Spectator || HeiKazuScara || Genshin Impact

Chapter 39

"Heizou...who were you talking to?" Sara said. Both of them became frozen stiff as they stared into each other's eyes. Heizou looked at the area where Kirara stood just a moment ago, only to realise she has disappeared. Instead, the dark corridor of the prison cells greeted him. He then looked at his hand where the metal key should be, and realised that it was still there.

"And how did you get that key?" the Tengu said. Heizou blinked a couple times, before replying with, "Kirara gave it to me..."

The two of them were once again frozen in their spots. Eventually, a shout could be heard through the prison. "HEIZOU!! KNIGHTS ARE CURRENTLY TRYING TO GET INTO THE PRISON!!!" It was Kazuha's voice, and he was warning the two of them just in case.

"We don't have time! Are you going to help me unlock the door or not?" Heizou said, slightly panicked as he grasped onto the lock and fiddled around with the key. The lock fell off as Sara began to take the heavy metal chains down. After a short while, the two of them entered the door and closed it from behind.

The walls of this secret room were made of stone, which was slightly damp and covered in moss. It wasn't necessarily a big room, since the glow of the lantern was enough to light it all up. A small wooden table was in the middle of the room, and more wooden counters surrounding it. On the table there were bits and pieces of ripped fabric, thread and metal chunks. On the counters there were piles of papers, piles of rubber, needles and bottles containing a green liquid that smelled stale.

"What is this place..." Sara whispered, utterly confused as she observed the objects scattered around the room. Strangely, Heizou on the other hand was completely silent. He stood at the entrance of the room, holding the lantern. His emerald eyes were wide as he stared at the table. He felt like he has been here before, and he knew it wasn't a good memory but no matter how hard he tried to remember he couldn't.

"Are you alright?" The Tengu asked, starting to get concerned. Heizou didn't respond.

A boy with dark hair was on that wooden table...or was it a boy? He didn't struggle. He didn't move. His eyes were closed, as if he were asleep or dead. Part of his face was missing, and inside was a series of threads and metal. There were people standing around the boy. They were wearing baggy white clothes, and large white helmets. Some held sharp, dangerous and scary looking tools, while others held bottles of shiny green liquid. One of the men turned around, and stared back. There was a vicious look in his eyes, but also a look of surprise. Then he-...

"Heizou!" the burgundy haired boy felt a hard and painful hit against his head. "Snap out of it! What on earth is wrong with you!?" Heizou blinked a couple times, only to realise there was nothing on that table, and the only person in the room other than him was Kujou Sara. He took a couple deep breathes, before coming to a sudden realisation. The boy on that table...was Scaramouche...

"This room is where the puppets were created," Heizou explained. He knew from the very start the Scara wasn't human, then confirmed it later on. And he has now learned that this is where Scara was created. But why was that in his memories...?

—-

Shinobu sat next to a tree, resting her head against the bark. The people back at camp had just finished eating, and now everyone was doing their own thing.

"Shinobu!" a shout could be heard. Shinobu looked up to see a tall figure approaching, and she recognised it to be Itto. "That dog found some apples down the hill! Here, have one." The green haired girl winced when her boss called Gorou 'that dog'.

"Don't refer to him as a dog! It's rude," she said but gladly accepted the apples. Itto frowned and said, "You're a lot more snappy than usual...is something bothering you? Maybe we can talk about it!"

Shinobu sighed. To be perfectly honest, she was worried about Heizou but it wasn't because she was worried about his safety. A couple days ago, before Scara had left with Miko to go to the palace, Scara had talked to Shinobu. All he could talk about was Kazuha, and when Itto claimed the two of them were in love, he got incredible flustered but didn't deny it.

It was quite obvious that they were in love. Scara and Kazuha had known each other for a long time, ever since they were toddlers. Heizou on the other hand hasn't even known Scara for a full year, and he spent most of his time with the fake Kazuha rather than the real one. Despite this he fell for both of them in such a short amount of time. Shinobu knew Heizou was going to be hurt sooner or later, and she was scared that it would affect him more than she would anticipate.

"Oh look who's back!!!" Itto suddenly yelled. Ayaka and Thoma had just returned back to camp. A gang of Yashiro Clan members were following them.

"Welcome back. Did you manage to find Yoimiya and Kirara?" Kokomi immediately asked when they arrived. However, Ayaka and Thoma were slightly shaken, and they seemed to be reluctant to respond.

"We...managed to find Yoimiya. And we also got to talk to her for a while..." Thoma began, stuttering a little as he explained. "She and Kirara were indeed acquainted, and they even lived together for several months. But..."

He paused, and exchanged a glance with Ayaka. "Kirara was killed but the Shoganate..."

—-

I am so sorry for such a late chapter 😭
I am planning to rewrite one of the chapters (the chapter when Heizou and Sara tricked everyone and when they moved to a different forest) because I thought it was incredible complicated and I'm a little confused how I came up with such a random strategy
The story is not going to change however so re-reading it won't do much but I am taking a different approach to the plan Heizou and Sara made. They will still move to a different forest and the fight will still happen so the overall plot will be exactly identical.