Madame Waldegrave
A Certain Elegent Maid
Mornings in the Hera Temple are fairly routine.
Before the sun even rises, Rykari Nikki sneaks back to her room to collapse immediately into a deep sleep that won’t be disturbed till at least noon, at which time she’ll promptly deny any sneaking of any kind to anyone who asks, anyone who does not ask, and occasionally to her own frazzled reflection.
Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days out of the year, Suzumiya Hijiri is the first in the temple ready to take on the day. The other eleven days of the year, are justly exempted for the requirements that put her in the running for the title of Sargosso’s “Best Morning Person”. Eight of these days are spent on her missionary trips to Requiem, in which the lack of sunlight throws off her internal clock, thus mornings and evenings really have no meaning to her. Two of these days are her well earned sick days, on which she’ll sleep in much later, and wake at a still admittedly early time of 10AM. The last of those days is spent helping Kyoko Ibaraki hurriedly finish her Forlorn Echoes T-shirt that the she annually decides to remake for the largest show she performs at, the Autumn Festival, then annually procrastinates remaking until the very last night. When this time of year rolls around, Hijiri and Kyoko will hurriedly work until dawn’s light on the shirt, then both will inevitably collapse and only wake when it’s just about time for Kyoko to get on stage (which will lead to more rush and panic.)
Kyoko is usually the next to rise. This time of the morning is always filled with loud yawns and groans that can be heard from anywhere in the temple. The yamabiko’s echoing voice is a type of wake up call for the remainder of the temple.
Before long, Selene’s head pops out of her room. A usual sight in the morning is her raven hair messy and stuck up at impossible angles. A less usual sight, although admittedly not all that uncommon, is her transparent forest green hair messy and stuck up at impossible angles. On nights the captain doesn’t sleep well, her physical body seems to laze away, leaving only a grainy green specter with a very groggy complexion. Although everyone in the temple is too accustomed to this sight to get spooked by her ghoulish appearance, on the occasion, when Selene is especially worn out, her body will opt out of existing much at all, and will flicker through walls, people, bullets, and the occasional small animal. Again, the residents of the temple are familiar with this and have come to expect it from time to time, but that doesn’t prevent the occasional jump-scare when a sleep deprived Selene suddenly appears breathing down their necks.
After Selene comes Shou Hanari, and subsequently Ash, her roommate, follows right after her. Most people suspect that Ash would rather sleep in till the noon sun bakes her room to an unignorable heat, as she was the furthest thing from a morning person. But, Shou’s morning routine was apparently too noisy for her to sleep through. They would head down to breakfast the same way they did anything else, as a pair.
Klemintynia Kumoi and Smoug appear next. Klem, in her chipper mood as always, and Smoug in his Smoug mood as always. Every morning, Klem’s grin announces “I’ve just had the best sleep of my life!” and then her grin parts as she opens her lips to say “I’ve just had the best sleep of my life!” Which might have gotten annoying if it had been anyone else, but Klem’s aura and admittedly cute chubby cheeks made it tolerable. Also, the fact that immediately after her announcement she would go to work preparing coffee for the entire temple definitely sweetens the deal.
Once in a blue moon, Twynog Machinov would join the rest of the temple for breakfast. This is always unexpected, as the bag-of-bones War God had a habit of disappearing for days on end. He would just vanish from the temple unannounced, then reappear equally unannounced. On the rare days he is very much in existence at the table, this usually rouses Rykari from her slumber, and the tanuki joins in on the meal and occasionally on the conversation, although admittedly sluggishly.
Today was not one of those days. Neither Twynog nor Rykari had come for breakfast. As usual, it passed without incident. The Autumn Festival wasn’t for a few weeks, so there was no hurried panic there. Just as well, Selene seemed to have a decent night of sleep so her entire being was present. All in all, ordinary.
After the dishes were cleaned and put away, Hijiri excused herself and moved to the front of the shrine to greet any early visitors. Kyoko trotted along behind her at her heels, ears bouncing a bit with each step.
Hijri slowed her steps a little so the yamabiko’s short legs could keep up.
They exited through the front door to be met with a single pair of humans standing by the enormous green tinted bonsho bell. The humans had their heads bowed in a silent prayer. Not wanting to disturb them, Hijiri and Kyoko hung back and allowed them their privacy.
Kyoko looked up at the sky with a little huff of disappointment.
“Looks like rain.” She murmured quietly, although Kyoko’s “quiet” isn’t quite that.
Hijiri looked up as well.
Indeed there were grey clouds approaching, there was a slight breeze in the air that carried the scent of ozone. It swept the hair gently out of their faces then set the windchimes nearby in motion. Hijiri nodded.
“It would seem so.” She agreed.
Kyoko huffed again and left Hijiri’s side. She disappeared momentarily behind a large wooden support column. Hijiri caught sight of her tail bobbing as she reappeared from behind it, only to be obscured again by the side of the building as she apparently had decided to go fetch her broom and get a start on sweeping before the rain hit.
Hijiri brought her eyes back to the humans and was glad to see they had planned ahead and brought an umbrella with them. The last time she had lent out umbrellas to visitors caught in a downpour, she had gotten quite a scolding from the karakasa-obake that occasionally stayed in the temple when a pair of children had lost their umbrella and failed to return it.
The humans looked up from their prayer and met eyes with her. She gave them a warm smile and bow before approaching. They bowed back when she stopped in front of them.
The humans were familiar to her. One was a young woman named Hamako. She had a plain flat face with straight black hair that was pulled back in a messy ponytail that had undoubtedly been jostled by the wind that had started picking up. The other was a stout elderly woman with white hair, her mother named Gen, although everyone who knew her addressed her as Gran, Hijiri had even caught Twynog calling her this from time to time.
They were regulars at the shrine. Hijiri had even personally held the ceremony for Gran’s husband when he passed away. Hijiri knew that Hamako had a little girl that was almost always at her side, she was surprised to see that the child was not there.
Their expressions equally surprised Hijiri. They were difficult to read.
Hijiri Suzumiya blinked and opened her mouth to speak, but the old woman cut her off.
“Glad to see the temples still standin’.” She nodded in the direction of the Hera Temple as if to say “this temple” to clear up any confusion that there might be, even though the nearest temple was several miles away.
“Oh?” Hijiri blinked, but before she could say anything more, Hamako spoke up.
“Did you hear the news? There was a small earthquake. No buildings in the village were damaged at all, but out a ways I’ve heard a few barns collapsed.”
“Oh my.” Hijiri put her hand over her mouth. “When?”
“Just ‘fore dawn.” Gran nodded again, this time to herself. “Was more a tremor really. Those barns musta been pretty weak ta have not survived it. Most’f us didn’t even wake up. Only knew ‘bout it from the farmers who were ‘ready in their fields. Well, and the broken barns. But no one ‘as hurt.”
Hamako nodded. “They said most of the damage was around here. But I guess your shrine was stronger than those barns.” She gave a small smile, “Were you awake? Did you not feel it?”
Hijiri thought back to earlier, but couldn’t recall any type of tremor, maybe she slept through it.
“I can’t recall anything out of the ordinary.” Hijiri said, then looked out down the stairs. There was a small break in the steps as they leveled out onto solid landing for a few feet. On that landing she could see the temple’s jizou statue standing against the wind. It had a red shawl wrapped around its shoulders that was flapping in the wind. Moss had grown up its base. At the very bottom the vegetation was green and healthy, but as it crept up higher it began to brown and dry with the summers close. She looked down past the steps that continued after that, but could see no one else coming. With rain on the way, and apparent damages that needed to be cleaned up, she could safely expect that Hamako and Gran were the only visitors she would have today.
While she was lost in that moment of thought, a raindrop landed on her nose, then another on the top of her head. Hamako and Gran apparently had felt the rain too as they started fumbling to get their umbrella open. Hijiri ushered them under the awning to keep them dry until they managed to open it.
It was a large red one made out of treated paper to keep the rain from soaking through it. Hijiri had to take a few steps back to avoid getting hit with it as Gran slung it over her shoulder as if it were a heavy bag. The next moment, Hamako huddled under it as well.
“We’ll be seeing you, Miss Hijiri.” She gave Hijiri a small polite bow, that the monk returned. “We’re glad your shrine wasn’t damaged.” She continued.
“Thank you for your concerns.” Hijiri gave them a smile. “I hope you get home safely.”
“Oh, we will.” Gran cackled. “I’m used to walkin’ around with a 4 year old clingin’ on my legs. A little rain won’t slow us down.” The pair stepped forward out from under the awning. Hijiri gave another little bow and watched them as they descended down the stairway and into the storm.
Above her, she heard a distant rumble of thunder. She decided that she needed to ask Rykari if she knew anything about the earthquake.
Hijiri made her way back inside. As she walked out from under the awning fat raindrops landed on her and soaked through the shoulders of her top. The wind had definitely picked up in the past few minutes. A gust blew against her side and her now damp hair clung haphazardly to her cheek.
As she opened the front door, she was shoved aside by Kyoko who was yowling loudly enough to make the windows shake.
The young girl stopped just inside the threshold and shook off what dampness she could, ears flapping violently with the motion.
Hijiri shielded her face with her hand as the yamabiko shook a wave of small droplets in her direction, then stepped inside once the threat of being splashed by her left.
“Sorry,” Kyoko said distractedly. She kicked off her geta and tucked them away in the nook by the door.
“It’s all right.” Hijiri said as she closed the door behind her.
Kyoko looked up at her and gave her a small guilty grin.
“Didn’t expect it to hit that hard! Sorry, no sweeping today.”
Hijiri chuckled a bit and shook her head.
“No worries, my child,” She bent down to remove her shoes as well. She tucked them away and dusted off her hands. “Just go dry yourself off.” She continued. “You remembered to bring in the laundry yesterday, right?”
There was a beat of silence, then Kyoko bolted back into the temple in the direction of the back door.
“SORRY!” Kyoko’s voice called back, unnecessarily loudly. The windows rattled again, but this time Hijiri could not tell if it was from Kyoko’s voice or from a large gust of wind.
She glanced out the windows as she made her way into the temple, storm clouds were nearly on top of them. She wondered where Twynog was, and if he was somewhere dry.
She decided she would say a prayer for him after she spoke with Rykari, and hurried along to the tanuki’s room.
Rykari’s room was a ways into the temple, along the way a sliding door leading out into the far garden had fallen and was in need of repair. Hijiri didn’t exactly ever get the full story of how it was knocked off its tracks and torn, but from what she gathered Shou had come in one night drunk enough to be reduced to a stumbling mess, and had fallen through the door.
Alcohol was, of course, forbidden by her teachings, but Shou did sometimes stray, and when she did it was always straight to the bar. But, bless her, she did try.
As Hijiri passed the fallen door, a gust of cool air blew in, casting raindrops onto the wooden floor. From somewhere outside, she heard Selene’s voice yelling about something. She must have gotten caught in the rain.
Rykari’s room wasn’t very far in from the broken door. Hijiri rounded the hallway’s corner and was met by it. She knocked a few times and waited for a reply.
“Miss Rykari, are you awake?” She called.
From inside there was movement, and a few groans. Hijiri waited.
A little more movement, Hijiri waited some more.
The movement stopped. Hijiri knocked again, hoping Rykari hadn’t fallen back asleep.
“Miss-” She began, but the movement started again. She heard footsteps, then the next moment, the tanuki opened the door.
Her hair was a mess and was even more unruly than usual, her ears were barely visible in the nest of curls. Her glasses were stuck haphazardly on the tip of her nose like she had just shoved them on her face (she had), and the loose tank top she was wearing was slipping off her shoulder.
Rykari hung onto the door as if she needed it for support, and her heavy lidded sleep filled eyes blinked at Hijiri slowly, as if they couldn’t stay open.
“Oh, Hijiri.” She yawned so widely it exposed all of her teeth.
Hijiri offered her a small bow.
“Sorry to wake you.”
“Nah, I wasn’t asleep. Didja need something?” Rykari stood up straight and scratched at her ear.
“Oh, yes, I was hoping to talk to you about something. Have a moment?” Hijiri asked.
“Uh,” Hijiri, scratched her ear again, then her chin, “Sure.”
“I was wondering, this morning you didn’t happen to feel an earthquake, did you?”
Rykari tightened her lips as if she were trying to stifle a yawn, and nudged her glasses up onto her nose a little.
“Oh, sure.” the tanuki answered, as if someone had just asked her if she enjoyed coffee.
Hijiri frowned a bit.
“You did?”
“Yeah, felt some shaking. Wasn’t really too much. Didn’t feel like much of an earthquake. Just thought the
Templar were throwing some kinda party down there, ya know.” Rykari shrugged, her glasses slid back down her nose. She didn’t adjust them again.
“Some humans said a few barns fell.”
“Which ones? The ones down the road? Hijiri, those things have been standing since..” She yawned, “I dunno, since a long time ago. A strong wind coulda blew ‘em down.”
HIjiri nodded.
“I suppose. Still, it’s terrible that they fell. I’ll probably head down to help clean up once this rain stops. Rykari, do you still have those thick work gloves?”
“Ugh uh,” Rykari’s brow furrowed she closed her eyes, it seemed this kind of thinking was a bit too difficult for her in this state. She fell quiet, apparently attempting to recall.
In this lull in the conversation, Hijiri heard Selene’s voice again, still coming from outside. She turned her head a little to try to make out what she was saying, but to no avail. It definitely didn’t sound like the voice of someone who was just caught in the rain. And anyway, by now she should have made it inside.
“Miss Rykari.” Byakuren said suddenly.
Rykari’s eyes snapped open. She looked a bit startled as if she’d forgotten Byakuren was still standing there.
“Oh, uh.” she yawned again. “What were we-?”
“No worries.” Hijiri waved it off. “Please excuse me.” She turned to leave but stopped after a few steps.
“You should get some rest.”
Rykari’s door slid shut half an instant later in response. Hijiri smiled a bit, then continued on to the broken door. She listened, straining her ear to hear where Selene’s voice was coming from. She seemed to be somewhere out in front of the shrine.
Hijiri began heading that way through the temple.
From a hallway just up ahead, rapid footsteps were headed in her direction. A moment later, Klemintynia rounded the corner at top Klem speed, and nearly toppled into Hijiri.
“You need to come quick!” she panted, and took Hijiri’s hand. She tugged her forward and broke into a sprint again. Hijiri struggled to keep up with her, and not trip over her feet in front of her.
“What’s wrong?” Hijiri’s voice came out worried. Klem was leading her to the front of the temple.
“The jizou statue!” Klem called back, she released Hijiri’s hand to shove the front doors open, the movement slowed her down just for a brief moment, then she was rapidly picking up speed again, sprinting towards the front steps.
Hijiri followed her equally as fast, slick mud soaked through her socks as her feet carried her forward.
Just up ahead Hijiri could see smoke in the direction they were heading.
Sure enough, a moment later flames came into view.
The jizou statue was completely engulfed in flames, its shawl was charred black and barely hanging on, the moss at it’s base was completely gone.
Standing just a few feet away from it was Selene, who was frantically trying to extinguish it with her ladle. She glanced over, and relief flashed across her face when she saw Klem and Hijiri heading in her direction.
The two hurried down the steps to meet her.
The jizou statue was hissing angrily at the rain, enormous clouds of smoke and steam poured from it.
Selene tried spraying it again with her ladle, but the flames just roared in intensity and licked angrily at the water, a white steam erupted from where the water had hit.
The smoke stung at their eyes, Klemintynia had to cover hers and look away as they teared up in a burning mess.
“Lightning?!” Hijiri called over the chaos.
“I don’t know!” Selene hollered back, “I saw smoke and it was already on fire when I got here! It just won’t go out!”
Klem looked up, with watery eyes at the blaze and called, “We need to smother it!”
Hijiri hurriedly reached in her top and pulled out a spellcard. She used it, a moment later, a large purple tinted transparent bubble encircled the entirety of the jizou statue. Rain pattered against the top of the bubble and rolled off of it.
The three standing around the statue panted.
“We’ll just wait till it uses up all the oxygen.” Hijiri said. Both Klem and Selene didn’t respond, they only stared and watched the statue as it continued to blacken in the flames.
A few long moments later, the fire weakened and flickered, then a second after that went out completely. Black smoke filled the bubble opaque.
They all let out a collective sigh. Hijiri let the bubble fall, and the smoke pooled out.
The group watched as it spiraled up against the rain in thick heavy clouds.
The rain was coming down harder now, it steadily increased into a downpour. The steaming mess of the
statue continued to hiss angrily, but any embers that lived on were drowned.
Hijiri, Klemintynia, and Selene headed up the stairs and entered the temple in silence.
Once dried, Hijiri, Selene, Klem, and Kyoko made their way to the sitting room, and seated themselves on white zabuton cushions at a low oak table. The room was lit in a pale light cast in from the dreary outside.
Rain pattered against a long window on the far wall, occasionally a low rumble of thunder would drift in, but it seemed that the worst part of the storm had passed.
Klem had made tea, but no one had touched it, save for Kyoko who had downed hers immediately.
Hijiri looked around the group gathered and sighed. This apparently broke the silence, as Selene spoke up.
“I don’t think lightning started that.” She said in a low voice. She took her cup and took her first sip.
The rest of the group nodded. Kyoko got to her feet and made her way to the window to peer out. Hijiri watched her do this, but did not say anything, neither did Klem nor Selene.
Smoug trotted into the room, and ushered over to Klem. She greeted the fox youkai with a silent grin, then turned back to the group.
“I think the statue was coated in something flammable.” she announced. “The stone itself looked like it was on fire.”
Selene grunted in agreement.
“And whenever I sprayed it, it just sputtered and grew.” She said, and took another drink.
The group fell into a silent agreement for a moment.
“I don’t want to point any fingers,” began Hijiri, “but we do know of someone who has done this kind of thing in the past…”
“Aelita.” Kyoko said, still standing at the window.
“Hm? No, I was talking about Futo.” Byakuren said, looking over at Kyoko.
The girl shook her head.
“No. Aelita.” She pointed out the window.
Selene sprang to her feet and ran over to the window.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” She grunted. “Oh, uh, sorry.” She glanced back over her shoulder at Hijiri.
Hijiri had gotten to her feet too. She moved over next to them, and looked out the window.
The window was slightly fogged, outside the rain had lightened up quite a bit, but was still coming down.
Off in the distance, heading down the front steps away from the temple, was a woman dressed in blue.
She had a white umbrella, that was obscuring her face, but wrapped around her waist was the air light blue cloth Aelita seemingly always had around her.
Selene cursed again, then apologized for cursing again.
“She’s got a lot of nerve...” She slammed her fist on the wall.
Hijiri placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Relax. I’ll go speak with her.”
She turned and made her way out of the sitting room. Hijiri seemed alarmed by this.
“Talk to her!?” She said, anger in her voice that wasn’t directed at Hijiri. She trotted after her.
“Yes, we need to get to the bottom of this mess.” Hijiri said, with patience in her voice that was very much directed at Murasa.
Selene grunted.
“Can’t we just-!”
“We need to get to the bottom of this mess peacefully.” Hijiri corrected herself. “Dear, I understand you’re upset, but if we just talk to the Templar-”
“What about the Templar?” Shou appeared, shoulders and hair slightly damp with rain. Ash followed right behind her, sporting a little more dampness than her master. Her and Ash had been in town offering food to the hungry as someone from the temple always did. Luckily, it seemed like they had brought an umbrella, although with Ash looking a little more disheveled, Shou had evidently still not mastered the technique of keeping two people dry under one umbrella.
“They set the jizou statue on fire!” Selene growled. Klem and Kyoko appeared behind her.
“We believe they might have had something to do with it, but we’re not sure.” Hijiri said.
“So that’s what happened to it?” Shou said quietly, she looked down to the floor in thought. “Wait, we just saw Lady Aelita passing down the steps! She even greeted us.”
“Had that smirk on her lips like always.” Ash added from her side.
Selene made another noise that sounded very much like a growl.
“That woman… I swear, when I see her, I’ll-!”
“Selene.” Hijiri began, “I will go alone to speak with them.”
“What!” Selene took a big step ahead of her. “No! That’s like walking into a hornets’ nest!”
Hijiri put her hand up to silence her. “Selene,” She said firmly. Selene blushed a little at her name. “I’ll be alright. Bringing the entire temple could, well, give off the wrong message.”
“I’ll give ‘em a message.” Selene grumbled. Hijiri sighed and moved around her.
“Hopefully, I won’t be long.” Hijiri said. As she passed by Shou and Ash, she put a hand on Shou’s shoulder for a moment. “You two go dry off.” She said, and then exited towards the front door.
Hijiri made her way down the slick front steps. She had tugged on her usual boots and collected an umbrella on the way out.
Aside from her heels clacking on the stone steps, the falling rain was the only sound around her.
As she passed the still smoldering jizou statue the scent of smoke filled her lungs. She glanced over at it and couldn’t help but frown. It still stood against the wind, but now looked about ready to crumble. It was charred black. Its usual comforting relaxed face now seemed slightly eerie. She looked away from it and continued down the steps.
Aelita Tomoe had a history of doing things like this. In the past, they had nearly burned down the right wing of the temple, before that, they had eviscerated one of the small shrines down along the road, then burned it to the ground. Before even that, there were rumors that they had successfully managed to burn down dozens of Heran temples.
However in the recent past months, Aelita had either lost interest or been forbidden to continue torching the Hera Temple by their prince, Akku no Tomino, who, although known to have distaste for the Hera Temple, wasn’t nearly as impulsive as Aelita.
Hijiri came to the bottom of the stairs and looked around. She had been hoping to come across Aelita sooner rather than later. If she was able to catch up to Aelita in time, she wouldn’t have to make her way all the way down to the Templar’s Mausoleum. But, it seemed like she had gotten a good head start on her. She was nowhere in sight.
Rain pattered against her umbrella as she scanned the landscape in front of her. It had cooled down a decent amount, and chilled air brushed against her. A light fog hung low to the ground, she couldn’t see
very far ahead of her. She would just have to continue on.
And so she did.
Hijiri walked down along the dirt road that led to the temple. Her boots no longer clacked, now only made sloshing noises as they sank into the mud a little with each step.
On each side of her, just at the edges of the forest, were small shrines. There were offerings of foods and drinks on many. A faint wind of incense wafted in. Hijiri suspected Shou had litten a few burners on her way back.
Hijiri continued on further until the shrines became more scarce. There was a beat of silence. Hijiri stopped and listened.
The rain had finally stopped. She smiled a little and moved her umbrella off of her shoulder to close it. Her eyes followed it as she reached up it’s handle to close it, but stopped halfway down. She had stopped right in front of a shrine, one of the last ones among the scarcity of them now. She looked over at it.
It was an older one, that hadn’t held up very well. It was nearly entirely covered in moss and vines that had long ago died. there was a chipped offering bowl at its base that had filled to the brim with rainwater. Her eyes traveled up along it. There was a stone Knight statue that was worn down a great deal by the weather.
Its iron-clad face was wet from the rain. Most surprisingly, its forehead was chipped. The majority of the forehead was gone, save for right at its temples on each side part of its forehead still hung on. These two remaining pieces almost looked like small horns.
Hijiri hesitated, not sure what to make of it, and realized her umbrella was only halfway closed. She looked down at it, and pulled it shut. Then, she made her way over to the Knight statue, clapped, and bowed her head in a prayer.
She thanked it and promised to help restore it in the near future.
Then her mind wandered a bit. She thought back to Twynog, and wondered, as she had done before, if he was safe and dry.
She asked for protection over those she called her children, and raised her head.
The Knight statue just stared back at her, still ominous. She smiled back and bowed, before continuing on.
Before long, Hijiri found herself traveling down the underground tunnel that lead to the Templar’s Mausoleum. It was dark as always, her eyes needed a minute to adjust. Luckily, though, the path was mostly straight and not very tricky.
It was quiet. It had been quiet ever since the rain stopped. Hijiri could hear her breathing. Every few minutes a drip of water would fall from the cave ceiling and splash down. Occasionally one would land on the back of her neck and she would tense.
From behind her, she heard movement, or at least she thought she did. She continued on, but there it was again. She stopped and looked behind her. There was a silhouette a few hundred feet behind her, limping along towards her. She squinted her eyes could make out blue hair.
“Hello?”
“The monk!” The voice called back. “The monk!” It said again.
Hijiri recognized this voice as Myon Miyako’s.
“Oh, hello there!” Hijiri called back. She waited for Myon to approach, which actually took quite a bit.
“The monk!” Myon said again, this time much closer. She was a few feet in front of her now. Myon’s face sagged lazily, but her eyes looked up at Hijiri with excitement. “The monk! My master, she’s so…” Myon limped closer, “She’s so mad at the monk. My master’s prince… is so mad at the monk!”
Hijiri blinked.
“Oh?”
“They’re all mad at the monk. Did the monk come to be yelled at?”
“No, dear.” Hijiri frowned. Myon looked surprised by this.
“No?” She tilted her head to an uncomfortable angle.
“No, I’ve come to talk to Aelita, or perhaps Akku.”
“Oh.” Myon blinked. She stood there like that for a few long moments, then stiffly turned on her heels and hobbled away. Hijiri stared after her, but decided not to say anything.
Instead, she continued on, the Mausoleum shouldn’t be very far ahead.
And indeed, it wasn’t. Soon, Hijiri could see the large building emerging out of the shadows.
She was alarmed to see that the Mausoleum was in ruins. A very sizable chunk of the rock ceiling seemed to have fallen onto it. The roof was almost entirely caved in. In the surrounding area, fallen pillars rested on the cave floor. In front of it, next to a pillar was Mirai no Sogekihei. He was bent over said pillar and looked to be examining a large crack that ran down the entirety of it with his big red eye.
He glanced up when Hijiri got closer and gave her a very confused look. Hijiri blinked at her.
“Oi, Miss”, the android greeted.
“What happened here?” Hijiri asked.
Sogekihei shrugged.
“I dunno, Miss. The higher-ups just hired me for the hour”, he answered, brushing some dust from his hat.
“Let me be off a fetch’em for ya.’”
“Is there anything I could do to help?” Hijiri asked.
Sogekihei didn’t respond. He kept his back to Hijiri and disappeared inside before Hijiri could catch up. Sogekihei unconsciously slammed what was left of the door in Hijiri’s face. A good chunk of it crumbled to the ground.
Hijiri stood at the doorway. She tucked the umbrella under her arm, and wrung her hands together.
“Um, hello?” She called in, her voice echoed off the cave walls. “What happened down here?”
There was a bark of a laugh from somewhere inside. A moment later, Akku appeared in the broken
doorway, looking very stern. The prince’s eyes were heavy lidded and darkened an apparent lack of sleep.
The door opened, Akku stood with folded arms in front of Hijiri, lips tight.
“Tomin-” Hijiri began, but was cut off.
“No, I speak first.” Akku’s eyes narrowed. “So, you decided to come back to see how this all played out,
eh?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb.” Akku’s foot tapped.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hijiri frowned.
“If you’re going to lie to my face, I’m going to slam this door in yours.”
“Excuse me?” Hijiri said again. “Is this about whatever happened down here?”
Akku’s face darkened.
“I said don’t play dumb.”
“I’m an honest woman! I’m-”
Akku laughed, from somewhere inside, other voices laughed along.
“You’re going to have to pay for all of this. I hope you’ve saved up all the donations you’ve been getting.” Akku said, still chuckling a little.
“Tomino, my temple would be happy to help, but if you’re implying that we are somehow responsible for all of this.”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you flat out that we know you’re responsible.”
“Excuse me?” Hijiri’s brow furrowed.
“We have a witness.” Akku motioned over Hijiri’s shoulder. Hijiri turned and jumped when she saw Myon
had managed to sneak up two feet behind her.
“The monk lied! The monk really did come here to be yelled at!” she grinned.
“Myon saw one of your lackeys running away right after the explosion that caused all of this. Didn’t you Myon?”
Myon hesitated for a moment, eyes wide with thought. Then nodded, her neck snapping a little with each little bob.
“Oooh, yeah, I remember. That one.”
“So an earthquake didn’t cause all this?” Hijiri looked around at the rubble surrounding her.”
“No it was that one.” Myon nodded again. “There was the boom, then the ceiling fell, then that one ran.”
“Who was this?” Hijiri asked.
“Uh…” Myon thought again. “That one.”
“What did she look like?” Hijiri asked again.
“Uh.. looked scary and... Uh…. I think they had a mouth. Oh, and red..” Myon made a motion that was
apparently supposed to symbolize the color red.
“Myon, tell her what else you told me.” Akku spoke up.
“Oh.. uh.. your shirt is buttoned up wrong.” Myon grinned.
“No, no, what the person who was running told you.” Akku said.
“Oooooh… Oh, I stopped that one. That one was running, and I couldn’t get outta the way fast enough. I
said, ‘who are you?’ and that one said, ‘I’m a Voice of the Hera Temple.’ and that one is of Hijiri.” Myon
grinned some more.
Akku nodded, hair bobbing. Hijiri frowned some more.
“Myon, you must remember what Selene or Twynog looked like, yes? Can you tell me if this person you’re
talking about was either of them? These two are the only red-eyed people in my temple that this could be.”
Hijiri asked.
Myon’s mouth lazed open. She glanced up at the jagged ceiling.
“Uhhh… Who?”
“Selene, she’s a ghost youkai, usually wears sailor’s apparel . Although, I’m all but certain she isn’t behind
this… I woke up before her and come out of her room… Um, whenever you see her you call her a pirate.”
Akku snorted.
“Uhh....” Myon brought her eyes down to rest on Hijiri. Hijiri could see they were slightly milky. “I dunno.”
“Then, do you remember Twynog?” Hijiri glanced down. It had been a few days since she last saw the War
God, and in the past he did have quite the violent streak. “He is the only Skeldian at my temple. He’s best
friends with Miss Rykari who’s always so nice to you. Do you remember that time Rykari gave you the
other half of her popsicle? They’re always together.”
“Waiitt.. I don’t get it..” One of Myon’s eyes lazed a bit to the right. “The monk said there were only two
who looked like that one… But the monk just said more than two names…”
“Ah.. Don’t confuse her.” Miko said
Hijiri nodded.
“If you came face to face with them do you think you could tell me if either of them was the one that caused all of this?” Hijiri asked.
“Mm, yeah…” Myon nodded, her hat bobbed dangerously on her head as if it were about to topple off.
“Well then,” Hijiri turned back to Akuu. “I’ll go and fetch Smoug and Twynog to get this thing cleared up.
Would that be alright?”
Akku thought for a moment, eyes firmly set on Hijiri.
“Alright.” The prince shrugged.
Hijiri gave a small smile.
“If either of them really is responsible for all of this… I apologize in advance.”
“I’m sure you do.” Akku waved a hand, and began turning back away from Hijiri.
“But, there also is the matter of why I came down here in the first place.”
“Ah?” Hijiri stopped and blinked.
“I have suspicions that your Aelita committed an act of arson today. The temple’s jizou statue was severely damaged.”
Akku made a face, then motioned at Myon to come inside.
“Let’s just settle one thing at a time.” he said. Mon hobbled in the door. Akku shut it in Hijiri’s face, and disappeared inside the Mausoleum.
Before the sun even rises, Rykari Nikki sneaks back to her room to collapse immediately into a deep sleep that won’t be disturbed till at least noon, at which time she’ll promptly deny any sneaking of any kind to anyone who asks, anyone who does not ask, and occasionally to her own frazzled reflection.
Three-hundred-and-sixty-five days out of the year, Suzumiya Hijiri is the first in the temple ready to take on the day. The other eleven days of the year, are justly exempted for the requirements that put her in the running for the title of Sargosso’s “Best Morning Person”. Eight of these days are spent on her missionary trips to Requiem, in which the lack of sunlight throws off her internal clock, thus mornings and evenings really have no meaning to her. Two of these days are her well earned sick days, on which she’ll sleep in much later, and wake at a still admittedly early time of 10AM. The last of those days is spent helping Kyoko Ibaraki hurriedly finish her Forlorn Echoes T-shirt that the she annually decides to remake for the largest show she performs at, the Autumn Festival, then annually procrastinates remaking until the very last night. When this time of year rolls around, Hijiri and Kyoko will hurriedly work until dawn’s light on the shirt, then both will inevitably collapse and only wake when it’s just about time for Kyoko to get on stage (which will lead to more rush and panic.)
Kyoko is usually the next to rise. This time of the morning is always filled with loud yawns and groans that can be heard from anywhere in the temple. The yamabiko’s echoing voice is a type of wake up call for the remainder of the temple.
Before long, Selene’s head pops out of her room. A usual sight in the morning is her raven hair messy and stuck up at impossible angles. A less usual sight, although admittedly not all that uncommon, is her transparent forest green hair messy and stuck up at impossible angles. On nights the captain doesn’t sleep well, her physical body seems to laze away, leaving only a grainy green specter with a very groggy complexion. Although everyone in the temple is too accustomed to this sight to get spooked by her ghoulish appearance, on the occasion, when Selene is especially worn out, her body will opt out of existing much at all, and will flicker through walls, people, bullets, and the occasional small animal. Again, the residents of the temple are familiar with this and have come to expect it from time to time, but that doesn’t prevent the occasional jump-scare when a sleep deprived Selene suddenly appears breathing down their necks.
After Selene comes Shou Hanari, and subsequently Ash, her roommate, follows right after her. Most people suspect that Ash would rather sleep in till the noon sun bakes her room to an unignorable heat, as she was the furthest thing from a morning person. But, Shou’s morning routine was apparently too noisy for her to sleep through. They would head down to breakfast the same way they did anything else, as a pair.
Klemintynia Kumoi and Smoug appear next. Klem, in her chipper mood as always, and Smoug in his Smoug mood as always. Every morning, Klem’s grin announces “I’ve just had the best sleep of my life!” and then her grin parts as she opens her lips to say “I’ve just had the best sleep of my life!” Which might have gotten annoying if it had been anyone else, but Klem’s aura and admittedly cute chubby cheeks made it tolerable. Also, the fact that immediately after her announcement she would go to work preparing coffee for the entire temple definitely sweetens the deal.
Once in a blue moon, Twynog Machinov would join the rest of the temple for breakfast. This is always unexpected, as the bag-of-bones War God had a habit of disappearing for days on end. He would just vanish from the temple unannounced, then reappear equally unannounced. On the rare days he is very much in existence at the table, this usually rouses Rykari from her slumber, and the tanuki joins in on the meal and occasionally on the conversation, although admittedly sluggishly.
Today was not one of those days. Neither Twynog nor Rykari had come for breakfast. As usual, it passed without incident. The Autumn Festival wasn’t for a few weeks, so there was no hurried panic there. Just as well, Selene seemed to have a decent night of sleep so her entire being was present. All in all, ordinary.
After the dishes were cleaned and put away, Hijiri excused herself and moved to the front of the shrine to greet any early visitors. Kyoko trotted along behind her at her heels, ears bouncing a bit with each step.
Hijri slowed her steps a little so the yamabiko’s short legs could keep up.
They exited through the front door to be met with a single pair of humans standing by the enormous green tinted bonsho bell. The humans had their heads bowed in a silent prayer. Not wanting to disturb them, Hijiri and Kyoko hung back and allowed them their privacy.
Kyoko looked up at the sky with a little huff of disappointment.
“Looks like rain.” She murmured quietly, although Kyoko’s “quiet” isn’t quite that.
Hijiri looked up as well.
Indeed there were grey clouds approaching, there was a slight breeze in the air that carried the scent of ozone. It swept the hair gently out of their faces then set the windchimes nearby in motion. Hijiri nodded.
“It would seem so.” She agreed.
Kyoko huffed again and left Hijiri’s side. She disappeared momentarily behind a large wooden support column. Hijiri caught sight of her tail bobbing as she reappeared from behind it, only to be obscured again by the side of the building as she apparently had decided to go fetch her broom and get a start on sweeping before the rain hit.
Hijiri brought her eyes back to the humans and was glad to see they had planned ahead and brought an umbrella with them. The last time she had lent out umbrellas to visitors caught in a downpour, she had gotten quite a scolding from the karakasa-obake that occasionally stayed in the temple when a pair of children had lost their umbrella and failed to return it.
The humans looked up from their prayer and met eyes with her. She gave them a warm smile and bow before approaching. They bowed back when she stopped in front of them.
The humans were familiar to her. One was a young woman named Hamako. She had a plain flat face with straight black hair that was pulled back in a messy ponytail that had undoubtedly been jostled by the wind that had started picking up. The other was a stout elderly woman with white hair, her mother named Gen, although everyone who knew her addressed her as Gran, Hijiri had even caught Twynog calling her this from time to time.
They were regulars at the shrine. Hijiri had even personally held the ceremony for Gran’s husband when he passed away. Hijiri knew that Hamako had a little girl that was almost always at her side, she was surprised to see that the child was not there.
Their expressions equally surprised Hijiri. They were difficult to read.
Hijiri Suzumiya blinked and opened her mouth to speak, but the old woman cut her off.
“Glad to see the temples still standin’.” She nodded in the direction of the Hera Temple as if to say “this temple” to clear up any confusion that there might be, even though the nearest temple was several miles away.
“Oh?” Hijiri blinked, but before she could say anything more, Hamako spoke up.
“Did you hear the news? There was a small earthquake. No buildings in the village were damaged at all, but out a ways I’ve heard a few barns collapsed.”
“Oh my.” Hijiri put her hand over her mouth. “When?”
“Just ‘fore dawn.” Gran nodded again, this time to herself. “Was more a tremor really. Those barns musta been pretty weak ta have not survived it. Most’f us didn’t even wake up. Only knew ‘bout it from the farmers who were ‘ready in their fields. Well, and the broken barns. But no one ‘as hurt.”
Hamako nodded. “They said most of the damage was around here. But I guess your shrine was stronger than those barns.” She gave a small smile, “Were you awake? Did you not feel it?”
Hijiri thought back to earlier, but couldn’t recall any type of tremor, maybe she slept through it.
“I can’t recall anything out of the ordinary.” Hijiri said, then looked out down the stairs. There was a small break in the steps as they leveled out onto solid landing for a few feet. On that landing she could see the temple’s jizou statue standing against the wind. It had a red shawl wrapped around its shoulders that was flapping in the wind. Moss had grown up its base. At the very bottom the vegetation was green and healthy, but as it crept up higher it began to brown and dry with the summers close. She looked down past the steps that continued after that, but could see no one else coming. With rain on the way, and apparent damages that needed to be cleaned up, she could safely expect that Hamako and Gran were the only visitors she would have today.
While she was lost in that moment of thought, a raindrop landed on her nose, then another on the top of her head. Hamako and Gran apparently had felt the rain too as they started fumbling to get their umbrella open. Hijiri ushered them under the awning to keep them dry until they managed to open it.
It was a large red one made out of treated paper to keep the rain from soaking through it. Hijiri had to take a few steps back to avoid getting hit with it as Gran slung it over her shoulder as if it were a heavy bag. The next moment, Hamako huddled under it as well.
“We’ll be seeing you, Miss Hijiri.” She gave Hijiri a small polite bow, that the monk returned. “We’re glad your shrine wasn’t damaged.” She continued.
“Thank you for your concerns.” Hijiri gave them a smile. “I hope you get home safely.”
“Oh, we will.” Gran cackled. “I’m used to walkin’ around with a 4 year old clingin’ on my legs. A little rain won’t slow us down.” The pair stepped forward out from under the awning. Hijiri gave another little bow and watched them as they descended down the stairway and into the storm.
Above her, she heard a distant rumble of thunder. She decided that she needed to ask Rykari if she knew anything about the earthquake.
Hijiri made her way back inside. As she walked out from under the awning fat raindrops landed on her and soaked through the shoulders of her top. The wind had definitely picked up in the past few minutes. A gust blew against her side and her now damp hair clung haphazardly to her cheek.
As she opened the front door, she was shoved aside by Kyoko who was yowling loudly enough to make the windows shake.
The young girl stopped just inside the threshold and shook off what dampness she could, ears flapping violently with the motion.
Hijiri shielded her face with her hand as the yamabiko shook a wave of small droplets in her direction, then stepped inside once the threat of being splashed by her left.
“Sorry,” Kyoko said distractedly. She kicked off her geta and tucked them away in the nook by the door.
“It’s all right.” Hijiri said as she closed the door behind her.
Kyoko looked up at her and gave her a small guilty grin.
“Didn’t expect it to hit that hard! Sorry, no sweeping today.”
Hijiri chuckled a bit and shook her head.
“No worries, my child,” She bent down to remove her shoes as well. She tucked them away and dusted off her hands. “Just go dry yourself off.” She continued. “You remembered to bring in the laundry yesterday, right?”
There was a beat of silence, then Kyoko bolted back into the temple in the direction of the back door.
“SORRY!” Kyoko’s voice called back, unnecessarily loudly. The windows rattled again, but this time Hijiri could not tell if it was from Kyoko’s voice or from a large gust of wind.
She glanced out the windows as she made her way into the temple, storm clouds were nearly on top of them. She wondered where Twynog was, and if he was somewhere dry.
She decided she would say a prayer for him after she spoke with Rykari, and hurried along to the tanuki’s room.
Rykari’s room was a ways into the temple, along the way a sliding door leading out into the far garden had fallen and was in need of repair. Hijiri didn’t exactly ever get the full story of how it was knocked off its tracks and torn, but from what she gathered Shou had come in one night drunk enough to be reduced to a stumbling mess, and had fallen through the door.
Alcohol was, of course, forbidden by her teachings, but Shou did sometimes stray, and when she did it was always straight to the bar. But, bless her, she did try.
As Hijiri passed the fallen door, a gust of cool air blew in, casting raindrops onto the wooden floor. From somewhere outside, she heard Selene’s voice yelling about something. She must have gotten caught in the rain.
Rykari’s room wasn’t very far in from the broken door. Hijiri rounded the hallway’s corner and was met by it. She knocked a few times and waited for a reply.
“Miss Rykari, are you awake?” She called.
From inside there was movement, and a few groans. Hijiri waited.
A little more movement, Hijiri waited some more.
The movement stopped. Hijiri knocked again, hoping Rykari hadn’t fallen back asleep.
“Miss-” She began, but the movement started again. She heard footsteps, then the next moment, the tanuki opened the door.
Her hair was a mess and was even more unruly than usual, her ears were barely visible in the nest of curls. Her glasses were stuck haphazardly on the tip of her nose like she had just shoved them on her face (she had), and the loose tank top she was wearing was slipping off her shoulder.
Rykari hung onto the door as if she needed it for support, and her heavy lidded sleep filled eyes blinked at Hijiri slowly, as if they couldn’t stay open.
“Oh, Hijiri.” She yawned so widely it exposed all of her teeth.
Hijiri offered her a small bow.
“Sorry to wake you.”
“Nah, I wasn’t asleep. Didja need something?” Rykari stood up straight and scratched at her ear.
“Oh, yes, I was hoping to talk to you about something. Have a moment?” Hijiri asked.
“Uh,” Hijiri, scratched her ear again, then her chin, “Sure.”
“I was wondering, this morning you didn’t happen to feel an earthquake, did you?”
Rykari tightened her lips as if she were trying to stifle a yawn, and nudged her glasses up onto her nose a little.
“Oh, sure.” the tanuki answered, as if someone had just asked her if she enjoyed coffee.
Hijiri frowned a bit.
“You did?”
“Yeah, felt some shaking. Wasn’t really too much. Didn’t feel like much of an earthquake. Just thought the
Templar were throwing some kinda party down there, ya know.” Rykari shrugged, her glasses slid back down her nose. She didn’t adjust them again.
“Some humans said a few barns fell.”
“Which ones? The ones down the road? Hijiri, those things have been standing since..” She yawned, “I dunno, since a long time ago. A strong wind coulda blew ‘em down.”
HIjiri nodded.
“I suppose. Still, it’s terrible that they fell. I’ll probably head down to help clean up once this rain stops. Rykari, do you still have those thick work gloves?”
“Ugh uh,” Rykari’s brow furrowed she closed her eyes, it seemed this kind of thinking was a bit too difficult for her in this state. She fell quiet, apparently attempting to recall.
In this lull in the conversation, Hijiri heard Selene’s voice again, still coming from outside. She turned her head a little to try to make out what she was saying, but to no avail. It definitely didn’t sound like the voice of someone who was just caught in the rain. And anyway, by now she should have made it inside.
“Miss Rykari.” Byakuren said suddenly.
Rykari’s eyes snapped open. She looked a bit startled as if she’d forgotten Byakuren was still standing there.
“Oh, uh.” she yawned again. “What were we-?”
“No worries.” Hijiri waved it off. “Please excuse me.” She turned to leave but stopped after a few steps.
“You should get some rest.”
Rykari’s door slid shut half an instant later in response. Hijiri smiled a bit, then continued on to the broken door. She listened, straining her ear to hear where Selene’s voice was coming from. She seemed to be somewhere out in front of the shrine.
Hijiri began heading that way through the temple.
From a hallway just up ahead, rapid footsteps were headed in her direction. A moment later, Klemintynia rounded the corner at top Klem speed, and nearly toppled into Hijiri.
“You need to come quick!” she panted, and took Hijiri’s hand. She tugged her forward and broke into a sprint again. Hijiri struggled to keep up with her, and not trip over her feet in front of her.
“What’s wrong?” Hijiri’s voice came out worried. Klem was leading her to the front of the temple.
“The jizou statue!” Klem called back, she released Hijiri’s hand to shove the front doors open, the movement slowed her down just for a brief moment, then she was rapidly picking up speed again, sprinting towards the front steps.
Hijiri followed her equally as fast, slick mud soaked through her socks as her feet carried her forward.
Just up ahead Hijiri could see smoke in the direction they were heading.
Sure enough, a moment later flames came into view.
The jizou statue was completely engulfed in flames, its shawl was charred black and barely hanging on, the moss at it’s base was completely gone.
Standing just a few feet away from it was Selene, who was frantically trying to extinguish it with her ladle. She glanced over, and relief flashed across her face when she saw Klem and Hijiri heading in her direction.
The two hurried down the steps to meet her.
The jizou statue was hissing angrily at the rain, enormous clouds of smoke and steam poured from it.
Selene tried spraying it again with her ladle, but the flames just roared in intensity and licked angrily at the water, a white steam erupted from where the water had hit.
The smoke stung at their eyes, Klemintynia had to cover hers and look away as they teared up in a burning mess.
“Lightning?!” Hijiri called over the chaos.
“I don’t know!” Selene hollered back, “I saw smoke and it was already on fire when I got here! It just won’t go out!”
Klem looked up, with watery eyes at the blaze and called, “We need to smother it!”
Hijiri hurriedly reached in her top and pulled out a spellcard. She used it, a moment later, a large purple tinted transparent bubble encircled the entirety of the jizou statue. Rain pattered against the top of the bubble and rolled off of it.
The three standing around the statue panted.
“We’ll just wait till it uses up all the oxygen.” Hijiri said. Both Klem and Selene didn’t respond, they only stared and watched the statue as it continued to blacken in the flames.
A few long moments later, the fire weakened and flickered, then a second after that went out completely. Black smoke filled the bubble opaque.
They all let out a collective sigh. Hijiri let the bubble fall, and the smoke pooled out.
The group watched as it spiraled up against the rain in thick heavy clouds.
The rain was coming down harder now, it steadily increased into a downpour. The steaming mess of the
statue continued to hiss angrily, but any embers that lived on were drowned.
Hijiri, Klemintynia, and Selene headed up the stairs and entered the temple in silence.
Once dried, Hijiri, Selene, Klem, and Kyoko made their way to the sitting room, and seated themselves on white zabuton cushions at a low oak table. The room was lit in a pale light cast in from the dreary outside.
Rain pattered against a long window on the far wall, occasionally a low rumble of thunder would drift in, but it seemed that the worst part of the storm had passed.
Klem had made tea, but no one had touched it, save for Kyoko who had downed hers immediately.
Hijiri looked around the group gathered and sighed. This apparently broke the silence, as Selene spoke up.
“I don’t think lightning started that.” She said in a low voice. She took her cup and took her first sip.
The rest of the group nodded. Kyoko got to her feet and made her way to the window to peer out. Hijiri watched her do this, but did not say anything, neither did Klem nor Selene.
Smoug trotted into the room, and ushered over to Klem. She greeted the fox youkai with a silent grin, then turned back to the group.
“I think the statue was coated in something flammable.” she announced. “The stone itself looked like it was on fire.”
Selene grunted in agreement.
“And whenever I sprayed it, it just sputtered and grew.” She said, and took another drink.
The group fell into a silent agreement for a moment.
“I don’t want to point any fingers,” began Hijiri, “but we do know of someone who has done this kind of thing in the past…”
“Aelita.” Kyoko said, still standing at the window.
“Hm? No, I was talking about Futo.” Byakuren said, looking over at Kyoko.
The girl shook her head.
“No. Aelita.” She pointed out the window.
Selene sprang to her feet and ran over to the window.
“Son-of-a-bitch!” She grunted. “Oh, uh, sorry.” She glanced back over her shoulder at Hijiri.
Hijiri had gotten to her feet too. She moved over next to them, and looked out the window.
The window was slightly fogged, outside the rain had lightened up quite a bit, but was still coming down.
Off in the distance, heading down the front steps away from the temple, was a woman dressed in blue.
She had a white umbrella, that was obscuring her face, but wrapped around her waist was the air light blue cloth Aelita seemingly always had around her.
Selene cursed again, then apologized for cursing again.
“She’s got a lot of nerve...” She slammed her fist on the wall.
Hijiri placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Relax. I’ll go speak with her.”
She turned and made her way out of the sitting room. Hijiri seemed alarmed by this.
“Talk to her!?” She said, anger in her voice that wasn’t directed at Hijiri. She trotted after her.
“Yes, we need to get to the bottom of this mess.” Hijiri said, with patience in her voice that was very much directed at Murasa.
Selene grunted.
“Can’t we just-!”
“We need to get to the bottom of this mess peacefully.” Hijiri corrected herself. “Dear, I understand you’re upset, but if we just talk to the Templar-”
“What about the Templar?” Shou appeared, shoulders and hair slightly damp with rain. Ash followed right behind her, sporting a little more dampness than her master. Her and Ash had been in town offering food to the hungry as someone from the temple always did. Luckily, it seemed like they had brought an umbrella, although with Ash looking a little more disheveled, Shou had evidently still not mastered the technique of keeping two people dry under one umbrella.
“They set the jizou statue on fire!” Selene growled. Klem and Kyoko appeared behind her.
“We believe they might have had something to do with it, but we’re not sure.” Hijiri said.
“So that’s what happened to it?” Shou said quietly, she looked down to the floor in thought. “Wait, we just saw Lady Aelita passing down the steps! She even greeted us.”
“Had that smirk on her lips like always.” Ash added from her side.
Selene made another noise that sounded very much like a growl.
“That woman… I swear, when I see her, I’ll-!”
“Selene.” Hijiri began, “I will go alone to speak with them.”
“What!” Selene took a big step ahead of her. “No! That’s like walking into a hornets’ nest!”
Hijiri put her hand up to silence her. “Selene,” She said firmly. Selene blushed a little at her name. “I’ll be alright. Bringing the entire temple could, well, give off the wrong message.”
“I’ll give ‘em a message.” Selene grumbled. Hijiri sighed and moved around her.
“Hopefully, I won’t be long.” Hijiri said. As she passed by Shou and Ash, she put a hand on Shou’s shoulder for a moment. “You two go dry off.” She said, and then exited towards the front door.
Hijiri made her way down the slick front steps. She had tugged on her usual boots and collected an umbrella on the way out.
Aside from her heels clacking on the stone steps, the falling rain was the only sound around her.
As she passed the still smoldering jizou statue the scent of smoke filled her lungs. She glanced over at it and couldn’t help but frown. It still stood against the wind, but now looked about ready to crumble. It was charred black. Its usual comforting relaxed face now seemed slightly eerie. She looked away from it and continued down the steps.
Aelita Tomoe had a history of doing things like this. In the past, they had nearly burned down the right wing of the temple, before that, they had eviscerated one of the small shrines down along the road, then burned it to the ground. Before even that, there were rumors that they had successfully managed to burn down dozens of Heran temples.
However in the recent past months, Aelita had either lost interest or been forbidden to continue torching the Hera Temple by their prince, Akku no Tomino, who, although known to have distaste for the Hera Temple, wasn’t nearly as impulsive as Aelita.
Hijiri came to the bottom of the stairs and looked around. She had been hoping to come across Aelita sooner rather than later. If she was able to catch up to Aelita in time, she wouldn’t have to make her way all the way down to the Templar’s Mausoleum. But, it seemed like she had gotten a good head start on her. She was nowhere in sight.
Rain pattered against her umbrella as she scanned the landscape in front of her. It had cooled down a decent amount, and chilled air brushed against her. A light fog hung low to the ground, she couldn’t see
very far ahead of her. She would just have to continue on.
And so she did.
Hijiri walked down along the dirt road that led to the temple. Her boots no longer clacked, now only made sloshing noises as they sank into the mud a little with each step.
On each side of her, just at the edges of the forest, were small shrines. There were offerings of foods and drinks on many. A faint wind of incense wafted in. Hijiri suspected Shou had litten a few burners on her way back.
Hijiri continued on further until the shrines became more scarce. There was a beat of silence. Hijiri stopped and listened.
The rain had finally stopped. She smiled a little and moved her umbrella off of her shoulder to close it. Her eyes followed it as she reached up it’s handle to close it, but stopped halfway down. She had stopped right in front of a shrine, one of the last ones among the scarcity of them now. She looked over at it.
It was an older one, that hadn’t held up very well. It was nearly entirely covered in moss and vines that had long ago died. there was a chipped offering bowl at its base that had filled to the brim with rainwater. Her eyes traveled up along it. There was a stone Knight statue that was worn down a great deal by the weather.
Its iron-clad face was wet from the rain. Most surprisingly, its forehead was chipped. The majority of the forehead was gone, save for right at its temples on each side part of its forehead still hung on. These two remaining pieces almost looked like small horns.
Hijiri hesitated, not sure what to make of it, and realized her umbrella was only halfway closed. She looked down at it, and pulled it shut. Then, she made her way over to the Knight statue, clapped, and bowed her head in a prayer.
She thanked it and promised to help restore it in the near future.
Then her mind wandered a bit. She thought back to Twynog, and wondered, as she had done before, if he was safe and dry.
She asked for protection over those she called her children, and raised her head.
The Knight statue just stared back at her, still ominous. She smiled back and bowed, before continuing on.
Before long, Hijiri found herself traveling down the underground tunnel that lead to the Templar’s Mausoleum. It was dark as always, her eyes needed a minute to adjust. Luckily, though, the path was mostly straight and not very tricky.
It was quiet. It had been quiet ever since the rain stopped. Hijiri could hear her breathing. Every few minutes a drip of water would fall from the cave ceiling and splash down. Occasionally one would land on the back of her neck and she would tense.
From behind her, she heard movement, or at least she thought she did. She continued on, but there it was again. She stopped and looked behind her. There was a silhouette a few hundred feet behind her, limping along towards her. She squinted her eyes could make out blue hair.
“Hello?”
“The monk!” The voice called back. “The monk!” It said again.
Hijiri recognized this voice as Myon Miyako’s.
“Oh, hello there!” Hijiri called back. She waited for Myon to approach, which actually took quite a bit.
“The monk!” Myon said again, this time much closer. She was a few feet in front of her now. Myon’s face sagged lazily, but her eyes looked up at Hijiri with excitement. “The monk! My master, she’s so…” Myon limped closer, “She’s so mad at the monk. My master’s prince… is so mad at the monk!”
Hijiri blinked.
“Oh?”
“They’re all mad at the monk. Did the monk come to be yelled at?”
“No, dear.” Hijiri frowned. Myon looked surprised by this.
“No?” She tilted her head to an uncomfortable angle.
“No, I’ve come to talk to Aelita, or perhaps Akku.”
“Oh.” Myon blinked. She stood there like that for a few long moments, then stiffly turned on her heels and hobbled away. Hijiri stared after her, but decided not to say anything.
Instead, she continued on, the Mausoleum shouldn’t be very far ahead.
And indeed, it wasn’t. Soon, Hijiri could see the large building emerging out of the shadows.
She was alarmed to see that the Mausoleum was in ruins. A very sizable chunk of the rock ceiling seemed to have fallen onto it. The roof was almost entirely caved in. In the surrounding area, fallen pillars rested on the cave floor. In front of it, next to a pillar was Mirai no Sogekihei. He was bent over said pillar and looked to be examining a large crack that ran down the entirety of it with his big red eye.
He glanced up when Hijiri got closer and gave her a very confused look. Hijiri blinked at her.
“Oi, Miss”, the android greeted.
“What happened here?” Hijiri asked.
Sogekihei shrugged.
“I dunno, Miss. The higher-ups just hired me for the hour”, he answered, brushing some dust from his hat.
“Let me be off a fetch’em for ya.’”
“Is there anything I could do to help?” Hijiri asked.
Sogekihei didn’t respond. He kept his back to Hijiri and disappeared inside before Hijiri could catch up. Sogekihei unconsciously slammed what was left of the door in Hijiri’s face. A good chunk of it crumbled to the ground.
Hijiri stood at the doorway. She tucked the umbrella under her arm, and wrung her hands together.
“Um, hello?” She called in, her voice echoed off the cave walls. “What happened down here?”
There was a bark of a laugh from somewhere inside. A moment later, Akku appeared in the broken
doorway, looking very stern. The prince’s eyes were heavy lidded and darkened an apparent lack of sleep.
The door opened, Akku stood with folded arms in front of Hijiri, lips tight.
“Tomin-” Hijiri began, but was cut off.
“No, I speak first.” Akku’s eyes narrowed. “So, you decided to come back to see how this all played out,
eh?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb.” Akku’s foot tapped.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hijiri frowned.
“If you’re going to lie to my face, I’m going to slam this door in yours.”
“Excuse me?” Hijiri said again. “Is this about whatever happened down here?”
Akku’s face darkened.
“I said don’t play dumb.”
“I’m an honest woman! I’m-”
Akku laughed, from somewhere inside, other voices laughed along.
“You’re going to have to pay for all of this. I hope you’ve saved up all the donations you’ve been getting.” Akku said, still chuckling a little.
“Tomino, my temple would be happy to help, but if you’re implying that we are somehow responsible for all of this.”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m telling you flat out that we know you’re responsible.”
“Excuse me?” Hijiri’s brow furrowed.
“We have a witness.” Akku motioned over Hijiri’s shoulder. Hijiri turned and jumped when she saw Myon
had managed to sneak up two feet behind her.
“The monk lied! The monk really did come here to be yelled at!” she grinned.
“Myon saw one of your lackeys running away right after the explosion that caused all of this. Didn’t you Myon?”
Myon hesitated for a moment, eyes wide with thought. Then nodded, her neck snapping a little with each little bob.
“Oooh, yeah, I remember. That one.”
“So an earthquake didn’t cause all this?” Hijiri looked around at the rubble surrounding her.”
“No it was that one.” Myon nodded again. “There was the boom, then the ceiling fell, then that one ran.”
“Who was this?” Hijiri asked.
“Uh…” Myon thought again. “That one.”
“What did she look like?” Hijiri asked again.
“Uh.. looked scary and... Uh…. I think they had a mouth. Oh, and red..” Myon made a motion that was
apparently supposed to symbolize the color red.
“Myon, tell her what else you told me.” Akku spoke up.
“Oh.. uh.. your shirt is buttoned up wrong.” Myon grinned.
“No, no, what the person who was running told you.” Akku said.
“Oooooh… Oh, I stopped that one. That one was running, and I couldn’t get outta the way fast enough. I
said, ‘who are you?’ and that one said, ‘I’m a Voice of the Hera Temple.’ and that one is of Hijiri.” Myon
grinned some more.
Akku nodded, hair bobbing. Hijiri frowned some more.
“Myon, you must remember what Selene or Twynog looked like, yes? Can you tell me if this person you’re
talking about was either of them? These two are the only red-eyed people in my temple that this could be.”
Hijiri asked.
Myon’s mouth lazed open. She glanced up at the jagged ceiling.
“Uhhh… Who?”
“Selene, she’s a ghost youkai, usually wears sailor’s apparel . Although, I’m all but certain she isn’t behind
this… I woke up before her and come out of her room… Um, whenever you see her you call her a pirate.”
Akku snorted.
“Uhh....” Myon brought her eyes down to rest on Hijiri. Hijiri could see they were slightly milky. “I dunno.”
“Then, do you remember Twynog?” Hijiri glanced down. It had been a few days since she last saw the War
God, and in the past he did have quite the violent streak. “He is the only Skeldian at my temple. He’s best
friends with Miss Rykari who’s always so nice to you. Do you remember that time Rykari gave you the
other half of her popsicle? They’re always together.”
“Waiitt.. I don’t get it..” One of Myon’s eyes lazed a bit to the right. “The monk said there were only two
who looked like that one… But the monk just said more than two names…”
“Ah.. Don’t confuse her.” Miko said
Hijiri nodded.
“If you came face to face with them do you think you could tell me if either of them was the one that caused all of this?” Hijiri asked.
“Mm, yeah…” Myon nodded, her hat bobbed dangerously on her head as if it were about to topple off.
“Well then,” Hijiri turned back to Akuu. “I’ll go and fetch Smoug and Twynog to get this thing cleared up.
Would that be alright?”
Akku thought for a moment, eyes firmly set on Hijiri.
“Alright.” The prince shrugged.
Hijiri gave a small smile.
“If either of them really is responsible for all of this… I apologize in advance.”
“I’m sure you do.” Akku waved a hand, and began turning back away from Hijiri.
“But, there also is the matter of why I came down here in the first place.”
“Ah?” Hijiri stopped and blinked.
“I have suspicions that your Aelita committed an act of arson today. The temple’s jizou statue was severely damaged.”
Akku made a face, then motioned at Myon to come inside.
“Let’s just settle one thing at a time.” he said. Mon hobbled in the door. Akku shut it in Hijiri’s face, and disappeared inside the Mausoleum.