Sapphire Ambassadors

Hatsuki had just gone back home after seeing Mikan's work, trying to get her emotions under control. The despair was starting to fade, though it wasn't gone. Her hormones had latched onto that despair and decided it should last longer. She was sitting looking over her box of cosmetics, sighing. She couldn't generate inspiration. This was bad.

She hoped Choudai might come check on her, but he had seen it, too. He might not be up to it.

Going to the private chamber of a married woman in the middle of the morning was probably a bad look, but the way despair acted on Choudai was... curious.

After all, if everything was bleak and hopeless, what was there to get worked up about?

So to jigoku with appearances under the circumstances.

He had to check on Hatsuki.

His only hesitation, the only reason he scratched at the door instead of just opening it, was out of respect for her feelings.

"it's me."

"Come in," she replied from within. Her voice sounded hollowed out, empty.

He slid the door open, walked through, and exhaled a ragged breath. He'd done this to her, gotten her mixed up in this.

"I'm not going to ask if you're all right. I know the answer."

She looked up toward him and gave a weak smile, rising to her feet to face him. She wore no mask and lacked makeup, but the context was so different than the previous night. He could see the dark circles under her eyes. Despite sleeping well, she was exhausted.

"Same to you."

After a moment, she sighed.

"That was... something."

He let his breath hiss out between his teeth.

"That was shit. We came in peace. No ill intent. And now..."

She walked over, made sure the door was completely closed, then leaned her forehead softly on his shoulder.

"Now... You two won't survive each other, Choudai."

"Not without divine intervention, no."

He actually laughed, although it was a bitter sound.

"The nakodo is going to regret this one for the rest of their days. What Ogoe doesn't do to them, Shino will. And that's assuming Ozaki doesn't do something... foolish."

A pause.

"No children will result from this. Not even adopted ones we pass off as ours. And you can rest assured, if she's so intent on her misery, I fully intend to help her to it."

She shook her head, stepping back and over to her makeup box, starting to pull things out of it. "Choudai... She's a Kakita. We went to the same school," she began, setting out her brushes. "Approaching it that way... She'll destroy you faster than you can her unless you just directly stick a blade in her."

She finally felt a small spark of some kind of inspiration. Yes... Something she could do for Choudai, because they did go to the same school. she chose warm colors to start with.

"If she finds my mere existence so distasteful, I'll just sit next to her until she can't take it any longer."

He glanced at Hatsuki.

"After all, I have more to live for."

A pause.

"Alternatively, there are all sorts of staircases to trip down in this life."

"I don't want you to go through that," she said simply. "You deserve better than to deal with her acting out like a brat in the face of her duty. And if she can't do her duty, and you're putting in all effort, I'm sure it'll be dealt with."

She began applying her makeup carefully. She didn't want to mess this up. She was silent for a few minutes before looking in a mirror and deciding she was satisfied. "I suppose I'm playing dirty here, but I'm not going to let her win."

She looked toward him and smiled, even if she couldn't give him her best smile at the moment. "We need to try to have hope, so we can do something about her, rather than letting it feel like there's no way out."

MM, Soul's Dream, Tech for 10k4, vs Etiquette/Willpower | 10k4 ⇒ 46 to inspire Hope

As if Choudai could ever resist Hatsuki.

She is magic.

But he absolutely felt better.

"If nothing else, the fool will get to meet Ayame in a foul humor if she persists."

He chuckled.

"And I think she would find death to be preferable. Perhaps..."

He scratched his chin.

"Perhaps I just ambush her again. My way. Without letting her craft some ludicrous painting of flatulence. Offer her a choice. A simple yes or no choice."

Watching the dark cloud fade from Choudai's expression was worth every ounce of effort it had taken to push through to the despair and do anything creative. Warmth filled her chest, and she felt her spirits rise a little bit, as well.

"What do you have in mind?"

"No matter what she does, Kakita Mikan ceases to exist very soon. If we wed, she becomes a Scorpion. Bayushi Mikan. In which case, treachery leads to only one place. Failure to fulfill her duty is judged harshly. And no matter what she does, she will never again be Crane."

He snorted.

"This is plainly a fate she holds in abject horror. She wants another option. So. If she was no longer Kakita Mikan, then she wouldn't be forced to marry into the Scorpion. The Crane have no Grove. Nor can they think her behavior here covers them with glory. The choice is simple. The waves. Yes or no. And if she can't stomach that? She could kill herself. Kanshi. Given her highly... public displays, few would think it odd."

And Jigai is easily staged.

Because for all of his cheerful demeanor, Choudai was a Bayushi.

A more merciful thought struck him.

"Or she could be disgraced into forced retirement. I somehow doubt she would find life as a nun so terrible."

She paced a few times in her room. "Well, she's well on her way to that, anyway. This whole debacle brings enormous shame on the Kakita. Of course, the irony is, she's probably not considered any more shameful for her disgusting paintings than I am just for pursuing an unusual art."

Hatsuki looked like she wanted to spit. Then she paused, swayed a moment, and slowly sat down, resting her hand against the wall to steady herself.

"Tell me your ideas for the disgrace. I have a couple of additional ideas, myself."

"Well, to begin with, I go to Utemaro and point out that until she becomes a Scorpion, her failures to accept her Duty reflect on the Crane. Then I do everything I can to insure the failures persist..."

There's a gentle scratching at the door before Nadeshiko softly calls: "Hatsuki-san?"

"That's... honestly not a bad plan... Especially if rumors filter around that her failure of Duty is the inspiration for her work..." She tapped her fan against her lips as she rested.

Then the scratching came. She paused a moment, then called out, "Come in, Nadeshiko-san."

Shosuro Hatsuki wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:08 pm

"Come in, Nadeshiko-san."

The door slides open. There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it pause as she steps over the boundary. The Crane closes the door behind her before bowing, and then: "Are you well?" There's a bit of worry in her voice.

"As well as can be expected under the circumstances."