Walter locked herself in the closet immediately upon the sound of the door opening, Seija's mallet putting another hole in the floor. "Don't dodge, creep! I'm gonna to hit you VERY HARD and you WILL feel it!" Haito's head turned many ways. First, the floating items surrounding Seija, then, the massive hole in the floor that the same person fell through, the big mess that they'd made in the short gap between Sakugo throwing the ying-yang ball and Haito entering the room, and then Seija herself, who was charging towards the closet. "Seija-sama, please refrain from damaging this property any further, if you will. And I do remember our therapy session was cut short by a rash decision on my part. I must apologize profusely." Seija kicked the floor to stop momentum, to her geta's dismay, of which one of its teeth was close to snapping. She slammed the hammer into the closet door despite Haito's request.

"And I believe we have not discussed the terms of your residence here, now that the fact you are a criminal is out in the light." She whispered. Seija tried to open the closet door, but Haito stopped her from doing so. "I also ask to refrain from exposing my daughter to my presence. I shall not explain why. I recommend you do not look deeper than this." Seija snapped her wrist out of Haito's hand. "What kinda dysfunctional family is yours?" It was quite an obvious bait for Haito's anger, but she had the brains not to take it. "Sakugo. I need to discuss something with Seija for a moment. I trust you can care for yourself, true?" Though not visible, Walter nodded from behind the closet door. "We will speak in the basement floor about your stay. Do not fret, it is not quite as bad as you are probably picturing."

"Essentially, there will not be any change, as there are various personal reasons for which I harbor you, a fugitive." Seija felt annoyed by the formal form of speech that Haito was speaking in. "But there shall be no loss on your part. I can guarantee you this. I only request that you attend to a daily psychological check-up with me, at whatever time." Haito spun the teaspoon in the cup, observing the drops of beverage trickling down when she lifted the spoon. She was not looking at Seija directly, perhaps hiding something. "Do you have any questions? Preferrably, ones which do not intrude upon my privacy."

"That girl's adopted, right? Gonna be honest, that kid's got a few screws loose, but it looks like it's your fault, rather than hers." She snickered while trying to enrage what was her only lifeline in the pursuit of her goals. "I mean- what kinda kid hides when their mom comes into their room? One with bad parents, if you ask me." Haito sighed and poured the steaming hot tea on Seija's head, the latter brimming with self-satisfaction. "Away from that topic, you are still to live in this household if your life has any value to you, if there are people going after you. You have two choices right now. You can either sleep with my daughter or in the living room. It's probably not for the best that she interacts with people like you, but you can go ahead and do whatever you please. Also, it is at your discretion if you are to make unpleasant contact with her. Not as a warning, but advice."

She pointed Seija towards the ladder. "Your sessions start tomorrow. I shall be down here at most times. You are presently dismissed." The tea splashed down into the cup. "What a waste.." More dripped from Seija's hair, who exited the room with a hop in her step. Haito looked inside the teapot, which was nearly empty. "...of good tea." She breathed the sweet scent of the infusion and let it rest in her mouth. 'Let's work.'


Sakugo watered the plants. The day-old body had decayed quite quickly, but alas, it wa still on its way to rotting completely. The garden smelled less like one and more a mountain of gore. There was gathering, weed-picking, and caring to do for today still. 'Today's going to be great!' There was not much difference in her routine, other than Seija's presence, which, in it's own right, was making itself quite prominent. She hummed and whispered a low tune while burying the body deeper, hoping that the stench would be stopped by the two feet of dirt that were in it's way. "Do you remember? This once small lonely world," The filmsy shovel scooped up fertile ground. "Not yet at mercy of it's impurity," Sweat dripped down her- A lively feeling, one they did not have at home. "Very, very long ago, this was the place that you were born once, too." Blood stained her boots, birds sang, she felt tired... It was all so primal, primitive, dated. If her ancestors had seen it, they would be proud for, whether Lunarian or earthly human, they were still men.

She noticed and waved to Seija, who was soaked, coming out of the house looking pleased. "Good morning! Do you still want to kill me?" Seija blinked at her and ran into a gap with slowly quickening steps, with no visible intention of dealing with her. 'I wonder if there's something wrong.'


Sagume removed her suit jacket and started sorting through the documents on her desk. There was cold coffee to drink, a dim lamp to light the room, and pens to write with. Oh, bureaucracy. Middle-to-high management is where paperwork piled up into mile-high-mountains. Thankfully, none had any coffee stains. If that happened, it'd be months of sending the dirty files to their respective department and praying for them to have a .pdf in some bloke's computer. It was a Kafka-written bureaucratic nightmare come to life mixed with the horrors of the snail-ish Heian court.

Sagume opened the sleek portable computer that was stored in the drawer. Her email was filled with reports even though only half an hour had passed since she left work to visit Haito. Worst thing was, she hadn't seen a person for practically months. Her office looked like a paper crypt. File drawers were filled in five minutes, reports flooded her computer in two... She envied the department heads, who were technically lower in the hierarchy than her, but had much less to process. She had asked herself and upper management many times, why every single document had to go through her before being transferred to another department.

A few of them were combat reports, all for one unit- Yorihime. Because the concept of a one man army couldn't be more true in the Lunarian Defense Corps. But, to get to the point, Yorihime was crossing paths near the entrance of the Sea of Tranquility with what seemed to be fairy scout teams. There were various observation notes, written by Watatsuki-sama.

'Those fairies do not seem to be wounded by my projectile attacks, though it seems that antique weapons, notably ones which have a deadly connotation, such as would be a Muramasa sword, are able to wound them. Earth-made weaponry in general, although less effective, can also cause harm.

Postscript: Miss Sagume, I trust that you do 'fail' to report my ownership of a Muramasa sword. Else, there shall be dire consequences. These swords are outlawed, as you may know, but I have grown quite an attachment to this one, being a heirloom of my forefathers. I wish you luck in your endeavours, and that the papers in your office do decrease in number.'

That tongue-in-cheek comment was not needed, Kusohime-sama. 'She knows they won't. It's her sister's fault in the first place.' And they still didn't pay her enough for processing actual tons of paperwork every day. Overtime was a given, in her case. Now, for the documents that actually mattered... 'Negotiations with Doremy Sweet are not...'

"Tsk." Apparently, there was no way to convince the 'Ruler of Dreams' to give them refuge during a crisis where the fate of the Lunar Capital could go bad in a few hours due to one loose fairy. She tasted the cold coffee and looked at her calendar, filled with scribbles of date marks and meetings. She marked another date with her pen and started to dial a number on her phone.

"Make arrangements for a meeting with Doremy Sweet, in two weeks' time." She hung up immediately, as they already knew she had far too much to do, and too little time to do it. She breathed out a heavy sigh and took a peek into a drawer, patting for a framed picture. It was an old group photo. From before Haito left, before Chang'e took the Hourai Elixir, and before Sagume was stuck in the office nearly at all hours of the day. Aching for olden times, but knowing that it would bear no fruit, she continued work.


In the empty cell room, with no windows to the outside, and only a single locked door as her deterrant for breaking out, she sat there, unmoving, covered in dry blood. The silent figure lay there, listening for a silent wind to never come. Regrets came to mind and haunted her. Perhaps her greed had become her downfall. Perhaps she made a hasty decision in an unfavourable scenario. Memories were leaving her, despite her eternal body. From beyond the walls, a song familiar to her was played.

"Through my heart, did you shoot echoing cries like arrows. Your voice made me feel something yet to be named. While I held your weak, soft little fingers, I could truly notice it." She held herself with a sadness shared only by mothers and clenched at her own sleeves. "Xiao Kōng'hóu..." She couldn't even meet her descendancy. Or even see Hou'yi in the afterlife. Her will and mind had been reduced to mere ash in isolation, self-cannibalism and thirst. She could only hope the people that once surrounded her were doing well.