It's Not What It Looks Like

IT WAS THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY FOR HASEGAWA RYUUJI... or the dawn of a new era, even. Just a few hours ago, he’d taken the greatest plunge of his lifetime and happened to reunite with his long-lost partner. Then he pledged his love for her anew, slew her enemies in battle, and formally threw away everything he had built.

By that point, the only thing he had left was an old warehouse near the southern end of Tokyo. Back in the dark, dark days of his imprisonment, Ryuuji had picked up the habit of playing dice. Upon his release, he won the warehouse from a drunkard, but he never bothered to finalize the paperwork due to the dubious nature of the trade. He just repurposed the place into a cheap apartment and occasionally crashed there when he had work in the area.

Little did he know at the time he’d end up spending the night there with Hotaru…

Yet there she was, lying naked with him under the same futon, peacefully asleep.

Following their escape from Lake Ōnuma, Hotaru fetched them dinner with her Kotodama and the two spent several hours catching up. Then, as they reminisced about the old times, they wound up rekindling the flame of passion.

“What a twist of fate,” Ryuuji thought as he spied on Hotaru’s sleeping face.

By the Gods, she was as beautiful as the day he’d lost her.

“Never again. Never, ever again.”

Based on everything Hotaru had told him, the soldiers they killed the other night wouldn’t be missed. Ryuuji had thought they were simply paramilitary, but when she revealed who they truly were and why they carried cursed equipment, his blood started boiling with rage.

“Mnhh…” Hotaru shifted in her sleep, soothing Ryuuji’s anger for a moment.

In truth, he couldn’t believe just what kind of woman he had landed himself.

“All these years, it was her against the world… And she didn’t budge an inch.”

She was far, far stronger than he could ever hope to be. The mere idea of walking by her side was daunting, but when she dropped her guard like that and even shared her warmth with him, he couldn’t help but realize…

“Man, I would die for her in a heartbeat.”

Hotaru would object to the notion, but he couldn’t help it.

His heart belonged to her, through and through.

So, Ryuuji quietly watched her sleep, hoping they could stay like that forever.

Alas, no good moment is eternal, and their peace was soon disrupted by a loud banging on the warehouse’s door.

Ryuuji jumped out of the futon, stark naked as he rushed for his sword. Yet as he was about to unsheathe it, an unexpected voice called him from outside.

“Open up, it’s me!” yelled Akari, her voice tinged with a clear touch of anger.

“Oh my God…” he muttered, wondering how in the world she tracked him down. To his memory, he’d never told her about this place.

“I know you’re there, Ryuuji,” she continued. “You have Ponko’s keys, remember? Even if you leave your chip behind, I can still find you.”

“Fuck. Fuck!” he nearly pulled out his hair. He’d completely forgotten about their link with Ponko, and now that Akari was outside, she’d inadvertently revealed their location to anyone keeping tabs on her.

“Ryuuji...” Hotaru called him, pulling the futon to her chest as her head tilted to the side. “Who’s the young lady outside?”

“Akari, give me a second!” he yelled, scrambling to find his clothes.

“Screw you, I’m going in,” she utterly ignored him. Before Ryuuji could react, a paper talisman slipped under the door and unlocked it from the inside.

“Wait, wait!” he begged, but to no avail.

Akari opened the door on him.

And there he was, pulling his briefs on, with a naked woman in his bed. At that point, if Hotaru asked the earth to swallow him, she would be doing her man a service.

“So that’s what it was…” said Akari, her voice low and frigid. “You ghosted me at dinner to run off with some other girl. Got it. Thank you, Ryuuji.”

Her words stabbed his heart about as badly as he’d done to Sōma, and the way Hotaru glared at him didn’t help.

“Wait. No, no, no… Hold on, you two. It wasn’t like that,” Ryuuji’s gaze darted between them, but Akari refused to look at him. She turned to Hotaru instead.

“Well, I wish you the best. I just hope he doesn’t betray you.”

With that, Akari turned around and walked away, her footsteps echoing heavily.

As for Hotaru…

“Would you mind explaining yourself?” she demanded answers.

“She’s my apprentice. She has a crush on me, but I swear on my life I’ve never laid a hand on her. Hotaru, please. You have to believe me!”

Hotaru sighed heavily, pressing her fist to her forehead.

“It’s okay, I’m not angry about that. It’s the other thing. Ryuuji, did you ditch her last night to go looking for me?”

The man froze like a deer in headlights.

“Guilty as charged, huh…” Hotaru concluded. “Ryuuji, I specifically told you to forget about me and find yourself someone else. And now that you had a beautiful woman head over heels for you, you left her behind to throw your life away.”

“What the hell are you even angry about?”

He was sincerely puzzled.

Ryuuji had stayed true to her without fail, but now she chastised him for it?

“You broke her heart, you shit! Can’t you see she left alone, crying?”

“I know! I know that, but this isn’t time to argue. Everyone and their mothers know Akari and I worked together. If word got out already that I turned coat with you, they will kill her, or worse!”

“God damn it Ryuuji, and you didn’t think of that before? I can’t believe you!”

“I know, I can’t believe myself either! Just bring her back, will you? She needs to know the full picture. About you, about me, about the Red Thread. Everything.”

“We’re gonna have a long, long talk after all this.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“Ugh, let’s see… Put on some clothes first. And Akari, come back.”

She manifested inside the apartment in an instant, and jumped in shock at the sudden change. Then she turned to Hotaru and Ryuuji, her face red and slick with tears and snot.

“Oh my God, you poor thing…” said Hotaru, standing up.

“Hey. Hey, you’re naked,” Ryuuji hushed at her.

“No, I’m not,” she replied, and her clothes manifested on her. Even her hair accessories landed on the right spot, like she had changed meticulously.

Akari’s eyes widened as she witnessed the scene unfold. As a spiritual medium with a deep connection to the Kami, her ability to sense divinity was unmatched. And the mysterious woman in front of her, well… she wasn’t much different from a God.

“Hello, Akari-san. I’m Kisaragi Hotaru, the old-time girlfriend of this blockhead. I’m so sorry we had to meet like this, but please, I hope you can find it in your heart to let me make amends. There’s much we have to talk about.”

“Um… Hi. I’m Minase Akari, nineteen. I’ve been working with Ryuuji for the past year. It’s nice to meet you.”

The poor girl was so startled that she all but forgot about crying.

“It’s nice to meet you, Akari-san,” Hotaru bowed her head. “Now, I’m sorry to break it to you, but I fear we’re in danger and need to relocate immediately. Could you please break your Omamori Chip for me?"

She casually made a wildly illegal request. To Hotaru’s surprise, the woman was completely serious, and even Ryuuji didn’t seem to object.

“Akari, Hotaru is the Wandering Songstress,” he dropped the news.

“Holy shit, and you slept with her!?”

“I know it sounds bad when you put it that way, but I had a good reason.”

“Stop digging your own grave, Ryuuji,” Hotaru cut him off. “But he’s right. I am the Wandering Songstress, and a team of stormtroopers is bound to attack our location at any time. So I’ll ask you again. Please, break your chip so we can escape from here.”

“This has to be a bad dream,” Akari pinched herself, but she showed no signs of waking up.

“Break mine too if you have it,” Ryuuji added.

“Oh fine, here goes nothing,” she said, taking out his chip from her bag and snapping it in half without pause. He felt kind of bad about it, even though he’d been the one who asked. Then, she pulled out the necklace where her own chip was attached, and with a bit more hesitation, she snapped it in half too.

“Thank you,” said Hotaru. “Now we can run away.”

“Do you have somewhere in mind?” asked Ryuuji, trying to think of a good spot in the mountains to make off to.

“Yup. They do say bright minds think alike. I also have a hidey hole in town!” Hotaru grinned with pride. “Off we go then, to the Lair of the Firefly!”

Her words reverberated with power, and the three of them vanished from sight.