POV: painter
Summary
Painter wakes back in his own Kilahito flat — incorporeal again — with the indignity of the rock fiasco fresh in his mind, still not understanding what would have been right. Yumi sits up from the blanket on the floor in his oversized pajamas, hair a twisted mess, declares that he has failed, and informs him that ritual stacking must be done with skill and artistry — that he is going to have to be trained to it like she was as a child. He is unimpressed. He is also more worried than he wants to admit about the stable nightmare he reported; he had forgotten to warn the foreman about the family who'd seen it, and he wants to know whether Sukishi understood, and whether the Dreamwatch is on its way. The two argue. He insists this is his world and his rules; she gives in on the condition that she first wash, because being a ghost in a Torio-side body does not actually clean this one.
He shows her the shower. She stares at the knobs in alarm — *you have a geyser* — and then is daunted by the prospect of bathing without attendants. He leans against the closed bathroom door and discovers that he can lean on it: he passes through some objects and not others, and is not sure why. The narration cuts in to admit it could have explained, but it was at that moment holding a stuffed coat, three bags, a puppy in a carrier, and three boiled eggs, and would rather not be asked. Through the door Yumi discovers warm water for the first time, asks what shampoo is and to what count she should lather, and is told there are no rules. He explains, when she asks how the geyser was tamed, that it is pumped from the lake and heated by the hion lines — the basic trick is touching opposite lines to metal to make it heat, and a bus engine or a heater are simple extensions of the same idea. She has never been taught anything but her duties.
She emerges wrapped in three towels and works through his unfolded pile of clean clothing into an outfit that is technically clothing — turtleneck under a sweatshirt, a sweater tied at the waist as a skirt over trousers, three pairs of socks inside his sandals. He stares. She thinks she has approximated modesty. They head down through the lobby and out into the Kilahito evening, the narrator observing that the city always feels like the lull after a rain, made of negative space and absences. Yumi freezes on the threshold at the sky — *it's so empty.* He points up to the star that cuts through the shroud and tells her scientists have flown beyond it; she stares at her own world and follows the hion lines down the street with her eyes.
They walk through main-street crowds toward the foreman's office at the Painter Department's corner. Yumi draws stares — her layered costume is somehow more conspicuous than wearing no pants — and interprets the attention as the people sensing what she is. He explains, futilely, that they just think she looks strange. They pass a shop window full of hion viewers showing synchronised actors, and she stops to gawk before catching herself.
In the office Sukishi is reading his paper. Yumi bows him a full ritual obeisance and asks, on Painter's behalf, whether the Dreamwatch has been sent for. The foreman gives her a slow, sceptical interrogation. *Used those half-rate paintings of his to drive away a stable nightmare?* He muses, half to himself, that Nikaro always needs to be at the centre of everything and likes a good lie. Painter stands behind Yumi gut-punched. They give him the family's address; he takes it, says he'll handle it, and shows them out. On the curb Painter tells Yumi the truth: the foreman did not believe a word, and a stable nightmare that has gone uncaught for three days is going to be back, likely only noticed when it starts killing people.
They walk home and run into Akane coming out of the building in street clothes. She greets Yumi by name, takes in the layered outfit, and asks where her brother is. Yumi stammers a cover. Akane follows them inside and catches up to her in the lobby with an offer: this is none of her business, but is Yumi all right, and would she like some help shopping for some new clothes? Yumi bursts into tears and accepts.