...surprise?
So, uh, hello! Honestly, I wasn't planning on jumping back into this. At all. But then I found some time to spend, so I just kinda found myself drawn back into this, I guess.
I didn't plan on writing more, but then I found out that a Touhou Circle I'd been listening to released their last Album. They'd been here for 10 years, and now they were moving on, and...I don't know, I guess I just had to do something, you know?
I won't bother trying to explain why I disappeared so long. For now, I'll just say that life was and is still hectic and leave it at that. Maybe I'll explain if I manage to upload another chapter.
Anyways, for the time being, Keeper of Secrets is back. Don't know how long I can keep this up. I'm already busy as is, and I do have Re: Soul Edge to keep up. I'll try my best though.
As per usual, update comes every two weeks. Ain't even gonna try and have it be weekly like Re: Soul Edge. I'd probably push Re: Soul Edge's updates to be bi-weekly as well actually.
Hakurei Orbs. That was the name that'd cropped up when she thought of them.
The two orbs floated over her palm, orbiting the other like a pair of stars in the wide universe. Hanako watched them silently, glaring slightly as she recalled what she'd seen.
It was Saturday today. She'd woken up, feeling refreshed after her first uninterrupted sleep in a week or so. She drank a quick class of milk and dialed Issei on her phone. She wanted to tell him about the orbs she'd found, and perhaps get some advice from Ddraig.
But he didn't answer.
Strange. Issei would've been up by then, but she shrugged. Perhaps the boy had stayed awake for too long. He could still be sleeping. So she waited, cooking herself a small breakfast to start the day. She then called him an hour later.
Still no answer.
She was understandably worried now. It was nearing noon, and Issei hadn't picked up her calls. Issei was no stranger to waking up late, but this was pushing it.
She called Issei's mother to see if anything was amiss. "He caught a fever." She'd said, her voice low with worry. The woman had tried waking her son, but Issei remained asleep, staying completely still.
Hanako nodded and closed the call, and stopped. A fever, she said? That didn't sound right. Issei was remarkably healthy, and he had Ddraig inside him. The dragon wouldn't let something as simple as a fever bring his host down.
Something was wrong.
Hanako rushed out of her home, barely managing to stop herself from flying all the way to her friend's home. Still, she'd definitely spooked some pedestrians with how fast she was running.
She made it in record time, and Hyoudou Miki greeted her with a bright smile. Hanako returned it with a small smile of her own before she went up to Issei's room, a glass of water and a pack of pills held in her hands. She twisted the knob, gently pushed the door open with her shoulder, and stepped in.
And stilled.
Issei was definitely feverish. His face was bright red, his breathing was short and ragged, and she could see beads of sweat trailing down his forehead.
But Hanako could see more, and it took her everything to keep herself steady. Issei's magic was exploding, rising and expanding and collapsing onto itself. The meager amount he had increased tremendously. Still smaller than what she had, but certainly formidable.
More than that, the sheer amount of heat wafting from him was insane. It wasn't actually heat of course. Rather, it was his presence, the aura he carried. It'd been unassuming before, with only small bursts of heat here and then. That'd been replaced by a near constant flow, as if she was standing right next to a flaming forge.
His humanity had faded. He'd turned-, was turning into something else, and she was watching it happen.
It didn't take her long to realize what was happening.
Issei had brought up King Arthur the day before, about how Ddraig had blessed the king with some of his blood and turned him into a dragon. Hanako had warned him, memories of that fateful summer night flashing at the forefront of her mind. She didn't want Issei to go through that. She didn't want him to suffer the same pain she did.
And he still did it.
Anger and fear and worry boiled in her heart, and she choked out her breath. She could remember dying. She could remember the way frost crept through her heart as she died. She remembered it all, and Issei was going through it.
She pressed a hand onto her chest and snarled.
She couldn't breathe.
She teleported to Yasaka's summer house seconds later, her breaths heavy as she kneeled on the floor of the training room, cold sweat trailing down her neck. With great effort, she bottled it all up and pushed it to the back of her mind.
Issei had chosen this. She didn't know why, but he did, and she'd put her trust in him. She could get angry at him when he woke up.
And so here she was, sitting on the floor as she watched the pair of orbs spiraling over her palm. She'd been trying to move them to do something else, but the orbs stubbornly continued to spiral around each other. She could make them float higher and lower, but they couldn't do anything else.
She'd been trying for the past thirty minutes. The orbs continued to spiral. She frowned. Why couldn't they stop spinning around each other? Were they tidally locked onto each other or something?
She didn't quite know how to explain it, but she could feel that something was…missing.
…
Hanako took a slow breath.
She was frustrated. Issei was undergoing his transformation and her Hakurei Orbs refused to listen to her. The brief cheer she had from the morning had long been stretched thin.
With a sigh, she let the two orbs drop onto her palm. She stuffed them into her pockets and stood up, smiling wryly as she glanced at her phone. It was just minutes past noon. She should probably get herself some lunch.
Issei was still sleeping.
It was evening now. The sky above had gone dark, and she was back in her room. She was sitting on her bed, her phone playing a soft rhythmic melody as she read through the novel she'd been reading for the past week or so.
After a quick bowl of cold soba, she'd gone back to Yasaka's summer house and continued playing with the Hakurei Orbs. The orbs stubbornly refused to listen, simply spiraling over her palm. She could stop then, make them bigger, and she could make them float higher, but making them do something else was seemingly impossible.
Which was…fine. Disappointing, but fine. She'd only found them a day ago. She hadn't been expecting much to happen.
It would've been convenient if Cirno could help her, but most of the memories she had were gone, covered by a fog she couldn't push away. The most the fairy could remember were the odd facts here and there, and the Garden of Sunflowers that she frequently went to. The only reason she even remembered was due to the 'Sunflower Incident', as Issei called it.
It probably meant that she could help her remember the rest of her memories. She didn't know how, but she could.
After an hour of sitting and watching the orbs spin around each other, she gave up and teleported back home. Casting a quick 'Cleanse' over herself, she pulled out her novel and sat on her bed, letting her phone play through the playlist she'd set for it.
And now here she was, humming along as she flipped to the next page.
It'd, admittedly, been too long since she'd relaxed like this. All the training and learning had sapped her time away, and her worries remained. And then she found out that the Christian God had died.
God was dead. God.
She wasn't Christian; she wasn't all that faithful to any religion really, but that'd nearly sent her tumbling into a catatonic shock. Because, what? God was dead? How? Why? What kind of monstrous being would be strong enough to kill a god of all things?
…
But, it was nice to take a step back once in a while, to isolate herself and forget about everything for a brief moment in time.
She smiled slightly. Sitting atop her bed, a book in her hand and soft music playing; it was nostalgic. This was how she'd spent her time before she became a youkai, how she'd spent her time before she was plunged into this hidden world. She missed it, in a way. She missed how she could read without a thought, how she could let the world pass her by.
She wouldn't change it however. She wouldn't-, couldn't go back to that ignorant bubble she was born into. For better or worse, she would remain in this magical world, and she'd make her way forward one step at a time.
…She really did miss those days though.
Bzzt. Bzzt.
Hanako blinked. Her phone was ringing. Slipping in her bookmark, she closed her novel and leaned over to grab her phone, blinking as she saw who it was.
"Hello?"
"Hanako-chan! Issei just woke up!" Issei's father said, and her eyes grew wide. Issei finally woke up? Relief washed through her chest, and she smiled.
"Mm. I'll be there soon."
Kikuchi Hanako was coming.
Kikuchi Hanako was coming, and Issei was beyond terrified. Because Hanako had warned him from doing this, didn't she? Ah, this was bad. He didn't want to die so soon. He hadn't even lost his virginity yet!
[Calm down, would you?] Ddraig's voice echoed in his mind. [It's not as if you'd actually die, youngling.]
"I might as well be." Issei snarked back. The dragon laughed back, and he pointedly ignored it. His head hurt, and listening to the giant lizard's rumbling laughter didn't help.
He'd taken his medicine of course. It didn't do much, he still felt terrible. Everything felt heavy, his skin felt uncomfortably hot, and it felt as if his head was splitting open. It was normal, Ddraig had said. Completely changing from a human to a dragon was not a painless process. He knew that, he did, but he hadn't expected it to be this bad.
[She's here, youngling.]
Already!? His panicked eyes shot to the clock on the wall, and he paled. It'd only been a minute since Hanako said that she was coming.
Deep rumbling laughter. [Time to face the storm, youngling.]
He had no response to that. He couldn't respond.
Because the moment those words echoed in his ears, his door slammed open and in came Hanako. Her expression was carefully empty, her eyes piercing deeply into his, and he could feel the way the room grew freezing cold. He shivered silently. Not even the heat in his chest provided any comfort against the freezing chill his friend bought.
"Issei." She whispered. The chill grew, and he gulped.
"G-Good…evening?" He tried. She glared. He waved at her and smiled shakily. She glared harder.
…
He dropped his smile. Ddraig was right. It was time to face the storm. There was no point in trying to wait.
"Look. I know it was reckless-" Her glare grew sharper, and a thin mist began to shroud the floor. "I know! I know it was reckless, but I had to." With a breath, he stood up and stared back. "I needed to do this. I can't just-, I can't stay like this." And a second later he whispered, "I can't leave you."
"Issei…" She softly said. Her glare softened, and her lips curled into a sad frown. "You didn't need to do that."
"But I wanted to." He pressed back. "I wanted to, because I can't just leave you behind. I-" He took a deep breath, and sighed. "You're a youkai. I-I don't know what that actually means, but you're going to live longer, right? You-, if I-, if I stayed human, then I'd be dead in what? 70 years? Maybe 80?"
Hanako said nothing, but he could see the way her eyes lowered to the ground. She knew it as well.
His heart twisted, but he soldiered on. "I won't-, I can't leave you like that." He took a breath, and smiled. "You're my friend. I'm glued to you whether you like it or not."
Silence fell between them. Hanako was staring at him, and he stared back.
After what felt like hours, Hanako sighed. "...Damn it." She softly cursed, and her frown shifted to a small smile. "How can I stay mad at that?" She sighed and glared at him, though the glare held hardly any heat. "Damn it, Issei."
He choked out a small laugh. "Well, it all ended fine, righ-"
In an act that was distinctly not Hanako, she went forward and hugged him. She was shaking slightly, he realized. He couldn't see her face, and he didn't need to. With a smile, he returned her hug, drawing aimless circles on her back. "I'm sorry."
"...just, tell me before you do it."
He sighed. "I know. I will."
"Mm."
They stayed like that for a while, her chill a comforting balm for the blazing heat in his chest, and his warmth a calming blanket for her.
Ddraig remained respectfully silent for the rest of the night.
"So I just…wear it?" Issei stared at the wooden charm in his hands. It was an intricate little thing, carved out of polished wood and tied as a small necklace. He could feel…something from it, but he was hardly good enough to discern what it was.
[For the last time, yes.] The gem on the Boosted Gear flashed as Ddraig grumbled. [Just wear it already, youngling.]
Yasaka giggled. "It is rather uncomfortable, but it wouldn't do anything else." She smiled as she gave the wooden charm a little tap. "It's simply a charm carved from ancient wood and enchanted by Spiritual Energy."
"It's not going to kill you." Hanako said simply.
Issei glanced at the necklace in his hands and sighed. Dragons carried with them a presence of power, a weight that pressed down on others. Issei wasn't exempt to this. Even without him trying, his parents had stared at him all throughout dinner, as if the person sitting across the table was someone entirely different.
He'd tried reigning it in, he really did, but he just couldn't. He could if he trained, but they didn't have the time. School was still a thing, and he certainly wasn't going to expose himself.
And so here they were, Yasaka having given him a charm to wear. He disliked the little thing from the moment he set his eyes on it. An instinctual reaction, Ddraig had called it. Dragons lived to boast their strength and charms that muted the weight of their presence just weren't something they'd condone.
Issei gave the charm another frown before she placed it around his neck, wincing as he felt the heat in his chest seemingly vanish. It felt as if a part of him had been locked away, and his skin tingled uncomfortably.
"Did…" He choked on his breath for a moment. Everything felt weird. "Did it work?"
"Yep. I can barely feel it." Hanako said, looking strangely peeved. "Shame. My personal heater is gone."
Issei blinked. "What?" Did Hanako just say something?
"Nothing." She said, and he stared. She'd definitely said something.
Yasaka laughed gently, and Ddraig joined in with his own rumbling laughter. Hanako turned away, and Issei continued to stare, his confusion growing by the second.
"Anyways, Yasaka-san, can I ask something?" She then asked. The woman nodded, and she frowned for a moment, before she pulled out a pair of white and red orbs from her pocket. "Do you know what these are?"
…
"Yasaka-san?"
The kitsune didn't answer her question. She didn't seem to realize she'd asked something. From the moment she pulled out the Hakurei Orbs, the kitsune's eyes had been stuck on them, staring at the orbs with no small amount of awe and…reverence?
"Hanako-chan." Yasaka said, in a voice smaller than she'd ever heard. "Where…did you find that?"
Hanako blinked. Find it? "I…don't know?" She said after a moment. "I found it in my bag. I don't know how it got there, but it was there, so-"
Yasaka suddenly laughed, as if amused by some hidden joke only she seemed to be privy to. She and Issei stared at her, both equally confused. Even Ddraig seemed somewhat confused, having gone completely silent.
"There never is a dull day with you, is there?" She said, and her smile turned fond. "To think you'd unearth another ancient artifact."
Hanako blinked. 'Another' ancient artifact-, ah, she meant that [Yata Mirror]. It…wasn't all that surprising actually, considering the Hakurei Shrine actually existed. She hadn't managed to do much with them just yet, but Merry's Book contained a plethora of notes detailing how strong these innocent orbs were.
If the Hakurei Orbs were real, would that mean the other artifacts Merry's Book described existed as well? Would she somehow find the Mini-Hakkero? Or even the Gungnir Remilia Scarlet used?
…Ah, that wasn't a good road to go down through. Thinking of using the Mini-Hakkero to blast apart a mountain gave her far too much glee.
"The [Hakurei Orbs]." Yasaka explained, oblivious to the thoughts bouncing inside Hanako's head. "A pair of enchanted orbs used by the Hakurei Shrine Maidens, and no one else."
No, that isn't it. A part of her whispered. Something about those words didn't feel right. It's not the simple.
"No." She suddenly said, "Anyone could use them with time and patience. The Hakurei Shrine Maiden could use it instinctually. Whether because of magic or the Hakurei God's blessing or whatever, it didn't matter. No one bothered to try and find out why."
Yasaka hummed. "Is that so?"
Hanako blinked. How did she-?
Suddenly, static filled her ears. A thousand explanations came up in her mind. Images flashed by her eyes. There was more she could explain about it, so much more, but the information was scattered. They were no better than random noise, and their meaning was scrambled.
A Hakurei Shrine Maiden could use the orbs without thinking. That was true, but what did being a Hakurei Shrine Maiden mean? Did it mean being born as a Hakurei? Did it mean training to become one? Did it mean being blessed by the unknown Hakurei God? Did it mean something else entirely?
She didn't know.
But somehow, inexplicably, she knew that Yakumo Yukari knew.
Do you believe in magic?
Someone was calling her name. She could hear it, their voices panicked and frantic, but everything just felt so distant. There was a deep fog in her mind, and her ears were filled with mindless static. Information kept pouring in. Images she'd never seen before flashed in her mind. Words she'd never said were stuck at the tip of her tongue.
Flandre. Alice. Yagokoro. Eiki. Sanae. Utsuho. Nue. Mamizou. Seija. Doremy. Aunn. Kurokoma. Chimata.
Makai. Scarlet Mansion. Hakugyokurou. Eientei. Muenzuka. Moriya Shrine. Underworld. Palace of Earth Spirits-
She didn't know when she'd fallen to the ground. She didn't know when her hands began pressing onto her ears. She didn't know why she felt so cold. She didn't know why she felt so hot. She didn't know why her head hurt. She didn't know. She didn't know anything.
Do you believe in magic?
And then all went dark.
Hakurei Orbs
Hakurei Orbs, or otherwise known as the Yin-Yang Orbs, are a pair of orbs most often used by the Hakurei Shrine Maiden. It is a mystical tool, enchanted and blessed with the capabilities of purifying evil.
Despite their usage by the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, other people have been known to be capable of using the orbs to some extent, though not with the same finesse as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.
The tale of their creation has been lost to time, though it is rumored that a foreign god had created them.
For those confused about that last line, it's mentioned in Unconnected Musketeers that Misumaru was actually the one to make the Hakurei Orbs.