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NOTES
My friend has been bugging me for this chapter for ages. Tada! Enjoy :)
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― SHE EFFORTLESSLY HOPPED onto the platform, making little to no noise as she landed. She looked up to Nakime, who sat unmoving and unnerved as always with her biwa and bachi pick in her hands.
"Oh!" a voice exclaims from below. When Hikari looks to her left, she sees a ceramic pot decorated with flowers jump into the air and land back on the platform. She narrows her eyes, immediately knowing who this was.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Hikari-sama!" the voice says excitedly. A pale, grotesque figure emerges from the pot, the sides of its head adorned with short arms. The demon's eyes were replaced with green-lipped mouths, and opposite ends of its face were indented with its glowing yellow eyes. The engraved 'Upper Rank Five' shone like a red-light lantern from Yoshiwara, the words saying more than any storyteller ever could.
"How lovely it is to see you in such good health! What has it been, ninety years since I last saw your face?"
UPPER MOON FIVE / 上弦 の 伍 \ / 玉壼 \ GYOKKO
"When I was summoned here, I thought for a second you might have perished and my heart began to sing-!" Gyokko begins, but cuts himself off and clears his throat. "My poor worried heart was filled with anguish at the thought of it," he continues, his tone different to one of obvious feigned sadness.
'I know what you were really thinking, you would have loved to take my place.' Hikari thinks. 'But, since you're one of my favorites, I'll let it slide for now.'
Sensing the presence of another demon nearby, Hikari turns around and looks up at a nearby staircase. There, she saw a thin, cowering figure with a sphere between two horns on its forehead. It trembled and mumbled in fear at the sight of her.
"How terrifying, terrifying!" it says with a shaky voice. "It appears that in the time we've been apart you've even forgotten so much as how to count, Gyokko!"
UPPER MOON FOUR / 上弦 の 肆 \ / 半天狗 \ HANTENGU
"It's been one hundred and thirteen years since we were last summoned..." Hantengu continues, holding a hand above his head and looking at his bony fingers in fear. "That's an indivisible number.. an uneven number!" the demon puts his hand to his face. "And it's odd. Terrifying, terrifying!"
