Chapter Text
The island they land on feels like a nearly different world from the ancient metropolis that made up Keisei or the busy, neighborly feel of the main island. Kiryu had told him more about it while on the gyrus. Originally the islands had been one whole island, when they’d been a part of the surface, but as time wore on… the islands had shifted. When a part of the main island, the other islands had been districts. Keisei had kept the name of its district, the main island let go of the district names, and Chanpuru’s had changed with time. The original name had been lost to the masses.
Being in Makochi, in general, has felt like Haruka had walked directly back in time. Stepping off the gyrus and onto the stone platform of Chanpuru felt like being transported to something out of those historical dramas that Tsubaki loved. The buildings ranged from homey wooden houses to imposing stonework structures more akin to a palace. There were trees everywhere in a myriad of greens and the sweet scent of honey on the breeze. Children’s laughter and shopkeeper's shouts came faintly from several directions. It felt lively in a lived in, comfortable way.
From Haruka’s left, he hears Suo take a deep breath and then release it in a slow sigh. The sunlight trickles down on them from through and between the leaves of the trees that shade the gyrus platform. It makes a dappled pattern across the taller’s face and torso, a patch of sunlight lights up Suo’s singular eye a bright, near vermilion. Suo glances at him, as if he’d felt Haruka looking, and with a slight tilt of his head smiles at him. It’s breathtaking.
“Well,” Kiryu hums suddenly and breaks the moment, “It seems we’ll be able to get back without issue today.”
The words strike Haruka as odd and his curiosity somewhat drowns out the sound of Suo’s low voiced response. He’d swung his gaze from the strikingly pretty image Suo had made to look at Kiryu. Haruka felt like a mouse caught in a trap as his eyes caught on the sparkle of Kiryu’s jewelry and the way the light seemed to make his pink hair glitter. Not caught in a trap, he amends, a mouse caught between two very pretty cats was more accurate.
“Wha- what do you mean?” Haruka ignores the feeling, the heat rising in his face, to ask.
Suo waves a hand to Haruka, beckoning him to follow as Kiryu sets off the platform in the direction of town.
“The people on this island don’t usually leave,” Suo says in a soft voice. It’s almost a whisper in its quietness. “They don’t always agree with the requests of the others when they ask for one of theirs to travel.”
Kiryu wears a sour look as he grumbles, “They also don’t like when people from other islands come here. Futuo.”
Suo’s expression is as unmoved as a stone but his eye shines with something that looks like guilt. “Me paenitet,” he says in a low murmur as he slides one hand down Kiryu’s arm to hold his hand.
Haruka feels a bit like he’s intruding. A bit grating, considering the moment he’s in, Umemiya’s voice rises in his mind. Suo and Kiryu are sort of special cases, that voice says. He wonders if that’s because the temple they hail from is on an island that tries to be insulated. Or… and the thought comes to his mind with all the gentleness of the brush of a butterfly’s wing. Or are they a special case because they’re more involved than their roles typically become.
Kiryu smiles good naturedly, casting off the dourness from before as if he’d just removed his coat, and waves a hand as if trying to further dispel it. “Ah enough, enough. Let’s get back before we’re seen.” He throws a wink at Haruka over Suo’s shoulder. “I bet you will really like our place.”
Our, Haruka thinks to himself. He lets himself take in their surroundings as he lets the word turn over in his mind. The buildings and houses made of stone or some kind of painted plaster are all capped with dark tiles. There’s tall, brightly green trees at the front corners of every property that form a canopy over their heads. Our, Kiryu had said it so naturally that it just added further weight to his questions.
Suo’s shoulders droop low as he sighs and the combination breaks Haruka from his observations and questions. “I’ll be there shortly,” he says. “No more than ten minutes.” Suo steps away from them, down the overgrown and broken stone pathway that leads up to a set of short stairs, with a wave and a smile.
“Ten minutes or I’m getting Sakura to help me drag you out.” Kiryu calls before looking at Haruka. He shakes his head, sending pink hair fluttering back and forth. “Let’s go. We can get changed at least.”
Kiryu swings the doors open to the next courtyard down with little ceremony. Haruka smells fresh bread, tangy oranges, and a subtle sweetness as he steps through. The house appears to be one story at the front and modeled from the same stone as the pathway Suo had gone down, a smooth and timeworn grey. The shutters from the windows are a pretty cornflower blue and the house is crowned with the same dark tiles he’d seen earlier. A tall, skinny tree with fern-like leaves sits near the front right corner with both its branches and the ground around it littered with fuzzy, pink flowers. Smoke rises from a chimney that’s set on the left side and precedes what looks like a second story that wraps around the back from left to right.
“The mimosa are blooming,” Kiryu observes aloud. He’s looking at the tree. “We had good timing. C’mon let’s get inside.”
The front door slides open easily, which Haruka finds more strange that he’d expected it to not do so. Kiryu leaves him to wander while he changes and finds Haruka something to borrow. The entryway opens directly into a covered outdoor walkway that surrounds a small inner courtyard. A set of chairs with a small table sit below a tall tree with dark gnarled branches heavy with deep green leaves and bright oranges. Sun bleached stones form a pathway from the front to the back of the house through the little yard and line the edge of a pond filled with clear water, lotus flowers, and some kind of fish.
Haruka nearly falls into the water when the door behind him slides open with a slam. Kiryu grins at him, obviously delighting in having startled him.
Kiryu pats the bundle of cloth resting on his arm. “It took a minute to find something that would fit you and also not look out of place on you.” He hands Haruka the stack. “Let me know if there’s anything too confusing for you,” he adds with a wink.
Nothing is that confusing, thankfully. A pair of dark navy pants and a simple grey shirt with no sleeves that tied on each side. A thin but sturdy house coat in a rich, deep green completes the outfit. The pants were a bit long till he’d cuffed them and he’s pretty sure the coat wasn’t meant to stop so awkwardly below his hips, but the fabric was soft in the ways things get when they’ve been washed many times. When he opens the door, Kiryu is leaning against the wall.
“Oh!” He says in surprise, mouth curling upwards like a particularly smug cat. “Those fit you better than I expected. I’ll give you a tour while Suo gets changed.”
Haruka learns that the room he’d been in was something of a storage and guest room. That was on the right side of the house. The rooms on either side of the entry were dedicated to greeting guests and the kitchen took up most of the left side. The back side was split by an arched hallway that led to a door and was flanked by two storage rooms. On the upper floors there was a small balcony with a room on each side and the entire backside was Kiryu and Suo’s room. The part of the right side of the house that was under the second floor led to a nicely furnished bathhouse.
All in all, it was pretty fancy feeling.
“So,” Haruka stretches the o for a moment, “why didja have to get me a change of clothes?”
“Apart from needing something to sleep in?” Suo quips distractedly as he reaches for something behind him.
Kiryu is eyeing Suo when he answers. “Chanpuru had always been the least welcoming district of Makochi. It got worse when it became an island of its own. Better to have you blend in when we take you around town than have to field stares and questions.”
“Plus,” Suo adds when he gives up on getting what he was reaching for, “it’s not like we’ll stay here for long anyways.” He sounds tired. “But this way you’ll see somewhere that Nirei hasn’t and have a bit of time to yourself.”
Kiryu laughs and Haruka assumes it’s because he’s making a face. “When I saw you in Keisei, it looked like you were ready to start a fight if it meant you’d be able to have a moment alone.” Kiryu wiped at his face, like he’d laughed himself to tears. Which Haruka knows he didn’t. “I figured helping you escape with us would be a win win. You’d get what you wanted and Ha- Suo would get to talk with you more.”
“You wanted to talk with me more?” Haruka blurts without thinking and gets rewarded with getting to watch as pink crawls its way across the back of Suo’s neck and the tips of his ears. “Why? I’m just a mechanic. I’m not… I’m not smart like Nirei or any of the other guys.”
Both Furin look at him with something like concern or disbelief.
Suo huffs, shooting a look at Kiryu. “Smart doesn’t always equate to interesting,” he says in a low, flat voice. “Which isn't to say that Nirei isn’t interesting to speak with. He is.”
Suo pauses for a moment, a furrow forming between his brows as he seemed to search for what he wanted to say next.
Haruka wanted to press his thumb there and smooth it away. The feeling startles him, almost bad enough to make him jerk in his seat. He shoves it down and away to examine later when Suo looks at him.
“People from different backgrounds, different walks of life all have differing perspectives of the world they live in.” Suo continues and Haruka suddenly realizes that Suo was also a scholar. “Nirei has shared a lot with me, with us, about the world above, but that’s one view.”
Kiryu giggles, “This sounds awfully familiar. I think you said somethi-“
He’s cut off by Suo jumping the corner of the table to shove him over. Kiryu practically cackles when Suo pushes his hand into Kiryu’s face with a frustrated shout of ‘Tace!’. Suo is pulled down by Kiryu and they go tumbling across the floor. The curiosity of what Kiryu had been about to say to elicit such a reaction was shelved and replaced by another however. Haruka takes a quiet moment in their bickering to speak up.
“What language is that?” Haruka feels a curl of delighted amusement when they both startle and disengage from each other like scolded children. “Nirei never mentioned that there was another language spoken here.”
“Sakura,” Kiryu begins with a wrinkle of his nose.
Suo continues the thought, smoothly. “Do you know what Nirei’s job is?”
They’re both acting rather incredulous. Which is frankly absurd. What kind of question is that? Of course Haruka knows what Nirei does.
“He’s an archae…uh archaeomologist.” Ha. Nailed it.
Kiryu bites his lip, badly smothered amusement brimming on his face. It’s Suo who loses the battle with composure and leans forward to brace himself on the table as he laughs. It’s such a sight that Haruka forgets to be offended that he’s being laughed at. Suo’s laughter sounds like it’s been spooked out of him and he’s just as surprised by it as anyone else. Haruka feels a helpless sort of smile stretch across his face, unbidden.
Fuck, he absolutely didn’t sign up for this.
Haruka learns, after Suo has pulled himself together, that Nirei is a linguist, which means he studied languages and specifically dead languages. Which is how Nirei had likely discovered anything about Makochi in the first place. Haruka learns that Makochi had been a bustling hub prior to her departure from the surface and that the Furin were a people naturally inclined to language. That they could converse because they’d taught their children the various ways to communicate that they’d once employed. The Furin mainly spoke in either Latin or a language that Haruka didn’t think he could ever hope to learn.
“Latin,” Suo had said with a bright eye and excited expression, “is the mother language for a lot of the Romance languages.”
Neither Haruka nor Kiryu had the heart to stop Suo when he was so clearly enthusiastic to speak on the subject. Haruka couldn’t have cared less for the subject, but he did like watching the other be so much more animated than he had usually been.
That moment of peaceful solitude that Haruka had craved finally came two mornings later. Kiryu had stepped out before the light had brightened for the day and Suo was busy bustling around the house. Which had perfectly aligned to leave Haruka alone with his thoughts. He had so many more now than before though.
He felt guilty that he’d paid so little attention to exactly what it was that Nirei did, even though he’d only ever understood a small percentage of what the blonde would tell him. That was an emotion he could deal with when he next saw Nirei and thus pushed it to the back of his mind. Haruka let his thoughts meander over the events of the evening prior, the questions he’d had and gotten answered, the observations he’d made to himself since arriving. A tangled web of emotions and thoughts that he’d put off sorting for too long.
Makochi and her sister islands were beautiful. The awe that filled Haruka’s being as he got to see more and more hadn’t abated in the slightest. Chanpuru was a wonder in and of itself, even if the attitudes of the populace could be a bit off putting. The feeling of being out of time and completely at ease was a strange mixture wherever he went, but he couldn’t ignore how much Makochi as a whole felt like coming home. Haruka had been here less than a week and already never wanted to leave.
Then there were the people he had been getting to know. Umemiya was a weird guy with a host of annoying quirks, but Haruka had already seen how much he cared for his people. Kotoha was an interesting counter to her brother. Levelheaded and observant in ways that made Haruka want to actually try at befriending her. Then there was Suo and Kiryu. Both were captivating to Haruka in differing ways. Haruka still didn’t know much about either, though he definitely knew more after a few days with just them than Nirei’s notebooks did.
Suo was as enigmatic and reserved as the scrawled notes and chatter around camp had said. There were moments, though, when Haruka felt like he’d been allowed to see behind the smoke and mirrors. Like when he’d watched as Suo tended to the little tea garden behind the house and listened as Suo hummed to himself. Or like when he’d gone with Kiryu to fetch Suo from the temple and they’d found him wholly focused on solving an issue with the scribes.
That was something that Haruka didn’t think he could forget if he tried. The soft, warm, flickering candlelight that had made the shadows dance on the walls and Suo’s pale skin. The way Suo looked so intent, eye sharp and mouth set in a firm line whenever he wasn’t arguing with one of the scribes. Haruka remembered seeing a smudge of ink on Suo’s cheek and feeling strangely jealous that Kiryu was the one to wipe it away. The feeling is less strange as he thinks over the memory.
Kiryu was sly and far more protective than his outwardly detached appearance gave away. It was easier for Haruka to get a read on him, easier to understand the notes Nirei had taken on him. Easier didn’t mean that Kiryu didn’t make Haruka work for what he learned though. Haruka found he didn’t mind it though.
Kiryu had taken Haruka into the town while Suo had been busy with the temple. It had been a good time for them to get away and Haruka enjoyed the time spent together. Kiryu had a laugh that made one want to laugh with him and the longer they had strolled the market, the more Haruka had noticed that as Kiryu had teased him. It was fun and he wanted to experience it more.
Haruka wanted -the more he saw of the islands and the people, the more he was with Kiryu and Suo- to stay.
“What do you mean,” Suo’s voice echoed down the stone hallway. He sounded stressed and confused. “You can’t- You can’t be serious!” Suo was almost shouting.
Kiryu took off running down the hallway.
Augurs, Haruka had learned, had originally been people who read the movement of birds and give predictions. When the island sank, there wasn’t a need for the original skills of the augurs and so they’d adapted. No one but the original augurs could explain how they’d gone to interpreting flying birds to the movement of wind chimes. The eerie and unnatural yellow glow of the chimes in the chamber told Haruka nothing. The noiseless movement of their fluttering in the breeze-less room gave him no hints.
Suo was sitting in the middle of the room and near frantic in his attempts to stand from the meditative position he’d been in. He was trembling so hard that Haruka could see it from where he stood in the doorway. Kiryu dropped to his knees in front of Suo, trying to stop him and steady him all at once.
Kiryu cupped Suo’s face, drawing his gaze with difficulty. “What? What did you see?” He asks harshly.
“It can’t be,” Suo shakes his head. His hands grasp at Kiryu’s arm and sleeve. “It has to be false.” His voice is shaking.
“What does?” Kiryu demands.
Haruka doesn’t move. He hardly breathes as the furin in the room erupts into movement that suggests strong winds and yet nothing else moves. Suo flinches hard.
When he speaks again, his voice is steady but hollow and distant. Like he’s not entirely there. His eye is locked onto the furin.
“Chanpuru will be lost.”