"Rest assured. Since they bear the name of Lunarians, Lady Tsukuyomi and I shall bear the corresponding responsibility," Eirin replied with equal gravity. "When the day comes that we return to the moon, please come and see for yourself."
"Then I can relax," Sū ěr sighed.
Even if he couldn't feel total empathy for the humans of this era, seeing a few people he liked and favored secured a bright future was enough for him.
As for returning to the lunar surface, Sū ěr treated it as if he hadn't heard. Unless something went wrong, he would likely miss that important moment for the Lunarians.
In fact, he had already guessed who the lunar inhabitants Nurarihyon mentioned were. But the 'himself' in Nurarihyon stories had led a war against the moon with Yakumo Yukari and her Yōkai... He couldn't figure out things that far back. He'd leave the troubles of the future to tomorrow's self.
Right now, Sū ěr just wanted to see that pink-haired Flügel again.
When he saw her every day, he was annoyed by her troublemaking and got a headache from her 'kill-kill-kill' worldview, but after being apart for so long, he truly missed her... Sū ěr was such a contradictory being.
He had returned to this era for that very reason, and to ensure the modern technological world led by humans appeared as intended. The more he thought about Jibril coming back to him, the more... uh, anxious he felt. He was no longer as calm as when he thought he'd never see her again.
"Let's go. Think," Sū ěr called out to her. "Eirin, until we meet again."
"Please, be careful."
Eirin didn't know what the two were up to, but she offered a blessing as if they were heading into a great battle.
First, they returned to the bamboo house Sū ěr had built with his own hands. The orchard and vegetable garden behind it were still growing well. Many ripe fruits and vegetables had fallen and rotted on the ground because no one was there to harvest them, but there were still plenty of new ones hanging on the branches.
Without a word, they harvested them all.
The Zashiki-warashi had grown a bit too. Though not by much, and it still couldn't speak, its form was much larger. It was no longer a simple pixel-art green stick figure, but was beginning to show a human silhouette. However, looking at the faintly pointed ears on the sides of what should be its head, Sū ěr felt it was imitating someone it really shouldn't.
Naturally, they had to take it along—wait, it seemed the house couldn't be taken along.
Looking at the little thing lying on the floor in a state of utter agony, even Think was stumped. If the little one had a physical body, the surrounding ground would have been soaked by its tears by now.
The green silhouette was just the manifestation of the Zashiki-warashi; it wasn't even its body. Its body had never changed: it was this bamboo house Sū ěr had built. Removing any piece of it was like cutting into the spirit's own flesh with a knife.
Any disassembly or warping would cause irreparable damage to the spirit and might even cause the little one, who was trying so hard to learn to speak, to lose its mind.
"What do we do? Great Lady Nirvalen, think of something!"
Squatting beside the Zashiki-warashi, Sū ěr looked at Think for help, feeling completely lost. His abilities were useless in this situation—even the world had limits. And Think... she was also out of options.
No, she was on the way to finding a solution; she just hadn't thought of it yet.
"Do you think I'm Doraemon?" Though she had no physical body, Think habitually rubbed her temples. She sighed and said, "If all else fails, we'll just have to ask someone else to look after it."
Thump! Thump! Thump!
That was the sound of the Zashiki-warashi banging its head against the floor upon hearing the suggestion. The little one seemed to be sinking into despair.
"...Ask who? Yakumo Yukari?" For once, Sū ěr immediately thought of that shrewd and wicked female Yōkai, only to reject the idea a second later. "Forget Yukari. Who knows what she'd use a Zashiki-warashi for. Besides, I don't like owing favors to people like her."
"It's okay, don't worry," Think said, surprisingly squatting down to comfort the little one. She looked at Sū ěr. "Don't we have another choice? That Eirin."
"Them?" Sū ěr was surprised, but the more he thought about it, the better the suggestion seemed. Just knowing that Tsukuyomi and Eirin only accepted pure-hearted people as subjects gave him a sense of security. Since they were still in Ashihara no Nakatsukuni, asking them to look after the Zashiki-warashi seemed fine.
He'd just have to repay them later.
The little one was still banging its head, unwilling to be separated from Sū ěr and Think.
"It's not that hard to solve, is it?" Think ruffled the stick-figure head. "Since we can go to the future through that Milky Way and return to this era through that well, we just need to come back and visit occasionally. Normally, we can just let Eirin look after it for us."
"...I guess you're right. Uh, that's all we can do." Scratching his head, Sū ěr made his decision.
After comforting the little one for a while, Sū ěr and Think promised they would come back to visit often, and that once it fully manifested a body and could leave the house, they would take it with them everywhere. Only then did the session end. It was quite heartbreaking to see the little thing leaning against the doorframe with teary eyes as they left.
Sū ěr sighed and stopped his wandering thoughts. He hadn't expected to meet Eirin again so soon after saying goodbye, but thanks to his and Think speed, when he returned to the forest near Izumo City, Eirin was still there waiting for Daigu.
Well... ordinary human legs weren't exactly fast.
After entrusting the Zashiki-warashi to Eirin, Sū ěr and Think had one less thing to worry about in this era. Though they wanted the little spirit by their side, they had to accept that 'children' need time to grow.
"Let's go... Yakumo Yukari?" Think asked casually, floating beside Sū ěr with her arms crossed.
"Yeah, that's right... It's time to see that Yōkai Empire she built," Sū ěr mused. "But before that, we need to go find someone and get something first."
"Mhm?"