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Atsumu grunted as he made his way down from Shirikoro Peak to the unfriendly rocky shores of Oina Beach to wash up. This island's misty mornings made him feel cold in the bones, and he rushed down the mountain with more energy and broader movements to warm himself up.
Once by the water, he finally slowed down. It was still dark, the beach shrouded in remnants of the fog stubbornly clung to the ground. He looked around, sniffing the air and straining his foxy ears, one hand on his bow. Not even a faint whiff of sulfur or ozone reached him, meaning no Abyss creatures around.
He finally allowed himself to relax and stretched his entire body while stealing a sneaky glance toward leafy shrubs by the hill of the mountain. He sensed no presence of Abyss creatures, but something, or rather someone, had been following him for days since he reached the rugged coastline of this foggy island.
He took off his bow and slowly undid the straps of his armor and undergarments, letting the clothes pile down around his feet. He made a show of unwrapping his leg gaiters and stood up tall and proud in his naked glory, his bushy tail playfully curled around his hip, half covering his private parts in a display of fake modesty. His ears twitched, sensing a tiny inhale from the blue-leaf bush on his right. Atsumu slowly stepped into cold Oina waters and then kneeled abruptly, swiftly grabbing his bow and shooting an arrow toward the bush, aiming a little high.
With a yelp, a human emerged from the bush. Tall, with dark curly hair framing his pale face, one side tucked behind a very red ear. He took an offensive stance, drawing out a claymore blade almost as tall as himself.
- Well, well, - Atsumu said, standing up and lowering his bow, - Who do we have here.
- Miya. - the man in front of him stood still, his body tense. Although he, too, lowered his weapon.
- Beautiful blade, no doubt forged by Inazuma's best, - Atsumu drawled as he slowly approached the man, letting his fingers hover above the claymore's intricate wave patterns. - Who could have thought that almighty Sakusa Kiyoomi, Shogunate Cadet Corps top ten graduate, would be hidin’ in shrubs spyin’ on little ol’ me?
- I wasn't... spying!
- Oh?
- I was unsure of your intentions to be here, Miya Atsumu, Shogunate Cadet Corps top ten graduate.
Atsumu laughed, and his tail twitched away, revealing himself fully. The man before him sputtered and pushed him aside, sheathed his weapon, and crouched by the water.
They drank and washed off, lathering themselves with sea ganoderma, Kiyoomi fast and efficient, Atsumu creating more foam than needed, huffing and sputtering, and splashing water around, the latter mostly to annoy Kiyoomi.
They dried under the uncertain sun and shared a lavender melon that Atsumu roasted on his fire arrows and some sakura crackers Kiyoomi produced from a tiny embroidered pouch once they were clean and dressed.
- So, - Atsumu said midchew, - Why are ya all the way here in Tsurumi? Did ya follow me or somethin’?
- Did not, I came two days before you.
- Two days, huh? I didn’t see a boat.
- I borrowed a waverider in Ritou while no one was paying attention. It was rubbish and sank a kilometer away from Tsurumi shore. I had to swim all the way here.
Atsumu whistled.
- Y’ve always been a good swimmer. Didn't peg ya for a thief though.
- I guess I am one now. - Kiyoomi scowled and bit into his cracker with more force than a fluffy cookie required.
- Haven't seen ya since graduation; assumed a year after, y’d be clad in purple armor and all.
- I did not join the shogun army. I wanted to protect, not to fight my own people.
- Y’r father wouldn’t like that.
- Yes, he did not, - Kiyoomi chuckled humourlessly.
He flicked cookie crumbs off his fingers and stretched to rinse them in water.
- And then I got a vision.
Atsumu looked at Kiyoomi, who lifted a flap on his clothes, revealing a blue crystal of his vision and a delicate snowflake embedded inside.
- Cryo... I coulda bet ya would get Hydro - Atsumu shook his head and looked at Kiyoomi, who wore a pinched expression. - I mean, ya just give off these clear vibes and all. I got Pyro, of course. - he grinned, patting the red gem hanging around his neck.
- Why are you here?
- Neither me nor my brother wanna join the army either and dreamed of openin’ a restaurant. He's really good at it, ya know? He’s been cookin’ for us since we were little pups. It was his dream, his ambition, his pride.
- Onigiri Miya is quite a busy place. Your brother did well.
- When I got my vision, I was not just gonna submit to the Decree. I did not have a concrete plan yet… But then Samu got his. So I took both the same night, before the rumors could spread and reach Vision Hunt Decree, and ran. Couldn't risk it. His restaurant is his everythin’.
- Did not peg you for a thief either.
- Yeah, well. I guess I am one now, - Atsumu chuckled.
Kiyoomi nodded and cracked his finger joints. Atsumu cringed at the sound and continued.
- Took off in our fishin’ boat and headed here. Tsurumi is forgotten by everyone. There’s nothin’ but fog, old ghosts, and abyss ghouls. No one would look for me here. No one would dare to. I was waitin’ till the fog cleared. I'm headin’ to the Watatsumi tonight, will join the Resistance. I'll fight until the Vision Hunt Decree is dismissed and punished for their crimes.
Atsumu growled the last words out. The fire in his eyes felt more real than metaphorical, one hand squeezing the Pyro vision pendant on his chest, another hand fisted in his pocket, no doubt, wrapped protectively around his brother's vision. Kiyoomi stared.
- Me too, - he started quietly, voice growing firmer as he felt himself fired up. - I plan on joining the Resistance. Visions are a gift from Celestia. The Seven have no right to take it from us. No one should be forced to endure the pain of it being ripped away from their soul.
Atsumu nodded in agreement, sniffed the air, and sat up abruptly, his body tight like a bowstring. The fur on Atsumu's ears and tail stood up.
- Shit, - he said.
They scrambled to their feet and looked around. The air around them felt denser despite no sign of fog. After a few moments of quiet unease, the air behind them wobbled. Now, even Kiyoomi could feel the offensive stink of sulfur. Three thundercraven whelps and an adult rifthound jumped out from the abyss breech.
Atsumu dropped to his knees and shot an arrow above the hounds that hovered above for mere seconds and then exploded into a rain of fire missiles. He dashed forward, charging his next shot, and his next arrow lit a circle around the hounds, finally really hurting them. He released a few more arrows in a quick sequence before dashing around and, at last, glancing at Kiyoomi. The latter swung his claymore around as if it weighed nothing, slicing the hounds' burnt flesh. Two hounds crowded him, and he released ripples of iced waves and shattering crystals piercing the hounds, shocking them with violent superconduct bursts.
The recoil of the wave was so strong that Atsumu stumbled a few steps behind as it reached him, dipping his foot into the shallow waters. Immediately, he felt the frost crawling up his body, and within a moment, he was frozen mid-jump. He growled in a futile attempt to break from the ice, struggling with his entire body.
Kiyoomi glanced at him in shock and ducked, narrowly escaping the electrified tail shot from the hound.
Unfrozen suddenly, Atsumu landed on his shoulder awkwardly and yelped in pain. Not wasting time, he unfurled his fist and blew on it. A print of a phoenix bird on his palm came to life and jumped in the air. The fledgling soared to the sky, growing in size, and launched down on the surviving hound.
- Fuckin’, RUN! - Atsumu yelled as he dashed away without looking back.
The phoenix reached a 5-meter wingspan and crashed on land, unleashing a molting rain of fire and hot steam, sending the hound back to the Abyss in an instant.
And then it got quiet. Atsumu looked around as Kiyoomi approached him, panting heavily, and slumped to sit on the boulder. He seemed to escape the explosion on time, given no burned patches on his clothes and no ash smudges on his skin. His nose was bleeding heavily, though. He coughed blood and gagged, seeing it stained his hands.
- Ya hit y’r head on those rocks or somethin’? - Atsumu muttered as he offered him a clean cloth from his tail satchel.
- I am unharmed, - Kiyoomi dismissed his worries but took the cloth. - I don't know why, it's nothing.
Atsumu titled his head, examining Kiyoomi. He did seem fine, aside from the bloody nose.
- C’mon, we gotta go now if we wanna break away from here before the fog comes back, - he said.
They walked warily, Atsumu, sniffing the air, and Kiyoomi carrying his weapon ready. Atsumu gingerly held his arm to his chest. He didn't seem to dislocate his shoulder or break any bones. Still, the joint felt tender and bruised after a bad landing, and it would take a day or two to recover and use it normally.
They turned around the Shirikoro Peak to find absolutely nothing.
- Y've gotta be kiddin’ me, - Atsumu groaned. His tail rose and swayed, hitting Kiyoomi on the hip.
- Did you forget where you left your boat, Miya?
- It was right there!
- If it was there...
- It was right there! - Atsumu interrupted. He narrowed his eyes, - Ya sure ya didn’t sabotage it? Ya had a few days to do it when ya took breaks from spying on me!
- Oh, for Seven's sake! - Kiyoomi bristled at the accusation, - Why would I sabotage my only way to get off this island? And I wasn't spying, I just stayed close!
Atsumu grunted. He walked towards the shore, staring intensively into the dark waters. He opened his palm and blew air on the phoenix silhouette on it, and a little bird toppled off his fingers and hovered in the air.
- Hey, little one, - Atsumu said gently, - Please do a good thing for us, will ya? Look for my boat, if it got washed off among the islands of the Sea of Fog. Check the North first, - he added, remembering strong gushes of northern winds destroying his tentative shelter on the second day on the island.
The bird chirped and flew away, leaving a trail of hot steam behind.
They waited for its return, staying on guard until the sun began to set, and when the bird had finally returned.
Phoenix chirped in Atsumu's ear and landed on his shoulder gracefully.
- Oh, thank Archons, we’re lucky! The boat’s stuck on seagrass near an islet less than a kilometer up North! - Atsumu pumped his fist in the air.
- And how are we going to get there, I wonder. You can not swim, and no way I can carry both our weapons and you. And I am not leaving my weapon.
- Well, we can't make a raft and alert every Abyss creature on the island about our location while choppin’ wood. And we sure can't be waitin’ till I heal here, on the shore. We’ll be sittin’ ducks!
Kiyoomi groaned.
- Omi! C’mon, think! Y're the Cryo holder! Just ice bridge us to the islet!
Atsumu's tail wiggled in excitement as he jumped on his feet and strutted to the water. He looked back at Kiyoomi, who hadn't moved. He seemed confused, and something about it did not sit well with Atsumu.
- Omi?.. Ya did hit your head, didn't you?
The man in front just shook his head,
- I'm fine, Miya. Let's go.
He stretched his neck until the crack in his bones, and raised his claymore. With one mighty swing, a whirlpool of snowflakes fell onto the water's surface, providing the first stretch of the ice bridge. And they ran.
It took them almost an hour, Kiyoomi swinging his armor in the air and unleashing blizzards, and Atsumu shooting fire arrows everywhere, anywhere, to keep the energy flowing. The islet was already in sight when Kiyoomi's blizzards slowed down almost dangerously.
- Just a little longer! - Atsumu yelled.
The last stretch of the bridge nearly melted, and there was no wave of snow to keep it frozen. Atsumu looked back at Kiyoomi to see the latter falling to his knees right before both of them fell through the disappearing ice into the water.
Atsumu dived, not letting the panic set. He grabbed Kiyoomi's collar with his injured arm and tugged him up with as much force as he could muster. Once both surfaced above the water, he gulped a chest full of air and dragged them both to the shore with frantic strokes, praying to Celestia for his arm not to release its grasp.
Once he could feel sand under his legs, he yanked Kiyoomi out of the water and flopped beside him, heaving and trying to catch his breath. He looked over at Kiyoomi, who lay still on the sand, still clutching his claymore in his hands. His chest moved with the shallow breaths he was taking, but his eyes stayed closed, and he did not move, not after a gentle poke, not after a shove, not after Atsumu shook his shoulders.
- Fuck, - Atsumu muttered.
He took a closer look. Their dive washed it off initially, but now he could see that Kiyoomi's nose was bleeding again. He cursed again and flipped Kiooymi on his side, not wanting him to choke.
Atsumu glanced around, noticing his fishing boat stuck in mangroves. He ran over and sighed in relief, noticing no visible damage. He freed it from seagrass and roots and dragged it on the shore.
True to its name, the Sea of Fog was impossible to navigate at night, with thick fog sticking to the water like clouds. No way he could even guess which way Watatsumi was, they had to wait till dawn.
Atsumu dragged Kiyoomi toward the bushes, making the man whimper, as he hoisted him up by his armpits and tugged across the beach. He freed the claymore from Kiyoomi's grasp and stabbed it into the ground. His cloak made a nice makeshift shelter, somewhat protecting them from the chilly wind. Atsumu dug a small firepit and summoned his Phoenix. Humid mist made it impossible to get dry branches. He took a piece of parchment from his tail satchel, which was luckily still dry. He clicked his tongue, hesitating, but then ripped it into pieces and set it into the fire pit. The bird nested on it, allowing the fire to take in, and then came back to perch at Atsumu's shoulder, pinching the lobe of his ear playfully.
- Hey there, - Atsumu whispered. - I wanted to write a letter to my scrub of a brother, but a simple message will have to do. Please find him, and let him know I’m alive. Annoy him as much as ya can, I don't know. Shit in his mornin’ food or somethin’. Please... and come back safely.
The bird chirped and soared away, quickly disappearing in the night sky.
The phoenix fire lasted all night, still dancing in the pit when the sun rose.
Atsumu did not sleep a wink, too anxious to close his eyes, too tired to fall asleep. And then the morning came. He glanced at Kiyoomi, who seemed to be asleep. The nosebleed stopped sometime during the night, blood crusted under his nose and on his left cheek. He was frowning in his sleep, and Atsumu pressed his finger between Kiyoomi's eyebrows. His face relaxed, but the lines stayed imprinted in his skin, a moment too long for his age. Atsumu felt cold in his stomach. He ran his hand through Kiyoomi's curls, letting his finger catch a perfect raven-black lock with a few strings of grey hair.
- Ya fool, - he whispered.
His ministrations roused Kiyoomi. He battered Atsumu's hand away and pulled himself to sit up.
- Ya fool!, - Atsumu shouted. They both jumped to their feet. - When were ya gonna mention you were runnin’ around with a fuckin’ Delusion?
- The fuck do you care!
- Ya nearly drowned in my hands, so pardon me for carin’! Where did you even get it?
- Picked it off some drunk Fatui in Ritou. Along with his waverider. I am a thief now, remember?
Atsumu groaned loudly, rubbing the palms of his hands into his eyes. His tail was wagging anxiously, beating Kiyoomi's hip uncomfortably.
- You don't have fleas, do you?
Atsumu stared at him, scandalized. Kiyoomi shrugged. They stood glaring at each other in silence for a little longer.
- You were right, I did get Hydro, - Kiyoomi sighed. - My vision was taken away about a month after I got it. When it was inlaid on the statue of Omnipresent God, I felt it being ripped off my soul, it was the worst pain I have ever experienced.
- How long did it cost ya? The ice bridge. The fight?
Kiyoomi shrugged.
- How fuckin’ long?
- I don't know, a year for the bridge? A year and a half, maybe, including the fight. There isn't a timer, you know? It's just a feeling.
Atsumu nodded slowly.
- Ya can't join the Resistance, - he raised his hand up, stopping Kiyoomi from talking back, - Omi, no, ya just can't. Without a vision, y’ll be expendable, y’ll be cannon fodder. Ya can't waste y’r talent, y’r life!
- Then what am I supposed to do? Go back on Narukami like nothing happened? I want to make a difference, I want my life to mean something! - Kiyoomi cried.
- There has to be another way! There’s always another way! You can... You can...
Kiyoomi collapsed to sit on the sand and crossed his arms. He shook his head,
- It's fine, Miya. It's my life, and if I’m meant to be cannon fodder, then so be it. As long as it is for the Resistance.
- No, Omi, wait! There are other ways ya could... be... useful, - Atsumu mumbled, an idea forming in his head.
- Omi! Ya were the top of our class, of the entire cadet corps, in strategic planning!
- And the Resistance will accept yesterday's cadet into the planning division? That is just preposterous!
- No shit, Omi. Not unless...
- Unless..?
- Unless ya get a degree in Akademiya!
- In Akademiya?
- In Sumeru Akademiya!
- In Sumeru?
- Why are ya repeatin’ everything I say? Ya actually did hit y’r head yesterday! No, but listen! Depart on board of the Resistance ship to Sumeru. With y’r skills, y’ll pass the entrance exams with little difficulty. Sell your fancy claymore or find a job. Learn as much as ya can, and when ya graduate, I'm sure y’ll get a position within the Strategic division. Ya may even be scouted!
- This sounds like a crazy idea...
- Crazy, yes, but not impossible! It’ll take a much longer time, but ultimately, it’ll both keep ya alive and make ya more valuable for the Resistance.
Kiyoomi stared at him, processing. Atsumu knew he made sense, but Sumeru is too far, and Akademiya will take years to graduate.
The sound of wing flapping and cheerful chirping broke the heavy silence that settled between them. Atsumu's Phoenix dropped a piece of rolled parchment. Unfolded, the parchment contained only one word, "scrub" in Osamu's chicken scribble. Atsumu laughed in relief, and Kiyoomi chuckled too, glancing at the eloquent letter.
- Let's do it, - Kiyoomi said.
- Yeah? Let's fuckin’ do it! - Atsumu roared, his tail wagging furiously.
- You never replied to me about those fleas, you know...
- Oh, fuck you, Kiyoomi.
A couple of roasted lavender melons later, they filled up their satchels with some provision, pushed the boat off the shore, and paddled north. With Celestia blessings, they would reach Watatsumi before the night falls.