Sorry for taking so long. I had to split this into two parts to avoid making it too long.
"We're back. Sorry about that."
As poorly lit as this place is, we've still managed to find our way back to Saya. It's a good thing that the structure of this place is linear for the most part. The tune of Saya's music box also helped here. When did she even have the time to ge-
"What were you talking about?" - Saya asks as she suddenly appears right in front of me, making me fall onto my rear out of surprise. To my relief, she seems to be curious about it with none of that bullshit I had to deal with earlier.
"Will you stop...Uh, whatever. It's nothing you should worr-"
"Come on, tell me!...Please?" - my sister pleads with those damn puppy eyes. It's not quite as effective when her eyes look like this though. It's not outright creepy, but it's enough for this attempt to be a failure.
"Look, knowing it will only make things more confusing. If Lambda wants to, she can tell you, but I don't see a point in doing that." - I say in response and she looks so disappointed that I almost regret it.
"Raaaagnaaaaa...You know that she's not going to tell me anything!" - the purple-haired girl whines...reminding me of Nu too much to my liking.
"What makes you think so?" - I ask.
"While you were...out, I guess, she refused to answer my questions. She wasn't ignoring me or anything though. She listened to my apologizes and expressions of gratitude for helping you, but aside from that, she just kept staring at me and glancing at you from time to time...Who is she anyway? When and where did you meet? Why does she look like you? What's with all those swords?...She's not responsible for...this, is she? I swear I'm going t-"
"Just calm down, will ya? It's a...It's a long story. It might take some time to explain everything. But first, there's something I wanted to ask you for a while. What exactly are you now? You keep saying that you're dead, but you sure don't look like it." - I ask the slightly taller girl, interrupting her to make sure that the shitshow from earlier doesn't happen again. At least now I know that Lambda has been following my instructions.
"...Knowing it will only make things more confusing!" - she replies with a smug grin on her face. If someone else tried to pull this shit on me, they'd already be lying on the floor with a broken nose, but since this is my sister, all I can do is sigh.
"Wow. How immature. How old is she? Ten? Twelve?" - Nu asks, most likely rhetorically, but it still makes me think 'bout it. Saya looks like she's around Nu and Noel's age, but that's all I know. Considering that she was dead...and apparently still is, I don't think her appearance really tells me anything here...It looks like something's bothering Saya.
"...I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. Seeing all this blood on you...and the smell of it...Can you change out of these clothes and take a bath?" - Saya finally as-
"Wait, hold on! You didn't mind that when you had Lambda's blood spray all over you, so, what gives? What are you t-"
"Do it or else I'll have to burn it to ashes." - Saya interrupts me with a threat and she looks dead serious about it. Is it really that bad for her? She always hated that kind of stuff, but maybe dying from that disease made it worse.
"A...Are you serious?" - I ask and for what feels like years, the purple-haired girl remains silent, staring at me with those red eyes of hers as if I'm some insect so pathetic she doesn't even want to step on it.
"...Just kidding! Still, you have to do as I say. You said that you had something important to deal with earlier, didn't you? Well, I don't think people will take it well if you just go outside like this. I would be worried if I saw a girl walk past with bloodstained clothes. Besides, it must feel unpleasant for you. I certainly felt disgusted, which is why I had to discard my favorite outfit and put this on instead..." - she says, completely shattering the built up tension. What she's saying makes sense and there is a lot of blood on both me and Lambda, but...
"I just...I can't do it, okay?" - I say in response, earning a confused look from Saya.
"I...don't see a problem here?" - she says, tilting her head a little.
"What do you mean you can't see the problem? This...This is basically your body and I can't just...you know...It's wrong on so many levels..." - I try to explain, but it comes out half-assed and it doesn't look like she understands what I'm trying to say here.
"Um, Ragna? Aren't you forgetting something? This is our body and you're free to do whatever you want with it! There's nothing wrong with any of this. I don't mind it! You don't have to be so shy about it..." - Nu tries to reassure me, but it's not much better, especially when she puts it this way.
"...How long have you been like this anyway?" - Saya asks, squinting her eyes as if it can somehow help her here.
"I'd say over a week, but I was conscious only for four days." - I reply. For a good minute or two, she just stands there, stroking her chin with a thoughtful expression.
"...Oh! I know how to solve this! How about letting me do all the work?" - my sis-
"WHAT?! This isn't any better!" - I protest rather loudly. Now this is one of the last things I'd want to experience. Her...solution makes sense, but it still sounds awkward.
"Well, it's either this or you'll have to do it yourself." - Saya says, crossing her arms with a pout on her face.
"...Alright, I give up. Let's just get this done and over with..." - I mutter with a sigh and the purple-haired girl almost immediately perks up.
"Great! Um, you can take a bath yourself, right?" - she asks the replica, who looks at me in return...Really now? Is she really that dependent on me? Whatever, I'll just nod.
"Affirmative." - Lambda replies.
"Good girl! See? You should be more like her, Brother." - Saya says, turning to look at me with a needlessly smug expression.
"That's great and all, but where are we supposed to go again?" - I ask my sister.
"Oh, um, it should be this way. Just follow me."
And so, once Saya picks up her music box, we start walking through these tunnels again. It still hasn't improved ever since we reached the area where we fought, but at least it doesn't get worse. The unnerving nature of this place is still present though. It's like some sort of a mockery of a shrine that welcomes no one into its seemingly endless dark caverns. I still don't know what's lurking in the shadows, but I'd rather not find out.
"What exactly is this place anyway?" - I ask.
"Honestly, I don't know. Mister Clover told me that this was one of his studies or something along those lines, but most of this place was locked behind some weird door at first. While he was busy with his own stuff, I found it and it opened when I touched it, but then some black fog started seeping out. I felt much better, but apparently it was dangerous for Mister and Missus Clover and then he did some...magic thing to make most of it go away. It was like a bright flash of light, but nothing about it felt special. He kept doing that as we went deeper inside, but Missus Clover told us to stop after a few hours. Over time, we've managed to settle in and clean it up a little. See all these torches? These are my work! Aside from being the only source of illumination here, they also eat that nasty black fog! Unfortunately, the lower levels are too much for them to deal with and by the time I've learned how to summon them, the area around Yomi became polluted...It's...It's my fault..." - Saya explains, her mood quickly plummeting by the end of it. That explains the state Yomotsu Hirasaka is in at least.
"Black fog that's apparently dangerous for humans and disappears when magic is used...I see. I think she's talking about seithr here." - the voice in my head says and I really don't like the look of things now. Saya was brought back into the world of the living at some point after I found Nu. That's also when this seithr stuff appeared in the forest. While I haven't seen any fog, there was still enough of it to almost kill Noel and render her potions useless. Still, I shouldn't jump to any conclusions so quickly. Besides, I've gotta cheer Saya up first.
"Look, you had no idea what was gonna happen, did you? Then don't sweat it...Hey, Saya, can I ask you somethin'? Did you hear anything while you were, um, deader than you are now?" - I ask in a rather obvious attempt to change the subject.
"I...don't think so? What was I supposed to hear?" - my sister asks...Huh. I still wouldn't say that I've been wasting time talking to her grave though. Even if she didn't hear any of it, it still put my mind at ease.
"Eh, it doesn't matter now. I'll just tell you everything once we get to...uh, you know..."