So Similar Yet So Different

Chapter 2 ᓚ₍⑅^..^₎♡

Matamune's tail twitched in amusement. "Show-off," he muttered, though not without affection. "Still, practical."

"You have no idea," Yoh sighed. "Though it's not exactly something I can demonstrate at home. Grandpa would have an aneurysm."

Their conversation was abruptly interrupted when Yoh turned a corner and collided bodily with someone. There was a tangle of limbs, a surprised yelp, and then they were both sprawled in the snow.

"Ow...that's gonna leave a mark," Yoh groaned, rubbing his backside. He looked up to apologize to his collision victim and froze. The girl looked exactly like his kā-san from his first life.

She stood in one fluid motion, brushing snow from her kimono with sharp, irritated movements, and glared at him. "Shut up. You're blocking traffic. Die." Her voice was as cold as the Aomori winter.

Yoh scrambled backward so fast he nearly slipped again, his face paling then flushing in quick succession. Matamune could only facepaw at the scene. He recognized this girl immediately, of course.

As she turned to leave, Yoh mustered his courage and called out, "Wait! Hold on! Who are you?"

She paused just long enough to throw a glacial look over her shoulder. "Don't try to get friendly. I'll kill you, shaman." And with that, she was gone around the corner, leaving only the echo of her threat hanging in the frosty air.

"I...uh..." Yoh stared at the empty space where she'd been, mouth working soundlessly.

Matamune's whiskers twitched with barely contained amusement. "Yoh-sama, I believe I should mention...that was your fiancée."

Yoh's face went through a remarkable series of color changes before settling on a shade of white that would make fresh snow look gray by comparison. His mouth opened and closed several times before managing a strangled: "...She's going to murder me, isn't she?"

Matamune patted his leg consolingly. "Only if you're lucky."

***TIMESKIP***

The duo continued on their way to the inn run by Yoh's grandmother, Kino Asakura, Yoh trying to regain some semblance of composure after his encounter with the future Mrs. Asakura. As they walked along the seaside, Yoh suddenly shivered, an ominous feeling prickling at the back of his neck. "Did you feel that?" he whispered to Matamune, who was still buried in his book.

Matamune looked up, his brow furrowed. "Feel what?" He asked.

Yoh looked around warily, "Never mind." He muttered. After a few more minutes, the feeling intensified, and the next thing they knew, an oni was charging towards Yoh, hell-bent on shoving him into the ocean.

Yoh stared for a moment, his brain momentarily short-circuiting. Then, he snapped his fingers. The oni was instantly snatched up by the Spirit of Earth, which materialized behind it with a rumble.

"Well, I guess that explains the feeling I had," Yoh said dryly, staring at the struggling oni in his Guardian Spirit's grasp.

"That much negative energy, enough to form an oni?" Matamune raised an eyebrow, his gaze sharp.

Yoh clenched his fist, and the Spirit of Earth crushed the oni in its hand, reducing it to dust. He turned to Matamune, forcing a smile. "There must be a reason for all this negativity. But I'm not about to let some random onis endanger my grandmother and..." He swallowed hard, "and my fiancé," The word tasting like ash in his mouth. "I'm definitely going to investigate this."

The way he stumbled over "fiancé" would have been amusing if not for the steel in his voice. Matamune studied his charge - this boy who could dispatch a demon without breaking stride yet blushed at the thought of marriage - and felt a surge of pride. "Never change, Yoh-sama," he said softly, "Never change." And with that, they continued on towards the inn, the snow swirling around them like a silent promise of trouble to come.

***TIMESKIP***

Anna Kyōyama was normally a reserved girl. She didn't care for surprises. The world was already loud enough without unexpected encounters cluttering her carefully ordered existence. Yet today, as she made her routine trip to purchase candles for her shishō, Fate had other plans.

The boy was... different. In ways she couldn't immediately articulate.

First, there was the Nekomata trailing him like some bizarre bodyguard - spirits of that caliber didn't simply accompany humans without reason. But the real violation of nature's laws came when she instinctively reached for his thoughts... and found nothing.

Nothing.

For sixteen years, Anna's mind had been a prison with glass walls, forced to witness every passing thought, every hidden emotion from everyone around her. The shopkeeper's financial worries, a child's birthday excitement, a wife's secret resentment - they all crashed against her consciousness like waves against rocks. Worst were the dark emotions that coagulated into physical manifestations, the onis that formed from humanity's collective bitterness.

It was why she'd become a recluse, only venturing out of the inn when absolutely necessary.

But around this boy—silence. Not just the absence of noise, but a deep, enveloping quiet that seemed to swallow the world's chaos whole. For the first time in her sixteen years, Anna's mind was her own. No intrusive thoughts, no screaming emotions—not even the constant hum of her own anxieties. Just...peace.

The moment lasted only until she stepped away, when the mental barrage came crashing back with punishing force. Anna stiffened, her fingers tightening around the candle package as she rebuilt her mental defenses brick by painful brick. Yet even as the noise returned, something new lingered—a fragile hope, like the first thaw of spring after endless winter.

How cruel, she thought, that this reprieve came from a stranger when she was already promised to another. Some Yoh Asakura she'd never met—what were the chances he could offer her this same solace?

Unable to resist, Anna found herself trailing the pair at a distance. She told herself she was just taking the scenic route back to the inn, but when they neared the seaside path, a violent surge of negativity struck like a physical blow. A couple's bitter argument nearby sent waves of dark energy crashing through her mental barriers. Anna gasped, clutching her head, her eyes squeezed shut. She forced herself to push down the pain, to build the mental walls that had become her only defense. After a while, the influx subsided, and she looked up.

To her horror, an oni, one she was sure she'd inadvertently created, was attacking the duo from behind. She was about to shout a warning when the boy snapped his fingers.

Anna wondered what that was supposed to do.

To her astonishment, a massive, rocky brown spirit materialized out of thin air and snatched the oni up like it was a pesky fly, crushing it in its hand.

"Wow..." she breathed, still staring after the duo, even though they were almost out of sight. She sighed in disappointment and turned away, deciding to take a longer route back to the inn. If only that boy was her husband-to-be instead of the blasted Asakura.

Done 8/5/2025

Edited 11/6/2025