Chapter 11 - Threads Between Two Worlds

Anastasya leaned against the windowsill of the dusty second-floor library, the sunlight falling through the lace-like branches of a cherry tree outside. She had excused herself from class under the pretense of needing a book, but really, she needed silence. Space. Breathing room.

She hadn’t meant to summon him, but Haruki’s presence pressed through the air like humidity before a storm.

Haruki: Appears behind Anastasya. "Skipping class already? My influence is rubbing off on you."

Anastasya: "You’re like mold. You just appear where I don’t want you."

Haruki: Places a hand over his chest. "Wounded. But not surprised."

He moved closer, until his reflection joined hers in the windowpane. Outside, the world remained ordinary. Inside, the air grew strange, laced with shrine-magic.

Anastasya: "Why are you here?"

Haruki: "Because you are. You’re not as far from the shrine as you think. And neither am I."

Their fingers brushed against the glass, not quite touching. The warmth between them buzzed like tension before lightning.

...

Back in her room, Anastasya tried to do her homework, but the lamp kept flickering. Her pencil levitated once. The corner of her math textbook whispered something in Old Japanese.

Anastasya: "Haruki. Stop enchanting my furniture."

A miniature paper bird fluttered down from the ceiling and unfolded into his face, smirking.

Haruki: "I'm just making sure your study environment is spiritually optimized."

Anastasya: "I will set your shrine on fire."

Haruki: "Kinky."

She crumpled the paper and threw it at her wall.

...

Later that night, after everyone slept, Anastasya returned to the shrine under moonlight. She stood barefoot on the damp stones, arms crossed, hair fluttering in the breeze. Haruki waited by the altar, holding something behind his back.

Anastasya: "What are you hiding?"

Haruki: "A gift. It’s traditional to give your bride something sweet after her first full day in your world."

He revealed a small lacquered box. Inside, nestled in velvet, was a hairpin shaped like a fox with obsidian eyes and a trailing silver tail that shimmered like her hair.

Anastasya: "It’s beautiful. Is it cursed?"

Haruki: "Only with devotion."

He reached out, carefully sliding the pin into her hair, fingers brushing her ear, slow and reverent. Her breath caught.

Anastasya: "This… still feels unreal."

Haruki: "It is. But it’s also happening. And I’m not letting go of you."

...

Aurelya was trying to teach Anastasya how to sleep with magical noise-cancelling charms when something banged in the kitchen.

Anastasya groaned, pulling her blanket over her face.

Anastasya: "If that’s the ghost raccoon again, I swear I will banish myself."

Aurelya floated through the wall.

Aurelya: "Worse. It’s Haruki attempting to cook."

...

Smoke. Flour. Eel sauce.

Haruki stood in a tangled apron, flipping what might’ve been an omelette but looked more like a summoning accident.

Anastasya: "What are you doing?"

Haruki: "Love pancakes."

Anastasya: "That’s an octopus tentacle."

Haruki: "Shrine-style love pancakes."

She stood there, watching him fumble with a ladle, exasperated but oddly endeared. Her fingers twitched toward him, like muscle memory of a world where he made sense.

Anastasya: Sighs and grabs a bowl. "Move. I’m cooking."

Haruki: "My wife is such a tsundere."

Anastasya: "I’m poisoning yours."

...

They ate the salvaged pancakes under the stars. The shrine lights dimmed, the sky full of motionless clouds. Anastasya leaned against him, shoulder to shoulder, her eyes half-closed.

Anastasya: "I don’t know how this is supposed to work. You and me. This place and… that one."

Haruki: "We’ll weave them together. Stitch by stitch."

Anastasya: "And if the thread snaps?"

Haruki: "Then I’ll tie it back with blood."

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