PRETTY SOLDIER SAILOR MOON: FUTURE
Chapter 47: A Fiery Debate Over Nothing
In an unused warehouse building on the outskirts of Crystal Tokyo, Apis had set up a temporary base there to store her mannequins and robot bees without worrying about prying eyes. She spent the next few days staking out Midori's room using remote cameras, but grew worried when she didn't see any movement for a whole week. That was until the Friday afternoon when Midori finally emerged with VesVes and went to Hikawa Shrine with her. Unbeknownst to anyone at the temple, Apis had teleported from the base and watched Midori to see if she could find a chance to strike.
She wasn't able to do anything yet, but did overhear something rather interesting. After Midori left the rear temple where Rei gave her the reading, VesVes had approached her and declared, "Good news! I managed to convince Seiji to let us volunteer as candy vendors tomorrow!"
"Candy vendors?" Midori raised an eyebrow.
"You don't know about chitose-ame? It called 'thousand year candy', and it's given to children every Shichi-Go-San celebration. Seiji was gonna sell them himself, but I talked him into letting us cover him!"
"More like you nagged the hell out of him until he begrudgingly gave in just to get rid of you."
"Hey, with someone as stingy as him, you have to break him down with persistence! He is such a perfectionist that it's not even funny!"
VesVes and Midori talked about these arrangements as they left Hikawa Shrine, while Apis quietly warped back to her base without anyone noticing her. She had to do some research into what this whole 'Shichi-Go-San' business was all about, but once she was educated enough, a plan started to form in her head.
The Camarilla found her smallest mannequin, opened a slot in the doll's abdomen and placed the Apple of Discord inside the compartment. She then dressed the mannequin in a pretty pink kimono with cherry blossom petal designs and a red obi, then tied its wig hair into a bun pinned with ornate flowers and ribbons. Once it was ready, she did the same for an adult female mannequin so it could masquerade as the child's mother, albeit without an apple. Apis then operated a remote control and tested the pair's walking patterns, spending the whole night to make sure they worked perfectly.
The next day, Apis took the two dolls and teleported from her hideout to the same area she hid out in Hikawa Shrine previously. Giddy with anticipation, she pressed the button on her remote and whispered, "Mission, start!"
Midori was bored out of her mind. She and VesVes were stationed at the shrine's small shop where trinkets and charms were normally sold, but today they were in charge of selling chitose-ame to people. Unfortunately, Seiji's expectations of them were far greater than they had anticipated. Not only did they have a quota to meet, but they also had to keep up with stock, promote the usual wares, and record every little detail that came up, not to mention that the bags of candy had to be made 'the traditional way'. If the girls tried to make them any other way, Seiji threatened to give them low marks and report them to their teachers.
Since Midori was on the tail end of her illness and feeling miserable, VesVes offered to be the smiling clerk who would pitch sales to the numerous families and children passing by. Despite Seiji's overbearing rules, VesVes was totally looking forward to talking with people and seeing how adorable the children were. On the other hand, Midori wasn't interested in any of this whatsoever. She remained in the back corner filling decorated bags with two sticks of candy – a red one and a white one, as Seiji insisted was 'traditional'.
Midori's thoughts were more focused on what Rei told her yesterday. Being accused of lying was the closest anyone on Earth had come to foiling her secret identity. Even worse was of this information being used as blackmail to force her to confess.
What did Rei envision to make her say that? Damn, if only I knew that much, then I'd have a better idea of what I would and would not be able to say.
She knew that Rei wasn't able to see everything either. The problem was being able to distinguish between the two, as the priestess was intentionally being coy with the truth. It meant to Midori that Rei wanted her to tell everything to Chibi-Usa and the others regardless of what she saw. Then she had a moment of epiphany:
What if I stayed silent and waited for Rei to tell everything herself? Since I wouldn't honor my part of the bargain, she would have no choice but to reveal what exactly it is that she witnessed. I might come under fire for it, but at least I would finally be certain of what she's trying to hide from me and plan accordingly. That must be it. She wants me to confess out of rashness when I really should be patient and see what happens.
While Midori was distracted by this plethora of thoughts, she failed to pay attention to the sticks of candy she was placing in the colorful bags. VesVes sold a bag that had two white sticks accidentally placed in it. While Seiji was busy running around to see if everyone was being properly served, he noticed the error when the little girl opened the bag to see her prize. The already stressed young man seethed with annoyance, grabbed the bag right out of the unsuspecting child's hands and barged into the back of the shop.
"What are you doing!?" Seiji hissed.
"Whoa, what!?" VesVes yelped in shock.
"You're supposed to put a red and a white candy in each bag! Why are there two white candies in this one!?" he angrily showed them the erroneous package.
"Don't look at me!" she argued. "Midori's the one in charge of bagging them!"
Gee, thanks. Why not back the bus over me while you're at it, Midori rolled her eyes.
Seiji glared at her and exclaimed, "You know that's not how it's supposed to be done!"
"It was an honest mistake. Besides, we met the quota really quickly."
"Yes, I can see that. But if people are going to attend this shrine for its traditional customs, the merchandise we sell has to reflect that atmosphere as well. We can't let little mistakes like that happen often, or we'll just be seen as another modern commercialist establishment that takes no pride in preserving Japan's customs and history."
All of this over a piece of candy?
"I know what you're thinking; that I'm taking this a bit too far," Seiji continued. "I really do appreciate you spending your time to help us out here, but there are strict etiquettes and guidelines that need to be followed here."
And this is why I find Japanese culture so exasperating…
Midori rubbed her aching forehead and muttered, "All right, I understand."
"You don't look like you do," Seiji countered.
"What do you want me to do about it then? Give that child a different bag of candy?"
"No, you're supposed to have given them the right one in the first place! Children can only experience this holiday twice in their lives, and it's important that we do our part properly so they have a good memory of the experience!"
"Well I didn't, and I'm not going to apologize for it again!"
"Uh, guys…" VesVes winced as she watched the argument spiral out of control. Several onlookers gazed at them in surprise over how petty they were acting, and some children even became nervous. At this rate, no one would want to buy anything from them. During this while, Apis' two dressed mannequins watched the scene with cameras functioning as their soulless eyes, which then fed the picture back to a small monitor she kept on her lap. The Apple of Discord inside the child dummy quietly took in the negative energy arising from Seiji and Midori's bickering and devoured it like it was the greatest feast ever.
Rei had noticed the small crowd gathering around the shop and rushed in while demanding, "What's going on here!?"
A little boy pointed to the window and said, "They're yelling at each other."
His mother retorted, "We were about to buy some candy for him, but then that young man barged in and began yelling at the volunteer about some silly mistake she made."
A father added, "I bought my daughter a bag of candy, which had two white sticks in it. That guy suddenly snatched it from her and ran inside to yell at someone! I really don't mind the mistake, but that's just inexcusable!"
"Hey, Daddy?" his confused daughter asked. "Are those two possessed by evil spirits, and that's why they're fighting?"
"No, that's not it at all! Although… since this is a temple and all, maybe something weird is going on…"
"Ugh, I knew this was going to happen…" Rei muttered under her breath. She grabbed the door and violently slammed it open, startling Midori and Seiji quiet before exclaiming, "What is the meaning of this, Seiji!?"
"Rei!?" he gawked in wide-eyed surprise.
"I thought I told you not to worry yourself over such small details and let everyone enjoy the day!"
"Even so, Midori doesn't seem to understand the need to preserve Hikawa's tradition and-"
"While you are giving my shrine a bad image over something as meaningless as a piece of candy! If you get this worked up during a minor celebration, I dread to think what would happen with New Year's or Hanami!" the shrine maiden retorted and thumbed back to the crowd. "Furthermore, Midori and VesVes are volunteers, not full-time assistants like you are! They should be expected to make a mistake or two here and there! If you persist in causing further embarrassments like this to our guests and volunteers, then I, as the head priestess of Hikawa, will have no choice but to terminate your employment! Are we clear on this!?"
The horrified Seiji clenched his teeth, mortified from causing his employer such unwarranted humiliation in front of a large crowd. He lowered his head and humbly murmured, "I'm so sorry, Head Priestess Hino."
"Take the day off. We can continue this discussion at a later time."
Although he didn't want to leave the rest of the festival in Rei's care since she was already so busy, her fierce yet confident violet eyes told him otherwise. Seiji silently left the vendor and retreated to the shrine's resting quarters. Once the incident was over, Rei bowed to the onlookers and announced, "I sincerely apologize for what happened just now. Please continue to enjoy yourselves. Don't forget that the blessing for these children will begin in 30 minutes."
Comforted by the priestess' apology, people returned to ambling around the shrine and taking scenic photographs of the children. VesVes flashed a bright smile that invited newcomers to peruse the shop despite the scene that just happened. Midori had practically lost her energy from the ordeal, but she asked Rei, "Why did you only accuse Mr. Youseki so suddenly? I am partly at fault for this as well."
"I know he really cares about the shrine and is doing his best to make improvements, but I was afraid of him going overboard with his dedication. For him to blame someone else for a perceived imperfection really made me furious though."
"He was talking about keeping the traditional spirit of your shrine and avoiding commercialist practices, yet the strict guidelines he gave VesVes and I practically promoted such commercialism. That kind of hypocrisy needs to be addressed if you're to get anywhere with a perfectionist like him."
"I see. He really must learn to settle down and focus on helping me with my duties rather than improving the shrine's reputation. Perhaps this incident has been beneficial to helping him open his eyes to that fact… I mean, no offense to you, of course."
"None taken," Midori replied and proceeded to head outside.
"Where are you going?" Rei asked.
"I'm taking my break now. Under these circumstances, I think it would be best for everyone to cool their heads for a bit."
"I guess so. Don't wander too far though. The blessing will start shortly and I will need help ushering the guests and children."
"Understood," Midori muttered and left the shop area. She strolled towards the unpopulated area of trees and gazed up at the colorful leaves falling from the branches high above her. Whenever she felt annoyed like this, she would take in deep breaths of fresh air and rationalize her thoughts to lessen the feelings of frustration. Once the blessing rites were over, the festivities would start winding down and she and VesVes would be relieved of their temporary duties.
She stopped in front of the shrine's omikuji, or a tree with every inch of its branches tied with hundreds, perhaps upward of a thousand, random fortunes of either blessings or curses of varying degrees that people would draw before tying it to the tree. She and VesVes had sold quite a lot of these fortunes as well, but she didn't quite understand what was being done with these pieces of paper until now.
Blessings and curses… This day certainly has been full of both, hasn't it?
Midori heard a pair of footsteps and saw a mother and daughter standing still behind her. She said to them, "If you're looking for the front hall, it's just over to the left."
They didn't reply. In fact, they didn't even move. She grew perplexed from the eerie stillness, then asked, "Ma'am? Are you all right, ma'am?"
"Don't worry," another girl's cheery yet sinister voice chimed. "They're not lost."
Midori knew the voice wasn't coming from the child. Even worse was that she knew who was talking. She realized too late that she was surrounded by about 20 life-sized mannequins in a circular formation, all staring at her with the same lifeless eyes as the mother and child.
"In fact, I'd say…" the girl continued as she emerged from behind another tree with hundreds of bees buzzing around her. "They found you, Hyena."