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Familiar fluffy ears come into vision, Harumasa raises his arm to greet her and the Chief is gone as soon as she sees him, the archer sighs.
It had started a couple days prior, when the topic of his imminent departure came up in the training grounds during a sparring session. Harumasa had told the Chief about a favour he'd like to ask on the matter and the Fox Thiren had been avoiding him since.
He knows why of course, Harumasa can read in-between the lines, but it's still something they had to have a talk on and it seemed that it was time to actually put his skills to good use, he needed to catch the slippery Chief and he needed to do so today.
Turns out the Chief does not want to be caught if, the way Harumasa's legs are screaming, his ears are ringing, his chest heaving, are any proof of that.
"...Ah– Chief..! Have you been doing some kind of stamina training–" follows a breathless chuckle, while he leans on a tall light pole trying to regain some composure. They're just outside the HQ building, hidden in the darkness of the long shadow casted by the imposing statue at the center of the plaza.
"I'm late for the training of 'guessing how many flowers are in the Hoshimi Family's garden, first try' Harumasa will have to wait after that"
"Ah– I can't, we're literally supposed to clock out in thirty —as if unable to hear him, the Fox Thiren reassumes her walking— Chief Miyabi!"
"Do you intend to dodge this conversation forever? I don't have that, you know?" It's a little harsh, Harumasa would have preferred to not resort to this, but the truth stand still, and he really needed to take this weight off his chest.
The Chief stops then. Her ears slightly turned to the side.
"Seriously, it is not what you think it is... Just, listen to me please?" Harumasa's tone is softer this time a whisper caught by the wind.
"We shall move somewhere more appropriate."
Once they've reached the rooftop, funnily enough, his mind blanks.
For a long moment he just stands there staring at his Chief, her crimson gaze piercing holes into his soul, the archer starts talking about the most trivial things then, to fill the silence that was threatening to fall over them.
A sigh. "Harumasa is the one being evasive now, need I remind him why we came here?"
"No Chief."
"Chief–" Harumasa inhales, eyes closed like when he's preparing to shoot an arrow, the air around them is tense like the string of his bow and then he exhales golden gaze filled with a renowned determination: "When I turn into an ethereal, I don't want you to kill me. Not you, not the others, you have to promise me."
It's a foolish request he knows that, by the surprised look she gave him, the Chief is of a similar line of thought but he continues unperturbed "You guys roughly know already what came down into the hollow that day, I.. had to figth my Master and... It wasn't an easy task, quiet the contrary actually, I don't want to put you in that position. So Chief, promise me."
"I can't pledge to that." The Fox Thiren walks pass him and leans over the roof railing, the wind blows through her dark long hair.
(Here's something that's not said, but acknowledged by the both of them: Miyabi can't promise that because in the possibility that Harumasa will turn into an Ethereal no ordinary fighter will be able to take him down. Besides being a formidable combatant, one who she views with such outstanding regard, Harumasa's Ether Aptitude is significantly beyond the conventional, and the level of which will only keep magnify the longer he stays alive. That number plays a crucial role in how strong of an ethereal he will turn out to be. So as a Void Hunter, Miyabi can't accept this request because Harumasa in his ethereal form will be an extremely dangerous threat to the masses.)
And, as far as Harumasa knows, this conversation should have ended there really, he'd apologize for putting the Chief in front of such a difficult decision and move on with his day except, after a not an insignificant silence, the Chief speaks again.
"The very first I've slain was not an enemy but my mother"
They lock eyes again, crimson red into honey gold, and so Miyabi tells him, she tells him about a life long gone.
She tells him about a time when she would play instruments and sing songs with her mother. A time when she would chase butterflies in a big green garden. A time when she would dance under the pale moonlight.
A time when she didn't weild a sword but an assortment of other weapons including a bow, all of them unnecessary as there were only peace and happiness. She tells him about the time she'd learnt how much love and care a person was capable of giving and how much love and care she was capable of receiving.
But she also tells him how the day the Old Capital fell, her mother took a painful decision for her, the 'only option' as she so called it, the blade is passed down under specific inheritance conditions and it was Miyabi's only chance at survival.
She acknowledges that.
However... Good Intentions don't always lead to the best decisions and bad decision will never leave you with harmless consequences, Chief's mother is not the one who's left to carry that devastation for the rest of her life.
Harumasa then tells her a little more, he talks about his Master and how he considers him family more than he does his biological parents. He tells her about the cakes when the sweetness was welcome. He talks about the yellow bandana and the importance it really holds for him.
He tells her about archery and how it was much more than just that, yes the arrows are impractical and a gun would be much easier to carry but those don't help him clear his mind and feel like he was born free, those don't help him let go of the pain with every arrow he releases, their scream carried by the wind.
But he also tells her about the hurt, the deceit, the exploitation. He tells her how he was not allowed to have sweets before the injections. He tells her about the white room he'd spent the majority of the time in, trapped and hidden from the outside world.
He tells her about how despite everything the hatred doesn't come easily and how the love persists.
The sun had long set once a comfortable silence falls over them, the first star makes its presence known, the wind is cold and Harumasa shivers a little, perhaps is time to put his jacket on or maybe.. They should get back inside inside and leave for the day.
"Harumasa, you have my gratitude for showing such high discretion of my feelings, as Miyabi, your family, I would have agreed in a heartbeat, without any pondering."
And perhaps Harumasa's wish is too foolish to ever be granted but he is content by knowing his Chief's answer to that, so he sighs and closes his eyes letting the wind comb through his raven hair "I understand Chief, s—"
"Although as I, Hoshimi Miyabi, —the archer looks at her— youngest void huntress in new eridu, you need not worry. What I will promise you is: I will do my utmost best not to make that fight ever transpire." There's a pause, and he's reminded of the very first time he had ever encountered his kindhearted Chief, his breath hitches, as he listens to words laced with unyielding determination. "If Harumasa might turn into an Ethereal inside a hollow, then it's simple: Eliminate all hollows before Harumasa's time is up."
Harumasa's heart, his poor poor heart, is beating so fast it hurts, banging against his ribcage, threatening to break free, there's an emotion that he can't place, overflowing it slips through his fingers like a laugh does his lips, he can't grasp it or hold it in like the sand of an hourglass freshly turned upside down, except, it doesn't run out, it keeps goingz flowing, as if the time is unimportant and all that matters is the moment. Harumasa laughs and he finds himself breathless while his heart aches in all the ways that matter.
"Do not mock me. I'm serious."
He doesn't even know what to tell her, despite her even tone, when he looks at his Chief's face there's a faint smile curling her lips and her eyes shine like the brightest of stars. So all Harumasa can do, is thank her, for everytime she'd saved him.
(Here's something that's not said but understood by the both of them: to be cared for is a funny feeling. Harumasa never had anything for himself, as such he's still navigating the way of having something, acknowledging it, treasuring it, this love, this family, they were his and only his. Every time is necessary they will remind in the hopes that one day he'll be able to fully understand it and accept it.)
"Mhm. Harumasa shall save his gratitude for when we actually succeed."
The archer sighs dramatically, after finally coming down from that height "Chief, You're really going to put me to work while I'm still here, aren't you? Can never catch a break..."
"If he prefers, we can yeet Harumasa's body outside the hollow as soon as corruption starts."
He coughs, aside from the ridiculous proposition, a more pressing question was due "...Chief where did you even learned what 'yeet' means...?"
"Soukaku, it was her idea" he should have seen that coming.
"Yanagi agrees, she said that if we have Harumasa's body we can cremate him and spread his ashes at sea, like Harumasa had said several times. —Miyabi crosses her arms slightly tilting her head to the side, her right ear twitches— Have you ever thought about the ceremony?"
Harumasa will leave early, he will go before the party's over, he will go probably without leaving a body behind, nothing but memories are going to be left in his wake.
And so they talk about it, the bridge they're going to cross together, they talk about his disease and its late stages, they talk about his cat and how if there's a body left behind he would like the little demon to see it, touch it, sniff it, to know that Harumasa hasn't abandoned it, they talk about who's going to take care of it when the times up.
They talk about how Harumasa would like to be honored and remembered, they talk about the flowers, they talk about the memorial section 6 is going to put up for him, Harumasa doesn't think they should go as far, but Miyabi insists that it'll help her and those who care grieve, and so Harumasa tells her where he'd like it to be, somewhere high, somewhere they could feel the wind.
"Yes, at Port Elpis specifically, I.. like that place"
"Good. We should tell Yanagi that, and since we're at it, you should help me convince her to draft my will, we should draft Harumasa's too" again with the will?
"Yeah.. I don't think there'll be much to write in mine Chief... Oh, but there's this book I would like you guys to have."
"Mhm. We'll tell Yanagi that too"
"Tell me what?" There's a dangerous edge to the Deputy Chief's tone.
They both startle, briefly reminded of the fact that they've been running around all day, getting not a lick of paperwork done.
"There you are!! Soukaku had looked everywhere!! why are you two hiding up there??"
Tsukishiro is about to speak but the Fox Thiren is faster "Yanagi, Harumasa just admitted to his sins, he said he'd do all our paperwork tomorrow as repentance, you may take a day off."
"What?"
"Oh-?" Tsukishiro adjusts her glasses a smile replacing her previous frown "Thanks, Chief"
"Wait– Hold on–"
"He also said, that he's going to treat us to dinner tonight."
"Wh–Chief! I did not say any of that– don't run!"
"Hooray!! Free food!!! Soukaku is reaally hungry, when do we leave??"
And as he's chasing the cunning Fox Thiren, Soukaku and Tsukishiro trailing behind them, in between laughter and halfhearted whines, Harumasa can't help but acknowledged the unyielding seed, freshly planted in him by the Chief, that already started to take root.
It's absurd really, he shouldn't even consider it an option but now, that his master is gone, he could really use a new target, a new future to chase.
Eliminate all Hollows before his time is up?
He will sure try his best to make that happen, afterall... He has the youngest Void Huntress on his side, the succession rate is close to but is not zero and that's all Harumasa will ever need.
One chance, for a brighter tomorrow.