Chapter 9:

Chapter 9. Mushroom mother

Shadow of the Crimson Moon

"Well, I'll be here questioning and safekeeping Diana. So now... let's see... Oh, I know. You can go and pick mushrooms with Houraiji."

"Okay, but if I do, I'll get answers later, right?"

"If they aren't confidential, sure. I'll give you the details."

I step out of the public library and go towards Hikari's house. Of course, she is standing right at the entrance. Dressed in an oddly clean overall and a white shirt, wearing a straw hat.

"You're very committed to this, Houraiji"

"It's brand new. I just purchased it for this occasion."

Her boots are polished, her shirt is neatly ironed, and her face just screams 'I'm absolutely thrilled to pick mushrooms'.

"...Sure."

"Anyways, we just have to go to Hachioji, It's a 2-hour trip-"

"2 hours?! That's way too much!"

"It'll be fun. Besides, it's a short trip. We go, pick mushrooms, head back."

"If you say so..."

We walk down to the nearest station. I'm still wearing my school uniform, still with some dust from the wall busting fight from before.

"So... what do you think, Houraiji?"

"Hm? About what?"

"Well, you've been here for a lot of time, right? I mean, the society or whatever."

"Sure, since I started class at Sakurayama"

"Oh, and how was it?"

"Well... Our club council, Nurse Maki, told me that pictures are like the soul of a person and should be treated respectfully. One day, a pipe burst and I headed upstairs to check it, because water could damage all our archive. When I arrived, I found a camera neatly aligned in place. Then Hoshino stood behind me and started giving me movie quotes and some book quotes. Of course, I recognized her right away, as the room wasn't pitch dark and the references, well, they're pretty straightforward to catch."

She stops midway on an alley.

"By the way, I notice you're quite uncomfortable, is there something you want to tell me?"

"Uhm..."

She stares at me with a smug face.

"It's the new clothes, right?"

I roll my eyes out of frustration.

"You want to look like me, right? I can't blame you. Go ahead and do your thing."

Well, she left me with no other option. I'm, indeed, very concerned about my image. And considering I haven’t taken a bath in about two days, I think it's a good point.

I get the brush out and pass it on my face. I became Hikari, but now I have a beauty mark under my eye.

"Oh, it suits you well!"

"Gee, thanks..."

We keep walking.

"Anyways, long story short, she told me if I wanted to gather items and I told her yes. Nozomi is my friend so she had no problem with any of this."

We enter the train and sit together. People watch us and giggle. I guess because of the striking difference in our clothes and of course, the fact that Houraiji looks like she came out of a rice advertisement.

"Nozomi is part of a biker gang. Not a motorbike thing, more like bicycles. She has this amazing bike with a big flag behind her. Oh, and she's a very good fighter, too."

"I see..."

We stay silent for a while, stepping out of the train and taking the bullet train. Houraiji had everything sorted from the get-go, so we sit together on a first class seat, with only a few people around.

"So... can I ask you something a bit more...personal?"

"Maybe, just go ahead and do it."

I get close to her and whisper.

"What happened to-"

She covers my mouth and tells me to shut it. I back out slowly.

"Oh, no! I don't plan on hitting on him, haha!"

I stay weirded out and I follow with a fake laugh. I don't even know what's she talking about.

"By the way, in a few days, it's going to be new moon. A few ones, really."

I cross my legs and stare at her.

"Well... you know, there is this girl, Hibana. She used to think her parents were horrible. Dad left when she was little, mom abused her. But... sometimes she thinks life just went that way for one or another reason. Maybe there's more than meets the eye, but maybe I'm just imagining things."

"I guess there's not too much to say then."

"Yep, we're good for now, sis."

There's something odd. Something I can't quite put my finger on. Maybe some time she will tell me. In the meantime, I guess asking more personal questions to someone that looks exactly like me would be kind of odd. That's maybe why she also made that comment about a personal relationship and treated me like that. Possibly the people here don't care, but last time I assumed something like that, I got the society to kick a possibly innocent girl.

We wonder and arrive at the train station. We walk a long way towards a temple. Right there, we walk under some floorboards and see some mushrooms.

"One of them is vibrating."

I look around and from all mushrooms, I see a little one dancing.

"Hey... It's dancing"

She takes out a knife.

A floral knife.

And gently cut it from the base. Slowly.

"...hey, where did you get that knife from?"

"Oh, this? They sell them at the gardening store; I got the boots from there as well."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure"

She hands me the knife and I inspect it. It's...rather old.

"Say, do you think this is a forbidden item?"

"The knife? No, it's a normal one. You can check it or try it if you want to."

"...yeah, it's just a normal knife, you can have this back."

A few hours pass; we gather about 40 dancing mushrooms and head back to Uzuki. Oddly enough, other than technical comments on the mushrooms that turned out to be cursed items themselves, there were no comments on any other things. No remarks on the knife or on why did I asked. Everything seems convenient so far. But I know Hikari would be more prepared. If this is what I think, I don't believe she would be foolish enough to let me do something like that.

...yet, I also think she would have foreseen something like that happening. Of course, she doesn't know a little fact about me and what have I discovered.

We enter the library, Uzuki glares at us.

"Houraiji sisters, I see. You got the shrooms?"

"Safe and secure"

"Good, well, that was an easy one. They will pop up again in a few weeks, so maybe I'll just lend you that job again. Well, go home now. It's getting late."

"Uzuki, can I... stay with you for a while? I..."

She gives me the smuggest smirk ever.

"Oh... so now we're friends again and you want to go home with me?"

I blush

"I-It's not like that!"

"Well, alright, I can show you some stuff home. Houraji, wanna come?"

"I'm sorry, but I kind of need to prepare for tomorrow. It was a long day."

"Fine, whatever you say."

Houraiji leaves and we both stay at the library. Quietly, we grab our stuff and go to Hoshino's house.

"So, mind you, my mom will probably offer you cookies, I highly suggest them. Also, dad's probably working in his office."

"Right..."

We get to her house.