Work Text:
“Have you ever seen a stuffed genius? I am happy. At a time like this, even love is pleasant.”
— Yi Sang; The Wings
Although the night had come to pass, and the early morning surmised. The immortal phoenix, Fujiwara no Mokou, was quite certain that she would meet Kaguya as they always did in those moments. She walked through the dirt road that winded and turned through the bamboo forest, following the lanterns poles without straying further to reach Eientei. Her heart was racing, hands behind her back carrying a gift for the princess. Her head was pounding with limitless possibilities, never once was she this anxious about something. It’s just giving a gift for the princess, is it not? Why should she feel nervous about that? They’ve known each other for thousands of years, they’ve seen each other’s insides twisted and ripped out millions of times, they’ve seen each other bear naked and saw their limbs be torn and shredded into pieces. What is there to fear? Must be something innate then, intimacy perhaps? She admits the entire conversation she had with Keine the night prior still left her disoriented.
“Why am I doing this?” The thought crossed her mind, with the sight of that mansion emerging in the distance, Mokou held onto her breath and cleared her throat. Thoughts rumbled and shook like a storm while she took one step forward, then another, before approaching Eientei with partial confidence. “I.. I’ll just get this done with…”
Upon reaching the courtyard, it was silent, oddly silent. The wind did pass through the space, and rustled the bonzai tree that stood in the midst, but there was no thing, no voice, no chatter, no giggle, no nothing. Mokou raised her eyebrow, it was not normal for the place to be silent during this time. So she decided to either turn back, visit another time, or look through the halls to see if there truly was nobody home. “There’s no use,” she told herself in a whisper, “if Kaguya isn’t here then…”
But her ears picked up something strange. Mokou’s eyes averted to the west where she saw a vague silhouette stand by the window. The sound of rushing water was heard crashing onto the surface of something clearly ceramic. She froze for a bit, “who is that?” she asked, but then as she squinted her eyes, it was abundantly clear who it was.
It was Eirin Yagokoro, Kaguya Houraisan’s most loyal caretaker.
Mokou, with confusion, decided to enter the main building and walk down the halls. She took a sharp left, before walking for another 20 or so meters until she came across an opened door with lights pouring out from, the shadow also casted onto the floor and wall behind. The Phoenix clenched her fist, sweat dripped down her forehead like a crown of thorns bestowed upon her head. With a single move, she approached the kitchen and gave the door a knock. “Hello?”
Eirin turned around gently to see Mokou standing by the doorframe. Although she seemed stern, unsurprised in fact, there was without a doubt that she was quite startled to see Mokou there, especially when there was no reason to visit. “Welcome,” Eirin said, returning to her job at washing the dishes while Mokou entered and sat by the dining room table. “What brings you here?”
“Where’s Kaguya?” Mokou inquired.
“Out for business. Apparently the youkai of gaps needed to discuss a few things about her.”
“Why not send you?” Mokou replied in question, and with a scoff.
“I’m not sure myself,” a sigh escaped Eirin’s lips, as she continued on brushing the sponge on the surface of the plate, “I believe because the princess is one of the many royal names throughout Gensokyo, I am just her servant, afterall.”
“Look at that, a “God” who humbled herself? That’s quite a rare sight, dontcha think?”
The humor got a chuckle out of Eirin, much to Mokou’s own surprise as never once did she hear the brain of the moon laugh like so. “Indeed, but I am no prophet from the west. Neither did I need to be resurrected in 3 days time after my sacrifice for the sins of men.” Eirin placed the plate right on the counter before brushing away her hands, and sitting opposite to Mokou on that decently lengthened dining table. “But you didn’t answer my question, Mokou, what’re you doing here?”
“Because of Kaguya, and, well…” The Phoenix stammered, her mind trying to find excuses to explain to Eirin since she never planned to meet her face-to-face, only Kaguya was in mind when she brought the present for her. But seeing that the dates do not lie, there was no point in lying to the brilliant genius that sat before her with the most gentle smile that she had ever seen on Yagokoro’s face, a peculiar sight to behold like everything else she had done thus far. She hid her face out of shame, flustered. “I… it’s valentine’s day so… I thought I’d give Kaguya something…”
“Valentine’s day? What is that?” A surprised Eirin asked.
Mokou scratched her neck. “I’ll admit, I don’t know much either… I know that Keine Kamishirasawa told me about it, and she heard that from the shrine maiden of the Moriya Shrine when she visited the human village and started to give everyone on the streets boxes of chocolate… She said ‘it’s a day that we honor and share our love with those who we hold dear’ or whatever like it.”
Eirin heckled. “Ah, that’s why Kaguya gave me a box of chocolates this morning, isn’t it?”
Mokou froze. ‘Gave her? A box?! What the hell?’ There was a part of her in complete, utter disbelief. She could not comprehend the fact that Kaguya gave Eirin a present first. “Oh, I–I didn’t know that…!” She tried to disguise her shock with a porcelain smile, but Eirin saw instantly through that mask.
“Mokou, you love hime-sama?” Eirin inquired, causing the Phoenix to stutter and flinch, flustered with a feverish steaming red.
“Eh? I mean, I wouldn’t say that. I just—”
“Mokou, you’re acting strange.” Those words apparently pierced through Mokou’s heart more than the fact Kaguya gave the box to Eirin first. The Phoenix’s heart pounded for a few longer before… it dimmed, and a defeated sigh escaped her lips.
“Tsk, so what?” Mokou crossed her arms after placing her own heart-shaped box on the table before her, “... I don’t know what I feel, honestly. If I gave her this then it’d just… wouldn’t it ruin everything between us?”
“If you think that, then why do you still want to give her the box?”
“B–Because, I do like her! But– Ah, I hate it so much,” she fell on the table with a groan; “do I really not sound like myself today?”
Eirin shook her head. “It’s alright, though.” the scientist raised herself from the seat to take something from the kitchen counters, “I don’t mean any harm to you, of course, I do apologize if I… ‘disappointed’ you with my words. I do not mean for you to feel that way. The truth is, the talk hime-sama and I had last night and… it changed the way she–no, we viewed our relationship. I don’t think she sees me as a servant more than she sees me as her wife.” Eirin ended with a chuckle.
“W… Wife?” Mokou stuttered, discombobulated, “I… I’m glad for you two! B… but…”
Eirin placed a cup of warm tea right in front of Mokou. The Phoenix looked up, and saw that a smile still was on her face. Something brewed deep inside Mokou, a writhing unfathomable rage that wanted to explode right onto Eirin’s face. Her fists clenched tightly, as she raised her hand and slammed it on the table.
“... I thought I could’ve had her for myself…” spiteful words slipped right out of Mokou’s lips, her heart racing with contempt and… a wistful melancholy. “I thought that she’d just…”
Silence befell upon the two ladies. Only the sounds of birds chirping outside the window filled the otherwise dainty, quiet space.
“Mokou, do you know what wings are for?” Eirin cuts through the speechless room.
The Phoenix replied with a disinterested hum.
“They’re for flying, right? But I don’t think that is quite the purpose for it.” Eirin continued, turning away to stand by the window to see the glorious sunlight up high, “a fitting term for wings is that they are an option, yes? Birds, insects, all sorts of animals have wings to move from one place to another, but they are not dependent on it. They still possess legs to move when their wings are hurt, broken, or whatnot.”
“What’re you getting at?” an irritated voice interjected with a question.
“The difference that exists between flying as an option, and as reliance. Possessing only the ability to fly is solely dependent on the curious ability to leave without problem, to leave without responsibility, without the second thought of what judgment is held to those who live below. You’ll soar higher than all other beings on the land, or otherwise. But if an animal relies only on flying, would it not be weak when its wings break? Shall it not become susceptible to the most dangerous of predators that lurk its every movement?”
“Tch, stop being vague, Yagokoro, what are you trying to say here?!”
“Mokou-sama, If you rely on your wings only, you will fall. You cannot be dependent on one framework, you cannot depend on your rivalry with hime-sama and think that love can blossom amidst the blood-soaked battlefield.” Eirin sighed, crouching beside the distraught Mokou and softly caressed her silver hair, “I do not mean to make you this angry, Mokou, you know, I would never do that to you or anyone with all my years alive in this world.”
“Do you think I don’t spend time with her outside of fighting?! Are you aware that I sometimes accompany her while you forbid her from leaving the place? I helped her too, you know, I made her happy too!”
Eirin paused. “And do you think I forbade her in vain?” she asked, stern with a piercing cold gaze, “it is for her safety.”
“Safety? What safety!? You just want to dictate her, you just want to control where she goes because you care for her too much! You and that guilt you carry within your heart that—” but before the Phoenix can finish, she felt her breathing suddenly halt for a moment, realizing that Eirin’s clenches were over her neck; strangling the Phoenix. Mokou struggled to escape, she tried all she could, burning, biting, clawing out of the scientist’s grasps… but none prevailed. “L–Let me go! Y–You wouldn’t kill me, would you? Wait, you can’t, that’s right, you can’t kill me!”
“Then let it be an example of your broken wings,” Eirin muttered before Mokou heard a sudden crack ring in her ears—then darkness.
To no one’s surprise, the darkness lingered on for an unfathomable amount of time. Mokou had no sense of which hour it was, where the minutes currently stand, or however the seconds marched onwards. She could only endure the void, the sea of nothing that she drowned within… until a sudden sight of a bright light flashed in her eyes. It is true that she had become passive, more forgiving and that her rivalry with Kaguya didn’t mean much anymore. But she still carries shame, or a form of it, an unbearable amount of guilt for leaving behind all that she had loved, her family, the clan, her father’s legacy… and betrayed it to live a simple life. It was not fair, she thought while her heart writhed and collapsed through her chest, it’s not fair that I do not get what I want!
So sitting alone in this abyss, as it slowly forms into a confined prison where sparrows fluttered above her… was all she ever knew. Not to say she was alone, she had many people in her life, frankly most of them being women but she went eitherway. Mokou didn’t really care about continuation, even if her mother wished that she would at least bring forth a child first before going on her journey to avenge her father’s legacy. The thought of childbirth didn’t excite Mokou as much as she hoped it would, in fact, she hated that she didn’t feel that way, that she felt cold towards the possibility of having one. That’s what she’s for, right? To become the catalyst for a beautiful life, to nurture, to raise… Then why doesn’t she feel that way? Mokou was reminded of the conversation she had with Keine the few nights prior.
“I… I think what I’m saying here is that I’m jealous you’re more of a woman than I’ll ever be.”
Those words, she did not know why those words blurted out of her mouth. Being a woman? What does it mean exactly? Is it just meant to carry the youth in her womb for nine months before it is taken out? No, that’s not it, Keine never has done that. Is it her breasts? Her genitals? Is that what makes her a woman? That can’t be right either, she still had those as Mokou felt her boobs to make sure… then, it’s surely to nurture, right? Is that why she was so jealous of Keine and… Eirin, to an extent. They are both so nurturing, so kind, a servant in a sense but still retained their own independent freedom, they never raised their voices which was always gentle in return. Must that be what a woman is?
Mokou didn’t really want to go there, she wasn’t ready to face that fact. She is too childish, no matter how many times she’ll spill it in front of Keine, no matter how many times the Were-hakutaku forgives her, the feelings will never subside so easily.
Then what is the point? Mokou didn’t want to cry, her heart didn’t call for it… no, she was angry. It was filled with a scorching rage that wanted to be unleashed. With a loud, agonizing scream, Mokou released the flames of Sodom and Gomorrah around the prison cell, burning all which lived… including herself, in the process. It was the only way she ever felt, even if she easened those feelings, that spite, it just kept returning.
Through the desperation that began to tear her heart piece-by-piece, she began to reflect with hostility in her mind. If she loved Kaguya, why does she always want to kill her? If it’s playful, are there no better ways to go about it? Then, why does she feel this hate for? It wasn’t because of Eirin Yagokoro who already took the heart of the princess, it cannot be, Mokou barely knew her! It cannot be for Kaguya either, she loved her in fact. Then who was it for?
“It’s…for myself.” she whispered, the brimming oceans of flames dimming as the realization befell her. The smoke subsided, and there Mokou saw all the sparrows that once flew around her now fallen onto the ground, lifeless, scorched beyond recognition. A sudden sadness overwhelmed Mokou as she reached her hand slowly, and picked up one of them from the stone-cold hard floor. She tried to stretch its wings… but by the touch of it, it swiftly blew away into the wind. Tears began to pour out of Mokou’s eyes, as she held the sparrow close and cried for the tragic loss of the creature. She yelled into the void before her with all her might, the only thing in her mind was the desire for her heart to be pierced, for her body to be torn apart and never be put back together, to return to the nothing where she first came from… and Kaguya fulfilled that.
Mokou realized too, Kaguya satisfied her desires whenever they fought. Whether conscious or not, she always allowed Kaguya to defeat her, to be the ultimate victor in most of their battles. Then, that means their love isn’t built on mutual love… It was built off transactionary love. She accompanied Kaguya when Eirin forbade her from leaving Eientei, in return, Kaguya had to kill her in the most brutal of ways so those pleasures could be fulfilled. Those were the wings she had, those were the wings she kept as centuries passed. Those were the broken wings which Eirin spoke of.
The revelation reminded her of the day prior after the entire ordeal she had with Keine the night previously. Mokou alongside Keine walked through the human village on a weekend. They passed by lively, bustling stores, children who played on the streets, and the sun that poured through the vistas. The humid air tasted sweet, she put her hands behind her head as the pair strolled down the ground path.
“Say, thank you for accompanying me today, Mokou-san,” Keine turned and gave the Phoenix a gentle smile.
“Pfft, of course!” Mokou answered, grinning with slight teeth.
“It’s not everyday someone wants to accompany me for grocery shopping,” the half-hakutaku continued, “not to say I have no friends, I do. A lot of the women here, especially the parents of the kids I teach, they’re good friends with me. But I don’t actively ask for their company because they’re usually busy raising their families.”
“Sounds tragic.” a half-hearted response muttered out of Mokou’s lips.
Keine nodded. “It is, it really is!” she sighed, looking up at the clouds that slowly drifted below the blue skies. “Say, what about you, Mokou? Never thought of having your own family?”
“Family?”
Another nod was the answer.
Mokou left the question hanging for a while as they passed by a child being carried on the shoulders of his father, as well as a mother walking beside him side-by-side. For a brief moment, Mokou saw herself when she was younger, had black hair, and was on the shoulders of her own father while her mother prepared a delicious dish for them. The nostalgic memories were painful to remember, and she tried all in her power to subdue those recollections as she feared that those feelings would emerge once again from the pitiful gorges of her soul. Mokou tried to look away, but then was met with the concerned, yet smiling face of Keine Kamishirasawa staring up at her.
“Mokou? Can we go somewhere quiet?” The teacher changed the subject, much to Mokou’s own surprise, “I know a place just outside the human village, come with me.”
The two lovely women bolted off through the gates of the village as they passed by the wonderful river that lies just beyond the entry point. Passing by the long, stretched green fields before them. Keine brought Mokou to a solemn, dainty, and rather lonely tree on top of a small slope. The half-hakutaku sat down right under the shade of the viridescent leaves, and leaned on the aged trunk of the tree. Mokou stood, confused, as Keine beckoned her to join in that tranquil rest.
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Mokou inquired, but a shake of the head was the answer.
“It’s a weekend, and it’s a national holiday next week anyways. My time is relatively empty outside of having to grade my pupils' works and prepare for their materials in two weeks.” Keine let out another sigh, taking the bag she brought from shopping and rummaging through. After a while of digging, the teacher pulled out a chocolate bar. “Here, my gift to you.”
“G…Gift?” Mokou was startled at what was presented to her… hell, it was even her favorite type of chocolate as well. She could feel as her heart melted away the writhing contempt that began to build up after remembering why she lived the way she did. Opening the package, she bit down on the soft textured snack as the sweet taste traveled through her tongue and then through her entire body. Ecstasy was a word closest to how she felt amongst the many words that existed. “Thank you, Keine-sensei.”
The teacher heckled. “Oh, no, no, it’s nothing really!” she brushed the joyous tear from her own eyes as she cleared her throat. “In two days, it will be valentine’s day, as Sanae Kochiya would say. I thought I’d give you this early because I plan on preparing materials for my students for the following three days or so.”
“Valentine’s day?” Mokou, with a raised eyebrow, inquired.
“Sanae said that Valentine’s day means many things depending on who you ask. It is the day of sharing that love to someone you care for a lot, some celebrate it as a feast for the martyr Saint Valentine… but to me? It is just like any other day that just so happens to have been given meaning by those who desire a special day. However, because of what had transpired last night, it seemed fitting that I gave you something close to the date, no?”
“I guess so,” Mokou bit down again before sitting next to Keine.
Silence occurred between the two ladies as they took in the beautiful vistas that presented before them. The brush of the afternoon wind kissed their bodies, as Keine relaxed herself from the sounds of nature that echoed within her ears, and slumped onto Mokou’s shoulder. “Do you remember what happened last night?” she asked.
“I kissed you,” Mokou replied, wiping the chocolate stains off her lips.
“Indeed. But, may I ask, Mokou-san?”
“What is it?”
“You confessed you loved Kaguya-sama, right?”
“Y–Yes,” a stuttered answer followed by a nod.
“I don’t want to seem like I hold your destiny or anything, Mokou, but I wonder to myself. After all is said and done, once Kaguya is yours… what do you wish for?”
Even until now, Mokou cannot answer that question… and that is as much as memories go. Mokou curled up inside that prison cell, slowly wishing that the vision would just fade away instead of spending another second failing to reconcile her inept issues. Mokou wondered about the subject of family. Is that always the end goal for relationships? She’ll admit, relationships that are directionless tend to mean nothing, what difference does that make to friendships if that was the case? There has to be an end goal, but what was she?
…
She knew what she wanted. She has always knew what she wanted
Mokou was too scared to admit it. But the feeling grew so bothersome and large that it became unavoidable to ignore anymore. So when she wanted to blurt it out just to get it off her chest, a sudden embrace warmed her body that swallowed the confession back down her throat.
The Phoenix reopened her eyes and saw herself in a dimly lit hospital room, she was surrounded by teal curtains and felt that she was lying on top of a soft mattress. Mokou looked down, and there she saw her, Kaguya Houraisan, hugging her for the first time ever. She didn’t know how to react, if she should at all, but the sorrowness didn’t subside—in fact, it only grew larger as she returned the embrace with tears.
“Mokou, are you okay?” Kaguya softly asked, raising herself from the Phoenix with a concerned look.
Mokou didn’t reply for a bit, trying to reconcile with the words that flew around her mind like the sparrows which flew above her prison cell. The Phoenix loosened her grasp on the princess, she didn’t even dare to look into Kaguya’s eyes as her gaze drifted into the empty space right on the princess’s shoulder.
“Kaguya…” Mokou began, gulping as she tried to reorganize composure; “are you and Eirin…?”
“Yes,” Kaguya answered without hesitation, “but don’t let that hinder at our friendship, Mokou, you know I still—”
“Do you ever wonder what I want, Kaguya?” The Phoenix interrupted the princess before she could finish her sentence. Kaguya looked with a hint of curiosity as she sat right back up before her. Mokou tried to get the words untied from her tongue, and with uncertainty, she blurted out: “I want you… no, I don’t want you, I need you.”
Kaguya’s face was filled with an impressive red blush as her jaw dropped in shock; unsuspecting of the confession.
“Yes, I try to hide it for so long because I’m afraid that I don’t love you the same way you love Eirin, or the same way Keine loves me, or the same way my own father loved me… I love you because only you can satisfy one thing from me.”
“...and that is?”
“You can keep on killing me, Kaguya, there’s nothing more that I want but sweet death to come to me,” Mokou’s heart began to pick up pace as each word became suffocating for her to spit out, “but I never could confess that, can I? I love you so much that I want to let go of you, but I don’t want to at the same time because you’re the only one who has ever listened to me, who ever took the time out of your day to hangout with me… you satisfy me, Kaguya. The pleasure I receive with every broken bone, every pierced skin, the torn flesh… you always gave me what I want, and I want to keep you close to me because I know only you understand my pain while also fulfilling what I crave for the most. I– I love you, Kaguya, but it’s not…”
“Mokou… I…” something wanted to escape the princess’s mouth, but for one reason or another, Kaguya had difficulty spitting it out as her body cringed back. “M–Mokou, I shouldn’t have kept this from you but— I Loved you too,” a response which Mokou did not expect came out of the princess’s own mouth, “I loved you too, Mokou… but, I knew from the start that you loved me for those reasons. I couldn’t… see a future, couldn’t see us if that’s what you desire, you know?”
“Kaguya…”
“I’m sorry, from the bottom of my soul I hope that you can forgive me for what I have done to you, to your father, and the sins which I committed throughout the centuries I’ve lived on this… planet…! If there was a better world where none of this had to happen, I’m sure you and I would make a great couple…”
“What…? N–No, no this can’t–” Fire danced from her hands as she set herself ablaze at the uncontrollable anger and grief she felt in those moments, “it’s not fair, it’s not fair at all! You mean that the woman whom I always loved, whom I thought never returned those feelings actually loved me back?! How could you? How could you. Kaguya, y–you’re so fucking heartless…!”
“Mokou, I—I would never do that to you,” Kaguya reached her hand and gently placed it on Mokou’s cheek as the fire tore through the skies and scorched the room before them. Kaguya, of course, was not afraid of death, she was used to it. She said with a gentle voice, “it’s okay to be afraid. I loved you doesn’t mean I hate you now. No, it doesn’t mean that at all. But to love is to be aware when we aren’t simply meant to be. I don’t deny that we’re not going to be lonely our entire lives, I don’t deny that we aren’t going to be friends anymore. I love every moment I share with you, all the times we fight, all the days we just sleep on the ground to gaze up at the sky… but I recognize that it is best if we went our own ways, you know? All this, it has a time and place. I want to love you as my own but the gods know that it just simply is not meant to be.”
“...It’s my fault, isn’t it?”
“I don’t like to blame it on you, Mokou, but, i–if you want me to be honest… it’s your heart. I know what Eirin told me, about the wings, about what you did to her and I disagree with what she did to you!... But… well, I also noticed that…” the princess hesitated, biting her index finger, before she continued on: “h– have you considered that your wings are broken not because you rely on this mundane cyclic routine? Your wings are broken because you refuse to let go of your suffering; because of your own self-hatred knowing you don’t want to blame anyone else anymore, but yourself alone. Blame yourself for abandoning your family’s heir, for going on a quest to avenge your father only to fall in love with the same woman who tricked him. If anything, I–I should be the one apologizing, you are not at fault here but… it’s me, I did this to you…”
The immeasurable misery accumulated within Mokou that all she desired was to break down into a mess of tears and pour her heart out, but each tear quickly evaporated due to the heat of the fire that burnt brightly from her skin. Yet, the brush of Kaguya’s thumbs on her cheeks was enough to subdue the rage, the grief, the misery and the self-hatred she kept within her heart ever since she loved Kaguya. It was not the love that was at fault, but it was what surrounded the love. The flames dimmed, she returned having scorched all she had on off of her skin as tears were finally allowed to escape from the held-back sorrow. The cold air kissed Mokou’s naked skin as she crumpled up and began to cry to herself. Kaguya couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Phoenix, and decided to sleep right next to the distraught girl to give her warmth amongst the biting cold of the night.
“It’s ok, Mokou-san,” Kaguya whispered to the curled up girl, putting her hands over the Phoenix’s body as she pressed herself against Mokou. “I’m still here if you need me to be… I am sorry for everything, all the hurt I’ve caused. All this, it is back to me. I want a piece of your guilt, Mokou, let me into your heart for once.”
In that silence, Kaguya heard as the beating of Mokou’s heart easened, and her breathing grew lighter. Kaguya raised her neck and gave the Phoenix a peck on her cheek, before laying her arms around her shoulder. In thought, Mokou began to reflect on all that had happened. The days, memories, unraveling that she dared not to touch, but most importantly, the words which Eirin-san had said, “The Wings,” and what they truly meant.
Perhaps wings have never been used to be the sole reliance of mobility. Animals and mechanical inventions all require another framework in order to prevent such detrimental tragedies from occuring. A Phoenix has wings and legs, too, but they are like paper airplanes. Their tragedy was as such: that everytime they scorched themselves into ashes, they were bound to be reborn into the same self as they once were. Though the thought troubled Mokou deeply, feeling unease quaking within her… but through the pain, she still felt comfort with Kaguya for once—the first time in their long rivalry where she could feel the princess’s body pressed against hers. Years of yearning had led up to this moment, even if it was only for a while, it meant the whole world, the whole heavens, to Mokou as she returned the embrace,
Through the great sorrow she endured in the silence, Mokou learnt that wings are what creates or breaks her in the end. All things are meant to have wings, to carry them to places their legs can never otherwise reach, while also given the choice whether to flee or endure what is presented to them. The wings are the dreams, ambitions, and desires of someone; the goal which they aspire to become. What would it say about her who wishes to love, but also to die?
“By the way, Mokou?” the princess whispered, cuddling herself deeper on her shoulder, “the chocolate you have was tasty. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome…” and a smile returned to Mokou’s face beyond the veil of tears.