30 - Masanori
A fresh crust of frost layered over the graves of Ryoka and the villagers from the Seika Shrine. Spring edged on the horizon, so the cold wouldn't outlast the morning, and Masanori wouldn't outlast the frost. Today was his last day—and Ichika's—living in the ruins of Ryoka's estate.
He knelt at Ryoka's grave, marked with remains of the O-Hikagiku statue, and prayed.
Not to the Goddess, for their differences were too fundamental for Masanori to pretend, but to Ryoka and O-Hinagiku, to the other eight kami, to any spirit that would listen.
His wish?
To be rid of the haze, and the nightmares that plagued him, for good.
Faint coils of violet mist whisked around the worked earth. "Ryoka," Masanori blurted, "I hate you."
The shrine's windchimes jingled, and Masanori could al
