A Festive Mask

Kaguya sat within her butterfly enclosure, she had all kinds of them within the beautiful room with large floor to ceiling windows. This room always filled her with such joy; it was peaceful, her worries seemed to just slip away while she was here.

She felt herself dozing off, and happily allowed it to happen, it wasn’t as if she had any plans today, after all.

🌙———————🌙

Raiko knelt within his garden.

The cove was peaceful today, the calm before the storm of tonight.

He scowled at the thought of the amount of Yumenari that would be present at the festival tonight. Soon, however, he thought about how much Kaguya would enjoy the festival.

There was no doubt in his mind that she was getting ready as he tended to his garden. Although, it was a mystery of what kind of outfit she would don.

Surely it would have a butterfly theme, she did love those strange creatures from the human world… No matter how hard he thought though, he could not remember which she favored the most, however, such prey animals were beneath his mind it seemed.

He snapped back to reality to see the pink hair of Retro.

They stood at the entrance of his garden, their strange cloud pet peeking beneath the gate.

“Hey, you’re Kaguya’s S.O. that right?”

Their aloof tone and gaze left something to be desired as Raiko stood and brushed himself off.

“Yes. I am Raiko. What did you need Kaguya for?” He said with a growl.

Either the Yumenari in front of him was not intimated or did not notice his own tone as they searched in their bag for something.

They pulled out a small parcel, and reached out to Raiko as if to give it to him.

“What is this? I won’t take packages I know not their intention.”

A small smile reached Retro’s face as they commented. “Smart man, but this time, it’s just a new mask from my master.”

From Hedae? Why would Kaguya commission him to create her a new mask? Was the mask she had now not enough?

He took the parcel from Retro, who must’ve seen the confusion on his face.

“No payment needed. Master said this one’s on him. Anyway, gtg. More deliveries to make. See ya.”

The cloud pet barked in agreement before the two of them left Raiko with far more questions than he had at the beginning of their encounter.

Why not just bring this to Kaguya’s own home. It wasn’t as if they were living together… Surely, Hedae had her address?

Curiosity had him looking at the cloth covered parcel. It had a butterfly pattern to the fabric and even the ribbon seemed to be in the shape of a butterfly. Truly, Hedae was a strange Yumenari, yet one couldn’t argue that he did his due diligence on his clients.

Regardless, he needed to deliver this to Kaguya. It might be needed for whatever outfit she could be planning for the festival tonight.

He covered his face as he could feel the heat rising from his thoughts. She would surely be beautiful in anything. It felt wrong to drop by unannounced to simply deliver a parcel that was accidentally delivered to him though!

Yet who could he trust to handle such a task… delicately?

As if an answer from Kannazuki herself, Paramour walked by whistling a tune and carrying some fine clothing in his arms.

“Hold there, Paramour!”

The masked yumenari stopped and tilted his head. “Me? Whatever for, Thunder Hunter?”

The nickname caught Raiko off guard for a moment and caused him to think better of asking, but it was the only way…

“I require assistance. I cannot take this to Kaguya in fear that I will ruin a surprise. Will you-” Paramour didn’t allow Raiko to finish before he took the parcel and proudly announced to no one in particular, “Of course I shall help you in your time of need! This package could not have found itself in safer hands!”

Raiko sighed as the other Yumenari ran off; he could only hope at this point the job got done… Supposing that it was late enough for him to start getting ready himself for the festival, he went inside.

🌙———————🌙

With a yawn, Kaguya awoke to the setting sun in her eyes and someone knocking upon her front door. Still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she found none other than Paramour was the one calling.

“Bonjour, my dear Papillion!”

“Hello Paramour, chipper as usual I see.”

“But of course! Tonight is the festival.”

This woke Kaguya up, and as a result, all of her anxiety. “The- the Festival!? Oh no! I fell asleep! There’s no way I’ll be ready!”

Tears started to prick her eyes as Paramour spoke. “No need to worry! I shall help! Yes you are but a caterpillar now, but in no time at all we’ll have your wings spread and ready for flight!”

She laughed at his strange way of talking and let him into her home, thanking him for his generosity.

The two of them worked on choosing the right kimono and getting her make-up and hair just right.

She reached to redon her mask but Paramour instead handed her the parcel.

“I believe this is a gift from your own paramour, Papillon.”

“From Raiko? How generous of him.”

With a smile, she took and carefully unwrapped it, finding a beautiful mask, with the markings of a Claudina agrias butterfly, her favorite butterfly.

For the second time that evening, tears pricked at her eyes, this time they were happy tears though.

With help from Paramour, she finished getting ready and they parted ways, with him claiming he had to go help another fair maiden in need tonight.

She raced off to meet with Raiko, finding him at the location that would always be their special meeting spot.