... You want to hear out my side story?
"Yes, I would like to know as much details as possible about this incident; plus, given that you're a central figure in all of this, your insight is valuable to me. Oh, and tell me about your upbringing while your at it."
Well then...
When I was born, I had... A deformity. No one could tell if I was a boy or girl. My parents had to choose whether or not I should be female or male. It was way easier to get rid of the male genitalia in our time, so I was made female, but even back then I felt that something was... Wrong. I barely touched my dolls, I felt extremely uncomfortable walking in dresses and I couldn't connect well with my peers (and being a future shrine priest didn't help at all). I felt isolated. And I don't think that if I was a male, things would've been different.
I was eventually introduced to a girl who was similarly isolated just like me. She... Didn't judge me. Usually, when my peers saw me, they were quick to point out my oddities, but this girl was different. She was curious about me, but she wasn't condescending about it, it was a more playful one. "Do you, like, recite 30 poems a week?" She would ask and we generally had a lot of fun, so much that we became close friends with each other. But in hindsight, it was thanks to her I started to realise what was wrong with me.
Her body started to develop in a beautiful way, she started to become much more feminine, and while the changes in her body made her distressed, I... Envied her. Unlike her, I didn't grow any "lumps" as she called it back then, her body remained soft, her voice was smoother than mine, and she didn't grow abnormally like I did. I felt so disgusted with myself for not being able to develop like she did, and I wasn't as "manly" as the boys were. It was a confusing and bewildering experience that made me feel miserable about myself.
"Just... What is wrong with me?"
However, I had one imaginary friend that would always listen to my worries. He always answered in a wise way and with him I felt more understood than with my own parents. When I told him about my troubles with the body image, he looked at me serious and said this.
"... You're beautiful the way you are. You should chart your own path."
And after that, it seems that my parents have stopped trying to make me act like a woman. I could finally choose what should I wear and my shrine priest uniform was pretty comfortable to don.
"We're... Sorry, Tenmuyonji, we shouldn't have kept it a secret from you. Of course you're not a female."
I finally felt happy about myself. I stopped wearing the make up I used to apply to appear more womanly, and I stopped wearing intricate kimonos that restricted my movement. While others looked at me with disgust and shame, I felt proud of myself and my own body.
"Hm? You changed? Psssht, I wish I was as free as you are."
To my friend, I was "ambiguously male(?)", but at the end of the day, she didn't care about my gender - to her I was her confidant, the person to whom she can tell the deepest of secrets. And she was pretty close to me too, leaning her head against my shoulder on purple evenings.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, I was still Wadano; and our legend became nothing but a mere fairytale. When my parents passed away due to old age, I felt all alone in this world. Sure, I had my god, but it was embarrassing to ask him for help; so I dealt with my affairs all by myself. And my friend, who considered me her confidant, ironically became my very own.
"I seriously feel like giving up at this point. Doing such a thankless job, only to be spat on by a chieftain is so draining on my already low morale..."
"Don't say that, Myon, every other villager that you helped think of you more positively!
Your miracles are working and do a lot more than an old fart who spends all of his time rotting in the office!"
"Come on, don't say that..."
But then several tragedies struck. The first one was the arrival of a wish granting merchant, and thanks to that, my job of offering miracles was redundant. While my blessings only work in the long run, his miracles were instantaneous and seemed more "modern". One time I blessed a villager who had problems with the weeds overgrowing in his yard, and that man sold him a certain machine that could cut grass evenly; and he had such machines and more for everyone on this island. At first I was suspicious, there's no way a mere human could have items that can fulfill everyone's desires. I tried warning the chieftain, but he neglected me; not only that, it seems everyone was against me, taken in by his charm. I eventually quieted down and accepted him as a fact, guess I was redundant after all. That fact made me kind of relaxed after a while; that means that there is one less chore to make and my friend was gushing about him to me. I thought everything was peaceful...
Until one fateful night, the second tragedy. I was having a midnight stroll, a very odd habit of mine, then suddenly I heard a woman's scream; I rushed towards the source and was terrified, the screams were of my best friend.
"GET OFF OF ME!! PLEASE SOMEONE, ANYONE, HELP ME!!! STOP IT!!! STOP!!! IT HURTS!!!"
I climbed up the building and broke through the window. I immediately threw hurting seals towards the assailant and turns out, it was that merchant. And he wasn't a human at all, he was a powerful yokai and we began fighting each other. I managed to scar his face and he fled. I could've chased him down, but I couldn't leave my friend alone, who was sobbing loudly, cursing herself for letting that happen. I got scolded by the chieftain once again and we had to wait until we could say for sure on whether or not she got pregnant. She was, and it completely broke her, she wasn't ready to have a child and the chieftain didn't want a child of the yokai rapist to be his grandchild. We tried everything to get rid of the child, but it kept lingering and my friend was too tired by that point. It was decided that we should let her give birth to the child and it was up to me to send it back to the afterlife. I was requested to stay close to her for moral support, and it was painful to see such an energetic and kind girl become a shell of her former self. She barely ate, no, she barely moved and always told me to stay in her room and hold her hand. When I did, she relaxed a bit and her breathing stabilized; but since I still had duties as a shrine priest, I had to let go and leave. I did spend nights at her place, and she clutched me very tightly, crying and apologising to me. I tried to alleviate the guilt, after all I should've been more assertive and exposed the evil before it escalated; but she wouldn't listen. At this point, I had given up and just became a presence with which she felt comfortable with. Her belly would increase in size and one day she asked
"Why can't we just rip the stomach open and kill that spawn?..."
"Urime... We can't. Your body is too weak to handle a dissection. Believe me, it will be the most painful thing you'll ever live through."
"Tch. As if."
Still, we didn't go through that awful plan and eventually the day came. I was her midwife and it was up to me to help her to deliver the baby. It was an arduous task, but eventually, it was born. A horned child with pointy ears of indeterminate gender.
"I wish to execute the child in my place, I don't want the mother of the spawn to see it." With the chieftain's permission, I took the baby into my shrine and I was ready to strangle it, to take its breath away but...
I couldn't
The child had its tiny arms outstretched to me, like I was its mother and I broke into tears. It was still a being at the end of the day, and every being desires to live.
"No, you deserve to live, but under a new identity."
I wanted to raise that child as a human. If anyone finds out that the child is a yokai, it will be ridiculed, as yokai discrimination had become rampant, ESPECIALLY after that incident. I filed its horns away and gave it a name.
"Kirisame. You'll be Wadano no Kirisame (大海乃キリサメ)" Of course, I can't hide the fact that they're a yokai from them, so I explained to them why they're different from the others and why they must keep their differences hidden from others. I didn't let them go outside the shrine and when the horns grew too big, I filed them away.
"Does it hurt?"
"... No, but it's stupid."
"I know... I do hope that someday, people will be willing to accept you and you will be able to grow your tiny horns proper."
"'Hope', uh-huh."
That child inherited a lot from its mother. While it had a lot of traits of a yokai, like aforementioned horns, pointy ears and slit pupils, and brown hair reminiscent of their "father"; they were just like their mother in terms of their soul. Just like her, they had a rough exterior, but had a kind soul, though their sourness came from the fact that they had to hide from the outside world. I genuinely wanted them to live in peace, for them to be accepted, but at that time, it was an impossibility. I taught them everything I knew and to see them slowly grow was pretty rewarding. I never thought that the aspect of parenting would feel so... Heart-warming. And despite our differences, we would still bond with eachother like a family: hearing them genuinely say that they love me is something that
I'm treasuring to this day.
Bur that's when the third tragedy struck. Despite my best efforts, Kirisame wished to go outside, to know the world beyond the shrine. They donned the mask and went outside when I was outside the shrine grounds. Despite me filing their horns away, their other traits were a huge enough tell that something was seriously wrong about them. And children are curious creatures, so they took away Kirisame's mask and the adults immediately apprehended them.
"A DEMON CHILD!! QUICK, EVERYONE!! GET RID OF THAT SPAWN!!"
I immediately rushed towards the commotion and I tried to convince everyone that I'll take care of them, but the chieftain also got wind of the news and he immediately connected the dots.
"You... You didn't kill that spawn, are you?"
At that moment, I had only two options. It was to either kill Kirisame and prove my loyalty to him; or to run away with Kirisame to live in exile, with a constant sense of fear looming over us - there's no way of convincing him. Despite Kirisame living for 12 years and being more civilised than the average human, he wouldn't listen; even if Kirisame is put under the vow of not harming humans, he wouldn't listen. To him, that was a child of a rapist who ruined his daughter's life forever; and to him, I was a mere traitor to the whole village.
Of course, people would've opted to kill their child just to survive another day, but... All those twelve years... Those were the happiest years of my entire life. To see the child that you gave a second chance grows into something beautiful. To see that child get happier and happier about their life, even if they had to hide their nature. To see that child just be alive and well in general, to see it smile. I wouldn't trade it for the life under that oppressive scumbag that should've known better.
I immediately grabbed Kirisame and ran away from the village and they gave chase. Kirisame was crying heavily and begged for forgiveness. While I was angry at them for breaking the rule and ruining any chance of normalcy, I couldn't bring myself to even shout at them for their misbehaviour. I cradled them while I ran, saying that it'll be all right. However these people were starting to catch up to me and I felt like I wasn't going to make it with them in my hands. I hid Kirisame in the cave that had thick foliage and told them to stay here for two weeks; after which they can go out and look for me.
"These people will kill you if you get caught, so do not go out before 14 days under any circumstances. If they find their way into the cave, hide between the rocks and don't make a sound."
"O-Okay... I'm sorry, Myonji..."
"Don't be. Stay put, okay, sweetheart? Remember 14 days and you can search for me. I might even come back to the cave myself, alright? Just don't go anywhere near the villages, especially our home."
With that, I ran towards the pursuers and deterred them from the location of the cave. I was making good progress in running away from them until...
"GAH!"
I fell into the pike trap, luckily meant for smaller prey as it would've pierced me through my body. Still, I was crippled and the pursuing party caught up to me. They had captured me and when a hunter asked what was wrong, the chieftain told him that I was a filthy traitor, unworthy of faith and took me away.
"So? What are you going to do with me, a traitor that is unworthy of faith?"
"Oh-ho-ho... I had waited for this exact moment, the moment when the Wadano clan would become obsolete... I have hated your guts ever since we got settled in. What was he thinking when he blessed the weakest branch to be the closest to him? We had to make this island prosper, we had to make this island not crumble to dust with how low our manpower was back then; while you guys were only just doing nothing to contribute to us. "But we deliver blessings, blah-blah-blah", you never done anything sufficient. Blessings are temporary, while we were working on permanent solutions. And you! Oh you... To be born a mere freak! Well, I suppose it is a blessing in disguise because your reign will end NOW!"
"W-What?!"
When I was carried back to the village I saw a rather terrifying sight - a noose hanging on the tree. Everyone had gathered towards this tree, and it was pretty obvious who will end up on this noose. I pledged for my life, trying to remind people about the reign of the Wadano clan and its servitude to these people, but they were far too gone. To them it all didn't matter, they were an extension to that man's hatred. While it's true that the Kurogane clan had kick-started the development of this island, being the first clan to be stranded post Wadanojin's crew - it wasn't fair. That's when I finally let out my anger.
"Is that so? Well then. Listen to me, you filthy outsiders: you do not own this land. All of you stand in the palm of Wadanojin, and to kill me means that you'll incur the wrath of him. Considering that you, literal snakes, won't listen, I hope that you'll all die by his hand, ALL OF YOU!"
The chieftain was angered and decided to use my body as an impromptu Teru-Teru-Bozu doll and put a white cloth over my head. My death wasn't quick, I felt the rope pressuring my neck as I gasped for air while everyone was booing me and throwing rocks at my body - so I prayed to him. I prayed that my vengeance will be delivered, and these people will apologise to me, to him.
And to Kirisame.