Don't you think you've been pushing yourself just a little bit too hard?" Yuka says.
"Hmm?" says Keine, looking up from sweeping the kitchen.
Yuka frowns. "It's just as I've said. You've been running around doing a lot of errands lately. I mean, did you really go all the way to the Queen's manor?"
"Well, yes," says Keine, shifting her grip on the broom. What was she getting at?
"Exactly," says Yuka, "You've been working too hard. Let's take some time out tonight, shall we? We'll visit Mystia's restaurant, and have a nice walk together. The Prismrivers might be coming to town tonight, if what the mayor said holds up. We won't worry about school or the garden or Mokou or anything. Doesn't that sound nice?"
Keine purses her lips. It's certainly preferable to having to answer a bunch a problematic questions. In truth, it would be better to just have another quiet night, but the offer is just to reasonable to turn down without raising suspicions. "Alright," she says. "That sounds like fun. Just let me finish sweeping up, and then-"
"Who cares about the sweeping?" Yuka replies, grabbing Keine by the wrist, "Come on!"
"At least let me put up the broom!"
"It's not going anywhere!"
****
"So there's Elly," says Yuka, "Her face is just caked in pollen, and it's all over her clothes. Even on her hands, so she couldn't just wipe it away. So she looks at me, the most heartbroken look on her face and her voice on the edge of panic, and she says, "Yuka! What do I do now!?"
Keine snickers and asks, "So what did you tell her?" She then has a bite of her croquette.
"Well," says Yuka, "The first thing I said was, "Elly, dear, you might wish to notice you're also standing a few yards from a beehive..." The poor girl must have jumped high enough to put her hat on the moon!"
Keine chuckles a little more. As she does Mystia approaches, smiling broadly, "Enjoying, I hope?"
"Oh, it's quite good," says Yuka, as Keine nods. "The venison is very tender, quite spicy."
"It put up quite the fight," says Mystia, crossing her arms and nodding sagely. "But I'm rather proud of how cleanly I took it down. Glad you're enjoying it!" she adds as she starts to move to the next table, then she stops and waves toward the door.
Keine looks back as Mystia says, "Come on in and sit wherever you like!" She sees Sanae walking into the restaurant, looking refreshingly like the Sanae she knows; even still wearing the frog and snake emblems. Keine holds back a frown, it really would have been nice to save a trip up Youkai Mountain...
"Oh, just ask her over," says Yuka.
Keine glances to her companion. "What?"
"I can tell," says Yuka, "You'll mope all night if you don't get to give her your survey."
"No, it's fine," says Keine, "It's just supposed to be the two of us and all."
"It'll still be the two of us after she's gone," says Yuka, "I'll just get further claim on you the rest of the night." Then she looks toward the front of the room and calls "Sanae! Come pull up a chair with us!"
The wind priestess comes over toward their table, grabbing an empty chair. "Ah, hello Yuka, Keine," she says as she sits down. "Is there something I can do for you?"
Keine feels Yuka nudge her foot. "Well," Keine says, "I was wondering what was going on around Youkai Mountain, really."
"Oh, the same old thing, really," says Sanae "The kappa are all puttering away on their projects, and the oni are preparing for the weekly sake festival. I'm hoping we don't find any of them passed out inside the shrine grounds this time. It seems like it's fashionable to try to get a drink out of the pond there before sobering up these days, and there's always someone who doesn't make it out."
That explains why the Bunbunmaru news didn't seem to be getting delivered anymore. Keine starts to ask what Suwako thinks of people getting into her pond, before remembering there isn't a Suwako anymore. "What does Yasiya-sama think of people in her pond?"
"Well, she usually isn't in it at nights," says Sanae, fidgeting with her the edge of her sleeve. "not like Moriya-sama used to be."
Keine considers for a moment, then asks, "What is Yasiya-sama like? I've never really gotten a chance to know her well."
"She's quite kind," says Sanae. "She really does hold all the best traits of Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama. I can get a glimmer of them in her from time to time. It's quite a shame no one here ever got to meet the two goddesses who made them."
Was that wistfulness in her tone? "Do you miss them?" Keine asks.
"Well, they've never really left me," says Sanae. "But it doesn't always feel like that. There are times where I can hear Yasaka-sama's inflictions when she talks, though, or see Moriya-sama's smile when she greets me in the morning. Other times, she's like a different person entirely. And there are some times when she seems like the perfect mesh of Yasaka-sama and Moriya-sama. But it's impossible to predict which she'll be at any given moment.
"That sounds rather sad," Yuka says, frowning. "Don't you agree, dear?" Keine nods. She hadn't really expect this kind of an answer.
"Please understand, I love Yasiya-sama," says Sanae. "She really is a wonderful person and fully worthy of my veneration. It's just...Yasaka-sama and Moriya-sama were like my family. And it does sort of feel like they're gone, sometimes. Other times, it's more like they're in disguise, if you understand what I mean. It's very confusing sometimes."
"You don't get to talk with anyone about this much, do you?" asks Keine, looking around to make sure that no one was listening in.
"Just the Izyaoi Maiden," says Sanae."And, she's not very good at listening... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone into this."
"It's alright," Keine says. "I'm glad you're willing to tell me this." Certainly, there was some interesting information...
****
"Don't they sound nice?" Yuka murmurs, as she snuggles in more closely. Keine doesn't have to bother to hold back a reaction anymore. After sharing a bed with the flower youkai for over a week, she has since gotten used to this. It wasn't that bad, really, guilt for Mokou aside. At least someone was being supportive. She shifts a little against the grassy hill, looking upward toward the Prismriver sisters playing above. Lyrica blowing away on her trombone, Merlin with a set of steel drums shiny enough to be seen in the night, and Lunasa on her mandolin; they were an interesting substitute for the Prismrivers she knows and just as raucous in their own way.
Listening idly to the upbeat music, she mulls over the implications of what Sanae had to say. If the Oni were still on the mountain, that suggests the tengu were displaced. It seems likely they would end up in former Hell, but that kind of trip would be a pain. ...But would it really be necessary?
A light snore from Yuka disrupts her thoughts for the moment. Hmmm... She considers the flower youkai for a moment, and quickly discards any plan of extricating herself. After a moment, she looks around the loose crowd gathered on the hill, and quickly finds a bucket-shaped silhouette moving through the dark. She gestures with her free hand, waving until she sees Kisume's head turn her way, then motions for the green-haired youkai to come over. As Kisume draws close, Keine puts her fingers to her lips.
"Heheheh," Kisume whispers, "Ain't you two as close as a couple of boxcars? Y'need me to go find you some whipped cream and strawberries or summat?"
"Mayor, please..." Keine says, hoping the darkness would hide the sudden flood of warmth to her face. What did they do to get this kind of reputation! And why didn't she and Mokou have it in the proper timeline? "I was just hoping to ask you a few questions I've been mulling over about the Underground..."
"Weirdest way to get yerself in a mood I've ever heard," Kisume says. Keine tries not to scowl. How did this woman get elected? ...Or is this exactly why this woman got elected? Certainly Remilia wouldn't be this adept at innuendo. "So, whacha wanna hear?"
"Tell me about the Ancient City?" she asks. She stops herself from adding that she was sure there was a good reason Kisume left. No doubt this would be something she's supposed to know.
"Not a lot to tell," says Kisume. "Couldn't have worse neighbors then tengu, I'll have you know that. All too happy to claim a cave like it was their's alone and not give you the time of day. Tell you what, I cheered the day Utsuho moved in and made herself queen crow. Shame she didn't get to keep it for long, but it was a good day for the rest of us down there when she did. You won't hear me sayin' bad about the Blue White, but maybe she oughta have just let that one slide. Can't imagine it's much good for anyone back there, now. Especially if someone worse'n Tenma took over." Kisume shakes her head.
"I guess the Palace of the Earth Spirits must have had a hard time of it," Keine says, trying to keep her voice in a whisper as Yuka shifts against her.
"Probably tossed the lot of 'em into to big house," says Kisume with a shrug. "At least til Ol' Yasiya went down there to raise hell. But after that, I was long gone."
Keine nods, considering her next question, when she hears a voice from above cries, "Hey!" Yuka jerks awake, while Keine looks upward again to see Lunasa beaming down upon the audience. "Everybody dance!" the poltergeist shouts, as she conjures a wave of danmaku and sends it flying toward the ground!
"This wasn't part of the deal!" Kisume shouts over the crowd's cries of surprise.
