It was the comparison of a firm heartbeat and the wheeze of parting dying lips. She’d lost that same evil that sprung from within Yukari, the creepiness of her presence and stare back then at Mayohiga gone and replaced with this… uncanny warmth—one besieged by sagging, dark eye bags and an emptiness I’d seen in Ms. Reimu when she’d talked about her suicide and Mokou-nee. The pull of heavy chains—fake or not, I had no way of knowing.

I pull Ms. Reimu closer to me, tails puffy and broken nails ready for slicing, a silly yet macabre feeling echoing: against the power of a Sage, what use am I?

Such thoughts would not stop me, and I hiss at her. “Away!”

The woman giggles, gesturing at me with a hand as her other clicked fingers, like she was trying to remember something. “Hey, hey, I mean no harm to you. We’re not on opposite sides of this war… and what a weird reaction of a faithful, albeit I know it’s warranted,” she sounds guilty, eyes rising to look at something behind me—! My eyes followed instinctively, mind about to reprehend itself if not for the sight of a monumental, reptilian-like skull with a single horn protruding from its shattered top. Behind it, rows of bony columns. W-What…? “I should thank you. Without the faith you put in the stars, I doubt I’d have awakened as soon as I have from my short coma.” H-Huh? “This body tasted selfless faith once more and has gotten addicted to it, it seems, and the lack of it left me vulnerable… But to receive faith from a Youkai of misfortune and bad omens? Heh~” she coughs at the end, and rage courses within.

“I have two tails! Two—I am not only a bakeneko; I’m a nekomata, and I can be plenty good.”

“… I see that.” her eyes are on Ms. Reimu before she throws her head back to rest it on the stone, a weary sigh escaping the Sage of Backdoors. “Would you be good enough to forgive me, too?” The sudden question throws me off, the weight of Yamame’s cast on my head tilting it somewhat to the left. Despite the angle, the conflict in her expression is visible. “I… wasn’t the best person last time we met. Demanded a lot from Reimu; I didn’t consider your well-being and was an awful person to interact with, and…” She pauses, as if considering something. The wind howls, and beyond invisible barriers, the smog of death lingers. “… I’ve caused everything around us. All this, my fault. I could’ve prevented it all, but did nothing. I could’ve spared Reimu from whatever the hell she’s doing, m-many of the deaths, too. I c-could’ve done my job as goddess and protector of this land and… been better. I was not, and I—”

“—I forgive you.”

She stops dead in her tracks, almost shifting her face to look at me but catching herself mid-movement. The glimpse I got of her eyes told me enough. “I didn’t even finish—”

“It doesn’t matter to me, Ms. Okina,” I say, that which kept me going amidst a sea of toxic fog and deep wounds caused by these hands of mine taking forefront. “Bad people with bad intentions and deeds exist, and the consequences of their existence are sad,” I hold dear to Ms. Reimu, and in my mind is Mr. Anon’s pain as he’d talk about a long past. Alongside them echo the words of a suicide, and I’m sitting on that porch with Yukari at the start of all this. A dark night, that one was. I refused her ways. “I don’t know… why you did the things you did or acted like you did, but I’ve seen the power of forgiveness before. If it could do for you a fraction of the wonderful things it did for Ms. Reimu, then I forgive you.” Despite these words, an acute bitterness takes hold. Why couldn’t Yukari do the same? If her Sister Sage can do it—if a person as bad as Ms. Reimu can return to the fair person she was before things turned sad—, then what’s stopping Yukari…?

No person is equal, no burden is the same, yet…

… Can forgiveness be decreed the same?

Tucked within my sleeve, the red-and-blue talisman burns softly.

The thoughts escape me as a small huff echoes amidst the destruction, Ms. Okina cleaning her eyes before bringing forth her head to look at me and Ms. Reimu. “How the hell Yukari turned out like this with you around is a great mystery… Thanks, kitten.” Hey! That’s rude, calling me that! It’d be like calling Mr. Anon a cucumber, and I make sure she knows. Her laughter thickens at my pouting, if modestly, and if I had the heart to release Ms. Reimu for even a moment, I’d kick her shins. Her finger clicking rises a tone, and the atmosphere changes slightly. “… Such kind words help more than you think; I truly appreciate them.” I have no time to placate her, for the woman resumes swiftly. “Ah, no matter, I’ll get us away from this hell when Reimu wakes up, and I’ve gathered enough power to kick Yukari—” Ms. Reimu groans, her eyelids trembling a little. “—Speak of the devil, and lo and behold.” The sage shrugs. It goes unnoticed.

I watch Ms. Reimu like a falcon, and soon her lids open to expose misty red jewels. She's a-alive…

The hole shuts, yet it never fully closes.