"I can already see it in your eyes," Ichimatsu interrupted me, his brow furrowing in agitation as his eyes glanced towards Choromatsu, "As long as he doesn't do anything to hurt you, he can come."

I shut my mouth in surprise, looking back towards Choromatsu with a smile on my face. The daitengu returned the look before meeting Ichimatsu's gaze once more.

"With the night only getting started, it's probably best for (y/n) to get her rest," Using the staff to support most of his weight, Choromatsu looked back to me, "Do you have enough money for an inn?"

"Ah, probably not..." I reached into my sash and felt the light coin purse, my fingertips outlining three coins. My heart plummeted as I realized that I had spent most of my coin on supplies to get here, not planning for the expensive inns. A jangle of coins caught my ear before I instinctively reached out and caught a small sling of mon that was thrown to me, pricing about thirty mon tied together on a corded string.

"This should cover you for the night," Choromatsu walked closer towards me, catching my chin underneath with a finger and lifting it up for us to look at each other, "Don't worry about Ichimatsu and I. We'll be fine."

"Don't speak for--"

"There's an inn just down the road called 'The Silver Dace'," Choromatsu pointed in the direction he was talking about, completely cutting off Ichimatsu's protests, "Book a room for yourself and we'll meet you back here in the morning."

"Are you sure?" I saw a sign much further down the street bearing the name before looking back towards the two yokai.

"...yeah," Ichimatsu gritted his teeth in a sigh before I headed towards the recommended inn, clutching the mon ring tightly in my grip.

The check-in process was much easier than the previous inn, the male clerk barely giving me the glances that Ichimatsu had gathered while in his female form. Part of me worried about something happening while we were all separated, but some small voice in my head was confident that nothing would happen. Even if something did, I knew that they'd be somewhere close by so that I wouldn't need to worry about using my brush.

My brush...

I gently pulled out the holding pouch from my sash when I was sure that I was alone in the assigned room, setting it softly down on the small table in the middle of the room. Pulling apart the knot that held the pouch together, I stared at the inky black wooden handle of the fude brush and watched the white bristles fight against the encompassing darkness. The woman carved into the handle of the brush looked more menacing now than she did when the shaft was white, her hair whipping around her and wrapping around the handle while small snowflakes scattered around the motif.

Taking out the journal with my charcoal notes, I thought back to when I had first found the fude brushes, sketching down what each brush had looked like before they shattered with their final use.

"Be careful, (y/n)! We don't know what Grandpa has hidden away in there," My father called out with a laugh as we walked towards the back of the property where a large storage shed had been built. He unlocked the doors and pushed them open wide to let the sun in, whistling a little at the dust accumulation, "Well, it looks like we don't have any visitors staying here."

"Daddy, Daddy! What's this?" I had pointed towards a strange looking stick that was lashed to the side of the shed. My father scooped me up in his arms before walking over towards it, reaching out a hand and pulling in it.

"It looks like a door latch or something that can be used to barricade yourself in here," He sighed before carrying me over to some shelves, carefully sweeping the dust layers away, "Geez...Dad hasn't really done anything to this place for a long time."

A glint of gold caught my eye, my pudgy hands reaching out and grabbing something from the shelf just below my eye level. My father caught what I was trying to do and took the large object from the shelf, blowing off the dust to reveal a wooden box that was sealed with red rope. The eye-catching glint came from the corners of the box, where there was gold hammered around the corners.

"Did you want to bring this inside?"

"Yeah!"

He laughed again before adjusting his grip on me, turning around and closing up the shed before heading back into the large house. I was told that we had inherited it from my grandfather, wanting to give the last of his family a stable place to live that was close to somewhere he loved.

My father set me down in the large common room, wiping off the dust and completely cleaning the box before placing it on the table and removing the rope. Pulling open the lid, a folded letter covered the treasure that was definitely inside.

I tossed aside the letter and unwrapped the silk to reveal seven fude brushes, each one a different color.

"Oh, those look fun," My father gave a wide smile as I pulled each one out, roughly running my fingers over the soft bristles and gave them a few strokes on my palm, "What are you going to do with them?"

I eyed the white brush for a while before looking back at him, "Give them to my friends so we can use them together!"

"There's seven brushes and eight of you," He counted out on his fingers, "Someone's not going to get one."

"I was going to give the brushes to all of them!" I smiled, "I can use my own brush that Mommy gave me, so that way no one is left out."

"That's a good idea!"

"No way!" Totoko threw the white fude brush onto the ground.

I stood there shocked by her outburst, staring down at the brush before looking at her with tears in my eyes. She staggered back a little, her face twisting up in uncertainty at my expression before folding her arms across her chest and looking away with a huff.

"My mommy says that your family is cursed and I shouldn't accept any gifts from you!"

"But...I thought you would like it..." I couldn't stop the tears from falling, "I wanted us...to paint pictures together...!"

"Who would want to paint stupid pictures with you?" The little brown-haired girl sneered before laughing a little, "I wouldn't ask those Matsuno brothers, either. They know that they're supposed to stay away from you, too."

"But...they already said yes..." I rubbed my palms against my eyes, angry that the tears weren't stopping.

"Then you've cursed them, too!"

I opened my eyes with a start, taking in a sharp breath as I sat up straight. An array of color caught my eye, bringing my attention towards the open journal pages. Seven brushes were sketched out in full detail, colored in with the remnants of my dyes staining my fingertips. Seven lives destroyed by my naïve hands.

The first brush in the lineup was a red one. A face of an oni was carved into the thick handle just above a sake gourd, the oni's hair twisted upwards into a small thread that had three black beads hanging above the ending tassel. The bristles were just as red as the dyed handle.

The second brush was much thinner than the first, able to be held with a delicate hand. A howling face opened its maw wide to the viewer, revealing its pointed teeth and threatening to swallow them whole. A carved ribbon twisted around the handle and held the face back a little while pinning a pointed magatama into place. The end of the blue fude brush was shaped into a lantern with a large ring handle tying the whole brush together.

The third fude brush was thicker than the second but still slimmer than the first, dyed a forest green color. Most of the handle was etched to look like large feathers sweeping from the bristles of the brush to the end of the handle, the pattern broken up by some kind of bird skull with empty eye sockets staring out to the viewer.

The fourth purple brush was the one I was more familiar with. The zenko fox mask rested near the bristles just like the bird skull, with a long tail wrapping around the entire handle of the brush with a torii topping the entire piece. A long thin piece of rope was looped around the length of the wood before knotting into a bow, the ends holding small bells.

The fifth brush was unique in that it was a pair of brushes, much smaller than the others but each one carved with the same design. The yellow dye stood out from the others, almost fading to a white near the ends of the bristles. A snarling dog head was carved to face the ends of the brush, each end cap carved to hold a small string with a bell.

The sixth one was a loud pink color, standing out amongst the others as well. A string of pink beads were tied into the carved out grooves of the handle, leaving a loop large enough to fit the first two fingers of someone's hand near the end of the brush. A wooden leaf dyed in pink was attached to the beaded loop, missing a small part on its side. There was a tanuki mask carved into the handle near the bristles, the eyes painted white with the mask around the eyes painted black.

I tucked my hands into the yukata sleeves, pressing my fingertips against my arms as I shrugged the fur around my shoulders off. My eyes kept staring down at the page, looking over the six brushes that I gave to the brothers and the one that I had used...the one that I wanted to give to Totoko.

I gave a deep sigh, remembering her outright rejection of the brush I thought was a gift, thanking the higher powers that she hadn't used it. She was from a well-known family with deep roots in exorcism and she had instantly stopped coming around us when I had handed out the brushes. I wondered what would've happened if we had followed her warnings...

After taking a nice, long soak in the public bath, I finished the food I ordered for myself before setting up the futon. I could only hope that Ichimatsu and Choromatsu were going to be okay for the night.