Komachi would have been the first to admit that unless disturbed, the waters of the Sanzu flowed about as slowly as the mists above them. But flow they did.
Not that Komachi had thought much about the river that day. She had barely managed to keep her attention on rowing during her first crossing in the morning, which meant she needed a break. Which was why she had spent the past several hours at perfect ease, ambling along the shoreline and looking for both unusual spirits and future napping spots. One of the greatest pleasures in life was accepting lazy days as they were.
She gazed into the river. The permanent fog had thinned just enough in places that an observant eye could see the river surface glittering in the noontime light. She took a moment to appreciate the dazzle.
Then she turned her head and saw a dim silhouette in the mist ahead, standing half up before crouching back down.
Komachi sighed and changed her trajectory towards it. Another suicidal fool come to take their life by the river? A treasure hunter? Just someone hopelessly lost? "Oy!"
The figure straightened up, close enough that Komachi saw the outline of animal ears. A youkai, then, or else a human with an unconventional hairstyle. Whichever the case was, they waved at Komachi.
Komachi closed the distance. "What are you doing over here?"
The mists parted, revealing a youkai with braided hair and wearing a dress the colour of pine needles. The combination of feline features and the barrow lying sideways next to her painted a rather decisive picture of her exact nature.
She grinned at Komachi. "How's it going, sis?"
Komachi made sure the kasha could see the gleam of her scythe. "Strange place for you to be looking for corpses."
"Don't worry about it! I ain't gonna bother ya."
"You say that now." Still, Komachi smiled. The kasha's cheer was infectious. "What's your name?"
"Call me Orin. Nice to meetcha!"
Komachi glanced at what exactly Orin had scrounged up from the muddy riverbank. There was a piece of blue ribbon, badly stained, and a golden bangle which most scavengers would have called their crowning achievement of the year. Orin had discarded both to the side like they were little more than rancid seaweed.
"You're not going to find what you want." Making Orin leave by force would only mean she would sneak back in later, most likely at the worst possible time. It was best to try talking sense first. "We don't get corpses here. Those who drown in the Sanzu never return to the surface."
"Really?" Orin's ears drooped. Regardless, she kept digging as close to the water as was possible without touching it. "You sure about that, sis?"
"You know it." Komachi resisted a sudden urge to pick up the ribbon and drag it across the ground to see if Orin would chase it. "We're in different lines of business. I ferry souls to Higan, not bodies."
"Those often come hand in hand."
"I suppose someone could have drowned here while I was on the other side." Komachi placed her scythe against the ground and leaned into it. "Even then, the river swallows up everything. No soul I've had to kick out of my boat was ever seen again, so there's no way a corpse—"
It was at that exact moment that she saw the pale hand Orin unearthed from the mud.
Stupefaction and amazement danced hand in hand as she watched Orin grab the exposed wrist and pull the body out of the river.
Orin stepped back and smiled. "See? I knew—" A sudden hush fell over her.
Komachi rubbed her eyes, then rubbed them again because she was still seeing things. It didn't help. The corpse had golden hair and was clad in white and red. Its expression was peaceful, if oddly wistful, with no signs of what might have caused its demise. There wasn't even a hint of decomposition: in any other situation, the corpse could have passed for someone merely asleep.
Komachi crouched down next to Orin, half to get a better look at the corpse, half simply because she suddenly felt weak in the knees. The corpse radiated an inexplicable golden glow, so piercing it coloured the surrounding mist.
Her first impression of Amaterasu in disguise was easy enough to dismiss. "A kirin, maybe?" Not that it explained why the corpse was so pristine. "Better let her dry out and bury her." Assuming she was dead. Komachi couldn't shake the feeling something wasn't right about this.
"No need to worry about that!" Without hesitation, Orin picked up the corpse. As she did so, Komachi saw that not only did it not have a speck of mud on it, but it was also as dry as if it lain in the desert for a month.
She woke up. "Hey!" She grabbed Orin's shoulder as the kasha picked up the barrow and tossed the body onto it. "I told you that you can't take anything from here."
Orin yanked herself free. "Ya didn't, actually." Her smile was as glowing as the corpse was. "Don't worry about it, sis. I'm just doing my job like you do yours." She took the handles of the barrow, then leaned forward to rub her cheek against the top of the corpse's head. "Can't leave a treasure like this behind. See ya!"
And without further ado, she rushed away with a burst of tengu-like speed.
Komachi sucked air in through her teeth and gave chase. She liked distractions from monotony as much as the next person, but this one was actually kind of serious. Just what would her boss say if—
"Komachi!"
Those three stern syllables, uttered in the exact same cadence as they had been a thousand times before, halted Komachi dead in her tracks. Even without seeing her, she could feel Eiki approaching like a small but very determined stormcloud.
"I haven't seen a single new soul on the other side!" Eiki's face, usually calm and genial even when speaking to inveterate sinners, was drawn into a tight frown. "You have been slacking off the entire day again!"
Komachi flinched as she felt her sins crawling on her back. Usually, she preferred to leap head-first into grovelling, but today, there was more at stake than her poor ears. "I'm sorry! I know I've screwed up, but right now—"
"No excuses, Komachi." The sharpness of Eiki's words could have cut through steel. "You know exactly what kind of damage your laziness causes to your soul..."
By the time Komachi got another word in edgewise, Orin and her barrow were long gone, leaving behind nothing but a set of fading prints in the mud.