A couple of had passed since Alex came into contact with the ghost girl.

In the time that had elapsed since then, that was the only thing on the boy's mind as be continued to tour the village.

'That spirit certainly was an odd one. Just who exactly does she want me to free? That grave she appeared in front off, is she the ghost of that grave? The Kanji on the tomb was a little hard to read at first, but eventually I figured it out as, "Yae Rin". Could she be related to Yae Sakura? I should ask her about this once she's done.' Thought the boy.

As he continued to walk about, he noticed that one of the village houses had its sliding door just slightly opened, so to satiate his curiosity, Alex took a peek inside and saw Yae and other village folk, presumably higher ups among the village, all sitting on the floor gathered around one another.

'This must be that meeting that Sakura went to attend.' Thought Alex as he listened in.

"This village didn't have a single problem with monsters until that kid showed up!" Shouted a male.

"That child must be a harbinger of ruin! He must be cast away immediately!" Said another male.

"Those beasts killed my husband! We must make the dark haired boy pay!" Shouted a female.

Alex was naturally confused as to how his appearance apparently caused the village to descend into chaos, though Yae Sakura took all of their comments with a straight face as she gave a response.

"There's no proof that the monster attacks were caused by the dark haired boy." She said which caused the other members to voice their frustrations.

"You must be kidding! There's no need for any investigation! You're the Miko of the village! You're supposed to protect us!" Said another male.

Yae simply bowed in response.

"Please allow me some more time. I'll look into this monster attack and assure you all that it will come to an end." She said.

"Lady Miko, though that boy may have nothing to do with the monster attacks, don't forget that the Day of Offering is fast approaching." Said a male, seemingly the organizer of this meeting, who sat directly across from Yae.

Upon hearing his words, Yae gained a cautions tone.

"Father.........I-I mean, Master, do you plan to use him as an offering?" Asked Yae.

The organizer kept quiet for a bit, before sighing as he resumed speaking.

"The village hasn't received a single drop of rain in three months. It's a sign that the Gods have made their intentions very clear. That boy isn't just a mere passerby. He's a gift from the from the heavens." He said.

"B-But.............." was all Yae could say before the organizer resumed speaking.

"We must satiate the gods in order to avoid disaster. We either offer up the outsider, or we'll have to offer up another young girl from within the village, just like your sister Rin, who gladly gave up her life for the village. Do you really wish for her sacrifice to be in vain?"

Upon hearing the name Rin, Yae lost all her composure, holding her hands up to her head to cover her ears, seemingly hearing voices in her head as she hunched over, breathing heavily and beginning to hyperventilate.

After witnessing this, Alex knew that he had to step in, so in an instant he swung the sliding door open and barged in.

"Alright that's enough!" He shouted, gaining everyone's attention and snapping Yae back to normal.

"You all shouldn't be putting all of this pressure on Yae! She's trying her absolute best to figure out this situation which is better than all of you who just seem to wanna sit around and argue for the sake of arguing! Not only that, but what's up with suddenly accusing me for starting the problem and then immediately wanting to offer me up as a sacrifice!? I've barely gotten here and haven't done a damn thing to tip any of y'all off! As far as I'm concerned, you all are just looking for a scapegoat to make your failures!" Stated Alex.

Yae looked at Alex in shock that he'd come in for her defense.

Unfortunately, his speech didn't do anything to calm anyone down, if anything it only riled them up even more.

"H-How dare the outsider accuse us of the problem!" Said a female villager.

"His blasphemy will doom our village!"

"The outsider is a demon! A curse! Just look at his ominous dark hair!"

"You devil! You killed my husband! You're a vile murderer!"

All of this hate immediately got to Alex as he began to frantically panic.

'Ah shit I didn't think they'd get riled up THIS badly!' He thought to himself.

"We shall feed the gods with this demon!"

In an instant, Alex saw a rock being flung at full force straight at him.

With no time to dodged, the boy was prepared to take the hit head on, only for Yae to get in the way and take the hit instead, as the rock collided with her head, causing blood to immediately spill over the right side of Yae's face.

"Y-Yae!" Shouted Alex as he immediately rushed over to her side.

Though she was clearly in pain, she simply shrugged it off with heavy sides as she put a hand to her wound and looked back up at the Organizer.

"Master..............please, give me time to prepare." She said slowly.

The Organizer simply gave her a look of disgust as he sighed.

"Fine. We'll conclude the meeting here." He said.

Everyone there got up and proceeded to leave as Alex tried his best to attend to Yae's wound.

Before the organizer left, he turned around to face Yae.

"Lady Miko, I know this boy reminds you of that girl, but don't forget. Your duty is to protect this village. Your foolish choices are costing us dearly. I'm the only reason that we're all still alive. I knew you were trying to kill me, but your desire to live foiled your plans. That boy gave you some sweet, sweet hope. Unfortunately, once I consume his soul, you'll become my plaything Sakura. We'll be together for all eternity."

[TimeSkip: Night Time]

"Are you sure it's safe for you to head out on your own? The villagers are getting extremely hostile, and I'm kinda the reasons things escalated even further than what they already were." Said Alex, asking Yae if she really was safe heading out for a walk on her own.

Yae simply shook her head and reassured him.

"Don't worry Alex. It's like I said back at the meeting. I'll address and handle the situation. Please, just go reat up now. I wouldn't want to endanger you any further." Said Yae.

Alex sighed, knowing it was better to trust her judgement as he nodded.

"Alright fine. Just please, stay safe and don't get into any trouble." He said.

"No worries I'll be fine. You have a good night Alex."

With that, the two bid each other a good night as Yae walked off and Alex walked into the village house he was currently staying in as he got into his bed and slept.

Hours had passed, and though he was in a deep sleep by now, he could still sense the area around him, so when he felt a faint hand touch his head, instead of jolting awake in shook, he stayed asleep with a smile, as he heard a voice speak to him from within his head.

"Oh. It seems my appearance was expected."

"Yeah, it was. I had a feeling you'd come back to me to clear things up, Yae Rin."

Chapter 2: Complete