Mini-Mayhem At Mayohiga Part 2

As the Shikigami for the Lady of the Gap, Ran knew that she stood leagues above even the best and that she held duties few knew. To serve was her duty and to do well her pleasure. That being said, having a Shikigami herself and balancing her responsibility for Chen and her duty to Lady Ran was… stressful.

If she were a lesser being such as a human, she may have been worried about ulcers. As it was, any and all pain coming from her stomach was simply psychosomatic and taking an antacid earlier had been just a helpful precaution that helped her mentally prepare for… all of this.

This would have been the first official meeting of Lady Yukari and Chen. While Lady Yukari naturally had power over Chen, seeing as the bakaneko was the shikigami of herself and she herself was the shikigami of Lady Yukari, Lady Yukari had actually never met the cat and was only vaguely aware of her existence.

Ran had been worried that Chen would make a fool of herself, be too stiff or too lax, something or the other, so the kitsune had strived to stack the cards in their favor by using the rules of a formal introduction.

Was it far too formal? Oh, yes, absolutely. The attire that Ran had coaxed Chen to wear was more appropriate for a debutante ball or a coming-of-age ceremony, but, and Ran was proud of this bit, the idea was that going too formal would allow Chen’s inevitable mishaps to be… softer, more forgivable.

Any and all indignities done here could be forgiven and even looked upon as admirable if Chen was trying her best, and Ran knew she was trying her best.

Lady Yukari however was a mena- Lady Yukari was chaos perso-- Lady Yukari was… unpredictable as always.

Instead of the formal introduction and interview Ran had in mind, where Chen would introduce herself, Lady Yukari would accept the pledge after a few questions, and then they could all have a nice meal, Lady Yukari had taken to simply… playing with Chen, teasing her, asking the bakaneko questions… not improper but certainly nothing dignified; things like her favorite foods, favorite games, that sort of thing.

Instead of a formal setting that would’ve gradually indulged into a semi-formal setting, Lady Yukari had simply turned it into the usual lazing about. Granted, that was how Lady Yukari preferred things, and if Ran was honest, that was how she preferred things too, but tonight was supposed to be the formal? Semi-formal? Tonight was supposed to be the introduction for Chen.

One would think she’d have learned after centuries, but no. Nope. Lady Yukari always had to be unpredictable.

They were having dinner inside, but as soon as they finished the traditional bowls of tsukimi udon, they would no doubt return outside to begin tsukimi. Ran had organized things so that they could have dinner outside while watching the moon, but of course, Lady Yukari had to change things up based on a whim, so… inside they were.

Ugh… Ran’s stomach hurt even as she picked at her tsukimi udon. Technically speaking, it was supposed to be an egg in there to represent the moon, but Ran had indulged in a bit of inari. Silly her. She should’ve slipped in two inari.

“So how goes the search?” Lady Yukari asked, daintily dabbing her mouth with a napkin, having finished her meal.

And now it was a report on the mission to find the Fool. The mission she had made no progress on. Ran’s stomach hurt.

Bowing her head, Ran answered with her hands clasped together, “Apologies, I’m still searching.”

There was a long silence before Yukari suddenly turned to ask Chen, “Do you know what a Shikigami is?”

Mid-slurp of a noodle, Chen froze. Visibly unsure whether to spit it out or to finish off the noodle, Chen settled for simply biting off what was in her mouth and quickly swallowing.

Coughing only once, Chen answered cautiously, “A servant?”

“...A bit simplistic, but for our purposes, it will do,” Lady Yukari smiled, “Now as the servant of my servant, what do you think of a servant who failed a task?”

What was her Master’s plan this time!? A setback like this was nothing, expected even, but why was Lady Yukari acting as if she was disappointed? Was this a surprise test? But for who? Herself or for Chen? And what for?

It would be so simple if it was one or the other, but Lady Yukari was as whimsical as mercury. Playful and soft one moment, deadly sharp and focused the other.

“Uh, sometimes we mess up, but we try again?” Chen murmured before shaking her head, “But Lady Ran didn’t fail.”

“Oh?”

Balling her fists and wrinkling the fabric of her kimono, Chen nodded with self-assuredness, “Because I’ve met the Fool.” A beat before she shrugged, “I think.”

“What?” Ran asked, dearly wishing she could explain to Chen what was… probably going on.

“Do you remember the uh… thing?” Chen asked, looking at Ran but glancing at Lady Yukari every so often, “You know, with the not-Hermit?”

“What thi--” Ran’s eyes widened before she quickly recovered with a few coughs, “Ah, yes. That thing.”

So that Hermit was most likely the Fool.

Oh, that was so embarrassing in retrospect. Doubly so with the hindsight of knowing what she knew now. That damn hermit had sent her on a wild-goose chase to find Chen and the Fairies and… In retrospect, it was obvious that ther hermit was her target.

“What thing?” Lady Yukari leaned in, smiling softly.

Ran felt her stomach pang with absolutely fake pain as Chen opened her mouth to answer. Surreptitiously, the kitsune slipped one of her tails under the table to rap lightly at the bakaneko’s leg in reminder to not talk about the ‘thing’. While good that they had technically not failed the mission, it was better to leave the details unsaid.

Biting back a yelp, the bakaneko glared ruefully at Ran, but Ran was having none of it. A sharp glare back had Chen quailing and remembering her manners.

And also common sense.

“Oh, just a little run with the cats,” Chen deflected in what she thought was a masterful way. Ran found that she wanted more antacids now.

Lady Yukari may find the whole Feline Fiasco humorous; scratch that, she would find it absolutely hilarious, but that incident would also dim her view of Chen’s capabilities and Ran would love to not have to work on a plan to crawl Chen back into her Master’s good graces.

“Oh, really?” Lady Yukari smiled.

Immediately, Ran’s tails poofed. That was the Indulging Smile. The one worn when Lady Yukari waited for her opponent to fall into a trap. Lifting the bowl to sip at the soup, Ran tried snaking a tail to thwap Chen’s thigh in warning, but… found it being stroked?

Oh no. Oh nonono. Lowering the bowl with a calm she didn’t feel, Ran found the tail she had sent to warn Chen being stroked by Lady Yukari, caught mid-journey by a Gap. Meeting her gaze, Lady Yukari simply raised one eyebrow in chastisement.

“Yeah,” Chen shrugged, following through on the already-known lie, “Just me and a clowder, running.”

Discipline was a wonderful thing. It was the only thing keeping Ran from planting her face into the table in defeat. This was already a failure.

“You know…” Lady Yukari snapped her mai-ogi open , lightly fanning herself while hiding her mouth. "While I do ‘hibernate’, it’s a bit simplistic. Oftentimes, I’ll wake up and just lounge about. Occasionally, I like to pass the time, a rest from my little nap, if you will. Read a bit, play around, listen to a bit of fortune. That sort of thing.”

…This was a test. But for who? And what for?

“Ran, dear? I’ll ask once,” Lady Yukari smiled indulgingly, “What is the fiasco?”

…The cat was out of the bag so to speak. Oddly enough, knowing that she was to be punished actually alleviated the stomach pain. Ran sighed. A simple confession, a simpler explanation, and then they could move on with the night. While not optimal, it wasn’t the worst-case scenario. Chen’s reputation was established and while it could be better, it could’ve been wor

“It was my fault,” Chen cut in, and wouldn’t you know it, Ran’s stomach pain came back something fierce, “I wanted to help Lady Ran on her mission and I took a clowder of untrained cats to help me in the search. I’m sorry.”

“...Good. Good. Good that you were honest with me,” Lady Yukari smiled, this time with mystery, “But do you know what you did wrong, dear Chen?”

“...What?” Chen asked. Ran dearly wanted to whap the bakaneko’s head with her tail. One was not that curt with Lady Yukari

“You disobeyed your Master.”

“Huh?” Chen asked.

“Your Master clearly wanted to keep your little misha…” Lady Yukari trailed off and tapped her chin,” No. I suppose mishap is a better term. Your Master clearly wanted you to keep your little fiasco a secret, and Master of your Master I may be, but you still disobeyed her.”

While Ran understood where her master was coming from, that was a bit… unfair. Yes, a Shikigami should obey their Master, an excellent Shikigami served their Master. And at times, that meant a bit of… creative interpretation of certain rules and order to fulfill the intent and not the word.

Ran herself had stretched many an order to satisfy and protect Lady Ran, and maybe sometimes, she… erred, but that was only because Lady Yukari could be a bit… unclear.

The point was that it was unfair to hold Chen to the same standards as herself. Not that Ran dared say that aloud. Perhaps later, Ran could voice her concerns, but not tonight no matter how much it pained her to hold her tongue.

“...Well, you were going to punish her for something that was my fuckup. That’s not fair.”

Though not as much pain as Chen was causing her stomach. Ran couldn’t deny it any longer. She appeared to have obtained that human disease of stress ulcers.

“Oh?” Lady Yukari smiled.

“Yeah, it’s not fair. It was my mistaked,” Chen bravely and stupidly sacrificed herself, “And… and… I work for Lady Ran. Not you. So I have to help her even if helping her means not listening to her and especially not listening to her when she’s going to get herself hurt.”

“Truly?”

“True and ly, yeah,” Chen sassed, eyes wide and tails puffed up and tucked low to her body.

For a moment, the world froze. Lady Yukari then held out a hand expectantly and snapped. A gap opened, and out slid a small saucer. Another snap, and another gap opened, clear sake pouring out to fill up the saucer.

Raising it to her lips, Lady Yukari sipped and reality slipped, just for a bit as the immediate area fell in between boundaries. Ran recognized the feeling, but she knew that to the uninitiated and unprepared, it would’ve felt like the cessation of awareness.

A single sip was how long Lady Yukari allowed the Boundary of Existence and Non-existence blur, but it was enough to drive Chen to--

Ran blinked. By all rights, Chen should’ve been collapsed and crying from that experience, but beyond a few tear streaks, Chen simply glared defiantly,

Judging by the way Lady Yukari took another sip, she too was taken back by how Chen endured that brief test. Her next statement hid all signs of that surprise though.

“Well said, but do realize that even well-meant actions deserve punishment. Ran?”

Bowing her head, Ran clasped her hands, “I will admonish her as you see fit.”

She would have argued for leniency, but Ran saw the way her master’s eyebrows danced. She was intrigued, interested, fascinated by a potential new toy, one that could be molded into a powerful tool. Any punishment given would be light and geared towards education.

“Then I will see fit what you think is apt,” Lady Yukari smiled.

Nodding in acknowledgement and satisfaction at a correct interpretation of her master’s mood, Ran replied, “Then I will have Chen will review etiquette.”

“But I never lea--” Chen snapped her mouth shut when Ran glared at her. Snapping into a mimicry of Ran’s position, the bakaneko intoned, “I will review etiquette under Lady Ran.”

“Good. Good,” Lady Yukari then clapped her hands, changing the Boundaries of the setting from the dining room to outside, “Now that dinner’s done, let us move on to the tsukimi proper!”

Ran was prepared for the sudden change of scenery, but Chen was not, judging by the way the bakaneko held two hands to her face and dashed off to the bushes, mindful of her furisode kimono.

While her master was distracted by the bakaneko’s impromptu fertilizing of the greenery, Ran took the opportunity to Gap a bottle of antacids into her hand and dry swallow a few.

Hopefully, that would help her stomach.