Mirai woke up in a room that wasn’t familiar to her. But the house structure was. She looked around it, analyzing every aspect. Why did the place seem so familiar to her? It was strangely comforting and scary. Her thoughts stopped when she heard laughter below the room, and she remembered where she was and deducted that this was the cottage Haruma’s friend lived in.

She got out of the futon and headed downstairs, and Jin-sama and Ueda-san greeted her.

Passing by, Ryosuke casually asked her, “Had a good sleep?”

Mirai nodded. Seeing him, she remembered that she had fallen asleep while crying as he carried her on his back. It was the very first time she had cried in front of a stranger.

“Are you looking for Haruma?” Ryosuke came over and sat down beside her as if it was the most usual thing. “He’s out with Maya-san. They’ll be back before dinner.”

“Dinner? It’s almost dinner already?”

The front door opened, and Maki walked in with joy on her face as she carried two big fish, and following her was Kazuya towing a large barrel of what looked like berries of some sort.

Maki’s eyes widened. “Mi-chan, you’re awake?” She handed her fish to Kazuya, wiped her hands on her clothes, and went over to Mirai. “Thought you’d miss dinner.”

Kazuya came over after setting his and Maki’s stuff down. “Maki said she’d eat your portions if you weren’t awake by then. I was worried you would—”

“No, I didn’t,” Maki said, forcing a smile.

“What are you two doing?” Maya said from the entrance with Haruma alongside. “We need food—pronto—if everyone’s going to stay here and eat.” She started walking towards Maki and Kazuya. “Hayuku, and get a move on!”

Maki and Kazuya couldn’t say anything, so they dragged themselves out the door, accepting four medium-sized wood buckets from Haruma.

Mirai stood up. “I can help too.”

“I like that idea, Mirai!” Maki said, agreeing.

“Jaa, what are we doing?” Mirai took a bucket from Maki’s hands.

“Getting water,” Kazuya and Maki said with a deadpan voice. They already dread the work before starting.

“I can help too,” Ryosuke said, standing up. He tried to make the situation less awkward than it seemed. “I have nothing else to do.”

“Why aren’t you working with your people?” Maya asked.

“They have enough people.”

Maya sighed. She went into a different room and came back with three much, much bigger wood buckets. It was big and deep, it could fit at least three or four people. “Here, take these instead.” She retrieved the small buckets and exchanged them with the bigger ones. She did the ‘shoo shoo’ motions and said, “Don’t come back so late.”

“Hai,” the teens said in sync.

Maya returned her attention from looking at all four to looking at just two specific people—Mirai and Ryosuke.

“He’s the one you’ve mentioned before?” Maya asked Haruma in a low voice, and Haruma nodded. She kept her eyes on the specific teens. “Trouble is what it is, and damage is what they’ll receive.”

*

The gang reached where the speeding river was and stopped. The current looked faster than it did this afternoon, and it shocked them. They had never seen water flow downstream this fast before.

Dragging one of the big pails, Kazuya said to Maki, “Let’s do this one.” He gave the other one to Ryosuke. “You two can fill up this one.”

Without any further ado, everyone worked diligently in peace.

As Ryosuke busily fetched water, his entire focus was on Mirai. He wanted to start a conversation with her, hoping to put an end to their ‘can’t-be-friends’ status, but before he could start a conversation, to his surprise, Mirai did.

“Arigatou…for…earlier.”

Ryosuke smiled. Even though she didn’t turn around to look at him and say it to him or throw him a smile, he knew she meant every word of it. “I told you, I’m your fri—”

“Can you…not mention that anymore? Please?” She stopped and finally looked at him, giving him the most hurtful expression he had ever seen. “It’s already hard enough to know I’m a demon.”

He hated himself. He was so immersed in fixing his relationship with her that he had completely forgotten she had her own problems to solve, and it should be first. “I’m sor—”

“Don’t say sorry either.” She waited and then hesitantly smiled. “I was really happy though.”

Maki stood up and wiped her invisible sweat. “Whoosh, that old grandma! She’s worse than Meisa baba!” She sat down and rested on the ground. “Let’s rest first.”

Kazuya exclaimed, “Oi, we barely started, and you want to rest already?”

“Maa, maa. The sun’s still out. It won’t be dark yet.”

“If it gets too dark for us to see, dinner won’t be made on time!”

Maki touched her stomach. “Matte. I need to pee.” She got up and hopped away. “I’ll be back!”

Kazuya gave up. “I guess we can rest now too.”

Mirai and Ryosuke came over to Kazuya.

Mirai looked at Kazuya’s and Maki’s bucket. “Oh, you guys have more than ours.”

“I doubt that. You two do the work equally, but that Maki...she’s so lazy.”

Mirai and Ryosuke laughed. A wave splashed onto her leg, and she jumped in surprise onto Ryosuke, and he held her. She sent him a small smile, thanking him. She patted her wet outfit and shivered. It wasn’t even nighttime yet, and the water was already as cold as snow.

“Ryosuke!” shouted someone from afar.

The trio at the river looked behind them and saw Ryosuke’s friends coming over. With them, they also had the same-sized wood buckets.

Kazuya pointed to their buckets. “Fetching water too?”

Yuto nodded. “Yeah. Right after we finished, she sent us out here.”

“It seems that she wanted us out—badly,” Yuri added.

“Hey, now that we’ve got more people, let’s play a game!” Yuto offered. He had no intention to work without playing.

“We can’t. We have to finish this before the sun goes down,” Ryosuke and Umika said.

Yuto nudged Kazuya. “What do you say, Kazuya-san?”

“Uh…” Kazuya thought for a while, lost at the temptation.

Mirai laughed at how the people in front of her were discussing what to do. Seeing the friendly scene, she thought of something excruciating. If she weren’t a demon…and had a normal and ordinary human life…could she be that happy too?

Feeling blue and detached from her friends, she turned around and faced the fast-current river. She breathed in and breathed out. Feeling relaxed the first time, she did it a second time. About to exhale, she found herself dipped into the river, washing away.

“Mi-Mirai!” shouted everyone.

Within seconds, Ryosuke jumped into the river to save Mirai.

Umika was going to follow, but Yuri held her back and said to her, “It’s too dangerous. The current’s too fast!”

“But Ryosuke!” said a frantic Umika.

“He’ll be okay! He will!”

Yuto heavily breathed. It was no accidental fall. He stared at Kazuya, who looked at his hands. What’s going on now?

*

“—ke up!” an unfamiliar voice echoed. “—ake up! Can you hear me?”

Mirai spat out swallowed water and responded. She felt dizzy and heavy. It was as if she was tossed back and forth countlessly. She opened her eyes carefully and saw a boy, a young boy probably slightly older than her, with caramel brown hair, hazel eyes, and a long and straight bridge of a nose.

For a quick moment, her heart fluttered.

“I’m glad you’re fine!” the stranger said.

She took a moment to understand the situation and come to her senses.

He left her alone to handle his other business, and she eyed him carefully. Although he gave no sense of familiarity, she might know who this person was.

“Mo…moka?” she stuttered as her voice shook in fear, excitement, and disbelief. “You-you’re…Momoka…aren’t you?”

*

“She should be down here!” Ryosuke said as he hastily led everyone down to where the current was much slower. Although he had jumped in to save Mirai, he lost her midway after hitting the waterfall, and the friends found him hugging onto a boulder.

Now, it was just Mirai who was gone.

Back to square one.

They had to hurry because it was getting darker.

Coming down the hilltops, they found Mirai.

But she was not alone.

She was with a man whom none of them could identify with.

Mirai saw her friends and held the stranger’s arm. Excitedly, she said, “Maki! Kazuya! It’s Momoka!”

*

Two people were walking back to the cottage with much irritation. These two, Maki and Ryosuke, were irritated because of the same one reason—Momoka.

Ever since Mirai said that she found ‘Momoka,’ she had been clinging onto him, talking to him, laughing with him—anything with him.

Ryosuke was about to flip back then, blurting out that he was the real ‘Momoka’ but he was stopped by Maki, who grabbed onto his arm and shook her head. He caught on that she knew, and he questioned her, but she only said she’d tell him later.

And when would that later be?

Right now, everyone, even ‘Momoka’, was walking to the cottage, happily accepting this ‘Momoka.’

“Haruma! Haruma!” Mirai shouted as she neared the door. Pulling ‘Momoka’ with her, she excitedly entered the cottage. “Look who I finally found!”

Yuto turned around and whispered to everyone who was still outside with him. “Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen her so excited.”

“It seems like this Momoka’s a long-lost fri—” Yuri couldn’t finish his sentence because something destructive happened.

Momoka was blown right outside the house. Ashes and debris flew all over the place.

The friends outside blinked at what had just happened.

Maki smirked. “That’s what you get when you lie about being someone you’re not.”

Everyone saw Mirai rush out the door only to be stopped by Maki before she could run over to ‘Momoka’s’ aid.

Haruma walked out with his tengu form, and everyone knew Haruma wouldn’t be friendly to this new friend.

“Momoka, you said?” Haruma asked.

‘Momoka’ nodded. Shockingly, his voice didn’t quiver. “It’s me, Haruma.”

Mirai said to Haruma. “Haruma, I told you—he’s Momoka! My friend!”

Haruma glared at Mirai. “Where did you meet him?”

“He saved me when I fell into the river.”

“He’s not from Heisan, so he’s not Momoka.”

Ryosuke was pissed. He knew Haruma knew who the real Momoka was, yet Haruma wasn’t saying anything at all.

“But-but! I felt it!” Mirai confessed, not making any sense.

“…Felt it?” Haruma and Maya questioned at the same time.

Mirai wriggled out of Maki’s grasp and went to Momoka. “Before I became conscious, everything came back to me…and… And I remember it, Haruma.”

Haruma’s eyes twitched. He did not like where this was going.

“You…and Obaa-sama…erased our memories.”

*

Everyone was back in the cottage, including the new friend ‘Momoka’. Maki was on duty watch on Mirai while Kazuya was on duty watch on ‘Momoka.’ Meanwhile, Umika, Yuri, and Yuto were asked to be in separate rooms and, once again, the adults along with Ryosuke this time were having a discussion.

“What’s going on?” Haruma angrily questioned Ryosuke. “Is this some sick joke you and your slayers are playing?”

Ryosuke had had enough. He was holding in the fact that he was Momoka, and now he was being asked about it. “Why would I do this to her? You know just how much I want to tell her myself, and here, someone comes along and claims he’s me.”

Haruma knew Ryosuke was right. “Then how did she remember?”

“What do you mean ‘how’? Shouldn’t she remember at the same time I did?” He exhaled. “Why is she just remembering it now?”

Being the only confused person, Ueda-san mustered the courage to ask, “Umm, Yamada-san, wh-why are you involved in this?”

“Becau—”

“Don’t say it yet.” Haruma stopped him again.

“Then when?”

“When all of this is solved.”

Ryosuke scoffed. “So, when she dies.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. A harsh and pain-stabbing statement.

The whole room fell into quietness.

That was until Maya cackled so loud that even Haruma, who didn’t expect it, flinched. She slapped the table nearby with her hand, non-stopped, and the people in the room did not know what she found funny.

Reading their expressions, she answered, “This man… This man here…thinks she’s going to die!”

Ryosuke was confused. “Isn’t-isn’t she though?”

“Stupid! Who said so?”

“Ueda-san did.”

Ueda-san immediately looked at Jin-sama.

Jin-sama jumped up. “Not me. Haruma told me.”

Everyone eyed Haruma.

Haruma nonchalantly looked at Maya. “You told us—Meisa and me.”

“Yeah, I did,” admitted Maya.

“Jaa, it’s true?” Ryosuke asked her. “It’s unavoidable?”

Maya looked deep into Ryosuke’s eyes. After a long moment of silence, she averted her eyes and looked at Haruma. “Let’s keep this ‘Momoka’.”

*

“Ohayou!”

Mirai woke up to the greetings of her friends. Ohayou.” She looked around and noticed one special person was missing. “Where’s Momoka?” When she saw that Haruma wasn’t there, she feared for the worst. “Is he with Haruma?”

“Haruma’s out with Maya-san,” Maki said, guaranteeing Momoka’s safety. “Momoka went to get water since we couldn’t get it yesterday.”

Mirai smiled. “Jaa, I’ll go help him too!” She grabbed one of the big buckets and headed out the door.

Maki sighed. Haruma. I hope you solve this as soon as possible.

*

Momoka smiled at Ryosuke, who had volunteered to help him fetch water. Noticing that he had been watched since the beginning, he asked, “Umm, is there something you’d like to know?”

“Nothing.” Ryosuke lied.

“Momoka!” shouted someone who sounded so cheerful, making Ryosuke and Momoka look behind them and see a joyous Mirai hopping over to them.

Momoka shot up with a happy expression. “Mi-chan! Why are you here?”

“I want to help you.” When she caught Ryosuke, her expression changed, and she composed herself. “Oh, you’re here too?”

Why do you sound disappointed? “Hai,” answered Ryosuke.

“You don’t have to help,” said Momoka to her. “I have Yamada-san helping me already.”

Mirai shook her head. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, so I want to spend my time with you. Besides, I don’t know when we’re returning home, but…”

“But…?”

“Do you live here? Ever since what happened…where have you been?”

Momoka turned around, looking hurt to respond. “Gomen. My family travels around.”

“Jaa, will you return to Heisan?” She tried her best to camouflage her hopeful voice, but Momoka and Ryosuke could still tell she was suppressing it. Meanwhile, Ryosuke tried to fetch water while pretending that he wasn’t hearing the conversation when he was.

“I don’t know yet.”

“If I return…” Mirai cautiously began. “…will you come with us?”

Ryosuke stopped fetching water. He wanted to know the answer too. While looking at the pail, he thought back to yesterday’s agreement with the adults.

“What? Why are you going to keep him when he’s not the real Momoka?” Ryosuke shouted, showing his objection.

Maya looked back at him. “Jaa, you know who is the real Momoka?”

“I—”

“He does not.” Haruma interfered, and Ryosuke glared at him. “This brat has always been suspicious of people he does not know and trust,” Haruma said.

“What are you talking about? You know exact—”

Haruma ignored Ryosuke’s comment and asked Maya, “I assume you have an idea of where you want to go with this, obaa-san?”