What's this? Two chapters? Over 5500 words? Yup, I got inspired in the past week and was desperate to write for HiruMamo so I ended up writing two whole chapters for this fic. Enjoy!
Mamori knew that mornings would be cold, especially since she was now further up north in Japan. But being in a new environment meant she wasn't quite as well prepared for it.
Still badly exhausted from the trip, and now freezing, the idea that she needed to walk out of her current residence to the bath house and get herself ready for the day felt absolutely dreadful. It had just turned 5am. The sun had yet to rise at this hour as the days were going into winter, leaving the room she was in freezing.
She stayed another 15 minutes in bed, fighting with herself to not fall back to sleep. Until she finally forced herself to get up, prepare her items and head to the bath house.
The good part about the bath house is that it definitely was warmer, as it had an artificial hot spring within it which Mamori would have happily jumped into right now. It was rather small, could fit 2-3 people, yet the hot steam tempted her.
But unfortunately, there isn't enough time. Just the basics of cleaning would have to be done.
She was grateful that this round she was made to wear a thicker type of kimono, one that would keep her at least fully covered. This time, it was a pale pink with a purple obi, which thankfully she knew how to put together herself.
She placed her cleaning items back in her room, and pinned her hair up into a low bun, then headed towards the main house's kitchen. It was a cold walk, her breath leaving a trail of where she had walked past in the dim night lights of the path way. A trail of colour in the sky before her meant dawn was coming soon.
She went to the back of the main house where the kitchen was. There she found Saori, and two other women who seemed to be around their 50s, already preparing breakfast.
They seemed engrossed in what they were doing that she felt bad to disturb them, but staying quiet and watching wasn't an option.
"Good morning," Mamori introduced herself. "I'm sorry I'm late."
Saori was the only one to turn and look at her. "You're right on time, actually," said Saori. "We just got the fire going and have put the ingredients out to start the preparation. Come, we need you to cut the vegetables. We'll explain everything along the way."
Saori's smile did not spread to the other women around her. Mamori could sense they were not happy with her presence. But Mamori persevered. "Tell me what you need me to do."
The explanations were simple enough. Fuyumi's breakfast in the mornings consisted of the traditional Japanese breakfast: soup, rice, pickles, and a slice of fish. "This will change in the week before her ceremony," explained Saori. "For now, take note of her dietary requirements and pick up some vegetarian dishes along the way should Fuyumi require an extra meal especially after her practices."
No problem, Mamori thought to herself. She knew of some, having to also consider the dietary requirements of athletes too.
As she was given a daikon to peel, one woman, who was preparing to cook the rice, gave Mamori a side glance coupled with a frown. Mamori gave a slight bow with a smile in return, but was given the cold shoulder. To which all Mamori could do was focus on the task at hand.
She felt certain she did a good job in the preparations. It was nothing new to her, and even Saori didn't have many complaints as she guided Mamori along some of the cooking process. And yet the other women remained unimpressed.
As Mamori began to plate the items, she couldn't help but ask Saori in the quick moment they were alone. "Did I do anything wrong?"
Saori, quick to note the atmosphere, shook her head. "Just like Kaede, you just need a bit more effort to let them know your capabilities. Don't worry, once you show what you're capable of, they'll help you a great deal."
Mamori nodded.
The sun was already out when breakfast was ready, and thankfully Mamori didn't have to eat breakfast with anyone else other than Fuyumi, who was already waiting in a smaller room meant for classes, so it had low tables and cushions at the ready. "The two of you have plenty to discuss about her schedule and requirements," Saori told her beforehand. "After which, you will have to submit your prepared schedule and food plan to Kaede to approve, and then you can proceed as scheduled as long as it all goes well."
"You're here!" Fuyumi beamed as Mamori brought their breakfast into a more quaint room in the main home. As expected, Fuyumi had dropped her polite and controlled demeanour the moment it was just the two of them.
"Yes, I'm here," Mamori laughed as she placed Fuyumi's breakfast on the small table before her. "We agreed on this, remember?"
"Of course! And we agreed on hanging out tonight as well, remember?"
Mamori nodded. "Yes, looks like we'll be spending the day and night together so I get to know more about you and what you need."
"Oh, but I'll get to know more about you, too!" Fuyumi beamed, as Mamori settled down to her own table and breakfast.
Mamori laughed nervously as she picked up her chopsticks. "Me? Oh, there's nothing much to know about me."
"Are you kidding me?" Fuyumi's excitement was palpable. "The whole Sato family is talking about you, you're practically a legend here!"
Mamori blinked. "Eh?"
"You should hear the way they talk about you! You're like this unknown creature that came out of nowhere trying to worm their way into this family, with everyone thinking you're after our inheritance or something," Fuyumi laughed. "We knew nothing about the Hiruma family, they were practically non-existent, and now lo and behold! You married Hiruma Youichi, someone we never associated with the Sato family before, and now you're here, turning this entire family upside down!"
"Oh…" Was that why the other ladies in the kitchen gave her the cold shoulder?
Fuyumi noticed Mamori's worried expression and quickly broke through her thoughts. "But I completely disagree of course! I think it's exciting and romantic, and the moment I saw you on your wedding day, I knew you were actually really special."
"Special? In what way?" asked Mamori. "And do eat, you don't want the food to get cold."
"Oh, excuse me. Thank you for the food." And just like that, the more disciplined version of Fuyumi emerged, her excitement replaced with a calm, gentle expression as she picked up her soup and slowly drank from it. But the moment she placed it down, that excitement emerged again, this time a lot more restrained.
"I don't know," Fuyumi laughed nervously. "Something about you screamed special to me! I have never seen anyone with your type of beauty up close before, those blue eyes especially. But as the wedding progressed, I also couldn't help but think you're an incredibly strong woman. I don't even know why! I just thought you were special!"
Mamori wasn't sure how to take this information. She had received plenty of compliments in her life, but something about Fuyumi's compliments felt genuine yet also off.
Still, Mamori couldn't help but feel relieved. At least someone other than Saori was on her side. "Want to know what I think of you?" said Mamori.
Fuyumi's eyes widened. "Oh! Tell me!"
"That this girl gets way too excited and now her food is getting cold."
"Ah!" Fuyumi frowned. "That's mean."
"That's what makes me special," Mamori giggled, to which Fuyumi laughed as well as they then ate their breakfast in silence.
When breakfast was done, Mamori cleared the room and brought out her trustworthy pens and notebook to prepare the task at hand. After all these years having to work on a laptop, and even prepare data on a computer for her assignments and the Wizards, going analogue was still the best for her.
"So tell me about this Full Moon ceremony and your purification ritual," said Mamori as she opened her notebook, pen in hand.
Fuyumi nodded, her demeanour returning to the calm version of herself. "The Full Moon ceremony is one that's celebrated within this village, historically to give thanks to the Gods for a great harvest. But the Sato family's role in this celebration is one that gives thanks specifically to our version of a Moon Goddess, which the family associates themselves with."
"Oh! That's interesting." Mamori scribbled away in her notebook.
Fuyumi smiled. "Yes, so during the Full Moon ceremony, I perform a dance to reflect the Moon Goddess and her story of coming down from the heavens to protect the harvest at night. As this is my role during the ceremony, I will need to undergo a purification ritual so I can best represent the Moon Goddess."
"What do you need to do to purify yourself?"
"Oh, the usual… water cleansing, vegetarian meals, meditation…" Fuyumi trailed off, her eyes wandering. "And a week before the ceremony, I will need to walk through a trail at night blindfolded."
Mamori stopped writing to stare at Fuyumi. "Eh?"
"I know, scary right?" Fuyumi gave a nervous smile. "That's the one part of the purification ritual that I am not looking forward to. But according to the Sato family, it helps heighten our senses to nature and what it has to offer especially at night."
"Ah…" Even Mamori could sense Fuyumi's worries. "How far is this trail? Will you show it to me sometime?"
"I can show it to you today!" Fuyumi's eyes lit up. "We're going out to the main village after all, I can show you the entrance of the trail after dinner, and maybe we can walk a little through it too!"
"Oh, okay," said Mamori. "Great, hopefully with all this information I can get you prepared to ace this trail!"
"You need to submit a schedule by tomorrow evening, right?"
Mamori nodded. "Has anyone ever prepared anything like this for you?"
Fuyumi shrugged. "Never anything this detailed. We tend to feel our way through what needs to be learned and what needs to be done. Which is why I have been able to escape sometimes, but now…" Fuyumi's eyes were downcast, and Mamori knew this was a touchy topic.
"It's okay," said Mamori, giving Fuyumi an assuring smile. "I'll do my best for you."
"I'm… not sure you can." It was the saddest tone Mamori had heard from Fuyumi since she got here, and Mamori wondered if Fuyumi didn't mean to say it out loud.
Because it didn't take long for Fuyumi to return with a smile. "Well, now that you have the gist of what I need to prepare for, it's time that you tell me a little more about yourself!"
"Oh, it's really nothing, I'm just an average college student…" Mamori stopped herself as she looked at Fuyumi, and realised her mistake. Fuyumi's experience growing up would be completely different from Mamori, and there was no way Fuyumi would know anything about what an average college life was like, let alone one who was managing an American Football.
Plus, in Fuyumi's eyes, Mamori was a married woman.
If she were in Fuyumi's position, it makes sense then that she would find Mamori fascinating. Putting aside her notebook, Mamori stood up and gave Fuyumi an earnest look. "I have something to show you."
Youichi's day went by as if on auto mode. Everything about today's practice went about as well as he expected as everyone on the main team was in great shape. Even Agon showed up, worked together with the team during practice for a solid 20 minutes, a record for sure.
But there were still hiccups. Mainly that, as expected, Hashimoto was fumbling a lot.
On top of not setting the cameras up properly, which led to some trouble reviewing some of today's practice, he had ordered way too much food for the team today. This led to him eventually eating into the team budget a little more and forcing some of the team members to take home extra. It was a small issue, but Hashimoto took it hard.
"This would never happen if Anezaki-senpai was here," he lamented.
Under normal circumstances, he would happily tell Hashimoto the many ways Mamori had fucked up, especially during their time in Deimon. Ordering too much food? Mamori PREPARED too much food once and the whole team forced themselves to eat beyond their limit out of fear of breaking her heart. The team could barely practice after that and they had to go home right after.
But what was the point of mocking her if she wasn't there to tell him off?
Back in his apartment, he resisted grumbling at the terrible camera angles of today's practice, knowing this was likely to happen in their first few days of practice without Mamori. But knowing this would happen doesn't mean he was going to accept it easily.
His train of thought was disrupted when he heard the doorbell ring. What the fuck? He checked the doorbell monitor to see who it was, and cursed out loud.
As Musashi stared straight into the camera, looking visibly pissed.