Himiko clenched her fingertips inside the sash of her dark red shrine maiden robes. Her knuckles whitened for an instant before she slowly relaxed them.
I mustn't lose my temper.
I still have the task Lady Amaterasu gave me.
She turned her head toward Kikyo, hoping to find some sympathy in a fellow Divine Envoy and shrine maiden. But the instant her gaze reached her, her pupils contracted sharply.
Kikyo had already walked over to the sofa.
The sash of her plain white yukata had been casually tossed onto the armrest. Her collar hung loosely open, and her wet black hair clung to her neck. Droplets slid from its ends, followed her collarbone, and disappeared beneath her collar.
She knelt naturally at the edge of the sofa and reached for the glass of iced coke on the coffee table. After taking a sip to test its temperature, she held it to Yongye's lips.
Her movements were so unselfconscious that she might have done it a thousand times.
Himiko's lips parted slightly, uncontrollable shock churning in her pale gray eyes.
Before coming here, she had made a point of learning about Kikyo's past. She knew that this white-robed shrine maiden was genuinely pure-hearted, cool, and aloof.
Yet now she resembled a tamed house cat, kneeling beside that man, her fingers resting on the rim of the glass as she quietly waited for him to finish drinking. Then she drew a tissue from the box on the coffee table and wiped the moisture from the corner of his mouth.
The entire process flowed seamlessly, without the slightest reluctance.
An indescribable sense of absurdity surged through Himiko.
Tamamo-no-Mae leaned against the liquor cabinet. Her pale purple eyes swept over Himiko's slightly contorted face before returning to Kikyo, and the smile on her lips