✵ ˚ ˚ · ✺ ˚ ˚ Rika grimaced bitterly. “A shrine maiden, you say?” An old woman tittered, frustrating the lone Furude utterly.
“Yes, nano desu. My home is in District Beta. With my hoe I can purify all the yucky water by the grace of Oyashiro-sama! Nipaaaaa~☆ ” With her slight movement, bells began to chime from the string and tassels. Boarding this train was proving to be a hassle. “Please~? I have no other means of transport. This is the only tool I’ve been given to defend myself.”
“...All right,” The old crone concedes defeat to Rika’s charms, but not without a stern lecture. “Sit in the back so that you don’t poke out any eyes.” “Mii~ iiiiii~” The priestess mewls, delicately sitting her rump. It felt good to relieve the pressure on her feet where she’d walked all day, and she began to slump. Without watchful stares, Rika began to droop; eyes, lips, and all.
“ARRIVAL FOR SECTOR 002 ESTIMATED 30 MINUTES.”
...Thirty minutes? Impossible, even she could admit. Her mind and body was exhausted, and fighting the lull of the engine was too much. Amethyst dulls, shadowed by closing lashes, her cheek they like spider legs touch.
“WE HAVE ARRIVED IN SECTOR 005 -- THE SHOPPING DISTRICT.”
Three other times the automated intercom resounded, but one this once did Rika hear. It took her seconds to realize her mistake with some spike of fear. Nobody awoke her--she was so quiet that it was easy to forget a child was sitting in the back in the first place. Firmly, Rika held her rake as if it were a security blanket and departed with a despaired face.
This meant the train would not return for another one-hundred and eighty hours! Her dry mouth sours. She could not wait that long! Loping around the many vendors and stalls of the supermarket, Rika fought against people in an unforgiving throng. Were her eyes deceiving her? “Satoko!” Hitching from her throat then was a congested breath, ragged with approaching fever. “Satoko, it’s really you...!”