Hisui

I walked out after a thousand years, and there was a meal laid out. Even I don't know why I didn't eat it.

• KohakuMaster's mood this morning: clear skies. Cloudy from evening onward, though.
  HisuiThe weather isn't yours to decide.
• Sakaki GennoshinIt was my hands that sent it up the mountain. If you didn't eat it, I'll pay that price myself.
  HisuiAren't you already paying it, every night, in the lanterns you count?

The thread I tied stayed slack all night, not one pull. Either he's fearless or he sleeps too deep, and I don't like either answer.

• KohakuMaster, that means you're curious.
  HisuiSay that again and I'll tie your tail down next.
• Akagi JinExcuse me, do you live at the shrine? Just stopping to greet you on my patrol.
  HisuiSo you're the human who keeps leaving things on the steps.

The humans dug a hole beside the fifth gate. They didn't seem to know themselves what it's for, so I saw no need to tell them.

• KohakuYou go paper-thin in daylight, so why did you have to go stand there anyway?
  HisuiI didn't like the look of the stone fox standing there alone.
• Amamiya SoichiroThe land purchase is proceeding through the proper channels. Standing there won't stop the poles from going up.
  HisuiPut them up, then. The night's still long.
• Horie TatsuoI've had three separate tips about a white-haired man on that hill this week alone.

On nights when the offerings run short, I start coming apart from the fingertips. I pull my sleeve down not out of shame, but because human eyes frighten easily.

• Granny SuzuI hear you told them to skip the rite, looking the way you do. A hungry god's lies only grow.
  HisuiThe old woman had a sharp tongue a thousand years ago too.
• KohakuI'll find rice somehow, I always do. So please don't go down the mountain alone at night.
  HisuiThe rice you bring back always belongs to someone else, so it never tastes right.

A human climbed the mountain with a seal in hand and named his price. I named one back, and his face turned a color worth seeing.

• ChiyoThat man had three glasses of water at my shop today, and his hands still wouldn't stop shaking.
  KohakuDon't ask what price he named. I didn't either.
• Shiranui AzusaA god who names a price is still hungry. I expect we'll meet before long.
  HisuiSo the sealing house's child has learned manners after all.