Fateless

Chapter 10 - Discover

It was early dawn as Hana, Tomi, and Lord Hirano sat in the rather charred garden to discuss their next move. The lord was indifferent to the rubble remains scattered about. Tomi not so much.

Hana had apologised profusely to Lord Hirano, but he simply brushed it off. Even taking full responsibility for the incident, explaining to Hana that even though the alarming build-up of energy was pulled from her, only he was capable of powering it into a weapon. Or in this case a supernatural demolition hammer.

Hana's balcony was now half a balcony. A large scorch mark still simmered where a garden bed had once been. The pretty red bridge over the pond that once met the pergola was intact, but now it just met the icy water's surface with plentiful bobbing chunks of wood.

"Hana-san believes all the guests were abducted. Are you sure the girls that disappeared before today left on their own accord?" The lord questioned Tomi.

Tomi bitterly looked up from the mess as the master addressed her. Lord Hirano hadn't told her exactly what had happened leading up to the explosion and she was struggling to comprehend why he had blown up a piece of the villa.

"Yes. Their guardians collected them and that willing left," was her firm reply. "I guess except for Ume-san who returned the same night in the state that she was."

With Hana being incapacitated at the time, she had been filled in with occurrences she had missed. It appeared that the sisters, Yui and Ume, had been hypnotized away by the wisps during the night. But only Ume had been found disorientated and sobbing in the snow by Lord Hirano. Tomi had been treating her with the antidote Akira had supplied, while Lord Hirano had seen to Hana. She insisted that she only stepped out for a moment, and when she returned Ume was no longer in her bed. After a panicked frisk of the villa, she discovered Akira and Megumi were also missing. Moments before the unexpected renovations, Tomi had run in frantically to alert the master that Akira, Ume, and Megumi had now also disappeared.

"When? Did they call the residence first? Or just turn up? What did the guardians look like? Were they the same people who dropped them off at the residence?" He pressed.

"Yes. They-" Tomi stopped to ponder, blinking as she struggled to do so. "I- I can't remember. My memory is a little foggy," she eventually admitted.

"Let me see," the lord insisted.

Tomi eyed Hana suspiciously as he approached her.

"Don't worry about Hana-san. She's aware of my situation," he told her.

"I see that," she replied dryly as her gaze moved to the lord's still-exposed tail.

He stood before Tomi and stared confidently into her dark eyes. Placing his hands on either side of the woman's head, azure light began to glow from his palms for just a moment, and then the light was gone.

"It does feel like a spell is there. I think you may have a memory stutter." Lord Hirano informed her.

Tomi's face fell away in shame.

"A what?" Hana pried.

"It's another kitsune-fuelled spell that temporarily alters memory. It's not an easy spell if I'm remembering correctly. Takes a long time to brew, has a short shelf life, and only usually lasts a few days tops. If someone was using such a spell on Tomi-san to slip the girls away unnoticed, then I would assume the attacks on them were premeditated."

"Surely not Akira-sama's doing?" Tomi winced.

"I trust Akira. Perhaps someone from her clan could be the culprit though?"

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Hana interjected sceptically.

"Akira-sama is a very highly ranked noble of the kitsune clan residing in Akuma territory. She has been attending The Lustrum for many years as a gesture of peace between us. She takes her position on politics very seriously. But there is always someone unhappy with her decisions. It's the nature of the job."