07 Conifer Village / Evergreen Lodge, Hot Springs

Previously, on Usagi Days: The girls finally arrive at the gates of Conifer Village. Exhausted, they pass out, shortly after delivering a package meant for 'The Professor'.

- Usagi Roll Call -
Ruby Hanasaki: Driver of the Usagi. Impulsive, fearless, and sometimes reckless.
Anemone Grayscale: The Usagi's co-driver. Somewhat reserved, compared to the others. Careful, thoughtful.
Violet Tachibana: A great cook. Cheerful, a bit scatterbrained.
Ivy Evergreen: Resident tsukkomi. Likes to read, especially manga.

- 7.1 - Ruby Dreams About Hanasaki Village -

"Stay there, Ruby. And don't come out until I say so, okay? Be a good girl for mama and papa, okay? Don't make a sound. And whatever you do, don't open your eyes, baby."

Her mother closed the wooden hatch door over her head.

And then she was alone.

Mama … Papa … Don't leave me …

All around her the screams of the villagers. The inhuman roars of the monsters. Their laughter as they gleefully slaughtered the people she had known all her life.

Old Man Iwai from the general store, who always snuck her a few extra candy drops when her mother wasn't looking. Yumi-chan, from next door, who always played with her when her chores were done. Yamada-nee-san, who cooked delicious rice porridge every morning for the entire village.

The smell of their blood. Their burning flesh.

The space underneath the floorboards was barely large enough to contain a small child.

Just her. Nobody else.

Just Ruby.

Don't open your eyes, baby.

But she did open her eyes.

Their horrible, green faces. Glowing red eyes. Sharp, yellow teeth. Their terrible, crooked smiles.

Whatever you do … don't open your—

Ruby opened her eyes.

A ceiling. Four walls. A bed she'd never slept in before.

The same nightmare as always.

Nightmare, Ruby? Or memories?

"It can be two things," she muttered to nobody in particular.

- 7.2 - Ruby Comes Down for Breakfast -

Ruby descended the stairs. She followed the smell of food coming from down the hall. The sound of lively chatter, people talking. People laughing.

She stepped through the door, into what looked to be some kind of large, common dining area.

Violet: "Hey there, sleepyhead!"

Anemone, casually: "Yo."

Her three friends were sitting next to each other on a wooden cafeteria style table, full plates of their breakfast in front of them. Ivy met her eyes and gave a small nod of acknowledgement but was otherwise too engaged in scarfing down her breakfast to pay her any more attention.

Ruby looked around. The dining hall was packed. The other patrons seemed to be in bright spirits, eating and laughing, seemingly without a care in the world.

Ruby: "Where … are we?"

As if on cue, a middle-aged woman appeared beside Ruby with the answer, balancing what looked to be an impossible stack of empty plates in one hand, the other hand holding a full plate of food, ready to be served.

"Why, you're here at Evergreen Lodge, sweetheart! The best inn in all of Conifer Village! … Well, the only inn. Which makes it the best, by default!"

As quickly as she had appeared, she was off again, to hand the plate to a customer a few tables away.

Before Ruby could even finish processing the inn's name in her head, the woman had darted back again.

"Name's Eimi. I run this here joint. I tell you what, you girls were in real rough shape when y'all got to the gate. That Johnny and Ronny, just standing there all dopey and slack-jawed … Those boys, I swear. Anyway, saw you had a package for the Professor. Figured you lot was probably okay. Even if you weren't, well … not like you could cause much trouble in the state you was in. Ah, the Council has bigger things to worry about anyway." She gestured to the packed hall around her. "What with all these tourists in town. Ah, grab a seat, join your friends! I'll be back with some grub. You sit tight, now."

Ruby, head swimming with all this new information: "Uh, th-thanks … Appreciate it. Eimi."

She took a seat next to Anemone.

Ivy, cleaning off her plate: "So, I've decided I want Eimi to adopt me. The Usagis are hereby disbanded. You'll have to go on without me. Sorry you guys gotta find out like this."

Anemone, ignoring Ivy completely: "She's a lot to take in, at first. She carried us by herself, back to the inn. 'One of us per shoulder. Two trips,' as she put it."

Ruby: "That's … impressive. And a little scary. Let's not do anything to make her mad."

Violet: "Agreed!"

Ruby leaned her head in close to Anemone, and whispered, "Annie … What happened to the Usagi?"

Anemone, whispering back: "Don't worry. It's sitting in the loading bay out back. It's safe."

Ruby: "Is it …? You know?"

Anemone: "Yeah. I asked for the usual."

Ruby: "Any problems?"

Anemone shook her head. "Nah. We're good." Then, at normal volume: "Get something to eat first, Ruby."

Ruby's stomach growled. "That's probably a good idea."

- 7.3 - Ruby Has a Question -

Ruby: "I've been meaning to ask, but what's that smell? It's almost like rotten eggs. But not as bad. I've been smelling it since I woke up."

(Violet: "It was probably Ivy. She's on her fourth plate this morning, after all."

Ivy, punching Violet's shoulder, hard: "Shut UP! 'She who smelt it, …'"

Violet: "OW! That hurt! How about, 'She who denied it, …'")

Anemone: "Hot springs."

Eimi, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, again, followed up Anemone's comment. "That's right! Conifer Village's famous hot springs! AKA, the second-most popular attraction these days."

Ruby looked up, curious. "What's the first?"

Eimi: "Oh boy, y'all really aren't from around here, huh?"

- 7.4 - Ruby Checks on the Usagi -

After breakfast, Ruby followed Anemone to the back of the inn.

The loading bay was a wide open area, and was mostly empty except for an irregularly shaped blue tarp.

Anemone: "I propped the tarp up with several boxes. And random stuff I could find lying around. If you didn't know it was the Usagi, you'd have no idea what it was."

Ruby walked and examined the tarp, making sure the underlying shape of the Usagi couldn't be discerned.

Ruby: "It was the switchbacks that killed her. That final push at the end."

Anemone: "Poor thing was barely holding it together ever since Sandra. I'm surprised we made it as far as we did before it broke down."

After a thorough inspection of the tarp, Ruby nodded approvingly at Anemone's work.

Ruby: "I guess Eimi was responsible for getting it in here?"

Anemone: "That's what she told me. She said she had help from a couple of the gate guards. I don't know who else knows about it, aside from those three."

Ruby: "Meh. That's fine."

Anemone: "I don't think it even occurred to her that we have—or had, I guess—a working car. I think she thinks that we probably pushed it from somewhere close by. She didn't really ask any more questions when we talked this morning."

Ruby: "Alright. Well. Nothing more we can do now." She turned to face her friend, and smiled warmly. "Thanks, Annie. You did good."

Anemone simply nodded, once, in response.

- 7.5 - The Girls Explore, Ruby is Curious About a Line of People -

The four girls walked through the village, taking in the sights of the buildings, the steaming hot springs, and nearby mountains. Outside the air was even thicker with that distinctive sulfur smell.

Violet, inhaling deeply: "Eimi says it's good for the body! And mind. Very rejuvenating."

Ruby: "I'm getting kind of used to it, honestly. It's kind of pleasant. In a … weird, pungent sort of way."

Ivy: "Yeah, like the taste of onions."

Violet: "Or that funny-looking cheese Ruby made us eat last summer."

Ruby, defensively: "I told you, it used to be a rare delicacy in the old world! Blue cheese!"

Ivy: "Hmm. I dunno, Ruby. I still think it's just plain cheese that went bad."

Ruby: "Ugh, whatever. I'm not having this argument again. You guys are just too uncultured to appreciate high cuisine."

Violet: "Okay. Whatever you say, mold eater."

On the edge of town they saw a crowd of people lining up in front of what looked to be a large, storage warehouse. On the roof there was a distinctive metal structure that resembled a television antenna with reflective panels arranged in a funnel-like pattern.

Ruby: "I wonder what's going on there."

Their curiosity piqued, the girls moved in closer to take a look.

- 7.6 - The Warehouse is Closed -

By the time they reached the entrance, the warehouse doors were already halfway shut. Two workers were in the middle of closing them, and a third worker, a young lady in a fitted black blazer and matching skirt was addressing the crowd, clipboard in hand.

The lady adjusted her glasses and announced, in a cool, professional tone: "Thank you all for waiting. We regret to inform everyone that, due to ongoing technical difficulties, we will be closing early today. The Professor offers her deepest apologies, and we hope to see you all tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding and support."

A chorus of disappointed jeers rang through the crowd as the lady slipped through the warehouse doors, which slammed shut behind her with a final thud.

The Usagis looked at one another, and shrugged.

- 7.7 - Hot Springs -

The girls sighed as they slipped into the hot water. The four of them had managed to snag a private, outdoor bath. They closed their eyes and allowed the heat of the water to soak into their aching muscles, soothe their tired bodies. Nothing but the sound of fresh, mineral-rich water gently trickling out of the bamboo spout.

Each girl had her hair tied up, with a hand towel folded neatly atop her head.

Violet sank deeper into the hot water, moaning as she did so.

Ivy, blushing: "Violet … Don't make noises like that."

Anemone: "We finished all the delivery jobs we took."

Ivy: "So what do we do now?"

Ruby: "I'll work hard 'fixing' the Usagi, obviously."

Light chuckles from the other girls.

Ivy: "It's really nice here."

Violet: "Yeah, Ruby. So take your sweet time in 'fixing' it."

Ruby: "Like it's really up to me anyway."

Violet: "Look. Look at Annie. She hasn't moved since we got in. She's like a statue."

Ivy, giggling: "Annie, you kinda look like a capybara."

Anemone paid her friends no mind, and continued relaxing.

Ivy: "Honestly? We should all come back here when we're done delivering stuff."

Violet: "You talking about retirement already? You old geezer."

Ivy splashed Violet lightly in retaliation.

- 7.8 - Ruby Hears a Howling -

In bed later that night, Ruby heard, for the first time, a howling that would later echo through several other nights during her time in Conifer Village.

Upon hearing it this night she awoke with a start. Her heart ringing in her ears.

The distant cry of a creature she didn't know. In pain. Mournful. Some kind of unbearable sorrow.

She tried to go back to sleep, wondering if the others heard it as well.