Vol. 5 Ch. 2 Ep. 16: Harmony

...With boiling water do depleted coals grow white.

A branch blanketed with white snow turns to charcoal.

How lovely, the scent of this tea. Will you indulge in a cup, Shuro?

Yes, yes! If you are offering it, Miss Kokuriko...!

You were simply exceptional last night.

You joined hands with Azami. You wielded Toutei's Phantom Illustrations against the Hyakkaryouran and captured Schale's Sensei.

I feared you two would find yourselves at odds. Instead, I am overjoyed to witness your unity and success.

U-Unity? No way! That snake charmer just did whatever she wanted!

Do I sense strife between you two?

W-Well... It's more so...

...I didn't do anything because that snake charmer wanted me to. I did it for you, Miss Kokuriko.

No great tale is without great hardship.

I know not of the pages you and Azami scribed. However, Schale's Sensei's capture is your triumph, and yours alone, Shuro.

Schale's Sensei is the antithesis to the rumors upon which we thrive. An uninvited character to our story, whose very existence turns despair to hope, tragedy to comedy.

We who give corporeal form to rumors find a natural enemy in such an outsider.

Had the Hyakkaryouran set this teacher upon us, no number of tomes could have guaranteed the victory we seek.

Which highlights the enormity of your success. You lured Sensei into our captivity with ease. I feel my chest welling with pride, Shuro.

Miss Kokuriko...!

But there is one thing I cannot understand.

Schale's Sensei always puts their students before their own safety, yet they left them to chase an enemy. Did you use some trick on them, Shuro?

That's...

...Huh?

...Schale's Sensei?

Why did you throw me behind you?

But...

I...tried to kill you. You idiot!

I'm not even one of your pathetic students! Are you delusional?

What, you think I owe you now? That I'll devote my life to doing good and being lame?

...I don't really know.

They're a big weirdo, so maybe they were just acting on a weirdo whim?

...Perhaps. The unpredictability, which is our venom, is also their greatest vulnerability.

Um, Miss Kokuriko, may I ask you something?

You have my permission.

When we captured Schale's Sensei...

What are you doing? Attack the teacher!

Wh-Why...?

...the Artifact Spirits that Toutei's Phantom Illustrations conjured attacked me instead of the Hyakkaryouran.

Since we control the tomes, the creatures shouldn't attack us... Do you know why they did? Is there something wrong with the tome?

...A possibility.

R-Right? Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense.

Hearts are fragile, fleeting in their desires. And it is such hearts that pen the ghost stories.

They are prone to such vulnerability that a single word, a trivial misunderstanding, will sway them to insecurity. Thus, how can a monster born from such fragility in itself be trusted?

Monsters vanish just as rumors do. Do not trouble yourself so.

The Ayame that was with the Hyakkaryouran wasn't real either. She was a Phantom Fable of some kind, made by Nagusa.

But she seemed so real... She laughed and cried with her friends...with Nagusa.

I mean, she thought that she was real, at least.

...Miss Kokuriko.

Do you think...a Phantom Fable, born from a ghost story, can gain human consciousness like that?

...Pointless ruminations.

I find no need to answer, no, rather, I find no need to even consider such inquiries.

For what reason do you explore such inanity?

Because...well, what about me? I don't know anything but you, Miss Kokuriko.

So if my rumor fades, and I do too...

...The tea has grown cold.

Did you have anything of import to discuss?

Then I shall take my leave to the main building.

With the Hyakkaryouran and Schale's Sensei under our care, nothing stands in our way.

Rumors shall swell as the world burns to ashes. And so our story shall prevail.

...Yes, ma'am.