“I think I look weird.”

Nara grimaced when she saw herself in the mirror near the front door one last time before they left the house. She had her hair done in an elaborate braided bun hairstyle, thanks to her passionate cousin who seemed more eager in dressing her up. The light pink yukata that Yona bought for her made her look more feminine than usual. But what made her feel awkward the most were the Japanese traditional wooden sandals and drawstring pouch that Yona insisted she had to wear.

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?” Yona sounded offended, since she was the one who’d dolled Nara up. She was wearing her usual work attire. Watching at Nara’s yukata with a look of envy, she put on her knee-length white boots in irritation. “You look amazingly beautiful, Nara.”

“Thanks,” Nara said, feeling bad for saying she looked weird.

“Let’s hurry.” Yona took her car key and walked to her car. “You have to be there early, right? To make sure that everyone is doing their job.”

Nara followed Yona very slowly behind her because of her wooden sandals making it harder for her to walk. Thinking that whining about the sandals in front of Yona would be rude, Nara decided to keep it to herself during their short car ride.

“Yes, because a certain someone chose to be very irresponsible,” Nara grumbled as they got into the car.

Baekhyun had texted her an hour ago, saying he couldn’t make it to the festival today, claiming he had something important to do. And Nara had been complaining about it while Yona had been doing her hair.

Yona chuckled. “Oh! Your busy partner?”

Nara rolled her eyes. “Please. Knowing him, he’s probably busy lazing around. Or maybe, dozing off while standing somewhere.”

There were a few people walking towards the shrine wearing yukata when Yona pulled over, rather farther away from the torii gate because she didn’t want to hinder people from entering. Nara was about to protest that it’s too far away from the entrance and it’s hard for her to walk in the wooden sandals, but she changed her mind. It’s Yona’s opinion and she wanted to respect it.

As soon as she got off the car, Yona summoned all her familiars. Just like the plan, Minseok came over to Nara’s side while Chanyeol and Kyungsoo stood close behind Yona. The five of them – or the two of them from Vanillas’ point of view – walked together towards the torii gate alongside the other visitors. Yona was admiring how beautiful their yukata were, meanwhile, Nara was trying to ignore the pain in her feet as she tried to keep up with her pace.

However, Minseok seemed to notice. “Are you okay, Nara?”

“I’m fine,” Nara lied, flashing him a smile. The smile wasn’t forced, because she was genuinely happy that someone – Minseok – was paying attention to her.

Minseok didn’t look convinced, but he dropped the topic. “Is this your first time going to a festival?”

Nara shrugged. “I’ve been to one. But I ran out of the shrine the moment I stepped inside because there were so many youkai. They scared the hell out of me. Well, you can say that this is my first time.” Her gaze found its way to Yona and her two other familiars who were walking a little farther ahead. “How about you, Minseok? Are you okay with me?”

Minseok tilted his head in confusion, wiggling his big cat ears. He looked so cute that Nara had the urge to touch his cat ears and pinch his cheeks.

“I mean, you usually go to festivals with Yona, right? I’m sorry that you’re stuck with me instead. If only…” I’m not in a fight with Jongin. Nara couldn’t bring herself to finish her sentence.

“No, no,” Minseok quickly objected. “It’s an order and I’m more than pleased to be chosen to do this job.”

Sighing, Nara had expected this answer from Minseok. He’s very loyal to Yona and it seemed he would gladly die for her and Nara. Their relationship was more like a servant and his masters than friends. Somehow, it’s kind of sad.

Before all of them entered through the torii gate, Yona summoned Hiro – her sword – and made a vertical cut in the air with one full swing. Nara wasn’t sure what Yona was doing and only gaped at her in bewilderment. Then Minseok, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo passed through the torii gate, right at the spot where she slashed earlier, which was in the middle. And after the three of them were all inside, Yona swung her sword one more and returned it.

“What are you doing, Yona?” Nara asked curiously. What her cousin was doing was different with what Baekhyun had taught her. “Aren’t we supposed to bow first and then walk at the sides?”

Her eyes widening with admiration, Yona said, “Whoa. I’m impressed. Your busy friend is actually quite knowledgeable.”

Nara remembered that she had mentioned a friend teaching her the right things to do when visiting a shrine to Yona, but she was sure she hadn’t told her that he was the same guy with the one ignoring his responsibility.

“How did you—Never mind.” Nara thought it’s not really important to discuss about Baekhyun further. It did nothing besides reminding her about him being irresponsible and ruining her mood. “Can you tell me what you’re doing with Hiro earlier instead?”

Because people started to gather behind them, waiting for them to walk in, Yona quickly bowed to the torii gate and passed under it, walking at the left side. Nara did the same and entered the shrine, too.

When they caught up with the three familiars, Yona answered distractedly, while checking her phone, “I was just temporarily opening the barrier to let my familiars in. Although, I’m sure they’re strong enough to break through the barrier by themselves. Forming a barrier isn’t quite priests’ forte, after all. I only lifted the barrier so that whoever made it isn’t alarmed because of three A-rank youkai passing through.”

“So your job is to strengthen the barrier?” Nara guessed, because from what she knew, Yona was good in forming barrier. No youkai had been able to enter her house without her permission. Of course, aside from the powerful S-rank youkai, Jongin.

“No, we’re only here to make sure no youkai can cause problem.” Still focusing on her phone screen, Yona fastened her pace, walking ahead of the group. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo quickly caught up with her, leaving Nara and Minseok behind. Yona looked over her shoulder and shouted, “I’m going first! Have fun!”

Now that there were only two of them, Nara became extremely self-conscious. People – Vanillas – couldn’t see Minseok, so if she had a conversation with him, she would look like some crazy girl who talked to herself. But Minseok was really kind, he didn’t deserve to be ignored by her because of such a selfish reason.

Nara warily eyed the other visitors and nervously asked, trying to not be conspicuous, “Minseok, where do you—?”

“Let’s talk when there’s no people around, okay?” Minseok nicely suggested.

Her face lit up with a bright smile. This was the second proof that Minseok was paying attention to her. He even noticed the smallest detail. She was sure by now that he was indeed the kindest youkai on earth.

However, her smile soon disappeared as she saw a huge number of youkai walking around freely inside the shrine. They were like an excited group of children trying to sneak into each stand and steal food. She gasped when one of the youkai suddenly ran towards her.

Nara recognized the youkai from the picture Teacher Han had shown at class. He was a Hitotsume Kozo – a little one-eyed goblin who had a long red tongue and shaved head and wore black robes, like a tiny monk. According to Teacher Han, he was only mischievous, not harmful. Nevertheless, he was still a youkai.

“Get lost, midget,” Minseok growled, standing protectively in front of Nara.

The Hitotsume Kozo stopped dead in his tracks and cowered in terror at the sight of Minseok. He quickly whirled around and bolted back to join his friends, who were raiding a snack stand.

Minseok turned his back and faced her. “Don’t worry. I won’t let them touch you. Just enjoy the festival. Leave them to me.”

Sadly, before Nara could enjoy the festival, she had to do her job as part of students committee. She scanned around to search for her classmates and found that various stands had been successfully built at each side of the sando – the pathway leading to the hall of worship. Their one-week effort to help the members of the shrine preparing for the festival didn’t go to waste, since the stands and decorations such as lanterns were neatly done. The shrine grounds looked so bright and beautiful.

Just when Nara was about to make a tour around each of the stand to see if someone else needed help, Nara spotted Minhyuk cooking what looked like a deep-fried octopus on a stick. It seemed like Minhyuk spotted her, too, as he gestured her to come to his stand and offered her one of the octopus sticks.

What made her hesitate to approach his stand was because of the Hitotsume Kozo eyeing the octopus stick in his hand with hungry eyes. Even if the youkai couldn’t directly eat human food, they would be able to when humans gave it to Tano Kami as their offering. So if they stole the food and brought it to the offering hall – or what Baekhyun had called heiden – which was placed between hall of worship, haiden, and honden, the main sanctuary of the god, then they could eat it after the priest performed the ritual. Or simply, if they could transform into any earthly beings, like Yona’s familiars and Jongin. But according to Teacher Han, it was less likely for weak youkai like Hitotsume Kozo to be able to transform into anything.

“It’s fine,” Minseok said from beside her. “He won’t be able to do anything as long as I’m here.”

Minseok’s reassurance managed to make her relax. Taking a deep breath, she ignored the Hitotsume Kozo and fixed her gaze on Minhyuk, forcing a smile, as she approached his snack stand. He seemed to have been cooking there for a while. It was apparent from his slight wet hair and cloudy glasses.

He had volunteered to handle one of the snack stands when they had been dividing tasks among themselves. Nara had been worried th