The warm midday sun shines in all its splendor, causing the world under its light to gain an overflowing vitality and begin to stir.
"Surprisingly small, truth be told I was expecting something bigger."
Looking straight ahead with a surprised expression, Asahiko begins to analyze the fertility temple.
It certainly was small, but it has nothing to envy the main temple, either in design or state of preservation.
"Okay, now what do we do? We go in and knock on the door, maybe we just shout from here, clap our hands until we get attention."
"Or we wait until she comes."
Cutting Asahiko's words in half, who is thinking of the best way to screw with whoever is in there, Kikyo points slightly forward with a nod of her head.
Approaching with an elegance and posture that doesn't seem to go hand in hand with her appearance, stands a petite priestess who hardly reaches 5'5".
She has neck-length black hair, which seems to shimmer in the sunlight, her eyes are a deep black color, making them stand out with her white skin.
"I see we have some stragglers, which is strange, since those come on the fourth day and not the fifth day."
Looking closely at Kikyo and Asahiko, the young priestess brings a hand to her chin, but the priestess outfit is so big that the sleeves cover her hands.
That situation doesn't seem to bother her at all, almost as if she couldn't notice it even though it was happening to her. Relaxing that posture, a strangely hollow smile spreads across her face.
"We're sorry, we only just arrived last night and like any young couple, we got lost in such a great festival."
"I understand. All the young couples that come through here, after the third day say the same thing, but I still give them my blessing."
Shaking her head, as if this was something normal, the little priestess turns and starts walking towards the temple, not before giving them both a second glance, always keeping a smile.
Following the priestess with complete confidence, she as well as Kikyo and Asahiko enter the interior of the small temple in a few moments.
...Christopher/Asahiko pov…
Everything about this priestess seems to be screaming that she is a freak, not that it's me imagining things, just look at her empty eyes that don't seem to be able to see us, that immovable smile and her strange behaviors.
Well, maybe the eyes are because they are black and naturally give a bad feeling, then the smile can be attributed to the fact that she is one of "Business", but her behaviors are... Weird.
For a few moments everything in her releases elegance and subtlety, in another moment she wobbles like a leaf in the wind. At times her muscles seem to be relaxed, only to then become tense again.
It is almost as if there is a constant tug of war within her, making her seem erratic.
"Please take a seat. I am coming, I will fetch what is needed for the blessing."
"Thank you, Priestess Yaeko."
There was the slightest tremor in her body after she uttered his name, but her smile returned to normal and as if she was a robot, she mechanically turned around before leaving.
Damn, she's too strange, it's almost like she's acting on pure instinct, and she only truly acts when there are those little subtleties in her gait or muscles.
"What do you say?"
"Weird."
"Well, I was going to tell you boy or girl, but leaving it to chance works too."
We may be straight into the lion's den, but it's never a bad time to tease Kikyo.
Yes, maybe I should take it more seriously, but Yaeko seems to act automatically. Most likely she'll give us that blessing, speak a few words to us, and let us go.
"Excuse me, I'm coming in."
"Go ahead, besides this is your place, we are only mere guests."
Ignoring my words, just like everything else that doesn't seem to fall into her prearranged script, Yaeko leaves a wet tray on the table.
It was a strange situation, on the tray there are two glasses, but one is completely empty and Yaeko passes it to Kikyo, while the one filled with a cloudy liquid, stays right in front of me.
"Drink and receive the blessings of fertility."
"Priestess."
"Drink and receive the blessings of fertility."
"Yaeko"
"Drink and receive the blessings of fertility."
Her dialogue seems to be stuck right on that very sentence, making me feel a small tremor, at her lack of any other reaction.
Putting that aside, I scan her body with my eyes and find where the liquid from Kikyo's glass has gone. Yes, it has all poured out on her, revealing that under her priestess outfit she is completely bandaged.
With nowhere to escape to, both myself and Kikyo, we lift the glasses and drink it all in one gulp. I did, since there was nothing in hers.
"Congratulations on receiving the fertility blessing. The main ritual will begin this very night, all couples should gather at the main temple and receive God's blessing."
"Understood."
Lifting my body and taking Kikyo who had her eyes fixed on Yaeko, she led us to the exit, while behind us the same words of Yaeko kept playing, in an absolute loop.
We quickly walked away from the temple, even seeming to walk a little faster than normal... Yes, it was scary, that thing so human and inhuman at the same time.
"Can he still be saved?"
"."Difficult, but not impossible. It seems to be resisting Eien's intrusion, although I can't feel the situation in depth.... Everything about her is too strange."
Stopping my erratic steps, I give her a little explanation about what I felt from Yaeko, who seems to be in a complicated situation.
"I see..."
"Why the reluctance. We have a super priestess, besides the amazing me, who has some purifying flames, this is not a problem."
"Are you going to help her?"
"Puff, obviously not. I'm only doing it because you asked."
Hehehe, now I'll have one more point to blackmail her with later.
"Lie, you would have helped her anyway. You're too... Human to leave her like that."
"I love your confidence, but I would have preferred something like:Good person, Broad hearted, or something like that."
Letting out a sigh for being caught red-handed, I can only give him an accomplice smile and keep walking forward.