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[ Month of Renewal 15th, Midday / Jiaojing Province, Maolan Forest, Worn Down Shrine ]
"Urgh... sis'...?"
Lan struggled to stand, fighting whatever substance had found its way into her system. What was she doing there, anyway? Oh wait! The festival thing! She checked her pocket.
Oh no, no, no, no... where was the bell?!
Her bell. Of all the ways to lose a bell: falling asleep and just having it taken like that?! It wasn't how she'd pictured losing it
at all... not that she'd pictured losing it in the first place!
...and there was something infinitely more important missing as well.
"Sis'? Where...?" Lan turned around several times, catching sight only of a few other down'd people and a distant building. Seeing as the structure was the only significant thing to go off of, she headed that way, quietly murmuring reassurances to herself.
"It'll be okay..."
"You'll find her..."
"She'll be waiting at the shrine over there..."
"You can just get another bell..."
"Sis'll never have to know you lost it..."
After a short travel, Lan finally arrived at the shrine. The
almost empty shrine, if not for a slightly younger looking girl with black hair.
Lan breathed in deep: in and out.
She repeated the process.
A few times actually.
...okay, more like
several times.
Wait, was that girl upset?
What if she said something wrong?
The girl might be even more upset.
...and then the shouting and...
Maybe a few more deep breaths... for good measure.
...
A few minutes of silently peeking around the corner at the girl, Lan had arguably breathed enough; either to meet a new, upset person, or to feed a large-sized rainforest with their yearly requirements of carbon dioxide.
"Excuse me..." Lan called softly, finally leaving her corner of safety.
"H-have you seen the... umm... the other me...? Around here...? Lately?"
Tsubaha had been tense the entire time. She had been hearing heavy breathing inside the shrine shortly after she arrived to inspect it. It was rather unnerving. But as time when on she was able to realize some other things too. Namely, that it was from a girl, and secondly, that they sounded more fearful than threatening.
She already had her hands to her blades and was at the ready when the breathing stopped, and the figure inched out and finally called out to them. Their question was moot, however - in this ruined building it was hard to even tell what she looked like, beyond strikingly noticeable long and white hair.
The girl peeking from around the corner seemed like someone who'd scare real easily. Well, right now it seemed like she already was scared as it is.
"It's hard to tell considering you're calling me out from the dark over there. But, if the 'other you' has long white hair like that then I guess I could say no, I haven't seen her. If that's all you had to ask of me then leave."
Tsubaha rather sternly told her to leave. No, she wasn't going to deal with this. Her bells had been taken and she had to formulate a plan to get them back. This shrine didn't offer any clues, but she couldn't leave with this girl hanging around.
There was the possibility that she was trying to lay out a trap, stab her from behind when she let her guard down. Tsubaha had no intention to allow that.
"...Didn't I already tell you that I didn't see her? You better head out or I'm going to be compelled to go after your bell!"
"Oh..."
Lan sighed once the stranger mentioned she hadn't seen her before, visibly deflating a bit.
"...then where is she...?"
As Lan stared off into space, the other girl must've noticed she wasn't moving, as she was called out to again. Of all the things she'd expect from a random upset girl in a shrine, this was probably the last thing
Lan had imagined her to say.
"Y-you'd do that for me...?"
After a brief moment, Lan slowly wandered forward into the light, only ever briefly meeting the girl's eyes, before her own would flit away to the ceiling, or a bench, or an ornate statuette...
anything else, really.
"How did you know I lost my bell...? W-was I that obvious...?" Lan rubbed her hands together awkwardly.
"Everyone says I'm not very good at hiding..."
"...hiding my feelings... I mean..."
"...I'm pretty good at regular hiding..."
Lan's voice slowly got quieter until she just stood there, completely silent.
The girl seemed to completely misunderstand what Tsubaha had said there. Somehow, 'I'
m gonna go right after you if you don't leave' turned into:
'I'm going to help you out!'
Even as the girl approached her, she still seemed very timid.
"No I said- ...nevermind."
There was no point trying to argue, it seemed. But, everything about this person seemed to somehow emit a serious signal of 'stay away'. Tsubaha stood before the girl in complete silence. Like she had run out of any will to talk further.
Tsubaha wanted out. She didn't have time to babysit this girl, she had other things to do. Provided the sister wasn't among those out in the field who didn't wake up, she'd probably reunite with this person sooner or later.
Leaving her behind... there was a nice way to go about it and a mean way to go about it. The mean way backfired tremendously. So this time around the alternative approach could be tried out.
"Alright then. Let's go look for your sister then. She's probably somewhere around here. Since you're good at hiding here, I'll go ahead and go find her out there."
Tsubaha nodded, as if confirming the iron solid logic of her plan.
"Yes. That'd be the best course of action. You can look around and hide here while I go check outside. I'll come back later after looking around the outside of the shrine, 'kay?"
Yes. She'd leave but not come back. At best, she'd direct anyone who looks a whole lot like this timid creature back to this shrine.
"You... you'll help me find sis' too...?!"
Lan looked genuinely surprised, and about as excitedly pleased as one might expect such a socially awkward person to get while still trying not to botch up a first meeting with a kind stranger.
"That's... well, it's so kind... especially since we only just met. I'm Lan... and my sister's Ran. She looks just like me, so..."
Finally taking a moment to look at this kind stranger's face, Lan clearly noticed something that - in hind sight - probably should've been pretty obvious before...
"Oh...! Umm... you look kind of... I mean..." Lan trailed off again as she felt the girl's gaze,
"....are you okay...? You look a little... upset... I think..."
Lan sent a warm smile in the girl's general direction. Considering how Lan was still avoiding her eyes, the smile ended up being sent to somewhere around the girl's shoulders, and while shoulders weren't the
best at receiving smiles, they were better at it than several other places.
"Is there... maybe... anything I can do to help...? You've been so nice to me, so..." Lan trailed off again.
"I haven't done anything but say I'll help find your sister. Please don't be so impressed."
This girl... If one of Tsubaha's brothers were here he'd be very happy. She had the same sort of personalty as a character he liked from a play. As for Tsubaha, she didn't get the appeal.
"I'm just fine."
Seeing the girl's warmer expressions in response to her own insincere promises made Tsubaha feel a little guilty. But she shrugged it off quickly.
"Just, let me do my thing. I've also lost my bell as well. So, I'm in a bit of trouble as well. All I need you to do is stay put in this shrine. Do that, and I'm sure your sister will find you, eventually. As for your bell, well, I guess that can come after you find her I guess. She's more important, right?"
But, somehow, the timid girl before her seemed somewhat forward about returning the favor... at least forward for someone who had a wholly withdrawn personality.
"...Well. You could help me with one thing. If you ever see me and your sister fighting. Could you help me put a stop to it?"
It was kind of something thought up on the spot. But, it was something that could be useful in the future. Especially in this tournament where everyone was trying to beat those bells out of each other.
"It is impressive though," Lan insisted.
"If you think about it... since it's the Festival of Swords, you might have just started hitting me. You know... for my bell..."
"..."
"...oh."
Lan's face suddenly grew red enough to make the average strawberry feel insecure about itself. Another short and
incredibly uncomfortable moment later: Lan continued.
"W-well... I'm sorry, but... I can't promise something like that..." Lan looked up, truly apologetic.
"We really need three bells, no matter what... so... umm..."
Another pause.
"Oh, but... well... if we both lost our bell, maybe the same person has both of them...?" Lan idly gazed outside the shrine.
"It's just not very... sporting, I guess... winning with poison."
"...I'm a little mad... actually..."
The way Lan had mentioned her anger was so demure, it almost felt like a lie. Quietly, she covered a few coughs with her hand, then - turning back - Lan faced the girl's general direction once again.
"...I guess I can promise you... we won't take your bells... umm... unless we really have to..."
"...because at least you didn't cheat..."
One, last, brief look into the eyes of this shrine girl was Lan's own little 'goodbye.' Having run out of things to say, she simply turned to leave.
After all that trouble Tsubaha was finally able to be left on her own again. Somehow, even though it was apparent that this girl was shy, it was actually harder to talk to her than it was with a normal person. Why in the world was that. It almost even felt like she was just being used to keep her company, or something.
In the end, even in a gentle way, in order to get the bells they needed, all options were on the table. Tsubaha couldn't really blame her though, she was just a complete stranger saying nice things out of the blue. Basically exactly what Tsubaha was to her.
The Twin Swordstress. Confirming her own isolation, rested her hands on her sheathed blades at her side. She was able to rest a little easier.
"Coming in as a group, and being able to depend in your own sister like that." Tsubaha huffed out something of a small laugh.
"Heh. Must be nice. None of my siblings would do that for me."
The chances that they'd meet again were low.
If the competition in this tournament was in the realm where poisoning people was normal, then it was likley this would be the last time she'd ever see this girl.
But on the off chance that she did...
"If push comes to shove. I won't show you or your sister any mercy either, Lan. I have to win against that person no matter what."
"Everyone and everything else is a potential obstacle. But, as long as I win - nothing else matters."
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