Volume 4 - Criminal Crow, Chapter 20 - Builder's Bane

Now that Yuisu and the girls were working out at the gym regularly, their bath at home was getting frequent use to soothe sore muscles. One evening, as all four of them relaxed and soaked away the tension, Yuisu jumped up suddenly and put a fist in the air. “That settles it. I’m turning the hot spring on the property into a real hot spring bath! I’ll call Agent Will tomorrow and do whatever it takes to make it happen!”

“That’s a great idea, really. But the rest of us really don’t need to see your nakedness, Yui. Could you cover up or sit back down?” Mara teased.

Yuisu’s entire body went red with embarrassment. She sunk back into the pool until only her face was above the water.

Haru patted Yuisu on the head with a wing. In a cheerful tone, she said, “It’s okay, miss Yuisu. I like seeing your nakedness.”

That only managed to make Yuisu blush even more. Not in front of the others, Haru!

The next day Yuisu had everyone gather at the dinner table. She put her palms on the table and leaned forward. “Remember how I said I’d do whatever it takes to make the hot spring thing happen?”

Tsuen nodded. “How could we forget, when you were jumping around in the nude? You are looking really fit though, Yuizu.” She gave Yuisu a thumbs up. “Nice work.”

Yuisu glared at her. All that time with Mara is rubbing off on Tsuen. She’s picked up Mara’s snark. “Anyways, it turns out that it takes a lot to make a hot spring bath. Like way more than I was expecting. Agent Will can get us an expert craftsman to design the hot spring layout and the covered path to it, but the craftsman will only do part of the work.”

Haru’s head tilted, but Yuisu spoke first, “Then who’ll do the rest of the work?" She immediately answered her own question. "Us! Agent Will got approval for most of the cost by pitching it as a team building exercise.” Yuisu looked between three unenthusiastic faces. “Cheer up, you guys. We won’t have to pay a single yen, and it shouldn’t take more than two weeks to build everything. The end result will be worth it!”

On the third day of construction, Agent Will’s hired carpenter finally called on the girls for help. He was a short older man with short wavy black hair and a round face, and he introduced himself as ‘Mister Satoru’.

“Alright girls, I’ve laid out a some string lines and stakes that mark where the path will go. I need a couple of you to clear that area of plants. I also have a bunch of wooden beams in my truck that I need brought here,” Mister Satoru said in a kindly voice.

Haru and Tsuen volunteered to move the wood, since pulling plants from the ground would be particularly hard for either of them. Mara and Yuisu were left on plant-clearing duty, digging up shrubs and grass with hoes. It was all tough work, but by the end of the day they had a nice, clear dirt path and a huge pile of wood stacked in a convenient spot nearby.

The next day, Satoru had them placing posts into the ground along the path. After that, he taught them some basic carpentry so they could start connecting the posts with beams. Working together was tricky when each girl had such different capabilities, but they were making some real progress and learning teamwork to boot. On the seventh day of construction, however, strife had fallen on the project.

“Where’s the claw hammer? You had it last, Yui,” Mara said, looking out from under her trusty umbrella.

“Well it isn’t where I left it, okay? Either you or Tsuen must have taken it, since Haru certainly has no use for it.”

Tsuen said, “Don’t bring me into this. I already got all the blame for the box of framing anchors that went missing.” She frowned and added, “Poor Mister Satoru had to go buy another box because of that…”

Just then, Haru called out from far away, “I found the hammer!”

Yuisu raised an eyebrow and called back, “Where?”

Haru pushed her way through some bushes, clutching the hammer with some difficulty. She passed it to Yuisu. “It was in a little clearing back there, along with a pile of shiny rocks and loose screws.”

Mara looked to Haru with new interest. “So an animal stole it? That’s so cool!” With her fear of the outdoors mostly gone, Mara had started to regard the natural world with childlike excitement.

Haru raised her other wing where she held a single large black feather. “You could say that it was an animal… but you’d be wrong. This feather isn’t from just some animal, it’s from a liminal. Another harpy.”

Tsuen frowned. “A harpy is stealing our stuff? Why would she do that? Why is she even out here on Yuizu’s land?”

Yuisu set the hammer down on a toolbox. “Regardless of why, I need to let Agent Will know. I’ll be back in a bit.” She stormed off toward the house.

Mara grabbed the hammer and went back to work with a smile on her face. Despite the difficulty, building something with your own effort was a very fulfilling experience, and it was an opportunity to spend more time with Tsuen.

Agent Will’s sharp black suit stood out against the natural backdrop of trees and rocks. He kneeled next to the pile of shiny rocks and metal that Haru had found. “Yep, this looks familiar. I didn’t want to point fingers until I was sure, but this is enough. If you’ll excuse me, I have a call to make.” He strode down the little dirt path to the back door of the house and went inside.

Agent Will picked up the phone in the kitchen and dialed a number from memory. “Yamato? It’s me, Agent Will. We’ve got another problem.”

A young man’s voice responded. “Oh no, was it Misaki again? I’m so sorry, Mister Will, sir.”

“It’s Agent Will, not mister, but that doesn’t matter right now. Do you know where Misaki is?”

“Of course, she should be right here…” There was a long pause filled by the sound of Yamato running around his apartment with the phone still to his ear. Finally a meek voice said, “...She’s not here.”

“That’s what I was expecting. I think I know where she is. I need you to drive to this address right now.” Agent Will read off Yuisu’s address and hung up, then took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“That kid… he just isn’t ready for this. Why’d he have to request a harpy of all things?”

Twenty minutes later, a little green hatchback pulled into Yuisu’s gravel driveway. Agent Will asked Yuisu and Haru to join him on the porch to greet the guest.

When Yamato got out of the car and started to approach, Yuisu’s jaw dropped. She elbowed Haru and whispered, “Holy crap, I think that’s the checker you flirted with that time at the grocery store.”

Haru eyed him for a moment and nodded. “Yep, that’s actually him. I’d recognize that bashful face anywhere. Well, this will be fun,” she said with a grin.

Yamato got as far as the first porch step before he noticed Haru. His eyes went wide and he stepped back onto the ground.

Agent Will’s eyebrows furrowed. “What’s the problem, Yamato? It’s not like you’ve never seen a harpy before. You live with one!”

Yamato stepped forward onto the porch, his eyes locked on the ground. “O-of course.” His face blushed red under his messy brown hair as he stuck out a hand in front of him. “My name’s Yamada Yamato. Please just call me Yamato.” He looked up at Haru and Yuisu, swallowed audibly, and added, “It’s nice to meet you… again.”

Haru took his hand between both wings. “Ah, I was hoping you’d remember me. After all, I remember you…” She smiled wide, showing off her sharp teeth

Yamato shivered and withdrew his hand, and thankfully Agent Will cut in.

“Let’s speed this up.” He gestured at each of the others. “Yamato, this is Yuisu and Haru. They live here. I think Misaki is flying around up here, stealing stuff again. Will you help track her down with us?”

Yamato nodded repeatedly, so deep it was almost a bow. “Of course. I’m sorry, Mister, er, Agent Will. I’ll try my best to fix this.”

Agent Will turned to Yuisu and Haru. “As you may have guessed, Yamato is one of my other Exchange Program Hosts, my newest charge, actually. His homestay is a harpy named Misaki, and she’s in the habit of running away.” He paused, then added, “…And stealing stuff… and forgetting where she lives. You’d think three weeks would be long enough to remember your own house…”

He shook his head. “Anyway, let’s spread out and look for her. She can actually remember her name, so just yell that a lot, I guess.” He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose again.

It finally sunk in for Yuisu that Agent Will must manage a bunch of different hosts and homestays. She had never really considered how much work must be involved. Given how well he usually treated Yuisu and the girls and how snappy he was acting now, it seemed Agent Will had run out of patience for Yamato and Misaki.

Armed with Misaki’s name and the vague description, ‘Short with black wings and a very long black ponytail’, they split up and wandered the large property. Haru took to the skies, but she wasn’t used to tracking flying prey, so she wasn’t sure what to look for.

After almost an hour, it was Yamato who found Misaki. Or more accurately, she found him, and she immediately pounced on him and knocked him to the ground.

She wore a vivid pink and yellow kimono-style dress that stood out against her black feathers and hair, as did the colorful baubles she wore in her long ponytail.

“Yamato! I found you!” she cried out in a cute raspy voice as she sat on his chest. “I’m not lost anymore!”

Yamato couldn’t help but smile, despite the discomfort of lying in a pile of sharp pine needles. “Yep, you’re not lost anymore. But this isn’t home. You need to stay at home when I’m not with you, remember?” He gently pushed her off so he could stand up.

Misaki pouted. “Home is boring and small. Nothing happens there.” She suddenly ran off through the trees toward the house. Yamato chased after her and arrived at the driveway out of breath.

Misaki wasn’t even close to tired. She spun around on one foot with her wings spread wide. “There’s always something happening here! I’ve been watching the girls that live here. This place is fun!”

Haru spotted them on the driveway and flew off to bring the others back. Within a few minutes, the search party and Misaki were gathered at the kitchen table. Misaki wriggled in her seat and her eyes darted around the room, excited by every little detail.

Maybe it was a mistake to invite everyone inside, Yuisu wondered. It feels like Misaki’s just making a list of shiny stuff to steal…

Yuisu broke the silence. “Um, not to be rude, but aren’t we done here? Misaki was found. What else did you want to do here, Agent Will?”

He sighed. “It’s true we found her, but I doubt she’d stay found for long. She seems to have an attachment to this place, so I bet she’d wind up here again within a day or two.”

Yamato bowed until his head was on the table. “I’m sorry, Agent Will. I’ll do my best to keep her from running off again.” He looked back up at Misaki with pleading eyes. “You’ll try too, won’t you, Misaki? Please try to behave. I don’t want you to be deported!”

Misaki stopped fidgeting and her constant smile faded. “I don’t want that either! I like living with Yamato.” She tilted her head and furrowed her brow in thought. “But when I get bored, I forget all of the rules and I just have to fly.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry.”

Agent Will put a hand on her bare shoulder. “It’s okay, Misaki. I understand that. It isn’t fair for you to be cooped in a tiny apartment up all the time.” He turned to look at Yuisu. “And that brings me to my proposal.”

Yamato jumped up. “No, don’t take Misaki away from me! I’ll do better, just don’t take her away. I really lo—”

“Calm down, Yamato,” Agent Will interrupted. “I’m not taking her away. I was just going to ask miss Nakahara if she’d let Misaki come to visit occasionally, to get some flight time and maybe spend some time with other liminals. Maybe their good habits will rub off on her.”

Yuisu shrugged and turned to Haru. “I’m fine with that. How about you, Haru?”

Haru eyed Misaki suspiciously. She wasn’t pleased to have another harpy intruding on her territory, even if Misaki was just a little crow-type harpy instead of another raptor. But Haru also empathized at little; she knew how awful being cooped up and unable to fly and explore could be. “Yeah, sure.”

Misaki and Yamato both lit up with matching smiles and shining eyes. “Thank you!” they said in unison. Misaki jumped up from the table and spun around on one foot. It seemed to be her signature move. “Yay! I get to fly and meet new people!”

Yuisu glanced at Yamato, who was watching Misaki dance with a wistful smile. She recognized that look, especially after Chiyoko had given her a hard time about it not that long ago. Yamato was head over heels in love with Misaki.