Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The first thought that occurred to him - well, he assumed it was his first thought, he couldn’t remember any other thoughts before it - was something along the lines of, “huh.” It was an odd sensation he felt - again, he assumed it was odd, it didn’t feel quite right but he didn’t know why. Why did he have this concept of normality if he didn’t have any memories, and why the hell didn’t he have any memories?

Less concerning, but more easily answered, was the question of where he was. Looking around, he saw he was in a garden or a park of some sort. It was night and it was raining and he was wet and he was cold and everything was blurry - was that normal?

Despite the blurriness, he could see a few things. Across from him was a round path, and across from that, a bench, maybe. Behind him was a rather large hydrangea bush - not in bloom but impressive nonetheless.

“Hello there!”

A woman’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Um, hi?” he responded, still very confused and very annoyed and very much wondering where the voice was coming from.

Further down the path, he saw a shape coming closer. It came more and more into focus as it approached, and he could see that it was a woman. She was tall and impressive and wore what the boy could tell was the most ornate outfit he’d ever seen (well, anything would have been the most ornate outfit he’d ever seen, now wouldn’t it?), despite the blurriness. Her long, dark hair flowed all around her, nearly melding with the deep hue of the dress she wore. Any more details than that were impossible to determine, considering the dark and the bad vision. Maybe he needed glasses or something.

The woman laughed, continuing forward.

“Oh dear, you look as lost as a child! Though you practically are - you’re not terribly old.”

The boy frowned. “Hell if I know! Who are you? What’s going on? Is this some sort of sick joke?” He couldn’t help the anger that was coming out at this woman. For all he knew - which was nothing - she could be completely innocent. Then again… She was the only one there.

“This is no joke. I hate to break it to you, but you’re dead,” she said as nonchalantly as if she was telling him that his shoes were untied. Actually, he didn’t seem to be wearing shoes. Huh.

“Dead?” he asked, more than mildly concerned, and considering arguing the point, but deciding against it because it didn’t seem wrong and he was curious where exactly this was heading. “Then this is the afterlife.”

“No,” the woman said.

He considered this. “Then you’re insinuating that I’m a ghost,” he half-asked, half-stated.

She hummed. “No, not quite.”

Yeah, because that made sense.

“This is ridiculous,” he decided, despite feeling that she was telling the truth. “Dead people don’t just wander around gardens in the middle of the night barefoot - do they?” As if he knew - he didn’t even know his own name. Who was he?

“Not generally, no. In fact, uncorrupted spirits are quite rare these days. To happen upon you like this…” She paused as she finally reached him, and when she spoke again, her tone was absolute. “It was hitsuzen.”

The boy blinked and looked up at the woman.

“Hitsuzen?” He racked his brain to see if he recognized the odd word. “As in… inevitability? Fate?” He paused, backtracking a moment. “Dead.”

The woman sighed and was that a frown? He really couldn’t tell through the blurry vision - glasses were certainly a priority.

“Listen, child-”

“I am not a child! I’m…” He didn’t know. “Well, I’m not a child !”

“You must accept this,” the woman continued, paying him no mind. Her tone was serious, so the boy listened. “You are dead. You’re a spirit now. I am in need of a regalia - a spirit assistant of sorts. Our meeting was inevitable, yes. Fated. Hitsuzen, as I said.” She paused, probably for theatrical effect. “Will you become my regalia?”

The boy considered this. Nothing else really made sense right now - who’s to say he wasn’t dead? Instinct told him he’d seen weirder, and there were few arguments to be had against it. Especially not right now in the cold, wet night.

“Why do you need a spirit assistant?” he decided to ask. He didn’t want to agree to something he would eventually regret.

“I’m a god - you can never have too many regalia!” she said excitedly, though he felt like there was something more than just flippancy in her tone. “Besides, I could use the help. I have a rather large temple, and too few workers now. You’d have a place to live, a name, people who can see you - everything a regalia could possibly want!”

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait - a god? You’re a god ? And what do you mean people who can see me?”

The woman huffed. “Yes. I am Yuuko, god of equivalency and inevitability.” Well didn’t that just explain her attitude, wait a second did she say-

“Yuuko…gami? The Yuuko-gami?” There was knowledge somewhere within Watanuki - though he didn’t know where it was from - that told him that he knew who Yuuko was. She was the god. The one you took your dire requests to. The one people told stories about… not that he could remember the stories, now that he thought about it.

He wanted to call this woman a liar. Turn away, figure it all out alone… Although… He couldn’t quite explain to himself why, but he knew that this woman was Yuuko, and that she was telling the truth, and that this was the best course of action. She could give him a home, a purpose, a self .

A thousand thoughts passed through him in a second, not all of them comprehensible. How terribly wrong could this all go? How horrible would it be to refuse? What the hell does a dead person do, anyways? Do dead people need glasses?

“Do you agree to be my regalia, or not, child?” Yuuko - Yuuko - asked. Or rather, demanded, based on that tone of voice.

“Fine, fine, I’ll do it,” he conceded. “But when you say assistant, you better mean assistant, because I’ll tell you right now that if regalia is a fancy god-term for slave , I am gone !”

Yuuko waved her hand casually. “Yes, yes.” It wasn’t really much assurance, if he were to be honest.

Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. Her posture straightened, her head rose, and she lifted out a hand, extending two fingers.

“You, who have nowhere to go, I grant you a place to belong. My name is Yuuko. Bearing a posthumous name, you shall remain here. With this name I make thee my servant. With this name and its alternate, I use my life to make thee a regalia. Thou art Ki. As regalia, Noboru. Come, Noboru!”

A blinding flash of light, and suddenly he was… different. Not himself. His body had changed into something completely different. No longer was he human, but rather… an object? Or perhaps a consciousness attached to one?

He felt contracted, bent and folded together, with wooden spokes and iron edges all folded against one another. Something warm held him - a hand? The hand moved quickly then, and it felt like he was flicked apart, the spokes separated, but held together. He could feel the rain again, but on paper this time, instead of skin.

It was… not pleasant.

What the hell? he said? thought? He didn’t really know. He could barely process anything at the moment.

The hand - Yuuko’s hand - spun him once, and suddenly he was back on his feet. In the mud. And the inside his right wrist burned where a red kanji was now imprinted. Ki .

He looked back up at Yuuko. “What did you just do to me? You said, you said I’d be an assistant! What sort of assistance were you expecting?”

She shrugged, and possibly frowned - he really couldn’t see well. “Cooling me off in the summer months, apparently. Your regalia form is a fan.”

The boy was at a loss for words. Which, for some reason, seemed surprising to him.

“You really don’t remember much, do you?”

“Much about what?”

“Just the world, Watanuki.”

He considered being offended, but… she wasn’t wrong, it seemed.

“I thought you said my name was Ki or Noboru or something like that.” This night - his first night - was getting more and more confusing for him. Hopefully it didn’t get any more confusing than this.

“Ki is short for Watanuki, of course,” she explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world

“Oh, of course ,” he repeated, hoping his tone sounded as sarcastic as it felt. This whole thing felt like walking into some sort of trap.

Yuuko held an object out to him and sighed. “Your tone isn’t appreciated. You’re in the presence of a god, you know.”

“Hn,” he grunted, with a hint of disdain, though when he took the object from her, he was less angry. “Hey, how did you know I would need glasses?”

“Hitsuzen.”

He put the glasses on - who knew you could see this much detail even in the dark? - and took in the full, clear image of the god in front of him. She was beautiful, if severe and intimidating. Black hair framed her face and looped and curled around her head and down her back. Her eyes were a piercing and disconcerting red. His guess on the blue dress was correct, but he couldn’t have guessed how intricate the patterns on it were. Large, purple butterflies were embroidered into the fabric throughout the dress, and the dye had a gradient, making it darker nearer to the ground.

He then looked down and saw his muddy feet. And robe-thing?

“Can we go to that temple now?” he asked. “I’m cold and muddy and standing here in the rain is not helping.”

“Of course!” Yuuko yelled (more loudly than perhaps warranted in the middle of the night) as she turned away down the path. “I’m starving. I could certainly go for some salted mackerel!” She turned to him then, her expression very serious. “You’ll be cooking it of course.”

He ran off after her, fuming again. “Me?! I don’t even know if I can cook! Maybe I don’t even like cooking, you ever think of that?”

“I’m sure you’ll love it! Give it a shot!”

She certainly was an eccentric. But, he - Watanuki - had agreed to be her regalia or whatever, so here he was.

He just hoped he wouldn’t regret it.

Chapter Text

Yuuko quickly became the bane of his existence. Apparently ‘assistant’ meant ‘servant’ and ‘servant’ meant never leaving the temple and cooking and cleaning and organizing and basically just catering to Yuuko’s every whim.

Which wasn’t very pleasant.

But, hey, this was what Watanuki - as was his name now - had signed up for so he had to deal with it.

Honestly, he didn’t even know what it was Yuuko even did at her temple. He hadn’t really gotten a straight answer yet, despite the fact that it had been a few days. Wasn’t that enough tenure to know who you were working for? Really though, any tenure at all should be enough to know who you were working for, in Watanuki’s opinion.

Mokona - some sort of weird spirit-thing, he supposed, that looked like a deformed bunny plush toy with blue jewel stuck in its forehead - was of no assistance. Any time Watanuki brought up anything of importance with it, it just hopped off and drank sake with Yuuko.

Yuuko’s two other regalia (her only other regalia) - twin girls named Maru and Moro - weren’t much more helpful. They’d say something vague in unison and then skip away.

And Yuuko herself? Gods she never answered any questions about anything. Watanuki wondered if all the gods were like this, or if he had just been stuck with the worst one. Part of him hoped it was the former, but for the sake of humanity, he kind of hoped it was the latter.

The priest at the temple - some jerk named Doumeki - was rarely even around to ask questions, let alone answer them. When he was around, he’d say a maximum of two words and leave. What a idiot, honestly.

The bright spot of his life (well, his death) was Kunogi Himawari. Sweet, precious Himawari. She was the cutest girl Watanuki had ever seen, and he wasn’t just saying that because she was the only girl around his age (maybe?) that he’d met as far as he could remember. Her smile could light up the world, he was pretty sure. It lit up his world at least. She was the only one who would interact with him like a person. Unfortunately, she was also the only one in the usual group who didn’t live there. Apparently she just sort of hung around the temple sometimes. She and Doumeki were childhood friends, but how someone as wonderful as Himawari could stand such a stoic, unfeeling jerk as a friend, Watanuki just didn’t understand.
He was along this train of thought while dusting some old vases in a large and rather unorganized storage room (he’d have to clean that later, ugh) one day when he was finally told what exactly Yuuko did.

Well, more like shown what exactly Yuuko did.

A voice rang through the temple. “Oh, Watanuki!”

With a sigh, he tossed aside his duster and began stomping his way towards the sound of Yuuko’s yelling.

“Watanuki!” she repeated, more loudly.

“I am coming don’t rush me!” he yelled back.

His respect for her godly nature had dissipated very quickly when she forced him to cook a four course meal at four in the morning, only an hour or two after he had been found and brought to the temple. The meal was finished off with sake and a four hour nap. The woman was ridiculous, and Watanuki would make sure she knew it.

“Well, hurry it up! We have a guest.” she snapped.

A guest? Sure, Yuuko would hear the wishes and desires of the desperate - Watanuki knew that - but he had figured it was more of a ‘pray at the shrine’ kind of thing. Not a genuine in-person plea to the god herself.

He walked into Yuuko’s sitting room and found her draped over a chair at the table, which was unsurprising. More surprising, was the woman seated across from her. She was turned away from Watanuki, but he could feel that there was something off about her. Something unpleasant. Something that… smelled? He wasn’t sure though… It did seem a little odd that something like that would happen, so Watanuki assumed he was imagining it.

“Ah, Watanuki, could you bring us some tea?” asked Yuuko, that mysterious frown on her face. The one she wore when she was trying to look mysterious and dignified. It worked.

“Of course, Yuuko-san.” Watanuki did his best to be pleasant, for the sake of the guest.

He returned through the other side of the room, behind Yuuko, so that he could get a better look at the customer.

At first glance, she seemed perfectly normal, but something about her still put Watanuki off.

She was entirely focused on Yuuko and paid Watanuki no mind until he started pouring her tea.

“Oh! I didn’t see you there!”

Didn’t see him? How could she not notice him? He was literally right there in the room and, honestly, probably staring at her.

“That’s alright. I’m just here to bring the tea, don’t mind me,” he said, a little confused.

He began to leave the room, but Yuuko lightly touched his arm before he left. “Wait in here.”

And now Watanuki was even more confused, but he didn’t protest. No need to make a scene, and he truly was curious about this woman.

Watanuki sat in the only empty seat - Yuuko’s couch. It was too large and the ornateness made him feel uncomfortable and small. He made a mental note to avoid it in the future.

All his thoughts on furniture stopped, however, when the woman took her right hand out from under the table in order to pick up her drink.
If you could call it that. It looked like claws… Or more like a talon.

Watanuki was no longer questioning his senses. The odd tingle in the back of his mind. The faint smell of rot that was starting to induce nausea. The sight of a dark, grotesque talon in place of the entirety of woman’s hand, though it faded at the wrist, giving way to a normal human arm.
There was no way he was imagining all of that at once.

Unless he was going crazy. Which was a very real possibility, considering the working conditions he was under. Was there some sort of regalia union he could join? There must have been. It wouldn’t make sense not to-

“Now.” Yuuko’s voice broke his thoughts. “Tell me about your problem, Natsuki-san.”

The woman - Natsuki - shifted uncomfortably. “Well, it may sound a little strange…”

A little strange? She had a talon for a hand. Now, Watanuki didn’t have many memories, but he was pretty sure that that wasn’t normal.

Yuuko just smiled. “Try me.”

“Well, it started about a week ago,” she began. “I woke up one morning and my pinky felt a little weird. It didn’t hurt, really, but it just didn’t feel right, you know?”

Yuuko nodded.

“I ignored it, you see, because it was just my little finger and it’s not that important, right? I just went about my day. The next morning, more of my hand felt weird. And the same thing the next morning. Now it’s all the way up my wrist.”

“Is that all?” asked Yuuko, looking for all the world like she already knew the whole story.

Natsuki looked away and shook her head. “No. Sometimes my hand will just… do things now.”

“What sort of things?”

“Bad things. I’ll be walking on the street and suddenly be holding someone’s wallet. Or I’ll be at a restaurant and suddenly I’m intentionally spilling
my drink on the waiter. The other day, I even hit myself.” She looked back up at Yuuko, eyes earnest. “I swear it’s unintentional! It’s not like I want to do these things!” she insisted.

“Don’t you?”

Well of course she didn’t - she’d just said, didn’t she?

The woman shook her head, and stroked the tea cup with her right hand. Or rather clawed hand. Why wasn’t she mentioning this?

“Go ahead - throw the tea in my face,” said Yuuko suddenly.

“What?”

“I know that’s what you’re thinking. And what your hand wants to do.”

“Why would I want to do that?” the woman asked, startled.

Yuuko leaned forward on the table and fluttered her lashes ugh why does she do that? “You tell me. Once you gain control, you won’t have a problem anymore.”

The hell was that supposed to mean?

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can’t you just fix it?”

Leaning back, Yuuko hummed. “It would be better if you fixed it yourself… But yes. I can help.”

Natsuki looked hopeful for a moment, but fell when she heard Yuuko’s next words.

“For a price.”

“You gods deal with five yen coins, yes? I- I have that-”

“No. I deal in equal trade. Balance. Equivalency. No gods truly deal like that without price to themselves, Natsuki.” Watanuki had never heard that before. Did prayers go unanswered because humans refused to meet the balance? What sort of price would a god pay to equate the missing payment? What sort of balance did the gods - or perhaps the universe? - require?

The woman spoke then, interrupting Watanuki’s musings. “Oh… I see…”

“I will, however, give you a trial period.”

“A trial period…?” Natsuki looked hopeful, but skeptical.

“That’s right.” Yuuko then looked to Watanuki and gestured for him to come to her. “Watanuki, could you please bring me that green trunk from the storage room?”

The guest suddenly looked up and gave Watanuki a startled and confused look. Weird, sure, but not weirder than her hand or her… presence.

“Where did you put it?” asked Watanuki, having no idea what sort of green box she was asking for. Besides, there was no way he was going to find anything in there without some sort of direction.

Yuuko hummed. “Not sure. I think it’s near a painting of… something.”

Watanuki grumbled, but made his way to the storeroom anyways, muttering the whole way. “That is no help at all. How can I be expected to do anything around here if she can’t give me even a little bit of leeway, I swear we are organizing that damn room this week - how am I supposed to find something as obscure as a green box or trunk or whatever in this mess, she is awful and oh, there it is,” he finished after spending one minute in the room and immediately finding it near the door. “My point still stands though. We are organizing the whole thing.”

The trunk was heavier than appreciated, and it took a lot to drag it through the halls. He ran into Doumeki on the way. The taller boy turned around and looked down at Watanuki, who was pulling the trunk behind him with all his strength. His dark eyes were sharp, but unfeeling, Watanuki was pretty sure.

“Get outta my way I am working,” Watanuki huffed, trying to catch his breath.

Doumeki picked up the far end of the trunk, but said nothing.

“Oh please, I don’t need your help here! Why don’t you go do whatever it is you do all day and leave me alone - don’t you have some sort of priestly duties or something?”

“No. Keep walking.”

Watanuki picked up his end of the trunk, and together they hefted the trunk into the sitting room.

Without another word, Doumeki went outside. Gods, what a jerk. It’s not like Watanuki wanted any help and then here he comes waltzing in rubbing everything in Watanuki’s face and giving him that abnormally impassive look. Doumeki was the true bane of his existence, for sure.
Watanuki dragged the trunk the next few feet to rest near Yuuko.

“Thank you, Watanuki,” she said before opening it. Inside were a number of abnormally shaped items, all wrapped in cloth. Yuuko picked up a small, square box from the top and set it on the table. “You can take the rest of that back.”

Oh, there was no way in hell he was dragging that trunk all the way back to the storage room now - not after all that. Watanuki couldn’t believe how demanding Yuuko was sometimes. Why didn’t she just tell him to get the stupid box in the first place instead of the whole damn trunk??

“Careful, Watanuki, you’ll knock the table over onto our guest if you continue throwing your arms around like that.”

Oh, that’s right there was a guest. And he probably looked like a crazy person.

“Ah, ha, sorry about that. I’m just going to-” he cut himself off when he got another look at the woman’s hand - or where it should have been. The talon was larger, and started further up her arm than before. The smell was slightly worse too. He wasn’t imagining all that, was he?

“Can I help you?” she guest asked, affronted and pulling away.

“No, no, I just… your… hand…”

Yuuko gave Watanuki a knowing look. Knowing of what, Watanuki had no idea, but she obviously knew something.
The woman looked from her hand to Watanuki, then back to her hand.

“Nothing, it’s just… nothing,” he said, trying to cover for himself, but obviously failing. He went back to the couch and stayed quiet.

Yuuko pushed the box at the guest, then leaned back in her chair.

Natsuki opened it and pulled out a very plain ring. “What am I supposed to do with this?” she asked.

“You wear it, of course,” Yuuko told her, explaining what was obvious, but also too obvious. There must have been something else.

The woman put the ring on what would have been her right pinky finger, and within a few minutes, her hand looked almost normal, if a little blackened. The smell was still there, but at least her hand looked like a hand. Not that it seemed anyone else cared to notice it in the first place.

“Oh wow, my hand already feels much better!” Natsuki insisted, turning it around to marvel at its lack of abnormality, Watanuki supposed.

“This is only a bandage, Natsuki-san,” Yuuko said seriously. “You need to resolve your own problems before it’s too late. Come back to me in two days. I either expect you to return the ring at that time, or make full payment.”

“Which is…?”

“Equal to your wish.” Yeah, that wasn’t ominous.

Both Yuuko and the woman stood up and left through the door. Watanuki followed them outside and watched the woman leave.

“Was there something wrong with her?” Watanuki turned to ask Yuuko, only to find that she had gone back inside and left him outside alone with Doumeki who was sweeping leaves as if it was the most important thing in the world.

He looked up at Watanuki at the question, and Watanuki froze. He didn’t say anything, but being at the receiving end of that blank stare was disconcerting and Watanuki did. Not. Like it.

“Whatever, fine, don’t say anything, I wasn’t even talking to you in the first place and it’s not like I want answers or anything just sweep your stupid leaves and have fun.”

Doumeki looked back down at his leaves and Watanuki stormed back inside.

~

By the time he got back inside, Yuuko was already draped across her couch like some sort of lumpy blanket that sighed a lot.

“Yuuko-san,” Watanuki began, but didn’t get to finish.

“Watanuki, I thought I told you to take that trunk back the the storage room,” she said, lazily pointing at the green trunk she had so maddeningly asked him to drag out minutes earlier.

“Firstly, it was a ridiculous request to have be bring out that whole trunk when you could have just told me to get that little box out of it - in fact I ran into Doumeki in the hall and he had to-”

“I saw that! Doumeki was able to help you- that was so kind of him!”

“It was NOT!” Watanuki insisted loudly. Hopefully loud enough that it would get through Yuuko’s thick skull, but the probability was low at this point.

“Honestly Watanuki, I think you two get along wonderfully!”

“No. He barely talks to me and when he does, he doesn’t say anything and he just stands there and stares and he just gets on my nerves!”

“Like I said, I think you two get along wonderfully!”

“WERE YOU LISTENING TO ANYTHING I JUST SAID?”

Watanuki waved a hand in front of his face and moved on before she could respond - of course she wasn’t listening.

“Listen, Yuuko-san, I have some questions,” he said calmly.

She sat up a bit, which was as close as he was going to get to her paying attention.

“What was wrong with that woman’s hand?”

Yuuko smiled. It was disconcerting. “Of course you would see it.”

“It? You mean those claws?” Why did it seem like she was insinuating something weird…

“Watanuki, that’s not something any ordinary person would have seen.”

He considered this. “Is it because I’m a regalia, or…” Hell, he didn’t even know what a regalia was at this point. No one told him anything.

“No. Maru and Moro wouldn’t have seen it either. Not this early on. They may have felt something was off - Doumeki as well, perhaps - but only you can see what was affecting that woman.”

Watanuki frowned. “You’re not making any sense. What was affecting that woman? Why wouldn’t anyone else see it?”

“What she has on her is a parasite.” Finally some straight answers, but not the ones he really wanted. “A spiritual one. A very small, very weak ayakashi that grows stronger each day.”

“Ayakashi…?” The word was almost familiar to him. Something he may have known some time, but had forgotten now.

“Spirits of ill intent. Some are the ghosts of the dead, like you, but twisted.”

Watanuki gulped - was he really no different than some sort of disfigured phantom?

“But most are bred by and feed on malicious thoughts and actions. They’re creatures of the Far Shore.”

“The Far Shore?”

“The great beyond. The world of gods and spirits. Our world, Watanuki. Goodness, it’s as if you’ve learned nothing! Humans are the Near Shore and we? We are the Far Shore. The unreachable, and undefinable.”

“You’re not unreachable though. You literally live in a temple in the middle of a major city.”

Yuuko gave him a pointed glare. “That isn’t what I meant.”

This woman was infuriating.

“Alright, alright, we’ll come back around to that then,” he conceded, knowing full-well that he would have to force the topic later. “The woman though… She’s possessed?”

“Yes.”

“But you said she had to fix it herself. How can she fix something like that herself?”

“As I said, that creature is feeding off of her ill-intent.”

“But she said that the hand is doing things on its own - how could she-”

“The hand is acting on her own thoughts and desires. If she can control those, the ayakashi will leave.”

“How bad were that woman’s thoughts that she could have drawn some sort of demon to her? I mean, I’ve had some rude thoughts about certain people,” he pouted, thinking of a certain priest and a certain god, “but I’m not possessed or anything…”

Yuuko sat up then, and made severe eye-contact. “Would you ever act on those thoughts?”

“What?”

“Do you take those thoughts seriously? Could you ever see yourself following up on any of those mental threats?”

“No… I suppose not,” he decided after a brief pause.

“Good, then you’re not in danger of possession. They only affect those who truly consider these things. Everyone has thoughts from time to time, Watanuki, but only some might follow-through. Those people are a breeding ground for ayakashi.”

“And how would that ring help?”

Yuuko waved a hand in the air impassively. “It will hold the ayakashi back long enough for that woman to regain control of her actions. If she can do that, the ring can be removed and she can go about her life again with only a small price to me. If she cannot…” Yuuko paused for effect. “Then she will pay the price for a very serious exorcism. It will not be cheap.”

With the state of her arm, he would imagine not.

~

The next day, Watanuki couldn’t get the story about ayakashi out of his head. He asked Himawari about it, hoping she might be able to elaborate.

“No, I think you got all of it,” she said from her chair in the kitchen. She was generally around when Watanuki cooked, but he never made her help because he wouldn’t want to make her work or anything - that would just be cruel. No, he was the one here to work, apparently. Which brought him to a few other points he wanted clarified.

“But Yuuko-san said something about some of them being… being spirits of the dead,” he said, losing momentum on the egg whites he was beating.

“I suppose that’s true…”

Watanuki sighed and turned towards her. “What does that make me then?” he asked.

Now, he didn’t really want to be concerning Himawari with these sort of matters - no, no, she deserved to never deal with serious issues, especially not his own. Such a cute, nice, sweet girl shouldn’t have to listen to Watanuki ramble about all this.

But…

She was the only one answering his questions.

“You’re a regalia,” she said simply. “Ayakashi are vindictive spirits, Watanuki-kun. You’re not vindictive.”

“So why aren’t there more regalia? Are most people just vindictive, or are there a lot of other regalia not around here…” he trailed off, unsure where the thought was headed.

Himawari looked up and away, as if searching for an explanation. “Regalia are generally spirits that didn’t want to go. Most people’s souls, when they die, reincarnate.” She spoke slowly, choosing words carefully, it seemed. “But the souls of regalia… I guess they didn’t want to.”

The answer just frustrated Watanuki more. What sort of unfinished business did he have that was so important that he wouldn’t allow himself to move on? It better have been pretty damn important, because he couldn’t think of anything worth this existence. He sent some hatred to his past self, regaining the energy needed to stiffen the egg whites.

“Do all regalia get their memories wiped? What’s the point of lingering if you can’t remember the reason you did it in the first place?”

Himawari ran her hands through her curly pigtails - ahhh, she was so cute - and took a breath. “All regalia have no memories of their lives, yes. But I don’t know why, Watanuki-kun. I wish I did.”

Watanuki sighed, again losing steam on his egg whites, and setting the bowl and the whisk aside for the moment. At least he had a bit more information. “So do the gods just run around collecting lost souls or something? What’s that about?”

She let out a short laugh. “They name the souls and mark them, taking them in as their own.”

He rubbed the kanji marked on the inside of his wrist.

She saw and frowned. “Regalia are a form of protection for the gods.” Oh so he was just useful to Yuuko? “And in turn, the gods protect them.” Or make them be their slaves, more like.

“This is stupid,” he decided for the fiftieth time since he’d come to the temple. “What part of protection means make all my food and clean my whole temple and do my laundry and organize everything and do it faster, Watanuki because maybe the definition changed last I heard.” He picked up the bowl of egg whites again and began whisking again. Why didn’t they have an electric beater in this place?

“Gods give them a home, and ways to protect themselves from dangers.”

“What’s to stop me from going away and renting an apartment on my own, hm?”

Himawari shifted in her chair. “People… they won’t notice you. Ayakashi will flock to you. You’ll be defenseless.”

The information hit him like a blow to the chest. He faltered in his whisking, but picked up the pace again quickly, distracting himself. “People won’t notice me…?” He thought about the woman, having to be reminded of his presence every time he entered the room

Himawari shook her head. “No. If you draw attention to yourself, then they will, but… they’ll forget soon after.” She paused and looked down. “I’m sorry.”

So he was going to live forever as an invisible teenager. Great. Wait.

“B-b-but… you notice me, Himawari-chan. And you’ll remember me, right?” He hoped so. To be forgotten by Himawari would be… would be… He couldn’t…

She nearly jumped out of her chair. “Of course! I spend so much of my time here, I couldn’t forget! And when you become close to a regalia or anything else Far Shore, then forgetting is just - it isn’t an option!”

Ahhhhhh~ she thinks we’re close! Himawari, the cutest, nicest girl in the world, thinks we’re close!

“Which is why Doumeki-kun and I would never forget you!”

Doumeki.

The egg whites were stiff enough, so he dropped them into his batter and started folding them in with a wooden spoon, scowling all the while.

“I’d be happy if that guy forgot me and left. I don’t like him at all - and he doesn’t like me either! He barely talks to me and puh-lease as if we could ever be friends he’s like a tree with a face - there’s nothing there!”

“Oh, but he’s a very nice guy if you talk to him once in awhile,” she insisted.

“I don’t want to! He’s the worst! He’s such a jerk!” He punctuated his point by tossing the wooden spoon into the sink next to him. He was done with the batter anyways.

“Well, I think you two will be great friends.”

He deflated inside. She was so wrong. So cute, so nice, but so bad at reading relationships. Well, no one’s perfect. He could convince her otherwise. Later.

“Yeah, whatever.” He began collecting the ramekins from the cupboard below him, the turned back to Himawari, arms full of little white dishes. “Do you want a soufflé?”

“Of course!”

~

Natsuki was back the next night, as Yuuko had requested of her two days previous. She looked concerned, and her whole right arm and part of her face was blackened and charred. She was still wearing the ring, Watanuki could see, and her hand was still a hand, but somehow it looked and felt worse. The smell was certainly worse. Gods, was he the only person smelling that?

Watanuki stayed out of the way, and true to Himawari’s word, Natsuki didn’t notice him, except when he sneezed before Yuuko came into the room. She forgot he was there soon after though.

It was becoming more and more troublesome to find any sort of positivity in this life. Death. Existence. Whatever.

“You’ve been wearing the ring?” Yuuko asked as she made a dramatic entrance wearing a tight, red dress that showed off her assets in a way you really couldn’t ignore.

“Yes, Yuuko-sama, I have, but… Although it felt better that first day, it just got worse after that. My whole arm feels weird - and I think it’s going up my neck too!” She was panicked, and looked desperate. If she felt as bad as she looked, well, Watanuki couldn’t blame her.

Yuuko took her seat and lifted her brows. She looked absolutely condescending and it irked him.

“You didn’t do what I told you.”

“I did! I wore the ring!”

“But you didn’t. Do. What I told you.”

The woman hadn’t changed at all. In fact, she must have only gotten worse.

“Can you fix me or not?”

Yuuko took a sip of her tea and let her guest stew for a moment. “The fixes I offer are temporary at best. I can give you time to fix yourself.

“That’s not good enough!” the woman screamed, standing up and knocking her tea off the table dramatically. Great, Watanuki would have to clean
that up. “I told you to fix me! This place is a joke! You’re no god!”

Yuuko stood up, her height and presence much more impressive than Natsuki.

Before Yuuko could speak, however, the woman stormed out of the temple. Watanuki immediately ran out after her, concerned at what she might do.

As he ran through the gate - the gate he never left - he caught a glimpse of Himawari talking with Doumeki in the courtyard. They both looked at
him, but only Himawari ran after him.

A few blocks away, the woman stopped in the middle of a street. She was illuminated only by a streetlamp as she turned back towards Watanuki.

“You! Why are you following me?” She was pointing, but not quite at him. At Himawari.

Himawari stopped and put her hands up. “I wasn’t chasing you- I-”

“Everyone just leave me alone!” As the woman panicked, she began to pull off the ring.

He reached out his hand to stop her.Watanuki didn’t know what would happen if she took the ring off, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.

And he wasn’t wrong.

The woman was twisting the ring around her finger, grimacing and tugging, until finally she got it off. There was an immediate reaction. The dark, rotten skin he'd seen on her arm earlier began to consume her whole body. There was a stench in the air, and some sort of undefinable pressure weighed on Watanuki. He stared, mouth agape, unable to look away as the woman fell to the ground, limp, and the skin was...squirming. It rose up, forming a dark shape above the woman, leaving her motionless in the middle of the street.

“Watanuki-kun, run!”

Himawari ran away as fast as she could, but something - probably fear - kept Watanuki from moving from his spot on the sidewalk. He watched as the blurry figure began to take more shape. It was dark, smoky, clawed, and had far more eyes than any being should possibly have.
It turned to Watanuki, and grinned with a mouth that took up what would be its entire face, were it human.

“smELls gOoD,” it said in an abnormally high-pitched voice for something as terrifying as it looked.

Finally, he found control of his body again, and he sprinted away as fast as he could. The beast was chasing him though; he could hear it repeating the same phrase over and over again - SmeLLs GoOd sMeLLs gOOD smELLs GOod.

He’d be safe at the temple. He just had to get to the temple. Was it left, or right? Maybe straight ahead? It was impossible to think with the beast hot on his trail. Nothing looked familiar, the streets were getting more and more narrow, and saw less and less people, none of whom seemed to notice his plight.

He was rounding a corner - what might possibly have been his last - when he saw Doumeki running towards him.

Doumeki held a drawn bow, but no arrows. He stopped and aimed right at Watanuki. What was he planning to do?

“Duck,” was all he said.

Watanuki considered objecting, but in the moment he paused to take a breath, the scent and feel of the ayakashi loomed up behind him. It was closer than he thought, and a sharp pain gripped his left arm. Suppressing a yell of panic, he followed Doumeki's order and dropped to the ground.

As he fell, he saw Doumeki pull the bowstring back, and an arrow began to form from white smoke. When he released the string, the arrow flew straight into the beast, which was nearly right on top of Watanuki.

Watanuki threw his arms over his head, as the monster shrieked - a shrill unwelcome sound that Watanuki hoped to never hear again. He felt the presence rear back, and turning, he watched as it writhed, a solid arrow in its forehead - or what could possibly be called its forehead, if you squinted and tilted your head. Its body was cracking around where the arrow had pierced it, and the pieces that broke off were turning into smoke. In a moment, there was nothing left of it.

Watanuki laid on the cold, dark sidewalk, stunned. The pain in his arm was more like a burn now, and felt like it was spreading. He ignored it for now though, instead preferring to call Doumeki out on his poor performance this afternoon.

“WHAT THE HELL? WHY DIDN’T YOU SHOW UP SOONER, THAT THING COULD HAVE KILLED ME! COULD HAVE KILLED HIMAWARI-CHAN! WHAT DID YOU EVEN- oh no, the woman…”

Watanuki scrambled to stand back up and ran as fast as he could, hoping to find the spot where he’d left the woman lying in the street. He didn’t have to look hard though - he just followed the sound of sirens in the distance.

When he arrived at the scene, there was a small crowd of people gathered around. Watanuki slowed down as he neared them, hoping… hoping she wasn’t…

“She’s dead,” he heard a man yell from the center of the small crowd.

Watanuki fell to his knees, unable to process. He looked down, and saw that her ring had made its way to the sidewalk, right in front of him.
He picked it up, and held it in his hands as it crumbled to dust.

Doumeki and Himawari came up behind him, and Himawari put a hand on his shoulder.

“We should go,” she said.

Watanuki moved to stand, but the pain in his arm had definitely spread, and the shock of it caused him to lose his balance and fall right back down.

“Watanuki-kun, are you alright?” asked Himawari.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I just think the thing scratched me is all,” he said, waving off something that hurt far too much for a scratch.

“You were scratched by it?”

“Yeah, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

She looked to Doumeki, and the two of them shared a panicked look.

Honestly, it was just a scratch, right? Nothing to get worked up over…

“I’ll tell Yuuko-san,” Doumeki said, breaking into a run.

“Doumeki-kun, you can’t just…” Himawari trailed off when he turned around a corner, then looked back at Watanuki. He’d never really seen her so
concerned before.

“We have to get you back to the temple,” she said slowly, as if he couldn’t understand her or something.

“Sure, okay, I mean, I don’t see what all the fuss is about, really, but there’s no reason not to - augh.” His sentence was cut short by the burning pain in his arm.

Himawari positioned herself under Watanuki’s right arm - currently his good arm - and supported him as he stood.

“Luckily, we’re not too far from the temple. Just help me out here, okay?” She smiled brightly - she really was cute.

“Okay,” he slurred.

It was a long and painful walk back to the temple. It was so nice of Himawari to help him like this. She was just so kind and gentle and sweet and cute and why was his vision blacking out?

By the time he made it through the gates, his whole arm, shoulder, and part of his neck felt like it was on fire.
Yuuko stood alone in the courtyard.

“Take him to the back,” she said, and Himawari nodded gravely.

Yuuko led the way, and he and Himawari followed, as they went clear around the temple to the back garden. He could tell Himawari was getting tired, but he couldn’t help but lean against her.

Why was no one else helping? Why were they taking him to the back? Why was no one there? What was wrong with him?

Yuuko came to a stop near a well and gestured for them to stop. Himawari helped him sit on the ground gently, as his balance was still askew.

“Take off his shirt and leave him here with me,” said Yuuko. “You may return inside now.”

T-take off his shirt? Why?

Without a word, Himawari undid the buttons of his shirt, and helped him take it off. She looked at Watanuki with concern, but smiled anyways.

“You’ll be fine, Watanuki-kun. I’ll see you in a little while, okay?”

“Okay?” he repeated, unsure.

He watched as she ran back, then risked a look at his arm.

It was black and purple and looked almost like the arm of that woman but... Watanuki hadn’t done anything bad, had he?

“Yu-Yuuko-san? What’s going on? What happened to me?” he asked, unable to look away from what looked like rotting flesh all along his arm.

She was hefting a large bucket from the well, and looking away when she answered. “You were blighted by an ayakashi.”

Blighted? What the hell did that mean?

“Is this what happened to the woman? Am I possessed like she was? Am I- am I going to die? What did I do wrong?” His questioning stopped and his
panic increased as he felt a jolt of pain throb through his arm.

“As I said, the ayakashi are malevolent spirits. They can also corrupt. Regalia and gods and other beings of the Far Shore are affected by this. If the infection spreads, yes, you will die.”

His breathing quickened and he found he could barely think straight. “What do I do? What do I do, I don’t want to die, not again, oh gods not again, please, how do I stop this, Yuuko-san I-”

His pleading was stopped with a splash of water in his face.

“What the hell are you doing?”

He looked up through his glasses, unable to see anything but drops of water and a blurry outline of Yuuko holding something over his head - presumably the bucket she was drawing from the well earlier.

“Cleansing you, Watanuki, now don’t fuss.”

He closed his eyes as another splash of water fell on his head.

He hissed in pain as the water trailed down his arm, stinging the already irritated wound - or rather, blight?

“Yuuko-san, I don’t-”

Another splash of water fell on his head and the rest of his words came out as a sputter.

The stinging began to lessen, and when he looked down, he could see even through his wet glasses that his arm looked a more normal color.
A rag fell on his head, and Yuuko set the bucket, which was only a quarter full by now, next to him.

“Make sure it’s all gone before you come back inside. That blight is contagious. It spreads by touch. I don’t want it corrupting myself, or anyone else.”

With that, she turned and went back inside.

Watanuki dried off his glasses with the towel before wetting it in the bucket. He couldn’t help but feel dirty as he rubbed the blight away.
It didn’t take too long to finish, but it felt like longer in the dark, with only cicadas chirping and the breeze blowing to fill the silence. He left the bucket and rag on the porch, and entered the temple reluctantly.

Yuuko was right inside with a larger towel and a change of clothes. She handed him the pile, and he took it from her with a bow.

“Watanuki, there is a reason I advised you not to leave this temple,” she said, face impassive. “It’s unsafe, and you cannot go alone. There are dangers out there.”

“Yeah, I got that-”

“Some far worse than that ayakashi you ran into.”

Was she… concerned about Watanuki?

“Losing a regalia is no small thing. I can’t allow that to happen.”

No, of course not. This was all about usefulness. He should have known.

“But you’ll allow human beings to die.”

Yuuko frowned. “That woman wouldn’t change her actions, and she paid the price.”

“Which was her life?”

A pause. “Yes.”

“How is that fair?” he asked, verging on a yell.

“Ayakashi are greedy creatures, Watanuki. They don’t care what is or isn’t fair. She invited it in, and it took her with it. Should her price have been her life? Likely not. But do the ayakashi care what balance is?”

Watanuki didn’t suppose so.

“They don’t,” continued Yuuko. “That is why they’re so twisted. They don’t heed the balance and equivalence of the universe, and it twists them further.”

Yuuko really had a thing for balance, didn’t she?

“Why didn’t you help her?” he asked softly, after a moment’s hesitation.

“That woman wouldn’t help herself. Why would I fix something that will only be broken again?”

Yuuko had a point. A warped and cynical one, but a point nonetheless.

“Go to bed, Watanuki.”

He nodded, and slowly made his way down the hall.

Doumeki’s door was open, and he saw him in there with Himawari. They abruptly stopped their conversation and turned to him. Himawari wore a cheerful smile, but Doumeki looked as impassive as ever.

“Watanuki-kun, it’s good to see you’re alright. I was just leaving, but I’m glad I saw you first.”

Ahhh, she was glad to see him? Despite his day, he felt like he could float the rest of the way to his room.

“I’ll leave you and Doumeki-kun to talk then.”

“Nooo, nononono no- it’s alright! You can stay, Himawari-chan! I’m feeling much better now, we can talk and I can make you a dessert - I’m sorry I worried you!”

Doumeki said nothing.

Himawari giggled and stood up. “I need to get home anyways. My parents might be concerned if I stay out too late.”

Watanuki’s face fell.

“But I’ll be back to see you tomorrow after school!”

“Ahhhh~! I would love to see you then - I’ll make you something special when you come by! Anything you want, Himawari-chan!”

She smiled. “I’m sure anything you make would be delicious.”

It felt like Watanuki was flying through the air, and he nearly fell over with the force of her compliment.

Doumeki stood up then, and led her out of the room. She said something to him that Watanuki couldn’t hear, but he shook his head at her. Gods, he didn’t appreciate Himawari for what she was: perfect.

Watanuki waved as she left, lovestruck, then turned to back to Doumeki’s room just in time to see the door close.

Chapter Text

Weeks passed without incident. Most of the “customers” were people looking for love charms or wanting to do well on tests - mundane things like that. It was boring, but far less deadly than ayakashi possession, so Watanuki wouldn’t complain.

But what he could complain about was the storeroom.

“Yuuko-san, I thought I said we were cleaning this out last month!” he yelled through the halls of the temple.

“If you want to clean it, be my guest!” was the reply.

It really wasn’t surprising.

And that was how he ended up in the front courtyard surrounded by gods know how many random, unnecessary trinkets of varying size, shape, age, and cleanliness.

He left the yard under the supervision of Maru and Moro (Doumeki was at school and Mokona and Yuuko were probably having a mid-morning drinking contest) while he did a deep clean of the room itself. The dust was like a carpet, and when he finished sweeping it all up and mopping underneath, he found that the floor was, in fact, a dark cherry wood.

“Well whaddya know; there’s actually a floor under here!” he said to… no one.

But honestly, he wouldn’t have guessed upon viewing it earlier that day that the room was actually quite lovely. There were windows he’d never noticed, and the wallpaper was a deep green with a light, barely distinguishable butterfly pattern on it. Who knew Yuuko actually had taste?

At any rate, he scrubbed the floors and cleaned the walls and opened the windows for a breeze and when that was done, he headed outside with his duster and a mission.

When he got there, he saw a man scouring the pile.

“Hey! Hey what are you doing!” yelled Watanuki, running at the possible thief.

The man took a step back and put his hands up, smiling. “Calm down! Didn’t see ya there. Just looking around. Yard sale, yeah?”

Watanuki got a weird feeling from the guy, but it was probably the chemical fumes going to his head. He didn’t seem to be possessed by ayakashi or anything. Hands were normal and no black smoke or any of that. His hair was slicked back and his smile slightly crooked.

“No. This isn’t for sale. My employer is a pack-rat and she-”

“It might be for sale.” Yuuko’s voice cut in as she exited the house, the picture of provocative serenity, if that was even a possibility.

The man turned to face her, smile now askew. “Ah, then these are your things?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a yard sale?”

“What item did you have your eye on?” she asked, sauntering down the steps and towards the intruder.

He pointed at a small, decorative silver tube laying on a box next to him. “I want that.”

“I don’t think you do.”

He laughed. “Lady, I think I know what I want. I want that trinket. And I always get what I want.” There was an odd glint in his eyes as he said the words - a disconcerting glint. One that said get out of my way .

Yuuko stopped a few feet away from the man, and laughed right back at him. “If you take it, then you must pay a price, you know.”

Of course.

“Oh, I have money,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t worry about price. I enjoy a finer life, miss.”

She smirked - never a good sign. “I don’t want your money. Only a promise.”

At that, the man finally looked confused.

“You must never open the container.” As she spoke, she picked up the container, and tied a red ribbon through the latch, and around the entire tube. She tied a knot, though when she held it out to the man, Watanuki couldn’t see where. “If you do, I cannot assure your safety.”

The man took it from her and scoffed. “I’ll be plenty safe, but sure, fine, I won’t open it.”

Why did it feel like the guy was lying?

“See that you don’t.” Yuuko tilted her head up; a common gesture of hers that showed her superiority over others.

But the guy didn’t seem to pick up on that. “And look, honey, if you ever wanna do business again, here’s my card.” He pulled something out of his suit pocket and handed it to her with a wink.

She took it with a raised brow, and tossed it aside.

The man rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

And with that, he was on his way.

Watanuki scrambled over a few large items to get to Yuuko. “What’s going on? What did that guy take that was so horrible?”

“It’s only horrible if he uses it incorrectly. Which he probably will.”

This felt like the woman all over again.

The woman with the ayakashi.

The woman he’d let die on the street because he couldn’t stop her and why couldn’t he do anything?

Watanuki picked the man’s business card up, and ran off before anyone could stop him. Ayakashi or no, he didn’t want to just let anyone else die.

Yuuko didn’t stop him as he ran off the temple grounds - or if she did, Watanuki didn’t notice. He did run into Himawari though as just a block away. Which was good because, hey, he had no idea about any directions so he would have been wandering around looking for an address that meant nothing to him.

“Oh Himawari-chan!” he sang.

“Watanuki-kun! You seem to be in a rush. Where are you headed?”

He showed her the business card. “I don’t know where the address is though.”

Himawari hummed and frowned. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to be running around the city?”

Watanuki just waved his hand in front of his face. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I just want to talk to this guy about something, that’s all.”

“Okay… But let me at least come with you. I can help you find the address - my dad works near that building.”

A walk through the city with just the two of them? A dream come true!

“Watanuki-kun? Watanuki-kun, are you okay?”

He was brought back to awareness by the sweet sound of Himawari’s voice. “Hm? Yes, yes, I’m fine, I’m fine, let’s go~!”

~

The walk there was a long one, but Watanuki didn’t mind at all - just more time to spend with Himawari. They were really getting to know each other. Himawari’s favorite color was yellow, She liked astrology. Her birthday was in November. She started wearing pig tails in elementary school when a classmate complained about her ponytail getting on a desk but she likes it better now anyways. The bird necklace she always wore was from a good friend who moved away. She liked listening to music while she did her homework and she wasn’t a very good cook (Watanuki vowed to teach her some time though). He loved hearing about her and her life and her likes and dislikes, but it did make it a little awkward when the questions were turned on him.

He supposed his favorite color was blue, though he did like purple a rather lot. Maybe. He didn’t know when his birthday was. He didn’t know if he ever did anything to manage the wisps of hair that always seemed to stick up. He didn’t know how long he’d been wearing glasses. He didn’t have any trinkets from old friends. He didn’t know what he did while doing homework - did he ever do homework? He must have gone to school at some point. He loved cooking, yes, but there was no why or how to it - it just was. There was no feeling about it. No reason. No past.

The topic of pasts was getting depressing, so Watanuki was going to ask about dinner, but Himawari stopped him then and pointed to a tall building across the street.

“It’s that one,” she told him. “But I still don’t understand what you’re trying to do here.”

He told her the story reluctantly, emphasizing that he only wanted to help this man, but Himawari was having none of that.

“I’ve known Yuuko-san for years now, Watanuki-kun, and I think that if she does something, she- she has a reason. We might not always know what the reason is, and we may never find out… And as frustrating as that is, I put my trust in her. I think we should just go home now.”

She looked upset, but Watanuki couldn’t just let this man fall into some sort of trap.

“I’m just going to talk to him for a minute, Himawari-chan, and then I can make some food and we can talk more about you,” he said, running across the crosswalk. She followed him and they came to a stop outside the building.

“Watanuki-kun, you-”

A man exited the building abruptly and rammed right into Himawari. He had been fiddling with some sort of trinket and must not have seen her - which is ridiculous because Himawari was so pretty that you couldn’t just not see her!

“Oh my! I’m so sorry!” she said.

The man frowned at Himawari, and Watanuki recognized him immediately as the man he’d seen only hours earlier - Ikitoshi Ken, if the business card was anything to go off of.

“You should really watch where you’re going, honey,” he said, gathering up the papers strewn about the ground.

“Like I said, I’m really sorry,” Himawari said, doing her best to help with the clean-up.

But Ken paid her no mind. “Dammit where did it go?” he muttered under his breath.

Rolling down the sidewalk was the tube he’d taken from Yuuko’s shop. Watanuki ran around the man to stop it and take it back, but Himawari reached and picked it up first.

She held it up to Ken as they both stood up. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

“Oh thank gods,” he said, taking the tube from her. As he held it up, the ribbon fell off and fluttered away down the street. “Hey…”

Watanuki didn’t like the sound of that hey .

“Thanks, sweetheart. I’ve been trying to get that damn string off all morning. You must be my lucky charm, yeah?”

That just sent shivers down Watanuki’s spine. And apparently Himawari’s too, as she backed away from the man.

“Let’s find out what’s in here.” Ken smiled as he slid the container open, revealing something wrapped in yellowed paper.

Himawari backed away more, and grabbed Watanuki’s arm to pull him away. “Let’s just go, Watanuki-kun,” she said.

“But I need to warn him…”

“There’s nothing you can do now. Just let it go.” She tugged harder, and Watanuki relented, promising himself he’d be back the next day.

~

That afternoon he spent organizing the other items - collected payments, according to Yuuko - and fitting them back in the storehouse. One of three, he found out later, but he decided to ignore the others for the moment because he didn’t have time for that much cleaning and why did she keep all this anyways and how many transactions had Yuuko actually done before and-

“Watanuki!”

“Eh?”

“Hey Watanuki!”

The grating voice was coming from on top of his head. Reaching up, he found Mokona perched there.

“Watanuki is so spacy he didn’t notice me on top of his head!”

“WELL YOU SHOULDN’T BE ON MY HEAD ANYWAYS!” Watanuki tossed Mokona into the hallway, where he was caught by Maru and Moro.

“Watanuki!” they all said in unison.

“WHAT?”

“Your sauce is burning!”

The three of them laughed as he frantically turned back to his saucepan and did his best to recover it. The dish would be lighter than he wanted, but it would have to do. If only he didn’t have so many distractions in the kitchen, maybe he could actually cook.

Speaking of distractions…

“Yuuko-san, if you eat before your dinner, there’s no point to having set meals. May as well just eat whatever whenever and not care at all.”

“Sounds fine to me!” She sat on the table, eating leftovers out of a tupperware with a pair of chopsticks.

“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!”

She pouted. “And what is the point?”

“The point is to not spoil your dinner . Now go away!”

She got up from the table and made to leave, but stopped in the doorway.

Which made it easier for Watanuki to ask his question.

“Yuuko-san?”

“Yes?”

“What did you give that man?”

“I didn’t give him anything. I allowed him to take what he felt was his. It won’t serve him well though. It never does.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. What was in that tube?”

“It doesn’t matter. It will be back here soon enough.”

With that infuriatingly vague answer, she left the kitchen and left Watanuki to finish cooking dinner in peace .

~

The next day, while Doumeki and Himawari were at school and Yuuko was sleeping in, Watanuki snuck away back to the office building. He vaguely recalled where it was, but found it eventually with the help of maps and public transportation.

It was after noon by the time he got there. He waited on some benches outside the building and kept an eye out for Ken.

After about a half hour of waiting around, he finally spotted him. He had a bag slung over his shoulder, papers held close to his chest, the silver tube in one hand, and a smile on his face.

Watanuki jumped up from the chair and chased the man into the building.

“Wait! Wait! Sir, I need to talk to you!”

Ken stopped in the lobby, looking around for the source of the voice.

Watanuki waved his arms a bit and called again. “Sir!”

“Can I help you, kid? You looking for a parent or something?”

“No, no, we met the other day actually,” Watanuki explained.

“Did we? You must have me confused with-”

“No, you’re Ken-san, right? You bought that tube there from my… employer.”

The man looked down at the tube he carried in his left hand.

“I don’t remember you being there.”

Oh, of course, people forgot about Watanuki the moment he was gone for too long. Would he have to reintroduce himself to people like this all the time? Apparently this happened to all beings of the Far Shore. Except Yuuko, who must have used some sort of magic or something, who even knew with her anymore.

“I was sorta in the back, you probably didn’t notice me, but that’s not the point. Which is that whatever you’ve got there is dangerous and you need to get rid of it as soon as possible.”

“I don’t think I will, kid. You have no idea what a lucky guy I am for finding this.”

“No no no, it’s dangerous and you should just return it.” Watanuki held out his hand, but Ken pulled the container further away.

“You just want it for yourself, don’t you?”

At this, Watanuki was confused. “I don’t even know what’s in it! I just know that you shouldn’t use it, whatever it is, so just give it back.”

Ken hopped away, grinning. “The little boy wants the Monkey’s Paw for himself! What’re you gonna wish for, hm? Good grades? Popularity? A little high school crush?” He laughed, mocking.

“If I had wishes I wouldn’t wish for any of those things, I mean, for one thing I don’t even - that’s not the point - what is a Monkey’s Paw?” The thoughts all spilled out at once, as they tended to.

Ken pulled the conversation to a hallway and opened the container to show Watanuki its contents.

Inside was something wrapped in yellowed paper with kanji scribbled all along. The man unwrapped the item so quickly that Watanuki didn’t get a chance to read it, but when it was removed, black smoke began to fly from the case and into Ken. It took less than a few seconds before the smoke dissipated, but a foul stench remained.

“What is that?” Watanuki asked, hand covering his nose.

“I told you, Monkey’s Paw.”

And it certainly was a monkey’s paw, albeit shriveled and mummified. “What do you want with a wrinkly old monkey hand?” And why did it feel so ominous?

“Five wishes, friend. One for each finger.”

Now that just screamed danger.

“I’m not really sure how much I believe in hokum like this, but… Something tells me this is the genuine article.” He smirked at Watanuki. “Wanna test it?”

No, he did not . He didn’t want to test anything at all! He just wanted to get the damn paw and bring it back to Yuuko’s and throw it in the back of the storeroom never to be seen again - maybe that’s why it was so messy? Should he really clean the other two rooms, or leave it be because if there’s stuff that’s as da-

“You know, I really don’t want to go back to work today,” Ken said, interrupting Watanuki’s possible cleaning plans. “Wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t have to?”

“I don’t thi-”

“Oh great Monkey’s Paw!” Ken laughed, holding the container in the air. “I ask of thee to grant me a wish - gotta use the proper lingo here, yeah? - I wish to not have to go back to work today!”

There was an audible snap from the Monkey’s Paw and suddenly the fire alarm went off.

Did the man just- did he just- was the building on fire?

Water began spraying them from the ceiling as the sprinklers kicked in, and everyone rushed out of the building.

Ken jumped for joy and ran out of the building, too fast for Watanuki to follow through the growing crowd.

Later, Watanuki listened to the fire marshall telling the building coordinator what happened. Right at the moment Ken made his wish, something shorted out in the fire alarms, causing all the sprinklers to go off. Apparently it was going to cost the company a lot.

~

Watanuki snuck out again around the same time the next day. He found the building more quickly, thus had to wait longer, but Ken did show up.

“Ken-san!” he yelled, running up to stand next to the man.

“Hey, kid… How do you know my name?”

Great, this again.

“I was at the temple you got that Monkey’s Paw from - I was in the back not talking so you probably didn’t see me -  and I’m here to warn you not to use it again.” He got it all out in one exasperated breath.

“Oh, you were with that lady in the slinky robe? Okay, yeah, I remember her.”

Slinky robe? That’s one way to describe it, sure, but the connotations in the man’s voice were less-than-savory.

“Listen, just last night, I used this thing to win me a lot of money.”

He was still using it. He used it yesterday to get out of work and the whole company suffered. He used it last night to get money - who knows where it came from or who got hurt there?

“Yeah, well, make that your last wish. This thing is too dangerous for you.”

“I can handle myself. Maybe a stupid kid like you couldn’t handle it, but I’ve got this under control. I’m an adult; I can take care of adult things. Now move along.” With that, Ken pushed Watanuki away and entered his office building.

~

Watanuki waited outside the building for the rest of the day. It was nearly dusk when Ken finally left, running and carrying a briefcase behind him. He looked to be in a rush, and Watanuki didn’t stop him to chat again, just took off running behind him.

Luckily, he didn’t have to run very far - just to a bus.

He kept near the back of the bus, standing and holding onto the pole (if he sat down, would someone sit on him? he didn’t know), making sure to keep a close eye on Ken.

Ken himself kept staring at his watch and opening his briefcase and tapping his foot and sighing. Wherever this guy was headed, he was certainly impatient about it.

Suddenly, Ken jolted off the bus, and Watanuki followed suit.

They were in some sort of industrial district - specifically a construction site. Why there was a bus stop at a construction site, Watanuki didn’t know, but here they were, just standing outside of some sort of run down building next to an empty lot full of construction equipment and rubble. It was quite the aesthetic.

Ken walked up to the door and knocked three times. The door opened for him, and Watanuki followed close enough to make it through the door without being noticed. Which was weird.

What he found inside was some sort of seedy gambling den. It was almost embarrassing how stereotypical the place was - poker tables, roulette wheels, men in fancy suits, ladies in red dresses, cigarette smoke in the air, and alcohol everywhere.

The cigarette smoke didn’t bother him that much, but it certainly made it difficult to see when mixed with the incredibly poor lighting. Honestly, would it kill them to turn on some lights?

He followed Ken through the crowd, barely getting out of the way of people and squeezing through the tight spaces between people running about from table to table.

After a long few minutes of what felt like aimless wandering, Ken took a seat at a poker table, and threw a bunch of chips down in the center of the ring. Cards were dealt and the game began. Watanuki didn’t know how to play poker, so it was hard to follow, but Ken was maybe winning? He didn’t know. Everyone was so serious and impassive about it - he bet Doumeki would be good at this game.

Occasionally, people would set their cards down and shake their heads, leaving the table looked disgraced. Watanuki honestly had no idea what was going on, but after what felt like an eternity, only two people were left playing: Ken and some other guy.

They both laid down their cards and everyone around and gasped as they saw… Whatever it was he was supposed to be looking at. Ken stood up abruptly, and Watanuki backed away just in time for him to kick the chair away, cursing.

“Dammit! Dammit you cheated! Just like you do in everything! You bastard!”

The other guy looked up from where he was raking in the poker chips and shrugged. “Maybe I just have better luck than you.”

“This isn’t just about poker, Yasu!” Ken spat back at him.

The other man - Yasu - stood up then and folded his arms across his chest. “If this is about Noriko, then maybe we should talk outside.”

Ken stormed out of the building, and both Yasu and Watanuki followed. Everyone cleared a path and whispered as they walked by. Based on what he could hear, the two of them had a long-standing argument.

When they got outside, Ken turned back to Yasu and punched him square in the face.

Yasu stumbled back, clutching a bloody nose.

“I’m sick of you!” Ken yelled, swinging his fist again, but barely missing as Yasu backed away.

“You’re blowing this out of proportion,” Yasu said. “Noriko doesn’t care about you! She never has.”

“Liar! You’re controlling her and I know it!” Ken charged after Yasu again, growling.

Yasu didn’t get out of the way in time, and the two men fell to the ground. Watanuki stayed as far away as possible, afraid to get involved, but he still didn’t wander far - who knew what this man could do with that Monkey’s Paw?

The two of them tumbled to the ground.

“She’s mine!” yelled Ken, pinning Yasu down. His hands were around Yasu’s shoulders, and he shook them as he spoke. “You can’t have her!”

Yasu managed to get his legs under Ken, and kicked hard. Ken fell back with a grunt. He stood up, shaky on his feet, but from the ground, Ken kicked his knee out from under him before he good gain any balance. Yasu dropped to the ground again, and Ken crawled over and pushed him against a block of cement.

“She deserves better!” Ken had his hands around Yasu’s throat, squeezing hard. “She deserves me! I’ll show her!”

Yasu was choking and suffocating, but squirming, and managed to get a rough punch to Ken’s jaw. Ken managed to keep hold of Yasu’s throat though, and shook him hard. His head hit the cement, and his body went limp. Ken let him go and stood up then, done with this fight.

Was Yasu… dead?

No, apparently not. He looked up at Ken groggily, and opened his mouth to talk, but nothing came out.

Ken walked away, leaving Yasu laying on the ground. “I never want to deal with you again!” he yelled, and Watanuki heard a snap.

Ken must have heard it too, as he was visibly startled. He pulled something out of his pocket - the tube with the Monkey’s Paw! - and stared at it in confusion.

“That… That wasn’t a wish… What’s going on?” He backed away quickly, and ran into a construction beam that was supporting part of the structure. It must have been put together very poorly (what construction company put this together? shoddy workmanship, really), because the beam wobbled and fell.

Slowly, rubble began to fall from the half-completed roof. Ken ran off in horror, But Watanuki stayed for the aftermath.

The rubble fell on top of Yasu. There was a yell from him, then silence. Terrified, Watanuki ran back into the gambling den, as he supposed it could be called.

“There’s a man out there! He’s hurt! Someone do something!” he yelled at the crowd. Everyone turned to him in a shared confusion.

“How’d you get in here?”

“I just-”

“How old are you?”

“I dunno, maybe sevente-”

“Shouldn’t you be at home right now?”

“Maybe, but-”

“Yer a little young for a gamblin’ addiction, kid.”

“That’s not what I’m here for THERE IS A MAN OUTSIDE AND HE MIGHT BE DEAD!”

Most of the people in the club stood up then, and three or four of them ran outside and past Watanuki.

He followed them, and watched as the pulled the rubble away.

“Oh gods, it’s Yasu,” one of the men said.

A woman gasped. “Is he okay?”

“I can’t find a pulse. I- I think he’s dead.”

Watanuki stepped back.

No. No no no no no Watanuki came here to stop people from dying and getting hurt but he failed. He failed and there was nothing he could do now to stop it.

As he ran off, he heard people speculating whether Ken had something to do with it. The two never got along, and this wasn’t their first fight, but was Ken even capable of killing someone?

He was. He already had.

~

The only place Watanuki knew he could find Ken was the office building, so he snuck out the next day. There was a feeling of dread and anticipation in the air as he waited outside for Ken to exit.

When Ken finally did come out of the building, Watanuki noticed a rather large bruise across his face, and a panicked look in his eyes.

“Ken-san! Wait!” Watanuki yelled, running after him.

The man darted in the opposite direction at the sound of his name, but Watanuki was faster, and able to get around him to cut him off.

“Ken-san!”

Ken jumped back and nearly lost his balance - he was clearly on edge.

“What do you want?” he asked, voice wavering. “Who are you?”

Oh wonderful. Introductions again. This whole constant introductions thing was going to get old fast.

“I’m the ghost of Christmas past,” Watanuki deadpanned. “Would you just listen to me?”

He could tell Ken was about to protest, but Watanuki didn’t let him.

“Yasu is dead.”

“What? He’s-” Ken stopped himself and looked away. “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s your fault. You and that Monkey’s Paw.”

Suddenly, Ken grabbed Watanuki’s shoulder, hard, and dragged him into a shadowed alleyway not far from the office building. He pushed Watanuki ahead of him, and Watanuki staggered over the uneven pavement.

“I didn’t kill anyone. I don’t know what you heard or who told you what, but I’m innocent.” Ken grabbed Watanuki by the collar and shook him hard. “ Innocent .”

“Let me go.” Watanuki was admittedly scared now. Ken had already killed one man in a fight, what was stopping him from doing it again? Could he even die again?

Ken shook harder. “Tell me how you know!”

“Just let me go and get rid of that Monkey’s Paw - we can get this worked out-”

“No!” Ken yelled and pushed Watanuki back. Watanuki caught his footing just barely, and looked up in time to see Ken charging him.

But he never reached Watanuki. A shape suddenly blocked his view of Ken. Watanuki stepped back as Ken made impact with the shape - the man - in front of him.

Someone had run into the alley and took the blow for him.

Ken pushed the newcomer aside and held him against the brick wall of the alleyway. Watanuki could now see the man’s face.

It was… Doumeki.

What the hell was Doumeki doing here? Wasn’t he supposed to be at school or something? And since when does he care to do anything?

It was a conversation he would definitely be having later (if you can call talking at Doumeki a conversation), but now wasn’t the time.

Ken looked Doumeki over with confusion - presumably due to the school uniform and sudden appearance of the man - the boy .

Doumeki didn’t stay pinned for long though - he was stronger than Ken. He pushed Ken away, and as Ken charged again, punched him hard in the jaw - right where the bruise was.

Doumeki stepped back, lightly shaking his hand as if flicking water off it

Ken fell to the ground, clutching the left side of his face and gasping. “This isn’t what I wanted! This isn’t what I wanted at all!”

Police sirens rang in the distance. Ken pushed himself up in alarm, swaying on his unsteady feet.

“They’re coming. I know it, they’re coming for me.” He turned back to Doumeki. “I need to get out of here - just, just leave me alone!”

There was a snap from his pocket, and Doumeki fell to his knees and clutched his right arm.

Ken shook his head and ran. Watanuki looked from Ken, to Doumeki, unsure whether to stay or go.

Doumeki seemed to be alright though - breathing and all that - so Watanuki ran after Ken.

“Get away from me!” Ken kept yelling as he ran through the street. Passers-by moved out of their way in alarm, some yelling for them to slow it down and asking where the fire was.

He was gaining on Ken, but not quite enough to stop him.

Ken turned into a building then, only a few blocks from the office building, and ran through the lobby to a stairwell. It was an apartment building, from the looks of it, and Watanuki assumed this must have been where Ken lived.

He went up only one floor before Ken exited the stairwell and ran through a twisted hallway. It was a short run to this apartment, and Watanuki just barely missed him as he slammed the door in his face.

Watanuki tried opening the door, but Ken was pushing hard against it.

“Go away! I didn’t do anything! Why are you following me?” he yelled through the door.

“Just open the door!” Watanuki yelled back.

“No! I just want to leave!” Ken screamed. “I want to disappear! Let me disappear!”

There was a snap heard through the door, followed by the sound of choking from Ken’s apartment.

“Ken-san?” Watanuki asked.

No reply, just gagging and retching.

“K-Ken-san?” Watanuki repeated, more hesitantly.

Suddenly, the sounds stopped, and there was a clatter, as if something fell on the floor. The pressure on the door disappeared, and Watanuki threw it open.

Inside, he found the tube, which was sucking in black smoke. It slowly closed itself as he watched.

There was no sign of Ken in the room.

“Ken-san?” he asked, slowly walking into the apartment. “Ken-san?”

No answer.

Ken was nowhere to be found. He’d gotten his final wish.

Behind him, Watanuki heard footsteps. He startled at the sound, almost expecting Ken, but it was just Doumeki.

He had apparently taken it upon himself to follow Watanuki, as much use as that was.

“Why are you following me? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at school I had this perfectly under control and since when do you care what ha- oh my gods you’re bleeding.”

And Doumeki was. Blood was seeping through his sleeve and down his hand, pooling on the gold watch he usually wore.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Didn’t this guy react to anything? He was bleeding for gods’ sake!

Before Watanuki could lecture him on it though, Doumeki picked up the tube from the ground and wrapped a red ribbon around it. He stuck it in his pocket and left.

~

Back at the temple, Watanuki sat on a couch and watched as Maru and Moro patched Doumeki up. The cuts and gashes were superficial at best, and honestly, Doumeki was obviously being dramatic about the whole affair, letting them wrap up his whole arm like that.

“Watanuki.” Apparently Yuuko had been standing next to him without him noticing.

“What.”

“You should be grateful to Doumeki.”

“Why should I be grateful to that jerk?? He’s the one who decided to follow me! And why was he following me anyways - it’s creepy! He was just there and in my space and the only reason he got hurt was because he came to me! I didn’t do anything to him!”

Yuuko frowned. “He saved your life today,” she insisted, despite that being totally false.

“That is not true! And no one asked him to do anything anyways!”

“Doumeki did what he felt was best. Which was to help you. You owe him.”

“I DO NOT!”

“The universe demands balance, Watanuki! You owe him.”

Watanuki looked back at Doumeki, who was all bandaged up by now and flexing his fingers (obviously it wasn’t that bad). He- he- he didn’t want to owe this guy anything!

“You’ll be making him lunch from now on, Watanuki. Until your debt is paid off.”

“YOU’RE GONNA FORCE ME TO MAKE A BENTO FOR THIS GUY EVERY DAY?”

Doumeki looked up at him then. “You’ll knock something over if you keep flailing like that,” he said, then left the room abruptly.

“See that? See that? He’s awful! Weeks of not talking to me at all and suddenly he decides to just be there and do things and now you’re going to force me to do favors for him I ju-”

“Watanuki, you really will knock something over if you continue like that.”

He regained composure, but seethed at her.

There was a brief silence before Yuuko spoke again. “Why did you chase after that man, Watanuki?”

“I…” Watanuki paused. “I didn’t want anyone else to die.”

“What made you so sure he would die?”

Watanuki wasn’t quite sure. “It felt similar to that woman. The woman with the ayakashi in her. And you said it would be horrible if he used it wrong!”

“I did. But you could have let it be. The Monkey’s Paw would have found its way back when the man was through.”

That wasn’t really an option Watanuki considered. He deflected the thought. “What happened to him?”

“He got his wish.”

That wasn’t untrue. “But it wasn’t his fault. It was the Mo-”

“That man wanted bad things to happen and they did, it’s a simple as that. The Monkey’s Paw translates a person’s desires into reality, then takes the payment. It’s not a magic wishing machine that doles out free wishes. If you want that, go talk to a genie.”

“Wait - genies are real?”

“Of course not. And neither are wishes without a price.”

It wasn’t making any sense to him. Not now.

“Now go to bed,” she told him, effectively changing the subject. “You’ll need to be up early tomorrow if you’re making Doumeki’s lunch before he leaves for school!”

Chapter Text

It was summer by now. Watanuki had been around Yuuko’s for about two months, and everything was grating on his nerves.

Especially Doumeki.

Doumeki, who had become an even more major nuisance to his life. Who apparently showed up around every corner. Who took it upon himself to chew loudly in the kitchen every time Watanuki was cooking.

But Watanuki was allowed to leave the temple grounds more often now, so long as Doumeki was there. It was infuriating, but it was nice to do his own shopping.

Kind of.

“Oi.” A deep and rather unwelcome voice behind him pulled him back to the present.

“What do you want? I am shopping!”

“Are you going to stare at that bottle of soy sauce all day, or do you need me to buy it?” The stupid, blank look on Doumeki’s stupid, freckled face was even more stupid and blank than usual. This guy was truly the bane of his existence.

“Yeah, yeah, just rub it in my face, you jerk. Whatever, just buy the soy sauce. And everything else. Don’t look at me like that - I’m doing it for your dinner!”

He shoved his basket in Doumeki’s general direction, and the guy took it without so much as blinking.

“Just wait for me outside the store. It freaks people out when they bump into someone who wasn’t there a second ago.”

Rage. Swelling rage. Doumeki just commented on these sort of things so casually! With him it was like, oh the sky is blue this grass is green and also no one pays attention to you because you’re a ghost, what else is new?

“That’s quite the dance you have going there,” said Doumeki suddenly, drawing attention to the flailing Watanuki had apparently been doing.

“Just buy the damn food and quit being so high and mighty about it all.” As Doumeki shrugged and walked away he added, “And don’t forget to use that coupon I gave you!”

He waited outside the store, tapping his foot with impatience and general built-up frustrations.

Why him? Why her? Why did he have to be dead and basically a servant to the most obnoxious and gluttonous god around? Gods didn’t even need to eat, so why did he have to do all this? But then, regalia didn’t really need to eat either, but it’s not like he was going to quit that anytime soon. Whatever.

Why couldn’t he have been a regalia to, to someone else? Anyone else! Someone who wouldn’t work him to the bone. Someone with a less depressing occupation. Someone nicer.

Then again, it was Yuuko who happened to be there in the garden that night in the rain… He hated to say it, but it did seem like hitsuzen.

Or just bad luck, he thought as he saw that all too familiar face to his left.

“Oi.”

“Yeah, yeah, I see you, let’s go.” Watanuki grabbed a few bags from Doumeki’s hands and stomped his way through the streets, avoiding collisions with the busy people he could never know.

~

“Ah, Watanuki, you’re back!” Yuuko’s smooth voice called from her couch which was just barely out of view from the door. “It took you long enough.”

“Well if someone didn’t want barbequed beef tongue tomorrow, then maybe I wouldn’t have taken so long! You know the closest store that sells fresh yuzu is clear across town? And we had to walk!”

“Watanuki’s back!”

“Watanuki’s back!”

Maru and Moro ran to the door and took his bags back to the kitchen along with Doumeki.

“Thanks.”

He rounded the corner of the entry to find Yuuko, sprawled out as usual, pipe in her mouth and who-knows-what smoking out of it.

“Honestly, I don’t see how you can lounge around all day like that,” he said, not even trying to mask his disdain. By now, Yuuko had to be perfectly aware of how Watanuki felt about the whole situation he was in.

Yuuko frowned. “It’s hot. It’s June.”

“We’re indoors,” he countered.

“It’s still hot in here.”

“Says the woman who requested oden for dinner, which is completely out of season and I am not making,” he mumbled to himself, turning around to head to the kitchen.

Doumeki was there when he arrived. Ugh.

“What do you want?” Watanuki asked pointedly.

“Leftovers.” He held up a bowl full of food from last night’s dinner.

“Leftovers? What if I wanted them? I’m the one that made it! You’re always mooching off me! You know, considering you’re a priest maybe you should learn - hey get your finger out of your ear and listen to me, you big lug!”

By the time Watanuki finished his tirade, Doumeki was already out of the room.

He frowned in the direction of the door for a moment or two before continuing about his business.

Which was apparently washing dishes. All Watanuki did around here was work. He said he’d be an assistant, not a slave.

The only bright spot in his life right now was Himawari. She was so nice and cute and thoughtful and the only person who made this (after)life bearable.

He thought of her, with her long, curled pigtails and hair-ribbons and laugh and the way she said his name and-

“Oh Watanuki!” called Yuuko from the doorway.

“What do you want, I am busy!” he yelled back at her.

“I was just thinking-” uh-oh “-that, since both Doumeki and Himawari have a long weekend off from school, we should take a quick vacation.”
A- a vacation? A trip away from this miserable place? Time to relax?
With Himawari?

“Are you allowed to leave the temple?” he asked, wondering if this was some sort of trap.

“Of course I’m allowed to leave the temple,” she spat back with a pointed glare. “I’m a god, I go wherever I please.”

“Yeah, like the bedroom and the kitchen and the sitting room and the porch - the amount of traveling you do is astounding,” he muttered to himself.

“Quiet, you!”

Watanuki just scoffed and turned around to continue with the dishes.

“Fine, I’ll take that as your agreement! We’ll leave tomorrow - make sure you have snacks ready and bring enough food for a few days!”

~

The next day, Watanuki, Himawari, Yuuko, Mokona, and Doumeki took the train to the beach. Maru and Moro decided to look after the temple for them, promising to keep an eye on the umeboshi Watanuki was pickling.

“The wonderful thing about trains, Watanuki, is that we only have to pay for two tickets!”

Doumeki and Himawari were human, they could be seen immediately and no one overlooked them the way they did gods and regalia, so, yes, they both needed a ticket.

Yuuko herself loved to be remembered and noticed, yes, but she did still have the ability to blend in as gods and regalia normally did. Actually, her being noticed was more of the ability. But, when it was convenient, she did allow herself to go unnoticed. And this was one of those convenient moments. Less money to spend on the train, of course.

Which made no sense since they had a car but whatever.

The train ride was a few hours of a kid kicking the back of his seat and Doumeki sitting next to him in silence. Himawari was in another row with Yuuko, so he didn’t even have that.

“Why am I stuck here with you?” he asked Doumeki, but at the same time didn’t really ask him. It was more rhetorical - probably Doumeki’s type of question anyways since that meant he didn’t need to respond. “Himawari-chan is just a few rows over and I could have been sitting with her but nooooo I have to be sitting next to you and I don’t even get the window seat and there’s some kid kicking me - this trip is already a disaster why couldn’t it just be Himawari-chaaan!?”

“Did you wanna switch?”

Doumeki’s response somewhat shocked Watanuki. “Eh?”

“Seats.”

Was this guy seriously offering to switch seats? Who did he think he was?

“Do you really think I’d want to switch seats with you? No, no, you keep your damn window seat, I don’t need it.” Watanuki folded his arms across his chest
and turned his nose up.

Doumeki just shrugged and watched the landscape go by.

As the time passed, the city gave way to green rolling hills, and hills gave way to large yellow fields and soon enough, Watanuki could see the coastline.
He’d never seen the ocean before. Well, okay, maybe he had, but he didn’t remember or anything. It was brand new to him.

“Oh wow,” he commented, staring out the window as best he could with Doumeki’s fat head in the way.

Doumeki looked out the window too, but didn’t comment. Obviously, he didn’t appreciate nature.

~

It was a short walk from the train station to the temple of Yuuko near the beach there. It was an older temple, not nearly as well-kempt as the one she lived
at, but there was a working kitchen, so Watanuki didn’t complain.

Only one priest was there, and he remained unobtrusive. He was a distant cousin of Doumeki’s, and Watanuki supposed silence was a family trait.
Watanuki hauled all the luggage upstairs with the aid of Doumeki - not that he needed help or anything, the guy just did things whether or not Watanuki wanted it. No sense of decency or respect, that Doumeki.

As he hauled his own suitcase up, he tried to find a fourth room, but there was none.

“Um, excuse me, where’s my room?” he asked Yuuko, who was busy tossing her purse onto the her bed.

“Just across from Himawari’s, of course.”

“But, but, that’s Doumeki’s room!”

“Yes. You’ll be sharing.”

“WHAT? THERE’S NO WAY I’M SHARING A ROOM WITH THAT GUY! Not only does he follow me everywhere during the day but now I can’t even have my own room? What is he, some sort of watchdog?? Well, I don’t need a watchdog, thank you very much!”

But there was no other room to sleep in, so he reluctantly tossed his suitcase on the second bed of Doumeki’s room.

~

They didn’t have time to really head to the beach that day, what with the train ride and all that, so that night, Watanuki made dinner - chicken salad sandwiches, and cucumber salad - and they all ate on the porch, overlooking the ocean. It was a nice evening, if a bit chilly, and the sunset cast hues of orange and gold along the sand.

“This food is delicious, Watanuki-kun!”

Ahhh Himawari thinks my cooking is great! This is a wonderful day!

“Yeah.”

And there goes Doumeki what gives him the right to be here eating my food?

“Excellent as usual!”

Enter Yuuko. She’d better like it, she’s the one making me do all this.

“Dessert?”

Doumeki again.

“Listen, you think you can just shove your plate in my face and demand dessert? That’s rude and uncultured and-”

“Actually, dessert sounds great!”

“Ahhhhhhh~ well if Himawari-chan wants dessert, then I’ll just go get that~!”

Watanuki spun his way back into the kitchen, and fetched the cheesecake he had made earlier.
When he came back out, the group looked somber as they watched the sun set. He hung back for a moment, wondering what was going on.

“Yes, but there was no dessert that time,” was all he caught from Yuuko.
Obviously it wasn’t important.

“Time for cheesecake! I hope you like it; it’s a new recipe I’m trying out, so I don’t quite know how good it’ll taste,” he explained as he sat the cake down on the table.

Doumeki held out his plate.

“Give me a second to cut the cake, you jerk!” Quick as he could, Watanuki divided the cake into five slices - it was a small cake - and gave each person a piece, putting one aside for the priest of the temple, just in case he came back that night.

Yuuko let out some sort of moan of delight. “Delicious!”

Himawari nodded her agreement, pigtails bobbing as she did so.

Doumeki grunted and chomped the food.

Ugh.

They stayed on the porch late into the night. There were fewer lights out there, and thus far more stars to be seen. Doumeki pointed out a few constellations - probably to show off, how does he even know all that stuff anyways? - and Himawari talked about her knowledge of astrology. Yuuko corrected the two of them if they made any mistakes, and Mokona laughed at Watanuki’s lack of knowledge on either subject. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t remember much! Take it up with the universe!

They finally went to bed some time after midnight, Yuuko and Mokona to one room, Himawari to another, and Watanuki to a third with Doumeki.

“Goodnight.”

“Yeah, whatever, I don’t want to be sharing a room with you so how about we just go to bed and don’t talk, okay?”

“Okay.”

And then he went to bed, that idiot.

~

The next day, Doumeki was already awake and almost dressed by the time Watanuki pulled himself out of bed and began looking around for his glasses.

“They’re on the desk.”

“I would have found them myself, you don’t have to do everything for me - in fact, you don’t have to do anything for me,” he slurred, picking up his glasses that were, in fact, on the desk right next to the bed. “Ah.”

“Sure. Hand me my watch?”

Watanuki grabbed the gold watch which sat next to his glasses and noticed the crane pattern on it. It was... actually quite beautiful - way nicer than he would have expected from Doumeki. He scoffed before tossing it to Doumeki.

“What’s for breakfast?” asked Doumeki then, as if he was entitled to Watanuki’s breakfasts.

“I don’t know yet. I was going to wait and see what Himawari-chan wants~!”

“Kunogi usually has tamagoyaki.”

“And since when do you know that much about her, hm? Don’t talk for her!”

“I’ve known her for a while. She eats tamagoyaki for breakfast.”

On that note, Doumeki left the room and hogged the bathroom for far too long.

~

Watanuki did end up making tamagoyaki, and Doumeki hadn’t been lying when he said Himawari liked it. And he hoped she wasn’t lying when she said that it was the best she’d ever eaten. Oh she was just so sweet!

“Ahhh thank you, Himawari-chan! I made it especially for you!”

“Oh, that’s so kind of you!” She thinks I’m niiiice! “You know, this is Doumeki’s favorite breakfast too. It’s just so nice of you to make something we both like.”

That Doumeki. He tricked him! He twisted this special breakfast for Himawari into some sort of special breakfast for himself!

Watanuki pointed his chopsticks at Doumeki, which was incredibly rude and terrible manners, but gods this guy was terrible. “YOU.”

Doumeki raised an eyebrow, but continued chewing.

Mokona bounded jumped into the kitchen then, whacking Watanuki in the face before he could tell Doumeki how awful he’d been and lecture him on manners.

“Watanuki! Watanuki! What’s for breakfast?”

Watanuki ripped Mokona off his face and scowled. “Why don’t you ask that guy because apparently he makes all the decisions around here.” He set Mokona aside and stormed out of the kitchen.

He bumped into Yuuko in the hallway.

“Watanuki, why are you stomping around the temple like this?” she asked him pointedly.

“Doumeki,” was all he could say.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “What scenario have you imagined now?”

Watanuki was affronted. “I am not imagining scenarios, Yuuko-san!”

Yuuko rolled her eyes and led him to a room in the far side of the temple. They sat down on the couches and there was silence. Which was uncomfortable.

“Look, I was just going to-”

“Watanuki, Doumeki is important to you.”

“Don’t tell me what’s important to me! I know what’s important to me and it is not that guy!”

“The scent of your blood attracts ayakashi. Doumeki is a natural exorcist, and they sense that. He repels them,” she explained as if Watanuki hadn’t heard this already and was unfamiliar with the concept of logic. “When you’re with Doumeki, the spirits don’t chase you.”

“Well yeah but he’s such a jerk! He’s rude and obnoxious and he’s probably eating my food in the kitchen!”

“You do owe him your life, at least twice over. Likely more, just based on his presence.”

“No need to remind me,” Watanuki muttered, sneering in disgust.

“Watanuki. There are no chance encounters-”

“I-”

“-and no chance connections,” she continued, unconcerned with Watanuki’s interruption. “Fate - hitsuzen - brought you two together for a reason.”

“Oh?” Watanuki didn’t believe that for a second. “And what reason would that be? To torture me?”

Yuuko frowned. “To help you. And for you to help him. You balance each other out, when you allow it.”

Watanuki crossed his arms in front of his chest and pouted.

“Either way, you do owe him compensation for saving your life. The universe demands equivalency, and your refusal to provide that is creating a dissymmetry.”

“And now you’re telling me that somehow this is harming the universe itself?”

“No, it’s harming you.”

“It is not harming me! I am fine!”

“Just try to get along with him, will you? He puts up with so much from you, the least you can do is be nice!”

“I will not be nice! I’ll- I’ll keep making him food but that’s all.”

“Good enough for now,” Yuuko said, standing back up. “Now let’s go get some breakfast!”

Breakfast was ruined, of course, when he returned to the kitchen to find that Doumeki had, in fact, eaten the food off of Watanuki’s plate. But, whatever, he could make a second batch of tamagoyaki, no big deal.

~

Watanuki packed everyone a lunch soon after breakfast was finished, and they all headed down to the seashore.

Yuuko led the way, dressed in a red swimsuit that showed off way too much cleavage and a wrap-around skirt that also left little to the imagination, considering it was sheer. The most modest item of clothing was her hat - a large straw one that created a shadow that rivaled an umbrella.

Himawari trailed after her. Her swimsuit was tasteful. A blue and white striped one-piece with a ruffled skirt, and a little bow on the front - ahhh she looked so cute!

Watanuki walked behind her. He’d had to borrow a pair of Doumeki’s swim trunks, considering he had none of his own, and wore them with some raggedy blue t-shirt, which he also borrowed from Doumeki. One of these days he would have to go out and buy his own clothes.

Mokona stuffed himself in the bag filled with bentos and was singing off-key the whole walk down to the beach. He wore nothing, of course.

Doumeki brought up the rear, wearing just his swim trunks and sandals. Apparently he was too good for a shirt or something, what was that about?

The walk down didn’t take long, but it was an uneven path, and considering Watanuki was carrying literally everything but the beachball, it felt like an eternity.

“Set it all down here, Watanuki!” Yuuko proclaimed, stopping very suddenly on the sand.

“Yeah, yeah.” Watanuki plopped it all on the ground and dusted his hands off on his shorts.

The beach was beautiful. It was so picturesque, and so oddly free of people, that Watanuki almost thought Yuuko had tricked them and the crowds would come pouring out any minute. But no, there really were no other people. The sea truly was as calm and blue and mysterious as it looked, and the sand as gold and unmarred as it possibly could be. There were impressively large rocks to their left, and a yellow field behind them, with golden stalks that swayed in the cool ocean breeze. Seagulls cried overhead - the only drawback to the beach he could think of - and the smell of salt and seaweed hit him full force.

He took the opportunity to lay back on the sand and just stayed there for a moment. The sand was warm and dry and he could feel it already managing to get stuck in his hair and ears and everywhere.

“Oh wow, they have tidepools!” he heard Himawari shout.

Watanuki sat up immediately and saw Doumeki silently (of course) setting up an umbrella, Yuuko lounging on a towel, Mokona laying next to her, and the top of Himawari’s head from behind the rocks.

“There’s sea urchins and crabs and anemone and - oh! a starfish!”

“A starfish?” Watanuki called from his spot in the sand.

“Yes! Come look!” she called to him.

“Coming~~!” he called back, immediately scrambling to his feet.

Watanuki abandoned his sandals as he ran, figuring that gripping slippery rocks would be easier with his bare feet.

He and Himawari spent a long while looking at the tidepools together. She was just so adorable when she got excited about things!
They spent a good few hours looking through the tidepools, and then Watanuki scraped his bare foot on a rock, having tripped over Himawari’s discarded shoe so they headed back to where all their things were so Watanuki could clean it off. But it was lunchtime anyways.

Or maybe it was past lunchtime.

“HEY WHO TOLD YOU YOU COULD START EATING ALREADY?”

Truly, Doumeki was the most ungrateful bastard Watanuki had ever met. He just sat there and chomped without saying anything.

“Leave some for Himawari-chan!” Watanuki yelled, hitting Doumeki upside the head.

Doumeki held up one of the sandwiches in front of him to Himawari, who took it and thanked Watanuki properly, because she was polite unlike some people.

They ate in near-silence as Watanuki glared at Doumeki, Doumeki didn’t pay attention, and Yuuko, Himawari, and Mokona exchanged odd looks.

And immediately after finishing, Doumeki went straight to the water without even waiting the recommended half-hour before swimming.

“If you want to cramp up in the water and drown, fine by me!” Watanuki yelled after him, as he left. Doumeki didn’t turn around or respond or anything.
Himawari sat with Watanuki, and they made a sandcastle together, away from Mokona, who knocked over the first one, claiming to be Godzilla.

“I think they need a moat,” Himawari said of the imaginary castle-dwellers.

Watanuki shook his head. “No, I think a big wall.” It would be easier to do - sand would just fill the holes they made too quickly and it would be annoying

“But walls are hard to get out from behind.”

“Not really. You just put in a door.”

“But what if the door gets stuck?”

“Then it was a poorly constructed door. How is a moat any better?”

Himawari shook her head and chuckled. “I don’t know.”

Watanuki shrugged. Himawari had such odd interests. “Let’s just pretend the castle is peaceful and doesn’t need any of those things.”

“Or you could do both,” came Doumeki’s voice from behind Watanuki, causing him to jump about ten feet in the air and nearly ruin the castle.

“Oh my gods, what the hell?” Watanuki yelled at him, catching his balance.

“Yoohoo!” called Yuuko suddenly from across the beach, effectively cutting off what was sure to be a satisfying confrontation.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” Watanuki yelled back, and Yuuko just giggled.

“Beachball! Beachball!” Mokona chanted, jumping up and down.

So they played beachball, boys versus girls with Mokona refereeing.

Watanuki and Doumeki lost, obviously due to Doumeki’s lack of skill and generally distracting jerkiness, gah he was really the worst.
The whole day continued like this. Doumeki ruining everything. His face was irritating, his voice was grating, his presence unwelcome. By the evening, Watanuki was done with him.

“That is not how you roll up a towel, you idiot, give it to me!” Watanuki yelled, pushing Doumeki aside and fixing his mess. “Do you want to bring a bunch of sand into the temple? I didn’t think so. Or hey, maybe you did! You leave messes everywhere!”

Doumeki shrugged, and started packing the bag full with the empty bento boxes.

“Don’t just ignore me!”

Himawari giggled from behind them, and Mokona and Yuuko joined in the snickering.

“Hand me my sandals,” Doumeki demanded when he finished packing the bag.

Watanuki looked down and saw that Doumeki’s sandals were right next to him. “You want your sandals?”

“That’s what I said.”

Watanuki set the towel aside and picked up a sandal, then threw it at Doumeki. “Here, have your sandals!” he yelled, picking up the second one. In a fit of frustration, he pulled on the strap until it came loose. “Have fun,” he added before quickly gathering the bags and storming away back to the temple.

Watanuki didn’t look back at the group, not wanting to see what they thought of his little tantrum there. It was a little uncalled for, sure but… but Doumeki was just being so awful! Watanuki could hardly be blamed for reacting like that, right?

He sighed, and tried releasing the pent-up anger inside him. He succeeded enough to see that he had been an ass, but not enough to be as sorry for it as he probably should have been. But… he’d have to apologize somehow.

Not verbally, of course. There was no way Watanuki could look at Doumeki’s stupid, blank, smug face and not flip out again.

Maybe he’d just fix the sandal and be done with it.

~

He shooed everyone out of the kitchen as he made an improvised dinner of rice noodles, fish, vegetables, and a few various sauces and spices. There was a possibility that it might not turn out well, but he was in a bad mood and wanted to do some experimenting.

He was sauteing the vegetables when he heard footsteps entering the kitchen. They were light but powerful and could only belong to Yuuko.

“I thought we discussed this earlier, Watanuki,” she chided.

Watanuki slumped a little bit, but didn’t turn around to face her. He knew what he did, he didn’t need a lecture.

“I am not sorry about that.” (He was a little bit.)

He heard Yuuko take a seat and scoff. “You owe him an apology.” She paused. “Well, you owe him more than that, but an apology would be a good start. If not for your attitude then for the sandal.”

“Aughhh I don’t want to apologize to him!” He angrily flipped the vegetables around, checking to be sure they were all cooked before setting them aside on another burner.

Yuuko was silent, so Watanuki turned to look at her. She had her head turned up, and her face in a frown. “You two could be friends, you know. You’re being contrary for no reason.”

“The reason is that I hate him!”

“Why?”

“Well, he’s annoying and stupid and obtrusive and rude.” He leaned back against the counter, and put his hands on his hips. “Besides, why would I be friends with him when Himawari-chan is so nice!” he added.

Yuuko seemed to consider this.

“Please try with him,” she said, before leaving the kitchen.

Watanuki turned back to his cooking in a huff. “I’ll consider it,” he said.

~

Once he finished preparing dinner (he wasn’t quite satisfied with the result, and would tweak it a little bit if he made it again, but overall it wasn’t bad), he went back to the bedrooms to let Yuuko and Doumeki know, and maybe tell Doumeki that he could fix the sandal or something, he wasn’t sure yet what he would say.

Watanuki stopped before entering the bedroom though, as he heard muffled talking from inside. Both Doumeki and Yuuko were inside, and Watanuki couldn’t help but be curious.

“My grandfather was better at that,” he heard Doumeki say.

Doumeki had a grandfather? Since when?

“As I said, your grandfather isn’t here.” Yuuko spoke sharply, in a way that people generally didn’t talk to people with… dead grandfathers? “You’re so fixated on this,” she continued. “You need to move on.”

The conversation felt personal, and suddenly Watanuki felt like an intruder.

He quickly walked away, back to the kitchen, instead deciding to yell for the two of them to come to dinner.

~

Doumeki had avoided Watanuki the entirety of the evening, deigning to take dinner to the bedroom, and was asleep before Watanuki had the chance to talk to him alone. Watanuki himself spent the evening avoiding Yuuko, knowing that she would only chide him more on his actions that afternoon. He’d already heard it from Himawari, he didn’t need to hear it (along with a lecture on fate and inevitability) from Yuuko as well.

He didn’t see Doumeki again until he was working on breakfast the next morning. He’d woken up early, to be sure there was a large stack of pancakes ready before Himawari woke up.

But he couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d overheard. About Doumeki’s grandfather…

Suddenly, there was rustling behind him. He turned to find Doumeki - speak of the devil - with his hands in the chocolate chip bag.

“Hey!” Watanuki pointed the spatula at Doumeki dramatically. “Get your hands out of there - that’s rude and unsanitary and what if someone else wants chocolate chips, huh?”

“There’s plenty left.” Doumeki said, licking his fingers.

“Only because I stopped you!” he yelled.

Doumeki reached into the bag again, and Watanuki slapped his hand with the spatula.

“I said stop that! This is my kitchen-”

“It’s not your kitchen, it’s Yuuko’s”

A valid point. “It’s mine when I’m cooking!”

“What are you making?”

“If you must know, I’m making pancakes. I can only hope they're up to your standards,” he said, turning back to the stove with a roll of his eyes.

“Put strawberries on them.”

“I don’t know if we have- hey don’t just demand things from me! You should be grateful I’m making these at all, let alone sharing them with you!” He flipped a pancake and turned back to face Doumeki again and continue his lecture.

Doumeki had a finger in his ear - the usual schtick - and was still eating chocolate.

“You listen when I talk, this is…” he trailed off when he saw the watch sticking out of Doumeki’s sleeve. The watch that Doumeki always wore. It was old, and beautiful and it just felt important. Watanuki realized then that it must have belonged to Doumeki’s grandfather.

Doumeki gave him a look, but Watanuki was thinking about what he’d heard yesterday.

“Listen… I heard you and Yuuko talking a little bit last night…”

Doumeki dropped his finger, and stared at him. Weirdly.

Watanuki returned the “look” but continued anyways.

“I mean, it was just a little, but…” how do you delicately ask someone about their dead grandfather? “Uh, well, I heard… she said…

“What are you talking about?”

Watanuki started and turned back to his pancakes, luckily catching them before they burnt. “Your grandfather,” he said as he flipped the pancakes off the stove and onto a plate. He put the plate aside, and turned back to Doumeki, attempting to make eye contact - that’s what you do, right? “I’m sorry.”

Doumeki had his eyebrows raised, but he couldn’t interpret the look on his face - what else is new?

The stare was disconcerting. “What? I’m just… What?”

“Thanks.”

Watanuki couldn’t help but feel like air had been cleared between them. He went back to his cooking, pouring some batter onto the griddle.

“I just didn’t know that-” He nearly missed Doumeki snatching the top of the pancakes that he’d just cooked. “Hey, I was trying to talk to you and here you go, stealing my food again! There’s just no having a civil conversation with you! Or even a civil meal, are you eating that with your fingers? Hey, where are you going? Hey-!”

~

They left soon after breakfast. Doumeki had an archery tournament early the next day and heaven-forbid he miss that.

On the train ride home, fate smiled upon him and he was able to sit next to Himawari! Alone time with Himawari? All he ever wanted and more~!

Of course, Doumeki and Yuuko (along with Mokona) were right behind them, but… really, over the sound of the train, Watanuki couldn’t hear them. It was like they weren’t even there.

He turned to Himawari, hearts in his eyes, he was sure of it. “Ahhh I had a lovely time at the beach!” he sang.

Himawari nodded her head enthusiastically. “Oh yes! I did too! It was so nice to get away and spend time with you-” ahhh she likes spending time with me!

“-and Yuuko-san and Doumeki-kun too.”

“Doumeki…” Watanuki seethed. Even when he isn’t here, he’s intruding.

Her smile fell into a gentle look of concern. “I heard you two actually talked this morning…”

“Huh?” Talked? No, Doumeki waltzed into the kitchen and… Well, he supposed there had been some sort of moment. “Oh, yeah…”

“I’m really glad you two are getting along better.”

“We are not getting along!” Watanuki insisted.

But Himawari didn’t listen to Watanuki’s protests. “Doumeki-kun has had some hard times lately, and he’s been…” She trailed off, looking down and away

“Yeah, I heard his grandfather died.”

“Oh, mhm, his grandfather…” She put a hand to the bird pendant on her necklace and sighed softly.

“Was it recent?”

“It was very recent, yes,” Himawari agreed, nodding her head. “I don’t think Doumeki-kun has really handled it well. But he’s getting there.”

Watanuki considered this. It did explain his original stand-offish nature. “They must have been close.”

“They were very close,” she confirmed. “It hit him hard. It… It hit all of us hard. He had become - he was kind of permanent fixture around the temple, you know?” She looked out the window then, her gaze far away.

“Mm.”

“It was sudden,” she added after a moment.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

She didn’t say anything

“That’s why he always wears that watch, huh?” he asked, wanting his suspicions confirmed.

“What?” She spun around to face Watanuki again. “Yeah, it was his grandfather’s. He’s very attached to it.”

“I can tell. It’s beautiful.”

“Oh, it is.”

Wait. Wait. Why were they talking about Doumeki when they could be talking about literally anything else besides that? Time to change the subject.

“Yes, about as beautiful as that necklace of yours!”

Himawari gave him a tight smile. “Thank you.”

“The friend who got it for you must have known you well, because the bird suits you.”

“Yes, uh, she did.”

Watanuki was distracted then by the view out the window. He twisted around Himawari to see it better. “Oh wow. I was on the other side of the train last time.”

The view was much better on this side.

She looked as well, and sighed. “Yeah. It’s so pretty out here in the country. I really did have a lovely time at the beach, Watanuki-kun.”

“It was lovely because you were there, Himawari-chan~!”

The conversation was light through the rest of the ride home, and Watanuki spent it just enjoying the presence of Himawari.

Chapter Text

So what Watanuki knew that some of the issues Doumeki had with life or communication or whatever it was that made him stare blankly, and have no sense of personal decorum at all, had come from grieving the death of a family member. Watanuki realized that that would throw anyone for a loop, and perhaps make them harder to get along with, or get to know.

But!

But, Doumeki was still a frustrating lump, who never showed expressions or expressed emotions, and stole all his food, and just generally hung around and dammit, Watanuki was tired of it!

“You know what would’ve been easier? Driving. Driving would’ve been easier. Walking halfway across town lugging this - what is this anyways?” Watanuki was staggering under one end of a giant, far too long-

“A box,” Doumeki said, ever helpful.

“I can see it’s a box, thank you, I was asking about what’s inside it.” Watanuki’s voice was strained, as he shuffled sideways, trying not to drop it. It didn’t help that Doumeki didn’t seem to be having any trouble whatsoever.

Doumeki shrugged. “We’re just supposed to deliver it.”

“You’re not the least bit curious?” After all, the box was beautifully decorated, with a latch holding it closed that looked ancient. The wood smelled like incense and oils (though that could have been the effects of Yuuko’s temple in general. He wasn’t sure he ever stopped smelling like her noxious fumes).

“Not really.”

Errands with Doumeki were getting to be frustrating. No, they had always been frustrating. They just continued to get more and more frustrating. It just escalated and escalated and

“Why am I always running around town with YOU!?”

“Too loud.”

“YOU WANT TOO LOUD, I CAN BE TOO LOUD! GET YOUR FINGERS OUT OF YOUR EARS AND-”

Watanuki stopped mid-rant when he saw a young girl - maybe ten or eleven? - across the street, staring at a sakura tree just five feet in front of her. She had long, blonde hair that spilled in waves around her. He could only see part of her face, but what he could see was tattooed… No, imprinted. With a kanji. It looked like it read...tsu.

He had to talk to her.

“And what?” he heard Doumeki ask him, but Watanuki wasn’t paying attention. He set down the end of the box, and ran towards her.

“Hey!” Watanuki yelled as he jogged across the street, leaving Doumeki on the sidewalk holding one end of the mystery box by himself and being annoying.

The girl didn’t look up as Watanuki ran towards her. As he approached her, he felt something different about her. Something inhuman. Something familiar.

Between the kanji on her face, and the aura that she possessed, Watanuki had no doubt in his mind that this little girl was a regalia.

Once he was close enough for it to be obvious that he was talking to her, he spoke again.

“Hello.”

She startled, turning to face him with wide, innocent eyes. She was silent a moment, body tense, but she soon relaxed. “You’re like me,” she said softly.

Watanuki blinked, and stammered. “I- yes. You’re a regalia too.”

The girl nodded her head.

“I haven’t met any other regalia before,” Watanuki admitted. “It’s nice to see there’s more out here than just me.” He laughed at nothing, more nervous than anything else.

He heard footsteps as Doumeki walked up behind him. He’d left the box on the sidewalk behind them. “Oi, we’re going to be late.”

Watanuki snapped back to face the obtrusion. “Would you give me half a second! I am talking to someone! It is rude to interrupt people - where were you raised to think that was-” he stopped and turned back to the girl. “Sorry.”

“No, that’s okay. You should go.” Her voice was soft, uncertain.

“But we’ve only just met,” Watanuki protested. Another regalia, here, in front of him and he had to be running around doing Yuuko’s work for her! “I don’t even know your name…”

“Tsuyuri.”

“Tsuyuri-chan,” he repeated. “Oh, do you mind if I call you Tsuyuri-chan?”

She shook her head.

“Tsuyuri-chan then. I’m Watanuki.”

“It’s good to meet you, Watanuki-kun.” Suddenly, Tsuyuri looked past them, alarmed.
Watanuki turned and saw a woman running from towards them, yelling towards their group.

“Hey, I found us a job!” she said when she reached them.

Watanuki could feel the permanence of a god in the woman in front of him, but the power just wasn’t there. She had curly hair, and cold eyes.

The god turned to Watanuki and Doumeki then. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Leaving.” Doumeki grabbed Watanuki’s arm and started dragging him away.

Tsuyuri gave a small wave to Watanuki as she was led away by her god, and Watanuki returned
it with one of his own as he was led away by his… well by Doumeki.

~

The job went smoothly, no complications. Just a delivery and pick up. Watanuki still didn’t know what he delivered, but the price of the sake he picked up said that whatever it was, it was expensive. That, or the man they’d done the transaction with really didn’t care about sake.

But of course Yuuko cared about the sake, and needed it right away, so Watanuki ran off to fetch cups and snacks to go along with it. Gods she was demanding.

So Watanuki fried some unagi and brought it to her along with the sake and some cups. He began pouring her drink, but stopped before the cup was full.

“Is there a reason you’re depriving me of my evening drink, Watanuki?” Yuuko asked, clearly annoyed.

“Yeah, I was wondering…” Was there even a point in asking? She never answered anything
straight anyways. “How many regalia are out there?”

“How many?” she repeated.

“And for that matter, how many gods?” It struck Watanuki how little he really knew about all this.

“Well that’s quite the conversation,” she said - did this mean he was going to get some questions answered? “Best had over sake. Finish pouring that cup.”

Watanuki scoffed, but did as she asked.

“Sit down. And you may as well pour one for yourself, you’ve worked hard lately,” she insisted, pushing a second cup towards him.

“I’m pretty sure I’m a minor.” Pretty sure. He didn’t look twenty, but some people did look
younger than the were, he supposed. But he didn’t feel older than maybe sixteen or seventeen, at the most.

“What does it matter?” Yuuko took a sip of her sake and lounged back in her chair, humming in appreciation of her prized alcohol.

“Well, for one thing…” He actually couldn’t think of a reason why not. “Okay, fine.”

Watanuki sat across the table from Yuuko and poured himself a cup of the sake. He stared at it for a moment, somewhat put-off by the cloudy, white appearance.

Yuuko watched intently as Watanuki brought the cup to his lips and took a large swig of the chilled liquid…

Then promptly spat it back into the cup.

“Oh come now that’s just a waste of good alcohol.”

“It… was a bit much.”

“I suppose we should have worked you up to this. No matter!” She waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the storage room. “Go fetch the-”

“Hey! I was asking you questions!” Watanuki remembered suddenly. Yuuko pouted.

“Yes, yes, ask away.”

“As long as you answer them,” he muttered to himself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing. Now answer my question.”

“Hmm… it’s really hard to say. It’s not like heaven has a yearly census or anything.”

“Heaven. There’s a literal heaven.”

“Oh yes. Useful for quick travel, easy meetups, and good food!”

“...Okay.” No answers there. “And what about regalia? Do all gods have regalia?”

“Yes.” Oh because that was specific…

“How many?” he asked, daring to hope that she might actually clarify. “Regalia, that is. You
have… three. Do people usually have that many?”

“Sometimes more, sometimes less. Does this have something to do with that errand I had you run earlier?”

“Yeah, actually…” Watanuki was surprised she picked that up so quickly, despite the fact that he knew he shouldn’t be surprised. “There was a little girl. A regalia…”

“Oh?”

“Mhm.”

“You’ll probably see her again.”

“Hm? How would you know that?”

“As I’ve said, there are no chance encounters.” Yuuko took another sip of her sake.

Watanuki had so many other questions, but they all were lost when Doumeki decided to just waltz through the doorway in the middle of this important conversation - honestly, if he wasn’t the rudest, most obtrusive guy Watanuki had ever met…

“You made unagi?” he asked, looking at Yuuko’s plate.

“Yes, but not for you!” Watanuki stood up from his chair and stormed off to his room.

As he left, he saw Yuuko give Doumeki some of her food. Gluttons, both of them.

~

The next day it rained, but Watanuki decided to go back to the sakura tree anyways, in hopes of seeing Tsuyuri again.

And apparently that jerk Doumeki decided he needed to tag along, gods he was annoying.

“Why are you even here, who invited you?!” he yelled after waiting under
the tree for a good ten or so minutes.

“Calm down. You’ll drop your umbrella. Besides, do you want people to start staring at the crazy person flailing around for no reason?”

“Maybe I do!” He didn’t really. Well, maybe a little bit. “Don’t act like you know what I want or what I’m doing or- ahhhh Tsuyuri-chan!”

Tsuyuri was across the street, waiting for the crosswalk light to change.

Watanuki waved at her, and she waved back, hesitantly.

“Now don’t be rude to her, she’s just a little girl,” he told Doumeki as she approached. Honestly, you never really knew with that guy, it would be just like him to make a little girl cry. Maybe? Eh,
Watanuki didn’t know.

“I thought I’d find you here,” Tsuyuri said when she reached him.

“I hoped so too,” Watanuki said through a smile.

The three of them quickly relocated to a small pavilion in the park down the street - the rain really wasn’t doing anyone any good. They sat at a small, square table, Doumeki next to Watanuki and Tsuyuri across from the two of them.

“Tsuyuri-chan, I really am glad to see you again. I haven’t met any other regalia before.”

“I don’t meet many either.”

“Are there few of us?” he asked- maybe this girl would actually answer the questions Yuuko wouldn’t.

Tsuyuri shook her head. “I don’t know. My god, Satoe-sama, she… I don’t talk with the other regalia.”

Doesn’t talk with them? So she knows some, she just doesn’t… wait.

Doumeki spoke up. “Your god doesn’t let you, does she?”

“…She’s protective.”

Protective. Well, Watanuki supposed he could understand that, though Yuuko wasn’t all that protective. But still, something seemed off.

There was a long pause. Watanuki had so many questions for Tsuyuri, but… but he didn’t know how to ask them. For one thing, he didn’t really know where to start, and for another, Doumeki was right next to him and it was weird to just talk about regalia stuff with him there.

But, surprisingly, it was Doumeki that conversation started. Who knew?

“How long have you been her regalia?” he asked.

“Three years,” she answered, looking up at them.

Watanuki was impressed. “Oh wow that’s a long time!” Then again, was it? Apparently regalia didn’t age and neither did gods, so technically… How long does a regalia typically stick around? Watanuki was realizing that though she looked like a little girl, she had to be much older than she looked, perhaps older even, than he was. According to Yuuko, a regalia didn’t age after they died, (so he was stuck looking like a teenager forever) and Watanuki’s heart clenched to think of a little child like this one, no more than eleven, dying in order to become someone’s spirit servant. It didn’t seem fair.

“I’ve only been with Yuuko-san for a few months.”

“Do you like it with her?” asked Tsuyuri.

“She is demanding and frustrating and lazy and gluttonous and…” He paused for a moment though, and actually considered the question.

How did he feel about Yuuko?

“I’m glad she found me though… I’m grateful,” he decided.

Doumeki let out a breath then, so Watanuki side-eyed him. “You know, if you’re bored, you can leave. You weren’t invited anyways.”

He didn’t respond, that asshole, but Tsuyuri spoke up.

“I understand. She saved you.”

Doumeki raised an eyebrow, but Watanuki ignored him, looking back to Tsuyuri.

“Yeah, I guess it’s like that. Even though I’m basically an indentured servant, it feels like…” He didn’t quite know how to express the feeling he had. He had a place to belong, something to do, people to be with… and he really didn’t know what would have happened to him without Yuuko. He would have been dead (again) in no time, what with the way the ayakashi chased him. Her being there so soon, her offering to take him in, her saving him? “It feels like… fate.”

Doumeki stood up then, and began walking away. “I have archery practice,” he said suddenly.

“You coming?”

“What, you’re making us leave so soon? And archery practice in the rain? Who practices
anything in the rain!”

“The range is indoors,” he explained, grabbing his umbrella.

Watanuki turned back to Tsuyuri and gave her a tight smile. “Tsuyuri-chan, apparently I have to leave now,” he said, grabbing his own umbrella and shooting Doumeki a glare that he hoped had the intended effect, but probably didn’t because Doumeki couldn’t pick up on social cues if it killed him. “But I really do want to meet with you again.”

Tsuyuri nodded.

“And next time I can bring a snack, okay? Do you like madeleines?”

“I’ve never had them.”

“Then tomorrow, I’ll meet you at the same time under that sakura tree and I’ll bring you some
madeleines.”

“I’ll see you again then, Watanuki-kun.”

“See you later!”

Tsuyuri began to leave, but Watanuki stopped her. “Wait, don’t you have an umbrella?” he asked, noticing that the girl soaking wet and about to be rained on once again.

She shook her head. “No.”

“Well, doesn’t your god give you one? Aren’t they supposed to… provide and all that?”

Tsuyuri looked down and away, not meeting his glance and turning her kanji away from him.

“Well, you can have mine.” He offered her his umbrella, and, after a moment’s hesitation and an odd, surprised look on her face, she took it.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Tsuyuri left in one direction, and Watanuki and Doumeki left in the other. The rain fell on Watanuki’s head, but he really didn’t mind. It wasn’t really raining all that hard anyways. In fact it was actually dry and wait-

“WHY ARE WE SHARING AN UMBRELLA?”

“Idiots don’t catch colds,” Doumeki told him. Because that made sense to say here. “But dumbasses might.”

“WHO’RE YOU CALLING A DUMBASS, DUMBASS?”

“Careful, you’ll knock the umbrella out of the way.”

So they shared an umbrella all the way to the archery range, that jerk.

~

They were the only people at the range that afternoon, which made it easier to talk. In public places, it kinda just looked like people were talking to no one, and Watanuki could practically feel the pity for the poor delusional people talking to themselves, and he knew it was because of him.

It was also just disconcerting and depressing to not have anyone notice him without him yelling
and flailing.

It’s not like he wanted to be the center of attention or anything, but…

Whatever, no point dwelling on it.

Watanuki sat against a wall, twiddling his thumbs while Doumeki practiced. His movements were calculated, methodical, and admittedly impressive, for an idiot. Every arrow he left fly hit the target near center, and Watanuki was reminded of all the times that talent had saved his life and he felt a surge of unwelcome gratitude towards the guy. Ugh.

The silence was palpable and annoying and Watanuki had to stop it.

He cleared his throat, and Doumeki let an arrow fly into the bullseye.

“How long have you been doing that?” Watanuki asked. “Archery, I mean.”

Doumeki was silent for a beat too long, in Watanuki’s opinion, but spoke up right before Watanuki was about to brush off the question.

“I was seven. My grandfather taught me,” he told him, then went back to shooting.

Never one to mince words, that jerk Doumeki.

“I’m thinking of making takoyaki for dinner,” Watanuki mused.

“We don’t have any octopus.

“We could stop by the store and get some, you know. It’s not that hard.”

“We should have pork katsu instead.”

“And who put you in charge of dinner, hm?”

There was silence again, aside from Doumeki’s archery. The stretch of a taut bowstring, a breath in, the twang of release, a breath out, and the thunk of the arrow meeting its target.

“How much do you know about… all this?” Watanuki asked suddenly, unconsciously rubbing the kanji on his wrist before catching himself. “I mean, you’ve lived at the temple your whole life, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you’ve got to know some stuff.”

Doumeki put his bow down then, and took a breath.

“I guess I know a few things. I haven’t met many other gods, but I’ve met regalia. They usually like to talk.”

Watanuki could understand that. As much as Watanuki loathed Doumeki, and he did, it was a comfort to know there were people who were aware of him. Other regalia probably appreciated that comfort as well.

“This isn’t an official practice,” Watanuki realized suddenly.

“It isn’t.”

“Then why did you pull me away from Tsuyuri-chan?”

Doumeki put his bow aside, and went out into the rain to retrieve the arrows.
Watanuki followed him, raindrops sticking to his glasses as the downpour continued.

“We went all the way out there and I couldn’t even have a full conversation, thanks to you and your not-practice!”

Doumeki shrugged.

“Whatever. Tomorrow, you’re not coming.”

~

Somehow, Watanuki did manage to give Doumeki the slip. As in, he met Kohane while Doumeki was at school, so really it wasn’t that hard. But part of him almost expected Doumeki to just pop out from behind a tree or around a corner or from inside a mailbox or something… It would be just like him to do that.

But no, Doumeki did not make an appearance and Watanuki made it to the sakura tree, madeleines in tow, without any interruptions.

Tsuyuri was there waiting, standing pigeon-toed and holding Watanuki’s umbrella close.
Watanuki’s scowl (he hadn’t realized he was scowling, but apparently he had been - must’ve been because he was thinking about Doumeki) softened upon seeing her, and he ran across the
street as the crosswalk light blinked.

When he reached her, she held out his umbrella and bowed her head slightly.

“Thank you, Watanuki-kun.”

“No, no, you keep it,” he said, waving a hand in front of his face. “I don’t really need it anyways. We have a lot of umbrellas at the temple it’s not a big deal.”

She nodded, and pulled the umbrella close to her again.

“Now, let’s find a place to sit so you can try these madeleines.”

~

They ended up in the park again, but the nice weather allowed them to sit on the swings this
time.

“Sorry about yesterday. I didn’t want to leave so suddenly, but Doumeki said he had to go and, well, it doesn’t matter. I’m just sorry I left so suddenly,” Watanuki told her, lightly swinging his feet above the ground.

Tsuyuri shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Satoe-sama was worrying about me anyways.”

“Oh. Well, I’m glad we’ll get to spend some time together today,” he told her, handing over the bag of treats.

She took them gratefully, and set them on her lap.

“Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble at all, really. Cooking makes me happy,” he told her. “I hope it makes other people happy too. Like you, Tsuyuri-chan.”

She looked surprised, and clutched the bag tighter.

“What makes you happy? I mean, I know it’s kind of a vague question, but, I don’t know, I just haven’t met other regalia, and I want to know what they’re like…” Watanuki trailed off.

“I like the trees,” she said, smiling. “And flowers.”

“Oh yeah? We have some really nice trees back at the temple. Flowers too. We could go see them. I don’t think anyone would mind.”

She looked excited for a moment, but then shook her head. “No, I shouldn’t go to other gods’ temples.”

“Why not?” Was there some sort of rule against it?

“I need to be close to Satoe-sama, in case she needs me,” Tsuyuri told him, looking up at the
cloud-covered sky.

“Oh. Do regalia tend not to stray too far away?”

Tsuyuri nodded her head. “You’re supposed to protect your god. If you’re never there, how can you do your job?”

“Does she not have any other regalia?”

“No. Just me.”

“Is that typical?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know other regalia.”

“Well now you do, even though I guess I’m not much help either.” Watanuki grinned at her, and she offered a small smile back. Watanuki was glad he could make her smile, even just a little.

“Tsuyuri-cham,” he started, tapping his toes as he sat dangling on the swing. “I’d like to see you more, if that’s alright with you. I feel… connected to you. Perhaps, that’s just because of what we are.”

Tsuyuri tilted her head, glancing at him with her gray-green eyes, and then leaned back on the swing, holding on to the chains.

“I’d like that, Watanuki-kun,” she said, softly.

Watanuki smiled. “Good. We regalia ought to stick together, right?” He laughed, and she smiled again.

It became a regular thing. When Watanuki could get away from Yuuko’s duties for him, along with Doumeki’s watchful eye, he found himself waiting for Tsuyuri under that sakura tree. Sometimes she was able to come, and sometimes she didn’t show up, but whenever she did, Watanuki made sure to have a hamper of snacks ready to enjoy. She was particularly fond of cookies of all sorts, so Watanuki took to baking at the Temple. Much to the happiness of the residents there.

Sometimes Doumeki did come along, ruining the mood with his stupid face, but Tsuyuri seemed to like him too, for some reason, calling him Doumeki-kun, and offering to pour him tea. She was opening up a bit more each time they met.

It all fell apart a few days later, when Satoe-sama caught them.

“Hey, you, you’re supposed to be looking for a job!” she said, landing from a leap, in front of Tsuyuri. Watanuki impression of a lack of power seemed to be accurate, because as she turned to glare at Watanuki and Doumeki, she was obviously weaker by far than Yuuko. Watanuki wasn’t quite sure how he could tell, but she was desperate, and fading.

“You! You were here the other day! Are you the one that has been distracting my regalia from finding us jobs?”

Watanuki stood, stammering a bit. “Uh, I was just sharing some-”

She turned and shook Tsuyuri’s collar. “I told you to stay away from other regalia! You should be out searching for humans to work for.” She noticed Doumeki then, and frowned. “And not humans who already follow a god.”

Watanuki glanced at Doumeki, who shrugged.

Tsuyuri was looking at the ground, even as Satoe shook her by her shoulders. “Do you hear me girl! Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

“H-hey!-” Watanuki started, when Satoe gave her a particularly hard jerk.

“Stay out of it, regalia! You and he both stink of Yuuko-sama. I don’t need her involved in this, and we don’t want you here!”

Watanuki was feeling sick at witnessing this, the horrible treatment of Tsuyuri-chan, a girl he’d only met a few days ago, but who he’d connected with.

“But,” Watanuki said, and Satoe turned with rage on her face.

“Get away from her! She’s too good for a weak regalia like you!” she screamed, and reached out to slap Watanuki’s face, surprising Watanuki and everyone else. Watanuki’s face burned, and he clapped his hand to it, feeling the heat already, and… liquid?

A firm hand grasped his wrist, and Doumeki tugged his hand away from his face in order to look, with a harsh frown.

“C’mon, we’re leaving,” he said, not letting go of Watanuki’s wrist. Watanuki, dazed, looked back at Satoe, who was glaring angrily at them, to Tsuyuri who had tears running down her cheeks. He reached up with his free hand, and touched his own cheek gently, to feel a stinging pain and raw, rough lines that reached from his cheekbone to the corner of his mouth. HIs fingertips had blood on them.

“She- she scratched me,” he said, and Doumeki paused, glancing back.

“We’re going back to the temple. I knew it was a bad idea to see her again.”

Watanuki was silent, still shocked a little, feeling the chill in the air hit his cheek. he was sure it was swelling. Doumeki’s hand was warm around his wrist.

“Did you notice, that she never said Tsuyuri’s name?”

Doumeki looked back once more, face set and somber.

“Come on,” he only muttered, and tugged him along further.

They arrived back at the temple, and Watanuki was led to his futon to lay down. Maru and Moro gave him a wet cloth, and cucumbers for the swelling, and he relaxed back against his pillows with a troubled mind, and a stinging face.

“You said a god is supposed to take care of their regalia,” Watanuki mumbled to Yuuko, and she clicked her tongue.

“Is that a veiled complaint, or are you concerned about that little girl.”

Watanuki glanced at her, knowing that however much he complained, what he said to Tsuyuri was true. He was grateful Yuuko had found him.

“Satoe-sama never said her name, not once. She gave her that name, but she wouldn’t even address her, just said ‘you’, and ‘girl’.”

“That bothered you, then.”

“Yes,” Watanuki said, breathing in and pressing the rag a little harder to his face. “She should take better care of her. Tsuyuri-chan was scared of her. Afraid of what she’d do if she disobeyed.”

“Some would say that fear is the surest guarantee of obedience,” Yuuko said mildly, and Watanuki shook his head, almost dislodging his cucumbers.

“Obedience should come from… respect, and loyalty. I’m worried for her, Yuuko-san. Isn’t there anything you can do?”

Yuuko tucked her hands inside her kimono sleeve, humming.

“What would you want to happen?”

Watanuki sat up. “Release her from Satoe-sama, and take her as a regalia. You’ll treat her better! I mean, you’re still demanding and bossy, but-”

“I can’t do that, Watanuki.”

Doumeki was still in the room, but Watanuki had forgotten that up to this point. He spoke up from where he stood, arms folded in the corner of the room.

“Can’t or won’t?” he asked, flatly, and Yuuko turned to him for a moment.

“I won’t do that. Tsuyuri has to wish that, and that is a transaction that is between a god and their regalia. Not me.”

“But-” Watanuki said, letting the cucumbers slip down. Yuuko shook her head, and used her hand to push him back down to the bed.

“Sleep for now, Watanuki. All will be as it should.”

Watanuki didn’t want to sleep, but his eyes were tired, and felt heavy, so he closed them. Yuuko’s fingers left his shoulder, brushing through his hair with a cool touch, before she moved away with a rustle of silks. Maru and Moro tip toed out with little voices announcing each step, and Mokona burrowed into his side, which would normally upset him, but tonight was just a ball of warmth he didn’t mind. He breathed in, and slit his eyes open again, to see the blurry shape of Doumeki, leaving the room as well.

“I’m not leaving her alone,” he said, mumbly and quiet. Doumeki stopped walking, and looked at him, and his dumb face was even more dumb when he couldn’t make out the features because his glasses were on the bedside table.

Doumeki didn’t answer, but he was quiet for a moment, before he began walking again. Watanuki breathed out, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

~

When he woke, the same day or the next, he wasn’t quite sure, the scratches were almost healed, but in the mirror Watanuki could see how deep they had to have been. He’d bled a lot, the stain dribbling down the collar of his white button up. If that god would do this to a near stranger, who was to say she wouldn’t do something worse to the regalia in her care? Watanuki had been told to stay away, but he, he just couldn’t.

In the entry of the temple, Watanuki paused when he saw Doumeki standing there. He was still, and watching the hall where Watanuki had come out, just holding his bow. Watanuki flushed, and bristled, likely making it obvious what he intended on doing.

“What are you doing here?” he demanded, and Doumeki leveled a look at him.

“What are you?”

Watanuki turned his nose into the air, closing his eyes.

“Well, it’s none of your-”

“Shut up,” Doumeki said, interrupting. “If we’re going, we’d better leave before it gets dark.”

Watanuki blinked at him, and then blinked again, as Doumeki hefted his bow over his shoulder, and turned to walk out the door.

“O-oi! Wait for me!”

They walked to the sakura tree in silence, Doumeki slightly ahead of even Watanuki’s quick stride. When they were almost there, Doumeki glanced back at him.

“Do you have a plan?” he asked, and Watanuki swallowed, because, well, no he didn’t, but he knew what needed to happen.

“I’ll tell her to ask Satoe to release her. She has to want that, who would want to stay with someone like that?”

Doumeki was quiet, walking slightly slower, though still in front.

“You can’t make her leave her god, Watanuki,” he said, and Watanuki ground his teeth.

“I can try.”

They arrived, and Satoe and Tsuyuri were there already. Satoe was watching them approach with a cold look in her eyes, and Doumeki was making sure he was between the god and Watanuki, to Watanuki’s annoyance. When they got close enough, Watanuki tried to meet Tsuyuri’s eyes.

“Are you alright, Tsuyuri-chan?” he asked, and Satoe hissed.

“I thought I told you to leave us alone!” she snapped, and Watanuki looked directly at her.

“I won’t allow you to treat Tsuyuri-chan like this. She’s your regalia, you named her and took her in. You are supposed to take care of her!”

She ‘tched. “What would you know, child! Now, get out of here! Or I won’t be so kind this time!”

Doumeki stepped more in front of him, and Watanuki pushed at his immovable arms, leaning to speak to Tsuyuri.

“Tsuyuri-chan, you don’t have to stay like this. Do you understand? Ask to be released, and she’ll have to let you go! Yuuko-san can take you, you’ll be cared for. Don’t you want that?”

Tsuyuri was quiet, looking at Watanuki with pained eyes. Watanuki stepped closer, getting past Doumeki’s barrier, to put his hands on Tsuyuri’s shoulders.

“You’ll be given another name, and Satoe won’t ever be able to hurt you again,” he said, in a soft voice. Tsuyuri stared at him, and then her wide eyes jumped to the side, as Satoe made a move.

“Get your hands off her!” she screeched, and Watanuki ducked as she leapt towards them, bracing himself and protecting Tsuyuri’s body with his own. But she didn’t physically attack, only called out a name, Hane. A white light blinded him for a moment, and his hands around Tsuyuri suddenly enclosed nothing, as Tsuyuri was called to regalia form.

Doumeki shouted in alarm, as Watanuki whipped around to see Satoe holding Tsuyuri’s weapon form. It was a blade, feather shaped and just as delicate, yet looking sharp enough to cut a hair in two lengthwise. It was beautiful and just like Tsuyuri, except that Satoe’s face was twisted in anger. Satoe was leaping towards him, rage unrestrained, and Watanuki had no weapon, save quick reflexes. He jumped, further than he expected, avoiding the swinging blade.

“Wait! Stop!” he yelled, as the blade bounced off the ground after missing him, sending Satoe into a controlled spin. She jumped into the air, and brought the blade over her head, and all Watanuki could do was duck and cover, and-

Not get hit.

There was a gigantic slice in the pavement in front of him, and behind him, but he was fine, he hadn’t been cut. Satoe screamed, and Watanuki looked up at her, as she twisted away to land on one knee, clutching her shoulder where, where an arrow of light was sticking out. Doumeki had shot her.

“You stupid girl!” she screamed, holding on to the base of the arrow, but not pulling it out. The blade was on the ground next to her, and it looked, suddenly, so much duller than it had been. “I don’t care that you don’t want to hurt him, I said so, so you’ll do it!”

The gravel crunched just behind him, and Watanuki looked up to see Doumeki standing tall above him, arrow drawn and ready, this time aimed right at Satoe’s heart.

“Stop.” His voice was flat and brooked no argument. Satoe’s chest heaved, in anger and pain, before she shoved the blade into the ground and growled in frustration.

“You damn human, you’re butting in where you have no business,” she hissed, and Doumeki pulled back the string a fraction more. Satoe flinched and turned away.

“Revert, Tsuyuri,” she snapped, and Tsuyuri appeared, kneeling on the sidewalk. She got up and ran to Watanuki, looking at her god with a look of fear on her face. Satoe’s eyes were wide, almost crazed, as she reached out with her good arm, godly blood running down her shirt.

“How dare you-!”

“Release me,” Tsuyuri said, her voice quiet and mild. Watanuki only heard it so clearly because she’d come over to him, leaned over him to make sure he was alright. Satoe heard it too, and froze, staring at her regalia.

“Wha-?”

“Satoe-sama,” Tsuyuri said, and everyone was looking at her now. “Please. Release me. Take away the name you never use. We aren’t good for each other.”

Satoe gasped, and her wild, shocked stare, broke into tears.

“But, I found you, you’re, you’re my-”

“No anymore.”

With a sob, Satoe put her face into her hand, her shoulders hitching around the wound. Doumeki still had his bow drawn, not trusting the display of sadness, but Watanuki’s heart was breaking. It was obvious that Satoe really did care, she just had a broken way of showing it. Watanuki got to his feet, moving past Doumeki to kneel next to the shattered god, and place a soft hand on her back.

“Please, let Tsuyuri-chan go. Let her be where she will be loved.”

Satoe gasped, and then, shakily, lifted two bloodstained fingers.

“Alright,” she panted, and looked at Tsuyuri. “Alright. Tsuyuri, as a regalia Hane, as a vessel Tsu. I release you.”

Tsuyuri gasped, as a beam of light gathered at Satoe’s finger tips, and encompassed her, lifting the markings off her cheek, removing her kanji and her name. Satoe gasped, and dropped her hands, before putting one back to her wounded shoulder.

“Now, take care of your damn arrow, boy,” Satoe hissed to Doumeki. Doumeki looked away from Tsuyuri,, and frowned for a moment at the god. Then, he lifted a hand, and the arrow dissolved. Satoe gasped, falling forward, before rising to her feet. She stood, unsteady, before looking down at Tsuyuri.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Then, she leapt into the air, and was gone. Doumeki looked as she left, but Watanuki’s attention was taken with Tsuyuri, who folded her arms around herself in the wake of everything that had happened.

“Tsuyuri-chan, are you alright?” Watanuki asked her, and she turned and smiled at him, with sad sad eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Are you okay?”

Watanuki nodded. “Not a scratch. You didn’t hurt me.”

“Good.” Tsuyuri nodded. “I didn’t want to.”

Watanuki looked at her, so brave to deal with that, and then ask to leave, all on her own. He was so proud of her, so he bent and pulled her into a hug. She let out a little gasp of air, and then squeezed back.

“You’ll come back to the temple with us, won’t you Tsuyuri-chan?”

Tsuyuri nodded, “That’s not my name anymore, though,” she said.

Watanuki laughed a little. “It isn’t, is it? I’m sure you’ll get a new name soon.”

He and Doumeki led the girl home, to the temple, and Yuuko, where he hoped that Yuuko would take her in, name her and give her a home like she’d done to him.

~

Yuuko was draped across the couch in the sitting room, not unusually, smoking her pipe and dressed in a ornate, fuchsia purple kimono. Maru and Moro led Watanuki, and Doumeki into the room, with Tsuyuri (or who used to be Tsuyuri) between them. Yuuko’s eyebrow raised as they entered.

“Well, so you managed what I could not,” she said, a slight smile in her voice, though that also wasn’t any different than usual.

“Yuuko-san,” Watanuki said, coming closer. “This is, well, this was Tsuyuri-chan.”

“Pleasure,” Yuuko said, as Tsyuri came forward. “And do you wish to be given a name, my dear?”

Tsuyuri ducked her head, looking pensive, before she lifted her chin.

“I would be honored to be given a name by one as powerful as you, but…” Tsuyuri trailed off, and glanced back at Watanuki. “I think I need to find my own way.”

Yuuko smiled, like she waiting for her to say that.

“I’d agree,” Yuuko murmured, putting her pipe back to her lips. Watanuki gaped at Tsuyuri, and then over to Yuuko.

“You’re not going to give her a name?”

“It’s not what she desires, and you know I can’t force anyone to make a wish. Neither can you,” she finished, drawing on the pipe again. Watanuki stared in confusion.

“But,” he looked at Tsuyuri again. “That is what you wished, wasn’t it? You can’t not have a god, it’s dangerous!” Watanuki remembered when he’d gone out at night, without the protection of either Yuuko or (annoyingly) Doumeki, and how the ayakashi had swarmed, and chased him. “What will you do?”

Tsuyuri drew a tiny smile up onto her face. “I’ll be alright, Watanuki-kun. For the first time, I will be.”

Yuuko nodded. “She’s got a strong determination, Watanuki. You can see that. She’ll grant her own wish.”

Tsuyuri nodded, before turning. Then, she looked back, and reached out to put a hand on Watanuki’s cheek, the one that Satoe had slapped.

“Thank you, Watanuki-kun,” she said. “We will meet again.”

Watanuki smiled, but it felt pained. He’d just gained a friend, and now he was losing her, so quickly.

“Where are you going to go?” he asked, and she shook her head, and didn’t answer, before Maru and Moro led her out of the room. Watanuki watched her, before looking to Yuuko, and then Doumeki. He couldn’t just let her leave like this, she was a child. She needed to stay here, be cared for by Yuuko, like he was.

“W-wait!” he called, running after her, but he only found an empty yard. She was already gone. He stood, eyes burning a bit, before he felt someone come up behind him. Doumeki had followed him out on to the step, and was watching him from the corner of his eye, like he was concerned about what Watanuki would do. He didn’t say anything, and so Watanuki filled the quiet. “I thought she’d-” but it didn’t matter, did it? She’d made her choices, the first one to leave her god, and the second to find one on her own. It wasn’t Watanuki’s responsibility to bring Yuuko regalia. He let out a breath, and slumped his shoulders. It was getting to be dinner time. He wished he could have cooked for her.

“You should stew chicken wings,” Doumeki said flatly. Watanuki turned, and gave him an incredulous look.

“Do you know how long that takes? I’ll have to make sure that the meat is tender, and that all the side dishes come out at the same time!”

“Make chocolate ganache while it’s cooking,” Doumeki continued, and Watanuki gaped at him.

“What, so we can eat dessert before dinner? I know Yuuko would go for that, but there is no way! Argh, you’re such an idiot…”

Watanuki wandered off to the kitchen, with Doumeki still making requests to resounding protests the whole way there.

Chapter Text

“WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO ABOUT THIS?”

“Kill it, I guess.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, kill the GIANT TREE THAT’S EATING PEOPLE IN THE PARK!”

Watanuki and Doumeki were sent to a park across town that Sunday morning, and told only to “take care of it.” They hadn’t be told what “it” was, but were assured that they would know it when they saw it.

And boy did they see it. Well, Watanuki saw it.

“It’s that one in the middle! The sakura tree with the weird knot that looks like a face!” Watanuki yelled, pointing at the offending plant. “It’s got all these black vines coming out of it and it just grabbed that guy and, and, ate him!” The tree had thrown the man into its branches and he disappeared, so Watanuki assumed he was eaten.

“Calm down.”

“CALM DOWN? WE ARE FIGHTING A TREE THAT EATS PEOPLE!”

“Throwing your arms around won’t help. It’s an ayakashi. You’ll just draw attention to yourself.”

How could Doumeki say this so calmly?

The tree continued to throw vines through the air, twisting and winding around and coming far too close for comfort.

“Doumeki, it’s reaching for us!”

“Make a borderline.”

“A what?”

Doumeki sighed as he worked on stringing his bow. “A borderline. Just make one and keep it away while I finish with this.”

“What do you want me to do, throw down a line of salt? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” What was a borderline?

The vines began to reach closer and closer. It felt like ayakashi, and smelled just as bad. Doumeki believed it to be a possession case, but, then again, what would a tree do to be possessed?

Watanuki jumped to his right as a vine swiped at him. No way in hell he was getting blighted again, nuh-uh.

“If you’re not making a borderline, at least get out of the way,” said Doumeki from behind him.

When Watanuki turned around, he saw that Doumeki’s bow was drawn, no arrow notched in it, but energy was built up in place of one.
Watanuki ducked, and Doumeki let the energy arrow fly straight into the center of the tree.

There was a shower of purple sparks and a scream, then suddenly six people were standing around what was now an ordinary (but now dead) tree.

~

Later that day, Watanuki sat down to talk with Maru and Moro. As the only other regalia he knew, they must have had answers.

“What’s a borderline?” he asked.

“A borderline?” they repeated in unison, but not looking up from their game of memory. It was a little creepy when they spoke like that, but Watanuki had gotten used to it by now.

“Yeah, today Doumeki told me to put up a borderline and I have no idea what he meant.” He pointed out a match for Moro, who cheered.

“Cheater!” yelled Maru.

Watanuki sighed. “I’ll help you on your next turn - now answer my question.”

The twins turned to him then. “A borderline is like a protection spell,” said Moro.

“One that only regalia can do,” finished Maru.

“Okay…” Watanuki mulled that over. “And how would I do that?”

They shrugged and Maru spoke again. “We don’t really do that sort of thing for the mistress.”

“We help with guests,” said Moro.

Watanuki frowned, stood back up, and turned to leave.

“Hey! You said you’d help me find a match!” Maru called from behind.

“The top right and the only one left on the bottom are both birds,” he told her without stopping.

He heard another cheer from the room as he left, feeling useless and incompetent.

~

Watanuki decided to take the issue up with Yuuko the next day. He made his way to the living room, certain in his steps and determined to get some answers.

“Yuuko-san, I-”

She had a customer, apparently. Though a strange one. She was a young woman - possibly even a teenager - with long, dark hair (more voluminous than Yuuko’s) cascading down her shoulders. Her outfit was very traditional - a lavender kimono and obi impeccably put together. She was all the poise that Yuuko could have, and sometimes did, but refused to show.

And there was a feeling about her… And aura that spoke of age and wisdom and power. It was close to the feeling he got from Yuuko, but more subtle, almost weaker.

She looked right at Watanuki as he entered, and smiled.

Watanuki froze, standing right next to Yuuko, and looked around for what she could be smiling at, by now used to the fact that people didn’t notice him.

“She’s looking at you, Watanuki,” Yuuko said.

“What? But-”

“She can see you just fine. This is Tomoyo-chan, another god.”

Another god? Watanuki was beginning to wonder if he’d ever meet one, but here she was and she looked so sweet and nothing like Yuuko.

Watanuki bowed. “Tomoyo-sama, welcome to-”

Yuuko knocked him upside the head. “Don’t you bow to other gods, Watanuki!”

“Wha-?”

“You serve only one god. You bow to only me, and no others. It’s rude,” Yuuko explained harshly.

“Oh, because I’m supposed to just know that like I’m supposed to know everything!” he complained, rubbing the back of his head, though
more for dramatic effect than out of actual pain.

He glared at Yuuko, who glared right back.

“So disrespectful,” Tomoyo chided, through laughter.

Watanuki turned to her with a frown. “Tomoyo-sama, you’ve met Yuuko-san. How respectful do you think I could be?”

“You and my lead should talk,” she said.

“What’s a lead?” he asked.

“Lead regalia. Someone with multiple regalia generally have one that leads the rest. Yuuko-san, don’t you tell him anything?”

A lead regalia? Was that Maru or Moro? It certainly wasn’t Watanuki, he’d only been here for a few months.

“He can figure things out on his own,” Yuuko insisted.

No. No he can’t.

“Watanuki-kun, why don’t you talk with Youou outside?” Tomoyo said, gesturing to the door.

Never let it be said that Watanuki couldn’t take a hint.

“Fine, fine, I’m leaving,” he said, putting his hands in the air.

As he left the room, out the opposite door he’d entered through, he ran into an impossibly tall man he’d never seen before. His hair was dark and spiky, and had eyes as red as Yuuko’s, but twice as terrifying.

“WHOAWHOAWHOA WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?” Watanuki couldn’t help but yell as he jumped back from the man.

The stranger raised an eyebrow and looked Watanuki over. “Heard you talking in there,” he said.

“That doesn’t answer my question. Who are you and why are you just lounging in my - in Yuuko’s temple?”

“C’mon kid, I’m gonna teach you a few things.”

With that ambiguous and slightly menacing statement, the stranger turned and left.

“Go with him, Watanuki!” he heard Yuuko say from afar.

So he did.

~

The stranger led Watanuki to the backyard, then stopped at turned around.

“Alright, kid, you need some training,” he said, folding his arms across his chest..

“Thank you! That’s what I’ve been saying! How the hell am I supposed to know anything if I’m not taught anything? Let me tell you, living with Yuuko-san is- wait, wait, who are you again?”

“Youou. Tomoyo-hime’s lead regalia. I’m gonna teach you a few things so you’re not just flailing around and pathetic.”

Wow. Harsh.

“I wouldn’t call myself pathetic. I think that’s a little uncalled for, don’t you?”

Youou scoffed. “You can’t even make a borderline.”

“I’d say you have a point there but I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT A BORDERLINE IS!”

“We’re gonna start with the basics. What do you know about regalia?”

Part of Watanuki wanted to be angry at this guy. He’d just called him pathetic and he seemed rude and grumpy, but… This guy was willing to give out the answers Watanuki needed. He took a breath to calm down and thought hard about what he knew.

“Well, I know regalia are spirit assistants. We belong to the gods and we do what they say and there’s something about protection but I don’t know what they mean by that. Oh, also ayakashi are a problem for us, and let me tell you it’s annoying - they won’t even let me off the temple grounds without Doumeki and I’m told that-”

“Slow down, kid. You’re talking too much and some of that is completely off-base.”

“Off-base? What’s off-base about it?”

“You’re making it sound like regalia are some sort of slaves.”

Isn’t that what Watanuki basically was?

“What does the witch have you doing all day?”

He called Yuuko a witch. A witch. Watanuki didn’t know who this Youou guy was, but he liked him already.

“Well, the cooking, the cleaning, the shopping sometimes, a lot of chores and the other day-”

“She’s got you doing household chores? You’re a regalia and she’s got you doing chores?”

“Well, yeah, what does Tomoyo-sama have you do all day, hm?”

Youou scoffed. “I protect her. That’s what regalia are for. That’s why they’re weapons.”

“I’m not a, a weapon!”

“Does that witch ever call you?”

“Well yeah, every day! It’s always ‘Watanuki do this’ or ‘Watanuki do that.’”

“No, does she ever call you.”

“Eh?”

Youou rolled his eyes and walked back inside. Was he giving up on this already? Jeez.

“You coming?”

“Y-yes!”

Watanuki followed Youou inside, almost running to keep up with the man’s long, angry strides.

“Oi!” Youou yelled as he slid open the door to the main room.

Watanuki pulled up behind him in time to see Yuuko raise an eyebrow and frown at the intrusion.

“We were in the middle of a conversation, Youou.” she said, sounding upset by the intrusion.

Youou seemed unimpressed by this. “What’re you teaching your regalia?”

“Watanuki will learn on his own time,” she said, waving a hand in the air.

“Tomoyo-hime, I’ll need to stay the afternoon. This kid needs help.”

Tomoyo nodded her head. “Of course, Youou. Yuuko-san and I have matters to discuss anyways.”

“Yes, now run along, Youou,” added Yuuko.

“Call him,” Youou demanded. Demanded. This Youou guy was trying to order Yuuko around and it was wonderful. “I’m teaching this kid and I need you to call him.”

Yuuko sighed and lazily put a hand in the air. “Come, Noboru,” she said, bored.

Suddenly the kanji on his wrist burned. He felt a pulling, and found he didn't had a wrist to speak of - in fact, he didn't have a body. At least, not one that he was used to. He had ribbing, and hard bones and folded paper, and he was being held by a hand that was much larger than he was used to. Yuuko’s fingers were closed around him and he was reminded of that first night - the night she’d found and named him and no no not this again it was too weird and uncomfortable oh gods no.

He said. Or tried to say. Hard to talk without a mouth. Could fans talk, even ones that were actually people?

But Yuuko seemed to hear. "Just slice, Noboru." she told him.

He looked (looked?) forward, and saw that there was an apple headed for them. Yuuko flicked her wrist, stretching Watanuki out (oh gods why), and directing his body (not-body) at it. Watanuki felt the apple connect with him, and he sharpened himself to it. The apple fell in four slices and hit the table.
Sharpened himself?

What the hell was he talking about?

Stopit-stopit-stopit,> he repeated in his thought-voice.

“Revert, Watanuki” he heard Yuuko say, and then he was himself again, back in the same spot across the room.

An intense shiver of disgust went down Watanuki’s spine. He patted himself down, making sure he was completely there and, well, human (or as human as he’d ever been). The kanji on his wrist hurt a little, but otherwise he seemed back to normal. Once he was sure everything was fine, he allowed himself to panic.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” he screamed, throwing his arms around in frustration.

Youou grabbed Watanuki’s shoulder, and led him out of the room, preventing any outburst that he would have directed at Yuuko, and instead getting it directed at himself.

“What did she do to me? What was going on? This is weird and I don’t like it - don’t ever have her do that again! Why did you throw an apple at me? Wait where did you get the fruit from - were you even holding an apple earlier?”

They made it outside again, and Youou finally let go of him, leaving him on the porch as he continued down the stairs to the actual garden.

“Alright, so next-”

“Whoa whoa whoa, what do you mean next? What just happened?” Watanuki stomped his foot and glared down at Youou.

Who glared right back and it was a little disconcerting so Watanuki took a small step back.

“She called you. Regalia have two forms. One is their body, and another is a weapon. You’re a fan. Like me, you’re probably more useful in your body.”

“Why does a god need a weapon? Yuuko-san doesn’t do anything.”

Youou put his hands on his hips. “Ayakashi. We’re weapons against ayakashi.”

“And they can’t find their own weapons because…”

“Because gods need humans, kid.”

“We’re regalia…”

“We were human.”

Were human. Weren’t anymore. Never would be again. May as well have never been.

“We have human hearts,” Youou continued. “And souls and morals. Gods don’t have morals. We give them that.”

Watanuki thought his over as he sat down on the porch, letting his feet hang off the edge.

“Gods don’t have morals?” he asked.

Youou laughed. “You work for the witch and you’re surprised by that information?”

Well, her only guiding principle did seem to be balance and fate and all that. Nothing she ever said was inherently good or bad… It just was. Yuuko
didn’t really have a sense of right or wrong, just a sense of the universe.

“And we’re supposed to provide those morals?” asked Watanuki.

“Yeah. When we do something we know is wrong, it stings our god and then they know that it’s not a good thing to do. Make sense?”

“What do you mean sting?”

“It’s a blight, but on a god. An internal one. If a regalia does something they think is wrong, they start to corrupt and their god gets blighted too.”

“Corrupt? Like an ayakashi?”

“Yeah, a regalia can turn into one if they corrupt themselves from inside.”

“You can just turn into an ayakashi??”

“You’re already a spirit. If you do bad things, you turn into something bad.” Youou spoke so nonchalantly about the whole thing.

“But, but, I yell a lot and complain, which actually isn’t bad, I don’t think, but sometimes I-”

“Slow down, kid. It’s based on your own personal moral compass.”

His own compass? “I don’t understand.”

“So, for someone like me, killing someone to protect another isn’t a problem for me. It’s not going to blight me or sting Tomoyo-hime. If someone like… say,
a few of Sakura-sama’s hoard of regalia were to kill a person, well… They’re a lot sweeter than me, kid.”

“You’re saying that we have to demonstrate right and wrong by being punished for any little mistakes. Isn’t that a little twisted?”

Youou frowned. “That’s a depressing way to put it, but yeah. As long as you don’t do anything out of line with your own values, well, you’ll be fine.”

How was that okay? Why was Youou okay with that?

And, and why hadn’t anyone been telling Watanuki any of this? Was there no orientation? No pamphlets? No ‘Regalia 101’ course? Well, he supposed this sort of counted, but, honestly, shouldn’t he have gotten the run-down way earlier than this? It had been months!

“And little things aren’t the end of the world,” Youou continued. “But if it gets bad enough, you’ll need an ablution.”

“Ablution?” Watanuki repeated the word, and couldn’t help but feel like it was… bad?

“A purification ceremony. An incredibly dangerous one. I have a feeling you won’t need though, so let’s move on.”

Move on? There was already so much to take in and this guy wanted him to just move on?

“But I still have questions abou-”

“We’ve only got the afternoon and then I’m leaving with Tomoyo-hime. Don’t know when I’ll get back. We’re moving on.” As he said this, Youou turned around and walked to the center of the open space in the center of the back garden.

“Come stand next to me,” Youou said, pointing at a spot to his right.

“Yeah okay.” Watanuki pushed himself off the porch and trudged towards Youou.

“First things first, you need to know how to defend yourself,” said Youou, as if it wasn’t already blaringly obvious. “You’re learning a borderline.”

Finally.

“It’s a technique only regalia can do. Not humans, not gods, not anyone else.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, regalia are powerful things, kid.”

“Huh.” Watanuki had really only considered regalia to be second - maybe even third - class citizens of the world. To think they had any sort of power at all…

“When you make a borderline, you’re putting down a boundary that no one can cross unless you say so - no one associated with the far shore, that is. Usually
means ayakashi, but it works on regalia and gods as well if you decide it does.”

“Well wouldn’t that be useful,” muttered Watanuki to himself. “Then maybe I wouldn’t have to have Doumeki around all the time.”

“Hey, pay attention. I’m showing you.” Youou put his right arm out, pointing at the ground with his first two fingers. “A line!” he yelled, flicking his arm, as if drawing a line on the ground with his fingers.

And sure enough, he had drawn a line on the ground. It was shining and blue and felt safe. If a line could feel safe.

“Kekkai?” Watanuki asked.

Youou nodded. “Well, it’s kind of like a protective barrier, sure. But it’s more like a wall, not an enclosed space, so not quite a kekkai. You try.”

Watanuki watched as the borderline shrunk and disappeared. It looked so easy…

He put his index and middle fingers together and pointed down. “A line?” he said, tracing it out on the ground.

Nothing.

“Don’t ask if it’s a line; make it a line. Throw it out there.”

“Oh.”

He tried again. Fingers together. Point. Draw. “A line!” he said more confidently, and imagined physically drawing something on the ground.

As he pointed, a blue line appeared on the ground. A very thick one. It looked and felt good, but completely fizzled out in less than a few seconds.

“Not bad. Strong, but you’re holding back,” Youou said.

Watanuki scoffed. “I wasn’t holding back! I did what I could! Besides, I’m just starting.” Not that he could do much better, he didn’t think.

“Work on that more later. We’re onto the next subject. We’re gonna talk real fighting.”

Wait no. “Real fighting? No, isn’t there more of this… magic-y stuff?” he asked, wiggling his fingers. It’s not like he was going to run off punching ayakashi
anytime soon…

“There’s more, yeah, but it requires a lot of training and most regalia don’t bother with it. I don’t.” Youou paused for a moment. “I think… Yue does? But he’s kind of a weird guy. You could talk to him some time. He’s Yukito’s regalia.”

“I’ll pass.” Watanuki didn’t really think he’d be using this much anyways.

“Okay, then onto fighting.”

“Great.”

Youou took a few steps back from Watanuki and faced him head on.

“Wait, what are you doing?” Watanuki asked hesitantly, fearing that maybe Youou was planning to charge him or something.

But Youou just stood there, sizing him up.

“Quit looking me over like that it’s weird.”

“You’re scrawny.”

“Wow thanks I-”

“Your best bet is evasion.”

“I coulda told you that, it’s ju-”

“We’ll work on that.”

“O-okay?”

Youou frowned for a moment, and put his hands on his hips. “Alright, the thing about regalia is that we don’t technically have real bodies.”

“What?” Watanuki patted himself down for the second time that day to make sure he was still real and solid, and found that yes, in fact, he was as solid as he had been and as real as a regalia might be.

“They’re fabricated vessels for spirits,” Youou clarified - not that the information set Watanuki at ease, per se. “They don’t work the same as a human body. You’re lighter, you’re faster, you’re stronger. You can do stuff humans can’t.”

This whole regalia thing was just making Watanuki more and more uncomfortable. “L-like what?”

“Like jump higher. Run faster. Hit things better, I dunno kid, use your imagination.”

“When will I ever need to jump high?”

“You’re on the street alone at night-” as if that’ll happen- Doumeki’s always there “-and a group of ayakashi surround you. They’re on all sides, so there’s no running. There’s a two-story building next to you. What do you do?”

“Uh…”

“You jump. Trust me, it’ll come in handy.”

“Well, I know how to jump,” Watanuki said, hands folded across his chest. “It’s a pretty simple process, jumping. And running. And punching. And all that.”

Youou laughed. “Alright. If you don’t want to learn, that’s fine.”

“No, I-”

“See that tree right there?” Youou pointed at a very large oak tree.

“Yeah, despite the glasses, I can see.”

“Good. Go climb it.”

“Wha-? Why?”

“Just do it. We’re training.”

Watanuki dropped his shoulders and hung his head as he tromped to the tree.

It took him nearly a half hour to get half-way up the tree. Finding footholds was difficult and reaching for the next branch wasn’t easy when the next branch was too far away and ugh this was taking forever.

“This is taking forever,” he called back down to Youou, who was just standing there and staring up at him with a scowl.

“Then do it differently!” Youou yelled back.

Watanuki groaned and looked at his options for climbing a tree. There was the usual way and… Well, there was the usual way. Unless he took up on Youou’s earlier suggestion of learning how to jump but gods, did Youou see how tall this tree was and what if the branches didn’t hold him?

“No, I’m good,” Watanuki decided. “I-I’m coming down now.”

Youou shook his head and turned around.

Once Watanuki knew Youou wasn’t watching, he looked for a close branch. “Alright, let’s see if I can work this out…” He stood up on his current branch, holding his arms out for balance, took a breath, and jumped.

And missed.

He shrieked as he fell through the branches, but was able to right himself. He landed in a crouch, albeit still shrieking.

“Close enough,” Youou said.

Watanuki decided that jumping around was a bad plan, and that he wasn’t climbing any trees any time soon.

“Look, I don’t see what this has to do with being a regalia.”

“Knowing what you can do, and what you’re capable of, is always important - regalia or no,” was Youou’s answer.
Okay, that was a decent point…

“Whether it’s physical or magical or whatever, you need to figure out what you can do and how to use it.”

“All I do around here is cook. I don’t know if any of these skills will actually help with that…”

“Then get better at cooking.”

“I don’t want to just keep cooking! Not that I don’t enjoy it, in fact it’s fun when I’m not being bossed around by Yuuko-san, but I want to know what I’m
doing and, and-” and help people like the ones I couldn’t save.

“Then don’t keep cooking. Just… Do what you feel is best. That’s the whole point of being a regalia.”

“Youou!” Tomoyo’s voice rang through the garden.

“Time’s up, kid. Keep practicing that stuff and you’ll be fine.”

“Th-thanks, Youou-sensei.”

Youou scoffed at the title. “I’m not your teacher.”

“Thanks, Youou-san, then.”

“Someone had to fill you in on all this. That witch has never been good at straight answers.”

“You can say that again.”

“Youou!” Tomoyo called again.

“Oh Watanuki!” Aaaaand there was Yuuko. “You’re making dinner for our guests!”

“WOULD YOU GIVE ME HALF A SECOND I WAS DOING SOMETHING!” Watanuki yelled back.

Youou laughed. “You’re worse than me.”

~

Dinner was quick and Tomoyo and Youou left soon after.

Watanuki brought out the usual cup of sake for Yuuko (and Mokona) and sat next to her on the porch. “Yuuko-san?”

“Yes, Watanuki?”

“Is it true that regalia are moral compasses?” he asked, still unable to shake that thought.

She looked away and was quiet for a moment. “Yes. That is true.”

“And it’s true that gods don’t have morals?”

She let out a small, humorless laugh. “Partially. Regalia give them more compassion, and a sense of consequence. Without those feelings and restrictions, a god will do as they please.”

“Oh. What about you?” Watanuki couldn’t stop himself from asking, though he wasn’t sure he’d get an answer from her.

“I deal with balance, Watanuki. Balance, equivalency, and fate.” Yeah okay because he hadn’t heard that before. “I only deal in consequence, and I can’t have room for compassion at this point.”

“So, you- you don’t care?”

“That isn’t it, Watanuki,” she assured him, facing him again to meet his gaze. “As I stated, my purpose is to keep balance. I have to be impartial. I do have people I’ve grown to care about.”

“So what’s the point of a regalia if you already care?”

“The problem with gods isn’t that they don’t care about people. It’s that they don’t have a concept of sin. There is no balance to their whims. The regalia are that balance.”

Of course this would be about balance. It always was with Yuuko. Balance and hitsuzen.

Though, he supposed it was good that there was something there keeping the gods in check. Sure, he’d prefer to not be that check, but… Someone had to keep Yuuko in line.

Yuuko gulped back her entire cup of sake then, and let out a long sigh. “Now bring me more sake, Watanuki!”

“As your moral compass, I say that all this drinking is wrong.”

“It is not, now go get some.”

Yeah, who could argue with that logic?

Chapter Text

Watanuki spent the next week or so practicing his borderline. He was able to get a decent one going, but it tended to dissipate quickly. Honestly, it was quite the frustration.

But he would figure it out soon. Anything to shake Doumeki. Watanuki had agreed to cook for the guy, but hadn’t agreed to make him his
chauffeur.

After a particularly unsuccessful afternoon spent trying to get a good borderline working, he decided to pour that frustration into taking care of some dishes.

Ahhh Himawari! The only genuinely nice person he’d met since his unfortunate death a few months back.

He was absorbed in thoughts of sweet, sweet Himawari when suddenly…

“Oi.”

“What the hell do you want can’t you see I am busy?!” Just leave it to Doumeki to ruin his lovely thoughts. Why couldn’t Himawari have been here instead? But nooo she had to go to be out of town on a vacation with her family

“Yuuko-san says she needs you for something.”

Watanuki groaned and dropped the bowl he was holding in the sink. “So she sends me to do all her chores and then she needs me somewhere else tell her to make up her mind!” As he complained, he took his wet gloves off and tossed them on the chair next to him, leaving his apron and headscarf on for when she would inevitably send him right back to work.

“But fine, whatever,” he continued. “Seeing as I do everything for her…” With that, he stomped his way out of the kitchen to find out what Yuuko needed.

Behind him, he heard a “plop” as Doumeki dropped his dirty bowl into the sink. Great.

~

He found Yuuko in the sitting room, wearing a completely different outfit than he’d seen her in earlier. This one was a loosely-tied, red, patterned robe that somehow Watanuki had managed to never have seen before, despite having been here for so long already. Honestly, where did Yuuko even keep all these clothes? She must have had some sort of secret closet he didn’t know about.

Then again, he’d have to clean said secret closet, so there must have been another explanation.

“Yuuko-san I-” he stopped short when he saw that she was with a customer.

She was a high school student, judging by the distinct uniform, about the same age as Himawari. Or even Watanuki himself, not that he knew.

“Watanuki, this is our customer. Her name is Aiko.”

The girl was confused until Watanuki spoke, drawing attention to himself, as he had to do with most all customers.

“Aiko-san, my name is Watanuki.” Of course his name was Watanuki, Yuuko had just said it.

“Watanuki-kun. So, are you Yuuko-sama’s assistant?” she asked. “The one she said would help me?”

“So she told you I’d be doing all the work?” Watanuki turned to Yuuko, who was smiling behind her sleeve. “Listen, I work here, Yuuko-san, but aren’t you supposed to be granting people’s wishes? What do I have to do with this?”

Aiko looked from Watanuki to Yuuko, then back. “Um…”

He couldn’t very well refuse right now though. The girl was spooked, and Watanuki felt like he should do something about it.

Watanuki a seat at the table, next to Yuuko and across from Aiko. He sneered at Yuuko as he walked behind the girl, promising himself that he would complain about this later, and at length.

By the time he sat down, he was composed, and had a gentle smile on his face. This girl didn’t deserve to be yelled at just because Yuuko was a witch.

“Aiko, why don’t you tell Watanuki your story,” Yuuko said, leaning back in her chair. Or rather fainting couch or something, honestly, her décor was gaudy sometimes.

“Of course.” She took a breath, and made eye-contact with Watanuki. “A couple of weeks ago, a few girls at my school started playing a game…It was innocent at first, just a bit of fun, they said, but then it got worse.”

“What game were they playing?” Watanuki asked.

“It’s called Angel-san,” she said, voice grave.

“Angel-san?”

Yuuko answered for her. “It’s no game. It’s a way to contact spirits. Although, without an experienced medium though, it generally doesn’t work.”

And Yuuko wanted him to fix this?

Aiko nodded. “I… I think something did happen though. A lot of the people in my school have started acting strange - doing things they wouldn’t normally do. Bad things.

“There’s also this really bad feeling in the school, all the time now.” At that, she put her arms around her, as if cold. “All I want is to get rid of it. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt…”

She then looked away, done with her explanation, so Watanuki spoke. “We’ll look into it, Aiko-san - I promise,” he assured her.

“However, I will require compensation,” added Yuuko.

She just wouldn’t be Yuuko without claiming a prize for her work.

“Of course!” Aiko said, perking up again. “Anything!”

Yuuko lifted her head and frowned. “That necklace.”

Aiko looked down at her chest and put a hand on the pendant of her necklace. It was gold and silver and an ornate dragon design was carved into it.

“This was a gift from my grandmother…”

“No payment, no service.” Yuuko spoke resolutely.

The girl looked away for a moment, taking a breath, then unhooked the clasp of her necklace. “I just want everyone to be safe again,” she sighed, handing the necklace to Watanuki. “Here.”

Watanuki took the necklace from her, and nodded. “Don’t worry, we’ll fix this.”

Aiko nodded and stood up to leave. Watanuki showed her out of the temple, and she waved goodbye as she headed through the gates.

The moment she was out of sight, Watanuki slid the door closed and turned dramatically to point at Yuuko.

“You can’t just loan me out to random people! I’m pretty sure that’s some sort of abuse! There must be some sort of code against this kind of thing!”

“There’s no code for this sort of thing, Watanuki. You work for me, don’t you?”

“Well yeah but everyone has limits! You heard what she said - it sounds like ayakashi and you know how well I do with those! Yuuko, I can barely create a decent boundary, or anything else, really!”

“You know, Aiko is a friend of Himawari-chan’s, Watanuki. I’m sure if you help her, Himawari-chan would be very grateful.”
Himawari… If this was for Himawari, then, then, well he could do anything for her! She was so sweet and kind and he could just picture it now - her thanking him with a homemade bento and day out and away from Doumeki. Ahhhh she was just so cute!

“Besides,” Yuuko added, drawing Watanuki out of his thoughts, “You promised that girl and you very well can’t go back on that.”

That was another good point.

“Fine, fine, I’ll do it,” he conceded. For Himawari.

“Good. Now go change, your apron and headscarf look ridiculous.”

~

By the time he arrived at the gates of the girl’s school, Watanuki was seething.

It’s not that Watanuki was horribly upset that he had to go investigate - it admittedly made the most sense, considering he could go places without being noticed and all - but why did Doumeki have to come too? In fact, why was Doumeki always with him? No matter where where he went, Yuuko always sent that jerk with him.

Also, the middle of the night? Really? Wasn’t that when the ayakashi were more active? And they were probably going after an ayakashi anyways, so why make it worse?

Then again, Watanuki supposed that was why Doumeki was there. The guy was some sort of renowned exorcist or something like that. Well, renowned among the Far Shore beings. Like gods and spirits and regalia like Watanuki himself. The Near Shore - humans - just knew him as a young priest at the temple of Yuuko-sama.

But no matter how skilled people said he was, Watanuki was not convinced that he was that great. Yuuko could go on and on and on about how important Doumeki was, but Watanuki wasn’t buying it. The guy was obviously a jerk.

Watanuki stomped his foot a few times, then turned around to face Doumeki.

“WHY DO I HAVE TO BE OUT HERE WITH YOU?” he yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

Doumeki only blinked - did this guy ever react to anything? - and sighed. “Calm down. Are we going in or not?” Way to change the subject.

“This doesn’t even make any sense! Doing Yuuko-san’s dirty work in the middle of the night is not what I signed up for! I didn’t ask for any of this! I-”

“What did you think you would get from this?” asked Doumeki.

A surprisingly deep question for someone so stupid.

Watanuki thought about it though. What had he thought this would be? Not this, for sure. What did he think he would get out of agreeing to be a regalia?

A name, was what he decided. He had no sense of self when Yuuko found him that night. There was… nothing… Sure, the promise of a home and people and all that sounded wonderful (despite the promise coming from someone he had just met and already wasn’t terribly fond of), but… Having a place, having a self… That was his deciding factor.

Doumeki didn’t respond. He just turned away and began climbing over the gate. Well fine, bring up an actual topic of conversation and then run off - who cared anyways? Watanuki was only here to be a tool. Watanuki really only existed to be a tool.

But whatever. Moving on. There was something to do.

He scrambled up the side of the gate, following Doumeki into the courtyard.

Somehow, Doumeki had managed to make it look easy. Gods was he just rubbing this all in Watanuki’s face? It wouldn’t be a surprise - he was a jerk,
after all.

When he finally made it over, or rather fell into some bushes, he looked up to see Doumeki staring down at him.

“What are you looking at? Go ahead, make fun of me for falling in the bushes, do your worst!”

That guy was just so aggravating! He couldn’t respond to anything like a normal person! Not that he wanted to be laughed at or anything, but isn’t that what’s supposed to happen?

Doumeki held out a hand for Watanuki to grab, and Watanuki took it, unwillingly.

When he stood up, he was hit by a sudden wave of nausea and a foul smell, coming from the direction of the building, and nearly fell over. He shoved his hands on his face and turned to Doumeki. “Does something smell weird to you?”

Doumeki shook his head. “No, but it feels wrong.”

As a priest, Doumeki was sensitive to the presence of ayakashi, but he couldn’t see them and he never seemed to be physically affected as Watanuki, lucky bastard.

Honestly, no one ever really seemed as physically affected as Watanuki, whether or not they were sensitive to these sorts of things.
Which irked him to no end. Why did he have to be like this? Not even the other regalia had it this bad. Sure, the ayakashi chased all the regalia, but based on what he could tell, Watanuki was the one who had to get physically ill whenever anything weird was around.
And he couldn’t even do anything about it. His boundary lines were weak at best, and it wasn’t like he had much real power.

So of course Yuuko continued to send Doumeki out with him wherever he went. Gods he was the worst. They were both the worst. Honestly, Yuuko was out to ruin his life.

Death.

Whatever.

Either way, she enjoyed this.

“Are you coming or not?”

“Don’t rush me! I’m coming, I’m coming!” Watanuki yelled, though it was slightly muffled due to his pinched nose.

By the time they reached the doors, it was taking everything in Watanuki not to fall over.

“Oi, are you alright?” asked Doumeki from in front of him, almost actually concerned?

Watanuki scowled at the back of Doumeki’s stupid head - why does he care?

“Let’s just get this over with,” he said.

Doumeki shrugged and continued through the suspiciously unlocked doors.

The moment they entered the building, the smell (and the pressure and the nausea) disappeared.

Watanuki took his hands off his face and looked around. “Did you do something?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“The smell is gone. It feels clean…”

Doumeki looked around. “You’re right.”

“I know I’m right, you don’t have to tell me I’m right!” Watanuki yelled, stomping his foot.

“Too loud.”

“TAKE YOUR FINGERS OUT OF YOUR EARS AND LISTEN TO ME, YOU JERK!”

But Doumeki just changed the subject. “You don’t feel anything?”

“Well…” Watanuki closed his eyes and tried to focus on his surroundings. “There’s something along the walls.”

He turned to face the doorway and saw a faint blue light.

“Is it some sort of kekkai?” asked Doumeki.

“No, it doesn’t go all the way around the building. It’s more like a wall.” The realization hit him. “It’s a borderline…”

“Only regalia can do that.”

“Yes, thank you for pointing out the obvious.” Watanuki paused and looked around, trying to get a sense of where exactly the borderline went. “It
feels like some sort of maze.”

“Then let’s follow it.”

“Follow the borderline maze? You don’t know who set this up or why and you just want to follow it?”

“Yeah. Now show me where it goes.”

Watanuki grumbled, but surrendered.

He followed the maze through the building, down half-lit hallways and through darkened classrooms. So long as they stayed within the borderlines, it didn’t feel like there was anything wrong, but the moment Watanuki tried wandering out, the smell hit him like a truck. So he made sure to keep them within the maze.

“We’re not going anywhere,” complained Doumeki after quite a while of walking.

“Well fine then, you lead the way. Oh wait you can’t so quit complaining and - oh this stairwell leads to the roof.”

They’d finally found the end of the maze, and Watanuki was not happy about the final destination.

Watanuki shoved open the also suspiciously unlocked door to the roof to find quite the scene.

A giant, black snake with hundreds of purple eyes.

And a woman. She was tall, and impeccably dressed in a structured dress that showed her cleavage more than strictly necessary, though it did show off the kanji on her chest: Xing. Her dark hair was long and curly and she had two buns on the top of her head.

“Hello,” she said with a predatory smile.

“Uhm, hi?” answered Watanuki without thinking.

“You certainly didn’t fail to disappoint. Though I shouldn’t be surprised,” she laughed. “It’s worked before.”

Before? Has she done this before to others? Wait- done what? And what the hell was that giant snake and why was it bashing its head against a borderline?

Before he could ask about anything, Doumeki turned to him. “What do you see?” he asked. “I see a woman, but you’re looking at something else.”

“Oh, that’s right, you can’t see it,” Watanuki remembered.

Though he didn’t get the chance to explain before the borderline in front of the snake (an ayakashi, no doubt) was released. It thrust its head forward, its body following fast after. Another borderline stopped it though, turning it in another direction. Then another borderline and another and the snake was making its way through the maze towards Watanuki and Doumeki.

“OH GODS IT’S COMING RIGHT AT US GET RID OF IT GET RID OF IT!”

“I can’t see what you’re yelling about,” Doumeki so helpfully reminded him.

“A- A GIANT SNAKE!”

He heard the woman laugh, and watched as she threw down the borderlines left and right. She was using them to direct the snake at them. She- she was trying to kill them! Why?

“I need to get my bow ready. Distract it.”

“DISTRACT IT?”

“Yes. Or trap it, I don’t care. Just hold it off.”

“You want me to hold it off??”

“Yeah.”

“Auuughhhhhh FINE!” Watanuki took a deep breath and put his first two fingers together on both hands.

The woman was still directing the snake at them.

“A LINE!” yelled Watanuki, drawing it with his right hand.

A borderline - a strong one too - appeared right in front of the snake and stopped it. “AHA I DID IT!”

But the line disappeared quick, and the woman had made a path for the snake to go around it anyways.

“A LINE!” Watanuki yelled again, this time drawing it with his left hand. Same deal.

Now this was just annoying.

“Line line line-” Watanuki repeated as he threw down borderlines haphazardly. The woman was placing them down faster though, directing the snake around any lines Watanuki could put down. Flashes of blue flew across the roof, illuminating the fight with eerie shadows from all directions.

“Where?” he heard from next to him.

“Straight ahead!” he said between his cries of line.

Despite focusing on the borderlines, Watanuki could see Doumeki in his peripheral vision. He had his bow out by now, strung and ready. No arrows, as the norm, but as he pulled back on the bowstring, there was a glow of white energy in the shape of one. Watanuki slowed his progress to watch Doumeki - not because he was impressed or anything. He just wanted to know how it worked so that maybe, maybe he could do it sometime (definitely not). Whatever, sure, it was interesting. Not that he’d admit it.

Once enough power had gathered in the bow, Doumeki let it loose.

An arrow went straight into the neck of the snake, right in the center of one of its many eyes. It screeched and disappeared immediately.
Watanuki stopped making borderlines, and fell to his knees in relief.

Doumeki stood there, bow raised again and pulsing with its white light, looking straight at the woman. His expression was almost unreadable, as always.

“Who are you?” demanded Doumeki.

She smirked, and lifted her two fingers. It was as threatening as if she were holding a knife. “I’m Xing Huo. I don’t usually kill humans, but you’ve been especially troublesome a few times, grandson of Haruka.”

“You know who he is? She knows who you are?” Watanuki said, looking back and forth between Doumeki and Xing Huo.

“You’re no better than him,” Xing Huo said, raising her fingers, and sending them in a slice towards Watanuki. Watanuki squeaked, and lifted a line of his own at the last moment. Doumeki also let loose his arrow, and Xing Huo leapt into the air to avoid the bolt. She came down on the edge of the roof, crouching on the corner, and laughing.

“You think your little lines are a match for mine, young one? I’ve been a master since your human grandparents were alive.”

Watanuki frowned, thinking that that didn’t really mean much, since he had no idea when his human grandparents had been alive, or who they were or anything. But, he supposed she had a point.

Xing Huo lifted both her arms, and with two sets of extended fingers, arched glowing blue-white lines at him from either direction. Watanuki saw them coming, but wasn’t quite fast enough, as he sprawled backwards, and felt a sting as the sole of his shoe sliced to his skin. Doumeki fell behind him - Watanuki’s tumbled into him, and it threw off his aim for a third bolt. Watanuki briefly wondered how many of those he could conjure. The arrow of Doumeki’s pure soul energy went wild, and shattered into sparks on the edge of the roof wall.

“Idiot!” Doumeki snapped, and he shoved Watanuki behind him. Watanuki surged forward against the shove, growling, but in time to block another slice.

“Stop! She’s too fast, and you can’t block those!”

“Neither can you!” Doumeki said, his voice more raised than Watanuki usually heard from him. Still, what he said was true, to a point, but it didn’t
mean Watanuki had to like it.

Xing Huo was advancing, and forgoing the arguing, Watanuki and Doumeki exchanged a glance, and then they were running - away, across the roof top. But there was only so far to go, and Xing Huo was a regalia. She jumped ahead of them, and Doumeki swerved. Watanuki had to grab hold of him to stop himself from falling, and then something that Youou had said floated through his mind.

If you’re cornered, and there’s nowhere else to go, try looking up. Or, well, in this case, down. Xing Huo was a regalia, and could jump and leap, but so was Watanuki. Theoretically, he could do that too.

“Hold on to me,” he ordered Doumeki, tossing Doumeki’s arm around his shoulders, and gripping his waist tightly. Doumeki made a startled noise, and then, because something in Watanuki believed he could do it, however weird and awful it was, he leapt.

Xing Huo was surprised, and took a moment to come after them, which was good because he screamed the whole way down, and Doumeki clung to him far too tight for his taste. They landed on the lower roof of the school, not really further than a athletic human could jump, which somehow made it better. Then Xing Huo was in front of them again. Damn, she was good at that.

She landed in a crouch on a chain link fence pole, one of the kind that surrounded a building’s electrical machines. Without a visible decision, she sent a line through the box, and had it sparking. It crackled, and then to their horror, lit aflame. She stood up, and gave them a look.

“You took care of the ayakashi responsible for those poor/children’s misadventures in the spirit world, but you won’t be able to stop what has already begun. The pieces are in place, and you can’t stop it.” Her words were firm and menacing, and she looked like a demon with the fire beginning to burn acrid underneath her. Then, she leapt away, and vanished across the city skyline.

The flames were rising, and Watanuki didn’t think the two of them could put them out. What could burn up here that quickly?

“We need to leave,” Doumeki said, stepping closer to Watanuki again. He hadn’t realized that Doumeki had let go when they landed. Watanuki jolted, and looked at the other boy, before nodding.

“Oh, r-right,” he stammered, and gripped Doumeki’s side again, before leaping down. On the ground, and panting, Doumeki let out a hiss of breath.

“Dammit.” Doumeki spoke quietly, but angrily.

“It’s not that big of deal, you know, she got away but we were able to get rid of the ayakashi so everything is fine for right now, right?” Watanuki gulped, and looked up at the school, from which smoke was already starting to pour. “Ah, I mean, the building’s on fire. We should probably do something about that…”

“Let’s go.” Doumeki turned and led the way off the street, and into an alley.

“You’re not going to call the fire department?” Watanuki demanded, before running after him. Doumeki jerked his thumb, towards the bystanders already pouring out of buildings across the street, far on the other side. They were too far to see him or Doumeki. Well, Doumeki.

“They’ll do it. Let’s go.”

The walk home was short and silent. Which was fortunate because Doumeki’s silence was more awkward than annoying this time.

~

They’d each gone to bed immediately after they got home - it had been quite a night - so Watanuki spoke with Yuuko the next morning over an odd breakfast of cold soba noodles (because why pay attention to the time of day or anything when it comes to food and why not mess up dinner plans by having it for breakfast?).

“You’re thinking,” Yuuko said after slurping down noodles in a distinctly ungodly manner. She pointed to his face with her chopsticks and twirled them around a bit. “Your brow’s all crinkled up and you’re frowning.”

“I am not frowning!” He was. “I was just wondering what happened last night…”

“You got rid of the spirit at the school. You helped that girl. That’s all there is to it.”

“But it wasn’t real,” he reminded her. “There was no Angel-san…”

“No,” Yuuko confirmed. “There wasn’t. But there was something and that girl thought it was Angel-san.”

“But…” It just didn’t make sense. The ayakashi. The woman. Why was she there? What was she doing? Why was she trying to kill them?

“You’re wondering about that woman, aren’t you?”

Watanuki nodded.

Yuuko finished the rest of her noodles before responding. “To answer your true question, yes, it was all a trap, not that Aiko knew.”

“Did you know?”

“I suspected.”

“Then why did you send us?”

Yuuko sighed. “To grant that girl’s wish.”

“Her wish wasn’t real though,” he reminded her. “There was no Angel-san…”

“The girl wanted her school to be safe, Watanuki. It’s safe now.”

“It is not! When I left, it was most definitely on fire!”

Yuuko lifted the old square tv remote from seemingly nowhere, and clicked it on, right to the news story of the day, which was the school miraculously saved when bystanders noticed a fire, and stopped it before it could get too big. Watanuki looked at the screen with his eyes wide, before rolling them. Of course.

“I’m bound to grant the wishes of those who pay, Watanuki.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t have a say in this. You’re a god - can’t you do whatever you want?”

She laughed. “One day you’ll figure this out, I’m sure.”

And with that annoyingly vague and incredibly unhelpful statement, she left the room with a bottle of sake.

Chapter Text

Summer came, and Yuuko, for some ungodly reason (well, he supposed it was a godly reason, the most godly it could be, being a god) decided to have a party. A gigantic party, with tons of people coming, and if that wasn’t enough, she told him this… twenty-seven hours before the guests were supposed to arrive.

After a brief panic attack, Watanuki dragged Doumeki to the store to stock up on everything.

“No, I didn’t buy any more alcohol,” Watanuki told Yuuko some time later, coming into the kitchen, where he’d probably be spending the night, arms full of groceries.

She pouted. A grown woman - a god - pouted.

“How else am I supposed to have a party if there’s not enough alcohol?” She was leaning on the wall, whining to him, and
Watanuki really couldn’t be bothered right now, not when his brain was full to the brim of recipes.

“Honestly, now you’re just being ridiculous,” he said, setting the bags down on the table, and grabbing his apron to tie around his waist, a silly one he’d found in the drawers, with an angry cat on the front.

“How so, Watanuki?”

Watanuki scoffed, and turned around to count off on his fingers. “Well, firstly, you have plenty of alcohol. Secondly, I can’t buy anything myself, and I’m sure as hell not stealing anything, and Doumeki and Himawari-chan” -he swooned inside-
“are minors. There’s no one else here aside from other regalia, Yuuko-san. Buy. Your own. Alcohol.”

Yuuko just waved her hand at him and turned her nose up. “Doesn’t matter, someone else is bringing more anyways. But we’ll really going to need to work on a solution for that. I need someone here in the temple who can buy the alcohol.”

Watanuki seethed. “I have a very simple solution. You buy it yourself. Or get a new priest! Someone to replace that Doumeki.” He seethed more. Yuuko leveled him with a look, suddenly serious.

“Don’t downplay Doumeki’s assets to this temple, Watanuki. Or his value to you.”

Someone saves your life two times and suddenly you’re indebted to him what kind of a horrible life (death) was this anyways?

“But he is the worst! He’s such a jerk!”

“Is he now?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t really think that.”

“I do! He’s--”

“Get back to the kitchen. Party’s tomorrow afternoon, Watanuki. Can’t have the hors d’oeuvres arriving later than the guests, now can we?”

Watanuki did have to concede that point. If he couldn’t get all this ready in time, he would be a disgrace to… to himself, he supposed. He had more pride than this.

“Fine. Now get out of my kitchen, I need to cook!”

_____________________________

Cooking had taken the whole night, even with the assistance of Maru and Moro (and no assistance at all from, who was Doumeki tasting things he shouldn’t because you can eat later after the party and there’s leftovers in the fridge anyways why must you always insist on eating whatever I’m cooking in the middle of me cooking it now go away before this sauce burns are you even listening to me hey put that back!). Yuuko had suggested a okonomiyaki bar that he would man through the entire party, but Watanuki vetoed that idea immediately. Sure, less preparation, but if all the gods ate as much as Yuuko, well, he’d never have a moment to himself. And besides, it’s not like they had some sort of outdoor grill or stovetop or something that he could use to set that up.

No, Watanuki managed to put his foot down this time (not that he didn’t ever put his foot down, it’s just that Yuuko tended to move it somewhere less stable and he’d just sort of fall over and end up doing what she wanted anyways). The most he could really do at such short notice were appetizers. He considered making some sort of theme, but honestly, he did not have time for that.Yuuko never gave Watanuki enough time. She always wanted things right then and there and now and Watanuki why isn’t my food done I’m starving!

Now he just had a mashup of random foods he and others enjoyed. He had a variety of onigiri stuffed with salmon, umeboshi, or tempura, which he placed on three separate platters in a spiral design because it just looked better that way. There were mini-quiches on a tiered platter, and they’d turned out rather well for his first time making them. He made gyoza, yakitori, some sushi, stuffed mushrooms, and a rather large assortment of wagashi.

And even inarizushi - Doumeki’s favorite, not that he’d be there or anything but he may as well put some aside for the guy.

It took far, far too long, but when he looked at the spread… Well, he couldn’t help but be a little impressed with himself.
Maru and Moro put up the decorations and disappeared somewhere in the temple before the guests came in, allowing Watanuki to put the finishing touches on his presentation, though it took him longer than he would have appreciated.

He was still bringing out trays when guests started arriving at about four in the afternoon. It was actually a little weird - they just sort of started showing up in the backyard, not through the actual entrance of the temple. Apparently gods just sort of travelled through or from heaven, and Yuuko’s little gazebo was a convenient little pathway there.

Soon the garden was full of gods and regalia alike. No humans here today - so no Himawari, which was incredibly depressing. But that also meant no Doumeki, so he wouldn’t allow himself to complain all that much.

He set down the last platter of wagashi when he realized that they had no dishes for the guests. Yuuko had said she would take care of that. That one thing. She said she would do one thing. He knew it was too good to be true.

“Yuuko-san!” he yelled across the party. “Yuuko-san!”

She turned to face him, but didn’t seem terribly interested.

“Yuuko-san! Yuuko-san! You said there would be dishes out for these!” He should have known she would skip out. Why did he think she would do anything?

Yuuko just waved at him and turned back around to talk to whomever she was talking to - it didn’t matter. “I can’t do everything around here! Oh, who am I kidding, I’m just Yuuko-san’s personal slave…” Watanuki slammed the tray onto the table in a clearish spot,and began setting things out in a huff. “Dammit, I spend the whole morning cooking and cleaning, and she can’t even make sure I have everything, I mean she-”

There was a boy he’d never met in front of the table giving him an odd look. He was maybe about Watanuki’s age (as if he knew), but nearly a head shorter. He had scruffy brown hair and wide brown eyes.

Watanuki put on a calm demeanor - first impressions and all that - and took a breath. “Sorry about that! I wasn’t trying to be rude, it’s just…”

The boy smiled, thankfully. “It’s okay,” he said. “You made all this?” The kid seemed impressed.

“Yeah, well, give me a full day or two and I can do much better.” Watanuki frowned at the food the boy was pointing at.

Sure it was good (okay it was very good), but it could have been better. That was the problem with Yuuko’s last minute requests she threw on him - he didn’t get to really show off.

The kid looked at him, and now Watanuki knew he was impressed. “You’re very talented.”

Watanuki blushed. “It’s more of a hobby than anything else,” he said, brushing off the compliment.

“How did you learn to cook so well?”

Frowning again, he sought an answer. There wasn’t one. He was simply good at cooking. Maybe he’d taken lessons or his parents had taught him or maybe he learned it himself - he didn’t know. “Must have been something I liked before,” he
said quietly.

“Oh.” the boy looked ashamed of the question. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up.”

Not that it was his fault - it was a legitimate question. And for all the kid knew, he had been a regalia much longer and had learned after… death.

Watanuki smiled brightly and waved his hand. “Oh, no, no, it’s fine! Honestly, isn’t it better than having to relearn every skill?” He laughed. “We’re all in the same boat, aren’t we?” he asked.

“Right” The kid bowed his head slightly. “I’m Syaoran,by the way. Regalia to Sakura-sama.”

Watanuki bowed back - well it was more like a nod. “I’m Watanuki. One of Yuuko-san’s. Which you probably guessed.
How’s Sakura-sama?”

Syaoran blushed pink. “She’s very kind. I’m lucky to have been found by her.”

Watanuki knew Yuuko would immediately counter that, and maybe she was rubbing off on him, but that description felt off to him. He shrugged. “Or hitsuzen, I suppose.”

“Hitsuzen…” Syaoran repeated.

Watanuki supposed it wasn’t the most common of expressions, so just to be sure, he explained. “It means inevitability. Or fate. Or well, that’s what Yuuko-san is always saying.”

Whether or not Watanuki believed in hitsuzen though… well, there were some things that just couldn’t be explained any other way.

Syaoran smiled. “It did seem like that.”

Hasn’t even met Yuuko and he’s already sold on her.

Syaoran continued. “I woke up in the bottom of some sort of quarry, and when I climbed up, she helped me out. Some of the other regalia say they were on their own for a long time before Sakura-sama or their previous gods found them, so I’m glad I wasn’t alone for too long.”

Watanuki was too. Between being chased by every being with malicious intent within a ten mile radius, and his bad eyesight… He’d have been dead (again) within a half hour, at most.

”I know I wouldn’t have lasted long on my own,” Watanuki said, looking troubled. “As much as I hate to admit it, I still wouldn’t now. I’ve been around for a few months, and I only /just/ started learning about borderlines, and everything.”

Syaoran looked impressed. “You’ve been with Yuuko-sama longer than I have. I only got found a few weeks ago.”

Watanuki huffed, and put a hand on his hip. “Well then,” Watanuki said, looking amused. “Then I can tell Yuuko I’ve got some tenure.” Watanuki had thought he was the sole new person around here. Everyone else had been around so long. Gods and regalia, never aging, always existing… He supposed one day he’d be like that, but… it just seemed weird.
Then again, it was kind of nice to know he wasn’t the newest person at the party.

“Yeah,” Syaoran chuckled. “Maybe you can help me with borderlines. I haven’t been able to get one to form at all-”

Only a week and he’s learning borderlines? Suspicions were confirmed: Yuuko was torturing him or something.

“You’re kidding me!” Watanuki threw his hands into the air, startling Syaoran. “You know how long it took me to have anyone even tell me what one was? Months - months!

Syaoran blinked and leaned back a bit. “R-Really? “Isn’t that dangerous? Why weren’t you taught sooner?”

That certainly was the question though. “Yuuko-san… Yuuko-san can be frustrating,” Watanuki said, crossing his hands in front of his chest. “She tends to ‘allow’ me to learn from experience.” Not his favorite method, but it drove the lessons home. Admittedly, learning this way was helping, though it was rather annoying, so he wasn’t going to stop complaining about it any time soon.

“Sorry,” Syaoran flushed. “I shouldn’t have assumed that all gods did things the same way-”

Watanuki hadn’t meant to make Syaoran feel uncomfortable, and waved his arms around, trying to dissipate the awkwardness.

“Oh, no no, don’t worry!” Watanuki let out an awkward laugh, “Why don’t you tell me about Sakura-sama? What’s she like? She seems nice.”

Syaoran blinked at the abrupt change, and nodded. “Y-yes, she’s very nice.” He thought of his goddess, and smiled a little.

“She’s kind and caring towards everyone she meets, and she’s taken care of me, even though I’m new, and-”

Watanuki had started grinning, sure now that Syaoran held a little flame for his new goddess. Syaoran cut off, and looked at Watanuki.

“Ahhhh, I see...” Watanuki said, “Do you think she’s pretty then?”

Syaoran immediately started shaking his head, blushing red hot. “Ah, No, it’s not- I didn’t, I mean, yes, of course… Uhh…”
Watanuki couldn’t help but smile at that, thinking of a certain girl with pigtails. He laughed.

“Sorry, Syaoran, I didn’t mean to-” he suddenly realized that the god in question had made her way over here, and was suddenly within hearing distance. “Ahhh! Hello, Sakura-sama, I hope you’re enjoying your time here!”

Sakura moved to stand right beside her regalia, and was beaming at him. She had bright green eyes and an even brighter demeanor. Her ginger hair flew about her and bobbed as she walked towards them. She had an aura about her more similar to Tomoyo than Yuuko - one that signified her as a god, but a much less ancient and rule-bound one than Yuuko.

“Thank you! Yes, I’m having a great time,” she said, smiling at him. “I don’t think I’ve met you though?”

Watanuki nodded his head in greeting. “I’m Watanuki, Yuuko-san’s newest regalia.”

Sakura brightened even more, if that were possible. “Of course! It’s your food I’ve been enjoying, isn’t it! You’ve got incredible skill.”

Watanuki felt his face flush. “Thank you,” he said, warming to her even more. She smiled, and then turned to Syaoran.

“I hope you’re also enjoying yourself, Syaoran!”

Syaoran was still blushing, and off his footing, but he had the presence of mind to nod.

“Uh-, y-yes, Sakura-sama…”

“Please, Syaoran, I told you to call me Sakura. I don’t like being so formal with my regalia,” Sakura said, dimming a little bit.

“Of course, Sakura-s-... Sakura.”

Sakura brightened right up again, before she turned to Watanuki again.

“So how are you settling in here? You’ve only been with Yuuko-san a few months, right?”

Watanuki nodded, and rubbed the back of his head. “As well as I could, I suppose.” He laughed awkwardly. “Though it seems every time I think I’ve learned something, something else happens to prove it wrong, ah ha…”

Sakura looked sympathetic, and nodded. “I suppose you could say that that’s the only true way to learn. Learning by error ensures that the right way to do things sticks with us.”

It was odd to hear something like that come out of someone so young. But, then again, he supposed Sakura wasn’t all that young. She certainly wasn’t as old as Yuuko, he could tell, but still. He reminded himself that this was a god he was talking to, not just some high school girl.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Watanuki caught a sight of the tall blond he’d seen bouncing around the party coming closer to them. The man was all smiles and levity and something about him just put Watanuki off.

“Ahh, Sakura-chan, here’s where you ran off to. Is this Syaoran-kun?” he asked, stopping in front of Syaoran.

Syaoran had taken a step back from the blond, and looked rather startled.

Sakura spoke for him though. “Yes!” She nudged Syaoran with her shoulder. “Syaoran, this is Fai-san, a god of mischief. He just traveled here, right?”

Watanuki side-eyed the man, unsure what to think of him.

Fai nodded, with a laugh. “From far to far away to talk about. Long trips can be so boring. But, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Syaoran-kun,” Fai said, holding his hand out towards Syaoran. He winked at Sakura as he did so. “He is cute!”

Yes, Watanuki did not like this Fai.

“Uh-” Syaoran stammered lifting his hand awkwardly and blushing at Fai’s comment.

Fai put his hand down. “No handshakes, I forget. It’s all the rage in the west.” he said brightly, never dropping the smile.

“Ah,” Syaoran said. In Syaoran’s defense, it was a distinctly foreign gesture, compared to where Sakura was apparently
from.

Fai then turned to Watanuki. “And this must be the talented, Watanuki-kun, yes?” he said.

Watanuki looked the man over, and probably frowned. “Sure.”

“Hm,” Fai said, tilting his head. “Yuuko-san hadn’t told me about her new regalia. You know she hasn’t taken one on in centuries.”

“And why would Yuuko-san be immediately telling you about every little change in her life?” Watanuki asked.

Fai laughed.“We’re old drinking friends, of course! I brought the alcohol for the party!”
Of course. So this was who Yuuko had been talking about last night.

“Great,” Watanuki deadpanned. “I’m gonna go replenish the onigiri.” And then, remembering to not be totally rude, he turned to Sakura and Syaoran, and smiled. “It was a pleasure to meet you both.”

He left Fai to Sakura and Syaoran, but made a mental note to at least talk to Syaoran again later.

He went through the sitting room on his way into the temple and in there he found Doumeki putting away a game of mahjong.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” asked Watanuki, more than a little annoyed.

Doumeki looked up at him, freckled face impassive. “I live here, moron.”

“I am not a moron! I meant why are you here now!” he clarified. “I thought Yuuko said this was a gods and regalia party only - no… humans or whatever.”

Doumeki shifted slightly. “Yeah. Kunogi had plans with a friend, so I came back here.”

“To play mahjong by yourself?”

“With Mokona and the girls.”

“They play mahjong?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you’re being a nuisance.”

“A nuisance?” Doumeki repeated. “At my own home? Besides, I’m not the one stomping around the temple everywhere I
go.”

“I do not stomp!” insisted Watanuki, despite full-well knowing that, yeah, maybe he does stomp.

“Mhm, sure.” Doumeki turned back to the mahjong tiles he was putting away.

Watanuki sat down across the table from him and picked up a couple of the tiles, inspecting them. “I don’t remember how to play it.”

“You never knew then,” said Doumeki, as if it was perfectly obvious. “Probably didn’t have the patience to learn.”

Watanuki huffed. “I have plenty of patience! I have to deal with the likes of you, don’t I?”

“Well, you deal with Yuuko-sama. You’re patient enough.”

“I-”

“Deep down.”

“Oh thanks, I-”

“Very deep down.”

“And now you’re just being cruel. Gods, you’re the worst!” Watanuki tossed the tiles aside and stood up to leave.

Doumeki leaned back and looked up at Watanuki.

Watanuki scrunched his face up in a scowl. “What’s with the stare?”

“I could teach you some time,” was all Doumeki said before going back to organizing the pile.

As if Watanuki would take him up on that offer.

“No thank you,” Watanuki said, turning to leave the room, but he stopped in the doorway. “Oh, I- I made extra inarizushi. In case they all got eaten,” he muttered. “It’s in a container in the fridge labelled umeboshi. I didn’t want Yuuko-san or Mokona to eat it, and I- I didn’t want you eating mine.”

Before Doumeki could comment, Watanuki retreated to the kitchen. The sound of clacking tiles faded as he made his way through the temple. If Doumeki wanted to sit around stacking tiles, well, whatever. Watanuki had other things to do.

In the kitchen he found Mokona, drinking an entire bottle of sake itself, that greedy little whatsit.

“Hey, hey, hey what are you doing??”

“Drinking, Watanuki, what does it look like?”

“It looks like you’re drinking the sake meant for the guests.” Watanuki picked the thing up by its ears. Honestly, he really didn’t know where all that alcohol even went. Maybe it was powered by alcohol.

“Watanuki is a stick in the mud. Mokona wants to have fun too!” it yelled, squirming

Watanuki dropped it on the table and frowned. “Have fun somewhere else.”

The thing hopped on his shoulder and decided, “I’ll have fun right here!”

“No.” He tossed the thing aside. “Enjoy your sake.”

Grumbling the whole time, Watanuki grabbed two trays of onigiri from the counter and headed back out. Doumeki was no longer in the sitting room, thank gods, so the trip back was uninterrupted by stupid jerks and fuzz balls.

On his way out of the temple, trays still in hand, he saw Youou milling about around the food, and decided to talk to him and thank him for all the help. After chatting for a little while, and running into Fai again, Watanuki hurried back to the kitchen to retrieve more drinks. He felt a little bad leaving Youou-san alone with Fai, but Watanuki couldn’t stand that guy, and glancing back, he thought Youou didn’t look too annoyed. Or more annoyed than he usually looked? Ah, whatever.

Watanuki went into the temple, but as he entered, he heard sounds of cupboards opening and closing. It was Syaoran, who’d apparently been dragged into a hide and seek game with Maru and Moro. Watanuki rescued him, and then he’d volunteered to help with cleaning the kitchen. Watanuki got the impression that the other kid was upset, and overwhelmed a bit by the party out there. Not that he blamed him; the guests were loud, Yuuko was ridiculous, and it looked like Syaoran’s god Sakura was having fun all on her own, leaving Syaoran feeling a little abandoned.

Finally, as they were carrying out more bottles of wine and other alcohol (another point against Fai was that he’d brought a seemingly unlimited supply of the damn stuff), Syaoran brought up what was really bugging him.

“Um, I’m sorry to bring this up again… uh…” Syaoran said, quietly. “Yuuko-san said that I- that regalia don’t remember their past, so that they can start over… but I don’t really understand.”

Watanuki stopped walking, and looked at his feel. It was something that bothered him as well, honestly. His whole life, completely erased.

“My friend said that regalia are spirits that linger with unfinished business,” Watanuki decided to say. “I don’t understand it either. It just doesn’t make any sense… If a spirit has something it wants to do, why would the universe just… The whole point of staying is wasted - may as well have moved on anyways…” Yeah, because that wasn’t depressing at all. “Then again, that’s easier if you don’t remember, right?” He looked back up at Syaoran, a pained smile on his face.

Syaoran looked tense. “That makes sense, I suppose… But- but why does it have to happen? Why do we have to forget?” he asked, as if Watanuki had any answers at all. “If we have unfinished business, why can’t we know what it is?”

Watanuki wanted to comfort him and give him the answers, but he didn’t have any. “I don’t know. I just wonder…” He looked down at his wrist. The kanji was hidden under a sleeve, but he knew where it was. Had memorized it. “We’re not human,” he muttered to himself. And they weren’t. Why remember a human life if you’re not a person anymore?

Watanuki came to his senses again, and turned back to Syaoran. Who looked a kicked puppy. Oh gods, the kid had been here for a week and here was Watanuki throwing all this on him and he had to smooth this over - was there any smoothing this over?

“We were once though,” he assured the boy, though he really was unsure of it himself. “And hey, it’s not like we’re alone or anything, right? I guess I’m just… I’m really not the best person to ask - I haven’t really been here much longer than you… And there are reasons for everything.” So he’d been told.

But Syaoran still looked like he was about to curl up, so Watanuki quickly set the bottles aside on a table in the hallway, knocking one over in the process. It broke on the floor, and he cringed. It was a less expensive one though, so it wasn’t the end of the world, but damn he’d have to replace that and clean it up and get an earful and-

Syaoran was more important right now, not the sake.

Watanuki put an arm around Syaoran and patted his shoulder, lightly, as he was unsure how the boy felt about hugs or contact of any sort, and really, was this even helping?

Syaoran still held the sake tight - at least he wouldn’t be dropping anything - though he seemed to maybe relax? Watanuki wasn’t sure.

“Thank you,” Syaoran said, but really, Watanuki’s answers (“answers”) were nothing to be thankful for. “For answering me clearly.”

Hah. Clearly. The boy was describing his answers as clear. Then again, he supposed when compared to someone like Yuuko… he tried to be straightforward, at least.

Watanuki pulled back then, still feeling kind of awful. In fact, he felt he might have exacerbated the problem.

“Sorry if I upset you, that wasn’t my intention or anything,” he told Syaoran. “I need to take this sake out still, but if you want to talk again later or another time or something…” Actually, maybe Watanuki wouldn’t be the person Syaoran would want to talk to after this little experience. “Well, at any rate, it’s still nice to meet someone in the same situation, you know?” Meet someone in general, really.

Syaoran gave Watanuki what was probably supposed to be a smile, but wasn’t. “It’s okay. You were just being honest, and I appreciate that.” He took a breath then. “I would like to talk about it more, but… let me think about what you said.”

Burning bridges left and right.

“I’d like to talk again sometime as well.” Watanuki gathered the bottles of alcohol - stopping a moment to frown at the broken one on the ground - he’d have to take care of that later - and smiled again. “We’ll start a support group,” he joked.

Syaoran laughed - oh thank gods. “Yeah, why not?”

“I’ll bring snacks!” Watanuki said with a nervous laugh of his own, as he made his way down the hall again. “Just tell me your favorite food and I’ll make it - I swear.”

Syaoran let out another small laugh as he followed. “I haven’t tried all that much, but I really liked the meal we had the other night. I think it was called chicken ka.. ka… I’m not sure what Chiharu-san said it was called.”

Watanuki slid the door open and blinked in the sunlight. “Hmm… ka… karaage? Kat...su? Katsudon? You know, I think there’s a chicken katsu curry too. I haven’t tried making a curry like that yet - well, that I know - so I could try doing that if you want…” What sake would go best with something like that? Ah, gods, he was not making this for Yuuko! Or maybe he would, it didn’t sound half-bad, he would just need to buy-

“You don’t have to make me anything, I’m fine!” Syaoran said suddenly, bringing Watanuki out of his thoughts. “Besides, you already made all this food out here. You’re too kind.”

Ha.

Watanuki shrugged. “I really do like to cook,” he said. “And it makes me happy to see people enjoying my food.” He paused. “Assuming I made it well. Sometimes I get-”

Augh that blond was at the drinks table. And somehow Youou was there too. Oh, wait.

“Hey Syaoran, you see that tall, scary guy by the alcohol?”

Syaoran looked over and nodded. “Yes.”

“That’s Youou-san,” he told the boy. “A few weeks ago, he visited the temple with his god, Tomoyo-sama, and he taught me a bunch of stuff about regalia and all that. Maybe you should talk to him?” And maybe save him from whatever terrible conversation was likely happening between him and the blond.

Syaoran nodded. “Thank you, Watanuki, I think will.”

Watanuki then remembered his “training session” with Youou, and briefly wondered if maybe Youou wouldn’t appreciate Watanuki just sending people to learn from him, but he’d done a good job. Syaoran deserved someone who could answer his questions. He led Syaoran over to Youou, and tried to ignore Fai’s ridiculous stories and banter (though he did get roped into trying a taste of alcohol- not to his liking) and then he made the excuse of clean up. He sent Syaoran a smile as he left, though, glad he’d met him and made a friend, at least. He hoped he’d see him again.

He busied himself with making sure the food didn’t run out (gods sure ate a lot for beings that didn’t need to actually eat) and keeping tabs on the younger regalia. Though, technically, most of the “younger” regalia were probably older than him?

Weird.

After a while, the sun went down and nearly everyone got drunk. They ate all the food - such gluttony, for the people humanity literally prayed to - and drank all the alcohol Watanuki bothered to bring out and gods this was awful.

At around midnight, everyone started staggering out through the gazebo that apparently led to… heaven or something, Watanuki really didn’t know, and he was left with a mess he was not looking forward to cleaning the next day.

He trudged inside, with at least one handful of trash, though there was a million more handfuls outside, and went into the kitchen to dump it out. Yuuko was passed out somewhere, and he hadn’t seen any of the other inhabitants of the temple in ages- Ahh!

Watanuki startled, and dropped his armful as the fridge door opened in the dark of the kitchen, the light revealing Doumeki, of course. He was reaching into the fridge, munching on something already, and argh did he have to be around all the time?

“What the hell are you doing!” Watanuki exclaimed, flailing around. Doumeki turned around, and lifted an eyebrow, cheek puffed out with whatever he was eating. Something that Watanuki had slaved over, no doubt!

“You said I could have the inarizushi,” he said, mild in the wake of Watanuki’s yell. Watanuki took a breath, lifted a finger and then recalled what he’d said.

“Ugh, that doesn’t mean you get to come in here, and sneak it! Why didn’t you have some earlier?”

Doumeki shrugged.

“Party over?” he asked, and Watanuki slumped, putting both hands to his forehead.

“Oh my gods, yes, finally. Everyone’s gone home, I think. I haven’t slept in two days, and-“ he moved his hand from his head, to lift a finger, keeping his eyes closed. “yes, I know I don’t technically need to, or whatever, but I am TIRED, okay?”

“Okay,” Doumeki said, swallowing his bite. The opened the fridge again, to grab a bottle of cold tea. He held it out to Watanuki, and got himself another one. Watanuki blinked, and then took it. He hadn’t even realized those were in there.

“Thanks,” he said, taken aback. He undid the lid and took a swallow, and across the dimly lit kitchen, Doumeki did the same. The light from the still open fridge flashed across Doumeki’s gold wristband. “You know- I never noticed…”

Doumeki lowered his bottle, lifting an eyebrow.

“Noticed what?”

Watanuki felt himself go red, and he frowned and took a deep drink of his tea. It was cold and hit the spot completely.

“Nothing! I was just thinking… your grandfather must have liked that watch, because it’s nice.”

Doumeki looked at his watch, and from this distance, Watanuki could make out the crane along the edge of the face, and the tiny ticking hands.

“Mhm,” Doumeki replied, sparsely. Watanuki huffed, and drained half the tea, before shoving past Doumeki and putting it back in the fridge.

“Whatever, don’t respond to a compliment, see if I care…” he muttered, moving away. Gods, he needed to go to bed. Doumeki didn’t say anything further, and Watanuki fell onto his futon with the entire crowd of party guests against the backs of his eyes when he closed them.

Chapter Text

True to expectations, Yuuko had a hangover the next morning. Also true to expectations, Watanuki had to retrieve some obscure remedy from some medicine cabinet that was oh I don’t know Watanuki, it’s somewhere just find it my head is splitting open.

He looked through every bathroom to find the damn stuff, and still couldn’t find it until he remembered Yuuko had her own bathroom connected to her bedroom. Slowly, Watanuki slid the door open, almost expecting some sort of spell to eat him for entering. Nothing did though, so he ran quickly and silently through the room, not looking at anything in case it… stole his soul? Agh, he didn’t know, but it wouldn’t be anything good.

At any rate, he found the remedy in her medicine cabinet, and ran out of the room, all but slamming the door shut behind him. He allowed himself to shiver once, then made a show of stomping back out to the sitting room where Yuuko was sprawled over her couch.

“Yuuko-san!” he yelled as he entered, full-well knowing it would only exacerbate her headache, “I found your dumb hangover cure!”

“Watanuki, you’re too loud,” she whined, holding her hand up and wiggling her fingers. “Just give it to me.”

Watanuki groaned, and continued his stomping. “I’m just saying this is your own fault. If you didn’t drink so much-”

“Don’t stomp. Headache.”

Wait. That wasn’t Yuuko’s voice.

Suddenly, Watanuki’s foot caught on something on the ground, and he fell flat on his face. The hangover cure went flying through the air as he fell, but he heard Yuuko catch it - she wasn’t even looking, how did she do that?

Watanuki rolled over onto his side and caught sight of what he had tripped over.

A man.

Not just any man too; it was the blond from the party the day before.

“You.”

“Me?”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” he yelled, scrambling back to his feet.

Fai, who had apparently been lying face-down on the floor half-covered by the table, put his hands over his ears and hmphed.

“I’m not allowed to stay the night at an old friend’s? My, how times have changed,” he slurred, squirming out from under the table. “Yuuko-san, your new regalia is being inhospitable.”

“I AM NOT! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO TRIPPED ME!”

“You’re the one who didn’t look to see where you were going,” Fai sang drowsily from the floor.

Watanuki turned to Yuuko, almost expecting her to defend him, then remembering it was Yuuko and she’d probably just join him. It looked like she was throwing back a shot, and Watanuki almost chided her for it, but then he saw that it was just her stupid cure-all.

“Well generally there aren’t bums laying on the floor of the temple!”

Fai ignored him, and rubbed his face into the carpet.

“Yuuko-san… let me have some medicine,” he moaned.

Yuuko stood up from her couch and stretched, apparently relieved of any and all hangover symptoms. “I’m afraid that was the last of it, Fai. Besides, I’d have to charge you for it.”

“Won’t even share hangover cures with someone, gods she’s cheap,” Watanuki muttered to himself.

“I heard that,” said Yuuko, pointedly.

Fai mumbled into the ground, and then pushed himself up with an arched back and limp limbs. He looked like… an overgrown cat. Which was the last thing Watanuki needed.

“Mhhh but I have a headache,” he complained. He was on his hands and knees, and sent Yuuko a look from the side. “I brought you all that
alcohol and this is how you repay me?”

Yuuko raised her eyebrow and gave him an odd look. “I’m already paying you for that, Fai. And you didn’t bring nearly enough alcohol to compensate for both that, and sending my errand-boy out to buy more medicine instead of cooking me breakfast.”

Watanuki fumed. “Hey, who said I was cooking you breakfast! I already made breakfast, but you slept in!”

“Oh? What did you make? Who did you make it for?” She gasped. “Ah, did you make breakfast for Doumeki?”

“NO! I made it for me! Doumeki ate some too, but that was coincidental!” The only thing he had made for Doumeki that day was his bento, and he was already making one for Himawari anyways, so making one for Doumeki wasn’t a stretch or anything.

Yuuko pouted. “Well. Go on back to the kitchen and make some more. I’ll even be generous and let you decide what to make.” Yeah, sure, generous is the word. “Take Fai with you, some movement will do him good.”

“Wha-? If I am making breakfast, I am making it alone!”

Which was how Watanuki ended up in the kitchen making French toast with a certain blond.

Fai sat on one of the tall stools at the island, and distracted Watanuki from cooking with inane questions he probably knew the answers to, and entirely too much pep for someone who had just been laying face down under a table.

“I thought you had a headache,” Watanuki reminded him crossly, cutting off Fai’s musings about the best bread to use in French toast, and whether or not Watanuki was doing it right.

“...you could use French bread, the matching names are nice - what was that, Watanuki-kun? Did you need help flipping the bread?”

“No, I don’t ne- I’m not even putting the bread on the griddle yet! And it’s brioche. Brioche is the best bread for French toast,” he explained, setting aside the mix and raiding the pantry. “But we only have this and it’s getting stale so I may as well - hey don’t just put spices in there willy-nilly!”

Fai paused, having dropped almost too much cinnamon.

“Did we not want cinnamon in there?” he asked, and he almost could have passed as innocent, but Watanuki saw right through it.

“Yes, we want cinnamon in there, but dammit I am not having you put that mu- hey put the nutmeg away I already put plenty in there!” He grabbed the bowl from Fai, and put it next to the griddle that was almost hot enough, then ran off to search the fridge for butter.

When he turned around, Fai was dashing more nutmeg into the mix.

“Hey hey hey what did I just tell you?” Watanuki gestured back to the abandoned stool. “Would you just sit down and stop touching things!?”

Fai stole a crust off a slice of bread, and looked at him innocently.

Watanuki scowled. “How long are you going to be here?”

Fai swallowed hard, and looked pensive.

“Well, I suppose as long as my payment lasts,” he said softly. It was an abrupt shift in mood, and Watanuki blinked as he dropped a slice of bread in the mixture.

So that must have been what Yuuko meant when she said she was paying him. The question though…

“And you’re staying here because…?” he began, hoping Fai would finish the sentence, but knowing he wouldn’t get an answer.
There was a beat of silence, filled by the sizzling of the of the first piece of toast that Watanuki plopped onto the griddle.

“Well,” Fai began, and Watanuki almost thought he might actually say something, “it’s partly the rumors I heard about her regalia’s wonderful cooking.”

He smiled coyly, and Watanuki narrowed his eyes at him.

“Sure.”

Fai watched the bread cook with a mild - so fake - smile on his lips. Fai’s mania had given way to an odd stillness, and Watanuki realized what was going on.

The guy was clearly hiding from something. He just showed up out of the blue, alcohol in tow, and says he’s staying as long as he can? Gods he was so obvious.

“Yuuko-san’s temple is a safe place,” he said after a moment, flipping the toast. “I’m sure you know that though.”

Fai looked at him, eyes a little wide. Then he smiled a little, and it was slightly less fake.

“I know.” Then he shook himself, and grinned. “Plus, from the smell of it, you are a magnificent cook, and I want to try it!”

Watanuki scoffed, and brushed him away. “Gods, you’re as bad as Doumeki.”

~

“Fai trails after him like a little duckling!” Mokona yelled from the porch.

“A duckling, a duckling!” sang Maru.

“A duckling, a duckling!” echoed Moro.

“I am not a duck!” Watanuki yelled back at them.

And then from behind him, Fai made himself known with a small quack and a large, manic grin.

“WOULD YOU GET OFF MY BACK?!”

The whole rest of the morning and into the afternoon had been spent cleaning the yard, which was beyond messy. Honestly, these were temple grounds - who leaves it in such disarray?

Gods, that’s who. It’s like they were desecrating their own temple. Empty alcohol bottles here and there, trash from who knows what, cups and plates and napkins and chopsticks and oh look someone left their shoes. Tables and chairs were all disorganized, decorations were hanging on by a thread… Watanuki was glad he had stayed away from the alcohol at the party, considering the mess.

But between him, Maru and Moro, and Fai, they were making headway.

Then again, Fai was pretty much incompetent. He really was trailing after him like a duck. Watanuki gave him tasks, but he just kept coming back. Like a dog with a tennis ball.

One minute it was, “Watanuki-kun, what do I do with this trash?” and the next it was, “Look at this bottle I found, isn’t it interesting, Watanuki-kun?” and then finally Watanuki lost his nerve at, “Watanuki-kun, come take a break with me, I found some leftover sake~!”

“IT IS THREE IN THE AFTERNOON I AM NOT DRINKING SAKE WITH YOU!” Watanuki yelled, throwing down his broom next to the porch. “We are almost done and then you can go back to drinking your troubles away by yourself, but right now, either help me, or don’t!”

Fai saluted sharply, standing at an exaggerated attention.

“Yes, Watanuki-sama!”

Watanuki scoffed and rolled his eyes, then went back to cleaning. They were nearly done, making decent time considering what a slacker Fai was, and it was almost a relief when Doumeki came home, and wasn’t that an alarming thought!

But, of course, that bastard probably timed his coming home when it was almost finished.

“Great, great, show up just in time to take the trash-bags out and some cups in. Thanks for the help, Doumeki!” he yelled when he saw
Doumeki step out onto the porch. “Meanwhile, I’ve spent all day cleaning with this idiot! I certainly hope your day was good, because mine has been a disaster!”

Yuuko snickered, and Watanuki turned to her next and pointed at her dramatically. “And you! No more parties, I swear on all that is holy!”

“Why would I have to clean from a party I wasn’t invited to?” Doumeki asked, dropping his school bag on the porch and taking a seat on the step next to where Watanuki was standing.

“Wha-, well, you live here, don’t you?” Watanuki retorted.

Doumeki just shrugged.

“Ohhh, is that the Doumeki you’ve been talking about?” Fai grinned, elbowing Watanuki.

Watanuki blushed and stammered. “You- He- I have not been talking about him!” he insisted, elbowing Fai right back. And really, he only mentioned him three times, at maximum, and that was it. “If I was talking about him, it was only complaints!”

Doumeki stared blankly, and the rest of the crowd grinned. Gods, they were all the worst.

Yuuko was giggling, but she suddenly quieted. “Ah. We have a customer,” she said as she stood up, exuding all the poise she lacked only moments before, and turned towards the side of the temple.

Everyone followed her gaze, where a child peeked around the corner and into the back yard. It was a little boy, maybe three or four years old, and he was red-faced and wide-eyed.

Watanuki immediately dropped his frown, and relaxed his fists, hoping to look less like a lunatic to this kid. Children could almost always see gods and regalia, an Watanuki didn’t want to scare him away.

“Oh, hello,” he said to the boy, smiling. “Did you come here with your parents?”

The boy’s eyes filled with tears. His lips wobbled, and then, “I can’t find my mama!” he began to wail.

Fai, who apparently had some sort of distaste for children, winced a little and turned to Yuuko.

“This is a customer?” he asked her. “He’s just a child.”

“I don’t have an age limit on wishes, Fai,” Yuuko told him sharply.

“What sort of payment do you even take from a kid?” asked Watanuki, part of him not wanting to know.
Yuuko crossed her arms across her chest. “I won’t be taking any payment.”

“Wait, but you-”

“Fai, you take this one.”

Fai blinked, startled and oddly pale.

“Wha-?” He trailed off. Then he swallowed, and bent down to the boy’s level. “Well then. Looks like I’m going to help you, little one. Where are
your parents?”

The boy sobbed. “I d-don’t knooooowww!!”

Fai looked up behind his shoulder helplessly.

Watanuki held back a laugh at Fai’s expense - serves him right.

Then again, the kid was lost and now he was supposed to just let Fai handle it? Didn’t really sound like the best idea.

“Hey, don’t worry,” Watanuki assured the little boy. “We’ll find your mom. Now what’s your name?”

The boy sniffed, and put a finger in his mouth. “H-Hiro,” he said shyly.

“Hiro-chan?” he repeated. “I’m Watanuki. That’s Fai-san. We’re going to get you back home, okay?”

The boy nodded, and Watanuki turned to Fai.

Fai blinked. “What?”

Watanuki elbowed him. “Well this is your wish!”

“Ah, yes, well then…” Fai took a breath. “Where do you live, Hiro-chan?”

“Near the beach,” the kid said.

Ah dammit, the beach was nowhere near them. He must be on vacation.

“So you’re staying at a hotel,” Watanuki said.

Hiro nodded.

Doumeki hopped down from the porch step he’d been sitting on - gods, who invited him? - and loomed over the kid.

“Do you know which way you came from?” he asked, butting in but hey at least he was engaged, unlike the actual wish-recipient who couldn’t be bothered to do anything.

The boy pointed back towards the gate of the temple, which was in no way helpful.

Watanuki removed his apron and headscarf, and sighed.

“Alright, let’s go,” he said, taking the boy’s hand and leading him out of the temple and back to the sidewalk, Doumeki and Fai trailing after him.

Fai strolled behind, smiling like an idiot, and Doumeki kept pace with Watanuki, saying nothing.

“Fai-san, I hope you know that I am not doing this whole thing for you!” he yelled back at the blond, who quickened his pace, but did not drop the smile.

“Of course not, Watanuki-kun!”

Watanuki grumbled, and stopped when they reached the sidewalk.

“Okay, Hiro-chan, what were you doing before you came here?” he asked the kid, trying not to glare in the direction of the less-than-desirable company.

“Mama wanted to go somewhere, and I wasn’t listening,” he said bashfully and unhelpfully.

“Do you know where she wanted to go?”

Hiro shook his head. Great.

Why didn’t Yuuko take this wish? Gods, she’d probably have divined the phone number of the hotel and had the kid back home in no time, but
she gave the wish to Fai, who was apparently the most incompetent god he’d ever met. Not that he’d met terribly many, but still.

Fai finally stepped forward.

“I think I have a little something that will help, Hiro-chan,” he said, kneeling. The boy looked nervous, but Fai smiled that far-too charming smile and he fell for it. “Now, close your eyes for me, alright?”

Hiro nodded, and scrunched his eyes closed. Fai gently held the boy’s chin with one hand, and pointed his first two fingers together with the other, like he was going to make a borderline.

But hadn’t Watanuki been told that borderlines were only a regalia thing? Or maybe Fai was doing some other sort of magic. A borderline wouldn’t do much good here anyways, Watanuki figured.

Fai put his pointed fingers in front of the bridge of the boy’s nose and held them there.

“Hiro-chan, could you think about your parents for a moment?” Fai asked, and Hiro hummed agreement. “Good, okay, just a moment.”

Then, Fai touched his fingers to Hiro’s forehead, held it there for a few beats too long, and then pulled away. A trace of purple smoke came away with it, then dissipated quickly in the breeze.

“What did you ju-”

Fai stood up then, and stretched. “Okay, left,” he said, and began walking.

Watanuki took the boy’s hand again, turning him around to follow Fai, then looked to Doumeki, who just shrugged. All that guy ever did was shrug.

After some uncomfortable silence, Watanuki caught up to Fai, and asked again. “Fai-san, what did you do?”

Fai’s ever-present smile was gone again, and like in the kitchen, Watanuki got the impression that he was extremely troubled by something.

“It’s a tracking spell,” he explained. “A simple one. If you have enough connection to someone, and some power, you can find where they are - roughly - in any given moment. There are guards against it, of course, but for a child to reach out for his parents, it’s easy enough.”

“Oh.” Seemed straightforward enough. Watanuki was quiet for a moment, trying to keep up with Fai’s pace, but not forcing the kid to run too fast and making sure Doumeki was still behind him.

But the silence irked him.

“Hey, is that some sort of god-power or something?” he asked. “I know regalia make borderlines, and, well, Doumeki exorcises ayakashi, so he’s got some power there, so… do gods just have more power for real spells and stuff? Do you do a lot of spells?”

Fai glanced behind at Doumeki, and then at the kid in between him and Watanuki.

“Magic isn’t specific to gods or regalia or humans, or even ayakashi. It’s something in the soul, in every living thing. There’s a power in all of us, it’s just more evident in gods or regalia. Talent and affinity changes how much you can use and how effectively, but… really it is just a talent,” Fai explained.

Watanuki raised his eyebrows. “So it doesn’t matter what you are?”

Fai shrugged. “Not really, though of course gods have more power available to them.”

“Huh. So anyone can do it…” he trailed off, and looked over at Doumeki. “So this guy is just doing magic when he makes his little arrows? The same way that I do borderlines and you… track things or whatever else you do.” It was an interesting concept, to say the least. Suddenly Fai didn’t seem so much of an intruder, but maybe someone who might answer his questions…

“Do you do a lot of magic, Fai-san? Yuuko does some, but it’s usually for wishes.”

“Oh, you know, a little here. A little there,” Fai said, abruptly changing tacks. He then pointed to a building across the street. “Here we are!”
Watanuki frowned. Maybe he wasn’t all that helpful.

“Hiro-chan, is this the hotel you were staying at?”

The kid nodded. Oh thank gods.

The parents were at the front desk, apparently in a heated argument with hotel staff, but when the kid yelled after them, they came running.

“Fai-san, don’t you, I don’t know, need a price or something from the kid?” Watanuki asked as they hung back and watched Doumeki take the credit for bringing the kid back. He wondered what sort of story he came up with.

Fai shrugged. “I deal in five yen coins,” he said. Didn’t Yuuko say something about that being bad? Inequivalent? “But that child didn’t even know he was wishing.” He watched as the parents shook Doumeki’s hand, and handed him something, even though Doumeki was shaking his head over and over again. “It will work out.”

It generally did, whether for better or worse or just… the same.

Doumeki came back over, and held out a small wad of cash to Fai.

“This is yours.”

Watanuki blinked. “They gave you that? Why are you giving it to him?”

Fai smiled, and flipped through the money, handing most of it back to Doumeki.

“Why did you give it back?”

Fai only smiled, but Doumeki counted through the money that he had.

“We should go grocery shopping,” he said to Watanuki, and tucked the money into his wallet.

“Hey, why are you pocketing it, hm? You didn’t even do anything!” Doumeki raised and eyebrow and Watanuki huffed. “But… I guess I do need a few things for dinner,” he decided.

“Make okonomiyaki.”

“Don’t just demand things from me! I am cooking, I decide!”

Fai clapped his hands. “Ahhh Watanuki-kun, okonomiyaki sounds wonderful! I’ll help!”

“The hell you will!”

~

After dinner, Yuuko and Fai excused themselves to the porch, and Watanuki was left with Doumeki in the kitchen as he finished cooking dessert.

“So your exorcisms are just magic,” Watanuki taunted, as if that was something to taunt about. It wasn’t, really, but whatever.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“So really anyone can do it.”

“No. There’s more to exorcisms than just that.”

“So you’re not that special or anything.”

Doumeki shrugged and chewed his food. Loudly.

Watanuki finished with dessert, then went to get Yuuko and Fai. When he neared the porch, however, he heard some conversation through the
walls.

“You know you can’t stay here forever, Fai,” Yuuko was saying, and Fai winced.

“Surely the payment lasts a little longer than a night and a meal…”

“It does,” she agreed. “But I want you to be ready, for what you will decide when the time comes.”

Watanuki cleared his throat before he slid the door open, announcing his presence.

“Ah, Yuuko-san, Fai-san, I’ve got dessert ready. Along with that sake you requested,” he said softly, not really wanting to intrude on what
seemed to have been a serious conversation.

Fai brightened, and leapt up from the side of the porch.

“Oh, wonderful! After that dinner, I am very much looking forward to your desserts, Watanuki-kun!” He rushed through the sliding screen, leaving Watanuki and Yuuko alone outside.

Yuuko still looked solemn as she watched Fai retreat back into the temple.

“Yuuko-san, what is he hiding from?” he asked quietly, not really expecting much of an answer.

Yuuko stood regally and moved towards the screen.

“That child has been betrayed many times… and there are many things he’s hiding from.”
Watanuki was surprised he got that much, and knew he wouldn’t be getting much more, so he moved on.

“Wait, child? How old are you people?”

Yuuko only smiled cryptically, and demanded the biggest piece of dessert, that glutton.