Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

How did it come to this? Fumikado was supposed to be a fully-fledged vessel by now, aiding Lord Masakado in his conquest of Mugenri, or if not that, at least in his rule over Devanagara. But instead, they were in debt, and now their subordinates had forced them to beg Yago for help. Why did they let them do that again…?

Oh right, because of the debt.

This particular chain of events started because the middle Shitodo had come to remind them of a payment deadline.

“Your deadline’s coming up soon, so pay up or else! …Is what Kuro-jii told me to tell you while I was out.” In contrast to the threatening contents of their message, the red-headed Shitodo just looked bored.

“Well can you tell them to wait just a bit longer?!” Iyozane asked. “We don’t have the money right now!”

“I can, but I’m not sure they’ll listen.”

“So they would defy even the New Emperor?” Fumikado had tried to sound ominous, but Tsugumi pretty much ruined it.

“They’ve been defyin’ you. And yer not the Emperor.” Then, as if their comment hadn’t been utterly disrespectful, Tsugumi immediately moved on. “What’s with the pizza smell anyway?”

“You know what pizza is?” Iyozane asked.

“Don’ look down on me.”

“I should be saying that to you guys,” Hooaka said. “They make pizza here?”

“It was introduced to Devanagara by an outsider a few decades ago, or so I’ve heard,” Iyozane explained.

“I see.” Hooaka didn’t seem too interested in the answer, despite being the one to ask.

“Now that we’ve told you why we know what pizza is, you have to tell us why you smell like pizza!” Fumikado wanted to take this chance to regain control of the conversation, of course. But more than anything, the pizza smell was really driving them nuts now that Tsugumi pointed it out!

“They prolly just ate it earlier or somethin’,” Tsugumi said.

“Actually, I didn’t.”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“What now?”

“You see, I had to get a new arm a while back. Apparently the ingredients are the same as pizza, so it ended up like this,” Hooaka explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Fumikado wasn’t any stranger to the wonders of alchemy, but using pizza ingredients?

“Could you go into some more detail…?” Iyozane asked.

“Go ask Tsubakura. They’re the one that grew it after all.”

“They’re an alchemist?! I thought they were a priest!” Fumikado just knew Tsubakura as one of those lazy priests that blatantly admitted to only ever doing their job when they were forced to, but maybe there was something to respect about them after all~

“You see, that’s why it’s so surprising that you know about pizza! Alchemist is such an old word.”

“What would you call it then?!” Fumikado’s grandfather was an alchemist, and Fumikado’s own body was the result of alchemy, so they couldn’t take that insult standing down.

“A scientist.” Oh right. Someone who thought alchemy was a thing of the past would use that word instead. “Though they’re probably still on that whole ‘I don’t actually believe in science’ thing.”

“Huh?”

“There’s a lot to unpack with that,” Iyozane commented.

“Anyway, I gotta get going.” Hooaka started walking towards the door. “Don’t forget about the money! Or else!”

And thus the relatively easy-going atmosphere that had somehow built up over the course of the conversation was shattered in a single sentence.

“T-There’s gotta be a way out of this, right?” Iyozane had immediately started panicking again. “Maybe we could go somewhere far away and take out a loan while we wait for that appraiser to give us the money…”

As much as it pained Fumikado, they had given permission for Iyozane to sell off the Taira clan’s treasures. But even after months of waiting, the appraiser still hadn’t gotten back to them about payment yet.

“Nah nah, loan sharks are bad news. What about that god Fumi-san knows?” Tsugumi suggested.

Fumikado froze up. They didn’t want to ask Yago for help. They couldn’t. Not after they already made such a big deal about becoming independent. “I-I’m sure we don’t need to do that…”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?” Iyozane pleaded to Fumikado with their eyes.

“Um…” Fumikado scrambled for an excuse. “Don’t you guys know anybody?”

“It’d be pretty suspicious for Devanagara’s emperor to be handing money over to a wanted criminal, wouldn’t it?” Iyozane pointed out. Damn it, that was a good point! But surely Tsugumi…

“I can’t help y’all either.”

“DAMN IIIT!!!” Fumikado dropped to their knees and punched the ground. There really was no other choice, was there?

The next few seconds were painful. Fumikado could feel their subordinates looking down on them, both figuratively and literally.

“...Could it be that you have a more serious reason for not wanting to ask Yago for help?” Iyozane asked.

“It would bring great damage to my dignity.”

“So in other words, yer embarrassed.”

“Of course it’s something like that…”

In the end, sacrificing their pride turned out to be the least humiliating option. Not to mention, the most strategically sound. So they resolved to ask Yago for help.

On the way however, Fumikado got lost, got told off for getting lost, and got badgered into asking a stranger for directions. So their resolve was pretty weak by the time they actually got there.

Despite being a god, Yago didn’t live in a grand shrine befitting of their status. Instead, their living space consisted only of a workshop, a lobby, a storage room, and a mini-shrine outside. Though, they did apparently have a larger shrine dedicated to them, which they would stay at as needed.

Although the lobby was on the smaller side, it was still big enough to comfortably walk around the single low table, at which Fumikado currently sat. Iyozane was sitting on their right side, Tsugumi was sitting on their left, and Yago was sitting straight across from them.

“So, what kinda trouble did’ja get yourself into this time?” Yago asked.

“Very straight to the point…” Iyozane noted.

“How can you be so sure I got myself in trouble?” Fumikado hastily defended. They were in trouble but… It wasn’t nice of Yago to immediately assume that!

“You’re right, I shouldn’t make assumptions. So, what brings you over here?” Yago asked.

Iyozane and Tsugumi stared at Fumikado.

“Well, um…” The words got caught in Fumikado’s throat, and their subordinates’ stares weren’t helping at all.

“So you got’cherself in trouble again after all.” Yago sighed. And they looked so disappointed too.

“It’s just a little financial trouble, that’s all.”

“Fumikado-san, it’s not a little.” Iyozane glared at Fumikado, as if accusing them. Meanwhile, Tsugumi rolled their eyes.

“I just don’t want Yago-sama to worry about us that much, okay?!”

“The entire reason we’re here is to get them to worry about us!”

“Can’t we downplay it though…?”

“What good will that do us?!”

“It’s a matter of dignity!”

“I thought we were throwing that away when we came here!!!”

Before Fumikado could scramble together a rebuttal, Yago cut through the argument with an authority only a god could yield.

“Quiet down y’all.”

They didn’t have to yell. All it took was a change in demeanor to command the room into silence. There was no trace of the easy-going god Fumikado was used to.

Unable to break the silence, Fumikado exchanged looks with both Iyozane and Tsugumi. Clearly they felt the pressure too. If they managed to bring out this side of Yago, maybe they really did screw up in some way. It wasn’t their fault, but… No, it was totally their fault. And they let their emotions get the better of them before a god too. It wasn’t like this was their first time, but the stakes were much higher now.

“Have y’all calmed down now?” Yago asked in their normal voice.

Fumikado and Iyozane nodded.

“Good. Now, I’ll help you out, but only if you ask properly.”

Fumikado took a deep breath. “Will you help us repay our debt?”

“Now that’s more like it~” Yago grinned.

“So… Will you?” Iyozane asked.

“Well, I have been needin’ some helping hands ‘round here. How’s about I give you three some jobs?”

“A job…?” Fumikado hadn’t expected to have to work for their money. That’s just not what emperors did.

“I don’t have the money to be handing it out for free after all.”

“But don’t you sell weapons? That has to be lucrative,” Iyozane pointed out.

“I don’t think it’s right to charge for somethin’ like that. I do charge for delivery though.”

“Huh…”

“But how do ya get all the ore and stuff then?” Tsugumi asked.

“Like I said, I charge for delivery. Sometimes I go minin’ for it myself when I need a change o’ pace though.”

That didn’t seem to make Iyozane and Tsugumi any less confused.

“That’s just what they’re like,” Fumikado sympathized.

“You’re not exactly one to talk.”

Fumikado chose to ignore Iyozane’s comment.

“So, what’ll it be?” Yago asked.

It was either this or trying to beg for help from the capital of all places. Even if it was Iyozane’s family running things, they were still enemies. Fumikado didn’t want to let them have any leverage. “It’s not like we have any other options. We’ll do it.”

“Great! Y'all can start tomorrow.”

“We’re saved~!” Iyozane exclaimed. “Thank you so much Yago-sama!”

“Hold on a minute,” Tsugumi interrupted. “How much are ya payin’ us?”

“It’ll depend, but… Maybe 10,000 yen for each day ya work?”

“10,000 for each o’ us, right?”

“Of course.”

Tsugumi nodded in approval. Meanwhile, Iyozane seemed to be tearing up.

“Is that good?” Fumikado asked.

“We’ll have money to spare after the reaper is through with us~” Iyozane cheered.

“That’s awesome! Maybe we can move back to the mansion and you can rehire some of the staff!” Fumikado added.

“That means y’all stop freeloadin’ off o’ me, right?”

“Hey… We pay for our own groceries, don’t we?” Iyozane defended.

“Y’all’re still crowdin’ up the place y’know.”

“Seriously Fumikiddo, tell me things sooner next time…”

Fumikado happily ignored Yago’s request as they started daydreaming about the things they could do now that they weren’t going to be in debt anymore.

Chapter Text

Shockingly, Iyozane and Tsugumi actually remembered the way to Yago’s house despite only going there once. It actually made Fumikado a little jealous… But why did they need to be jealous? They knew how to get there too. Sort of. Their subordinates were just impressive for getting it right after one trip.

After letting Fumikado’s group inside, Yago led them to the storage room. It was by far the biggest room in the complex (if Yago’s house was big enough to be considered that). In the center, there were containers of various sizes. Next to those containers was a square box the height of Fumikado’s knees. Yago stood behind the box.

“Today y’all’ll be putting some right-handed swords into those containers,” Yago pointed at the containers “, then putting those containers into this here box.” Yago patted the box.

“Ain’t all swords used in your right hand?” Tsugumi asked.

“Not in the capital. For some reason, everyone that lives there uses their left hand instead,” Fumikado explained. “And it doesn’t just end at swords.”

“I actually used to think it was weird to use your right hand for things like eating and writing, but ever since I left the capital, I’ve been doing just that,” Iyozane added. “I didn’t even realize it at first.”

“Funny thing ‘bout that. This order’s actually for the capital,” Yago said.

“Wait, really?! Did they all start using their right hands for things all of a sudden?” Fumikado asked.

“Apparently.” Yago shrugged. “It’s causing quite a ruckus o’er there. Guess that supply I gave them for foreign invasions some decades ago fell into disrepair.”

“Did Mitori start enforcing their way of doing things onto the army or something…?” Iyozane asked, seemingly to no one.

Could emperors do that? Maybe. It sounded pretty cool. Something about that didn’t feel right to Fumikado though, and they soon remembered why. “Didn’t they hold their bow in their right hand during our fight? Normally you’re supposed to use it in your left out here.”

“Oh right, they did… I thought they just fixed that habit or something. What’s going on?” Iyozane looked as confused as Fumikado felt.

“Y’know ya can’t actually fix handedness, right?” Yago said.

“I see…” Without another word, Iyozane grabbed a sword and began packing it into a container. That was Fumikado’s cue to start doing the same, and Tsugumi soon followed.

It was frustratingly boring. The only way Fumikado could cope with it was by reminding themself it was to build up funds. The next few days continued pretty much the same, and the frustrating boredom slowly became less frustrating. It was still boring though.

After that, Yago made them all take a couple days off. If they had anything to do, it would’ve been convenient, but as it was, Fumikado just felt like they were wasting time they could’ve been spending working towards rebuilding their funds. They would’ve forced the issue, but neither Iyozane nor Tsugumi would go with them when they asked. So they decided to just spend their days off running through battle exercises.

Actually, did Yago force them to take time off on purpose to make sure they still had time for training? That was pretty smart.

When their time off was finally up, Fumikado anticipated another boring day. That notion was shattered as soon as Yago asked them to stay behind in the lobby for a moment, but even then they were just expecting it to be a boring day with a hiccup thrown in. No wait, maybe Yago wanted to compliment them personally for doing a good job! They braced themself for a mild scolding regardless.

“How do ya feel about O-Chou?”

This… wasn’t going to be a boring day, was it?

Fumikado’s mind went blank. Every thought felt like wading through mud.

“You’ve talked to them I take it?”

“Yeah. You sure screwed up, didn't ya?”

It was a fact. There was nothing to argue with. But why now? “Why are we talking about this?”

“Well, O-Chou told me that after givin’ their life for you, you tossed ‘em aside because they weren’t useful anymore. I wanna hear your side o’ things.”

“...It’s just as you say.”

Yago raised an eyebrow. “And there's nothin’ else to it?”

Fumikado began to give the question thought, but all it did was make them uneasy. “Why does it matter? It still ended the same.”

“You’re both in this world now, ain’t ya? That means y’all can make amends.”

Something stirred inside of Fumikado. It was such a wonderful thought. Too wonderful. They quickly squashed it before it got out of control. “There’s no way they would ever agree to that.”

“They told me they couldn’t bring themself to kill ya last time y’all fought.”

Then it stirred again. “...I noticed it too.”

“Surely y’all could get along again someday then, right?”

Back then, Fumikado felt both happy and frustrated at Chouki’s hesitancy. It was obvious why they were happy, but as for that frustration… It was really depressing and annoying to think about so Fumikado wasn’t going to. Right now, they could just remember it as something happy and take Yago’s hopeful words to heart. But there was still a big problem. “How do I make them stop hating me?”

“An apology would be a good start.”

“An apology huh…” Fumikado didn’t remember exactly what they said to Chouki, just that they had an outburst and dismissed Chouki the day after. Even remembering that much was enough to make them cringe.

Maybe they could come up with their apology next time they saw Chouki. That worked.

“Give it some thought, okay?”

Fumikado nodded.

“That’s pretty much all I wanted to say. You can head back to work now if ya want.”

Fumikado gladly took Yago’s offer. When they walked into the storage room, they were immediately barraged by questions.

“What’d’ja do this time?”

“We don’t have to redo anything, do we?”

Fumikado’s lingering unease melted into an ordinary frustration. “It wasn’t even work-related!”

“Good. Means I don’t gotta care,” Tsugumi said.

“Why did you even ask then?”

“If it’s not work-related, then it’s probably something personal, right?” Iyozane pointed out. “Tsugumi probably doesn’t want to pry.”

Fumikado didn’t want to talk about it anyway, so they didn’t argue. They just joined their subordinates in packing. How many boxes had they all filled by now exactly?

Chapter Text

The next day, when Fumikado and their subordinates arrived at work, Yago was sitting in the lobby rather than their forge. Next to them was a short-sword and a familiar looking dagger. Was it… No, it was just a coincidence.

“What brings you out here?” Fumikado asked.

“Just waitin’ on someone,” Yago explained. They looked at Fumikado. “You should wait out here with me actually.”

“For a pick-up, right? Are you going to ask us to handle stuff like this in the future?” Iyozane guessed.

“Oh, that’s a good idea… You gotta smart subordinate on yer hands, Fumikiddo.”

Iyozane smiled brightly. “Well, I try~”

Meanwhile however, Tsugumi eyed Yago suspiciously. “So if ya didn’t wanna show us how to deal with customers, why’d’ja want us out here?”

“Actually, I only want Fumikiddo out here. The rest o’ y’all are free to work.”

Iyozane and Tsugumi looked at each other with questioning looks on their faces.

“I’m getting a special guest~?” Going along with this job was the best idea Fumikado ever had. Before, people were just making fun of them, but now, they were finally getting the respect they deserved.

“Yep! You remember what we talked about yesterday, right?”

“Wait… You don’t mean…?” Fumikado’s elated mood was gone in an instant. They weren’t supposed to see them again this soon.

“What are you two talking about exactly?” Iyozane asked.

But before anyone could answer that question, the door opened. Chouki began glaring at Yago so quickly that anyone could be forgiven for thinking they floated in with the expression. “What are they doing hERE?”

Fumikado looked back and forth between Yago and Chouki. Yago had a satisfied look on their face, while Chouki was utterly bewildered. Fumikado felt some solidarity in Chouki’s bewilderment, if nothing else. But before they could figure out how to phrase that solidarity, Yago pointed at them and spoke. “Fumikiddo here has something they wanna say to you.”

“You dO?!”

“I do???”

“I told ya to give it some thought, didn’t I?”

Even for a god, Yago had some audacity to ask that like it was a rhetorical question. Fumikado jerked their head towards them. “I didn’t expect to be seeing them the next day!”

“I’m right hERE, and I didn’t expect to see you eithER! Care to explain yourSELF, Yago-saMA?”

“Well, you two clearly still care about each other, so I wanted to give you guys the chance to talk things out,” Yago explained.

“wHAT?” Chouki’s shikigami made it almost impossible to read the tone of their voice, but their exasperated expression made the deadpan intent very clear.

“That’s sweet an’ all, but I feel like this’s the kinda thing that needs a warnin’,” Tsugumi commented.

“And maybe some more time too,” Iyozane added.

“Last time I tried givin’ it time, both parties died before I knew it. I guess it’s less risky since Fumikiddo and O-Chou aren’t humans anymore, but still.”

“You still should’ve warned mE.”

“I wasn’t sure if y’all’d agree to meet if I asked, so…“

Tsugumi sighed. “This’s still a really bad idea.”

“I guess we’ll be here on damage control duty…” Iyozane lamented.

“You’ll still pay me if they die, right?”

“Surely they wouldn't die like this, would they…?”

“Of course I wouldn’t!” Fumikado shouted. They didn’t need their subordinates doubting them on top of everything else.

“It would be anticlimactic to vanquish you here regardlESS.”

Tsugumi and Iyozane both sighed, relieved.

“I already said I wouldn’t die!”

“Let’s get back on topic,” Yago interjected. Then they began speaking in a tone Fumikado hadn’t heard since the last time they were in a juvenile body. “Fumikiddo, you regret what happened, don’t you?”

Chouki must’ve recognized the tone too, from the way they rolled their eyes. “What are wE, kIDS?”

“In my eyes, yes. Now let them speak.”

It was a yes or no question. Fumikado didn’t have to think about what to say. They could just nod. Everyone here already knew how they screwed up.

So they nodded.

“Do you have anything to sAY? Or are you just going to sit there in silENCE? I know you can sPEAK.”

Yago said they should apologize yesterday, right? Fumikado still didn’t remember exactly what they said to Chouki that day, but lashing out at them in of itself wasn’t really fair. Even if Fumikado felt abandoned after Chouki killed themself, and even if all that amounted to was a loss, Chouki was only trying to help. “So um… My emotions got the better of me and I said some things that I shouldn’t have. Sorry.”

“Is that ALL?”

“Um…” They wanted more?! They deserved that much, but it was a problem if Fumikado couldn’t actually remember what they said.

“ActualLY, knowing yOU, that’s probably all there was to tHAT. Did you abandon me out of guilt tHEN? Is that where this is gOING?”

More specifically, it was out of a sense that Chouki would hate them no matter what they did to make amends. Maybe Chouki always hated them, even before taking their own life. Letting them go rather than forcing them to continue working for someone they hated only felt natural. It was pretty stupid in hindsight though, and Fumikado didn’t feel like having the irony pointed out to them. “...Yeah, pretty much.”

“I guess it’s better than you being heartlESS. But I still don’t forgive yOU. It still hURTS, and I’m not the only one you’ve hurt eITHER.”

A lot of vital sacrifices had to be made for the sake of reviving the true emperor. Maybe because Fumikado was currently wearing their body, one of those sacrifices immediately sprang to the front of their mind. “The homunculus, right? I’ll make it up to them someday, I swear.”

“Will yOU? Will you actuALLY?”

“When I become the emperor, I’ll think of-”

“Shut the hell UP.” The air around Chouki began to darken. “What makes you think you being the emperor changes anytHING? You told me to compete with yOU, and yet the only way you’ll make it up to Para is if you’re the one sitting on the tHRONE?!”

Fumikado gripped their palms tightly, trying desperately to relieve some of the tension. “Okay well, maybe I don’t have to be the emperor to think of something…”

“But you won’t think of anytHING! You never dO! You’re just going to forget about it like every other promise you’ve mADE. Either that or outright break IT.”

Fumikado heard a whispered complaint from Tsugumi about how this meant they would never get paid. Yet despite hearing it clearly, it was reduced to nothing but background noise.

Sure Fumikado had a habit of making promises without thinking, but they planned on fulfilling them eventually. If they could remember them…

Wait, did they forget about some promise they made to Chouki? That’s probably why they were angry right now. Chouki would only get more mad if Fumikado admitted to forgetting what promise they made though. Now that they thought about it, they made a lot of promises to Chouki… No, thinking about that was useless right now.

If they couldn’t remember whatever it was they promised, maybe they could solve the homunculus’s… Actually, Chouki said their name was Para, right? Yeah, they could solve Para’s problems instead. And if Para’s original body was created through alchemy, then maybe…

“We could use alchemy to stop Para’s memory degradation.” Maybe even restore it, Fumikado almost said. It would’ve been a problem if their enemy had access to unlimited knowledge though. That was the very reason Para was sealed up in the first place, according to their grandfather.

“Neither of us are alcheMISTS.”

“Yeah, but I know one! Kinda…”

The dark aura around Chouki began to dissipate. “Go on tHEN.”

“You know the new Senri Priest right? Tsubakura Enraku?”

“They defeated me once and the Dragonfly Castle followed after them and their gROUP.”

“Wait, that’s why it’s there now?!” Fumikado asked. “Why didn’t it follow after me then?”

“How should I kNOW? They’re just as unworthy as yOU, if not mORE.” That was almost a compliment, right…? Chouki got back on topic before Fumikado could contemplate it further. “RegardlESS, you’re saying that priest will help US? Someone like tHEM?”

“I’m not sure. But I hear they and the other priest flew around looking for sake during the mock war. Maybe bribery would work?”

“Ain’t that just payin’ ‘em?” Tsugumi asked.

“They just said ‘bribERY’ because it sounded cooLER,” Chouki explained.

“And it totally did!”

“Um, Fumikado-san?” Iyozane turned to Fumikado. “It’s nice that you’re doing the right thing, but we’re still dealing with our own financial problems…”

“Oh yeah…” Fumikado thought for a moment. “You think they’d be okay with that bottle of sake we haven’t finished?”

“You still have your grandfather’s nOTES, rIGHT? An alchemist would be sure to find those valuabLE.”

Fumikado paused. Even though they didn’t understand those notes at all, giving them away would be like giving away one of the few parts of their grandfather they had left. Would he even want his notes to be used like this? He saw Para as a threat, and even if Para’s memory merely stopped degrading rather than being properly restored, he would’ve absolutely hated the idea of Fumikado not letting nature run its course on an enemy…

Fumikado looked at Chouki. Their expression, full of expectation as it was, seemed to have an undertone of desperation.

…Regardless of the downsides, surely Grandfather would be happy to have some kind of legacy, wouldn’t he? It was too late to back out of their promise anyway. “They’re going to need them if we want to get anywhere.”

Chouki smiled, clearly pleased with that response. “Let’s meet at the Senri Shrine gate tomorrow tHEN?”

“Definitely.” Fumikado nodded.

Chouki turned their gaze towards Yago. “Can I have my dagger nOW?”

“Sure thing. Also went ahead and made you a new short sword.” Yago handed the two weapons over to Chouki. “You could’ve asked for it anytime, y’know.”

“I thought you wanted us to make UP.”

“Yeah, but if it didn’t work, it would’ve been the perfect chance to test out your new weapon, don’t’cha think?”

“I didn’t even know you were making ONE. I only asked for repAIRS.” Chouki turned and smirked at Fumikado. “But yES. It would’ve been the perfect cHANCE.”

Fumikado looked away from Chouki, unsure of how to respond to that.

“It was a jOKE. I don’t care about killing you anymORE. Most of the tIME, anywAY.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you make a joke before…” The Chouki that Fumikado remembered was always serious and straightforward.

“People cHANGE. Now if you excuse mE, I have to be leaving nOW. I wasn’t planning on staying for this lONG.” Chouki shot another glare at Yago.

“Sorry ‘bout that! Take care~” Yago waved at Chouki as they left. Fumikado was tempted to do the same, but held themself back, unsure if Chouki would appreciate the gesture.

Chapter Text

Fumikado had passed by the Senri Shrine many times since the end of the mock war, but they could never get used to the Dragonfly Castle’s presence right next to it.

“It didn’t follow me after I kicked Chouki out… What makes that priest so special?” Fumikado grumbled.

“Didn’t you complain about this yesterday?” Iyozane asked.

“Doesn’t mean I’m happy about it all of a sudden…”

Tsugumi had elected not to join Fumikado on their trip, citing their dislike of the Senri Shrine. They also said some rude things about how working for Yago would actually get them paid.

Hmph. They didn’t need Tsugumi anyway. They had Iyozane.

When Fumikado arrived at the shrine gate, Chouki was already there, holding a particularly large cask of sake. Next to them was Para, who seemed antsy. As the leader of their group, Fumikado should’ve been the one to announce their presence, but… What could they possibly say to them? Rather than figure that out, Fumikado let Iyozane do the talking.

“Sorry we’re late! Fumikado kept going the wrong way.”

Why did they let Iyozane do the talking again?

“Of course they dID. It helps to move behind them in the opposite directION.” And it seemed like Chouki wasn’t going to defend them either. Not that they had to anymore.

“What if I simply want to move in a straight line?”

Chouki gave Iyozane a look of sympathy. “It’s annoyING, isn’t IT?”

“Hey, can we get a move on already?!” Fumikado asked, rhetorically. Moving would stop the conversation. They felt like they would explode if it went on any longer.

Para furrowed their eyebrows and pinched their forehead. “Can’t believe I’m agreeing with them of all people, but yeah! There’s no time to waste!”

Without waiting for a response, Para proceeded ahead. Fumikado very eagerly took after their example, and everyone else soon followed behind them.

It wasn’t much longer before they arrived at the shrine proper. The shrine’s two priests were sitting outside, chatting about something or other. When they noticed Fumikado’s group, Tsubakura tilted their head, while Yabusame waved.

“I thought you guys wanted to kill each other or something. What gives?” Tsubakura asked. They looked over to the cask in Chouki’s arms. “And you better be planning on letting me have a sip of that.”

“If you help us with sometHING, you can have the entire cASK.”

“Yay~ Free sake~” Yabusame sang.

“Free for you maybe.” Tsubakura sighed. “Okay, what do you want?”

Fumikado took a step forward and pointed towards Para. “We want you to fix their memory.”

“Can’t you just like… Wait, do they even have Concerta in this world?”

“Why would concerts help someone remember things?” Yabusame asked.

“Look, my problem isn’t ADHD or ADD or anything like that, okay?!” Suddenly Para yelled out some adjectives Fumikado didn’t recognize.

“You sure? Pretty sure Adderall isn’t illegal here, so I could whip you up some of that too.”

“Um~ What are we talking about?” Iyozane asked. Fumikado felt less stupid after hearing that.

“Actually, why does a kid know more about ADHD than the adults around them anyway? Were you kidnapped or something?”

“You…!” After sighing, Para seized the chance to explain the circumstances around their dwindling memory. Fumikado already knew the entire story and the part they played, so they didn’t pay attention to that or the expressions of those listening.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t much emotion in Tsubakura’s voice when they finally responded, though the contents of their words were still biting. “Ah, so it was all Emperor Moron’s fault.”

“Hey…” Fumikado couldn’t muster up a rebuttal. Just thinking about it was making them… No, this was just normal sweat from being outside.

Tsubakura continued. “With a sake cask that big, I guess I could look into it. Sounds interesting anyway. Not promising anything though.”

Chouki looked at Fumikado. “The resEARCH.”

Fumikado took a step forward and handed a bag to Tsubakura. It contained their grandfather’s journals. “These are the notes my grandfather wrote when he was developing my current body. I hope they’ll be useful to you.”

Tsubakura took one of the journals out and started flipping through it. “Bah. It’s awful reading through someone else’s work. Always so messy.”

“Like you’re one to talk~” Yabusame teased.

“At least I’m saving space. This guy’s just writing stuff all over the place.” Tsubakura let out another sigh. “Whatever. Let’s just go ahead and get some blood drawn. I’d like to do some MRI scans too, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of the parts for a machine. Guess I’ll have to just collect brain samples directly then…”

Okay, maybe Tsubakura actually was really invested in this. To the point it was a bit scary.

“You don’t have to do that!” It seemed like the thought of the procedure was freaking Iyozane out too. “There’s an MRI machine in the capital’s palace! So I hear.”

As a former resident of that palace, Fumikado assumed Iyozane was speaking about a machine they had personally seen at some point.

“So you guys know what MRI scans are but you don’t know about ADHD?”

“First I’ve heard of tHEM.”

Fumikado hadn’t heard of them either until now.

“I used to know what they were…” Para added. Fumikado glanced away the moment they noticed the frustration on Para’s face.

“Your collective knowledge is so out of whack it’s giving me a headache. Guess I’ll have to call the actual new emperor later to ask permission to use their machine… You two, follow me.” Tsubakura pointed to Fumikado and Para. “The rest of you can stay out here. Or come along. I don’t care.”

And so everyone ended up following Tsubakura to their lab. It was messy and cluttered, unlike the lab that Fumikado spent so much time with Grandfather in when they were younger. Tsubakura placed the bag of journals on top of a desk without so much as clearing off the mess below. They did however clear some stuff off of a chair sitting next to a machine with a tube coming out of it. They rummaged around for a bit before pulling what looked like a needle and placing it on the edge of the tube.

“You, kid.” Tsubakura pointed to Para. “You're going first.”

“Why can't I go first?!” Fumikado complained.

“Because if you pass out first, it’ll be a pain to move you,” Tsubakura explained. “Meanwhile this kid’s like 25 kilos at most.”

“Much easier to carry~” Yabusame said.

Para, who had been walking towards the chair, froze. Their eyes widened. “Wait, what do you mean pass out?!”

“Yeah, that happens sometimes when you’re getting blood drawn. Now get in the chair.”

Para didn’t move in the slightest.

“Your bedside manner is severely lackING.” Chouki glared at Tsubakura. Then they moved closer to Para. “People tend to feel lightheaded after getting their blood dRAWN, and that can lead to passing out in extreme cASES. It’s unlikely to happen to yOU.”

“It didn't happen to me while I was in that body, if that helps,” Fumikado added.

Para sighed and sat down. “Let’s just get this over with.”

“Oh yeah, Yabusame. Got any apple juice on-hand?” Tsubakura asked.

Yabusame pulled some bottles out of… Somewhere. “Right here~”

Tsubakura handed one of the bottles to Para. “Drink one of these when we're done.”

Then they tied a band around Para’s arm and stuck the needle at the end of the tube into their vein. When Tsubakura turned on the machine, blood started flowing through the tube.

During the procedure, Chouki and Para played shiritori, with Tsubakura and Yabusame chiming every so often. It was nostalgic. Every time Fumikado got their blood drawn, Chouki would distract them the same way (though with far less company). Sometimes Grandfather would play with them too, but he was usually too focused on holding the syringe correctly to focus on the game. Maybe if he had a machine like the one Tsubakura was using, he could’ve joined in properly.

After some time, the machine made a noise and Tsubakura turned it off.

“I assume I can take the needle out nOW?”

“Depends, do you wanna risk tearing their vein?” Tsubakura asked.

“It’s not that hARD. And I have experIENCE.” To prove their point, Chouki removed the needle from Para’s arm without any issues.

“So you do.” Tsubakura gestured for Chouki to hand them the needle. After receiving it, they took it off the tube and threw it into a brightly colored box. They put a bandage around Para’s arm and took some blood-filled test tubes out of the machine. “Oh yeah, ghost.”

“What did you just call mE?”

“You got a phone number I can call? I’ll need to update you guys.”

“I do in fact have oNE.” Chouki took out a notepad, wrote down a number, and handed it to Tsubakura. “Here it IS.”

“Good. You can leave now if you want.”

“Oh! But sit in the lobby first before you fly or else you’ll get all wobbly~” Yabusame added.

Tsubakura started putting labels on the test tubes as Para stood up. They stood in place for a few moments before walking towards the lab exit, with Chouki following behind. Their bottle of apple juice was already half-way gone.

“What if we don’t have a phone number?” Iyozane asked.

“Could’a sworn I heard Kuroji mentioning you guys having one.”

“K-Kuroji?!” Iyozane yelped.

“You know them?!” Fumikado shouted.

“I mean, they did come into Mugenri at the same time, apparently…” Iyozane’s explanation was sound enough.

Chouki, who was right at the door, turned around. “That bastard humiliated ME!”

Para turned around too. “They trampled over my justice!”

“Yeah they do that a lot.” Tsubakura’s reply was nonchalant.

“They stole our phone!” Iyozane added.

“They did mention something about having a royal benefactor or other… Maybe I could just send a message with them sometime?” Tsubakura smiled eerily.

“Anything but that!”

“Don’t worry.” Tsubakura waved their hand. “I won’t let them hurt you guys.”

“They’re really important to your research, right~?” Yabusame asked.

“As of now I guess. Since one of them’s my new research subject.”

“Are we getting protection…?” Iyozane asked.

Chouki smirked. “Of course you got into debt after casting me aSIDE. If I could still laugh I wOULD.” But then, their eyes widened. “sHIT, this is supposed to be a tRUCE.”

“It’s not my fault they’re the root of all evil…” Fumikado pouted.

“I suppose you’re rIGHT, but- Leaving nOW.” Chouki hurriedly left the room before any more of their rude thoughts could flow out. Para followed behind.

“Wow they’re a weirdo~” Yabusame commented.

“That shikigami communicates by reading their thoughts. So I guess it just read their thought process~” Fumikado explained.

“Why do you sound happy they were thinking rude things about you?” Iyozane asked.

“They probably wouldn’t’ve said it out loud on purpose, right?”

“I guess not in this particular instance…”

“See?”

“Can you just sit in the chair already?” Tsubakura asked.

“I was getting to it.” Fumikado sat down. Like with Para, Tsubakura tied a band around their arm and Yabusame handed them a bottle of apple juice. Then Tsubakura attached a new needle to the tube.

“Uncross your legs,” Tsubakura said. Fumikado felt like someone told them that every time they had their blood drawn.

After they uncrossed their legs, Tsubakura stuck a needle in their vein.

“So, how did you get into all of this?” Iyozane asked Tsubakura.

“It interested me so I started studying it. Why are you a pirate?”

“I’m not actually a pirate right now but… It interested me. Say, what are pirates in the outside world like?”

“I dunno. Think they just rob cargo ships and try not to piss off the governments that actually have big navies. You don’t really hear a lot about them in the outside world.”

“Really…?” Iyozane seemed disappointed.

“They sound like cowards to me, if they’re so afraid of fighting the big navies,” Fumikado commented. It wasn’t an opinion they cared a lot about, but they were beginning to feel left out.

“But aren’t we trying to avoid the big armies right now?” Iyozane pointed out.

“I could take them if I wanted to.”

“Then why haven’t you?” Yabusame asked.

“It… Just hasn’t been convenient,” Fumikado defended.

“Because you’d lose right?”

“Hey Yabusame, could you save the ego shattering for after the blood test?” Tsubakura asked. “I need them calm.”

“Whoops~ Sorry Tsuba!”

“You could apologize to me too,” Fumikado grumbled.

“It wasn’t like they said anything wrong though,” Iyozane replied.

Fumikado groaned, unable to make any real arguments. After realizing how tense they felt, they forced their muscles to relax, since it was supposed to make blood drawing easier.

The machine made a noise, signaling the end of the procedure. Tsubakura took a needle out of Fumikado’s arm and bandaged it. Fumikado felt a little unstable, but it was manageable, so they stood up.

“Oh, you’re fine? You can leave now then,” Tsubakura said.

“Tsuba! Can I get them next time you need them?” Yabusame asked.

“Sure, why not.”

“Yay~ Don’t forget your apple juice!” Yabusame handed Fumikado the apple juice they had left behind in their chair.

Fumikado opened it and took a sip. It was sweet, and yet tangy. It felt oddly filling, so they drank more. It wasn’t long before the bottle was empty. Fumikado handed it to Tsubakura, who shrugged and placed it on top of some clutter.

“Oh yeah, don’t do any extraneous activity for 3-6 hours or whatever,” Tsubakura said as Fumikado started leaving.

“What? Why?” Fumikado asked.

“Didn’t you say you’ve gotten blood drawn before?”

“Yeah, but…” Actually, now that Fumikado thought about it, they always got their blood drawn before dinner, and usually after dinner all they did was study until it was time to go to bed. “Fine.”

In contrast to Fumikado’s disappointment, Iyozane was more energetic. “Cheer up Fumikado-san. We can go back to the mansion~”

“Oh right! We’re under protection now!”

At Iyozane’s words, they rushed forward, back to their proper home. Well, they walked at a reasonable pace, as per recommendation, but they still wanted to get there as fast as possible. Iyozane kept claiming they took a bunch of wrong turns however, and by all accounts, Iyozane was right.

Chapter Text

Tsubakura wanted to copy Fake New Emperor A’s grandfather’s notes into something readable right away, but they had to finish studying up on some ritual first before Sensei would let them. What was it with teachers and wanting to be in the center of attention all the time? Even back when they were cramming 18 years of education into 9, their teachers would get mad about them doing homework for other classes during their lectures.

But finally, that evening, they had the chance to start working through those journals. The handwriting was still borderline unreadable on a second viewing. There weren’t any lines for the notes to follow either, so they would end up slanting in weird ways. At least Tsubakura bothered to pretend there were lines in their own notes. But just complaining wouldn’t get these notes deciphered. Good thing they could multitask.

As much as I would like to make Lord Masakado’s vessel entirely out of oni’s blood, there are many reasons that this cannot be. Most importantly, it would be almost impossible for Fumikado to adjust to the vessel if there wasn’t any resemblance to their current body. Having Taira blood run through the vessel’s veins would allow Lord Masakado to adjust more easily as well. There are also many other

Tsubakura sighed as they turned to the next page. Hasn’t this guy ever heard of space conservation?

qualities I would like to imbue in Lord Masakado’s vessel that simply cannot be found in oni.

The journal then went on to describe all the ingredients Fumikado’s grandfather wanted to collect and how they compared to oni… What was with this guy and oni?

Among those ingredients was a mention of Senri Eyes and some special properties they had. It was mostly stuff Tsubakura knew already with a few sprinkles of new information, but regardless, he couldn’t get any.

There were also some descriptions of several failed attempts at creating a homunculus, and along with them, some lamentations about having to reduce the oni portion of the ingredients. Of course.

Tsubakura just wrote down anything that looked like it could be important and moved on.

I was prepared for Fumikado’s mental capacities to suffer for a little while after swapping over to the vessel. After all, it is still very young, and would have the brain to match. However, their mental capacities have mostly carried over. I wonder if this is due to the strength of Fumikado’s soul, or because of the inherent qualities of the body. Homunculi are said to be born with all possible knowledge after all, so they would need a strong brain capable of holding all that knowledge in. It is regrettable that I was not able to test out how true that theory was, but it was too risky to leave that thing roaming free.

But no matter how high one’s mental capacities are, being able to act upon them is another story. Their motor skills are improving at an astonishing rate. Or so I assume. If only I had paid more attention to Onikado,

Onikado? Seriously? Tsubakura wasn’t exactly a normal name either, but a name like Onikado could only ever be the work of someone who never grew out of their chuunibyou phase. Why is this person even here? Tsubakura skimmed the next few lines to search for more context.

when he was this age, I would have a better reference for what normal child development looked like.

Ah, Onikado must’ve been this guy’s kid or something. Now that Tsubakura thought about it, Fumikado was pretty much stuck in their chuunibyou phase too. Guess you couldn’t truly escape genetics.

But that would be like comparing apples to oranges. Onikado was a human, while this vessel is something else entirely.

But even though the vessel’s motor skills are improving so quickly, they’re still not quite at the level Fumikado was used to in their old body. Because of this, they often get frustrated.

Despite these frustrations however, Fumikado has become a lot more energetic ever since agreeing to become Lord Masakado’s vessel. Before, the death of their parents seemed to rob them of all motivation for life, but it brings me great joy that they’ve found purpose in a cause as great as this. Having them aid in my goal of reviving Lord Masakado truly was for the best.

Sure Fumikado’s grandfather, sell your depressed grandchild on your pipe dream. Let them commit to something they barely understand just because it’s convenient for you (and seal up some other kid too while you’re at it).

Did you tell them they were special? Adults really love to call children special as a way of making them stay in line. But the truth was, no one’s special. Everyone in the world is stupid, and if you convince someone they’re the exception, they’ll just crash and burn once they catch up with reality.

If nothing else, that fake new emperor was pretty good at not catching up with reality. It made them really annoying though.

“Why do I care again…?” Tsubakura muttered. Fumikado’s life circumstances had nothing to do with them, even if their speculations about them were a bit relatable. They were still just speculations. Besides, Tsubakura wasn’t one to talk about scientific ethics. Mugenri probably didn’t even have those yet.

Tsubakura took a deep breath and willed their body to calm itself. Soon they were in proper shape to continue reading.

Another thing Tsubakura hated was when these scientific notes included irrelevant personal details. Made it harder to sift through for actual information.

They read through some more notes about Fumikado’s growth, and thankfully there weren’t an egregious amount of personal anecdotes. It did turn out that the “ki” part of “Chouki” was spelt with the kanji for oni though, because why the hell not at this point. Apparently they were a child servant or something? No wonder they were pissed at Fumikado. Until they weren't anyway. Maybe they started being pissed at the old guy instead? Or was that just another convenient speculation?

Eventually, finally, Tsubakura was done. With the first journal.

Worst of all, it was midnight by then. Maybe even later. Really went to show just how hard it was to read through these things. There were still like what, 5 left?

Tsubakura really wanted to just get this over with, but they needed a break. At least they got some useful information out of it. Mostly just stuff that would help them avoid trial and error, but it made them feel more confident in their decision to take some extra blood from Fumikado in hopes of using the genetic material as a base to modify Para’s body with (for convenience's sake, Tsubakura was referring to the bodies the two of them held currently). There was stuff that would help them with their personal research endeavors too.

All in all, it was productive, even if it was annoying.

Chapter Text

At some point, Fumikado and their subordinates’ jobs at Yago’s switched from packing weapons to doing various house chores for Yago. Fumikado had been able to justify packing as a test of their endurance and strength, but chores? That was straight up servants’ work! So they complained, but a reminder of their debt was enough to shut them up. Building a reserve was vital. Even if they were under protection for the time being, who knew what would happen in the future?

“Did they actually give y'all protection or did ya just dream it up?” Tsugumi asked as they swept the floor of the lobby.

“I mean, we're helping them out, aren't we?” Iyozane replied, dusting off a small bookshelf. They were on sweeping duty before, but when they said they were done, Tsugumi got mad at them for not sweeping underneath the table and took over. Really, they were being dramatic. It wasn’t like anyone looked there.

“Weren’t they the one helping y'all out?”

Fumikado stopped wiping down the low table they had been wiping down for the last ten minutes and explained. “It’s more like we're helping each other out.”

“Whatever.” Tsugumi rolled their eyes.

“Why do you look like you don't believe us?” Fumikado asked.

“Because I don't.”

Iyozane frowned. “That’s so mean Tsugumi…”

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it!” Fumikado stood up, but Iyozane held them back before they could walk forward. “What gives?!”

“We’re in debt, remember?”

“I thought y'all had protection,” Tsugumi helpfully pointed out.

“Yeah! We have protection!”

“But what if that didn't stop them?” Iyozane whispered. They sighed. “Let me get Yago-sama. Surely even that black-hearted scoundrel wouldn't try anything before a god, would they?”

Before Iyozane took a single step, the person on the other side spoke. It sounded familiar, but it wasn't an unpleasant sort of familiarity. “When are you gonna get it?”

“Oh, it's Yabusame.” Iyozane let go of Fumikado. Finally, they got to open the door.

“What took you guys so long~?” Yabusame seemed annoyed.

“We were dealing with important stuff, you see…” Fumikado lied.

“And now you have more important stuff! Tsuba wants you guys at the shrine right now.”

Tsugumi eyed Yabusame suspiciously. “How’d’ja know where these two were?”

“Kuroji told me!” Yabusame answered. Iyozane inhaled sharply. “They have a big net where they catch all this information you see~ It's probably just one of those expressions they like to use though.”

But it couldn’t be hopeless yet, right? Fumikado scrambled for an upside. “The fact they haven't come after us here means that Tsubakura really is keeping them under control then!”

“Y-Yeah!” Iyozane agreed. “That has to be it…”

“Tell yerselves that if ya want.”

And so Fumikado and Iyozane did. After their hearts were set at ease with that brilliant deduction, they followed Yabusame to the shrine.

They actually arrived around the same time as Chouki and Para. It wasn’t long before Yabusame brought Tsubakura to the lobby. Instead of their usual outfit, Tsubakura was wearing a black jinbei alongside a flowing white lab coat. A pair of goggles laid on their head in place of their usual hat, and they wore a pair of black loafers.

“So, the real new emperor didn’t give us permission to use the MRI machine in the palace, but there’s apparently a few other machines here and there. Closest one is in some university by the other side of the strait,” Tsubakura explained.

“Oh yeah, that place!” Iyozane smiled as if they were simply happy to recognize the location. “Sometimes I would ferry around students from there. I didn't know they had an MRI machine though. Most of the students I talked to were more interested in the Sanctuary's environment and culture.”

“Kaisen beat up a researcher from there once for touching their tadpOLES.”

“Oh you mean froggy? I’m always having to tell people not to touch the eye on my hat, so I feel them.”

“I’m pretty sure my grandfather went to that university a couple times to get research materials,” Fumikado added.

“Of course you brought him UP.” Chouki seemed annoyed. Fumikado briefly wondered if bringing him up was a bad idea, but it was probably just a simple observation combined with the fact Chouki already didn’t like them. No need to think too deeply about it.

“Aren’t you guys wanted by the government or somethin’?” Tsubakura pointed out.

“He said he had some friends that worked there or something.”

“Any chance those friends will help us now?”

Fumikado tried desperately to wrack their brains for the names of their grandfather’s friends, but nothing came up. Did Grandfather even mention their names? “...I don't think so.”

“You don't know who those friends ARE, do yOU?”

Fumikado shook their head.

“Well whatever.” Tsubakura shrugged. “I was already planning on breaking in. Yabusame, do you have a clipboard?”

“Yeppers!” Yabusame pulled a clipboard out of… Somewhere (seriously, where?) and handed it to Tsubakura. Did they shrink it or something? While Fumikado tried to imagine what kind of ability would do that, Tsubakura began to speak again.

“I’m a newly transferred neuroscience student doing a study, and you guys are my participants. You guys call it neuroscience here, right?” Fumikado didn’t recognize the word, and they would never find out if anyone else did because Tsubakura only waited for a moment before they continued speaking. “Well, it probably won’t matter anyway if I just keep things vague. Let me do the talking until we get into the MRI room, got it?”

“You know Chouki’s shikigami talks automatically, right?” Para asked.

“Oh yeah, should probably make some silencing seals then. Hold on.” Tsubakura left the room.

“I can just deactivate it when we get tHERE,” Chouki pointed out.

“Oh, right…” The frustration on Para’s face was hard to bear, so Fumikado glanced away.

When Tsubakura returned, they slapped a seal onto Chouki’s shikigami without any warning. It didn’t deactivate, but when it opened its mouth, no words came out. It flittered around in hasty circles, distressed. Chouki glared at Tsubakura.

“Don’t be like that. It's so weak you can even take it off on your own,” Tsubakura said.

“Why did you have to put it on them now?!” Para shouted. “They could’ve just deactivated their shikigami when we got there!”

“Geez, you’re so noisy…” Tsubakura dug into the pockets of their lab coat and lifted up a seal. “Should I put one of these on you too?”

Para’s eyes widened for a moment, but they soon settled into a glare. “You…”

“That was pretty insensitive, you know.” It was only when Iyozane pointed it out that Fumikado realized the implications. If it weren’t for them… It was necessary for the plan. Besides, they were paying Para back right now.

“Oh, I guess it was.” Tsubakura put the seal away somewhat awkwardly, but they didn’t seem to have any real regrets. Something about it infuriated Fumikado, but did they even have the right? Wouldn’t speaking up just make them a hypocrite? Someone would surely point out their guilt…

What guilt? It was necessary. Para would’ve been dangerous if they were left to run around as they pleased. If that made Fumikado guilty, that meant so many other people were guilty too. Grandfather wasn’t…

And yet, sometimes, all Fumikado could see when they looked at Para was a child they hurt.

Still, it could be forgiven as a necessary sacrifice in service of reviving Lord Masakado. A necessary sacrifice. Necessary. For Lord Masakado’s sake.

But they failed to revive him, didn’t they?

They had to end the conversation before they had to think anymore. Oh right, they had somewhere to be! “Can we just get going already?!” Fumikado shouted.

“This feels familiar somehow…” Iyozane commented.

Para sighed. “You know what, yeah. We don’t have time to waste on this.” They pointed at Tsubakura. “You can apologize by fixing my memory.”

“Yeah sure whatever you say.” Tsubakura walked towards the door and gestured towards the group. “Let’s go.”

Fumikado was in utter awe when they saw the big dome at the center of the college. “Woah! Is that where we’re going?!”

“Nah, it’s just a blatant EPCOT rip-off,” Tsubakura expl… Actually, they didn’t explain much at all. What the heck was EPCOT? “‘S not even as big. What do they even have in there?”

“I hear they have classes on the outside world in there,” Iyozane said, actually explaining something. “It’s even based on a famous building from there.”

“Yeah I can see that. Would an MRI machine be classified under outside world studies? Guess we’ll find out.” Tsubakura lifted up their clipboard and started to land. Everyone else followed suit.

It was suspicious how easy it was to walk onto campus. There weren’t any gates or barriers, and while some people gave Fumikado weird looks, they weren’t trying to halt their entry. “They just keep this place unguarded?” Fumikado asked.

“What, you’ve never seen an open campus?” Tsubakura retorted.

“I thought you said we had to break in,” Para whispered.

“Yeah, into the MRI room. We shouldn’t talk about that out loud though.”

Tsubakura continued leading the group around without incident, until someone stopped and looked at Fumikado with a bewildered expression. But for some reason, they talked to Tsubakura instead. “Is that Taira no Fumikado???”

“Oh, so you rec-” Fumikado was cut off by a sudden jab to the back. When they tried to ask what that was for, no sound came out.

Para snickered, and when Fumikado looked at the source of the sound, they saw Chouki covering up their mouth. They always did that when they were about to laugh. It’s because of you they can’t

“Yeah,” Tsubakura answered as if it were a question about the weather.

“I can hear the entire biology department clamoring for your notes now…” The stranger gave a dreamlike sigh. “But like, how?!”

“How what?”

“Like, how do you even get the clearance?!”

“Don’t worry, my spell card order was perfectly safe and secure. No loopholes here,” Tsubakura lied without missing a single beat.

“Wow, you’re pretty amazing… How have I never seen you before?”

“Guess we’re in different classes or somethin’.”

“You even got a spirit here too…”

Chouki grimaced as the stranger looked over them. Then the stranger’s eyes glanced towards Para.

“What’s with the child though? Are they another youkai? They look pretty human to me…”

“Yeah, sometimes youkai look pretty much like human kids.”

“Oh I see~ For a second I was concerned. Like, imagine signing a consent form for your child only to have them placed in the same study group as Taira no Fumikado.” The stranger gave a hearty chuckle. “What kind of study even is this anyway?”

“I’m just gonna be doing some MRI scans and comparing the results.”

“That’s all? You have an opportunity here!” The stranger waved their arms at Fumikado. Fumikado smirked proudly, unable to hold back their chuckles (though whatever Tsubakura did to them was certainly doing a good job).

“Look, I don’t have time to poke and prod at them. I have other shit to do.”

“Still…” The stranger looked at Fumikado sadly. Fumikado would’ve graciously offered to let them do as many tests as they wanted, but they couldn’t speak.

“By the way, do you remember where the MRI machine is? I forgot the room number.”

“Oh yeah, it’s in…” The stranger began rattling off some letters and numbers.

“Thanks.” Tsubakura gave a short bow to the stranger. “Come on, let’s go.”

Tsubakura once again began leading the group around, but their direction seemed more certain.

“Do you actually know where the building is?” Iyozane asked.

“Yeah, we passed by it earlier.”

“We did?!”

“Yeah, the guy said CRE, and I saw a building called Curie earlier. Guess it makes sense that’s where they’d keep the radioactive stuff.”

“...Huh.” Iyozane looked just as lost as Fumikado was.

When they arrived at the entrance of the building, someone was walking out. Tsubakura rushed towards the door and held it open until everyone was inside.

After walking through the hallways for a bit, Tsubakura stopped at a door and tried to open it. However, it didn’t budge. “Figures.” Then Tsubakura made a show of going through their pockets and walked up to a random student. “I forgot my card at home. Could you swipe me in?”

“Sure thing,” The student replied. They swiped a card through a slot next to a number pad. It was denied the first time, but after a few more attempts, the satisfying sound of a lock undoing itself could be heard. After that, the student went on their way.

Once everyone entered the room, Tsubakura tore something off of Fumikado’s back. “Knew it was a good idea to keep some extra seals handy.”

Finally, Fumikado could hear their own breath again. Now was the time to lodge some complaints. “You didn’t have to do that, you know.”

“Either you were gonna get yourself dragged off to a dissection table or you were gonna blow our cover and drag us into some spell card duel with the school faculty. No thanks.”

“I wasn’t going to get us caught!” Fumikado did question whether or not they would’ve let the eager student dissect them though. Maybe if they promised to put their skin back…? No, it was a bad idea. Although…

Tsubakura sighed. “But even without your input, that conversation was something. I didn’t know you were famous in that way.”

“That guy was so creePY,” Chouki complained after tearing the seal off of their shikigami. But Fumikado ignored it in favor of their newly realized fame.

“Clearly, anyone can understand the wonder that is this vessel. Of course they would wanna know more about it!” With advancements in technology, maybe they would even find new things to marvel at! Grandfather was already pretty good at describing the merits of the vessel Fumikado built up in alchemical terms, but he couldn’t help being dead.

“I’d argue with that, but I’m pretty curious about your body too. Like, how come it doesn’t smell like pepperoni pizza?”

Tsubakura’s odd question snapped Fumikado out of their fantasy. What?

“That phrasing is kinda… Wait, pepperoni pizza…?” Iyozane was completely and utterly baffled. It felt pretty nice seeing that befuddlement directed at someone else for a change. Especially at someone that deserved it.

However, Tsubakura didn’t stop to explain the pizza thing at all. They walked over to a control panel next to a tube-like machine. Fumikado wouldn’t have to go inside of that, would they? Tsubakura started pressing some buttons and continued talking. “Also like, do you guys have a concept of scientific ethics here or not?”

“Huh?” Like the pizza question, this too came out of nowhere.

“Are you going to explain the pizza tHING?”

Apparently, Tsubakura was not. “You know, like, that guy was talking about consent forms for minors. But judging from Para’s appearance, the body swap must’ve happened when Fumikado was pretty young.”

“Well, yeah. Once you’re alive long enough, your soul becomes heavily entwined with the body you were born in and it becomes too dangerous to force it out. That’s why I had to perform the body swap before then,” Fumikado explained.

“Yeah, stuff like swapping bodies and whatnot is considered child endangerment where I’m from. And I guess over here apparently? If minors need consent forms I’d assume so.”

Something about the words ‘child endangerment’ bothered Fumikado. “Just so you know, I wasn’t forced into it. I chose this.”

“You can say that, but it’s very easy to convince a kid to do something. Just like, promise them candy and compliment them a bunch.” Tsubakura’s voice flattened as they went on. “Make them think they’re special.” It sounded almost bitter. “If that doesn't work, it’s pretty easy to scare kids into doing stuff too.”

What, was Tsubakura implying exactly? Fumikado never got promised candy or anything… Maybe Grandfather complimented them while asking though. They didn’t remember super well, since it was so long ago. But even if he did, he wasn’t just doing it to convince them. They earned those compliments.

“I’m only asking you to do this because you’re special.”

Oh right, he did say that… But he didn’t just say that to convince them. He didn’t even need to.

“I wasn’t being tricked, okay?! It was my way of repaying everything he did for me.” He took them in when they had lost everything. They would’ve done anything for him.

“Ah yes, a debt. That makes it all hunky-dory then.” Tsubakura’s voice was dripped in venomous sarcasm. “Speaking of, did Kuroji ever actually leave you guys alone?”

“What the hell kind of comparison is that?!” Fumikado couldn’t see clearly. It was like their vision was coated in a layer of light.

Tsubakura clicked their tongue. As if Fumikado would lose to someone that didn’t even have a comeback.

“What’s that? Don’t have anything to say?”

Tsubakura scowled at Fumikado. “You’re apparently indebted to the guy right? I don’t see how that’s any different from regular debt.”

“He saved my life! That scoundrel’s just dumping unwanted souls onto us and making us pay for them! Excuse me for thinking there’s a difference.”

“Stop acting like you’re so noble!” Para shouted. Fumikado had forgotten about everyone aside from Tsubakura in their rage, but remembering Para in particular felt like being thrown into a bath of cold water. “In case you haven’t noticed, your ‘debt repayment’ cost me a lot!”

There they were again. A child in pain.

“It’s not…”

Fumikado couldn’t respond.

“Just drop it,” Iyozane told them.

There was no arguing with that.

“I’m just gonna give you two a few minutes to calm down before we start the scans,” Tsubakura said. “Whoever’s calmer can go first.”

From then on, Fumikado was determined to be the calmest. They began to meditate. Getting into the proper mindset was a struggle however, and just as they were starting to get somewhere, there was a knock on the door.

“What now?” Tsubakura walked over to the door and sighed. Fumikado decided to take a look too. Through the door’s window, they could see a group of people in lab coats. Without wasting any time, the leader of the group opened the door.

“Excuse me, but we’re scheduled in the room for this time,” They said.

“I think you got the time wrong.” Tsubakura tried to close the door without further comment, but the leader of the lab coats stepped inside.

“I do not. It says so right here on this ticket.” To prove their point, the leader held out a small piece of paper.

“Maybe there was a printing error?” Tsubakura suggested.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re currently doing anything, so surely you can step outside and wait. I have a class to teach.”

“Ah, so it’s a practical lesson.” Tsubakura sighed and turned towards Fumikado’s group. “Can you guys deal with this?”

“No probl-” Fumikado was about to say before Tsubakura rudely interrupted them. Again.

“Not you. You need to be nice and relaxed before the scans. Or at least as close to it as you get.”

Fumikado pouted. “I can be nice and relaxed after a fight…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this~” The excitement in Iyozane’s voice made Fumikado jealous.

“I need to blow off some steam anyWAY.” It was only now that Fumikado realized how long it had been since Chouki last spoke.

“Oh, is that how you wanna play things?” The teacher took out some spell cards. “It’s going to be thirteen on two you know.”

“Um, do we have to get involved?” Someone, presumably one of the students, asked. “I mean, we can always just come back another day, right?”

The teacher turned around. “Depends. Do you want extra credit?”

A murmur spread throughout the group. Some of the students still looked hesitant, while others looked almost frenzied. There were a few enthusiastic shouts of approval. Maybe Fumikado should start offering extra credit to their followers too… (Whatever that was.)

“If your disciples are unwILLING, then I imagine it will be an easy fIGHT.”

“Oh trust me, they’re perfectly willing. Calling them ‘disciples’ is a bit much though… Now come on, let’s go.” The teacher left the room. Iyozane and Chouki followed along. Soon the area outside the door was empty once more.

“We should probably get started before someone else bothers us,” Tsubakura said. They grabbed Para’s wrist with three of their fingers.

“Hey!”

“Don’t worry, I’m just checking your pulse.” After they finished, they checked Fumikado’s pulse too.

Tsubakura pointed at Para. “You seem calmer, so you’re going first.”

“What should I do?” Para asked.

Tsubakura walked over to a mat that was attached to the machine and stroked it. “Just lay down nice and flat here.” Then, the alchemist produced a vial containing an ink-like substance. “Oh yeah, drink this first.”

Para downed the vial in one gulp, their face scrunching up all the while. “Gross. What is this?”

“It’ll make the results show up easier, among other things.”

“What other things?”

“The collection of genetic material and whatnot. You won’t feel it.”

“I see…” Para laid down as they were told.

“Oh yeah, wear these too.” Tsubakura handed Para a set of headphones, which Para put on. Then Tsubakura pressed a button and Para was moved underneath the tube.

It didn’t look like that tight of a fit, and even Para, as small as they were, still had enough of their body sticking out that they could leave if they wanted to. Fumikado wouldn’t have any problems in there. Though, maybe it was smaller on the inside than on the outside… What were they so worried about anyway?! They had better things to think about. Like…

Oh, they forgot some promise they made to Chouki a long time ago, right?

Fumikado took out their notepad. They flipped to a blank page and titled it “Promises to Chouki”. Then they started writing down whatever came to mind.

• As much mochi as they wanted.

Fumikado said that whenever Chouki got annoyed at them for taking the last one. Actually, that promise applied to more than mochi. But it felt too petty.

• As much mochi as they wanted.

             many snacks

• A horse
• A bigger room

Everything else felt petty as well. Though actually, maybe they were mad about the horse…

There was also the occasional vague all-encompassing promise like “Everything you could ever want”. What did Chouki want back then anyway?

“Please let me stay by your side.”

Fumikado vaguely remembered Chouki saying that when they asked for specifics a long time ago. It was a stupid request, since Chouki being by their side was always a given back then, but to be fair, Chouki was kinda upset when they said that. What were they upset about anyway? It was something that Grandfather…

It didn’t matter. They figured out what Chouki was talking about with the promise.

Suddenly, Fumikado noticed a flash of movement out of the corner of their eye. They looked up from their notepad and saw what looked like ink floating out of Para’s ears. Fumikado’s eyes followed the ink to a vial Tsubakura was holding. The label on the vial spelt out Para’s name.

“What’s going on here?” Fumikado asked.

“How else did you think I was going to get it out of you? If I went through the mouth, it’d be too much like vomiting, and if I went through the eyes y’all wouldn’t be able to see for a week.”

“Huh… What even is ‘it’ anyway?”

“It’d take too long to explain.” After the ink finished flowing into the vial, Tsubakura pressed a cork into its entrance and put it away. Then they took out another vial of the substance and handed it to Fumikado. “It’s your turn on the machine.”

Fumikado swallowed the drink in one gulp. It was as disgusting as Para said, but they had to stay strong. They would just deal with the substance leaving through their ears when it happened.

More hesitantly, they put on the headphones and laid down on the machine’s bed.

At the press of a button, the roof of the machine slowly began blocking out Fumikado’s view of the roof above. They were both roofs in the end, but this one was much closer. They could see though. They could see.

Suddenly, a voice spoke into their ears. “Any way you could stop freaking out in there?”

“I-I’m not freaking out!” Fumikado was a little startled. Even so, they were glad to hear someone else’s voice, even if it was someone like Tsubakura.

“Well whatever you’re doing, it’s interfering with the brain scans, so like, how do I stop it?”

Para’s voice cut in before Fumikado could even start to think of a response. “Isn’t asking them that just gonna stress them out more?”

“Well what else am I supposed to do? I don’t know them.”

“You asked me some questions, didn’t you? Couldn’t you do that for them?”

“Yeah, but I was testing your brain’s recall function. Fear tends to mess with that. You weren’t even afraid.”

“I’m not afraid either!” Fumikado bluffed. Or rather, lied. So maybe they weren’t over their fear of tight spaces even after all this time. It was really stupid wasn’t it? They had to hide in a tight space one time as a kid and now they couldn’t stand it.

They heard a sigh. Tsubakura spoke again. “Okay sure, you’re not afraid. What’s your favorite color?”

Oh, so they were answering questions now. This was an easy one. “Red obviously.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. My ribbons are red.”

It didn’t seem like another question was coming, so Fumikado invested themself in the color red. It was a serviceable distraction. “It’s really fierce, isn’t it? Just wearing it makes me feel charged up!”

For some reason, Tsubakura started muttering. “They’re just like a bull…”

“Why yes, I am as powerful as a bull~” Bulls didn’t need to be afraid of some weird machine, because they could just destroy it! Yeah! Fumikado could destroy it too if they wanted!

“I guess you could take it that way.” Then there was a sound of an opening door. “What took you two so long?”

Apparently Iyozane had gotten back. And Chouki.

“Do you know how big this campus is?!” Iyozane asked.

“I mean, we all walked around together, didn’t we?” Tsubakura snarked. Then suddenly, the noise being fed into the headphones was cut off. There was nothing but the muffled sounds of the machine. Relief would come soon however.

“So apparently I’m supposed to ask you some questions.” When the headphone’s sound turned on again, it was Iyozane’s voice that Fumikado heard. “What kind of places do you like going to?”

“Anywhere with a nice view. It’s pretty nice looking over the vast landscape and thinking about how you’re going to rule it someday. Or I guess in your case, chief advise.” Maybe after this, Fumikado could fly more slowly on the way back so they could properly appreciate it.

“It really is breathtaking in the Sanctuary, isn’t it?”

“Oh definitely! But the buildings in the capital are pretty nice too. Sucks you can’t see the stars that well in the city, otherwise it’d be perfect.”

“I prefer hanging around the ocean myself.”

Fumikado heard a faint voice on the other end interrupt Iyozane.

Iyozane sighed. “Okay so I’m supposed to ask you another question. Even though you’re already calming down… What do you think of the ocean?”

“It’s nice to be around, but the water is so sticky it’s annoying.”

“I never really noticed that myself. I guess it’s different when you put your entire body in there instead of just your feet. You know how to swim right?”

“Well yeah. My grandfather made sure I was taught just in case.” Tsubakura’s opinions about their grandfather flashed into mind, but they were easily suppressed.

“Lucky… I never learned. It’s not like I need to worry about drowning if my ability keeps me from going overboard though.”

“Sounds pretty convenient.”

The two of them continued talking about meaningless stuff. It didn’t completely erase the fact that the roof was less than a meter above Fumikado, but it made them less conscious of it. Eventually, Tsubakura announced the end of the scan, and Fumikado was able to see the much further away ceiling once again. They took a deep breath and almost threw the headphones off of their head. Air really did feel better in more open spaces.

“Now get ready, it may be uncomfortable,” Tsubakura warned.

“Get ready for wh-” Before Fumikado could finish speaking, something began rushing through their ears. It was a weird feeling, like being underwater without being underwater. In front of them, they saw the substance they had swallowed earlier flowing towards a vial, this time labeled with their name.

Before they knew it, Tsubakura had finished collecting the substance, and Fumikado could hear properly again.

“I take it we can leave nOW?” Chouki asked.

“Yeah, we can go in a minute,” Tsubakura answered. “Just lemme finish jotting down some notes.”

Fumikado looked over to the clipboard Tsubakura was writing on. It looked more like they were slowly coloring the page black than writing, but if they squinted, they could sort of make out the general shape of some words.

Finally, Tsubakura finished writing and started heading out the door. Soon, the entire group was outside, and they took flight, back towards the Sanctuary. Like they promised themself earlier, Fumikado took in the view.

Chapter Text

Iyozane was more than happy to get away from the MRI machine, especially if it meant blowing off some steam in the process. It didn’t look the exact same as the one they were put under a long time ago, but it still agitated them. Back then, they had stopped eating, so they had to go through a lot of tests to find out what was wrong with them, all while cycling through a bunch of medication that didn't work. Then it was eventually determined to be a psychological problem, so they had to cycle through more medication that didn't work, see that therapist…

Well, that was ages ago. In a way, fighting off these future doctors would be like getting their revenge, right? And there was a teacher too, so that was double the revenge! If nothing else, it would help resolve their uneasy feelings.

“Wonder what we should do with the order?” One of the future doctors asked.

“We’re going to order them to kick their group out of the MRI room,” The teacher replied.

“But we only need one of them to do that, right?”

“True…” The teacher stopped walking, looked at Chouki and then back to their students. “Would any of you happen to be researching youkai physiology?”

Chouki glared at the group. “If any of you say yES, I’ll kill yOU.”

No one responded to the teacher’s question.

“Besides, there’s so many of you against the two of us,” Iyozane pointed out. “It wouldn’t be fair to order us around twice, would it?”

“None of that matters when it comes to cards,” The teacher responded. “The victor is always the one in the right after all.”

“That line sucks when you say IT.”

“That line’s just overused in general,” Iyozane said.

“hEY! It can be cool sometIMES!”

Chouki’s denial reminded Iyozane of Fumikado, but they had good enough judgment not to point that out.

Finally, they arrived at the dueling arena. Its size was overwhelming, but convenient for the purpose of a fight with this many participants. When everyone on the doctors’ side lined up on the other side of the courtyard, it didn’t look overcrowded at all. Like the teacher said, it would be thirteen on two.

Even if they looked weak, Iyozane thought the number’s advantage would provide a little challenge, but they would be proven wrong. It was honestly kind of disappointing how quickly most of the participants on the other side dropped out. Their thirteen had been reduced down to a mere four before a spell card was ever fired.

The remainder of the group put up a better fight, but they still went down before Iyozane had even gotten to their third spell card. Though to be fair, Chouki had used two of their spellcards too. That was what, a total of four? How laughable.

At least Iyozane could squeeze some entertainment out of this fight. “You guys really suck, you know~”

Chouki seemed eager to join in on the mockery as well. “There were thirteen of yOU, and yet both of our sides used the same amount of spellcards in the END.”

Iyozane chuckled. “I didn’t even notice that! I couldn’t tell what was supposed to be a spell card, honestly.”

Most of the students merely shrugged in response to Iyozane’s jabs, as if they had already resigned to their weakness. One of them muttered “I just did this for extra credit so…”

“Is this ‘extra credit’ really worth making a fool of yourself over?” Iyozane asked.

“Look, I’m barely passing as it is!” The student shouted in response.

“And ‘extra credit’ would help hOW?” Chouki asked.

“Oh right, the Sanctuary doesn’t have education.”

“wHAT?”

Another student flicked the first student in the forehead and replied. “There’s education everywhere, dumbass. It’s just a matter of quality.”

“We may have only recently gotten a proper school, but it’s not like teachers don’t exist in the Sanctuary at all,” Iyozane added. It was still a bit strange referring to themself as part of the Sanctuary, and it was even more strange referring to that scoundrel’s school as ‘proper’. Though, what would’ve been really strange was if they saw advertisements for personal tutors in a place that didn’t have tutors. Of course, there was the issue of being able to afford one, but Iyozane considered themself done with their education anyway.

A different student jumped in to explain. “Basically, extra credit is extra work you can do to raise up your overall grade for a class.”

“wEIRD. My teachers just graded each assignment on its OWN.” As did Iyozane’s.

“Wait, youkai can have teachers?” A different student asked.

“oKAY, I’m done with tHIS. Your order is to stop interfering with our gROUP. Now lEAVE.”

“I guess class is over anyway, so…”

“Ugh, this is so far from my next class…”

Everyone in the group dispersed in different directions, some more grouchy than others.

“So we were in the Curie building, right?” Iyozane asked Chouki.

“yEP. Do you know where that IS?”

They did not. “We should find it if we walk around.”

“I suppose SO.”

Iyozane led the way at first, but after they stopped recognizing their surroundings, they ended up walking wherever Chouki walk- Err… Floated. Aside from the big dome, every building looked the same as each other, with only signs to differentiate between them.

“You kNOW, I can see why Fumikado appointed you nOW,” Chouki said all of a sudden. “It’s still suspiciOUS, but you definitely have the skills to back it UP.”

Chouki didn’t seem to know about Iyozane’s ability to play the Saeda, and it would be best to keep it that way. To that end, Iyozane prodded at their wording to figure out how much they knew. “Suspicious how…?”

“It’s obviOUS, isn’t IT? No one had heard of you befORE, but suddenly you were promoted up to a newly created positION. But it seems Fumikado had the sense to test your skills before thinking with their bODY.”

“T-Their body?” It probably did look like that to everyone else, now that Iyozane thought about it. And Fumikado did tell them to keep quiet about the flute, so that must’ve made things worse… Wait, was Fumikado trying to spare Chouki’s feelings with that? At the time, Iyozane just assumed it was some weird ritual thing.

“You can play dumb if you wANT. I don’t want to think about it anymore eithER.” Chouki had a thoroughly disgusted look on their face. Iyozane felt disgusted too, but they could either let Chouki believe they slept their way to their current position, or reopen an old wound and risk Chouki’s wrath. Iyozane personally liked staying alive.

“So…” Iyozane quickly thought of a new topic. “What was up with your shikigami earlier? Did it malfunction or something?” For a brief moment earlier, Chouki’s shikigami had made some weird noises before Chouki swiftly deactivated it.

“OH. tHAT. I was thinking over what that priest sAID.”

“You mean when…” Iyozane remembered exactly when Chouki’s shikigami started acting up and shut up.

“yEAH, about how easy it is to convince children to do tHINGS. And about dEBT.”

“I see.”

Candy, compliments, being scared into obedience when that didn’t work. Having their own life held over them as collateral, as if they could only justify the act of breathing by doing everything they were told. It was so familiar that it made them want to vomit. They didn’t want to think about it, and they didn’t want to think about how that could apply to Fumikado.

Well, it wasn’t like Masakado was getting revived at this point. At least they didn’t have to feel guilty about Fumikado getting their personality replaced by a spirit because they were brainwashed as a kid.

Iyozane expected that to be the end of the conversation, but Chouki kept going. “I don't think I ever had to be convinced to serve FumikADO. Was I even old enough to make choices back tHEN? Their grandfather just told me it was my way of paying him back for taking me IN. For putting a roof over my hEAD.”

Iyozane quickly scanned their surroundings for other people. The university’s courtyard seemed relatively empty at the moment. It was a bit of a relief to not have to worry about anyone staring, but they probably could've used the crowdedness as an easy topic change. They looked at the building signs again in case they missed an out, but their desired building was nowhere in sight.

“It was my entire LIFE. But their ambition to become the new emperor is their entire life tOO. nO, it wasn't even their ambition to begin wITH.”

“It was their grandfather's, right?” It was a rhetorical question, meant to snap Chouki out of whatever mood they had fallen into. However, it just seemed to encourage them.

“yES, indEED.” Chouki’s aura darkened. “He thrust our destinies onto US, without any alternaTIVES, and without any care for how things would work out outside of his fantaSIES. That makes everything his fAULT, rIGHT?”

How did they get dragged into such a personal conversation again? “Yeah, that sounds pretty awful but… Why are you telling me all this?”

“You made me think about it aGAIN, and thinking is easier when you can hear IT. beSIDES, you’re involved nOW, so there's no point pretending none of it ever happened for your sAKE.”

Even after hearing about what Fumikado had done, Iyozane chose to stay with them, so maybe that did make them involved. They did it because they wanted to become the chief advisor of course, but there was another selfish reason too.

It was after they fought Para. At first they were simply horrified at what Fumikado had done. It didn't help that Fumikado kept trying to make excuses, and almost seemed to be bragging about it at one point. Then they realized what it meant for that child’s body to have been Fumikado’s old body. When they did, they thought Oh, they’re just like me.

Really, it was just projection, but it made some things come into place. Like Fumikado’s habit of putting on airs. The way they took any chance to think of themself as better, and would act out if you ignored them for too long. Iyozane used to do pretty much the same sort of things. No, they still did it sometimes, just less obviously.

As for why? Every day of their old life was spent being carved out into a convenient vessel for others to pour their desires into. Anything inconvenient to that purpose—whether that was their own desires or their sense of self—had to be hidden away or else it would be gouged out of them.

Long before they knew what was happening to them, they felt the gaping hole this left behind. They needed to compensate for it somehow, so they held onto what they were constantly told when they asked why; They would become the emperor someday. Everyone would look up to them, so they needed to become someone worthy of looking up to. For a while, those fantasies of power and admiration were enough to bear any suffering.

Of course, it was just a farce. Eventually, it became clear that they would never hold any real power, and that the most care anyone would ever give them was pity. All that was left was the pain of being carved out. So they threw away that life. Even in their new life, they could still feel it if they left themself alone for too long.

For Fumikado, becoming a vessel wasn’t just a metaphor; It was something to brag about. At first, Iyozane figured it was their choice and didn't pay it much mind, but thinking about how young their old body looked just made it all concerning. Just how much had been carved out of them? They even wanted to become the emperor too! It reminded Iyozane so much of themself that it was painful. They were still disgusted at Para’s circumstances, but Fumikado's solemnity when it came to Chouki proved to Iyozane that they were capable of remorse. So they didn’t want to leave Fumikado alone to drown if they could help it.

It seemed like Chouki had quite the hole themself, from what they were saying. Iyozane was tired of thinking about this topic though, even if they were technically involved.

Iyozane looked around again, and as if being blessed, they saw a sign that said ‘Curie’. “Look! There it is!”

“FinALLY.” Chouki’s dark aura dissipated, much to Iyozane’s relief.

The two of them walked up to the door. Iyozane tried to open it, but it refused to budge. Right, Tsubakura was rushing to keep this door from closing last time. Maybe it needed a card like the door to the MRI room? “Do we just wait outside, or…?”

“nOPE. I have a pLAN.” Chouki glared at the door. They rolled up their sleeve and pushed their arm through the wall.

“Huh?!” Iyozane yelped. Then they thought about it logically. “I guess you are a spirit. Why didn't you tell anyone you could do this earlier?”

After pushing the door open a bit from the inside, Chouki grabbed onto it and took their arm out. “It feels gROSS. I didn't think I would need to eithER.”

“That’s fair I guess.”

It wasn't long before they found the MRI room. Chouki knocked on the door. Para floated up to the door’s window, presumably to check who it was, and then opened the door.

Tsubakura turned around from their position at the MRI machine’s control panel. “What took you two so long?”

“Do you know how big this campus is?!” Iyozane complained.

“I mean, we all walked around together, didn’t we?” Tsubakura pressed a button on the control button and faced Iyozane. “Anyway, could you go calm down your boss?”

“Did they get mad at you again?” Iyozane asked.

“Nah, they’re just claustrophobic. Don’t tell them that though. At least, not until the scan is done.”

“I was wondering how they would handle tHIS.” Chouki used to serve Fumikado, so it made sense they already knew about a fear that not even Iyozane knew about until now. Though actually, maybe it made more sense for them not to know, since they’ve only known each other for about a year. Iyozane certainly wasn't planning on Fumikado knowing as much about them as they did.

Iyozane walked up to the control panel. “So, how do you use the microphone on this thing?”

“How did you know there was a microphone?” Para asked. “It completely surprised me.”

Shoot. They said too much. “Didn’t Tsubakura mention it just now?”

“Did they?” Para looked a little confused. So far so good. The momentum wouldn’t last long however.

“Pretty sure I didn’t.”

“nOPE, they dIDN’T.”

Contrary to Iyozane’s intentions, barely anybody seemed thrown off. These bold-faced lies worked a lot better if other people were questioning their version of events too. But there was another function built in.

“I could’ve sworn they did…” Iyozane made sure to sound a little distressed.

“Maybe you heard about it somewhere else and forgot?” Para suggested, somewhat sympathetically.

“Weird…” Even if Iyozane couldn’t convince other people to question their version of events, they were still successful as long as other people believed they were simply confused.

“Yep, you’re a weirdo,” Tsubakura said.

“Do you have to say it so bluntly…?” The downside was that people would think they were stupid, but it was better than the alternative.

“‘S just who I am.” Tsubakura gestured to a button on the control panel. “Anyway, press this and make sure to ask them some low stakes questions when you’re talking to them.”

Iyozane nodded. It was probably a method of calming people down during medical procedures, judging from the way Tsubakura specified low stakes. They pressed the button and began talking to Fumikado.

Chapter Text

Fumikado had to say, it was nice waking up in their own room again. Things weren’t completely back to how they were before that failed ritual, but they didn’t have to hide from their own mansion anymore. Plus, they could afford a couple of people to clean around the mansion now!

…Just how far had they fallen from grace if they were getting excited from that alone? Not to mention the fact this tiny bit of fortune was partially at the hands of that irksome priest.

What was up with them anyway? Wanting to ruin their ritual, not taking their concerns seriously during the mock war… And to top it all off, they had to go and make their grandfather sound like some kind of creep.

The more Fumikado thought about it, the more it angered them. They spent their first hour awake trying to blow off steam by coming up with attacks that would trip Tsubakura up. Their stomach started bothering them at some point though, so they went to the kitchen to refuel.

Fumikado got a container full of leftovers out of the fridge and pressed the button on top. As long as one loaded the container with magic every so often, it could heat up anything inside. It wasn’t the same as a freshly-made meal, but Iyozane didn’t wake up this early, and apparently there still wasn’t enough of a budget for a proper chef yet.

The container dinged and Fumikado opened the lid. After waiting for it to cool down, they started eating. Food was just fuel in the end, so it didn’t really matter what they ate as long as it wasn’t terrible.

Once they finished, they continued working on spell card ideas until they were interrupted by Iyozane, who was holding two sandwiches. Following behind them was Yabusame, eating their own sandwich.

“Tsuba wants you again! Oh yeah, your chief advisor makes good sandwiches~”

Iyozane sighed and handed Fumikado one of their sandwiches. “When I mentioned it was going to be lunch soon, they kept pestering me until I made them something.”

Fumikado hadn’t realized how much time had passed until Iyozane said the word lunch. They took a large bite out of the sandwich. Yabusame was right, it was a good sandwich.

“Oh yeah, Tsuba wanted you guys about an hour ago, but I thought you were at the other place. We should probably start heading over now before they get mad.”

“Let them be mad,” Fumikado huffed.

“That might be pretty funny~ Guess we can finish our sandwiches before we go then?”

“If I knew we weren’t going to be flying straight there, I would’ve made something else.” Looking annoyed, Iyozane took a bite out of their sandwich.

After they all arrived to the Senri Shrine, Yabusame led Fumikado and Iyozane to the lobby. Tsubakura and Para were sitting at the low table, while Chouki was floating. Could Chouki even sit anymore? Whatever the answer was, it wasn’t any of Fumikado’s business.

Tsubakura looked up towards the group. “Wow, you were so late that the meeting I wanted to avoid interrupting is pretty much over.”

“I had a nice sandwich!” Yabusame said.

“Why didn’t you bring me one then?” Tsubakura complained.

“We don’t have any sandwiches to give to the likes of you!” As far as Fumikado was concerned, Tsubakura didn’t deserve a sandwich.

“Yeesh, no need to be so noisy.” If they thought that attitude was going to get them any closer to a sandwich, they had another thing coming.

“So, what did you call Fumikado-san here for anyway?” Iyozane asked. Oh right, they were called here for something.

“I was wondering that tOO,” Chouki added.

Tsubakura reached under the low table and picked up a familiar bag.

“You’re giving them back?!” Fumikado had given up on seeing their grandfather’s journals again after handing them over to Tsubakura. Maybe the priest wasn’t all bad.

“I already copied down everything of use. What else was I gonna do, eat them? Actually, the ink is aged, so that might taste good…” Tsubakura had a contemplative look on their face.

“Don’t even think about it.” Fumikado glared as a warning.

“Relax. I have plenty of other journals to eat.”

“Please tell me this isn’t normal,” Para grumbled to Chouki.

“It ISN’T.”

Para let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Anyway,” Tsubakura continued. “I put your test results in there too. Should be sticking out one of the journals. Nothing we need to talk about but some people get curious.”

As Tsubakura spoke, Fumikado realized the opportunity they had. They smirked. “You said you copied down everything of use, right?”

“I mean, yeah?” Tsubakura looked annoyed at the question, but didn't seem to suspect a thing. They wouldn’t know what hit them.

“So that means my grandfather’s notes were useful to you, right?”

Tsubakura sighed. “Are you still mad about the other day?”

Crap, they weren’t supposed to figure it out that quickly. It was too late to back down though. “Answer the question.”

Iyozane yanked Fumikado’s arm and glared at them. “Could you not?”

“Hey-” Fumikado began to defend themself, but they were quickly interrupted.

“yEAH, seriOUSLY. Shut UP.”

Fumikado turned to Chouki, shoving Iyozane’s hand off of them in the process. “So you think we should just let them get away with insulting our family?!”

“Our fAMILY? Don’t make me lAUGH. Oh wAIT, I cAN’T.”

Fumikado felt dizzy for a moment, but it wasn’t long before things made sense again. “Just because you’re mad at me, doesn’t give you the right to throw Grandfather under the bus! He never did anything to you!”

“You seriously believe tHAT?” Chouki’s aura darkened. The sharp redness in their gaze felt overwhelming. “You seriously believe tHAAAT???!!!”

Fumikado didn’t speak.

Every counterargument died before it could fully form.

“You know why he called me into his study aLONE, rIGHT? Of course you dON’T. There’s a reason he never included yOU.”

“Could you do this some other time?” Tsubakura asked.

“nO, we’re doing this nOW. Leave if you mUST.”

Tsubakura stood up, muttered some complaints about being kicked out of their own lobby, and left. Yabusame followed them, acting as if nothing of significance was happening.

Chouki continued speaking. “You probably thought the few times I told you were excepTIONS, and that just because you told him to sTOP, he dID. Of course you believe tHAT!”

Stop what?

They didn’t want to ask, but it bothered them. “Stop what?”

“So you don’t even rememBEEER?!” Chouki looked more hurt than angry. “Let me remind you tHEN. And I won’t be watering it down this tIME.”

There was a looming sense of dread, like hearing what Chouki had to say next would kill them. Even so, they couldn’t move from the spot.

“He wanted me to be the perfect servant for yOU. If I was ever anything less than tHAT, he made sure I knew how worthless it made mE. How he didn’t have to take me IN. How he could’ve just let me dIE.”

“You…” Sure Grandfather was strict, and some of that did sound a bit like him, but he couldn’t have been that harsh about it… Chouki seemed too upset to be lying though. “You must’ve taken it the wrong way.”

“How was I supposed to take it tHEN? Those were almost his exact wORDS.”

That wasn’t… That couldn’t be…

“Every single misTAKE, no matter how sMALL, might as well have been a betrayal to hIM. Whether it was a lapse in my test sCORES, dropping sometHING, forgetting to use respectful lanGUAGE… If he couldn’t find anything to be mad aBOUT, he’d say I was showing attiTUDE. He wouldn’t even explain what that mEANT!”

“...Grandfather was pretty strict, wasn’t he?” Fumikado wanted to say it was just because he cared, but was that even…? Of course it was true!

“There’s a difference between being strict and being cRUEL. And it wasn’t even just my mistakes he got mad aBOUT! If you were late to something because you insisted you knew the way and got lOST, then it was my fault for letting you get lOST. But I wasn’t allowed to talk back to you eitHER. If you got mad at the wrong moMENT, then it was my fault for not calming you down fast eNOUGH. He even got mad whenever you got sICK.”

…Ah, so it was their fault. Grandfather was only doing this to make Chouki into a good servant for them after all. Well, they already apologized to Chouki once. “Sorry.”

“You apologized on your OWN?!” Apparently, the shock was enough to return Chouki’s aura back to normal. “But you know we’re talking about your grandfather, rIGHT? About what he dID?”

“Right… Yeah.” Even if it was Fumikado's fault, their grandfather still did that stuff. Chouki was still hurt. Of course. Taking all the blame for themself would’ve been too convenient.

“I don’t think you dO.” Chouki’s expression softened, but only in the sense that some of their anger had melted into resignation. “I think you’re just going to forget this conversation ever happened after it’s oVER.” They held their glare.

“I don’t think Fumikado-san’s that hopeless,” Iyozane defended. “Maybe they’re in denial, but they’re not hopeless.”

Denial. That was a word for it. Even if Fumikdao could think enough to deny the denial, it didn’t change the way reality crashed in on them. Before, it was like the conversation was taking place in another world. One that only belonged to them and Chouki, and where everything was wrong. Iyozane’s defense poked through that sense of separation. But even in reality, this conversation was still happening.

“In that cASE, I’m sure they can at least remember not to refer to that bastard as my family ever aGAIN. You can do that mUCH, right FumikaDO?”

“...Yeah, I can do that.” It would’ve been nice if that was all they had to do. It wasn’t though, was it?

“gOOD. Now lEAVE.”

Fumikado looked at the bag of journals Tsubakura left behind. They were tempted to grab it, but Chouki was right there, as was Para, who was glaring right at them.

While they were deliberating, Iyozane took the bag and walked towards the door. “Shall we head out?”

Fumikado nodded and left with them.

The scenery on the way back looked nice. The clouds looked nice, the trees looked nice. The mountains looked nice too, even if there were less of them now. Usually, thinking about how they would one day rule over the scenery was enough to overturn any bad mood. Right now though, it wasn’t enough at all. It almost made them feel worse.

Ruling Mugenri sounded pretty nice and all, but weren’t they set on that path by their grandfather? After what Chouki said, they didn’t feel good about following his wishes. They still owed him a lot though.

But he hurt Chouki. He hurt Para too, but at least that was a necessity... Right?

Okay maybe it was a little much… A lot much. Regardless, he went too far with Chouki.

There had to be some explanation, right? Apparently, Fumikado tried to get him to stop before. What did he say back then…?

It was hazy, but it was something about how he never meant to go so far, and that he only did it out of love. Right, that was how he showed love. Wasn’t his fault Chouki misunderstood. But it wasn’t Chouki’s fault either. It was a pretty confusing gesture. Now, what did he do again…?

Oh, right. That.

Maybe Chouki was right about their forgetfulness.

“Hey, Fumikado?” Iyozane’s voice cut through Fumikado’s jumbled web of thoughts.

“...Yeah?”

“If you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here.” There was some hesitation in Iyozane’s voice, like they were forcing themself to make the offer. Even so, one question immediately came to Fumikado’s mind.

“How-” Bile rushed up Fumikado’s throat. They suppressed a gag. What were they thinking about asking?!

How do you deal with knowing your family did something terrible?

No matter what their grandfather did, it wasn’t comparable to that wretched excuse for an Emperor- former Emperor. Really, even just thinking it was unforgivable, after everything Grandfather did for them-

Iyozane sighed. “Please don’t force yourself. Especially not while we’re in the air.”

“I wasn’t gonna throw up.”

It would’ve been nice if Grandfather were alive to clear things up. He was always good at making things make sense again. But he really wouldn't have been the most reliable source in this instance…

There was another option though.

“Take me to Yago-sama’s place.” Fumikado didn’t mean to imply that they couldn’t get to Yago’s on their own. That was the least of their worries right now though.

“Are you sure? I thought you would wanna rest after that conversation.”

“I just need to talk to them.”

“If you say so…”

Yago was annoying a lot of the time, but they knew their grandfather too. Maybe they would know what to think about everything.

Chapter Text

Iwakado’s words kept ringing in Chouki’s head.

”I didn't have to take you in.”

”Do you really think you're fit to serve the True Emperor like this?”

“I could always replace you with someone else, but Fumikado likes you. Don't make me do something they’d hate.”

They had to kneel in rice for the duration of that lecture, so their knees were sore. They preferred getting hit since it was over immediately, but Iwakado had stopped doing that at some point. Maybe he figured it would be less painful over all? Sometimes when he hit really hard, he’d say he didn’t mean to use so much force, so maybe…

As if he’d be so merciful. Even when he did apologize, he still put the blame on Chouki for making the mistake in the first place. He did take them in though, and he hadn’t fired them yet… But it was only a matter of time. That's how it always felt after one of his lectures. Logically, they knew there was only a small chance he would go through with it. Even so, the fear nagged at them. The only way to make it stop was to go back to Fumikado’s side and do their job properly this time.

That’s what they wanted to do, but with every step they took, it felt like the world was falling around them. It was a struggle to walk straight, even ignoring the dull pain in their knees. They couldn't possibly serve Fumikado like this. What would happen to them if they couldn’t complete their duties right after being lectured over that very thing…?

They needed to recover. If they got caught, they could just say they were fixing their appearance. Their hair got messy pretty easily after all, and their robe was a little dirty around where they kneeled in the rice…

When they arrived to their room, they practically collapsed at their desk. They meant to sit down quietly, but apparently their body had other plans.

For a few minutes, they didn’t move. They couldn’t move. At least, not without an outside force. They had a hair brush at their desk, so they could always grab it quickly if someone walked in. Thankfully no one did. Even so, their fear of someone walking in began to outweigh their exhaustion.

They sat up straight and looked in a mirror. First, they brushed their hair. Then, they opened up a jar of hair gel. They brushed the hair gel into the parts of their hair that were still sticking up.

After that, they forced themself to stand. They locked the door and changed their outfit, putting in extra time and care to make sure it looked just right. Once they were done, they folded up the outfit they were wearing before and set it to the side for another servant to pick up later.

Then they couldn’t move again. They stood in place, wavering without taking a single step.

Suddenly, they heard a knock on their door. As if jerked along by marionette strings, Chouki rushed to unlock the door and answer.

On the other side was Fumikado, who had an amazed expression on their face. “Woah! That was fast!”

Chouki wasn’t sure exactly how to respond, so they defaulted to “At your service.”

“So what did you talk to Grandfather about?” Fumikado asked. “You sure were gone for a while.”

“Care to explain this score?”

“We just went over our test scores.” Chouki really didn’t feel like talking about their mistakes or thinking about that conversation at all. Luckily, it was always pretty easy to divert Fumikado’s attention. “You did wonderfully as usual.”

Fumikado started giggling uncontrollably. It was easy to forget they weren’t as young as they looked when they got like this. “Of course I did! I’m going to be the emperor’s vessel after all~! Did Grandfather say anything else?”

“Your master is the vessel for the true emperor. Surely some of their brilliance must've rubbed off on you.”

“He said you're brilliant. I'm sure he’ll have a lot more to say once you speak with him yourself.”

Fumikado hummed, as if considering something. Then their eyes lit up. “Very well then! Let's go see him~”

Fumikado began marching on ahead.

Chouki stood in place. Everything felt numb.

Fumikado stopped and turned around. “What’re you waiting for Chouki?”

At Fumikado's words, Chouki’s legs finally moved like they were supposed to. One step after the other, as if carefully maneuvered by an inexperienced puppet master. But this pace was far too slow, so they picked up their speed, and in the process, their strings got tangled up.

They fell over.

Now they’ve done it. Their vision began to blur. No no no they couldn’t be crying on top of everything else. This was their own mistake. Now Fumikado was sure to get tired of them and ask for a better servant. They needed to fix this.

Chouki stood up. Everything around them still felt like it was falling, but they ignored it. Choking back a sob, they apologized.

“Huh? It’s not like you fell on me. Hell, even if you did, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt. I’m already pretty strong y’know~” Somehow Fumikado turned it into an opportunity to brag. At least it meant they weren’t mad.

“That’s good…” Chouki tried to force energy into their voice, but apparently it didn’t convince Fumikado.

“...Hey, are you okay? You look kinda pale… Can falls do that?”

“Yeah.” Chouki didn’t need word of their mistake getting back to Iwakado. The less reason Fumikado had to mention it the better. At least they weren't crying, apparently.

“To being okay or to falls being able to do that?”

Chouki hesitated. They weren’t sure how much longer they could lie before everything fell apart anyway. Did they even feel like keeping up this facade anymore?

Of course they did. What other option was there?

But before they could figure out how to keep their facade intact, Fumikado spoke again.

“Did Grandfather…” Fumikado’s eyes widened before they looked down. Their grip on their clothing was tight. Chouki needed to ask someone to iron that outfit later, assuming they were still Fumikado’s servant by then. “Did something happen while you were with Grandfather?”

How were they supposed to respond to that?!

Fumikado seemed pretty upset, and Chouki didn’t want to make it worse. Even so, a part of them wanted to be honest. To admit how horrible they felt. How afraid they were. They didn’t want Fumikado to hate them for their mistakes though. There was a reason Iwakado never scolded them in front of Fumikado. Even if Fumikado took their side, all it would do is ruin their relationship with their grandfather. They couldn’t do that. Chouki knew how much they loved him.

They were breathing too heavily. Fumikado could probably see them panicking. They already did in fact. Why else would they suspect something is up? Why couldn’t Chouki just act normal-

“Aren’t you gonna say something?!”

Crap, they took too long to respond. The irritation was clear on Fumikado’s face. If nothing else, it was just a yes or no question. They just had to pick one of the two responses. “Nothing happened.”

“There’s no way that’s true! You’ve been acting weird ever since you got back! Now tell the truth or I’m gonna get mad.” Fumikado already seemed pretty angry, from their shouting to the way their arms twitched.

No matter what Chouki did, someone was getting mad at them. But since Fumikado told them to tell the truth, that’s what they would do. It wasn’t like they were coming up with any good lies anyway. “I got a bad score on a test.”

The tension deflated from Fumikado, and they sighed. “Which test?”

Was that relief in their voice? Chouki almost felt it too, but there was a problem. “...I don’t remember.”

“Like at all? Guess we could always ask Grandfather…” Fumikado stopped, as if catching a mistake. Then their relatively casual tone disappeared. “You got in trouble with him, didn’t you?”

Chouki nodded.

Fumikado was silent, as if carefully considering their next words. If Fumikado was doing that, then… Were they getting fired…? If that was what was happening, Fumikado would've done it after finding out their mistake. But why else would they be thinking so deeply?

Finally, Fumikado gave a small, strained smile and spoke. “He can be pretty scary huh… Don't take it personally.”

“Y-You’re sympathizing with me?” Chouki couldn’t believe their ears. They never thought Fumikado, as loved by Iwakado as they were, would understand. And yet they did.

“Well, yeah. I’ve gotten in trouble too, y’know. Doesn’t he talk to you about that?”

Usually just to get onto them for not stopping Fumikado or helping them enough. But they didn’t have the heart to say that, so they just nodded.

“See? He doesn't hate you.”

It was clearly meant to be reassuring, but something about their certainty annoyed Chouki. Even though Fumikado could relate to Iwakado being scary, that didn’t mean they understood what it was like to be hated by him. “Has he ever told you you’re replaceable?”

Fumikado looked shocked. They shouldn’t have said that, especially not in that tone. There was no easier way to get in trouble than to argue with Fumikado.

“It’d be pretty hard to replace me, wouldn’t it? He’d have to grow a new body, find a new volunteer. But you…”

No. They weren’t gonna say it, were they?

But instead, Fumikado shook their head and said “You’re irreplaceable too.”

“Huh? Me?” Chouki didn’t believe what they were hearing. “Anyone could do my job, couldn’t they?”

“But they’d just be some stranger! I don’t want some stranger to wake me up from my nightmares! Or stay with me when I’m sick. I just want you.” Was that fire in Fumikado’s eyes, or was that just their normal redness? “If Grandfather tries to fire you, I’ll bring you back here myself and tell him you can’t be replaced!”

Tears welled up in Chouki’s eyes again, but this time, they let them fall. It felt safe. “You mean it?”

“Of course! And when I become the emperor, I’ll give you anything you want!”

Fumikado was always so nice to them. Chouki considered themself very lucky to have them as a master. “Can I ask for something now then?”

“Sure, but you might have to wait~”

“Then…” Even if Fumikado already said it in a lot of ways, Chouki wanted to hear them say it one more time, in the most obvious way. “Please let me stay by your side.”

“Well duh, I already said I wanted that! Anything else?”

“You’ll let me stay even if I mess up, right?”

“Yeah. Anything else?”

The fact Fumikado said that without even thinking was enough for Chouki. “Let me think about it.”

Chouki was in Iwakado’s study again. Fumikado’s promise repeated itself in their head, but it didn’t shake off the uncomfortable feeling that always arose in this room. With unease, Chouki awaited his words.

“So, did you ask Fumikado to stand up for you?”

Huh? Chouki really should’ve told them not to do that… “No sir.”

“You’re not lying, are you?”

Iwakado just couldn’t let anything they said go without suspicion, could he? “No sir.”

“Fumikado said the same thing, so either you’re telling the truth or you two figured out how to keep your stories straight.” Iwakado moved on as if he didn’t care which of the two possibilities were true. “Fumikado’s shaping up to be an excellent leader, aren’t they? Leaders are supposed to stand up for their subordinates after all.”

“I agree.” Even though Chouki’s words were true to their feelings, it felt as though they were just saying whatever Iwakado wanted them to say.

“I know I can go too far sometimes, so I don’t mind if you ask Fumikado for help. Just don’t waste their time and use it to avoid responsibility. Got it?”

Chouki wanted to ask what counted as ‘avoiding responsibility’, but it felt like the type of question that would get them scolded for ‘talking back’. “Got it.”

Chapter Text

When Fumikado arrived at Yago’s, they went straight for the forge. A wave of heat washed over them as they opened the door. It probably would’ve been unbearable if it weren’t for their… This body. It was evidently too much for Iyozane, who swiftly moved to the end of the hallway to escape.

Yago looked up from their current project. “Didn’t someone ever tell ya ta knock? If you were a normal human, ya would’ve been roasted by now.”

“I need to talk about something.”

Yago’s tone took on a more cheerful tone after saying that. “Never thought ya’d ask me for help so easily! Hold on while I finish this sword. An’ close the door so yer underling doesn’t get cooked through.”

Fumikado closed the door. The heat still lingered, so they walked over to Iyozane.

“I know they’re a god and all, but how can they stand that?” Iyozane complained. It was forced, as if they would die again if it was quiet. “It felt like my eyebrows would burn off any second.”

“It was hot even for me,” Fumikado agreed. The silence would’ve been suffocating for them too.

“Right?”

After that, the conversation died. The only topic on Fumikado’s mind was one they wanted to put off until they talked to Yago, and it seemed like Iyozane didn’t have any better ideas.

“So… When you talk to Yago, should I wait somewhere else?”

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

Those were the only other words exchanged until Yago walked out of the forge.

“We should prolly talk in the storage room. ‘S still pretty hot in there.” Yago pointed towards the forge.

“I’ll go wait in the lobby then.” After saying that, Iyozane left to go there.

Fumikado and Yago walked towards the storage room. They passed by the lobby on the way, which felt a little awkward after having already parted ways with Iyozane for the time being, but that didn’t matter.

After the two had entered the storage room, Yago began speaking. Fumikado was happy to note that their tone seemed less eager. “So, what’d’ja wanna talk about?”

There were a lot of fragments of questions swimming around Fumikado’s mind, but nothing complete enough to ask. Every time they tried to force those fragments into complete sentences, it made them want to run away from the conversation altogether. So they hesitated. And in that hesitation, those fragments slipped out of Fumikado’s grasp.

Maybe they could work up to the hard stuff.

“What did you think of my grandfather?”

Yago scrunched their eyebrows. “How honest do ya want me to be?”

Now that Fumikado was at this point, they couldn’t afford to hesitate. “I need you to be honest! Don’t water it down for me.”

An expression of resignation formed on Yago’s face. “You must’ve found out somethin’ terrible, huh…”

“So you knew? And you didn’t stop him?!” Fumikado desperately hoped Yago would say they didn’t know.

“That depends on what yer talkin’ about.”

Fumikado’s blood ran cold at the implication behind Yago’s words. “T-There’s more?!”

“No one I’ve met’s ever had only a single skeleton in their closet. So, what skeleton did’ja find out about?”

“So everyone’s a bad person. Is that it?” The sharp chill spread across Fumikado’s body, settling down into a dull ache. Fumikado already knew they weren’t a good person, no matter how much they tried to ignore it. But if everyone was doing bad things, then was Iyozane a bad person too? Tsugumi? Their parents?

What about Lord Masakado? No, he had to be an exception. He was a glorious leader, always making the right decisions for those under his care. He could’ve guided the world into a wonderful era if only he hadn't been struck down prematurely. Their grandfather was the one who taught them that, but that couldn’t mean it was wrong, could it?

Yago sighed. “I’m not a god that judges morals. Those change too much for me to keep track. I just make and hand out weapons.”

“So not everyone is a bad person…?” That had to be what Yago was saying, right?

“I’m sayin’ you need to decide for yourself. Ya still need to answer my question if ya want me to answer yours.”

Oh right. Fumikado still had to talk about that. They took a deep breath in. Here goes… “Well… Chouki kinda said that Grandfather was really harsh to them.”

“Really harsh huh… Never heard anythin’ ‘bout that specifically, but it doesn’t surprise me.”

“It doesn’t?” So he really was…

“He did worry about how he treated ya from time to time, an’ yer grandpap certainly wouldn’t be the first guardian I've met to be resented by their former charges.”

“Why was he worried about how he treated me?” Fumikado regretted asking the question as soon as the words left their mouth. In the time it took them to speak, they already remembered three instances Yago could’ve been talking about. Though, if it weren’t for the fact they remembered being different heights in all three instances, they would’ve sworn it was the same memory. They messed up, and their grandfather thought it meant they weren’t working hard enough, even though they were trying their best. He never meant anything bad by it though. Not for them. “Sure he was strict, but he would always go out of his way to compliment me if one of his lectures got too bad.” In a way, it was basically like encouragement, right? Yeah, it was just encouragement. Now if they could stop being dizzy…

“Prolly ‘cause the guilt was eatin’ him alive.”

“Why didn’t it eat him alive for Chouki then?!” Fumikado looked at Yago, begging for an answer.

“Blood relations mean a lot to humans, so prolly somethin’ ‘bout that. I doubt that’s why yer askin’ though…”

“Chouki was our family too!” Something about Yago’s uncertainty pissed Fumikado off. No, they were already pissed. They just wanted to be pissed at someone that could respond. It helped that they didn’t owe Yago nearly as much.

“Do ya even remember what Taira branch yer grandpap said O-Chou was from?”

Fumikado did not. Did their grandfather ever even mention that? “...No.”

Yago took Fumikado’s silence for an answer. “Exactly.”

If their grandfather couldn’t even bother remembering where exactly Chouki came from, then it was no wonder Chouki didn’t want to consider him family. “Why were you even friends with him then?”

“He was interesting, and I felt like he could benefit from my help. Not that he always listened but…” Yago sighed, shook their head, and gave a tired smile. “I wanted to see how far his passions would take him. Will you continue followin’ his dreams after this, I wonder?”

“You promised him I would, didn’t you?”

“I only promised you’d be a fine, capable leader, not that you’d take his path there.”

Fumikado’s chest felt lighter at Yago’s words. They almost thought about giving up for a moment. It wasn’t like they had any other plans for reviving Lord Masakado. Could they really do that though? Yago wasn’t the only one that made a promise. Fumikado had too.

But was their grandfather someone worthy of keeping a promise to? Of course he was, he saved their life! But…

Yago’s words interrupted Fumikado’s thoughts. “Why don’t’cha ask yer subordinates for advice? Whatever you choose, they'll be affected too.”

Passing off the decision to Iyozane and Tsugumi sounded pretty good right now. No, they were taking their subordinates' opinions into consideration. It was a wonderful excuse. “Thanks.”

“Talk to me if ya ever need anythin’ else, okay? And… Sorry for not checkin’ in as much as I should’ve.”

Now that Yago pointed it out, it probably would’ve helped. A lot. But they couldn’t expect a god to drop everything to deal with a human’s family problems. So Fumikado simply nodded without a word.

After that, they left the storage room. They walked straight to Iyozane, who seemed delighted to see them. Or maybe they were just bored.

“Do you know where Tsugumi is?” Fumikado asked. “I want to set up a meeting.”

“Actually…” Concern flashed over Iyozane’s face. “I think we should call it a day. A lot has happened after all.”

“But it’s important!” Fumikado couldn’t stand the thought of sitting with this uncertainty for any longer.

“Then you can tell me about it on the way home. You look tired.”

Fumikado didn’t feel tired at all, and yet they have no will to argue about it. “Let’s call it a pre-meeting then.”

“Whatever you say.”

The two of them began flying. Fumikado wondered for the next few minutes how they should phrase their concerns. “I was thinking… Maybe we should give up on reviving the true emperor.”

“Honestly, I thought we already did.” Iyozane seemed annoyed and relieved all the same.

“I guess we did get sidetracked, what with the debt…”

“Well, we’re not being sidetracked anymore, so why not figure out what to do from here? Later of course. You still need to rest.”

If half of their subordinates approved of giving up anyway, why not just give up now? “Yeah, that sounds good.”

Once Fumikado arrived back home, all of their exhaustion sunk in at once, and they charged right to the nearest seat. As soon as they sat down, they knew there was no way they were standing up again for a while.

Whenever they tried to think, it was all jumbled, so it was easier not to think. And for some reason, Iyozane was standing over them. Fumikado stared.

“Ah, don’t mind me. I’m just staying around in case you need anything.”

Now that Fumikado thought about it, they felt kinda thirsty. “Water.”

“Got it.”

The table in front of Fumikado looked comfortable. With Iyozane gone and nothing else to focus on, they drifted out of consciousness.

Chapter Text

It was cramped in the crate. Every part of their skin was either pressed up against the harsh wooden floor or some kind of bag. In hindsight, many of those bags would’ve had to have weight lightening charms in them for Fumikado to have survived underneath, but it was still cramped. They could barely hear anything outside, and if they moved around at the wrong moment, someone bad might hear and kill them.

Fumikado knew it was a dream from the darkness surrounding them; The eyes on their current body could take in even the most miniscule light. But the distinction didn’t help much. No matter how often they tried to wake themself up, the most they could muster was awareness of their current sleeping conditions before being thrust back under the weight of the bags.

With every passing second, they felt heavier. One of the straps crawled its way into Fumikado’s chest and started crushing their heart, their lungs, anything it could find. They couldn’t stop it, because if they moved, they would be killed. Every breath Fumikado took might as well have been an invitation for the bag to squeeze them more. Soon they could barely breathe at all.

Traitor.

The word tickled both of Fumikado’s ears at once. They needed to apologize right now. For being such a terrible grandchild. For abandoning his plan. Then it would stop.

They needed to apologize. But they couldn’t speak. They would die if anyone heard them.

Traitor.

Maybe they could just die? It was only a dream, so Fumikado would’ve been happy to die if it meant Grandfather would stop being mad at them. But they couldn’t speak.

Not to die.

Not to apologize.

No noise came out, because they would die if it did.

All the while, the bags burrowed into more of their skin.

Traitor.

No matter how much it hurt, they couldn’t scream. It wasn’t good enough. Nothing was good enough. But it had to be, otherwise it would never stop.

Traitor.

That’s all Fumikado wanted. Even if they couldn’t make a single sound, they just wanted it to stop.

Traitor.

█Make█it█stop.█

Traitor.

█M█ake█i█t█s█top.█

Traitor.

█M█a█ke█i█t█s█t█op.█

Traitor.

█M█a█k█e█i█t█s█t█o█p.█

Traitor.

Makeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstopmakeitstop█makeitstop██makeitstop███makeitstop████makeitstop█████makeitstop██████make█it█stop██make██it██stop███make██it██stop████make████it████stop█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

And then, one final voice cut through it all.

I forgive you. Just don’t do it again.

It was dark, but Fumikado could see their surroundings. With that, they could breathe again.

The first thing Fumikado noticed when they woke up was how sticky the table felt against their cheek. Were they really drooling that much…? Their eyes also stung. That must’ve also been because of the drool, they decided.

Either way, they needed to revive Lord Masakado right this second. That’s why they had that dream, wasn’t it? Grandfather always told them that the reason they kept getting those nightmares was to remind them what they were doing all this for. They were like encouragement in that way. It was only natural that they got one right after giving up. The only way to atone was to fulfill their destiny as soon as possible. The fact they didn’t know how was just another failure they would have to overcome, and fast. Maybe if they visited the Harujion again they’d find more answers. It didn’t work the last few times, but they would make it work this time.

Just as they were about to do that, they noticed a glass of water on the table. A sign that they needed to be fully hydrated before becoming Lord Masakado’s vessel. He wouldn’t accept anything less.

Fumikado downed the glass in two gulps. Now, Lord Masakado.

They stood up, walked to the door, and ran into Iyozane. Good, they could use the help. “Get the Saeda. We’re leaving.”

“What…?” Iyozane paused, looked blankly at Fumikado, and sighed. “It’s not even that hot yet. Do I really get cold that easily?”

“Huh? What’re you talking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

Fumikado felt some shame about going back on their previous decision. But it was important. “I made a mistake yesterday. We need to revive Lord Masakado right now.”

“How?!” Iyozane’s eyes widened, caught between shock and amazement. “I thought there wasn’t any other way to do it.”

“Maybe the Harujion still has some power left in it.”

Iyozane’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously? That’s all?”

Why wasn’t Iyozane listening to them? “What’s that look for? We don’t have time for this!” Normally even when they complained, they would at least still help.

“Earlier, you were perfectly willing to give up on the revival plan, and now you’re acting like you’ll die if you can’t do it. Why?” The irritation in Iyozane’s voice was clear.

“Because giving up in the first place was a mistake!”

“Why was it a mistake?”

“Because he’s the true emperor, obviously.”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not he’s the true emperor if we can’t revive him. If checking around the Harujion again worked, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.” Iyozane’s exasperation was hitting a breaking point. Fumikado had to convince them fast.

“Then we’ll try something else! Maybe if we can get a hold of the thing that came out of the Harujion…”

“They’ll just try to eat us, you know.”

“Then-”

“Just stop.” Now Iyozane was completely sick of Fumikado. Their expression said it all.

“...Look, you won’t even have to deal with me anymore if we succeed. Not that much anyway. So just help me now and-”

“Do you really think that’s what I want?!” Iyozane shouted so loudly that it rang in Fumikado’s ears.

“Why wouldn’t it be?! You’re always getting pissed at me, everyone’s always getting pissed at me, so why shouldn't I let someone better take my place?!”

Iyozane didn’t respond immediately, which pretty much confirmed it for Fumikado; They were nothing to Iyozane. Nothing to anyone. The thought made them want to scream, and their mind was already screaming, but if Iyozane would just help them with this, everything would- “Maybe I don’t want to help you throw yourself away!”

Throw themself away? “Why are you talking about it like that? That’s not…”

“Then what is it? You just said I wouldn’t have to deal with you if this worked.”

Fumikado couldn’t come up with a satisfying answer, to their frustration. “Maybe this is something worth throwing myself away for.”

“You didn’t think so earlier.”

“I’m allowed to change my mind.”

“I guess that’s true…” Finally, Iyozane was coming around. “So, why did you change your mind?”

“It can’t just be a coincidence that I had a nightmare right after deciding to give up.”

“Ah, so you had a nightmare… You’re right that it probably wasn’t a coincidence, but I don’t think they’re connected in the way you think.”

“Then how are they connected?” Fumikado knew Iyozane wouldn’t have a real answer to that question-

“You had a pretty stressful day before falling asleep, didn’t you? And I can’t imagine falling asleep on the table helped.”

Or maybe they did. “I have nightmares even when I’m sleeping on a proper bed, you know.”

Iyozane clenched their fists and took a deep breath. They must’ve been getting mad again. “I do too, but that wasn’t the only thing I said.”

The other part was something about having a stressful day. Without thinking, memories of the previous day flowed into Fumikado. And with that, they remembered why they wanted to give up in the first place.

Just how many times were they going to forget?

Fumikado hastily took out their notepad and wrote down what Chouki had told them about their grandfather. A vague, generalized version of it anyway. Fumikado couldn’t bring themself to write down specifics. Hopefully “Grandfather said very cruel things to Chouki” would be enough of a reminder.

Their grandfather’s plan was responsible for Para’s suffering too, wasn’t it? Fumikado wrote down a second reminder about that.

“What are you doing?” Iyozane asked.

“Just making sure I don’t forget something important again.” Fumikado slammed their notepad shut and put it away. “More importantly, are you sure you’d like to keep working under me? Even though I keep pissing you off?”

“I mean, I’m still working under you, aren’t I? Not everything you do annoys me.”

Fumikado felt relieved. It was still overwhelming to think about going forward without Lord Masakado, but maybe they could make it. Could they though…?

Too much thinking. Save it for later.

“Then let’s set up that meeting with Tsugumi about what to do from here!’

“So we’re giving up on the revival plan again?” Iyozane asked.

Fumikado nodded. “It’s not very feasible anyway.”

Iyozane smiled, but they seemed bewildered. “Did I actually convince you to change your mind?”

“Somewhat. Your words got me thinking about yesterday.”

“Ah. I understand then.”

Fumikado was happy that Iyozane didn't ask any further questions. At the same time though, they wanted to talk about it. They wanted to talk about how betrayed they felt. How stupid they felt. How awful it felt to hate their grandfather after everything he did for them.

Did they even hate him? It wasn't like he hurt them. Maybe they should just do the plan anyway- No! Remember Chouki and Para.

Fumikado decided to just bite the bullet and ask. “How do you deal with your parents, uh… Being your parents?” Even if their grandfather wasn't as bad, that just made Iyozane an expert.

Iyozane’s expression darkened. They closed their eyes and took a deep breath. “I don't really think about them anymore. Probably helps that I didn't see them as much as most kids see their parents in the first place.”

“When did you stop thinking about it?”

“Sometime after I came back to life, I guess?” Iyozane’s voice was tinged in uncertainty. “I don't have any advice for you, but well… You weren't the only one that was in denial.”

Even if Iyozane couldn't help not seeing their parents’ crimes, the thought of having a companion in stupidity was comforting. “How do you stop?”

“In my case, I eventually had my own reasons to resent them. Every so often I would get thinking that I shouldn't because they were my parents, but maybe they should've been better to begin with.” Their tone was steeped in bitterness.

“I always thought my grandfather was the best, since he treated me so well…” Fumikado felt numb. In a way, it was almost like accepting he died again.

“I wonder about that actually…” What? What were they saying?

“What do you mean?” Fumikado regretted asking that question immediately. They had only now just stopped feeling like they were shattering into pieces. It felt like if Iyozane said the wrong thing, they would break all over again. But taking back their question would break them too.

“Well…” Iyozane inhaled sharply. Not a good sign at all. “This is just a guess, but your grandfather never gave you any options outside of becoming a vessel, did he?”

“I guess technically he did…?” It was always clear that the other option was the bad option though.

“Do you want to just give up now? At this rate, everything we worked for is going to waste anyway.”

Fumikado had begged their grandfather not to make them give up. They could improve. Nothing would have to go to waste. Then he hugged them, said he would give them another chance, and showered them with so many compliments it made them dizzy. But he was right the first time. Everything really did just go to waste in the end.

“What was even the point of all that…?” Fumikado asked aloud, their voice cracking. Why was it cracking? Stop!

“If you keep looking for one, you’re just going to keep suffering,” Iyozane answered. They sounded annoyed.

“Then why did it happen? What did I suffer for? What did anyone suffer for?!” Tears welled up in Fumikado’s eyes, and their voice still hadn’t stopped cracking. They just wanted to disappear. Fade away. Maybe then there wouldn’t have to be a point to anything. No one would have to see them make a fool of themself ever again either, since that’s all they could do apparently. They could just disappear!

“Sometimes you just suffer and there’s no meaning to it. There’s never any meaning to it. Trying to assign one is like saying there’s something that could make it okay! There isn’t! It shouldn’t have happened!” Iyozane became angrier and angrier as they spoke, but rather than being angry at Fumikado, it seemed like they were angry for Fumikado? That didn’t solve their problems though.

“What do-” Fumikado’s throat tightened. Seriously, now they were gonna turn into a sobbing mess in front of Iyozane? In a cruel twist of fate, the thought was what finally set them off. After letting out a cry, Fumikado gripped their skirt and powered through the rest of their question. “What do I do then?!”

They fell to their knees and resisted the urge to curl into a ball. They didn’t dare look in Iyozane’s direction. They knew Iyozane was looking at them, but having proof would’ve been too much. Damnit, now they felt worse. More sobs escaped.

“So, um…”

Yep, that confirmed it. Fumikado balled their hands into fists. “You can stop staring.”

“I was only looking a little…”

Sure, why not. It might’ve been a lie but Fumikado didn’t really care.

“What I wanted to say was, there isn’t really a specific solution. You just have to find your own ways of making the suffering decrease. Though first, you should probably get all of… This out of your system. Do you want me to leave?”

As much as Fumikado hated that Iyozane was seeing them like this, they hated the thought of being alone even more. “Just turn around.”

“If you say so.”

After hearing some shuffling, Fumikado lifted their head up to confirm Iyozane had indeed turned around. Without any eyes on them, Fumikado stopped holding back. They were definitely too loud, but they couldn’t bring themself to care anymore. Everything hurt too much.

It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. So much. Everything they wasted. Every bit of pain they inflicted. Every bit of pain they suffered. It hurt. The way they cried hurt. The way they breathed hurt. Even their own heartbeat hurt. They couldn’t stay like this.

“How did you-” Annoyingly, Fumikado choked mid-sentence. “, make the suffering decrease?”

“I mainly just drifted around various goals. You remember how I used to want to be a pirate, right? And then I wanted to become a musician before ending up as your chief advisor.”

Fumikado nodded, before remembering that Iyozane couldn’t see them. “Yeah.”

“Speaking of, do you still plan on becoming the emperor?”

It was as good a goal as any. Fumikado had already resolved to do it without Masakado, and it wasn’t like they had any idea what else to do. They wiped their eyes. “I already said I’d make you my chief advisor, didn’t I?”

“If it’s alright with you.”

Fumikado smiled. Yeah. They just had to keep moving forward with what they already decided. They could figure out the specifics at that meeting. Iyozane would stay by their side, and maybe Tsugumi would too. No, they definitely would.

Their tears slowed down. Maybe everything would be okay after all.

“Though, maybe you should find something else too,” Iyozane suggested.

“Wouldn’t that distract me from becoming the emperor?”

“It doesn’t have to. It can just be a hobby or something.”

Fumikado still wasn’t convinced, but they didn’t feel like fighting over it right now. “I’ll think about it.”

Chapter Text

Fumikado had spent the rest of the previous day a lot more idly than they would’ve liked. It wasn’t like they did nothing, but they got tired of doing things more quickly, and would end up just sitting around after a while. According to Iyozane, their mind and their body needed the rest. They couldn’t be the emperor if they just lazed around though, especially now that they weren’t going to be a vessel anymore. If the true emperor wasn’t going to be around, Fumikado had to make up for it.

So they were happy to be going back to work today. Since Tsugumi was there, they could finally discuss their next course of action!

“Does yer next course o’ action involve me gettin’ paid?” Tsugumi asked as they moved some swords on a shelf aside. Today’s task was reorganizing the storage room.

“Yago-sama’s been paying you, haven’t they?” Iyozane pointed out.

“Yeah, and it’s fantastic! But y’all still owe me.”

“I guess we do have the money now…” Iyozane took out their wallet and handed Tsugumi a hefty stack of bills with a sigh.

Tsugumi counted their money and nodded. “Yep, that’s everything ya owe me.”

“So? Can we move onto business?” Fumikado asked.

“Y’all can if ya want. I’m just gonna keep workin’.”

“But you work for me right? I thought I was supposed to be paying attention to the needs of my subordinates.” Was that wrong…? Fumikado did remember being told not to talk to their servants too much as they were growing up, but they figured it was just their grandfather being strict. If he was right about this, then he could’ve been right about anything. Was Fumikado making a mistake by giving up on his dream- No, that had to be too far of a leap. But was it really?

“Oh, forgot ta mention; I quit. Glad yer finally gettin’ the right idea though.”

Nice! They didn’t make any mistakes! “So I was right~!”

“But why?” Iyozane asked. “It’s pretty nice working with you, you know.”

Oh right, Tsugumi was quitting. “Yeah! Why?”

“Remember how I started workin’ for ya half a year ago and ya only paid me now?”

“...Point taken.”

Having two subordinates was already bad enough. Having just one would be a travesty. Now, how could they get Tsugumi not to quit? Their main complaint was their salary, right? “What if we started paying you regularly?”

“Yago-sama’s already doin’ that. ‘sides, bein’ mixed up with politics is too tirin’ for my taste.”

“I guess you can’t do anything about a lack of interest.” After sighing, Iyozane thrust a blunt weapon onto the shelf with a fair amount of force. Not enough to knock anything down though. “So, I assume our first order of business is recruitment?”

“That sounds like a good first step. Let’s promise people regular payment if they sign up!” Fumikado suggested.

“Regular payment’s a part of every job,” Tsugumi pointed out.

“I knew that…” On some level anyway.

“We’ll need a bigger source of money if we’re going to hire more people though.” Iyozane explained. “All of our extra savings just went to Tsugumi, so we can’t pull from those. Hopefully the person appraising your family’s treasures will get back to us soon…”

“Yeah… Until then, we should think of a new goal to unite under.”

“Weren’t y’all gonna revive some dead guy?” Tsugumi asked. “That sounds like a goal.”

“Oh, we gave up on that,” Iyozane said.

“Really?!” Tsugumi’s eyes widened with surprise. “How’d’ja get ‘em to do it, Iyo-san?”

“Hey! I made that decision on my own!” Fumikado declared.

“Really?” Tsugumi still seemed shocked, as if they didn’t believe what they were hearing.

“It’s true, they did.” Iyozane confirmed. “I did help out a bit though.”

Tsugumi’s expression mellowed out at Iyozane’s words. “That makes sense, yeah.”

“Hey.” Fumikado glared at Tsugumi. Maybe it was a good thing they were quitting after all.

“Anyway, Fumikado-san’s right about us needing a new goal.” Iyozane gracefully got the conversation back on-track, even throwing in a compliment for good measure. “It’s going to be hard though. I bet a lot of people are satisfied just with the old leadership in the capital being taken down, and anyone who isn’t is probably following Chouki.”

“That just about summarizes it. In order to gain followers, we need to stand out somehow. Would be easier if we had more information…” Fumikado lamented their current lack of information network. That was one of the things that had to be cut in order to meet the reaper’s demands… Wait a second! That scoundrel was leaving them alone now! “Iyozane! We have the money for informants now, right?”

“We might in a couple of weeks or so. Though, the reaper did take the phone with the anti-wiretapping magic…” Iyozane looked to the side. “And it was our only phone too…”

“That truly was a loss, huh…” Their debt may have been cleared, but if they wanted that phone back, they would have to duel for it. Even if Fumikado wasn’t one to shy away from risk, it would’ve been nice to have another, less risky option to try first.

“Y’all’ve been talkin’ to Senri lately right? Why not use their phone?” Tsugumi suggested.

“Good idea Tsugumi!” Someone had to have been looking out for Fumikado, dropping the perfect solution in their lap like this. “You sure you don’t wanna continue working for us?”

“Yep.”

“Awww…” Well whatever.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door. Even from the storage room, Fumikado heard it clearly.

“Seems like Yago-sama has a visitor,” Iyozane noted.

“I’ll go get it~” Now that Fumikado knew what they were going to do next, they wanted to show off to whoever was visiting. Maybe they could even recruit them! But they would have no such luck. They eagerly opened the door.

“Your time’s up.”

The one on the other side was none other than the reaper themself.

“We’re under protection, don’t you know?” Fumikado wasn’t sure if that was true anymore, but it was a lot easier to act confident if it was.

“That was only while Tsubakura was using you. But now that they’ve cast you aside, I see no reason for them to care about how I conduct my business with you. And it looks like you have a pretty nice source of income~” Kuroji smirked. “This place belongs to a god, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not letting you take our rightful earnings, you cur!” Fumikado glared at the scoundrel.

“Now when did I ever ask for permission?”

“You bastard…! It’s clear there’s only one way we can end this.” Fumikado took out their spell cards.

“What’s going on out here?” Iyozane asked, having just arrived into the lobby.

“This bastard’s trying to come after our debt!” Fumikado explained.

“So y’all didn’t have protection after all,” Tsugumi commented. “Oh yeah, I don’ work for these guys anymore.”

“I don’t care about your money anyway.” Kuroji shrugged and turned to Fumikado. “Now, you were about to start a spell card duel, weren’t you?”

“Count me in!” Iyozane took out their own spell cards as well.

“No, I have to do this alone. If I don’t, they’ll weasel their way out of it the same way they did last time.” Last time, Kuroji had managed to get them to agree to a pittance of an order with the excuse that they were defeated 3 to 1.

“That was during a 3 on 1 fight though. If it’s just 2 of us, they can’t do as much.”

“Shall I fight both of you then?” Kuroji asked.

“No! You’re only fighting me!” Fumikado declared.

“Don’t decide that on your own,” Iyozane complained. Whoops. They forgot to ask.

“Quite the risky move, no? You’ve only beaten me 3 on 1 you know.” Kuroji’s words distracted Fumikado from their small mistake.

“And you’ve only beaten me 2 on 1. We’ll just have to see who’s truly the strongest!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just go 2 on 1 an’ not let ‘em talk y’all down this time?” Tsugumi suggested.

“Actually… I think Fumikado-san might have the right idea. Best not to give them the chance. Even though I wanted to fight too…”

Well, if Iyozane was giving them permission~

“Now that you’re all agreed, shall we go outside then?” Kuroji began walking outside without waiting for a response. Fumikado had no choice but to follow after them (as if they’d follow them otherwise).

The two of them flew into the sky and began the spell card duel.

Kuroji’s attacks were as swift as usual. They moved across the battlefield as quick as a mosquito, much to Fumikado’s annoyance. Fumikado already had workarounds for fast opponents though. They wouldn’t be a proper emperor without a backup plan after all. Fumikado summoned two of their shadow clones to provide more bullet coverage.

More attacks were exchanged, and it ended up being Kuroji who summoned their first spell card. It was commonly thought among less skilled spell card duelists that the person who went the longest without summoning their first spell card was basically guaranteed victory. However, that assumed that spell card duels were merely tests of endurance. Endurance was a part of it, sure, but the real purpose was to overwhelm your opponent with your power. And what better way to do that than by showing off your power first?

Even Kuroji’s spell cards themselves felt designed to overwhelm their opponents. Their reversal ability was bound to catch anyone off-guard. That definitely contributed to Fumikado’s defeat the first time they faced Kuroji, but they wouldn’t let themself get disoriented this time.

With that resolution in their heart, Fumikado successfully dodged through Kuroji’s first spell card without getting hit. During their second spell card however, Fumikado kinda sorta forgot about the reversal ability in their desire to graze up against the stream of bullets Kuroji shot out. It was only thanks to a quick spell card activation they were able to get out of it without serious damage.

Fumikado couldn’t just spend their time watching how Kuroji was reacting to their spell card, so they were definitely confused when some of that spell card came flying back at them. There wasn’t any time to dodge. But they could try something else. They ended their spell card, took a deep breath, and turned their skin into iron. They couldn’t attack, but the bullets reflected off of them.

Unfortunately, Kuroji reflected the bullets back again. Fumikado couldn’t keep the iron skin transformation going for much longer anyway, so they deactivated it and, when it became apparent they couldn’t just dodge out of the way of the reflected bullets, activated another spell card.

Fumikado continued shooting and dodging bullets. No matter how confusing everything got, they refused to give in. But they were starting to get tired. Still. They had a debt to clear.

Finally, after just barely getting out of that spell card where Kuroji swapped places with them by the skin of their teeth, Kuroji surrendered.

Even so, through heavy breaths, Kuroji smiled as eerily as ever. “I suppose you’ve won that one.”

“Damn right I did! Don’t think I’m letting you get out of your order this time!”

“Very well then. What’s my order?”

Kuroji’s confidence caused Fumikado to falter for a moment, but ultimately they decided to fight that confidence with their own confidence. “Never come after me or my subordinates again.”

“I guess there’s no choice huh.” Kuroji shrugged. “Welp, I’ll be getting out of your hair then.”

“That’s right. Can’t defy a spell card order, now can you?”

“Nope. But you never told me not to send anyone else after you either.”

Crap, that was a pretty glaring loophole, wasn’t it? “Wait, lemme change my order!”

“Too late! Now if you excuse me, I have other things I could be doing. Hope to see your payments come in soon~” Kuroji flew away without letting Fumikado get another word in.

Fumikado won, but did that really change anything?

Well, if Fumikado could handle Kuroji on their own, their subordinates couldn’t be much harder to deal with. Yeah! It was a victory through and through!

“I defeated the reaper!” Fumikado announced after flying down to Iyozane and Tsugumi.

“Yeah, we saw. What did you order them to do?” Iyozane asked.

“I told them to never come after any of us again, but apparently that didn’t include their own subordinates so… But it’s fine! We can deal with them!”

“It’s an improvement, if nothing else~” Iyozane seemed pretty cheerful upon hearing the news, but their face became more wary soon after. “So, when you say ‘any of us’, what exact wording did you use?”

“Me or my subordinates. Why?”

“Well, it would be pretty troublesome if that scoundrel started going after any new subordinates of ours. I doubt they would wanna stay after that…”

“If I were still workin’ for ya I certainly wouldn’t,” Tsugumi added.

“It’s a good thing I made sure to include that then, isn’t it?” Fumikado bragged.

“Yes, it certainly was.” Iyozane seemed impressed, making Fumikado’s victory feel all the sweeter. “Oh! We could advertise protection against them couldn’t we?”

“Good idea~! They’re definitely the type to have scammed a lot of people.”

“And we could probably get away with paying them less with this protection offer too!”

“Ain’t that extortion?” Tsugumi pointed out.

“Okay so maybe we don’t pay them less,” Fumikado backpedaled on Iyozane’s behalf.

“It doesn’t have to be that much less.”

“How much less would be acceptable then?”

“We can figure it out later, maybe.”

And so the two decided to put that conversation off for later. Fumikado felt like Tsugumi was giving them both the side-eye for the rest of the shift, but they didn’t need to worry about that right now.

Chapter Text

Para hated sleeping. They were already running out of time as is, and everytime they woke up, their pool of available knowledge was smaller than it was before. At least when they were awake, they could steal knowledge, or spend their time writing down whatever they could. But no matter how hard they tried, sleep would catch up with their body sooner or later. If nothing else, it meant their more stubborn siblings would get some proper rest. Even though their siblings could afford to sleep, some of them would insist on staying up with Para. Right now, those same siblings were huddled at Para’s side under the blankets.

Speaking of, how did they end up in their bed?

Para checked their bedside. Once, Garaiya moved them while they were sleeping, and they panicked over not knowing where they were. After that, Garaiya promised to leave a note next time, and that they would tell others to do the same.

As promised, there was a note.

I moved you to your bed.

~Chouki

So it was Chouki this time. Come to think of it, Para sorta remembered being carried after falling asleep on the floor last night. It woke them up a bit that time, but they fell back asleep after realizing it was Chouki.

…

Why didn’t they immediately know that? Usually, Para either knew things, or they didn’t. There weren’t any sort of in-betweens like this. Was this because of the medicine Tsubakura gave them? Is this what Tsubakura meant by making their soul rely on their brain’s sense of memory?

Well, it was more complicated than that judging by Tsubakura’s explanation, but that was all Para had grasped. Para took out their notes from their last visit. Apparently this medicine did that by modifying their current body’s DNA to fit more in line with their old body and produce neurons in their hippocampus, alongside some other changes that Para couldn’t comprehend at all, but remembered existing after reading. It didn’t feel like the information was new at all, despite the fact they forgot about it until now.

Why? They knew something like this would happen, and they were willing to risk dealing with it if it meant delaying their ultimate ending. But now that they were actually dealing with it, it was unsettling.

According to Tsubakura, since they had just started taking the medicine, the changes would revert on their own if Para stopped taking it. They wouldn’t have to deal with this for much longer if they didn’t want to. Even so, they were remembering stuff they forgot about.

Para looked at the medicine bottle on their desk, sitting next to a medicine tracker and a small dosage cup. Apparently it was better to take it in the morning, and they had just woken up (though the clock suggested it was already afternoon). However, they felt paralyzed.

Maybe they should ask someone for advice. Everyone they could think of was annoying though. Garaiya would meddle way too much, Clause would start rambling about something incomprehensible, and Para had seen Kaisen and Kujiru argue so much that they didn’t want to be around either of them.

They could also ask Chouki for help but…

It was enough to just free them. Chouki even went along with them to visit Tsubakura when they had so many other things they could be doing. Para had to go with someone, since they could forget where they were. It could’ve been anyone, yet Chouki tagged along out of consideration for their feelings. They didn’t want to ask anything more of Chouki. Not when they had barely started to repay them.

“You don’t have to do anything to repay ME.”

Right… Chouki had said that sometime after the two of them visited the university.

Huh? Wasn’t this something they knew just yesterday? And now it was in that nebulous state between something they knew and something they didn’t know. This really was just going to keep happening wasn’t it…

As Para contemplated that, the memory started disappearing. They panicked. As soon as they thought about it again though, it came back. That was a relief. Was that how it worked…? Now, to contemplate it properly.

Chouki said they didn’t want Para to feel indebted, since they were made to feel indebted for almost their entire life. Chouki actually deserved to get paid back, but at the same time, Para really didn’t know what to do about all these memories popping out of nowhere. They could take Chouki’s previous words at face value for now. Hopefully Para could recall them later.

Para took out a notepad with a list of places that people they knew were likely to be and turned to Chouki’s page. On the list was their office, the training grounds, and the common area. There was less likely to be other people there if they were in their office, so Para decided to head there first.

Chouki was in fact in their office. They seemed busy, so Para felt bad, but they actually smiled as Para entered the room. Chouki tapped their shikigami and began speaking. “What brings you hERE? I was getting tired of looking at those repORTS.”

Seeing that Chouki wanted a break from their responsibilities anyway, Para felt confident in asking for advice. “I actually need help making a decision.”

“About wHAT?”

“The medicine I’m taking. It started working, but having a human-like memory feels weirder than I thought it would.”

“How sO?”

“Random memories keep flashing into my head even though they’re not in my pool of knowledge! It’s nice that they’re not just gone, and it seems like I can make these types of memories appear just by thinking about them, but…” As Para spoke, they finally understood why it was all so unsettling. “What if something really important disappears when I’m not thinking about it?!”

“I’ve never thought about it before mysELF.” Chouki’s expression was contemplative. “There’s been things I’ve worried about forgetTING, but it’s usually more along the lines of dates and objects rather than anything truly imporTANT.”

“So I don’t have to worry then?” Para was ready to cling onto Chouki’s every word if it meant some kind of relief.

“Maybe nOT. Memory can be volatile howeVER.” Chouki’s answer wasn’t nearly certain enough.

“What do you mean?!”

“I barely remember anything from when I was younGER, and when I do remember sometHING, IT’S…” The air around Chouki began to darken. They must’ve been remembering something painful again. “Fumikado’s grandfather broke my arm ONCE. And yet I didn’t remember it at all until recentLY! How do you forget something like tHAT?!”

Para already had plenty of reasons to be angry with Fumikado’s grandfather. Every new thing they learned about him just added fuel to the fire. “If Fumikado ever tries to sing his praises again, maybe you should break their arm.” Even if Para felt a little grateful to them for getting them in contact with Tsubakura, that didn’t change how awful they usually were.

“mAYBE.” As Chouki smiled darkly, their aura faded away. Then their expression settled back into something more neutral. “We’ve gotten way off-topic tHOUGH. My point was that sometimes you can forget things that should’ve been unforgettabLE. Not that I wanted to remember that in the first pLACE.”

Chouki still remembered it eventually though. Even if it took a long time, and even if it was something painful, the fact they remembered at all sounded wonderful. “I’ve decided. I’ll continue taking the medicine.”

“I’m glad I could hELP, but I don’t follOW. I just finished telling you one of the downSIDES.”

“If there aren’t any certainties to this sense of memory, that also means it won’t certainly disappear. I have a chance.”

Every minute of Para’s existence felt like they were grasping at straws. Grasping at whatever knowledge they could take. Grasping at whatever empty reassurances were thrown their way. Grasping at any reason to continue existing at all. Anything to delay their inevitable ending. Anything to deny such a cruel ending.

This was just another straw like the rest, but rather than only slurping up a measly few drops, maybe they could use it to finish an entire drink. Maybe they wouldn’t dehydrate someday. Even if they had to die, maybe they could die normally, as something with an intellect beyond that of a worm.

Chouki smiled. “That’s certainly good tHEN.” Then their expression became more stern. “Just so you kNOW, human memory works better when you get a proper amount of sLEEP.”

Para rolled their eyes. “Now you sound like Garaiya.”

“You say that like it’s a bad tHING. They’re just trying to hELP.”

Para couldn’t help but crack a smile. Even so, they sighed. “I’m going to study now.”

They left towards their room. Even if this medication did end up working out in the end, it wouldn’t restore their infinite knowledge. They would have to do that work themself.

Chapter Text

Throughout the last couple of weeks, Fumikado had thrown themself into their work for Yago, and finally, it had paid off. Iyozane finally said they had enough money to pay for a meeting with their informant. However, Fumikado started to see a major flaw in their plan over the passing days.

“Do we have to go to the Senri Shrine? Why not just get someone to put anti-wiretapping magic on our current phone?”

“We would have to wait another month if we wanted to afford that.”

Fumikado groaned. Sure Iyozane had a point, but…

“The substitute priest already thought you were an idiot before that outburst, and there’s no way we would happen to show up at the same time as Chouki and Para,” Iyozane reassured.

“How did you know that’s what I was worried about?”

“What else would you be worried about?”

Once again, Iyozane had a point. Whatever. The sooner they talked to their informant, the better. It didn’t matter if Tsubakura made fun of them or not, or if… Like Iyozane said, there’s no way Chouki and Para would just so happen to be there at the same time. “Okay fine, we’ll go.”

And so they went. They had to wait outside for a bit, but Yabusame soon arrived to greet them.

“Anything I can do to um… What word did Jinbei-chan tell me to use when asking if you needed help?”

“How would we know that?” Iyozane asked.

This was already getting way off-base. Looks like it was up to Fumikado to reel things in again. “We need to use your phone.”

“Oh right! Because you’re poor!” Yabusame clasped their hands together in… What kind of understanding exactly?

“Look, we’re out of debt now!” Fumikado defended. They crossed their arms. “No thanks to you.”

“But there’s plenty of poor people with no debt, right?” Yabusame asked.

“Can we please just use your phone already?” Now it was Iyozane’s turn to reel things in.

Thankfully, Yabusame managed to hold onto the request this time. “I’ll lead the way~”

Along the way, they ran into another group, led by Tsubakura. The other members of the group consisted of Chouki and Para.

Chouki was there.

Para was there.

“I can see this is going to be fun…” Tsubakura complained. Oh yeah, Tsubakura was there too.

“What are you doing hERE?” Chouki seemed more shocked than angry. That was a good sign, right?

“We’re just here to use a phone.” Iyozane explained. “We’ll be gone as soon as we’re done.”

“We were just leaving oursELVES.” Chouki held Para’s hand and started floating away swiftly.

Para stumbled forward. “Hey! Not so fast!”

In response, Chouki slowed down. “sORRY.”

Somehow, that confrontation was a lot easier to avoid than Fumikado thought. They didn’t even have to do anything. Chouki and Para were leaving on their own.

But they were supposed to fight Chouki for the throne someday, right? How could they ever be worthy of becoming the emperor if they ran away from them? They needed to face their mistakes head-on.

“Wait!”

Chouki turned around. “What do you wANT?”

Despite gathering up the courage, Fumikado didn’t actually think about what to say. They looked at Iyozane, desperate for answers. Iyozane nodded. “I’ll let you talk this out by yourselves while I make the phone call.”

Fumikado wasn’t sure what they wanted Iyozane to do, but it wasn’t that.

“Hey Tsuba, can you lead them to the phone?” Yabusame asked. “I wanna see if they fight!”

“I would hope not…” Iyozane replied.

“Doesn’t that defeat the point of letting them talk it out by themselves?” Tsubakura pointed out.

“Oh yeah! Good point!” Yabusame walked away after that, and Iyozane followed their lead, looking back one last time to give Fumikado an encouraging smile. It would’ve been more encouraging if they bothered to stay behind, but… No matter! A proper emperor should be able to handle things on their own sometimes.

…Why was Tsubakura still there? Fumikado asked the question out loud, hoping to stall for more time.

“I’unno, seemed more fun than leading someone to a phone?”

“Go look at my lab results then!” Para shouted.

“Yeesh, okay then. Just don’t break anything or else Sensei’ll get mad at me.”

With that, Tsubakura left too. Now that the final distraction was gone, Fumikado had to say something. Maybe they should get the most important thing out of the way first.

“I actually gave up on becoming the true emperor’s vessel recently.” Chouki and Para were both hurt in service of reviving Masakado, so maybe they would be happy to hear that. Or maybe they would be angry that their sacrifices were for nothing.

“wHAT?!” Chouki’s eyes widened. Were they shocked in the good way? The bad way? “Just like tHAT? You gave up just like tHAT?”

“Good for you I guess.” Para’s expression was even more unreadable. It was almost like they didn’t care.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but ultimately it wasn’t going anywhere,” Fumikado explained.

“That’s never stopped you beFORE.”

Normally, Fumikado would’ve brushed off that kind of skepticism. Thinking about their other reason for giving up hurt, a lot. Even so, not mentioning it would defeat the entire point of talking to Chouki. “It’s also because of what you said the other day.”

“So you did rememBER…”

“I’m grateful for everything he did for me and all, but thinking about everything he did to you two…” Fumikado glanced at Para. “I just don't see why I should bother doing the impossible for him.”

“gOOD.” Chouki smirked for a moment before returning to a confused expression. “But if you're giving up on becoming the emperOR, what will you do from hERE?”

Fumikado shook their head. “No, I'm not giving up on that part. Iyozane’s actually setting up a meeting with our informant now so we can plan our next course of action.”

“So we’ll still be competing I sEE. Don’t expect it to be eASY.” With that, Chouki’s confusion had completely shifted into confidence. It was a nice look for them. Fumikado would’ve loved to have seen it more, even if they were one of the people holding Chouki back in the first place.

“Just so you know, I’m not going easy on you either, even though you helped me,” Para added. “Thanks for that, by the way. It was the least you could do, but thanks.”

Now Fumikado wasn’t sure whether they should feel guilty or proud. They could work that out later. All that mattered is that their rivals were still taking them seriously even after their change of plans. Fumikado chuckled. So maybe pride did win out in the end. “I wouldn’t have it any other way~”

After they said that, Iyozane and Yabusame walked back into the hallway.

“Awww, you didn’t fight!” For some reason, Yabusame seemed disappointed. And for some reason, they immediately perked up after a few seconds. “Oh well! Means I didn’t miss anything~ Are you gonna fight now?”

“And destroy your hallway?” Para asked.

“It’s your property being damaged you know,” Iyozane pointed out.

“Oh right, that would be so annoying to clean up~” Yabusame rolled their eyes. “But you can fight outside, right?”

“We have other things to dO, so nO.” Chouki pointed at Fumikado dramatically. It was so cool. “But the day we do battle will cOME, so be prepARED.”

“I plan on it!” After that, Fumikado watched as Chouki and Para left. Then they turned back to Iyozane. “So? What did the informant say?”

“We can meet with them next week. You don’t even have to go to the capital this time~ But we do have to go on that bridge…”

Fumikado nodded. “Very well then! Let’s make preparations!”

Fumikado didn’t exactly know how things would go after the meeting. In general they weren’t pretty used to thinking about the future beyond the ultimate goal of becoming Lord Masakado’s vessel. But that wasn’t their goal anymore, so there was no end in sight. Even after they became the emperor, they would have a long reign ahead of them. Who knows what would happen?

It was overwhelming to imagine, but at least for now, they felt like they could handle anything that happened, no matter what it was.