A Thousand Steps into Night

They travel for a whole day and night, and Nogadishao emerges from Miuko’s pocket. Miuko almost slips from the weasel’s back, but Senara saves her and asks after Miuko’s story. Miuko realizes that she has lived dreams by being almost a demon and that there is value to her journey. The weasel drops down and leaves them on an uninhabited island. The water becomes turbulent and something rises from the water.

Afaina appears before them as a gargantuan young man with a crown of stars. The island is part of Afaina and they are standing on him. Afaina tells her that she has never left her confrontation with the doro yagra at the House of December, and Miuko tries to bargain for his help to return. He says that every one of his thousand eyes on his body can see a different timeline, and the possibilities are infinite. Miuko, therefore, has nothing to bargain with. Remembering the tseimi in her pocket, Miuko offers the shadow cat to the God of Stars as an immortal friend—something he has never had. When he is about to accept it, Senara points out that Afaina was there during her confrontation with the doro yagra. He admits to it and explains that he intervened because of the cat and because in four seconds she will agree that it was for the best. Indeed, after four seconds of reflection, Miuko realizes that, had she not been transported to the past, she would not have had the means to stop the doro yagra. Afaina then sends everyone back where he believes they will be needed, and Miuko once again finds herself confronting the doro yagra at the House of December.

On the docks of the House of December, the kyakyozuya still holds Geiki hostage, Meli is further behind Miuko, and the doro yagra still waits for her submission. With Miuko still see-through, the doro yagra realizes she has undergone a journey. She tries her second spell to bind him, but the doro yagra already tattooed a fresh spell over his heart, imprinting himself on the doro’s body. Seeing the tattoo, the kyakyozuya finally understands that the doro is possessed and tries to fight him. Miuko saves Geiki and realizes that the December priests all have the vermillion sashes she instructed Beikai to give them. The doro yagra overpowers the kyakyozuya. As the priests advance with their warding spells, the doro yagra retreats and warns Miuko that if he cannot have her, no one can have anything.

Miuko and Geiki reunite as he and the kyakyozuya receive treatment for their wounds. Miuko is lost on how to proceed since the binding spell will not work. As they talk, the kyakyozuya tells them the body and spirit naturally belong together, and if they want to push out the Tujiyazai from the doro’s body, they need to find Omaizi Ruhai. Meli says she knows an old ritual that can help them locate him.

They all deliberate on who has the biggest connection to the doro, and eventually Miuko is chosen to go through the ritual. They proceed to the moon door, a pool of water in an old part of the temple. Miuko wades through the water as the priests chant, and her human soul is then sucked into the spirit realm.

On the other side of the moon door, Miuko’s human soul searches for Omaizi Ruhai. Miuko’s demon body that she left behind becomes aggressive toward the priests. Miuko concentrates on finishing her task as quickly as possible. Since Omaizi Ruhai has not been ousted from his body for very long, she is able to follow his journey through Ana. She sees that he is a good man throughout his interactions. Eventually, he heads for Udaiwa. Meanwhile, Miuko’s demon body has almost reached the priests and wants to absorb their lifeforce. As Miuko refocuses on Omaizi Ruhai, she sees the ghosts around Nihaoi capture him and bring him into an old manor Miuko recognizes. She resurfaces and returns to her body just in time to stop it from harming the head priest. She informs her friends that they must travel back to Nihaoi’s mayoral mansion to save the doro.

Meli provides Miuko and Geiki with extra bespelled vermillion sashes before they leave to find Omaizi Ruhai’s spirit. As they fly over the landscape, they can see the damage caused by the doro yagra, who is leaving a blazing trail behind him as he makes his way to Udaiwa. Miuko wonders how the doro yagra is traveling so fast. The answer comes the next day when they are attacked by a spirit-turned-yasa and see him riding it. As Miuko and Geiki try to escape by flight, they are taken down by humans who believe them to be monsters.

The seven men who shot them down encircle Miuko and Geiki and do not believe Miuko when she tries to explain that she is not the enemy. The men attack them, and Miuko retaliates until Kanayi and her horse, Roroisho, emerge from the trees. Kanayi wants to leave Miuko behind but Roroisho is adamant about staying with Miuko and Geiki. Miuko protects Kanayi and the men eventually leave. Nogadishao and Senara appear and Miuko realizes they are in the daigana’s forest. She invites Kanayi to come with them to stop the doro yagra, but she refuses and leaves for Izajila.

As Nogadishao transports the group toward Nihaoi, Geiki leaves to take care of his flock in Kotskisiu-maru and warn them of the doro yagra’s destruction. He returns before they arrive at Nihaoi. Miuko feels the recently renewed power of the village’s spirit gates and she believes the village to be safe. But as bodies are seen floating in the river, Kanayi appears to warn them that the doro yagra is nearby and his powers are already affecting the village. As her companions promise to do their utmost to save the villagers, Miuko leaves for the old mayoral mansion to find Omaizi Ruhai.

Miuko searches the manor and finds him in a storeroom guarded by a single Ogawa soldier. She notes how, compared to the doro yagra who wears his body, there is a gentle kindness about the doro’s face. She decides to impersonate an Ogawa soldier to escape with him but fails to convince the guard. She recognizes the guard as the Ogawa soldier who compared her to a teapot with a missing lid. She runs and throws her last remaining vermillion sash onto the doro to protect him, just as the guard begins to morph into a yasa because of the doro yagra’s power. As he begins to rampage, Miuko binds him to a rock using the spell that was meant for the doro yagra. She cries because binding the soldier means she will have to kill the doro yagra to get rid of him and lose her human soul in the process.

As Miuko informs the doro of their current predicament, Omaizi Ruhai accepts Miuko’s plan to confront the doro yagra and regain his body. The doro is to hide from the doro yagra until an opportunity arises where he can take him by surprise. Miuko is once again struck by how genial the doro is compared to the doro yagra. As Miuko enters Nihaoi, she finds the body of the teahouse proprietor and fears for her father. The doyo yagra emerges from her family’s inn and greets her.

Miuko tries to convince the doro yagra that she is there join him, as she no longer has hope. The doro yagra is unconvinced, and to persuade him, she removes her vermillion sash, which allows his power to affect her. When the doro yagra believes he has her under his control and boasts about his superior strength, Miuko retorts that her strength is in having companions. Omaizi Ruhai then rushes the doro yagra and penetrates his body through his heart.

Tujiyazai, the demon and no longer the doro yagra, partially emerges from the doro’s body. He tells her that if she kills him, she will become a demon like him, but Miuko is willing to make the sacrifice. Just as she’s about to kill him, he grips her and begins to suck away her power. The indigo of her skin begins to retreat, and Miuko’s father calls out to her as Tujiyazai tries to take her life. She is furious with Tujiyazai because he proves he had the power to remove her curse at any time and chose to let the curse spread to exploit her. She yanks Tujiyazai the rest of the way out of the doro’s body, and he dies on the Old Road.

Miuko stares at her hands; one is human, and the one Tujiyazai held is still blue. She tells her friends and father to stay away, but her father embraces her anyway. She is pleasantly surprised to notice that her demon self no longer acts on its violent hunger, though it does have a mind of its own. She is now neither human nor demon, good nor evil; she is both. Her father begs her for forgiveness, which she gladly imparts. Her friends come to meet with her, and Omaizi Ruhai asks if he can be counted among them. For the first time in her life, Miuko feels like she has claimed her full identity.

After Tujiyazai’s death, Omaizi Ruhai leaves to settle the devastation caused by the demon. Nihaoi is reconstructed over several months, as is the Old Road. Kanayi becomes the doro’s stablemaster, while Nogadishao takes part in the village and becomes less feral. Geiki attends to his flock and digs up old Ogawa soldier skeletons with Miuko to put them to rest. The villagers come to accept the changes, especially those that pertain to the expectations placed on women. Many women move to Nihaoi and begin to take on roles that were previously denied to them. Heisu also come to live in the village, as do girls like Meli, and with Senara’s help, they settle well within Nihaoi. When the reconstruction is finished, Miuko decides to embark on a new adventure to discover more of the world, knowing that she will have a home to return to should she ever need it.