Chapter Thirty-One

The Split Sky

Part 1 of 3¹The first Flashback chapter of the II ARC! Read the notes at the end of the chapter about what to expect from them now ^^ and about the schedule of their coming out (rarer) compared to the present storyline chapters.

It was the summer of his second year at Izumo Shrine School, and Nekohiko was getting seriously beaten up. Almost every day. For no reason other than "all life is suffering".

He was busy tending to the flowerbeds in the vegetable garden when something powerful swept him off his feet from the back. He planted his face into the warm soil, then was immediately smothered by his attacker straddling him.

Aaaah. Why even bother living if living was like this?

"I won! Again!" Abihiko announced over his back, then rolled Nekohiko's limp body between his legs left and right gleefully. "Did you even try fighting back, stupid Neko?"

"No." Nekohiko spat dirt out of his mouth. "I was busy with the onions. I did not expect to be attacked, so NO, I did not have the chance to try fighting back."

As if the other party would ever hear him. Abihiko caught his arms in his elbow lock and leaned to Nekohiko's ear. "Say I won! Say it!"

Every single day. How much did he want him to say it?

Nekohiko rolled aside in time to push his arms and knees against Abihiko looming over him. A predatory, glinting smile emerged on the other boy's red lips. Abihiko was having so much fun with their sparring matches -- or fighting lessons. Regardless of how he preferred to call them, Nekohiko called them "bullying". Straightforward bullying.

Because lately, Abihiko didn't fight with the other boys for whatever reasons, he unleashed the full scope of his playfulness upon Nekohiko. He chased him, he caught him to tickle or to bite or to push him around, he grabbed him at random moments in an attempt to lift him to prove his superior power... It was all very exhausting, and Nekohiko would have put a stop to it gladly! Only... he didn't know how because the only language Abihiko understood was yelling or jumping on people or roughhousing them, and Nekohiko refused to speak such a barbaric language.

Besides, even as he was, once again, mercilessly tumbled around during Abihiko's new "lesson", he couldn't help but remember what the Head Priest Suminoe had told him the previous winter.

About Abihiko's potential of becoming a strong ally. About his connections. About his usefulness.

So, was playing sparring matches every day really that bothersome if he thought about it more?

"Get off me!" He still flailed, trying to free his hands from Abihiko's lock because... nuh-huh! Befriending Abihiko was one thing. Being sat on top of and pressed down so aggravatingly was entirely another!

Abihiko didn't notice the resistance. His smile was dazzling. "Not until you say I won!"

"You did not! You cheated!"

Hard to remember when this had begun. At first, after Suminoe's Thread had finally dissolved between them, Nekohiko used his newfound freedom to avoid Abihiko at all costs. Not because he was uncomfortable with him, or too averse to them being close. Only because Suminoe's order for him to "befriend" Abihiko and then use him for his own gain had freaked him out.

He wasn't a manipulative kind of person and he didn't want to lie or pretend to like somebody.

However, the thing was that he did like Abihiko.

Perhaps not the volume of his voice or his aggressive behavior (let alone the utter mess that was his sleeping habits). But he appreciated how gentle Abihiko could be around him, and how sincere, too. Out of all the people in Izumo, Abihiko was the only person his age who didn't need him to change or be someone he wasn't in order for them to hang out. Abihiko simply... accepted him for who he was.

"This cannot possibly count as you winning if you ambushed me and stunned me before I could act." He shoved Abihiko off himself. To no avail.

The boy was glued to him. With a mean chortle, he clutched both of Nekohiko's soil-crusted hands and pushed them on the ground on the sides of Nekohiko's head. His bright eyes stopped only a bare palm-length away from Nekohiko's.

"Say. I. Won. Or I will not spare you," he said menacingly, and Nekohiko had no choice but to surrender.

When Abihiko threatened not to spare him, it stopped being remotely fun. Usually, the boy would only hover his fingers over some uncovered part of Nekohiko's -- his face or his hands -- as though attempting to touch him. But he never actually did. Even now, as his fingers were shackling Nekohiko's wrists, he held him only where the sleeves covered his skin.

Nekohiko was grateful for him remembering their little promise to never touch each other. What he didn't feel grateful about was that Abihiko constantly used this as blackmail against him!

"Fine, fine!" Nekohiko huffed out. "You win! Are you happy? May I continue taking care of my onions, please?"

"Why are you so obsessed with onions?"

"I'm not obsessed," Nekohiko grumbled. "I'm having fun with agriculture."

Indeed, just a few feet away, one of the library books about the history and techniques of farming lay. Ever since Suminoe had told him he should take his future Emperor's responsibilities seriously, Nekohiko had begun to research all the myriads of ways the land worked. Agriculture, husbandry, hunting, irrigation, trade routes, basic economy -- all that.

He had never been more excited about anything in his life. Learning about his beautiful Empire down to the tiniest of its particles was so soothing. So fascinating.

"Agriculture..." Abihiko winced in distaste. "Are you serious? Who in their sane mind studies agriculture for fun?!"

Nekohiko stared at him, blank-faced as ever. "I do."

Duh.

"Ah, whatever." Abihiko climbed off him but didn't move a step beyond that. He was still sitting alongside him on the onion patch, watching Nekohiko slowly drag himself up and patter himself clean. Er... somewhat clean.

"I don't think this counted. Can't you say it with more passion, though? That I won?"

"You're sitting on my hoe, please stand up." Nekohiko wanted to budge him, but Abihiko stayed put.

"Come on, Neko. Can't you do this small thing for me?"

"My hoe!" Nekohiko demanded again.

Abihiko's brow crinkled. "The only thing I ask of you as a gift, and you manage to ruin even that. This is the worst birthday gift ever."

The day was only heating up, the temperature of the high summer noon so far away yet. But the cicadas had already begun their twanging chants and the humid air already waved around with no respite of the wind. Sweat covered Nekohiko's body, clinging to all the clothes he had on. While unable to shed his many layers himself due to awkwardness, Nekohiko understood why Abihiko had stripped most of his clothes off. The other boy's shirt sleeves were scrunched up above the skinny, tanning elbows, the hems of his martial skirt rucked high up and tucked into his belt. His trousers were also gathered up to let his knees and ankles out, pasty and bruised and scabbed with many wounds from fighting.

But all these clothes had one distinct quality to them. They were red. Not dark-green as the School's second-year pupils were supposed to wear. Nekohiko noticed only now.

These were festive clothes -- in the colors of Abihiko's noble family. Beside the boy, a new wooden sword lay. A toy version, not very masterfully done, but a gift nonetheless.

"...your birthday?" Nekohiko asked, suddenly timid. "Is it today?"

"Mn."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Abihiko's smile was as easy as usual. "I figured so, and I don't really care. I missed your last birthday, too, even though we were tied to each other all the time. So don't worry -- I need no gifts, no congratulations, no celebrations from you," he added with a flamboyant flourish of his hand. "But since all my other gifts suck so badly this year, I just wanted to get something from you even if you didn't prepare it..."

Oh Spirits, he felt so bad now. For yelling about his hoe in Abihiko's face most of all. Nobody deserved that on their birthday.

"...which you ruined anyway," Abihiko finished, darkly.

"You won," Nekohiko tried to sound exuberant. "You absolutely won agains--"

"Now that you're forcing yourself, I don't want it, you dummy."

Abihiko turned away, hugging his knees. Times like these were rare -- when he was being quiet or thoughtful, but Nekohiko had already learned that they came from somewhere deep inside Abihiko.

Nekohiko wasn't very socially-adept, but even he could deduce that throughout the first year at School, most of Abihiko's relationships with the other boys had... deteriorated? He found it hard to understand why. Abihiko wasn't as keen on spending time with his mates in the boys' dorm and neither did he show any desire to hang out with the girls in Nekohiko's. Both pupils in the younger or older classes didn't evoke his interest as well...

And while the girls would gladly want him in their midst, most of the boys seemed to have grown dismissive or outright hostile to him.

Yet Nekohiko could swear it couldn't be because he'd done something wrong. Never. Abihiko wasn't that kind of person, was he? If somebody hated him, it could only be because they misunderstood him.

This boy was annoying, true. But he wasn't evil.

Nekohiko crept to face him. He thoroughly hated it when Abihiko was grim or numb. Despite harping on how much Abihiko's cheeriness exhausted him, he wanted to see nothing else on this thin, pale face.

"This is a pretty sword. Was it a gift?" he asked, picking the wooden sword that lay on the grass.

Only to witness Abihiko's face grow even duller. "Um. No. Well, maybe a bit of a gift. I made it just this morning out of the appletree branch. So I guess it's my gift to myself."

His gift to himself?

Spirits, how pitiful someone's birthday would have to be that a person would make presents to himself? Nekohiko was the one to talk. He had never received any gifts whatsoever. Even from himself.

"It's... beautiful," he said clumsily, studying the carved Bound sword in his fingers. "Does it have a name?"

"Mn. Maple Apple."

... maple... apple?

Abihiko gave him a crooked smile. "Two best trees in the world. How's that for your agricultural fun, eh?"

Nekohiko decided against asking him about his other birthday presents. He was afraid there weren't many in the first place. So instead he peeked into Abihiko's face from below and forced a smile on his lips.

Abihiko scowled. "Don't. Your smiles are the creepiest I've ever seen."

"You may defeat me again if you like."

"How can I like it if you're offering it like that?" Abihiko rolled his eyes but finally emerged out of his blues. He got to his feet and slapped his knees off the dirt. "Although you seem pretty guilty -- as you should be -- for ruining my day. That's almost like a gift on its own."

Nekohiko tried to look even guiltier. Gifts were hard to do right.

"But I'd rather have an actual present from you. Anything I want -- you'll do, right? Now let me think what do I want..."

Wait, huh? When had Nekohiko said it would be "anything he wanted"? Oh no... oh no, of course Abihiko would torture him with gross stuff or something!

"You and I go to the Hii river²A real river not too far from Izumo-taisha.," he said. "And fish there."

...phew. Really? That was all?

Nekohiko was so happy the gift had nothing to do with Abihiko's drool smeared on his hand or something of this sort he'd imagined it would be -- that he agreed without even thinking about it much.

"Fish?" he stressed later as he and Abihiko were leaving the premises.

On a break day like this, any student could do what they wished with their free time. Abihiko usually went into the town while Nekohiko tended to spent time in the Shrine garden or in the library. Not that it mattered since Abihiko would easily overpower any activity Nekohiko had other than those that involved them being together.

Like today. However, this being Abihiko's eleventh birthday, Nekohiko didn't complain.

He strolled down the Shrine's cedar alley content that he could uplift Abihiko's spirits with nothing but a little hike to the river bank. The only thing he didn't get was fishing. They didn't even have fishing rods or nets with them.

"How exactly are we going fishing if we don't bring anything? Will you fish with Binding?" he asked.

"Kinda. Or not. I haven't decided yet. Look, the berry beads!"

Stalls and traders already swarmed around the entrance to the Shrine, and the leaving pupils flocked to them to get something sweet or shiny for themselves. Only a few moments later, the two of them weaved through the winding streets of the Izumo town eastward, popping the berries into their mouths and comparing the diverse array of wild fruit on each of their bought strings.

Abihiko had swiftly devoured all of Nekohiko's shadwood berries, and again, Nekohiko allowed that because "birthday". But that didn't exactly bode well with Abihiko.

He skewed his eyes at him, suspicious. "Awfully nice, aren't we today?"

"I'm always nice to you."

Across the streets, Nekohiko saw Hifumi utterly ignoring some new first-year girls as they bumbled about, giggling when they came close to him. The quiet older student wore the purple robes of the final, sixth year, and looked especially dashing today. Abihiko caught a glance and light settled within his eyes. What he didn't like as much was some other sixth-year young man hugging Hifumi like the end of the world as the two waited in line by a dinning deep-fried fish restaurant.

What a grumpy scowl Abihiko had on his face when he saw that!

Poking his sleeve-covered index fingers on each of Abihiko's cheeks, Nekohiko stretched the boy's skin out to give him an appearance of a smile.

Just then out of the bustling crowd, several second-years ran out, laughing and telling each other gossip about the teachers. Nekohiko shrank away to avoid catching their attention. Abihiko regarded them cautiously out of the corner of his eye as well.

They were Abihiko's dormmates, and when they saw him, they immediately connected his vacant stare with Hifumi's figure nearby. Thus, they couldn't help but snicker. Amidst them, Koki seemed the leader. He eyed Abihiko with incredible distaste, then finally spotted Nekohiko beside him.

His face lit up. "Aww, is this a date?" In exaggeration, he pointed. "I hope we're not interrupting the lovebirds."

And as if this was somehow the funniest statement they'd ever heard, all the other boys burst out laughing. Abihiko was one of them.

"Thanks!" he told them brightly, then hugged Nekohiko to himself by the shoulders. "Haven't I told you countless times I'll be the first one out of all of you to have a date with a girl? You know, without having to force her or beg her on my knees to accept." He winked at their faces grown slightly less merry now. "Keep moving, bye."

But Koki didn't let it go so fast. "Forcing OR begging? Sure. Says the boy who paints his lips red to catch other people's attention."

Tsk.

And that was Abihiko's only weak spot. "This isn't makeup! This is the blood of my enemies! I drink it every morning for breakfast!" he roared, swiping the back of his hand against his mouth to show that it came away clean. "See? Not makeup!"

"Then just Bound color," some other boy threw to everyone's approval. "Or maybe some funny alchemic trick."

"I mean, with lipstick on, you look like a girl yourself. No wonder all real girls drop their guard around you," Koki said with a puff.

Honestly, even Nekohiko was fed up with these same insults over and over again. Boy, girl, same difference. Why did everyone care about it so much?

"It isn't," he said so quietly everyone was forced to stop yelling or giggling to try and hear him. "It has no taste, no Bound aura to it, and it doesn't come off even if you rub his lips. They're just redder, that's all."

You would think this would be the end of it, but no.

"Kitten, what the hell," someone whispered. "So inappropriate."

Even Abihiko's hold on his shoulder tightened.

For a few moments, Koki could only cringe. "Eww, Kitten. You really are a weird girl."

So Abihiko promptly dragged him away as though escaping a swarm of hornets. People gasped at him ramming through their midst, and some even flung curses at the two of them as they ran. Abihiko's ears were burning crimson when Nekohiko glimpsed them from the back, and his face was flushed in patches.

"Damn it, Neko!" Abihiko came to a halt at the corner of an alley they ran off to. He covered his burning face with his hands. "That's so disgusting! Why would you say something like that about us to other people?"

"...about us?"

But he had only said the truth. He thought it'd be helpful.

"Gods, you're so stupid!" Abihiko was genuinely upset. "Just so you know. I don't like you in this way. No offense." He kicked the wall of the nearest building, then resumed his walking down the street. Begrudgingly. Fuming. "I'd be nice if you didn't spread rumors like that. It's already suspicious that I spend so much time with you. Do you think people don't make stories up about you and me? Why do you have to validate them like that!"

He was slow at coming up with an answer to that. Abihiko dropped his hand off his shoulder and was walking on resolutely while Nekohiko was left dragging behind, so stunned he felt. He'd only wanted to help. He didn't want to spread any rumors. But more than that -- he was now getting a bit scared that... perhaps... the two of them indeed had nothing in common and would eventually not spend time together at all.

Was there a real reason to? Other than because Abihiko had ruined his relationships with everyone else and because Nekohiko had never had any to begin with. Would they even be friends if not for Suminoe's Fox Thread?

The two of them walked on, too far away from each other to not be an easy target for a sudden prank.

Bullying was always fun -- duh, but magical bullying even more so. The problem was that bullying civilians was clearly too mean-spirited for any self-respecting Binder whereas bullying fellow Binding disciples usually ended up in failure because they could thwart any magical attack of the same level easily.

Bullying Nekohiko, though, constituted something in between. He was neither a civilian nor a Binder capable of deflecting even the simplest of spells.

A Nagare bolt of mischief shot at his ankle -- like a string catching him in and yanking him backward. He tripped, crashing to his knees and palms to the ground.

"You can thank your boyfriend for that, Kitten!" Koki and some other boy tittered from the back, then skittered off back into the crowd.

It was an innocent prank. Hardly worth being angry at. But Nekohiko had endured them so often and so demeaningly, he couldn't help but lash out. He assembled a Nagare hand gesture for a quick release of emotions Bound as energy. Then he flung it in the direction of the nasty fleeing boys. His hands shook hard as he was working at making every tiny element of the sign perfect.

Except nothing happened. Not even a slight displacement of air. He was only a little girl crouching in the middle of the street with people giving him a wide berth because he was clearly doing something bizarre and silly with waving his arms in the air while achieving nothing.

All of his gestures, however well-crafted they were, yielded no power. Only more fodder for mockery. But deep inside, something in him hoped that one day... one day, he would be able to actually cast a spell and not have it ignored or laughed at.

"What are you doing?" Abihiko emerged near. He ran up to Nekohiko to pull him up and smack his clothes off the street dust. "Did you fall again?"

"Mn." Nekohiko didn't feel the need to tell on some petty bullying going on behind Abihiko's back. It would only ruin the boy's birthday mood further.

Abihiko couldn't suppress a patronizing sniff. But at the same time, his face looked more gentle than before. "How are you still alive? You're so clumsy. It's like I can't leave you at all, can I?"

No, you can't. So don't, Nekohiko thought.

With a sigh, Abihiko looped his hand through Nekohiko's elbow and pulled him onward. "I shouldn't have taken you with me, you're slowing me down so much! Come on, I want to be by that river before noon. Got it?"

"Why before noon? Is fish more special before noon?"

"Who said we'll be fishing for fish?" Abihiko balked, annoyed. "We're going to bait and catch something far more fascinating than that. It's my birthday, after all."

"..." Nekohiko now felt really, really scared. "Is it a monster? A dangerous Spirit? A Demonic Spirit?"

"No. It's a human," Abihiko told him proudly. "Two humans, actually, and they're not dangerous even though they must be incredibly powerful. Ah! You'll see."

***

What exactly he was supposed to be seeing was debatable.

There was only one man in the small earthen hut at the top of the mossy mountain back that overlooked the Hii river bend. The man was tall and lean, dressed very simply -- with a certain air of someone who neither shied from rough work nor scholarly things. He went about his small chores -- checking his temporary Bound hut for the signs of wear, Binding better substitutes for sheets of pressed earth or stone to give the hut's roof a steeper slope, then abandoning his Binding to gather water from the river with his buckets as all normal people did. He chopped wood and made a fire in the hearth -- all without resorting to Binding, and Nekohiko immediately admired him for it.

With how sturdy and sinuous the lines of the Bound hut were, it was clear that he was a very strong Binder and could easily do any of his house chores by Binding alone. Yet he chose not to.

Nekohiko wished he could choose, too. He already knew he would never abuse it if he had the chance to Bind as easily as everyone else did in Izumo. Being powerless when everyone else wasn't had definitely taught him how to truly appreciate the gift that Binding was. How rare and special and unfair it could be.

Abihiko watched the man with his eyes all but glowing. The two of them crouched behind the wild acacia shrubs, peeking through the boundless branches. Ever so often, Abihiko made satisfied noises at something the man did. But most of the time, Abihiko was swiveling his head around as though expecting to see something else. Something more.

But aside from that man in the hut, the only other sort-of-humanoid presence around was that of some washing Spirits down by the river who wallowed by the water, their silky black hair long and wavy. From so far away, they almost looked like mortal women flipping their hands inside the cool water, but Nekohiko could see through them. They were Spirits -- like the many others floating about. Forgettable unless needed by Binders to be summoned. Indifferent to anything other than themselves unless gravely offended by someone.

This was so mundane, it was even boring.

"This is a very weird fishing trip," Nekohiko told Abihiko.

Two hours they'd spent on walking to this place, and all they did now was watch some random man going on about his business in his secluded mountainous hut? Part of him supposed that if that man had the looks of Hifumi, he'd at least understand why Abihiko was so bent on spying on him. But this man before them, while stately and handsome in his own way, was nowhere near a show-stopper that Hifumi was.

"Shhh," Abihiko hissed. "He'll hear you. Do you think Binders that powerful cannot hear even the mice skittering under the roots! They can. I can, let alone Yakabe."

Yakabe.

Nekohiko hadn't heard this name before, and neither he understood why Abihiko said it as though it was self-explanatory. But before he could squeeze out a response, the sun's glow over him and Abihiko suddenly darkened. A distinct shadow in the shape of a tall man lay upon them from the back. No rustle, no hint of motion -- even the wood-chopping noise still came from over the hut! And yet...

"Indeed, my hearing is very fine, thank you," the deep but melodious voice said above them softly.

Nekohiko remained calm, mostly because he was so fed up with Binders pulling stuff like this all the time, nothing really miffed him anymore. Abihiko, on contrast, jolted with a dramatic turnaround.

The boy's hands flew into a Nagare formation sign, but not in an offensive one. Confused, Nekohiko watched him do the incredibly complex combination of soul-healing emotion transfer. It was... a weird way to defend oneself from an ambush by someone, but... sure.

The man called Yakabe had the exact same expression on his face as Nekohiko: blank amusement.

Abihiko released his Bound emotional energy at Yakabe, and Yakabe didn't move to avoid it. As the complex hues of emotions settled within him, his eyebrow stirred slightly, but otherwise -- no reaction.

"Hi," Abihiko said as a way of explanation. "Did you like it? It's the most complex Nagare formation they teach us."

Yakabe had big dark eyes that felt like they were smiling even though the rest of his face was unmoved. "You are very good at it."

Abihiko huffed a stray hair out of his eyes and grinned. "Yeah, I am. The thing is -- it's hard, but not that hard, you know? They say they aren't going to teach us more Nagare. That all we'll be doing from this moment on would be perfecting the techniques we've already learned, now with your guidance when you have time."

Ah, so this was it? Nekohiko had obviously known that the Nagare method's introductory semester was over, and only the endless practice remained until the turn of the year when they would embark onto the next Great Lord's technique. But teacher Kumikata promised them the actual representative of the Nagare House to come and guide them through the practice lessons. Somewhere around this time of year.

So this was that person? Yakabe? Nekohiko was still perplexed because from the gossip he'd heard, he thought it would be the actual current Lord of the Skies instead -- Lord Kazuragi.

He was a bit underwhelmed. Who was this Yakabe person within the Nagare family? Some lesser relative?

"So anyway," Abihiko went on to Yakabe's polite listening. "I don't mean to suggest that Nagare method is weak or anything. Only that... can we learn something more of it? I know they say nobody will be able to keep up or handle it, but you saw me just now, yes? I can handle it and even more! Please, please Lord Yakabe!" Abihiko mastered the puppy-eyed look when he needed it. "We came all the way here to see you! If not to the entire class, but can you teach at least me? Something amazing from the Nagare method? I know you have many more techniques -- my foster guardian, Lord Okinaga told me countless times!"

The name did its job, perfectly-timed as always.

Though Nekohiko felt a faint change in the man's attitude, it didn't show on his face. Warm, his eyes trailed off to Nekohiko, then back to the other boy. "Asking only for yourself? What about this maiden? Does she not want to learn more of the Nagare method?"

Abihiko gave Nekohiko an inquiring look, then nudged him in his shoulder to answer. But Nekohiko didn't know what to answer. Teaching him any Binding method was futile even though of course he wanted.

"I only came to give him company," Nekohiko said, nodding at Abihiko. His eyes were down, afraid to see contempt in Yakabe's gaze.

Yakabe's clothes rustled. He sounded worried. "Hey, don't be scared. I sense Binding aura within you, too, so I thought you would also want to learn." He leaned over to Nekohiko who only grew more dejected from all this attention to his lackluster Binding skills. "Sorry if I put you on the spot. I didn't mean to--"

His eyes were closed, so he didn't see that Yakabe's hand lay onto his head to pat him. Abihiko noticed, and made a noise to warn him not to touch Nekohiko without asking, but--

Too late.

That somebody touched his hair wasn't anything that disturbing to him. Even if Yakabe's pinky brushed against the skin of his ear wasn't that big of a deal. Nekohiko could take it even though he preferred it to never happen.

But as Yakabe's skin connected with his, it was different from all those other times somebody touched him.

Actual, live electricity snapped at Nekohiko's ear, surging down his body to his veins, his bones, his very marrow. Almost painful, this touch. Nekohiko flinched away from it, eyes wide in horror as he stared at Yakabe.

Yet Yakabe was as astounded as he was. The man held his hand up as though stung. A deep crease lay down his forehead. His lips opened in a question.

But he never got to ask it.

Behind the man, Nekohiko saw all of the Spirits that had previously been drifting or frolicking about in their respective areas of power -- halt abruptly. The lesser Spirits and the benevolent animal Spirits only turned their heads and muzzles and stalks to regard Nekohiko and the others. All of them seemed as though struck by something, or at least curious.

Curious about him. Not about Abihiko or Yakabe, that was for certain. All the Spirits gathered here reacted as though they saw Nekohiko for the very first time.

However, those were the malevolent, powerful Spirits of the washing women by the river's edge whose reaction chilled Nekohiko to his very core. Their cadaverous, blind-eyed faces turned to look here -- like one, all of them. Only their faces because under their chins, they had nothing else of a human body -- only the thin, almost-impossibly-pale serpentine coils twisting as though readying for an attack.

Not just mere washing Spirits. Wet Women. A Demonic, resentful kind of Spirit that wanted nothing more to devour and strangle those who had offended them.

The thing was -- Nekohiko was sure he hadn't offended anybody here! And yet he knew. When the Wet Women opened their gaping, hollow mouths, filled with hisses, and wavered through the meadow in a black wispy fog toward him -- they were offended at him, not anyone else here.

They loathed him for something. Oh, they were downright pissed.

Queenfisher

^^. The Flashback chapters in the II ARC are much more important for the main plot in the present. They are no more about fluff and character growth, but a real support for plot stuff the present characters face. They are also going to be much rarer than Flashbacks were before, but that's because there is not as much need to set up Abi & Neko relationship anymore, so it's all plot-related now.

Although some BL stuff will be in the Flashbacks as well (and ah! even the hot, steamy sections at some point since II ARC Flashbacks cover almost everything of Neko's life prior to being killed), so look out for those ^^.

(And don't worry. The II ARC will have the smutty stuff in the present, too, but they will be... kind of interconnected with the Flashback ones for greater effect. +_+)

A Chibi pic with actual chibis! Abihiko and Nekohiko's... err... sparring matches. The last pic is part of a Pinterest meme, too. Enjoy!

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