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Chapter of the Fireflies: Those Who Yearn

Disclaimer: This is a fan-translation japanese-english of the original novel. This is a short story originally written for a japanese magazine and later compiled in one of the Ravens' Hundred Flowers books.

Blog version

For other translations, you can find them HERE

Timeline: Midway of Raven of the Empty Coffin, after the Chihaya chapter

Characters (in order of relevance): Masuho no Susuki, Akeru, Sumio, Yukiya, Hamayuu, Nazukihiko, Chihaya, Shigemaru.

Synopsis: During Yukiya's second year at the Monastery, he takes the lead role during the Boys' Festival celebrations at Cherry Blossom Palace. The inciting incident to a strange proposal...

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Those Who Yearn(1)

It all happened during the Boys’ Festival(2).

At the time, the mountains were full to the brim with new leaves, all sparkling like green jewels under the dazzling sunlight, but in Cherry Blossom Palace none was more splendid than Sakura no Kimi, the Crown Prince's wife.

An aroma so strong it was almost overbearing came from the ornamental scent bags hanging around the place. They were made with mugwort and iris, and decorated with freshly cut flowers and five-colored strings that were now swaying in the blowing wind. For the first time in three long years, the Horse Racing Ceremony was to take place at the riding grounds in front of Cherry Blossom Palace.

Within Yamauchi, the Boys’ Festival was, for the most part, structured to take two days. During the first, Medicine Hunting(3) took place, and Horse Racing was scheduled for the second.

As for Medicine Hunting, just like the name implied, the term originally referred to a religious service(4) consisting of the picking of medicinal herbs and the acquisition of deer antlers. The first day was, in fact, the most important part of the event. It was when the Golden Raven, the chief of all Yatagarasu, would perform a ritual known as ‘Antler Knocking’, in which he would retrieve the antlers of a nine-colored deer(5) raised by the Bureau of Medicine.

However, in modern days, real deer hunting had come to take place simultaneously with the ritual at one of the hunting grounds on the Center's property. The attendees were mostly young noblemen, purposely for the sake of building up their stamina in preparation for the coming summer, who would later go on to present their acquired prey at the Court. The second day's Horse Racing Ceremony was intended as a reenactment, showing off their performance during the hunt itself.

For the Yatagarasu, who possessed both the form of a human and a three-legged giant crow, to employ another member of their own race as a ‘horse’ and ride it was an act requiring permission only given to a limited number of privileged. So, during the event, the young noblemen who took part in the hunt rode outstanding giant crows, all specially chosen for the occasion, and shot an arrow each towards an earthenware deer statue as they flew towards it.

There were multiple potential riding grounds in the Center, so the one used for the festivities was chosen by the priests after seeking Lord Yamagami's divine will. That said, for the one by Cherry Blossom Palace to go unchosen for three years was unheard of. After all, there was in truth another altogether different criteria than divine will playing a hand in the events.

On the sides of the cliff where Cherry Blossom Palace stood, there were covered paths built to bridge the different buildings. Thin bamboo screens had been placed on them, making it impossible to look at whoever hid within them. There sat the Ladies in Waiting under the service of Sakura no Kimi, the edges of their kimono visible from underneath the curtains. Peeking from underneath the green bamboo were colors as vivid and pleasing to the eye as the peonies and azaleas that decorated the many ornamental scent bags around.

Masuho no Susuki, the head of Sakura no Kimi’s Ladies in Waiting, watched over such a scene with the indifference of an onlooker. She was standing on top of a stage which overlooked the roofed paths where the others were waiting in line.

To the opposite side, at the halfway point between the stage and the mountain, a tall rock protruded upwards with a red deer statue on top of it. Giant crows flapped their dark wings as the young noblemen on their backs approached the statue one after the other, mimicking the act of shooting their bows.

While they all feigned indifference, they kept giving curious glances at what hid behind the bamboo blinds—most likely, picturing in their minds the ladies’ beauty through their lovely clothes. Something that the women within were very well aware of. They had, in fact, gone through great lengths to look their best for the day. Aware as she was of their hard efforts, Masuho no Susuki looked warmly over the scene from underneath her long-handled parasol.

The Ladies in Waiting serving at Cherry Blossom Palace were often young, beautiful women—and their chances to meet the sons of the nobility were quite scarce. Many of them ended up marrying someone just for their families’ sake without ever meeting face to face with their husband before the fact. Hence, it had become custom to use the Horse Racing Ceremony as an excuse for a bachelor line-up.

The number of successful marriages among the nobility went noticeably up every year the Ceremony took place at Cherry Blossom Palace compared to the others. Some young men had even gotten the chance to successfully rise up in standing after a high-ranking princess fell in love with them at first sight, so none were more psyched up during the day’s exhibition than those of the low nobility.

Just a few years ago, as Masuho no Susuki calmly realized, she would have been the most concerned with the beauty of that barely visible kimono edge. Yet now that her plentiful waving locks had been replaced with the hairstyle of a nun, the only thing she felt was utter disinterest.

The highest of the nobility, besides the Golden Raven, who stood at the top of Yamauchi’s hierarchy, were the Four Houses, who had all been entrusted with the ruling of the territories in each of the cardinals—the Eastern, Southern, Western and Southern Houses. Each Region had their own unique produce and crafts they specialized in, and their best goods and talent were all henceforth sent to the Imperial Court. In doing so, the economy at Yamauchi’s Center stayed in motion.

Masuho no Susuki had been born as the first princess of the Western House, which held craftsmanship as its regional specialty and, until not that long ago, she had been one of the candidates to become the wife of the Crown Prince—Wakamiya.

Masuho no Susuki’s beauty had been without equal at the time, even compared to the other beautiful princesses sent by the Four Houses to Cherry Blossom Palace as prospective wives. There had been no doubt she would be the one chosen and yet, in the end, it wasn’t her but a lady of the Southern House—the West's political rivals—who became Sakura no Kimi.

Ever since infancy, Masuho no Susuki had spent her life with the conviction that she would be chosen as the prince's wife. She had longed for Wakamiya—who had grown into quite the attractive young man, a perfectly matching picture to the memories of those moments in her youth spent together—more than anyone else. A fact that had driven her to believe that, in the unfortunate and unlikely case she went unchosen, it would be the end of her. That she wouldn’t be able to live on.

Reality, however, couldn’t have been more different from her imagination.

The moment Masuho no Susuki actually met Wakamiya during the consort selection process, she came to discover that the attraction wasn’t there at all. He even told the candidates—of all things to say—that ‘he didn't particularly like them, and there's a possibility he may end up betraying them in the future.’ That ‘if they didn’t mind that, he would make them his wives.’

His arrogance was plain for anyone to see as he stomped all over the love the princesses held for him. Masuho no Susuki was a prideful woman and this wasn't something she could ever overlook. In fact, she had been so worried about the Southern princess, who had actually gone and accepted such terms, that in the heat of the moment she became a nun and a Lady in Waiting serving her.

Those of the Western House had been beside themselves with disappointment, apparently, but Masuho no Susuki saw the instant she cut down the same hair she had prided herself in as being freed of something possessing her. From that point onwards, she had lost all interest in romantic love.

She learned afterwards that Wakamiya's circumstances were what left him with no other option but to be realistic to a fault like that. While it gave her a newfound respect and admiration for the Southern princess, as she had chosen to become his wife with full knowledge of the brutal circumstances she was embroiling herself in, she still couldn't picture herself as Wakamiya’s wife at all from that day onwards.

She had never expected to find such a side to herself, but she had come to discover that she liked this version of herself—someone who kept her dignity and pride—much more than the woman drunk on love she had once been. So, what alternative did she have?

——An hour or so had passed since the start of the ceremony.

The last shooter should be about to arrive at the scene. This star shooter, unlike the other young noblemen taking part in the event before him, didn’t have to feign the act—his role was to shoot an arrow and actually hit the deer effigy. Successfully taking it down brought good fortune and failure brought misfortune, or so the story went, which made it an important duty to bear.

Ever since that tiny boy had left to train to become a high-ranking military officer, Masuho no Susuki hadn’t had much of a chance to meet with him—would he be actually capable of successfully fulfilling the task?

Suddenly, the sound of bells ringing resounded in the distance.

“He's coming, Lady Masuho no Susuki,” the Lady in Waiting waiting beside her announced nervously.

It wasn’t the shooter ringing the bells, but the herald. Ting-ting-ting. A giant crow led the way, the bells producing their shrill sound as it moved forwards. It flew much, much faster than any of the young noblemen had before. In fact, Masuho no Susuki couldn’t help but wonder with a touch of fear whether it was too much speed.

Yet, right behind the heralding giant crow came the shooter—and he proved to be just as swift. The rider, laid down on top of his steed, lifted his body all of a sudden with smooth, graceful movements as the sleeves of his cool light blue kimono—embroidered with silver—flapped in the wind, the gold of the stirrups sparkling under the sun.

The shooter, with his back now fully straightened as if he were unfolding, clung tightly to his mount's back using just his thighs while he gracefully drew the bow.

A woosh, and the arrow came loose with a sound not unlike a high-pitched whistle, piercing the deer effigy as if it had been sucked in. The effigy immediately crashed down with a clatter, giving no time for the bell to ring to indicate the shooter had successfully hit the target.

The spectators cheered, and the shooter dropped his speed. He then drew a loose arc in the sky, flying towards the spot where Masuho no Susuki awaited him. In the process, he passed by the roofed paths and their excited occupants but, unlike the other young men taking part in the ceremony, he didn't pay them even a single glance. The other young men, who had been on standby right underneath the stage, flew up and positioned right behind him.

The star shooter—a scion of the Northern House, once Wakamiya's close aide and a boy Masuho no Susuki regarded as her own little brother—smoothly landed on the stage where Masuho no Susuki stood with the spectacularly dressed young noblemen right after him.

Actually, no—calling him a ‘boy’ didn't feel right anymore. The young man had now dismounted with ease and approached Masuho no Susuki with a broad smile on his lips.

“It’s been so long, Lady Masuho no Susuki.”

His friendly voice was unfamiliar to her ears, somewhat hoarse as it was so characteristic of teenage boys. Masuho no Susuki was taken aback.

‘Who is this?’

Of course, she knew his name. Asking would be stupid, she realized that much. Still, and despite having met so many times before, the man in front of her looked like a completely different person in her eyes.

“Are you… Yukiya?”

“I am, yes. I've come to bring this year's Boys’ Festival's medicine to Sakura no Kimi.”

After giving his face a long, hard look, Masuho no Susuki could in fact tell those were without question Yukiya's features, but he had changed so much that it was almost a guarantee to confuse him for another.

His cheeks, once round like a baby's, were now lean, giving him the distinctive look of a warrior, and the outline of his face was that of a young man, firm and defined. His skin had a healthy tan to it and his somewhat light-colored eyes sparkled. To top it all off, he had become noticeably taller compared to their last meeting—it was now Masuho no Susuki who had to look up.

It actually felt like a fox had disguised itself to deceive her.

“Lady Masuho no Susuki?” Yukiya called out to her, perplexed.

After finally coming back to herself, a panicking Masuho no Susuki proceeded to respond as custom demanded. “You did a good job coming here. Sakura no Kimi must be no doubt overjoyed as well.”

“There's no bigger honor than that,” Yukiya courteously bowed his head and signaled behind him with his eyes. The moment he did that, a number of warriors—all fully clad in black—briskly stepped forward from the group and proceeded to place in a line the medicine, deer meat and antlers they had brought, all loaded on small offering stands.

Once she verified that everything in the checklist was accounted for, Masuho no Susuki nodded in approval. “Everything has arrived safely indeed.”

“Please, send my best regards to Her Highness.” A pleasant, refreshing smile later, Yukiya nimbly jumped back onto the giant crow's back. “Now, if you'll excuse me.”

Masuho no Susuki bowed slightly at him and Yukiya gave her a firm last greeting back before taking off. The flashily dressed young noblemen, who had been looking over their exchange with keen interest, followed after Yukiya this time as well—although they were clearly reluctant to do so.

Their group flew away, in the direction of the Imperial Court, as Masuho no Susuki watched over them. With them gone, all that remained on the stage was the ‘medicine’ sent for Sakura no Kimi, the Ladies in Waiting and a small number of warriors who had stayed to help carry the delivered goods to Cherry Blossom Palace.

It was among those warriors that Masuho no Susuki found the face of someone who wasn’t even supposed to be there. Her eyes went wide open. “Sumio, is it really fine for you to be here?"

Sumio had a dark complexion and a somewhat small build for a warrior, and he was always found by his Lord Wakamiya’s side as his bodyguard. His lord, always keen to abuse his infamy at the Court as a ‘fool’, had no qualms to indulge in his bad habit of skipping ceremonies and, to make matters worse, Sakura no Kimi, his wife, didn’t reprimand him—she instead went as far as to willingly help him on occasion. All in all, it was a pain to deal with.

Just the day before, Sakura no Kimi had actually gotten news of Wakamiya secretly escaping from the Court and had left for Sunrise Palace—where Wakamiya had been supposed to be—to act as his literal body double. She wasn't even supposed to ever come out from Cherry Blossom Palace.

Masuho no Susuki had waited with bated breath ever since, hoping her absence went unnoticed by everyone, but the situation had to have somehow resolved itself. Otherwise, Sumio wouldn’t have been there at the event. He ran towards her with a slight, wry smile on his lips and stopped some distance away from her.

“I know we've caused you much worry, but Wakamiya has now returned to Sunrise Palace. Sakura no Kimi should be back here as well tonight—she's at Sunrise Palace right now,” Sumio announced to her in a whisper, low enough that nobody else but Masuho no Susuki could hear him.

“I see.” Masuho no Susuki let out a sigh of relief.

Every single time, it was Sumio and Masuho no Susuki's job to clean up whatever mess Wakamiya and his wife caused by acting irresponsibly. She had gotten quite used to it—a feeling she actually found terrifying when she stopped to think about it, although there was little to no point to complaining after being at it for so long.

The weight on her shoulders now lifted, her mind couldn’t help but to turn towards the events that had just transpired. “Still, what a huge surprise. I knew that Yukiya would be taking on the role of the star shooter, but—”

“I know what you mean…… He has grown up a lot, hasn't he?”

“I mean, yes, that kid was shorter than me last time we met.”

Masuho no Susuki's actual little brother had joined the Unbending Reed Monastery—the same training facility for military officers Yukiya attended—at the same time as Yukiya did. Despite their circumstances, Masuho no Susuki had gotten the chance to meet with her brother from time to time, but his growth rate hadn’t been nearly as dramatic as Yukiya.

“It's as the outer books say, right? ‘If you don't meet a young man for three days, pay attention’(6),” Sumio responded as he smiled wryly.

Masuho no Susuki, on the other hand, quietly muttered, “Seeing him grow makes me happy, but… It does make one feel a bit lonely……”

The source of her turmoil was, most likely, a gnawing feeling of loss. Whenever she thought about how that innocent boy was gone from this world—even if she technically knew it was a good thing and she should be glad for his growth—the sensation that overtook her was one beyond description.

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After finishing up the matters at Cherry Blossom Palace, Sumio flew right back to Sunrise Palace. There awaited the young men who had just recently joined him in the ranks of Wakamiya’s bodyguards. Their nerves were plain on their faces, but their expressions shifted to ones of relief the very second they saw Sumio return.

Well, not like Sumio could blame them for that.

Their Lord and his wife were found within the annex they were guarding, but the couple didn’t obey common sense and dealing with their sudden whims was still a bit too heavy a task for the new guards. Apparently, they had been trembling with fear at the possibility of receiving some ridiculous order during Sumio's absence.

But Sumio was here now and the young Guards let him pass inside.

“I'm back,” Sumio opened the door and announced his arrival with a very familiar tone—something usually unthinkable from a servant. There, in front of a desk facing the window, was a young couple, their appearances remarkably similar, drinking tea with complete ease.

“Good job out there. How were things at Cherry Blossom Palace?” The handsome young man who asked the question was none other than Sumio's childhood friend and the Lord he had sworn his loyalty to—His Highness Wakamiya. His straight hair was tied at his nape and fell over his light purple kimono. He was dressed casually, with no hakama.

“It all went without a hitch. It may go without saying, but nobody noticed Sakura no Kimi's absence.”

“How was Yukiya?” Sakura no Kimi—Princess Hamayuu, who was dressed in the exact same outfit as her husband, asked with clear amusement. Dressing gown or not, that outfit probably still qualified as male attire, yet it was quite the perfect fit for the tall princess, who was constantly taking the role of Wakamiya's body double.

“That too went without issue. However, I brought a message with me from Lady Masuho no Susuki for Sakura no Kimi—’For all of the world, please, let's not have another ceremony take place in your absence ever again. Also, please, return as soon as possible.’”

Sumio replied to Hamayuu with some degree of respect, but the oddly-dressed princess just cackled in answer. “She doesn't learn her lesson either, huh? She should have figured out by now that I won't listen no matter how many times she asks.”

“I guess she can't hold herself back from trying,” Sumio spoke a tad emotionally—he felt exactly the same way as her after all. The young couple was, unfortunately, impervious to his tame attempt at sarcasm.

“Anyway, now that Masuho no Susuki has shown her face in front of those noblemen, we'll have quite a commotion awaiting from here on.”

“What do you mean?” Wakamiya asked his wife.

Hamayuu let out a snort. “Isn't it obvious? I mean there’ll be marriage proposals aplenty.”

“I see…” Wakamiya’s eyebrows lowered. “But Lady Masuho has become a nun, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem…”

“Quite the opposite. She let down her guard because she's a nun now and showed her face, and I'm convinced that's going to backfire on her.”

Sumio couldn't help but to agree with Hamayuu’s argument in his mind. Masuho no Susuki had never cut corners when it came to her appearance when she had still been a candidate to become Wakamiya's wife, always dressed in tremendously splendid outfits.

However, ever since she had decided to serve Hamayuu as her Lady in Waiting, she had come to prefer plain outfits with subdued colors. But she wasn’t the princess renowned as the most beautiful in Yamauchi for nothing. Far from diminishing her appearance, it had actually come to highlight her own natural charm and in turn made her stand out even more than before.

The events of the day had been no different in that regard. The young noblemen's eyes had been hopelessly glued on her the entire time as they passed on the medicine, however brief a moment it had been.

“It's at my discretion as her master to decide whether she returns to secular life or not, after all. Wait for it, I assure you there'll be letters arriving nonstop to Cherry Blossom Palace from tomorrow onwards,” Hamayuu declared as her lips curved upwards.

Wakamiya tilted his head with an ‘uhm’. “And looking at you, it seems you're more than eager to receive such proposals for Lady Masuho?”

“Of course I am! It's Masuho no Susuki we're talking about! To make such a beautiful and good-natured woman waste her life away serving me is no hobby of mine. It would be such a shame, who could do that?” Hamayuu yelled at him. “That said, I have no plans to give her away to some no-good noble. To marry Masuho no Susuki is to quite literally gain the Western House as your ally. There should be someone, right? Someone ready-made for her, in need of the Western House's influence.”

Wakamiya, who had seemingly realized where the conversation was going, grimaced. “Hey……”

“It's a good opportunity. I've told you this many times before, but you really should be taking Masuho no Susuki as your concubine.”

Wakamiya, faced with his legal wife's keen glare, sighed. He was clearly sick of it. “And I've told you this many times before. As nice as gaining the Western House as my ally sounds, the West-affiliated nobles will undoubtedly get carried away if I do that.”

“Do you really think you have the leeway to say that in your current situation? You barely have any allies and, to make matters worse, you have political enemies everywhere. Shouldn't you secure your position first, even if that means turning a blind eye to those who use their lineage to throw their weight around?”

“And I’m telling you that's absolutely not a problem I can turn a blind eye to. This is a topic that concerns the future course of the Imperial Family, I must not cheap out on my methods.”

“You say that, but where's the meaning in that if you get killed for taking things too slowly?”

The conversation had gotten to a point beyond the realm where Sumio could even dare to open his beak. And so, under their bodyguard's watchful gaze, their very un-couple-like argument kept escalating further and further.

“Don't fuck with me, what's even your problem with Masuho no Susuki!? That girl will certainly be a good mother. If I were a man, I would have taken her as my legal wife without hesitation! Are you freaking blind?” Hamayuu picked Wakamiya up by the collar.

“Your logic is off. It's not like I have any problem with Lady Masuho.”

“Of course you don't! If you had said otherwise, I would have had to do you the favor of destroying your sorry ass here and now.”

“Wait a moment. What even are you to Lady Masuho?”

“I'm Masuho no Susuki's master and your wife. It's me of all people who's telling you it's fine to go with it. What other issue can you have to not take her as your concubine?”

“It's nothing but issues. Anyway, I’m not taking Lady Masuho as my concubine, I won't back down on this.”

While he didn't resist Hamayuu's grip, Wakamiya remained otherwise unyielding. Hamayuu finally clicked her tongue and, all of a sudden, dropped him. Sumio took some newly poured cold brewed tea and quietly placed it in front of them.

——The exchange had been a bit violent, but Sumio knew very well that, for this oddball couple, it was just some form of play.

Hamayuu promptly accepted the glass teacup and drank it all in one go. That done, she stared at Wakamiya with squinted eyes. “...... I’ve realized as much, you know? That the Western House's Lord and Heir must be begging you to take her as your concubine. Won't it become a problem for you to disregard their wishes like that?”

Wakamiya, who had been quite a bit more well-mannered while drinking his tea, left the translucent cup on the floor with a clink. “Even if that's the case, my stance is the same. I can't take Lady Masuho as my concubine, given how it will affect power dynamics.”

“No matter what?”

“No matter what.”

Hamayuu’s face was one of disappointment—and it most definitely wasn't an act on her part. “Then, what are you planning to do? To keep Masuho no Susuki as a nun is just too much of a waste.”

This time around, Wakamiya nodded in agreement. “I feel the same, yes. If possible, I would want her to play a role in strengthening the ties between the Four Houses.”

Hamayuu's expression changed as she focused on giving him an earnest proposal. “Are there any suitable young noblemen among the Four Houses, though? At least for ones that come to mind now, there's only Aotsugu from the East and Kiei from the North, but……”

“Both of them must already have legal wives, and there's no way I'm sending Lady Masuho away as a concubine.”

“Then we are left with no option but to extend our criteria to branch families. That said, that comes with a problem—finding someone with a high enough status to fit in with the Western House.”

Both of them groaned as they wondered what to do. Sumio, who had been listening to the conversation in silence until then, cleared his throat lightly.

“Sumio, what's wrong?”

“Do you have any good ideas, perhaps?”

They both turned towards him with the same exact expression on their faces. Sumio smiled wryly.

“...... I don't know if it's a good idea, but—I do have a suggestion.”

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Green rain fell ruthlessly all over the Unbending Reed Monastery's roof tiles, but the rain drops dripping unceasingly from the building’s eaves were clear and its interior remained isolated from the grey world outside the walls.

“Sorry, Yukiya, you shouldn’t have to help me like this,” Shigemaru said with a frown, his big body hunched over. Yukiya, however, laughed lightly in response.

“It's fine. We’ll take care of this in just a minute.”

Due to the rain and at the Instructors’ convenience, the day's practical courses had been replaced instead by theory and, while Yukiya himself had finished the assignment quickly, he had chosen to stay to patiently explain everything to his best friend, who was as compassionate as he was bad at theory subjects.

To become part of the organization in charge of the protection of Yamauchi's rulers—the Yamauchi Guard—you had to first enter its training facility, the Unbending Reed Monastery. It required the recommendation of someone influential and enduring three long years of training, so it was a grueling process and dropouts were a matter of daily life.

They had to learn not only arts like swordsmanship or archery, but other practical skills like horsemanship—where they learned how to ride horses and how to fly themselves—and theoretical subjects like Etiquette and Law as well. This methodology was known as the Six Arts, Four Techniques and Two Studies.

They had plenty to learn about theory during their first year at the Monastery, but their studies were much more focused on the practical from the second year onwards. In other words, the evening was essentially a break for the trainees, at least once they were finished with their mostly meaningless assignment, and had in consequence mostly gone on their merry ways to relax as they pleased.

Class was almost over by the time Yukiya and Shigemaru had managed to clean up the latter's assignment barely enough to be above reproach. They had just stood up, planning to get a snack from the kitchen, when someone else interrupted them.

“Hey, Yukiya! I've heard you have gotten quite popular lately, right?” One of their fellow trainees called out to them.

Yukiya turned towards him. “Wait, popular? What do you mean?”

“Oh, don't play innocent!”

“We heard about it, you know? That you've been getting love letters nonstop ever since the Boys’ Festival happened.”

“They must be from the girls working at Cherry Blossom Palace, aren't they?”

The group of boys looked at Yukiya, all wearing sarcastic smiles. “Well, what can you do? An esteemed nobleman like the star shooter at the Horse Racing Ceremony isn't like the rest of us mortals.”

——So they were jealous and wanted to tease him, huh?

At least then the discussion wasn’t likely to be that serious. Realizing that, Yukiya's lips curved into a wry smile. It wasn’t him who answered their provocations, however, but Shigemaru. “He has rejected them all, though, so I don't think ‘popular' is the right word for it, really.”

Still, Shigemaru’s nonchalant explanation was met with shocked screams. “You gotta be kidding me!”

“What are you? An idiot!?”

“Why would you even waste such an opportunity!?”

“Why become the star shooter if you’re going to do that then!?”

With everyone around snapping at him, Yukiya retorted with disgust. “I didn't really become the star shooter because I wanted to, you know. There just wasn't anybody else who could take on the role, so it fell on me in the end.”

At the moment, a certain young man was reading a book at a corner of the dining hall. His shoulders twitched uncomfortably the second Yukiya spoke, but none of the boys gathering around Yukiya noticed that. Instead, they let out a collective and overdramatic sigh of aggravation. “What a waste.”

“You could have, I don't know, met them at least once?” Despite not being the actual recipients of the letters, they all acted as if it were a personal offense. It was annoying beyond belief.

“But it would be a problem if I did that and they got actually serious about me,” Yukiya hastily argued back, and the mood of the entire hall noticeably dropped.

“This bastard……”

“You piece of shit……”

“You better pay for what you just said one day! And as painfully as possible, I hope……”

Everyone cursed him, their words full of resentment. Among them, only Shigemaru glanced at Yukiya's expression with clear curiosity. “Then, what kind of girl would you actually consider dating?”

“Huh? Shige, are you curious as well?”

“Sure I am! You never talk about these things.”

Faced with his best friend's unexpected interrogation, Yukiya scratched his cheek. “Uhm, well—She must have a birth family to rely on in case something happens to me. Her social status must be similar to mine, and the marriage must be politically advantageous in some shape or form. Plus, she must be able to assess situations calmly and to promise me she won't ever drag romantic feelings into the relationship no matter what. If it were someone like that, I would at least consider it. A bit.”

As far as Yukiya was concerned, his answer was simply serious and sincere, but the looks on everyone’s faces had all simultaneously gone stiff. “That—wasn't what we meant, you know?”

“It wasn’t anything that serious! Just say you like fair skin or a big chest or something.”

What the hell was wrong with these guys? This entire conversation was now genuinely pissing Yukiya off. “Who even cares about appearances? Everyone ages and gets wrinkles, so it doesn’t change anything? To embrace a beauty, just go to the Red Light District?”

Among an otherwise deafening silence, a low groan escaped from the lips of one of Yukiya's fellow trainees. “...... If I ever run into any girl daring to say that Yukiya is cool or something like that, I’ll just do her a favor and stop her right then and there. No matter what it takes.”

“Same here.”

“Oh, really? If my little sister said she wanted to date Yukiya, I wouldn't actually ask her to reconsider—”

“What the hell, Shige? You’re way too soft on Yukiya!”

“Aren’t you sorry for your sister? Because I sure am now!”

Everyone found themselves at a loss for words as Shigemaru gave Yukiya a somewhat troubled look. “Still, you would be marrying her, why forbid romantic feelings between each other? That’s such a lonely way to live, I feel.”

Yukiya laughed at that. He knew very well how cold-hearted he sounded, and his expression made it obvious.

“Sharing your life with someone just over some ephemeral passion won’t ever make you happy. Once the heat of love dies down, all that remains is a cold, hopeless reality.” That being the case, to not ever drag such feelings into the agreement was much more preferable. Those were Yukiya’s genuine thoughts on the matter. “Besides, politics are going to play a part in any wedding a noble like me could have. There's nothing lonely or fun about it. I don't want anything out of this hypothetical woman—and if she wanted something from me, then that would only trouble me.”

The ruckus surrounding him had been replaced with uncomfortable silence. Shigemaru, meanwhile, looked at Yukiya with pity in his eyes and murmured to him in a quiet and confidential manner, “I wonder, what kind of girl would make you actually fall in love……?”

“I don’t believe such a person will ever appear, and it's not like I want it either.”

Suddenly, a loud thump resounded across the hall. The young man reading, who had remained silent until then, had slammed the book against his desk and stood up in a rage.

“Akeru? What's wrong?”

Akeru, however, didn't pay any mind to the confused trainees questioning him.

“Chihaya!” he raised his voice with clear irritation. “The rain is but a drizzle now. Come with me, I’m going to train.”

In response to Akeru’s calling, Chihaya opened one of his eyes with clear annoyance—up until then, he had been leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

Those who didn’t know the finer details of how they had met often concluded that Chihaya was Akeru’s attendant or something of the sort, given he was a lowborn and he attended the Monastery thanks to the support of the Western House, Akeru’s family; but the Unbending Reed Monastery was a meritocracy. The truth was very different—a genius like Chihaya couldn’t stand to watch as Akeru fumbled due to his tendency to lag behind in practical courses and so he curtly looked after him.

While Chihaya would have usually retaliated and poked some fun at Akeru for giving him orders like that, he didn’t this time. He seemed to have an inkling of why Akeru was so upset. His expression instead stuck on resignation, Chihaya followed after Akeru as he left the dining hall without ever opening his mouth.

Although there was rain, the drops didn’t have much strength and the sun was out with no wind.

The determining factor of a horse’s speed wasn’t so much its quality but rather its rider’s skill. Akeru sat on Chihaya’s back, who had transformed into a crow, and flew as fast as he could towards the shooting range. The wind howled as it slammed against his face. Once they reached the landmark Akeru used as a guideline, he lifted his body and drew the bow—but his aim was off and the arrow failed to hit its mark.

“Dammit!”

They passed by the target and Akeru raised his voice again. “One more!” But the giant crow didn’t caw in agreement, instead aiming to head back to the ground. “No, Chihaya, wait! Where are you going!?”

Chihaya glided down and threw Akeru to the ground with a shake once they had almost reached the ground.

“Ouch! What are you doing!?”

“Now, calm down.” Chihaya returned to human form mid-air and smoothly landed right in front of Akeru, who was lying on his butt. That done, Chihaya said matter-of-factly, “Rushing it won’t get you anywhere. Or do you want to fall off a horse again?”

As childish as he knew it was, Akeru couldn’t help but to pout in answer. “But…… If I stay like this, I may not even be capable of taking the Trial of Mist……”

“And you have more than half a year left before that. That’s not why you’re panicking—it’s Yukiya, right?”

Akeru couldn’t argue against that—Chihaya was right on the mark. After all, the first candidate proposed for the role of star shooter at the Boys’ Festival hadn’t been Yukiya, but the scion of the Western House and Masuho no Susuki’s younger brother—Akeru.

It was only once Akeru proved incapable to hit the target no matter what he tried that, left with no other alternatives, the role fell on Yukiya, who originally had no intention whatsoever to participate in the event. For Akeru, it had all been beyond vexing. So much so that he hadn’t even attended the horse racing event altogether, as the idea of acting as Yukiya’s opening performer together with the other noblemen was too much for him to bear.

Yukiya’s social standing wasn’t as high as Akeru’s, but he was still directly related to the current Lord of the Northern House and hence a proper member of the high nobility. However, he had grown up among the rural nobles of North, famed by their warrior clans, and so he was leagues above Akeru at skills in arms. Akeru hadn’t paid much mind to this difference back when they had first joined the Monastery, but the more time passed, the more obvious and wider the gap became.

“There’s no point in comparing yourself to Yukiya. If I had to guess, his eyesight is just that good.” Chihaya was usually a man of few words, so why did he have to become all talkative only at times like these? Or so Akeru inwardly thought in anger. Not like that stopped Chihaya from talking. “And that’s something you’re just either born with, or not. It’s not a problem that hard work can somehow fix.”

After they advanced to their second year, Akeru had gone through a growth spurt that had thrown off his sense of balance. While the same had happened to Yukiya—in fact, he had grown a lot more than him—he had seemingly surmounted the issue with ease. This wasn’t just a matter of eyesight—Yukiya’s talent was, no matter how one looked at it, superior to Akeru’s.

Chihaya sighed at Akeru’s silence. “Don’t you sulk like that. You may be worse than Yukiya at physical skills, yes, but at the very least you still have the better personality.”

He had a serious expression on his face, which actually made it harder to tell whether he truly meant his words or it was all just a joke. Quite the sloppy consolation.

“Thank you, I guess,” Akeru replied bitterly.

Then, Chihaya frowned. “Wait a minute….. Is there something else?”

“...... Nothing in particular.” Akeru looked away in a pointless attempt to avoid Chihaya’s gaze, knowing he could be strangely perceptive. Chihaya, meanwhile, glared at him in question, seemingly unwilling to back off that easily. “—Ah, fine! But you have to keep it a secret for now, got it? The truth is that my sister has gotten some marriage proposals.”

“Oh?”

“And the main candidate as of now is—Yukiya, apparently.”

Chihaya’s eyes went wide open.

“...... Now, that’s—” His words died down there, but Akeru could feel Chihaya’s condolences clear in the air. “To have that as your brother-in-law is……”

“It’s a humiliating prospect, but that’s still fine. But you heard how cruel he was when talking about a prospective wife…”

If his sister were to actually marry Yukiya, Akeru genuinely believed that she would lead a horribly unhappy life. However, his sister wasn’t yet aware of it and the ones actually moving the proposal forwards were their families, so Akeru couldn’t even protest. Hence, he ended up essentially running away.

Chihaya crossed his arms, apparently having grasped the subtext of Akeru’s words. “So that’s why you acted like that before.”

“Childish, right?”

“I do get why, though.”

Akeru, still on the ground, held his head in despair. He hated this entire situation. “What should I do if Yukiya and my sister end up actually engaged……?”

Chihaya was watching Akeru with pity in his eyes as he groaned pathetically when someone else joined the conversation. “—Well, you have no more need to worry, it seems.”

The voice came suddenly and out of apparently nowhere. Akeru raised his head in surprise. There, under the shade of the training hall’s building, he found a familiar face.

“Sumio!” He was an alumnus of the Unbending Reed Monastery. Despite his lowborn status, he had graduated as the first of his class and entered service as His Highness Wakamiya’s bodyguard. Sumio approached them, raising his hand in greeting as Chihaya did the same with his eyes. Flustered, Akeru stood up. “Sorry for my rudeness. Uhm, still, why are you here?”

“I was searching for you, actually. As I said just a moment ago, this concerns your sister’s marriage. It was canceled.”

“Eh—?” A screech escaped Akeru’s lips. “Canceled? What the hell happened?”

Sumio scratched his head bashfully. “Well, about that. We thought that Yukiya wouldn’t go against it as long as it was an order, so the matter was first brought up to Masuho no Susuki and—she absolutely hated the idea.”

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Much like they had expected, letters written by the many young noblemen who had fallen in love at first sight with Masuho no Susuki arrived like a veritable storm to Cherry Blossom Palace. Everyone would ask for her to return to secular life and for being given the honor of taking her as their legal wife.

While Masuho no Susuki herself paid none of them any mind whatsoever, a request to discuss the matter from her master, Sakura no Kimi and Wakamiya was a different matter altogether. Apparently, she had meekly listened to their talk about marriage in complete silence at first. Her behavior, however, shifted the very second Yukiya’s name came up as the prospective husband.

“You have to be kidding me! Why else would Yukiya’s name even come up here?” Masuho no Susuki asked them with her big eyes wide open, as dumbfounded as she was furious. “And here I was wondering what prompted a formal discussion! I was willing to go through with it if it was all like, a huge issue coming up among the Four Houses with my marriage as the only real way to solve it. But, no! You’re telling me it’s with Yukiya of all people! Are you messing with me!?” Masuho no Susuki screamed, boiling with anger. “This is a pointless marriage, no matter how you put it! What were you even thinking to propose it?”

Sakura no Kimi had apparently not expected such an explosive reaction, as her bold and fearless self was nowhere to be seen. She was unusually pale. “Well, but you see, Masuho no Susuki! You’re at the peak of your beauty. I can’t bring myself to keep you here sequestered at Cherry Blossom Palace, so……”

“And that’s none of your business!” Masuho no Susuki spouted with anger, very much unlike her usual self as well. “I became a nun very much willingly, thank you, and yet you’re ignoring my wishes altogether and moving this entire thing along without me!?”

She glared at Hamayuu, her red, glossy lips twisted into a grimace. This time around, Wakamiya, with a somewhat troubled look on his face, tried to appease her instead. “Please, do at least try to look at it from the bright side instead. It’s because this isn’t a matter of necessity that we didn’t plan to move things forwards any further without your approval. We just thought that maybe, if it was Yukiya, you wouldn’t be wholly against the idea…”

The second Wakamiya said that, however, Masuho no Susuki’s expression went blank. “...... What did you say?”

“Am I wrong?”

“Who suggested such an idiotic thing?” she asked in a quiet voice. It made it all the more terrifying.

Even Wakamiya, ignorant as he was of the intricacies of romantic love, seemed to have realized how bad the situation was, albeit belatedly. He immediately closed his mouth, but his eyes wandered and, for a second, pointed in Sumio's direction. Masuho no Susuki turned around violently and glared at Sumio, who had been waiting on the side in silence.

“I see. Now that I think about it, you would be the only one in a position to say such a thing.”

Resigned to his fate, Sumio nodded lightly in acknowledgement. “My apologies, I have no excuse.”

“Why?”

“Your eyes were following Yukiya around during the Boys’ Festival.”

“That’s—I mean, yes, he did an impressive job as the star shooter, but I was moved seeing him all grown up as one would a little brother, not… it most definitely wasn’t like that. So you better keep all those vulgar suspicions off your mind!”

The more Masuho no Susuki spoke, the more she got worked up. Her lips were trembling and her eyes, the deep color of amber, were glistening.

“...... I’m extremely sorry. I jumped to conclusions.”

“I’m not forgiving you. This is an insult to both Yukiya and I.” Masuho no Susuki, who had just been taking slow breaths in an attempt to calm herself down, stood up in a fury as she pointedly glared at Sumio. “I’ve thought this for a while, but I can’t keep it to myself any longer after this. I have nothing but disdain for that side of yours, don’t come close to me ever again!”

After crying out those last few words, Masuho no Susuki shed a tear and left Cherry Blossom Palace.

“Hey, wait, Masuho no Susuki!” All flustered, Hamayuu went after her. Wakamiya and Sumio were left behind in an uncomfortable silence.

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“—And that’s what happened. Masuho no Susuki made Wakamiya and Sakura no Kimi promise they wouldn’t ever again push anything marriage-related on her without permission, so I don’t think there will be any more engagements coming for the time being.”

Akeru couldn’t stop himself from breathing a sigh of relief. “I see…”

His heart broke for his sister—to think that she had hated the idea to the point of crying. Still, it was a much more preferable experience than to have such an undesired marriage actually happen. His mood lifted knowing the whole talk was no more, but he found that the anguish was now replaced by resentment towards Sumio, the very source of the problem.

“Still, why did you even think Yukiya was right for my sister? He’s a cold-hearted bastard—he said one of his conditions for a wife is to not bring love into the marriage. There’s no way he would ever be a good fit for her, right?”

While his tone came out slightly accusatory, Sumio didn’t seem at all bothered by that. Instead, he gave him a weak smile. “I know that’s what Yukiya says.”

“Then, why?”

“Well, it’s precisely because he says those things that I thought it would work out……”

Incapable of comprehending what Sumio was trying to tell them, Akeru looked at him dumbfounded.

“What do you mean?” Chihaya asked instead, and Sumio groaned in answer.

“Well, you see, if we’re talking about Yukiya’s harsh manners—in a manner of speaking, to me it feels like the logic at work is the same as Wakamiya’s when he asked Sakura no Kimi in marriage.” According to Sumio, when Wakamiya asked Hamayuu to become Sakura no Kimi, his words were tremendously cutting. “‘I’ll never be a good husband for you and it doesn’t mean I’m in love with you. Depending on politics, I may have to take on a concubine or I may have to betray you. Despite it all, you won’t be allowed to complain. If you’re still fine with it, then I’ll take you’—so he said.”

“Now that too is… quite the love confession.”

After hearing such a thing, what woman would gladly accept the terms? None, as far as Akeru was concerned. He couldn’t fathom what Princess Hamayuu was even thinking when she agreed to that.

“Well, it’s a terrible way to say it when you look at it from outside, right? But I knew the situation Wakamiya was in when he asked her that, so to me those words were just him being fully honest with her.”

Wakamiya had plenty of enemies at the Imperial Court and a change of government could happen no matter how much Wakamiya fought back and, regardless of his wishes, he could well find himself in a situation where his only real option was abandoning his wife. In fact, Wakamiya could easily be the one to die first. As a ruler, he could be in a position where calling someone special, whispering his love, was not allowed to him.

——‘Even then, would you still be my wife?’

“In those circumstances, promising her certain happiness would have been the same as deceiving her.”

‘It will be hard going, but I still want you by my side. I want you to choose me fully knowing where we stand’.

“Personally, I can place my trust much more easily on someone like that than on some irresponsible guy willing to spout sweet words he doesn’t mean. And as far as I see it, Yukiya is the same,” Sumio said quietly. “There were apparently some very difficult circumstances surrounding his birth and, on top of that, he swore his loyalty to Wakamiya. He has made his peace with not knowing what may happen to him tomorrow, but to not make a spouse unhappy means being careful like that.”

Akeru was left speechless. Meanwhile, Chihaya just watched Sumio intently with an unreadable expression.

Sumio sighed sadly. “Besides, and this is between you and I, I was there as Wakamiya and his wife thought of marrying Masuho no Susuki off without even the slightest concern for her own opinion on the matter. I wasn’t fine with that, as you may guess, so I just wanted things to at least go in a slightly better direction for her, but……”

It had, by all appearances, the opposite effect.

Still feeling conflicted after Sumio’s explanation, Akeru timidly spoke, “My sister must be of a mind to only be with someone she loves, so…… of course she would be angry at being paired with someone willing to say such horrible things, someone like Yukiya. Even if he has a proper reason for it.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Sumio murmured, frowning ever so slightly with his gaze distant, lost somewhere else. “...... And yet, the look in Masuho no Susuki’s eyes when she looked at Yukiya was so intense.”

He must have been looking at her a lot, Akeru suddenly noticed. Before he could follow that line of thought, however, Sumio raised his head and gave them a bright smile, full of energy. “Anyway, I just came to tell you that. You won’t need to worry about your sister for a while.”

“You have my heartfelt gratitude.”

“But now that I’m here, I guess I may as well watch you train,” Sumio announced cheerfully.

Before Akeru could say a word, Chihaya answered, “We’ll be in your care then. Could you give him an example of what to do?”

“Sure thing. Are you fine with being the horse?” Silently, Chihaya transformed into a crow. Sumio looked at him with satisfaction and nodded. “Good. Then, let’s get going.”

Chihaya, with Sumio on his back, flew high into the sky. He took quite the long detour, putting so much distance between him and the training spot that it was almost overdoing it. Akeru found himself thinking about how they must have gotten quite far when, suddenly, the blurry shadow of a bird came into his sight. He let out a gasp.

While Akeru had seen Chihaya fly as a crow innumerable times during training, it was the first time he had seen him speed up like that. From what he was seeing, it had to be about as fast as his top speed without anyone riding him. It had to be too much—how was Sumio even going to shoot a bow while riding that fast?

The rider and mount approached Akeru by the minute, but Sumio was leaning towards Chihaya’s back so perfectly he was virtually melded into it, making it impossible to tell he was even there. Right as Akeru realized that, Sumio lifted his body from his mount, as light as a feather dancing on the wind.

In a matter of seconds, Sumio pulled out an arrow and shot it. It was so fast that Akeru couldn’t even tell how he had done so in the first place—his eyes couldn’t follow the motion. By the time he processed what had happened, Chihaya and Sumio had already flown past him like a storm, and an arrow adorned with white feathers had landed right in the middle of the target. Sumio was terrifyingly quick and precise.

“Did you get to see it properly?” Sumio asked as he and Chihaya returned and the latter relaxed his wings, but Akeru just stood there dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen.

“...... I didn’t quite get what I saw.”

Sumio jumped off from Chihaya’s back, and the latter immediately returned to human form. “No wonder. It’s the first time I managed to fly that fast when ridden.”

“Well, appearances aside, I’m part of the Yamauchi Guard, you know? It would be an embarrassment if I lost against a mere trainee,” Sumio laughed well-naturedly.

“You were even better than Yukiya. You could have well taken the role of star shooter at the horse racing ceremony instead!”

“Me? No way! I’m not a noble, remember?” Sumio retorted without hesitation and Akeru’s chest tightened as if someone had clutched his heart. “Hey, Akeru. I know Yukiya is brilliant, so I understand why you’re panicking. But some things people are just born with or without. There’s nothing more futile than to compare yourself and envy others over something like that, something you can’t hope to fix. So, don’t you think it would be better to consider what you can achieve with what you actually possess instead?”

——Most likely, the man in front of him felt the truth of those words much more acutely than Akeru ever did.

Akeru remained silent as Sumio watched over him—his eyes were so gentle. “Chihaya and I are above you as far as talent as a warrior goes, but no matter how skilled we are, when it comes down to politics, we have no footing whatsoever to stand against the men at the Imperial Court.”

“That’s……”

“You know what I mean, right? We don’t have the status.”

In politics, Akeru was acknowledged just by virtue of his birth. But being told so just made him feel like Sumio was mocking him. “But that’s—!”

“You were born as a noble here in Yamauchi and it’s fine for you to use that as your weapon. We have our bodies and you have your status, what’s the big difference? The problem here is what you use that weapon for, don’t you think?”

It felt like Sumio’s keen eyes were piercing him. Akeru, still unconvinced by his arguments, refused to answer.

“I think that it would be a waste for you to get greedy and attempt to do too much at once, coming out the other side achieving everything by halves and mentally crushed. You have the high status and the bright mind, plus a virtuous character to not let that go to your head. What you lack may look desirable, but you realize no amount of complaining will change that, right?” Chihaya clapped his hands wordlessly. His look was the one of someone who had been wanting to say that all along. “Akeru, you may not be able to become a good bodyguard, but you can become a good vassal. Are you really unhappy with that?”

It was as if Sumio was testing him. His question made Akeru feel like crying.

“...... No.”

“That’s good then.”

And yet—and yet! Akeru bit his lips. “Still, it’s so frustrating!”

“—It is, right? Frustrating,” Sumio repeated the word as he sighed, his tone giving him away.

Afterwards, once Akeru ran to retrieve the training saddle and Sumio was watching him go, Chihaya approached him without a sound. “Are you truly fine with this?”

Sumio turned around with a start. Faced with Chihaya’s silent stare, a forced smile appeared on his lips—the boy had seen through him, it seemed.

“...... It’s not like I can do anything about it.” It was the one thing he couldn’t help or change. No matter what he did. “She may hate me and give me the cold shoulder, but I at least thought it would be fine for me to wish her a bit of happiness.”

Ah, and yet—it was so frustrating.

As he spoke, Sumio slowly shot an arrow. An impressive shot that landed right in the middle of the target, as if it had sucked it in.

—---—---—---—---—---—---—---—---—---—---

1: The original title is しのぶひと, in hiragana, which I'm interpreting by pure logic as 偲ぶ人. The main meaning of the verb 偲ぶ is to recall, which is what you may find in japanese-to-english dictionaries, but it has more than one meaning. The second, which I consider the intended here, is "心引かれて、思いをめぐらす。慕わしく思う" or "To muse of a heart stolen. To yearn."

2: The Boys’ Festival (端午の節句) or Boys’ Day celebration, also known as the Feast of Flags, takes place every May 5th in Japan. Within the story of Yatagarasu, it’s noteworthy for its second day being when Wakamiya, Yukiya and Kazumi go to spy on Cherry Blossom Palace and Yukiya is thrown down the cliff, being seen transforming by Asebi and the others. Wakamiya was, in fact, supposed to visit that day bringing the offerings.

3: Medicine Hunting (薬狩) was an actual component of the Boys’ Festival in ancient times, although it’s now lost to time. They would indeed get deers’ antlers, mugwort, irises and similar medicinal materials. The scent bags were also a historical element of the festivities, being made with the gathered materials with the idea of helping with keeping people healthy during the following rainy season. These scent bags would stay until September 9th, the Chrysanthemum Festival.

4: The term refers explicitly to Shinto rituals, but Yamauchi has no concept of Shinto.

5: The nine-colored deer (九色の鹿) has its roots as a sacred beast in a buddhist jakata tale, but it’s also known to appear in the Konjaku Monogatarishū (今昔物語集), a recopilation of japanese folktales written during the 12th century and other ancient tales. Much like the name implies, its fur is supposed to be of nine colors.

6: Sumio here is quoting the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The specific excerpt (which has since become a saying in Japan) originally referenced Lü Meng, a general who came to serve under Sun Quan, during his youth. It’s essentially used to express that you must never underestimate how fast a young man can grow, both literally and metaphorically. “Outer book” here means any book coming from Outside of Yamauchi.

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freshpizzalady · 3 months ago

Text

The beginning of Yatagarasu anime version is from this short story.

Chapter of the Fireflies: Thoughts of the Barren Tree

Blog version

For other translations, you can find them HERE

Timeline: Before the start of the series, during Yukiya's childhood

Characters (in order of relevance): Azusa, Fuyuki, Yukimasa, Yukiya, Yukichi, Yukima, Nazukihiko.

Synopsis: Yukiya and Yukichi go missing. As she waits for news on the children, Azusa reminisces about Yukiya's mother, Fuyuki, and the time they spent together.

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It's recommended to read before the excerpts of Golden Raven I just published here, going over some details about Yukiya's childhood, before reading this short story.

Thoughts of the Barren Tree(1)

Taruhi Township Lord's second and third sons had disappeared.

It happened during the early spring, and the crepuscular breeze was still cold. The custom at the Township Lord's Residence was for everyone, from family members to its working officials, to gather to eat together, and Azusa, as the Lord's wife, was in charge of the kitchen. At that moment, she had been in the process of turning a mountain of vegetables into a tofu and white miso salad for dinner.

That is, until her eldest dashed in. He had been out playing until a moment ago.

“Chii(2) and Yukiya are gone!”

Her eldest Yukima, soon to be eleven at the time, was six years older than his youngest brother Yukichi—affectionately nicknamed Chii. Yukichi had been growing more and more independent as of late, which had translated into common fights with his caring eldest brother. He would end up running out of the house and every time, and as if following a script, their reliable middle brother would dutifully go bring him back.

Yukima, however, was desperate. He explained that, this time, they had actually left way before midday. “It's taking them way too long! They didn't even come back for lunch. I've been searching for them, but I can't find them and…… Mother, what should we do?”

A squashed sheath of bamboo peeked out from the edge of her panicking eldest’s kimono—most likely containing rice balls for his brothers.

“It'll be fine. Now, calm down.”

“But!”

“They probably took a nap somewhere and slept through lunch, that’s all. They’ll be hungry, so I’m sure they’ll be back soon.”

“Your Ladyship,” a woman meekly called out from the back. She must have been listening in on the conversation.

Azusa nodded to her. “But, that said, it is taking them way too long. So, let's get a snack and, if they aren't back by the time we're done, let's all go and search together. Don’t forget to patch things up properly with your brother when he's back, got it?”

She looked her son in the eyes.

“Yes,” Yukima nodded, his uncertainty apparent for everyone to see.

——Yet no matter how long they waited, the two never returned.

“Chii, where are you?”

“Chii, respond if you hear us!”

Azusa and the other women left the Residence first for the search, followed right after by the Township's officials, who joined the efforts as soon as they finished their dinners. Yet no matter how many places they searched, nobody answered their calls.

The Township Lord's Residence was high up in the mountains. There was a village and farms at its base, inhabited by the Township residents, with inns speckled throughout for any travelers traversing the area. Yet, when asked, the residents, who had been working the fields throughout the entire day, all had the same thing to say—they hadn't seen the Lord's sons during the entire day.

Night fell. It was pitch dark.

While it was comfortably warm when the sun was still out, the wind was still as harsh as winter. The cold would sneak down their necks and up their ankles, and the boys had left lightly dressed. Concern for their safety fully settled on everyone’s hearts.

“You should go back home for a bit and eat something,” Azusa’s husband and the Township’s Lord, Yukimasa, called out to her. She had been running around, shouting herself hoarse.

“But, my dear—”

“You know we all ate, but you didn’t have anything at all before leaving, right?”

“I'm fine. In these circumstances? I can go without eating for a while with no problem.”

“You may be alright, sure, but Yukima? Look, he's at his limit.” Yukimasa glanced in Yukima's direction. The boy, too tired to even speak, was following some officials around on the verge of tears. “With how things are looking, it may take a long time to find them. I've sent the other women back already to prepare a midnight snack, so take Yukima and go.”

Once her husband mentioned it, Azusa finally noticed the absence of the household's women. They had been searching with them up until just a moment ago. “...... Fine, I'll take Yukima back. For now.”

She may have backed down, but Azusa was sure that food wouldn’t go past her throat even if she tried. Meanwhile, her eldest, who had insisted on helping until his brothers were found, was unsurprisingly exhausted after an entire day of running around. Using the short break as an excuse, Azusa brought him to the Residence with her. Once there, he curled up instantly, falling asleep right at the entrance.

Azusa left for the kitchen to get someone to watch over him, fully planning to head back out herself afterwards. The moment her hand touched the sliding door to open it, however, she was interrupted by someone's voice on the other side.

“Not Chii, but the middle kid? I'm not surprised he has gotten himself lost like that. What’s the point in searching for him so desperately, anyway? I bet that brat is intentionally hiding away.”

“What do you mean?”

“That he’s probably having the time of his life, watching us run ourselves ragged searching for them. He's one twisted brat, after all,” the voice said. Her distaste for Azusa's son, obvious for anyone who listened in.

“Oh, stop,” another voice reprimanded across the door.

“But it's the truth! He may put on that good boy facade of his in front of His Lordship and the others, but you know what he did the other day? He punched my son.”

“And wasn't that because your son disrespected the Young Lord? He reaped what he sowed,” the other voice retorted back, clearly fed up.

Azusa's heartbeat, however, remained on the rise. She had no idea that her second son—not Yukima or Yukichi, but her second—had been getting into those kinds of fights. It was news to her. He, who was always so calm and gentle, ever mediating his brothers’ squabbles without fail.

The woman, however, had no way of knowing that Azusa was actually listening in on their conversation, and so she kept on babbling and airing out her grudges. “Still! Her Ladyship's children are both such sweet kids, yet that kid is twisted to the core. It must be his mother’s influence, after all. He never apologized after the fight.”

“Shouldn’t you stop already? I mean, let me guess—you talk just like that at home too. No wonder your son ends up getting in trouble with the Lord’s children if that’s what he hears from you.”

“Exactly! It��s just payback at that point. No helping with that.”

Despite the others’ following airy laugh, the irritated voice remained unrelenting. “Still, why are Her Ladyship and His Lordship even willing to raise that brat themselves? I truly can't understand them. They should just send him to the Center and be done with the whole thing, everyone would come out winning. Lady Fuyuki must resent this too, I’m sure.”

——Azusa couldn't take it any longer.

She used all her strength to suddenly open the door. The startled women, who indeed hadn't realized her presence until then, fell silent immediately. “Your Ladyship.”

Panic was written all over the face of the woman who had been badmouthing her son just a moment ago. She knew the gravity of her mistake, and while Azusa knew she had to say something—both for her and her children's sake—she couldn’t. This indescribable feeling, this mix of anger and sadness, filled her and, by the time she finally spoke, it was about a different matter altogether.

“...... Yukima is sleeping out there. I'll be going out, so keep an eye on him,” Azusa quickly ordered them. She turned on her heels.

“Lady Azusa,” she heard a flustered voice call her from behind, but she didn’t have it in her to answer. To give them her attention any longer.

The Lord's second son—Yukiya. Azusa had raised him fully intending to give him equal treatment to Yukima and Yukichi. His now-deceased mother had been a princess of the High Nobility. One Azusa had personally served once upon a time.

⊛　　　　　⊛　　　　　 ⊛

They met about twenty years ago, back when Azusa was seven and Fuyuki thirteen. Fuyuki was the second princess of one of the Four Houses that formed the High Nobility, the one governing over the Northern territories. Her body had been weak from birth, however, and she was rumored to not have a long life to live.

Azusa’s father belonged to a family that had long served the Northern House. Her mother, on the other hand, came from a mid-ranking noble family affiliated not with the North, but the East. Azusa had grown up at her mother’s Residence in the Center, so she hadn’t had any chances to meet Fuyuki, who remained ever cloistered in the North’s Main Residence, face to face until then.

The chance to meet came during the New Year’s Greetings, as Azusa had been brought there by her family and Fuyuki had just so happened to be in good health that day.

“So, you're Azusa,” Fuyuki said as she sat on her bed and leaned on an armrest.

Her features themselves were unremarkable, hard to commit to memory. Her looks came from her father, but she lacked the confident aura granted by the man's strong body and magnanimity—her limbs and neck were abnormally thin, and her expression gloomy. The sound of labored, painful breaths came incessantly from her slightly opened lips and her soft-looking locks remained in a permanent bedhead, plastered to her pale cheeks.

Once the exchange of formalities was over, Fuyuki immediately took her chance to question Azusa. “Hey, tell me, do you think my elder sister will succeed in becoming His Highness Wakamiya’s wife?”

At the time, Mutsu no Hana, Fuyuki's older sister and the first princess of the North, was rumored as a candidate for the Crown Prince's legal wife. Apparently, it wasn't the first time Fuyuki had asked others this question, but everyone else had just answered with an ‘of course, your elder sister will undoubtedly be chosen’.

After some deep consideration, Azusa, on the other hand, said the following, “At my residence in the Center, everyone from the East is certain that the Eastern princess will be chosen. And I’m sure the Western people must think the same for their princess, that she'll be the one. So, to tell the truth, I can't tell how it’ll turn out.”

The second Fuyuki heard her words, she gave her a satisfied smile. One followed right after by an order. “I like you. Be my servant from now on.”

It completely came out of the blue for Azusa and her family, but the prestige of the offer was beyond question. The Northern Lord and Lady were keen on the idea as well, which led to the final decision to make Azusa Fuyuki's handmaiden surprisingly easy.

Still, Fuyuki's reputation, according to hearsay, wasn't what one would call good. The rumors talked about how inconsiderate and mean-spirited she was towards those under her. When people heard Azusa was going to become her handmaiden, they would tell her stories about ‘how she kicked out anyone the very second they offended her’. Half as a warning, half to scare her off.

However, Fuyuki proved to be startlingly kind and friendly to Azusa once she got the chance to actually spend time with her. Still, even Azusa couldn't deny the fact that her reputation was, in part, well-deserved. Azusa once asked Fuyuki why she chose her of all people, when so many would love to serve a Northern princess like her.

“I hate idiots, you see,” Fuyuki proceeded to insult them all with no hesitation. The look in her eyes was unlike anything she usually showed to Azusa—cold, as if her eyes had frozen over, covered by winter’s ice. “The person those girls want to serve is the Main House's frail, pitiable little princess, not me. They won't ever act against my will, yes, but they won't ever sincerely speak their minds to me either. They’re all the kind of people that would gladly call a deer a horse(3) if you tell them so. There’s no worthwhile conversation to be had with them.”

Not even a hint of warmth could be felt in her voice. “I’m not going to live that long, so I'd rather spend my short time here with people I actually like and enjoy myself while it lasts. I flat out refuse to waste my precious life with a bunch of thoughtless idiots.”

——Azusa could feel the characteristic arrogance of the High Nobility dripping from every one of Fuyuki’s nonchalant words.

Fuyuki enjoyed reading to a degree that far surpassed what was expected of a princess of the nobility, and was particularly adept at board games. She would remember the contents of any book word for word after merely reading it once and stayed undefeated in all kinds of games—from Shogi, Go and dice games(4) to the Board Drills employed by warriors to learn war strategy. Azusa hadn't seen anyone beat Fuyuki even once in any of them.

Active military officials and Imperial Court officers would come over to visit from time to time and would challenge her while they were at it—they all came to share the same unanimous opinion about the princess’ strength.

While most believed that they intentionally lost against her in an attempt to curry favor with the Northern House without ever questioning that idea, Azusa had actually seen most of these men—who would go around bragging behind Fuyuki's back about how they ‘went easy on her’—drenched in cold sweat as they faced her on the board.

On the other hand, many other visitors would bring stories from the Center with them. Fuyuki was a woman of relatively few words but, thanks to that, they often carried a level of insight that completely escaped Azusa.

“The North is bad at politics, you know. They believe that getting a marriage with the Imperial Family will be enough by itself to bring the house prosperity—truly a hopeless bunch. The way our military excels, it would be easy for us to take over the Imperial Family’s position if we ever wanted to. But no, they would rather go and take a woman from the Red-Light District as the legal wife.”

The topic was her own parents, yet Fuyuki spoke as if it were somebody else's business altogether. “Did you know? Our accursed relatives wouldn't shut up, insisting that if we produced a princess beautiful enough, we could manage to marry her to the Imperial Family, so my father took my mother, the best prostitute at the Center's Red-Light District, as his legal wife. But it’s not like the ones in power out there are going to care about a princess’ face or personality…… Yet father, mother, my older brother and sister all pity me for being unable to join their silly games of playing house with our idiotic relatives. It's so stupid,” Fuyuki spat out.

It was true that Fuyuki's parents and siblings failed to genuinely understand her and her feelings. They would shower her in hina dolls and hairpins she wouldn't ever use, so it was obvious they didn't even have a basic grasp on her preferences and tastes. On the other hand, they would secretly call Azusa often, all to ask her just what kind of present Fuyuki would actually like.

Azusa didn't truly believe Fuyuki's parents were as indifferent to her as she herself thought, but Fuyuki had given up on all hope regarding her family.

“If only I had been a man—or at least had a body strong enough to give up my status as a woman, live as a man and become an official, I would have been capable of raising this Northern House to the very top of Yamauchi.”

By chance, some maidservants heard her lament and grimaced. Their thoughts—that she was dreaming about something beyond her—all over their faces. But Azusa believed that it wasn't necessarily some pipe dream. That, for Fuyuki, dominating the entire Imperial Court could have actually been possible in the right circumstances.

Fuyuki was a woman overflowing with talent, so having a body that wouldn't let her make use of it had to be vexing indeed. She was terribly intelligent, regardless of her environment's refusal to admit it, and, precisely because of that, also very lonely.

“...... It’s not like this body of mine can be expected to carry a child to term anyway. I’m sure I'll spend my entire life stuck here, achieving nothing, just to then die alone.” A whisper full of resignation. A few guests had left right before that—they had been gushing about how her older sister would surely marry into the Imperial Family.

How did the world look from that tiny window of hers? Surrounded by beautiful kimonos and rare souvenirs from the Center, with her mountains of books at odds with everything else in the room.

Azusa was one of the precious few who ever understood the gloomy Fuyuki and, over time, that gave her a sense of pride. To know this woman who was cold like ice even towards her own parents and siblings, yet proved to be incredibly thoughtful and caring for the innocent and those she came to trust even once.

She would laugh ever so quietly whenever a cat got lost inside or a baby was carried there for a visit. It reminded Azusa of the breeze in early spring, and she loved the gesture above anything else.

Fuyuki was, unquestionably, a twisted woman and hard to deal with—but there was more to her than that. At the time, Azusa had been desperate to be the first to break through the many barriers Fuyuki put around herself to keep everyone at bay. Her efforts didn’t go unnoticed by Fuyuki either, who would watch over her attempts as she would watch a kitten trying to climb up her lap, claws latching onto the train of her kimono.

Their days were always the same, yet warm and peaceful—or so Azusa thought.

——An opportunity for change arrived. Fuyuki was eighteen, and Azusa twelve.

Fuyuki's older brother, Genki, had gone on a visit to the Center and brought back some friends he had met there to the Northern Region. Soon, they proved to be a hopelessly irritating bunch.

“Oh, poor princess! To only be capable of remaining cloistered here.”

“The Center is such a good place! We’ll tell you all about it.”

And so, these men forced them both to listen to their incessant rambles about how their families had made a fortune in the Center and how luxurious and glorious their life was. All while paying no mind to Fuyuki and Azusa's actual reactions in the slightest.

While Fuyuki kept a sour silence, Azusa tried to, in a long-winded manner, redirect the conversation towards the Center's politics in Fuyuki’s place, but it was to no avail. One of them immediately redirected the conversation back to a summer design made by a clothes shop he patronized.

“...… What's the point of flashy clothes if the person wearing them is of no substance?” Fuyuki finally offered them a backhanded question from across the bamboo curtains, but it didn't stop them even for a second. It was admirable. In a way.

“Truly so, truly so, it's just as you say! But appearances are very important in order to be recognized as a noble in the Center, you see.” They even further added, “The girls in the Center apply themselves to matters of fashion too and have quite the discerning eye for it. To be fashionable is a struggle. But, of course, these matters of mundane life have nothing to do with someone like you, Lady Fuyuki. I envy the purity of heart you possess.”

They somehow managed to put an end to the conversation afterwards and chase them away, but the mere thought of their stay at the Residence made Azusa miserable.

“Don't ever approach them again.”

“No worries, I don't want to deal with them either.”

Although they all had connections to the Northern House, their base of operations was in the Center. It was everyone’s first time coming to the North itself, so Azusa had thought that maybe they would go on a trip far away and, hopefully, they wouldn't come over again. Alas, she was too naive.

From the following day onwards, instead of visiting the region and despite coming all the way to the countryside, they got a ball and chose to spend their time playing kemari(5), arguing it was a ‘popular pastime among Center Nobles’.

“They're truly stupid!”

“Very much so.”

Carefree, incessant laughter could be heard from the garden facing Fuyuki's room.

“They should just return home already if this is how they’re going to spend their time,” Azusa argued but, just as she did so, someone's alarmed voice interrupted them.

“Careful!”

Wondering what was going on, they turned to its direction. That very second, something big flew through the bamboo curtains, ripping them off, and into the room. They both screamed as it bounced off the wall, knocked a mirror sitting on the nearby cupboard to the floor and bounced away. Not knowing what had happened just yet, Azusa stood there, frozen. Before even realizing it, she and Fuyuki had come to cling to each other.

——A white kemari ball noisily rolled on the floor, still covered in traces of being kicked around.

Still stunned, they saw a panicking face peek through the now curtainless handrails. “Are you alright!?”

A young, tanned man with sharp features appeared among the light. He wasn’t wearing any makeup, yet his eyebrows were so well-shaped they looked as if drawn on along with a bright gaze that denoted honesty. He was strongly built, the well-defined muscles of his upper arms visible thanks to the rolled up sleeves.

The moment Azusa came back to herself, she stood in front of Fuyuki to protect her. That done, she yelled, “Who do you think you are in front of!? Stand back!”

The young man's eyes widened for a second and, having perhaps realized who he was in front of, his face lost all color and he prostrated right in place. “Forgive the discourtesy, my lady.”

That matter solved, Azusa, worried about Fuyuki, turned around in a fluster to check on her.

“Lady Fuyuki, Lady Fuyuki! Are you alright?” Azusa's master was stuck in place, looking as if her soul had left its mortal coil. She watched the young man kneeling on the ground intently. “Lady Fuyuki?”

Azusa, concerned, called out her name, and Fuyuki seemed to return to her senses. “Ah, yes, I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine.”

“That's a relief,” Azusa let out a sigh and only then faced the young man with a fierce look in her eyes. “May I know what happened there?”

“I have no excuse to give, my most sincere apologies. I, well, kicked the ball and then…”

Azusa took a better look behind him. The Center noblemen were there, cowering further away in the garden as they watched. With the matter of the previous day's discourtesy added to it, Azusa couldn't take it any longer. “I'll be informing His Lordship of this. You'll get—”

“Wait, Azusa,” Fuyuki intervened before Azusa could finish speaking. “It's true that they made a mess of the curtains, but nobody got hurt and the mirror didn't break. Let's end this amicably.” Her voice was feeble, completely unlike her usual self. Still disconcerted by Fuyuki's behavior, who was completely shrunken in on herself, Azusa begrudgingly backed off.

“If you say so, Lady Fuyuki……” She could hear the young man breathe a sigh of relief. “Lady Fuyuki may have forgiven you, but that doesn't change the fact that you committed a terrible discourtesy. We'll consider the matter settled, but better make sure that there won’t be a second time.”

“Yes, of course,” the young man nodded earnestly.

Then, Azusa suddenly noticed something. Now that she was looking at his face, there was something different about him compared to the pale-faced bunch she had met just the other day. “You aren't from the Center, right? Who are you and from where?”

“Sorry for the late introduction. I'm Yukimasa of Taruhi, the eldest son of the Taruhi Township Lord. I came here today accompanying my father. I then received an invitation to play with them and—”

“Lord Yukimasa……” An absentminded voice muttered, much to Azusa's astonishment once she ascertained the source. It was Fuyuki, her cheeks flushed red as she wore an expression Azusa hadn't seen on her ever before.

That very evening, when the sun had set and it was already dark outside:

“Lady Azusa.”

She had been taking away Fuyuki’s tea set, walking through the hallway, when, much to her surprise, someone called her from the garden. “You're the one from today.”

“Yes, I'm sorry for what happened. I'm Yukimasa of Taruhi.”

“So, what brings you here this time?”

“I came to apologize all over again. Uhm, I'm not sure if this would qualify as a fitting gift, but here.” He bashfully offered her the present in question, which troubled Azusa as she tried to figure out how to respond.

——What should she say in this situation?

While Azusa was tempted to lean into her own irritation and tell him she never wanted to see him again, she ultimately restrained herself out of consideration for Fuyuki. “...... Aren't you the eldest son of Taruhi Township? What are you doing, coming here secretly from the garden?”

“Oh, true! My apologies. What a blunder.”

“Come over again, properly this time. I'll let you pass to meet Lady Fuyuki.”

Fuyuki hadn't spoken a word since the day's events, but once Azusa told her Yukimasa was going to come over, she let out a tiny gasp. She looked like a young girl all over again as she clung to Azusa. “What shall I do, Azusa? There’s nothing weird with what I’m wearing, right?”

Fuyuki’s hair was soft-looking, but prone to frizzing and curling. Azusa smiled wryly as she saw Fuyuki smoothing her hair down in a panic, and took a comb to slightly fix it.

“It'll be fine. Besides, he's coming over to apologize, just act with confidence and it'll all work out, Lady Fuyuki.” Azusa had thought the news would make Fuyuki happy, but she never expected her to get so flustered.

A while later, Yukimasa came for a visit. He knelt at the other side of the bamboo curtains, bowing his head. “Allow me to apologize again for what happened today. It was my mistake and I’m terribly sorry for it.”

“That’s enough,” Fuyuki replied with a voice so soft it was barely audible.

It looked like her lady would be incapable of speaking any further herself, so Azusa casually intervened to help. “Still, why was there a need to hit the ball with such strength? Was that your first time playing kemari, Lord Yukimasa?”

“No, that's not what happened. They were treating me like some ignorant country bumpkin, saying they would teach me some techniques from the Center and it really annoyed me, so…….”

He seemed too deeply ashamed of himself to go on, but it was still enough to get the gist of what had happened between them. Azusa could understand well how he had felt, so her attitude softened a little. “You have my condolences for that.”

“I'm deeply sorry for causing you princesses such inconvenience. It may not be enough of an apology, but please take this offering.” As he finished speaking, Yukimasa retrieved something from behind him. Fuyuki gasped at the sight.

A light flickered within the soft darkness of the room, as if it was slowly breathing. It was fainter than your usual fatuous fire lamp(6), and its color was more vivid. Yukimasa’s apology gift took the form of a stick-shaped something, shining with a beautiful green light.

“What's that?”

“A firefly.”

“I'm aware there's a firefly inside, but…… what's it trapped inside of? A plant?”

“You may not be familiar with it, princess, but it's a green onion head.”

“A green onion head!” Fuyuki opened her eyes in surprise. Such a silly, inappropriate name for something so beautiful. “I have seen people use bellflowers(7) before, but to use green onions……” Incapable of restraining herself any longer, Fuyuki started to laugh. “I've seen something good today. It's truly charming and wonderful, but I've already enjoyed myself enough. Please, let the firefly go.”

“As you wish.” Yukimasa took off the plug that kept the firefly from escaping. It wriggled for a moment before taking off, fluttering out of the room as if swept up by a breeze.

Fuyuki's expression as she watched Yukimasa depart left an impression on Azusa. She had never seen that on her before. To think she could make a face like that—It was refreshing. Azusa may have felt slightly left behind and lonely, but that didn’t worry her in the slightest. Not when her chest felt so unbearably tight.

——What a lovely person Fuyuki actually was.

Taken by a genuine desire to do something to help, Azusa went to visit the Northern Lord and his wife to inform them herself: ‘Lady Fuyuki has someone she likes’.

The marriage arrangement itself proceeded very smoothly.

The Northern Lord had been quite enthusiastic about the idea once he learned his daughter had fallen in love with the man at first sight, and Taruhi's Township Lord, who had been wanting to retire, was quite enthused too with the support they could gain from the Northern House if his son married Fuyuki.

“Thank you, Azusa. I got this because of you.”

Fuyuki had been the very picture of happiness and beauty before departing for Taruhi, and Azusa's eyes suddenly welled up with tears. “Please, be happy, Lady Fuyuki.”

Azusa couldn’t follow Fuyuki to Taruhi as one of her maids due to the terms set for the marriage. As a result, while Fuyuki became Yukimasa's legal wife and moved to Taruhi, Azusa went on to work in the Center.

‘It’s you, I’m sure you’ll find a marriage partner soon enough.’ Those had been Fuyuki’s words before departing, but reality proved to be the opposite—Azusa wasn't blessed with many proposals, if any at all.

Time passed. Much like Fuyuki once predicted, in the end, her older sister didn't get to marry into the Imperial Family and instead joined a noble family affiliated with the North. Genki’s son was born as well, and so it became Azusa’s job to take care of the children at the North's Center Residence.

Then, all of a sudden, the Northern Lady came to her with an unbelievable proposal.

“——You want me to become a concubine for Taruhi's Lord?”

Five long years had passed since Fuyuki married and left for Taruhi. Fuyuki and she had stayed in contact, sending letters back and forth from time to time ever since, but she had stopped answering a short while ago. At the time, Azusa had been fearing that Fuyuki's condition had worsened significantly.

Oryou no Kata, Fuyuki’s birth mother and the Northern Lord's legal wife, pressed Azusa with a solemn look in her eyes. “Fuyuki is faced with a great dilemma back in Taruhi. Taruhi's Township Lord remains childless even now and it fills her with shame to know it is her fault.”

The Northern Lord himself spoke right after, “Please, can't you consider accepting? As those who made the arrangement in the first place, we feel just as responsible for the situation as her. Besides, Fuyuki herself has said that if a concubine is necessary, she would at least want her to be you.”

“Has Lady Fuyuki truly said that?”

“Yes, that she did.”

To tell the truth, it was a request from the Northern Lord. It wasn't like Azusa had a choice to begin with.

——However, something felt off about it.

Fuyuki had been deeply, wholeheartedly in love with Yukimasa. Would she ever truly suggest her husband take a concubine? And yet, Fuyuki was also a terribly intelligent woman. For her to worry about Taruhi Township and consider the problems a lack of heirs could bring—no matter how painful it could be to do so—and choose Azusa as the concubine wasn't an absurd idea either.

Azusa sent her yet another letter, but no reply ever came back.

She was then summoned to the Northern House’s Main Residence, and so left the Center. There, Yukimasa finally came to visit her personally. The young Lord of Taruhi was completely earnest with her.

“Fuyuki's position in Taruhi is a difficult one because of the lack of heirs. I've been somehow protecting her up to now, but the anxiety of it all seems to be affecting her health as of late. To be honest, Fuyuki isn't even in a condition to take care of the house's affairs. Couldn't you become my concubine just to help her? Even if you’re to be a mere concubine, I'll treasure you as much as Fuyuki.”

“Could I first meet Fuyuki at least?”

“That may be difficult, sadly her condition is bad right now. But I'm sure that, if you were to agree, her depression will soon fade away and you'll be able to meet in the near future.”

And so, partly moved by Yukimasa's plea, Azusa became his wife. They had to build new chambers for her in Taruhi Township, so Azusa was told to stay at the Northern House's Main Residence but, just as he had first promised, Yukimasa visited her with fervor. Soon after, Azusa became pregnant with astonishing ease.

The Northern Lord and his wife were as overjoyed as if she were their own daughter.

“Fuyuki is overjoyed with the news too!” Oryou no Kata said to her.

“Is that truly so……?” Azusa was worried. She hadn't gotten even one single chance to talk with Fuyuki since she had arrived back in the North. She patted her own belly, the swelling still imperceptible.

Oryou no Kata, however, dismissed her concerns with a merry laugh. “Of course she's happy! Her health may not be good at the moment, but how about visiting her after the child's birth?”

To give a boy a name that included an animal’s kanji was said to help them grow up healthy, so once her son was born several months later, they named him after the temples’ sacred horses—Yukima(8). Azusa still remained at the Northern House's Main Residence at that point and that’s where she began to raise her first child. Yukimasa would fervently visit them both and the Northern House had even prepared broodmaids(9) for her, so it was very much a manageable effort.

The biggest source of trouble came after Yukima finally first took human form—he would cry constantly during the night. Azusa was left seeking whatever rest she could get whenever he stopped. She had been napping one day, lying down by Yukima's side, when a noise woke her up. It wasn’t the usual bawling—there was quite a ruckus outside. “What’s going on?”

“Lady Azusa, you must stay here!” A maid with a stern look stopped her, but Azusa could still hear a woman's high-pitched voice and the sounds intertwined with it—painful-sounding coughs.

“It can't be! Is Lady Fuyuki here?”

Just as Azusa took to the hallway with her son in her arms, however, Oryou no Kata appeared on her way to Azusa's room. Once again, she was stopped from going any further. “Azusa, please, leave this to us.”

“But!”

“It's fine. This is an order, go back to your room,” Oryou no Kata declared with the same resolute attitude. The woman left her behind and went outside as the maids pressed Azusa to return, but Azusa remained stuck in place.

“You traitor! I won't ever, ever forgive you!”

——Her legs wouldn't move. She was shaken by the other's incredible anger.

There was no doubt about it. That was Fuyuki's voice.

“What's the problem? Why the ruckus?” Oryou no Kata said all fed up, as if she were persevering through a chat with an unreasonable, irrational child. “Calm down and listen to me well. Don't you see, Fuyuki? This all happened because of your negligence. It should have been you who suggested your husband get a concubine in the first place. If you can't fulfill the bare minimum of your job as a Township Lord's wife, what option do you have left but to make someone else do it in your place?”

Faced by her apparently troubled mother, Fuyuki let out a cry so pained she may as well have puked blood, “Don't you screw with me! Then you shouldn't have given me away in freaking marriage to begin with!”

“That and this are different matters altogether. We did it because we care about you. We wanted you to get the chance to become a good wife in Taruhi, and you wasted our well intentioned efforts. On top of that, doing something as irrational as not accepting any concubines is absolutely inadmissible.”

“What do you mean by irrational? What do you mean you did it because you cared about me? It’s because of my reputation, isn’t it? Everyone, everyone just treats me like an idiot…… I'm not your freaking doll!”

Azusa's arms trembled, Yukima still cradled within them. She wanted to explain herself, to talk with her; but Fuyuki's thus far unheard screams of anger terrified her. She was incapable of moving, no matter how much she tried.

“I won't forgive you. I won't, not even after my death. No matter what!” Fuyuki yelled again. Then, Azusa heard as her coughing fits got significantly worse and the sound of her voice was unwillingly cut short. Her anger had been so great that, from the sound of it, the blood had rushed to her head and made her lose consciousness.

Oryou no Kata ordered the maidservants to carry Fuyuki to a separate building. Only then, she noticed the paralyzed Azusa. A wry smile appeared on her lips. “She's such a troubled woman. To be so selfish, only thinking about herself after all this time…… though I guess it's also my fault for indulging and coddling her…… That's why I, as her mother, said what was her duty to say in her place.”

Oryou no Kata sighed to herself.

“—It was all a lie, wasn't it? That Lady Fuyuki wanted me to become a concubine.”

Oryou no Kata didn't answer that. “You may think me cruel, but there was no alternative. Not considering her position.”

Azusa had once heard that Oryou no Kata, being an ex-prostitute, had struggled immensely back when she first came to the North. People had recognized her as part of the nobility—as a person—only after she finally gave birth to two daughters and a male heir.

Fuyuki already had a bad reputation among the maids as things stood. In order to be recognized as a nobleman's wife, there were two requisites—to act as the leader and head of the women under her service and in doing so manage the household, and to give birth to an heir. It wasn't odd for Oryou no Kata to believe that her daughter couldn’t afford to be selfish when she was failing at both.

But—was it truly parental love? Was it sympathy born of the similarity of her daughter's circumstances with her own struggles during the early days of her marriage?

No, it couldn't be either of those. Azusa was sure of that much.

“She already got the biggest fortune of them all—to share a life with the man she loves. What else could she possibly even want?” Oryou no Kata quietly wondered. Perhaps that’s it, Azusa, her mind still numb, thought to herself. Perhaps she had deeply loved once, the target someone different from the Northern Lord. “Azusa, you don't have to worry about any of this. Just focus on raising Yukima into a good man. Understood?”

Oryou no Kata’s words were full of fondness, yet Azusa couldn't bring herself to answer. Her arms just tightened around the now crying Yukima.

“Why did you lie to me?” Azusa pressed Yukimasa for answers, finally pushing him to the point where he blurted out his true feelings.

“I haven’t ever once wished to have that as my wife.”

“What……?”

“I already had a marriage proposal going before the Northern Lord approached me—with you. You were my desired wife from the very beginning,” Yukimasa explained with a strained voice. “But then Fuyuki interfered. I rejected her at first, told them I wanted you again and again. Did you think I found it all a timely offer because I was in the middle of the Township inheritance problems? I wanted to be recognized out of my own effort. I had no interest in using my wife's status to do so. I refused, but how could I stick with that when the Northern Lord himself went as far as to bow his head to me?”

‘My daughter doesn't have long to live, so please, at least give her this’. Those were, apparently, the Northern Lord's words back then. “In exchange, he promised that, when the time came, he would recommend you as my wife without fail.”

Azusa trembled. She remembered how her marriage proposals had abruptly died down. “You——Did you truly, genuinely think I would be glad to hear that?”

Yukimasa recoiled for a second, but it wasn't enough for him to take back his words. “...... You should have been my wife from the start. Besides, deep in her heart, Fuyuki looks down on me as well. She went as far as to berate me, saying I used her to prosper in life. Just how much does that princess have to ridicule me before it's enough!?”

“That's wrong, that's not what's happening!” Awkward and tactless as it may be, Azusa had no doubt Fuyuki had acted out in devotion.

“Whatever. The one I loved from the very beginning was you, not Fuyuki.”

——Fuyuki was an intelligent woman.

She must have noticed Yukimasa's actual feelings, Azusa was sure. Just how vexing it must have been for her, how much she must have resented everything. Everyone, every single one of them, talked on and on, insisting they acted for Fuyuki's sake, yet, in the end, none of them ever understood how Fuyuki felt, not even once—less so felt any shame for that.

Azusa almost asked, ‘then what about Fuyuki's feelings?’, but she couldn't do it. Aghast, she was faced with the fact that the main culprit of it all—the one who stomped all over Fuyuki’s heart—was none other than herself.

Afterwards, Azusa heard that Fuyuki flew into a rage once she was brought back to Taruhi. ‘I don't mind if I die, I want a son of my own even if that takes my life.’

Nobody could stop her.

Even her parents’ attempts to restrain her and Yukimasa persuading her proved completely meaningless. The rumors went as far as to say that, in the end, she had put a knife to her own neck and virtually threatened Yukimasa into sharing a bed with her. The only one to know the truth of the matter, however, was Yukimasa, who would only grimace whenever her name came up.

Time passed and, with one single egg, Fuyuki’s body reached its limit. Nobody blamed Yukimasa for it, not even the Northern Lord. A broodmaid incubated the egg, from which a boy hatched out—and so the second son of Taruhi’s Township Lord, Yukiya, was born.

⊛　　　　　⊛　　　　　 ⊛

“Don't worry so much, Azusa. Everyone is searching for them. We'll find both Yukichi and Yukiya soon enough.” Yukimasa said in a light tone. He must have decided to attempt to calm down his wife, who had just returned to their Residence with tottering steps. “Still, given the situation, it may well truly be Yukiya running away from home. It does sound like something he would do, doesn’t it?”

It was said in jest but, given the circumstances, it proved to have the polar opposite effect.

“Why are you so cold to Yukiya!? Don't you care about him?” Azusa asked as she was about to cry. Yukimasa opened his eyes wide in surprise.

“Don't say that! Yukiya is my son too, of course, isn't it a given that I care about him? But, well, from time to time, he has this look in his eyes—he may be my own son, but I can't figure out what he's thinking……” As her husband stuttered, Azusa was struck by a realization.

——What had Yukimasa so scared was Fuyuki.

Yukiya greatly resembled her, both in appearance and intelligence. He could surely feel how his father and the women thought about him. After all, Yukima and Yukichi didn't ever have that look Yukiya sometimes had in his eyes—as if he was testing people out.

Back when Yukiya was still barely two years old, they had been faced with a choice—whether they should adopt him out to the Northern House, or raise him themselves. Everyone loudly insisted to them—’don’t you feel sorry about Fuyuki's death? He’ll be left in such an awkward position if he stays with his stepmother. Wouldn't it be better for everyone involved to give him up as soon as possible?’ Sweet, sweet temptation.

Yet, in the end, Azusa rejected the offer accompanying their honeyed words. Those who wished to adopt Yukiya were, ultimately, all just interested in his status and his status alone. Azusa couldn't let Yukiya go, not once she heard Yukiya call her ‘mother’ and less so once she remembered those people's past behavior, which she witnessed when she was still serving Fuyuki.

Back then, she chose to raise Yukiya as her own son. She believed she had so far kept to that resolution, and didn't ever regret her choice.

But, had that truly been the best for Yukiya?

——Was she actually fit for the role of his mother?

“Lady Azusa.”

Azusa had walked away from Yukimasa, incapable of handling it anymore, when one of the women from before called out to her. She was the wife of one of the Township officials and had once been one of Fuyuki's maids, sent over to Taruhi from the Northern House’s Main Residence.

“Uhm, well, you see, there's something I've never been able to share with you, Lady Azusa. It's, well, about Lady Fuyuki……”

“About Lady Fuyuki?”

After a short moment of hesitation, the woman gathered her resolve and nodded.

She had wanted to talk about that time when, after hearing the rumors about Azusa giving birth to a child, Fuyuki had forced her way to the Northern House's Main Residence. The woman confessed that, before Fuyuki’s meeting with Oryou no Kata, she had first visited Azusa's chambers.

“But you were asleep, Lazy Azusa…… and the Young Lord—Yukima was there, resting by your side as well.”

The woman had been fretting at the time, worrying whether Fuyuki would hurt Yukima. However, that couldn't be further from the truth of what happened. “The Lady, she held Yukima in her arms—and she smiled.”

“......What did you just say?”

“She smiled. Lady Fuyuki smiled,” the woman repeated, her own disbelief all over her face. “It was such a gentle, soft smile too. I hadn't ever seen her make such a face before.”

Apparently, Fuyuki didn't say anything after that. She remained deep in thought for quite a while and then went through the trouble of exiting the Main Residence and returning through the main door. That’s when she started that commotion. “I don't know what she was thinking when she did that. She was so mean to us, so I do believe she may have actually intended to give you a piece of her mind. But, at the very least, I don't think she was genuinely angry……”

Fuyuki, who flew into a rage after giving Yukima such a sweet smile. Having been a witness to such a radical change, the woman had never really been quite convinced by Fuyuki's apparent rage.

“Whenever someone bad-mouths her, I can't help but to remember that one smile…… I can't understand it.” The woman looked up at Azusa. “I wonder, Lady Azusa—why did she smile like that back then?”

The trees on the slope found at the back of the Residence had just begun to sprout leaves and still remained a grim spectacle. The pale moon peeked through their naked branches, spread out like arms through the sky. It was through them that Azusa walked alone, deep in thought.

Was Fuyuki truly the kind of woman who would waste her own life out of anger and jealousy? The kind to do something that would bring happiness to nobody?

She had been a twisted person—to say she had a good personality would be quite the lie. That said, no matter what situation she found herself in, she had proven herself to be cool-headed. She wasn't the kind of woman to act over something she felt in the heat of the moment, to let herself be thrown into despair just like that. It all must have all been, in her own way, calculated.

Maybe——she simply wanted a child of her own?

Perhaps she had indeed been seething with anger at first, but it vanished the moment she saw Yukima. Fuyuki had been the kind to glare coldly whenever the maids were noisy, yet show not even the slightest disgust towards a bawling, inconsolable infant. She liked children—or so Azusa believed. In fact, thinking back, Azusa being six years younger had perhaps played a part in why Fuyuki had been so terribly kind to her.

However, it was clear that if she had asked for a child of her own in a normal manner, everyone would have opposed the idea. Fuyuki had surely long accepted the fact that Yukimasa didn't like her and figured out that he would listen to the Northern House's opinion on the matter. In short, he would never put Fuyuki's health at risk.

Hence, she pretended to be furious.

She flew into a fake rage, claiming that she would kill herself if they didn't let her do it. In doing so, she forced those around her to give in—left them with no alternative. She had to be fully aware that it would murder her reputation and would cause no small amount of trouble afterwards.

She must have wanted that child terribly.

It may be conceited of Azusa to think so, but maybe, just maybe, Fuyuki did so because it was Azusa who took the position of concubine. After all, Fuyuki hated her noble relatives. She would never willingly entrust her precious son to them and it had been on Azusa as Yukimasa’s wife to choose if she wanted to raise Yukiya herself or not.

That there was an element of payback to it was clear. Azusa didn't doubt for a second that Fuyuki had been furious but, if her own predictions were accurate and she wanted a child more than anything, Fuyuki wouldn't ever do anything as stupid as letting such petty feelings get in her way. To ruin everything.

Fuyuki was cool-headed, twisted and mean-spirited, yet she was—more than anything else—a deeply, deeply loving woman. She must have loved her son and trusted Azusa.

——‘If it's Azusa, she'll surely treat my child right, right?’

It had taken her quite a long time, but Azusa felt like she had finally gotten to hear Fuyuki’s true feelings.

‘Please, take good care of my child.’

“Yes, that's true, Lady Fuyuki. He's our son,” Azusa said out loud as she walked on. “That's why, please, Lady Fuyuki, please protect Yukiya and Yukichi. Bring them back home safe and sound.”

Just after she said that, Azusa felt the trees sway. There was, however, no wind anywhere. The hazy moon among the treetops softly twisted as if in response to the strangeness. A second later, its pale, blurred edges became sharper and its light brighter. A dark shadow was floating right there, its back against the massive full moon.

Azusa focused her sight on it for a while. She gulped.

——The shadow was, in truth, an unbelievably large bird.

She had never seen one as gigantic before—not even at the Northern House's Main Residence, where the most renowned horses of the country all gathered. She was busy trying to determine whether it could even be considered the same race as her, when she noticed it was coming in her direction, slowly approaching the Residence.

It landed with ease in front of the petrified Azusa. The wind raised by its flapping winds made her hair dance in the air. After watching it up close, Azusa could confirm that it actually was an incredibly large crow, easily about three times larger than your average Yatagarasu. Its beak was the color of black steel and very sharp.

She should have been terrified at the sight, yet, strangely enough, she wasn’t.

It looked at Azusa with sparkly crystal-like eyes, its feathers so glossy they shone in purples and lapis lazuli blue even under the faint moonlight. Even putting its size aside, there was something different about it—the atmosphere enveloping it was just different from your average Yatagarasu.

Azusa was looking up in astonishment when, moments later, she noticed the crow was holding something in its beak. What could it be?

——It looked like a basket.

Just as she realized that much, the giant crow gently placed the item on the ground.

“Are they your sons?” a surprisingly high voice asked her. He sounded like a mere boy.

Azusa took a better look when asked. Within the basket, made of flowering wisteria vines, were her sleeping sons. “Yukiya—! Yukichi!”

She ran to them, hanging onto the basket. There was Yukiya, covered in mud from head to toe, hugging his little brother tight. Yukichi’s eyes were bright red and puffy but, as far as Azusa could see, he was completely unharmed.

“Don't worry. I made them sleep for a bit but they should wake up soon. I'm sorry for everything,” the massive crow spoke in clear Words of Within(10). He then bowed his head. “I did such a sloppy job with mending the Barrier that the children tripped into the Tear.”

His explanation, on the other hand, made no sense to Azusa. She looked at him with her mouth left open as the crow tried again, “What I’m trying to say is that these children got caught in a place they couldn’t escape by themselves. It was my fault so, please, don’t scold them for it.”

Azusa, having fully forgotten herself by that point, nodded. “Are you—a messenger from Lord Yamagami?”

“...… Ah, well, something like that.”

“Thank you for saving my sons.”

“It was my fault in the first place. There may be a chance these children and I meet again in the future, they’re good kids. Please, raise them well.” With those words, the crow flapped his wings again and took off. Once more, the moon twisted ever so softly and, in a matter of seconds, the massive crow vanished, melting away into the sky as if it were all an illusion.

Azusa remained frozen for a short while. However, just moments after the crow disappeared, she saw Yukiya starting to stir. “Yukiya, Yukiya! Does it hurt anywhere?”

“Mother……?”

Azusa knew it wasn’t right to scold him, yet she couldn’t quite help herself. “You idiot! Where did you even go? Do you have any injuries? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine—”

“Ah, I’m so glad you’re safe.” Azusa tightly hugged the still dazed Yukiya.

But their hug didn’t last long, as Yukiya came to himself and screamed, “And Yukichi?!”

Yukichi awoke right then and there, perhaps prompted by his brother yelling out his name. He seemed just as utterly confused, but the moment he recognized Azusa’s face, his daze was replaced by bawling. “Mother!”

“Yukichi!”

“I’m sorry!” As his little brother latched onto Azusa, Yukiya naturally moved back a little. “I tried to come back after a bit, but I couldn’t find the path I had used for the way out.”

“I see.”

“But why? I mean, this is the back of the Township Lord’s Residence, isn’t it?” Yukiya, who had figured out where they were after taking in their surroundings, looked utterly baffled at the situation. “Why did we get lost……?”

“You must have snuck into Lord Yamagami’s garden. Still, you were a good older brother and took care of Yukichi, didn’t you?” Pointedly ignoring the fact that Yukiya had moved back in some form of restraint, Azusa squeezed the boy close. “Thank you.”

Yukiya’s furrowed brow relaxed completely. His expression at the moment was no different from the one he once wore as an infant. “...... It actually was… scary.”

“It was, wasn’t it? It had to be so, so scary.”

“I wanted to return but I couldn’t! Yukichi was crying and I was so hungry—”

“And yet you still protected your brother, didn’t you? You were such a strong boy. I’m proud of you, very well done.”

The second Azusa said so, Yukiya unexpectedly burst into tears. He wept just as loudly as Yukichi had.

“I’m hungry! I want to go back home! I’m going home!” Yukiya yelled between sobs, his face completely red. It was such a shock, Yukichi’s own tears stopped. It had been such a long time since Yukiya had last cried like that, now that Azusa thought about it—so unlike the eldest and the youngest, who would fight and cry over any little thing.

“I’m sorry, Yukiya. Let’s go back.” Yukiya had to endure so much over the years, Azusa realized. She felt so apologetic but, at least, if he was still capable of crying out like that, there was still something to be done about it.

Having heard Yukiya’s cries, people rushed from the Residence in a panic. At the head of the group was Yukimasa, sprinting towards them as fast as he could.

“Yukiya, Yukichi! Where did you go!? We were worried sick,” her husband yelled with obvious relief. Her eldest too was right behind him, running and tumbling down towards them.

There was still time. It may never be smooth sailing, but Yukiya was still her son and they were all a family. Azusa, more than anything, was glad for realizing that much before it was too late.

Legends said that Yatagarasu went on to serve under Yamagami after death. Perhaps Fuyuki now worked for Yamagami and, having realized things couldn’t remain like that, had given her a chance to realize her mistake.

——The wind blew between the trees. It sounded like Fuyuki’s gentle laugh.

—---—---—---—---—---—---—---—---—---—---

1: The original title (ふゆきにおもう, or Fuyuki Ni Omou) is an interesting one. Fuyuki's name is translated in the title because I find the imagery of the barren tree extremely important to Fuyuki's story. Fuyuki is also a Karina, or alias, not her birth name. Much like Asebi at the start of the story, this is a name that was given to her later in her life. It’s very purposely selected and so this choice is made with the intention of highlighting it. As for the “Thoughts of”, おもう is very interesting. おもう can be 思う and also 想う, as in, ‘to feel (emotions)’, which used in this kind of context mostly means ‘to care’ or ‘to love’.

2: Yukichi’s nickname among the family is チー坊, Chiibou, with the bou or 坊 being a kanji for a young boy and used in words like 坊や or 坊主, both meaning “boy” with different connotations, or 坊っちゃん, which is a relatively affectionate way to talk about the young son of a good family.

3: This is a wordplay used by Fuyuki. The word idiot, baka (馬鹿), in japanese is an ateji: essentially, it was given kanji that fit it pronunciation-wise but not meaning-wise. The two kanji? “Horse” (Ba) and “deer” (Ka). She’s layering the insults.

4: The narration is referring specifically to the gambling game that Wakamiya played in the Ravine back in The Raven Doesn’t Choose His Master.

5: Kemari refers to a ball game practiced in Japan since ancient times, a form of primitive football. It was indeed historically popular among courtiers and people of the nobility at the time.

6: Fatuous Fire Lamps refer to the type of lamp Yukiya uses when going into the cave during Golden Raven. In short, they use 鬼火 (Fatuous Fire), which within the story’s lore consume sugar to light up instead and don’t risk burning your house if left unchecked or broken. This makes lamps using Fatuous Fires desirable and expensive—they’re a common sight in nobles’ houses and in places where the risk of a fire would be too great like libraries and archives.

7: Bellflowers have been actually used in Japan as temporal ‘cages’ for fireflies, to the point their japanese name is 蛍袋 (hotarubukuro), meaning ‘firefly bag.’ Green onion heads aren’t nearly as popular an option as far as I know, but being empty inside makes them suitable for the purpose too.

8: Yukima (雪馬) and Yukichi (雪雉) both use, as said here, the kanji of animals. The Ma in Yukima means horse and the Chi in Yukichi green pheasant. Yukiya is the exception, as the kanji of his name isn’t that of an animal and is instead inherited from his grandfather (Gen’ya or 玄哉). One could argue that 哉 being part of the word for a japanese male sparrowhawk (悦哉) kind of keeps the theming, but the animal is the meaning itself of the kanji for both the Ma and the Chi, but not the Ya.

9: The original term for Broodmaid is a pun. The word for nursemaid is 乳母, or ‘uba’, and uses the kanji for milk and for mother respectively. In this context, 乳, or milk, is read ‘u.’ There’s another kanji that can also be read ‘u’—羽, feather. And so, the women who help incubate and take care of a noblewoman’s child in this setting are also ‘uba’ but written 羽母. Hence I went with ‘broodmaid’ as an adaptation of ‘nursemaid’.

10: As alluded to here, the language spoken in Yamauchi is referred to as 御内詞 (Miuchikotoba) by the Yatagarasu. The “Mi” is essentially a prefix showing respect to the “uchi” which is the uchi from Yamauchi and means “inside”, and finally the “kotoba” isn’t using the usual kanji (言葉) but 詞, which also means words but it’s used more in the context of poetry or music lyrics. Words of Within is my take on the idea, as it mostly respects the spirit of the original while being understandable.

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