The Bright Orange Sun

The Bright Orange Sun 🍊

A short Osana getting rejected by Taro story :/

“Did you oversleep again!? UGH! You ALWAYS keep me waiting!”

“D-don't get the wrong idea!”

“Geez stop pushing yourself. You're going to get yourself hurt one day you idiot.”

“I don't even NEED a Senpai!”

“Ugh! You can be such a pain!”

Those lines make me wonder if Osana does, truly, like me.

On Monday Osana was arguing about my waking habits then shoving a disgusting bento in my face.

On Tuesday I gave Osana my book which when she returned it to me it was soaked.

On Wednesday she showed me a picture of a girls panties when she said she would find me a better, more soothing, spot then the plaza.

On Thursday Osana promised me we would go to the movies, but she didn’t show. Later I found out that she had fallen asleep and missed the movie.

And on Friday Osana made a playlist of what she calls J-pop and J-rock. But it ended up being an audio clip of her insulting me.

And that’s why I rejected her when she confessed to me underneath the

cherry blossom tree on Friday.

A twist of time [part 1] 🌸

Writing this cherry blossom set made me a Midori simp lol. : D

Midori had gotten out of bed, after struggling to fall asleep from the will to text yandere dev “exciting” emails. She felt the cold wood floor under her warm toes and groaned. Today was going to be a long day………..

……..Buttttt what would make her morning better is by sending yandere dev an email! She opened midori-mail and started typing her email. When she hit send, she figured out yandere dev blocked her! The shock paralyzed her. How could they block the best info source? And leave her in a murder game?

Wait what? She was in a murder game? She must have had weird thoughts after the shock had hit her, but, just to be sure, she got up and l went to her desk. She pressed the on button and the dark black screen, flickered to life. Her school page was of course the first thing she saw when she logged in. She had it covered in tabs of unfinished emails to send to yandere dev, but they were all deleted because yandere dev blocked her.

Since she needed a new tab open she moved her cursor to open a new tab. Except….. her mouse cursor wasn’t moving? She didn’t realize it until it took her an hour to try to open a tab. It didn’t make sense. She always could open tabs without looking. What was screwing her up now? She needed answers and the default screen for everyone’s school computer was NOT gonna help if she need to open a new tab. Wait, what? Everyone’s school computer default screen? What was she talking about?

Well default computer screen or not. She still had to go to school. So she pressed the off button and sent the bright, alive, screen into murky darkness. She then got her clothes ready. After she was done, she walked out of her house and off to school. When she arrived at the front entrance for school she blended in with the other students. FINALLY she thought. Hopefully when she went inside to change her shoes she wasn’t going to do the stand and spin in place glitch. It was tiring. Midori was very confused from her thought. The what in what glitch? If it was a glitch why hadn’t she seen it and already reported it to yandere dev? Before she had any more insane thoughts she needed to get to searching her name in the tech lab at school.

When free time came, to her it was tech lab time. Which is exactly where she headed. When she got there the same thing with her computer happened in tech lab. She tried EVERYTHING she could to fix it. Emails, emails, and more emails. But nothing worked. So she decided to go to Oka the occult club leader. Then she would summon a demon who would fix the computers. But when she arrived she found out fixing computers with a demon, was going to be harder than she thought.

Apparently there was no demon to fix computers (which Midori thought was dumb) so they had to make one and summon it. But summoning a made demon was hard. Apparently they had to get strands of hair and fabric from things they wanted the demon to wear? And that if they were to successfully summon the demon, they would have to do something in return. Like give up someone the summoner loves.

Midori, who didn’t understand any of this because she only knew school stuff and how to work a computer, heard bla bla bla fix a computer. So she agreed to helped. All of a sudden they could hear click-clack-click-clack. Oka and Midori looked at the occult door and Ayano walked in. Midoris heart stopped and her blood ran ice cold. She didn’t know why, she just know that it did.

Somehow yandere chan knew what they were talking about and offered to help get hair dna and clothes. So after yandere chan accepted Okas task, she was officially helping. Wait, yandere Chan? Task? What task? Who’s yandere chan? Does she have a reason why Midori had ice cold blood and a heart that stopped beating? Midori had to many insane thoughts to wait for Ayano to be done, so she sat down at a nearby table and did ALL of her homework. After she got done with her biggest, boringst stack of homework Ayano was back. Ayano came back so soon Midori didn’t even have a chance to question why yandere dev gave so much homework.

After Ayano gave Oka the items she left, which was perfect because it was time to summon demons. Oka asked Midori to close all occult room club doors and to step outside. Apparently summoning demons can get very…… scary for green haired girls. So, Midori did exactly as said. Fiddling with her phone in her hands because she was bored. After a while Oka brought Midori back and handed her a weird item. Oka explained that the demon was unique because if the summoner did what the demon asked her to do someone would get an award? She didn’t pay attention because she was so excited to make a computer work. She didn’t even remember what Oka told her that the demon asked Oka to do.

So after giving Oka a goodbye Midori walked to the tech lab with pep in her step. As soon as she installed the weird thing into the computer she was able to move her cursor freely she opened a tab and googled herself. She found herself under a game title called “Yandere simulator” so, she googled yandere simulator. And what she found shocked her to core. She found EVERYTHING out about yandere simulator. The elimination methods, the rivals, the club benefits, and everything!

She then turned around in the chair, ready to go tell everyone about what she had just found when she….. knew it was the end….. There was Ayano, with the soulless eyes and she also was holding a knife above Midoris head. Before Midori could say anything she felt the knife. Cutting through her skull, and ending her life. But…. this couldn’t be the end could it? She had put so much work in only to fail…. She had to warn her classmates. And with that will of Midoris she now could freely float around the halls and do everything a normal human would. ……….. As a ghost……… She watched everyone die in that day but Ayanos sempai. Who she was approaching with a knife.

That’s when Midori remembered the demon had asked Oka to kill everyone! But when the summoner dies the request from the demon is already counted fulfilled. All of a sudden a little screen popped up in front of Ayanos sempai that said “Restart” Yes or no? Of course in all desperation Ayanos sempai chose yes. Which brought everyone back to life, but erased their memories including Midoris.

Everyone was now entering the classroom normally and that’s when they noticed something on their desks. A flower. Not just any flower, but the type of flower teachers put on students desks when they die. Or at least they thought it was the teachers. But they hadn’t died. So who placed the flower on everyone’s desk and why? Who knows if they will ever find out….

The end

(The strange thing Midori put in her computer was a USB)

Chapter 4 of Sour Droplets!

[Chapter 4 - Mirror-Image]

As An listened to the song, it seemed to grip her very heart. 

The gentle piano was accompanied by a sweet music box, and the guitar that Kanade added seemed to play a sentiment that shook her very soul. There was no lyrics added yet, but it was already a touching song, even if An didn’t really listen to this type of music. It was so impactful that of felt like she was right next to Kanade, listening to the song right there.

Soon though, Kanade clicked on her mouse again, pausing the song. She turned to look at An, her eyes full of concern.

“Are you alright An?”

With that question An snapped out of her trance and realized that, without paying attention, tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. And every time she blinked to get rid of them, two more teardrops would appear in their place. Was she… crying? Why?

An knew that if she said anything, there was no doubt she’d break down in tears. So she did one thing.

“Aunt Nagi…!” She wailed, not entirely sure why. She began sobbing, using what meager energy she had left to squeeze tears out of her eyes. 

Kanade’s eyes widen in surprise but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she walked over and silently put her hand on An’s back. She wasn’t trying to get An to shush, or interrupt her crying. It was her way of showing An that she was here, even though she was crying in front of someone she had just met today.

It took a while for the sorrow that eclipsed An’s body to leave, but when it did she allowed herself to slump onto the bed, her eyes red. Kanade just stayed silent until she smiled softly, the corners or her lips perking upwards.

“I think I know what to add to my song now.” Kanade said, breaking the silence and snapping An out of her trance that her misery put her in. Yet the sentence only served to confuse her, causing her eyebrows to furrow.

“You.. you do?” An asked, the emotional thorn in her mind reminding her of Nagi seemingly a little duller now. “But I.. I.. I didn’t even help you.”

 Kanade just continued to smile with a tinge of sadness in her eyes, and An’s heart broke. For her to act so mature like this… like she knew what to do… she must’ve been through this kind of pain a lot.

Kanade shook her head, clearly disagreeing. “You actually helped me a lot An. It was through you that I was able to feel your pain, and reach deep in the depths to make my melody.”

Feel my pain? An silently repeated to herself, pondering the meaning. But meanwhile, Kanade continued.

“I can tell you’ve got a lot of pain on your shoulders, and if I can ever ease the ache you’re free to come over.” Kanade promised, her words bearing a silent weight to them. “But right now you should rest. With the state your fragile body is in you could be vulnerable to getting a cold. We can talk more when you wake up.”

As if flipping a switch that sentence made An realize how tired she was. She had cried and talked until her eyelids felt unimaginabley heavy. 

So as a yawn battled its way up her throat she just nodded to Kanade, who smiled in response and sat in her chair by the computer. It was clear Kanade was going to compose more music as An slept, and she wondered if she’d ever hear a song such as emotion-stirring as that one again. 

Speaking of “that one”, did that song even have a name…?

An wanted to ask, but the murky fog that held her brain captive was making her unbelievably sleepy. So she made a mental note to ask, before laying down and closing her eyes as her head rested on the pillow. And it wasn’t long before sleep took her, painting her vision an abyss-black.

Demon slayer story :)))

“Mayaaaaaaa.” You hear faintly while your tucked away deeply, into a soft sleep state. “Mayaaaaaa.” The voice gradually gets louder, but still unidentifiable by who might be saying it. As your starting to wake up slowly from the beckoning tug of the voice, a light blue light which you know was filtered in from your windows, is visible in your closed eyelids. “Mayaaaaaa!” The voice calls loudly all of a sudden, breaking from its slow increase in volume. Your eyelids flutter open and shut as your trying to wake up while being blasted by sunlight from the curtains you left open. You sit up in your bed rubbing your eyelids as you can feel them connect with your eye sockets and your bangs tickle the outside of them. As your waking up though, your homey bed breaks from where you were sitting, the wooden bed frame shattering, where you once sat. You fall to the hard wooden floor fast and even though your not that high up from the ground you land hard, and fall backwards, knocking all the air out of you.

“Mayaaaa! You have to head to school now!” Your mom yells up the stairs, knowing your awake since she heard you graceful awaking. You wheeze trying to cough out a response, but your too out of breath and in pain to choke out a response. You take a second to catch your breath and for the pain to stop, then you leave your now broken bed to get ready for school. Your bare feet, pounding on the wood floor. First you head to your closet, while small it’s in a corner of your room and hasn’t been touched by your older sister, Paige, luckily. It’s not like the clothes would fit her anyway, you think as you toss your long soft fluffy blonde locks behind you while putting on your school uniform. Your uniform consists of a comfy and roomy dark blue top, a medium length soft white skirt with dark blue checkered lines, snug white knee socks, and smooth black clogs. As your yawning and slowly putting your school uniform on, still recovering from this morning, your cat, Squeaker gently pushes the door open. Her black and white fur shines in the light from your open window as she bobbles her way toward you, her tale straight up. Your cat Squeaker who is a chubby black and white cat, rubs against your skirt, pressing the soft cotton fabric inwards as she purrs while her back is now against your leg. You smile after you finish putting the rest of your school uniform on and inhale some slightly stuffy air through your nose, before exhaling it through your nostrils like your taking a deep breath. You put your hand on Squeakers smooth, soft, and silky fur, running you hand down her back as she continues to vibrate with purrs all the same. You always had some special connection with animals, big and small, hairy or scaly. They always loved you a lot, even if they hadn’t met you. And you always loved them too. Or tried too-. As your lost in your thoughts your mom yells up the stairs again, her voice echoing through the small corridor that was your narrow hallway but transformed into a speaker for your moms voice, making you regret not responding after you got the air warmed by the sunlight, in your lungs. “MAYAAAAA BE GRATEFUL THAT WE HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO GET YOU ENROLLED IN SCHOOL NOW GET YOUR BUTT UP AND GET READY. AT THIS POINT YOUR GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL, DONT MAKE ME MAKE YOUR SISTER COME IN THERE!” You fall backwards on the hard covered with splinters wood floor on your butt from the force of your moms voice, echoing down the corridor.

“IM COMING DOWN STAIRS NOW MOM!” You yell at the top of your lungs, spreading your fingers on the wood floor, wincing from a sudden sharp pain you feel. Squeaker darts under what remains of your bed frame as you slowly draw yourself up from the floor. You leave your room, and head down the hallway, the railing of the stair case lining a small part of the hallway. You try to rush your way down the stairs of your stair case, trying not to trip on any of the steps, since you guys were poor, there was only so much money you could put in the stairs. As your descending down the stairs you glance at your sisters room door through the bars of the stair case railing. Closed. Hm, she’s probably still asleep in her warm bed, you think to yourself as you walk down the remaining creaky steps of your stair case. Since your family wasn’t… well let’s say, that well off financially they could only afford to send one of you guys to school, and they chose you, since you were the youngest, and sadly always will be. But too you anyone who looked down on you for being young could go jump in a lake for all you care, you think too yourself, letting out an angry sigh as you try to be as graceful as you can while fumbling down the rest of your stairs.

“Thereeee you are.” Your mom says, extending her there into a sigh that falls down in volume. “We only had one egg, so I made you some warm sunny side up eggs for breakfast.” She finishes while flipping her hot black copper pan as an egg with a circular bright yellow yolk and it’s egg white under it in a paint splatter shape does a flip in the air. Noticing the continuation of a twinge of pain, you look down at your hand and notice some medium faint traces of slightly dried red lines on your hand. You bring it up by your nose to sniff it, as it gives off a copper smell, and you inhale some dust. You have smelled this smell a million times before. The smell of blood. You rotate your hand till you can’t see the back of your hand and your palm faces you. You trace all the blood stains on your hand back to one certain area on your finger near the top. You noticed a shred of broken wood from your bed frame is logged deep within your skin, the bottom covered with dry crusted blood. You wince a bit and slowly shuffle your feet over to the drawer you keep your medical stuff in, your long blonde hair shimmering in the sunlight flying around you. Your hand that isn’t injured brushes against the wooden drawer, warmed by the sunlight, smooth, and made out of dark oak. While you still have your injured hand in the same spot, your other hand proceeds to open the square drawer with tan wood lining the inside with various medical supplies in all shapes and sizes over it. While your eyes scan the various bottles of medicine, bandaids, and antibacterials, your eyes latch on too your injuries enemy. Tweezers. You grab them by the handle, feeling their cold grip in your hand as you bring it up to your hand. You bring it up and pinch them slightly around the wood, wincing a bit as you wiggle it loose, pieces of dried blood falling from the wound. Finally you pull it out, throwing the wood piece away into the trash can the cold hard metal grey lid falling shut with a shoosh! as you lazily toss the old tweezers back in the medical drawer, shutting it.

You had been so zoned in on removing the deeply wedged broken rough splinter that you didn’t realize your mom had already put the egg she made for you on a shiny smooth white dish and put grey as shiny silverware by it. “Come on, eat it before your brain gets colder than it first. Are you trying to visually eat it?” Your mom interjects, obviously tired with how long your taking to go to school. “Sit down and eat, your gonna be late.” Tired of your moms nagging you lazily moving your feet across your smooth wood kitchen floor, be vigilant since you just took care of a splinter issue. When you get to your chair you sit down, and like normal you grab the silverware in your right hand, avoiding the area of your injury. You quickly gobble down the egg as the yolk splits open and oozes down your throat and the dry egg white follows shortly after, making you want a drink to quench your thirst. Sadly, you don’t have time for that as you quickly get up, scooting the chair back and toss the silverware and plate in the sink as fast but delicate as you can. “Thanks for the breakfast Ma!” You say as you bend over, grab your school clogs, and work on rapidly pulling them up your foot. “Your welcome! Just don’t be late!” Your mom replies, knowing your going to take your sweet time as soon as you get out the door. You stop one of your feet on the ground, finally get your shoe adjusted. “I won’t!” You yell to your mom, pushing yourself out the door and into the bright sunlight of a beautiful clear sky day.

As soon as the door closes behind you, you do what you usually do, despite your promise. Hey, you never said when you would do it am I right? But as you are leaving the house and walking on foot, you realize you are still thirsty from the egg you had this morning. But up a bit further on the pavement you spot something grey, round, and shiny, as the sun glints off its flat surface. Could it be? It’s a quarter! You bend down picking it up as quickly as you can off the hot pavement, trying not to burn yourself. You drop the warm quarter into a palm of your hand and clench your hand into a fist, knowing that there’s a vending machine, just up ahead. You know these city streets well, for you have lazy walked them many times, much to your mothers anger.

As you get closer to the dark green vending machine, you see a radio on a table behind it with chairs propped up on either side, likely a dining seat area for a restaurant. It looked to be turned on, and you could hear various static noises as you were approaching. At least I’ll be updated on what’s happening before I go to school, you think to yourself, right in front of the vending machine. You push the coin in through the narrow black plastic slot, hearing it fall to the ground with a clink, clunk! You get up from your bent down position and move your eyes along the rows of drinks, scanning them for the right one to quench your thirst. As your eyes are scanning, sunlight glints off probably the fanciest soda there. It’s bright yellow, with different colored gems wrapped in a ring around the top and bottom. You look wince your eyes, looking into the glare, closer noticing the drink is called smite, the title outlined in purple. Though it has no title anywhere that says of what the flavors were in this concocted drink, the outside looked certainly intriguing, so you push the smooth hard button that corresponds to the number for the drink in the aisle, while the machine in the refrigerated inside proceeds to reach forward and push it down into the hard dark murky depths of the vending machine box, so you could get your drink. As it’s pushing your drink, confirming your order, the narrow green screen shows eight bright green words. Ordering Smite (Lime, lemon, and orange juice edition). Orange juice, ey? Well hopefully it will taste like some fruit punch soda, you think to yourself, hoping it doesn’t taste as awful or even the worse as your concept of the rather weird concoction in your head.

TUNK TUNK! The soda makes as graceful as a landing as you did this morning, but this time heading in a different area, into the box at the bottom of the hard walled vending machine. A delicate smile crosses your face as you bend down adding mediocre force as you push you hand through the black flap at the bottom. Finally, something to quench your thirst, you think to yourself as your hand finally grasps the cold, circular beverage. You then stand up in the hot sunlight, as the sleek turquoise radio continues playing the annoying sound of static like it has been this whole time. As the hot sun keeps beating down on you, you start enviously eyeing the roof above the radio, pouring down a rectangular shape of shade on the area the radio is bequeathed to. I mean, mom would rather have me not be a red hot sunburnt tomato then go to school, right? You think to yourself, already planning a various stashes of excuses for your mom and your teacher. As soon as you are under the cool shade from the roof, and on the cold smooth pavement an instant relief washes over you, as your overheated body loses thermal temperature, slowly but surely, cooling you off. The only things occupying the same shade space as you were the radio on the table and two chairs. Well, the only “entertaining” things. You take a seat in the firm but beautiful chair, leaning over to mess with the little metal stick on the top, pointing it every which way hoping you could get at least a bit of signal.

After a while you give up, crossing your arms and laying the right side of your head on your right arm. You watch the road for a while with no passing on it, as a breeze sways the trees and you can hear a far off metal wind chime in the distance. You sigh, knowing that as much as you want to stay here, another tardy is something your mother really doesn’t want to hear at the long boring teachers conference. So you get up with your cold can of Smite, and begun walking out of the stage onto the road as your eye lids feel heavy. Drooping down on your glistening eyes every once and a while. As you get to the edge of the comfy little plaza you just left the radio finally starts making noise. And what it says makes you freeze in place, dropping your can of Smite. Krrrk Melliya, Sarah, Izzy, Natalie, and KRRRRKKK have gone missing. If you have info please share it with CKCKCC at ZZZZZZZZ. The radio spits out, before going back to its all to familiar episode of radio static.

To be continued…

The contending deal

Hu-Tao had recently sailed overseas to the thunderous land of Inazuma due to the recent abnormality of spirits. Since the borders of Inazuma had just recently opened up the borders, there was a lot of lengthy paperwork and their plan was a bit rough around the edges but still workable. When Hu-Taos's passport showed that she was an owner of a business, the processing team dug a bit deeper, finding out about Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. When they found out about her business, they didn’t tell everyone, but after a while that changed. The people who checked Hu Taos’s passport went back to their house as their wife asked them about his day and he told her about the business over some nice steamy dinner while he lounged back in a chair like in a therapist's office while a child or pet might be running around. Then the wife might send some mail to her friends about it, then books were made, then songs were made… you get the point.

But the whole time news was spreading about Hu-Tao, she met Yomiya outside her fireworks shop and became friends. Yomiya took her on a tour, and Hu-Tao helped Yomiya from time to time whether it was getting a material for fireworks or coming up with combinations or designs and basically whatever she could help with. But much like the news about Hu-tao Hu-tao wanted to explore different islands. She thought the Sagnomiya Shrine would be an interesting place to visit, so she went there. Yet the news had already reached all the islands and everyone knew about her. Yet that wasn’t bad, for now at least. When Hu-Tao got there Kokomi wanted to personally greet her so they can talk about spirits together, which might help Kokomi approve/adjust her plans. Kokomi took her on a tour around the island, showing her the barracks, the shrine, etc, just like Yomiya.

Though due to the tour and time of Hu-Taos's arrival, it got dark quickly, and instead of Hu-Tao heading back on a boat, Kokomi offered her refuge in a spare house they had. Just like during the Shogun War. Hu-Tao accepted the offer with a trademark smile and thanks. She headed in after she was given some provisions, bed sheets and blankets, and stuff for her bathroom too. Of course not without a chat with Kokomi. As the moon lightly glazed Hu-Taos’ face through the curtain she smiled. Everyone had been so kind and welcoming plus for dinner, she had Kokomi's favorite meal, bird egg sushi, which warmed her stomach. Hu-Tao knew about the Vision Decree and everything about that but she couldn't see why anyone could complain about Inazuma. Everyone always peacefully got along and any disputes were easily settled by the guards walking the streets. Of course, she knew there have been some Fatui incidents here and there, but otherwise, Hu-Tao found this place pretty peaceful. For now.

Over the next few days, while Hu-Tao stayed at Watasumi island, she helped Kokomi just like how she helped Yomiya. Since Kokomi thought Hu-Tao was on vacation, she kept telling Hu-Tao it was fine and to just relax and enjoy her time there. Yet Hu-Tao insisted on helping her, as thanks for everything she did and since they were friends now. So like she helped Yomiya, Hu-Tao helped Kokomi the same way, just doing different tasks such as: Sweeping and polishing the shrine, sharpening the soldier's weapons, etc. Over time as she spent more time with Kokomi, their friendship grew and they became closer and closer. Even though she was around Kokomi a lot, she never saw her get mad. This is why she was more concerned when she saw Kokomi with her arms crossed and an angry stare on her porch in the morning after she had opened the door.

“Kokomi? Are you ok?” Hu-Tao asked groggily while she rubbed one of her eyes. She started to yawn but stopped when Kokomi let out an angry remark.

“Do you think I'm ok?!?! You just vandalized the entire shrine!” Kokomi said surprising Hu-Tao as she had never gotten angry before. The shrine must mean a lot to her which was weird. Sorry, the shrine being important to her isn't weird, the fact she said Hu-tao did it is. As the willingness to yawn barreled around in Hu-Taos's throat she let out a confused question, “I did what now?” One of Hu-Taos's eyebrows shifted up in confusion, “I was in my room the whole night, why would I suddenly do something very unlike me and suddenly vandalize the shrine?” Hu-Tao had never sleepwalked before, so it was hard to believe she randomly got up out of bed and her unconscious brain had enough cells in it to vandalize a shrine. “Don’t play dumb with me!” Kokomi's soft voice tore through the peaceful air, “One of the soldiers saw you do it last night!” Did one of the soldiers lie about her? Hu-Tao thought to herself, her brain working a bit faster now that she just got yelled at. No, nobody displayed any signs of hatred or grudges against me so maybe… “OH COME ON!” Kokomi yelled interrupting Hu-Tao’s thoughts which made her jump a bit, “If you're having such a hard time remembering what you did ill just show you! Maybe that will jog your memory!” Kokomo grabe Hu-Tao’s hand leading her in a direction toward the shrine. As Hu-Tao was running she was too lost in her head to take in her surroundings. She felt hurt that her new best friend was mad at her. And it wasn't even her fault! Maybe if she could just convince Kokomi she didn't do it then they could be friends. But how could she convince her? Could she-

“Here!” Kokomi yelled, throwing her in front of her with the force in her hand. Hu-Tao stumbled forward on the stone ground, trying not to fall. As she slowly regained her balance she stood still and looked around the shrine, and man the sight that greeted her was anything but pleasant. The shrine walls were graffitied so badly she couldn't make out the words, and the water was tainted with oil, yet strangely there were no traces of anything affected by fire, which was the element in her vision. The pearls in the archway were missing and the roof was torn up. As Hu-Tao examined some of the graffiti by touching it with her hand, she found out that some of the colors were not what they seemed to be. Hu-Tao rubbed her fingers together to check the texture of the essence, which confirmed her thoughts. It was something she had dealt with before, ghost remains. She walked back to Kokomi already planning a sentence in her head to try to convince Kokomi it was a ghost, though it was much harder to do that when you were in Inazuma and not Liyue. “Ah! So it's finally struck you, what you did,” Kokomi said as Hu-Tao started walking towards her, “Have you come to tell me your confession?!?!” Hu-Tao hesitated a bit, this was one of the rare times that she thought that the ghost came at the wrong time. She hadn't experienced any paranormal activities and now she did, which was making her friend mad at her! A bit of anger against all ghosts bubbled up inside of her, but she pushed it down. For if she didn't it might be shown in her voice that she was angry, making the situation much, much worse.

“Kokomi it's not my fault I didn't do this there are traces of ghosts here-” Hu-Tao tried to choke out feeling intimidated by Kokomi's angry gaze. “Oh, so now you’re trying to make fun of my knowledge of ghosts since I have less than you?” Kokomi interrupted Hu-Tao, clearly not believing her. After all, it just seemed like her best friend betrayed her, “Do you think this is funny???” Even though Hu-Tao didn't sound angry, Kokomis's racing brain had found another excuse. Hu-Tao felt defeated and knew that somehow she would have to make the ghost show itself to Kokomi to prove it to her. Whatever Kokomi angrily talked about next, Hu-Tao didn’t hear, as she was lost in her head. Whatever ghost that did this, was likely some type of hooligan or prankster ghost. It was hard to believe that anyone had done this on accident, which means they were probably watching their vandalism unfold on an innocent soul somewhere. As much as she knew it would make Kokomi angry, Hu-Tao took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to detect any ethereal presence. She painted a picture of her surroundings around her in her head with her eyes closed. Soon slowly things came alive in her closed eyelids. The clams stretching out behind the buildings, some archway-shaped stones pouring water into some pools, the priests walking around the shrine, and of course, all of the graffiti and vandalism. But one thing was different in the landscape, not counting what the ghost did. She could sense a presence and a faint, blurry, human-shaped, see-through, blue, outline of energy. The clothes on their body were also tainted with a color blue, masking the original color it was. Hu-Tao could sense Kokomi getting angrier at her, making a smirk slowly draw itself across the ghost's face. Hu-Tao focused on Kokomi’s anger so she wouldn’t smile too. The ghost didn’t know she knew about him, so she opened her eyes, finding herself getting violently shaken by Kokomi.

“HU-TAO HELLOOOOOO ARE YOU IGNORING ME?!?!” Kokomi yelled while still shaking Hu-Tao, making her dizzy. “HELLLOOOOOOOO EARTH TO HU-TAO?!?!?!” It felt like Kokomi was trying to shake her unbelievable ideas out of her head as Hu grasped tightly onto the idea in her head, trying not to lose it. “K-o-o-k-o-miiii-i I’m here.” Hu-Tao said between Kokomi’s shakes. Kokomi stopped shaking Hu-Tao shortly after she opened her eyes and spoke. Kokomi had lost her top, so Hu-Tao held up her hand in front of Kokomi before she could let out anything, which was likely another angry remark. She got close and whispered into Kokomi's ear so the ghost wouldn’t hear them and said, “We’re not alone, I’ll show you.” While Hu-Tao started fishing around for something in her pocket with her hand. “Just be patience with me for a second.” As soon as Hu-Tao removed her hand from her pocket she revealed four, shiny, round, and smooth sango pearls she had collected from exploring the island. She then walked over to the archway-shaped stones in the pool of water and slotted them in the holes where the previous pearls have been, being careful to not scratch them. Hu-Tao yawned, still tired even though the sun was a little higher than when Kokomi woke her up bright and early in the morning. Barely anybody was up, so luckily there the ghost wouldn’t flee while mid-vandalizing. Hu-Tao stretched her arms up and let out a yawn to try to make it more convincing, “I feel pretty tired, I think I’m going to head back and sleep a little longer than try to fix this vandalism problem,” Hu-Tao said secretly motioning Kokomi to follow her, “My brain needs to get more gears going before it confronts a problem as big as this.” Hu-Tao turned around and headed down the winding path back to her house with Kokomi behind her.

They walked for a while until Hu-Tao decided they were out of sight and quickly pulled Kokomi behind a house. Then as sneakily and as silently as they could, they walked back up but instead of using the path they sneaked around the houses like spy’s on a secret mission. When they got back up they hid a bit behind a porch, but so they could still see the shrine from where they were at. After a second another Hu-Tao popped up seemingly out of nowhere and drew her spear. The clone got to the original pearls that Hu-Tao placed and lifted her spear so the tip was pointed in the pearl's direction. Then, the clone inserted force into the spear, pushing forward and stabbing a pearl, breaking it. It did that with the rest of the pearls then seemingly vanished into thin air. After the ghost disappeared, Kokomi and Hu-Tao came out from hiding, and Kokomi instantly hugged her. “I'm so sorry! You were my best friend and I suspected you of doing this and got so angry at you-” Kokomi’s voice was in a pleading tone as she tried to get out all of her apology words at once. “It's ok,” Hu-Tao said, cutting her off as she continued to apologize continuously, “This shrine meant a lot to you, I don't blame you for being so defensive. Though I think you might want to put some items that I call “barricaders” to preserve the shrine from ghosts. I have some in my bag that I brought to Inazuma, so I'll give some to you.” Hu-Tao winked and Kokomi instantly stepped back and started waving her hands in front of her face, her eyes wide. “Oh no no no! If anything I should owe you, how I was to you-” Hu-Tao placed a hand on Kokomi’s shoulder for comfort, causing her to pause in the middle of the sentence. “Kokomi like I said, it's ok! If you want to owe me anything you have to send me postcards, ok? That's what you owe me,” Hu-Tao playfully and lightly bumped Kokomi with her elbow, “Now come on! The shrine won't clean itself!” Hu-Tao laughed. Kokomi hugged Hu-Tao again, but this time not as worried. “I can't thank you enough!” Kokomo said while she smiled, her eyes closed, “You’re the best Hu-Tao!” Hu-Tao gently smiled and hugged her back as the sun had finally risen from its sleepy resting point under the sea. It bathed Hu-tao and Kokomi in golden light, illuminating their surroundings and glinting off the fragments of the sango pearls. As both of them quietly watched the sunrise for a second while still in a hug, the moment was photogenic, yet no one had a kamera. It was alright though, for their heart had captured the picture. Framed with many words and decorated with feelings as it was gently tucked away into a safe place. Somewhere that neither of them would forget.

Kokomi and Hu-Tao fixed the shrine, this time with it being a little different though, as Hu-Taos barricaders were placed around the shrine. As much as Hu-Tao wanted to stay though, seeing as this was near the end of her trip, she knew she had business to return to in Liyue. As she got in the boat that Kokomi had prepared for her on the beach and crest of the island, Kokomi ran up and hugged her. There were a lot of fast-paced conversations knowing that she had to go soon which made some people wonder if they were speaking a different language. Though soon Kokomi gave her a gigantic tight hug and wave goodbye sadly as Hu-Taos's boat pushed off the shore and into the lapis lazuli of the ocean. Hu-Tao waved bye too, waving her arm while trying to steady her balance, making sure she wouldn’t crash on any fish party. Though after a while, Watasumi island became a little speck in the distance, as she near Ritou. She turned around from facing Watasumi to the front of the boat and saw another hand waving to her. Even though she hadn’t told Yomiya about her departure she was still there, waving and smiling. Hu-Tao smiled and waved back wondering if Yomiya had a sixth sense when it came to friends. A bit behind Yomiya though, was her fireworks shop where her pa was also waving goodbye. It touched her heart knowing how Yomiya must’ve screamed in her pa’s ear to wave goodbye when she did, knowing how he was quite hard of hearing. But soon the hands and the bustle of Ritou became just like Watasumi. A speck in the distance, leaving Hu-Tao to her thoughts as clouds dotted the vast blue sky above her. She laid on her back trying to get as comfortable as she could, and put her hands behind her head, looking up at the sky and reflecting on everything she had done in Inazuma.

She was so in her head when thinking about this that, when her boat bobbed back and forth from hitting land, she didn’t notice. Though once after it bounced against the piece of land Hu-Tao arrived at, it off-centered the boat's balance, causing Hu-Tao to fall into the water below her. Boy was she awake now. She quickly went to her house and changed out of her sopping wet clothes, taking a shower. Then she pulled her long-sleeved shirt over her head, sliding her white socks to her knee and topping her outfit off by lightly putting her hat on her lightly wet brown hair. She then slipped her leg bands on her socks then she put her shoes on, heading out her door to continue her everyday life. And she did just that but with a few minor adjustments. Yomiya and Kokomi sent her postcards, along with a gift or two. They’d talk about how they miss her or ask her questions about Liyue. You know, basic friends sending cards stuff. Hu-Tao made sure to visit though, and the more she visited the more friends she made, while she said hi to the ones before. Luckily no more shrine issues happened, so Kokomi tried to give her money for her service but she refused. Her friendship was enough. The friendship that sparked in her heart like lightning, at the thunderous land of Inazuma.

Toya card drop!

The title of this card is, “The Calm Admist the Storm”, where it features Akito cameo! This card will come with an outfit, but here’s the talent:

100% score boost for 10 seconds