Chapter Text
The end of a work shift for a wolf tengu was never a flashy affair. Couldn’t afford to be, make a scene about how much you hated your job and you would be called out for defying the status quo. It was just a matter of heading back to your home and allowing whoever was on night duty to take your place. The monotony of a wolf tengu’s life was something that they would always hold onto and remember.
So when Momiji made it home after a lengthy day of work, an extra long shift for extra pay, she wasn’t expecting anything special. Certainly not a crow tengu standing in her doorway, and especially not Hatate.
“H-Hatate? You’re not usually here this late at night.”
“Well guess who has a question that needs answered?”
Momiji blinked as she watched Hatate walk over to the kotatsu in the living room, completely unprompted, and sit down. Damn her smug nature, Momiji thought to herself as she kicked off her geta and moved to sit across from her. What could she be asking at this hour?
“Ask away, I guess.”
“Right. So I was talking to Aya – never hurts to learn more about your rivals, right – and she starts telling me about an encounter the two of you had recently. Said you were glaring at her the whole time. And can you believe what she tells me?”
“Nothing good, I take it.”
“She starts telling me ‘I think Momiji might have a thing against crow tengu.’”
Momiji sighed and nearly shifted to lying on her back when she heard that. Of course Aya would try to spread some malicious rumor about her, it was such an Aya thing to do that to someone she didn’t like. All she could hope was that the crow wasn’t spreading it to everyone she knew.
“What makes her say that?”
“Oh, she said ‘oh, Momiji thinks we’re so high-and-mighty, that we’re all a bunch of rude, nosey types who rub our higher social standing in their faces’. Yeah, she did not have very kind things to say about you Momiji.”
Yeah, figures that was what it would be about. Something about social status; Momiji always took Aya as being someone who hated tengu’s strict caste-based social structure, so she figured she’d be a bit more sympathetic to her feelings on the whole thing, but no, spread lies about her as being some kind of crow hating jerk, that made sense.
“Say it ain’t so, Momiji. I know you’re not some bigot, but why do you two hate each other so much? Doesn’t make any sense to me, I didn’t think my personality was that much different from hers and you’re willingly dating me.”
Oh. Oh no. That’s the one question that Momiji didn’t want to have to answer. Anything but digging into the whats and hows of why her and Aya’s relationship is so sour. That was going to take more than a little effort to find the right phrasing for, but if Hatate was asking, then the wolf tengu needed to suck up her pride and figure it out, and fast.
“...can you give me a minute?”
“Not too long please, I’m starting to get sleepy.”
Great, a time limit. Now Momiji really needed to figure this out. She crossed her arms and got to thinking, her tail smacking against the soft floor behind her. Just how exactly was she going to explain this? Would she sugarcoat the whole ordeal? Nah, that’d be blatantly dishonest, Hatate could see right through her. Same with her trying to make Aya look bad. No, as much as it hurt, she had to be thoroughly honest with her.
“...Hatate? I think I need to confess something.”
“Oho, a confession. Lay it on me, fuzzball.”
“...oh no, this is really embarrassing. Hatate, I…”
Momiji took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Just spit it out, just spit it out…
“Aya and I used to date… many, many years ago.”
Hatate held a hand to her face, though Momiji couldn’t tell whether it was in shock or to hide a smirk. She could at least tell that the crow was surprised by her answer, and maybe even a little amused.
“Hah, you and Aya dated? Maybe you just have a thing for birds. What happened with that?”
“Nothing special. It was just a particularly nasty break up… honestly, it was so long ago I don’t remember exactly what caused it. And by long I mean centuries, it’s been ages since I’ve even considered her an ex instead of an annoying pest.”
There was a look on Hatate’s face. It was… remarkably smug, more than usual in fact. Like she’d just gotten the scoop of the century and knew that she had the power and knowledge to do whatever she wanted with it.
“Well, I’m sorry about the breakup,” she very suddenly said in a sincere tone. Where did that arrogance go? “Truthfully, I don’t like her much either, but what can you do? I’ll see about finding ways to get her to leave you alone. Maybe I’ll get Megumu on her case.”
“Megumu?” It took a while for Momiji to remember who Megumu was – she was the crows’ boss, not her own – but once she did, she couldn’t help but smirk along. “Oh, that’s diabolical. That’s one more reason to add to the list of things I love you for.”
“Haha, that’s what I love to hear. Now since it’s getting late, how about we go do that other thing you like me for while we lie down? Y’know, the brushing?”
“...you know what? Sure, after today I think I’ll take it.”
And so Momiji stood up and strolled off to her bedroom, Hatate in tow. Honestly, talking about her past with Hatate turn out to not be such a bad idea after all; perhaps this was what it meant to have a healthy relationship. Just talking about your issues rather than bottling them up. Hatate sure seemed to have that figured out already. It got Momiji thinking, though.
Just what were all those other couples across Gensokyo doing this summer?