CELESTIAL FLOWERS ( s. gojo )

arc i ━ chapter iv. jeopardy, 1

a r c  i.
❝ and you love the chains, even when they cast you to the ground. ❞
━━ chapter iv. jeopardy, part 01

KAZUKO SPENDS YET ANOTHER DAY IN ERISU'S FACE. They're situated in a guest house prepared by the elders, a traditional Japanese estate with roof tiles, wooden floors and walls decorated with paintings depicting maidens dancing as the skies shifted from night to day. There are no servants in the house and the only source of food is the well stocked kitchen that Kazuko and Gojo cook in. The latter is better at cooking than the former, but it's something Kazuko will not admit. Erisu never complains about the food, so the mealtimes are relatively peaceful save for some backhanded compliments offered by Gojo.

All is well, except they do something incredibly stupid, as Kazuko would put it. It's Erisu's seventeenth birthday. December 21st. No grand celebrations are made. The elders don't send a letter. Kazuko tries to bake a cake from scratch, but ends up making something burnt. "If you feed that to Erisu, this is gonna be her last birthday, you know?"

"I have no plans of doing so," Kazuko answers and tries to salvage the non-burnt parts. Even then, she doubts that the brownish things she placed on a plate is near edible. Gojo takes a bite of it and has no qualms with showing his judgment of it.

"It doesn't taste as bad as it looks, but it's a little dry. You should add more eggs and try to use a timer next time."

Kazuko reaches for the plate to throw the entire thing away, but Gojo grabs one of her palms to inspect it. The skin contact makes her entire body jolt. It's such a rare occurence and she's never been close to someone this way. Still, the fact that it's Gojo Satoru kills any sort of fluttery feeling about to blossom. "You have a burn."

"It will heal." She swats his hand away, and moves to grab the plate, but he takes it away from her. "Give me the plate, Gojo-san. I'll dispose of it."

He grabs the entire collection of failed spongecake and shoves it into his mouth. Kazuko watches with a blank face, and sighs after she processed everything.

"It's food, don't waste any of it."

She ignores him. Again.

"Now I'm back to square one," she mutters and begins cleaning the cooking materials she used. "I don't have a present for Erisu."

"Don't worry about that, Azu!" A cheerful voice says. Erisu, who's wearing Kazuko's face, appears by the kitchen doorway. She's dressed from head to toe in winter gear, a muffler, a green scarf (Kazuko remembers gifting it to Eri for her twelfth birthday) and layers of coats. She only lacks the boots to put over her plain white socks. "I have an idea."

That leads them to a shrine temple Erisu has been wanting to visit. At first, Kazuko was vehement in her disapproval, but she was outvoted two to one. Gojo said that with him around it'd be fine and Erisu insisted that they needed a breath of fresh air since the household had been suffocating. It was also her birthday, she had added so Kazuko had no choice but to begrudgingly agree after grabbing one of the posts in attempt to tie herself to it. Gojo dragged her by the back of her coat in one go so it was all over quickly.

She was mesmerized by the temple when she saw it. A beautiful red and brown structure that stood upon a small island in the middle of a frozen lake. Two trees with snow clinging to the branches flanked each side and a torii gate served as an entryway to the entire thing. A small arching bridge connected the island, making it not as isolated. You needed to get pass the forest first before you arrived at the lake, but the path was clear, no wild animals in sight and only a few frozen bushes and grass covered in snow appeared.

The sunlight refracted off of the icy surface of the lake and created colorful arcs of color that only highlighted the temple's magnificence. The lanterns hanging by the sides of the bridge swayed ever so slightly whenever the winter breeze blow. It was a lovely sight to behold despite the chill of the season. Maybe it was even more beautiful in spring.