Hey all! Long time no see. Quick disclaimer: This story was originally published as From A Single Echo, but I changed it a lot. It's pretty much a completely different story now, even though the beginning is quite similar...keep reading though, and you'll see what I mean. Also, this is a one-shot due to all the stuff I changed. I swapped around some character roles, removed other character roles, and so on. Despite everything, I hope you all enjoy, and find some surprises haha.
Snow blurred the edges of the trees, tall and spindly etches against a sky as white as the ground. A branch snapped under Luka's clumsy feet. The wind howled, snow crunched. The steps had long since faded away, replaced by a rough trail.
How far was halfway? It felt as though Luka had been walking for hours, and there was still no guide in sight. She shivered; she could no longer feel her nose. Up ahead on the sloping mountain she saw nothing save more dead trees.
Another step forward, then a shape appeared, dark and blurred. Luka squinted. The shape became clearer - a young man, standing so still he may as well be a statue. Before Luka could speak, the man bowed quickly and began to talk in a voice so quiet Luka could barely hear him over the wind's howl. "You are the doctor? Megurine Luka?"
"I am. Are you the guide?"
The man nodded. "Yes. I will also be your student for the next three years. You were acquainted with the old doctor, rest his soul?"
"I...no, my mentor was. This is to be my first official post as a doctor."
The young man's voice held a note of unpleasant surprise. "You mean to say that you have no prior experience?"
The wind's blowing grew stronger. The snow was so thick Luka could hardly see the world beyond a narrow column of two feet.
"I have enough experience," Luka replied. She braced herself for an incoming gust of wind. "What is the name of my future student?"
Flakes of snow covered the man's hair; he gave them no notice. "Shion Kaito. Please follow me. From now on, we must be quiet. The mountain is not forgiving."
-o-o-o-
The village was silent when Luka and Kaito reached it. Thick, windowless buildings loomed, tall, watchful giants over the desolate ground. Thick icicles hung from eaves. The ground was a pure, untouched white. It felt as though the village was holding its breath; a town of ghosts.
Kaito bowed once more, swept his hand out to indicate that they have arrived, and pointed to the largest building, its wooden screens stained by countless winters. Then, without a word, he left in the direction of a closely clustered group of ramshackle cabins.
This was, Luka saw, not a rich village, nor was it a lively one. There was no one outside, and the only footprints she could see were from Kaito and herself. Luka shivered from another gust of wind, pulled her cloak tighter around herself, and walked over to the building Kaito indicated. She went up worn wooden steps and hesitated at the sliding door. The complete silence of the village pressed in around her. But there was no need to knock, for the door slid open, courtesy of a young man with pale skin and long, flowing hair. Upon seeing Luka, he bowed a brief greeting that Luka hastened to return.
Once inside, the door closed, the man started talking, his voice a steady monotone. "Welcome to Kikuo, doctor. This is very exciting. I trust the journey up was not too difficult?"
Out of politeness, Luka answered in the affirmative.
"Excellent," said the man. "It has been a while since we've received new residents in Kikuo. There will be dinner soon; I trust you are famished after your arduous journey."
The interior of the building, Luka noted, was large and closed off to the outside by heavy wood. Noise could not escape. She felt herself relax. As long as silence did not have to be observed at all times, she could manage. "Thank you for your generosity. Although," Luka hesitated and put on her most polite language, "might I ask, to whom it is I am speaking?"
"Oh, my apologies," said the man with a tight smile. "I must have let my excitement get the better of me. I am Lord Kamui Gakupo."
Lord? At this age? Kamui's face was so youthful Luka doubted that he was much older than herself. "I...I see."
"You are surprised? I regret to say that my father, rest his soul, took ill at the same time as Doctor Hatsune. Without the doctor's estimable skills, however, he was lost. I pray his spirit is at rest."
A twang of memory at the name Hatsune. Luka's mentor had mentioned the very same name many times before - an old friend, a widower who moved to Kikuo with his child some time ago. "That is unfortunate. Is there anyone currently suffering from this disease?"
"Of course not," said Kamui. "Kikuo is careful. You mustn't worry. We know the value of seclusion. The first cough my father gave, we put him to strict bed rest. The same went for Doctor Hatsune. As you can see," he spread his hands, "Kikuo did not live so long in such conditions without relying on caution at all times."
"I see. Where will I be staying?"
Kamui folded his hands within his cloak. "You may stay in Doctor Hatsune's old residence. Please do not be concerned about disease - you will find that the place is perfectly clean. Now," Kamui stood aside and revealed a plainly-dressed girl, her head down such that all Luka could see was her light hair, "the maid will guide you to your residence."
The maid bowed and looked up at Luka. Luka felt a breath hitch in her throat. The girl had a pure, clean beauty that seemed out of place in her plain clothes. Her blue eyes were distant, her face softly rounded. "I am pleased to meet you," said the girl, her voice soft and precise. "My name is Hatsune Miku. Please, follow me."
-o-o-o-
The outdoors was bracing. It was as though the mountain had sensed that Luka was an outsider, and strong winds threatened to nearly blow her off the mountain. Miku, on the other hand, paid it no mind, merely bracing herself against the wind and bowing her head like a supplicant to a god as she walked. Despite the gusts, there was no howling - Luka suspected that the lack of trees had something to do with it. The two of them approached the ramshackle collection of housing. There was no one outside, and Luka wondered if anyone lived here at all. But there must be people, surely.
Miku stopped at a house made of logs, furnished a rusty key, and fiddled with the lock before opening it and beckoning Luka inside. Once in, Luka took in the surroundings. Apparently all of Doctor Hatsune's belongings were removed, for there was nothing save for a single futon, piled high with blankets to ward against the cold, and a nicked cabinet. The inside smelt of sour tatami and spent candles. There were no windows.
"Thank you," said Luka, but Miku ignored her in favor of surveying the household as though seeing it for the first time. Her gaze was distant, her posture rigid. Luka's eyes unconsciously traced the contours of her remote face. There was a loneliness about her, a melancholy air that accentuated her young beauty. Though she was here, she may as well be miles away. Perhaps she was reflecting on her past, reflecting on her father.
"I'm sorry about your loss," Luka said.
Miku gave no indication of having heard her. Silence enveloped the room once more, and, suddenly aware of her staring, Luka felt a heat in her cheeks and turned away, forcing her thoughts to ponder the emptiness of the village. Even though Kikuo was a village of silence, surely there must be a few villagers out and about to get chores done, but there was no one that she had seen. Also, how does Kikuo get food? From Luka's brief look outdoors, there appeared to be no plants and no animals. Did it rely on trading with other villages, perhaps?
"I will return in an hour to notify you of dinner," said Miku after some time, breaking Luka out of her thoughts. She glanced up at her, wondering if she should say something. But as she opened her mouth to say a farewell, Miku left without another word.
-o-o-o-
Luka did not pack much, and as she unpacked, she thought back on home. What circuitous road led her from the port town of Nagasaki to this icy village located nowhere? The weather changed from clement to hostile the farther she traveled. If it wasn't for her mentor being a friend of Doctor Hatsune since youth, Luka would never have ended up here.
She allowed a small ember of resentment in her heart before snuffing it. It wouldn't be so bad, she hoped. She would have three years to be a practicing doctor, and once she returns to the world below, her mentor promised a high position in his practice. This location of Kikuo, Luka admitted, was not optimal. However, other locations had their own drawbacks. At least here, she had the solitude to study, to read, to take in the icy beauty of the mountain. The cold and silence will prevent her from falling to idleness.
Luka was in the middle of unpacking her books when her door slid open courtesy of Miku. Wordlessly she led Luka back to the village's hall, where there was dinner set at a long table and a small assortment of men - including Kaito - that Lord Kamui introduced as his friends and as so-called 'eminent personages' of the village. The ostentatious words skimmed the suffocating atmosphere of the room, and all Luka could smell was candle-wax.
"How are you finding the village?" asked one of the men with a friendly smile.
Luka considered. "The cold is...bracing."
The man laughed. "Damned with faint praise, I see. Well, you'll get used to it soon enough."
Luka smiled awkwardly and turned her attention to the food, which seemed to consist of thinly sliced taro, shiitake, carrots, burdock, and other vegetables together in a stew. Suddenly, she remembered her questions about how the village gets its food. After all, from what she could see, there were no plots of land. "By the way, I was wondering...where does Kikuo obtain its food? Do you trade with other villages?"
Kamui shook his head. "There are no other villages. Kikuo is self-sufficient, doctor, out of necessity."
"Where are the animals and the crops? I'd imagine animals would make a lot of noise."
"Animals have their vocal cords cut," Kaito answered, "and we tend crops inside some of the mountain nodes. There is a large village plot, but the Kamuis also maintain their own private plot."
"What are these mountain nodes?"
"Holes in the mountain. Other than some of the houses, it is the only place where we can make noise."
Luka nodded along to the explanation, but she then noticed a uniform pinchedness in everyone's face, as though their cheeks had been squeezed. For a brief moment, she wondered as to whether or not she should ask about it, but quickly dismissed the thought - it would have been rather rude, not to mention, random. Instead, Luka said nothing other than a mild, "I see", and bowed her head to eat her meal.
-o-o-o-
"What illness did the doctor and the former lord have?" Luka asked Kaito on the day of the first lesson. The many candles in the room flickered, a necessity at all times of day due to the lack of windows. "Since this happened recently, it may be useful if I let you know what to do if another case of it happens."
"We don't know," said Kaito, his words slipping out easily, as though rehearsed. "They simply sickened. It was a hard year. An infection spread in the serows. Perhaps they ate some bad meat."
Luka frowned. "The meat was bad, yet no one else suffered from this disease?"
Kaito nodded, his expression distant, his voice formal. "The old lord and the doctor both suffered from easily upset stomachs, doctor."
The explanation sat uneasily in Luka's mind. "Well...what symptoms did the two of them have?"
"They complained of pins and needles, of sweating and headaches," said Kaito with some hesitation. "Then vomiting, pain...near the end of it all, they could barely move."
If the meat was indeed bad, nausea, vomiting, and pain were all symptoms of food poisoning. The paralysis Kaito hinted at, not so much, but that could be attributed to extreme pain. Still, how could it be that only the Doctor Hatsune and the old lord ate the bad meat? This sounded more like a poisoning than a simple stomach illness. The symptoms matched that of aconite poisoning, which do indeed grow in mountainous regions...Luka frowned. "I see. And you are sure that this is an illness?"
Kaito glanced at Luka, his eyes cool. "I am positive."
-o-o-o-
Every so often, Miku would come by to tidy Luka's household. Luka kept a clean house, habits from her schooling - no one likes a messy doctor - so most of the time Miku spent her time sweeping up the nonexistent dust while Luka attempted to pore over her books; ever since that first lesson with Kaito, Luka had been preoccupying herself with studying poison. Though she suspected that the old lord and the old doctor were poisoned, she had no evidence to back it up, and furthermore she could not find any aconite plants in the village plot. But as Kaito mentioned, the Kamuis also had their own private plot.
However, more often than not, Luka caught herself stealing glances at Miku. The knowledge that her father may have been poisoned lent her a tragic air. A young, beautiful woman who moved up to a mountain village with her father, who was now dead...there was a simple tragedy in it that would not be out of place in an old folk song.
One day, with books dull and loneliness sharp, Luka decided to clear the silence that had accumulated between them. She cleared her throat. "Were you always a maid to the Kamuis?"
"No," said Miku. "But it is seen as a great honor in the village to work for the Lord. We have a small school here dedicated for the purpose."
Luka sat up straighter, her interest piqued. "A school?"
"Yes," said Miku.
"Did you attend?" asked Luka.
"I attended for a semester after our father passed," said Miku. "Most attend for years, but the circumstances were strange for me."
Miku spoke as though she was in a dream, her voice a steady monotone and her eyes far away. Luka noticed that Miku lacked the pinchedness in countenance that seemed to characterize the village natives. The contours of her cheeks were full and faintly flushed with cold.
"You were born elsewhere, correct?" asked Luka.
"Yes, my father moved here when I was ten years old."
"Ah, that's what I thought. The villagers seem to have a certain facial oddity."
"There is nothing odd about it," said Miku. "Children grow up gagged here until they are old enough to understand the danger that their play represents, and I did not grow up here. I only had to wear the gag for two years."
Luka stared. What kind of village was this? "That's terrible."
Miku shrugged, her face still distant. "It is the way things are done here. We must be cautious at all times."
"Wouldn't you rather live somewhere else?" asked Luka.
Miku glanced at Luka. "There is nowhere else to live on this mountain."
"I meant off the mountain. Where are you from?"
There was a long silence. And then, slowly, as though each syllable was a pulled tooth, Miku said, "Nagasaki."
"Ah," said Luka, brightening up. That was where she studied under her mentor. Perhaps it should not have been too big of a surprise, because her mentor was friends with the old doctor, but Luka still felt a spark of fellow-feeling for Miku. "I lived there for a while. Kikuo is very different, isn't it?"
Miku shrugged. "Of course."
Inwardly, Luka sighed at Miku's reticence. "Do you plan on returning to Nagasaki when you get older?"
At that, Miku gave a short, snapped laugh, an unexpected burst of emotion that startled Luka - the sound was like thunder in the small, quiet room. "That is impossible."
"Impossible?" Luka echoed. How could it be impossible? "But Kikuo is a village like any other. I, for one, don't plan on staying here for more than the three years I need to teach Kaito."
At that, Miku composed herself, rearranging her features back into neutrality. "Yes. I hope your years here will be instructive."
"So you want to stay in Kikuo?"
Miku's shoulders dropped and she sighed. "It's not that I want to stay. It's more that I cannot leave."
"You can't leave?" Luka stared at her. "What's stopping you?"
Miku laughed dryly. "You can see for yourself, doctor."
-o-o-o-
As Luka made her way back down the path that had led her to the village, the snow nearly blinded her eyes. Luka rubbed her arms and squinted her eyes near-shut as she took step after careful step, further down and down. The distant mountains were little more than a fuzzy mass.
After what seemed like too long, Luka saw the telltale arches of the gate. However, the heavy stone doors of the gate were shut. Strange. The door had been open when Luka entered. There were no guards posted here when Luka went through either, which implied that the gate was always left open. Luka glanced around. There was no other way down - only a precipitous drop to her right and an unclimbably steep mountain wall to her left.
Perhaps she came at an off time. Luka knocked on the gate, but there was no answer. Miku's words about not being able to leave echoed in her head. But that couldn't possibly apply to Luka, can it? Lord Kamui and her mentor had told her that all she had to do was stay for three years. However, there was the case of Miku, and why she couldn't leave. Luka rubbed her temples. If Luka's unconfirmed suspicions about the old doctor's poisoning were correct, whoever poisoned the old doctor deliberately chose to leave Miku alive as a prisoner in the village. Why would that be? One explanation came to mind - Miku was beautiful, certainly one of the most charming sights in the village. Perhaps the poisoner wanted the old doctor out of the way so that he could have Miku to himself. But if that was the case, then why did the lord die as well?
In her mind's eye, Luka saw Miku's downcast face, her narrow nose, her slim build and melancholy eyes. Having such a beauty live as a prisoner in this backwards, silent village was appalling. Luka could only imagine what indignities would be visited upon her, if they had not been visited upon her already. Luka imagined taking Miku back with her to Nagasaki. They could see the ocean and feel the warmth of the sun. They could laugh and run and shout instead of wrapping themselves up in careful movements and quiet speech. Miku could show her emotions then. She would be freed, and perhaps Luka could even see her smile. The thought of it warmed her as she wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the cold, and hurried her way back up.
-o-o-o-
Months passed. While Luka still rarely saw the other villagers, she at least saw them enough to know that they existed, which took a vague worry off of her mind. She even had the chance to sit in at the servant school Miku had told her about. The teacher was a curt woman who began the class with a lecture telling the children to never gamble with their lives before lining the children up and listing off qualities that exemplify the ideal citizen of Kikuo: diligent, polite, hard-working, and above all, obedient.
"You must, at all times, restrain your movements," said the teacher. "Loud voices and clumsiness may bring down the mountain."
The gagged children would nod as they clutched their elbows tighter to their bodies and worked in uniform silence. Whenever a child made a mistake, the teacher would admonish them with a hard, quick slap on the cheek that left Luka cringing. The movement had seemed altogether too explosive to be merely disciplinary in nature. It was as though the teacher was a coiled snake, though she never raised her voice.
"Be quick, cautious, precise, and silent," the teacher would say as she marched through the room, peering hawkishly over each child's shoulder.
No wonder Miku was so quiet if she were schooled in such an environment. Luka wondered as to how these children would turn out to be once they grew up. The lecture ended with another final speech about being careful, another final speech listing anecdotes of unwary villagers falling to their deaths, of dropped cups and bowls leading to avalanches that nearly wiped out the population of the entire village. When the children left the room, they walked like soldiers.
-o-o-o-
"A toast," said Kamui, "to the end of your first year."
"Thank you," said Luka as she took a sip of her drink. She had gotten a little more used to the mountain brew by now, though its strong alcoholic content still burned her throat.
"How has the village been?" asked Kamui.
Luka smiled. "The solitude helps with my learning."
"That is good to hear. Kaito, how are the lessons?"
"They are going well," said Kaito. "I have no complaints. The other day we treated one of the villagers for a broken leg."
Kamui raised his eyebrows. "How did the villager break his leg?"
"An accident with moving some furniture, as I understand it. He was a good patient. Very calm," said Luka. "Very quiet."
"Well," said Kamui, smiling, "we are brought up to be silent here. And how has Miku been, as a maid? She is rather new at all this."
"Miku is helpful," said Luka. "She is rather reticent, but I like to think that we have become friends of a sort. Still, she is a quiet girl."
"I see. Well, it would be unfortunate if our doctor's stay here is an unpleasant one. Shall I talk to Miku for you?"
"Ah, that won't be necessary," said Luka, quickly. "Anyways, I was wondering...after my three years here, would it be possible for me to take Miku with me on a trip back to Nagasaki? I can escort her back up here as well."
Kamui raised an eyebrow. "Why take her there with you?"
"Well, I recently found out that she was from Nagasaki like I am, and I thought that perhaps it would be nice if she could come back down the mountain to visit her family."
Kamui's expression did not change, but when he spoke, his voice had become even milder than it was before. "She is in the care of my household, and she is my maid, doctor. As such, I cannot allow her to leave Kikuo. There is too much for her to do here."
Luka frowned inwardly. What did Kamui want to keep Miku here for? Surely there cannot be that much for just Miku to do, since there is a school specifically for training servants. Perhaps Kamui had more inappropriate desires for Miku. Luka suppressed the jealousy that sprung up in her gut. "The old doctor Hatsune put her under your family's care then, when he passed?"
"That is correct," said Kamui.
"Why did Doctor Hatsune come to Kikuo?" asked Luka.
"He was good friends with the old Lord Kamui, as I remember," Kaito said. "The two of them went on walks together."
"It was too risky of them," said Kamui with a frown. "Talking so freely outdoors invites disaster, and now the two of them have passed. The old ways are the best. Kikuo did not survive so long without caution at all times, and the old doctor was exceedingly uncautious. He never understood the dangers of the mountain, and he never understood our culture."
"Perhaps their illness was the mountain's curse," said Kaito, "for disrespecting it."
"Perhaps," said Kamui. "I hope our new doctor shows proper respect to the mountain as well."
That sentence sounded like a veiled threat. Luka remembered the closed gate, the private Kamui garden, and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, instead forcing a smile. "Don't worry. I know my role here."
-o-o-o-
The unease that had taken root in Luka's mind ever since her visit to the closed gate only grew after the dinner with Lord Kamui. The village's habitual silence pressed in on her like a pair of jaws. She went through each day's lesson with Kaito numbly, worrying as to whether or not Kaito was reporting any aberrant behavior to Kamui. But at the same time, why should Luka worry? She had never done anything to annoy Kamui, unless Kamui took offense at Luka asking if Miku could come down the mountain with her. Luka tried to push the intrusive thoughts out of her head, but that only served to make them come back in greater and greater numbers.
Perhaps Luka could ask the lord if she could leave early. Kaito was now a capable enough doctor in his own right - capable enough to set a few bones and to mix together what medicines he could from the meager offerings from the mountain's plants, which was, as far as Luka was concerned, good enough. The only problem was Miku - though Miku was a part of the Kamui household, Luka did not want to leave her here. She had grown to feel attached to the maid, despite her reticence, and she did not know what would happen to her after she left. Miku would be the only outsider in the village then, and ever since that dinner, Luka has had suspicions about Lord Kamui. The lord's veiled threats and obvious dislike of the old doctor was enough to nearly confirm Luka's earlier suspicions of poison, and if Kamui had truly murdered his father and the old doctor, Luka could not leave Miku with her father's murderer as her master. It sickened her to even think of the injustices Kamui could inflict on Miku, and the thought of such a beautiful girl wasting her youth on this silent mountain was painful.
However, from Kamui's reaction when Luka brought up the topic of Miku leaving, it did not seem like the lord was ever going to let her leave. And if Luka tried to take Miku back down the mountain by force, the villagers know the mountain far better than she ever would and could track them down easily.
Luka sighed and put her head in her hands. Behind her, Miku swept the room, silent as always. Luka glanced back at her. She was the only vision of beauty on the mountain, a caged nightingale outside of its natural environment. She belonged in the sunlight and by the sea, not in this desolate, always-silent village. Luka's resolve grew at the sight of her.
"Miku," said Luka, "did your father really die of sickness?"
The sweeping stopped. "Pardon?"
Luka hesitated. "I have come across some strange things, and I was wondering how your father really died, if you knew."
Miku breathed out a sigh and continued sweeping. "My father died of illness."
"I don't think so," said Luka. She wasn't about to let Miku slip her way out of answering questions again. "Tell me the truth, or at least as much truth as you know."
There was a silence, then: "Why do you want to know?"
Luka turned to face her. "Because if there is truly injustice here, then I want to help you."
Miku studied Luka's face for what seemed like forever. For the first time, her impassive expression cracked, revealing resigned despair. "I do not know what you can do to help me."
"I don't know either," said Luka, "but I'll do my best."
Miku nodded, mulling thoughts over in her head, before speaking. "My father came to this village because he believed it needed help. Kikuo, from what he understood, had no doctors and it was difficult to live life here. He had run a successful practice for a few years, but I suppose he wanted something new, a challenge."
Luka nodded. It made sense to her ears.
"But when he got here, it was worse than he thought," Miku continued. "People are so isolated here, they had very little knowledge of the outside world. My father wanted to change that, so he decided to talk with the old lord of the village. They became friends."
"But Kamui...the current Kamui...didn't want things to change?" asked Luka.
Miku nodded. "Yes. He clung so tightly to the superstitions and to the beliefs of repression and obedience, but you know what? My father didn't think that the mountain was that fragile. He had a theory that it was simply an old tradition, carried on to this day in order to better control the townsfolk."
Luka's eyes widened. If the mountain truly wasn't fragile, then the villagers would have been living out their repressions for nothing. The servant school's teachings of obedience and silence, the gags on the children, suddenly seemed much more sinister. "I see...did he voice this theory? Was this what led to his death?"
"No," said Miku. "That would be too radical to voice all at once. My father thought that the most important step would be to modernize the village first, so he told no one about this theory other than me. There was one day when the old lord and my father reached an agreement to open up trade. There is very little to eat here, as I'm sure you have noticed, and it would be the first step to modernization and integration with the rest of Japan. However, Kamui was strongly against it."
Kamui's words during the dinner and Miku's testimony of the events were coming together. Luka could almost see the complete picture of what happened. "So what did Kamui do?"
"He confronted his father and the doctor about it. His father accused him of being stuck in the past and told him that he should face the future, like the doctor. After that I suppose that Kamui was afraid that my father would succeed the old lord and become the new head of the village, and he found that intolerable. So he poisoned them with the aconite he grows in the Kamui's private plot, and enslaved me."
"That's awful! Why didn't the rest of the villagers do anything?"
"While my father and the old lord were planning changes, Kamui became close with the schools and with the next generation of men and women in the village. He influenced the schools' teachings, and convinced the men and women to his views. The fatal flaw of my father and of the old lord was that they did not pay attention to the villagers due to their planning, and Kamui had an abundance of time to curry public opinion in his favor."
Luka scowled. After hearing Miku's story, it was even clearer that she could not leave Miku to fend for herself in this hostile village. "That's terrible...terrible and unfair. We have to escape."
Miku sighed. "Don't you think I already tried? The gate is always locked. Lord Kamui wants Kikuo to become even more isolated. There is no way."
"For the gate to be locked, there must be a key," said Luka. "Lord Kamui has it, correct? Perhaps we can threaten him."
Miku laughed dryly. "Yes, and bring down the wrath of the village on our heads."
"That won't happen," said Luka. "Kikuo is a village of silence. We can threaten to bring the mountain down. Your father didn't think that it was possible, right?"
Miku stared at her. "But that's just a theory."
Luka shook her head. "It makes sense that the mountain isn't actually that fragile. Lord Kamui himself mentioned how the old doctor was not careful, which implies that he must have flouted the rules. If that's the case, why hasn't there been an avalanche from his actions? In any case...I have a plan."
-o-o-o-
It was the day of the annual town meeting. Luka shifted uncomfortably as she waited with the rest of the villagers for Kamui to give his speech. The air in the mountain node was stifling, even though it was the largest public gathering place in Kikuo that allowed for sound. She had her plan in mind, but she was beginning to have second thoughts. It wasn't too late to back out. But then she remembered Miku's story of her entrapment, the bleak despair in her eyes, and Kamui's cruelty. Luka could not let her suffer any longer in this wretched place. They both had to escape.
Kamui ascended the stage, smiling blandly as he did. As he prepared to talk, Luka spoke up.
"Kamui," she said. In the dead silence of the mountain node, her voice sounded deafening. The villagers turned their heads to stare at her. "I want to leave Kikuo. Kaito is capable enough to be the doctor now. Also, I want to take Hatsune Miku with me."
There was consternation in the node now, the villagers, normally calm and silent, mumbling to each other in an indistinct hum. But all Luka could see was Kamui's cool, impassive expression.
"Why do you want to take Miku with you?" asked Kamui.
"Miku told me the truth," said Luka, the memory of Miku's pained eyes clear in her mind. "The old doctor and the old lord did not die from illness. You poisoned them because of your own envy. You thought that Doctor Hatsune would usurp your position as the lord of the village, and you enslaved Miku after he died as a symbolic gesture."
Kamui's eyes widened. For the first time, he looked as though he did not know what to say. Kaito, who was standing on the back of the stage, looked appalled.
"You fear the mountain's wrath, correct?" Luka continued. "But I have no attachment to this village, and neither does Miku. If you give us the key to the gate, we promise to leave peacefully. But if you don't, then I will call down the avalanche. I'll run outside this node and make as much noise as I can."
The silence was broken by a disbelieving laugh courtesy of Kaito. "If you bring down the avalanche, you will die too."
"No," said Luka, remembering the old doctor's theory that the constant threat of avalanches did not truly exist. "I have a plan for that. So, Kamui, what will it be? The key, or the village?"
Kamui said nothing for a long while, and then he began to laugh, an unsettlingly uncontrolled one from a normally controlled man. He almost bent over with the force of his laughter. "Is this what Miku told you, doctor?"
"It is," said Luka, "and I see no reason not to believe her."
"It is the folly of humanity," said Kamui, "to believe in someone purely because they have a pretty face."
"Miku is a prisoner here, and I see no reason to not believe her when you poisoned your father and the old doctor. Now give me the key to the gate."
Kamui straightened his shoulders. "I do not have the key. It is lost."
"Do not lie to me," said Luka. "If you keep refusing, I'll have no choice but to bring down the mountain."
Kamui only looked at Luka. "As I said, I do not have the key."
Luka gritted her teeth. Kamui must be thinking that he was calling Luka's bluff. Or perhaps Kamui knows that the mountain was not in danger of avalanches after all, and was merely using the tradition as a way to control the villagers. But no matter - if Luka calls him on his bluff, then the villagers would see that they had been lied to about the mountain, and perhaps then they would do Luka's work for her. Age-old repressions would be released, and everyone, not just Miku, would be freed.
So, without another word, Luka turned and ran, ignoring the villagers' panicked gasps. She bound out of the mountain node, stumbled down the slush of the slope. The night sky shone with countless stars. There was no moon. The mountain ranges in the distance blurred into an uneven black mass. Luka had told Miku to wait by the gate for her so as to avoid capture. It was all up to Luka now. Her heart beating quick, Luka felt a tinge of unease in the back of her mind - what if she was wrong? What if the mountain really was fragile? But that can't be. She glanced behind her. A few of the villagers had followed her, their faces blank with hope. They, too, want to be free from the mountain. It was not only Miku who was depending on her.
Luka gathered her resolve, put her hands to her mouth, and screamed. The sound was nearly thunderlike in the expanse of the alps, and it echoed for what seemed like miles and miles, her voice reaching back to her again and again. Luka slowly lowered her hands, waiting for a crack, for a sound, for the rumbles of an avalanche.
But there was nothing, and she turned towards the villagers, who were gazing past her at the other mountains. "You have been lied to," Luka told them. "There was never any danger of the mountain coming down."
"Luka," said Kaito, who had emerged from the mountain node, looking around the pale white expanse, "what have you done?"
"I've freed the village," said Luka.
Kaito sighed, his eyes sad. "That really is what you think, isn't it? What have you been told?"
"Like I said," said Luka, "Miku told me the truth. Where is Kamui? I want the key, and I am curious as to what the villagers are doing now that they found out about his deception."
Kaito shook his head. "Kamui was telling the truth. He does not have the key. Furthermore, why would you need one? The gate is always open."
Luka furrowed her eyebrows. "But when I went down to see the gate, it was closed and locked. Miku told me that she couldn't escape, that she needed the key in order to unlock the gate."
In the distance, there was a faint rumbling. Kaito turned towards the villagers who had ventured outside. "Get back inside the node," he ordered, and the villagers nodded and scrambled back into the hole like frightened rabbits. Kaito's eyes flicked upwards before he turned back towards Luka. "From now on we will have no choice but to be self-sufficient. I suppose Miku is long gone by now, with the key to the village."
"What?" said Luka, her mind unwilling to process what Kaito just said. "Miku has the key?"
"Of course. Who else could have had it? Originally Kamui and I thought it was lost somewhere in the main hall, but now..."
"But then why didn't she escape earlier?"
"She wanted to complete her revenge upon this village, I suspect, and needed someone else to carry out her plan," said Kaito. "She and her father had tried to do terrible things to Kikuo. The doctor had poisoned the old lord after the old lord had been convinced to sign the village over to the Hatsunes after his death. Thankfully, Kamui found out about the plot in time, though he was not quick enough to prevent his father's death. All he could do was ensure that the Hatsunes never inherited Kikuo."
"What about the silence?" Luka stammered. "What about the avalanches?"
Kaito smiled thinly, turned, and walked away, his steps slushing through the snow. The distant rumbling grew stronger and stronger, louder and louder. In her mind's eye Luka saw snowbanks breaking and accumulating as they rushed down the mountain. A black dread infiltrated her gut. She first turned towards the node, but then rejected it. She would be torn apart if she went in again. She had to escape and find Miku. Miku would explain everything. Yes, that was it. That in mind, Luka turned and ran, nearly tripping over the accumulated snow, clumsily catching herself as the rumbling grew louder and louder. Luka thought she could see even the snow in the distant peaks crumble, though it was night.
Half-blind, Luka ran down the path towards the exit, ran her way past dead trees and lifeless plants. She brushed aside fragile branches, cut her cheek in her mad flight. For a second, she glanced behind her. She could see the snow coming down in a disorganized jumble, rushing down the mountain like a great torrent. Luka turned her attention back towards the path before her, her heart jackhammering. She could see the gate, and she quickened her steps.
The gate was closed, and there was no Miku to be seen. Luka's heart dropped to her gut. She ran towards the door and knocked on it, pushed it, pulled it, but it was locked. The key, where was the key? Did Miku really take it with her? Luka dropped to her knees and searched the snow. Perhaps Miku had dropped the key. Perhaps Miku had left it behind so that Luka could escape too.
And then, Luka saw it: a rusted metal object poking out of the snow. Hope leapt up in her chest and she made a mad grab for it. It was a key. The mountain's grumbling grew louder and louder, and Luka no longer had any desire to look behind her. She fitted the key into the lock and turned. Nothing happened. Frantic, Luka turned the key the other way. Still nothing. Her breaths came out shallow and fast. No. This was too cruel. Luka trembled. She could barely control her fingers. They jittered against each other. She looked at the key once more, carefully.
The realization dawned upon her. Luka's ears felt as though they were full of static. Her heart pounded madly, blood rushing into her head. Her legs lost all of their strength. All she could do was lean against the gate, slide down until she hit the ground, and await her fate. She could see the avalanche rushing down the slopes like a torrent, could hear, in the distance, the breaking of wood. The key slipped from her fingers to the ground. Luka paid it no mind. All it was was the key to the Hatsune's residence.