Fool Bloom (A Magical Woman Quest)

[X] "I wrote something in my spare time, but nah, you probably wouldn't care for it." She figured reverse psychology might work better on Koyomi.


"You write?" Koyomi had to roll her eyes, "A journalism thing, then? No, you said 'in your spare time', so it could be something else."

That Koyomi had started speculating made Miyako grin, it sounded like her approach was working. "Yeah, just a little something. Not that such a serious author would dare grace anything so frivolous with her presence, of course," she said.

Koyomi kept on twitching till she finally hissed, "Fine, just show it to me already."

"Can do," Miyako said, then fiddled with her phone till it displayed her story My Chemical Valentine posted online, with her quickly scrolling down to not be reminded of its pitiful view count.

"Huh, already unpromising from the title alone. And wait, 'Real Person' Fic?" Koyomi said as she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh ah, the Hanazakari in it have never said anything against fanfic, so it's okay," Miyako said on reaction.

"I see. Still not looking forward to possibly reading about people I actually know," Koyomi said, only to get hit by a wall of tags. "Bloody hell, which I don't even believe in, do you have the slightest clue how to advertise your story?"

"Well clearly I do, since you're now reading it," Miyako rubbed in, then asked in a more befuddled tone, "Wait, Jews don't believe in Hell?"

"We have alternatives," Koyomi told her, then sighed, "To think I actually recognise more than a few of these tags from how I've seen books marketed these days. I've even gotten demands to write an 'Enemies to Lovers' story like I'm Austen or whoever. And wait, 'omegaverse dynamics', 'hanahaki disease', 'soulmates'?"

"Okay, I get that the first two aren't what everyone's into," Miyako said, before adding more force, "But what's wrong with soulmates?"

Koyomi then suddenly tossed a copy of Paradise Lost at Miyako. "If I'm reading your request, you can read this in return," she said like Miyako was still in school getting an assignment, "Milton accentuates that love cannot exist without free will, for without it all 'love' is just coercion. So you can see why I have no regard for soulmates. Just don't go making ga-ga eyes over Lucifer, you hear?"

"Yeah well, a lot of people are just lonely, y'know?" Miyako spoke out, "Not everyone's sure that they will find someone who truly cares for them, like if they're not popular, or don't have time to meet people." Or are trans, Miyako found too painful to say. So she brought up instead, "And between this, Faust, and Karamazov, you sure do have a lot of Christian books in your house."

"First, that's only three books. Second, well, that's the western canon for you," Koyomi sighed. That topic however was interrupted when she took notice of MCV's wordcount, "600,000? I thought this was a 'spare time' thing for you?"

"It is, I just want this to be a fun thing for me. I really don't wanna go professional with my fiction-writing," Miyako said.

Looking over Miyako's prose, Koyomi then went, "I sure hope not. Don't you want to be a journalist? Because you are aware such florid, overwrought prose is the last thing most newspapers want, right? Unless they're full-on tabloid I guess."

"Hey, it fits the tone of the story, y'know?" Miyako said back, then elaborated, "Hanazakari, flowers, florid prose. See, it's thematically resonant."

"I'll be the judge of that," Koyomi said, then focused in on, "Your main character, Starknight-

Article:

[ ] Shiragiku/White Chrysanthemum, Wand. Trying to piggyback off the existing Chrysanthemum, are we? Wait, that Chrysanthemum's also a character in this story?
[ ] Higanbana/Red Spider Lily, Sword. Wait, that was one of the names you guessed for me. Hmm, from her looks and manners I can tell you were a teenager when you wrote her.
[ ] Torikabuto/Aconitum, Cup. Huh, miko theming this far back. Hold on, she 'wields the powers of the gods'? Just what do you think us Hanazakari are capable of?
[ ] Write-in

-but either way, I can tell your main character's basically just you. Am I right?"

Miyako was about to protest, but then nodded. "Yeah, she is. But c'mon, Dante did the same thing! And besides, I wrote her…" her tone softened to nearly a whisper, "before I was out as trans, no, before I'd even decided I was trans. I don't know if she did it on her own, but writing her still helped me figure a lot of things out."

The previously scathing Koyomi softened too on hearing that, even admitting, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking, even though I should have been. That does put your story in context."

"Thanks," Miyako smiled, before she suddenly went into, "Anyway, I was thinking of putting this on as a play! You see Reiji-kun, he's Kazuya's friend, needs help getting his family's theatre up and running, so I thought I could help."

Koyomi stared blankly at her. "Nozawa, do you realise what you're saying?" she asked.

"Well, if it being RPF is a problem, we can just change the names, y'know? And obviously we're not gonna adapt the whole story, we'll have sequel plays for that!" Miyako said unflinching.

That left Koyomi facepalming. "No, what I mean is," she said, "you've told me this writing of yours is very personal, is it really something you want to be putting on stage? Plus, you can't call yourself an amateur if you actually get paid for it."

"Wait, that's what 'amateur' means?" Miyako asked, "Thought it just meant, y'know, you weren't like super top-tier at it. And yeah, it is personal," she said, finding it a little hard to continue, "but that's kind of why I want to make a play of it, express myself. And you'd know lots of writers put heaps of personal stuff out there."

"That is true," Koyomi had to admit, briefly looking over her own books, which gave her the idea, "Look, Nozawa, if you're start getting doubts about staging your own story, you can just adapt one of mine. You wouldn't even be the first to."

"Oh wow, thank you so much Arisugawa-sama," Miyako blushed and even bowed, before her eyes widened "Wait, even your-"

"Except my first book, that's off limits," Koyomi glared.

"Okay okay," Miyako mumbled. Wait, would Reiji even want to stage anything by Arisugawa-sama? He's not exactly a fan of hers, though maybe he has no idea that her and Kuramazov are the same person, she thought. To cover her bases, she said, "Since you gave it to me, we could even stage Paradise Lost, I'm sure someone has to have done that before."

"Hmm, perhaps a bit too ambitious, but it ought to get this theatre attention," Koyomi said.

"I mean, I still really wanna stage my fanfic, but yeah, I should see what Reiji-kun thinks first. It is his family's theatre," Miyako said, before she remembered, "And wait till he's out of the hospital, of course."

"Oh yes, Asahi told me. He was knocked out by the Heart Leech after he insisted on being at the ritual, wasn't he?" Koyomi asked, a little accusatorily of both Miyako… and herself.

"Again, he survived. That's what important," Miyako said, but then more waveringly asked, "Our Shinto purification rite didn't really do anything, huh? All we accomplished without you was just riling the leech up. I mean, how can I be a miko when I've watched my own head priestess's powers fail like that?"

"Listen, the problem isn't Shinto rites in of themselves," Koyomi told her, "The problem was you were, or rather Asahi was, trying to jam a key into the wrong keyhole. You think the original shamans had the Frost Fair in mind when they formulated their rituals? Hardly, no one on Earth even knew of them till the 90s."

"Yeah. And I guess aggravating that old leech was still a result, wasn't it?" Miyako said. Bringing up the purification and the Frost Fair then reminded her of what Hayato had asked about being emotionlessness, and who better to ask that than an enemy of the Frost Fair? "Arisugawa-sama, there's something I've been wondering," she asked, not wanting to put Hayato in the spotlight, "What do you think it'd be like, not having emotions?"


"…Wouldn't be like anything, you wouldn't care either way," she put simply.

Miyako blinked. Knowing Koyomi that reply shouldn't have shocked her anymore, but it still felt like the opposite of what a Hanazakari should say. "But the Frost Fair had no emotions, and well, I don't have to tell you what they did," she said.

"Nozawa, it's not that the Frost Fair had no emotions, or more correctly severely muted emotions. It's that they were never content with it, that they so desperately wanted to just feel anything again they didn't care how many they hurt in the process," Koyomi said and snarled, "And to them, hurting someone was all the better, might just get an emotional reaction out of that."

That gave Miyako the thought that maybe Kazuya once tried just that. No, he couldn't have, and if he did he'd have to regret it now, with his emotions coming back, she thought. She did know Kazuya had certainly been hurt, to put it mildly, so she asked, "Okay, but what if someone tried to hurt you and because you had no emotions, you couldn't resist because you can't care to?"

Koyomi shrugged. "Then the problem's not with you, it's with whoever's doing the hurting," she said, "and also with anyone on the sidelines who could prevent the hurting but won't."

That did sound much closer to the Hanazakari-style answer to Miyako. She thought, but would that make Reiji guilty? She shook her head. No, it wouldn't. He was a student too, what could he do for Kazuya against his teachers?
Asking Hayato's question also reminded Miyako that he was still waiting outside. "Thanks for having me in, Arisugawa-sama, it was, er, insightful talking with you. I've got work up at the shrine now, but let's meet again soon!"

"If you insist," Koyomi said.

Article:

Miyako still planned to visit Kazuya and Reiji in hospital as soon as she had time and visiting hours were open. Once she could:
[ ] She'd go by herself, be more personal that way.
[ ] She'd try to bring Koyomi with her, try to show Kazuya and Reiji she meant no harm.
[ ] She'd ask Asahi to come with her, she was the one leading the ritual.
[ ] She'd ask Hayato to come, he was curious about Kazuya, and she felt bad about making him wait outside Koyomi's.
[ ] Write-in

Having made sure everything was alright with Koyomi, or as alright as it ever was with her, Miyako headed back out her front door. "Eheh, sorry for the holdup, Hayato-kun. We had a lot of stuff to discuss," she said.

"Oh, I wasn't bothered," Hayato said, looking somewhat spacy as he took in the environment around him. "I was fine just taking in the local nature and had time to pick quite a few flowers for arranging," he then held a bundle up. Though his expression grew less serene as he looked down at Koyomi's garden, as ramshackle and in disarray as her house was. "Not that the local nature couldn't use a little care."

"Er, maybe Arisugawa-sama just likes her garden that way?" Miyako figured, or at least figured that's what Koyomi would tell her if she brought it up.

"Well if so, that's her call then," Hayato said.

That little icebreaker over with, Miyako then brought in the heavier material. "So, you remember how you wondered if having no emotions would be good or not?" she asked, "'Cause I mentioned it to Arisugawa-sama, since y'know she fought a bunch of people who didn't have any, and she…" Miyako felt nothing but awkward saying this next line, "said it'd be fine. Or that you wouldn't care 'cause you couldn't care."

Even Hayato was caught a bit off-guard hearing that a Hanazakari, the same one who'd saved his parents' lives, had said that. "Really, she'd say knowing the Frost Fair? Or on the flipside, how the emotionless could be taken advantage of?" he asked.

"More that the problem was the Frost Fair did a whole bunch of destruction and then went 'Hey, we don't have emotions', instead of them not having emotions alone," Miyako said, having no idea how well she'd rephrased what Koyomi told her. "She then said if you have no emotions and people take advantage of you, that's their fault, not yours. Yeah, I think I'll stick with wanting to keep my emotions all the same."

Taking that all in, Hayato said, "It sounds like she's had time to reflect on that answer, likely since the Frost Fair first attacked. It's a unique perspective." Miyako twitched, worried over what Hayato could start thinking next.

"Anyway, how about we get back to the shrine? Wouldn't wanna be late," Miyako said as she grabbed Hayato's hand. Before they could leave however, they heard Koyomi's front door open.
"Look, Nozawa, if Asahi starts giving you a hard time, tell her to stop comparing herself to me. Chances are that'll be her problem," Koyomi tried to say one last thing, only to spot Hayato. "…And who's this? You just had some boy out here?"

"Oh, er, he was fine with it," Miyako spun around and said, "Was gonna introduce you, but I figured we were talking about some serious stuff," and I do include my fanfic in that, "so it was better just the two of us. But yeah, this here's Hayato-kun, he's Higashi-sama's son."

"Arisugawa-sama, the Black Rose…" Hayato said on finally seeing her, before he bowed, "I am in your debt for having saved my parents' lives."

As well as he meant, he soon learned that was not how to ingratiate yourself with Koyomi.
"Are you serious? Listen, I'm no loan shark, nobody is in my debt, and I'll have no one bowing to me like they would to a monarch. If anything, blame your parents for falling again and again for blatant Frost Fair plots," she said.

Hayato then slowly stood up and, with a pained look on his face, said, "My apologies. It's just, I spent most of my life hearing about you but only now meeting you. I do hope I caused no offence."

Koyomi sighed. "Look kid, none taken, I'm just irritated is all. But now you know, never meet your heroes. Pity some of us are too far gone to get that through their heads," she briefly side-eyed Miyako.

"Wow, rude," Miyako at least said back.

"I do think 'never' may be a bit harsh, but I get what you're saying, Arisugawa-sama," Hayato said, then looked in the direction of the shrine, "And we do have to get going, as Nozawa's pointed out her shift would be starting soon."

"Yeah, she said. I only wanted to get a last word in anyway," Koyomi said and nodded.

"Bye, Arisugawa-sama, er again," Miyako waved, "Here's hoping whatever new novel you write comes along well! Oh and Hayato-kun, how about we-" she was about to suggest a shortcut, but then went, "Nevermind."

Miyako and Hayato did make one stop on the way back to the shrine, with Miyako getting some takeaway Takoyaki that she'd originally planned to eat-in. Arriving back, they were greeted by Asahi with, "Hmm, not too late. Anyway, was everything alright with Koyomi?"

"She's…" Miyako began, only to have no idea how to answer. "Eh, you know Koyomi, she's like always," she stumbled into settling upon, "I think she's handling it."

"I'll admit, Arisugawa-sama wasn't quite as you described, mother," Hayato said.

"Well, I may have left out some of the more ignoble parts," Asahi told her son. Then she looked at Miyako and went, "Alright, your sweeping and souvenir duties continue from yesterday, and additionally start learning our shrine's dances."

"Dancing? Ah yeah, cool," Miyako tried to smile, even as her feet squirmed. "Wait, more dusting? Does the shrine get dirty that quickly?"

"Oh my, you wouldn't know the half of it," Asahi said.

Later that day the moment of truth came, as Miyako jittered and stumbled trying to repeat the movements Asahi had shown. Eventually it got to the point where she lost all control and collapsed right into a nearby folding screen. "I'm alright, I'm alright," she feebly said.

"It's a 'unique' dance style you have, at least," Asahi said and sweat-dropped, "Though I can see it'll take far more practice before you're ready for visitors, let alone the gods." Miyako winced hearing that.

---

Getting to see Kazuya and Reiji in hospital took some time, being a couple of days before the hospital would accept any visitors other than family, which likely ruled out Kazuya's. One phone call Miyako made to them had the staff respond, "And they honestly say this was 'just them getting roughed up in the woods', have they seen the size of these injuries?", which added fuel to her nervousness fire.

Still, even if they do find out the Heart Leech attacked, what's the worst that could happen? She thought, other than Kazuya's family finding out.


Finally she was allowed in, with her deciding she'd go by herself. More personal, less crowding. Hinodeharu's hospital was a fairly old-looking wooden one as would be expected out here, though there were a few modern extensions in the usual stark white.
"And what is your connection with these patients?" the receptionist soon asked Miyako.

"Er, y'know, we're friends," Miyako said, despite not even a week having gone by since she'd arrived in Hinodeharu.

The receptionist gave her a funny look but told her where the two boys' rooms were anyway. Miyako went back and forth on who to visit first, but settled on Kazuya on the deciding factor that his room was closest.

On the way though she passed by another boy her age, a guy with dark brown hair and tanned skin, almost like the sun to Kazuya's moon. In more ways than one. "Really, you're going to see him?" the boy asked as Miyako went to open Kazuya's door. "For your own sake don't bother, I got nothing from talking to him again."

Miyako was about to ask if he was Ryoichi, the younger Kai brother, but instead she kept quiet and went on into Kazuya's room. Yeah, best not to antagonise that guy, from the looks of him, she thought. Still, at least he came to see his brother, that's better than I expected from any of Kazuya's family. And of course, she couldn't resist sticking her tongue out and pulling her eyelid down behind the assumed Ryoichi's back.

She entered to see Kazuya propped up in bed, the sunlight through the trees illuminating his face. "Nozawa Miyako, you came," he said, his voice still not having that much energy behind it even with the leech gone.

"Yep, hi! Would've come sooner if not for college application stuff, and shrine stuff… and them not letting people in," Miyako said. She then paused, as knowing this was the first time in memory that Kazuya could feel emotions, she wondered what to even say to someone in his state? Not that she hadn't considered that, but it was something else face-to-face.

Article:

She ended up going with [multiple votes at once allowed through Plan]:
[ ] "I talked with Arisugawa-sama, and she's really sorry about, er, having nearly slipped up like that. Won't happen again."
[ ] "Hey, that wasn't your brother who just visited you, was it? Heard his name was Ryoichi."
[ ] "Have your parents come to visit yet?"
[ ] "How soon do you think you'll be let out of here?"
[ ] "What's the first thing you wanna do after getting out?"
[ ] "Can I ask you on a date sometime?"
[ ] "Look, there's something I've been meaning to tell you. It's about my gender actually."
[ ] "So, what's it like having your emotions back?"
[] "Any… emotionally unpleasant memories? Like, Reiji told me some things." [Miyako does not have the Emotional Strength to ask this.]
[ ] Write-in