The air of the village was thick, but not just with festivity. People of all classes mingled together. The village may have had been slow to wake, but as time went on, things got busier and busier. Performers played frequently on stages throughout the day, but the merchants were slow to set up their stands. Those that were early wanted to appeal to those who were up and about around noon. Flower viewing festivals usually were rather calm throughout the day and only as it got dark did people get much more rowdy. Still, during the noon, there tended to be a rather large influx of people. This was mainly due to the fact that it was around noon that farmers were getting off of their rice fields, but bright skies, cool breezes and the fact that people were pretty much all awake by then were all contributing factors.
With the streets becoming progressively busier, somehow, the atmosphere became progressively thicker. Perhaps it was simply the festive mood of many people getting together, or maybe it was the noise. Or maybe it was the mysterious mist that seemed to have gathered throughout the village. It was thin and pretty much unnoticeable, as well as not an uncommon occurrence in the village, despite how unusual it was. Most believed it was simply the fog that had blown off of the Misty Lake a few kilometers away, or possibly spores that blew in from the Forest of Magic less than a kilometer away, or most simply, dust kicked up by large amount of foot traffic. After all, it was only thicker depending on how many people were gathered in one place at one time.
However, this mist was no mere dust. After all, no dust could possibly have such a suspicious presence. While it was almost always ignored, there were those that could sense it, or otherwise sense a mysterious presence around them. Most waved it off as a sort of paranoia, but this paranoia did tend to keep people on guard. The humans of the village were always used to keeping their guard up, after all. An air of tension like this was always a reminder that there was some external threat that could harm them at any moment.
What many failed to realize, however, that the threat itself was the mist.
Suika watched over the many humans of the village, watching them about as they went through their days. Being able to thinly spread herself throughout the village, she could keep tabs on just about everybody. She watched as a merchant scolded his disciple for the damaging of a tea bowl and it's stand, as well as a servant dancing for his master, hiding the fact that he's been hunting badgers, as well as a hooded figure made his way down the streets, only to get into a collision in a travelling monk, as well as what appeared to be a big commotion.
It appeared that two men were carrying a Norimono, a hand-carried personal transport vehicle, while they were being escorted by several village guards, including a woman sporting a samurai's robes and weapons on her hip who was calling for the crowds to disperse. People around them were shouting out at the men, telling them to go back. Some of Suika was gathered around here, curious at to what was going on. Cries rang out through the streets; "Dispel the demons! Out with the Youkai! Bring that monster away from here!" So, it was more than obvious that a Youkai was being escorted. Suika was going to investigate further, when a bird's cry caught her attention.
A black figure flew high in the sky, giving off a strange cry. It had the appearance of a bird, but closer inspection would reveal that it was much larger than an ordinary bird, and of an unusual form. It circled above the village, crying it's strange, shrill cries, before suddenly diving into the trees outside the village. Suika sighed in her head. There was no doubt that the unusual creature was anything but one of the Tengu messengers, of which took the appearance of anthropomorphic crows. A Tengu's role in mountain society was easily distinguishable by their appearance. For example, the classical red-faced long-nosed ones tended to bureaucratic matters and were rarely seen by outsiders, while Tengu taking on white wolf-like appearances were guards. A Tengu messenger being sent all the way to the village was probably only looking for one person, and there was only one person who would possibly be sending a message.
Outside of the village, Suika found the messenger, dressed in long white robes, as well as a tokin hat with pom-poms that hung from it. All typical clothing articles of nearly all Tengu. A scroll hung at her side. She sat within a cherry tree, waiting for her recipient to arrive, as she wouldn't dare enter the village. Her great big black wings seemed to have disappeared somehow. She did seem to already be aware of Suika's presence, despite how thin it was. Gradually, Suika began to reintegrate herself, what appeared to be black dust quickly gathering itself into one form, until Suika finally materialized from it, lying on another branch within the same tree, taking a great big drink from her gourd. The Tengu was quick to begin speaking, but Suika put up a hand to pause her.
"Ahh~," Suika gasped after a good ten seconds of chugging, "That's good sake." She brought her hand to her chin, as if to consider it. "Sake under the cherry blossoms is definitely the best." Suika took a glance at the rather antsy looking Tengu (although, all crow Tengu were antsy) and wondered what she was doing there. Suika had temporarily forgotten about the Tengu's presence altogether when she was enjoying her sake. "So... What are you doing here?"
"Well," the Tengu responded somewhat impolitely, "I've got a message for Suika Ibuki-" "That's me," Suika interrupted. The Tengu rolled her eyes, another impolite gesture, before continuing, "... I've got a message from Hoshiguma-Douji." "Yuugi, huh?" Suika took another big drink from her gourd. Yuugi had been becoming increasingly strict as of lately, sometimes even refusing Suika's offers to drink. Suika wasn't at all fond of Yuugi's constant badgering and nagging over supposedly important issues and responsibilities. Therefore, Suika's been making it a point to be absent from her place on the mountain. Though, it's not as if Suika has been ignoring Yuugi or anything. Even today, Suika offered Yuugi to join her in flower viewing, but she refused because supposedly Suika had to be the representative of the Oni for the big meeting between the Youkai powers. Usually such meetings were accompanied by great feasts afterward, but as of late, the Youkai powers seem to have all become sticks in the mud.
The Tengu messenger opened up the scroll at her side and began to read at a rushed pace; "Suika where the hell are you you're supposed to be at this damn meeting this shit is too important for you to to be skipping seeing as this concerns the reputation of the Oni you better not be drinking your ass off in the village you better get here right now or else I will beat you so hard you won't be able to reintegrate straight." The Tengu read the entire thing tonelessly and without punctuation, losing the intended voice behind the message. Suika chuckled after taking a swig. "There's Yuugi's famed civility for you," she said without an obvious sarcastic tone.
"Uh, there's more," the Tengu continued, "I feel I should mention the suspicious figure has come here again and-" "Wait!" Suika interrupted, "Slow down a bit, your voice is giving me a headache." The Tengu continued, but at a more controlled pace, suddenly remembering what punctuation was, "...and although she seems awfully strange, I personally think we should give serious consideration toward what she says. Otherwise, we may have to resort to the plan that I suggested before, regardless of your reservations against it. End message." Suika sloshed her drink around in her gourd thoughtfully before taking a huge gulp.
"Ahh~" Suika was grinning, "Alright, messenger, I've got a message for 'ya. Listen close." "I'm listenin'," The Tengu said, reaching for a satchel at her side for a brush and ink. "No, listen really close," Suika gestured over to herself. The Tengu leaned in, close enough that she could smell Suika's alchohol-soaked breath. Suika spoke in a low voice, her pace inconsistent and some words slurred, causing the Tengu to ask her to repeat parts. "You'd make a bad reporter with an attention span like that," Suika mentioned at one point.
"Ayaya~!" The Tengu exclaimed, "All of them?" Suika chuckled and nodded. The Tengu was absolutely ecstatic. "That's, that's downright insane! That's absolutely, positively, ludicrously diabolical! Abso-posi-lutely! This plan, it most certainly sounds... exciting! That's what it is, yeah! It's so horrible, yet so, so amazing! I, I'll go deliver this message immediately! Lord Tenma will be happy to hear this! Except, what will Hoshiguma-doji think? Can we really handle such a task."
"Don't worry about it," Suika assured her, "In fact, don't tell her. This is confidential information between you, I and your boss. Yuugi'll figure it out for herself soon enough. You're the fastest of the Tengu, right? Hurry up then! Gather the Tengu! We shall begin this party when the sun falls under the mountains, when death is upon us."
"Gotcha, we'll be here in a flash!" Suddenly, great big black wings sprouted from the Tengu's back, and she instantly took into the sky, bursting out of the cherry tree with petals flying in her wake. The breeze got stronger as she cried out her strange call. Suika decided to sit for a bit to enjoy her surroundings, before dissipating into a thin mist once more.
As she spread herself thinly across the village, she began to gather them together. By night, all the humans were going to witness a great spectacle. A night parade of a hundred demons!