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“Yukari. It’s that time again. Mind gapping me out for a bit? You know the drill. Just a month.”
“Has it truly been 100 years already? Hmph… Very well. You may go.”
…
Mt. Inari, Kyoto, Japan.
It was rare that Mokou tried to disguise herself. She often didn’t care to. But this time around, it was a bit more necessary. It was so strange to see so many people around her. Almost overwhelming. The last time she was here, the buzz of the great war and rising tension were still echoing throughout the nation. Now, it had changed entirely into a docile form. It is much more accepting but without much of the personality she once saw. It felt homogenized.
Still, that wasn’t her room to judge.
Mokou found herself straying off the standard path of the mountain into areas that were explicitly restricted to the standard public.
She navigated past the brush she was so familiar with, even now, finally making it to a seemingly ordinary cliff face. But with just a tap in the right spot, it turned completely transparent, allowing Mokou to walk into an isolated chamber, a simple small area that had previously existed as a bit of shade. Stone still hanging above, dirt untouched. A natural alcove.
Nestled in it was a simple grave. Hand carved by, at the time, an inexperienced girl who never even dabbled in stonemasonry, perfectly preserved in spite of its immense age.
Two symbols were messily carved in. It was the first time she didn’t outright crack the stone if she remembered correctly. Still, she could read it just fine.
岩 (Iwa), 笠 (Kasa)
Iwakasa. The man she killed for the Hourai Elixir.
“Hey, uh. I’m back. Let’s just get to it. We’ve done this plenty by now. I even know talking is outright useless this time! But I’m still going to yap as much as possible. It's a good distraction. You know how it is. Or, well, you don’t. Because you are a corpse underneath an inanimate grave. An inanimate grave I am speaking to. But that’s not the point of this. I know you can’t hear me. That’s why I’m even here to begin with. I couldn’t ever face you if you had some way of hearing me. Not even now. Thousands of years after the incident. Or maybe I’d do so. It’s hard to tell because it won’t ever happen.”
Mokou shrugged, pulling out some incense and placing it at the base of the grave, along with a bottle of saké. It was annoying to carry.
“Got you a little present. The same one I brought the last 15 or so times.” She said with a slight chuckle, looking to the side before refocusing on the grave, she needed to face this.
“Let's see… I've done a bit, but only recently have I had any sort of fun. New Hakurei maiden made some rules around duels and I've been having a hell of a time with ‘em. It's a nice era of peace for the time being…” She shrugged. “I'll give it 20 years till it collapses. That's how those things usually go. Someone greedy and stupid like me breaks everything for a reason that doesn't even MATT-” She stops mid sentence. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She got off topic. She took a deep breath, shutting her eyes and wiping off anything that leaked out.
“Sorry. Still really really hate myself for what I did. Reckless sacrifice, yadda yadda. You know the drill about that. Or well. You don't.” She paused for a second, before adding “...Because you're dead.”
She reached for something on her waist, but grasps air, her eyes widening. “Shit. Where the hell-” She frantically looks around before seeing the object of what she was looking for next to the incense.
The saké.
“There you are, little shit… I learned this one from some westerners a bit ago, I think it's an honor that fits you.” She grabs the bottle, popping it open and taking a swig of it before standing up extending her arm. “Here's.”
She pours the saké out, splashing it at the foot of Iwakasa’s grave. She kept pouring… and pouring… and pouring…. Until the downpour became mere drops.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Splash.
The bottle was empty. That was the last bit. She turned it back upright and tucked it away back to where she hid it before.
“Welp… uh. I'd love to stay longer, but now that I’m actually active I can't really rot here for a year like I did last time. I'm sure you're plenty sick of me at this point.”
…
“...”
…
“...”
Mokou slowly turned away, not daring to make a noise as she slowly exited the cave.
But she turned back one last time, her eyes glistening with tears, on the verge of crying from a wound that should be plenty healed by now. Perhaps this was the final scar she ever got from her time as a human… What made her real and tangible. What still made her slightly human.
“And I'm sorry, bud… I really am.”
She tapped the stone again, hiding the grave and shooting off into the sky, the few drops of her sadness rolling down her face and falling to the Earth below.
Leaving behind her last purpose before she lost it all.