Fool Bloom (A Magical Woman Quest)

[X] Miyako could ask for her help as co-director, as she had quickly learned how new she was at this.


"Hey, you know how I said I wanted to direct…" Miyako began, twirling her index fingers around.

"You're already giving up, is that it?" Koyomi said on instinct.

"What? No, of course not! I, uh, just need a bit of help, that's all," Miyako said, her face a bit flushed. "I was going ask if you'd like to be co-director, Arisugawa-sama. It's your book, and my first play, so it's a good idea, huh?"

Koyomi thought that over a little while, then sighed, "I might as well, I can only imagine leaving you unsupervised will only be for the worse."

Even though she got her to agree, Miyako still gritted her teeth hearing that remark of Koyomi's. But still trying to be positive, she said, "Awesome! So, any pointers?"

Scanning around the stage, Koyomi looked at Kazuya and told him, "Don't overdo it, talk as you would normally. That should get you through most of Genji's dialogue." She then walked over to the crab costumes and said, "Higashi-kun, since we're sticking you in here, remember you're playing the ghosts of fallen warriors, or visions that can pass as them, whichever feels most natural, before you get hung on them being crabs," she shot a glance at Miyako while saying that. Then she gestured at the god costumes and said, "Whoever we've got playing the Bardo guardians, keep your voice at the lowest pitch, the reader- ah, audience needs to feel the gravitas and unearthliness."

Miyako's eyes lit up at how quickly Koyomi had taken charge, given how reluctant Koyomi had been to even see the adaptation before. Maybe this is what she was like leading other Hanazakari back then? No wait, she was probably more a lone wolf than leader, she thought on impulse. Still, a part of her was getting a little worried, Wait, what if she takes so much charge over directing that she leaves none for me?

Then Hayato had to say, as if to confirm Miyako's fears over being outclassed, "Yes of course, Arisugawa-sama. You're certainly a natural at this!" Stars were starting to sparkle in his eyes.

Rushing to make everyone remember that she was still co-director, Miyako started giving rapid-fire orders to the actors like, "Do that, but more!" "More enunciation!" "Remember your action verbs!"

But Koyomi herself didn't think that much of Hayato's compliment, as she gave him an odd look and told him, "You're too quick to praise, I'm only a 'natural' at this since I already wrote the book. Really, this is how Asahi raises her kids?"

"I heard that!" Asahi said as she moved up to the stage. One thing though did cause her to smile, with her telling Koyomi, "Well, seems co-directing this play is giving you a reason to get out of the house more and into town."

"I get into town plenty!" Koyomi said back, only to find herself at a loss for how to elaborate on that.

"If anything, she gets into town a little too much," Reiji came up and spoke. Miyako winced at seeing his usual antagonism flare back up, but could relax when Reiji actually backed down by saying, "Sorry, eheh, force of habit. And whoever it is, I for sure support Nozawa having a co-director." That statement Miyako wasn't quite sure what to think about.

"I do apologise if I was too hasty with my words, Arisugawa-sama," Hayato said to Koyomi for before, and then whispered to Miyako, "Ah, Mother and Arisugawa-sama also aren't as friendly as I thought they would be."

"Look, it wasn't like I was offended or anything by you getting all fawny. Just annoyed, really," Koyomi said.

"And hey, that's what plenty of old friends are like," Miyako whispered back, "Er, so I'm told anyway."

"Okay, don't you all have scripts to read already? Because I only want to spend as long on this as I have to," Koyomi then said, signalling at everyone to get in their places.

---

Eventually the night of the play came upon them. Being the town theatre's first production of a new cycle, it was expected Reiji would get a little over-zealous in sticking posters for it everywhere. Koyomi did try to push him to advertising at libraries and bookstores, better to find people who already had interest in Ladder to Heaven, while Asahi was convinced to let him post a couple of ads up at the shrine.

And speaking of the shrine, the time also came when Asahi told Miyako, "Well Nozawa-chan, your trial period is over. Considering everything else going on, with putting on the play and you applying for university again, I had my doubts about whether you'd still have time for the shrine." Miyako tensed up, sweating and shaking, before Asahi followed with, "But given your duties are part-time, all of which you've still attended to, and the good word my son has put in for you, I have chosen to confirm you as a shrine maiden. Not full-time, but hmhm, nobody's perfect," she smirked.

Breathing out such a sigh of relief it was like a balloon deflating, Miyako shook Asahi's hand and said, "Thank you! Thank you!" But she then tensed right up again, remembering what she was going to tell her boss the moment she really became a miko. "Guess since I'm in now, there's something I oughta tell you."

Asahi narrowed her eyes. "Oh, such as?"

Going back to sweating and shaking, Miyako slowly said, "You know how Inari's been depicted as male, female, and intersex throughout history?" having thought that'd help ease Asahi in… only to realise it'd sound like she was asking her something she'd be more than aware of. "Well, I-I'm sorta like that too. Er, not divine or anything, course not, but that I'm- I'm- I'm a transwoman!" she finally blurted out.

The whole world froze as she waited for Asahi to reply, with her boss finally saying, "I did have my suspicions. My apologies, but you aren't quite the subtlest person, and there were those pills you carried around yet never told me about," that line really making Miyako flinch, though Asahi added, "I'm relieved that they're just medication. And I suppose this explains why you ran away from home. Listen, I as a kannushi am in a usually male-reserved role, so while I may be little versed in trans matters, it'd be hypocritical of me to interrogate another's gender, especially when they're as hard a worker as you."

With that great a weight being lifted; Miyako had no words. Just a broad smile and a big hug for Asahi. "This… really means the world to me!" she at last was able to say, eyes welling up with joy.

"And I'm glad we could address this sooner rather than later, I'd hate to be the source of that much more pressure on you," Asahi said.
They stood there a little while longer, only for Asahi to notice the time and go, "Oh dear, fetch Hayato would you? I'm afraid we'll have to hurry, else we be late for the play, especially since I'm cast as Mahakala. Hopefully Hayato's not still stuck on that crabwalk."

Miyako gulped. "Yeah, you're right. Okay, let's move!" I'm the director, ah co-director, I can't be late to my own play!

---

After getting there all winded, Miyako then had to endure the gruelling anticipation fueled by the audience's mumblings. At least they were reasonably more in number than expected, not like that'd been much.

"Sato? Rather generic name for your lead."
"Well, that better have been what they were going for."
"I'd heard of Kuramazov, but this is my first real experience of their work."
Miyako did get to busy herself with some Hitchcockian cameos in the meantime, helped get her mind off the ultimate reception a little. This is almost like waiting for the teacher to give you a grade, except all the teachers are grading you at once, she thought.

Finally, the curtains closed and everyone took their bows, well except Koyomi who insisted on remaining backstage. Miyako hyperventilated in fear of a thrown tomato or tin can, but while the applause was far from the most rapturous, it was still certainly polite. Not that her anxiety left, as she got to thinking how much nastier the reaction would've been had she not gotten Koyomi on-board as codirector.

Echoing her thoughts, Reiji said when they met up backstage, "Maybe not the best season opener, but that turned out a somewhat pleasant surprise. Hopefully we'll be able to procure more professional actors for our next production." Miyako already knew everyone but Reiji was only temporarily acting here and had appointments elsewhere, but still, did he really have to phrase it like that?

"How about you, Kazuya-kun? Surely acting the lead has got you feeling something, right?" Miyako turned and asked.

"…It has,' Kazuya muttered out, his hands shaking like he was only now feeling the cold, "Fear and embarrassment. I've been told those aren't good emotions to have."

"Er, well they can be good," Miyako tried to pep him up, but didn't want to admit that was mainly as warning signs.

"Doesn't help he spotted Ryoichi in the audience," Reiji said. "Only him though, naturally neither of his parents."

"Yeah, noticing a trend with them," Miyako huffed.

"Pardon me, but I could use a little help getting this off," the normally serene Hayato said about his costume, a falcon caught in the crab's claws. Like mother like son, that seemed to go double for Asahi dressed as Mahakala.

"It's certainly a different experience to channelling Inari through dance," Asahi said once her head was free, "but I'd like to think my knowledge of the gods paid off."

"Hold on, where's Arisugawa-sama?" Miyako asked. Hayato, a little predictably, was quick to answer by pointing at the back door. "Thanks!" she said as she rushed out into the night, before even really saying to goodbye to everyone.

While she stumbled in the darkness past trees and along roads, Miyako still tracked Koyomi down in little time. "What is it? The play's over, what more do you want?" Koyomi looked back at her and asked.

"I, I just wanted to say thank you for everything, that's all," Miyako told her. "If you hadn't said it was okay, we never would've got to put on this play." Still coulda adapted My Chemical Valentine though.

Almost psychically, despite being very much untransformed, Koyomi then said, "Miyako, when you pitched your fanfiction as your first idea for a play, there was something I thought to say, but didn't. I hoped, still do, that it was just a coincidence, with how often that flower appears in art. But I suppose you have a right to know."

Miyako's breathing slowed, before she thought to ask, "Did I, did I do something wrong?"

"No, or at least no more wrong that you usually do," Koyomi said, then finally came out with, "You gave your main character, your thinly veiled self, the flower title Higanbana, correct?"

"Y-Yes," Miyako gulped. "Ah, was that taken?"

"That's putting it mildly, though no, you're not going to Flower Jail or anything," Koyomi said, staring off into the darkness. "I… told you that Hirasaka Namie was the first ever Hanazakari I saw die, remember? Higanbana was her flower."

Miyako gasped, "I-I didn't know!"

"Of course you didn't," Koyomi muttered, "How could you?"

---

Merely Players has reached its end. This gives you 125xp each to distribute among Koyomi's and Miyako's stats (their current stats can be viewed here):

Article:

Koyomi:
[ ] Technique
[ ] Physique
[ ] Heart
[ ] Mind

Miyako:
[ ] Emotional Intelligence
[ ] Emotional Strength

[ ] A mixture (write-in)

A/N: So this excerpt was the first thing I ever wrote for Fool Bloom, having had the idea for Miyako trying to stage her own Hanazakari story early on. I guess it'd be in an AU now since we voted to stage Ladder to Heaven instead, or possibly not since Reiji mentions it's the 'umpteenth play' Miyako's submitted. This was already posted on the Summerfest Poetry & Flash Fiction Event, but I thought it definitely deserved to be put up here, since we've just concluded the arc about the play, with some little changes to bring it more in line with the Quest.

---

"It was long ago, a time so unlike our own..." the bespectacled young lady began, her voice hushed yet dramatic as she slowly spread her arms out over the creaky, musty stage.

"Really Nozawa-san, that's your script?" a cape-clad, beret-wearing boy her age had to interrupt. "'Long ago'? We're just talking about the end of the Showa Era, relatively it's not that far back."

"W-well, Reiji-kun, I'm sure for our audience it was most certainly far back, emotionally at least! 'Sides, neither of us were even born till the '00s..." Nozawa Miyako mumbled that last part, before she coughed and resumed anyway, "A time of peace and prosperity, only for it to be the calm before the storm. For once the 1980s ended, so descended the horrible, inhuman Frost Fair!"
Fake snow not being easy to come by for a theatre this makeshift, Nozawa gave her best improvisation of such by whistling out and lowering her hands. "Hey, your line," she then had to nudge Reiji.

"Right, sorry. It's just..." the boy Reiji then sighed out, "This is like the umpteenth play you've submitted to us about the Hanazakari Starknights. I know, I know, super-important part of modern history, they saved the whole world from that Frost Fair, it's just... don't you have any other interests? Like passing your college entrance exams for starters, you being a ronin and all."

"Oh, come on!" Miyako said back, her pouting face barely fazing Reiji by this point. "Do you always have to be like that? You're always super-excited about every other script that gets sent your way."

"Yeah, you've got me, guess I am. But those are like fresh material, y'know? Meanwhile, most of the original Hanazakari would be about forty by now. Sure, they saved us all, but... don't you think the public might have moved on from them a little?" Reiji asked.

Miyako didn't budge an inch, in fact she said, "Try seeing the glass as half-full! The Frost Decade was far back enough that we can start telling stories about it again. I keep telling you, there will be a Hanazakari nostalgia wave, I know there will! Like, people can look back fondly on even the darkest decades, that's how we are, y'know."

"I dunno, whole swathes of Japan, hell, whole swathes of the world still haven't recovered," Reiji said. But Miyako remaining insistent, he then sighed, relented, and read out, "We are the Great Frost Fair! For our own Hearts of Ice, we have come to steal all of humanity's emotions. Ha Ha Ha," so went the weakest evil laugh ever.

That saggier-than-usual performance left a scowl on Nozawa's face, but she then resumed, "Yet another mystical alien species appeared to save us: The Dandelionhearts!" She held her hands above her head in imitation of Dandelionheart-esque cat ears and went, "We are the Dandelionhearts. You will not fear the Frost Fair, for we will enchant the most defenceless among you with the power to protect yourselves. You will be... The Starknights in Full Bloom! Go forth and do not fear death, for all Starknights will be Resurrected!"

"Hold on, time out!" Reiji raised his voice, "Look, if we are gonna put on a play about the Hanazakari, at least leave out the stuff about the Resurrection. I know, it's part of their history, but it's like the single most controversial thing about the Hanazakari, especially if you're Frost Generation. You know we'll get complaints by the truckload if we bring that up, more than a dinky little theatre like ours can take! Ugh, why do I even need to remind you of this?"

"Ah, um, then it's an Alternate History play then!" Nozawa said as she tried to rekindle her enthusiasm. "What if The Resurrection really did take place when the Dandelionhearts it would? Split timeline, all the rage these days."

"...That just makes it even more insensitive," Reiji groaned, "Alternate History's usually a little further back, you know."

A downcast Nozawa mumbled in response, "I know... I'd just like the play to have a happy ending, that's all". She then moved right ahead to her next lines and more proudly proclaimed, "Transform! I am the Starknight Red Spider Lily, in Full Bloom! For my family, for all my friends, I will save them by beating back the Frost Fair!" Without missing a beat or fudging a line, she picked up a taped-together sword prop and spun around several times with it, striking forth at the air then sheathing it in seconds.

What Reiji did get caught Nozawa off guard, he actually clapped. No thunderous applause, but still. "Wow, you must've done some serious rehearsing to pull that off. Or it's precisely the part you were born to play, I suppose," he said.

On the outside, Miyako smiled, bowed even, and said, "Hey thanks!" How else could she react to an actual positive comment? But inside, a thought arose in her. No, it's not the part I was born to play. It's the part I was born too late to play...

Tiebreaker has Koyomi's points going to Heart and Mind, and Miyako prioritising Emotional Intelligence.

Also, in the future, please put 'Plan:' at the start of any plan votes, to ensure they're all counted together

The woman in white, with two holes where her eyes would be, strode through the desert without end till she reached what she'd heard called a House of God. A solitary tent, which would have looked like any other tent had there been any around, from which chanting in an ancient tongue could be heard.

The inside of the tent was thick with the smell of incense, and already blood stained its floors. A priestly if not prophetic figure towered over a congregation that sprouted angel wings, who then swirled two dice around inside a goblet before rolling them out onto a table. He then looked down at two girls tied up before the whole congregation, one with a red spider lily growing out of her mouth and the other with a black rose. Naming the first girl "Hirasaka Namie," he then drew a blade and killed the first girl, the whole congregation silently cheering.

The priest then laid his hands on the head of the surviving girl and named her "Koyomi bat Naoki," before he grabbed her by the black rose blooming from her and threw her out into the desert. The woman in white then rushed through after the girl named Koyomi, then grabbed her before she could fall into a gaping ravine that very much ended the 'endless' desert.

The young Koyomi rescued from her holy demise, she then began to age from barely an adolescent to nearly forty. But she had no thanks for the woman in white, instead she snarled at her, "Yumemi! So RUNE now has you intruding into my own mind, how much lower can you stoop?"

Yumemi Hoshizora, the Hanazakari in white, then told her, "I wouldn't have to had you not kept being so stubbornly secretive. And you would honestly call someone you've known for so long an 'intruder'?"

"I certainly will if they now work for the military-industrial complex, Yumemi," Koyomi said, folding her arms. "Or is that 'White Egret in Full Bloom'? Assuming you'll shoot me for using your civilian name or whatever."

"Koyomi, stop it. If anything like the Frost Fair attacks again, we at RUNE are the Earth's best chance at defence. I shouldn't need to keep telling you this," Yumemi said and gritted her teeth. "Besides, the Dandelionhearts granted me power over dreams, this is my homefield as much as ours."

"Oh, you as a gentile walk into the tabernacle on Yom Kippur and call it your 'homefield'? Stop trying to act like you care," Koyomi said back.

Yumemi groaned. "Already you are confusing dream for reality. That was merely your mind's recreation of a tabernacle, and in the world outside it is very much not Yom Kippur," she told Koyomi. "Need more evidence? Hirasaka too was gentile, yet your mind still conjured her memory in the tabernacle.
I'll be filing a report on the current contents of your mind, but you can expect an inspection in the physical world tomorrow," she then said. "Koyomi, had you simply opened any of the letters we sent you, I wouldn't have had to tell you all of this."

Koyomi had something to say to that, but she found herself awake in her bed before she could. From the moon's position in the sky, it looked barely past midnight. She doubted she'd easily get back to sleep after Yumemi barging in like that, though at least she was used to tiredness from the all-nighters she'd spent writing.

She thought, Earth's best chance at defence? Yeah right, as if RUNE can be trusted to even identify any 'next Frost Fair' when they barely did anything about the first one...

---

Having kept tripping over herself when she tried practicing the kagura dance this morning, the fully-fledged shrine maiden Miyako, whose dreams last night had been much less... eventful, now busied herself with sweeping instead. Spotting a visitor to the shrine, she ran out to greet them with a "Hello, and welcome to the Hinodeharu Inari Jinja! Why not visit our gift sh-"

"Thank you, but I am here to meet with the one called Higashi Asahi, I am told she's head priestess here," the visitor told her. She looked about Koyomi's age, had black hair coming down past her shoulders, wore a black coat over a blue military jacket, and gazed sternly with her dark grey eyes.

"Oh, okay," Miyako said, a little off-guard. "Higashi-sama, there's someone here to see you!" she then called for her boss.

Asahi soon walked over to the visitor and greeted her with, "What can I do for you? Wait, I think I recognise you, though it would've been years. Ah, you were with Koyomi back in the day, I believe?"

"Your memory is commendable, Higashi-san, though I suppose Hanazakari are hard to forget," the visitor said. The thought this stranger being another Hanazakari made Miyako's face lit up.
"I am a Senshi, Hoshizora Yumemi. I am here for a scheduled inspection on one Arisugawa Koyomi. We also knew you were stationed in this town and had prior knowledge of Arisugawa, so I thought to ask you about her first. Knowing how Arisugawa can be like, a second opinion on her would be much appreciated."

"Of course," Asahi said, smiling yet twitching. "...Well, what would you like to know about her?"

"A report on her recent activities, that will be all," Yumemi said, "Especially as some of her documented actions have given us cause for concern, such as her run-ins with the police which we're told led to her assaulting one."

While Miyako wasn't that sympathetic over the police, she still on instinct spoke up with, "No, that has to be made up!" though she had no evidence either way.

Asahi had to place her hand over her employee's mouth, before she told Yumemi, "I have only recently met up with Koyomi again, after all the letters I'd sent her. I haven't heard of any police run-ins, but I was told she once caused trouble at The Black Goose restaurant on its opening day. She could only picture the Frost Fair were behind it."

"Trust me, you're hardly the only one whose letters she refuses to answer," Yumemi gave a slight smile, as much as she could probably manage. "And suspicions of Frost Fair activity even today are nothing out of the norm for Hanazakari. But while official organisations can more productively channel such paranoia, the same cannot be said for Arisugawa and other independents."

"Hey, Arisugawa-sama's done plenty of positive things lately!" Miyako spoke up, freeing her mouth of Asahi's hand. "She let me stay the night even though she barely knew me, helped free a guy of a Heart Leech when no other Hanazakari would, and helped a struggling theatre stage a play of one of her own books."

"Did you say she freed someone of a Heart Leech?" Yumemi asked, looking down at Miyako, "If so, we can add 'performed unlicensed operation' to our report on her."

"Unlicensed? B-but thawing people's hearts is what a Hanazakari's supposed to do!" Miyako said.

"Says someone too young to have been a Hanazakari," Yumemi said, a hint of irritation denting her professionalism, before she looked Miyako in the eyes and told her, "Listen, when us Hanazakari were first anointed, we had the Dandelionhearts to oversee us. Now in their... absence, we answer to our world's authorities when we wield the great powers bestowed on us. Yet it sounds to me like Arisugawa thinks her own authority is all that matters."

"There is something I should tell you about that," Asahi said, "While it's true Koyomi freed a boy from a Heart Leech, she... almost killed him in the process. Now, that was by accident, and he has recovered, but..." she looked at Miyako and saw her aghast, "you have the right to know.
Nozawa-chan, I'm obligated to tell her," she whispered on the side.

Yumemi nodded, jotted something quickly in a notebook, then said, "We thank you, Higashi-san, for doing your part for your town and country. Now I'm off to visit your old friend, and I suspect my conversation with her will be far more headache-inducing," she muttered.

Koyomi had been a shock to how Miyako imagined a Hanazakari, but Yumemi even more so. Then again, Miyako had to wonder, maybe if I met Hoshizora-san first, would I have thought Arisugawa-sama really was the bad guy? And who knows, maybe Hoshizora-san's only like this 'cause she's still on duty, I've only just met her.

Article:

Still, Miyako couldn't just let Koyomi deal with Yumemi on her own:
[ ] Ask Yumemi if she'd like to be escorted to Koyomi's house.
[ ] Demand Yumemi bring her along, if she insists she's trustworthy.
[ ] Follow Yumemi in secret.
[ ] Take another route to reach Koyomi's house before her.
[ ] Let Yumemi talk with Koyomi, but immediately step in and ask Koyomi about it afterwards.
[] Tell Yumemi that she should let Koyomi go, if she really is her old friend. [Miyako does not have the Emotional Intelligence needed to pull this off.]
[] Tell Yumemi to back off and that Koyomi's innocent, with no need to be inspected. [Miyako does not have the Emotional Strength needed to pull this off.]
[ ] Write-in