A Noctilucent Halcyon

Autumn roared with color.

Orange leaves burst through the air as laughing children chased one another across the forest clearing. Their joy crackled brighter than the sun itself, igniting the scene in a warmth the present could barely remember.

“NO—no! Don’t throw that—Jin-kun, stop!! You’ll get me all dusty!”

“C’mere, Ten! Ye ain’t goin’ nowhere!”

Young Jinko barreled after her, arms full of leaves.

Tenmichi misstepped, tripping forward. “Ouch!”

“AAAND—BURIEEED!!” He heaved the pile over her with triumphant delight.

Tenmichi burst out of the foliage coughing, shaking leaves from her sleeves.

“JIN-KUUUN!! Look at me! Now I’m gonna get scolded by my mom and dad again!! And it’s all because of you!”

Young Jinko grinned, that same lopsided troublemaker’s smirk he still wore years later.

“Well why do ye think I’d ever listen to ye, hehe.”

But Tenmichi went still.

Jinko felt the shift immediately—like a gust sucking warmth from the clearing. Her eyes lowered. Her jaw tightened. The air changed, and even the leaves seemed to hush.

He dropped his grin.

“…Okay. Sorry. I tell ye.”

Tenmichi shook her head. “No… it’s fine. Saying sorry won’t make him come back any faster anyway.”

A beat went by. Jinko stared, confused.

“Say,” he attempted gently, “why do ye even allow the likes of him to come back if he’s jist gon’ leave again? I ask ye.”

Tenmichi didn’t hesitate.

“Because when he comes back—even once a year—I want to hold onto that moment. It’s guilty happiness, you know? I hate that he’s never around… but when he is… I just want to feel his warmth before he’s gone again.”

Jinko swallowed, his chest prickling.

“Well that’s jist mighty tragic…”

“What’s the longest he ever stayed?” he asked.

Tenmichi’s answer came instantly.

“Thirteen days, nineteen hours, forty-three minutes.”

“HEEEHH?! YE GOT THE HOURS AND MINUTES MEMORIZED?! HOW CAN THAT BE, I ASK YE—??”

“It just is,” she whispered. “I miss him that much.”

---

Wind whistled across the wooden frames as the memory faded.

Tenmichi stared out her window, arms crossed, gaze hollow.

“…I still do.”

Her little brother was playing beside her, smacking two wooden toys together while mumbling nonsense battles to himself.

She watched him with a cold, involuntary dread.

“He’s only ever growing up to resemble him more and more,” she muttered.

“Damn it.”

---

“WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUP!”

Aika launched herself onto Jinko like a meteor.

“OUUUCH—HEY—GET OFF ME, YOU LITTLE—!!” Jinko flailed, caught between pain and panic.

Aika hopped off triumphantly.

“Good boy! Now let’s get ready!”

Jinko groaned.

“When I said ‘when it hits mornin’… I didn’t mean ye had to be awake all night wonderin’ about it! OR STOP ME FROM SLEEPIN’ TOO!!”

“Oh please, stop being dramatic,” Aika teased.

“When we’re married, I won’t let you sleep all night either.”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO LIVE WITHOUT SLEEP, YE FOO—”

A kimono smacked him in the face.

Aika strutted away, her hips swaying, smirking over her shoulder.

“Figure it out. I won’t deprive you entirely. Only after I’m done with you.”

Jinko realizes her humorous innuendo and gets riled up, “CAN YE GIVE ME A BREAK WITH YER PERVERTEDNESS—I JIST WOKE UP!!”

Aika’s laughter echoed through the house, provoking Jinko into chasing her around in furious retaliation.

By breakfast, both were finally seated, breathless, disheveled, and under the judgmental stare of Jinko’s mother.

---

Jinko’s Mom: “…So, uhm… when will you two leave?”

Jinko: “After breakfast, Ma. We’re headed to the other side o’ town. To Nagase’s House.”

She blinked.

“Isn’t that where the rebel is being kept?”

“Yeah.” Jinko’s expression hardened. “And I intend to take Aika there for a reason.”

Aika kept chewing her food and nodded subtly.

Jinko looked between them.

“You know how none of us could tell who the rebel was, ‘cause his face was destroyed from the injuries…?”

Both women nodded.

“And how the Nagase doctors treated him… then suddenly left the village using some excuse about treating the Maeda Lords…?”

Jinko leaned in, voice dropping.

“…I think they figured out who he was after cleaning his wounds. Someone important. Dangerous important. And they didn’t wanna be involved when the Meiji come lookin’.”

Aika’s chopsticks slipped.

Her pupils shook.

“Wait—are you saying… the rebel who arrived a week before me— is my dad?!”

Jinko: “I’m not sayin’ it’s certain. But it adds up. I don’t wanna take chances.”

Aika stood abruptly.

“Jinko. We’re leaving. Now.”

Jinko rose—

But his mother stood first.

“Jinko… if your hypothesis is true, then the doctors left because the Meiji will come searching for that rebel…”

Her voice faltered.

“And the doctors would’ve been punished if they stayed.”

Jinko: “Yeah… that’s what I think too. Why?”

His mother looked sick.

“Do you know… where Tenkai is?”

Jinko froze.

“…Ma. What are ye gettin’ at?”

“The doctors used to assign Tenkai nursing duties whenever they were away. If they fled the village, and left the rebel behind…”

The realization struck like lightning.

“…They… They framed Tenkai.”

His mother covered her mouth.

Jinko slammed his palms onto the table.

“ALL HE KNOWS IS HE’S TAKIN’ CARE O’ SOMEONE UNTIL THEY RETURN! THEY’RE NOT RETURNIN’ AT ALL, AND HE’S GONNA BE THE SCAPEGOAT WHEN THE MEIJI ARRIVE!”

Aika gasped, horror spreading across her face.

Jinko didn’t wait another heartbeat.

“AIKA! LET’S GO! NOW!” They bolted out of the house.

Across the street—

Tenmichi caught sight of them sprinting, faces harsh and frantic.

“…Who’s that girl with Jin-kun…?”

Her eyes narrowed.

“…And where are they going?”

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Afterword*: Things will start to pick up now! The pacing will get fierce and the stakes will get high so I hope you keep reading and keep that mind buckled for some complicated political stuff and epic fights coming!