The White Rose of Chireiden

[FinnKaenbyou]

"Yumemi, what are you doing?"

"Disproving quantum physics."

"It's 2:53 in the morning. Why on earth are you disproving quantum physics?"

"Because I've lost control of my life."

Seriously, though, besides the tenses jumping around a bit in the initial sequence, a good update.

Spoiler:

Also dammit I may be running out of material for the Story Swap better start writing NOW

[Chaore]

Koishi's reaction to the sun made me smirk. Well done.

Well, that and the flying kitsune.

[Kasu]

Yuka just got incredibly more badass.  :3

[Matsuri]

Hell yes, more Yumemi :3

Also, damn, Koishi's dream sent shivers down my spine. :ohdear:

Visualizing Koishi seeing the outside world for the first time is kind of endearing, as well, for some reason.

I like where all of this is going. I'm excited to see what you have in mind next. Keep it up! <3

Yuka just got incredibly more badass.  :3

No kidding.

[FinnKaenbyou]

Yuka just got incredibly more badass.  :3

The mental image of Yuka pulling the carriage with her teeth came to me far too easily, even when the fic said nothing of the sort. :V

Also, related.

[Matsuri]

The mental image of Yuka pulling the carriage with her teeth came to me far too easily, even when the fic said nothing of the sort. :V

I hadn't even thought of that until you mentioned it, and now I can't get the mental picture out of my head. Thanks a lot D:

[Alfred F. Jones]

Seriously, though, besides the tenses jumping around a bit in the initial sequence, a good update.

Believe it or not, that was as intentional as you can get. And let me tell ya, it was a right proper mindscrew to write correctly. Like I said before, present-tense Koishi is "our" Koishi, the one who now lives entirely in the present and reacts on first instinct. Past-tense Koishi is... someone else entirely. (Kind of.) Making the past and present flip multiple times in the same paragraph gave me a headache.

_{One day, I'll make Nobu analyze White Rose with a fine-toothed comb just so he'll come to Colorado and shoot me down with a poisoned Amazonian blowgun dart for how much I've butchered basic concepts in psychology.}

Also, related.

Now I have to wonder if you somehow stole my research notes from my flash drive the collective unconscious. Because man, you wrote Utsuho and Shinki better than I did. I'm ashamed. :ohdear:

btw, unless Ruro says otherwise, I'm perfectly willing to see this little interlude as canon. Ruro permitting.

I would be honoured to accept that as White Rose canon, if Rou will permit me.

[FinnKaenbyou]

Believe it or not, that was as intentional as you can get. And let me tell ya, it was a right proper mindscrew to write correctly. Like I said before, present-tense Koishi is "our" Koishi, the one who now lives entirely in the present and reacts on first instinct. Past-tense Koishi is... someone else entirely. (Kind of.) Making the past and present flip multiple times in the same paragraph gave me a headache.

I was more referring to the Yumemi dream sequence. The tense jumps from past to present ('she worked without rest on the most important document of her young life-- though she doesn't know it') then back to past again ('She took a deep breath and sat there for a long while'). Sorry for being nitpicky :

[ruro]Oh, I didn't even notice that. I blame working at 3 AM, myself. BV Thanks for catching that. My bad![/ruro]

And feel free to put that into the canon. I'd be honoured myself.

[ruro]Will do. Thanks, Rou, you're a sweetheart. <3[/ruro]

[nintendonut888]

As promised, I've started reading this again from the beginning, and I read all the way up to the first alternate ending. I have to say, reading in a public (library) place gives me different feelings than reading this alone. I almost cried there at the end - and by that I mean I was actively holding back tears so I wouldn't get odd looks. You really characterize fear well in your writing. ;_;

[Alfred F. Jones]

As promised, I've started reading this again from the beginning, and I read all the way up to the first alternate ending. I have to say, reading in a public (library) place gives me different feelings than reading this alone. I almost cried there at the end - and by that I mean I was actively holding back tears so I wouldn't get odd looks. You really characterize fear well in your writing. ;_;

I have been very much a fan of horror novels, and indeed even when I wrote that little segment back in high school, I had a volume of HP Lovecraft's works with me that I read aloud to my friends sometimes when we were waiting for the bus together. I mention this because you just reminded of one of his more notable quotes, and it is that  "the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear."

I may not agree with it personally, but I cannot deny that fear has a very strong power over the human spirit. If I managed to capture that kind of emotion in my writing, White Rose's first few chapters might not be as bad as I thought they were.

Now, I have a very VERY strong reluctance to post in this thread unless it's with an update, but I do feel compelled to at least give an update on how White Rose is doing. It has, unfortunately, been delayed by lots of work to do for my classes (mainly, Colonial Latin America, intro to International Relations, and Globalization in World History since 1945), as well as actual work (employment-wise).

The upside of this means that any political science fans will quite enjoy the coming arc, which is a partial experiment with nation-building and statecraft in general-- but don't worry, I enjoy battles way too much to leave out action, science too much to leave Yumemi alone for long, and ethics too much to leave certain loose ends hanging for much longer. But the downside means that the pace of updates will be sluggish, at best.

I humbly ask that anyone who actually reads this trash to please remain patient with me. I have never had any intention of leaving this story unfinished, and I resent having to delay updates at all. Forgive me for that, I hope.

[Tengukami]

Looks like I have a looooot to catch up on here. Thought I'm sure it'll be worth it.

[Matsuri]

I have never had any intention of leaving this story unfinished, and I resent having to delay updates at all. Forgive me for that, I hope.

What the? There's nothing to forgive. We know that you're busy, and that you always intend to write when you have the time-- and I personally look very much forward to each and every update you have in store.

I'm not kidding when I say that reading all the way through White Rose so far has done nothing but inspire me-- not only to read more in general, but to take up my own pen and get to writing, as well. You have no idea how awesome that is, in my eyes. :blush:

All I can really say is to keep up the good work, and that I'm really excited to read more. :3

[Alfred F. Jones]

.... ahahahaha.

The less said about the delay in updates, the better. ;>__>

I honestly have no good excuse this time, except for this semester having been much harder than I expected. It's all history courses, as mentioned earlier, so it's really hard, but really fun at the same time. Sorry it took so much time to crank out another update.

Well, here goes.


Yumemi knew that there was more money to be made as a physicist. Physics was a booming field then, when Japan was making rapid advances in technology, allowing its scientists to go neck and neck with scientists in the United States and in Europe.

And to be fair, she was a physicist. So was Chiyuri, who got along just as well with the more theoretical concepts of physics as she did with mechanics. It was Yumemi who developed the concept of an engine that would run on how improbable a concept was; it was Chiyuri who had made it a reality, and thank god there was a junkyard only a few blocks down from their shared house.

But there was just so much more to be explored in the natural world, in plants and animals and in humans. She found it more intriguing.

She especially liked researching sleep.

Back when she was only fifteen and had just finished up her doctorate, and looking to be hired as a professor at a university somewhere, she had experimented with sleep patterns and the interruption thereof. Finding that ethics panels would not always agree with her when she wanted to do something, she resorted to the next best thing: experimenting on herself.

Chiyuri actually volunteered to be Yumemi's guinea pig, but she was busy finishing up her own doctorate, and Yumemi felt it would be unethical on her part to subject Chiyuri to these things while she was so busy. It had to be someone young, though; they were more flexible in their sleep schedules, and less prone to nasty side effects that could confuse her research. Minors, though, were in short supply, since there was all that parental consent, all that red tape to ignore.

So by default, experimenting on herself was the only way to go.

It wasn't as if she was going to do some genetic manipulation; she didn't have funding for that yet, anyway. She was just going to experiment with sleep cycles. After two years pushing herself through one of the most rigorous programs for young geniuses, Yumemi had found, among other things, that interrupted Rapid Eye Movement sleep would make her grouchy and irritable and prone to biting Chiyuri's head off in the morning. Not only that, it interrupted her lucid, vivid dreams, and she didn't want to miss out on them.

The next step was to tinker more with sleep cycles. Specifically, after reading about Leonardo da Vinci, she found the likely apocryphal story of how he slept only about five hours a day-- sleeping for a half hour or so every four hours, claiming anything around eighteen hours a day of awake time. Reading the works of psychologists, she found that the term for it was better known as ?polyphasic sleep?. She was so interested in it that she wanted to try it out for herself.

The end result was... something shocking. Ultra-short napping, only two hours and fifteen minutes per nap, for four naps, equaled nine hours of sleep-- but after a nasty adjustment period, Yumemi found that she was more alert, more aware, and most important of all, somehow... smarter, too. It was in this time, adjusting to this new schedule, that she was able to develop the idea of the Probability Hyperspace Vessel.

However, it couldn't last. When she got a job at the university, she was unable to fit her four-nap cycle with her work schedule. So after another re-adjustment period, she settled back into a biphasic sleep cycle-- she still napped in the midday, which was all she could afford, and slept the most at night.

As Chiyuri and Yumemi had later found out, though, that time had left some lasting imprints on Yumemi. The most drastic was probably her odd tendency to sleep at moments of extreme stress. When she was under pressure, Yumemi would spontaneously fall asleep. After a while of recording data, the professor concluded that this was a survival mechanism at its finest. Sleeping for a short while under pressure would relieve some of that pressure, and when she woke up, she was able to keep her performance as regular levels for a short while. She would crash after about three days if she didn't get a good night's rest, but for those three days she could take on the world.

This was the strategy Yumemi found herself calling on now. Last night, she had managed to get nine-odd hours of sleep, since she had gone to bed early, been woken up by Yakumo Yukari's order, and gone back to sleep on the carriage. So the three days would start from today.

She hoped she was around long enough to crash in three days.

Yuka was pulling the carriage along. Hirano was alert. Kogasa was fanning Yuka. Chiyuri was by her side.

?Chiyuri,? she said. ?We should sleep.?

Chiyuri nodded. ?Definitely.?

They closed their eyes, and after a short while, began dreaming.

-----

[Alfred F. Jones]

Another dream of the past. Yumemi was a bit disappointed, but if this was the turn her mind was taking lately, then oh well.

Chiyuri and Yumemi were working in the backyard. They had set up a table in the grass, and on it they were working on a machine. An engine. More like a drive.

The Infinite Probability Drive would be the first of its kind-- probably. Yumemi doubted that any other scientist than her would be old enough to think of something this stupid, young enough to really believe it would work, and smart enough to pull it off. Probably.

She frowned. She had been thinking constantly of what was probable and what was not, thanks to this thing. Nothing was impossible, just very, very improbable. And if she could build an engine that specifically hunted out those slim chances, she would have it made--

?Kh-- ow.?

Yumemi had made the mistake of getting distracted. The screwdriver she'd been working with cut her finger. She put the cut to her mouth and sucked on it to stop the bleeding.

?You cut yourself?? Chiyuri asked, lifting her goggles. She was standing on the other side of the engine, looking over it at her partner.

?Just a little,? Yumemi replied, licking the blood off her finger. ?Nothing serious.?

Chiyuri shrugged and pulled her goggles off completely. ?Nah, I don't feel like working any more today.?

Yumemi sighed and smiled at the younger girl as she put the screwdriver down and took a seat on the back porch, leaning against a post.

Chiyuri went inside and soon returned with a butcher's knife, cutting board, and a small watermelon. With a few strokes, she had cut the watermelon into half, and then slices. She sat down next to Yumemi and handed her a slice.

It was a warm summer afternoon, she remembered. The breeze moved through Yumemi's hair as she sat on the fence, watching her younger self eat watermelon with Chiyuri.

?All we could afford was a small watermelon, eh,? Chiyuri said, nibbling on the edge of her slice.

?At least we don't have to pay for most of the equipment,? Yumemi pointed out, biting a chunk out of the watermelon. ?Thanks to that junkyard.?

?Tomorrow we'll have to find some way to get that DeLorean into the backyard. I refuse to travel through dimensions or whatever in any machine that isn't a DeLorean.?

?Too bad it wasn't a police box,? Yumemi sighed.

?You're such a nerd.?

?Takes one to know one.?

The two women of science looked at each other and grinned.

?Hm,? Chiyuri thought aloud, looking up at the sky and pulling up her legs. ?When we get to this magical world, what are we going to do??

?Simple,? Yumemi replied, taking another bite out of her watermelon. ?Bring magic back to the real world. Make a profit by curing cancer and AIDS. Save the world. More or less that order.?

?You really think it'll be that easy?? Chiyuri asked, raising an eyebrow.

?Probably not,? the redhead admitted. ?But I need to keep it in mind.?

She nibbled on her watermelon as Chiyuri looked over at her.

?You see,? she began, ?I've just seen too many researchers, too many explorers get caught up in the thrill of it. They get drunk on the experience.? She closed her eyes and let the sunset's light wash over her face, and smiled. ?It'll do me good to remember that my intentions are entirely benevolent. And to actually say so, just so I can remember it better.?

Chiyuri blinked, eyes widening a little.

?Wow, Yumemi... you're really a nerd, aren't you??

Yumemi turned to her and spat a watermelon seed in her face.

The dreaming Yumemi sat on the fence, her cape swishing a bit in the summer breeze as she watched her younger self shooting watermelon seeds like bullets from a machine gun out of her mouth at Chiyuri, who soon retaliated with a massive water gun.

She smiled, but then she remembered what had actually gone on. She looked up at Yumemi's laughing face as she was hit by a blast from Chiyuri's water gun. And she felt utterly disgusted with herself.

It was a sobering moment for her, to see the last time she had been genuinely happy and confident that she was doing the right thing like this.

But... even if she had done some things wrong, right now she was just having fun. Surely she could indulge her past self that, right?

The younger redheaded woman was now attacking Chiyuri with a garden hose. Chiyuri was flailing in the high-pressure stream of water and throwing her hands up in surrender, laughing as her clothes got drenched.

The only slightly older redheaded woman gave her a small smile of approval.

?If only you had stayed here, we could have avoided all of this.?

Yumemi Okazaki got to her feet and leaped from the fence up, up into the sky.

?I?ve had enough. I can?t watch this anymore.?

-----

The scientist was asleep on Chiyuri's lap. She stirred and opened her eyes. Yuka was still pulling the carriage along, running on foot, and Kogasa was apparently still with her. She and Chiyuri were alone in the carriage.

Chiyuri was still asleep. Yumemi didn?t want to wake her. So she lay there with her head on Chiyuri?s lap, hearing her breathe in and out as she slept.

She felt Chiyuri?s limp hand on her head, and closed her eyes.

?Even my dreams are reminding me of everything I?ve ever done to hurt you, aren?t they??

It was in these quiet moments, alone and without anyone watching or listening, that Yumemi could get the perpetual grin off of her face. It was hard to do it on purpose, somehow, but when she was alone, it came off naturally.

Her red hair covered her face, but she didn?t move it out of the way.

?... I guess I?ll just have to live with this guilt as long as I live.?

She closed her eyes and let Yuka carry them further and further towards Hokkai.

?It?s my duty to atone, somehow... somehow.?

Yumemi nodded, and fell asleep, this time having no dreams.

The swishing of a gohei on the ceiling of the carriage above her didn't wake her up, either.

-----

[Alfred F. Jones]

Alice and Koishi sit there in peace and quiet. Luize is still asleep, leaning into the corner of the palanquin, which is more than strong enough to hold her up.

It's somehow awkward between them. Koishi guesses that the words must have come more easily in the war situation they'd been in earlier, but now that there is no common topic, no words are coming to her mind.

Alice is the first to find an icebreaker. She feels around in the blankets around her body, and finds something. She pulls it out and hands it to Koishi. ?Here, Koishi.?

Koishi remembers what this is, of course. She had a few of these down in Chireiden. ?A doll??

?Yes, a doll,? Alice replies, taking out another one. ?This is Shanghai.? The doll in her arms had long blonde hair with a red ribbon, and wore a white apron over a purple dress. ?Well, truthfully, it's a Shanghai-type doll. Number three, so far. But they're all called Shanghai.?

She points to the one Koishi is now carrying. This one has shorter blonde hair with a red ribbon on top, and wears a white apron over a blue dress instead of purple-- not a very strong distinction, but Alice seems to keep track of them easily enough. ?That's my Hourai-type. Hourai two. I guess you could say Shanghai is Hourai's older sister.?

?Wow,? Koishi exhales, looking at Hourai and meeting the doll's inscrutable face. ?Are all dolls on the surface this well-made??

?I certainly don't think they are,? Alice replies, smiling. ?No one puts as much time into these as I do.?

?Wait, did you make these yourself?? the satori asks, looking up at Alice.

Alice looks quite satisfied with herself, and nods. ?Luize taught me how to sew, and Y-- someone else showed me how to design their clothes. Turns out you can do a lot with some time on your hands.?

Koishi nods. ?I used to have some dolls down there, but they weren't as nice as these.?

The other girl covers her mouth as she chuckles. ?That's good. I want my dolls to be the best, after all.?

?Can I see the other one?? Koishi asks.

?Of course,? Alice replies, handing over Shanghai.

Koishi looks Shanghai over. She finds herself most amazed by Alice's eye for detail than anything; Shanghai looks like a very small, delicate girl, much like Alice herself. Her hair has to be real, she thinks as she runs her fingers through it. There is a faint blush on the doll's cheeks, and her blue eyes almost seem to be moving-- or they would be, if the doll could move.

?She's really beautiful,? Koishi says as she returns Shanghai to her owner.

It's hard to tell in the shadow of the inside of the palanquin, but Koishi is fairly sure that she sees Alice blush a little just then. She smiles and bows her head just a little. ?Thank you. I worked hard on her.?

Koishi nods, and she sees that there is something about Alice?s smile that makes her want to smile back. So she does.

Though, then her stomach growls.

?Uh?? Koishi mutters, feeling embarrassed.

Alice, for her part, laughs. ?About time you got hungry. You haven?t eaten anything in who knows how many hours.?

Koishi nods again, trying to remember the last thing she ate, and failing miserably.

?Should I wake up Lu-chan...?? Alice asks aloud, but she?s not asking Koishi. ?Hm. No, I can let her sleep.? She looks over to Koishi. ?I?ll be right back.?

?Wh-where are you going?? the satori asks as Alice opens the door of the carriage on her side and motions Koishi out of the line of sight.

?I?m going to get something to eat. Wake Luize in ten minutes? time if I?m not back then.? Alice swings her legs out of the carriage and hops out, closing the door behind her.

Koishi scrambles over to the window to see Alice walk away from the slow-moving palanquin, a good two meters down. She quickly pulls the curtains shut just in case, and sits on the pillows. Luize is still snoring a little over on the other side. She wonders what she should do if Alice doesn?t return, since she has no way to tell time in this place.

Her gaze follows the lines of the blanket?s contours where an Alice-shaped imprint is left on the soft carpet of the carriage. She follows them until she sees Shanghai and Hourai.

She moves over to the dolls, and picks Shanghai up. She lifts Shanghai?s arms and makes her do a little dance. Then she picks up Hourai, and makes her duel with Shanghai for the right to the softest pillow, providing speaking roles for the both of them. Eventually, Hourai does the honourable thing and hangs herself for Shanghai's sake, while Shanghai tearfully visits her grave and vows to remember her forever.

Koishi sighs. ?I wish I could just command them to act this out, instead of having to move them--? She punctuates her point by moving around Shanghai?s tiny lance and thrusting it up into the air-- ?every. Single. Movement.?

She looks down at Shanghai.

?I wonder if I can't get you to move on your own, someday??

The doll...

?. the doll does nothing. Of course. It's a doll, after all.

But Koishi frowns. It's hard to put it into words, exactly... but there's a twitch there, in the back of her mind, something that insists that she...

On pure instinct, she raises her hand over Shanghai's body.

She closes her eyes.

[Alfred F. Jones]

There is an energy moving through her body-- from her head, from her eyes, from her Terza Occhia, down through her arm, and into her hand. It's not a warm energy, but it's not malevolent either.

This is stranger than the times with Yumeko and Utsuho. It's closer in nature to Utsuho's, but with Utsuho, there was something there to work with. This has nothing. There were no defenses to penetrate, and there was no descent through a conscious mind to a subconscious. Instead, there is only a framework. No thought has passed through here. It's like a spinning wheel, with no yarn.

The satori girl gets off of the cord of her Third Eye and looks around.

Koishi looks up at the unspun wheel-- now that she came up with that metaphor, it's taken that form as a response to her understanding-- and wonders what she can do to get some yarn to spin in it. She's only ever tampered with pre-existing yarn; she cannot make yarn from scratch. Or...

Just as she is standing there, she gets that instinct again.

Something is wron--

?GH--?

Blood leaks its way out of the edge of Koishi's mouth and trickles down her chin, then slides down her throat and stains her collar.

The huge black sword sticking out of her chest shifts a little, as its wielder behind her smiles.

?You missed me, I hope,? she hisses into Koishi's ear, just as the satori cries with pain.

?Wh-who are you?? she chokes out as more blood rises to her mouth.

?Who else could I be?? The girl with the black sclera and green eyes leans over a little, so that Koishi can see her a bit more easily. ?I'm you. I've always been you. Or rather...? she smiles, and her mouth is wide and red. ?You've always been me. I just didn't have an opportunity to do anything until you lost your heart.?

?Uh?? Koishi moans, feeling the pain in her chest dull her senses.

?You don't need to understand.? The other Koishi laughs, and it's not a warm laugh. ?Just die.?

Her words send a chill down Koishi?s back. ?B-but--?

?You can?t actually disagree with me, can you??

The red smile is back. Koishi struggles for a moment, spits out some blood, and finally shakes her head.

?Then why don?t you do yourself a favour and just close your eyes??

?No, better idea. Why don?t you do that instead??

Koishi gasps with pain as a black blur moves off to her side. She gasps with pain at the sword in her chest moving, but instead of turning in the wound, it?s being pulled out of her chest entirely. She collapses to her knees, still dripping black blood from her mouth.

The black blur did... something. The girl in black, rather. With one swift kick to the chest, she kicked the other Koishi into the distance, away from Koishi herself.

The satori looks up at the girl in black. She?s wearing a black hat, black robes, and some sort of ragged white shirt beneath that. She?s also carrying a sword on her back, in a black metal sheath. She?s standing over Koishi, but she?s not hurting her.

The girl in question looks down at Koishi, and kneels to meet her eyes. She puts one hand over Koishi?s gaping wound, and smiles at her with a true smile.

Unlike the other Koishi, her eyes are not green with black sclera; they?re golden. And like the other Koishi, this one has her face as well.

?I don?t have time to explain,? she says as her eyes close and she mutters something under her breath. Tendrils of... what look like bandages snake out of her sleeve and wrap themselves around Koishi?s torso and shoulder, dressing the wound instantly. Seeing that, Koishi now recognizes the girl?s ragged white shirt as made of bandages. Beneath her black robes, she is covered neck to toe with white strips of cloth.

?There. You should be fine now. But please go, it is far too dangerous here.?

?What?s going on?? Koishi asks as the other Koishi?the nice one?helps her to her feet.

?It?s an extension of your subconscious,? the girl replies. ?That?s why her sword hurt you, it?s a symbol of violence... But I really don?t have time to explain. That other girl is coming for you. Please leave.?

She raises her arm, and Koishi?s Terza Occhia cord snakes down to reach her hand.

She does so, holding on to the cord, but now that her mind is working again she has some questions. ?Who are you? How can you do that? And who is that girl?? Koishi asks, wiping the blood from her mouth with her sleeve.

?Don?t have time,? she replies again, and she tugs on the purple cord. It quickly ascends up, pulling Koishi out of Shanghai?s rudimentary subconscious.

The other Koishi, the nice one, puts her hands to her mouth to yell up at her.

?Dream of roses tonight, and I?ll try and find you!?

Before she has a chance to ask what the hell that means, Koishi finds herself taking a deep breath and opening her eyes.

She?s back in the carriage again. Luize is still slumbering over there. Shanghai is still in her hand, and Alice is not here ye?

?Awake now, aren?t you??

Or maybe she is.

?Ah...? Koishi stammers, not knowing what to say.

But Alice doesn?t look annoyed. In fact, she looks bemused. She?s sitting off to Koishi?s side, and a bowl of fruits is in her lap. She hands one to Koishi. ?It?s fine. I know you?re exhausted. No wonder you fell asleep.?

?Ah, yes,? the satori replies, seizing on the excuse Alice handed her. ?Sorry about that.?

?No worries.? Alice smiles and hands her a small little red fruit. ?Strawberry??

Koishi takes the unfamiliar fruit and bites into it, chewing it slowly.

?... it?s sweet,? she says, a faint smile on her face.

Alice nods. ?I thought you would like it.?

The carriage continues on in the shadow of the mountains.

-----

[Alfred F. Jones]

?Ugh.? She covered her face with her wide sleeve, and looked out. ?This isn?t quite as hot as the Hell of Blazing Fires, but it?s still really hot.?

?The ash is a problem,? her companion said, flicking some of it off of her already tattered dress. ?We can come back later, can?t we, Satori-sama??

Satori shook her head, releasing a small puff of ash. The tips of her pink hair were singed. ?I suppose so, but I?d like to find them as soon as I can.?

?We need gloves for this stuff,? Rin replied, grabbing at a random hunk of smoldering, charred material that might have been building material at some point. She tossed it in her cat-cart. ?You?re a bit too fragile for this.?

?Yes, but I need to find those chests sooner rather than later.? Satori coughed, clearing her throat.

?I can search for them, if you like.?

The satori and her servant were walking in the midst of the still-smoldering ruins of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, making their way over the rubble, the blackened and charred remnants of the former glory of the Satori race all around them. The not-quite cocentric fortifications around the palace hadn?t been destroyed by the collapse of the palazzo, and indeed they had contained the fire and kept it from spreading?not that it had mattered, since the rest of the federal district had gone up in flames as well.

Satori hadn?t looked back when Orin had taken her to safety, so she hadn?t noticed when the burned-out remains of the palace had collapsed into itself. Now she was back with Orin, searching for the few things she knew had to have survived the fire.

Luckily, all the remains of the people trapped inside had also been incinerated, and so she kicked blackened stone aside and not bones.

?I can look for them, while you go meet with Sumire,? Rin offered again. Satori blinked and looked up from the spot of blackened dirt she had been watching. She had spaced out.

?What colour are they?? the kasha asked.

?They?re, uh...? Satori tried to think about them. She had never been allowed too deeply onto the tenth floor, since that?s where the satori nobles kept their military matters. But the chests she was looking for had to have been on the seventh floor, where the former queen, Miyani Komeiji, had kept her throne and her office documents?and most importantly, legal documentation.

Rebuilding Chireiden would take more than Satori had at the moment. But if she could get her hands on those state documents, she would know what resources she had.

That was what she told Sumire, anyway. Orin knew the truth was deeper.

Satori was shaking in her sandals. She hadn?t even sat on her new throne and already she had the biggest rebuilding effort in Chireiden?s history on her hands. She had no idea what to do and no guidance to call on. For all that she had criticized the satori aristrocracy?s system of rewarding itself at the expense of the good of the people, she had to admit that they had still been competent. Indeed, by bickering with one another for power, Miyani had had a wealth of advice to call on whenever she had needed it.

Satori had no such power structure to help her. Anyone who might have been able to advise her about what to do was dead. Including, she recalled, Miyani Komeiji herself. Her older cousin, daughter of her mother?s sister. She had been placed on the throne at a young age because the satori nobles had thought that they would be able to control her. What they hadn?t realized was that Miyani had been too devoted to the good of Chireiden to let that happen. She took her regents? advice, nodded, and then did what she thought was right.

That had always been the kind of thing their queen had been known for. It was why she had been such a nationalist, enough to secede from Makai?s empire and declare independence. And from what she had seen of Koishi?s memories in passing, it was why Miyani had thrown herself in front of the javelin that had been meant for her younger sister.

She had mixed feelings about that. Satori wished Miyani hadn?t been so selfless that she had sacrificed her life to save her sister. But at the same time, she was happy that Koishi had been saved.

Or was she?

If Koishi hadn?t?

Ugh, why was she still thinking about it?

Because objectively, Chireiden would have been better off if Miyani had let Koishi die?

Satori grit her teeth.

Now was not the time to think about it. She realized now that she would be thinking about this for months to come, so she would put it off until some semblance of order had returned to her country.

She struggled to rein in her thoughts. Her mind was in turmoil. Maybe it was irrational, but... she wanted to find those chests of documents not just for rebuilding Chireiden, but for herself. She was utterly lost. What was she supposed to do, where was she supposed to lead her country? For now, the answer was easy?bring everyone back, and feed everyone. Then rebuild the city. But how would she do it? How would she get the support she needed? The people had disliked the satori nobility, and for good reason; now, how did she suppose they would react to one lone satori ruler, having been handed the crown by their former conqueror?

[Alfred F. Jones]

But she had remembered that Miyani had stored all her things in those asbestos-lined chests. Immune to fire. In Chireiden, asbestos was more prized than gold for its ability to hold back flame. The Palazzo had only ever had a very limited supply; though the satori aristocrats were certainly not above pocketing tax revenues for their own purposes, they had simply never had enough to afford too much asbestos fiber.

The rest of the palace had gone up in flames. But Satori had realized, returning to Chireiden with Orin by her side, that there was a chance—a tiny chance—that Miyani had kept personal documents in those asbestos chests. She was less interested in official documents than she was in, maybe, personal letters or a diary. Satori had no idea where to lead her new country. But maybe, just maybe, the former queen could help her from beyond the grave and tell her what to do before she inevitably had to make her own path.

“... they’re purple,” Satori finally said. “Indigo, to be exact. Probably blackened by now, but eh.”

“I can look out for them,” Rin replied, coming closer to Satori from where she had been wandering around the ruins. “In the meantime, please get back to that fairy captain, Satori-sama.”

Satori’s third eye shifted a little.

“I’m not going to find any bodies, Orin. The fire ate them up already.” Satori sighed. “I... I don’t feel much of anything right now. Please don’t worry about me. I promise you I won’t break down.”

Rin had a faint look of surprise, then smiled. “I feel silly for forgetting that you can read my mind.”

Satori gave her a weak smile in turn. “Thank you, Orin. I would be utterly lost if I didn’t have you.”

And it was true. Rin, and maybe the Chireiden resistance of Yuugi, Parsee, that tsuchigumo girl and Kisume were all she had left. She doubted the yatagarasu community would look on her favorably. And she had no fellow satori to rely on. At this point, all that kept her on the throne was Shinki’s signature on a document in Eiki Shiki’s possession, and the goodwill of the Kasha community. A community of outcasts.

But she wouldn’t turn it down. She needed all the help she could get. Even if it came in the form of words written by a now-dead, hopelessly idealistic queen, she needed something to keep her going. She had to keep going, for the sake of her country.

“Satori-san! Satori-saaan!”

“Oh,” Rin said, raising her hand to brush her singed hair out of her face. “It seems Sumire is calling for you.”

Sure enough, there was the purple-haired girl in the distance, standing atop one of the cocentric defense lines around the palace, waving at Satori.

Satori looked up at her, and then looked to her kasha companion.

“Don’t worry about it. I assure you that I’ll find ‘em.” Rin grinned and pointed her thumb at her chest. “And when I've found 'em, I’ll find you. Hopefully they won’t weigh too much.”

The purple-haired girl cracked a smile. “Thank you, Orin.” Then she turned to Sumire and waved. The fairy captain descended, carried by her wings, and held on to Satori as she lifted her up and over the fortified walls.

Orin watched them go with a smile, and once Satori was out of sight she dropped her grin and looked out around the blackened ruins of the glorious Palazzo Degli Spiriti Della Terra.

“... how temporary it all is,” she mused as she walked around with her cat-cart, tossing rubble inside and starting on the long, hard task of clearing out the debris.


Okay. I think I figured out why my writing pace was so slow. There aren't enough battles going on. I promise that, starting with the next update, the pace is going to pick up.

And now I'm going to crawl back under a rock. .__.

[Matsuri]

Three different story branches, three comments:

Yumemi's branch: I'm finding Yumemi's fascination with sleep to be really interesting, being fascinated with the same thing myself. The way she uses herself as a guinea pig for her own experiments makes me laugh, as well. A true scientist. <3

Koishi's branch: Oh god, I need to know more about this girl in black with the bandages and and and oh~  Yes. I really can not wait to read more about this.

Satori's branch: I can't help but feel downright melancholy about all of this. I can't imagine having to bear the burden of managing all of Chireiden in the aftermath of a disaster, having to clean up the remains, and push on to rebuild, considering everything that has happened.

All in all, this was a real treat to read, and I happily await the next update. Keep it up. <3

[nintendonut888]

* Donut coughs up blood

Finally. I'm finally completely caught up on White Rose.

Hmm, what to say that I haven't said in IRC. Well, to give my honest opinion, I'm a little confused from the whole "multiple Koishis" scene, but I have a feeling that's intentional. A new arc naturally brings about a bunch of new questions after all. Finally having a break in the action to see some more natural interaction is a refreshing change of pace from the never-ending dramafest of the first arc (not that it that was a bad thing), and three stories moving at the same time means there's tons of things to look forward to! \o/

So basically, nice update. Just keep working at your own pace~

[Hanged Hourai]

After days and days of reading this, I've finally caught up.
And loved every minute of it.

[Gpop]

Ruro, y u do this?

I have to catch but Uni is holding me back

[nolrai2]

love~

[Alfred F. Jones]

I WILL UPDATE BEFORE THE NEW YEAR DAMN IT


?Yumemi, wake up. Yumemi, stop being such a sleepyhead. Yume!?

?Mmmmhuh??

Yumemi blinked her eyes open. Her vision was bleary and her feet were cold.

?You think you?re tired, look at Yuka.?

?Huh?? Yumemi rubbed her eyes. ?Oh. Hey, Chiyuri.?

Chiyuri narrowed her eyes at Yumemi and stuck out her tongue.

?We?re six hours away from Hokkai, you know??

Yumemi stared, letting that sink in for a moment.

?W-wait, what day is it again?? Yumemi asked, trying to get her bearings. ?We?re really close now!?

?Not close enough, I worry,? that voice from atop the carriage said. In a blur of motion, the miko Hirano sat next to Kogasa, swinging around the door frame and into Yuka's empty seat.

?Eh? What's wrong? We're at least a day ahead of schedule now!? Yumemi objected.

?It's mostly all good news, but don't get ahead of yourself.? Hirano cleared her throat. ?First off, have you looked outside??

Yumemi rubbed her eyes and sat upright. She covered her eyes with her hand as she peered out the window. The shine of the sun reflecting off of the snow hurt her eyes a little, but she still saw what she was meant to see.

?It... stopped snowing,? she realized, then turned back to Hirano with an excited look on her face. ?It stopped snowing!?

?Yes, exactly,? Hirano replied. ?The western winds prevailed and pushed the snow-bearing clouds back to the mountains. Which is, coincidentally, where Shinki's caravan is coming from.?

It took Yumemi a few seconds to digest the stunning good news.

?W-wait, that means--?

Hirano nodded slowly, a small smile on her face.

?The snow here will soon clear up, and the really bad snow is busy slowing down our enemies!? Yumemi cheered. ?Yes! Finally, some luck!?

?That gives us at least a full day's advantage, doesn't it?? Chiyuri asked.

?It would, on its own. However...? Hirano sighed. ?The sacred fire has shown me that... Hakurei Sayuri's condition has taken a turn for the worse.?

?... how worse?? Yumemi winced.

?Much worse, unfortunately. The snow hit the mountains before it hit us, and the temperature change didn't do much good for her.? The shrine maiden shook her head. ?To put it bluntly, she has half a day. Less.?

?Less than twelve hours? That's not much time at all,? the scientist replied, sweat breaking out on her forehead. It was the same feeling as back when she had been studying for her finals, except this time, the life of one person, and through her, many, was literally on the line.

The pressure was adjusted accordingly.

?So even though now we have a huge time advantage over Shinki and them, we're still losing ground to them? Damn it!?

?Oh--? Kogasa said, cutting Yumemi's tirade short. ?That is not all the bad news.?

?It could get worse?? The blonde mechanic asked for her boss.

?Yes, it could.? Hirano closed her eyes in yet another sigh. ?Yuka is slowing down.?

?What??

?Yes, really. She's an incredibly strong youkai, and no one else would have been able to pull us this far so fast in such a short amount of time. But even she has limits. And she probably doesn?t like me saying this aloud, but it?s true,? the miko added.

Everyone in the carriage then heard a distinctive ?hmph? come from ahead of them, carried backwards by the wind.

?She?s still not slowing down by much now, but it?ll be noticeable soon enough.? Hirano sighed. ?We might get there with very little time to spare.?

?Hmm.? Yumemi continued the sentence for her. ?Or, if her condition keeps going like this, not at all.?

Hirano closed her eyes and nodded.

The scientist reached down beneath her seat. Chiyuri looked over her shoulder. ?What on earth are you doing, Yumemi??

Yumemi said not a word, but instead she took out a small box, and then moved to the seat in front of her. There was a window there, big enough for her to crawl through, and so she crawled right past Hirano and Kogasa with surprised looks on their faces and out onto the front of the carriage.

The driver's seat was, of course, empty. In front of her, a harness would have led to the beasts of burden pulling the carriage along. But now, they led to a huffing, sweating, and swearing green-haired youkai pulling a carriage many times her own weight, at a sprint.

?What do you want?? Yuka asked, catching a short breath. ?I know you're there.?

?Stay steady, okay??

?What the...?

Yumemi held the package she was delivering by putting the strap in her mouth. Holding it between her teeth, she concentrated, and crawled forward on the harness even as Yuka kept running.

?How did you do that?? Yuka asked, half-turning and still running.

?Don't mind that. Just open your mouth.?

?Like hell.?

?Now's not the time, Kazami-san! Just do it.?

?... mf, fine.?

Yuka opened her mouth. Yumemi, sitting on the harness behind her, reached around her head and placed a strawberry in Yuka's mouth.

?Now, chew.?

Yuka did so, growling the whole time. ?Too bad I didn't bite down when your hand was in my mouth.?

?Tough luck, Kazami-san,? Yumemi laughed. ?Want another??

?... sure.?

In this fashion, Yumemi fed Yuka the entire small canister of strawberries she had brought with her. Yuka gobbled them down. She hadn't had anything to eat for many hours.

?Any chance of some water?? Yuka asked when she was done.

?Hold on,? she said, and turned around a little. Chiyuri had her head and shoulders out of the carriage door to the front, and she threw her boss a small bottle of water. It was one of the as-yet-sealed bottles of water they had brought with them from their world in bulk when they first came here, fearing that there would be no water for them. That assumption had turned out to be wrong, but it seemed that the water bottles had been a good investment anyway.

Yumemi unscrewed the top and handed the bottle to Yuka. Yuka paused for a second, looking at it with confusion on her face, but thirst trumped suspicion and she downed the whole bottle in a short amount of time. Then she ate the plastic bottle.

Yumemi looked at her a bit weird for that, but she concluded that it was probably ultimately for the best that she did that. Where would she have thrown it away?

?Thanks, Yumemi,? Yuka said. ?I'll get us there in time. Don't worry.?

?I won't.?

Yumemi then turned around and shimmied back up the harness straps, then crawled back into the main carriage over the driver's seat. She would have tumbled in, but Chiyuri helped her down.

?What was that all about?? Kogasa asked, blue and red eyes wide.

?Nothing. I just thought Yuka was hungry.? Yumemi shrugged.

?Wasn't it a bit dangerous to climb out there?? Hirano asked, eyebrow raised.

Yumemi shook her head. ?It was manageable.?

Hirano stared at Yumemi for a while longer, but the scientist wasn't saying anything more. Eventually she sighed. ?Well, what do we do now??

?I've already slept quite long enough today,? Yumemi replied, returning the sigh. ?And we still need to figure out a way to kill these next few hours...?

Chiyuri yawned a little.

?Ah, Chiyuri,? Yumemi said, turning to her. ?Did you bring the books I asked you to bring??

?Oh!? The young blonde hit her forehead with her open palm. ?I did! You're right.? From beneath her own seat, she pulled out a backpack filled with more bottles of water, assorted junk, and books. ?Which one would you like??

?I don't know,? Yumemi admitted as Kogasa leaned in closer to see. ?Oooh. You have books??

?Sure do,? the scientist replied. ?Just in case, you know??

?Can you read me one?? Kogasa asked. ?Please??

?Well, I don't know,? Yumemi said, trying to make up a good excuse. ?Some of these are in the original language, so I'd have to translate as I go...?

?Pleaaaaaaase??

Yumemi found herself staring deep into a pair of heterochromatic eyes welling up with tears, looking up at her.

?... Chiyuri. Hand me a book.?

?Which one??

?Any one.?

?All right.? Her assistant handed her one, and Kogasa broke out into a smile. ?Thank you, Yumemi-sama!?

Yumemi felt like she was going to die. She concealed it by clearing her throat. She opened the book, reached into her breast pocket and pulled out her reading glasses, and began to read, translating as she went.

?'The Time Traveler, for so it will be convenient to speak of him, was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses...'?

Kogasa sat cross-legged on her seat, looking up at Yumemi as she read. Hirano did manage to drift off, as if she hadn't slept earlier, and Chiyuri stayed sitting, also listening to Yumemi's slow voice as the carriage continued its frantic pace towards its destination.

-----

[Alfred F. Jones]

?Sumire??

?Yes, Komeiji-sama??

?There isn't really a need to address me with that kind of honorific,? Satori said, looking over to Sumire. ?Chireiden abandoned honorifics a short while ago.?

?You did?? Sumire asked, brushing her short purple-white hair off of her capelet. ?Why for??

?Well, as I understood it, it had something to do with the previous queen not wanting to let people address Shinki with a title,? Satori replied, struggling to remember. ?Shinki punished anyone who addressed Miyani by her title of Queen of Chireiden, so in response, Miyani abolished honorifics.?

?That's... I'm surprised I didn't hear about something like that,? Sumire said.

?I'm not,? Satori replied. ?Our mail was monitored by Makai's censors. Not that anyone wrote anything to someone aboveground, anyway.?

?How... long have you all lived here? Underground, I mean.?

?Hm. I don't know, exactly,? Satori admitted. ?I've never heard of a history of Chireiden. I know the satori are recent arrivals compared to everyone else here, though. And the kasha even more so. The yatagarasu are... native to the area, I think.?

?I had heard of how everyone down in Chireiden was driven from the surface at some point or other, because the youkai in the aboveground were scared of them.?

?Oh, there are all kinds of legends in the Ancient City about Chireiden's origins. There's one about a youkai dressed all in white that wanders the streets of the city crying out for her children. There's a ton of stories about how we have hordes of evil spirits down here, like ghosts and ancient horrors, and even a nue.? Satori shrugged. ?I?ve never seen or heard one, so I doubt it. They?re just old myths.?

?Eiki-sama once told me that Makai had done that kind of thing before,? Sumire said. ?After they took over a country, they would erase all its history and replace it with myths to give the conquered a horrible reputation.?

?That?s an interesting idea,? Satori noted, brushing a few specks of white ash out of her hair. ?I never really thought about it. The only part I do know is that we were driven underground because the people on the surface feared our powers... but apart from that...? Satori?s brow furrowed. ?I know nothing. I know even less than your rumours...?

Sumire laid a hand on her arm. ?Please do not worry about it, Satori-san.?

Satori sighed. ?Thank you. What did you call me out here for, anyway??

Sumire was escorting Satori to Higan's army camp. The city was still too hot and dangerous to enter, and Higan's army was still on the side it had taken. Eiki had sequestered herself in a tent somewhere, but it was still the de facto seat of power in the underground right now.

?Some.... problems have arisen,? Sumire said carefully.

Satori wanted to refrain from hearing Sumire's thoughts, but she couldn't exactly hold them back. That's what Third Eyes were for, after all.

?I see,? Satori replied. ?I heard everything I needed.?

Sumire nodded. ?I had hoped that this would not happen as quickly as it has.?

?Well, it's too late now. We will just have to live with it.? Satori gave the fairy general an apologetic smile. ?I'll need your support, Sumire-san. You're Higan's leader right now.?

?With no real authority, remember? We're not under Higan's protection.? Sumire shook her head. ?That said, you're right. I still command the armies, and they're still loyal to Eiki-sama, so they obey me in her place.?

?Just don't let them inside know that, and it'll work out,? the satori replied. ?I might need the power of an army backing my words. Or, if nothing else, the word of one of Higan's ten generals.?

Sumire nodded. ?You have it.?

They had reached the flap of the tent. Sumire bowed to Satori. ?Should you go in first??

Satori straightened her ragged yukata top and looked to her companion. ?You should go in first. I'm hearing what they're thinking, and I don't like it very much.?

?Understood.? Sumire pulled the tent flap open and walked in, and Satori followed.

------


Satori suddenly felt awkward and ignorant. The thoughts actually going through their heads were bad enough, but who they were was what gave her pause here.

Who they were was probably the reason they didn't heckle her just yet, though. They waited until Sumire waved her hand in a conciliatory gesture, from Satori to the group.

?Gentlemen, ladies,? Sumire said. ?This is Komeiji Satori, the new queen of Chireiden.?

Sumire introduced her as she would a superior-status person to inferior-status people. The implied difference in status was not lost on Satori, or on the group.

?Komeiji-sama, this is the remnant of Chireiden's civil service.?

Satori wanted to look at the ground. She really, really wanted to look at the ground. But she forced herself to meet their gazes.

They were a variety of youkai. She couldn't identify their animal types immediately, if they were animal-types at all. They likely were not. Their clothing was also ragged, but none of them were wearing the virtual strips of cloth Satori's clothes had turned into.

There were nine total. She winced inside. This was all that was left of the civil service? Was that more reflective of how many of them there had been in the first place, or was that really how few had survived the surprise attack?

Sumire cleared her throat. ?Komeiji-sama, this is... er...?

The group was standing around a table. Satori had no idea where Sumire could have gotten a table. The first man to the left cut her off. ?We will make our own introductions, thank you.? He turned to Satori and gave her a short bow. Very short. Much shorter than should have been given to a ruler. ?Komeiji-san,? he began-- and Satori heard from his mind that he was using that slightly less respectful honorific on purpose. ?I am Tono, constable of police.?

?It is good to meet you, Tono-san,? Satori replied. She wanted to say something sarcastic. She really did. But the situation was too tense to allow it.

?I am Yoshikiyo,? the youkai to his left said, bowing. ?Fire station officer.?

Fire. She tried not to think about it. Satori greeted Yoshikiyo as well.

She greeted the others the same way. Kogimi, a mail courier. Koremitsu, a clerk in the court (they had had courts? Satori had to confess that she had never even heard of them, but she guessed they did). Yugiri, a road work supervisor. Niou and Washio, engineers on the water pipes. Kokiden, a tax collector (Satori sensed bitterness in his thoughts). Oigimi, a secretary for the tax service. Kashiwagi, a public works foreman, and Akiko-- the only female in the group, a secretary for customs.

What, exactly, was she supposed to claim as her own profession? ?Pampered palace princess?? And what exactly was she doing here when she needed to be outside helping people return to Chireiden?

She did her best to keep her face as blank as the others', but her repeated glances at Sumire didn't go unnoticed. The constable Tono seemed to take charge of the group by instinct. He cleared his throat, and Satori turned to him.

?I will cut to the chase,? he said. ?We are not taking orders from you, Komeiji-san.?

?Eh?? Sumire said, uncrossing her arms in surprise. Satori didn't say anything for a moment.

?We will no longer take orders from a satori.? He shook his head. ?This is our chance. With the satori gone, we do not have to put up with the mind readers any longer.?

?More like--? Satori's Third Eye moved in its socket. And she made damn well sure everyone could see it. ?--it's your golden opportunity for some power.?

?Coming from a sheltered satori princess, that means nothing,? Tono shot back. ?When have you ever done anything for anyone else, Komeiji-san? You bear Komeiji Miyani's family name, yes, but you are not her. At least she had her heart in the right place.?

?You mean, floating on tendrils outside of her body??

Tono growled. Satori glared back.

?... look. I know I'm in no real position to be arguing with you folks. I know that you are all hard workers, and that you all are loyal to Chireiden.?

She paused.

?... and, well, I also know that I haven't given you a reason to trust me yet.?

Sumire looked over at her this time, but Satori didn't return the look. Instead, she stared into the eyes of each and every one of those public servants.

?But right now, there is a disaster going on right outside this tent.? Satori tried to keep her voice level. ?The west portion of the Ancient City is still in flames. The fire has burnt out in the main residential districts, but the people still need shelter, food, water. I understand that you want to make sure I do not take too much power. I understand that you do not trust me, because you do not know who I am, only that I am one of the satori princesses and young, untested, and unproven.?

She kept eye contact with Tono, most of all.

?I understand all that. But we have bigger problems on our collective plate at the moment.? She jabbed her thumb back, out in the direction of the Ancient City. ?People are dying out there. That is a bigger priority than our power struggling.?

?... we're not going to forget about this,? Tono said. ?We'll talk to you later about this, bet on it.?

Satori nodded. ?This is just a truce for a short while.? She looked at the others. ?Chireiden doesn't need people to fight over who's in charge just yet. Chireiden needs someone to help it fight for its life, and I intend to do just that.?

She turned on her heel then, a startled Sumire following her. She opened the tent flap, pointedly neglecting to 'dismiss' the servants. She looked back over her shoulder at them.

?What determines who's worthy to rule is not a bloodline. It's the amount you're willing to sacrifice to do your job for the people well.?

All three of her eyes narrowed.

?And as to that, I assure you that not a one of you is willing to give up what I've lost in order to rule.?

She left them behind in their tent then, Sumire on her heels. Satori looked forward. She didn't stop walking until she had once more reached the edge of the Hell of Blazing Fires-- as close as she could get without convection setting her clothes ablaze, at least.

?W... what was that all about?? Sumire asked.

Satori turned to the fairy captain and gave her a small smile.

?It's just as I said. I promised my sister that I would rule Chireiden well until she returned.? She closed her eyes and smiled more widely now. ?To do that, I have to be the one in charge.?

She nodded. ?I'll follow Komeiji Miyani's example. The people loved her for it, even though she was one of the satori.? She opened her eyes and looked to Sumire. ?Chireiden is my kingdom. And I'm selfish. I won't give it up just because people ask me nicely.?

Sumire nodded back, a smile on her face. ?Good, Komeiji-sama. That's something a true ruler says.?

Satori tilted her head.

?Sumire-san.?

?Yes?? Sumire stood at attention.

?Do you have a last name? A family name??

?I... I, uhhh...?

Sumire was caught by surprise by that question. She fidgeted with her fingers and didn't meet Satori's eyes.

?... I'm a fairy. We don't have families, really... not in the youkai sense, at least. I don't have a last name, no. It's always 'Sumire-taicho', but that's a title.?

?Hmm.? Satori nodded. ?All right, I was just wondering. Well, come on, Sumire.?

She began to walk off. Sumire followed her. ?Where are we going??

?First, we're going to find Orin and tell her where we've gone. Then, we're going to get ourselves some help in stopping the rest of the fire.?

?Help?? Sumire asked. ?From where??

Satori put a finger to her lips and smiled back at the fairy captain.

?State secret.?

-----

[Alfred F. Jones]

Time wears on, and still Koishi cannot find much to say to Alice.

Alice is a quiet girl; she?d gotten used to the silence of not having a companion for a long period of time.

Koishi is used to the silence of the Palace of the Earth Spirits, yes, but only in terms of audio-- with her Third Eye was how she overheard everything going on. The different thoughts and ideas floating through the air were ample entertainment for the politically-minded, but that had never appealed to the young Koishi; she had learned to tune it out.

But even if it was just background noise, it was still noise. It was worlds different from the absolute mental silence around her now. Normally, right now, the space around her should be sprinkled with faint thoughts from Alice and small observations from Luize, as well as the murmurings of people off in the distance, from the carriages in front and in back of their particular spot in the caravan.

Instead, all she can hear is the creaking of the wheels as they pull them forward through the increasing snow.

Two seconds is too long to be thinking about a problem, though. She distracts herself by counting the amount of times Alice accidentally pricks herself in the finger while sewing.

As it turns out, she isn't the only one paying attention to that.

?Alice, shouldn't you be better than poking yourself so much by now? Or have you been slacking off??

Koishi half-turns to see Luize on the other side of the small carriage, sitting up with her legs out in front of her, pressed together, and her own sewing project in her hands.

?S-sorry, Lu-chan,? Alice laughs. ?It's just kind of cold out here. My hands are shaking too much to keep the needle steady.?

?Then close the curtains,? Luize replies. ?Nothing interesting is happening out there, anyway.?

She has no sooner said this than a shout is heard from the head of the caravan. Slowly, the whole creaking caravan comes to a halt.

?Eh?? Luize puts her sewing aside and crawled over to the curtain herself, poking her head out. Koishi makes sure to hide in the shadows. ?What's going on??

?We've stopped,? Alice says. ?I wonder why??

?... it can't be because of...? Luize looks back to Koishi. ?... no, not possible. Shinki-sama isn't the type to hide that she knows something about you that you don't want others to know.?

?And more importantly, Mother isn't the type to let a living satori get within a league of me on purpose,? Alice nods. ?Still... Koishi.?

?Yes?? Koishi doesn't quite understand what's going on.

?Conceal yourself, please. Someone might come by to see me or Lu-chan, and we can't exactly let them know you're here.?

Koishi nods and buries herself in the many, many warm blankets Alice has piled up in the back. She hollows out a breathing space, and then pokes a hole in the mess of blankets to see what's happening.

?I... I can't hear what they're saying from here,? Alice says.

?Should I go out?? Luize asks.

?Yes. It'll look suspicious if I don't send you out.?

Luize nods and reaches to where she was sitting. She pulls out a long brown coat and puts it on.

?Lu-chan, just one day, I'd like to see you unprepared for any given weather,? Alice remarks with a smile on her face.

?Well, I haven't become a seasoned traveler by being caught by snow anywhere, have I?? Luize replies with another smile, which turns into a frown when Alice coughs. ?Stay inside, it's getting cold out here.?

?Indeed it is,? Alice says, looking out of the curtain door as Luize jumps out of the carriage. ?How deep is the slush??

?Too deep,? Luize answers, pulling her fur-lined brown coat over her and taking some gloves out of the pockets. ?We're not going to get very far in this, I think. Now stay inside!?

Alice coughed again and pulled the curtains back as Luize trudged off in the snow. Koishi stayed warm in her mountain of blankets.

?... hm, I didn't notice that before,? Alice says after a few moments.

Koishi pokes her head out of her blanket fortress. ?Notice what??

Alice nods to the curtain door Luize just left through, to Koishi's left. ?We're on the top of a small hill. No wonder we were going so slow, even besides the snow.?

?Ah.? Koishi smiles. ?Is that what the white stuff is called??

?Huh?? Alice asks, bewildered. ?What do you mean??

?That white stuff that comes down from the sky,? the satori replies.

?Oh. Oh!? Alice looks at her with a faint chuckle. ?It's snow, yes. You've never seen snow, have you? Wait, that's a stupid question,? she says, answering her own question. ?Snow underground is literally impossible.?*

Koishi nods once.

?Wait until we reach Hokkai,? Alice said. ?And if we can't get any privacy there, wait until afterwards, when we reach my castle.?

?Your castle?? Koishi's ears perk up. She's never heard of any one person owning a castle all to themselves.

Alice nods. ?Akai-jo, my Red Castle. I won it in a... a chess match of sorts.? She smiled. ?It's a pleasant place, further off in the south, where it's much warmer than here. I spend most of my time there.?

Koishi tilts her head. ?But... your mother is the Empress of Makai, isn't she??

Alice shrugs. ?Sure.?

?So... why don't you spend time in her palace??

?In Pandemonium Palace?? The blonde girl laughs a little. ?No, no. My mother holds court there, but I don't join her most of the year. I spend my time out in the country, in Akai-jo. Luize is my tutor and governess, you see.?

?That's kind of weird,? Koishi confesses.

?How so?? Alice raises an eyebrow.

?Well, if you have a mother... why not spend all the time you can with her??

?I guess normal people would,? she replies. ?But I can't spend all my time with Mother. She's... ugh. It's complicated.? She shakes her head. ?And besides, she's immortal. She's not going to die any time soon.?

?Oh. That makes sense.? Koishi nods.

?What about your mother?? Alice asks. ?Did you leave her behind in Chireiden??

Koishi shakes her head. ?I've never had a mother.?

?... never?? Alice winces.

?She died when I was born. I never saw her.?

?... oh. I'm sorry for your loss.?

?Don't be.? Koishi smiles. ?It was a long time ago. I don't remember it anymore.?

?No. That was still insensitive of me.? Alice looks down at her hands. There are small spots of red on her fingertips. ?I apologize. I'm not...? she looks off to the side. ?... good with people my age.?

?I'm your age?? Koishi asks.

?You look like it, at least. I don't know how you keep track of time underground. But that's not the point.? Alice fidgets with her hands. ?I... Komeiji Koishi-san, I hope we--?

?No need for that honorific,? Koishi interrupts. ?I've never liked it much.?

Alice blushes a little. ?All right, Komeiji Koishi. I hope we can become... friends, with time.?

Friends? What's the point of that?

On the other hand... why not? Sounds like fun. And Alice is nice enough.

Koishi nods. ?I do too.?

Just then, there's a commotion outside. There is some shouting going on, but it's not angry shouting-- the snowfall's speed has increased, and the wind has picked up as Alice and Koishi have been talking.

Koishi retreats into her blanket fortress and tosses a last blanket over the talking hole she'd poked her head out of. Alice picks up her needlework again. Everything looks perfectly normal inside.

Then the door opens.

?Alice, get ready,? Luize tells her, coughing as she climbs back up into the carriage, brushing the curtain door out of her way. ?Everything you need to keep tied down, get some rope and keep it tied down.?

?What's going on?? Alice asks, setting her needlework aside for the second time.

?Shinki-sama's orders, Alice. She refuses to stay out here in the cold any longer. Mostly because of... you know.?

Koishi doesn't know. And she won't know for a while, since she isn't in a position to see that Luize mouthed the name ?Yumeko? for Alice's benefit.

?Aaah. I see.? Alice nods. ?But what does that have to do with this??

?We're splitting the caravan. The supplies and such are going to come up behind us. We're tying the fastest kitsune to our half, and going ahead to Hokkai.?

?Whoa,? Alice replies. ?I didn't expect that.?

?Me neither. And also, your mother has ordered us to break up one of the other caravans and use its wood panels as skis. We're going to wet them with water so that they freeze and glide on the snow even faster.?

?My, my. How long will that take??

?Not long. We've only got five carriages in our train. The lead carriage, Shinki's personal carriage, the high servants, us, and a small sled behind us for supplies if we really need it. We'll be getting along shortly.?

?Which means that... we'll get there in around six hours. Faster, if we hurry, which we will.?

?Perfect!? Alice claps her hands together. ?The faster we get out of the cold, the better.?

Just then, the carriage shook, and Alice instinctively puts her hands on the ground to steady herself.

?We're putting up the carriage and taking off the wheels so we can use the skis,? Luize says with a smile. ?Won't be long now.?

?Indeed, it won't.? Alice grins. ?Hokkai, here we come!?

-----

Inside her blanket fortress, Koishi nods to herself, her concealed gaps in the makeshift hideout supplying her with plenty of air. It's quite warm, and she won't be leaving until they're on the move.

She lays her head back down and, swayed by the warmth of the blankets, is lulled to a peaceful, dreamless sleep.


_{*And SA Stage 3 can just go fuck itself.}

There is at least one paragraph in this last update that is filled with so many historical references it makes small children cry. See if you can figure out which one!

[Sect]

Wha-wha-what is this?!

Anyways, at this point in time, I haven't read through it all the way, but I loved this part:

Yuka paused for a second, looking at it with confusion on her face, but thirst trumped suspicion and she downed the whole bottle in a short amount of time. Then she ate the plastic bottle.

OM NOM NOM YOUKAI-MOE EATS WHATEVER THE HELL SHE WANTS.

And now it's making me think of a situation where Yuka raises Reimu (mostly because of some comics where Reimu has a stomach of adamantine and nuclear fusion).

EDIT: What's up with that picture? The one with Shikieiki in Stage 3.

[Matsuri]

Ahahaha, Yuka's hilarious. also, I would not mind Yumemi feeding me strawberries, no I would not

Also, Kogasa is so moe :3

Lots of stuff going on in Satori's part, too. I said it before and I say it again-- I can't even begin to imagine how hard it's going to be for her from here on out, especially when it comes to working with the civil service folks, on top of being an inexperienced ruler. :<

I can't wait to see what's next, especially with both Satori and Koishi's stories. Nice work. <3

[illyx]

Am I allowed to post here even if it hasn't been posted in for a while?

Well anyway, I finally finished reading this fic (it took me like 4-5 days?). I had to say that you've done a truly amazing job.

I actually started reading this fic a long time ago, on fanfiction.net, but I didn't know that you had just started putting the updates here instead. I was looking around for good Satori backstory fics back then so I just poked around on that site and found 4 chapters of this fic. Even then, I was so impressed.

I've actually been planning a fic for a couple of months now, nowhere near done planning (cause I'm just slow like that), but I wanted to say you've given me some very valuable inspiration.

You really do a great job with every last one of your characters.

I think that if I had to find one complaint, it would probably be that all the characters were made so human-like. Well, it wouldn't be a problem, but they're not human. The way they think though is perfectly human, and their bodies aren't so different from humans either, apart from a few things (Yatagarasu can fly and have some resistance to heat, Satori have a Third Eye, Oni are stronger than most, etc.)...

I'm not trying to bash you or anything though. I already said, I love this story. You're far more knowledgeable about so many plot elements in this story that I can't even begin to tell you how many times I thought "well, if it was me writing this story, everything would have long since gone to hell." You're able to write fire scenes as though you yourself have been stuck in a burning building. Actually, more than that, I can see that you've studied thermodynamics and other such things in detail.

Anyway, good luck with classes and work and all that stuff. Take your time with your updates. I'll wait patiently. Thanks for putting so much time into this.

{Esi} Thermodynamics and much more. You'd be surprised at how much research gets poured into this; there's a reason it's taken so long to get as far as we have in the story.
As for the anthropomorphinization, there's a reason for that. How interesting would it be to have Orin's thought-processes go into detail about the gory facts of war only to be derailed by a sudden urge to go rub her head against a tree stump and sharpen her claws on it? Remember, too, that the base characters themselves, in what is loosely defined as canon, are already incredibly human-acting as is.

[Serp]

I love the way that the progress of Shinki's caravan and the progress of Yumemi & Company both keep on getting influenced by little coincidences like the whims of the weather or the use of Komachi's ability to shorten the distance to travel.  Keeps us guessing over who's going to get there first, adding another element of suspense to the reading.