Pantheon Book 2: The Way of the Tao

A Terrible Plan

        Kaito brings Melody to the indoor bathhouse, promising that there will be food waiting for her once she's done. Now that he's pointed it out to her, Melody feels disgusting. It's been nearly three days since she's showered, or even changed clothes. Between fighting Orochi and arriving at the Shinto, all of her time has been focused on making sure the Kami are safe. Not to mention, she's barely slept since leaving Olympus over a week ago.

She takes her time scrubbing her hair with a sweet-smelling shampoo and lounges in the bath as long as she can. After nearly an hour, she catches herself starting to doze off and decides that she's clean enough.

With a wave, she conjures herself a new outfit; a simple pair of shorts, a loose-fitting white shirt, and a comfortable hoodie for warmth. They're more like pajamas than an actual outfit, but she doesn't care. She feels like a whole new person and wants to enjoy being relaxed while she can. She runs her fingers through her hair, enjoying how silky smooth it feels. She knows as soon as it starts to dry it's going to turn into a curly mess again.

When she comes out of the bathroom, she finds a small table with two trays. The left tray has a bowl of rice, what looks like grilled fish, soup, and an omelet. On the other is a collection of finger sandwiches, chicken strips, and vegetable sticks. Between the trays, there is a selection of drinks, including water, tea, coffee, and milk. Melody helps herself to a few of the sandwiches and tries the rice, eating slowly to enjoy it as much as she can. Once again, she realizes how little she's eaten lately, having constantly been running around to solve one problem or another.

When she's done eating, she steps into the hall, surprised to find Hinata there waiting for her. She guides Melody through the hall to another room, explaining that this is where she and her friends will be staying. She slides the door open to reveal a large room, much like the one she took them to when they first arrived. The room is wide and open, with very little decoration. The walls are made of cloth just like the halls, with two doors on either side. In the center is a ring of couches set into the floor, with a short table in the middle laid out with various snack foods. Koji and Marcus sit on opposite sides of the table, and they look up when she comes in.

"Good, we were starting to worry," Marcus says, waving her over. Melody thanks Hinata quickly before joining them on the couch.

"How is it going?" She says, regretting that she has to get right back into things. "Have you two eaten?" She adds, noticing that the snacks have barely been touched.

"Some," Marcus says dismissively. "We've mostly been planning for the fight. And it's...going." He says, scowling at Koji. Melody follows his lead, noticing how green Koji looks. She slides over to sit between them, patting his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" She says gently. Koji nods, swallowing hard and picking his head up.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine!" He says, his hands shaking. "Just...well, you see..."

"We realized a slight problem with the plan. The one where you and I fight the chuckle brothers while Koji deals with the third." Marcus explains, spreading his arm over the back of the couch. "You want to tell her, or should I?" Koji shivers, sitting up straighter.

"Itsuki and Ren - that's Fujin and Raijin's real names - like to fight. I'm positive that that's what they're going to choose. But...well..." He starts to look green again and grips his stomach. Melody slides closer to rub his back, and Marcus sighs.

"And apparently, both of them wanted to be Susanoo back in the day, but his teacher told them off. So, they have a bit of a vendetta against Koji, and whichever one doesn't face me will probably want a piece of him." He explains. Koji gurgles, clapping his other hand over his mouth. "And his little tough guy act probably didn't help to bury the hatchet."