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Now I realize I have yet to give Kogasa any immediate attention after her whacking of Yukari's face… … … (momentarily breaks into fits of giggles)

Excuse me… But yeah, while I realize the above, I could not resist the urge to give Okuu a little spotlight first, to properly address her… loss. My dearest sympathies, Okuu…

So, if you will indulge me…

Ch. 44: Sweet potatoes

"Okuu…!" a voice called out in the darkness. An odd shaped silhouette approached another, faintly glowing one in the dark. The odd shaped silhouette very clearly had two, human-like legs, but was swollen from the waist up like a kettle and topped with what looked like similar sized tumours. The other looked like a stack of hay.

"Okuu…! Okuu…!" The voice, not getting a response, urged patiently as it approached the haystack.

"Okuu!" the walking kettle of tumours called out a little less patiently as it arrived right next to the haystack. After awhile, the haystack finally shifted. Two curtains of jet black feathers parted to reveal the handsome raven hidden within, her glossy ebony hair lying messily about her shoulders, and her red-brown eyes sleepily open. At the same time, the dull orange glow emanating from her cast the surroundings in an equally dull, orange light.

It was Okuu, sitting on a stone chair in the front yard of her subterranean cottage with one of her fingers alight with a brilliant flame. And the strange, bulbous two legged creature standing next to her was Orin, carrying a large, shallow wicker basket at her hips merrily heaped with an equally large pile of sweet potatoes. Okuu, having revealed herself, merely dreamily glanced at Orin before going to staring back at the bright yellow flame on her finger.

"… Okuu, what are doing?" Orin asked gently as she effortlessly heaved the enormously heavy basket onto a sturdy stone table next to Okuu. Not getting a response again, Orin placed her hands on her hips and sighed.

"Okuu… Are you still upset about losing your-"

"It's not as nice looking as the weird crystal powers I had…" Okuu muttered, "And it feels a lot less intense too…" a shadow of disappointment flickered across her otherwise expressionless face.

"Okuu… Sigh… Could I at least have a little more light in here?" Orin asked, "Or did you start preferring to sit in the dark?"

Looking up at Orin, eyes still sleepy looking, Okuu than lazily stared into the darkness of the cavern beyond and flicked a finger in a bored manner. Instantly, the entire cavern filled up as if it were a rosy evening above ground.

"Ah…! That's much better!" Orin sat herself down on a spare stone chair next to Okuu and stretched happily. "I really like the night, but cats are creatures of the dusk after all, huh?" she grinned towards the absent minded Okuu. "Dusk is to us what morning must be to others… It makes me feel so energetic!" she pressed down on her green dress between her legs as she leaned forward and stared happily into the artificial evening sky. "Thanks Okuu! You're so thoughtful as always!" she smiled sincerely at the raven.

Okuu remained as stoic as ever, her eyes trained on her lighted finger.

"Hmm…!" Orin's sincere smile melted away disappointedly at the continued cold-shoulder treatment. "H-Hey! Are you even aware that I'm here? !" she demanded a response from her best friend.

"… Hello Orin," her best friend apathetically answered.

"… T'ch…" Orin reclined back, crossed her arms and huffed. After awhile more of being ignored further by Okuu, Orin stood up and faced the raven angrily.

"Hey!" Time for a more assertive approach… "Aren't you even going to entertain me? !" Orin slammed her hands on the table, causing the entire basket of sweet potatoes to jump but failing to flinch the raven.

"… Grrr… You… IDIOT!" Impulsively grabbing one of the sweet potatoes, Orin flung it as hard as she could at Okuu's head. The sweet potato merely bounced off its mark harmlessly with a dull sound, but it at last managed to earn Orin the attention she sought. The powerful raven unconcernedly turned towards her and now had her bored, red-brown eyes on Orin's annoyed face.

"… Hah… Geez! I came here to visit you, so at least react to me!" Orin sat down indignantly, "Honestly…! And you made me waste a sweet potato too…"

"… Sweet potatoes…?" Okuu blankly asked, "Why…?"

"Silly! Because it's autumn, that's why!" Managing a genuine smile, Orin got up and picked up a sweet potato from the top of the pile. "Here!" she thrust the sweet potato before Okuu's unblinking eyes.

"… Mmm…?" Okuu took the root with her non-burning hand and stared at it as if she had no idea what to do with it.

"It's for you to roast and eat…" Orin fought the urge to slap her face with an open palm.

"… I knew that…" Okuu said with a tinge of irritation as her eyebrows furrowed towards Orin, causing the kasha to smile cheekily at Okuu's first display of emotion. Opening her other hand, the little flame on her fingertip spread towards her palm to form a crackling fireball, which Okuu deftly cooked the sweet potato with before putting the fire out. It was more like a flash-grill than a slow roast, but the raven somehow expertly achieved the same effect.

You would too, if you constantly had microwave saturated fire in your hands.

Seeing Orin stare at her expectantly, Okuu sighed. "Well, here goes…" she said as she took a bite out of the steaming sweet potato.

"… So? How is it?" Orin asked asked as Okuu slowly chewed on the sticky starch, "I got it from only the very best! Man, it was lucky I managed to catch the Aki sisters while they were still in town…" she seized the opportunity to try to ignite a conversation.

"… Haah…" Okuu let out a long, disappointed sigh after she had swallowed the bite she took.

" … Eh?" Orin was halted halfway through her one-sided conversation, and once again found the urge to face-palm. Sigh… Okuu… It looks like…

"You still can't get over losing those shiny new powers, huh?" she asked a straightforward question.

"Yup…" Okuu took another bite out of the sweet potato as she honestly answered.

"… Okuu… You didn't need those powers, you know…" Orin tried to cheer her friend up.

Okuu kept chewing slowly chewing on the sweet potato, once again choosing not to respond.

"… Sigh… Okuu~…" Orin sassily walked over and knelt down before Okuu.

Okuu took another bite and kept up her mastication of the roasted root, but her eyes followed Okuu's movements with slight curiosity.

"You know…" Orin mischievously snatched away Okuu's half-eaten sweet potato, eliciting a protest from the raven.

"H-Hey! I was eating that-"

"I really enjoy these autumnal treats!" Orin happily bit straight on the part Okuu had eaten.

"…!" Okuu startled at the indirect kiss as her chewing came to a stop, her face fully flushing with colour for the first time today.

"Hmm hmm~!" Orin hummed as she took bite after bite, Okuu's face growing redder and redder as the sweet potato grew shorter and shorter. Finally, the sweet potato was reduced to nothing, and Orin was left licking her finger tips in a satisfied manner while Okuu could only sit silent with a crimson face rivalling the vanished sweet potato.

"So…" Orin looked up at the wide-eyed Okuu naughtily, "Got anymore?" she asked with a wide smile.

Okuu, suddenly realizing the chunk of sweet potato she last bit was still in her mouth, hastily swallowed and answered, "A-Ah…! C-Coming right up!" Reaching over and picking up another sweet potato, she blasted it to steamy perfection like before and clumsily shoved it before Orin, face still blushing.

"Hmm~! Thanks!" Orin smilingly took the sweet potato, broke it in two and handed Okuu back half of the flash-grilled treat, which the raven accepted awkwardly.

"Cheers!" Orin started snacking down on her snack, and Okuu, after watching Orin for some time, decided to follow her example. For awhile, the two ate their sweet potatoes in silence. When they were finished, Orin let out a satisfied meow and patted her now warm tummy.

"Ahh… Wow, sweet potatoes are really filling, aren't they?" she said happily.

"… Then why did you bring down so much?" Okuu sweat-dropped at the large pile of sweet potatoes on the stone table next to her. They had only eaten two, and even she was starting to feel full…

"Hey Okuu…" Orin, not answering Okuu's question, was staring off into the distance, where the cavern floor and ceiling met just far away enough to create the illusion of an evening horizon, "I really, really like sweet potatoes in the autumn. And I really, really like the way you cook them," she complimented without looking at her friend.

"… A-Ah…" Okuu, looking down at her knees, felt her cheeks growing warmer from within, "W-Well… If you really like them that much… I-I guess I could make you a few more…" she murmured.

"Thanks! Buuut~…" Okuu looked up at the sound of Orin's soft voice and almost fell off her seat. Orin had turned to look at her with a really, really warm smile. "You would have never been able to roast sweet potatoes for me with those lousy crystals from before," she sneakily said.

"H-Huh…? !" Okuu was momentarily rattled by such a take on her sorely missed powers. "B-But if I h-had those powers from before, I c-could have bought you an electric oven!" she tried to defend said powers, "And then you could have e-eaten as many roasted sweet potatoes as y-you wanted!" she protested.

"But where would you have gotten such a machine, I wonder?" Orin smirked.

"…! I-I will find such a machine if I just asked around Gensokyo!" Okuu stubbornly insisted.

"And who in Gensokyo do you know owns an electric oven?" Orin brightly asked, "Not even that junk store in the human village has such a thing."

Okuu looked stunned. "But… But…!"

"I like your roasted potatoes best, Okuu…" Orin, who was still on her knees all this time, laid a hand on Okuu's arm as she stared into Okuu's eyes with starry ones of her own.

"… Eeek!" That did it. Orin knew she had won the argument. Okuu was averting eyes, her face as redder than a roasted sweet potato, her black wings cutely flapping agitatedly behind her.

"… So?" Orin asked.

"… F-Fine…" Okuu took a breath and sighed, then turned towards the pile of sweet potatoes purposefully. "Ah geez!" she cried out in frustration and, grabbing an armful of sweet potatoes, immediately roasted another in seconds and pushed it insistently before Orin's face.

"I-If you like them so much," she said, eyes still unable to look at Orin, "Then you better eat all of these!"

"…? ! All of them?" Orin asked with pleasant shock.

"Yes! All of them!" Okuu thrust the sweet potato closer to Orin still.

"… Okay!" Orin smiled and took the offered roasted starch. "But I'll need your help, I can't possibly finish them all…" she sheepishly said.

"… F-Fine… And… and…" Okuu glanced towards Orin, equally sheepish, "As long as you n-need me to roast such stuff for you, I guess I'll tolerate my old powers… F-For now…"

"Thanks!" Orin stood up and, yawning, moved into a seat next to Okuu, "But ah… Roasted sweet potatoes are really heavy aren't they…? Just eating a few makes me feel drowsy," she said as she started nibbling on the current one in her hands.

Whoosh! Orin jumped a little and glanced to her side. Okuu had wordlessly spread open the wing closest to her, her shoulder bared and comfy looking and her cherry-red face determinedly looking straight into the distance.

A smile broke across Orin's lips. "Thank you, Okuu!" she cheerily sang, and snuggled in on the raven's shoulder.

… Silent and crimson-cheeked, Okuu carefully lowered her feathers around Orin's shoulders like a blanket, contending with resigning herself to stare off into the artificial but rosy sunset she had created.

Not with the crystal powers, but her good old, fiery ones.

"Hey… Hey Orin!"

"… Zzzzz…"

"Sigh… What am I going to do with all these sweet potatoes I roasted now…?

I still say we take the crystals. We could have an energy monopoly over the world, Okuu, you and I…

… Did I just play the role of heartless bastard in my own story? *nervously checks over shoulder for unexpected Kogasa*

Oh good, the area's clear- *accidently stubs big toe on table leg while turning back forward*

O-Ow…!