Keine Quest: The Broken and the Lost

[DracoOmega]

>Have some lunch.

>You join Rumia and grab a burger. Not your favorite fare, perhaps, but they're pretty decent.

>"Um, you asked about staying here this long. I should have considered, but, do you have other things you want to do?"

>She looks up from her burger for long enough to answer you. "Helping you is fun. Normally, Rumia just wanders around, but today Rumia's won this great pooky box, and played with magical inky stuff, and even ate hamburgers! And quiz lady's still sad... Rumia can tell. Rumia keeps her promises!"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Alright. You can stay here for now, then. I just didn't want to think I was keeping you away from something important."
>Check time.

[DracoOmega]

>"Alright. You can stay here for now, then. I just didn't want to think I was keeping you away from something important."

>" 'kay~!"  She bites into the burger again.

>Check time.

>Seems to be a little past noon. You have a few more minutes before you need to get back to class, anyway.

[Hello Purvis]

>Finish lunch leisurely, then.
>Afterward, bid Rumia farewell and head back.

[DracoOmega]

>Finish lunch leisurely, then.
>Afterward, bid Rumia farewell and head back.

>You finish up the burgers and take a moment to lounge. It's amazing how quickly this has started to feel like your place. You guess it's because it's really almost exactly how you would have arranged things if you were living here. Well, probably because it IS exactly that. You find yourself almost nodding off in the chair.... woah, wait, can't do that just yet.
>You get up and start to head back to class. You can probably still manage to drag yourself through the afternoon.
>As you start to leave, Rumia calls out. "Can I have some more paper?"
>It appears she's gone through every single sheet you gave her, and probably drawn over half of them, again. It's really hard to tell from the crowding of brushstrokes and blobs on many of them.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh, sure!"
>Set her up with some more. The cheap stuff.

[DracoOmega]

>"Oh, sure!"
>Set her up with some more. The cheap stuff.

>You go and fetch some more paper from your study. You always keep a substantial supply of this and decide to be a little more generous with the quantity than last time, seeing how much she seems to enjoy it. If it's that effective at keeping her out of trouble, you're getting a bargain on the deal. And frankly, you're pretty sure she couldn't tell the cheap stuff from the good stuff unless someone explained it to her.
>Rumia accept the new stack of paper with a smile and sets about working on it immediately.

[Hello Purvis]

>Give her a pat on the head, and head back to class.

[DracoOmega]

>Give her a pat on the head, and head back to class.

>You give a pat on the head to your resident burgeoning artist, and head back to the school.
>Things are much like they were in the morning, although you're somewhat less late. Saki nods to you as you enter and go to your classroom.

[Hello Purvis]

>Teachify

[DracoOmega]

>Teachify

>You go through the afternoon's lessons. This seems to drag quite a bit more than the morning's, probably because you're becoming increasingly exhausted, but it still isn't too terrible. Just the same, you're probably even more glad than some of the students when the lesson is finally over for the day. A bed sounds like a much more interesting subject than the Tokugawa Shogunate right about now...

[E-Nazrin]

>Talking to Sanae for the first time while exhausted is just asking for slips and trouble.
>Then again, it's also an excuse for seeming completely out of it so that they're more benign and less suspicious.
>At the very least, check out the shrine and see what it's like right now. Maybe we can at least watch this purification ceremony to see what it entails.
>Rumia totally needs hugs and rewards for being such an incredibly good girl today.

[DracoOmega]

>Talking to Sanae for the first time while exhausted is just asking for slips and trouble.
>Then again, it's also an excuse for seeming completely out of it so that they're more benign and less suspicious.
>At the very least, check out the shrine and see what it's like right now. Maybe we can at least watch this purification ceremony to see what it entails.

>You debate the wisdom of having an important conversation in your current state of not-all-there. Still, you decide it's probably better to go have a look at the shrine now, rather than risk sleeping through Sanae's visit here.
>You head southeast and soon arrive at the shrine. There are a few people milling around here, now. You recognize Sanae talking with a couple of them, while others walk up to the altar to leave offerings and say small prayers. You don't see the shrine maiden you were talking to this morning at the moment.

>Rumia totally needs hugs and rewards for being such an incredibly good girl today.

>She really has been an unexpectedly pleasant traveling companion today. And she didn't get ink all over your house! That alone probably deserves a hug.

[Hello Purvis]

>Wait for Sanae to have a free moment, then approach and cruelly steal it from her.

[DracoOmega]

>Wait for Sanae to have a free moment, then approach and cruelly steal it from her.

>Some of the people she's talking with move off, either to exit the shrine or leave an offering, but others seem to quickly take their place. It seems she's probably just small-talking with visitors. Still, you eventually manage to find a small opening and move towards her.
>"Oh, hello Keine," she says, noticing you as you approach. "It's rare to see you here."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I wish there were better circumstances to this, but I need some of your time, to talk with you privately."

[DracoOmega]

>"I wish there were better circumstances to this, but I need some of your time, to talk with you privately."

>"Oh, of course. That is one of the things I'm here for, after all."
>She leads you towards part of the grounds near the back of the shrine, away from people.
>"You can speak freely here. What's bothering you?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I'm not the Keine you know.
>Give her a moment.
>"I am not sure what happened, but, I'm not from here. I am not sure how to explain it other than that. I'm not from this world. I come from one where things are vastly different. And now I'm stuck here, in this world I don't know. And apparently, I've lead a life I don't know..."
>Allow a brittle smile.
>"This is the part where you call me crazy. Go on, let it out. You'll feel better, and we can proceed."

[DracoOmega]

>"I'm not the Keine you know.
>Give her a moment.
>"I am not sure what happened, but, I'm not from here. I am not sure how to explain it other than that. I'm not from this world. I come from one where things are vastly different. And now I'm stuck here, in this world I don't know. And apparently, I've lead a life I don't know..."
>Allow a brittle smile.
>"This is the part where you call me crazy. Go on, let it out. You'll feel better, and we can proceed."

>You decide to cut to the chase. Sanae listens silently, but her face broadcasts her emotions; first confused, and then increasingly concerned as you continue. At least she doesn't seem to think you're just being a moron. When you stop, she remains silent for a moment. She seems to be considering.
>"I- I'm not sure what to say to that."

[Hello Purvis]

>"I just told you what to say. Don't worry, let it out. I'm well prepared."
>Whether or not she does. "I don't know if history has changed, or I'm in another world, or what? But...so many things have gone differently since the winter sorrow, or whatever people are calling it. It was stopped, you see. I could go on, if you like."

[DracoOmega]

>"I just told you what to say. Don't worry, let it out. I'm well prepared."

>"I... don't think it's my place to call you crazy."

>Whether or not she does. "I don't know if history has changed, or I'm in another world, or what? But...so many things have gone differently since the winter sorrow, or whatever people are calling it. It was stopped, you see. I could go on, if you like."

>"It was... Another world...? Are you-" She looks like she really has no idea what to think, but then suddenly her eyes narrow. "Please remain where you are." Her voice suddenly has a forceful edge to it. She pulls her gohei out of her robes.

[Hello Purvis]

>"It may be. Or perhaps the past has changed. And what are you doing?"

[DracoOmega]

>"It may be. Or perhaps the past has changed. And what are you doing?"

>"If you are who you say, you have nothing to fear. And if you are not, it is already too late to run."
>She swiftly traces the shape of a star with her gohei, and lines of light follow the path that she draws

[Hello Purvis]

>Sigh.
>"If I were going to do something weird, would I really have come up to you and said all this? Oh well, do what you will. Though...I might well be different from the Keine you know in one important sense."

[DracoOmega]

>Sigh.
>"If I were going to do something weird, would I really have come up to you and said all this? Oh well, do what you will. Though...I might well be different from the Keine you know in one important sense."

>While she may have heard you, she gives no acknowledgment of this.

>She raises her gohei towards you, and makes a seal with her other hand.
>"Purification: Yasaka's Will!"

>You feel a wave of something powerful pass over and through you. It's a little overwhelming for a moment. And then the air around you suddenly feels crisp and clear. And so do you, actually. You actually think you feel a little more awake, although perhaps that's just from being startled by so much magic being flung in your direction.

>Sanae's shoulders sag. "My apologies."

[E-Nazrin]

>"If you thought I was a youkai in disguise, I understand."

[Doll.S CUBE]

> "Ah, yeah, no problem, what was that suppose to do?"

[DracoOmega]

> "Ah, yeah, no problem, what was that suppose to do?"

>"If you thought I was a youkai in disguise, I understand."

>"It was a exorcising invocation. And yes, that was one possibility that occurred to me. Or that you might be possessed. Or cursed, or something." She sighs again. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be disrespectful. And you don't seem to be any of those things, if it's comforting to hear. There was some residual magic on you, but not enough to mean anything."

>"And what did you mean about being different from the Keine I know in one important sense? What sense was that?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Thinking on it, I doubt it would be different. But I don't think she would have told you about it, if I intuit things rightly. She wasn't fully human."

[DracoOmega]

>"Thinking on it, I doubt it would be different. But I don't think she would have told you about it, if I intuit things rightly. She wasn't fully human."

>"What? Who wasn't?"