Chapter Text
Several weeks passed after Megumi's first encounter with Yuuji, and very little about his life changed.
If anything, his workload became worse.
The assignments kept coming, one after another, often with barely enough time between them for Megumi to return to the estate, sleep for a few hours, and prepare for the next one. He retrieved cursed objects from abandoned shrines, tracked down missing supernatural creatures, reinforced wards that other witches had neglected, and dealt with curses that had grown too dangerous for ordinary exorcists to handle. Some jobs took a day; others kept him away for several nights. By the end of the third week, Megumi had stopped keeping track of how many assignments he had completed.
He had, however, become very familiar with the particular ache that settled behind his eyes whenever he was awake for too long.
Tonight was no different. Megumi walked through the forest with his field bag hanging heavily from one shoulder, the familiar weight of the latest artifact inside. The moon was already high above the trees, and the cold night air should have helped clear his head, but exhaustion had settled so deeply into his body that even the crispness of the air barely registered. His legs felt heavy, his magic was running thin, and there was a dull ache across his ribs where a curse had caught him earlier that evening.
It wasn't serious. At least, he didn't think it was. He had dealt with worse. The Divine Dog walked silently beside him, its dark shape almost blending into the shadows between the trees. Megumi glanced down at it and noticed the faint shimmer of its form. Maintaining the familiar wasn't particularly difficult under normal circumstances, but after several consecutive assignments even that small drain on his magic had begun to feel noticeable. He considered dismissing it, then decided against it. He was too tired to walk alone.
The thought almost made him laugh. He had spent his entire life working alone when he was sent into the field. The Zenin trusted his abilities enough to send him places where they wouldn't risk sending anyone else, and Megumi had grown accustomed to the silence. He was supposed to be capable of handling himself. That was one of the reasons the coven valued him.
The problem was that being capable had slowly become synonymous with being available all the time. Megumi reached the edge of the forest and stopped when he saw the familiar wards of the Zenin estate glowing faintly in the distance. He could already imagine what awaited him inside: the artifact would need to be delivered, Naoya would probably ask for a report, and if he was particularly unlucky, there would be another assignment waiting on the desk.
He closed his eyes briefly.
He wanted to go home, and he should.
Instead, he stood there for several seconds, staring at the lights beyond the trees.
Yuuji had told him to visit. The memory came back with embarrassing clarity, despite how long it had been. A ridiculous smile, golden eyes, and the casual certainty with which Yuuji had said that Megumi should come by sometime, as though it were the most natural suggestion in the world.
He had thought about it.
More than once. He opened his eyes and looked toward the estate again. Going home meant another assignment. Maybe not tonight. Maybe Naoya would surprise him and let him sleep. But Megumi had learned not to rely on that possibility. The Coven had no reason to give him time off when he continued to accept obediently every assignment they placed in front of him.
He looked in the opposite direction.
Megumi stood there long enough for the Divine Dog to glance up at him.
"We're not going home yet," he murmured.
The dog's tail moved once. Megumi adjusted the strap of his bag and turned away from the estate. It was only for a few hours, he told himself. He wasn't leaving the coven. He wasn't running away. He just wanted somewhere quiet to rest before returning. And, perhaps, he thought reluctantly as he stepped beneath the trees, he wanted to see Yuuji again.
-----------
Gojo's territory felt different from the Zenin estate before Megumi had even crossed the boundary. The wards were there, but they didn't press against him with the same familiar weight. Instead, several different kinds of magic seemed to overlap throughout the forest, woven together without any clear order. There was something almost warm about it, despite how unfamiliar it was.
Megumi followed the path deeper into the trees, his field bag still hanging from his shoulder. He hadn't bothered leaving it at the boundary. The thought of making another trip anywhere had been enough to convince him to keep carrying it, even though the weight had begun to feel considerably heavier than it should have. He had dismissed the Divine Dog several minutes ago, not wanting to waste what little magic he had left maintaining it.
He wasn't entirely sure where he was going. Yuuji had never actually told him where the pack lived. Then a familiar scent reached him through the trees. A Wolf. Megumi stopped just as something moved between the branches. A large wolf emerged from the undergrowth and froze when he saw him. For a moment they simply stared at each other. Then the wolf's tail began wagging so enthusiastically that his entire body moved with it, and he bounded toward Megumi without hesitation.
Megumi barely had time to brace himself before the wolf pressed his head against his chest.
"Yuuji."
The wolf whined happily.
Megumi sighed, though he couldn't quite hide the faint amusement in his expression. "You seem happy."
Yuuji shifted back into human form, his smile appearing almost immediately.
"You came."
Megumi adjusted the strap of his bag. "You invited me."
"I didn't think you'd actually come."
"Why invite me, then?"
Yuuji laughed, looking far too happy about the entire situation.
Megumi was beginning to regret coming here.
Yuuji's expression changed as he looked him over more carefully.
"You look terrible."
"...Thanks?"
Yuuji grinned. "Sorry."
Before Megumi could answer, Yuuji reached for his bag. Megumi pulled it away.
"I can carry it."
"I know."
"Then stop."
Yuuji shrugged and started walking.
"Come on."
Megumi followed. They hadn't gone far when voices carried through the trees ahead of them. A moment later, two figures appeared on the path. The first was a young woman with short hair and an expression that suggested she had already decided she didn't like whatever was happening. Beside her walked a large panda.
Megumi stopped.
The panda stopped too.
Yuuji brightened. " This is Nobara and Panda."
Nobara looked at Megumi, then at Yuuji, then back at Megumi.
"This is the witch you mentioned?"
"Yeah."
"The Zenin one?"
"Yeah."
She studied Megumi for another second.
"You look half-dead."
Megumi frowned.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
Panda chuckled.
Yuuji looked delighted.
"I told you."
Megumi ignored him.
His attention had shifted to Panda. Something was wrong. It wasn't obvious at first. Panda's appearance was perfectly convincing, but there was something underneath it, something Megumi could sense through the strange mixture of magic surrounding the pack. The shape of his energy didn't match his body.
Megumi narrowed his eyes.
Panda tilted his head.
"What?"
"You're not a panda."
Yuuji blinked.
Nobara raised an eyebrow.
Panda stared at Megumi for several seconds before slowly smiling.
"Well, what do you know?"
Megumi's gaze remained fixed on him.
"You're a wolf."
Panda's smile disappeared. Yuuji looked between them, suddenly curious, and Nobara folded her arms.
"And how exactly did you figure that out?"
Megumi glanced at her.
"I know a curse when I see it."
The words left the group quiet again. Panda's expression changed, the humor fading from his face. Megumi didn't elaborate. He simply looked at him with the same calm concentration he used whenever he examined a curse. The magic wasn't simple. It was old, layered, and deeply embedded. Whatever had happened to Panda, it wasn't something that could be broken with a single spell.
Yuuji looked at Megumi.
"Can you fix it?"
Megumi hesitated.
"I don't know."
Panda gave a small shrug.
"Nobody has been able to so far, and Gojo's magic is not suited for layered curses like this one."
Megumi looked at him for another moment.
"At first glance, it does not seem impossible, but I will need to investigate it more if you don't mind."
Panda's ears seemed to perk slightly.
Nobara glanced at Yuuji and noticed the stupid grin on his face.
She sighed.
"Oh, this is going to be a problem."
Megumi wasn't sure what she meant. Yuuji stepped closer and gestured toward the path ahead. "Come on. I'll show you around."
Megumi looked at Nobara and Panda. Neither seemed particularly bothered by his presence. It was strange. He had expected questions. At least some hesitation over the fact that he was a Zenin witch standing in their territory. Instead, they simply made room for him.
Megumi followed Yuuji deeper into the territory.
-------
Yuuji led Megumi farther into the territory, away from the main path and toward the heart of the pack's home. The forest gradually opened around them, revealing a collection of buildings scattered between the trees rather than one large structure. Some were old wooden houses, others looked as though they had been added much later, and several smaller structures had been built around them without any real concern for symmetry. Everything seemed to have grown naturally over time, shaped by whoever happened to need a place to live rather than by any particular plan.
Megumi found himself looking around with quiet curiosity.
"This is the main house," Yuuji said, pointing toward the largest building ahead. "Gojo lives there."
Megumi glanced at it. "Just Gojo?"
"Mostly."
"What does that mean?"
Yuuji laughed. "You'll understand eventually."
They continued walking, passing a wide clearing where several training dummies had been set up beneath the trees. Megumi recognized traces of different kinds of magic around the area, along with the unmistakable scent of wolves. There were paths leading in several directions, some disappearing into the forest, others toward the houses scattered throughout the territory.
Yuuji seemed pleased by Megumi's interest.
"There's a stream over there. We usually eat outside when the weather's good. The woods beyond that are mostly left alone."
Megumi nodded, taking everything in. It was unlike the Zenin estate. There were no carefully arranged gardens, no ancient buildings maintained exactly as they had been for generations, no wards layered so densely that every step reminded him of the coven's presence. Here, magic seemed to exist alongside everything else.
"Why do you call it a pack and not a Coven? I can sense magic everywhere." Megumi asked.
Yuuji looked at him.
"Because of Gojo."
Megumi frowned slightly.
"As you know, he's half wolf and half witch, but he has always preferred the wolf side."
Megumi considered this, remembering the strange mixture of energies he'd sensed when crossing the boundary. He could sense other creatures too. He was sure Nobara was a fae, for example, not a witch and not a wolf either.
"That explains it."
Yuuji nodded. "Gojo's always been more comfortable with wolves, but he understands witches too. So when he started gathering people here, it became a pack instead of a coven."
Megumi looked toward the surrounding forest.
"So everyone here is either a wolf or a witch?" he already knew the answer, but he wanted Yuuji to confirm it. Naoya had also mentioned that Gojo "gathered strays" or something along those lines.
Yuuji shook his head.
"Nope."
He started counting on his fingers.
"Wolves, witches, fae, half-bloods, cursed pandas..."
Megumi glanced at him.
"Cursed pandas?"
"Yeah."
Yuuji smiled innocently. They walked a little farther until Yuuji stopped beside a small wooden building tucked beneath the trees.
"And this is where I sleep."
Megumi looked inside. It was simple, but comfortable. A bed occupied most of the room, with a few blankets thrown over it and several personal belongings scattered around the space. Nothing was particularly organized, although it wasn't dirty either.
Megumi looked at the bed.
Then at Yuuji.
Yuuji looked at him.
"No." Megumi frowned. "Did you bring me here to take a nap?"
"It will be the greatest nap of your life, I promise."
Megumi sighed and turned away.
"I'm not staying that long."
"It won't take that long."
"I need to go back to the Coven."
Yuuji stared at him.
"Already?"
"There is probably work that I need to be doing already."
Yuuji's expression softened.
"You just finished a mission though."
"I know."
"You're exhausted."
"I'm fine."
Yuuji stepped closer.
"You're falling asleep standing up."
"I'm not."
Megumi yawned.
Yuuji raised an eyebrow.
Megumi glared at him.
"That proves nothing."
Yuuji laughed and reached for his bag again, and this time Megumi didn't stop him.
Yuuji dropped it beside the bed and turned back toward him.
"Come on, napping with wolves is a great experience. Everyone back home is gonna be jealous when you tell them."
Megumi stared at him. Did this silly wolf know nothing of the Zenin Coven?
"Yuuji."
"Shadow witch."
Megumi blinked.
"What?"
Yuuji smiled.
"Nap."
Megumi had absolutely no idea why being called a Shadow witch made the command to nap sound more ridiculous.
"I don't take orders from wolves."
"Good. I'm not giving you an order."
Yuuji gently pushed him toward the bed.
"I'm asking."
Megumi resisted for approximately three seconds. Then his legs gave a small, involuntary wobble and Yuuji caught his arm.
Megumi closed his eyes.
"Fine."
Yuuji looked triumphant.
"Good."
Megumi sat down on the edge of the bed, intending to rest for only a moment. He barely had time to remove his shoes before Yuuji shifted. The large wolf appeared beside him almost seamlessly, golden eyes watching him expectantly.
Megumi stared.
"Really?"
The wolf wagged his tail. Megumi sighed and lay back. A moment later, Yuuji climbed onto the bed and curled himself around Megumi, his large body warm against his side. His head settled near Megumi's shoulder, and one heavy foreleg rested across his waist as though making certain he wouldn't get up again.
Megumi went rigid.
"You're heavy and very fluffy."
Yuuji made a pleased sound. Megumi considered pushing him away, but he didn't. The warmth was surprisingly comfortable, and after several weeks of sleeping alone in unfamiliar places, something was soothing about having another living creature beside him. The wolf's breathing was slow and steady, his scent filling the small room with something warm and familiar.
Megumi's eyes began to close.
"This is only for a little while," he murmured.
Yuuji's tail thumped softly against the mattress.
Megumi fell asleep before he could argue with himself about it.
--------------
Megumi intended to return to the Zenin estate after his nap.
He did not.
When he woke, the sun was already setting, and for several seconds he remained perfectly still beneath the blankets, disoriented by the unfamiliar warmth around him. Yuuji was still asleep beside him in his wolf form, curled against Megumi's back with his head resting near his shoulder. Megumi carefully slipped out from underneath him, expecting the wolf to wake, but Yuuji only made a quiet noise and rolled onto his side.
Megumi stared at him for a moment before quietly leaving the room. He told himself he would return to the estate immediately. Instead, he stayed for dinner. After that, it became difficult to pretend his visits were accidental. Whenever there was enough time between assignments, Megumi began taking the longer route through the forest. Sometimes he stayed for an hour, sometimes for an afternoon, and occasionally he was so exhausted that Yuuji sent him to bed without asking. The pack gradually stopped treating him like a guest. There was always somewhere for him to sit, something to eat, and someone who would greet him when he arrived.
Yuuji was usually the first.
Megumi grew accustomed to seeing a large wolf emerge from the trees the moment he crossed the boundary, tail wagging furiously before Yuuji shifted back and asked how the mission had gone. He grew accustomed to Panda appearing beside him whenever he had questions about the curse, to Inumaki offering him food with a quiet "salmon," and to Shoko looking him over with increasing suspicion whenever he showed up with another bruise.
Nanami was quieter, but Megumi found that he liked being around him. Something was reassuring about the older wolf's calm presence, particularly when the others became too loud. Choso remained protective of the pack and initially watched Megumi carefully, but eventually began leaving food aside for him without comment. Yuki, meanwhile, seemed endlessly fascinated by his Shadows magic and had already asked enough questions to make Megumi regret ever humoring her.
Nobara simply accepted his presence as though he had always been there.
"You are back again."
Megumi nodded.
She glanced at Yuuji. He was grinning like an idiot again.
Nobara sighed. "You're both ridiculous."
Megumi ignored her. He often found the fae's words strange. He had never expected to enjoy the pack's company. Their lives were so different from his own that he should have felt out of place, yet nobody seemed particularly interested in what he was supposed to be. They didn't care that he was a Zenin, or what his magic could do.
They simply made room for him. And Megumi found himself making room for them in return. Panda became the most obvious example. Megumi continued studying the curse whenever he had the time, though every examination only convinced him that it was far more complicated than he had initially thought. It wasn't simply something sitting on Panda's body. The curse had become intertwined with his magic, reshaping itself around him over the years. One evening, after spending nearly an hour examining the markings around Panda's shoulders, Megumi finally stepped back.
"I think I can break it."
Panda's expression changed.
"Really?"
"I said I think."
Yuuji immediately appeared at Megumi's side.
"You can do it?"
"Eventually."
Panda smiled. Megumi looked away. He wasn't used to people looking at him like that when he said he could do something. The Zenin expected results. The pack seemed to expect nothing except that he would try. It was unsettling, but it was also nice. By then, Megumi had stopped thinking of the pack as somewhere he visited between missions.
He had started thinking of it as somewhere he could go whenever he wanted. It almost felt like a second home. The Zenin estate was still home. It had always been home. The coven had raised him after his father disappeared. He knew every corridor, every ward, every garden path. He knew which elders preferred silence during meals and which ones would secretly leave sweets in the kitchen for the younger witches. He knew the names of the people who had taught him how to control his shadows, who had bandaged his hands when he was young, who had watched over him when his magic first began manifesting.
There were things about the coven he hated. There were things he couldn't forgive. But that didn't erase the years he had spent there. It didn't erase the people he loved. So when the Zenin finally noticed how often he had been visiting Gojo's territory, Megumi wasn't surprised by the concern.
Naoya was waiting for him when he returned from an assignment one evening.
He wasn't particularly angry, and that was concerning.
"You're spending a lot of time with Gojo's pack."
Megumi stopped.
"I visit sometimes; I have made a friend there."
"More than sometimes."
Megumi said nothing.
Naoya studied him for a moment before sighing.
"I know you're tired, I know that I have pushed you, Megumi, but it is only this way that your powers will grow."
Megumi looked away.
"I can handle it."
"I know you can." Naoya's voice was quiet. "That's why I trusted you with so much work. But I guess I have been pushing you too far, and now you're spending your free time with people who don't understand what happens to witches who separate themselves from their covens."
"They aren't asking me to leave the Coven."
"Not yet."
Megumi frowned.
Naoya stepped closer.
"I don't want you making decisions because you're exhausted. Gojo's pack may seem harmless, but you don't know what their intentions are."
"They've been kind to me."
"I know." The answer came without hesitation. Naoya looked almost troubled. "That's what worries me."
Megumi didn't understand. Naoya had always been difficult to read. "I've seen witches leave before," he said. "They think they can manage alone. They believe they don't need the coven anymore, and then their magic starts to suffer. They become vulnerable. They lose control. Some of them never recover."
"I'm not leaving the Coven, Naoya."
"I hope not." Naoya paused. "But I think you need to stop for a while."
Megumi's brow furrowed.
"Stop what?"
"Stop going on missions."
Megumi stared at him.
Naoya's expression softened.
"You're exhausted, Megumi. You're not thinking clearly. So you're staying here until you've had enough time to rest."
"For how long?"
"Until I decide you're rested."
Megumi stared at him.
"House confinement will be your punishment."
For several seconds, Megumi simply looked at him.
"I am twenty years old. I have exorcised curses that could kill half this estate. You cannot seriously be grounding me."
"No." Naoya almost smiled. "You're an exhausted twenty-year-old who needs someone to stop you from making a terrible mistake."
Megumi looked deeply offended.
Naoya ignored it. "I'm not doing this to punish you. I care about you, and this is partly my fault for pushing you too far."
Something in Megumi's chest tightened. The words pulled an old memory to the surface. He had been eight the first time the elders had seriously considered punishing him. It had been a stupid mistake. Megumi had been practicing with his shadows in one of the inner courtyards when one of the Divine Dogs had slipped beyond his control. It had chased a servant through the garden and torn through one of the older protective wards before Megumi managed to dismiss it.
No one had been hurt, and the ward could be repaired. The elders had been furious anyway. Megumi remembered standing in the council room with his hands clenched at his sides, trying not to cry while the adults spoke over his head. He remembered hearing the words reckless, undisciplined, and "his father's son" more than once.
He remembered being afraid. Then Naoya had walked into the room. He had been younger then, but already old enough to hold a place among the adults.
"Enough." The room had fallen silent. One of the elders had frowned. "This does not concern you."
"It concerns me if you're planning to punish a child for an accident."
"He damaged a sacred ward."
"And it can be repaired."
"He must learn discipline."
Naoya had looked at Megumi before turning back to them.
"Then I'll teach him."
The elder's expression hardened.
"You defend him too much."
Naoya hadn't moved.
"He's the pride of our family."
Those words had stayed with Megumi for years. Later, after the elders had dismissed them, Naoya had found Megumi sitting alone outside the courtyard. He had crouched in front of him and looked at his scraped hands.
"Does it hurt?"
Megumi had nodded.
Naoya had taken his hands carefully and examined them before pulling a small healing charm from his sleeve.
"You made a mistake," he'd told him. "That doesn't matter. I will teach you to control your magic better, little cousin"
Megumi remembered looking up at him.
"Are they still angry?"
"Yes."
"Are you?"
"No."
Naoya had placed the charm over his palm. Then, after a moment, he'd added, "You don't have to be afraid. You're a Shadow witch, and I'll take care of you."
Megumi had believed him. He still did. Naoya was a difficult person to read. Over the years, there had been moments when he was cruel and others when he was unexpectedly kind. Megumi had never been able to trust him completely, but Naoya had always been the only shield between him and the elders who hated him for being his father's son.
The memory faded, leaving Megumi standing in the hallway with Naoya watching him. For a moment, neither spoke. Megumi wanted to be angry. It would have been easier if Naoya were simply cruel. Easier if every kindness from the past had been a lie.
But it hadn't been. Naoya cared about him in his own twisted way. He genuinely believed this was what protecting him looked like.
Megumi lowered his eyes.
"Fine."
Naoya nodded.
"Go to your room."
Megumi stared at him. The absurdity of it almost made him laugh. He had faced curses, crossed hostile territories, and spent weeks working without proper sleep, yet somehow this was what finally made him feel powerless.
He turned toward the stairs.
Behind him, Naoya called softly, "Megumi."
He stopped.
"Get some rest."
Megumi didn't answer. He went to his room and closed the door. For several minutes, he stood in the darkness. Then he looked toward the window.
Beyond the estate, somewhere beyond the trees, was the pack.
Yuuji.
Nobara.
Panda.
The others.
Megumi sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his tired eyes.
He missed them already.
-------------------------
When Megumi finally returned to the pack two weeks later, he was greeted by Yuuji, Nobara, and Panda, all three of them looking far too interested in his sudden disappearance. Yuuji was the first to ask where he'd been, and Megumi gave him the simplest answer he could.
"Busy."
Nobara immediately folded her arms and pointed out that he'd been gone for days, which Panda followed by asking whether the Zenin had finally decided to lock him in his room.
Megumi frowned. "It was house confinement."
Nobara stared at him for a moment before breaking into laughter. "You got grounded."
Megumi insisted that it was different, but neither of them seemed willing to accept that distinction. Even Yuuji was struggling not to laugh, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hide his face.
Megumi gave him a flat look. That only made him laugh harder. Eventually, Megumi sighed and muttered that he hated all of them, to which Yuuji cheerfully replied that he didn't. Megumi didn't bother arguing. Once the teasing finally died down, the others returned to whatever they had been doing, leaving Megumi standing near the edge of the clearing. He watched Yuuji disappear between the trees with Choso in their wolf form, and despite himself, felt some of the tension he'd been carrying since his confinement ease. He had missed this place. He had missed them. Most of all, he had missed Yuuji, though that was something he still wasn't particularly interested in examining closer.
"You look better," a voice said beside him.
Megumi turned to find Maki standing there. She looked much the same as he remembered, though there was something more relaxed about her now that she was away from the coven.
Megumi nodded toward her. "You too."
Maki snorted. "Thanks."
The corner of Megumi's mouth twitched. She sat beside him on a fallen log, leaving a comfortable amount of space between them, and for a while they simply watched the others moving around the clearing.
Maki had known Megumi long before the pack had. They had grown up in the Zenin coven together until a certain age, though their experiences there had never been quite the same. She had been older when she left, and Megumi still remembered the whispers that had followed her departure, the way the elders had spoken about her as though she had betrayed them by wanting a life outside the coven. At the time, he hadn't understood it. Now he thought he probably did.
"Do you still think of the coven as home?" Maki asked eventually.
Megumi was quiet for a moment. "Yes."
Maki nodded, unsurprised. "Me too. Doesn't mean I want to go back."
Megumi looked at her, and something about the answer settled uncomfortably in his chest. He understood exactly what she meant. The Zenin estate was still home to him. It was where he had grown up, where he had learned magic, where the wards recognized his presence. It was also the place that had made him feel trapped for most of his life. Both things could be true.
After another quiet moment, Maki asked, "Have they told you much about your father?"
Megumi's expression tightened. "No."
Maki gave a humorless laugh, as though that answer confirmed something she had already suspected.
Megumi looked down at his hands before adding, "There wasn't much to tell." His father had left when he was young. He had simply left him at the coven and never came back. Megumi had spent years trying not to think about it, but the questions had never completely disappeared. Why had Toji left? Why hadn't he taken him? Why hadn't he ever returned?
Maki watched him carefully. "Toji was never good at staying anywhere."
Megumi's jaw tightened. "You knew him?"
"Not well," she replied. "But I knew what people said about him. They hated him because he had no magic, and they were afraid of him because he didn't need it."
Megumi looked toward the trees. He had heard versions of that his entire life. His father had been an embarrassment to the coven, a man who possessed no magic at all and yet had a body so powerful that even experienced witches had been wary of him.
Maki's expression softened. "They were afraid of what he proved."
Megumi looked at her. "That someone could be powerful without magic?"
She nodded. "Exactly."
For a while, neither of them spoke. Then Maki leaned back and looked toward the clearing. "Whatever he did, Megumi, it wasn't because there was something wrong with you."
Megumi lowered his eyes. He wanted to believe her, and perhaps some part of him already did. "I know," he said, even though the words still felt more like something he was trying to convince himself of than something he truly believed. Maki didn't push him.
Instead, she stood and brushed the dirt from her clothes. "You don't have to decide anything yet."
Megumi looked up.
"About the coven," she clarified. "You'll know when you're ready." She left him there before he could answer.
Megumi remained on the log for a while, watching the others move around the clearing. Across the field, Yuuji had stopped and was looking back at him, his golden eyes bright against his dark fur. Their gazes met, and Yuuji's tail gave a small wag before he turned and continued playing with Choso through the trees.
Megumi watched him go, a faint smile appearing on his face.
He was beginning to understand that leaving one home didn't necessarily mean having nowhere else to go.
------------
The assignment arrived three days after Megumi's last visit to Yuuji's place.
He was summoned to the council room shortly after breakfast, where Naoya was waiting with a sealed letter resting on the table between them. Megumi knew from the moment he saw it that it wasn't going to be a simple retrieval. Those assignments were usually handed to him without ceremony, often accompanied by a few hurried instructions from whoever happened to be in charge that day. This had been placed in front of Naoya first, which meant the elders had already decided it was important.
Megumi broke the seal and read the letter.
A small fae settlement had refused to pay a debt owed to the Zenin for protection of their territory. According to the report, they had stopped answering the coven's messengers and were refusing to negotiate. Megumi's task was simple: locate the settlement, retrieve the object the Zenin claimed as payment, and bring it back.
If they resisted, he was authorized to use force.
Megumi read the final line twice.
"What's the object?"
Naoya was quiet for a moment.
"A wardstone."
Megumi looked up.
"Why do they have it?"
"They've had it for generations."
"Then why does the coven want it now?"
Naoya didn't answer immediately. Megumi looked back at the letter and realized something wasn't right. The settlement was too small to have any strategic value. The wardstone itself wasn't particularly powerful. There was no curse involved, no immediate threat to the coven, and no indication that anyone there had attacked a Zenin witch.
They simply hadn't paid in time.
Megumi folded the letter.
"Why are they being punished?"
"They're refusing to cooperate."
"That's not what I asked."
Naoya's expression tightened. Megumi rarely challenged assignments. He had learned long ago that there was little point in asking questions when the answer was always the same: because the elders said so.
This time, however, he couldn't let it go.
"What did they do?"
Naoya sighed.
"Nothing," he admitted
Megumi stared at him.
"They haven't attacked anyone. They haven't broken a ward. They haven't released a curse."
"No."
"They just refused to give the coven something as payment from a deal made decades ago?"
Naoya looked away.
"Yes."
Silence filled the room. Megumi thought about the people living in that settlement. He imagined a family being told that a witch had come to take something that had belonged to them for generations. He imagined them refusing. He imagined Megumi arriving afterward with his shadows and his summons, forcing them to surrender it because the Zenin had decided they were entitled to it.
He couldn't do that.
Not anymore.
"What happens if I refuse?"
Naoya's eyes returned to him. Megumi saw something close to worry in his expression.
"That would be up to the elders."
Megumi waited.
Naoya continued carefully. "I can argue for you. I can explain why you refused. You can try to convince them that you're acting according to your conscience rather than out of defiance, but you won't be able to do much."
The words settled heavily between them. Megumi looked down at the letter. Naoya had protected him before. He knew that. He had spent years believing that as long as Naoya stood between him and the elders, he would always have someone on his side. But Naoya couldn't protect him from the entire coven.
Not if the elders decided Megumi had crossed a line.
"You think I should do it."
Naoya shook his head.
"I think you should understand what refusing means before you make your decision."
Megumi looked at him. For a moment, Megumi was reminded of the boy who had once stood between him and the elders when he was eight years old, the one who had told him that making a mistake didn't make him a failure. Naoya hadn't changed as much as Megumi sometimes wanted to believe. He still wanted to protect him in a way. He simply couldn't understand that sometimes his protection was oppressive.
Megumi looked at the letter again, and he pushed it back across the table.
"I'm not doing it."
Naoya closed his eyes briefly.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
Megumi stood.
"Will they punish me?"
"Probably."
Megumi nodded.
Naoya looked at him.
"Be careful."
Megumi paused at the door. Naoya was still sitting at the table, looking older than he had a moment ago.
"I don't want you to leave," he said quietly.
Megumi's hand tightened around the doorframe.
"I know."
And for the first time, Megumi understood that leaving the Coven would hurt both of them.