[Touken Ranbu] I Took Over a Dark Honmaru for Maeda’s Sake

That day, I found a mushroom-headed boy, and the whole spring that came after.

*

The general outline of their relationship is: the girl transmigrates, and, while frightened and uneasy, meets Maeda, who has lost his way. They cautiously draw closer to each other. It's a sincere love, familial affection, friendship, and pet-like devotion.

1. A pairing fic, written because I love Maeda.

2. First person.

3. No deliberate bad reviews, please. Updates at my own pace. It's free, so don't complain.

Excerpt:

1. Heshikiri Hasebe washed me four times before Kasen finally let me down and helped me sit up. A white towel wrapped around my hair, and only then did the hand that had been covering it move away.

Revealed was a face like spring: purple roses scattered across a dewy spring day, Novalis.

The lovely Novalis raised a hand to dry my hair, then smiled down at me. "I've already asked Sayo to get Mitsutada to make you some sweet soup. Would you like some?"

He seemed to be smiling all the time, his eyes gently curved and his lips turned up. A peacock-green river flowed through his eyes, reminding me of a gentler spring, when green shoots were beginning to sprout. This river was an even more dazzling blue-green.

I also thought of Heshikiri Hasebe's purple.

For no reason I could understand, I took hold of his dangling white sleeve and asked, "Will you all be going too?"

Then the river grew even more dazzling. As he continued to rub my hair dry, a faint fragrance spread from beside my face.

The top of my head was still warm, but this time the warmth came from Kasen's hand.

He said, "Of course."

2. But I, I...

I'd made the same mistake again as the first time I painted his nails.

This dreamlike corridor didn't end there. Before me, even more endless summer hydrangeas crowded together in bloom, more luxuriant than the ones I'd just seen. White, pink, and blue fought to catch my eye. Then a color more refined than pale blue sat in the place I'd imagined, holding a cluster of endless summer hydrangeas.

The edges of the blue-and-white petals were tinged with pink. Half the raindrops pattered down and shattered into silver puddles in the corridor, while the rest ran along his wrist and into his sleeve.

Perhaps the rain had irritated him, or perhaps it was the groan of the wooden floor. He released the cluster of hydrangeas and turned to look our way. Then he stood up.

Rain fell across the floor.

Flowers swayed across the floor.

For a moment, I was stunned. The rain beyond the corridor filled my ears, its mingled sounds in utter disarray. Before me, the clusters of endless summer hydrangeas swayed in the drizzle. Between us, it was as if a hazy dream lay between us.

For a moment, I almost thought he was Kiyomitsu's brother, though the thought "red and blue have always been a pair" flashed through my mind, along with other nonsense.

They gave me such a similar feeling. It wasn't their looks, as identical as Maeda Toshiro and Hirano Toshiro's. It was more their air. This Mr. Endless Summer seemed a little more composed than Kiyomitsu.

Theme: After a summer spent lost in pleasure, autumn comes