The Day of Thunder

Sora's day had been an active one, but he had one more missive to deliver. One more thing to achieve to feel as if he'd done his duty by the Kami who stood between the Empire and total nightmare.

So he went looking for the monk Kichi.

The monk in question is writing something, but stands and bows when Sora arrives. "Jiyo-sama, good afternoon."

"Kichi-san."

Sora bowed, and then gave the monk a genuine smile.

"Have you been well since last we spoke?"

"I have. Better than I expected after speaking with Nanzi-sama," he said with a nod and a small smile. "Even if she makes a different decision before the end, I will be grateful for these extra days."

"She is not the only one."

Sora considered how best to put it.

"My sleep had a visitor last night. I believe someone known to a person you used to know. They said something to me, which... I thought might do you some good, if you would hear it."

He nodded, expression curious.

"A certain lady of grace and polish thanked me for what I have done for a certain monk."

Sora half-bowed.

"I thought that hearing of this regard might be a source of encouragement on a certain path."

He closed his eyes and put his hand over his heart, taking a deep breath and letting it out with a smile. "I was so arrogant then. As if she didn't know from the beginning." He looked up and off into the distance, as if he could see her almost. "For all her dedication to propriety, she has always held onto hope like a barnacle with abandonment issues."

"I found her utterly incomprehensible when we first met. I'm sad it was under these circumstances, but I'm glad to have been proven wrong about that."

He shook his head and sighed.

"Mind you, I still think she could speak a bit more plainly, but that's just me being a petty old man."

He looked back to Sora. "You may not necessarily have been wrong back then. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but Ningen-do's influence over beings is one of the strongest of all the realms. It makes Jigoku's influence look like a casual nudge. It's hardly a surprise that people change the longer they're here. I don't doubt her family changed things, as well."

"They certainly changed me, Kichi-san."

He cocked his head.

"But does that mean I get to be obnoxiously smug about how right I was twenty-five years ago? You know, the bits where I was telling everyone the Kami had as much to learn as they had to teach? Because if so, I am going to be extra insufferable..."

"Something something temperance," he said, looking a bit amused. "Do your best, Jiyo-sama."

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no, Kichi-san..."

He shook his head.

"I fear you have doomed everyone I know to an unbearable pall of smugness that may only end when my wife gives me that Look."

"Truly, I am back to the beginning of my path with this one terrible sin," he replied with a laugh.

Sora grinned and shook his head.

"For what it's worth, Kichi-san, your path has done more than just you good. I neither liked nor trusted the person we both knew. I think he might really be dead and gone now, though. At the very least, the pyre is built."

He sighed and shook his head. "I wish I could agree. He's still alive. I struggle with him each day. But he is getting quieter as time goes on."

"Well, give that bastard a poke in the eye for me, Kichi-san."

Sora bowed.

"And keep at it."

He chuckled. "I'll do my best."

"Sora bowed again.

"Carry the Fortunes."

And then he made his [/Exit]

/scene