At that instant, a flicker of something else crossed Catherine's expression. Her lips twitched upwards into a smile as she let go of Shinso.
"We could let you frolic with them, if you agree to our conditions."
Shinso felt the petrifying fear leave his body the moment Catherine let go. He let out a shaky sigh, brushing his body off.
"Yes, a-anything."
Catherine looked towards the front door, before locking it with the flick of her wrist. "If you can find those two people for us, we'll make sure nothing ever hurts you."
She leaned in closer to Shinso, but didn't grab him this time. "We entrusted you with this potion for a reason. If you are to digest your Scale-Shifter potion and move on, sometimes, you have to do things you don't like."
Her lips twitched again as she looked towards Carter, who was situated in his chair. His left hand was inside the pocket of his jacket. In the dim light of the fire, Shinso spotted the silver case of a luger.
"You can stay with the Pollinators as long as they don't interfere with our actions. We simply steal food every Tuesday."
Hearing this, Shinso was overwhelmed with confusion. He looked around the rather elegant house and scoffed.
"Your living situation says otherwise, I'd think a mighty king would live here."
At that moment, the woman sighed and leaned back in her plush armchair. Her hand wrapped around the armrest, trembling slightly.
"The original owner of this house, someone who loved to mingle with those two times younger than himself, is buried underneath the floorboards."
Shortly after, Shinso was dismissed from the house with a pit in his stomach, one that couldn't be ridden so easily.
...
Knock, knock, knock.
Shinso rapped on the door to Ayumi's apartment for a few moments before stepping back and leaning on the wall opposite her door. From within the room, he could hear faint rustling sounds and chattering, as if more than one person was present.
Shortly after a faint pause, Mr. Ryujin opened the door, clad in casual wear. When he caught sight of Shinso, he smiled softly.
"Hey there, I was just helping Ayumi recover some more."
Shinso quickly recalled what he had learned from Ayumi during their brief encounter on the street. She was on her way to receive physical training from Mr. Ryujin. Upon recollecting everything, he calmly nodded in understanding, and looked past the man who closely resembled a humanoid dragon.
His eyes widened when he noticed that most of the furnishings and accommodations of the apartment had been relocated, all stuffed into a corner. Somehow, even the beds had been moved! The curtains had been drawn, shrouding the room in a darkness that could only be permeated by the light of the hallway.
In the epicenter of this reorganized room stood Ayumi, carrying a wooden stick with engravings on it. A piece of cloth had been tied around her eyes, disabling her from seeing anything around her.
The boy slowly entered the room, a look of confusion smothering his usually stern and collected expression. " What's all this for?"
Hearing the boys question, Mr. Ryujin silently turned on the overhead light, and signaled Ayumi to lift her blindfold. The black-haired girl did as instructed, putting the red cloth aside and turning to the duo. Shinso noticed how her expression noticeably softened upon seeing him. Shinso couldn't help but awkwardly rub the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly.
The duo watched as Mr. Ryujin strolled over to one of the bookshelves which hadn't been moved, his hands moving nimbly as he extracted a few volumes from the collection. Following this, he placed them on a table and gestured for Shinso to take a look.
Shinso approached the table, enraptured as the man opened the book. "I went to the local library a few days back, and I asked for volumes specializing in mental and spiritual health."
He grabbed one of the books, which had a bronze hard cover and was leatherbound with a built-in bookmark made of a short tassel.
The cover of the book looked worn down from usage and time, but he could distinguish what the cover said without much effort. "The Doctrine of the Katshinese Mindset." was labeled in an extravagant lettering format.
"In the last two thousand years, the Katshin Empire was the empire who loved war and fighting," Mr. Ryujin explained, flipping through the pages.
"In order to build the mindset of a warrior, one needed to survey not just their surroundings, but their primal instincts, and learn where they come from, and how to suppress them in combat."
Mr. Ryujin's explanation seemed to go in one of Shinso's ears and out the other. "What's that have to do with her healing? She isn't a warrior."
"Well, my friend," Mr. Ryujin turned from the book, slipping the make-shift bookmark into the page before closing it shut.
"It's all about reusing methods and interpreting them in a more positive light. The teachings I just described came from Emperor Morrigan, one of the leaders of the Katshin Empire. When I studied his philosophy, I couldn't help but feel starstruck on how many lessons he learned over the decades about himself and his internal self."
He looked back to Ayumi, his smile widening slightly. "I learned from Catherine that she had consumed the Order 9 Bloomer potion, alongside a digestion method."
Ayumi put the wooden stick on the ground and leaned on the wall, stretching her hands above her hand until her knuckles cracked. "Allegedly a Bloomer is a more philosophical Order for most Seekers. It requires to you to 'bloom' anew and become someone else—someone better."
She turned back to the window, drawing the curtains. After that, she placed her hands on the edge of the window.
"Being quirkless for all of my life made me think like I was longing for something else, like I almost deserved a quirk."
Her black eyes softened slightly, and her lips curled up. "But after I met Isaac, I seemed to realize that he seemed well-off even without a quirk..."
She paused for a beat, her grip on the windowsill trembling slightly. "...even if he had a terrible homelife, the best thing about him in my opinion is his effect on the people around him."
Her lips formed into a smile. "Sure, I learned he's inside a medical facility because he has some Demon disease, but I know him well enough to know he doesn't cower away from his problems, he reflects on what happens and strives to be better."
Ayumi chuckled softly, turning back to look at Mr. Ryujin and Shinso. "Even if that...may not be entirely true, I feel like I began to digest my potion the moment I met him, e-even if I never drank that potion to begin with."
At that moment, Shinso felt a buzzing in his pocket. His hands instinctively dug into his trousers, before taking out the bronze pocket watch. He watched as the two hands of the clock erratically spun in violent, frenzied circles before pinpointing in Ayumi's direction. Shortly after this, the girl's eyes widened as if sensing something amiss.
"W-wait..." she whispered under her breath, looking towards the wooden stick on the other end of the room. Suddenly, the stick flew in her direction! Ayumi ducked instantly, narrowly avoiding the sudden assault. But the wooden weapon didn't continue to pursue her—instead—it froze in midair, the engravings on the surface of its slightly chipped wood illuminating with a faint greenish hue.
The trio watched in awe as the stick began to undergo numerous transformations and configurations. It began to gradually shrink down about the size of a flute, and the illusory green hue brightened in vitality and power. The mystical presence in the room seemed almost palpable as the stick suddenly turned into a small object.
It was a wooden disk the size of a coaster, engraved with floral patterns, and embellished with multicolored paints and colors that weren't there previously.
"Wow!" Ayumi knelt down and picked up the disk-like object, holding it up to show the others.
Shinso looked down at the bronze pocket watch in his hands, arching an eyebrow. "I think it can sense mystical connections and...upcomong events like that."
He recalled how it had reacted when Captain Moffin turned into the bug-like demon. Surely, it wasn't a coincidence. This pocket watch surely had other uses, right?
"Do you think we should see Aaron? I think he'd know a lot about this!" Ayumi exclaimed with a brilliant smile.
Shinso shook his head. "I believe I have a more...professional option."
...
Ayumi and Shinso headed into the Mother Nature cathedral, taking note of the sheer quantity of plants decorating the inside. This time, Shinso noted a small number of people spread out in the pews, their heads bowed and their hands clasped in worship. Kneeling behind the altar was one of the archbishops, clad in similar attire to the other Pollinators.
She was an older woman with whitened hair which ran down to her shoulders. The woman was facing the stained glass image of the stone-covered woman decorated with vines and gemstones. Her eyes were closed in solemn worship, mumbling inscrutable phrases and sentences under her breath. As if finally noticing the duo's presence, her golden eyes opened and she turned around to face them.
"You're here for a more serious matter, aren't you, Pollinator Shinso?"
Hearing the nickname, and remembering Ayumi's cluelessness to his current rank and position, Shinso's cheeks flushed a faint pink as he nodded his head. "It's a matter relating to my friend here."
The white-haired archbishop turned to Ayumi, smiling softly. "I'm only the archbishop, I make sure everyone here is doing their job correctly, so I can't attend to her."
The woman's gaze shifted to the people in the pews, before clearing her throat. "Those in worship, the Mother of All Things hears your solemn pleas. Depart from us now."
Following that, everyone in the church except the trio stood up, bowing in unison to the stained glass mural, before silently departing.
After everyone had cleared out, the stone floors of the altar suddenly shifted inwards, revealing the underground staircase descending into darkness. The torches on either end of the stairs lit up, allowing the duo ample light to prevent injury.
"Go now, Pollinator Shinso, and take your accomplice with you."
Shinso looked at the woman, nodding his head, glancing at Ayumi for a few short moments before the duo descended down the staircase. The archbishop watched calmly as the stone floor slid back into place, shrouding the cathedral back into silence.
After a short period of time, she turned back to the mural on the glass and knelt down, continuing her prayer.