash was standing by the doorway in worry until she spotted their group.

"Masaru!" She skittishly ran up to them. "Kyou! Riku!"

"Midori, this is Sumitomo Ume." He let her carry Kyou and introduced the girl standing beside him. "She's the one who saved our sons from being attacked by a wild boar."

"A wild boar? Oh, my!" Midori fretted over her other son who reassured that he was alright. "Sumitomo-san was it? Thank you so much for saving my two boys." She lowered herself deeply to show her gratitude. "Please come on in."

"Just call me Ume." Was all the girl's response as she followed them into the small but cozy home.

Masaru was carrying Riku towards the dinner table and sensing it had fulfilled its duties, the ink familiar ran off, turning into a corner before it dissipated into black motes.

Midori laid Kyou onto his and Riku's shared futon. Midori apologized for the now cold dinner since no one touched it for the past two hours. However, for a famished person like Ume, she didn't care and gladly ate her meal with vigor.

Eventually, Kyou woke up in the middle of their meal. He glanced questioningly at his brother when Masaru recounted that he passed out when he and Riku were attacked by a wild boar but was luckily saved by the unfamiliar girl that was more focused on her bowl of rice than the conversation. His only response from Riku was him silently mouthing: "Talk later."

[1] A tasuki is a fashion accessory used for holding up the long sleeves of the Japanese kimono. It is a sash made from either cloth or cord that loops over each shoulder and crosses over the wearer's back.

[2] Ochazuke is a simple one-bowl dish featuring steamed rice with an assortment of savory ingredients, partially steeped in green tea.

[3] Oden is a type of nabemono, consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavored dashi broth.

[4] Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish that is prepared and served in the nabemono style. It consists of meat which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.

[5] Gyoza is a Japanese dish consisting of wonton wrappers stuffed with pork and cabbage.

[6] Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack or appetizer made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion.

[7] A jinbei is a kind of traditional Japanese clothing worn by men, women, boys, girls, and even babies during the summer.

[8] A yukata is a Japanese garment, a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton or synthetic fabric, and unlined.

Fun Fact:

Sumitomo Ume (墨友 梅)

Her surname has the kanji for "ink" and "friend". Her first name means "plum".