Queenfisher

For anyone who is worried again about Kata's influence in the book: Nekohiko only says he wants to come back to him because he feels guilty. Neko doesn't want to hurt anyone, especially Kataji who helped him so much. I hope his guilt usually comes across in Neko's thoughts -- but I know his actions are a bit contradictory compared to his thoughts.

That is simply because, as an adult, Neko is a polite person. ｡◕ ‿ ◕｡ He's a good boy, and good boys don't kick people away for no reason. His real feelings are in his Inner Monologue.

Chapter Seventy-Eight

My Dummy Twin

"Sorry about what?" Kataji asked, hoarse.

Nekohiko could see the deep crease between his brows and turmoil in his eyes. How fast. Nekohiko hadn't even had the chance to explain himself, and already Kataji was assuming the worst.

Nekohiko didn't let Kataji draw his fingers away when Kataji shrank back. Instead, Nekohiko pressed them firmer to himself, maintaining a steady tone as he spoke,

"You are quite mistrustful of me, aren't you? At the first opportunity, you think I want to hurt you somehow. It's not that. I merely wanted to tell you that I need to leave Nara for a while."

Kataji stopped struggling. "Huh? Leave? When?"

Nekohiko squinted at the night sky, highlighted from below with the city glow. "Right now, actually. So sorry again -- but I won't be able to attend the wedding and I won't be able to take you back to the inn either. I have to go, Kataji."

"I'll go with you!"

"And miss your brother's wedding?" Nekohiko started laughing but stopped abruptly.

Kataji wasn't joking. At all.

His hands squeezed Nekohiko's, drawing them to Kataji's chest. "To hell with my brother's wedding. Where do you need to go to, Itsuki? I'll go with you."

...

Haah! Nekohiko flinched back, stunned.

He did not expect this. Actually, he had only planned to tell Kataji he had to leave -- and also where and why, but solely to show how much he trusted Kataji with all his private information. He had anticipated Kataji to say something along the lines of "too bad, I have to stay here" and be done with it.

Then, Nekohiko would have freed his consciousness from abandoning Kataji for at least a week during and after the wedding without being able to communicate with him. He would leave with his heart and soul light, and would even be in time to miss Aomi who Kasuga had told him was coming here escorted by Kotone and Haehime.

It wasn't as if he hated the idea of talking to Aomi tonight one-on-one -- but he knew she would make a big deal out of his wedding to Abihiko. And he wanted the girl to maybe sleep on it first and calm down before he was willing to discuss this with her.

But now it turned out that Kataji would also be so difficult to deal with?

"We can leave right now; I don't care," Kataji said, shrugging one shoulder in the direction of the Artists' District in which their inn was. "I don't even need to pack--"

"Wait, wait, Kataji!" Nekohiko let out a desperate chuckle. He raked his brain for any good way out of this. "That's inappropriate, for you to not come to your brother's wedding. Need I remind you that after him, you are the next in line to the throne in case something bad happens to him? Now imagine what kind of message this sends to everyone that the Emperor's young brother and the potential heir ignored the Imperial wedding?"

Kataji frowned, starting to speak up, but Nekohiko wedged in before he could.

"And also -- do you still remember that you told me I am my own person? That I can go and do what I want with my life and that you would not hold me back?"

"...how is me coming with you holding you back?" Kataji whispered, looking stung.

"That's because where I'm going, the non-Binders aren't exactly welcome," Nekohiko said grimly. "And in particular, I wouldn't even be able to spend my time there on you because I'm going into secluded contemplation for about a week. In Izumo. Under the guidance of the Head Priest of Izumo himself as he had so kindly offered."

Now it was Kataji's turn to gape back, shocked. "His... Holiness? When? Why?"

Behind them, a loud rolling vehicle full of metallic musical instruments of questionable structures and sound quality roared in a cacophony of squeaks and keens. People in the crowd groaned and spat insults at it in response. Some rotten vegetables also went flying. Ah, it was this time of night already. Most people had abandoned all pretenses of civility.

Ducking from all the loud noise, Nekohiko and Kataji slipped away from there. Nekohiko held Kataji close as he spoke, even if half of what he was saying needed to be yelled at full volume because of all the clashing sounds on the street.

"Today, when Kasuga and Aomi took me to the Spring Sunlight Shrine -- I went because I wanted to see His Holiness there, to talk to him. Ever since I've been awoken in my log form, I wanted guidance of a Spiritual person for my issues with the world and my murderer, you know?" he yelled, trying to overscream the ruckus.

"I know!" Kataji answered just as loudly.

"So he suggested I come with him to Izumo -- I go first with his escort to manage to hit the road before tomorrow wedding procession will block most movement in the city. Then after His Holiness is done with the ceremony, he will follow after and aid me with my meditation and soul-searching in Izumo Shrine. Plus, in Izumo, there are archives and records of many Binding-related things. I need to research them to advance in my quest for revenge, you see?"

Kataji winced at the mention of the "quest for revenge". Nekohiko did it specifically to remind the young man that nothing had fundamentally changed in Nekohiko's outlooks on life just because he had been given a good body. Kataji might loathe the fact that Nekohiko wanted something other than to "just live and be happy" -- but he could not argue that this was how Nekohiko had always been.

And changing somebody like this... on such an essential level... was simply impossible. Kataji would just have to deal with it, wouldn't he?

The two of them had wandered off far enough to not be overwhelmed by the noise. Kataji stopped beside the entrance to a small meditation garden, drawing near to Nekohiko to talk in a lower, more personal tone.

"You would spend your life on revenge, really?" Kataji said softly. "Why? Does it hurt you that much what that man had done to you? I mean -- now -- does it still hurt?"

Nekohiko stared at him, speechless.

Yes, Kataji, it still hurts.

It still hurts so bad I feel that if I were alone in a quiet and distant place, without something -- anything -- distracting me from this pain with the constant need to keep running, working, doing things. Then, Kataji...

I would probably have nothing better to do than cry. Helplessly and without meaning.

Just to make it stop hurting for a while.

Just a little bit.

What kind of a stupid question was this?

"You cannot change what this man had done to you, can you?" Kataji went on, careless. "You can only pay him back. And to do that you would have to... what? Kill him? Kill his loved ones? Itsuki -- none of these actions would make you happy or would erase your trauma, don't you understand? It will only make you relive the misery and pain he'd dealt you."

...

Nekohiko shut his eyes and wished he could shut his ears, too. He didn't need to listen to this, did he?

"Itsuki, if you would allow me," Kataji said suddenly, looking inspired, his beautiful dark eyes gleaming. "May I give you a Master Order to heal your pain from that betrayal? To actually erase the scars and wounds it left inside you?"

Slowly, Nekohiko gulped.

"Uh... No," he said, shaking his head as though to drive the point further. "No, Kataji, you may not."

"Why not?" Kataji cocked his chin up. "It makes you miserable. It makes you obsessed with something that will only bring more misery to you."

"Just... no, all right?" Nekohiko tensed up, backing away from Kataji. "Please don't ever suggest this again, will you?"

This pain...

It was his pain.

The pain was -- him, in a sense. The only thing that kept him going, the only thing that gave his bizarre existence a purpose.

Kataji pursed his lips in aggravation but did not argue.

"I need to go. The Head Priest is expecting me at the Shrine." Nekohiko leaned away as though to leave. Yet he couldn't. Kataji held his sleeve in his hand, pulling him back.

Thoughtful, Nekohiko unlatched Kataji's fingers over the fabric of his sleeve and gave them an encouraging squeeze. "Don't worry, Kataji. I just need to spend some time alone, meditating, trying to find myself and decide what I want to do next with my life. I will return. I swear I will."

His eyes swooped to Kataji's neck and his slightly-open collars within which peeked a small piece of a chain. Ah, it was that pendant Morokata had given him -- the wooden teardrop that monitored Nekohiko's movements...

Nekohiko reached for Kataji's collar, gently prying it away to reveal more of the chain. Caught off-guard, Kataji lurched, throwing a helpless glance at Nekohiko and flushing. But he quickly realized that Nekohiko wasn't caressing his skin -- only the pendant chain that hugged the hollow of Kataji's throat.

"The tracking device?" Kataji muttered, hesitant.

"Could you please... not use it to find me while I'm gone?" Nekohiko asked. "I want you to trust me that I will come back and that I will not betray your trust, Kataji. Just wait for me to come, and I will."

Kataji dithered. Then, in one emotional rush, he grabbed the pendant chain and swept it off his neck and over his head. The motion disturbed Kataji's well-groomed ponytail hairdo, giving him now a reckless, slightly disorganized look. A bit vulnerable, too.

Hair strands hung over his reddened face and got into his glinting eyes as he looked down, frowning. He crushed the chain in his fist, then offered it to Nekohiko. The wooden teardrop pendant swayed beneath it like a pendulum.

"Here, take it. I trust you, so I don't need it," Kataji whispered. "But please be careful, Itsuki. If you don't come back to me in a week like you say you will -- I... don't know what I'll do. I'll go to Morokata or even to Hibiki to find you, I'll go to Izumo to get you from there..." Agitated, he bit down his red lip. "I swear I will. I can wait, but not too long, Itsuki. Do not do this to me. Do not leave me."

...

Nekohiko nodded, taking the chain into his own hand. In its place, he offered Kataji the small bubble of water with the goldfish they had won together in some game on the festival. Then, as he wanted to draw away and leave, he realized that he had something else to do first.

To pay Kataji back for all his kindnesses, especially since he was lying to Kataji about his plans so profoundly. Kataji had just told him he'd wait for him. Should Nekohiko not give him back some token of his appreciation? Some token of his gratefulness?

Besides, he was... supposedly... physically attracted to Kataji now. At least according to the Master Order he'd been given. 

No?

And what did people who were attracted to each other do when they said their goodbyes?

... Yeah. That.

Nekohiko couldn't tolerate even the idea. Everything in him rose against that. He had never kissed anyone in the world on his own volition except for...

Except for Abihiko. But Abihiko was different. With Abihiko, he had never minded doing that.

Wrought with guilt, Nekohiko looked at Kataji out-of-focus. Kataji's face, his overall body type, his hair, his red lips, even his current hairdo.

He looked very much like Abihiko if Nekohiko wanted to imagine that. Pushing himself to do it, Nekohiko leaned over to Kataji, shy.

And it was exactly as though he was leaning over to a younger version of Abihiko. He could almost smell him, sense his genius Binder's aura brimming inside him, imagine the smug look on Abihiko's face...

Abihiko, Nekohiko whispered in his mind.

And imagining that -- helped.

He placed his lips on Kataji's cool cheek, just next to where Kataji's lips began, and held it like this for a brief moment.

Kataji trembled but didn't move. As though terrified to spook Nekohiko away. Yet he did close his eyes and he did slow down his breathing, taking in his sensations and the tight proximity between the two of them.

Nekohiko's own heart thundered in his ears. Everything in him screamed at how wrong this impromptu kiss felt, but he shrugged it off.

This was what people were supposed to do, so he did it. A sense of fulfillment coursed through him when he finally broke away. He wasn't lying to Kataji that badly, was he? Yes, he'd marry Kataji's brother tomorrow, but he fully intended to come back to Kataji afterward.

To keep his promise. To not feel so guilty about lying. To let go of all his worries, for a little while.

He rushed away from Kataji, not checking the young man's expression. The crowd opened up and swallowed him in the span of moments, and Nekohiko couldn't stop even if he wanted to for the fear of losing his way in this turbulent, crazy mob.

His lips still burned after the kiss and so did his heart.

But the pain there was much harder to ignore because even as the lingering warmth over his lips faded away after a few steps, the heat in his heart only worsened.

He hated how familiar it felt.

***

He had managed to get out of the main streets where the Parade went with full abandon and toward the smaller, more hidden alleys. There, the festivities still took place but not to the same extent. Nekohiko stalked past the clusters of chanting or gambling people, unable to even notice them around.

He felt gloomy. The chain Kataji had given him weighted too heavily in his hand. He put it around his own neck, thinking with anguish about leaving Kataji behind, having fed him so many of his lies. He hoped Aomi and Kotone would come there soon enough and alleviate some of Kataji's loneliness.

That said, Nekohiko had nobody to lift his moods. Actually, this was one of the first times since forever that he was so alone and so self-sufficient after he had awoken inside the tree. It seemed... weird.

It seemed wrong. Just like that time years ago when he and Abihiko had broken up after Nekohiko had told him the truth about him being a boy.

So odd. He'd been left alone and miserable for telling the truth then, and alone and miserable for telling lies now. Was this irony?

He reminded himself he never needed other people to push through his low spirits, so what did it matter?

The neighborhoods looked more familiar where he went now. The small wooden Shrine at the crossroads to which Nekohiko bowed by Spiritway habit, the small group of houses around a well in the square. The old, abandoned house with trees overgrown in its small garden. There. There lay his target.

Nekohiko sneaked past the house to its back yard where yesterday night, he'd left the wooden human sculpture Abihiko had made. Disguised under a pile of leaves, the wooden sculpture was safe and untouched this whole time. Nekohiko threw around cautious glances, seeing nobody in the vicinity and only hearing distant laughter from one of the neighboring yards. He checked if he still had the distorting visual shield of Kasuga's around himself, then knelt beside the pile of leaves and dispelled the disguise from around the sculpture.

The leaves receded into nothingness, revealing the lifeless wooden human beneath.

Nekohiko poked the wooden sculpture with his finger and noted with distaste how it creaked, setting even lower into the ground. What an ugly mess, it was.

Kataji was wrong, Nekohiko thought with sudden mischief. There was one thing he was so much better at than Abihiko. Sculpting. Actually making coherent things with his bare hands.

Abihiko's effort looked more like garbage.

But it had legs and arms and a head, so that was more than enough for Nekohiko's purposes.

Nekohiko stripped the thing off its clothes that Abihiko had put on it, then changed into them. The robes were Abihiko's, and a bit too roomy for Nekohiko's current body. His own day robes, he slipped onto the sculpture, then breathed in and out, preparing.

His hands assembled the highest level Utsuro spell of image Splitting.

Fingers curling inward to his own face, Nekohiko sought for an opening within the Spiritual seams that he could grip onto. It took some time to find, and a lot of concentration.

Sweat beaded on his forehead and back, rolling down in itchy trails. He trembled from the effort, his eyes shut and mind searching for the precise combination of aspects he needed. His own current appearance, his voice, his manner of movement. But not the real aspects -- only an impression of them. Like a mold he could take and reuse on something else.

It astounded him how rusty his Utsuro skills had actually become. Every other Great House technique had been so easy for him to recall and use recently!

Then again, this was a top-tier spell, so perhaps this was to be expected.

Good thing he had a chance to practice it now because tomorrow, he would have to use this exact spell again -- only on another human being. Talk nothing about having a solid practice before the "exam"!

A groan escaped his lips as he finally found the combination he could latch onto and lift off himself. With force, he tugged the necessary aspects away from his body, maintaining the finger formations and changing them appropriately to cast the spell to its end. He was so blinded with trickling sweat and dizziness, he almost couldn't see how he pressed the resulting mass of the swirling, shimmering aspects onto the wooden sculpture. But by reflex, he did all the needed gestures and signs to finish it off.

And thus, after at least half an hour -- the spell was done.

"Aaaaargh!" Spent, he collapsed backward to the grass, finally letting a tortured breath out. He closed his eyes and rubbed his face off sweat with his hands, aghast at how severely they shook.

This damn spell!

Ugh, he would really need a lot of people around him for him to cast it tomorrow without interruptions. Because this spell might surely break him if he was disturbed by someone in the middle of it.

He moaned, getting back up through sheer will, but instantly felt better when he saw what waited for him just a step away.

The wooden sculpture Abihiko had made. It no longer looked like a mess.

It looked like a human. A very lovely human. A doll. With Nekohiko's own face and body and hair and the ability to move and speak. Yes?

Nekohiko touched his dummy twin, satisfied with the results. Yes, the doll's weight was the same as his, the doll's skin and wood were the same to the touch. Even its eyes, bearing the beautiful marks of Hibiki's and Morokata's craftsmanship on them. Not an illusion like Hisome glamors. More like a thin layer directly grafted on top of the actual carcass.

A copy. Temporary and subject to the spell wearing off eventually. But a perfect copy nonetheless.

Now the only remaining thing was -- some kind of a Puppet spell so he could control this twin?

Yet Nekohiko did not know any Puppeteering spells, and ones that would be undetectable by other Binders. Like Suminoe or Yakabe had told him once: Puppeteering was a Dark Art. It was not really Binding.

A pity, because he could use an untraceable spell right now.

But he guessed he had one other trick up his sleeve regardless. This was not just any chunk of wood at the core of this sculpture, no? It was his own wood. He had been able to embody it mere days ago, and some parts of it still had the ability to let his mind in, however warpedly.

Before, he had wondered that if he lost his wood as dead matter, it would mean he lost it forever.

But back then, he hadn't had access to the greatest Binder's powers in the world, ha-ha! As long as he could reverse the deadening of his matter -- he would be able to control this body -- or any of the other wood bodies his log had come from. 

Nekohiko put his hand on the dummy twin's forehead, reaching through the Utsuro Mirror Image spell and to the actual wood surface beneath. Instead of using Utsuro this time, he used Imperial Fusion.

The most basic power of Binding -- what gave the Binding its name, to begin with.

He Bound only the barest sliver of his fingertips into the dummy twin's wood grain. But that was enough. He had Bound both wooden bodies together into a single one. Then he channeled his consciousness to the other body and --

-- yay!

He opened his eyes already inside the dummy twin, watching dumbly at his own face in the middle of a concentrated spell-casting!

He did it! He had connected both bodies together! His actual body and his fake one.

Nekohiko broke the mental link, then checked a couple of times if he could transfer his consciousness in between these two. And yes, he could. The dummy twin's body was, of course, a rough and quite awful replica of the original one -- but he could move and see and hear inside it just fine! Everything hurt, and everything felt distorted and wrong inside it. Being in this body, Nekohiko wanted to wail in pain, so badly it had been constructed.

Yet it wasn't as if he had many fake bodies to choose from.

Settling back in his original body, he worked another quick set of spells to create automated sequences for the dummy twin's unconscious use. Only because his mind could remain within only one body at a time -- so this twin dummy might need to simulate motion and life when he wasn't inside it. Just to not rouse too many suspicions.

It was a decoy, after all. And this decoy needed to appear somewhat alive even when Nekohiko wasn't using it, otherwise what would be the point of it?

He walked and sat down and initiated some small tasks that appeared mundane and more or less alive. He transferred these sequences onto the dummy twin, then created new ones. He simulated breathing and looking at the horizon in a melancholy, absent manner. He acted out a sequence for sitting down cross-legged and going into a meditative trance or into prayer just to fool somebody with his lifelike behaviors.

Most importantly, he talked to himself to create at least a few short phrases that the dummy twin could say when prompted by certain trigger words.

"Thank you."

"Oh."

"Mmm?"

"Eeeeerm..."

"Mn-hm."

"Indeed."

"Is that so?"

"Eeeh?"

Luckily, his Empire's beautiful language allowed for some noncommittal noises and phrases that meant nothing on their own but could support a conversation and even appear engaged.

Though it was very strange creating all these sequences for a full hour because to do so, he had to essentially speak to himself. From both bodies.

After another round of "How odd, hm" -- "Indeed, it is" -- "Well, well" -- "Ah, but what else is new?" -- "Wise words have never been spoken" -- "The weather is lovely today", he even found that he was deriving perverse enjoyment out of this activity.

He couldn't help but smile at his own face the dummy wore. It was so serious and meaningful, his voice sounding so emotionless and blank, speaking to himself like a real person. Then, when he witnessed his own smile on the dummy twin's face, he became even more entertained.

Ooof, his smile was incredibly creepy! Now he knew what people had always talked about!

"Oh wow, Nekohiko, I have no idea what Abihiko or Kataji had ever seen in you!" he told himself, amused. "Their preferences are indeed bizarre."

"Is that so?" the dummy answered mechanistically.

Instantly impressed, Nekohiko blinked at it. The way it spoke -- ah, it sounded so naturally like himself!

He beckoned the dummy twin after himself as he went with it from the backyard and onto the street, still protected by Kasuga's distorting visibility shield. He picked up a good pace down the street and the dummy twin fell into it comfortably soon enough.

"Yes, it is so," Nekohiko told the twin, brimming with pride. "Though I doubt that Kataji actually likes me that much. He did latch onto the first person he met who reciprocated his own kindness."

"Oh, indeed."

"He would probably fall for anyone at that point, if we're completely honest." The memory of Kataji's and his last moments tonight brought back sadness, and Nekohiko tried to push it down by speaking about it to somebody who might 'get it'. Or at least act like they got it. "Kataji is so vulnerable. I feel very protective of him."

"Tsk, that's so rough," the dummy twin said without inflection.

Nekohiko nodded. "It's all Abihiko's fault anyway. He put Kataji into such a situation in which Kataji could not have grown up healthy and ready for normal relationships with people! And made Kataji into being obsessed with what Abihiko likes, too."

"Daaamn, you're so right."

"Now Kataji is even more obsessed with me because Abihiko showed interest!" Nekohiko splashed his arms in frustration. "And Abihiko himself... Why had he even fallen in love with me in the first place? That dummy," he whispered under his nose, feeling like venting. "He... forced me to view him in this manner, too. And then..." Nekohiko paused. A tremor passed him. "And then, he broke my heart."

...

Yes. Just so.

How else would he call that?

"Mn, mn," the dummy twin said.

Nekohiko blinked, aware that his vision suddenly became blurry because tears clouded his eyes. He swiped them away angrily, then gave the dummy twin a side-glance.

The dummy twin responded with a similar one. Then its lips twitched up in an uncanny rendition of a human smile. It put a hand on Nekohiko's shoulder and patted it.

"There-there," it said.

And really, Nekohiko did not even feel that miserable that he was getting his life advice and consolation from a badly-made copy of himself.

It was still a person, even though a fake one. And it still mattered that this person acted almost as though it commiserated with him.

"Thank you," Nekohiko told it from the bottom of his heart.

The dummy twin chuckled. "The weather is so fine tonight, isn't it?"

All right. Perhaps it still needed some tweaking to work well.

But he was out of time, so... whatever.

***

He hid in one of the gambling parlors brimming with rowdy music and yelling people all around. There, he sneaked out into a far corner table inside a screened niche and told the serving boy to not let anyone disturb him. Then he dispelled Kasuga's shield from around himself.

He set up a few alarms on his original body to warn him if anyone came into the general vicinity of it, then secured this body in its seat, comfy and appearing as though he was reading a book on his small table. Only after that did he feel safe enough to shift his consciousness into the dummy twin and leave his original body behind.

The dummy twin was a shitty body to be inside, but Nekohiko didn't care. It was only here to give him a chance to divert Suminoe's attention from his real body tomorrow. 

Through pain and labor, he forced the dummy twin to walk out of the parlor and make its way down the last few streets that separated the parlor from the Spring Sunlight Shrine.

However it hurt him to move inside it, the dummy looked fine and lifelike from the outside. Yet the ascent over the Shrine steps was surely torture. Nekohiko almost wanted to bail and accept defeat at some point because it hurt so much to go on. But he kept going.

He kept going right until he reached the top steps -- and then the Shrine. And then the tall, menacing-looking man waiting for him inside it. The man who looked slightly displeased even though it was hard to tell with how impassive his facial features tended to be.

But Nekohiko knew Suminoe's expressions very well.

He bowed to him.

"You are quite late, aren't you?" Suminoe said. "Was there some issue with your ability to leave?"

"No, Your Holiness," Nekohiko's twin replied. "Just... Kataji and others... they wanted to spend the evening and night at the celebrations."

"Ah. Yes." Suminoe's face softened somewhat. "Then no need to drag it out, Nekohiko. Tomorrow is an important day, so I have to depart to bed early. I hope you understand."

"Of course."

"We will have plenty of time to talk and be with each other once the wedding is over and I can go back to Izumo where you will be already waiting for me," Suminoe went on, solemn. He stepped around Nekohiko's twin, placing his hand on its shoulder.

Nekohiko felt the pulse of the simplest scanning spells used to determine the matter touch him. Suminoe must have wanted confirmation that this was, indeed, the same body he'd met today.

Well. It was and it wasn't. But the fact that it was the same Emerald Fir at the core sufficed to sate Suminoe's interest.

He appeared pleased when he led Nekohiko out of the Shrine and toward a prominent group of people waiting for him and Nekohiko at the back yard of the Shrine. At least a dozen Binders -- Wayfarers and priests both. Several non-Binder guards. And half a dozen dummies.

Frankly, Nekohiko felt intimidated.

"Your escort," Suminoe told him, waving his arm toward the small sedan chair inside a heavily-curtained frame at the middle of this gathering. "Just to make sure you're safe while you travel."

"Mn," Nekohiko could only say, choked with trepidation.

Gods, how good that he hadn't come here with his real body! He wouldn't be able to escape this setup unnoticed!

Stiffly, he took his place inside the sedan carrier and let Suminoe watch over him as he settled down, aided by dummies that tucked a blanket over his lap and cushions behind his back. Once that was done, Nekohiko glanced up at Suminoe, dreading to speak anything else.

Or to think.

Hells, everything about this was horrifying.

"Take care," Suminoe told him, releasing the curtain and letting it fall and cover Nekohiko from the outside like a door to a prison cell. "Wait for me in Izumo, Nekohiko. I'll follow you there as soon as I can."

Nekohiko heard and felt the lurch of several protective spells Suminoe's Binders cast onto the sedan carrier from the outside. So many... so many spells! And some of the, geared against letting anyone out of the sedan as well.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

"Go," Suminoe's soft command told the escort.

After a harsh jolt to the sedan as the dummies lifted it up to carry, the journey began. And Nekohiko was quite sure he could do nothing about this journey -- its direction, or his own actions during it -- other than to peek through the protective screens outside and note how the unsettling silhouette of the Shrine in the depthless night slowly disappeared behind the trees.

But luckily, Suminoe disappeared along with it.

And after that, Nekohiko no longer needed to remain inside the dummy twin, did he?

He stirred up back inside the gambling parlor where his main body was, and stretched out his back and limbs with a moaning pleasure after the horrid mess that was the dummy twin's body.

The night and all of its chores were finally over.

This was it.

Nothing that he needed done before going to sleep and waking up tomorrow -- to finally go to his very own wedding to Abihiko.

...

He felt oddly serene about it.

Even happy.

With the last quick moment of contemplating his choices, he clapped his hands to call the parlor's serving boy and ordered the boy to get him a bed in the nearest inn or a rented room he could find.

Queenfisher

｡◕ ‿ ◕｡ This last day before the wedding is finally over! Yay! ^^

Sorry it took so many preparations. Suminoe is a huge deal since he's the one who marries them two tomorrow, so Neko absolutely had to get rid of his suspicions first! Plus, you now know how the spell for the wedding plan will work ^^.