Reflection
Yae spent the entire sleepless night thinking and trying to piece together the pieces of memory she had left, she certainly knew who she was, she knew where she was and why she was being kept there, but there was a big gap when it came to the events that led to her being sealed in Enkanomyia and the time she was in the Shogun's house in fox form. She remembers a deep sadness when the villagers started to invade her forest, she remembers the anger she felt and after that, nothing. She decides to get out of bed for good and go to Saigu at the temple maybe she has some answers. When she walked towards the door
“Where did the princess of the Yokais thinks she’s going?
Yae listens but doesn't back down, yesterday she had been vulnerable and afraid but she wasn't afraid of Ei, or anyone else, she wasn't going to let Ei corner her again. Ei turns around with a smile on her face;
“Mymy, i thoughtthealmightyshogunwouldknoweverything”
When Yae turns around, she finds Ei leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed, waiting for her at the doorway.
“Almost, are you feeling better?”
“Feeling better? Yes, lessangryatyou? No somuch.”
Ei comes close to her and yae avoids eye contact because Ei is taller and she is getting to closer, but she wont’s backdown, she will not show weakeness again.
“Yae, you have every rigth to be angry att me, but i just want you to know that I'm really sorry, my dessicions are never easy, and almost never comes with no consequenses, but i wanna help you”
“I wanna go home, how you gonna help me with that?”
“Is there were you are going now?”
“No, I'm obviusly not that dumb, I'm goin to see Saigu, as soon i get ride of this inside me, sooner i get ride of you”
Yae thought I would be mad, but she gives a chukcle
“As easy as you said princess. There is a guard out there waiting to escort you to the shrine”
“Worry much?”
“I heard the foxes are too sly, so I'm just being precautious”
“And once again the Inazuma goddess are never wrong...”
“I hardly am”
Yae leaves through the front door and the guard promptly reports for escort duty, Yae gives a polite smile out of the corners of her eyes and starts walking towards the shrine, each step that Yae takes the soldier gets closer, and when she starts to walk faster the soldier also speeds up which causes Yae to start to feel like she is being chased, her breathing starts to get heavier, her lungs start to work faster, she feels as if her mind her head begins to cloud over, she is not running but she just wanted that guard to stop following her and let her escape, suddenly Yae realizes that she is running at full speed through the streets of Inazuma and when she looks back she sees that something is wrong, the guard is standing there waving goodbye with his hand on his chest and yelling at the top of his lungs.
"Goodbye My Love! We'll see my apple pie soon! I LOVE YOU"
“WHAT THE FUCK” Yae thought, but she couldn't stop running, it was like her body was on its own making all the decisions by instinct, Yae wanted to get out of there and go back to Watatsumi as soon as possible, she arrives at the port and People around her keep looking at her as if she were a ferocious animal, which makes her feel angry at everyone, some sailors look at her and pulling their weapons, they start walking towards her, she can't control herself. and by instincts and hiss for everyone to keep their distance, she looks at her hands with claw-shaped nails and doesn't recognize herself, she looks back and sees 9 tails waving in the wind and their fur is standing up, she just needs someone to put her on a boat and as soon as Yae thinks about it, the sailors lower their weapons and one of them speaks.
“Oh, is this what you want dear? Please over here”
The sailors form a human circle of protection and push through the crowd to show the way to the boat. Yae didn't say a word, but the sailors knew exactly what to do to please her and do whatever she wanted.
Yae remained in a state of alert, but it seemed that the adrenaline was gradually lowering as she walked away from the harbor slope, her eyes burned less and her fur was no longer so bristly, she found it strange the sailors passing by for her and sighing and leaning on their seats just to observe her more closely. When Yae started to feel more like herself again.
Ye looks up and to try to breathe better and relieve the tightness in her chest she was feeling, she felt out of control herself and angry at the same time, when she started to watch the sky she saw that the weather started to close, a rain began to fall and lightning ripped the sky, Yae's adrenaline hit her again full force she knew what that meant, when it seemed like a storm had hung over the boat she heard the voice of Ei, as loud as the thunder that surrounded her.
“YAE MIKO”
Yae looks up unable to rationalize, her eyes have started to sting again as if they are bleeding, she sees the image of Ei above the clouds with eyes glowing purple and wielding a spear in one hand and her only instinct is to attack , she doesn't want to, mostly because she knows it's insane to melee the most lethal Archon of all time, but she can't control herself, she feels completely taken over by instinct and the desire to flee and so she closes her eyes preparing for the worst and charges towards Ei.
There was no bang, no contact, Yae didn't even feel pain, the only thing Yae heard was a “ZIP”
And when she opens her eyes again she is in the chamber Ei used to train in, Ei has a serious face, no one could read her emotions but Yae knew she was angry and wanted Ei to calm down so she could calm down too, Ei takes a step forward and Yae hiss att her and feels her body arm itself for combat again. Ei doesn't take another step, just stares at Yae and squints her eyes a little and tilts her head to one side.
"I see..."
Yae starts to feel the smell of ozone hovering in the air, little by little she feels her eyes burn less and her head becomes lighter, she feels dizzy and suddenly the whole room goes black.
Yae wakes up in her room, she doesn't feel any pain other than a headache, the last thing she remembers was trying to run away, being caught by Ei, transported back home and passing out. The pink haired girl looks around her and locks eyes on Ei who is sitting on the edge of the bed looking at her
"How are you? I think I exaggerated the amount of ozone, but I believe it helped you detox.”
"Detox?"
“Well, it turns out your charm is a toxin you release into the air, I felt it when you tried to use it on me today in the arena, ozone is a gas that works like an air freshener, and it neutralized your charm, but if used in large amounts it can result in fainting and headache, I had to throw a large dosage to clear the toxin impregnated in you”
“And where did you get the ozone from?”
“Ozone is one of several gases released by lightning... and lightning is kind of my thing.
Ei pauses and the two look at each other for a while without saying anything
"Here, I made an orange juice to help with the headache, vitamin C helps to cut the effect of ozone in your body"
Ei extends the glass with the juice to Yae who takes it
“Thanks, I had no idea that…I was so distressed by the guard…Ei I didn't..”
"It's okay, you don't need to explain anything now, when you're feeling better we'll talk, get some rest, it's okay Yae"
"Okay? You almost flooded the harbor because of me, you came screaming my name as if you were going to break me in half”
She watches Ei get up from the bed and go towards the door adjusting her robes
“Weeeell, I'm a big fan of special effects, but really, it's ok, we don't really know what triggers your charm, but I know you don't have control over it, rest now and then we'll think of something together, I promised I would to help you"