Chapter Hundred Twelve

Much Better

 

 

Two women stood behind him in the Spiritside, their forms washed slightly away by the halo of starlight the Spiritside swam in. Kotone and Haehime, holding hands as though having come all the way here like that -- afraid to lose each other in the supernatural world.

Nekohiko didn't know if he wanted to cry or smile at them, so he kind of did both.

Tears spilled from his eyes while his usual creepy smile spread on his lips.

"Kotone... I'm lost."

The two Priestesses gave him quizzical looks before they descended on the grass beside him. Their faces were just as sweet and thoughtful as always, framed by their beautiful, fluid-like black hair in simple sheets cascading down their shoulders. Somehow, either with age or from becoming Spiritually-attuned or having spent too much time in the Spiritside lately, they had become a bit similar in their appearances. Pale skin, huge black eyes, hair like abyss in its pitch black.

They had something of the Spirit-like quality. Ghostly, in a sense.

But their pleasant expressions as they regarded Nekohiko still maintained the hints of humanity left. Nobody would mistake them for true Spirits.

Yet.

Haehime was carrying a flurry of small fluffy Spirits pressed to her chest, and they all jumped over her arm, bouncing toward Nekohiko. Kotone, too, had been carrying some Spirits in her hair and on her shoulders, and those took a chance to step on the ground as well. Some Spirits lingered on the Priestesses, but most of them gravitated in a small and fluffy wave onto Nekohiko.

He stilled, unsure about it, but saw no reason to repel them.

They were just too happy to see him.

At least someone was.

The Spirits weren't alone in that. Right after she dropped the Spirits, Kotone's arms enfolded Nekohiko from both sides, pulling him into a hug.

"My poor little girl," Kotone told him, saddened. "Or boy. Which one did you decide you are, again?"

"I am a boy," he murmured into her shoulder.

Between the two of them, tiny Spirits squirmed and huffed, upset to be squished by their sudden hug. It tickled, having so many Spirits agitated and angry against his body, so Nekohiko untangled himself from Kotone and gave an apologetic look to the Spirits.

"Not a boy -- the Cat Emperor," Haehime hummed on the other side. She caught a few stray Spirits in her hands and nuzzled them, to their great dismay.

"Do not touch me like that, human. I only use you as my vehicle to get by faster," one of the furry little ones told her indignantly.

Which only earned it another tickle from Haehime.

Most of them were shaped like some versions of hamsters or kittens, albeit with random appendages and horns or several tails. But they were all adorable nonetheless, and Nekohiko understood why Kotone and Haehime had gathered them.

Had it taken them weeks to amass such a large pile of fluffy Spirits?

"Why are you lost? Do you need to find the way back? To where?" Kotone asked Nekohiko, bringing him out of his reverie.

"Yes. You could say that." He studied his surroundings again. "I need to find the way back to... Abihiko."

We have a deadline soon.

We need to get to Nara in a few days, passing by the Adamantine Mountain...

And I am here, in the Spiritside, cuddling with some random fluffy Spirits.

"No, you don't," Kotone said. She pinched his cheek and gave him an easy smile. "You and Abihiko are on the same path, don't you ever worry."

...

"I meant in a literal sense, Kotone. Not in the Spiritual one," Nekohiko grumbled. "I am in the middle of nowhere while he... I have no idea where he is. I need to get back to him, but... I don't want to talk to him just yet, through my other body that he carries around with him."

"..."

"Do not look at me like this." Nekohiko sighed, turning aside. "It's personal, between him and me."

"Sounds complicated," Haehime said, unsure.

She and Kotone exchanged another unreadable look, then scrambled to their feet, all their small fluffy Spirits spilling out of their arms. Kotone offered some to Nekohiko and nodded at him to pick the few strays from the ground.

"Come on. Help us carry them. We will take you back to where you need to go. But please be useful."

He was the Emperor, so useful by his very nature, but... sure.

Nekohiko did his best to gather the huffy little Spirits in his arms and to follow Kotone and Haehime down the washed-out Spiritside version of the Black Ship Forest. It was far easier to walk here, in the Spiritside. Most trees, being made from humans, didn't have the solid form in the Spiritside, so one could walk through them like they would through shadows.

If anything, the Forest down here was more of a shadowy sea than any real thicket. It would take them no time to traverse it like this as long as they knew the direction.

And Kotone and Haehime seemed to.

"Did you know what this forest is made of?" Nekohiko asked them after a while of walking.

"You mean, people? Yes," Kotone said. "Who wouldn't know that? You just had to touch them and try to talk to them, to know."

The ease with which she said that... and the utter indifference...

Nekohiko watched both her and Haehime sidelong, caught between stupefaction and anguish.

"I did it," he said. "I made this forest. Out of people."

"Mn, mn."

The two Priestesses still didn't find this odd or in any way objectionable. Though Haehime frowned, looking to the canopies above her, perplexed.

"It is so quiet now. They aren't talking anymore like they usually did. Gives me the creeps, brrr."

Nekohiko stopped.

"And the previous fact didn't?! The forest made of human bodies hasn't creeped you out?"

Rather than stop to regard him, Haehime still sauntered on, solely fixated on the small Spirits in her arms. "You are screaming, though, so I guess it isn't as quiet as I thought it would be. But I like it far less, to be honest."

...

This woman... was truly the definition of insane.

What had Mikawa said about Nekohiko or Kasuga? Had he met Haehime?

"Nekohiko..." Kotone said softly. "Why are you so agitated? Did the Black Ship Forest upset you so?"

"YES." He stared at her, only now picking up his pace to keep up with the Priestesses. "I wanted to summon the Spirit of Suminoe to maybe talk to him about it because... This forest upsets me greatly. And I wanted to hear his thoughts about it and what I should do--"

"Suminoe would be very unlikely to come to you, though," Kotone said. "I feel like he would be very, very angry at you."

"Mn-mn," Haehime echoed. "His Spirit is free to roam the afterlife and nothing in this realm would pull him back, really. Why would he choose to come to you?"

"Because I am the most important thing in his life?" Nekohiko said, stunned. "He told me that countless times, yet now apparently he's angry at me?"

Kotone turned her depthless black eyes to him.

"You cast a revival spell on him -- one that ended up turning his body into a Puppet..." A hint of accusation in her tone. "Forgive me, Nekohiko, but I would have been resentful with you, too, if you did that to me."

...

"I was trying to save him--"

"Did he ask you to?"

Now, she genuinely sounded unsettled.

"I didn't know everything that happened between you and him, Nekohiko. I only knew that his body was wrong somehow, and that his Spirit was shielded with too many Hisome spells for anyone to see it clearly. But after the Wedding, when Haehime and I had to go into hiding in the Spiritside... I actually did ask all the Spirits here if they knew what happened to the real Suminoe. And if you, truly, had been such a good actor all these years, managing to fool everyone with your girl persona."

"Oh."

So she was a bit angry at him, after all.

For lying to her all these years?

"Now, what do you think about it all?" he asked cautiously. 

"She thinks that your girl persona was actually quite awful," Haehime said, giggling into her hand. "She said so the very first day after she'd discovered the truth."

Thanks.

Not that I care.

I did manage to fool everyone for years, though, so keep mocking me all you want.

"I do think that you reviving Suminoe was a vile thing to do," Kotone kept going. Unlike Haehime, she still had enough humanness left in her to stay on topic. "He raised you. You were the most important thing in the world to him. For you, to try and cast such a hard and impossible spell-- you would have thrown everything he'd ever done for you to the wind! No wonder he is resentful so much, his Spirit cannot even find its way back to you. What you did was the ultimate betrayal of everything he stood for. Tsk."

Nekohiko strolled along, listening. Frowning. Unable to follow the direction of the conversation.

"Is this about me inadvertently making him a Puppet? I didn't mean to," he tried. "I just wanted him alive again--"

"And what do you think that entails, Nekohiko!"

Kotone stopped before him, her usually placid face distorting in a grimace of fury.

Even Haehime lingered beside, shaking her head as she watched Nekohiko with barely-hidden disappointment.

"You cast the resurrection spell on someone." Haehime was the first one to break the silence after all he did was gaze at the two of them in bafflement. "If you wanted it to go through, you would have had to sacrifice your own life to cast it."

...

Huh?

What?

"You cannot create life out of nothing. You have to manipulate what you already have," Haehime explained patiently. "The reason why your spell didn't go through and only animated his corpse was this: you didn't offer him your own life. Or better to say, you could have, if he accepted it."

"But Suminoe would never accept such a sacrifice from you! The moment you cast this spell, of course he had a choice to either take your life and go back to his own body, or to refuse." Kotone almost shook with indignation. So much that she dumped a few of the Spirits in her arms to the ground -- solely to reach Nekohiko and smack him on the head. "Do you think he would ever accept your life in exchange for his own?! What were you thinking!"

"I... had to give up my own life to resurrect someone?" Nekohiko stammered in disbelief. "But--"

I am the most powerful being in the Empire.

Couldn't I have just... foregone such a restrictive rule?

"This happens by the nature of how life is. Life cannot come from nothing and cannot disappear into nothing. Everything has its cause and effect. Suminoe's life has ended at that point. Nothing save for a miracle could have reverted that. And bypassing such fundamental rules of the world requires a sacrifice. A great and a horrible one," Kotone said. "It is your thinking that you are so powerful and can do everything you want -- what caused this spell to misfire. You do not even understand how you cast your magic. You do it on instinct, without thinking. Tsk, Nekohiko, sometimes you can be just so incredibly silly -- no wonder you get lost so often and so deeply."

"I only wanted him back... I only wanted him alive again..."

"Then you should have done what your no-less silly boyfriend did!" Kotone cried, smacking him once again, this time on the shoulder. "With the tree! At least Abihiko did his homework before attempting to toy with such fundamental laws of the Spiritway! Abihiko didn't preserve your life, only your Spirit -- tying it to the life of the Emerald Fir Tree in the Palace."

"That was very, very smart," Haehime hummed with appreciation.

"Yes! It shows how much he thought about it and how thorough he was with his research," Kotone sighed. "And I always thought, out of the two of you, that you were the thoughtful one and Abihiko was the impulsive one. I cannot believe how different you two are in the moment of crisis."

...

He hadn't signed up for this. For being called stupid and impulsive simply because he had wanted to revive the only figure he had similar to a father in his life.

Dejected, he kept trudging through the shadowy forest, picking at the fur of the fluffy Spirits in his arms. Some of them hated it and bit his fingers, but he didn't notice.

"Abihiko is smart," he said, pondering. "I should rely on him more even if his plans sometimes feel nonsensical to me."

"Probably. He'd had five years to think about this, so I'd rather bet on him than on whatever you can conjure up on a spot. No offense, Nekohiko," Kotone chimed, less angry now.

"None taken. Any offense I could have taken would come from myself and my actions, really." Dark, his gaze traveled up the disembodied trees and to their foliage above. "Even when they call me a Monster or a Calamity... that is not offense or an insult. Now I know. It's just a fact."

The two Priestesses behind him slowed down their footsteps. The perplexed silence they descended into told him everything about their opinions on this.

"Sure...?" Haehime said at last. "Whatever floats your boat, Cat Emperor."

"Nekohiko, what are you talking about? Who calls you Monster?"

Ahhh. Kotone...

Nekohiko let out a tired laugh. He was exhausted, mentally, and physically, after dealing with the Black Ship Forest, so he wasn't in the mood for laughter.

But Kotone's innocence did amuse him.

"You really did pay attention solely to what the Spirits here can tell you about me or Suminoe, huh?" He cast a warm glance at her over his shoulder. "Have you tried to listen in to what the humans say about me? Or about Suminoe?"

Kotone's face showed only slight confusion. It was such a sweet expression that Nekohiko didn't want to upset her with the truth.

It was Haehime who came to his aid, which surprised him.

"Humans hate it when their bodies change shape," she told Kotone gently. "Or when they lose their bodies. They are very, very attached to their physical form, so they get scared and angry when someone changes it."

Eerily, her eyes wandered over the intricate branches and leaves of the Forest around them.

"The forest was very pretty and lush and immortal, but no human would like being a forest."

"Ah." Kotone also cast a glance over the tall, black trees. "That makes sense."

"Does it?" Nekohiko squinted. "Sometimes I wonder how much you have changed, Kotone. You were so... human, years ago. You wouldn't have needed this explained to you."

"Hey, she is still quite human!" Haehime sang to him, sidling to nudge Kotone in the side with her elbow. "She still cannot handle being tickled. At all."

"Stop it. Now's not the time," Kotone hissed.

"Tickle tickle tickle!"

Nekohiko didn't even know if he should bother.

Within this forest, the bare mention of which would make most people shudder, these two found a way to have fun and forget about their surroundings.

Perhaps, the Spirit-attuned people truly were closer to Spirits than to regular humans. Even without consulting Suminoe, Nekohiko knew -- Suminoe's reaction to this forest wouldn't have been much different.

Suminoe wouldn't giggle or dismiss it, of course. But he wouldn't care about it either. At best, he would tell Nekohiko he understood his concerns, but other than that -- nothing.

Nekohiko had learned all too well what Suminoe's reactions to deaths and miseries of any people around him were. It had been a cruel lesson.

But this still didn't help Nekohiko with his pain.

Because torn between the careless Spirit-attuned ones and the horrified humans, Nekohiko found himself... utterly alone.

 

 

---

***

 

"Here, drink this."

In his hands -- a warm stone mug of tea with swirling leaves.

Yes, here. In the Spiritside -- a mug of tea. Not that it was all too weird for the Spiritside since he had never been here long enough to explore what it could offer.

Apparently, it could offer very, very much.

He and the two Priestesses had changed their way a bit to the north because Haehime said she'd sensed the presence of a nearby lantern Shrine in the forest. She'd been right, of course. Her senses in the Spiritside were much stronger than even Nekohiko's. Then again, she'd had a lot of training, doing this. She, and Kotone.

The two of them clearly felt at home in the Spiritside.

Nekohiko had worried about wasting time on a detour, but Kotone had told him it didn't matter. Abihiko was still too far away from him, so they didn't need to hurry. They could rest a bit in the Shrine.

And there it was, a tiny stone Shrine in the shape of a lantern -- devoted to the wilderness Spirits. Nekohiko had only wondered about Kotone saying they would rest "inside" it. Because the Shrine was clearly tiny. But he hadn't known just how comfortable the Priestesses were about the Spiritside and the easy shifting of matter in here.

The Priestesses had prayed to the Spirit of this Shrine, and the Spirits had magnified it to a size that could house the three of the human guests.

So easily.

Nekohiko could only gawk.

Inside the Shrine, there wasn't much. Only the moss-eaten stones and the small painless flame burning in its center. Kotone and Haehime walked in and set free all the small fluffy Spirits they had been carrying. Squeaking and fluttering, the Spirits cavorted, settling in around the center of the Shrine, then quietened down when the fire's warmth reached them.

The Priestesses sat down and beckoned Nekohiko to come in, too.

Out of the dank stone under their feet, Kotone pulled out three quick, rough-looking Bound mugs. From the nightly dew in the grasses around, Haehime drew water and filled the mugs with it.

The tea leaves, they fished out of their sleeves, having prepared them earlier for their journey. And with just this quick puttering about, they were set.

Tea, and Spirits, all sitting around a fire in the most supernatural surroundings for an impromptu tea party.

Nekohiko didn't even know how to react to this.

"I can't really drink," he complained to Kotone, thinking she forgot again that he was a doll, not a person.

But both Priestesses only blinked at him, their heads tilted.

"Indeed, why are you a doll?" Haehime asked him, amused.

...

"Because I am?"

"Nuh-hm." Majestically, she waved her hand in front of his face as though mimicking a spell. "Silly Cat Emperor. This is Spiritside. You should be here as your true Spirit form, if you wished to. But I guess you do not wish to? Being a doll is more fun, to you, huh?"

A sudden epiphany sparked in him. He turned to Kotone, speechless.

"It might be a bit harder for you to return back to the real world in your doll body if you get too used to the Spiritside, or to your human form here," Kotone said, smiling. "But Haehime is right. You can manifest your true image here. Your Spirit, Nekohiko. That's what this place is for."

Huh.

This was... fascinating. But honestly, Nekohiko didn't have many plans for his true human form in here. Especially if it would pose any obstacle to him coming back to the world of the living.

There were heavy consequences for those who spent too much time in the Spiritside, after all. The loss of time, the inability to find their way back. The subtle fraying of their Spirit that would want to join the Spiritside instead, for all eternity. He was spending a bit too long here already. Several hours?

A bit dangerous...

"I'd rather not," he said. But he still lifted the steaming mug to his lips, taking a whiff from it. Fragrant, and so... nostalgic. Cautious, he sipped from it, feeling the heat spread down his wooden insides. Not unlike that of a human body, but still oddly estranging. "I can technically drink as a doll. It's just hard to get it out of me afterward."

"Awwww." Haehime laughed in a silvery, easy manner. "Don't worry. The longer you leave within your wooden form, the more you will settle down in it. One day, you will even be able to eat and dispose of the food naturally."

The mug stamped the ground, so hard he put it down. "What."

"Lemme see."

The young woman crawled across the gap that separated them and nearly plopped onto Nekohiko to give him a thorough examination. Haehime's long, slick hair brushed him as she studied his neck, his jaw, his arm and his very fingertips as though she were a palm reader.

"You can sweat, definitely," she murmured, inhaling the scent of his wooden surface. "Can you cry? Bleed?"

"Y-yes, but what does it--"

"Then soon, it stands that you might be able to start digesting food and, you know." Haehime's huge eyes opened up dramatically. "Poop, if you will--"

"Haehime! NO." Now, Kotone put down her mug, spurting some tea out of her mouth to say this. "This is inappropriate--"

"He asked. I was merely answering." Haehime gave Nekohiko a curious wink, then leaned further in. "And the longer you exist like this, you might even be able to father children in this condition."

"Please, no. I... do not plan," he mumbled, out of his mind with discomfort.

"Yeah, I wouldn't advise on that, either. I once heard that a possessed Demonic stone statue fathered some children with a woman. Those kids, they were just... you know, boulders. I think the stone-aspects merged with the human and gave way to quite bizarre progeny," Haehime mused.

But however odd the tangent was, Nekohiko found himself drawn into it. "Possessed?"

Both Priestesses focused on him, hushed. Haehime, in particular. "Mmm? That's what you are doing. You are a Spirit, possessing a piece of wood. Have you not thought about it too much?"

"Nekohiko, and you call yourself a Spiritwayfarer," Kotone sighed. "You disappoint me."

Oooof.

Now that he pondered the whole premise of his existence a bit more...

He had begun with only the bare minimum abilities within his body. Just his consciousness, at first, and ability to feel pain. But no flow of time and not much awareness. Then, he'd gained hearing and sight.

The subtler sensations like tickling and warmth came after that as well as the ability to cry tears...

And the longer he had lived in this body and gotten used to it, the wider the range of his sensations and perceptions from within it was.

Which also meant...

"If someone performs an exorcism spell on me, will they be able to get rid of my Spirit from this body?" he asked, frightened.

"Well. Technically -- yes," Kotone said after a moment. "But they would have a very hard time managing. You are split across many wooden body parts, yes? And the spell that ties you to this wood is very potent."

"Mn-mn." 

"But -- nonetheless! If they exorcise me the way any Spirit possession of an object is done -- will I just..."

...die?

Gods.

His Spirit, which was only temporarily tied to the Emerald Fir tree and log -- would scatter back into the Spiritside and the afterworld. Like Suminoe's Spirit. Evanescent and gone... forever.

"I suppose, Cat Emperor. But look at the bright side. At least you won't be tied to anything anymore." Beaming, Haehime spread her arms as though inviting him to a wide-open world beyond his imagination. "Freedom."

...

In the soft crackle of the fire in the cozy little Lantern Shrine, Nekohiko's silence had to be especially menacing.

"Is this what you thought about the Black Ship Forest people, too?" he asked her, very quietly. "That there's a bright side to their eternal suffering?"

...

"Nekohiko," Kotone began. But he didn't care for her distracting him from this topic again.

"You two -- and Suminoe before you -- care nothing about the human lives and their miseries," he said as though accusing. Even though he had no business accusing these two.

Maybe, Suminoe.

But Suminoe wasn't here.

"I understand that you find hard it in your heart to care because you have more concern for the Spirits of the Empire than the humans. But... how? Why?! You are humans, too. You aren't Spirits!"

"Nekohiko--"

"And everyone says that the Spirit-attuned are cold and cruel and disengaged. No wonder why!" he raged, not knowing why it got to him so much. "Except that I am also a Spirit-attuned, and I care. I care a lot! I didn't want to make this stupid forest -- and I do not remember how I did. If I could have avoided it, I would have! And when they call me a Monster... Well, it pains me. Because I agree with them! This Forest is... evil! And the one who'd made it -- must be damn near evil, too. So if I am the one who made it, then, I guess..."

"Nekohiko!" Kotone shook her head like an anxious older sister would. Not in dejection or disbelief, only in resignation. "Do you need to talk about it?"

...

"Not with you two, no." 

I need... Abihiko. Someone who can understand me exactly. 

Someone who would care, deeply. Like only Abihiko can.

"Then why are you screaming at us, and not at him?" Haehime asked, cocking her head to the side.

"..." Worn-out, he rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I don't know. I guess, just... the Spirit-attuned people frustrated me a bit. Since I am one, and I do not find myself like you. It's not as easy to me, to accept that death is something transient, or that something so inhuman as this forest is so dismissible to you. I feel... so alone."

"Nekohiko, you are the Emperor. Your job is unique," Kotone told him, tender. "Our job is to communicate with the Spirits and give... the sense of peace."

"Ignoring the human misery is not giving anyone peace," Nekohiko whispered.

"Of course it is. Should I run with the rest of the world, screaming in agony and pain about how awful everything is?" Kotone gave him a sad little smile, pushing her knees to her chest and squeezing her mug in both her hands. "Should I lament every bad little thing with the others? Would that relieve people, if I was just as depressed and panicked and stressed out as anyone else? Should I be bitter and resentful like everyone who has lived a tiny bit in this world?

"Tell me, Nekohiko. Would you rather entrust your life to a healer who is calm, albeit slightly indifferent to your suffering? Or to the one who weeps and sobs and shakes along with you, commiserating with each of your small pains as you feel them?"

So much... feeling in these few words.

So much familiar, gentle, yet utterly subdued emotion. Just the sound of her voice took Nekohiko back to that first night, when Kotone had caught him trying to run out of Izumo and escape into the eerie dark forests outside. When Kotone had saved him from Nao's first attempt to attack him.

When Kotone had hugged him and taken him into her room and given him... tea. And had sat him in front of a lantern, a much smaller one than the one they were in right now -- and told him to stop being such a grouch. And try to bring some hope into his life.

It was the same voice, the same feeling.

Even years and the fact that Kotone had changed so much with the Spirit-attunement could not erase this... connection between him and her. Not all of it.

When Nekohiko raised his eyes at Kotone, he found her smiling again, a bit quizzically, a bit distractedly.

"Kotone, do you... like being a Spirit-attuned?" he asked. "Did you know what you were getting into when you decided to devote your life to the Spirits?"

"Mmm." She thought, finger to her mouth. "Perhaps. But I always wanted to help people. To grow and unite and connect everyone, including those who are shunned and misunderstood. Like Spirits are, to humans, most of the time. And there are so many ways to be useful to our Empire. Some of us focus on helping the humans. Others -- the Binders. Yet others -- the Spirits... And you, Nekohiko -- have to care about everyone.

"Even if it sometimes makes you do some... rather terrible things, from a human standpoint."

He wanted to argue, but Kotone was not over yet.

Her eyes flashed with sudden decisiveness. "Do you think I didn't have to give up something to be who I am now? That I don't have to make sacrifices every once in a while to do my job best? Nekohiko, being the Emperor is a huge sacrifice. Nobody denies that.

"Perhaps this is what you have to sacrifice: thinking that you can make everyone happy and not be called a Monster. Time to let go of this idea, Nekohiko. For your Empire."

"..."

"Mn-mn," Haehime echoed.

Nekohiko traded in a weary, grave breath. "I still stand by my point. You people are such weirdoes. I am not even sure you have a moral compass anymore."

"Tsk. Dummy." Kotone nuzzled her mug, sipping the hot brew.

"Mn-mn! Stop overthinking everything, Cat Emperor. If even you don't know why you did this pretty forest the way it was -- who are we to justify it for you? And then you call us weirdoes for no real reason."

"Oh, shush," Kotone threw at Haehime in mock anger. "You are a weirdo, and we all know it. Don't we, Spirits of Cozy Dreams?"

And she leaned toward all those dozens of fluffy Spirits that were warming themselves up by the fire as though they had been participating in this conversation all along.

 

 

---

***

 

 

The skies above the Spiritside version of the forest burned in the Northern Lights' shifts of blue and green when the two Priestesses took Nekohiko out of the last line of the trees. Night and day didn't exist here, so Nekohiko couldn't tell how much time he'd wasted here, but by his margin, it couldn't have been more than a few hours.

During their traipse down the forest paths, he and the Priestesses talked some more. About Kotone's dreams of studying under Suminoe directly that had shattered once she realized that he wasn't the same person he'd seemed before. About Haehime's obsession with the ants and other insect Spirits across Izumo. About how the two Priestesses fumbled about in the Spiritside right while fleeing from Morokata's wrath after the wedding. Apparently, their first hours in the Spiritside hadn't been smooth since they hadn't known how to properly live here, but they hoped they would get a hang of it soon... by the end of the first day, maybe.

Which was when Nekohiko realized the Priestesses didn't even know how much time had passed since they'd fled into the Spiritside!

They still thought it was the same day as the Wedding!

Aaaah, he definitely needed to get out of the Spiritside soon. And preferably, with the two Priestesses. If they stayed here a bit longer, they might lose entire decades of their lives, wandering here, not noticing the flow of time outside.

But above all, he still grouched on and on about the forest and the concept of death that the two women didn't seem to understand. It just angered him so much, for whatever reason.

"Death is natural. It is part of all life," Haehime kept telling him wisely.

"Yes, and if I die or Kotone dies, you wouldn't feel sad about it at all, right?" he pushed on, skeptical.

But in vain.

Haehime could not have been more languid about it. "Maybe you, since you are the Cat Emperor. Kotone may die all she wants. Not a care in the world about it, from this one." Haehime patted her own chest as though proud.

"Awww, thank you," Kotone chimed. "I won't feel that bad about your death either, then! Maybe even relief, ha-ha-ha!"

"You better! I will float in space, all pretty and infinite. Do not you dare sully my ultimate liberation from a human shell with tears or anything of the sort!"

...

Dark and annoyed, Nekohiko walked in between the two playful Priestesses, feeling every bit like a father between two overactive toddlers. When he almost wanted to snap at them and ask where the hell they were supposed to be since they'd exited the Black Ship Forest already -- 

-- he felt it.

He sensed it. Everything in him sang, resonating with the familiar aura's presence.

It wasn't close; he knew. But it was just close enough that he could hone onto it through the Spiritside.

Abihiko's Binding aura.

Not far from here.

The Priestesses had a hard time reacting to it. Either because they weren't too familiar with it or because of their too-long presence in the Spiritside that made it more difficult for them to discern something in the mortal realm. But for now, only Nekohiko was aware.

His heart spurred with a burning ache. A longing, and a need.

"Exit the Spiritside, now!" he commanded the Priestesses. So agitated, he even wanted to jump on the spot to rush them. "Please, we might miss him!"

Haehime lifted the veil between the worlds straight away. The dark wind of the Spiritside swooshed past them like a tide of chill -- and gone were the dark bleakness of the night, the Northern Auroras above, the ephemeral translucency of shadows all around.

The real, mortal world hit Nekohiko hard, like a punch to his guts.

The sunset amber sun seared his eyes and the unbearable noise and turmoil of the overstimulating smells, feels, and chilly autumn air clutched him through. So shocked he was with the transition that he reeled, slowly sinking to the ground. He shivered, hugging himself. He blinked bleariness out of his eyes as he searched the horizon for any trace of Abihiko...

Anywhere.

Where was he? Why couldn't he see him?!

...

"Neko," Abihiko's voice sounded much closer than Nekohiko expected.

Right beside him.

Too weak and disoriented as Nekohiko was from the clash between the two worlds, he could only turn to the sound and freeze, unable to keep himself from smiling.

"You came... to me?"

"Stupid, what are you doing?" Abihiko hopped off his Bound horse. The impact of his metallic boots on the ground and the powerful whoosh of his heavy, military-style cloak were so dramatic, Nekohiko stared, mesmerized.

When had Abihiko gotten himself all this amazing ammunition?

And why did it look so... fiery in his black robes?

Wait, the Hira Kingdom uniform?!

Abihiko descended on one knee, yet Nekohiko was too weak to rise up to greet him. He could hardly lift himself on his arms from the ground, so woozy he was after the shift between the worlds.

"Mmmnnnnmm," he said, wincing at the splitting headache that crushed over him.

Abihiko closed his eyes in dismay. He unclasped the great fur cloak from over his back and spread it around Nekohiko instead, covering him under it head to toe.

It was still hot from Abihiko's body, and so, so wonderful.

"Neko, you spent four days in the Spiritside. Please do not overexert yourself. You need recovery after so much time in there."

...

Four days?! It had only felt like a few hours!

Also, did this mean the Trial was only three days away?

"Shhhh," Abihiko told him when he noticed his anguish. A gloved finger lay on Nekohiko's cheek, cupping it -- just for a taste of security and to have Nekohiko know he didn't need to worry. Then, in a gentle motion, Abihiko slid his arms behind and underneath Nekohiko. And lifted him in his arms, easy and tucked safe against his chest. "Come on. We're taking you to safety."

W-we?

Only now Nekohiko took care to look around him and saw...

Several Hira soldier guards slowly advancing on their steam-and-brimstone-heaving Bound horses made of metal. The guards hopped off their steeds to rush to where Nekohiko had just been. Because he hadn't been lying here alone, on the grass.

A few feet apart, Kotone and Haehime's bodies lay, so weak after the shift from the Spiritside, they both seemed out of consciousness. Ahhh! Good thing that there were so many people nearby to take care of them! The Hira guards looked like they wanted to help the Priestesses, so Nekohiko's heart already quietened at the idea.

He even felt safe enough to dump his head against Abihiko's shoulder, easing into a weary sleep, himself.

"I missed you," he whispered. "I was so, so lonely and scared... and angry at you."

Abihiko's motions were smooth and careful. He strode in his few long footsteps back to his horse, then helped put Nekohiko in the saddle before settling down behind him. His arms still hugged Nekohiko to himself, nearly crushing Nekohiko's frail shoulder against him.

"Well, do you feel better about it now?" Abihiko asked.

No blaming. No accusations. Not even demands on why Nekohiko had fled him so abruptly and why had he been so stupid, before.

Only the vast, warm welcome back.

Exactly what Nekohiko needed.

"Mmm," Nekohiko said, dragging his eyes closed from the exhaustion. "Much, much better."

...

He wanted to dissolve into Abihiko's cozy embrace, but a harsh and grave voice from within the Hira entourage jolted him out of his daze.

It was Lord Hira Okinaga's voice.

And it called explicitly to Abihiko.

"Did you find him? Abihiko, is he safe?"

...

Nekohiko's eyes shot open. Hira... Okinaga?! The man who had promised to obliterate Nekohiko as soon as he found him?

But Abihiko didn't seem worried in the slightest. He turned, dismissive.

"Yes, Ward Father. I found him. Kataji is safe -- I have him here, with me."

"Good. Good." Okinaga's tone shifted a bit as though he was addressing his troops now, not Abihiko. "Back to the castle, NOW."

Ka-taji? What?

Did Abihiko just refer to Nekohiko in his arms as Kataji? Wh-what--

"Neko, relax. Act natural," Abihiko told him, dark. His hold on Nekohiko tightened, and he pulled the hooded fur cloak that much deeper over Nekohiko's face. "There had been... complications."