15.i The Jade Pool

~ Anari ~

Once the two spirits and the monk had found privacy in the shade of a wishing tree, Bodhi gestured to the colorful booths behind them.

“The new plan is the old plan. We’re still Lucky. We’ll simply win the games and sell the prizes.”

Ritsu’s eyes scanned the monk. “You said you bought an entire barrel of wine? Where did you put it?”

Bodhi snapped their fingers. “Ritsu, focus! That’s not important right now. And besides,” they sniffed, “I hid it.”

Anari, who wanted to get as far as away from the monk as she could, latched one of her arms onto Ritsu’s wrist and tugged him in the opposite direction.

“Let’s go. We probably have until sundown before they eat your pig.”

Moments later, she and the monkey were back in line at the strength game from before.

“You know that wooden staff prize is just a toy,” Anari pointed out when they were about halfway through the line.

Ritsu’s glamour flickered. “Seriously?” He chewed the corner of his lip. “Oh. I thought . . .”

<Great. You hurt the poor thing’s ego. You might as well have stripped him of all his Luck.>

Anari hated to admit it, but the saboteur was right. They needed those other prizes. Though she didn’t particularly care what happened to the pig, she didn’t want his blood on her hands. And for some reason that was lost to her, he mattered a lot to Sun Ritsu.

The monkey stood with his head hung and his fists at his sides. He forced a chuckle. “Of course the prize is fake. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Ritsu was next in line.

Anari thought fast. “Sun.”

He lifted his chin in response. With her more feral set of limbs, she squared his shoulders so they were face to face. Then she seized him with her primary arms, embracing him in a way that left zero space between them. She closed her eyes and pressed her profile into his rough sideburns.

“For Luck. Ham Song is counting on you.”

When she drew back, Ritsu looked more rooted than before. Only this time, a peachy band of color stretched from sideburn to sideburn. She tried to convince herself that the tingling sensation she felt came from the Luck passing from her body to his.

“Sweet immortal peaches, another ape?” The booth manager growled. “Look monkey king, I haven’t got all day. You ready to test your strength or what?”

Ritsu held Anari’s gaze for a beat longer before he finally turned to face the platform.

“I’m ready.”

While the booth manager showed Ritsu how to test his strength against bending a densely engorged stalk of bamboo, Anari was questioning if her intervention would make any difference.

But then Ritsu stepped up, fitted his hands in the net contraction tied to the end of the stalk, took a breath, and with a single jerk . . .

“Sweet immortal peaches.”

All the spirits swore in unison.

Whispers erupted from all sides.

“Did he just break it? It’s broken, right?”

“I want my money back!”

“Typical monkey. Always gotta be the center of attention.”