Hi again. It's another special for another holiday . . . as you probably already knew.
Just a fair warning, though: this one is actually important to the plot. So you have to read it. Or not. You'll just not understand what's happening.
<><><><><>
"Joyous Holyday, everyone!" Yuri cheered, throwing glitter everywhere that landed on everyone's heads.
"Watch out, the tree is coming through," called Aya, carrying a large tree that was being stuffed through the door frame by Hachirou and Heishi. They set it down in its specially made platform, and everyone cheered.
Yuri immediately ran over ad began throwing all sorts of decorations on it - glitter and ornaments and other sparkly things.
"I'm not sure that's really in the spirit of keeping nature alive during winter," Aya muttered as Yuri danced around the already sparkle-laden tree.
"Too late now," Heishi shrugged.
"I kinda like it," Kasai said. "It's cool lookin'."
"Too flashy for me," Hachirou shook his head, "but not quite flashy enough for world-renowned demonslayers. Hold on. Yuri, can I see that star?" Yuri handed him a glittering star ornament, which he reached up to the top of the tree to put on. "There. Now that is too flashy for anyone."
There were murmurs of agreement, but no one moved to change it.
~~~
"When's everyone going to get here, anyway?" Akuma asked Aya later.
"Hopefully after we finish making all the food," Aya replied irritably. "But Shinrin and Netsu are extremely slow and Taichi is annoyed when they breathe. And he isn't their Summoner so they don't like to listen to him."
"So they'll be here . . ."
"Ah, right," Aya remembered the original question she'd been asked. "Yuuto wrote not long ago that it would be a couple of days before the Sobi-sha get here. I believe Makoto is coming, but he's . . . cranky, as usual, and apparently he doesn't like parties. Sayaka will be here today or tomorrow . . . Is that everyone?"
"I think so," Akuma said. "Did you invite Yuri's mom?"
Aya made a disgusted face. "I did, but she wrote back very quickly to explain how she had more important things to do besides come to a party hosted by commoners . . . and my - ahem - subtle hints at Yuri she completely ignored."
"I see," Akuma nodded, and that was the end of it. "But it's still a pretty good turnout."
"If I may be so bold," Ryou interrupted, coming through from the kitchen area with an armful of cookies, "this is a terrible turnout. Turnout happens at the party, not when people respond. They could still be eaten by a demon by then."
Akuma furrowed her eyebrows. "Not funny, Ryou. Where are you going with those cookies, anyway?"
"Oh, these? I'm gonna eat them, duh."
"Those are for the guests!" Akuma objected.
"Relax, Akuma," Ryou said casually, taking a bite of one. "You've got more people living at the castle than people you're inviting. And besides, I'll be at this 'party' too."
"At least wait until then to eat them all then," Akuma sighed.
"Will do. You want one?" he asked.
"No! What did I just finish saying?"
"I'll have one," Aya said, taking a cookie.
"Oh, come on!"
~~~
"I can help too," Tora was saying. "I'll do anything you tell me to."
"You're a cat," Netsu pointed out for the thousandth time. "You can't cook."
"But I'll try really hard!" Tora pleaded. "I wouldn't want to disappoint Summoner Aya."
"Look, Tora, if you were a human formed Creature, and you had hands that could hold things, then you could do all the cooking you want," Shinrin said. "You could do it all in place of me, and I wouldn't care. It's so boring. Those stupid training sessions are more fun than this."
"Tell me about it," Netsu agreed. "I don't even understand these human holidays anyway."
"Holyday is the day when humans take nature into their homes in order to harbor it and convince it to bring good weather back in the spring," Tora explained happily. "That's what Summoner Aya said."
Netsu rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but the seasons go by themselves anyway. Yurei doesn't actually control physics. I mean, we control a lot of things, but not the seasons themselves."
"I know," Tora said awkwardly. "I'm a Summoner's Creature too. You know, I think you guys forget that a lot."
"And we're two of the Seven of power," Shinrin fired back. "Be quiet, Tora."
Tora sighed and obeyed.
For about . . . half a second?
"Can I have a cookie?" he asked.
Shinrin laughed. "Okay, fine."
~~~
"What are you doing to set up, Mizuki?" Taichi asked while stringing a long chain of snowflakes against the wall.
"I don't really do parties," Mizuki sulked in the corner. "I went to one once and assassinated the host. Not the best experience. Especially since they almost caught me, too."
"I haven't had the best luck with parties myself," Taichi admitted. "The only two I've ever been to were the one where I was officially named a wizard, and the one where a giant demon exploded the wall, I met up with Aya again, and we made our acquaintance with Hachirou. As I said, not such good luck."
"Hey . . ." Hachirou and Aya said together.
"Oh, ah, look, it's that girl from Akuma's village we only saw like once!" Kasai said, opening the door. "What was her name even . . . ?"
But Akuma tore past her, meeting the girl outside and smothering her in a hug that surely did not allow her to breathe. "Sayaka!"
Finally Akuma let go and Sayaka took giant gulps of air to compensate. But she was laughing at the same time.
"Come inside, it's freezing out here," Akuma offered, and, chattering away happily, the two went in.
"Well, they're going to be inseparable now," Heishi said.
Ryou sighed. "So much for flirting, right?"
"What, with Akuma?" Hachirou laughed. "Why?"
"Because we're the only ones who aren't basically already dating!" Ryou whined. "I mean . . ."
"There's me," said Mizuki, resting her hands behind her head as she leaned against the wall. "But on second thoughts, you're kind of stupid, so . . ."
Ryou's face flushed. "I'm a very famous demonslayer!"
"Yeah, in case you haven't noticed, dude," Hachirou said slowly, "the Sureiyazu are more famous than you. If you wanted that to be so impressive, at least don't say it while you're in the Sureiyazu castle, okay? It sounds kiddish."
"You know what else does?" Ryou yelled back. "The word 'kiddish'! It's stupid!"
"Your face is stupid!"
"Your girlfriend is stupid!"
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"Oh, so she's stupid?"
"I never said that!"
"Why don't you tell it to her face?!"
"Shut up! I never said I thought she was stupid!"
"But you never said you didn't."
"But I don't!"
"Why are you yelling?"
"You yelled at me first!"
"Wait, why did I do that . . .?"
"I don't remember."
"What were we fighting about?"
"I dunno."
"Wanna be friends?"
"Yeah, sure."
"I will never understand boys," Kasai muttered.
~~~
Yuri burst in the door. "The Sobi-sha are here!"
From both ends, people began pouring in the doors. On one side, the Sureiyazu ran in, followed by their various friends (except for Mizuki, who casually came in later) and on the other, the Sobi-sha came, coated in a dusting of snow, into the warmth of the house.
"You made it!" Akuma cheered, and Sayaka went along with it.
"Yes, we did," Yuuto laughed slightly.
"We had a little bit of trouble," Takara added. "Ran into a demon disguised as a violent snowstorm."
"My magic doesn't work as well in this weather," Mayu sighed, her hand giving off a few weak sparks. "But we won."
"Yeah!" Shouta agreed. "Explosion!"
"How is Hayato?" Yuuto asked slowly. "Is he any better?"
"I'm afraid he's not gotten much better," Taichi said. "But he hasn't gotten any worse, so we can hardly call it a bad thing, I suppose."
"Let's not talk about that," Akuma said quickly. "This is a party! Makoto should be here soon, but he's cranky all the time. He can't get any crankier even if we start without him."
"Yeah! Who wants to brawl with me after the drinks?" Kasai grinned, to everyone's blank faces. "No? No one? I can't brawl with myself, you know . . ."
~~~
The party went as well as it could have, being in the Sureiyazu castle. Akuma had way too much fun being the host while Kasai tried to get people to spar with her (and Hachirou eventually agreed), Yuri decorated people in glitter, Heishi tried for some non-awkward conversation and kept failing, Aya freaked out over everything that went wrong, Mizuki casually ate all the food in the background, Taichi got super irritated at people for wasting food, the Summoner's Creatures bickered, and Ryou attempted to nonchalantly get Akuma's attention (and failed very, very badly, since she she was talking to Sayaka).
"This kind of reminds me of the festivals we used to have around the holidays back in the village," Akuma mused. "Do they still have those?"
"Not since your parents got sick," Sayaka said sadly. "They usually played a big part in all the planning, and then the Demon's Kiss got lots of people at once, and no one wanted to celebrate anymore."
Akuma tried to think desperately of a topic that was not depressing. "Do you think it'll snow soon? I'm looking forward to playing in it . . . if I'm not considered too old now."
"You're never too old to play in the snow!" Sayaka agreed. "I'm hoping it does too."
Meanwhile, Yuuto was saying, ". . . It was a tough demon, that one. We were recovering for a week. But it was worth it. The townspeople were overjoyed. And we were happy to help."
"I'm sure we could learn a lot about demonslaying from hearing about your adventures," Aya said. "They sound so much more exciting than ours."
"No," Yuuto assured her. "I am just a very good storyteller. That, though, I could teach you. There's a certain art to it . . ."
Meanwhile:
"You know what this place needs?" Yuri asked. "Some music. It's too quiet and talky."
"I'd help you out there, Yuri, but I can't play an instrument," Heishi replied. "I tried playing my mom's flute once but . . . well, I wan't very good. I gave everyone a headache."
"Aww," Yuri blushed. "That's okay. I could play a harp if we had one . . . But I don't think we have any instruments anyway."
"It's the thought that counts," Heishi grinned.
"That's what my mom used to say all the time," Yuri said.
"Oh. Sorry."
(Because it's pretty much impossible not to bring up a touchy subject if you're somewhat related to the plot of "Sureiyazu".)
~~~
Makoto was looking for something to eat when the Summoner's Creatures walked by.
"What are you two doing here, Shinrin, Netsu?" he asked. "Don't you have more important things to do?"
"Hey, old man, it's what Summoner Aya told us to do," Netsu laughed, relishing in the look of shock on the old Summoner's face.
"Yeah, sorry," Shinrin added, shrugging. "We're not yours anymore."
~~~
"You go to many parties?" Mizuki asked Takara, who was also awkwardly standing the the corner. (The difference was that Mizuki had mastered blending into the background, while Takara still had much to learn.)
"Oh . . . um, no," Takara said.
"Me neither," said Mizuki. "I'm a trained assassin."
Takara laughed a little, and that was when she magically got up the courage to go strike up some conversation with someone else.
While meanwhile:
"So, Akuma . . ." Ryou said (super) casually. "Nice party you've got going."
"Thank you," Akuma said. Sayaka had gone to get some drinks for them.
Darn it, why did he always freeze up around her? He had no problem talking to any other girls!
"You want to get a drink together or something?" he offered.
"Nope," Akuma said bluntly. "Sayaka's getting us drinks."
"Uh . . . okay, so . . ." He hastily tried to think of something to say. "Um . . . Your dress looks really nice." Darn. Her dress? That line was so overused!
"Oh, thank you," Akuma blushed a little. "You think so? It's just something Kasai made."
"You make it look really good." Crap. So descriptive. Why was she making this so hard?
"Thanks."
Ugh. Something she couldn't give a one word answer to . . .
"What do you have for food around here?" And again, he instantly regretted the words that came out of his mouth.
"There's, y'know, those cookies you stole from the kitchen yesterday . . ."
"Oh yeah. Er . . ."
Sayaka arrived at that moment, drinks in hands. But she froze when she saw Akuma and Ryou standing together.
"Oooohh," she sang. "Are you guys together? You didn't tell me that, Akuma . . ."
Ryou and Akuma sighed in synchronization.
"Should I leave you guys alone?" Sayaka asked, smiling knowingly.
"What - no!" Akuma laughed. "We were just talking while you were gone. Um . . . what were you saying about that play you saw not long ago . . . ?"
"Oh, I've seen a play before!" Ryou volunteered.
"Um . . . yeah, okay, but Sayaka was in the middle of a story," Akuma said. "Maybe later?"
They walked away into the crowd.
"What?" Ryou said to himself. "What just happened?"
And also meanwhile:
"How are you, Makoto?" Aya asked later.
"As well as usual," Makoto said grumpily, which did show that he was about normal.
"Good," said Aya. "Can I get you anything?"
"No, thank you, Aya," Makoto replied. "But I've been meaning to ask you."
"What?"
"How in Sekai did two of the Seven of Power get here?!" Makoto's eyes were practically popping out of his head.
Aya just sort of giggled. "We wandered into each other, and they wanted to be bound to me. I don't really know how it happened."
"And you have them . . . cooking."
"Yes, I think it's working to calm them down to use their energies for something."
"Aya, I think you are making a big mistake."
"And what mistake would that be, Makoto? If I don't recall, you gave up Summoning."
Makoto opened his mouth and closed it again.
"I've read an entire book on them, and I'm learning new things about the Creatures all the time. Personally, they're growing on me."
"You're too naive."
"And maybe you're a little jealous, Makoto," Aya shot back passive-aggressively.
With that, the old man set his jaw firmly and said nothing else.
And still meanwhile:
"Parties are kinda pointless," Kasai was saying.
"You wanna get a drink?" Hachirou asked. "Should make it seem more fun, right?"
"Eh, whatever," Kasai shrugged. "Few can't hurt."
"That's the spirit," Hachirou grinned.
~~~
"Aha!" Taichi exclaimed suddenly, pushing his way through the masses, carrying a book, to see Aya, who was chatting with the Sobi-sha. "Aya! I found it!"
"What?" Aya asked, looking over into the book, which was open in Taichi's hands.
"Watch this," he said excitedly, thrusting it into her hands. "Hold this for me."
"Um . . . okay?" Aya agreed hesitantly. "Taichi, you sound unnecessarily excited. Should I be afraid for my life?"
"No," he assured her, grinning in a very un-Taichi-like fashion. "Just watch."
He pressed his hands together gently, and soon, after a few moments, they began to glow. But the light was different from the usual blue light that was his Energy magic, with a softer, yellow glow, and it grew slowly so that people around him turned to look, and in a few minutes the entire room was watching. With eyes closed, Taichi raised his hand, and suddenly thrust them out into the air around him.
The light scattered, turning different colors and illuminating the room. They floated around, giving the space a semi-dark but homey feel, and then, softly at first, music began to play.
"Yes!" Yuri cheered. "Perfect!"
Aya couldn't find words at first. "T-taichi . . . they're . . ."
Taichi's face glowed as if it were one of the tiny lights.
"They're amazing!" Aya was smiling too, now, in a way that felt foreign to her. "How did you - where did you - what are they?"
"Magic," Taichi said simply. "They're magic."
"I love them!" Aya exclaimed. "They're just what we needed."
The music - something that might have been played in Hana Firudo or Sanmayaku - was becoming louder.
"May I - er - have this - dance?" Taichi asked awkwardly, face pink.
Aya's face matched his. "Of course, Taichi."
They took each other's hands and began an improvised kind of waltz (though Taichi actually could dance, having been to a rather fancy wizarding school, and so he led) as others began to do the same around them. Heishi and Yuri passed once, and Akuma gave into Ryou's attempts to get her to dance. Yuuto took Mayu's hand and joined in, and Shouta practically dragged Mizuki onto the floor with him (which was rather necessary, because Mizuki did not like dancing nor Shouta), and Shinrin and Netsu even went along with it. (Makoto rather grumpily watched them all.)
All the while, Aya and Taichi held onto each other, and as the night wore on, and Aya's eyelids became heavy, she rested her head on Taichi's shoulder.
"I feel like the party should have been over an hour ago," Aya murmured into his neck.
"And yet here we are," said Taichi.
"Mm. I'm sleepy. How late is it?"
"Not yet late enough."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Taichi smiled. "I don't want this night to end yet."
"All things must end."
"Not without some kind of finality."
"This is final enough for me."
"How so?"
"Does it seem to you like this is a good time to question everything I say?"
"Maybe it does."
"Maybe you're an imbecile."
"Maybe I'm offended."
"Maybe you're not."
"I think you need to support that claim with evidence."
"I think you need to die in a hole if you think that."
"I think we need to stop copying the beginnings of each other's sentences."
Aya sighed, raising her head. "I should tell everyone that it's almost over."
"You're a killjoy," Taichi said.
"I know," Aya admitted. "It's my role in life. And I'm quite good at it."
"I understand," he agreed. "It is a shame we are so responsible."
"Ah, what a shame indeed."
~~~
"I love that sound," Aya sighed.
"What sound is that?" Taichi asked.
"The sound of silence."
It was a calming sound, after the party. The gathering had been anything but unpleasant, but still it had been draining. Now, as they sat on the back steps of the castle, with only the rustle of the leaves above and around them, and a biting chill in the air, stifling all sound, it was a welcomed gesture from nature.
"I've never hosted such a large get-together," she continued. "It was . . . enjoyable, but altogether too stressful to attempt again."
"I agree," said Taichi. "We have too many people in the castle as it is."
"You're one to talk," Aya replied. "You'd be one of the first to go."
"Ah - er - I didn't mean it as a problem," Taichi quickly corrected himself.
Aya laughed. "There's nothing to be done. It's just the way we live, it seems."
"I get the distinct feeling I should just agree with that before I'm thrown out."
"Ah, well. Who would we throw out anyway? Heishi is too nice, and Mizuki will kill us, and Kasai would kill us if Hachirou was thrown out, and Ryou's brother is the head of another very powerful demonslaying team."
"What about me?" Taichi asked curiously.
"We'd have no one to take care of the man in a coma."
"Oh. Right. Yes."
Aya smiled at his disappointed face. "You know, that spell earlier was impressive."
"Was it?"
"Very. How did you learn it so quickly?"
"I've always been that way," Taichi shrugged. "I suppose my spiritual energy is very versatile."
"It's a good thing, then, because it was the best part. But I wish you could have seen your face when you came running in with that spellbook," Aya laughed.
"What?" Taichi whined.
She just kept on laughing. "That's why you never smile - it looks so strange on your face! It was like if a rhinoceros smiled!"
Taichi made a face. "Rhinoceros? Surely you could have picked a less insulting animal."
"That face!" Aya was laughing so hard now that she could hardly breathe. "That face you made just now! Looked just like a rhinoceros!"
"No it didn't!"
"Oh yes it did! You're as stubborn and as serious as one."
"That doesn't mean I look like one!"
"No, it's an added bonus!"
"Fine."
Aya stopped laughing abruptly. "You're the real killjoy, Taichi, do you know that?"
"It's my role in life."
Aya glared.
"You must have known I was going to say that."
"I guessed," Aya said.
And then it just . . . happened.
One moment, they were sitting there on the steps, long coats blowing in a winter wind, and the next, they were kissing.
Aya had her hands on the sides of Taichi's face, and his hands fell gently onto her waist.
When they drew away, there was a second where both just looked at each other.
"What was that?" Aya asked.
"I don't know," said Taichi. "I may have to do it again to test my theory."
"Oh, shut up, Taichi," Aya smirked.
And they kissed again.
~~~
And meanwhile, Kasai was having a drink.
"Yeah . . . what is going on right now . . . Will someone fight with me . . . ?" Kasai asked, giddy, dissolving into giggles. "I wanna fight someone. Wait . . . everyone's gone . . . Why is everyone gone?"
"I have no idea . . ." Hachirou agreed, laughing too.
"This is fun," Kasai said.
"I know . . . everything looks so weird right now . . ."
Kasai sat down on the floor. "I think I drank too much."
"Uh-huh. That thing. That you said. Just now."
"Yeah. I know . . ."
"You wanna talk about life's problems?"
"You wanna fight?"
"You wanna talk about life's problems while fighting?"
"Yeah, let's, like, take this outside . . ." Kasai punched Hachirou in the arm while laughing.
He laughed too. "Ouch."
"Yeah. Like, ow."
"I hurt more."
"Yep. Sure."
"Yeah."
"I'm tired."
"Me too. The floor looks comfy."
"Uh-huh."
"You two are idiots," said Mizuki standing over them. "How much did you drink? You know what, don't even answer that."
"I gotcha," Kasai assured her, giving her a thumbs-up.
"Get to bed," Mizuki ordered. "You are going to have one heck of a hangover. Don't blame me, it's your own fault."
"Yessmom," Hachirou said, leaving almost immediately.
Mizuki sighed. "Idiots."
Everyone else had either left or gone to bed already, and Mizuki decided she'd join them. Hands behind her head, she slowly retreated to her room, passing by the back door on the way.
Someone was out there, she noticed.
Was it trouble . . . ? She didn't have a weapon.
No, she shouldn't be so worried. Aya and Taichi had gone out for some fresh air.
Mizuki opened the door. "Hey, guys, just so you know, Kasai and Hachirou are wasted and -"
"Ahh!" Taichi and Aya exclaimed, jumping apart.
"Oh . . . sorry . . . I'll just . . . leave . . ." Mizuki said awkwardly, closing the door.
As she continued on, she shook her head to clear it.
What was that feeling? That feeling that kept nagging her?
She'd always been trained to show none. But it was stronger than anything she'd ever felt.
Their eyes closed, their lips sealed together.
How could half a second of a memory torment her so much?
Sleep, she told herself. Sleep, and forget about it.
Like that would work.