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“I believe that concludes today’s meeting,” said the grouchy old nobleman, Haruto, as he gathered up his documents and addressed the round table. “We shall reconvene in a week and sort out the final preparations for the renovation of the Narukami Shrine. Does that sound favourable to all?”
The rest of the Commission representatives murmured their assent, gathering up their things haphazardly, and filing out. Several dropped sheets of paper that others casually trampled, and Thoma made a quick note to himself to clean up the dirty scraps adorning the floor before the next meeting.
“You," called Haruto, beckoning towards Thoma with one hand, not even deigning to look up. “Why didn’t Commissioner Ayato attend the meeting?” he huffed. “These things are important, you know?”
Thoma plastered a smile onto his face. Entitled aristocrats were another of the little hindrances it was his job to deal with. “Lord Kamisato has other business to tend to. He trusts me to fill him in on commission matters such as these. But thank you for your concern. Rest be assured, he shall be present for the Summer Festival planning committee.”
Haruto could only grunt in displeasure as Thoma helped him collect his things and sent him on his way.
Now, onto that very pertinent question. Where was Ayato?
Thoma quickly recounted his master’s schedule for the day. An early morning walk, followed by copious amounts of coffee to help deal with the power-hungry officials clamouring for attention every day. That part had gone along smoothly; Thoma recalled Ayato telling him the coffee wasn’t bitter enough (honestly, he was just glad Ayato didn’t make him taste the coffee—he had no idea how Ayato could stand drinking that liquid personification of gourd regularly).
Sifting through his memory, Thoma realized the last time he’d seen Ayato today was at the library after breakfast. He’d sent Thoma out for a couple of quick errands and by the time Thoma was back, he’d locked himself in his study. And after that came the shrine renovation meeting, but the whole world knew how that went.
Ayato’s study was now dark and empty, blinds pulled down, lights turned off. All books were in place. Pens had not budged from their stands. The daily telltale scratch marks that Ayato absent-mindedly made at the corner of the desk had not been refreshed today. There was nothing to indicate he had even come here; save for the pile of today’s mail he’d brought in—though most of those were unopened.
His mind racing, he left the study. Ayato had to be somewhere, right? But it wasn’t like him to not inform Thoma, to not even leave a note if he was going somewhere. Unless he was in a hurry, for whatever reason.
He ignored the idle chitter of the guards outside the Kamisato Estate in favour of beelining towards a furtive Ayaka. “My lady Ayaka. Have you seen Lord Ayato anywhere?”
“Hm?” said Ayaka, not quite listening as she dragged her sandals on the dusty ground. Then, she blinked her large grey doe-eyes, his words clicking in. “Er, no. Wasn’t he at the meeting?”
Thoma blew out his cheeks, frowning a little. “No, and it’s very unlike him to miss one. Some of the officials tried to poke their noses into the matter too.” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “And he has another meeting in,” he looked at the ticking clock on the wall, “one hour.”
“Oh, he’ll turn up,” said Ayaka, flipping her high ponytail uncharacteristically nonchalantly. “Check with the Shuumatsuban, they might know.” Her foot was tapping the ground with the speed of light as she kept glancing about not very subtly. Was she in a hurry?
“Are you supposed to be somewhere?”
Ayaka’s eyes widened. “What? No. What makes you—er… why would you think that?” She chuckled faintly, a weak attempt to cover up her overcompensation of an answer.
Thoma raised an eyebrow.
Ayaka relented, not meeting Thoma’s eyes. “Hanamizaka,” she mumbled. “Since… y’know… the Summer Festival is coming up… and I should be there… for… arrangements.” Her face became a violent shade of red.
Thoma could only despair at how obvious she was. Even a toddler would be able to tell Ayaka couldn’t care less about the festival preparations and was only using it as an excuse to go meet a certain pyrotechnician girl. (His spot-on intuition may also have been due to the fact that Yoimiya liked using him as venting bag since Ayaka could be denser than a slab of cement.)
However—and unfortunately for Ayaka—because Yoimiya used him as her personal venting bag, he knew she was planning something. What exactly, that he didn’t know, but it was a surprise. Yoimiya had wrung her hands and declared that if it didn’t work, she was going drown her sorrows in a bowl of milk. She didn’t even like milk.
Thoma couldn’t let Ayaka go down to Hanamizaka, lest she spoiled her own surprise and Yoimiya wailed about it to him for days. “Oh, don’t worry about it,” he said quickly. “We’ve allotted people to Hanamizaka. How about you accompany me to the Shuumatsuban? It would be easier for me if you were there.”
“I… er,” Ayaka chewed on her lip, not knowing how to get out of Thoma’s suggestion without giving up her true intentions. “Alright. But we’ll be quick, right?”
“In a jiffy.”
“Sayu!” yelled Thoma, chasing her across the Shuumatsuban village headquarters. Practicing ninjas and their Shiba companions gazed at them quizzically from their little huts, but Thoma had a mission, and he was darn well going to complete it. “Sayu!” he yelled again.
“Noooo! Leave me alone! I need sleep!” called Sayu, rolling further away in her trademark geovishap hatchling-like state. “Kano Nana forced me to eat fifteen carrots and now my belly is full. I need to digest them or else I won’t grow tall!”
At this point, Thoma realised he had no chance of catching up to her. She might be a lazy little child, but she was still a highly trained ninja. So, he changed tactics. “Sayu, please! This is very important. I promise it’ll only take a moment, and then you can go back to sleep!”
For a moment, he thought she wasn’t going to pay any heed to his words and had to mentally prepare his aching legs to continue the chase. However, then her rolling slowed, and she came to a halt, unfurling out of her strange anemo-pinwheel run. “Only a moment?” she mused, blinking slowly as she pulled down her tanuki-hood. “I guess I can give you that. Speak.”
Panting loudly, Thoma drew closer to her, his loud breaths clouding the air. He paused a little, catching his breath, before doubling up again. “Oof. So. As I was trying to say. Have you seen Lord Ayato anywhere?”
“Right there—” She pointed to Ayaka who had been following him in a much more sedate fashion.
“No, that’s Ayaka. His sister. But yeah, they look similar.” He was trying to be patient with her, he really was. Though he was incredibly worried about Ayato’s whereabouts.
“Oh, er… yeah!” Sayu then mumbled something to herself, Thoma couldn’t quite hear it. “Wait,” she declared suddenly, eyes brightening. “I remember, he was here today. I think he spoke to Kazuaki for a bit? I don’t know, I wasn’t listening because Kano Nana was after me and I had to stay still, like a shadow. Speaking of her, please don’t tell her you saw me. Please, please, I just need sleep or else the other ninjas will think I’m weak.”
Well, that went off topic really fast. Thoma patted Sayu’s shoulder in reassurance. “Okay,” though that was a completely false promise, “but do you remember anything else? Something about where he said he would be, anyone he was to meet, anything?”
“Er…” Sayu frowned. “Oh, yeah, something about how he was only going to visit the tengu lady at the Tenryou Commission. I don’t know, they kept talking about how he was only going to do that. I didn’t hear anything else.”
‘The tengu lady at the Tenryou Commission?’ That could only refer to Kujou Sara. But what would Ayato have with the likes of her that had to be shrouded in such secrecy? “How long ago was this?” he asked.
“Like, an hour? And hour and a half at best. I fell asleep because it didn’t seem to be very dangerous.”
Kujou Sara and not dangerous? That notion was just slightly laughable. “Fine, thanks a lot, Sayu. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for more information, okay? And if you see Lord Ayato anywhere, tell him Thoma’s looking for him. Then find me and tell me where you found him.”
Sayu yawned and stretched her arms above her head. “Ooookay.”
“Hm. And the next time we meet, you’re teaching me ninjutsu, right?”
Sayu let out a sudden shriek. “How many times will I tell you, I don’t have time!” Without further ado, she tucked her ‘tail’ in, and then her body, and once again, in a whoosh of anemo, rolled far far away, presumably to go sleep in a hidden place.
Thoma made a quick note in his mind to inform Kano Nano of her antics. That shrine maiden’s unwavering determination when it came to Sayu was the only thing keeping the young girl in check.
He walked back to Ayaka waiting for him.
“So? You’re done? I can go now?” She looked up at him, eyes so wide and hopeful that Thoma felt terrible for crushing her hopes.
“Forgive me, my lady, but not yet. He’s not here. Sayu said something about Kujou Sara at the Tenryou Commission. She wasn’t all too clear on the details herself.”
Ayaka’s expression sharpened. “General Kujou?” she asked with narrowed eyes. “But why? There’s no Yashiro Commission matter requiring her areas of expertise at the moment.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking. I believe we must pay her a visit. She should be at Tenshukaku today. Once again, I’m very sorry, my lady, but you know that gaining any sort of access from the Tenryou folk is easier said than done. The tedious process would be vastly expedited if you were with me.”
Ayaka sighed with the weight of the world. “You’re right as always, Thoma.” The way her entire countenance deflated tugged a chord in his heart.
He didn’t want to string her along the entire island like this. Ayaka didn’t have a lot of friends, so not many got to see her genuinely this excited to be with someone. The fact that Yoimiya had made friends with her was good for her. Yoimiya was the friendly to Ayaka’s reserved, the bubbly to Ayaka’s serene, the happy to Ayaka’s yearning. She could bring the daughter of the Kamisato clan out of her shell. Not to mention, she also had a raging crush that Ayaka was too oblivious to see.
“Don’t you worry,” said Thoma. “We’ll be done in no time.” A gut feeling told him he should sincerely doubt that.
The sun may have begun to hide behind the clouds over the Tenshukaku drill grounds, but the new Doujin recruits showed no signs of stopping. Some trained their archery skills by the Sakura tree—they’d set out the targets in a semi-circle—while others sparred over at the opposite grounds. A few officials walked around, barking commands, jabbing the whimpering soldiers with poor form with their spears.
Overseeing all of this was General Kujou, standing on the Tenryou headquarters’ porch. Her back was ramrod straight, her clothes and hair spick-and-span, and she glared at her subordinates with an intensity to match the bright sun—even the shade of yellow was similar. She hadn’t noticed them yet.
Ayaka’s back straightened too. She beckoned over a Doujin who immediately dropped his polearm and rushed to her side. “Good evening,” she said politely, “we’re here to meet General Kujou.”
The Doujin saluted, clicking his heels. “Yes, Lady Kamisato.”
He sprinted up the stairs and whispered into Sara’s ear. Sara startled a little, before looking over and giving their duo a once-over. “Left, right, halt!” she ordered, and the marching soldiers came to a pause. “Take five.” Her clear authoritative voice rang through the grounds.
She made her way across to them through the dispersing soldiers. “Lady Kamisato and Thoma. What brings you here? It’s not every day we see the Yashiro Commission in these parts.”
Ayaka stepped up to take a larger role in this conversation. Rankings and appearances were more important to keep up here. “General Kujou. I must get to the point for this is not a recreational visit.”
Sara nodded, encouraging her to continue.
“We received word that my brother was last seen with you. Would you happen to know where he is?”
“Oh.” Sara’s lips tightened, irate displeasure settling on her face. “He was here earlier. Not anymore, he went down to Hanamizaka because of that stupid—” She cut her own self off with a huff. “You know what? I would say, go see for yourself. Seeing is believing.”
“Huh.” Thoma almost laughed. He would have if they were not in public. “Looks like we’re going to pay a visit to Yoimiya after all.”
An absolute gay mess. That was the only way Thoma could describe Ayaka who was frantically wringing her hands, fixing her hair, shuffling her feet. They were in vicinity of Naganohara Fireworks, and she practically lit up at the sight, a beetroot red blush staining her normally pale cheeks. “I look fine, right?” she kept asking.
“You look great,” Thoma kept saying, his voice as loud as it could go without arousing suspicion. He just hoped Yoimiya would hear him and have the presence of mind to hide whatever she was doing.
Ryuunosuke stood outside the shop as usual, waving cheerily to passer-bys. He greeted them equally cheerily as they neared. “Well, if it isn’t Thoma!”
“Hi, Mr Naganohara.”
“And this must be Ayaka!”
Ayaka’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Yoimiya… mentioned me?”
Ryuunosuke bellowed heartily. “All the time!”
Ayaka beamed wide, as though she’d ascended to Celestia.
“Nice weather we’re having here,” remarked Thoma. “Hope it continues till the Summer Festival.”
“Cheddar, you say?” He tilted his ear towards them. “Sorry, I have none. Maybe Aoi at Tsukumomono or Anna have some. You’ll have to pay though; I have no money on me right now.”
“Weather,” repeated Thoma for Ryuunosuke’s benefit. He almost yelled this time; if Yoimiya hadn’t caught on by now, it was on her.
“Feather? Eh? Weren’t you just talking about cheese?”
“I said—”
“Ugh, Pops!” came the familiar voice they all knew and loved. Beside him, Ayaka stiffened. “Stop annoying them! Thoma said the weather is good.” Yoimiya came out of the doorway, as vibrant as ever. Her orange kimono and white sarashi reflected the sun’s glow. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead; she’d been working hard. Her face split into the largest smile upon seeing them.
“Oh, the weather!” Ryuunosuke said, clapping his hands together apologetically. “Pardon me, you know my hearing isn’t all too good these days.”
“All good, Mr Naganohara,” replied Thoma genially.
Ryuunosuke placed his palm on the wooden wall of the shop. “I’ll leave you three to it then. Give me a shout if you need me. I’ll come if I hear it.”
“Will do, Pops.”
Ryuunosuke backed away into the shop. Thoma instinctively wondered if he should go help the old man, but Ryuunosuke was a lot less frail than he looked. He wouldn’t need help, especially when he was around fireworks, his first comfort zone.
“Well, hey, Thoma!” Yoimiya grinned, showing off her pearly whites. Her eyes took on a sparkle as she turned her gaze to his frozen (pun intended—y’know, because she had a cryo vision) companion. “And… Ayaka? Didn’t expect to see you here today.”
“Yoimiya!” he exclaimed. Ayaka seemed to be having trouble finding her tongue, so he nudged her a little to speed things up.
“Ah, right.” She shook herself out of a daze. “Hi, Yoimiya. How are you?”
Yoimiya had the audacity to wink. “Better now that you’re here.”
For the record, he had not agreed to see a mushy lovefest unfold in front of his eyes, however adorable he might find it at another time. Before Ayaka short-circuited from Yoimiya’s blatant flirting, he hurried on. “We’re not here for idle chit-chat sadly. We just came from the Tenryou Commission drill grounds—Sara directed us here. We’re looking for Ayato. Sara said he came here, for some reason. Do you—?”
“Oh,” Yoimiya waved her hand dismissively. “He’s fiiine. He’s at the police detention center.”
“What?”
Her eyes went wide, realizing she’d made an error, and that this was clearly the wrong thing to say. “No, no, no, no, not like that.” She winced. “Here, come with me, both of you.”
As he followed Yoimiya, Ayaka walking with her, their hands suspiciously close to touching, he wondered: Oh, Archons, what has Ayato gotten himself into this time?
Yoimiya knew the guards at the center pretty well, it turned out. Something about her needing to be there a lot due to public safety measures and fire-related hazards, things that were important for the owner of a fireworks shop to know. Apparently, she required more of these lectures than most.
She talked her way in, dropped Thoma off, and left with Ayaka. Before she left, they held an unspoken exchange. She shot him a grateful look that said, ‘thanks for keeping Ayaka distracted’, and Thoma nodded to say ‘anytime’. He hoped these two would work things out; they were too cute to not.
They skipped out, hand in hand (Ayaka would combust any moment at the touch), and Thoma turned his attention to the detention center. The guards directed him towards a dingy cell, clearing his access so he could enter.
The door was eerily silent as it swung open; Thoma had expected it to creak, it looked old enough to. He stepped inside.
The room was as dingy as the outside; dark wooden walls and floor, a tiny window at the top as one of the only sources of light. Another small lamp stood in the corner, but it was turned off. The room itself was divided into two by a floor-to-ceiling wall of metal bars. The actual cell.
On the other side of the bars was a man, tall as could be, very visible muscles rippling all over his body. His clothes were spiky, to say the least. A purple crop top and a sleeveless coat—made sense for summer attire. His eyes were thickly lined with red, but the eyeliner zigged down his face like ragged scars. All that took to distract from the two red horns nestled comfortably in his thick white hair. Intimidating was this man’s whole persona.
Opposite the man, on Thoma’s side of the bars, was someone he knew very well. Hair as white as Ayaka’s, manner just as poised. His deep blue vision shone softly at his side. He sat on the ground, cross-legged, and Thoma knew he’d have to get those pale clothes washed. Really, Ayato could be so thick sometimes.
The horned guy opened his mouth and all of Thoma’s impressions of him being a decently scary-looking guy flew out the window. “This lil’ guy,” he said, brandishing a traumatised onikabuto, “is named Heizou because he’s pretty annoying.”
Ayato snorted—but with all the daintiness and grace of an official befitting his position. “Shouldn’t he be called Itto then?”
“Hey!”
“Fine,” said Ayato, to Thoma’s bewilderment, holding up a beetle of his own. “I’m naming mine Thoma—” excuse him? Did he just name a freaking beetle after Thoma? Thoma wasn’t sure whether to be flattered or offended— “Get ready to lose again, Arataki.”
“Oh, you’re on, Kamisato.”
Before they could move forward with this frankly entertaining situation, Thoma coughed loudly. He had to draw their attention in some way, he still had a job. “My lord.”
Ayato whipped around, a hint of surprise marring his eyes. “Oh, Thoma?” He didn’t seem embarrassed. More… proud? “You found me?”
“I have my ways.”
“That you do,” and Ayato’s face melted into a smile. “Here, meet,” he gestured towards the horned man, “Itto of the Arataki Gang.”
“‘Sup, man!” Itto waved with two fingers, grinning like a little kid. “This is the famous Thoma, is it? Ayato’s told me tons about you. We’re definitely ‘boutta be homies once I’m out of this prison.” He then laughed heartily, sticking out a meaty hand through the bars.
Thoma surveyed Itto as he shook his hand. The telltale horns. The notorious Arataki Gang. Thoma had heard of the chaos and ruckus they caused everywhere they went, being a huge nuisance to the overworked Tenryou men. “So, wait a minute. You’re a youkai, right? An… oni?”
“That’s right.” Itto crossed him arms in pride, a smug smile adorning his face. “The one and oni.”
“Woah.” He’d always wanted to make friends with a youkai (Kujou Sara did not count). Unfortunately, time was not on his side. “I’d love to talk more, but someone,” he directed a pointed glare at Ayato, “decided to be very, very late for a meeting.”
Ayato grimaced. “Okay, listen.” He held up his hands like he did when he was about to go off on a tangent. “It was absolutely not my fault.” Thoma doubted that. “I just came because he,” Ayato jerked his thumb at Itto, “sent me a letter from here, begging me to bail him out. This idiot tried to duel some kid’s father because the father didn’t let him take away his kid’s trading cards—”
“Hey! I won those cards fair and square, okay?”
“—and then, he managed to rope me into an onikabuto fight.”
“And you’re not even going to bail me,” Itto grumbled. “Shinobu’s gonna’ have my head when she finds out I got stuck here again. What’s worse, is that the Tengu frequents this place a lot. She won’t even fight me, like, what a coward.”
“Didn’t she already beat you once?”
“Yeah, but, like…” Itto frantically searched for the words to plead his case, but finding none, made a nasty face. “Shut up.”
“Bye, buddy.” Ayato pushed his beetle towards Itto. His eyes glinted mischievously in the dark room as he stood up. “I’ll tell Shinobu to come and get you out.”
“Yeah, screw you too.”
On the way out, however, Ayato stopped one of the policemen. He took a pouch of mora out of his pocket and handed it over. “Arataki Itto’s bail, paid in full. Don’t let him out until Kuki arrives though, alright? He needs a good talking-to, and she’s the only one capable of that.” He turned to address Thoma now, “well, other than General Kujou, that is, but I wouldn’t wish this thankless task on her.”
The policeman nodded his assent as the two left the detention center.
“Did Yoimiya bring you here?” asked Ayato suddenly. “I saw she left a hairtie there.”
“Oh, yes,” replied Thoma. “She left with Lady Ayaka though.”
“And does my sister—”
Thoma chuckled. “No. She has no clue. It’s fun seeing her blush around Yoimiya all the time.”
Ayato mirrored Thoma’s chuckle. “Ah, young love.”
“I didn’t know you were such good friends with an oni, my lord,” Thoma remarked, a little curious about how this came to be. After all, all he’d heard about Arataki Itto was from Tenryou Commission reports.
“He’s a great guy. I think you’d find a true match at hotpot in him.”
That got Thoma to raise an eyebrow. He prided himself on his extremely superior hotpot ability, thank you very much. His formidable competitive streak manifested in those games among his friends. “Huh. I have to see his skills for myself someday then.”
“You must,” agreed Ayato. “But before that, you must put your skills to work because I’m starving. Only a Thoma-cooked meal can alleviate my hunger as of now.”
“Hm. Only if you don’t miss the meeting. You have…” he checked the watch he carried around for situations like these, “seven minutes.”
Ayato slung his arm around Thoma’s neck in appreciation, not caring who might see him behave in such an uninhibited way. At least there weren’t too many people near the police center; with the Summer Festival coming up, people tried to stay out of trouble. “Thoma, Thoma, Thoma. What would I do without you?”
Thoma simply smiled.