Chapter Text
As is usual routine, the yamabiko that swept the temple’s stairs could be found near the entrance’s gate, doing her job.
That is what Shou thought at least, until she actually took a look outside and found that this was not the case. The normally energetic and loud girl was instead resting her chin on the end of the broom’s handle, looking as if she was on another planet, deep in thought.
“Kasodani.” The avatar of Bishamonten approached the girl, knowing something was probably wrong. “What seems to be the matter?”
“The matter?!” Kyouko snapped awake at that, repeating the last words said to her and chin lifting up, her hands letting go of the broom momentarily causing it to begin to wobble, barely standing upright by its bristles.
Before it could fall, however, Shou caught it. “Yes. You appear to be lost in thought. May I ask why?”
The yamabiko struggled to think of an excuse to not tell. Not because she didn't trust her senior youkai, but because of the embarrassment she'd get from saying what she was daydreaming about.
“... 'm just. Tired.” Was all she could come up with, staying quiet afterwards. There was simply no way she'd explain that she was thinking about her giant crush on Mystia- for two big reasons. The first is that if anyone but Shou heard, it would definitively be used against her by the more mischievous residents of Myouren. The second, well… If having a crush counted as having a worldly desire, would that mean she’d be kicked out of the temple? Anyway, she intended to keep her mouth shut, just in case.
“Ah. I understand.” The tall one nodded thoughtfully, as if to show pity to the yamabiko. “We have been quite active this week, I suppose. And you are to help your friend shortly after this, correct?”
“Myeah…” Another sheepish reply followed by the girl- though the words rang in her head again right afterwards, causing her to perk up. “Oh yeah-! I am seeing her today!” Her tail began to wag a bit as well. Her tail never wagged before, it was only after Nue and Murasa had spread rumours about it doing so when she was happy that it began. She didn’t hate it, but it was weird when she caught it doing so.
“I see…” Shou was no fool. Seeing her reaction, it was clear that the yamabiko was excited to see her friend- though she was too dense to pick up on there being more to it than just friendship. That being said, with the girl saying she was tired, Shou wanted to say something to help the girl.
After thinking for a bit while holding her chin, Shou spoke up again. “You and your friend close up late, do you not? Perhaps it would be nice for the two of you to do some stargazing. It is a good way to relax, especially in the company of a close one.” She paused. “You will not be punished for arriving late.”
“Stargazing..?” Kyouko repeated, blinking at her for a bit. The idea of sitting down in a picnic mat with Mystia at her side, the two laying down on it as they looked up at the magnificent stars, with Mystia slowly inching closer and closer, eventually resting her head on Kyouko’s shoulders, wrapping her delicate arms around the yamabiko’s shoulders, her long nails grazing her cheek, provoking a nice sensation… While being spaced out, Kyouko almost began to drool. Almost.
The avatar of Bishamonten waved her arms in front of the space cadet. “Are you alright? You seemed to go unresponsive for a bit.”
“A bit? Hm? Yes. Yes, I’m good. Thank you so much.” Kyouko began to bow repeatedly, a smile on her face now present. “I’m good!” She repeated with a yell. “THANK YOU!!!”
“Ah, back to your usual self, then.” Shou nodded, her usually frowned expression shifting to a small smile. “I am very glad I was of help.”
After this exchange, Kyouko began to energetically sweep the stairs, wanting to get to Mystia as soon as possible. Maybe this plan would bring the two closer than ever…?
Once given the okay by Shou, Kyouko ran to Mystia’s Izakaya to help, as always. The moment she arrived, the night sparrow could already tell that she was way more enthusiastic than normal. However, as the day went on and customers were served, this energy quickly died down, as Kyouko didn’t know how to bring up the idea.
Why? It wasn’t supposed to be a hard question. “Do you want to go stargazing after this?” It was simple.
But at the same time… It felt way too sudden to bring it up at any time. Not only that, but Kyouko didn’t want her to get the wrong idea, and think that she wanted to go out with her or something of that nature- not that she would be wrong if she did, but she had other plans for her confession.
Besides, what if she said no? What if Mystia thought that was stupid, or didn’t feel like it, or many other factors… After all was said and done, Kyouko had cold feet, and it continued to get darker each second.
“Kyouko!” The songbird suddenly chirped after their last customer left, leaving the two alone in the stand, below the dark starry night. “Thank you for everything as always! You’re always such a great help~”
“Of course, Mysty!” Kyouko saluted. “You know I’m always here for you!”
A tiny chuckle from Mystia followed, as the two began to clean everything in silence. As they did, the yamabiko continued to look up at the sky, spotting the stars covered by the trees around them. She figured that maybe she could make Mystia ask this instead of her by bringing attention to the sky.
But of course, it wasn’t working. Strangely enough, however, Mystia was also quiet. Normally the two would chat about anything, they would never run out of things to say. That was one of the things Kyouko loved about their relationship, the fact they couldn’t get tired of each other at all. So this silence was very unusual.
As Kyouko cleaned a grill, she decided to speak up with a “Um- Mysty?”, causing the other to tilt her head.
“Hm?”
“Are you okay? You’ve been strangely quiet…”
“Hm. Well, I could say the same thing about you. Are *you* okay?”
Kyouko blinked, putting away the cleaning supplies as if to pretend nothing was wrong. “Um, haha, what do you m-”
“I was happy to see you in such good spirits at the beginning, but you suddenly… shut down?” Mystia explained, putting a hand to her cheek as she did. “I was thinking about it just now. So, are you okay?”
Mystia stepped in front of the yamabiko, whose eyes began to dart everywhere once her crush approached her like that. However, after calming down a bit, she finally took a deep breath, wanting to get this over with. “Can-” She swallowed, pushing her doubts away. “CAN WE GO STARGAZING TOGETHER?!”
The sudden yelling caused a flinch from the night sparrow, though she quickly straightened up. “Wh- Stargazing..?”
“Sorry-” Kyouko cleared her throat. She had a habit of yelling when getting too excited or nervous. “I just- the sky looks. It looks nice, right? So. I was thinking. We could… Lay down. We had- a long day, right? I was… Thinking about it. All day.”
Mystia stared at the girl… Before chuckling again. “Pft- That’s it? With the way you were fidgeting, I thought you were about to confess to me!”
The yamabiko’s eye twitched. “HA. HA.”
“You’re being so weird-” Mystia ruffled Kyouko’s hair. “It’s kinda adorable. But yeah! I know a nice clearing near the Forest of Magic, let’s go after we finish cleaning.”
Adorable. Mystia just called her adorable. It would be a big deal if she hadn’t already called her that other times, but it still felt like having a spell being cast on her every time she said it. She loved hearing it from her favorite songbird. And besides, Mystia was now taking charge in the plan, bringing them somewhere where they could see the clearer starry night sky.
It didn’t take long for them to finish cleaning. Once they did, and after parking the Izakaya stall near Mystia’s house, the two quickly headed over to the clearing Mystia was talking about. It didn’t take too long, surprisingly enough given her usual scatterbrained nature, but that was also likely thanks to the fact the Forest of Magic was close to Youkai Trail, and the clearing wasn’t too deep in.
The two sat down in the grass. Kyouko was the first one to actually lay on it, with Mystia following closely behind her. The sky really was beautiful. Kyouko made a mental note to really thank Shou again once she got back, as now everything was actually going as planned.
“So…” Mystia poked Kyouko’s cheek, eyes still staring up at the sky. “Do you have any star facts for me?”
“Uh...” Kyouko blinked. She raised her arm to point to the sky as if she was about to teach Mystia about them, but… “I… Actually don’t know.”
“Eeeeh?” The other girl exaggerated a gasp. “You mean to say you invited a girl to go stargazing with no intent of showing off deep knowledge to impress her?!”
“WELL-” the yamabiko covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”
Mystia laughed again. “It’s okay, silly. I know you didn’t. You’re not the type to do that anyway.”
“... You have experience with those types of people?”
“Unfortunately. I won’t name any names, but at some point you get tired of getting unprovoked bug facts every five seconds. It’s less impressive and more annoying.” Mystia rolled her eyes, not that Kyouko could see.
“They did that..?” Kyouko mumbled to herself, knowing exactly who Mystia was talking about.
“But it’s fine. Not knowing about the stars, I mean. I think we should be able to enjoy stuff even if we don’t know its full meaning.” Mystia nodded to her own wise words. “Like- Our music! We welcome all fans, even if they don’t understand our revolutionary lyrics and call us garbage music!”
“Yeah! That was mean…” Remembering a certain article, Kyouko cringed a bit. “...But I like our music. I hope we’re able to reach more people with it.”
The night sparrow rolled to look at her bandmate. “Choujuu Gigaku will become a name etched in history, I promise you.” She then gripped her hand into a fist, approaching Kyouko with it.
Seeing it all play out in the corner of her eyesight, Kyouko turned around to mirror Mystia, and bumped her own hand with the night sparrow’s. “Yeah.” It was a weird turn in atmosphere, but she didn’t mind.
“Speaking of, Kyouko… I’ve always thought this, but you have a very nice voice.”
“Huh?!” The sudden compliment caught Kyouko off-guard.
“I mean it! I’ve been meaning to tell you, but it kept slipping my mind. But it came to my mind now, so I wanted to finally get it out. I was surprised to hear your singing the first time I met you, where did y-”
“My family’s song.” The yamabiko suddenly cut off the rambling sparrow. “That was… My family’s song.”
Another quiet moment passed between the two.
“... Your family’s song?” Mystia suddenly asked, her eyes fixated on the girl in front of her.
“Back in the mountains, before Gensokyo, every yamabiko had its own song.” Kyouko began. “Like, to not get lost. We’d sing our song and repeat it if we heard someone else sing it, to indicate we were close by.” Her breathing turned a bit louder. “I… No longer have a use for this song, though. My family’s… long gone.”
Memories began to flood the girl. They weren’t particularly good memories, especially since back then she wasn’t the person she wanted to be, but they were memories of her family, ones she held deeply. The fact she was one of the last remaining yamabiko always hurt her when her brain reminded her of it.
“Then teach it to me.” A sudden declaration brought the girl back to reality. “Your family’s song. I want to know it. That way, it will never be forgotten.”
Kyouko took a bit to respond. At first, she wanted to cry. They were such simple words, but the fact that Mystia wanted to help her remember her family, and her family’s traditions… It really touched her.
However, immediately after, another thought struck her. Teaching Mystia her family’s song- Well, that would be akin to a marriage. Unknowingly, Mystia had given Kyouko a marriage proposal.
“UM.” The solemn mood quickly vanished, as Kyouko’s face turned redder than it ever had before. “THAT’S- I MEAN.” She took a deep breath. “I. I would love to! But… If I did, that would mean… You’d be a part of my…” She couldn’t even finish that.
Fortunately enough though, Mystia seemed to have caught on. “Aaah. Right.” It was good to see Kyouko in a better mood, however. Also, she was super adorable. So adorable, Mystia only wanted to tease her more. “... Well, I guess you’ll just have to make me a part of your family?”
“FAMILY?!” The yamabiko repeated, covering her face again, her mind being clouded with many thoughts, which varied in purity. Mystia couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“I’m sorry- I’m sorry!” In between laughs, she stroked Kyouko’s head. Not long after, though, she doubled down. “But, seriously. Family or not, I’d like to know this side of you. So that you don’t have to remember alone.”
Kyouko wanted to cry again. She didn’t, but she really wanted to. She really, really loved Mystia. She was so caring, so amazing at everything she did. She really wanted to be with her.
“And hey- we could even rearrange it into a band song!” Mystia continued- “That way, everyone will know about it- We could dedicate a whole album on youkai culture that seemed to have been forgotten!”
With tears trying their hardest to not fall out, the yamabiko nodded at the night sparrow’s suggestion. The two quietly stared at each other, before turning back to the stars.
Shortly after this, the two finally remembered that the Forest of Magic was not known for having good air quality, and decided to fly off before they got sick or worse. Kyouko’s emotional state was probably heightened by the forest, after all.
Back at the temple, the yamabiko was scolded for losing track of time and arriving much later than what Shou expected. She may be someone caring, but she was also rather strict… Despite this, Kyouko didn’t regret staying out so late at all.
Mystia went back to her home on the Youkai Trail. She looked out through her window, and sighed as she stared at the sky. She thought that today was the day. The mood seemed to be good for it, after all… But it didn’t happen.
So, once again, Mystia went to bed, hoping the day that Kyouko finally confesses to her came soon.