lunaris | akaashi keiji

𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚛

"Akaashi, over here!"

You saw the way the setter's head immediately whipped in your direction, blue eyes lighting up with recognition as he jogged to where you were standing in wait. There weren't as many people crowding the train station like usual in the middle of the week, but today was a different case.

"Are you really sure about this?" he asked, staring at the brochure you'd given him yesterday. "I've seen everything this world has to offer. I don't think a trip to around the city would give any new sights for me to see."

"Such pessimism so early in the morning," you scoffed, rolling your eyes. You then tugged on his wrist to drag him over to the ticketing machines. "Oba-san told me that visiting the same place with different people incurs all sorts of feelings. So, who's to say I can't overwrite your bad experiences with new ones?"

The setter stared at you pointedly. "...Bad experiences? You humans really are strange. To think that you're so convinced you could just erase a thousand years of suffering in a day."

"Shut up," you told him as you busied yourself with the machine. "It's the first holiday we've had from school in a while, and I'm simply using it to my advantage!"

Once you'd retrieved two tickets for your first stop in Ueno Station, you gestured for Akaashi to follow suit. For a few moments, he merely stood his ground, staring at you with a nonchalant yet observant gaze. His mouth was quirked upward in a somewhat sly smile.

You tipped your head to the side, calling out his name in confusion before he seemingly snapped out of his trance. The yokai sighed after a hurried apology, jamming his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he let you lead the way without much complaint. You had half the mind to ask why he spaced out all of a sudden, but you had a long day ahead, after all.

———༺♥༻———

"Oh, that man tried to behead me once."

You shushed the yokai's voice when a couple of other tourists shot wary glances your way. "Akaashi, don't say stuff like that out loud! Who are you, Bokuto-san?"

With how long he'd been alive, you thought that it would be a good idea to drop by the National Museum right next to Ueno Park. While you didn't really know how immortals like Akaashi would react to seeing centuries of history being put up on display, you hadn't really expected for him to be so...casual about it.

"But it's true, though," he sighed, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "He was famous for breeding cattle in the Sengoku era, and you know animals are my main source of nutrition. I simply thought he wouldn't notice if one of his cows went missing."

"...And he did?"

Akaashi breathed out an airy laugh as he trained his eyes on the life-sized replica of the so-called cattle breeder. "I never thought such a mild looking person could wield a sword with that much animosity until that day. His bloodlust rivalled that of Nobunaga's, even."

You whipped your head back at him with a gasp. "You've met Oda Nobunaga?"

A flash of offense hovered over his navy blue eyes. "I don't get why you people of the modern age are so fixated with that freeloader. You have the privilege to be spared by the first yokai ever created, you know?"

"I don't really think that's a privilege, Akaashi," you replied drily, glancing around at the rest of the Sengoku section.

There was an abundance of katanas and other weapons of war hung on the walls—each having been preserved in pristine condition despite the time that had already passed. Some of the warlords' bloodstained haoris and hakamas were also being kept in glass cases, where visitors may admire the intricate patterns weaved into the clothing. Faded ukiyo-e paintings were also framed up on the other end of the hall, depicting picturesque images of life as it had been in the Sengoku period.