The Rite of Floating Clouds
We must have been more exhausted than we realized.
The moment we stepped into the empty room, every last one of us collapsed into sleep without even managing dinner, as if we’d been knocked out cold.
The next day.
“Nnngh… It’s been ages since I slept this hard.”
After waking, I rose and stepped outside the building for a bit of fresh air. Feeling the fatigue that had piled up finally melt away, I stretched—
“Ah, you’re up?”
Huey’s figure came into view; he’d been awake since early morning, lightly working out his body. And, while he was at it, my gaze casually drifted toward the armpit he’d exposed without seeming to notice.
“You like that kind of thing that much?”
“Ahem. Any normal guy would. Can’t help it.”
This guy kept forgetting I’d been a man once too.
“You little shit. Excuses. Just get ready.”
Well, it was true I hadn’t been like the average guys. I smirked and suggested we train for the first time in a while.
“Training’s fine, but do you really have to hit me every single time?”
Huey asked with a sour look, already bracing himself for another beating.
“You’re just that bad at using your body. Imprinting it into your muscles is faster than wasting words.”
“…My master used to say something similar.”
A master with a good eye, then.
“First thing you need to do is throw out the common sense that says humans can’t move like this. Ready?”
“Go easy on me.”
The biggest flaw in Huey’s movement was how tightly ordinary human common sense still locked him down.
“Go easy? You’re dead today.”
A short while later.
“…This is seriously too much.”
“If we’re doing it, we go all out. Quit whining.”
I sat squarely on the stomach of Huey, who was sprawled on the ground after a thorough thrashing, still grumbling.
“Guek.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? When you make a big move, always think about what comes next.”
“Easy… for you to say…!”
I was pointing out every flaw he’d shown throughout the morning’s training when—
Crack.
The sound of something being crushed in someone’s hand reached us. Cheonyu had been hiding and watching us for a while now.
“…Cheonyu?”
“She’s been watching since earlier.”
There hadn’t been any hostility, and we hadn’t needed to hide our training, so I’d simply left her alone.
“What, got a problem?”
I spoke toward Cheonyu, who was glaring at me—because for some reason I could feel hostility directed my way.
“Grit. No, I do not.”
She ground her teeth, face full of resentment.
“Chan-hui. Get up. You look ridiculous.”
“Ah, yes.”
Watching her snap at Huey as if taking out her frustration, I decided a little teasing might be fun.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Guek.”
I put more weight into the body still sitting on Huey—who’d been about to stand and ask me to move—and met Cheonyu’s eyes with a smirk.
“You… what do you think you’re doing right now…?”
Now she was glaring as if she might actually try to kill me.
“I’m in the middle of instructing him, so would you mind not interrupting?”
I patted Huey’s thigh with a wing and sneered. Cheonyu’s brow furrowed; she raised one hand to her chest and formed a mudra with her index and middle fingers.
No talisman needed?
“…This is your final warning. This is the Taoist compound under my management. Kindly refrain from causing a disturbance.”
“Heh. Why not just be honest? You’re jealous that I’m close with Huey.”
Right after, the familiar energy I’d already grown used to through Huey began to surge around Cheonyu.
Good. Let’s have a round.
“Stop!”
A bolt of lightning suddenly dropped between us, spoiling the fun.
…Tch. I’d kept her from drawing a talisman, but she’d hidden one in her sleeve. No wonder she’d been so quiet.
“Ren. That’s enough teasing. Cheonyu, I’m sorry. Looks like this one got carried away. I’ll apologize in her place.”
“Tch.”
I’d wanted to see what a proper Taoist was capable of. I glared briefly at Huey as he smacked my back, urging me to get off, then stood.
“…You’re still using talismans, I see.”
As I rose, Cheonyu spoke while looking at the talisman burning away in Huey’s hand, her expression bitter.
“Ahaha. You know as well as I do, Cheonyu. There’s no going back to the way things were.”
Huey scratched his head with a laugh so forced it was painfully obvious.
“I’ll have breakfast prepared. Let’s talk for a bit after we eat.”
“Yes. The usual place?”
“That would be best.”
Cheonyu shot me one last look before leaving.
“She seemed pretty skilled. I wanted a look, and you go and interrupt.”
“I nearly had a heart attack, so please don’t start that first thing in the morning…”
“She kept talking in a language I could understand right up to the end. Sounds like she was game too. Mutual consent.”
After a short exchange with Huey, who was still rubbing his chest, we dragged Lucy out—she’d claimed she was still tired and wanted to keep sleeping—and headed for the dining hall inside the compound.
“Oh.”
“Isn’t this… a bit much for breakfast…?”
“Haha. Leave whatever you can’t finish if it’s too much.”
We were surprised by the spread laid out so heavily it felt excessive for morning. Especially striking was the mountain of food made from rice—the staple of the eastern continent—piled high in the bowls.
“Been a while since I had rice.”
From what Huey told us, rice was the staple food for the people here.
“…Everything looks great, but…”
I let my wings droop quietly as I muttered while staring at the table overflowing with dishes.
“Do they serve food like this every day here…?”
There wasn’t a single dish I could eat with these wings in sight.
“…This time it’s not just Ren. I’m in trouble too.”
Lucy, holding two long sticks called chopsticks in both hands, muttered with an uncharacteristically flustered face.
“Lucy, I’ll teach you how to use chopsticks first. If it’s really too hard, I’ll pull out a fork for you.”
Only Huey was looking at us with an annoyingly bright, cheerful smile.
“Can’t be helped. While we’re here, could you hold out a little until the utensils are ready?”
Watching Huey approach first, saying he’d feed me, and lift the utensils, I thought:
This country is definitely a damned country.
“Here. Say aah—”
…It did taste good, though.
After finishing a meal that had felt closer to humiliation than dining—
“This way.”
Following Huey, we arrived at a pavilion set in a small garden.
“Ah, you’ve come.”
Cheonyu greeted us with a calm face completely different from earlier, sipping steaming tea.
“I was quite rude earlier.”
“Rude? Hardly.”
Because my legs made it difficult to sit at the low table the way the others did, I perched on the edge of the pavilion, leaned my back against a pillar, and gave my wings a light wave toward Cheonyu.
“If you’re curious about my skill, we can arrange a separate occasion later.”
“Sounds good.”
I gave a light smile toward Cheonyu, who was staring straight at me, then listened as she and Huey began speaking in a language Lucy and I could understand—consideration for us, no doubt.
“Then shall we hear why you’ve returned, Chan-hui.”
“Well, the thing is…”
As Huey’s story unfolded, Cheonyu’s expression shifted moment by moment.
Quite the range of faces on her.
“…And that’s how it is. I wanted Master to examine me.”
By the time Huey’s story ended, the blank expression she’d worn the whole time was gone; her face was twisted with pure anger.
“Chan-hui… you really are—!”
She was so furious she even forgot to speak in a language we could understand, jabbing a finger at Huey and shouting.
“You said you wanted to go home! How many times have I told you to think about yourself for once?!”
“Ha, ahaha…”
“You think this is funny?!”
“Sorry, sorry—just calm down a little…”
A short while later.
“Ugh, seriously…!”
As if she’d decided to throw away the intellectual image she’d shown us until now, Cheonyu slammed her head onto the table and started raking her hands through her hair.
“…I apologize. I got far too worked up.”
After a long stretch of groaning, she let out a deep sigh and apologized to Lucy and me.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I don’t know the details, but it was entertaining.”
“It’s quite all right. Master is someone who still needs far more scolding.”
Huey looked at Lucy as if to say she was going too far, but—
“Is there something you wish to complain about?”
Crack.
“…Nothing.”
He was instantly suppressed by the look in Lucy’s eyes as she cracked her knuckles and glared.
“Haa… Anyway. If that’s the case, the timing is unfortunate.”
Cheonyu spoke while looking at Huey with open pity.
“The Grand Taoist Master is currently busy preparing for the Floating Cloud Rite.”
“Floating Cloud… Rite? I’ve never heard of that.”
Even Huey, who’d lived here for four years, reacted as if it were completely new.
“Of course you haven’t. It’s starting for the first time this year.”
“Ah—don’t tell me…”
“That’s right. It’s a requiem to honor the two dragons you know so well.”
After briefly explaining the Floating Cloud Rite—a memorial ceremony for the two dragons—she continued.
“Perhaps your return at this particular time is also fate.”
She said the Grand Taoist Master, Huey’s teacher, would likely return around tomorrow.
“Since you’ve entered as guests this time, please rest at ease. When the Grand Taoist Master returns, I’ll send someone for you.”
With that, Cheonyu slowly rose from her seat.
“Cheonyu.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. For worrying about me.”
“…It’s nothing.”
I was probably the only one who noticed that the tips of Cheonyu’s ears had turned a little red as she left.
“Well then, looks like we’ll be staying here for a while.”
“Yeah. You two okay with that?”
Watching Huey and Lucy start chatting as if nothing had happened, I simply smiled quietly instead of answering.
Somehow, I had the feeling something interesting was about to happen.