Though Arianna could not wait to get her sister's ashes to their resting place, she did not pick up her pace. There was no reason to, because although she'd told Kenta she was off to find Yanovi, she had not waited for him, could not bring herself to wait for him. But all the same, she walked slowly and carefully, holding the slightly opalescent urn tightly as she walked through the south building, which was currently the only easy route to the back garden area. Once the whole place was done up, that wouldn't be the case, but that of course was neither here nor there, really. They had already scattered Eita's ashes in the river that surrounded the academy and its land, as much to make the most of the last traces of his magic as to honour his affinity to the water. Lowen's had gone to the stones in the central courtyard, turning them from simple concrete into something that shimmered a light gold and blue like sunshine after the rain.

And now, the plan was for Rielle's ashes to go into the garden that Yanovi was creating. What flowers she'd help to grow, Arianna didn't know, but she liked to imagine her sister's spirit helping them to bloom out of season. Snowdrops at the height of summer, blossoms in the middle of a bitter winter. That was a very Rielle thing to do, after all.

Hearing the sound of shoes against the shiny new flooring that still hadn't been carpeted, Arianna looked up and smiled at Yanovi as she bounded over, swinging a small cloth bag in her hands.

"Were you coming to look for me?" Arianna called out.

"Yep, yep!" Yanovi called out. "I thought you were taking a while."

"I was helping Reoni and the others over on the other side-all the admin offices and the front is set up now."

"Nice, nice-woah!"

Just as Yanovi reached Arianna, a blur of white and blue hurtled past, colliding into her. Yanovi tried to side-step, but ended up stepping on her long skirt and then pitching forward, crashing into Arianna, causing the inevitable to happen. She could only watch in horror as she stumbled backwards, the urn slipping from her hands. She crashed on her back, Yanovi ending up inelegantly sprawled on top of her. Her thin gown provided no cushioning against the flooring, but that didn't hurt as much as the sound of the shattering of the urn, somewhere beside her.

"Oh gosh, oh gosh, Anna, I'm so sorry, ah, what was that-"

Yanovi's long plaits tickled Arianna's face as she scrambled off, dusting herself down and standing up, and Arianna looked over to see that Nyamai was sitting there, looking dusty and perturbed with her hair bunches askew. Arianna narrowed her eyes at the short rune caster, and opened her mouth to berate her when she realised that Nyamai wasn't looking at them, but at something behind them. Yanovi, too, was looking over there, her mouth open and eyes even wider than usual. Slowly, Arianna followed both their gazes.

What she saw made her forget whatever angered words she'd been about to say.

The urn containing Rielle's ashes had indeed broken, practically irreparably, when Nyamai had appeared and collided into Yanovi. But at the same time, Yanovi's little bag had also been flung over and the contents-magic infused soil of some sort-had landed all over the spilled ashes. And now, something was growing, steadily and quickly, growing ever taller and glowing slightly as it reached the ceiling and then broke through.

"Is….is that a tree?"

It was a somewhat stupid question, but it was the only thing that Arianna could think to say. It was indeed a tree, though none that she recognised, unusual and beautiful, delicate yet somehow sturdy, apparently going through years of growth within seconds. The shards of the urn itself seemed to absorb themselves into the tree roots, which spread out underneath the flooring, breaking it apart and poking through, and this seemed to contribute to the slight glow of the tree's silvery-white bark. Even the leaves shimmered different colours, faint but iridescent.

"It is a tree," Yanovi gasped incredulously. "But it isn't like any that I've seen before…."

"Yano, what on earth did you do?" Nyamai drawled.

"I didn't!" Yanovi protested. "It must be Rielle's ashes!"

"Ahem, can anyone down there tell me why there's a tree poking through the floors?"

Yanovi squealed, and then looked up at the branches that had broken through the ceilings.

"Hades! It was an accident! I swear!"

"It's Rielle," Arianna called up, finally getting up. "We had a slight accident, as Yanovi said, and now I suppose this is her resting place. Isn't it beautiful?"

As she said this, Arianna reached out and rested her palm against the tree's trunk, marvelling at the texture of the bark. Closing her eyes for a moment, she imagined her sister standing there, looking up in delight and then hitching up her bright skirts to climb up it.

It seemed like Hades had her mental shield up, so Arianna couldn't tell exactly what it was she was thinking, but Hades hmmed and ahhed for a moment, before decisively saying:

"Well, it's just going to have to be here, isn't it?" she said. "I think your sister would love the idea of a tree in an unexpected place such as this, wouldn't she?"

Arianna pictured Rielle sitting in the tree, looking as if nothing had happened to her, using her legs to keep herself in place as she leant down and laughed. You should be here. Sighing, she opened her eyes. The image in her mind faded away, but the tree continued to shimmer, almost glittering as if to pass on the message that yes, she approved.

"She would." Arianna answered, surprised to find her voice choked up.

"Well, I'll leave you to it..."

Assuming that with that, Hades had gone away, Arianna looked over at Yanovi, whose eyes were slightly wet. Almost instantly, she hopped over and gave Arianna a quick, one-armed hug.

"Do you want to come and see the garden anyway?" she asked.

"I…I think I'll sit here a while, first. But join you in a minute?" Arianna replied tentatively.

Yanovi nodded determinedly.

"Sure, sure, no problem. Nyamai, do you wanna-oh."

At some point, Nyamai had completely disappeared, though whether with her own two feet or by magic, there was no way of knowing. Arianna shook her head in amusement. Even when that girl didn't put up mental shields, it was basically impossible to know what she was thinking.

"Oh."

For a brief moment, Yanovi seemed dejected, but then she perked up.

"Oh well. See you in a moment then, Anna."

Arianna nodded, and then watched Yanovi disappear back the way she had come, before gathering up the skirts of her dress and then finding a space to sit down by the roots of the tree. It occurred to her briefly that they'd need to do something about the flooring too. Couldn't have kids falling through the floor once they actually opened their doors to them. But that concern drifted away as Arianna leant her head against the tree and just sat there. Thinking, and remembering.

She tried her hardest to focus on the happier memories. Their kind parents, the cottage in the village they'd grown up in, how their farm had always prospered thanks to Rielle, and how she herself had been able to protect them from scammers. Carefree summers running through fields, cosy winters curled up in front of a fire, stealing moments away from the farm to read. The two of them meeting Yanovi and later Rielle falling for Kenta. The way that'd led them to Keno, who'd led them to Cher and Hades, and the camaderie that they'd quickly fallen into as if they'd known each other for all of their lives, and maybe even before that.

If that was all she could remember, that'd be fine.

But of course, she remembered all the bad things. The rows of mizuko Jizo in their family shrine, their mother and father pointing to them to explain: 'this is why we kept you both', an explanation that seemed to hurt more and not less with each telling. Gossipy old ladies in their village, covering their mouths but not quite being able to obscure their horrified whispers of those girls…they're twins. The children in their classrooms over the years throwing stones and taunts their way every day, each one hurting where it hit just as hard. On, and on, all the way until that horrible, horrible day and everyone jeering and cheering as Rielle burned and burned and burned, everyone so convinced in their ignorance that the darkness was now banished when it had been still there, waiting and watching and laughing…

"Arianna?"

She startled, and when she looked up to see Kenta looking down at her with an uncharacteristic frown, her first instinct was to avert her eyes. But then, just as quickly as she had done that, she forced herself to look at him again. The damage was done though, as the frown remained and was now accented by a deeper sorrow. Sticking his hands in his pocket, he watched her.

"Did you….did you scatter her ashes, yet?"

The words came out in a hesitant whisper, further underlining her mistake. She forced herself to take a deep breath, clamp down the rage that had risen, remind herself that all magic had limitations. That it was even worse when you loved someone. She knew she couldn't have expected Kenta to be successful in saving Rielle for those reasons and yet…

"Yes, but only accidentally. Had a slight collision with Nyamai, and well…this tree is the result."

"Tree?"

For a moment, it was as if they were back in the past. Arianna snorted and resisted the urge to slap her forehead in frustration. She gestured vaguely around her and behind her, and shook her head in amusement.

"The tree, Kenta. I'm sitting right by it."

Kenta blinked sleepily and then stared up at the tree. The transformation was instant, his frown smoothing out immediately, his mouth curving back up into something approximating the grin Rielle had been so smitten by in their early courting days, that she'd described to Arianna in more detail than she'd ever need in her life.

"Rielle…." He breathed out.

In a few strides, he was practically pressed by the tree. Like Arianna had done a few moments before, he put his hands against the bark, but also leaned his forehead against it. For a moment, it seemed like the glow of the tree intensified as he closed his eyes. What he was remembering, Arianna didn't know, but when a few moments' later tears started to silently flow down his cheeks, she could make a good enough guess.

Of course, she could have done that anyway, because were they not the same? The nature of the love was different between a sister and a fiancé, yes, but the love itself was the same.

"Kenta-"she began.

"It's okay, Ari. I'm okay." Kenta interrupted, not moving his eyes. "Elly's okay too…aren't you?"

The tree didn't answer, or give any other indication of communication, but nonetheless Kenta laughed once, sorrowfully.

"No, it's not okay really, is it? But at least…Elly's an angel now, right?"

Now, he turned and looked at her. Arianna had to swallow once to be able to speak.

"Yeah, she's an angel now."

Kenta nodded, looking at her warily. Arianna flushed, but forced herself to stay steady. After a moment, Kenta looked back at the tree and asked:

"Do you think it will ever get better?"

"I don't know."

She didn't even need to think about that. How could she know, if it would ever get better? Rielle had been her twin, a connection that most people feared without understanding. It had felt as if losing a part of herself, and somehow more. She didn't understand what it meant to be in love, but she had eyes, still had them. She had more in common with Kenta than she didn't, now more than ever, and she knew she couldn't keep going on like this. Rielle wouldn't have wanted that, and she didn't either.

"I don't know…" she said. "But, forever's a pretty long time, isn't it?"

"Mhm."

Sniffing, Kenta roughly wiped his face with the back of his hand and then let out a sigh, stepping back from the tree.

"I'm sorry, Ari-"

"No."

Kenta startled, almost stumbling as he turned to look at her. With effort, Arianna got up, refusing his offer of a hand to help her up. She stood straight, looked him straight in the eye for the first time in the months since everything had been over.

"it's not your fault. I…I did blame you, a little, at first. Not for reasons that really made sense but…I did. I don't want to though, not anymore. It's not fair on any of us, especially if we have to live forever with this feeling. I like you a lot, and not just because you were precious to Rielle."

She stopped, placed her hands to her chest, feeling her heart hammering as she took a breath to collect herself. Kenta had been regarding her carefully, but once she paused he blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head.

"I'm…glad. Um….yeah. Yeah. Thanks, I guess. We'll be alright, then, if that's the case."

Arianna nodded, a lump rising in her throat again. She swallowed again, took another breath, then stepped back and smoothed her skirts back down.

"Well," she said. "I'm going over to the garden to see what Yanovi is doing. Want to come?"

Kenta blinked for a moment, and then smiled and nodded. And then the two of them left the angel tree, and walked together.

Probably should have clarified in the first one-shot, but Rielle, Eita and Lowen are OCs that are more there for background/depth than anything, simply because it makes sense that a group with such a background would have lost people before they got to the point of building Kawaakari. It is what war does, after all. I picked Rielle's name deliberately, because it means 'of the angels'...hence the tree being the 'Angel Tree'.

Anyway, mizuko Jizo are small statues that in Japan, parents can purchase at shrines to commemorate the loss of a child, particularly in the case of miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion.