Corpse March

Chapter 23

There’s a full moon out tonight. Something about how the moonlight plays with the colors of the flowers gives the garden an otherworldly beauty. Moths dance with the wind under the light of incandescent bulbs– entranced. And amidst it all, there are maids planting new flowers where wilted ones used to be. Their heads are bowed down, as though in reverence. An ever beautiful garden as enthralling during the day as it is at night.

“More tea?”

“No, thank you, Kiara. I’m absolutely stuffed.”

“I’m fine as well.”

Kiara, the head maid of this whole place bows and retreats back into the shadows, where the sight of her won’t ruin the beauty of the garden. Pale-faced and dull-eyed, she reminds Haru somewhat of a dead fish. She wears her jet black hair short and in small natural clumps. Overall, eh, like a 3/10. Pass from Haru. 

“Are you frustrated?”

“Who wouldn’t be?”

Tomoe starts walking around the garden. She gestures for Haru to follow her. 

“It’s bullshit!”

“Mhm.”

“You believe me, right?”

“More than I believe Gleam. But, ah well, you win some, you lose some. That’s just the nature of the game we play.”

“That is… true, but still, it doesn’t sit right with me.”

“A certain level of moral suspension is required in this line of work, unfortunately. But don’t worry, we’ll get them eventually.”

Tomoe runs her hand through the surface of a freshly trimmed bush. 

“By the way, you said ‘them’.”

“Pardon?”

“When you said that we would get them you used the word ‘them’. Who is ‘them’, exactly?”

“Aside from Gleam? Nui, and Florence.”

“So… they’re the ones who sided with Gleam?”

“Yep. They’re in a difficult spot right now. While it’s true that the head of our operation was cut, they’re in danger of that very same thing happening to them. Only that for them, if Gleam falls, then their whole political party falls apart.”

“Sounds fragile.”

“It is. They cast their bets with the losing side not because they wanted to, but rather because they had to.”

“I assume it’s something to do with Lady Tsubame with Nui.”

“You’re brighter than you look, Hamamoto.”

She ignores the comment. 

“Gleam was one of Lady Tsubame’s disciples. A devoted one at that. It’s Nui’s belief that Lady Tsubame would have wanted Gleam to succeed her, due process be damned.”

“And Florence?”

“Florence is barely in control of his status. His supposed ‘subordinates’ basically run the show at this point, and they’re hungry for more power.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to cast their vote with the winning side?”

“The real reason is somewhat… counterintuitive. Think about it this way. Regardless of whether Gleam wins or loses, they profit. If Gleam wins, then excellent, the division of power is split between only three people, Gleam, Nui and Florence, which is a lot more than they would get by casting their vote with us. And if Gleam loses, well then Florence looks bad. If that happens, they have a very real chance of deposing Florence and taking his spot for themselves.”

“Hmmm… I think I get it. When you put it like that, it does seem like they’re in a pretty bad spot.”

“Mhm.”

“But then… that sorta gets me thinking. What’s your stake in all this? Like, why did you side with Kentomi?”

“Hmmm… why, I wonder?”

Tomoe stops walking. The moonlight on her already white hair takes on a silvery glow.

“Hey, Haru, are you familiar with how the first Magical Academy fell?”

“Sorta. I know that the denizens of the Magical Academy destroyed it, but I don’t know anything more than that.”

“That’s a good guess.”

“Do you have a better one?”

“I can do more than a guess. I was there. I saw how it all played out.”

“That would make you…”

“A teacher-facilitator at the first magical academy back then, so it only makes sense that I reprise my role as teacher-facilitator at Takakumo.”

“For real?”

“For real.”

“Man, where do I even start?”

Haru circles around Tomoe, as though trying to decipher a particularly difficult jigsaw puzzle. 

“You don’t look that old. Do you… Does your kind not age?”

“Oh no, we do age, just in a way that humans can’t see.”

“Fascinating. So it’s possible that there are still more of you out there?”

“Maybe. We all went our separate ways after the diaspora. If those old geezers are still alive, they’ll either be in the mountains or hiding among the humans. I doubt we’ll ever see each other again.”

“Sounds rough, my guy.”

Haru winces. 

“Sorry, that came out sorta rude.”

“I don’t mind. I’m just happy to talk about it.”

“Do you ever miss home? Like, the original magical academy?”

“Oh, that wasn’t our home. Not our real one, anyway. We lived in it, but we left our hearts behind somewhere else. Up there.”

Tomoe closes one eye and raises her hand. 

“When the moon is at its apex of its arc, measure the length of an index finger towards the brightest star in the sky, then measure a thumb’s length to the right. Sitting at the tip of your thumb is my home.”

“Is it beautiful?”

“It was. So, so beautiful.”

Tomoe’s eyes drink up the night sky, savoring the stars especially. 

“But this place… Earth… is so much more so.”

“How so?”

“Humans are special. You’re all different. You all change. Not just physically, but your souls as well. So fickle, so fleeting, but so beautiful.”

“You still think so? Even after all that we’ve done to you?”

“I haven’t forgotten what your kind has done. Both to us and to yourselves. But in my opinion, that only makes your kind so much more precious. Your lives are so fragile. So many experiences, so many memories. And yet, when you die, they all just disappear. Like they were never there. It’s amazing.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying at all.”

Tomoe looks at Haru, puzzled. 

“There’s nothing cheaper than a human life. Nothing so easily taken away, nothing so easily made. Hell, you don’t even have to really try to create a human life, sometimes they just spring up out of nowhere by accident.”