Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 273: Arc 4, Act II, - 118: Five Down, One to Go
"How long were you stalking me?" with a tilt of her head, Jotou crossed her legs on the table she sat upon.
"Don’t put it like I’m some creep," Fumeko squinted. "Just enough to know the news. I was looking around for maybe some trace of Frost; maybe she’d return to the scene of the crime and all that," her eyes pierced right into Jotou’s.
Jotou’s mind calculated, "Sounds like you figured something out..." nothing was given away in her visage.
Fumeko placed her steps into the tent, "Let’s just say your informant blasted me off a cliff."
Jotou closed her eyes and simply smirked, "I told you; I know you’re smart enough to guess who it could be. I’ll tell you you’re right at least," she hushed.
"Nobody’s around to hear us, I checked so don’t worry. But what happened to not confirming nor denying any of my theories?"
"I’m not playing it safe; I said that more than a week ago, when she hadn’t blasted my detective off a cliff," her eyes sparked. "If she’s somehow listening, I think I’m justified in doing what I’m doing."
"So no more loyalty to Frost then," Fumeko stood right in front of the blonde.
"Whatever odd sense of loyalty I had, it’s faltering. Keeping you safe and well is higher on my list of priorities than any intel she could ever give me. And if she’s gonna hinder that, then no dice."
Fumeko’s eyes darted away and her cheeks took a rosy shade. She exhaled and beamed, "Thanks for saying that. The main question is though, what intel are you losing by losing your informant?" her more inquisitive expression took over immediately after.
"Well, I may have something we can piece together detective," Jotou pondered whilst the brunette gave an ear. "I’ve got the closest reason as to why Trailon is trying not to kill me and Daiyu. All the elites even had the same orders."
"They haven’t killed me cause of what happened in Kria and my dad’s reputation, that’s clear enough. You two—I mean you said it—being from another world has something to do with it."
"Right, but we had no idea why. We jotted it down as ’we’re special, so they wanna capture instead of kill’ and moved on. After all, Trailon knows well that we both died and came back to life.
But it’s something Feather said; that if she killed either one of us, then- blank. She shut her mouth and said that it’s information for Frost to find out," Jotou folded her legs up and sat completely on the table.
"So you’re telling me, Frost would know the intel by now then. But why wouldn’t Feather tell her that earlier? Why would she have to tell Frost right then or after she teleported?"
"As Frost put it, they don’t get along very well; none of the elites do."
"Maybe it could’ve been a deal then," Fumeko held a hand to her chin.
"Which also means, Feather knows of my nature being here, but maybe not the whole of Trailon, otherwise Frost could’ve found that information elsewhere. Rain didn’t know and I doubt Dread did.
Feather also said, ’a little birdie told me’, which all makes me think Feather wasn’t supposed to know that info in the first place and it’s what made Frost chase that lead to make a deal."
"Too bad we don’t have Feather; if I won against Frosty, maybe we could’ve gotten the info."
"We were playing on her battlefield, there was little to no chance of interrogating her. Fighting magic against magic is one thing; but when all it takes is one prick to get poisoned? We were at a severe disadvantage.
I could’ve kept sparking out to kill her poisonous birds and maybe could’ve outlasted her mana, but with others around; all it took was poisoning someone else.
I would’ve talked or came to some kind of agreement when Feather started talking, but in the heat of the moment I thought intimidation was the best tactic..." Jotou held the bridge of her nose.
"Too late now; I don’t think she would’ve given it anyway," Fumeko crossed her arms, "Any guesses as to what that lead is?"
"I don’t know," Jotou shook her head. "Whatever it is, we’ll only find out if me or Daiyu are killed is my best guess. I’m not exactly excited to find out."
"As you should be. I don’t think any of us like the idea of you dying..." she pouted.
Jotou gazed away, "I know." A memory of her in Hartamat played itself as she looked back to the brunette... "Anyway, pair that with me or Daiyu being unable to injure ourselves, it seems like me dying is a really, really bad idea."
"There’s also another thing to consider; Frost is interested in some info regarding you. Why?"
"To dangle it over my head? To get more leads? Because she’s curious about me? Any number of reasons," Jotou listed.
"Vas..." Fumeko mumbled, "They call you that. They coined that specific term, because you were back from the dead from another world." Red strings began to form in her mind, "Coining a term for one specific person is a bit odd isn’t it?
When you make a new term for something, there’s usually a couple or a few cases; like velatos. If it’s one person or one thing, you give it a proper term; like titles to a person.
Why give you—one person—such a basic term, which is just the Regimian word for vessel? You agreed with Asobi, that it could be the same reason they want Daiyu caught and not killed.
I know I’m making a bit of a stretch, call it intuition, but it could mean Trailon or the Regimes know of a few ’vas’-s. Which would mean..."
"My friends; the Regimes know of them," Jotou uttered. "Vandlevela has me on their radar, Frost said. It means they could have eyes on where all my friends are..."
"It’s a theory at best," Fumeko shrugged. "There’s plenty of reasons they could call you vas; Daiyu and you- or Anastasia and the previous princess, died to them and came back to life."
Jotou breathed out, her eyes softened, "We have some lead, but we can barely piece it together. The term vas, vessel, just makes me feel bad..."
Fumeko cocked her head to Jotou. The blonde stared into the palm of her hand, "Because I am inhabiting the body of a dead woman."
She moved each finger gingerly, feeling her nails graze across her palm, each knuckle moving independently, the strands of hair against her neck and the flutter of her eyelashes as each breath entered and exited her lungs.
"But, I don’t feel that way; because I feel like this IS me," with a shake of her head, she shook the frown off of her, "Just a thought, that’s all. No matter what, I’m me," she smiled to Fumeko.
"You’re you to me too," Fumeko smiled back, "No matter what body you’re in, I’ll know it’s you."
"Hm," Jotou chuckled, "What would be a giveaway?"
"I don’t know; the catty spite, calling me detective, the wink with your tongue out, the way you walk. Hell, if you’re sitting on a rooftop late at night looking up at the stars, that’d be the biggest tell," Fumeko snickered.
Jotou was about to laugh before- "Wait," a lightbulb lit up over her head. "Stars."
"You wanna go stargazing? Right now? Guess it’s a nice night with the smell of corpses," Fumeko snarked and furrowed her brows.
"No, no, no," her eyes widened, "Frost said something to me that didn’t make sense. I asked how well she’d think we’d do against Trailon in the last stand.
She said she’d wish me luck, but we had two stars with us," Jotou leapt off of the table in recognition. "At the time, I didn’t know what it meant and just brushed it aside cause Frost left before she answered.
But now, considering that only Daiyu and me have the similarity of being called vas, that the term ’star’ could just be another word for us!" she threw out her hands to Fumeko.
Fumeko took a moment to think, "Vas, vessel, only the two of you; stars, only mentioned two... With our theory of vas being a term for multiple people, and if she said we have two stars, it could mean there are other stars...
Makes sense," Fumeko raised a brow to Jotou, "But why star?"
"Stars—space—magic—aliens?" Jotou forced a smile?
Fumeko’s eyes glazed over, "Asobi could do better."
"I have no clue," Jotou tightened her lips.
"So we’re back where we started... Ehhh..." Fumeko wilted and sighed.
"Hey, we cracked something detective. We just don’t know what it is yet, which pisses me off, but it’s something. I think we at least have a couple of steps from where we started. It’s just a matter of time before we crack this mystery wide open."
A shadow glimmered in her eyes as she flipped her hair back and stood tall with fists to her hips, "That’s right! With this detective duo, no mystery on this planet will go unfigured!"
Jotou’s head slanted all the way to the side, "When did I sign up to be a detective?" her eyes closed.
Arabella poked her head into the tent and gave a whistle to grab their attention. She signalled with her hands. It appeared their transport had arrived.
_
"Asobi," one poke. "Sobi~" another poke to her right cheek. "Ah, so, bee," Hotaru poked the sleeping elf over and over. Even with the prodding, Asobi slept soundly on a medical bed dragged out of the nearby tents.
Hotaru sighed, "Come on, our transport’s here." Wearing her magician’s attire once more, every bruise and injury healed to perfection; perhaps one or two scars for a later date.
"Wake up, you can go sleep in our tent," Hotaru hushed and pushed her shoulder; still no use. The redhead leaned in close and lifted Asobi’s head up lightly, "There’s rainbow-flavoured cotton candy in front of us," she whispered into the pointy ears.
"...hhh...Huh?" she muttered awake, her jade green eyes waxing ever so slowly.
"Hi there," her fangs glistened.
"Ho-taru," Asobi blinked a few times then squeaked a yawn. "I feel, collapsible..." she tried to lift an arm.
"Here," Hotaru set her head back down and handed her wand into her grasp, folding her fingers in. "Fumeko found your hat too, it’s right next to you."
Asobi sided her head to her hat sat beside her. "I remember, a lot of feet and... pain... I saw white light, but it wasn’t happy white lights, it felt like, like I couldn’t think anymore..." she murmured.
Hotaru tried her best to conceal the frown upon her lips, "You really had me worried." She petted her raven-black hair and held her shoulder, "I healed you the best I could; you still need a lot of rest."
"...I’m sorry I got, hurt so much to make you, worry. I should’ve stayed invisible," her weary face glanced to the wolf-woman.
"Asobi, no, it’s not your fault, don’t worry," Hotaru soothed. "Can you walk a bit?"
"Hm..." Asobi wriggled her bare toes and attempted to lift a leg only to flinch a little.
"Really sore?"
Asobi nodded.
"Want Jotou to carry you?"
Asobi nodded.
"Then I’ll get Jotou to carry you. Plenty of hot food and rest for you, okay?" Hotaru beamed softly.
Asobi hummed into a small smile, tired and hurt; but it could still brighten a room.
"You can go back to sleep, I’ll heal any scars once you feel better. Make sure to have nice dreams~"
Asobi didn’t giggle, didn’t make a sound. Her waning eyes merely stared at Hotaru, the smile persisting on her lips, "You always take care of us and even scold us.
You make me feel very safe... Thank you for playing with me all those times. I had so much fun with you. Thank you Hotaru..." that’s all the strength before she smiled warmly asleep.
Hotaru could not help but giggle. She held Asobi’s hand with both her hands and pressed it gently. "Whoever dares to hurt you," she glared and her ears spiked as her eyes flickered a sprinkling of blue rainwater...
_
’We made it back in one piece; back to Division Six. I carried Asobi to bed, Feyan rushed for us immediately and panicked.
Two elites left and that’s it. And I have no idea what Frost is up to. I’m so tired...’ Jotou looked to her bed; all around her were exhausted faces, who slept the moment their heads hit the pillow.
The fact that the Sun was present and it was already the next morning did not bother them at all. ’The king hasn’t returned from Division Five and we’re making changes in positions tomorrow; or, ’today’ I guess.
Time to get the most sleep I can. I’ll never know when Cinder might attack.’ Jotou sat on her bedside and already she could fall asleep. That is, till she felt something slip into her coat pocket...
Jotou immediately turned to the brunette, who was fast asleep. ’Don’t tell me...’ She reached a hand in and felt. ’Of course...’ An envelope.
Unbothered of being discovered, she opened up the letter; the paper was cold to the touch as expected... ’Congratulations. Nice job pretty Princely, you’ve done really, really well.
Sorry about the little detective; hopefully you don’t resent me, but I have to keep appearances up, don’t I? Besides, she got some good hits on me that I think even you struggled to get.
You won’t be seeing me again in the last stand, so you only have one elite left. Careful, the last I saw Cinder, he was already pissed off. With Feather out of the picture now too...
Well, you definitely won’t hear from me again if you’re a pile of ashes. So, good luck. I hope you win. And speaking of piles of ashes, zap this letter for me, will you?
-V.’
...
...
Jotou sighed and got up to the trash can. Crunching the paper in her fist, she zapped it into black dust and let it scatter in and out. She let out another huff.
"V. I got one letter of your name, huh? Is it the initial of a first name or a last name? Ai, ai, ai," Jotou walked back to her bed. ’Correction I guess; five down, one to go.’
