Work Text:
Fendt Hope had always been extremely malleable to Nemu. Even when she wasn’t adding new wings to the building, she could easily move existing rooms, make new doors and gaps—temporary or not—change where a staircase led… Touka had compared it to building videogames, Nemu to editing a manuscript. Thankfully, Touka was not in their room, so Nemu could sit at her desk and stare at what she’d written without fear of her fellow Magius sneaking up on her.
She’d already satisfied the others’ more eccentric whims. Alina’s studio had been the easiest, then for Touka, Nemu had woven a laboratory painstakingly adhering to Touka’s extremely specific demands, complete with the astroparticle detector the other girl had initially requested.
But Mifuyu’s bathhouse was proving more stubborn.
Nemu closed her eyes. The shimmering, translucent boundaries of the hotel’s newest wing were physically set apart from the rest of the building; a draft. Not yet ready for public consumption. In a way, she could ‘feel’ each part of the hotel, of her Uwasa, as herself. Which she presumed was the case due to being made of her own magic. Unfortunately, that was not quite helping her with this situation. The layout of the bathhouse had been a nightmare from the start. After trying several spatial configurations, she was just about ready to give up.
Recently, they had begun to enforce a new rule among their Feathers: anonymity. But a bathhouse was fundamentally an exposure of the self. One could hardly participate in such a purification ritual while draped in the wool of a Feather cloak.
Nemu’s charcoal pencil hovered over a diagram. She had attempted to partition the area into a thousand private cells—individualized shower-and-soak modules that ensured no two Feathers ever locked eyes. But looking at the schematics, the design felt cold. It lacked the communal feel Mifuyu had almost definitely been advocating for. Almost like a decontamination ward.
“Incongruous…”
She sighed. Normally, her first instinct would be to call on the yang to her yin, however… she doubted she would be able to focus with Touka around.
No, she couldn’t go to Touka. Not for this. Touka’s brilliance was a solar flare—blinding and magnificent, but it tended to incinerate the subtler threads Nemu used to weave her stories.
There was only one person she could think of.
Alina would not be pleased by the decision, but if anyone could help her navigate this, it would be Mifuyu Azusa.
Elsewhere in the depths of the hotel, the atmosphere was significantly less dignified.
“Alina, move! Something’s coming down that hallway and your movement speed is statistically pathetic! Come on, drop something if you have to!”
“Shut up, Touka! My inventory is full of eccezionale scrap! I, Alina, am an artist, not a pack mule!”
Touka Satomi and Alina Gray were leaned against each other on a sofa, back to back, each with a Steam Deck in hand. Touka’s equipment was tied up in a massive data compilation cycle, and Alina was in a state of murderous boredom because the Feathers she’d sent for paint two hours ago had apparently vanished off the face of the earth. Touka watched her screen carefully; no threats nearby, for now.
“Ugh, this facility is so ugly. Not even a drop of qualità estetica. I almost want to see another monster…”
They fell into a momentary focused silence, punctuated only by the clicking of buttons.
“It is a shame,” Alina said offhandedly, her character crouching behind a crate. “I, Alina, could be spending this time painting Mifuyu’s perfect body instead of looking at these rusty walls—is that the fucking ghost child? Shouldn’t she be haunting you?”
“You must’ve turned one too many times.” Touka didn’t look up, but her brow furrowed. “Is Mifuyu busy?”
“Nemu didn’t tell you? She dragged Mifuyu off to help test that bathhouse addition she wanted.”
“She did?”
“Touka, turret,” the artist calmly stated, her voice dropping into a professional monotone as she prepared to sprint across a hallway.
Touka tapped in the terminal command to disable the turret, but her mind had drifted. Her eyes lingered on the blue dot that represented Alina, yet didn’t notice the red one rapidly patrolling the map in the upper left corner. “Nemu asked Mifuyu? Of all people… Mifuyu?”
The thought prickled at her like an itchy sweater. Why would Nemu seek out Mifuyu for that? Touka understood both physics and Nemu’s magic better than anyone. She was the one who should’ve been consulted. And if it was for testing, then… that was arguably worse.
“What makes Mifuyu more qualified than me?” Touka whispered, with bubbling irritation. She glanced down at herself. “That- it can’t be that. And besides, I’ve known Nemu waaay longer. Mifuyu is just… the manager.”
“Touka! Coil-head! Disable the-” Alina’s character emitted a sickening crunching sound. “FUCK!”
She slammed her Steam Deck down onto the cushion and turned to Touka, ready to deliver a scathing critique of her navigation skills, but stopped mid-sentence. Touka was staring at the wall with a pout.
Alina sighed and roughly ruffled Touka’s hair. “What is it now?”
Touka slapped Alina’s arm away, smoothing her hair back with a huff. “It just… bugs me. I can’t fathom why Nemu would choose Mifuyu over me for anything.”
Alina rolled her eyes. “Then just go ask her. You’re usually loud enough about everything else.”
“I can’t just ask.” Touka set her console aside and sat up straight. “If it’s something Nemu is being deliberate about, she’ll just deflect the question or avoid me entirely. She’s very good at that when she wants to be. I need to observe the situation objectively… Alina, where exactly is this draft located?”
Her fellow Magius raised an eyebrow.
“I’m just going to conduct some reconnaissance.”
“Sure, if you can get her to let go of Mifuyu’s perfect body, that would suit Alina well.”
Perhaps Alina’s smile was too sinister.
“… is there something you’re not telling me, Alina?”
The artist shrugged. “Nothing you’ll want to hear. Anyway, Mifuyu said the draft was…”
Nemu stood by the edge of the central pool, where the drag of her ball and chain against the slick stone tiles gave away her growing frustration. Across from her, Mifuyu stood wrapped in a thick white towel. Light steam blurred the edges of the translucent walls that marked the boundaries of the draft wing.
“The temperature is great,” Mifuyu said, with a slight echo. She gestured toward the intricate maze of washi paper screens that snaked through the room. “And the aesthetic is certainly more… welcoming than the previous iteration. But if I’m being honest, it feels like a house of cards. One stray gust of wind, one accidental stumble, and…”
Nemu sighed. “I know. This particular area is proving… troublesome.”
“Which brings me back to my earlier point. Don’t get me wrong, I’m honored that you trust my perspective, but Touka is far more equipped to handle this. Her grasp of anything to do with physics is, frankly, light years beyond mine. Why haven’t you consulted her?”
Her grip tightened on the edge of her book. A cactus lodged somewhere behind her ribs where logic couldn’t reach.
“Touka is occupied with her data compilation,” Nemu said, clipped and formal. “And I find her methodology… disruptive to the creative process. Thank you for your assistance, Mifuyu. I will take your feedback into account and refine the draft. You are dismissed.”
Mifuyu opened her mouth as if to argue, but seeing the stubborn set of Nemu’s jaw, she simply bowed. “Of course. I’ll leave you to your thoughts.”
As the sliding door clicked shut behind Mifuyu, Nemu let out a long, shuddering breath. She turned back to the pool and dismissed her weapon. This was going to take… longer than she would’ve liked. It was already taking too long.
“Disruptive is a bit uncharitable, don’t you think?”
Nemu didn’t jump, but her heart gave a violent thud against her ribs. She didn’t need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. Touka stepped out from behind a stack of folded linens, clad in nothing but a towel that sat very precariously low on her. Her skin was flushed and droplets of water tracked slow paths down the curve of her neck.
“You’ve been here the whole time,” Nemu stated. When she finally turned, she tried to keep her eyes on Touka’s face; a losing battle.
“I thought I’d test out the facilities here,” Touka said, closing the distance between them until they were mere centimeters apart. Her casual tone did not bode well. “And Mifuyu is right. Your work is sloppy, Nemu. Or is there a reason you’re suddenly so allergic to my help?”
“There is no reason. I simply wanted a different perspective.”
“Liar.” Touka’s hand came up and her fingers grazed the collar of Nemu’s cape. “You’re hiding. You’ve been avoiding me since we finished the lab. What, did I scare you off?”
Too many lines blurred. Like the very sun Nemu found herself so often comparing her to, Touka had an irresistible gravitational pull.
“Touka… I am not in a good mood. This is your final warning.”
“Perfect. Unless you’re going to chicken out… again.”
Nemu grabbed Touka’s wrist and pinned her forcefully against the cold stone of the wall. The sudden impact drew a small gasp from Touka, but her smirk only widened.
“There,” Touka breathed. Her eyes darted to Nemu’s lips. “Was that so hard?”
Nemu rested forehead against Touka’s. “You are an insufferable, arrogant brat who thinks the universe bends to your whims.”
“And you’re so repressed you need me to push your buttons,” Touka countered, her hand sliding up to Nemu’s waist.
This girl was infuriating. Nemu’s hand moved to the small of Touka’s back and pulled her closer until the heat from Touka’s skin bled through her layers.
Brisk footsteps echoed from the hallway. “Nemu! I, Alina, have had a revelation!”
Nemu glanced back toward the door. “Go.”
“What? No way, I-”
With a sharp flick of her wrist and a surge of magic, the floorboards beneath Touka’s feet liquefied and reformed. Touka let out a yelp of indignation before she vanished into the darkness of a hidden sub-level, and the floor sealed shut with a seamless click just as the door swung open.
Alina marched in. “There you are! No carnage this time?”
“… none.”
“Well, that’s boring. Anyway, your problem is the service. You have Soldier Bears for punching and Worker Bears for building, but you’re missing the most important part of a bathhouse.”
Nemu blinked. With Herculean effort, she forced her brain to pivot. “And that would be?”
“Attendant Bears! Something to manage all this.”
Nemu paused. The simplicity of it was galling. She had been so focused on the architecture that she’d forgotten the characters. She summoned her book and the pages fluttered to a blank spread in the Queen Bear’s section. A quill appeared in her hand, and she quickly wrote down a new entry. The Queen Bear was complex enough to handle multiple types of Familiars, this would be a cinch; if only she’d thought of it sooner.
“Attendant Bears... dexterous, silent, devoted…”
A bear emerged from a surge of magic—not the hulking mass of a Soldier or the stout utility of a Worker. This one was slender, standing just below Nemu’s height, with fur the color of coal to stand out against the tiles and paws that nearly looked like hands. It bowed deeply, then reached into its apron and produced a half-mask.
“What is that?” Alina asked.
“A conceptual filter,” Nemu explained. “Anyone who wears this mask within the boundaries of the bathhouse will have their identity obscured by the Uwasa. To the wearer, it feels like skin.”
Alina grabbed the offered mask and turned it over in her hands. “Molto bene. It’s creepy. I love it.”
“Do as you wish, Alina. I have… unresolved matters to attend to.”
Alina grinned. “Don’t break your unresolved matters too badly. And tell her I failed our quota.”
Nemu didn’t answer. She went through the floor more gracefully than Touka had. In the dim glow of the wall sconces, she saw her counterpart sprawled facedown across the king-sized bed—most of the secret rooms were more like small suites, originally meant to hide out in when she needed to calm down. Touka’s towel was a rumpled mess of white against the dark covers. Besides the occasional bored kick of her foot, she looked oddly still.
She clearly thought she was alone. Nemu released her transformation, reached into the air and pulled another half-mask from the shadows. As she pressed it to her face, she felt it the edges of the mask stitch into her skin. Painless. Coal-colored fur crept along her cheekbones and temples.
With a flick of her fingers, the silk sheets beneath Touka surged like striking snakes. Before Touka could even draw breath, the fabric had coiled around her head to blind and gag her mid-gasp. The rest of it snaked around her wrists, wrenched them behind her back and pinned them in place. Nemu climbed onto the bed, her knees sinking into the plush mattress on either side of Touka’s hips just before she pressed her weight down. She let her lips graze the shell of Touka’s ear.
“You have caused too much trouble today.”
Her voice was no longer her own; the mask distorted it into a vibrato. She let her hand roam, the fur on her face grazing Touka’s shoulder. Too soft to be human, too warm to be fabric. Nemu felt a surge of satisfaction as Touka’s muscles locked underneath her, then completely slackened.
Touka let out a muffled sound against the gag. She melted into the mattress and her spine curved to meet Nemu’s touch. The confidence with which she offered herself up made her blood boil.
Nemu’s grip tightened, her fingers digging into Touka’s skin. “You think this is just another game? Fine. Then I will treat you as the mindless, disposable doll you’re acting like.”
She wanted to hear it. She wanted to hear the genius break beneath her again. Nemu unraveled the silk gag with a violent tug, but left the blindfold tightly tied.
“How does it feel to be nothing but a body in a room you can’t see out of?”
Touka’s head lolled back against Nemu’s shoulder, and a giggle came from her throat. “You’re so dramatic, Nemu.”
Nemu froze with her hand over Touka’s throat.
“You didn’t think I’d know your claws by touch alone?” Touka tilted her head, a knowing smile stretching across her face. “If you’re going to let me talk, you could’ve been more thorough with the restraints. There’s only one person in this entire world who would bother to tie me up just to vent her frustrations. One person pathetic enough to try and scare me just because she’s too cowardly to admit-”
The insult snapped the last thread of Nemu’s restraint. With a snarl, she grabbed Touka by the hair and forced her head back. Before she could react, Nemu sank her teeth into the meat of Touka’s shoulder. She bit down with everything she had. Fur brushed against the skin as she broke the surface, and Touka’s smug laugh turned into a scream that was immediately cut short as Nemu’s hand clamped over her mouth.
“Don’t you ever,” Nemu hissed against Touka’s bleeding skin, “mistake familiarity for safety.”
Touka shivered violently under her, her breath coming in ragged hitches. Good. If she was going to use that mouth of hers for mockery, she had already accepted the consequences. Nemu pulled back just enough to look at the crimson mark on her friend’s pale shoulder, then leaned down again, her tongue tracing the edge of the wound she’d made. Her teeth grazed the skin once more.
“Now… you are going to stay very, very quiet.”
Touka gave a cute little whimper.
The amber lights flickered once, then died.