28. The Hall of Perfect Light

~ Anari ~

Our disappointing monkey god and his chic spidery companion stopped at a snack depot and got their food to go. Since it hadn’t been that long since they ate breakfast, Anari settled on a small order of fries and a large milkshake that she planned to share with Ritsu. The monkey however, helped himself to the triple-cheeseburger special.

The two spirits reached the entrance to the fairgrounds only to discover that the park was closed. Ritsu seemed content with finding somewhere else to have their lunch and coming back the next day, but Anari tossed her braids over her shoulder and started winding some spidersilk between her fingers.

“Is this something you do for your job?” Ritsu asked as he slipped through the opening Anari created with the help of her strong web.

The spider chuckled, only because she was positive that by now Bodhi and Ham Song would have guessed about the details of her line of work. The monkey, of course, was clueless of these things, despite the fact that he had witnessed her pulling off feats of stealth. Not to mention the fact that their first meeting involved local gangsters who were hunting her down.

Ritsu gawked at the scale of the attractions as they wandered through the quiet theme park. While the monkey was preoccupied, the spider gave herself permission to study him. She still hadn’t cracked the code on what drew her to the clueless sun clone. All she knew was that she enjoyed spending time with him. It didn’t matter what they were doing.

Anari thought it would be a good idea to share the milkshake with Ritsu at the top of the tallest peak of one of the rollercoasters. Since the rides were shut down, she had to use her spidersilk to transport herself and Ritsu to the desired height.

On the way up, the spider spirit noticed that Ritsu’s body was a lot more relaxed compared to the first time she hauled him into the sky during the Peach Festival.

(Aww. Look at that. The monkey man trusts you.)

For once, Anari didn’t dismiss her inner saboteur.

When the spider and the monkey were snug and secured in the cart, Sun Ritsu showed his companion how to combine the saltiness of the fries with the milkshake’s sweetness. He dipped his fries in the ice cream and scooped it up like it was ketchup.

“What’s wrong?” Ritsu asked after Anari wouldn’t take the french fry. “You’re afraid that you’re not going to like it?”

Anari hesitated. “I’ve just never seen anyone eat their fries like this.”

Ritsu raised an eyebrow and Anari’s features settled into a wry smile before she gave his arm a playful punch. “I’m very picky when it comes to my sweet tooth.”

Understanding sparked in Ritsu’s golden brown eyes. “Oh, I see. Well,” he popped the french fry in his mouth and went back for another, “can you just trust me this one time? If you don’t like it, I’ll give you all your food back and we won't have to talk about this ever again.”

Anari tried not to smile too hard as she nodded. “I guess since you let me haul you all the way up here, I can try one milkshake-fry.”

Anari didn’t keep track of who suggested it first, but Ritsu was the one who wound up serving her the next bite. The spider wondered if the exchange had felt as oddly sensual to him as it had for her. Judging by the innocent look Ritsu maintained even while he fed her, she had to guess not.

The spider and the monkey didn’t stop at one fry. Anari enjoyed two more before she swallowed the sweet, salty snack and cleared her throat. “Okay. Your turn, Sun.”

The spideress would have been thankful that her skin was too dark for Ritsu to detect a blush, but she could feel her glamour flickering like mad as she fed Ritsu one of the fries.

Then without warning, Ritsu chomped down a bit too eagerly, his canines surfacing and briefly putting Anari on the defense.

“Sweet immortal peaches, Sun!” she barked. “You nearly bit my fingers off.”

Ritsu sat up straighter, his complexion darkening by a few degrees. “Sorry. I got…” his golden brown eyes lingered at Anari’s lips. “I got a little distracted.”

Sun Ritsu’s words were followed up by a sudden gust of wind, causing the old rollercoaster to yawn in response. Anari’s braids chased the breeze, along with Ritsu’s dark, roughspun curls.

(If you don’t go in for a kiss right now, consider yourself as much of a dumbass as the damn monkey!)

Despite the truthfulness behind the saboteur’s taunt, Anari tore her gaze away from Ritsu’s and grabbed the milkshake for herself. Looking down at the rest of the theme park while she slurped the vanilla cream through the straw, she said, “We should go look for the Hall of Perfect Light pretty soon.”

Despite Anari’s efforts to put some distance between herself and Sun Ritsu on the rollercoaster, she somehow wound up holding his hand on the way to the Hall of Perfect Light. Ritsu was working on his second cheeseburger, eating it silently despite the way it oozed with sauces and melted cheese.

“You’ve gotten really quiet all of a sudden, Sun.”

Ritsu crumpled up the empty cheeseburger wrapper and tossed it over his shoulder.

“I was thinking about that construction site back where we docked.” Something sorrowful took over his voice. “All those spirits were just trapped under there and it felt like no one was doing anything about it—”

“Sun Ritsu, listen to me.” Anari yanked on his arm until he stopped walking. The spider fiercely met his gaze. “I don’t know if you’ve always been like this or what, but you cannot care so much about things like this if you want to make it in this world. Spirits are constantly drawing the short end of the stick and there isn’t always a way to save them.”

She didn’t know if she was getting through to him. In the end, he turned his head to gaze off at the rusty theme park rides.

Ritsu shrugged. “I don’t know if I’ve always been this way either. It’s hard to tell when I’m working all day in a noodle house. But as soon as I left that place, I… I don’t know. I started to see things differently.”

Anari sighed. “Did you even hear a word I just said? Sun!”

Ritsu shook his head. “You’re worried about me, Anari. I get it.”

The spider fell silent.

Ritsu finally looked at her. “But do you really think I’ll end up in the Lake of Ninefold Darkness all because I care about strangers enough to try to help them?”

Anari gave a grim nod.

Ritsu stepped around her. “Well then…. Guess I really need to find this staff. So I can start going about my life like a real sun clone.”

Anari matched Ritsu’s long strides with her own. Quietly, she pressed him.

“What do you mean?”

A look of resigned annoyance settled in Ritsu’s features. “Monkeys want more rank, right? That’s all I hear anyway. Apparently we’re obsessed with it.”

Anari had never heard Ritsu sound so bitter before, even though it was subtle.

Ritsu didn’t wait for her to confirm before adding, “I don’t want to go back to pouring tea and broth in the Horse Province, Anari. I want to lend a hand to a spirit if I feel like it. So that means I have to get stronger and get into a position where people take me seriously.”

Anari spoke up. “I take you seriously, Sun.”

“No,” Ritsu’s unglamoured fang peeked through his smirk, “you think I’m an idiot. Same as Ham Song and Bodhi.”

(Can he blame you? You don't meet suns like him every day!)

But Anari kept her mouth shut. She could tell that Ritsu needed to say these things. They had obviously been weighing on his chest for some time now.

Suddenly, Anari was hit with a wave of stale-smelling spirit energy. Her extra arms wrapped protectively around her middle.

“Sun, I think we’re here.”

Ritsu almost walked right past the attraction where the weird cloud of spirit energy was concentrated. A purple haze wafted from the open mouth of a giant blow-up teddy bear.

“Oh.” Ritsu mumbled as he shuffled back to where Anari stood.

The spider scrutinized the monkey. “Did you know that this would be here?”

It was a fair question. The theme park was enormous and this funhouse or whatever it used to be was pretty tucked away among the other attractions.

The uncanny self-awareness in Ritsu’s expression was gone now. He was back to looking as clueless as ever.

“Did I know…” Ritsu squinted his eyes at the bear’s gaping maw and googly eyes. “Are you sure this is the Hall of Perfect Light?”

Anari sighed. “Nevermind, Sun. All I have is a hunch that we should go inside.”

The spider was still holding onto Ritsu’s hand with one of her glamoured ones. She gently tugged him towards the entrance of the old, lifeless funhouse.

~

Well, what do you know, Dear Traveler. It seems that our brainless sun clone does have a clue about some things.

Perhaps he is merely good at making us believe that he does not. In which case…

Clever monkey, that one.