Work Text:
Kokomi fidgets in her seat as she reads through a report on…
She blinks and rereads the title. Something about fishing, apparently? It’s all been sort of in one eye and out the other, really. She sighs and pushes it aside — it’s clear that she’s not going to be getting any real work done at this rate. She’s much too impatient.
Ei will be arriving very soon, after all. Kokomi had given her permission to teleport to her office — at this point, there’s really no point wasting time on the transparent illusion of distance that arriving by boat would maintain.
It will be Ei’s first visit to Watatsumi Island since some of the bigger reforms that she and Kokomi had been working on have been implemented, and Kokomi is hoping that by appearing together publicly she can help improve her people’s perception of the Shogun.
Ei has, after all, been working harder than even Kokomi herself in her efforts to help Inazuma heal. While Kokomi has been able to focus on Watatsumi Island and relations with Narukami, Ei has been managing the much larger Narukami portion of Inazuma, relations with Watatsumi, and also cooperating with Kokomi to draft and push through legislation that will benefit Watatsumi Island and its people.
Sometimes Kokomi wonders where she finds the time to do it all, and how these last six years of hard work haven’t yet caused her to burn out.
She’s drawn out of her thoughts by a roll of thunder, and she jumps to her feet as Ei appears in front of her.
“Ei!” she greets, throwing herself into her god’s arms. “I missed you!”
“We saw each other yesterday, Kokomi,” Ei laughs, returning the hug and trailing her fingers through Kokomi’s hair.
“Yesterday was a long time ago,” Kokomi pouts, burying her face in Ei’s chest.
“I suppose it was,” Ei agrees, a wistful note in her voice. “We’ll just have to make sure to see each other every day, then, won’t we?”
“That would be nice,” Kokomi agrees quietly.
It’s an impossible dream for now, of course — Ei and Kokomi both have duties that require them to be on Narukami and Watatsumi Island, respectively. Even with Ei’s ability to teleport between islands, even with the ability to use Waypoints that Lumine had taught Kokomi, it’s not realistic for them to be able to spend much time together every day.
Maybe someday, if Kokomi ever gets to retire…
…It’s a nice dream, at least.
Ei frowns as she looks down at Kokomi. When her girlfriend falls silent like this, it usually means she’s managed to get lost in gloomy thoughts, so…
She scoops Kokomi up into a bridal carry, laughing at the Divine Priestes’s surprised squeak.
“You said there were some things you wanted to show me, right?” Ei asks. “Just point the way.”
Kokomi laughs, her fist lightly thumping against Ei’s chest.
“Put me down, silly,” she giggles. “You know we can’t go out there like this.”
Ei pouts, but obeys. She wishes they could be open about that side of their relationship, but she understands Kokomi’s difficult position.
Maybe someday.
“The first place I wanted to show you isn’t too far,” Kokomi says, leading the way out of her office. “Let’s go!”
Ei trails after her, glancing curiously around. She’s been in the Sangonomiya Shrine a number of times now, but usually only very briefly — it really is nothing like the older shrine from back when Orobashi had been alive. While that had been much simpler and its design had been drawn from traditional Narukami shrine architecture, its replacement is far larger and more ostentatious.
Narukami architectural influence is still obvious, but it’s got a distinctive flair to it that Ei hasn’t seen anywhere else. It doesn’t really remind her of the buildings she’d seen down in Enkanomiya on the occasions she’d visited it before Orobashi led his people to the surface, and she idly finds herself wondering what its inspiration had been.
The miko they pass stare at her, and she does her best not to react. They’ve done this every time, and it’s not like they don’t have reason for it — regardless of the circumstances of it, she is still the one who killed their god.
She’s earned this.
Kokomi resists the urge to glare at her shrine maidens. She understands their reservations about the situation, even if she doesn’t agree with them and thinks much of the basis is deeply flawed. Ei has proven again and again to be nothing like the propaganda Watatsumi Island had suffered under for the last few millenia, but that’s been taking a frustratingly long time to sink into the heads of even the ones who have had the most exposure to her.
It’s irritating, and makes her wish she could go door-to-door forcing everyone to actually meet the silly, kind-hearted god they continue to distrust. She doesn’t think anyone who’s actually met Ei could possibly hate her.
Unfortunately, such a plan is impractical (and would be utterly exhausting, anyway). While Watatsumi Island’s poor soil has always ensured its population remained low compared to the islands on the Narukami side of things, it still has thousands of people — there’s just not nearly enough time to introduce Ei to all of them.
“Where are we headed?” Ei asks, tone so light that Kokomi has to wonder if her girlfriend has even noticed the way the shrine maidens around them are reacting to her with suspicion.
“Just to Bourou Village,” Kokomi says. “I want you to see some of the results of the funding you’ve been giving us.”
Watatsumi Island is poor, as it has always been. While they do have some valuable trading resources, like Sango Pearls, the supply isn’t so high that it can wipe away their financial woes even under the much more relaxed trading policies Ei has implemented.
Kokomi had, admittedly, been a little embarrassed and concerned when Ei had first floated the idea of officially naming the Divine Priestess of Watatsumi Island as a Commissioner-level position in the Shogunate government, which would give her access to some of the Shogunate’s wealth to use for her people.
In practice, nothing would change except that she would be able to rely on more direct support from the Shogunate and have to submit a few more reports, but the optics of it… If she were formally a Shogunate official, her people would no doubt worry she was giving up the autonomy the island has traditionally held.
Still, Kokomi had ultimately chosen to accept. The benefits far outweighed the downsides, and given her ultimate goal is to get her people to stop resenting the Shogunate, showing them that strengthening their ties to it doesn’t actually involve losing anything is a good start.
Kokomi turns to smile back at Ei as they step outside, a smile her girlfriend returns.
“Your Excellencies,” a voice greets.
“Tsuyuko,” Kokomi returns, turning to face her shrine maiden. “Do you need something?”
Ei studies the miko in front of them. As the young woman straightens up from her bow she looks nervous, but determined — whatever she wants to talk about can’t be an easy subject, clearly.
“With all due respect, Your Excellencies,” Tsuyuko murmurs. “There have been concerns raised about how much time you’ve been spending together. While your reforms have proven popular, Lady Narukami, and many are slowly beginning to believe in the sincerity of your actions… a great deal of resentment remains in certain hardline quarters, and I can only keep them appeased for so long.”
Ei grimaces, nodding in understanding. It’s disappointing to hear that her efforts to help the people of Watatsumi Island these last five years have been met with such limited success, but it’s not surprising. All she can do is continue attempting to show that she truly does want only the best for them.
“Why haven’t you mentioned this before?” Kokomi asks. “I haven’t heard anything about it.”
“It was quiet enough at first that I saw no need to trouble you with it,” Tsuyuko says, shrugging. “But given you’ve been staying on Narukami Island every weekend these last few months, well… It’s gotten much louder, Your Excellency.”
“I see,” Kokomi whispers, a pained look on her face.
Ei wants to pull her into a hug, but hesitates — given the situation, and Tsuyuko’s presence, doing such a thing may cause more problems than it would solve.
“So… the people are questioning what the relationship between Ei and I is?” Kokomi asks softly. “And you’ve been assuring them it’s nothing to worry about?”
“That’s correct, Your Excellency,” Tsuyuko says, inclining her head.
Kokomi sighs heavily, and Ei’s heart aches at the exhausted look on her lover’s face.
“Stop doing that and tell them the truth,” Kokomi orders quietly.
“The… truth?” Tsuyuko asks, raising an eyebrow.
Kokomi spins to face Ei, and Ei squeaks as her collar is grabbed and Kokomi yanks her down.
The kiss is forceful and domineering, and Ei melts into it immediately. She lets her eyes slip shut and her worries drift away — if this is what Kokomi wants, she’s more than happy to make the fact that she and Miko have brought the Divine Priestess into their relationship public knowledge.
When Kokomi finally pulls away, Ei lets out a soft whine of protest, but Kokomi just giggles and pats her cheek.
“The truth, Tsuyuko,” Kokomi says, eyes still gazing into Ei’s. “That I love her dearly, and intend to spend my life with her and Miko. I can’t imagine being without them anymore.”
Ei feels tears beading in the corners of her eyes, but says nothing — she doesn’t trust her voice.
“…Very well, Your Excellency,” Tsuyuko says, a strange mixture of amusement and exasperation in her tone. “I trust you have a plan to deal with the fallout?”
“Seventeen of them,” Kokomi says firmly.
“Then so be it,” Tsuyuko accepts. “I leave things in your hands.”
She bows and departs, and Ei watches her leave for a moment before turning back to Kokomi.
“Do you really already have seventeen plans?” Ei asks curiously.
“No,” Kokomi says, shaking her head. “I’m up to forty-eight now, actually.”
Ei throws her head back and laughs. What else should she have expected from her brilliant little girlfriend?
Kokomi only has forty-seven plans fully formed, actually, but the forty-eighth is almost done, so she thinks she can be forgiven for rounding.
Many of the plans will require Miko’s help to go smoothly, so she can’t start them all right now, but in the meantime…
Kokomi latches onto Ei’s arm without hesitation and drags her out of the shrine courtyard, well aware of the stares from shrine maidens and soldiers alike. She keeps her head held high — she refuses to be embarrassed or ashamed. Loving Ei isn’t something she needs to treat as a dirty secret.
The walk to Bourou Village is a short and peaceful one — it had, after all, originally been founded to keep the Watatsumi Shrine supplied with whatever it needed.
All eyes are on them as soon as they step into the village, and Kokomi smiles as brightly as she can as she snuggles herself more firmly against Ei’s side.
“Most of the buildings here are new,” Kokomi says, raising her voice enough to let the villagers listen in. “With how humid it is, mold has been a constant problem… a lot of the older houses were in very poor shape, but we didn’t have the resources to replace them all before you allocated funding to us.”
She might be laying it on a little thick, but the considering expressions on the faces of some of the villagers make her hopeful. She’d made no secret of where the money came from, of course, but there’s a difference between telling her people that it had been given to her as part of her new Shogunate position and forming a direct association of it to the Shogun herself like she is now.
“Mold…” Ei muses, her voice carrying in the same way Kokomi’s had. “Hmm. Do you happen to have any samples of it?”
“Um, I… don’t think so?” Kokomi replies, blinking. “It’s not really the sort of thing you keep…”
“My house hasn’t been rebuilt yet,” a voice interjects, and Kokomi turns to find an old woman has approached them, a smile on her face. “You’re welcome to come take a look at it, Your Excellency.”
“Thank you, Granny Komaki,” Kokomi says, bowing her head. “Are you sure that—”
“Of course I’m sure,” Granny Komaki scoffs, turning and gesturing for them to follow her. “I’m not going to say no if a magician on her level is showing interest in solving our mold problem for us, child.”
“…Is that what you were doing?” Kokomi asks, looking up at Ei.
“It was,” Ei agrees, smiling down at her. “If it’s a problem with the humidity, then even new buildings are just a temporary measure, right? It would be better if we found a long-term solution.”
“Exactly right,” Granny Komaki agrees. “And I’ve heard all about your magic, Your Excellency. If anyone in Inazuma can find an answer, I suspect it would be you.”
“You flatter me,” Ei says. “I’m just a dabbler, really.”
Martial arts have always been her real love, but she’s lived long enough to pick up a handful of magical tricks here and there.
“A dabbler, she says,” Granny Komaki laughs. “Who wove the enchantments into the Everlasting Moonglow, hm?”
“…That was me,” Ei admits. “It was a gift to celebrate the union of our people, so I wanted it to be something special.”
“…I didn’t know that,” Kokomi whispers.
“The Shrine tried to bury the association after our Omikami’s death,” Granny Komaki says with a shrug. “It was too useful a weapon to give up, but admitting where it came from would have made them look like sellouts. All nonsense, of course.”
“How did you know that it was my work, then?” Ei asks.
“My family doesn’t like to forget the important things,” the old woman says, looking back at her with a grin.
Ei inclines her head in respect. A familial oral history that held on to even ‘blasphemous’ knowledge… she wonders what else the old woman might know.
“Here we are,” Granny Komaki announces, gesturing at a small house. “All the mold you could possibly want.”
“I’d prefer no mold at all,” Kokomi mumbles, and Ei chuckles.
She carefully extricates herself from her girlfriend’s grip and approaches the house. Granny Komaki hadn’t been kidding — the ceilings in particular have a concerning amount of mold.
She examines it thoughtfully, all too aware of the small group of villagers peering through the doorway. She doesn’t know any spells for removing mold, or preventing its spread — she wonders if anyone has even bothered devising such a thing. Still, if she were to consider it a form of impurity…
Whispered chants flow from her mouth, and she keeps a close eye on the mold’s reaction. Most of the spells seem to have little or no effect, though some do at least cause it to recede a little.
Ei pauses and taps her lips in thought. What had the chants that affected it had in common…?
…They had all been intended to purge impurity from corpses. Mold isn’t exactly that, of course, but if it’s of a similar nature to some of the things that said impurity can create…
Ei smiles, and the next chant that leaves her mouth causes all of the mold in the room to shrivel in on itself and vanish.
“‘Just a dabbler?’” Kokomi asks, and Ei doesn’t have to turn to face her to know that Kokomi has an eyebrow raised.
“All I did was improvise a spell with a very targeted purpose,” Ei dismisses. “It wouldn’t be effective against anything but mold. Or, well… dangerous fungi in general, I suppose.”
She hadn’t actually known mold was a fungus, but it had seemed like the most likely of the structures that the impurity of corpses can create. Once she’d known that, the rest had actually been quite simple.
“‘All I did was improvise a spell,’” Kokomi mumbles. “Ei, you’re ridiculous.”
“Her type is like that,” Granny Komaki agrees. “So, Your Excellency, do you think you can teach some of the shrine maidens how to do that little spell of yours?”
“Of course,” Ei agrees, nodding absently. “But I can do one better, too.”
Kokomi watches curiously as Ei draws a brush and stares at the wall for a long moment, then begins to draw some sort of symbol on it with quick, sure strokes.
“This spell pattern should prevent the surface it’s on from growing mold,” Ei says distractedly, brush still moving. “I would recommend including it somewhere on every piece of wooden material you use for building, if you can…”
Kokomi trades an amused look with Granny Komaki. Ei is clearly significantly better at magic than she’s willing to admit… which isn’t really all that much of a surprise, now that Kokomi thinks about it. The seals on Yashiori Island had been holding back the tatarigami for more than two thousand years, and even after they’d been broken Lumine had told her repairing them had been very easy.
“Do you think you could teach me how to draw that?” a voice asks. “I’m not much of an artist, but I’m one of the carpenters who’s been preparing materials…”
“Of course I can,” Ei agrees immediately, turning to face the man who’d spoken up. “Granny Komaki, do you mind if we borrow your desk?”
“Be my guest,” Granny Komaki agrees.
As Kokomi watches Ei carefully guide the man through the strokes of the pattern, she can’t help the fond smile that slips onto her lips.
She supposes she may not need those forty-eight plans after all.
“You knew something like this would happen,” she accuses Granny Komaki quietly.
The old woman gives her a shrug and an unrepentant grin.
“Our Omikami’s martyrdom was a tragedy,” Granny Komaki says softly. “But to hold a grudge over it for millenia is foolishness, especially when the one who slew him was acting out of good intentions. It’s time our people learned to live alongside those of Narukami, and let go of their hatred.”
Kokomi nods. The sentiment is a perfect mirror of her own, and as she watches another villager step up and ask Ei for instruction…
She thinks it’s one that a lot of other people will be sharing soon, too.