It was the second night of the New Year's Ember Festival in the town of Toa, but the streets weren't as crowded at dusk as they were the night before. This was because the second night of the festival was slightly different than the first.
Held on the first night of the new year, the locals started celebrating it in commemoration of the night a century before when the then-village of Toa was saved by a mysterious swordsman.
The records the town has don't give a name, so they named him the Ember Snowflake. In recent years, though, the second night of the festival became a night of offering New Year's tribute to the shrine as the legend of the Ember Snowflake and the shrine became intertwined.
So most of the families start off their night by visiting the shrine. The gates were wide open as they were the night before, but this time, the maidens were dressed in more formal robes because of the occasion.
The way it worked was that they would meet their families in the courtyard and then present their family's offering to the Shrine Priestess at the central temple on their behalf.
It was an hour past sunset when Leina found Taki lingering around the courtyard by herself. She approached her while calling out her name, which startled her.
"What's wrong?" Leina asked. "Has your family not come yet?"
"No, we already finished up and they left," she replied.
"How sudden. Did something come up?" Leina asked.
"Something like that," she replied nervously. "And what about you? Did you meet up with Makoto?"
"No, he's on duty today since he took the day off yesterday," she said. "But on the other hand, he was assigned to the group stationed outside the gate today, so I guess there's that."
"Did they increase the number of guards outside?" Taki asked.
"They did," Leina replied. "It is one of the biggest nights of the year, after all. You got to have security."
"I see," she said, her eyes distant. "So you two are going to meet whenever he gets a break, right?"
"Yeah."
"And what about Takae and Yuriko?" she asked. "Where are they?"
"I think they're in line right now," Leina replied. "It's gotten pretty long, so I'm sure it's going to be a while before we can see them."
Taki stood in thought for a moment before she said, "Why don't we go outside tonight?"
"And risk being caught?" Leina said, shocked at her suggestion. "You know I can't break the ribbon when I'm so close to getting out."
"Yeah, I'm sorry for bringing it up," she said, trying to brush away the suggestion.
"This isn't like you," Leina said, looking concerned. "Is everything really okay?"
"Yeah, it is," she answered as she lifted her head up. "I guess I just didn't want to miss out on the festival on account of being trapped in here."
"You're bound to miss one or two eventually, but you're going to get to go to so many of them too, so don't worry," Leina assured her.
"Instead, let's go wait for Takae and Yuriko, then we can figure out something to do," she added.
"But what about Makoto?" Taki asked. "You're supposed to wait for him."
"I'm sure he won't mind," she said. "We'll be getting sick of each other soon enough, so come on, let's go."
She took hold of her hand and pulled her along as she walked away. Even though it was sudden, Taki kept up with her with a faint smile that she didn't even register.
By the time they got to the inner courtyard outside the central temple, they could barely squeeze through the gate with how many people there were.
"You weren't kidding," Taki said as they broke away from the crowd and into the corner by the wall. "How are we supposed to find them now?"
"It shouldn't be that hard with Yuriko's hair, so we just gotta keep a look out," she replied. "Let me know if you recognise them."
They started looking around from where they were, but the constant influx of people didn't make it easy. At one point, Taki even started looking while on tiptoe, which made Leina break down in laughter.
It was when she was wiping away the tears from laughing that she caught a glimpse of Yuriko on the other side of the courtyard. She was standing with Miyuki as the two of them stared in one particular direction.
Following their gaze led her to finding Takae in the line of the maidens.
She tapped Taki on the shoulder and said, "I found them."
"Really? Where?" she asked.
"There, look at the third person from the front of the line by the steps," she said, pointing to her. "That's Takae."
"She's so close to finishing," Taki said. "It should take her about five minutes."
"Damn, looking at her now, I feel bad for the priestess," Leina said.
"Why?"
"Just look at how she's standing," she said, implying her straight posture. "You're telling me she has to stay like that for the rest of the night without a break? I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemies."
"And look at her expression too," she said. "She looks so dignified, like it doesn't faze her in the least."
"I wonder what's going through her mind behind that smile?" she asked.
"Probably about how much her feet hurt by now," Taki joked.
"I guess," she said. "Well, at least Takae is almost done, so we don't have to stand here for too long either."
What was going through Kiyohara's mind as she attended to the maidens in that line?
It was a mix of annoyance and anger as she thought, "Why won't this damn ceremony end? It's not like anything they give me is going to matter."
"I still have to wait for the final speech when everyone is here before I give the signal, but keeping up this act is getting exhausting," she thought as she took the gift from the next girl with a smile.
She straightened herself up when the next girl stepped up. She was a timid-looking girl with long, silky black hair that glistened from the lantern lights.
She didn't have anything with her, which threw her off for a second, but she brushed away that thought as she started the procedure once again.
"Who are you, and why have you come here tonight?" she asked, just like she had dozens of times before.
"My name is Takae Yamada, and I'm here to represent the Yamada family and present our offering," the girl said.
"You may proceed."
She reached into her robe and pulled out a folded piece of paper before saying, "Our offering to the shrine this year is in the form of this text. If I may show it to you, mistress."
"Go ahead," she said, uneasy.
She unfolded the piece of paper, and their eyes locked. Instead of reading it, she turned it toward her and crept closer.
When she leaned in to see what it was, what she saw was a faint illustration of a septa circle. Seeing this, she jolted back, but it was too late.
In that moment, Takae had already activated it and used it to pull out her Ikkion blade, which she swung straight at her chest, point first, but she managed to react to it in time to prevent a fatal strike.
Despite that, it still stabbed her shoulder, and once it did, a pattern similar to blood circuitry spread from the blade and onto her as Takae said it.
"Saro Sere: Kakuran!"