Ink Stained

43: strings attached*

There was also the curiosity of why Konohana, who Shiori was a Chimei Yoki of, had gone to Pai instead of Shiori to give her Shin's Mask. He knew that Konohana's reason was because Pai was the least likely to think to use Shin's true name against him. But why had Konohana not gone to her own Chimei Yoki? As far as Shiori and he were aware, Konohana had never even so much as approached Shiori, for anything.

He knew there was no way Pai could be Konohana's Chimei Yoki. Kamigami could only claim a human as their mortal vessel once, and it always had to be the same soul of the human whom they could use. Konohana had been taking Hiyori's reincarnations – now Shiori – as her Chimei Yoki for nigh on five thousand years, even if she seemed to be largely ignoring Shiori now.

But why hadn't she gone to Shiori? Why go to Pai, whom she didn't know? Or hopefully didn't, at least. He didn't want the Kamigami sticking their noses into any of his business so much as he could help it.

It was still a little weird that they hadn't reached out to him to get the full story of how Shin lost his Mask and why he attacked and killed the Nue. He didn't like them in his business, but that didn't stop the arrogant gods doing what they wanted under the guise of it being their 'duty'. Kouta had expected them to come asking questions as soon as it happened – and yet, a month had passed and they hadn't shown up.

The Kamigami's job was to keep the balance of the world, to make sure no one race stepped out of line, right down to the individual. They seemed to be doing a pretty shit job of it, as far as he was concerned.

He wanted to know a lot of things, yet he found himself unable to find the answers to even one mystery. That fact irritated him beyond words. It meant that there was room for making mistakes. Mistakes, as his father had so often said to him growing up, walked hand-in-hand with weakness. That was not something he could afford to let waltz into their lives.

Now Kouta had one more thing to add to his growing list of unanswered questions; why Yori Chiisai were gaining in strength where they had previously been one of the weakest supernatural creatures in the world, with even Shimo Oni being infinitesimally stronger than them. Motomi Shiharu's death was not supposed to have happened – at least, not the way it did. Humans dying at the hands of Yori Chiisai wasn't uncommon, but the manner of Motomi's death, and what Shiori and Pai, as well as Haru and Shouta, had said about it disconcerted him.

On a night when he should have been enjoying the calmness of an early spring evening, these questions and worries instead swirled around in his head, never leaving him with a moment's peace.

The moon over his head was almost full. The sky above was a deep navy blue, dotted with only a few glittering stars along its empty, entirely cloudless expanse. It was the end of winter, and the grounds of the house had been swept clean of any lingering snow earlier that day. He and Shin were sitting up on the roof, facing the forest that stretched out before Ayashi House in an endless dark field of high-rising trees.

In the distance, if he concentrated, he could hear the honking of cars and the chattering of millions of humans in the city, but he blocked all that out. All he willingly let himself hear was the sound of the night creatures in the forest, the occasional owl that shot out from the condensed branches of the trees to patrol the area around it in search of prey, the night creatures of the land burrowing through the roots as winter slowly gave way to their sources of food.

It'll be full by tomorrow, he thought to himself, staring up at the luminescence of the moon hovering over their heads like a huge bird of prey.

He wondered if he had any saké left in the stores. He was sure he did, but it wouldn't be surprising if the men had already made their way through all of it, after everything with the Torimaku ended. They didn't often drink to their hearts content, but when they did, the Daitengu tended to go overboard. Daichi, Jirou, and Shin were the only ones who didn't get drunk like the others did. Daichi and Jirou avoided drinking more than a few cups of saké. As far as he knew, only Shin was unable to get completely intoxicated, no matter how much he drank.