Ink Stained

21: unheard prayers*

前代未聞の祈り

Pai stepped back just in time to avoid crashing into him looking up at Karasatengu with a startled gasp.

She craned her neck quite bit to look at him. He stood at an intimidating height, a wall of muscle and strength that blocked her path, dressed in a dark yukata tied with a thin white obi around his waist. She had to suppress a giggle when the sunlight glinted on his bald head.

Karasatengu reminded her a lot of Saitama from One Punch Man...except he was less oblivious to his own strength. It was adorable watching Karasatengu interact with the kids, so comically gentle and careful with them even when his face remained perfectly blank. It was hard not to take dozens of pictures of them together.

It was mostly Shiori who did that, at least.

Pai nervously tugged on the end of her scarf. "H – hi, Karasatengu-san," she greeted, as innocently as she could.

His arched eyebrow lifted minutely. "Good afternoon, Pai-san." If there was anyone who stuck to the rigidity of honorifics and formal speech more than her, it was Karasatengu. "And where are you going?"

"Out. Walk." She cleared her throat. Speak coherently, you ignorant bushwoman. "I am going out for a walk."

His other eyebrow joined the first arching one. "Kanou-san told you to remain in bed until you are better."

I didn't lose mobility of my legs, thank you very much, she thought haughtily.

"I am only going down to the shrine," she answered. She gestured at the notable lack of a bag on her person. "I am not even carrying a bag with me. I just wanted to go down to the shrine to say a prayer to the Kamigami...for Shin-san."

It wasn't a lie. That was the only reason she even thought about going to the shrine. She'd thought that, maybe, the Kamigami would be kind and listen to her prayer for Shin's safety, since it was not a selfish prayer made for herself, but for someone else. She wasn't exactly counting on an answer since she knew there was no love lost between Ayakashi and Kamigami – but she might as well try. There was nothing more she could do, and she hated that.

Karasatengu's lips thinned at the mention of Shin. She wondered if she didn't make a mistake saying his name. Talking about Shin had become something of a sore topic, almost a taboo. Nobody could speak about him without an air of solemness enveloping the conversation.

She always got tense whenever that happened, her bones crying out in grief for how stiff she became. She always half-expected someone to jump at her, screaming, It's your fault! This is happening to Shin-kun because of you!

No one did that, of course. She didn't stop thinking it would happened someday, though.

Karasatengu sighed heavily. "A prayer to the Kamigami."

She nodded. "It is the least I can do, after everything that has happened." After everything I did wrong that ended up in this mess, she addded silently.

"How are you feeling?"

If she had five yen for every time someone asked her that question, she would be the richest person in the world.

"I will not suddenly collapse on the way," she replied.

After a long moment in which Karasatengu scrutinized her, eyes darting up and down the – admittedly not very long – length of her body as if searching for any visible signs of illness, he nodded reluctantly. He looked like a monk when he did, with such a grave expression on his face. She wasn't sure she had ever seen the man smile properly.