Chapter Text
Someone knocks, and Hatate just about vaults over a table before catching herself to check her reflection in a mirror hanging on the wall. She postures herself before the door. Shoulders back, chin up. One deep breath in, and out through her nose. She hadn’t been expecting anyone this early. Hatate adjusts her tie one last time, as if anyone would even notice or care that it isn’t perfectly centered below her throat, and pulls the door open with a bright smile.
“Welco—“ Her smile falls into a scowl as fast as a rock dropping into a pond. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Aya leans forward and grins. “Good morning to you too, Himekaidou.”
All of that buzzing anticipation leaves Hatate’s chest in one annoyed ugh, and she would shut the door in Aya’s face if Aya weren’t already shouldering her way inside. Aya, to her credit, at least kicks her shoes off and removes her hat, holding it flat against her chest as she enters and looks around the cabin. At this morning hour, the sun spills plentiful light through the windows and across the floor.
“Hey, not bad. You actually cleaned this place up by yourself?”
“Obviously. Since this was my idea, it’d be totally pathetic if I pushed the hardest parts onto someone else so I could reap the benefits,” Hatate says, inwardly apologizing to the white wolves who had done most of the heavy lifting for her. To be fair, they offered! And then they outright insisted she accept their help, because they were bored out of their minds on their patrol. But if she admitted that she let the wolves restore and refurbish the cabin for her, Aya would probably find some way to use it against her. Hatate clears her throat. “Seriously, though. What are you doing here?”
“Curiosity. Mostly. Maaaybe with a dash of skepticism,” Aya says, dragging a finger along a windowsill. She stops and tilts her head toward Hatate. “I’d wager a guess that I’m the first to come here? Those ads you put in your newspaper didn’t sound so promising.”
“I-I’ve only been open for an hour! Less than an hour, even!” Hatate protests. She tightly crosses her arms. “It’s not fair to judge my new business when it hasn’t even had the chance to get off the ground.”
She reflexively flinches at her own usage of that word— business. Aya seems to notice, but only acknowledges it with a sly quirk of her lips. As if it matters! It shouldn’t matter! Technically, there is no monetary exchange involved, so technically she’s doing nothing wrong.
This building had probably once been used by a human hunter from ages past, and then served as a mountain hag’s storage shed before being abandoned to the elements once more. Structures like these are hidden in plain sight all over the mountain; ancient shrines, crumbling temples, and human abodes reclaimed by nature are all free game to the youkai. Hatate came across this one by pure chance. The timing just happened to line up perfectly with the idea she’d been brewing on and off for the past few months.
The rest happened over the beginning weeks of summer: clearing the dirt, the debris, the rubble, the trash; chasing away the evil spirit that had been lurking beneath the rotting floorboards; sweating in the shade while the wolves patched up the walls; carrying in furniture to make the cabin feel less haunted and more cute.
And it is cute, now. And cozy. In her opinion.
“I’m perfectly free to judge this new venture based on your previous… results with Kakashi Spirit News,” Aya says, the word failure implicitly slipped somewhere in there. She brings her fingertip up to eye level, rubbing it against her thumb to check for imaginary dust.
“I thought you of all tengu would be all over this chance to diversify,” Hatate shoots back. “Isn’t that what you’re always going on about? Innovation? New ideas? Change? I’m offering something new! Something that no one else in our village has ever done before! Maybe you’re just, like… ohh, I don’t know, jealous that you didn’t come up with it first.”
Aya lowers her hand and narrows her eyes. There wasn’t any need for her to check for dust in the first place, because Hatate swept this place from corner to corner after the white wolves fixed the roof. She’s just nitpicking for no damn reason, Hatate thinks.
“Even if I were to step away from my lauded position as an award-winning journalist—“
“What awards have you ever won?!”
“—I’d pick a new career more dignified than relationship counselor.”
Hatate’s shoulders stiffen. “Oh, yeah? Then let’s hear your amazing ideas.”
Knock-knock-knock. Both their heads turn to the door in perfect sync. Knock-knock-knock.
”Hello? Helloooo?”
Hatate shoves Aya aside. “Finally!”
For the second time that morning, like another stone tossed into the pond, Hatate’s smile drops when she opens the door to reveal none other than the Moriya shrine maiden on the doorstep, her knuckles poised in the air for another series of knocks.
“Oho, the mountain’s law enforcement has arrived,” Aya breezily says, peering over Hatate’s shoulder. “Here to deliver the gohei of justice upon my poor junior’s illegal operations?”
“What’s so illegal about what I’m trying to do?!”
Sanae’s mouth opens, then closes, and her fist returns to her side. “Pardon, um—“ She glances between Hatate and Aya. “I wasn’t expecting to see Miss Shameimaru here, is all. The ad said that Hatate is the one running this thing.”
“… You’re not here to investigate?” Hatate cautiously asks, gripping the edge of the door just in case she needs to rip it off its hinges and throw it at Sanae. Or better yet, maybe she should throw Aya at Sanae to give herself a window of escape. She dares to steal a glance behind her to gauge how fast she would need to be to grab Aya’s stupid face.
But Sanae shakes her head. “I didn’t get the feeling you were doing anything sketchy. Unless… hey, are you up to no good after all?!”
“Shhh!” Without thinking twice about it, Hatate grabs Sanae’s arm instead of Aya’s (stupid) face and pulls her inside, nearly tumbling into Aya in the process. Which probably didn’t do anything to help her proclamation of innocence, but rumors are all too easily carried by the mountain winds. “It’s not a business! It’s… it’s exactly as my ad said. I’m just offering help to whoever wants it!”
She half-expects Sanae to respond with some measure of violence, but Sanae was apparently telling the truth when she said she didn’t come here to investigate (or beat up anyone).
Yet.
“If you’re just playing one of your tengu tricks…!” Sanae warningly says, yanking her arm back.
“I’m not!” Hatate says, at the same time Aya says, “She definitely is.”
“Mmmh, ahh, well,” Hesitation. Consideration. “Then if you’re actually giving advice on… you know… romance stuff…”
Though a bead of sweat steadily makes its way down Hatate’s temple, she beams. A client! A real client! Granted, this particular client would probably whip out a spell card if Hatate gave anything less than a sage’s wisdom, but she has to start somewhere. While Sanae continues to fidget in deep thought, Hatate slides behind Aya and pushes her toward the door.
“Client confidentiality,” Hatate says, curt. Aya digs her heels in and she pushes harder. “As if I’d let you listen in! Get lost, already!”
“This is no way to treat your senior! I’m only trying to help!” Aya protests, though she stumbles outside anyway, unable to get another word in before Hatate slams the door shut. Aya appears in the window, face smushed against the glass. Hatate pulls the curtains shut.
So be it. Let her try to eavesdrop, then. Hatate would’ve been a fool not to anticipate something like this happening, anyway; the ongoings of the Human Village could only distract Aya for so long before she returned her attention to the mountain.
At least someone noticed what she’s doing. The Great Tengu is, as always, too preoccupied to acknowledge anything going on below her feet. Even if this somehow goes against whatever regulations the Great Tengu had established, Hatate doubts her boss would bother directly dealing with her.
“So,” Sanae starts, and Hatate hastily gestures to a pair of cushions set across each other, a low table between them.
“H-Have a seat!” she chirps, all too aware that she’d forgotten to bring tea and snacks from her roost in the village.
“I’ll cut right to the chase,” Sanae says, lowering herself to sit. “I want a girlfriend.”
Hatate pauses. “… Sorry, what?”
“I want a girlfriend!” Sanae says, more desperate than aggressive as she slaps her palms on the table. “Isn’t that the kind of consultation you’re offering?!”
“Well, kind of, but also—!”
“Lady Kanako and Lady Suwako have each other and it’s gross and unfair whenever they cuddle when they think I’m not looking but I am looking and I’ve been thinking that maybe it’d be nice if I could also have someone to cuddle with because it looks nice and warm and—“
“—more along the lines of like, helping couples fix their issues! That sort of counseling! Yanno, like—“
“—they probably wouldn’t be against it, but I’ve been so busy with my duties, and we’ve been getting more visitors to the shrine lately, not to brag or anything—“
“—but I’m also most definitely not any kind of professional and I’m definitely not a matchmaker… I mean, maybe i could give it a shot, it sounds kinda fun when I say it out loud—“
“—wouldn’t even know where to start because I’m pretty sure the girls my age in the Human Village think I’m a total weirdoooooo!!”
Sanae’s wail effectively pinches off their overlapped shouting, most of which was probably unintelligible if Aya was lurking outside with her ear pressed to the wall. Hatate stares at Sanae. Sanae stares back.
“… So you can help me?” Sanae finally asks, slightly out of breath and cheeks flushed.
Hatate slowly nods. “Maybe. Probably. Depends— first things first, are youkai off the table?”
Sanae mirrors Hatate’s nod. “As a representative of the Moriya Shrine, I definitely can’t date any youkai. Um, no matter how cute she is. Sorry.”
“Oh. Haha, wow, I wasn’t talking about myself, but I’m super flattered.”
“I wasn’t talking about you either!” Sanae sputters. She runs a hand over her face, glancing off to the side. “N-Not to say you aren’t cute, even if you’re a tengu— uh, um, could we go back to the part where I just said I want a girlfriend?”
Hatate resists the urge to pull on her hair. “Hey, don’t sweat it. The Great Tengu would totally burn me if that happened, anyway. So. You can’t date youkai, and you think the girls in the Human Village wouldn’t be into you, either. Who’s even left?”
“I…” Sanae’s gaze slides lower and lower until she’s staring at the floor. “I already maybe prooobably had someone in mind.”
“Who, Reimu?” Hatate laughs. Her laughter fades when Sanae’s face turns a deeper shade of red. “Oh. Reimu. Seriously?”
When it comes down to the nitty gritty details, Hatate supposes it’s not much of a shocker— not worthy of a headline, even. A rivalry blooming into romance is a tale as old as time. It’s a cliché, is what it is. The Moriya Shrine miko seeking the company of one of her own followers would’ve served a much more salacious story; after all, Sanae could hardly be called a human herself, in Hatate’s opinion, despite her very human posturing.
No god Hatate had ever met has presented themselves with an apple-red countenance, mumbling about a violent brute like Reimu Hakurei as if she were a flowering damsel. No god would even entertain the idea of approaching a lowly nobody-tengu like Hatate for advice. The gods simply act as they will, reaching for what they desire without question, if they would even hold such desires in the first place. They don’t need to second-guess themselves.
Maybe Sanae can still be called a human, then. Huh.
Sanae abruptly stands. “Sorry, maybe this was a bad idea—“
“Wait!” Hatate cries out. “I’ll help. I don’t really get why you’re into someone like Reimu, but I’ll help. That’s what I said I’d do, right?”
Thankfully, Sanae does not make a beeline for the door, but she does fidget on the spot like she’s considering it. “It’s not like you could go talk to her for me, since she’d probably just beat you up, so…”
“Oh, obviously I wouldn’t do that, I’m not an idiot,” Hatate says, waving her wrist. “Sit back down, girl. I’ll tell you what to do.”
It’s just about time for lunch when Sanae finally leaves, wearing an optimistic smile and her cheeks still ruddy from both sweat and abashment. She doesn’t seem to notice Aya crouched beneath the window like a bug. Or maybe she simply doesn’t care. Hatate steps outside to watch Sanae fly off downhill, hands on her hips and exhaustion already creeping up over her shoulders. That was a lot of work just for one customer; maybe she’ll close up early and take the rest of the day off. Yeah, she totally earned it.
“Well?” Aya demands, pushing herself up to her feet. “How’d it go?”
“Why should I tell you? Client confidentiality, remember?” Hatate sticks her tongue out.
“Fine, be that way,” she scoffs. “But, color me impressed— I will say that I didn’t take you to be much of a manipulator. Not anyone could rope in and toy with the Moriya shrine maiden so brazenly like you just did.”
“I wasn’t messing with her, you asshole,” Hatate says, scowling. “She really did want my help, so I gave it to her. That’s all it was. But I guess you’re so used to dishonesty and underhanded tactics that you can’t wrap her head around the idea, right?”
“Are you questioning my integrity as a, might I remind you, award-winning journalist?”
“Again, what awards are you even talking about?!”
“But what’s in it for you?” Aya asks, eyes narrowing. “If it’s money you’re going to have to report your earnings to the Great Tengu, and I’m under the impression that you’re trying to stay off her radar. Is it money?”
“Nope,” Hatate says. She folds her hands behind her head, pleased with herself. “I’m not charging a single mon to any of my clients.”
“… Huuuh? Don’t tell me you’re doing it out of the goodness of your naive little heart. Not even you would put Kakashi Spirit News on hiatus just for a charity stunt.”
“I am gaining something from all this,” Hatate says, locking the door behind her. “But like I said, I’m not giving you any info, you good-for-nothing.”
Someone as stupidly persistent as Aya would be able to figure it out eventually. She had gotten a small part of it right, though. The tengu are intrinsically drawn to the idea of helping others, after all, and no matter how much of an outlier Hatate may be among the other outspoken and gregarious crow tengu, she is still a tengu. And as a tengu, she wouldn’t do all this purely for no reason, either.
This afternoon, Sanae is either going to beat the crap out of Reimu and earn her rival miko’s affections, or beat the crap out of Reimu and return to the status quo of pining in silence. Hatate isn’t really sure if her advice is going to work or not, but ultimately, it’s all going to be up to whatever Sanae chooses to do. Will she stand victorious over Reimu and deliver her confession in the smoldering heat of the battle’s aftermath? Or will she wither and choose the coward’s way out in defeat?
Hatate knows what she’d do, if she were in Sanae’s position. And now Sanae knows as well. That mutual understanding is to remain between the two of them, no matter what happens.
“C’mon, not even a hint?” Aya smirks, fluttering around Hatate.
Hatate shoves at Aya’s face with one hand. “No.”
