Yuto's steps echoed along the winding corridor as he left the lantern-lit plaza. The afterglow of finding his true name lingered in his heart, burning away the worst of his uncertainty, but fatigue stretched behind his eyes like an ever-deepening shadow. On either side, flickering spirit-lanterns cast fantastic patterns foxes and dragons, chrysanthemums and cranes dancing across old, moss-dark stones.
Koma, bounding beside him, cast sidelong glances at Yuto's face. "You look like you just swallowed the sunrise and a thundercloud together. Bit better than when you first stumbled in, at least!"
Yuto tried to muster a smile. "It… it's just a lot. I thought finding my name would answer things, but now I feel I've only remembered how much I've forgotten." He brushed his fingers over the softly glowing kanji illuminated by his lantern. The symbol shimmered—memory and promise, old as festival smoke.
They emerged from the corridor into a high balcony overlooking an open expanse streets of the Hidden City sprawling below, alive with midnight festival energy. Spirit vendors called out in a dozen tongues, selling glowing noodles and chilled moon lotus petals. Fox spirits darted and pounced along rooftops, their tails leaving arcs of silvery blue in the air. Further down, crowds swirled beneath a massive torii gate in the distance, its arch painted with the gleam of watchful fox eyes.
A hush wrapped the balcony, and Koma's tone grew oddly gentle. "This city's always alive, even when the world above forgets. The Assembly keeps it humming, but lanterns only stay lit as long as someone remembers the names. Tonight, you've added yours in a way few humans ever do."
Yuto leaned on the balcony's railing, eyes drawn across bridges strung with paper streamers, awestruck by the scale of it all. For a heartbeat, the human world felt impossibly far away school, his mother, Haruka's impatient texts. A pang tightened his chest. "Will I ever go back?" he whispered.
"Of course. But you'll never be just a visitor again not in either world," Koma replied. "You're Mediator now. That means walking in both shadows and sunlight. But for tonight, you should rest." He nodded toward a gently glowing guest house near a stand of flowering plum trees. "You'll stay there until the Assembly calls."
Yuto followed, the simple act of walking now laced with new weight. Inside, a spirit girl in a festival yukata greeted him with a warm smile her eyes sapphiric, her form flickering as though caught between dusk and dawn. She led Yuto to a chamber fragrant with cedar, where sliding doors revealed painted cranes in flight. Yuto sank onto a floor cushion, exhaustion wrestling with curiosity.
Alone for the first time, he let the silence settle. Lantern shadows played across the screens. He tried to recall the vision from the Memory Plaza another life, another promise and felt its ache even clearer now.
Meanwhile, high above in the human Tokyo, Haruka Aota stared at her dimly lit phone screen, worry gnawing at her gut. Yuto hadn't replied in hours. His mother had called had she seen him at cram school? Haruka lied, claiming she'd texted him recently. Restless, she bundled into a hoodie and stepped onto her tiny balcony, city lights painting her features in uneven gold.
A strange wind rose scented with incense and plum blossoms, like the ones Yuto's family used during Obon. Her breath caught as a flicker of blue darted across the sky, too swift for her eyes to follow. It was gone in a blink, leaving only a tremor, and the haunting sense of something changing just beneath reality's surface.
Back in his spirit guest chamber, Yuto's thoughts turned restlessly. His body felt heavy, but his mind wandered streets filled with dreamlike memories. The pains and regrets of the trials tugged at him, but so did the courage that had allowed him to face them.
The sliding door scraped open quietly. Koma stuck his head in, clutching a plump rice dumpling and a steaming cup of strange-smelling tea.
"Thought maybe you'd like a midnight snack. Spirits get wicked hungry after big revelations. Eat, then sleep. Tomorrow the Assembly gives you your task. And, um… just a heads-up, not everyone wants a human Mediator. Keep your wits sharp."
Yuto accepted the offering, his gratitude unspoken but clear. He ate in silence, savoring the unfamiliar, subtly sweet flavors mixed with the distant hush of spirit music. Lantern light danced on the walls, casting dreamlike shapes that melded and flared as he drifted toward sleep.
Tonight, for the first time, Yuto did not fear his dreams. If anything, he hoped he would return to the foot of the torii gate even in dreams to seek the answers buried in the city's winding alleys, in his own fractured memory, and the distant lives woven into lantern-light.
Unseen from the window, soft blue motes rose from the torii arch in the square, circling up into Tokyo's night sky. Change was coming; bridges long forgotten were stirring.
End of Chapter 7