Chapter Text
Izumo rifled through her desk drawers, growing ever more frustrated with each passing second she couldn’t find what she was looking for. She usually kept a full stack of summoning papers with pre-drawn circles on her at all times. The fact that she was nearly out a few days before their first summoning class was unthinkable.
“I don’t get what you’re so worked up about.” Rin commented from where he had settled on her bed, idly chewing on a popsicle stick. He’d asked to come over to study, and since Noriko was out for the day, Izumo had agreed. If she’d known that he’d steal her textbooks instead of bringing his own, she might’ve reconsidered. “Can’t you draw those in your sleep?”
Izumo groaned under her breath. “Yes, but drawing them still takes time. Time that exorcists don’t often get in the middle of a battle.” She liked Rin, really. She couldn’t imagine her life without him in it. But sometimes she wanted to strangle some sense into that thick skull of his.
Rin just shrugged and went back to flipping through her textbooks.
Izumo sighed, there was no helping it. She wouldn’t be able to focus now that she knew a problem existed and needed to be fixed. It’d just stay hanging over her head until she solved it. She’d just have to go out and get some more papers. Wonderful. She’d been told about a supply store hidden somewhere on campus, but the method to get to it was convoluted at best. “I need to step out for a bit.”
As she stood from her chair Rin didn’t even look up. Simply waving at her as his eyes drifted in and out of focus on the page in front of him. “Have fun! If you meet any cute girls don’t forget to tell me about them later.” He teased.
Yeah right, Izumo rolled her eyes at his antics. She was supply shopping, the likelihood that she’d run into any cute girls was abysmally low. “Lock the door behind you if you leave.” She said, barely hearing his call of assent as she stepped out of the room and closed the door behind her. She nearly locked it herself out of habit but caught herself. She tucked her room key back into her pocket. That could’ve been a disaster. Neither of them did well with locked doors, but Rin would take it especially bad.
She rolled her shoulders back and rolled any guilt, shame, or fear back with them. She felt their weight fall from her neck, though she knew they still trailed behind her as she walked. She was strong. So she could handle it. She would force herself to handle it.
Following the directions from the headmaster swiftly gave her a headache. The amount of switchbacking and retracing quickly got her frustration to its peak. When she finally pried open a large wooden door onto a thin bridge high above the rest of True Cross campus she barely felt that it was worth the trouble getting there. Looking down off the side of the bridge made nausea leap up her throat. She wouldn't be doing that again. The supply shop itself looked like a slice of forest plopped down on the top of a tower. It was flush with greenery and reminded her of home.
Walking up the roughly hewn stone path to the store just reminded her of her old house even more. She could almost hear the fox spirits rustling in the grass. Tsukumo singing along with her mother in the kitchen. Paper lanterns and wards bumping together in time with gentle brushes from the breeze.
Something thick wedged itself at the top of her throat. As she opened the door to the shop she cleared it away and pushed her expression into neutrality.
The interior was a warm space as crammed full of supplies as its exterior was crammed full of plants. A portly woman in traditional garb was stationed behind an overflowing desk. The older woman looked up and took a slow draw from a smouldering pipe. "Welcome to the exorcist supply shop. Do you know what you're looking for?" The woman's voice was rich and warm despite her bored tone.
"Yes," Izumo stepped up to the counter and fought the urge to start messing with her hair. "I'd like to buy a full stack of pre-drawn summoning papers."
The woman hummed and after giving Izumo a once over turned to start peering through the massive wall of drawers for the papers. As she was searching, the supply shop door opened again.
Izumo didn't bother checking who it was, they didn't matter to her. She was just here to get her supplies and she'd prefer to get in, get out, and be done with this whole process already.
A tall figure dressed in an exorcist’s coat with brown hair and glasses took up the space next to her. "Ah, hello there Kamiki-san." Her teenaged teacher began. What were the odds that she'd run into Okumura Yukio on a random errand to the most remote locale on campus? They were abysmally low, which meant her luck was just that bad.
Izumo cooly regarded him over her shoulder, becoming even more tired by his mere presence in the shop. "Hello, Okumura-sensei."
He opened his mouth to continue talking to her when the older woman chimed in. "Yukio! What a pleasant surprise!" The stack of summoning papers she had just removed from a drawer were set right back inside. Izumo felt like exploding on the spot and taking the whole school with her. "Will it be your usual?"
Okumura had the decency to look bashful. “Yes, please, Moriyama-san.”
The now-named Moriyama tittered happily at his politeness and quickly set to work pulling down bullets, grenades, and various other things. Izumo did not roll her eyes at the whole affair, no matter how much she really wanted to.
Okumura cleared his throat before sparking up the conversation again. “How is Shiemi doing?” He asked, sounding almost shy.
It was the wrong thing to ask apparently as Moriyama’s entire face darkened and her movements slowed. “She’s not well,” the older woman began after a moments pause. “My mother passed recently and Shiemi was the one to find her, she's taken it so hard it's almost supernatural. I have half a mind to call your father over to take a look at her, I worry she’s been possessed by that cursed garden.”
Izumo perked up at the mention of possession. Most possession cases were small. Not harmless, just small, but maybe…
Okumura straightened too. His shy teenager routine falling away to reveal a will of steel and cool determination. Izumo felt the barest flickers of respect form for him. “May I see her? I’d like to help in any way I can.”
“Thank you, I’d appreciate whatever you can do for her, even if it's someone to talk to right now.” Moriyama bowed her head and gestured an arm towards a side door that likely went deeper into the house. “She’s outside in the garden right now, please follow me.”
Izumo felt her moment of opportunity and stepped forward to catch Okumura’s attention. “Sensei, may I observe? Possession is something I specialize in. My mother was a shrine maiden.”
Okumura blinked owlishly at her, having either forgotten she was there or surprised that he was being asked at all. “Ah, I suppose that’s alright. Just…don’t do anything without consulting me, okay?”
She nodded and followed after him through the house and outside into the garden. It was a beautiful space, absolutely verdant. And yet there was an air of humility about the garden that made it feel relaxing and natural despite the massive amount of work that had surely gone in to cultivating it. And toiling away at the centre was a girl with short blond hair and large green eyes.
The girl looked up from where she was kneeling and practically lit up. “Yuki-chan!” She cheered, smiling so sincerely it was almost nauseating.
Damn it…she was cute.
“Hello Shiemi,” Okumura said, a similar looking dopey grin pulling at his face. Oh, wait, were they a thing? Izumo felt a familiar pang of disappointment tug at her sternum and quickly dismissed it. She and her teacher made their way further into the garden, Moriyama hanging back by the door.
Okumura knelt down next to Shiemi and motioned for Izumo to do the same. She stayed standing. He faltered but recovered quick enough. “Ah, Shiemi, this is Kamiki-san, she’s one of my students from the Exorcist Cram School. We hear you haven’t been feeling well?”
“No, no, I feel fine!” Shiemi replied. She carefully took the plants she had been cradling in her lap and set them on the ground, brushing the dirt off of her apron. She extended a dirty hand over to Izumo. “It’s so nice to meet you Kamiki-chan!”
Izumo’s nose wrinkled. This girl absolutely reeked. Yes, of manure and warm dirt, but that’s not what Izumo was reacting to. She was reacting to the stench of earth demon that had slathered itself all over the poor girl.
Shiemi’s smile dimmed, a flush rising in her cheeks as she hastily wiped her hands off again before offering her hand back up. “U-um, excuse me.” She mumbled.
“You’re not fine, stop lying to yourself.” Izumo huffed, pointedly folding her arms across her chest and feeling proud as Shiemi slowly pulled her hand back to her lap. The girl drew further in on herself, now refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.
“I really- I’m really fine, I promise. I’ve got my garden so…” Shiemi trailed off, her mouth working but no sounds coming from it. She took in a deep breath and forced her head up to look first to Okumura, and then to Izumo. “So, really, don’t worry about me.” She said with a smile.
Izumo felt her lip curl. Self sacrificing idiots like her were the worst. “Moron, how selfish can you get?”
“Kamiki!” Okumura snapped at her, his eyes dangerous. Gone was the easy, carefree set to his shoulders. Replaced by a pining idiot's tension.
Still, Izumo wasn’t about to back down from saying what needed to be said. Letting these kinds of people go unchecked meant they’d probably try to die for some ‘greater good’ and their blood would pool pointlessly at the feet of every single person who had pushed their self worth into the mud. She would know, she's seen Rin try it enough times. “Make yourself miserable all you want, but all you’re doing is forcing your mother to sit through yet another funeral. What are you hoping to get out of suffering like this, anyway? You think it’s going to make you feel better? Make some kind of penance? Wake up already!”
“Kamiki that is enough!” Okumura stood up sharply, Shiemi wincing away from him as he pushed forward into Izumo’s space. “Shiemi is not well and your comments have crossed the line. She’s suffering right now and despite that puts on a brave face to be a good host. And instead of repaying her kindness you seem determined to criticize her!”
Izumo grit her teeth. “She needs to hear it! Possession needs a constant emotional fuel, she’s not going to get anywhere if you keep coddling her and dodging the truth of the situation.”
Okumura opened his mouth to argue but Shiemi's soft voice cut him off. "Possession? You...you think I've been possessed?" Her voice was strained, already fraying around the edges.
"Shiemi I..." Okumura looked physically pained as he struggled for the words. "Your...mother thinks something may be harming you and I'm here to sort of...check up on things."
The sharp, damp, and slightly sweet smell of earthen demon spiked as Shiemi's face crumpled. Not in sadness, but in rage. The blonde whirled to glare at her mother, her fists clenched tight in the grass where she still kneeled. "So now you're worried? Where was your worry when Grandma had been dead, alone, for hours because you never checked on her? You can't act like you suddenly care now, I won't let you! I hate you!" The smell flared to an almost staggering level before Shiemi's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed on the ground.
Moriyama came running over, tears hanging on her lashes, and Izumo wordlessly got out of the mother's way.
She hadn't expected that, anger. Shiemi had seemed so similar to the delicate flowers she tended. Pushed too far in any direction she'd wilt and shrivel up completely. The perfect victim, the perfect damsel. But that wasn't true, was it?
Moriyama carefully arranged her daughter in her arms and stood. "Can you help me get her to a bed?" She asked, eyes not leaving her daughter's face.
Izumo took a step forward but Okumura sidestepped her with a nasty glare. "You've done enough." He muttered under his breath. Yet another reason to hang back as Shiemi was taken to a shed just off of the garden. She wanted to brush off the animosity but it clung like burrs to the hem of her pants. Spiny clusters of guilt that wouldn't be brushed aside so easily. She didn't regret saying what she had, exactly, but she didn't want to encourage the demon's grip on its victim.
Moriyama emerged from the shed a few moments later looking shaken. Having seemingly forgotten that there were still people around in the garden the older woman leaned back against the wall of the shed and curled around her arms.
Izumo hardly felt the steps it took for her to cross the garden and stand at Moriyama's side. She had no idea what to say. The older woman wasn’t crying, at least, glancing up once as Izumo approached but otherwise completely still. “Is…is she alright?” She asked softly.
Moriyama sighed. Her eyes were burning a spot in the grass. “She’s stable. Yukio’s exorcising her now. You mentioned you specialized in possession, didn't you?"
"Yes," Izumo said hesitantly.
The older woman looked up and studied Izumo's face carefully. Her dark eyes looked so sad, all the lines in her face casting her expression into shadow. She looked tired. "Do they mean it?" At Izumo's confused hum Moriyama continued. "Do the possessed mean what they say? Do they mean it?"
Izumo glanced down sharply. Biting words from the past nipping at her ears. The softer truth was so easy to drown out next to all the lies that had come spilling out of her mother's mouth. "It's not a complete lie. But during possession demons will take even the smallest seeds of emotion and twist them into something so much worse."
Moriyama nodded but she didn't look comforted. "At this rate, even if what she said wasn't true, I feel like I'll lose my daughter within the year."
Izumo didn't know what to say to that. She's sure that if Rin were here he'd have a whole feel-good speech ready to go. But Rin wasn't there, so Izumo would just have to improvise. "Tell her, then." She said, flicking one of her pigtails over her shoulder. "Nothing's worse than a mother who can't be honest with her children."
The older woman snorted, a wry smile curling up on her face. "You really do have quite the mouth on you, young lady. It'd do you well to try and be sweeter."
Uke and Mike's teasing voices chuckled in Izumo's mind, her face heating up. "I'm doing fine just the way I am." She bit back, trying not to sound as defensive as she felt.
"Of course, of course." Moriyama tutted, still smiling. She looked back at the shed with one final look of sadness before she sighed. "My apologies, you still need your summoning papers don't you? Let's go inside, let them finish up out here."
She's rung up without much fanfare. Moriyama pressed the stack of papers into Izumo's grip with two hands, squeezing them kindly. "Next time you need more supplies, remind me to put a kettle on. You could do with some tea service lessons."
"That's- really, I don't need-"
"Nonsense," Moriyama waved her off. "Consider it your repayment for this afternoon. My Shiemi will be needing an apology from you." She said with a chuckle.
Izumo chuckled back. Outwardly intimidated by Moriyama's chilling tone. Privately, she was glad that Shiemi had a mother who was willing to defend and protect her no matter what. She hoped that this experience would drill some appreciation into that fluffy blonde head of hair. If not, well, they apparently had some tea ceremonies in the future to set the record straight.
Izumo ducked out of the shop a split second before Okumura and Shiemi came back inside. Izumo had her back pressed up against the wall and could hear as Shiemi tearfully apologized to her mother. There was a lot more shuffling and sniffling, but Izumo didn't stick around for the rest of the aftermath. She had to take the longest route imaginable back to her dorm and she didn't want Okumura to leave and catch her still loitering around like some lost child. She didn't need that kind of embarrassment today.
When she got back to her dorm, unsurprisingly Rin was still there and still hanging out on her bed. He looked up from a manga as she entered and practically lit up. "Hey, you got your papers! Congrats!"
She groaned, shoved him over, and fell face first into her bed. Her papers scattered across her dorm floor but she couldn't bring herself to care much about that at the moment.
Rin let her wallow for a blissful few seconds. "So...did'ja meet any cute girls?"
Izumo grabbed blindly for her pillow and chucked at straight at his face.