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Chapter Text

The salt of Hisoka's tears burn as they trail down her face over her mother's final parting gift; the sharp slap left her with torn skin and an ugly crimson bruise across her cheek. 

Trying hard not to give in to the hopelessness threatening to overtake her heart, she fights to stay alert and on the surface. Words like “ungrateful” and “worthless” are still ringing in her head as she stares out into the unfamiliar but peaceful park from where she rests on an old, weathered bench. She's not sure of how long she's sat there. She fought her tears as long as she possibly could, but they're finally spilling over. She folds her arms tightly across her chest as if she can hold herself together physically even though she feels like she's falling apart.

The last month of her second year of high school was spent nearly entirely in the library. She stayed every night until closing time, utilizing the state-of-the-art computer there to do research, hoping to find her cousin. While she didn't find much about Rei specifically as a result, she did find articles about a small village at the base of Mt. Hikami, the mountain where her ancestry supposedly originated.

Some of the articles were...less than pleasant. 

The mountain is rumored to be cursed, haunted by the ghosts of the shrine maidens that once practiced a unique religion there. They were supposedly all slaughtered by a jealous suitor who had once been rejected by one of them.

Due to its extended and tragic history with death, it has since become a popular place for people seeking to end their lives. Hisoka found countless stories of people vanishing on the mountain, leaving no trace behind them. Many people believed that they were spirited away, never to be seen again. That their bodies lie at the bottom of the lake at the mountain's summit and that their souls were stolen away beneath the light of the mountain's unnatural sunset. 

Hisoka doesn't know what to make of it, all the talk of curses and haunted landscapes. But rumors are just rumors, right? And her ancestors had once resided there many years ago, so maybe, she thought, Rei might be there too? 

She was grasping at straws, she knew that. 

But she had to go somewhere. 

She had an escape when school was in session, but she couldn't spend one more vulnerable summer caught within her parents' cruel grasp, she just couldn't. 

She just has to find Rei.

Rei will want her. Rei will protect her. 

Rei will love her...

Rei didn't mean to leave her behind back then. Hisoka's parents had forced her to leave, and then they moved away to make sure she couldn't find them. 

Surely Rei had to be looking for her too, right? She wouldn't have just abandoned her... 

Scrubbing frustratedly at the tears on her face, Hisoka winces but ignores the pain as her sleeve roughly brushes across the wound on her cheek once more. 

What was she thinking? 

She took a leap of faith, but there's no way Rei is here. 

But now she's here, having snuck out and jumped on the nearest train and then bus to seek out this little village in the middle of nowhere, at the base of a supposedly cursed mountain, a place she has no business whatsoever being in. She's completely alone, with remarkably little money– just what she could scrape together in pocket change, which only ended up being a little more than enough to make a call at a payphone– nowhere to stay, and little more than the clothes on her back.

She's brought a few things in her school backpack, but little that could offer anything more than comfort or buy her time to figure something out: a little bit of food, a bottle of water, her rail and bus passes, and Hoshi, the beloved plush fox that she's had since she was very young.

She feels childish taking a toy with her. 

But Hoshi is all she has left of Rei. She couldn't just leave her behind, not with them.

The payphone directory indicated that there were a handful of Kurosawas in the area, but none that were listed as Rei. She desperately wishes she could remember Rei's old address. She knows they never lived in the same city, always in neighboring towns, but for the life of her, she can't remember which one Rei lived in, let alone what her street address might have been.

It's not as if she could ever ask her parents, not after the massive altercation they had long ago; bringing up her cousin in their presence would only invite trouble for herself, trouble she definitely didn't want to find herself in. 

Rei is the only person who ever stood up to them. They still carry that resentment even after all these years. 

Taking a deep breath, Hisoka squeezes her eyes shut, trying to steady herself. She can't give up, she has to figure something out. What other choice does she have? She can't go back, not now, not ever. Even if she could, she refuses to, she won't. 

She has to keep searching. 

Maybe she missed a listing in the phone booth or maybe there is a better directory at the local library? She has to get up, she has to keep trying–

"The person you are searching for..." 

Startling at the unexpected voice, Hisoka turns to find an old woman suddenly seated on the bench beside her. The woman is wearing what appears to be some sort of cloth made of opaque black lace over her eyes and attire that seems to be from a different time period entirely. She seems somewhat out of place sitting in a modern setting.

When had she arrived? Hisoka hadn't heard her approach or even noticed her taking a seat beside her. 

It's as if she's appeared out of thin air.

"She is not here,” the old woman continues, shaking her head sympathetically. “Not in this old village." 

Swallowing roughly, Hisoka tries not to squirm in her seat, a sudden bout of nerves making her stomach churn. There's something otherworldly about the old woman, as if she's physically there with her but also very much not. Her presence stirs a tingly feeling in the back of her head, leaving her feeling anxious and unsure but not necessarily as though she's in any danger. 

When she finally works up the courage to use her own voice, it comes out stuttery and meek. 

"Forgive me, but...how do you know?" 

“I know many things, child,” the old woman smiles, a gentle upturn of her lips that's knowing but not unkind. She seems to be staring forward off into the park, her posture poised and composed. Hisoka doesn't understand how she can see anything, much less navigate her surroundings, through the blindfold. "I'm truly sorry, but your mother is not here." 

Tilting her head in confusion, Hisoka frowns at the woman.

She's decidedly not looking for her mother.

Quite the opposite, really. 

"I'm...not looking for my mother..." 

The old woman hums thoughtfully, brushing off Hisoka's confusion without even turning to face her. "The one you are running from may have given birth to you, but that merely grants her an empty title by semantics alone. The one you are searching for is the one who sincerely adopted that role in your life. She is more your mother than anyone else has ever been." 

Tensing, Hisoka stares at the woman stunned, face burning and heart beginning to race.

How could this woman possibly know anything about her relationship with either her mother or her cousin, and what roles they've filled in her life? She's certain she's never met this woman before; there's no way she could know such intimate details. Not unless she had some other source of information, which Hisoka highly doubts.

That being said…

She isn't wrong.

Hisoka did have an embarrassing habit of accidentally calling Rei "mama" when she was younger. Mostly just when she was really tired or scared or stressed. Like when she'd call out for her when waking from nightmares. 

And she did always know exactly who she was calling out for each time she did. It definitely wasn't for her mother... 

The old woman chuckles gently, endeared by her fluster, before finally turning to face her. Her eyes remain covered by the lace, but there's a sensation at the back of Hisoka's head again that makes it feel as if the old woman is looking straight through her, into her mind, heart, and soul. "You have a deeply kind heart, child. You give selflessly to others and want for little but love and acceptance in return. This, however, has caused you to suffer dearly on more than one occasion, no?" 

Reaching out with surprising precision, the woman tenderly strokes the gash on Hisoka's face. There's a saddened expression written across her own.

Despite the gentleness, the touch causes Hisoka to flinch. 

It doesn't hurt, but she can't fight her body's instinct to shy away. It's been too long since someone reached out to touch her physically without malicious intent. 

Not since Rei left. 

Pulling back, Hisoka finds herself beginning to tremble, apprehensive and wholly unnerved. What does this woman want from her? What is her motive? Hisoka has nothing to offer, but this woman is talking to her as if she knows her, which Hisoka knows simply isn't possible. 

"How– how do you know all of this?"

"Child..." The old woman remains completely composed as she gently reaches out to take Hisoka's hand. 

This time, Hisoka hesitantly allows it. She's not sure why. 

When the woman touches her though, she feels a sense of calm wash over her. It's as if the woman is sharing it with her through the touch. 

"You have sensed things before, from both people and objects alike.” The woman turns Hisoka's hand so that her palm faces up, looking down at it as if the lines and scars on her skin can reveal hidden secrets beneath her veiled gaze. “Things you could never explain, but you knew were real. Faint memories and emotions, ones that never belonged to you, but to whoever or whatever rested beneath your fingertips. This ability is a gift granted to a very select few." 

"I..." Hisoka furrows her brow, glancing down at their hands, her own held carefully in the woman's. 

The memories and emotions, the ones this woman is speaking of, are always so hard to pick up on…

But they're still always there. 

She's always told herself it was just intuition. That it was always a coincidence that she happened to understand how people were feeling when she touched them or sense who to steer clear of if something didn't quite feel right when she was around them. But it also always felt as if she could make the sense stronger if she focused– as if she's always had her palms pressed flat against the surface of the deep, abyssal pools that make up people's minds and hearts, that she could eventually push her way in, dive in deeper, if she just tried hard enough. 

"You've arrived here by fate, child.” The old woman's smile grows as if she can sense the gears turning in Hisoka's head, see the uneasy questions in her eyes. She gives Hisoka's hand a gentle pat before leaning in a little closer to whisper, “You are a daughter of the Kurosawa. This mountain is your home. And these abilities are your birthright." 

Hisoka stifles a gasp, tensing up again. Her eyes widen in shock.

The old woman releases her hand and then stands, dusting herself off. She begins to walk away, leaving Hisoka frozen, her mind reeling. 

As the woman goes, she calls back over her shoulder.

"Come along. We have much to discuss." 

“Wait!” Hisoka stumbles as she bolts to her feet, standing stiffly but shaking heavily as the woman continues her slow departure. "I can't offer you anything!" She fidgets, wringing her hands as her shoulders fall. Her gaze drops to the pavement. "I have nothing to offer..." 

Stopping once more, the old woman turns to fix Hisoka in her sightless gaze. The look on her face and the tone of her voice, while still gentle, make it clear that she will not tolerate any more protest from the young woman standing apprehensively before her. "You are worth more than you can give to others, child. Now, come." 

Hesitating just a moment longer, Hisoka finally forces out a sharp, nervous breath. Then, scooping up her backpack, she scrambles to catch up with the blindfolded woman, who is gliding surprisingly fast down the street. She follows behind her blindly as the woman confidently guides them. 

Time for another leap of faith. 

***

Mikomori Mizuki. 

That's the old woman's name. 

Hisoka presumes she must be someone particularly important with that surname; it's all over the small village and region, on signs and shops, in the landscape as the name of the ponds, paths, and parks. She remembers seeing it prominently in the directory for the village and in the textbooks while she was researching the area, often featured in articles regarding the mysterious faith of the mountain as a name granted to the shrine maidens who offered last rites to the dying. 

Currently, Hisoka finds herself in the tatami room of an old house built entirely in the traditional Japanese style, waiting for the old woman, Mizuki, to return from wherever she disappeared. She's been glancing around the room at all of the interesting things on display, feeling a bit as though she might have somehow accidentally wandered back in time to decades– maybe even more than a century– prior.

Even still, there's something so soothing about the home. Something she can't quite put her finger on. 

Amongst the vast menagerie of curiosities, there appear to be a lot of clocks. All different kinds: wall clocks, standing clocks, mantel clocks, cuckoo clocks, all of different shapes, colors, and sizes. Some appear awfully mundane, while others are intricately detailed or strangely unique, but they all steadily tick away to the exact same beat. 

All except one.

As she waits, she finds herself lingering on one clock in particular: a stunning grandfather clock standing off in a far corner. The clock's wood is rich and dark in hue, and the golden accents and adornments shimmer and shine in the light like the setting sun. It's not the most lavishly designed fixture she's ever seen, even amongst the clocks in the room, but she finds herself wholly drawn to it as it captures and holds her attention. 

The only thing odd about it is that it appears to be the only clock in the house that's broken. The pendulum rests completely motionless and silent inside of it. 

Frowning deeply at the stunning clock, she can't help but wonder what might be wrong with it. Is it something that can possibly be fixed? Is it even worth keeping around if not? The clock takes up quite a lot of space and could gather a lot of dust if it turns out to be worthless after all... 

"Ah...So you like my old grandfather clock. I have had it for a very long time, since long before you were even born." 

Jolting at the voice, Hisoka turns to find the old woman, Mizuki, has finally returned. There's a tray with a steaming teapot and three intricately patterned cups balanced atop it in her hands. 

"It's...very beautiful, but..." Hisoka starts but then hesitates, fidgeting with her hands as she glances between the woman and the stoic clock. "It's broken. If it's not useful, why do you keep it around?" 

"All things can be repaired if one puts their heart to it,” Mizuki chuckles as she delicately sets the tray on the low table in the room before settling on the zabuton beside it. She motions for Hisoka to come sit beside her and then begins to pour a fragrant tea into each cup. “The clock may have fallen subdued for now, but that doesn't mean it will remain that way forever, nor does it mean that its worth is in any way diminished. As long as it remains, there is always hope for a brighter future. It simply requires the correct set of hands, an unwavering heart, and enough patience and devotion to see its own heart restored." 

"And in the meantime," another unfamiliar voice muses, "it still tells the correct time twice a day."

Another woman– probably about Rei's age, Hisoka thinks– appears in the doorway. She's neatly dressed with a bag slung over her shoulder as if she's just returning from work. 

Her unexpected appearance causes Hisoka to startle again. 

The woman eyes her in amusement, but not in a way that seems particularly unkind. "Grandmother, who might this be?" 

"Ah, just in time, Ririka. This young lady..." Mizuki takes a small sip before sighing deeply, clearly pleased by the tea. She nudges Hisoka and motions towards the cups, so Hisoka hesitantly takes one, cupping it between both of her hands. The warmth is so soothing... "...is my new apprentice. A descendant of the Kurosawa." 

Stiffening, Hisoka looks over at the old woman in surprise. The woman in the doorway, Ririka, snorts a laugh at Hisoka's flustered expression. 

"I see..." Ririka chuckles. Then, tilting her head, she narrows her eyes at Hisoka, looking over her appraisingly as if she's trying to examine her and make an assessment. 

Swallowing hard, trying not to duck down and shrink away from the scrutiny, Hisoka feels her nerves flaring up sharply again. She feels like a small child, caught beneath her mother's critical gaze, anxiously awaiting the biting disapproval that she's sure will follow. 

She starts to brace herself, trying to shield her heart, but then the intense look suddenly breaks. 

The woman's smile grows larger, clearly approving as she teases, "Scrawny little thing, isn't she?" 

Hisoka blinks in surprise again, caught completely off guard. That's certainly not what she had been expecting. 

Then she actually processes the woman's comment and fights not to scowl. 

She's not scrawny. She's just about the same size as all of the other teenagers her age…she thinks. Maybe a little smaller. Just a little bit. And it's not as though this woman is that much bigger than she is, maybe a hair taller and a little less... lanky... 

Hisoka's sour look breaks through, spilling across her face. 

"Granddaughter..." the old woman chuckles as well, amused by Hisoka's disdain for the teasing remark. How she can sense it through the blindfold is still beyond Hisoka. "You know better than to judge someone by the size of their sandals. We judge only by the size of their heart. And this little one's heart is far bigger than her physical stature might suggest." 

"I know, I know." Ririka's grin softens as she nods. Something flashes in her eyes, just for a brief second, as she looks over Hisoka again. Her gaze finally catches on the bruise across her cheek, lingering with something that looks like concern or sympathy. It quickly fades, replaced by something more adamant. "Let's get her something to eat regardless." 

Scrunching up her shoulders, Hisoka winces with a grimace. She still has nothing to offer them in exchange for their kindness. "Please, I can't..." 

Mizuki tuts, cutting her off. "Hush child, no arguing." 

"When was the last time you ate anything?" 
Ririka calls over her shoulder as she hangs her bag on a hook, ridding herself of her coat.

Hisoka thinks for a moment. Then her shoulders fall. She fixes her gaze down into the tea still cupped idly in her hands, reluctant to answer. 

Glancing back at her when she doesn't respond, Ririka takes in her disheartened expression with a frown. "I see...Well, no worries. I'll whip something up for you. And then tomorrow, after you've rested, we'll go pick you up some clothes. If you'll be staying here, you'll need more than just what you have on." 

Letting out another small, distressed noise, Hisoka hesitates but then starts to protest again.

"Ah, ah," Mizuki huffs, shaking her head gently but still scoldingly. "No arguing."

***

Taking her in without question, Mizuki grants Hisoka a room of her own and free rein of almost everything in the house– a concept Hisoka currently finds quite foreign. She's so used to hiding herself away and walking on eggshells that adjusting to a living arrangement where she's treated with kindness and respect is almost challenging. The longer she stays with Mizuki though, the easier it is to convince herself that she doesn't need to be so scared or on guard anymore, that she's finally made it somewhere safe. It's a slow process, but Mizuki is very skilled at subtly reassuring her, both through actions and words.

Since she's staying with her and is now apparently her appointed apprentice, Mizuki takes it upon herself to begin tutoring her, providing her lessons in a wide variety of subjects. She insists that all young women must receive a proper education.

Having lived as long as she has and having an insatiable curiosity for seemingly everything, Mizuki has a vast wealth of knowledge that she's eager to share with Hisoka. And in return, Hisoka finds herself just as eager to take it all in. On the rare occasion that they come upon a subject that Mizuki can't enlighten her on, she encourages Hisoka to research it on her own; they often take walks together down to the local library to do just that.

Between the mundane topics, Mizuki teaches her the history of the mountain and of the faith that was once practiced there– the true version, not the incomplete renditions that often appear in obscure folklore books– offering her gentle guidance as she attempts to hone her innate abilities to perform what Mizuki calls "shadowreading" and "glancing". Her abilities are currently still weak and even a bit temperamental, but they genuinely feel like they're getting stronger the more she evokes them.

"Long ago, when I was merely a child, there was indeed a massacre on our beautiful mountain. Though it was not for the reasons I'm sure you're familiar with," Mizuki tells her over coffee one day after a particularly grueling mathematics session. "He was not the jealous lover, as many of the recent urban legends seem to enjoy sensationalizing. He was a grieving and guilty man who allowed his fear of judgment to turn him into a vengeful and vicious demon. He ruthlessly took the lives of many maidens that day, blinding them so that they may never again look upon his sins. Those of us who survived fled the mountain and found sanctuary in the scattered towns around its base– many of us in this very village." 

Mizuki's voice falls quieter, not quite subdued but still somber. Her steady hands slowly start to lift her blindfold as she continues. 

"I was with my older sister, a maiden far more powerful and advanced in her abilities than I may ever be, when the man came upon us with his blade. He blinded us both without remorse or hesitation. Even without her vision though, my sister protected me until her dying breath. She is the reason I survived and the reason I continue to survive to this day. I may well be the very last of the 'Maidens of Black Water' that once both resided and practiced the faith on Mt. Hikami itself." 

The blindfold is removed. Hisoka feels her heart sink. 

She supposes she should probably be horrified by such grisly, unsettling scars and the clear absence of her mentor's eyes. To some extent, she supposes she is. Not by the wounds themselves, but by the sheer magnitude of cruelty and malice behind the act. 

What she feels more overwhelmingly, however, is a deep sorrow for this woman, for the suffering she must have endured: blinded and in an unfathomable amount of pain, forced to listen helplessly as everyone she knew and cared about, including her beloved sister, was slaughtered all around her. 

She tries to fight the tears, but they well up in her eyes anyway. She wipes them away roughly with her sleeve. 

Her mentor smiles, almost as if she's endeared again by her compassion. Hisoka figures she must be able to sense her with her abilities, even without touching her. At a later time, when her heart doesn't ache so bad, she'll vaguely wonder if she'll ever be able to hone her abilities enough to do the same.

"Your heart is very gentle, child." The blindfold is replaced with practiced ease, and then Mizuki reaches out to pat Hisoka's hand. "But it is alright. I have no use for pity. I have still lived a good life."

Hisoka sighs as she nods. Despite everything she's been through, her mentor still managed to find joy and hope in her long life. It's comforting to hear, for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it also means there's hope for Hisoka to find it too.

She's already come so far.

"Now,” straightening her posture, Mizuki brushes off the melancholy of the memories and changes the subject. “Where did we leave off yesterday? Ah, yes, the shrines of the mountain and each of their purposes. Let's begin at the base and work our way to the summit…"

***

In return for her seemingly unending kindness and for sharing her home and wealth of knowledge, Hisoka helps Mizuki with everything she will allow her to help with. The woman is stubbornly proud and incredibly agile for her age and lack of physical vision, so there is much she refuses to allow Hisoka to do for her, but she never hesitates to express her gratitude for the things that she will. 

Hisoka witnesses firsthand the extent of how stubborn her mentor can be when one miserably cold winter Mizuki comes down with a nasty bout of pneumonia. 

Doing her very best to care for the stubborn old woman, Hisoka worriedly follows her around with tea and medicine to ease the illness. Her mentor, however, continues to gently brush off her care. She goes about her everyday tasks as usual, practicing her faith and refusing to be still or allow her weary body time to rest. 

Eventually Ririka finds them, most likely having been warned of her great grandmother's condition by her doctor. 

Having no qualms in telling her grandmother exactly what she thinks, Ririka scolds her for her refusal to take care of herself or allow anyone else to assist her while she's ailing. 

"Grandmother, do not raise such hell for your little apprentice! You're clearly upsetting her. You should be resting and allowing yourself to recover!" 

"Nonsense, I am perfectly fine!" Mizuki growls roughly after a particularly painful sounding coughing fit, scowling crossly at her great granddaughter. "I will rest when the soul of the very last maiden on the mountain has been soothed. Only then will I join them, laid to rest in the lake where all life begins and ends. Not a moment sooner!" 

She breathes hoarsely as she pauses, finally falling still for a moment. She must sense how distressed she's made Hisoka, who stands behind an exasperated Ririka, nearly in tears. 

Mizuki's voice softens as she sighs, "Come now, child. It is alright. Fix me some coffee and fetch me the bottle of sacred water from the altar. I must tend to my duties, but you may assist me today. We may "rest" in the garden…" 

***

As she guides Hisoka in honing her abilities, Mizuki occasionally invites other maidens over to offer their wisdom and insight. 

Mizuki's friends– other older women and descendants of the Mikomori– also follow the faith, carrying it forward through the generations from their mothers and grandmothers. None of them had been alive or residing on the mountain, as her mentor had, when the massacre occurred, but they are all well-versed in its practices and inherited the sacred abilities to varying extents. 

They all dote and fawn over Hisoka. Much to her embarrassment. 

She's by far the youngest among them and a Kurosawa no less. The surname is apparently intensely coveted, a mark of great honor and power amongst the maidens. 

Without fail, they all comment on her distinct blue eyes, sharing knowing looks amongst themselves. 

Hisoka doesn't feel particularly special or powerful though. Her shadowreading and glancing are steadily growing stronger, but they're still so weak; she can sense the echoes tethered within the realm of the living and feel the emotions tied to objects and people, but distinguishing them or following their trace still prove to be difficult to her most of the time. 

The only other Kurosawa she's ever met who she feels is worthy of such praise is Rei. 

And she still can't find her. 

"Don’t fret, child." Her mentor always soothes her when she senses Hisoka starting to ache again, longing to see her cousin. "The things we've lost always have a way of finding their way back to us, in one way or another. Sometimes in the ways we least expect. This is often true for people too. You'll find your mother soon enough…or perhaps she'll find you." 

Hisoka doesn't think that's always true. 

Sometimes things never come back, no matter how much you look for them or wish they would return. Sometimes they're gone forever, and you just have to accept that that's the end of it. 

She knows better than to argue with her mentor though. 

Or to try and correct her. 

Mizuki is still convinced that Rei is Hisoka's mother, even though Hisoka has meekly mentioned several times that she's, in fact, her cousin. There's no changing her mind on the matter. 

Mizuki's friends seem to enjoy teasing Hisoka, making her blush and fidget, too meek to put up any fuss or resistance. They have a tendency of asking her all sorts of well-meaning but terribly invasive questions. Hisoka thought she would eventually get used to it, but they manage to turn her into a flustered mess almost every time they come over. 

"Tell us, child, what are your measurements?" One of them asks her this time, plucking at the oversized sweatshirt she's wearing. 

She's finally at a healthy weight. But even though she's been experimenting with more form fitting attire when she's feeling brave– attire she likes to think Rei might find stylish and maybe even wear herself– she still prefers the comfort and security of larger, baggier clothing for now. 

In the meantime, until she feels more confident, she's retrieved the little bead charm that once hung around Hoshi's neck and now wears it as an accessory at her hip. It makes her feel a little braver to have it, a piece of Hoshi and Rei, with her everywhere she goes. 

As the inquisitive woman stares at her expectantly, Hisoka stares back at her in confusion.

Then one of the other maidens– one of the elders, only a decade or so younger than Mizuki– joins in, nodding sagely, "We must have you properly outfitted with traditional attire of your own before the next full moon. The water and the moon exist hand in hand, longing lovers separated across a great distance. The waxing and waning, the ebb and flow, both endlessly grasping for each other, but just out of reach." 

A third, one that is usually quiet and prefers to observe, speaks up as well, "The mountain may have been lost to the dark water's corruption, but we cannot allow that darkness to spread beyond it and into the rest of this plane. Long have we held the boundary within this very village. We are limited in what we can do, driven from the mountain as we are, but it is still our sacred duty to do what we can." 

"But that is our responsibility, child, not yours." 

Mizuki stands off to the side, further away from the group of women surrounding Hisoka, a glass of sake held leisurely in hand.

She's been "watching" over her apprentice from a distance. 

Her tone is stern, as if warning the other maidens to only impart their wisdom and not share their burdens with the youngest amongst them. It softens as she shifts her focus more directly to Hisoka. "If you wish to assist when you are older, then I will not stand in your way. However, you are strictly forbidden to do so until you are properly trained. I will not allow it." 

The other maidens nod solemnly, all holding too much respect for Mizuki to argue. 

The stiff silence that falls amongst them only lasts a moment though. One of the maidens pokes Hisoka in the shoulder before unceremoniously asking, "Have you found yourself a suitor, child?" 

Hisoka freezes again, face burning. A small, garbled, flustered noise slips out of her, the only sound she can provide in response. 

A suitor? 

She hasn't ever given anything like that any thought, even when she was still attending high school. How could she have? She didn't have time or ever feel safe enough to think about it, not with everything that had already been going on at home. 

She tries to think of anyone she might have considered attractive in school, but no one comes to mind. 

Not any boys anyway... 

Her mentor casually comes to her aid again. 

"This little one's heart beats to the same rhythm her ancestor's once did, all those many years ago." 

The women all make various hums of understanding, this time nodding knowingly, much to Hisoka's intensifying confusion. She glances around at all of them, trying to make sense of her mentor's words and their subsequent reactions, and when she can't, she turns to her mentor to ask what she means. 

She's cut off before she can. 

"Come now, little one, I'll need you to strip to get proper measurements.” The woman who had inquired about her measurements earlier had disappeared for a moment, but now she's returned with what appears to be some sort of seamstress's kit. “We will not impart our duties upon you, but you are still one of us, which means you must have proper attire should the need ever arise."

Shrinking back with wide eyes and another burning blush, Hisoka just stares up at her again. She imagines she must look a lot like a fawn caught in the headlights to the older women surrounding her.

"Oh," the woman clicks her tongue, eyeing her in amusement but also with a hint of sympathy, "Such a bashful child. No need to fret, we've all been measured in this fashion at one time or another–" 

"Hisoka," Mizuki's voice draws all of their attention again, serious but gentle as she speaks to her apprentice once more. "You may keep your clothes on to be measured if it is your wish to do so." 

The apparent seamstress turns towards the eldest among them, responding respectfully but with a small sigh, "It is merely the traditional way and gives a more accurate measurement..." 

Hisoka's mentor smiles understandingly, aware that the woman means well. She makes it clear, however, that she will remain firm in upholding her apprentice's boundaries. "She is my apprentice. When have I ever done anything by tradition? Surely she can be forgiven for doing as I allow her." 

The seamstress nods with another sigh, still holding Mizuki in too high esteem to argue any further. Instead, she pulls out a measuring tape and turns back to Hisoka. 

"Alright then, little one. If you would prefer to keep your clothes on, then I will need you to work with me a bit, okay? Lift your sweatshirt, just a bit." Hisoka shyly acquiesces, pulling the hoodie up just above her navel. "There you are, let's see now..." 

As the maidens continue to fuss over her poor apprentice, Mizuki just chuckles to herself. Swirling and then taking a sip of her sake, she lets out a long sigh of her own as she listens carefully to the chaos, attentive but amused.

***

In her time living at the Mikomori residence, Hisoka finds her mentor has quite a few rather odd eccentricities: an insurmountable fascination with technology of all ages, a routine of consuming sweets for breakfast instead of what would be considered traditional or even just appropriate morning meals, and a habit of partaking in strong sake dressed in her finest kimono while blasting all kinds of music– both old and new– from a modified gramophone almost every night at midnight, just to name a few. 

Sometimes she insists Hisoka join her, offering her a selection from her many kimonos as well as a glass of sake of her own. 

Of course, Mizuki never forces her to drink it. More often than not, she ends up drinking it herself.

Hisoka finds she's not particularly fond of the taste and still considers herself too young to drink– which she technically still is, not that her mentor cares in the slightest. She'll take a few sips to be polite, careful not to take too many to avoid the weird fuzzy feeling it evokes when the alcohol starts to kick in, but then she'll set it off to the side. This always leads to Mizuki "accidentally" picking it up at some point; it doesn't matter where she sets it, the woman always finds it. Mizuki may be blind, but she's scarily accurate and sharply aware of her surroundings at all times, so Hisoka knows she does it on purpose. 

"Say, child," her mentor always starts playfully, making a big show of scooping the second glass up, waving a hand about as she dances and sways around the room to whatever booming music she’s settled upon for the evening. "Did you refill my glass? I was just about to do so myself, so sweet of you to help a blind old woman out. Do be sure not to tell Ririka though. She and my doctor have taken to a certain persistent form of nagging lately regarding my health, and I surely won't hear the end of it if you do." 

Sometimes, after she says this, she'll lean in close, close enough to fondly tap her forehead against Hisoka's. Hisoka always allows it. She's certain now that her mentor will never hurt her. 

"I knew I chose well when I selected you as my apprentice." 

She says it in the same playful way as the rest, but Hisoka can always feel that she means it. Even if she also knows that her mentor didn't really have much of a selection to choose from, she still knows she means it. 

In addition to her interesting habits, Mizuki has a hobby of telling fortunes, often in exchange for a vast assortment of odds and ends as opposed to money– though she'll accept the cash if that's all that can be offered. Her house is filled with all sorts of priceless curiosities: bones, feathers, and furs, old trinkets and carved figures, rare live herbs and spices, unique preserved flowers. 

She also has a rather odd assortment of superstitions. Especially regarding the sunset and the water from the mountain. 

Every evening, just before the sun starts to sink beneath the horizon, she asks that Hisoka close all of the drapes in the house and ensure that the well in the garden, the one that draws water directly from the mountain, has remained full and functional. Hisoka knows that these superstitions stem from the faith's teachings regarding both the setting sun and the water, but her mentor has yet to teach her exactly why the sunset in particular leaves her so uneasy. Each time she inquires about it, she's told only that watching the sun set behind Mt. Hikami invites misfortune and darkness into one's life, and that she must never approach the mountain during the twilight hours.

There's something more to it. Hisoka can sense it. Mizuki seems to be trying to protect her, but from what, she's not quite sure yet.

These superstitions and her mentor's unease seem to intensify to their most severe when the mountain rumbles, as it sometimes does after particularly heavy rains. 

The first time Hisoka hears it, she makes the mistake of asking about it, wondering if the rain often causes landslides on the mountain or if the volcano that Mt. Hikami used to be might not be as dormant as everyone believed. She wondered if perhaps the rumbling was an earthquake or a cave collapsing or even just the landscape shifting as the water of its rivers, ponds, falls, and vast lake cut through its surface.

Her innocent questions stirred her mentor into a frenzy, something she hadn't expected from the typically unflappable and poised woman. 

The next she knew she was sitting completely stripped, shivering and scrunched up to preserve her modesty in a bath filled with water from the well. Her mentor muttered feverishly under her breath, prayers or chants or something of the sort, even swearing and cursing at something while carefully pouring the water over Hisoka's head until the sun finally set and the rumbling faded in the distance. 

Once Hisoka has been allowed to dry off and redress, Mizuki makes her tea to warm her, almost in wordless apology for her startling behavior, but refuses to elaborate on what triggered it in the first place. She maintains a close "eye" on Hisoka the whole rest of the evening and into the night, staying up all through it and late into the morning hours to do so. 

Eventually, after Mizuki releases her from her protective watch, Hisoka decides to awkwardly ask Ririka about it, worried that she might have accidentally provoked some sort of trauma response in her mentor, perhaps from the massacre or from something else that occurred during her time on the mountain all those years ago. To her continued confusion, however, Ririka just turns to her with a grave expression and tells her that she must always inform them when she hears the mountain's rumbling, to not hesitate, even for a moment. 

Ririka isn't nearly as superstitious as her great grandmother. She shows little interest in actively practicing the old faith, even if she still somewhat believes in its teachings, so her insistence comes as an unsettling surprise. She doesn't elaborate either, but she says it so seriously that Hisoka heeds her warning.

Though she'd much prefer to bathe herself if she can get away with it. 

***

When she's not assisting or being tutored by her mentor, Ririka offers her a job at her restaurant. Hisoka accepts the opportunity gratefully and starts working hard towards being able to support herself on her own. 

Working at the restaurant is interesting, if not a little hectic. Hisoka thinks she would much prefer working somewhere with a calmer atmosphere, somewhere like a cafe, but Ririka– like her great grandmother– has so much to teach her, particularly about entrepreneurship and culinary management. She takes in her tutelage earnestly. 

As she is, however, she quickly learns that Ririka's methods of teaching are a little more abrasive and a little less structured than Mizuki's gentle guidance tends to be. 

"Stop making yourself small for people."

Ririka tugs at the collar of Hisoka's dress shirt, straightening and flattening it out as she furrows her brow down at her. 

"I didn't want to be rude..." Hisoka grumbles, anxiously rubbing at her own shoulder, avoiding Ririka's intense gaze. 

A patron had just been giving Hisoka an attitude, berating her without reason as patrons sometimes unfortunately do. Despite her best efforts to appease and placate him, he refused to be pacified, demanding to see the owner of the establishment immediately. 

The owner in question graciously obliged, swiftly putting him in his place and threatening to ban him from the establishment indefinitely if he continued to treat her staff so poorly. 

He quickly changed his tune. 

Ririka's expression softens momentarily as she takes in the younger girl's disheartened one. "It's not being rude if you’re standing up for yourself. They're being rude by not respecting your boundaries. You don't deserve to be treated poorly, so you must have boundaries." Then she furrows her brow again. She gently pinches Hisoka on the side, making her yelp and let out a whine of irritation at her. "Now, stop scrunching yourself up like that. Stand tall!" 

Some days, while she's working at the restaurant, despite mostly being around to help Ririka in the back and bus tables, Hisoka will occasionally get special requests from customers. Apparently, according to the locals, she makes the best coffee in the entire village, a feat she attributes only to having had plenty of practice brewing it for her mentor–

"A little warmth makes all the difference in the world, child," Mizuki has a habit of telling her while she cups her coffee, allowing it to warm her hands and breathing in the rich vapors. "It certainly soothes this old soul.”

"Ririka, is the little one around?" 

The local florist is covered head to toe in dirt, much to Ririka's clear disdain. He’s standing at the counter, glancing around the restaurant when Hisoka shyly peeks out from the back. 

His eyes land on her, and he smiles brightly. "Ah, there she is. Listen, I could really use a good cup of coffee..." 

"Can't you see she's busy?" Ririka cuts him off, scowling at him with her hands on her hips. "What, is my coffee not good enough for you?" 

"Ah, give it up, Ririka, you know the girl has a gift," the florist chuckles at her, completely unfazed by her vexations with him. Hisoka guesses they must already have been friends for a long time; anyone else would be cowering away from Ririka by now. "Honestly, she might consider taking off and getting out from under your wing, maybe making her own business of it..." 

"Maybe when she's old enough to run it by herself," Ririka shakes her head, indignant that he might be subtly trying to push Hisoka into doing something before she's ready, "but right now, she works with me, so you'll deal with me." 

"Riri..." Hisoka hesitantly steps out from the back to stand with Ririka behind the counter. "I don't mind making him coffee...I promise I'll get all my work done too. It won't take long." 

Ririka considers for a long moment before finally dropping her guard, her expression and tone softening for the girl. "Fine, I'll allow it this time." Then she turns her sharp gaze back to the florist, who still stands on the other side of the counter grinning at her smugly. She points a finger at him warningly. "But only because she wants to. Start by asking more politely next time!"

***

After a few years of hard work at the restaurant and saving the allowance she receives from Mizuki for assisting her– she had tried very, very hard to stand her ground in refusing it. Her mentor had already provided so much for her: a safe place to live, clothes and food, two very different but equally valuable types of education, and even just the priceless sense of unconditional companionship. Needless to say, she soundly lost that battle– Hisoka finally purchases a place of her own. 

Her townhouse once served as an antique shop and resides on the main road in the village, the perfect place to set up a business of her own. It's an older building that needs quite a bit of renovation, especially if she's going to turn it into the cafe she's always wanted to open, but that will come with time and patience, as all good things seem to. 

"Not bad, Scrawny," Ririka chuckles, looking around the shop area with an impressed smile as she helps Hisoka move her meager belongings in. 

Setting a box down with a huff, Hisoka folds her arms across her chest. She looks up at the older woman with a cross look of annoyance. "Riri, I am not scrawny." 

Ririka just stares at her, but the smile remains on her face. 

Fighting not to fidget under her amused gaze, Hisoka does her best to hide her nerves as they flare up inside her. She's suddenly realizing that it's the first time she's actually defended herself against Ririka's teasing. She's not sure how the older woman is going to react.

After a moment though, Ririka's expression just softens, her smile shifting into something fond and proud. "No, I suppose not so much anymore," she winds an arm around Hisoka's shoulders and pulls her against her, dragging her into a hug both to show her affection but also to further annoy the girl. "You did good." 

It doesn't take long before she's moved in and settled for the evening. Once she is, Ririka departs, leaving her in her new house all alone.

Despite her earlier courage, Hisoka feels awfully small within its walls; it's a lot of space for just one person to occupy. She winds up sitting in a daze on the floor of the shop area– the area that will someday become her cafe– for a while, unsure of what to do next and overwhelmed by the possibilities. 

She never expected to make it this far.

She was just a kid who grew up scared enough to run but hopeful enough to seek a better life.

And now she's here, in a house that she owns, with people in her life who will support her no matter what, with a life that she worked hard for and built mostly on her own. 

She breathes deeply to center herself as she sits on the stone tile, reminding herself that she's not truly alone, even in this big, presently empty house– a house that will one day feel like home.

The grandfather clock is there to keep her company.

It's sitting across from her as a steadfast and silent reminder of how far she's come since taking off on her own and never once looking back. It had been delivered as a gift along with a message, written out in Ririka's handwriting but clearly on her great grandmother's behalf: 

"I trust, in time, you will help it find its way again."

Hisoka really hopes her trust isn't misplaced.

No. 

She won't allow it to be.

Swallowing her nerves and trepidation, she takes one more deep breath, allowing it to fill her lungs before slowly releasing it. She nods to her stoic companion and resolves herself, letting her mentor's faith in her steady her and her anxiously beating heart.

She refuses to let them down.

Time to get to work.

Chapter Text

Once renovations on her house are finally complete, Hisoka finally makes time to start attempting to repair her old grandfather clock. The clock has a lot of intricate and delicate parts inside, many that she's wholly unfamiliar with, but she's determined to help it find its way again.

It had taken quite some time to get everything in her house the way she wanted.

The place lacks a proper kitchen.

Which is ironic. Given that it is a cafe.

But she thinks she can make do with the coffee makers and hot plates she has, as well as the handful of other small appliances hidden away beneath the cabinets. It's just her living there after all. She doesn't need much. And if there's ever a moment when she truly doesn't feel like dealing with her lack of kitchen, then she can always go to Ririka; she's always happy for an opportunity to cook something for her. 

The rest of the house, however, came together exactly as she hoped it would. She finds herself quite pleased with it after all of the hard work of renovating it herself. It's still a bit overly spacious for only having one person living in it, but she tries not to let it bother her.

To make up for that occasional fleeting sense of loneliness, she spends a fair amount of time in her upstairs study. It's perhaps her favorite room in the whole house, modeled in the traditional Japanese style to help her de-stress. It helps especially when she's starting to feel homesick for the Mikomori residence. She may have only lived there a few years, but it was still the closest thing she's had to an actual home since she used to stay at Rei's house as a child.

As for when she's working in her newly opened cafe, she's kept all of the antiques left over from the shop prior to her ownership on display to help keep her company. What else was she supposed to do with them? It didn't feel right to just get rid of them. They remain for sale, should anyone truly be interested, but she's not really concerned about whether or not they actually end up doing so.

So, her cafe retains its former status as an antique shop. She even keeps it in the name: Kurosawa's Antiques and Cafe.

She finds she doesn't mind the concept.

After all, the history and echoes bound to the antiques each have a unique story to tell: where they've been and who left their imprints on them, so many vestiges of memories and emotions. Now that she's getting a more solid grasp on her shadowreading, she can more readily feel the traces left behind and finds herself drawn to them, curious and eager to sense and decipher what secrets they have to divulge. Her powers still aren't as strong as she wishes they could be, but Mizuki is confident that they will continue to improve with time and practice.

As she polishes and restores each antique, she does just that.

She practices reaching out to them, brushing her hands back in time through the decades, sometimes even centuries, of lingering shadows. She practices until each antique almost starts to feel like a dear friend, familiar in their echoes and emotions, even if she can't fully make sense of all of them just yet. The more she senses from them, the more she starts to truly understand her mentor's profound fondness for objects of old; somewhere along the way, she managed to pick up that same fondness as well.

Especially her fondness for clocks. 

There's just something about them that's so comforting. She's slowly starting to fill the cafe with them: old ones that have been thrown out, left behind to waste away, ones she's been told are too broken to ever be worth anything ever again.

She'll fix them all in time too.

Her top priority, however, is to fix her grandfather clock.

She made a promise to herself that she wouldn't let them down– Mizuki, the grandfather clock, or herself– and she thinks she's finally ready to start seeing it through. She knows the old clock is going to require a lot of time, patience, and a few very special parts to be fully remedied, but she'll help it find its way again and hopefully help some of the other clocks along the way.

In the meantime, as she slowly works to repair it, she's grateful that the house she worked so hard for is starting to feel more and more like home. It's a feeling that grows stronger each and every day.

She may never have expected to make it this far, but she's so grateful that she did.

She's going to make the most of it.

It's so good to finally be home.

***

Occasionally, as Hisoka is running her antique store and cafe, Ririka will stop in with a box full of oddities for her to sell.

More often than not, the things she brings in have a tendency of looking awfully familiar...

"She's hoarding again," Ririka always grumbles under her breath, setting an overflowing box down on the counter. "She's going to bury herself alive one of these days. See what you can do with these, okay?" 

Of course, Hisoka knows better than to try and sell anything Ririka brings to her. 

Like clockwork, often no more than an hour or so later, her mentor will arrive at the front door of her shop bearing a dignified but indignant scowl. 

When she appears, Hisoka knows to immediately set two cups of coffee brewing. Then, as her mentor takes her seat at the table, she'll retrieve the box from where she's had it hidden and place it down gingerly before her, trying not to nervously wring her hands as she does. 

The scowl on her mentor's face will melt into a proud, knowing smile.

The tension in Hisoka's shoulders will fall away as she relaxes.

"Good girl. I will be talking with my granddaughter again about her habit of taking things that don't belong to her." Then Mizuki will wave her hand, brushing off her prior vexations and motioning for Hisoka to come sit with her. "Now, come, bring the coffee and take a seat. Today, I want you to glance at the echoes tethered to all of the items in this box. Tell me what you feel for each..."

Part of Hisoka wonders if they do it on purpose.

A reason to come visit and check in on her.

They're always welcome in her home, so she's not sure why they would feel the need to go to such odd lengths to go about it, but both Mikomori women are incredibly proud. Perhaps they need the excuse for themselves.

If that's the case, she wishes Ririka would find a better way to go about it. Preferably one that doesn't involve aggravating her great grandmother and then leaving Hisoka caught in the middle to smooth things over. 

Either way though, she's just happy that they still take the time to come see her, even after she's grown up and can take care of herself. Their company never fails to make her days a bit brighter.

***

Days turn to months and months turn to years as Hisoka continues to hone her abilities, work on her clocks, and run her cafe. As she does, she tries her best to help people, offering an ear to listen as she serves them coffee and tea, and using her shadowreading to help find things, often with the help of a unique camera her mentor calls a “Camera Obscura”–

"This is a very special device, child," Mizuki tells her as she's presenting the strange instrument to her, calling it a gift for all of her hard work and the recent progress. "It has the ability to see the unseen, make the invisible visible, bring things back from places they don't belong. You have just the gift to make it work. I believe you are now ready to use it."

Examining the device, Hisoka senses something powerful and unnatural radiating from it. It looks very old and appears to use an odd sort of film. She's seen quite a few antique cameras since she started running the antique shop, but she's never encountered anything like this one before.

Rotating it between her palms, running her thumb over the strange etchings engraved on it, she can't help but wonder how exactly it can do the things Mizuki claims it can. Her mentor apparently received it after the previous owner passed away...

"You must be very cautious as you use it," Mizuki warns gravely, drawing Hisoka's attention back. "Do not expose yourself to the shadows for longer than necessary or draw too much attention from the beings that reside in the world this camera will allow you to peer into. Doing so could put you in severe danger. Stay on your guard, child."

Hisoka hadn't expected to make a side business of it.

Of using her abilities to follow traces and find things for people. She just enjoys getting to help people, hoping for little more than gratitude in return. She just wants to be useful.

Ririka keeps catching wind of her unrequited goodwill through her connections around town though.

Each time she does, she ends up scolding her, earnestly reminding her that she's worth more than what she can do for others and that she deserves to be compensated for putting herself at risk with the world of the unseen for other people's gain. Hisoka tries her best to convince her that it's okay, that she really doesn't mind, but eventually Ririka puts her foot down. She refuses to allow Hisoka's kind heart to continue to be taken advantage of.

Taking time away from her own restaurant, Ririka starts to come by every morning for a few weeks to help Hisoka run the cafe. While she's at it, she sharply informs anyone who comes in seeking the aid of Hisoka's shadowreading that if they want her assistance, then they must be prepared and willing to properly compensate her for it.

Hisoka sighs each time, somewhat awkwardly allowing it. Much like with her great grandmother, there's no use in trying to stop Ririka when her mind is set on something.

As much as she genuinely appreciates Ririka's insistence on ensuring that she's fairly paid for services rendered though, it did have one unfortunate side effect that she's not particularly fond of: paperwork. 

So much paperwork, write-ups, and receipts.

She has to start keeping journals to keep track of all of it.

But now, she has a side business to help support herself, one that gives her ample opportunity to practice her shadowreading.

So she supposes it's not all bad.

***

Recently, as she's running her new shadowreading business, Hisoka finds herself faced with a far more delicate type of case, a kind she never expected to encounter: requests to search for missing people.

It's an endeavor she finds particularly daunting.

The memories of her mentor's teachings and superstitions have left her apprehensive to accept such cases– ones that will have her chasing after the shadows of people. Especially when the people she's requested to find were last seen heading towards the mountain.

Despite this, she finds herself wholly incapable of turning away. She sets up her storerooms as guest rooms to take in anyone she might bring back, resolving herself to do her best with each case she receives.

Her most recent case comes in the form of a missing woman, a young mother, who disappeared over a decade prior.

The woman who reached out to her seeking her assistance was a friend of the subject's and the guardian of the missing woman's only daughter. Hisoka's heart is pounding in her chest the whole time she speaks with the woman over the phone, but she takes the case earnestly. It’s a tall ask to make of someone, even with abilities like hers, to locate someone who has already been missing for so long, but she swallows her nerves and decides she's going to try her very best anyway, treating the case like all of the others.

She just has to hope her best is enough. 

She doesn't want to let anyone down.

The client sends her a photo of the missing woman, taken not long before she vanished, and she immediately sets to work. 

Traveling up Mt. Hikami, she spends days trying to follow the decade-old trace.

The mountain is forebodingly beautiful, but the atmosphere atop it is heavy with an oppressive air. She's familiar enough with maps of its winding paths and landmarks to be able to tentatively navigate the lush environment, but the residual vestige is weak and fleeting, occasionally even disappearing entirely as she's tracking it. Each time she thinks she has it within her grasp, it slips through her fingers, and then she has to start at searching for it all over again. 

After a while, she starts to lose hope.

She starts to tell herself that it's a futile endeavor. That her best just isn't good enough. She tells herself that she just needs to give up.

For some reason though, she can't find it in herself to stop. 

There's something so familiar about the woman in the picture.

Hinasaki Miku.

She's certain she's never met her before, but even the name is somehow familiar.

It makes her ache deeply, like her heart is trying to remind her of something important, something very dear to her. Each time she looks at the photo, it feels as though she made a promise to someone long ago, though who it was to or what it had been remains elusive within her memory.

So, she keeps trying, doing everything she can to find Ms. Hinasaki, for far longer than she ever should have. Drawing forth her abilities with all her might, she keeps trying to read and follow the faint shadows from the picture, the only token she has. She keeps trying, scouring the mountain nearly daily for weeks, searching until she's well past the point of exhaustion. More often than not, she returns home only to collapse on her bed, falling asleep in whatever she's wearing, in whatever position she happens to fall onto the mattress in. She wakes weary and sore, dizzy with painful migraines, but she keeps trying, keeping herself going with warm coffee and sheer stubbornness alone.

In the end, she had been right all along.

It truly was a hopeless endeavor; the echoes are too weak, the trace too muddied. Ms. Hinasaki's shadow is just too faded, too evanescent for her meager abilities to follow. 

She feels so guilty. She remains hesitant to give up entirely for a long time.

Eventually though, Mizuki finds out what she's been up to, what's been occupying her time and thoughts nearly every day and night for weeks.

She appears in the cafe right as Hisoka is about to head back up the mountain once more; surely, she just needs to try harder, she must not be trying hard enough, she can do better, she just needs to try one more time– 

The grave frown on her mentor's lips stops her in her tracks. 

As they sit at the cafe table together, Mizuki tells her that though her intentions are good and noble and nothing to be ashamed of, she must tread carefully. If she continues on this path, she might end up seeing something she wishes she hadn't.

Or worse.

"The spirits of the maidens have lost their way. They no longer differentiate between those who wish to die and those who do not," Mizuki starts, a deep sorrow overcoming her.

She pauses, seeming to be struggling against her instinct to protect her apprentice as it's finally outweighed by the necessity for the whole truth. She's clearly reluctant, wishing for nothing more than to shelter Hisoka, to keep her safe.

Nevertheless, she knows it's time. 

She finally reveals what she's been trying to shield Hisoka from over the past few years: the mountain and its past, her own past, and the dark secrets they both hold.

The mountain's rumbling isn't a natural phenomenon.

It is a call.

A call that only a very select few can hear. Those who can are eligible to become Pillars: maidens who sacrifice their hearts, their bodies, their souls to hold back an unfathomable darkness, preventing it from spilling forth onto the mountain from the netherworld itself. The Maidens of Black Water gave themselves over to it, dooming themselves to repeat their own suffering as well as the suffering of anyone they'd ever glanced into until their souls simply ceased to be, fading away beneath the depths of the black water forever.

And the mountain had called to Hisoka. For her.

It called for Hisoka to give herself over to the black water.

“You would make a fine Pillar...They would not hesitate to take you.” Mizuki sighs, shaking her head sadly. Then her tone turns adamant. "But that is not what you are destined to be, child. You are the cycle breaker, destined to destroy the chain that so many of us who came before you have been shackled by. You are destined for light and love, not despair and darkness." She reaches across the table to take Hisoka's hand between her own, almost pleading with her. "Promise me that you will let this endeavor go. That you will stop chasing shadows on the mountain. It will only lead your heart to ache and grief." 

After their conversation, Hisoka's heart stays sunk in her chest for a long time either way. She heeds her mentor's wishes, hoping to soothe her distress and worry, but she still can't shake the feeling that she's letting someone down, someone she loves dearly.

She can sense that Ms. Hinasaki, with her strangely familiar reddish-brown eyes and her warm but lonely expression, is still alive, still somewhere out there, but... 

Perhaps she doesn't want to be found. 

It doesn't make the feeling of heart-rending failure any easier to swallow. 

But she gives up the search. 

For now.

***

Hisoka abides by her mentor's request for a long time. As long as she possibly can. 

She abides, all the way up until she receives another phone call– a call that, unbeknownst to her, would be the beginning of the end of her naive wish to help with seeking out missing people. 

The woman on the other line had been so desperate, pleading with her for help. Her daughter had gone missing. She strongly believed that she was heading for the mountain when she departed.

Despite her reluctance to break her promise and her profound fear of disappointing her mentor, Hisoka can't bring herself to turn her away. Her heart won't allow her to, too tender and compassionate to refuse. 

The trace on the token the woman provided is far stronger than the one on Ms. Hinasaki's photo.

She can do it this time, she can help. 

But she has to hurry.

She follows the girl, Akari, follows her shadow all the way up to the lake at the very peak of the mountain.

For a split second, Hisoka's heart is filled with hope. She sees the girl on the cliff overlooking the lake, staring off into the sunset.

She's actually found her.

She can bring her home, back to safety, back to her family. She can help her, maybe even ease whatever pain drove her to the very ledge she stands at today. 

She just isn't fast enough. 

Her mentor had been right. She ends up seeing something she wishes she never had.

Something she can't unsee. Something that haunts her in her sleep for years to come. 

It breaks her.

Her heart shatters into a million little pieces. 

She returns to the cafe shaken and forlorn, barely holding herself together. Then, she makes a call she wishes she never had to make.

When it's over, she sinks to the floor behind the counter, trying hard not to fall catatonic, but after a while she starts to lose all sense of time, staring unblinkingly into the wood grain of the cabinets. Seconds blur into minutes. Minutes blur into hours. 

Mizuki and Ririka eventually find her.

Her mentor must have sensed her anguish from across town. 

A part of Hisoka, buried at the very back of her mind beneath the paralyzing shock and grief– a piece of her younger self, still just a scared little girl covered in bruises– is so painfully remorseful. She's petrified at the notion that her mentor might despise her now, might abandon her, might finally decide that she's not worth the effort after all. 

Just like everyone else did. 

Hisoka disobeyed her. She chased after shadows on the mountain despite promising that she would never do it again.

Instead, before Hisoka can protest that the motion might be too hard on her, the blind old woman sinks down on the floor in front of her. 

"Hisoka," Mizuki starts so softly, placing a gentle hand on Hisoka's cheek. Hisoka fights not to flinch, an instinct she hasn't had to suppress for years suddenly resurfacing. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I am not going to leave you. I am still so proud of you and your unyieldingly kind heart. I am the one who is sorry. So sorry that all that I have taught you has culminated into such profound pain. You did everything you could. There was nothing more you could do." 

Mizuki pulls her into her arms, cradling her and holding her close.

Hisoka finally starts to cry, each sob tearing its way from her chest in the most excruciating manner possible. 

She's not sure if she'll ever be able to stop. 

As she quietly watches over them, Ririka sighs sadly. She lingers for a moment and then moves to lock the front door, closing the cafe down in Hisoka's stead for the evening, if not the rest of the week. Or possibly even longer. 

They both stay by her side all through the night. And the next. And the next. 

Never again, Hisoka vows to herself.

No more missing person cases. No more chasing the shadows of people. Never again. 

She gives up on the grandfather clock. It remains motionless and in pieces.

***

She swore never again. 

She swore that she would never put her heart on the line to save someone again. No more chasing the shadows of people, no, never again, her heart wouldn't survive it. 

But... 

Something had called to her.

Something she couldn't refuse, something so intense, far more intense than just her desire to help people, something deeper, something so much more profound. 

There was no client for this case; she was asked to pursue it, but no one really seemed to care if she actually did or not. 

But Hisoka did. Hisoka cared. 

She started asking questions, asking the girl's neighbors, asking anyone she could. 

The whole time, it felt as if she was being drawn, pulled forward by invisible thread until she found herself back at that same damned cliff, running towards another sunset-eyed girl standing at the very ledge with nothing left to lose.

This time, she didn't hesitate.

This time, she was just fast enough.

"If you still want to die, then I'll die with you!" 

She's not sure why she said it. She doesn't want to die.

But as horrible as it sounds, she means it with every fiber of her being. 

She would for her. She would go with her. 

Because in the back of her mind, she knows that if this girl goes, she'll take a piece of her heart, a piece of her soul, pieces that she'll never get back with her. And she would rather remain with her no matter what, whole, than left behind in pieces. 

Could it be the guilt making her feel this way? The guilt of already losing someone, of being helpless to save them, of being forced to watch as they slipped through her fingers off the edge, falling to the rocks and waves below? 

Maybe in part. 

Maybe she doesn't need to understand. 

But there's something there. Something beyond guilt or remorse, beyond just seeking some sort of atonement or redemption for the sin of her previous failure. Something that overcomes her every time she looks into those deep, sad, brown eyes, something that makes her freeze and her heart stumble and clench in her chest. Something that wants more than anything to comfort her, to take away her pain, something that desperately wants her to stay. 

She'd do anything to keep her.

Even if it means going with her.

It's terrifying. It's confusing. It's overwhelming. She can't allow herself to linger on it. It makes her want to start crying again. 

Tears are already welling up in her eyes, threatening to overflow despite her best efforts at fighting them. She scrubs them away with her sleeve as she winds the thread of one of the weights in the grandfather clock with shaking hands. She needed something to distract her, to keep her mind off all of these drowning thoughts and confusing feelings. Her old friend, her stalwart companion, the grandfather clock, will do just fine.

She's going to give it another shot.

She's trying to set the pendulum into motion, adjusting the weights, tuning and tightening various mechanical bits, cleaning away the decades of dust and grime, trying everything she can think of to help it return to functionality after all of its time remaining motionless. 

She needs to keep herself distracted. If she starts crying again, she won't stop until she cries herself dry. She doesn't want Yuri to have to deal with her like that. She has enough to deal with as it is. She won't be her burden.

And as long as Yuri is in her arms, she has nothing to fear. She'll be right here with her. 

Sitting on the cafe floor, surrounded by dozens of old drafts that detail the inner workings of her clock, a screwdriver held horizontally between her lips and a pencil tucked behind her ear, Hisoka squints intently at the tiny mechanisms that will eventually set the clock into motion. She places every last bit of concentration she has on the task in front of her, losing herself in the labyrinthine clockwork. Her progress is slow, as she has to familiarize herself with each piece and its intended function, but as long as she focuses on moving forward, she'll get through it eventually.

Unfortunately for her focus, the door to the back suddenly opens.

Or perhaps, fortunately.

It's hard to remain distracted when the intense eyes that have occupied so much of her mind space, even in her sleep, are suddenly gazing back at her from the entrance to the store hallway. For the very first time since she asked to stay with her, Yuri appears before Hisoka on her own, seeking her out without any reason or prompting other than just wanting to. 

Usually, she hides in the back, shying away from people and all of the echoes that reverberate off the many antiques displayed around the shop. 

Usually, Hisoka is the one who seeks her first, making sure she's eating and getting enough sleep, frowning anxiously at the still-packed boxes in the corner of her room and her frequently unmade bed.

They're both such obvious signs of the uncertainty the girl still holds about whether or not she will return to them each night– of if they are even worth the extra effort if someday she might not.

The thought alone often leaves Hisoka shaking and on the verge of tears.

Today though, Yuri is choosing not to hide.

Today, she's choosing to be brave, to face her fears, to give life out of the shadows and back in the light another try.

Today, she's choosing Hisoka.

Carefully surveying the mess of parts and papers that Hisoka has nearly buried herself beneath, Yuri hesitantly steps towards her and down into the cafe. There's something that looks like it could be curiosity or wonder written across her features when their eyes finally meet, fighting to break through the heaviness that perpetually overcasts her gaze.

"Hi," she whispers shyly when she's close enough for Hisoka to hear. 

Hisoka quickly pulls the screwdriver from her lips.

"Hi," she whispers hoarsely in return, struck and staring in awe for a moment. She quickly shakes herself out of it. Clearing her throat, she shifts to stand up. "Um, let me make you some coffee. It will only take a moment." 

"That's alright. I'm okay right now." Yuri politely declines, shaking her head. "Thank you though..." 

Hisoka's shoulders unconsciously droop in disappointment.

She really wanted something that might make Yuri stay with her longer. Something that might make her linger instead of retreating and pulling away immediately. 

The look on Yuri's face tells her she must sense her disappointment. She tries to mask it, drawing up a casual smile, but deep inside she knows it's already too late.

Yuri hasn't had any training, but her psychic abilities are immense, almost entirely too much so. They're far more powerful than Hisoka's own and even more so than most of the other people Hisoka's met who possess them as well.

They may even be more powerful than her mentor's.

Instead of retreating as Hisoka feared she would though, Yuri takes a seat at the bar. She settles on one of the stools before looking back up with a soft look, one that clearly requests that she continue with what she's doing, wordlessly indicating that she won't leave just yet.

Despite her best efforts to remain casual, Hisoka can't help the delighted smile that tugs at her lips in return. She relaxes back into her pile of bits and bobbles, trying desperately to suppress the embarrassing amount of excitement bubbling up inside her chest.

Yuri is going to stay with her.

For now.

Hisoka hopes the moment lasts.

For a while, they sit together, just like that, in a comfortable silence. Yuri watches quietly as Hisoka tinkers with her clock. Occasionally, she looks as though she wants to ask questions, perhaps about what she's doing or what certain parts of the clock do, but she remains silent, content to just observe.

Hisoka wouldn't mind if she asked questions though. She likes the sound of her voice.

She tries not to think too much on why that might be.

Eventually, Yuri finds it in herself to break the silence. The curious look has returned in her eyes. She seems fixated on watching Hisoka's hands as they move, deftly working the pieces of the clock back into their proper arrangement.

"You're really good at fixing things, aren't you?" 

Hisoka shrugs but then halfheartedly nods. 

Yes and no. 

She's learned a lot over the years: from teaching herself, from renovating her house, from assisting her mentor, from the occasional helpful neighbor who had something to teach her in exchange for helping with an odd shadowreading request or two. She's an inquisitive individual who enjoys tinkering with things, but it's less of a talent and more of a skill that she picked up over time. And fixing her clock is certainly still the end goal for someday, but right now, she genuinely just wants to keep her hands and mind busy. 

"This clock lost its way a long time ago. Long before it ever became mine." Hisoka tilts her head, glancing between the next schematic and the clock piece in her hand with a frown. A spark of realization lights up in silver blue eyes. She turns the schematic right side up. "I think I should be able to help it find it again. It's a very intricate process. I've been working on it on and off since my mentor gifted it to me." 

Yuri nods, listening attentively. Then she tilts her head as well, scrunching her brow in confusion. "Your mentor gave you a broken clock?" 

"It's not broken," Hisoka says a little too quickly.

As if it's not just the clock she's defending.

She winces, kicking herself for nearly allowing her heart to expose what's been inundating her thoughts lately, what it wants so badly to convey and convince the girl sitting before her. It decidedly does not pertain to old grandfather clocks or their internal components, functional or not. 

You are not broken. 

The confused look on Yuri's face intensifies. She glances between Hisoka and the clearly immobile clock. 

Trying not to stumble over her words, Hisoka quickly amends with a sheepish smile, recalling what her mentor once told her, "What I mean is...few things are ever truly broken. Not permanently anyway. It just takes the right hands and some patience, some care, to help whatever it is find its way again. My mentor always taught me that a little warmth could change someone's life. I agree with her, of course, but I also think a cup of coffee can make all the difference too." 

There's a long pause. 

It makes Hisoka shift awkwardly where she sits. 

Yuri has a thoughtful expression on her face but an odd look in her eyes, as if she can see right through Hisoka, sense her desires and wishes.

As if she knows what she's thinking and truly means beneath the guise of idly discussing an old, worn-out clock.

Hisoka holds her intense gaze for as long as she possibly can. Then she drops her own back down to the scattered schematics. Needlessly shuffling through them again, she turns back to the trunk of the clock with her screwdriver. 

She's just about to start tinkering with the next weight when she hears Yuri's voice again. 

"I'm not sure a cup of coffee would help your clock any..." 

While still soft and subdued, there's the smallest hint of a teasing lilt in her tone.

It catches Hisoka off guard; she's never heard her use it before. She huffs a small laugh, glancing back over her shoulder at the girl on the stool with a small grin of her own.

As their eyes find each other's once more though, she stutters on a soft gasp, her body falling completely frozen as she takes in the sight before her.

There's a small smile tugging at Yuri's lips.

It's so small that it's almost easy to overlook, just a gentle upturn at the corners, but it's there.

The girl's eyes are just a bit brighter, a bit warmer, and her posture and expression have relaxed. The tension in her frame has fallen away for now, and she suddenly seems more at ease than she's ever been since Hisoka has known her. It's almost as if a bit of the heavy weight on her chest is beginning to shift and her leaden shoulders are starting to feel just a little lighter. 

Hisoka's heart skips a beat.

She tries to imprint that small smile into her memory.

She wants to protect it, to keep it safe, to tuck it away somewhere deep inside her heart where nothing can ever hurt it again, where it can never become faded or damaged.

She wants to see it come back.

She wants to see it again and again.

She wants to be the reason it stays.

By some strange act of fate, at the exact moment Hisoka's heart decides to smittenly fumble its rhythm, the pendulum of the grandfather clock suddenly starts to sway. It's a little uneven at first, but it soon falls into a steady tempo, filling the air of the whole cafe with a soothing cadence of sound.

Hisoka jolts, turning to look at the clock in surprise. She stares, bewildered, until a soft chuckle over her shoulder steals back her attention.

Glancing back towards the sweet sound, she finds the warmth in Yuri's eyes has intensified, illuminating her gaze until it takes on a breathtaking amber glow. The small smile that has Hisoka's heart stumbling over itself has grown ever so slightly, clearly amused by the confusion on Hisoka's face.

There's something else there in Yuri's eyes too, written across her features as she watches her from across the cafe, something that almost looks…

Affectionate.

A heady warmth settles in the air between them, filled with those confusing thoughts and unspoken emotions that Hisoka has been trying so hard to ignore as of late. It's not necessarily an uncomfortable sensation, but Hisoka's palms are starting to feel sweaty regardless. She swallows hard, trying to steady her clumsily racing heart, but refusing to turn away, meeting Yuri's gaze as earnestly as Yuri meets her own.

Eventually it becomes too much.

Breaking the connection first, Yuri stands and finally turns to retreat, likely back up to her room.

As she does though, she whispers softly over her shoulder.

"Thank you for letting me spend time with you."

Her voice sounds so sincere and vulnerable.

It makes Hisoka's heart feel like it's melting in her chest.

Despite the lingering warmth, Hisoka finds herself sitting frozen, staring at the door Yuri disappeared through long after she's gone. When she finally catches herself, blinking herself out of her stupor, one of her hands finds its way to her chest on its own volition, seeking the beating just beneath.

It's still fluttery and fast against her trembling fingertips.

Furrowing her brow, Hisoka's gaze falls back to the clock. She eyes the steadily swaying pendulum with uncertainty.

That was strange.

Surely, it was a coincidence though...

Surely.

***

Now that she's lived at the cafe for a while, Yuri comes down to spend time with Hisoka more and more often. She still shies away and hides in the back whenever customers come in, but when it's just the two of them, alone, Yuri remains at her side. 

Hisoka tells herself that this is a good thing. That maybe she's slowly pulling Yuri closer to her, closer to making the decision to remain in her arms for good.

She's not certain if it's the truth, but she really hopes it is.

Oh, how she really hopes it is.

Sometimes, when it's just the two of them, talking in hushed, intimate voices over coffee, she catches a hint of what looks like hope shining in Yuri's eyes too. It always seems to be there when she catches Yuri watching her with that intense, soft but entirely indecipherable expression, the one she seems to reserve for just her. 

Hisoka is no fool though. 

She still sees the uncertainty, the despondency, the melancholy, all there in Yuri's gaze as well– heavy, lingering, drowning. She knows the girl is still wavering. She knows she's still looking off into the sunset with that same question on her mind.

And Hisoka still eyes those boxes in the corner of Yuri's room and her still often unmade bed with enough fear and worry to make herself sick to her stomach; there still wouldn't be any point in making her bed or unboxing her belongings if she wasn't going to be around to return to them.

Yuri probably thinks it will make it easier on Hisoka to throw it all out if one day she... 

Still, Hisoka hopes that things might slowly be getting better. She still hopes that Yuri might eventually choose to remain with her instead.

Adjusting to living with Yuri is surprisingly easy; she fits into Hisoka's life as if she's always been there or as if she was always meant to be there. Having resided in her house alone for quite some time, Hisoka had expected it to be at least a little strange at first, but instead, she finds herself waking every morning eager to see her. Eager to make her a warm cup of coffee, to hear her voice, to spend time with her.

Eager to hopefully one day get to know her better.

Hisoka has never had a friendship that felt like this before, that felt so...intimate.

A "friendship."

If that's what you could call it. This bond that ties her and Yuri together.

But she likes to think she's Yuri's friend. Or at least, she really hopes she is. She certainly thinks of Yuri as her friend. Her assistant, her protégé, her housemate, but certainly also her friend. 

She's the closest friend Hisoka has ever had.

Yuri is so quiet for the most part. She keeps her thoughts close to her chest, more inclined to listen and observe.

But she talks to Hisoka. 

And more and more often lately, Yuri will smile for her too. It's always that same, small, soft smile, but it's still there, and it still makes Hisoka's heart flutter each time she sees it.

Hisoka tells herself that it's just hope again. That it's hope that's making her heart act this way– hope that with each tiny smile, she's finally breaking through to her. 

She knows what that hope feels like though. It decidedly is not what this is, whatever it is. 

She ignores it for now.

She has more important things to tend to than her own still jumbled thoughts and feelings. More important things, like making sure Yuri is taken care of and seeing to her customers, both of the cafe and of her shadowreading business.

More important things, like fixing her grandfather clock.

She's been spending a lot more time fixing the grandfather clock lately.

Perhaps, in part, because she finds that Yuri will sit with her each time– the whole time– as she diligently works on it. She sits with her, and she stays with her, and Hisoka thinks she might be becoming a bit addicted to the feeling of having Yuri around.

Today, she's working on the clock's chiming mechanism. She still hasn't figured out how to get the hands moving, but perhaps she can at least get the chimes to sing once more. 

Sitting on the floor beside her, close enough that they're nearly touching, Yuri helps her keep track of all the little pieces she's pulled from the face of the clock, as well as all of the new replacements for anything she can't repair. She occasionally hands Hisoka a tool if she needs one or innocently cups Hisoka's hands between her own to warm them when she notices her fingertips are trembling slightly. 

It's not that cold in the cafe.

While her body does tend to run on the cooler side, Hisoka's shaking and the light flush on her cheeks are decidedly not due to a chill in the air, not this time.

She hopes Yuri continues to remain oblivious to their actual cause:

Yuri is so close.

This is the closest she's ever intentionally settled and stayed beside her.

Usually, she sits farther away. She'll sit close to Hisoka but always far enough away that there's no risk of them accidentally brushing against each other.

Today, she's settled comfortably at her side as if it's the most natural thing in the world for her. As if being this close to Hisoka– as if casually reaching out to warm her hands– is the most natural thing in the world for her.

Hisoka's body is responding to the notion and the proximity on its own volition. 

As an exceptionally powerful shadowreader, Yuri possesses an extremely sensitive ability to glance. Due to this, however, she struggles with controlling her abilities, and they often overwhelm her; every touch, even just the slightest graze against someone or something, puts her at risk to see things she never wishes to see, thoughts and memories and emotions. 

Her abilities are so powerful, in fact, that they reach beyond the realm of the living and into the realm of the dead.

They grant her the ability to see the souls of the deceased.

Yuri tells Hisoka that the spirits frequently appear before her. They seek her out as if they're drawn to her, perhaps because she can see them as clearly as they can see her.

She tells Hisoka that the spirits tell her that she doesn't belong here. That she belongs with them. That she should join them on the other side.

Hisoka does everything in her power to convince her that they are wrong.

Having seen and experienced so many painful things that should have never been her burden to bear, it's no wonder Yuri's soul feels so wounded, so exhausted, so hopeless. And because of it, Yuri carries a heavy but understandable fear of allowing people to touch her, afraid of what she might accidentally see if they do. This anxious avoidance applies to almost everyone and most objects too– anything that carries a particularly strong echo or trace.

To Hisoka's surprise, however, one of the things it doesn't appear to apply to is…

Her. 

Yuri never seeks out her touch, but she never flinches away from it either. She always allows Hisoka close enough to hold her if she's brave enough to do so.

Hisoka isn't sure what it means or why she seems to be an exception. She still always tries to remain on her best behavior regardless. She doesn't want to push Yuri away or break whatever comfort or ease or warmth the girl has found with her. She wants to help her, help soothe the pain and the grief her powers and the things she can see have caused her, weighing down heavily on her chest. Yuri isn't crazy or "sick", as her former doctor once tried to convince her, even putting her on a variety of awful and useless medications to suppress her "shock-induced hallucinations."

They never helped, of course.

They only ever ended up causing her to hurt worse.

Hisoka has a few choice words for that man should she ever happen to stumble upon him. She won't seek him out, for Yuri's sake, but she won't hold back either if ever given the opportunity.

Though she can't see the things Yuri can, Hisoka can still sense them. She knows that they are real. She believes Yuri and makes sure she knows this, especially when she senses the girl starting to waver again. As she does, she tries her best to teach her, using methods that she herself learned with, drawing upon memories of her mentor’s patient guidance in order to impart the same upon Yuri.

So far, it's been slow progress; Yuri is reluctant to actively pursue her powers.

Hisoka really can't blame her. 

Despite this, Yuri still takes her advice and her guidance to heart, even when they make her hands shake. Even when they sometimes backfire on them. Even when they sometimes make things worse for a while. 

Yuri hasn't given up, so Hisoka refuses to give up too. 

Because if Yuri is going to remain by her side, and she so desperately hopes that she will, then she needs to make absolutely certain that the future will be brighter for her. That everything won't always be this heavy. And that means addressing her powers and helping her learn to control them– or at the very least find a way to stop them from bombarding her so frequently. 

As she was recently pondering ways to help, Hisoka came upon an idea. One that might further Yuri's ability to control her powers but might also expose her more directly to the world of the unseen.

It's risky, but if it will help Yuri... 

She has to try. 

And she'll protect her no matter what happens, she'll keep her safe. She just needs her to agree to go along with her. 

"Yuri..." Hisoka starts nervously, keeping her voice gentle and hushed to avoid disrupting the peace they've found beside each other. 

Keeping her voice just as soft, Yuri hums curiously in response. She offers Hisoka a smaller screwdriver when she notices the one she's holding is a bit too large for the screw she's about to start working on.

Some of the tension falls from Hisoka's shoulders. She smiles at Yuri gratefully as she accepts the tool from her. 

"I was wondering…” Slowly rotating the screw as she continues, Hisoka tries to appear nonchalant. Her hands are noticeably trembling again. “Would you come with me on a shadowreading case sometime? It doesn't have to be right away, but your abilities are just so powerful. I think that you could become really talented at it in time. And it would give me more opportunity to teach you how to hone them so that they're not so overwhelming all the time." 

Falling still, Yuri stares at her with wide, uncertain eyes for a moment. Then she blinks, averting her gaze down to the floor and furrowing her brow thoughtfully. She's clearly contemplating, possibly weighing the risk and discomfort versus the benefit and gain. 

Hisoka still can never tell what she's thinking.

She wishes she could.

She wishes Yuri could tell her about everything that's hurt her, everything that's still hurting her, show her where all of it hurts. 

But Yuri is still just out of her reach. Even if she tries to reach out to her with her own glancing ability– which pales in comparison to Yuri's– she can only ever sense faint glimpses of the setting sun and nothing more. 

She hopes someday they can open up to each other, share their secrets, their scars. Maybe then they can make a fresh start together. 

She hopes, she hopes, she hopes.

It feels like it's all she can do lately. She so desperately wants to do more.

Right now though, Yuri is struggling beneath the weight of her own existence. And Hisoka will never allow her to bear the weight of hers as well.

She'll keep her scars and secrets to herself.

The longer the awkward silence goes on between them, the more Hisoka has to fight not to fidget and squirm. Her heart is sinking in her chest, worrying that she might have upset Yuri, that she might have ruined the progress she's made in gaining her trust. She's starting to feel sick. She starts to apologize, stumbling over her words and praying it's not too late to fix it.

"I'm sorry, Yuri, I shouldn't have. It's okay if you're not ready, I just thought that maybe–" 

"I can try."

Yuri gently cuts off her fretting, drawing back her anxious gaze.

"For you," she continues, "If– if you think it might help." 

Swallowing roughly, Hisoka feels a scalding heat fill her face, all the way up to the tips of her ears.

Her heart is more than just fluttering. It's hammering, pounding as if it's trying to escape from its confines of her chest at the soft look in Yuri's eyes. The weak but hopeful glimmer has returned, fighting to pierce through those dark, sorrowful clouds that perpetually loom within her gaze.

Then, offering her that small, tentative smile, Yuri whispers even more softly.

"I trust you." 

The chime mechanism in Hisoka's hand suddenly bursts to life.

It sings out a short but happy tune.

The sound makes Hisoka jump, nearly causing her to drop it. She holds on, gaping down at the little component in shock. 

“You did it.” Yuri's tentative smile grows into something more certain again, as does the light in her eyes, returning them to that stunning shade of bright amber once more. "You helped it find its way." 

"I–" Hisoka clears her throat when her voice comes out off-pitch, trying desperately to quell the sudden burning fluster that's threatening to overwhelm her. Her gaze quickly bounces between the mechanism in her hands and the girl sitting beside her. "It's nothing really. Nothing special anyway–" 

"I think it's pretty special," Yuri whispers genuinely, keeping her eyes locked with Hisoka's. 

The mechanism sings out again, this time performing its full chime. It's a bright, delighted melody that fills the cafe and falls into the perfect tempo to complement the frantic beating of Hisoka's heart. 

As the tune fades, the girls continue to hold each other's gaze. Hisoka senses those warm feelings stirring between them again, as they always do in these gentle moments when it's just the two of them. Once more, her world is reduced to those honey brown eyes and her own racing heartbeat. 

After a moment though, Yuri clears her throat, diverting her gaze first again.

Pushing herself back to her feet, much to Hisoka's dismay, Yuri dusts herself off before folding her arms across her chest. She doesn't retreat immediately though. Instead, she turns to look back down at Hisoka. "I'll be right back. I heard it's supposed to be cold tonight. I'm going to go find a jacket." Yuri hesitates for a moment and then scratches the back of her neck, averting her gaze shyly again. "Would you like me to see if I have one for you too? You've already been shivering..." 

Hisoka sits completely frozen again as she stares up at her. It takes another awkward moment, but she finally convinces her body to respond, merely nodding since she doesn't trust her voice to cooperate if she were to try to get it to work for her again. 

The nerves in Yuri's eyes seem to ease. She offers Hisoka another small smile and then nods to her in return before disappearing to the back of the house once more. 

Face still burning hotly, Hisoka finds herself unintentionally holding her breath as she's left staring after the girl yet again. Once she's certain Yuri is out of earshot, she forces all of the air out of her chest in one sharp exhale, shaking her head and trying to pull herself back to her senses. 

What was that about? 

It's been a while since she's gotten so flustered that she completely locked up in front of someone like that. Ririka and Mizuki's fellow maidens seemed to enjoy making a game of it when she was younger, but she hasn't had it happen since she started living on her own. 

And she has her own jackets. She doesn't need to be taking Yuri's from her as well. 

Her face, if possible, starts to burn even hotter as her mind begins to tease her with suggestions of why she might be so flustered at the thought of sharing Yuri's clothes. She tries to fan the heat away as she turns her irked attention back down to the clock's chiming component, still resting innocently in her palm. She narrows her eyes down at it in a grumpy pout.

Then, shifting her annoyed side-eye back to the grandfather clock, she lets out a quiet huff at it too. 

"Now you're just showing off..."

Chapter Text

It's finally over. 

The spirits of the mountain have all been put to rest. 

Everyone who survived is safe and together at the cafe; both Hinasakis are sleeping in the upstairs storeroom, Haruka and Fuyuhi are resting in the downstairs storeroom, and Ren and Rui have passed out in the office. They could have all gone elsewhere by now, but for now, it feels safest to remain close to each other, to remain together. 

So, they stay at the cafe. 

Hisoka and Yuri have finally returned home after Yuri spent several days in the hospital with the terrifying wounds she suffered while she was fighting fate to save them all. 

She had nearly bled out in the sands on the beach at the Lake of the Departed. She had gotten so close, after everything she'd been through, to nearly breaking her promise to survive, to come home. She fought with every last drop of strength she had to remain. 

They found her.

They reached her just in time. 

And they saved her, carrying her down off the mountain to receive immediate medical attention, care that she nearly refused due to the drowning fear that it might separate her from Hisoka, something she absolutely could not allow to happen, she couldn't, she needed her too badly. Thankfully, the hospital staff allowed Hisoka to remain with her the whole time, even after she had been admitted for observation, putting her distress to rest. 

At Yuri's insistence, Hisoka laid beside her in the hospital bed each night, careful to avoid the mess of wires and tubes they had her hooked to in order to monitor her. And each night Yuri would cling to her, holding her close as she drifted between wakefulness and sleep, as if trying to use her own body to shield Hisoka from anything that might ever try to harm them ever again. 

Much as she has every night since they returned home. 

Tonight was no different. 

But tonight, even safe in her arms, Hisoka woke with a start, tears streaming down her face as the remnants of the nightmare faded from existence, from reality. 

Moments prior, in her dreams, Yuri had been lying soaked in blood again, cold and lifeless in the crimson stained sand. 

Moments prior, Hisoka arrived too late. 

Moments prior, Yuri was dead. 

Hisoka jolted awake, a scream of anguish and agony already halfway up her throat. She caught it just in time, strangling it before it could tear its way out of her aching chest. 

Instead, she fell deathly still and quiet herself, holding her breath and trembling violently. She watched the girl in her arms as she breathed, taking in the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slumbered beside her, wrapped around her body as if still trying to physically protect her even in her sleep. 

Typically, the sight alone is enough to steady her, to soothe her weary heart.

But tonight, she felt as though she was drowning, overcome again by the aspect of just how close she came to losing her. To losing this girl who had unintentionally and effortlessly made her fall in love with her. Who had saved her, saved all of them, from a fate worse than death, nearly giving her own life to do so. This girl she still can't live without, who has all of her, her heart, body, and soul.

It was too much.

But she couldn't wake Yuri. Yuri needs to sleep.

That awful, gaping wound is still there. It's still on her side, still slowly healing, held precariously together by stitches to keep the blood from spilling out again, mere fragile thread that could so easily be torn apart, ripped open, and– 

Hisoka couldn't breathe. 

She needed to get away before she woke her. 

She's acutely aware that Yuri's powers will eventually do just that: wake her at the sensation of the anguish coursing so sharply through her body with how tightly pressed against each other they were. 

So, she carefully slipped out of her grasp.

Stumbling and blinded by tears, she pulled on her clothes and retreated away from her, silently making her way down to the cafe. 

Now, she sits at the table, staring down into it, trying not to lose herself in the winding grooves and grains. She's made herself a cup of coffee, but her hands are still shaking too hard for her to be able to drink it without scalding herself, so instead she just holds on to it, cupping it between both palms, allowing it to warm her. Taking deep, slow breaths, she inhales its comforting aroma, letting it encompass her and slow her thoughts. 

Despite these efforts, she finds she's still losing track of time; she's no longer sure if she's been sitting there for minutes or hours, they're all melting together. She's exhausted but wired. Her body begs for reprieve and repose, but her heart and mind are still inundated and racing. 

She misses Yuri. 

She wants more than anything to be in her arms. 

But she can't go back to her, not yet. Not like this. Yuri will feel it, she'll know. Hisoka doesn't want her to feel it, doesn't want her to know. 

So, she sits and waits, waits for her mind to calm and her heart to stop thundering in her chest. She'll stay away as long as it takes. She won't hurt Yuri with her own pain, she won't.

Even if it means she has to suffer it all alone. 

As she sits there, alone, she tries to keep reminding herself, over and over, that they all made it, that they're all still there and safe. She's so tired. She just wants this pain and panic to end. But when she closes her eyes, she still sees Yuri lying in the crimson sand or, somehow almost worse, willingly taking that final step off the edge of the cliff before she can catch her. 

“Forgive me.”

The words echo in her mind. They weren't Yuri's, not in this reality, but she still clearly hears them in her voice.

But the boxes in the corner of Yuri's room have been unpacked. 

Yuri's bed is made daily. 

She knows Yuri has made her final choice. 

"I don't want to die with you, Hisoka. I want to live with you." 

She chose to remain. 

She chose her.

To her dismay, the door to the back hallway opens. She doesn't need to look up to know who it is, who came searching for her. She can't meet her gaze. She feels too guilty, too unraveled, and she knows she'll see right through her. 

She always does. 

Yuri doesn't say anything as she quietly approaches her. Her steps are careful and deliberate, as if she's approaching a wounded fawn and not the woman who was once her mentor, the woman who was supposed to be the one protecting her. 

Their roles have reversed. Hisoka feels like she failed her. 

She had truly believed that by leaving her behind to search the mountain on her own, she would have been keeping her safe. But instead, she forced her to risk her life to save her, fighting her way through hell and dark water and any number of other things that wanted to break and destroy her along the way.

Yuri should resent her.

Resent her bleeding heart for thinking she could actually help anyone. For going off on her own without telling anyone where she was going. For thinking her efforts might actually matter, might actually make a difference. 

Instead, making her way over to her, Yuri kneels down in front of her. Tilting her head, she tries to coax Hisoka into allowing her to catch her gaze, a silent request that Hisoka hesitantly acquiesces, but only just out of the corner of her eye.

At Yuri's pleading look, she surrenders.

Turning her leaden body on the chair, she faces her fully, even though it's hard.

Shifting until she's settled kneeling between Hisoka's knees, Yuri cups her hands beneath them and then tugs Hisoka forward on the chair, pulling her towards her until she can wrap her arms firmly around her. Holding her close, she draws Hisoka back into her safe haven, the only place she wants to be ever again. 

Hisoka gasps softly at the action.

She's still growing accustomed to this boldness that Yuri discovered within herself during and after their plight on the mountain. The mountain and her desperate desire to save everyone– to save Hisoka– forged a valiance in Yuri, tempered in darkness by the sacred flames that lit her way and the mirror shards that brought her back, brought them all back together.

All that had happened there, the spirits she came in contact with, the ones she had glanced into, soothing each of their souls in turn, triggered a variety of changes within Yuri, both for better and for worse. It drew forth a formerly unknown strength from deep within her, an unshakable sense of determination and resilience, but it also exposed several new weaknesses along with them. 

Most notable among them is a drowning anguish and anxiety that arises when she finds herself separated from Hisoka. 

It's an affliction that runs deep, deep like the mountain streams, deep like the vast lake at the summit, deep like the Shadowspring itself. 

Hisoka shares in every last drop of it. 

They're tethered and bound to each other, trying to navigate the depth together through both good and bad days.

But Hisoka doesn't see that fear in Yuri right now. She sees something else, something tender and knowing and sweet, and she finally understands. She understands, after everything, all of the feelings that made their home in her chest the exact moment she saw that sunset eyed girl standing at the very edge of that cliff all those many moons ago.

Back then, she didn't know that sunset eyed girl would change her life, become both her undoing and her salvation.

Back then, she didn't know this girl would be her destiny. 

But her heart knew. 

And she knows now. 

Oh, how she knows now. 

As she holds her tightly, soothing her with her presence and touch, Yuri looks up at Hisoka, watching her so intently. Staring into her eyes, it occurs to Hisoka for the first time that the sunset has vanished from her gaze entirely. 

What's left, what was buried just beneath it all along, is soft amber, like gentle daybreak, like sunshine shimmering through rich, warm coffee. The clouds of despair have finally broken and dissipated, leaving Yuri's eyes so bright. So filled with an enduring hope and warmth and something else, something so intense. Something that makes Hisoka blush and fall even harder for her each time she sees it reflecting back at her through Yuri's gaze. 

She knows now that the feelings in her chest and the soft emotions in Yuri's eyes are one and the same. 

Hisoka's heart feels like it's stuttering again. Her eyes start to fill with tears. She reaches out to caress Yuri's cheek, gently stroking her thumb across it, and Yuri leans into her touch without hesitation.

Yes, she understands all of it now. 

Every pulse in her chest beats because of this girl. 

Because she exists, because she remains, because she's here. 

Hisoka's heart beats for her. 

Looking down at her, helpless and enamored, Hisoka suddenly finds there's so much she wants to tell her, so much she wants to say. 

She wants to say please don't go, don't leave me behind, I need you.

She wants to say my heart won't survive if I lose you, if I have to watch you walk away from me towards your own demise again. 

She wants to say I would have drowned myself within the darkest depth of the black water for you to see even just one more sunrise.

She wants to say I'm yours, unconditionally, irrevocably, I beg of you to be mine in return, I beg of you to stay.

But she won't. 

She won't say any of it right now. She already has, and she knows Yuri already knows. 

Pressing up to kiss her, Yuri tells her as much, wordlessly whispering everything she needs to hear. 

I won't leave you. 

And I know. 

And you know I would do the same. I nearly did. 

And I'm yours, unconditionally, irrevocably, too.

Hisoka loses herself again, but this time she's not afraid. 

She loses herself in the feeling of Yuri's lips on hers. Everything else fades from existence except the two of them and this kiss and the steady ticking of the grandfather clock as they hold each other, sharing in this slow, desperate, irresistible intimacy. Each tick feels like an echo of their hearts as they continue to beat defiantly in their chests: persistent, enduring, perpetual. She pulls Yuri closer, tangling a hand in her hair and kissing her even deeper, breathing her in as Yuri breathes her in in return. The rhythm encompasses them, steadying and reminding them that they're still here, still alive, still together. 

And as long as she's in Yuri's arms, they'll remain that way.

Hisoka refuses to leave her ever again. 

"Come back to bed," Yuri whispers against her lips when they finally part minutely, just enough to breathe. 

Hisoka sighs against her lips in return. The frantic desperation and drowning fear fade from her mind for now. They've dissolved into nothing beneath Yuri's gentle kiss and soft touch.

"Okay," is all she whispers in response, pressing one more kiss into her lips. 

She's always so helpless to deny her. 

Pulling her to her feet, Yuri holds her hand, tenderly cupping her cheek and looking up at her so ardently. "I'm right here. I've got you." 

Hisoka doesn't say anything more.

She just holds onto her harder, allowing her to guide them back upstairs, back to her room, back to her bed.

She already knows. 

She believes her.

Yuri lays her down, and Hisoka sighs again as she's folded back into the safety of her arms.

Soothed at last, she allows herself to finally drift back to sleep.

***

It's been quite some time since that fateful week on the mountain. 

Hisoka's life has undergone some major rearranging and adjusting since then.

Not all bad, but not all good either. 

Her fear of water has thankfully subsided. The claustrophobia still lingers, though not quite as severely as the separation anxiety. 

The cafe has acquired a handful of new part-time residents; the Hinasakis and Rei stay there nearly as often as they stay at the elder Kurosawa's residence. Hisoka and Yuri stay at the Kurosawa Residence nearly as often in return though, so the trade-off is mutual.

Hisoka always looks forward to getting to spend time with them. It's not as though they don't have the extra space to house them when they visit.

Even more so now that she and Yuri share just one room, having at last fully moved their belongings in together. 

They'd already been sharing one since they returned from Yuri's stay in the hospital, entirely unable to sleep without the other curled against their side. They figured it was time and finally took the time to see it through. It took some repositioning of the furniture and the purchase of a larger bed, but they're quite content and comfortable in their current arrangement. 

Their room. Hers and Yuri's, together.

Hisoka likes the way it sounds.

They finally managed to find Rei, and then Rei found her way to them in return.

The moment she saw Hisoka, Rei pulled her into her arms and held on tight. Hisoka held on just as tight in return. It felt like a piece of her was finally falling back into place, and clearly the feeling was mutual.

Hisoka missed Rei so much.

Rei confessed her feelings to Miku, feelings she held safely in her chest for nearly two decades– feelings that Miku wholly reciprocated. Miku confessed that Miu was conceived when her and Rei's souls intertwined in the Manor of Sleep when Rei was trying to save her. That their bond and their feelings and their devotion to each other created life from beyond the veil.

Together, they created Miu.

And now Miku's lifespan has been remedied, returned to its natural length. It took some time and a lot of sweat and blood and tears, but she's here to stay with them for good.

They're all finally together at last.

Ren finally published his book. He cited Rui as his co-author, to Rui's surprise. It's had a rather successful launch, to both of their surprise.

Fuyuhi graduated from nursing school. She and Haruka moved into an apartment just down the road from the cafe. 

Miku returned to being Rei's assistant. They were both recently featured in a rather prestigious art gallery in the city.

Mio and Kei, Rei and Miku's close friends, still occasionally accompany them on assignments and are frequently around when Hisoka and Yuri visit the Kurosawa/Hinasaki residence. They often end up spending a lot of time with them too.

Kei still calls Hisoka “Tiny Rei”, much to her mild embarrassment.

He calls Miu “Tiniest Rei”, much to her mild annoyance.

Miu still performs her idol work, both acting and modeling. With Rei's help– and fierce protectiveness– they were able to secure her safer connections, ones that don't take advantage of her or push her into doing anything she doesn't want to do. It's a thought they all find so comforting, especially knowing how bad it had been for Miu before. 

Hisoka may have accidentally proposed to Yuri on the winter solstice. 

She didn't necessarily mean to when she presented her favorite glass bead charm to her, altered and fashioned into the form of a necklace to better match with Yuri's style. Having heard it directly from the woman who used to make them, Yuri explained that the little accessories were once popularly used as unique engagement gifts in the tiny region the woman was from. 

Hisoka certainly wasn't opposed to the idea. 

She just hadn't known that particular fact about an accessory that she'd carried with her nearly her entire life, perhaps her single constant all throughout it. 

Yuri, however, presented her with a new charm, having this information in mind. 

So, they both proposed to each other. 

Unofficially, of course.

Anything that would follow would have to remain symbolic at most. They haven't told anyone yet; there's no need to rush anything. They have time. Hisoka can't linger on the thought for too long lest it get her completely flushed. But she wears the necklace they crafted from the new charm proudly, and Yuri wears hers to match. 

So, a lot has happened since that fateful week on the mountain. 

It's kept them busy, so busy that Hisoka has had exceedingly little time to work on her grandfather clock. 

Today, she's determined to remedy that fact. 

The oldest clock in the cafe has sat and watched over them all patiently, ticking away and singing its soothing melodies with seemingly uncanny timing all throughout the days and nights that they've been busy. It's the least she can do for her stalwart friend. 

Sitting across from Rei, who is helping her keep track of all the tiny parts of the clock's movement in Yuri's stead, Hisoka is working at the tedious process of returning the clock's identity to it: restoring its ability to tell time. She's pulled the movement from the clock's face once more and is taking it apart to repair it for good. 

"You've been working at this for quite a while, haven't you?" Rei watches curiously, accepting a minuscule screw from Hisoka to put with the others in one of several little magnetic bowls. The little pieces are prone to wandering off– the magnets keep them from doing so.

"My mentor gave it to me as a gift when I bought the antique shop," Hisoka nods somewhat distractedly, squinting as she rotates the movement in her hands. The next screw is unique. She'll need a special bit for it. "It's been a slow process. I've been repairing it piece by piece over time, though I really didn't start making much progress with it until Yuri started living with me." 

Setting the movement down, she shifts her attention to her tool kit. She completely misses the knowing and amused eyebrow raise Rei sends her way.

As she digs through her tools, she frowns, perturbed. The bit she needs appears to be missing from her set. It's an old kit, one she's had for several years, so it's not terribly surprising but still disappointing. She supposes she can run to the local hardware store later and see what they have available, but she had really wanted to make at least a little more progress today– 

A separate tool kit, a bit smaller but clearly far newer than her own, is suddenly set down on the table in front of her. 

After furrowing her brow at it for a moment, Hisoka glances up to find Miu staring down at her. She's bearing an expression that is both confused and slightly affronted on Hisoka's behalf.

"Your mentor gifted you a broken clock?" 

"It's not broken." Hisoka defends a little too quickly, as she tends to when the subject is touched upon. She winces at herself– also as she tends to– accepting the kit gratefully, though a bit confused herself. "It's just lost its way. I'm helping it find it again. Nothing's ever truly broken forever."

Her gaze falls to the kit in her hands before she glances back up at the younger girl again in a silent question. 

Miu snorts, rolling her eyes but grinning at her fondly. "Of course you'd see things that way." Then she shrugs, waving off her offering as if it's nothing worth fussing over. "I noticed your old one was missing a few pieces. I was already picking some things up at the store when I saw it, so I just grabbed it too." 

"Oh..." Hisoka mumbles with a small smile, clutching the kit a little tighter. Miu likes to act nonchalant, but Hisoka still deeply appreciates her thoughtfulness. "Thank you, Miu." 

Shaking her head, Miu just returns her smile with a soft, genuine one of her own. 

"I think it's a sweet way to think about things." Miku sets two cups of coffee down in front of Hisoka and Rei. She offers Hisoka an encouraging smile as well. "It suits you."

Both Kurosawas smile up at her gratefully.

Miku herself is a perfect example of Hisoka and her mentor's philosophy. 

She was never truly broken, not by the effects of bearing a shadowborn and not by all of the tragedy she has been put through over and over again. She just lost her way for a while.

Hisoka is so endlessly thankful that they were able to help her find her way back. 

Returning to stand behind the counter, Miku sets another two cups brewing, likely for Miu and herself. She's really made herself at home in the cafe since her recovery, always happy to help out if Hisoka and Yuri need a break or time away.

She did find the cafe's lack of proper kitchen quite perplexing at first though–

"It was just me living here when I was renovating," Hisoka explained, ducking her head sheepishly, deeply chagrined as the older Hinasaki eyed her setup and grand total of one pot and one pan with a look of bewildered amusement. "I didn't think I'd need a full range or anything more than this before now." 

Miku was too polite to actually say anything about it, but it was clear that she found the absence odd for a cafe, let alone a modern home with people living in it. Even still, at Hisoka's request, she gladly taught her– and separately Yuri, as Hisoka later found out– how to make quite a few impressive recipes with the minimal space and instruments she owns.

Hisoka had intended to put these new skills to use on an evening when it was just her and Yuri at home but found that Yuri nearly beat her to it. They ended up cooking the meal together; the result was delightful, but they still somehow managed to make a massive mess of the cafe in the process.

Neither minded cleaning. The time spent together was well worth it. 

That being said, take-out remains the preferred method of acquiring meals unless Miku is around to cook for them. Miku actually seems to enjoy it, especially when Rei stands beside her as she works. Rei doesn't seem to actually help much aside from occasionally chopping vegetables or handing her things from the fridge– honestly, she's usually more of a distraction than anything– but it's sweet to watch them being playful and affectionate with each other while Miku cooks for all of them.

They really are just like an old married couple. 

Retrieving her desired bit from the new kit and at last pulling the rest of the movement apart, Hisoka starts to replace all of the rusted and broken little gears and pieces within it. It's important that she gets each detail in its proper place, so she consults the old diagrams again, keeping sharply focused on holding her hands steady as she tightens each screw back in place. 

Very vaguely, as she's fixatedly working, she hears Miku's soft voice whispering to Rei as Rei carefully hands her the next tiny piece of her exceedingly intricate puzzle.

"She's like you. So lost in what she's focusing on." 

"Huh?" Rei whispers back, confusion apparent in her tone. "We don't get lost..." 

Miu snorts, voice filled with amusement. "Yes, you do. It's a good thing you have Mom and me around to take care of you. Otherwise you'd spend days in your dark room and have no idea what year it even was when you finally came back out. I imagine Mio and Kei were always dragging you away from things too?" 

Clearly pouting as her Hinasakis tease her, Rei doesn't answer for a moment.

Finally, she grumbles, "No..." and then more quietly, "Maybe..." 

Both Hinasakis chuckle at her. 

"It's fine," Miu whispers as they continue to watch Hisoka focusing so intently. "That's why you have us. And she has..." She furrows her brow, coming upon a realization. "Wait, where's Yuri?" 

Hisoka's head pops up, focus completely broken at the sound of her love's name. 

"Huh?" 

Both Hinasakis snort and then start to laugh again. Rei just sighs, grinning at Hisoka proudly. There's something almost akin to yep, this one's definitely mine too shining adoringly in her eyes. 

"I asked–" Miu starts, clearing her throat when her and her mother's giggling settles. "I asked where Yuri is." 

"Oh." Hisoka looks between the three other women, trying not to fidget. She's working backwards, trying to piece together what it was that they had found so humorous. "She's just running some errands. She should be back soon." 

That's all they were. Short, simple errands. Picking up something here, dropping off something there. 

The clock really is a great distraction. 

Miu raises an eyebrow at her. There's something knowing but sympathetic in her smirk. 

Hisoka scowls.

"Don't. We're fine." 

"I didn't say anything." Miu is suddenly very interested in her nails, thoroughly examining them as she holds her hand up in front of herself. 

The knowing smirk remains. 

"You don't have to. I know what you're thinking," Hisoka grumbles, turning her broken attention back down to the clock movement. Her scowl deepens as she stares it down, trying to recall what exactly she had been doing with it before she was distracted. "I'm fine." 

For now. 

Chuckling again, Miu's smirk breaks and returns to something softer and more fond. She looks back up at a clearly now very annoyed Hisoka. "Last time I checked, your glancing isn't powerful enough to be used at a distance." 

Letting out an irritated growl, Hisoka sets her irked gaze back on the younger girl–

Rei and Miku both cut them off before they can say anything more. 

"Girls..." Rei starts, reaching across the table to give Hisoka's hand an affectionate squeeze. 

Miku sets an at last brewed cup of coffee beside Miu, giving her a tender but mildly scolding look. "No bickering."

Miu nods, acquiescing to her mothers' admonishments. Her grin grows when she notices Hisoka is still sulking, but she remains silent at their request.

Without another word, Hisoka suddenly stands. They all watch curiously as she turns towards the clock with the movement in her hands. 

"Is it ready?" Rei rises from her seat on the opposite side of the table to stand beside Miu, trying to get a better view as Hisoka opens the clock face and begins tinkering again.

"I think so..." Hisoka mumbles half under her breath, attaching chains and more screws to the movement, fixing it securely in the face of the clock.

She hopes so. 

Only one way to find out. 

Once she has all of the bits back in their proper place and the hands positioned to the nearest minute, she closes the face back up before crouching down next to the trunk. 

"Is there something it still needs?" Miku steps around the counter, coming to stand on the other side beside Rei and Miu, joining in on watching the spectacle. 

"I still have to raise the weights manually to start the pendulum again," Hisoka explains, glancing back over her shoulder. "I don't have the key to do it properly with the winding holes." 

"Why not buy a replacement? Surely, they make standard keys for clocks like this," Rei suggests thoughtfully; she's no stranger to searching obscure places for old and bygone parts. She's had to do so many times to fix her favorite SLR camera when the pieces start to wear out. 

"I would." Hisoka sighs as she turns back to the clock, opening the glass door to the pendulum and weights. "But this clock is unique, so it requires a really special one. They're supposedly extremely rare. I've checked a lot of different places but never had any luck finding one..."

She's about to start raising the weights, a process she's performed time and time again to keep the pendulum persevering in its rhythmic sway, when the bell above the cafe door chimes, signaling an arrival. 

Or in this case, an eagerly awaited return. 

"There she is," Miu mutters, shaking her head. She's both relieved and amused as the final occupant of the house stumbles inside rather gracelessly. "Always accidentally just in time." 

Heart feeling warm and full, Hisoka's eyes light up as they land on Yuri. Carefully rising back to her feet, she smiles delightedly when she sees that crooked grin and those bright eyes seeking hers just as eagerly.

Their gazes meet once more, and Yuri sets a path straight for her. When she's in reach, she nearly bowls them both over as she drags Hisoka into her arms. 

"Yuri…we have an audience..." Hisoka halfheartedly whines, giggling under her breath as she holds her just as hard in return. Her protest is decidedly just for show. She buries her face against Yuri's neck without a second thought. 

"Oh, sorry." Yuri perks up again, just now realizing that they weren't standing alone in the room with the other three women looking on in amusement. "Hi everyone." 

"Nice of you to notice us, doofus." Miu snorts, shaking her head. "I see you're still allowing your impulsiveness to win." 

"It always gets away from me," Yuri sighs dramatically with a clearly feigned air of wistfulness. The response is decidedly unrepentant, said with a cheeky grin sent her best friend's way. She keeps her arms locked firmly around Hisoka's waist as she looks between them all in entertained bemusement; they're all standing around expectantly, as if waiting for something to happen. 

"We were just about to see if Hisoka's hard work has finally paid off. We think she's fixed her grandfather clock," Miku tells her with a soft laugh, shaking her head at the girls' antics as well. She notices that Hisoka seems to be steadily turning increasingly brighter shades of crimson the longer Yuri holds her. Her flush is just visible in the tips of her ears as she keeps her head tucked down against her. 

"Oh!" Yuri's eyes brighten further. She finally starts to loosen her hold on Hisoka. "I have something for that." 

Hisoka pulls back to look at her in surprise. "Wait, really? You do?" 

"I stopped by the Mikomori residence and asked Mrs. Mikomori for it." Yuri stutters for a second as she starts to fish around in her pockets. She slows herself down to clarify for the other three women. "Um, that's Hisoka's mentor..." Finally finding what she'd been searching for, she holds out her closed palm to offer it to Hisoka. "She said she gives us her blessing to keep it."

Hisoka accepts the small object tucked in Yuri's hand.

She nearly gasps when she sees what it is. 

Rei chuckles as well as she watches the exchange, a confused grin tugging at her lips. "Her blessing...?" Suddenly she stiffens, furrowing her brow. Then she asks earnestly, almost a little distressed and without even a hint of teasing in her tone, "Wait, you intend to ask me too, right?" 

All eyes fall on Rei with varying expressions: Miu looks entirely too amused, Miku looks amused as well but also mildly exasperated, Yuri looks very confused, and Hisoka looks positively mortified. 

Yuri blinks, tilting her head at Rei with big, bewildered puppy eyes. "Ask you...for a key?" 

Scowling at her cousin, Hisoka holds up a tiny but intricately detailed black and gold key. The patterns on it match all of the unique embellishments of the grandfather clock. 

"Oh." Rei quickly turns the same vibrant shade of red as her younger cousin. 

Sighing deeply, Miku quickly steps forward to deflect, trying to distract Yuri from the hole of trouble Rei just unintentionally dug herself into. "Why don't we see if the key works, Yuri?" 

"Oh, um..." Yuri glances at Hisoka, who is merely continuing to glare fiercely at her sheepish older cousin. There's a silent but clearly vehement conversation going on between the two Kurosawas. "But shouldn't..." 

Catching on, Miu helps her mother divert her completely lost best friend's attention. She's clearly hiding her amused grin and restrained laughter behind her hand. "Come on, Yuri. Don't keep us waiting." 

"Here." Hisoka finally frees poor Rei from beneath her stormy glower. Trying desperately to brush off her annoyance and fluster, she gently takes Yuri's hand and guides her to the clock. "I'll show you." 

The key fits perfectly as they insert it into each winding hole together. They turn the key in tandem, causing each weight to rise higher and higher until at last the pendulum is set back in motion. The clock sways to its familiar cadence, and they all hold their breaths, counting down the seconds and keeping their eyes firmly fixed on the minute hand. 

After sixty seconds exactly, the hand clicks forward.

They all let out a delighted cheer.

Allowing her impulsiveness to win yet again, Yuri presses a tender kiss into Hisoka's cheek.

Hisoka stands beaming with the others, but she also finds herself in a bit of a daze. After all these years, she's finally fixed it. The grandfather clock has finally found its way. 

She can't wait to tell her mentor. 

When the initial excitement dies down, Miku shares a pointed look with Rei, who just nods sheepishly in response. Then Miku and Miu turn to distract Yuri again, feigning a keen interest in the unique key while more genuinely intrigued by the equally unique woman she acquired it from. 

While Yuri is distracted, Rei wraps an arm around Hisoka's shoulders, tugging her backwards and against her in a somewhat sideways hug. Hisoka tenses slightly, still a little miffed at her cousin, but she doesn't fight it. Instead, she just leans back against her. 

"Proud of you." Rei presses a gentle kiss into the side of her head. Then, just loud enough for only Hisoka to hear, she whispers sincerely, "And when the time comes, you should know she already has it." 

Hisoka huffs but deflates, eyes watering as she turns into the embrace.

Rei just pulls her against her, holding on a little tighter.

The minute hand moves forward yet another tick. The grandfather clock starts to sing its happy tune once more, both with uncanny timing and finally right on time. 

Much later that same evening, when Hisoka and Yuri are curled up tightly together in bed, both dangling right at the edge of sleep, Hisoka suddenly feels Yuri stiffen against her. 

Furrowing her brow, she lifts her head to look down at her in concern.

"Yuri?" 

"I..."

There's a long pause as Yuri stares up at her, eyes wide and deeply flushed.

Then, she just whispers softly.

"Oh." 

Hisoka snorts and rolls her eyes, pulling Yuri back against her. 

It would seem her love has finally realized what she's supposed to be asking Rei for one day…

***

"You've come a long way, child." 

Hisoka sits across the table from her mentor, contently listening to the grandfather clock as it happily ticks away. It's been a slow, almost lazy, day at the cafe, and her mentor stopped by for an unexpected visit right as she was about to close up the shop. 

After a rough few days of illness, Mizuki is back on her feet and seems to be feeling much better– well enough to roam the town, as she's occasionally been known to do. Hisoka had offered to brew her a cup of coffee, but her offer was surprisingly declined.

It's unexpected, but Hisoka doesn't dwell on it.

Her mentor often enjoys living her life unexpectedly after all. 

A grateful warmth fills Hisoka's chest at the praise, but she still humbly shakes her head. "I still have a long way to go." 

Mizuki chuckles, endeared by her modesty. "Yet your progress remains constant. You've done well." She says it so genuinely, pride evident in her demeanor. Then she leans in closer, whispering as if asking mischievously, "Now, tell me, where is the little one who captured your heart? You can't expect an old woman to wait forever, can you?" 

Hisoka tries not to squirm in her seat, flushing deeply but beaming at the mention of her love. "Oh, I didn't realize you wanted to see her today. She's out running errands with–" 

"Ahh," Mizuki cuts her off, nodding sagely. "With your mothers and younger sister, yes?" 

"They're not... Rei's my cousin, she's not my–" 

Brushing off her stammering, Mizuki continues on thoughtfully, as if Hisoka hadn't spoken at all, "The little shadowborn is tremendously powerful as well. I sense the sacred blood of the Kurosawa within her, mixed with that of another strong lineage, perhaps from a different region but no less potent. A power to be reckoned with, no doubt. Much like this love of yours…" She returns her attention back to Hisoka with a grateful smile. "I can't thank her enough for all she's done. For putting the Immortal Flower's spirit to rest at last..."

Mizuki hesitates for a moment, expression turning more serious as her tone falls softer.

"...Along with Tsuki's. Your ancestor." 

Hisoka tenses, furrowing her brow. 

The spirit from the casket who had possessed her? The one that nearly dragged her beyond the rift along with her?

That was her ancestor…?

"Tsuki?" Perturbed, Hisoka shakes her head, trying to make sense of her mentor's revelation. "How could she be my ancestor? She was made into a Pillar..." 

"True, she was the final Great Pillar to be interred at the Shrine on the Water." Mizuki frowns, expression shifting to something wistful. "Before that, however, before she even came to our mountain, she bore a child." 

A heavy silence falls between them for a moment as Hisoka processes what her mentor has divulged. It still seems unlikely to her, but she never doubts her mentor's wisdom. She remains still and quiet as Mizuki sighs deeply and imparts the history of how her lineage came to exist on Mt. Hikami. 

"Tsuki came to the mountain all alone with a shattered heart and exceptionally powerful psychic abilities. She had conceived a child with a man for whom she possessed no feelings of affection for, a man who promptly abandoned her shortly afterwards. Despite this, despite having no love for that man, or any man for that matter, she wanted that child desperately. She was told, however, that the infant didn't survive. That it had passed away shortly after its birth.”

Mizuki has an expression on her face, one she often gets when she's recalling something painful. Hisoka can tell that while her mentor is physically here in front of her, her mind is somewhere else, somewhere back in a time long ago, in a place that no longer exists as it does today.

She has questions for her but holds onto them, keeping them in the back of her mind as Mizuki continues.

“With no one to turn to and nowhere else to go, Tsuki came to our mountain, where she was accepted heartily. The Celebrants sensed her immense power and saw to her training personally, an incredibly rare occurrence, as they still had their own duties to uphold and typically left the training to the other maidens, the Mikomori. She was perhaps the most dutiful among us in our time, deeply devoted and resolved in her purpose. She took her training, and then her sacred duty, very seriously, fulfilling both with honor and dignity. And when she had filled her heart with the grief and pain of those who came seeking to be released from it, she was to become a keystone pillar at the Shrine on the Water, the very forefront of holding back the dark water and the first bastion before the entrance to the Shadowspring. As such, she was granted the surname of Kurosawa." 

Mizuki pauses for a long moment again, her voice falling quiet and sad. 

"Of course...not long after her fate was sealed, Ose arrived on the mountain." 

Hisoka's brow remains furrowed as she listens, taking in the information with a troubled frown.

She knows of Ose and Tsuki.

Mostly just from what Yuri has told her and from what had happened on the mountain that final night, but she knows of them.

She has deeply conflicting feelings regarding the two spirits.

Tsuki had tried to pull her beyond the rift. Occupying her body and taking control, she caused her to lose herself and lash out, nearly forcing her to kill Yuri with her own two hands in the process. 

Ose had tried to pull Yuri off the ledge of the cliff with her. Nearly taking her life, she tried to doom her into falling through the darkness of the Shadowspring with her for eternity. She would have succeeded too if it weren't for Yuri's stone mirror shattering, saving her life and bringing her back in time to start at the beginning of everything that happened on the mountain all over again. 

Hisoka also knows, however, that it was the black water's corruption that drove their actions, flooding their hearts and drowning who they truly once were beneath an abyssal sense of despair and agony. Once they had been purified, they saved Yuri's life, ensuring that she made it out before taking the dark water back into the Shadowspring with them, severing its connection to the physical world for good. 

She finds herself filled both with icy dread and deep gratitude at the thought of them. 

But if Tsuki was her ancestor... 

Drawing her attention back with the soft sound of her voice, Mizuki continues with her story once more, "It was no secret among us just how Tsuki felt for Ose. Tsuki's heart beat for her and her alone. Even as young as I was, I could sense how deeply her feelings ran. The only one who couldn't sense them, lost and buried deep beneath her own grief...was Ose."

Hisoka shifts uncomfortably in her seat. 

This story is beginning to sound a bit familiar...

"When Ose was chosen to become the Immortal Flower, many of the maidens cried; to them the selection was a coveted honor, one that only the truly profound were ever chosen for. Tsuki, however, shed tears for an entirely different reason. At some point, I believe she even implored Ose to leave the mountain, begging her not to see the sacrifice through. More than anything she wished for Ose to survive, even if she couldn't remain at her side. Even if she did not survive herself." 

Hisoka feels her heart sink to her stomach.

"This little one's heart beats to the same rhythm her ancestor's once did, all those many years ago." 

Her mentor's words from years ago finally make sense.

It would seem she has a lot more in common with this woman, her ancestor– the very same being that possessed her body and nearly stopped her heart– than she could have ever imagined.

Or at the very least, there is certainly an uncanny parallel between her and Tsuki's desires: to save the women they love, even if it meant their own fate remained inescapably doomed. 

Mizuki must sense her distress. She smiles at her comfortingly, expression returning to something soft and understanding. "It soothes my heart to know that though they could not be together in life, they could be reunited in death and return to the water as one." 

Sighing deeply, Hisoka nods in agreement with the sentiment, allowing her mentor's words to comfort her as well. For as much anguish as Tsuki and Ose caused both her and Yuri, she's grateful that their souls are facing the darkness of the Shadowspring together. 

After a moment though, she frowns again.

There's something about the story that she still doesn't understand. 

"You said Tsuki's child didn't survive...?" 

Smile turning wistful once more, Mizuki nods. The sense of melancholy returns, permeating off of her in waves, as if there's a part of her that still wishes things could have been different, even after all this time.

She knows, however, that it's simply not meant to be. 

"After the massacre, the remaining shrine maidens, myself included, fled the mountain for our safety. When we arrived in this very village, we came upon a discovery. A young girl with striking silver blue eyes had been residing here all along, ignorant to the immense power she possessed and of the true circumstances behind her birth." 

Expression darkening, Mizuki shakes her head, a long-suffered outrage resurfacing from memories of the past.

"We may have been blinded, but we didn't need our physical vision to see who that child truly belonged to. Nor did we need it to see the sins of that midwife, staining her soul like the taint of the black water. The girl had been stolen away at birth in a fit of jealousy." Mizuki straightens her shoulders, lifting her chin with the pride she tends to emanate whenever she discusses the legacy of the Maidens of Black Water and their duty to protect the realm of the living from the corruption of the Shadowspring. "Those sacred abilities and the Kurosawa surname were that girl's birthright, as they are yours. Thus, we returned them to her, along with the knowledge of her true mother, who loved and wished for her dearly, and the great sacrifice she made in order to restrain the dark water from tainting the world of the living. That child was your ancestor as well and how the Kurosawa blood was passed on to you, your mother– your 'cousin.'" Mizuki finally humors her, correcting herself before immediately returning to her insistence of misclassifying the people in Hisoka's life, waving her hand nonchalantly. "And your sister, the young shadowborn." 

Hisoka just sighs again.

She finally gives up. There's no sense in trying to change her mentor's mind.

But Mizuki finishes her story, and she remains silent, allowing it all to sink in.

It's a lot to process.

Now that she knows the history of her lineage, how they came to Mt. Hikami, and her connection to Tsuki, she finds herself wondering if their bloodline was cursed. It seems like they've all been destined to meet with death and what lies beyond it over and over again, all throughout time. 

She and Miu certainly have. She knows Rei has too. 

If that is truly their fate though, she's grateful that they were allowed to find each other again.

Despite everything, they’re together, and that's enough. 

"I do, however," Mizuki gently breaks through Hisoka's thoughts yet again. The wistfulness and sorrow have dissipated, and she has a small, mirthful smile on her face; she always has had a talent for finding the silver linings in even the most dismal of situations, "find it quite entertaining that the echoes that have persisted through time have at last proven most fruitful. A Great Pillar fated to fall for an Immortal Flower, bound together by a bond that not even death could overcome. The stream of life moves in mysterious ways," she chuckles, and then hums thoughtfully, "I do wonder if it was trying to mend the wounds it tore long ago with Tsuki and Ose when it bound you and your beloved in the red thread, ensuring you both survived when they could not." 

Hisoka opens her mouth to respond but ends up closing it before anything comes out. 

It's not the first time she's heard the notion. 

The notion of her and Yuri's souls being bound together in red thread. 

Yuri had shyly mentioned that Tsuki had suggested the very same thing when they had met briefly, just before Yuri faced Ose in the Shadowspring for a second time. It still makes Hisoka's heart pound and her face feel hot when she thinks about it, so she doesn't often allow herself to dwell on it, but her mentor does have an interesting theory on it.

The stream of life moves in mysterious ways, indeed.

The bell above the front door jangles, announcing the arrival of company.

Mizuki doesn't turn towards the sound, but she smiles, already aware of the newcomers’ presence and identities. "Ah, there you are, little one, very good. That key has served you well, I presume?" 

"Hello again," Yuri mumbles shyly as she steps into the cafe. There's something odd shining in her eyes and a slight hesitation in her step as she glances between Hisoka and her mentor. As soon as Hisoka notices them though, they disappear. Hisoka fights not to frown. Yuri smiles at her softly before turning her attention back to Mizuki. "It has. It's good to see you again." 

"Likewise," Mizuki replies warmly, turning her head towards the sound of Yuri's voice to face her. "You take such good care of my apprentice. You truly make her happy. It pleases me to know she's in such loving hands." 

Concern momentarily forgotten, Hisoka makes a small, grumbly, embarrassed noise under her breath while Yuri stands fidgeting awkwardly, unsure of how to respond for a moment. They both boast a matching pink tint in their cheeks. 

Their fluster makes Mizuki chuckle again. 

"She makes me really happy too," Yuri finally whispers in response.

Mizuki just nods as if she can sense it. 

"Um." 

A voice from behind Yuri makes Hisoka realize that her love hasn't returned alone. Rei and the Hinasakis stand behind her, carrying various bags from their errands and looking between them curiously. 

Miu briefly shares an odd look with Yuri.

Hisoka just barely catches the end of it before it disappears as well. Now both girls have drawn up masks to cover it, whatever it is.

Hisoka furrows her brow again, tilting her head at Yuri in worried confusion. Yuri just smiles soothingly at her again, but Hisoka can still sense that something's not quite right. She finds herself feeling desperate to fix it.

Something in Yuri's eyes tells her it's not something she can fix. 

She's starting to fret, an anxious dismay slowly building in her chest, when her attention is suddenly stolen away once more. This time, it's drawn to her cousin, who stands looking between the two women at the cafe table, her baby cousin and the intriguing old woman. Rei has a curiously soft and nervous look on her face as she drops her bags on the couch at the front of the cafe and then slowly approaches them. 

"You're Hisoka's mentor, the one who took her in...?" Rei starts softly, nerves apparent in her whole demeanor. Once she stands before Mizuki, she bows to her, aware that the woman can't physically see her but wishing to express her deep gratitude nonetheless. "I'm her older cousin, Kurosawa Rei. I don't know if I'll ever be able to fully repay you for all you've done for her, but I'd be honored if you'd allow me to try." 

"Rei..." Hisoka whispers in surprise, her heart filling with warmth and affection as she watches her cousin rise from her deep bow. Rei's sweet gesture is enough to distract her from her own growing nerves. For the moment, they slip to the back of her mind.

Coming to stand alongside Rei, Miku nods her agreement as she smiles softly at Hisoka. She seems to understand that she doesn't need to speak for Mizuki to sense her presence or her sentiment on the matter.

There's something curious in her eyes for a brief moment too, hidden just beneath the surface of her gaze. Hisoka misses it as she tries not to shrink in her seat, unaccustomed and mildly discomforted by having such focused attention placed on her all at once. 

Shaking her head, Mizuki is clearly touched by their humble request but politely declines in allowing them to see it through.

"You are both here now," she tells them gently, confirming that she can sense that Rei and Miku are making the request together. "Your presence alone soothes her. That is already more than I could ask for." 

Rei's shoulders drop, but she nods understandingly. She's clearly disappointed but respectful enough not to push the issue further, adhering to Mizuki's wishes.

Placing a hand on Rei's lower back for a moment, Miku comforts her before moving to make her way behind the cafe counter. She squeezes Hisoka's shoulder affectionately as she passes her by. "I'll start some coffee." 

"Oh, Miku, I–" Hisoka starts to stand, trying to offer her assistance. 

Her mentor stops her before she can. 

"Be still. Let your family help you once in a while." Mizuki waves her hand at Hisoka until she sheepishly settles back in her seat. She shakes her head at her apprentice, muttering in fond amusement, "Such a stubborn child..." 

"She's a lot like Rei in that way. Her cousin is awfully stubborn too," Miku chuckles softly as she begins to set out ingredients. She's glancing between the two Kurosawas in amusement as they both pout at her assessment. 

Mizuki's smile turns knowing, and Hisoka unconsciously scrunches her shoulders.

She really hopes her mentor doesn't say what she usually says in regard to her relation to Rei–

"I find it unsurprising that they are so much alike. Such propensities are often inherited after all," is all Mizuki says, her amusement still directed wholly towards her apprentice.

Hisoka's shoulders relax. She lets out a quiet sigh of relief. 

"If you'll excuse us for a moment to put these groceries away, we'd really enjoy talking with you for a while." Rei finally speaks up again as she looks between Hisoka and Mizuki. "So long as we're not intruding, that is." 

"Of course not, not in the least," Mizuki eases Rei's worry, motioning for them to go about their tasks. "I believe I speak for us both in saying we'd be happy for the company. There's no need to rush. We will be right here." 

Rei smiles again in return and then quickly retrieves the bags set aside at the front of the shop. She carries them behind the counter, and then she and Miku begin to talk quietly amongst themselves as they both put everything away. 

While they're preoccupied, Mizuki turns to Miu.

Despite her lack of physical vision and Miu's seemingly nerve-induced silence, she faces her with pinpoint accuracy. Her voice is soft and gentle as she greets her.

"Hello, little shadowborn."

Stiffening under her attention, Miu's eyes flicker between the old woman and Hisoka. Hisoka smiles at her encouragingly, trying to comfort her, but remains silent herself. 

"Don't fret," Mizuki soothes as well, sensing her discomfort. "I understand that who you are has caused your heart great pain in the past, but it is nothing to be ashamed of. You were conceived from a love so powerful that it transcended death itself. Your existence is a gift, especially to those who love you the most." 

The tension slowly falls from Miu's frame. She still looks a little uneasy, clearly unused to such genuine and kind words, especially from a stranger. Despite this, she seems to be taking them to heart. Sensing Mizuki's wisdom on such matters, she lets them sink in. 

"I also understand that you were able to find a way to return your mother's life force to its proper length?" Mizuki continues, a relieved smile gracing her face as Miu mutters a quiet confirmation. "How fortunate. It soothes me to know that you all may remain together for the full extent of your days on this plane." 

Miu continues her nervous shifting, but she finally smiles as well. She glances at Hisoka again before finally finding her voice. "We all worked together, but I'm really grateful that we can too," then she adds, to Hisoka's continued and fond surprise, "Thank you for looking out for Hisoka when she was younger. I'm really glad she had you in her life." 

"I am just as grateful that she was in mine," Mizuki states genuinely and then titters when she hears Hisoka's flustered sigh. 

Once Miku and Rei finish putting everything away, they all sit together with Hisoka and Mizuki. Talking until late in the afternoon, they simply enjoy each other's company, sharing stories, both supernatural and mundane, and finding peace in each other's presence and existence.

It all makes Hisoka's heart feel so warm and content. She relishes in it, taking it all in as deeply as she can, enjoying every second the grandfather clock ticks out with her favorite people in the world.

It isn't until the sun starts to set that Mizuki finally rises to leave.

"You all have been such wonderful company. I am grateful to have received the opportunity to meet and spend time with all of you." Mizuki gracefully stands from her seat at the cafe table and then bows to them.

She's been quiet for a while, simply listening to everyone's voices as they talk comfortably amongst each other. Hisoka could sense that her attention has been mostly focused on her for some reason, even in her silence. It felt as though Mizuki had been waiting for something, some sort of confirmation, as she "watched" over her as she always has.

Now that she's received it, whatever confirmation it was, she's decided it's time for her to go.

"Oh." Rei stands from her stool at the bar as well. "Would you care for some company to see you home?" 

"You have a very kind heart, child," Mizuki chuckles at Rei, a phrase Hisoka has heard many times from her. She gently waves Rei's thoughtful offer off, calling over her shoulder as she makes her way towards the front door. "But I know the way well. I will be alright."

There's an odd emotion tugging at Hisoka's heart as she watches Mizuki slowly step out into the sunset light. One she can't quite describe. She knows better than to insist upon assisting her mentor when she's made up her mind about seeing to something on her own, but… 

She also knows very well Mizuki's typical wariness when it comes to the setting sun.

Today, she seems entirely unfazed by it, almost at ease beneath its presence. 

Vaguely aware of the looks and the soft calls of her name she's receiving from her family, Hisoka furrows her brow and stands before quickly following behind her mentor out the front door.

Sensing her approach, Mizuki hesitates, turning back to face her with a curious expression. She waits patiently as Hisoka catches up and comes to a stop in front of her.

Now that she stands before her though, Hisoka finds she doesn't know what to say.

Crossing her arms across her chest to keep herself from fidgeting, she frowns deeply. There's a heavy feeling sitting on her chest at the thought of her mentor's departure, and she doesn't understand why. It's got her stomach in knots. She suddenly feels like a little kid again, anxiously clinging to someone she loves as they try to leave, hopelessly wondering when or if they are ever coming back.

Mizuki picks up on her distress immediately, as she always has. 

"It's alright, Hisoka. You don't need to worry about an old soul like me." She reaches up to place her hand on Hisoka's cheek. "I am so very proud of the choices your heart has made. You are exactly where you've always been meant to be." 

Her touch is so cold and featherlight, barely there.

It almost makes Hisoka shiver. Something in it makes her uneasy and almost…

Sad. 

As if she's saying goodbye for the final time. 

Her mentor just smiles at her though, a look of peace and acceptance written in her content expression.

Hisoka swallows roughly.

She finally understands.

It's time.

She's ready.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Hisoka leans into her mentor's cold touch for a moment, allowing those calm feelings to fill and encompass her as well, trying her best to let them wash away her trepidation. Her eyes burn. She wants to cry, but instead she musters up her courage and returns her mentor's smile with a soft one of her own. 

Even though she knows she can't see it, she knows she can sense it. 

Then, stepping back, she lets go.

Mizuki gives her one last gentle smile and then turns once more. Hisoka keeps her eyes on her the whole time as she slowly departs into the sunset light.

When she's finally long out of sight, Hisoka feels a warm pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind. She doesn't jolt at the sensation; she knows exactly who it is.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she's met by a bright pair of amber eyes peering back at her. The odd shine has returned, something knowing and sad reflecting Hisoka's own emotions back at her. Yuri remains quiet as she holds her, even when the tears finally start to fill Hisoka's eyes. 

Rei comes to stand alongside her, followed by both Hinasakis. Hisoka swallows roughly again, recognizing the same sorrowful recognition in their eyes as well.

Miu links her arm with hers. Rei takes her by the hand.

Then, Miku whispers to her softly. 

"Tell us about her. Tell us her story." 

Then she's never truly gone. 

The first tear rolls down Hisoka's cheek. Leaning back into Yuri and taking a deep breath, she puts on her bravest smile again, small as it may be, and nods. 

They return back into the cafe just as the phone starts to ring. 

Hisoka knows it's Ririka. She already knows what she's calling to tell her. 

That evening, once the sun has finally sunk beneath the horizon and a quiet, peaceful night has settled over the village, Yuri holds Hisoka tightly and Rei, Miu, and Miku all sit as close to her as they possibly can. They sit together, and Hisoka tells them about her mentor, the woman who found her when she was lost, who saved her when she needed her the most. She tells them of the woman who taught her never to give up on hope.

She tells them her story, and for a moment, it's as though she never truly left, brought back through the magic of the memories and the powerful emotions woven deeply within them.

Hisoka will keep her safe there, in her heart and in her mind. And whenever she needs her, she'll call to her; she'll call forth her voice, her smile, and her gentle wisdom.

After all, the things we've lost really do have a way of finding their way back to us.

We just have to remember where to look.