Ai opened her eyes to the sky which glowed a deep purple. 

“Pst.” Someone nudged her. 

Ai groaned for not being given due time to process her awakening. She felt irritated, floating on her back in the lake and prickling with cold. She rolled her eyes and forced herself to engage in human interaction. 

“What is it, Ri?” Ai tried to smile even as murky water splashed onto her face in her attempt to face her comrade. After four years trapped under the curse of a crane, she didn’t even care if the freshwater went down her throat. 

Ri waded in the water, upright and with a tight expression. She indicated with her head. “It’s the wizard,” she whispered loudly.

Ai immediately swung her head in the direction that Ri was eye-balling. The other girls who were either on the grass or wading alongside Ai had given a wide berth to one directional spot. 

In the dark, a large bird shifted, then grew. The smile Ai had forced for her friend transformed into a scowl at the ginger haired man in a tailored, black suit. Rothbart stood tall and proud like the tyrant he was. He’d come to see them every night. Like a silent hawk, he was creepy and undignified.

“What do you want?” Ai demanded with clenched jaws which failed to keep her teeth from chattering. Ai told herself that it was the cold freshwater that sent a chill down her spine and not the wizard. Acknowledging fear was like accepting it.

The wizard didn’t immediately reply and instead snapped his fingers. Seven, identical cotton gowns of different colors flew into view at once. 

“Don’t be so hostile,” the wizard spoke like a businessman. “I’ve only come to provide the usual, basic necessities,” Rothbart nodded at the simple, but elegant robes dangling midair. 

The girls were already wearing gowns given to them by the wizard which Ai had to admit were not only beautiful and strange, but comfortable. However, with the way the wizard color-coded the girls with these gowns, Ai felt she and the girls were like a herd of cattle. 

Ai folded her arms, trying not to shiver in the night’s cold air. “You’re here earlier than usual.” 

Rothbart again, did not immediately say something in return. However, when he spoke, it surprised Ai as it was simple and she believed him when he said, “There are pressing matters at hand.”

Ri and the other girls were looking at Ai for permission to accept the new batch of clothes. The wizard was already waving his hand to manipulate a thick, white sheet for a makeshift dressing room. 

Ai waded to the shore and pushed herself out of the water. She took her own colored gown with wet hands and silently strode into the dressing room. The others followed.

The makeshift dressing room was a collection of bedsheets suspended like a ghostly cylinder in the night. Each girl disposed of their previous dress which was soaked from the lake’s water, then slipped their new gown over their head. 

Soon Rothbart had retreated into the shadows with a basket full of the girls’ soiled clothes and each girl emerged dry and clean. Sakura in pink, Ri in yellow, Mako in blue, Momo in lilac, Nana in green, and Kaori sauntered from within the dressing room wearing a robe the color of persimmon.

When all the girls had gathered, they went to perch on a rock or to settle on a dry patch of land. Ai went on her way to climb a great oak tree in her new crimson robe. 

Ai hated her given color. She despised the color of her dress. It felt like a target on her back. Her dress, like the others’, was cotton and felt like silk. It was red like a ripe apple in autumn, but also looked like Rothbart might have dyed it by dipping it in fresh blood. The skirts tangled in the tree’s branches and Ai’s heart sang at the idea that she was so quickly ruining the evil man’s gift. A small joy. 

Small joys were what Ai would need to survive another four years trapped under this curse. 

A small rustling came from behind her, and then suddenly, all the girls were clamoring the edge of the lake. 

Ai almost fell from the tree as someone screamed. She clung to a thick branch,  trying to see through all the greenery in order to figure out what went on below her. A shadow became visible, crossing beneath her and approaching her friends. 

At first, Ai thought that Rothbart had returned and was going to get rid of them once and for all, but then she noticed that this one wore not an ounce of black and he held something in his hands. Ai squinted to see better and her heart leapt to her throat as she realized what it was that the man held. A gun!

“Shhh…” shushed the man in a not-so-quiet voice. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.” 

Ai’s eyebrows furrowed. Fear escaped her as irritation towards the man’s tone of voice grew. Some of the more sensible girls like Mako and Kaori, reacted as if they were feeling the same way, folding their arms and standing their ground. 

Ai pushed against the large trunk of the tree and leapt from the great oak, propelling herself over her friends and the uninvited guest. 

Four years of living under a curse, especially one that isolates a person with only a select few, provides room for boredom and untapped curiosity. So Ai had taken to practicing parkour every night when she was human. After landing unharmed on both legs, it was an uncontrollable proud grin that Ai gave when she faced the stranger for the first time. 

“Are you angels or witches?” asked the man.

Ai tried to push down the urge to relentlessly beat down the stranger. Seven young women should be able to take on one man. Rifle or not. However, this stranger could just be a lost traveler. Maybe he too saw nothing but seven girls out past midnight. 

“Are those the only two options?” Ai scoffed, smile souring. “Who are you to enter our forest?” 

“Your forest?” The man stepped closer, forcing everyone to collectively step back. “So you are witches claiming the king's land.”

Ai burst into a nervous chuckle. “I see that you are not only rude, but extremely stupid.” Behind Ai, the other girls exchanged looks. However, no one dared to talk. The man was still holding a rifle, which glinted in the crescent moonlight.

Ai also came to notice that the man still carried his weapon. And the man noticed her noticing. He immediately set the weapon at his feet and held his hands up. 

“I apologize,” said the stranger. “I now realize how rude I’d been.”

“Then I hope you would properly introduce yourself,” said Ai.

“I’m a hunter,” replied the man.

Ai looked to Ri who shrugged and then to Mako who slowly shook her head. Ai coughed into her fist before continuing. 

“Sir, you are no longer in the forest. You are now in the outskirts of Hikizu village.”

“I am…?” The man fidgeted with his sleeve which looked unusually decorated for a kimono belonging to someone who was just a hunter. “I hadn’t realized.”

Ai folded her arms. 

The man chuckled. “Actually, to be honest, I don’t go hunting often so I must be lost. I’m a simple hunter, truly, but my true profession is a soldier. I’m one of the prince’s samurai.” He bowed. “My name is Kenjiya Kenta.” He bowed.

“Kenta?” said Ai.

“Yes?”

“Please leave.”

The man dropped his gaze to his feet, then glanced back up. He shrugged. “I suppose I should get going.”

Ai found this unnerving because she’d expected some sort of protest. 

“Did you… Did you perhaps see something?” Ai asked.

Kenta looked at her squarely in the eye and tilted his head. “Like what?”

Ai shook her head. “Nothing.”

But still, Ai’s frown deepened and her palms were clammy like something was wrong, she could feel it. 

Ai forced herself to not to look down at the weapon lying at their feet. He was a hunter, and they were birds. Birds that just turned into humans. Or humans that could turn into birds. However the man would see it, if he knew, it would lead to some sort of trouble.

“You know, most young women offer to let me stay the night at such a late hour,” said the man. 

“I thought we were done talking,” said Ai curtly. And when the man didn’t immediately move, she added, “Leave. Before the sun even begins to rise.” 

Kenta pulled his shoulders back and took a step backwards towards the forest. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but then he finally turned and stepped into the foliage. When the girls could no longer hear the man’s footsteps, the cry of an eagle sounded in the distance like a warning.