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Miko is not used to being read easily.
Miko is not used to being read at all, her true intentions hidden under several layers of plotting and delicate care, her actions the result of extensive thinking on their potential consequences. Miko's only true companion is herself, her own mind. Yes, there's Tojiko, and Futo, but neither of them are on Miko's (admittedly high) level. Seiga's just as calculating, but she doesn't share Miko's concern for human dignity. Everyone else Miko speaks to with some regularity is more of an acquaintance than a friend or ally.
Sometimes, it's simply easier to be alone.
It's just before sundown when Miko gets a visitor. She can sense the woman out there in the woods: a stray desire to find Senkai, so faint Miko almost doesn't hear. Strange. It isn't the Hakurei, and it isn't Hijiri. It most certainly isn't Seiga--Miko can hear Seiga's filthiness from miles away. No one else Miko cares about would be seeking the path. It's clearly unimportant.
And yet, if Miko listens, it's quite interesting. She wants to find Senkai. She wants to see Miko, to talk. She wants to see if they're truly as similar as she thinks.
...Oh.
Miko clasps her cape around her shoulders and sets out into the forest, her sword at her waist. The woman does not want trouble, but Miko knows how quickly things can escalate with no reason.
Slowly, she removes her earmuffs, letting them rest around her neck. The sudden sensitivity is almost too much, making her ears pop, but after a few seconds she's adjusted to the rush of new sounds, ones she doesn't often hear--the quiet chatter of bugs, the wind gentle through the trees. And a woman with short hair and a network of thick veins curling around her body, looking out for Miko.
They stare at each other for a moment, the extra too-large eye on the woman's chest blinking slowly. Miko can hear very clearly now that she wants to talk. She idly wonders what it's about, and almost instantly reads a new desire: earmuffs. Specifically, the ones Miko wears. She's a mind reader.
Miko's a little uncomfortable at this turn of events.
The woman nods slightly. "Very well. I'm not opposed to talking out loud, especially when your thoughts are so difficult to parse."
"May I ask who you are?"
"Satori Komeiji. You may remember dueling my sister, but the particulars are of no importance."
"I hardly remember all the people I've fought," Miko says.
"I understand. You've noticed why I'm here, anyway, which is a much more pressing matter."
"You seem to want my earmuffs," Miko says, choosing her words carefully.
Satori gives a slow blink. "In a way. I was mostly curious about them, and why you wear them. I've heard rumors that you have exceptional hearing, so I considered that we may have a similar problem. And so I came." She folds her hands delicately, then adds, "I see you're not wearing them now."
"I had to be able to accurately find you. My earmuffs reduce the range of what I can hear."
"So you do hear things others don't."
"I read simple desire. I can know everything about a person from listening to their heart's wishes."
"Ah," Satori says. "Then you understand what I'm here for."
Miko's suddenly hit by a wall of emotion, a flood of desires so strong it threatens to knock her down--a want to go home to a rose garden and to have a hot cup of tea waiting, to feed the cats and birds and perhaps write. More than that, if she listens deeper. A desperate need to be understood. To not be feared. To be…
"I'll see what I can do," Miko says, and Satori returns something close to a smile.
Satori's struggling over the best synonym for exit when Okuu's loud approach breaks her train of thought. She's already placed her pen back down onto her desk by the time Okuu knocks on the door and hollers "Satori-sama, there's mail for you!"
"Come in," Satori calls back, pushing out her chair to stand. Okuu stumbles in excitedly, bearing a large box in her arms. "This is for me?"
"Uh huh! Somebody delivered it right to the reactor 'n' said to bring it to you."
"Interesting." Satori gingerly takes the package from Okuu. It's light for its size, and tied up with a silky violet ribbon. "You should go back to work, alright?"
"Okaaaay!" Okuu trills, hopping back out into the mansion.
Satori sits back down, curious to see what her mystery parcel contains. The ribbon unties easily, revealing that the box is mainly full of thin, crumpled paper. In the center, when she finally unwraps it, is a pair of earmuffs, pale blue and pink, with a rose pattern stamped over one side. Satori holds them in her hands delicately, running her fingertips over the softness on the inside covering before slowly placing them over her head.
They fit perfectly. And everything is quiet.
Satori closes her eyes, and grins.