The Shinken-Rodionova Incident
As Alyona finishes up her work in the Fujiwara Senki hideout, clad head-to-toe in the trappings of a maid, she notices Momo come back tired and sweaty. Of course, after preparing a towel and a beverage for Momo, she hands her a folded time-sheet. Momo reads it carefully and quirks an eyebrow up from her seat on the couch.
"What the hell are you gonna be doing after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays?..."
"I have been studying the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony, and will be joining the relevant club at Higan to gain deeper understanding of it~" Alyona says in a joyful tone and gentle smile.
"....Well if it makes you happy go ahead, I guess you've earned a few days off" Momo says before realizing something.
"Wait, what the hell am I saying? It's been weeks since your punishment at school ended! Parfaite can handle your end of things-"
Alyona walks in front of Momo, sporting her more usual frown: "Nonsense! Me and Renka know your personal tastes better than her, so we must stay on to assure she has time to handle the cleaning duties while the gang is properly served" she says with her hands on her hips.
Momo sighs, her gaze accidentally falling on one of Alyona's pale white thighs, encased in a pure white stocking which created a perfect space between the hem of her skirt and her legwear. She blushes and makes herself look away.
"F-Fine, I won't say no to free help" Momo says as she pulls up the face mask she had been wearing to hide her oni fangs. "But no slacking on the dirty jobs just because Parfaite is here" she says, trying to find some fire in herself after all the chaos of the recent weeks and not succeeding.
Alyona nods and bows, finding a mirror to check her twintails in: "I do worry the moment I start taking days off the floor will get dusty again. I've just gotten used to being able to see it after all this time scrubbing it"
Momo rolls her eyes: "You sound like my grandmother, we're not gonna let this get that bad again" she says defensively.
"Your shut-in leaves her energy drinks everywhere, sometimes half-full I might add, and your mechanic leaves a mess everywhere those oily clothes go! Not to mention the fact you leave bags of chips and bottles whenever you get up!" Alyona says as she turns around and leans over the couch to look down on Momo. "If I leave this place for too long, It will be a pig's sty again and I won't stand for friends of mine to live in such conditions"
Momo leans up, holding the back of the Russian's neck and letting her face mask down. Her eyes narrow as Alyona starts to get more uneasy the closer she gets.
"I-I'm not lying! I'm just here to keep the place clean, I'm not wearing this debasing outfit because it's easy to work in or anywhere near comfortable after all!" Alyona says as she looks away from the mistress of the hideout with a pout.
"Are you wearing makeup? And you smell like... what the hell is that..." Momo says.
"So what if I wanted to keep myself practiced! I just happened to bring over some extra makeup I had and put some on while you were out!"
"But why wear perfume then?" Momo says as she releases Alyona, the blonde girl going back to her work inspecting the floor for stray cans.
"Because this place always smells terrible and I didn't want to get distracted by a problem that is impossible to fix!" Alyona claims. "But... if you like the extra touches of beauty I suppose I can do it more often"
Momo slumps back on the couch, smiling outside of Alyona's vision: "I'd like that a lot, yeah".
Archie waits for Alyona and Renka to gather their things after their last class for the day had ended. At least Alyona was mostly occupied organizing her notes, Renka was making sure the feng shui of her bag was properly aligned.
"...You two up for hunting? Sure there's a problem or two the Student Council needs squashed" Archie says dryly, eager for a fight.
"I must decline, Renka? Have my share of the materials equally shared between the two of you" Alyona says, an elegant smile on her face as she clutches a book about different types of Tea Ceremonies in Japan to her chest.
The cyclops of a girl nods: "I will be sure to channel the ogre's wrath well, Alyona-sama"
"Goin' to see your girlfriend without Renka? I'd call that a bloody da-" Archie starts
"No, and how crass!" Alyona says a bit louder and more defensive than she intended.
After the students walking home stop looking at her and giggling she composes herself: "I am joining the Tea Ceremony Club, I simply need the club president's approval on my application and I will be an official member"
Archie snorts out a laugh: "Cause you were great friends with them when you had me threaten to break their tea sets and the Samurai girl came a few inches from cutting my arm off."
"I've payed my debt to the school publicly and privately, and we never did any lasting harm! We never even got them to dress as teahouse maids and serve us at my mansion so no harm was ever done in the short term either" Alyona insists and as she raises her chin up and walks a bit faster.
Archie rolls his eyes: "Well, let's not keep the princess from her fuckin' tea club..." he says as he and Renka split off from her path.
Alyona was fine, she didn't need backup today anyways. This was just a school club after all, and she was a fairly good student who had a very earnest interest in the topic. Yes, she was a foreigner but Russian tea culture was something she could offer as well. A part of her was excited to bring a samovar in to show off how to use it like her mother taught her and spread some of the parts of her own culture she actually liked.
Alyona takes out a pocket mirror to make sure she looked perfect before entering the ornate sliding door to the Tea Ceremony club's door. She could hear people inside talking alongside the clacking of ceramics as she mentally. One last deep breath, and she opened the door.
Inside was a small group of girls, all seemingly upperclassmen with few girls in her grade. She was used to looking out of place, but the looks she was given were not kind. Two people seem to be the centers of attention, an older girl with short black hair who wore two purple kanzshi's at the sides of her hair, and a girl in a white Kimono who had a sheathed katana on her lap as she sat on a cushion. The white-clad samurai stands up and approaches Alyona, placing one hand at one of her breasts and one on her rear end. Alyona's face goes red as she stops the instinct to stop her, this happened last time she more aggressively introduced herself, and it was hard to study Kageoka and miss the Shinken Clan's contributions.
Or the fact that the girl groping her, Shobu of the Shinken clan, was completely blind.
"Shinken-san, I'm not with anyone and I come simply wishing to join the tea ceremony club. As I'm sure you know, I have no ill will toward any clubs or the power to enforce it even if it was there" Alyona says calmly as she reaches into her bag, taking out an ornate Japanese-styled teacup she had bought as a consolation gift.
The other girls of the club look at it with curiosity, seeming to be distracted from their distaste of Alyona by offering of a famous artisan's work to their club's wares.
"...Indeed, she did not send a proxy" Shobu says as she grasps the cup after one last squeeze of Alyona's posterior.
"Rodionova-san, normally I would send you away immediately after your shameful attempt to make an honored institution of this school a part of your scheming. I have heard of your fall and I will not conceal that I revel in it, as a guest in this country should be punished for having eyes larger than their stomach" Shobu says in a proud tone, as if she had helped personally bring the Census Club down.
"I simply have-" Alyona starts
"I am not finished!" Shobu interrupts with a forceful volume behind her words as she paces around Alyona, who is barely holding onto her friendly face. "You have dishonored this school, this city, and this country, and I consider this a grave mark against your character. Would the Samurai class still have their rightful power, I would have already cut you down."
"Now, you may state your intentions" Shobu finishes as she picks her sheathed blade back up.
Alyona sighs: it was too much to expect she wouldn't be in the club room today.
"Shinken-san, I wish to learn and practice the ways of the Tea Ceremony with this club. I come not expecting to lead or dominate, but to learn an art that I find deeply captivating. I simply require the club president's signature of approval and to turn in my application" she says in her most eloquent Japanese. The other students of the club seem uneasy, but look toward the Kanzashi girl who has been sitting on a cushion this whole time in silence.
"Rodionova-san, would you allow us a moment to ourselves to talk about this?" she says, her eyes gracefully opening, but her smug smile making Alyona feel her anger boiling. She spent 50,00 Yen on this and suffered the humiliation of Shobu's speech, and her look only screamed that she was eager to make Alyona suffer now that she was in a position of weakness.
Her father would would shout: "I will not!" and make a speech on the spot about why his demands must be met, either for the good of the people or the continued well being of the people he's talking to. He'd make them suffer if they dared to not be swayed, only stopping when they capitulate out of desperation.
Alyona meekly nods, and steps outside, clutching her bag as her anger boiled inside. Maybe she misread the situation, maybe they just wanted to mess with her after all she had done to them and their friends in other clubs, and would allow her in after getting what they want. It wasn't a secret that she was picking up trash in parks after school and going to detention, even if the scale of her crimes was hidden to save face and prevent larger authorities from stepping in.
A brown-haired girl with glasses and a meek voice opens the sliding door after a few minutes. She was a first year like Alyona, so she must be at the bottom of the club's social ladder.
"Rodionova-san, Morita-Kaichou and Shubo-san have come to a decision"
"I will be happy to hear it then" Alyona says she gathers what's left of her composure. It would have been less nerve-wracking to shoot monsters with her friends and risk life and limb today.
The girls as arranged the tables in a seemingly formal order, with President Morita and Shobu aside each other at the end of the linked tables near the back of the room. The first year girls sat near the door, while the third year girls sat closer to the heads of the club.
"Rodionova-san, We insist you prove your dedication to our art by demonstrating the Nyumon exercises, Ususcha and Koicha Hakobi, Kinindate, and a Wakindate in order to join us. All ceremonies will be judged by a local expert from the Urasenke School, and you will be expected to dress and act properly for them" Shobu says. The president's smug smile persists, even under the fan she is failing to hide it with.
Alyona head spins with all the names, but she isn't worried about it, instead already writing the names of what she need to learn down: "I have already practiced the Nyumon exercises: when is my deadline?"
The president speaks before Shobu: "2 weeks, I assume you already have a teacher then?"
"Yes, and... thank you for the chance to prove myself as a motivated student" she says as she reads the room. Everyone is trying to hide a smile, like a bucket of water was going to fall on her or her skirt would be stained from something placed on her cushion.
"Is there any other conditions that I must fulfill?" Alyona asks, remaining calm even she feels likes she is on her last thread of patience.
Once again, the president chances to speak just before Shobu does: "I think we have given quite enough of a task".
Alyona rises and bows to dismiss herself in short order, able to hear them giggling the moment she's out of the door. Trick or not, she was not going to fail in something like this. She'd simply push through by studying around the clock.
Archie and Renka sit in the corner booth at a Denny's, both exhausted. Renka tries to hide it, elegantly sipping at some tea. Archie periodically hits the table when he's no drinking coffee.
"...There is no sense in being bitter: we did all we could"
"If Alyona was there she would have blown the little teacup bastard into a thousand pieces when it started to run" he says with cold fury. "Big doesn't always mean fast, why the hell weren't you speeding me up!?"
"Because you would have been impaled by falling knives from its stomping and died in short order without her recovery magic" Renka says with a thin-eyed stare toward the boy.
"Well that's why you use your bloody voodoo on me and fix me after!" Archie shouts back with annoyance, irrespective of the other late-night diners. "So what the hell' do we tell the student council? The damn thing got away because were slow and our trigger bitch ran off to play tea party?"
Renka takes a long, peaceful sip of her tea, and sets it down with a pronounced clack. "I will beseech the spirits of the land for its location, and we will claim vengeance upon its ceramic hide" she says with a dramatic tone.
Archie leans back: "Can you even talk normally?"
"You have eyes, but cannot recognize Mount Tai" Renka responds, looking him dead in the eye.
He stares back, challenging her single eye to blink. The two keep this up for well over 3 minutes, a waitress walking by and trying to get their attention only to get an impolite gesture from Archie as a signal to come back later.
"None of us are' bloody normal, but you try an' be weird. You're not showin' off for cameras or attention, it's cause whatever's normal doesn't work with how you live" Archie says, maintaining the stare.
Renka nods, beginning a playful smile.
Archie smirks: he wasn't a man for puzzles but even a brick like him can find some fun in reading a person like this.
"Alyona ain't normal even if she tries to act Japanese. Those Russian bits of her' stick out like open wounds, so she covers 'em up with pretty clothes and washes 'em when she starts bleeding red again"
"We are vagabonds, and she is one who is most like the people who cast us out" Renka says.
"Correction: She wants to be like'em" Archie says with a corrective tone.
"You're Asian and she's better at blending in than you even with hair like a sun and eyes like a river. She worships this place and I can kinda see why: It's nice here, probably even better in a place without demon portals."
"...And why do you not bow down at the same alter?" Renka asks.
"Why don't you dye your hair black and take the eyepatch off?" Archie counters.
"...Fair point" Renka admits.
The pair orders some food, the last meals the kitchen is cooking for the night. As they see the staff start to clean up for the night.
"...Why don't you take the eyepatch off?" Archie asks in a more vulnerable tone, shaky by his standards.
Renka is quiet as she finishes her parfait.
"Answer me, why not? Can' be easy seein' out of it" he insists.
She is pouring the last bits of ice cream into a bowl and picking at it with a spoon.
Archie scowls and sighs, heading over to the entrance to pay, the two headed back to Renka's home.
"...You plan to stay with me this night?" Renka says
"Not like that, cunt. I'll take the couch. Your folks let me do it in the past"
Renka nods: "When you were recovering from injuries"
"Sayin' your hospitality needs me to get bloodied up?"
Renka shakes her head with surprisingly little drama.
As they reach the door to her place. Archie looks down at her again, reaching for the eyepatch slowly.
Renka stares at him: "A secret's greatest victim is the one who must bear its discovery".
He backs off with some hesitation.
"Have it your way, to tired to keep listenin' to you jabber anyways..." he says as he finds her living room's couch and pulls a blanket over himself.
Renka sits alone in her room. Alone with a thousand spirits in her head and a thousand gods to speak with. She falls limply onto her pillows and stares at the ceiling in a catatonic trance until her alarm will make her legs move in the morning.
Author's Note
The following part include lots of tea ceremony lingo. Here's a link for a small guide to some of these terms and a link for other info about Urasenke School Tea ceremony stuff
Madoka Onguuchi sits and endures the slightly disappointed glare of her long-time teacher, an older woman with a high rank in the Urasenke School of Chadou with long chestnut hair she had tied up behind her head and a pale yellow kimono with a floral design as the two sat opposite from each other.
"Madoka-chan, your... alterations were not amusing this time around. You're usually very good at acting as an example for other students to strive for, but hanging a charm off such a delicate instrument as a chashaku and risking it getting into the tea is simply not something I want other students emulating."
Madoka of course knew how best to take this critique: nod and smile. She was still a student here, even after years of study.
"As such" the teacher explains. "I have brought in a student of mine who has much less experience, but a very admirable style I believe you can learn from"
Madoka can't help but pout until she see's who enters, going through the arduous process of carrying everything in proper ceremonial fashion. Alyona's movements were graceful and focused as she performed the Ususcha Hakobe temae. Her blonde hair was tied back in a low braided bun and wore a modest blue Kimono in a dull color.
Madoka glances toward the teacher, feeling surprised Alyona didn't try and upstage the bright pink Kimono she was wearing. She quickly tries to focus herself back on Alyona's temae and is quickly notices a problem: she's going much too fast. Her teacher see's it as well, the lack of love and care in each small act of the preparation, her grimaces as she mentally kicks herself when she almost misses a step. It was like someone was just behind the door with a stopwatch and grading her on how fast she could do the temae accurately.
"I will finish for now" Alyona declares as she finishes her duties as host, two warm cups of matcha tea served. She gives a bow but gets stopped by the teacher as she is about snuff out the fire in furokama.
"Alyona-chan, that will be all" she says in gently chiding tone that Alyona does not take well, but obeys.
"The scroll on the wall, what does it say?"
"Ichi-go, Ichi-e" Alyona answers confidently.
"You can read the characters, but you're not applying the principal of those words as you should" the Teacher goes on.
"Each meeting is unique, and should be savored and enjoyed. Your speed is commendable were this martial arts, but this is an art that requires time and clarity of the mind to fully enjoy."
"Then teach me something more challenging" Alyona coldly demands.
"What are you wanting to learn? Shikaden?" Madoka asks, getting a nod of confirmation from Alyona.
"Specifically the Wakindate" Alyona says toward the teacher, who closes her eyes and sighs.
"Out of the question, you're not ready for it" the woman says with a tone that matches her pose: Immovable.
"I've shown you every one of the Konarai and you have had no complaints about my style before today, how can you say I'm not ready?!" Alyona says, starting to lose her temper.
Madoka puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Would it be all right if I helped her in private? We're quite close at school and I think I have an idea how to help her"
The teacher looks toward the gyaru with a skeptical eye.
"You're not going to simply give in to her demands I assume? I like to think of myself as a forgiving teacher but the secret transmissions being revealed to a student before their time is not something I can forgive even to a daughter of the Onguuchi Clan."
Madoka giggles a bit in response. "Nothing like that, it's no fun just giving the answers to a puzzle away after all~"
Alyona pouts harder. "This is no mere puzzle for me!"
The teacher sips the tea and smiles. "You are indeed a very good student, Alyona-chan. I've taught a few foreigners but your earnest determination is most admirable. But if I am being frank... the tea you made today is not better than if it was made on a kitchen stove or bought in a store"
Alyona tries to hide a look of disappointment as she avoids he teachers eyes. The woman adopts a softer expression as she turns to Madoka.
"As long as she stays with the Konorai and Chabakodate you may assist her. Please teach her by the book though, if she must make alterations then let her decide that on her own"
Madoka nods with a beaming smile as Alyona seems to have progressed to just being embarrassed. The prepare to leave.
"So... what brought all this on Alyona-chan?" Madoka asks as the two change. Alyona's eyes are still drawn to the stitches in her chest as she is changing
"How are you not angry after being nearly killed?" Alyona asks bluntly as she lets her hair spill down out of her bun.
Madoka makes a show of thinking about it, but already had an answer in mind: "I think he had his reasons, and things turned out fine anyways. No need to start a war over that, right?"
"BUT HE-" Alyona catches herself.
"Nevermind, you're too naive to understand what a grudge feels like"
"Nothing good comes from stressing too much about what might happen, Alyona. You'll get wrinkles and grey hairs early doing that" Madoka jokingly chides.
"I know that!" Alyona says with an exasperated sigh as she finishes tying her hair back into its natural shape of twintails.
"How do you plan to help me without simply teaching me what I am being denied anyways?"
Madoka finishes buttoning up her blouse and nods confidently: "I want you to come my place more often! After practices everyone usually gets cleaned up and takes tea, so I figure I can give you a lot of practice with different temae by letting you, you know... serve real people, not just model the ceremony."
Alyona sighs: "Don't you detest going to your practices? Your injury gives you an excuses to avoid them anyways."
"I need to keep my parents happy at least, and if your around that means I have somebody fun to talk to after it's done" Madoka says.
"Oh yeah!" the gyaru adds as she turns around to see Alyona pulling her stockings up. "What's got you so tense? Is your mom okay?"
Alyona sighs: "It's something personal, and not related to my mom"
Madoka points her finger at Alyona's eyes. "Gyaru hypnotism, activate! "You will tell me why you're upset, even if it's your time of month and especially if it's romance-related..." she says like a cackling witch.
"The former is none of your business and as I keep saying, there is nothing between me and Momofuku!" Alyona pouts.
"...But I was given a challenge in order to join the Tea Ceremony Club and they want me to do a Wakindate along with many lesser temae before I get the signature I need."
Madoka tilts her head. "That's not allowed, or even fair. It took me a looooong time to get into the secret transmissions and that was with me being from a really big family. I'll chat with Morita-chan and-"
"No" Alyona says with what scraps of audaciousness and authority she has left. "I do not need special treatment because I am gaijin, I will complete their task and show them just how dedicated I am!"
The two girls stare at each other for a minute before Madoka breaks first.
"Fiiiine, but even Shu couldn't pull this off with luck alone, so I'm gonna be taking you from Momo for a few days to make tea for us. Sensei was right, you need put more love into it."
"Thank you, I could brew mud for my mother and Archie and they wouldn't know it. Renka is much too cryptic of a critic even if she clearly has some knowledge of what proper tea should taste like" Alyona says as she zips up her skirt and slings her bag over her shoulder.