And finally, the concluding segment of Third Eye in Pure Waters ~Phantasm~.
-----
"Satori-samaaa!"
Orin almost leapt out of the water when she surfaced at the other side of the tunnel. Satori was waiting for her, and embraced her the instant she could. She didn't need to be told what had happened - reading Orin's heart told her everything she needed to know.
"Orin, I'm so sorry. I should have looked ahead and warned you I sensed other hearts down there..."
Orin ignored her master's apology, simply returning the hug with twice the force.
"Satori-sama, it's okay. I'm fine, Sango-san's fine, so there's nothing to worry about."
Satori was silent for a moment, simply relieved that her pet had returned to her. Sango surfaced afterwards, witnessing the reunion from a distance.
Well, of course they're close. They must've known each other for years by now.Orin stood straight as Sango's thoughts inadvertently made their way into her head, her tails sticking out. Satori sighed.
"Well, from what I can read from your heart my card has done what it needed to."
She clicked her fingers, and the white wire from before re-emerged, still linking Orin and Sango. It snapped in the middle before fading, and the link between the two was broken.
"Finally! You have no idea how hard those last few seconds in the lake were - seriously, nothing but
'Maybe she won't mind if I eat this' and
'I might be able to snatch this one without her seeing me'."
Before she'd meant it in all severity, but Sango said it with a smile now. She knew that Orin wasn't going to actually eat any of those fish now that she knew how much it mattered to Sango. She pulled herself onto dry land, approaching the pair still holding each other.
"Aw, come on...I still haven't eaten anything all day...nyaa..."
For a moment, their eyes locked. They grinned at each other, sharing a silent congratulations.
"Well, you two had better get around to giving that kappa her inventions back. I'll wait for Okuu here - it'd be sad if no-one was around to greet her when she surfaced."
Satori smiled as she broke off the hug with Orin. She shooed them away in the direction of Nitori's hut, watching them hold hands as they strolled along.
I get the feeling Sango will appreciate the two of them being by themselves...---
"What?! THE Rikako Asakura!?"
Nitori listened to their story, enawed. Orin was busy figuring out how to unstrap the tank as she told the story.
"Yeah. Hired a bunch of kappa to try and make nuclear power...wanted to kidnap Okuu and to some nasty stuff to her. ...Nyaa, how do you work this thing!?"
Nitori nonchalantly pulled at one end of the strap as she held a button down. It loosened immediately, falling to Orin's feet. She looked down at it, embarrassed.
"Oh, uh, that's how. Thanks."
The kappa nodded in reply, picking up the tank from the floor. Sango sat on a chair next to Orin, doing her best to stay out of the conversation.
"We know about Rikako - to the kappa, she's practically a terrorist. The officials have been trying to take care of her for months now. There's even a nice juicy reward for whoever turns her in..."
On the last sentence Nitori turned away, her eyes glazing over. She had to fight extremely hard to resist drooling at the thought of being able to afford a real meal, maybe do up the house a little. Orin pouted a little as she saw the kappa daydream. Meanwhile, next to Orin, Sango was starting to get very interested in the conversation.
"Oh, that sounds great! I'll just go and-"
"You can have it. Just go and tell them you did it."
Two heads turned to Orin at once, wearing identical expressions of shock.
"You need the money more than either of us, right? It's only fair. And it was your inventions that got us in there in the first place."
Nitori could feel her eyes misting up. This was the first time in an age she could remember anyone ever giving her a gift, especially one of this magnitude. She almost wanted to hug Orin right here and now.
"I...I...T-Thank you..."
Sango's expression of awe remained unchanged, her mouth hanging wide open. She wasn't interested in the money either, but think of the respect the kappa would have given her for it. Orin made a quick exit - she felt bad hanging around when people got this emotional.
"H-Hey!"
Sango burst out of the door to meet her, anger running across her face.
"Why'd you do that!? That was my big chance!"
Orin turned around to see her, looking puzzled.
"Nya? You don't need the money, do you?"
"No, but that's not - I could've finally made a name for myself, finally earned a reputation from something like this!"
Sango felt her blood boiling. She'd been given a chance to get the one thing she'd been dreaming of all her life, and someone else had thrown it away from her. She almost wanted to slap the cat right here and now-
"Reputation? What's the point in that?"
Orin strolled back down to the lake, seemingly unaware of Sango's emotions. The dolphin followed, stomping around as her rage built up.
"What's the point in it!? What's the point in doing a job if no-one cares about it!? I work my ass off keeping this place clean, and no-one gives a damn! How do you think that feels!?"
The instant the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. She grabbed her lips as if looking for a way to take it back. This wasn't the part of her that she wanted Orin to see - the jealous, attention-seeking side of her. Orin simply froze, not responding for the first few seconds.
"What's wrong with just being proud of a job well done?"
Her response was still incredibly calm, like she was answering a casual question. Sango's rage was quickly being spent as she realised she'd overexposed herself.
"How can you say that!? You don't even know what it feels like!"
She was distraught now, almost screaming. She was getting teary, another side of her she did her best not to show. She'd blown it, she'd shown herself, now Orin was going to abandon her-
Huh?Orin had turned around and placed her hand on Sango's shoulder. The dolphin's shouting and flailing stopped, and she froze in place.
"I never told you how I got into necromancy, did I?"
Slowly, Sango shook her head.
"...It happened a few months ago. You saw the sort of crazy things Okuu can do with nuclear power, right? Well when she first got that power she went a little...crazy. As in 'take over all of Gensokyo' crazy.
Satori-sama had no idea of what was happening, and neither did anyone else for that matter. I was the only one who had a clue what was going on, and if I didn't do something the whole place was gonna get burned to the ground. Following me?"
Sango nodded. This wasn't the usual cheerful Orin she knew - this was the severe, serious Rin Kaenbyou.
"I couldn't tell Satori-sama - she'd panic, try and solve everything herself and get incinerated. There was no-one underground strong enough to take her on, either, so I had to get the message above ground without her noticing. That's when I began looking into the dark arts, and started sending spirits up to the surface.
It worked - some miko and her black witch friend came down and beat Okuu senseless. But what matters is that if it hadn't been for me, she'd have achieved her goal and this whole place would be the new Blazing Hell. I did it. I saved Gensokyo."
Sango's eyes couldn't get any wider. Such a massive achievement was something she'd never have imagined from Orin. The cat still wore the same totally straight face, so she couldn't possibly be lying.
"Did anyone give me credit for it? No. It was all Raymoo or whatever her name is, the miko who saved the day. But I don't honestly care about that - I know I did it, and that's good enough for me."
She wrapped her arms around Sango, who hadn't moved an inch since Orin had started to talk.
"I know you're a good person deep down, so I want you to listen to me when I say this. Do your thing because you're proud of it, not because you want people to accept you. Okay?"
She spoke with genuine worry, holding her softly. Sango felt the tears starting as she slowly returned the embrace.
"I...I didn't know...I'm so sorry..."
"Besides, get a reputation and people will start makin' you do stuff you don't wanna do. Which sucks, right?"
Suddenly Orin had flipped back to her normal, happy-go-lucky self, the gravity of her earlier tone completely forgotten. She broke off the hug, skipping ahead.
"W...Where are you going?"
"Back to the lake, obviously. Don't want to keep Satori-sama waiting again, after what happened earlier, nyaa!"
She happily strolled into the distance, leaving Sango to dry her eyes. Maybe she had been too insistent that being popular was a good thing...if she was pleased with her own work, surely everything else was just an extra on top of that.
"But even then, she's got it worse than I do. ...In her own way, she's even stronger than Koishi-chan."
Sango wiped her eyes, pushing herself to smile again. She couldn't let them see her like this, after all. Recovering her composure, she ran full sprint to catch up with Orin.
You people have all taught me so much...---
"Well, I think it's about time we made our exit."
The three had finally changed back into their normal clothing as they prepared to leave. Sango pouted.
"Really? Come on, you guys can't have anything else you need to do..."
"Don't worry, we'll visit. It's not like we're leaving forever, y'know."
Orin comforted her with the promise of a reunion. There was something special between those two in particular after what they'd been through, a bond that nothing could hope to break.
"S-Sure. You're welcome anytime here. Feel free to drop by whenever you feel like it!"
This farewell was different from the one she'd given to Satori before. Back then it had been Satori who had learned from Sango; now she felt she had learned something from Orin, there was a gratitude there that hadn't been there before. She waved at the trio as they started the long trek back home.
"...Well, then. I'd better start getting to work."
Sango jumped back into the lake as soon as they were out of sight, flying through the water like always. She had to keep this place in working order, or she'd never be able to look them in the eye again.
And what can I say? I do a pretty good job of it.She smiled, taking a joy in her work she wished she'd realised a long time ago. These waters were going to stay pure for a long, long time.
THIRD EYE IN PURE WATERS
PHANTASM CLEAR-----
Final word count = 21867. Holy crap, that's easily the longest thing I've ever written in my life. o_O And to think it was meant to be a
short when I started writing it...
So yeah, that more or less wraps this up. Thanks to everyone who's read and enjoyed it up until now.