EPISODE 4

LET’S HAVE A TOUR OF THE ROYAL CASTLE!

“Oh, you actually came fifteen minutes early. You understand good manners.”

Ryouta stood waiting at the central gate of the castle at nine fifteen in the morning, and Ouka soon came over.

He went wide-eyed in amazement when he saw her; this visit was off to quite a start.

School was out for the day, so it was a given, but she was wearing an extravagant dress meant just for the emperor.

He didn’t think it was for work. It was probably meant for occasions like receiving national guests or something.

When he saw her all dressed up, it reminded him that the two of them were in entirely different leagues.

She oozed elegance from every pore. There was a maturity about her, one that the childish Shiren didn’t have. And his first crush was unbelievably beautiful.

If she had told him You will be my minion when they were in elementary school, that probably would have decided the rest of his life.

Her personality has a few issues, but she was definitely born to rule…

“Why are you staring off into space? Did you not get enough sleep?”

“Oh, no, I’m fine…”

The moment they met, he grew nervous.

He often saw her at school, but they never had the chance to be alone together.

He wasn’t sure how yet, but Ouka was still someone special to him.

“We’re going now, then. I’ll show you every nook and cranny of this castle, if you know what I mean.”

“You don’t have to go out of your way to make it sound dirty.”

“I’ll even give you the passcode for the Earth Destroyer hidden in the basement.”

“I’ll pass on the traumatizing experience, thanks! And don’t make dangerous things like that! Disarm it now!”

“But when I get stressed, I like to put my hand on the switch and sing, Oh no, what should I do? Should I flip it? It makes me feel better.”

“Stressing you out puts the whole world in danger of being destroyed?!”

After she dropped that bomb (figuratively speaking), they entered the castle.

The entryway was so extravagant, Ryouta shuddered to think how much it cost.

Sure, it was their national symbol, so it was something they should spend their money on, but where did those funds come from?

“Looking at it again, the castle really is impressive…”

“The emperor’s living quarters require the power to make evildoers yield. Well then, I’ll start explaining things bit by bit.”

Ouka first pointed to the staircase.

“There are twelve steps on the stairs during the day, but the intruder alert sounds when you use them at night.”

“I don’t understand why you told me the first part of that sentence!”

“Because I can’t just add there are thirteen steps at night as the punchline, so be ready.”

Be ready for what?

“Also, there’s an elevator behind them, you see. We have a maintenance management contract with Sacred Blood Building Tech Services, Inc. It costs sixty-five thousand yen a month. And we have these floors waxed every month by the Sacred Blood Cleaning Services, Ltd., with whom we have a contract—”

“What’s the point of your explanations?! Why are you telling me about your contractors?!”

“Above the gate we just entered, there were carved depictions of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, buy no evil, create no evil, bring in no evil.”

“At least three of those concepts are nearly impossible to depict with simple drawings.”

“One of those carvings is bringing in the Earth Destroyer, by the way.”

“Please disarm it! As long as you’re emperor, I just know you’ll press it eventually!”

Ouka wasn’t giving him an actual explanation, so all he knew was that the castle was huge, gorgeous, and extravagant.

Ryouta then realized something was off. “Hey, you don’t have any guards or anything. I don’t see Sasara, either.”

Ouka had said she would be showing him around, but he at least thought that Sasara or another Imperial Guard would be tagging along.

“I said I’d be fine on my own today. You have the standing of an Imperial Guard anyway. If I then had more regular guards coming along, that would mean the emperor didn’t trust her own personal guard. That isn’t very good, is it?”

“I see. I guess the emperor needs to think about finer details like that.”

“I love the way he always buys my bullshit.”

“Hmm? Did you say something?”

“No, nothing at all.”

“But Sasara would be the type to ignore what you think and follow along anyway, right?”

“I told her I would take a bath with her someday soon and made her take the day off. She got a nosebleed and said, ‘As you say.’”

“You’re really risking your life, Ouka… Are you okay with that?!”

“Of course. Sasara’s a girl, and I wouldn’t do anything so………………………………………………………………………… Are you all right?”

Ryouta had apparently gotten scared of Ouka after thinking about her with a cool head.

“I hope you don’t mind my saying this outright, but I think it’s too dangerous to station Sasara near you as your personal guard. With regards to…chastity.”

There were all sorts of things contradictory about a personal guard who was dangerous when dispatched, but it was true for Sasara.

“That is why I have fifteen personal guards. If the situation calls for it, the other fourteen will kill her.”

“You’ve really got your priorities backward!”

“But having Sasara around makes things easier. You don’t often find subordinates who are so eager to devote themselves to you like she is.”

Their master-servant relationship was rather warped.

“Sasara would cry if she heard this… She wouldn’t be discouraged, though.”

“Ugh, you don’t understand anything, do you, Ryouta?” Ouka sighed with an annoyed look. Despite her magnificent outfit, but she was speaking and acting no different from usual. “I will hire people who are naturally willing to put their lives on the line for me, even if that comes with a little risk. When it comes down to it, those are the people I can depend on.”

“Wow, you really thought about who you employ.”

He was impressed with Ouka. She had control over the things she needed to.

“But still, Ouka, aren’t you busy with ruling the country? I hate to say it, but you’re using all this time just for me.”

“Not to worry. I canceled everything.”

“Y-you canceled everything?! Isn’t that bad for an emperor to do?”

“It’s fine. Alfoncina is doing all my work in my place.”

Then Ryouta got a text message.

Speak of the devil.

TITLE: help

MESSAGE: I’m going to be crushed by documents. Help me… \(^o^)/

“She needs help…”

“It’s fine. I said it’s fine, so it’s fine.”

“What’s your proof?”

“Because I said so, and that means there’s not a shadow of a doubt.”

I’m sorry, Alfoncina—if you hold a grudge against anyone, it should be Ouka. She said it was fine.

“The castle isn’t very interesting, is it? Let’s head outside for a bit.”

That was all Ouka said before leaving the castle building.

As the one receiving the tour, Ryouta could only obediently follow her.

She’d said “outside,” but of course they were still within castle grounds. If they headed straight as far as they could, they’d run into the outer castle walls, but the land area was big enough to fit several Tokyo Domes.

After walking for a bit, they came across what looked like a cabbage patch with a variety of different cabbages.

After passing through the patch, they came across some plants that Ryouta didn’t recognize.

“First, here is our vegetable garden.”

“I see. I thought it would be.”

“Here, we cultivate all sorts of pois— Herbs.”

“You were about to say poisons, weren’t you?!”

“Herbs are very important for assa— The promotion of health.”

“You were just about to say assassination!”

That was a very sinister slip of the tongue, in his opinion.

“Mm, what a delightful aroma. They are truly excellent herbs, aren’t they? They could never be toxic plants. Are you sure you’re not impure?”

“What do you call these herbs, by the way?”

“Herbs. Or, because they contain poison similar to habu snake venom, we call them habu herbs.”

“So they are poisonous!”

“Awww, you fell for it! Habu really is the name of a medicinal herb. This is the poisonous datura.”

“So it’s still poisonous!”

“Who cares? I won’t use it on you, okay?! I’ll raise taxes!”

“Why are you getting mad at me?!”

Ouka smacked her fan against her hand; she seemed to be pretty upset.

He didn’t get why she would be angry with him for that, but she was generally short-tempered. Maybe she wasn’t used to people complaining to her, since she had been raised as a member of the Imperial family.

“Then let’s go into the woods over there.”

They moved into a dim wood behind the vegetable garden. There was a stone path built through the center of it, intended as a sort of promenade.

“Yeah, it is important to have places where you can be one with nature.”

“Yes. The emperor controls not just civilization but nature as well.”

“That’s not what I meant…”

She was arrogant and feared nothing.

“Shiren acts pretty self-important sometimes, but she’s got nothing on you.”

At the end of the day, the sisters had a lot in common.

“That is because I am important, of course. Sigh, it is a crime to be born so great.”

“You need to be careful that you don’t cause a revolt. Whoa, that mushroom’s huge!”

On the outside of the promenade, there was a mushroom sprouting that was about the size of his palm.

“Ah, this cluster of trees also serves as a mushroom nursery.”

“Organic food is good for you— Wait, what kind of mushrooms are you growing?”

“The Podostroma cornu-damae.”

Fun Fact

The Podostroma cornu-damae is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world, with just three grams enough to be a lethal dose.

“There’s no way you’re using that mushroom for anything legal!”

“Taking care of those who oppose me is the same as upholding the law. It’s not a problem. Those who do me wrong will have festering wounds appear all over their bodies and die shortly thereafter.”

Then a shadow passed right by Ryouta.

Upon closer inspection, it was a sneaky-looking person wearing ninja clothes.

The ninja (?) harvested the Podostroma cornu-damae and then dashed off somewhere.

“Who was that?”

“I didn’t see anything.” Ouka looked up at the sky in a distinctly unnatural way.

“Hey! That was a ninja! An assassin! Oh yeah, I thought I felt someone looking at me yesterday, too…”

“Listen closely, Ryouta. You can hear the birds singing. Nature is so elegant. And as the one who governs it, I am even more so.”

“You can’t just change the topic by suddenly acting so poetic, and don’t use it as an excuse to compliment yourself.”

He vowed to himself that no matter what happened, he would never go against Ouka.

“Okay, let’s head on to the next stop! Off we go!”

He worried he might see more dangerous things if they kept going this way, so he started in a different direction.

“Oh no! Not that way!” Ouka frantically called out behind him. “There’s a trap over there.”

“What?” The moment the word left his mouth, the ground collapsed beneath him.

There were bamboo spears just below his feet… They threatened to impale him… They were going to run right through him…

As he squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact, he stopped falling.

Ouka was pulling him up single-handedly.

“Hah, phew… That was close. You need to be a little more careful now that you’re inside the castle! Let your guard slip, and you’ll die!”

“Man, I’m sorry. I wasn’t— Hey, this isn’t normal! The castle shouldn’t be a place where you can die if you stop paying attention!”

“Of course it should be. Castles are meant to have pools of lava and endless loops, and the last thing waiting for you should be a monster that breathes fire and throws axes. Didn’t you know that?”

“I’m not really happy to hear that you based it on that video game world with the little mustachioed man!”

“Goodness, this is what happens when you stop following me and wander off on your own. Ignoring me is virtually rebellion. Now that you’ve done that, I should just let you fall on the spears.”

“Can you even relax in such a dangerous castle?”

He was still dangling above the spears during this whole conversation, by the way.

“And, erm, this is a little embarrassing, since you just saved me, but could you pull me up a little more…?”

He was barely hanging on by keeping his feet pressed against the walls of the pit, but if Ouka let go of his hand, he would be done for. The bamboo spears would run him right through.

“Indeed. This means your life is in my hands, doesn’t it?” Ouka smiled seductively, as though realizing something.

Her smile gave him a chill.

This might be a very bad situation…

“Siiigh, my hand has gotten tired. I don’t think I can hold on anymore…”

“Please! Your Majesty!”

“Was it a golden Ryouta you dropped? Or a silver Ryouta? Or a bronze Ryouta? Or an orichalcum Ryouta? Or a stainless steel—”

“I don’t care about those little jokes of yours; help me!”

Right, if he had to define Ouka as either a masochist or a sadist, she was a Sadist with a huge capital S. In bold.

She was pushing him right to the edge.

“Ryouta, did you know about the law that states that your tax will be increased tenfold if you touch the emperor for over ten seconds? We call it the Tenfold Tax Increase If Anyone Touches the Emperor for Over Ten Seconds Act.”

“You just made that up! You definitely just made that up!”

“You know about the suspension bridge effect, don’t you?”

Ouka awkwardly turned her gaze away from Ryouta as she spoke.

The suspension bridge effect: mistaking the restlessness and nervousness of crossing a rickety suspension bridge for romantic feelings toward anyone else there.

But why was she bringing that up now?

Maybe she was buying time with small talk to torture him.

“D-don’t you feel it? Like, don’t you feel butterflies in your stomach?”

“We don’t have time for this!” Ryouta yelled; his life was on the line!

“…Well, I guess you’re right.” With a slightly bored expression, Ouka sighed. “Fine, I’ll help you. But, Ryouta, I have a small bit of bad news for you.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is—just tell me.”

“My arm fell asleep…”

“Do what you can! Just do what you can, Your Majesty!”

Now that she mentioned it, he felt like he was starting to see a hint of exhaustion in her face…

“The ninja took the Podostroma cornu-damae home; this was truly awful timing.”

“I knew it was a ninja! And why do you have ninjas in this country anyway? Whatever, that doesn’t matter right now!”

“I haven’t put the head ninja on watch over the Fuyukura household; what is the meaning of this…?”

“So they were watching me yesterday!”

“Hmm, it’ll work itself out. Instead, promise me one thing.”

“Wh-what is it?”

“You will do one thing that I ask of you.”

It was a frightening promise for something so simple.

But he couldn’t refuse. It was like coming to Yes or No options in an RPG—you always go with Yes anyway.

“Fine. But I’m not going to accept killing people or anything else inhumane.”

“That’s fine. I’m not planning to use you for anything so unreasonable.”

Ouka’s grip on him finally strengthened, and Ryouta at last returned to solid ground.

“Now that we’ve made our promise, let us return to the castle,” Ouka said, dusting off her dress.

“I’m sorry—you got all dirty because of me…”

He’d bumbled and soiled a dress that probably cost around what the average adult earned over the course of several years. He felt responsible.

“It’s fine. It was worth it, in a way.”

Ouka walked on ahead, smiling dauntlessly.

“I’ll cash in that promise at just the right time.”

They went back to the castle again. It was way too dangerous to look around the garden anymore.

This time, they went up to the second floor.

“You probably have all kinds of different rooms because this is a castle, right? I’m okay if you just show them to me one by one.”

“Sheesh, you sure have a lot of requests for a tour I’m taking you on. Fine, fine. Here are the servants’ quarters. The maids, you might call them.”

“Wait, you have maids? Color me intrigued.”

Even though Ryouta was on the serving side, he found his heart pounding loudly at the word maid.

“My, I can see the lust in your eyes. Very well. I’ll allow you a look.”

He pulled the door back, and before him was something like a judo training gym.

Not only that, but the maids were fighting (?) with brooms, yelling, “Ha!” “Ya!” “Dash it!” “Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora!”

“This is not what I was expecting!”

“Maids must be able to defeat five to ten insolent individuals at once in order to be acceptable. That is why they’re training like this. By the way, everyone here is a ranked kendo expert.”

“They’re not very docile at all.” At least it was good for public security.

“Oh, are maids not supposed to let their fists do the talking?”

“I don’t know how you arrived at that conclusion, but no.”

“Then why don’t we head to the kitchen next?”

Just as the name suggested, he could already smell something good wafting from it.

“For lunch today, we will be having minestrone soup, a side dish of tomatoes and pork with a Japanese-style sauce, tomato pot-au-feu, and the main dish will be a basil and tomato spaghetti.”

“I could offer a comeback, but I’m not gonna.”

He had plenty of experience with tomato dishes because of Shiren, so he was a little sick of them.

“But you’ll be eating plenty of it later.”

All the Sacred Blooded loved tomatoes, apparently.

“Gah, I should be happy thinking about a full-course tomato meal, but I just can’t!”

“Careless snacking is strictly forbidden, by the way. You might die.”

“Who is it you’re trying to kill, seriously?!”

“When you live a long life, you need to think about assassination sometimes. You need to be ready for when that happens.”

“No, I don’t, really.”

The next room they came to was different from all the rest; it was especially solemn.

“This is the prayer room for the Imperial family. We pray to the goddess of the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood here.”

“Whoa, it’s like a European cathedral in here…”

Stained glass windows stretched around it; it was almost magical. But even though Alfoncina’s First Cathedral retained the Japanese architecture of the remodeled Akinomiya Shrine, he wasn’t sure what to say about it. He would just keep quiet.

“You could say this room has one of the holiest atmospheres in the whole castle, second only to my room. Every Sunday, all the people in the castle gather to pray to our deity.”

A statue of a winged goddess stood quietly in the center of the room.

It was the statue he’d seen in Alfoncina’s First Cathedral. It was the deity of the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood, called the Goddess of Blood. Her bat-like wings were lifelike and captivating.

And this statue was much more impressive than the one in the First Cathedral.

Most would say it was anatomically impossible for humans to grow wings from their backs, but it was beautiful enough to laugh in the face of that rule.

“It sure is a masterpiece in here… I almost feel compelled to start worshipping, myself.”

“It is a sanctuary, after all. There’s no point unless everything around you reminds you to fear the divine. And there’s no point if we don’t get a lot of alms.”

“You don’t have to talk about money at a time like this!”

There were times when she was less like an emperor and more like a manager.

But even when she broke the mood, the idol of the Goddess of Blood was still beautiful.

Or maybe it seemed even more so because he was looking at an awakened Shiren.

“Hey, Ouka, can you transform?”

“Into Ultraman?”

“Why on Earth do you think I asked you that question?! I’m talking about that transformed state you guys have! That one with the wings!”

“I can’t tell you, Ryouta.”

Ouka lowered her lashes sadly. She looked like she was praying.

“Listen, the Goddess of Blood is not a mere benevolent deity. She is also a deity of destruction and evil. That’s why simply praying to her will not always bring you fortune.”

“That’s kind of complicated…”

“It’s not at all. Alfoncina is telling you about the teachings of our faith, is she not?”

“To be honest, she’s taught me almost nothing.” It felt like she was just playing with him the whole time.

“Ha-ha! That’s so like her.” Ouka laughed with an innocent smile.

He didn’t even know she could smile like that. It was probably because she and Alfoncina were old friends. Perhaps even best friends.

And that laugh completely stole his heart.

He already knew it, but Ouka was genuinely adorable.

“Hmm? Is something wrong?”

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

There was no way that he could say he was lost in admiration for her.

“Well then, I shall be giving you a personal lecture about the Sacred Blooded faith. Free of charge, because I am generous.” She walked toward the front of the statue and then whirled around. “The Goddess of Blood was originally one of the countless gods that existed in Japan. Just like the others, she was self-serving and inevitable.”

“Wait, I typically think of gods as being more just. Even Japanese gods like Amaterasu and Hachiman and Inari Okami and Okuninushi are all fair…”

“Those gods were born much later. There was a very fine line between gods and evil spirits among Japan’s original gods; most of them were a selfish bunch, cursing humans at the smallest slight. People built shrines and worshipped the gods so they wouldn’t lash out at them. The people of ancient times had much less control over nature and sickness than people do today. They recognized all those things as works of the gods, didn’t they?”

In short, that meant the old gods were born out of fear of nature.

“That’s why I believe that the Goddess of Blood was also a being who the humans recognized as a god out of fear of the Sacred Blooded. But because the Sacred Blooded themselves were ostracized, the humans forgot about the Goddess of Blood. Until we found her and lauded her as the highest power. That is why she also has a vengeful personality.”

“Sure, now it seems more like a neutral thing rather than the justice that Shiren talks about…”

When Shiren had been awakened, she was just trying to defeat her enemy Sasara, not necessarily meting out justice.

“That’s why the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood is a surprisingly delicate thing. Do you understand now?”

“Yeah, I do. There’s a lot I need to learn about the Sacred Blooded. I do serve you, after all.”

For a brief moment, Ouka’s face went red.

“Y-you’re right. Being an Imperial Guard requires a certain caliber of education. You will serve me to your greatest capacity!”

“Yeah, I know. I know we’re inside the castle, but it’s gorgeous in here. There’s not a speck of dust anywhere. Wait…what’s that?”

Something sat in a corner of the chapel.

There was a stack of old newspapers and magazines, tied up with string.

“This is also a storage room.”

“You have no intention of following the state religion, do you?! And those magazines look like pornos to me!”

“Oh, hey, Ryouta, you there? I was throwing those out; you want them?”

“This is blasphemous! And don’t buy porno mags!”

“I didn’t. I get sample copies of every book published in the Empire.”

“You’re abusing your privileges as emperor…”

For some reason, he now saw the Imperial castle as a stupidly huge house a rich friend just happened to live in.

But part of him also thought that maybe it was better this way.

“Hey, I’m relieved that we can talk like we used to in elementary school.”

To be frank, Ryouta had thought that they wouldn’t be able to have any more casual conversations, since Ouka was now emperor.

“You really are slow. That’s why I called you out here.”

Ouka gave an annoyed sigh. It was something she often did when she was in a bad mood.

“You’re in such a humble position, I knew you wouldn’t be very happy if I treated you to the highest-quality court banquet or anything like that, right? You’d prefer something from when we were kids, like eating corn chowder Umaibo with your tummy sticking out, or rejoicing after running around the forest with a bug-catching net and finding a beetle, or getting excited after pulling a foil card in Carddass, or crying because you were never good at swiping the bar codes in Barcode Battler and the machine couldn’t read them, or being shocked at seeing the first Gundam in real time, or hanging out in a rental library to read all the manga you can, or plugging your nose to drink the gross fat-free milk that came with school lunch, right?”

“You’ve got your generations all mixed up! And you’re being way too detailed!” But it was true that he would prefer the energy from their childhood. “Yep. I’m glad to know that you’re no different from how you were in elementary school.”

“Of course I am. I was born perfect, so there’s no need to change or hide it.”

“Yep, haven’t changed at all…”

Now that they had seen practically everything on this floor, all they had left was the one room at the end of the hall.

“I guess that’ll be our last stop. It’s so far away from everything else.”

He walked toward the room at the end of the hall. Ouka’s expression transformed dramatically.

“No! That’s not part of the public area!”

“The room’s obviously not going to kill me, right? Or maybe it might…? But you would have tricked me earlier if you were going to.”

“It’s not a trap. But you ca—”

He had already opened the door by the time she said it wasn’t a trap. As long as it wasn’t going to kill him immediately, it was probably fine.

Before him stood pink walls.

There was also a bed with a canopy, and there were teddy bears all over the bed—it was obviously a dainty room.

A school uniform hung from the wall, so it was the private bedroom of someone.

There was even a spot for taking off one’s shoes, as though to advise any visitors that there were no shoes allowed here.

“Hey, is this your room, Ouka?”

He didn’t think there would be very many high schoolers in the castle.

“No need to guess—it is my room! Now hurry up and get out!”

“It’s surprisingly cute that you have stuffed animals on your bed. It doesn’t match your character, though.”

“I don’t need your critique; just hurry up and get out! You’re not allowed to look!” Ouka ran at him to pull him away.

Her face was bright red, her typical calm nowhere to be seen.

This was an invasion of privacy. He had to go back.

But something on the desk suddenly caught his eye.

It was a picture frame. In it was a picture of Ouka, probably from elementary school. Of course—it was her room. She was the same as she always was. But who was it in the picture next to her?

“Hey, is that…me?”

He picked it up and looked at it. The boy in the picture sure did look like him.

“Don’t look! Don’t! Get out! I’ll rip you to shreds! Give that back!”

Ouka quickly grew even more flustered. She entered the room and reached out toward Ryouta.

“Give the photo back! Give it!”

“I get it—calm down! Watch out! You have long nails, Ouka!”

“At least give it to me while you speak nonsense! Don’t look at that photo for another second!”

“Don’t push me! You’re gonna knock me over—stop!”

As they argued, Ouka tripped on Ryouta’s leg.

Ouka’s center of gravity tilted toward Ryouta.

“Oh, Ryouta, I’m going to fall. I’m falling!”

“Okay, you’ve told me about it, but what are you gonna do about it?!”

“O-obviously, you’re not going to stand there idly; you’re going to help me!”

“Huh? Oh, you want me to support you so you don’t fall.”

“You’ll fall, too, so make sure you have good footing! It would be humiliating for me to collapse onto the floor!”

“I see. You’ve always had a ruler’s mind-set even before you became the emperor; that’s why it seemed like nothing chan— You’re going way too fast! I can’t keep you up!”

In the end, Ouka just ended up pinning Ryouta down.

Ryouta fell straight backward with Ouka on top of him.

But there had barely been any impact.

If he remembered correctly, there should’ve been a bed right where they were.

Wait, a bed…?

To put it simply, Ryouta was sandwiched between Ouka and the bed.

Wait…this was really bad.

This meant he was being pinned to the bed in his female classmate’s room. Morally and ethically, this was bad. No, even before he could consider ethics, if anyone found out he was doing this with the emperor, he would be sent to his death.

“Oof… Oh, we fell onto the bed. I guess neither of us is hurt, so…”

He could hear Ouka’s voice coming from his stomach. She seemed to have fallen on his chest, but she hadn’t grasped the situation yet.

“Um, Ouka? Could you move…? This is dangerous…”

Anyone could easily get the wrong idea about this situation.

This was the emperor’s room. The bed was an extravagantly beautiful one with a canopy…

“I—I know… But this dress is stiff…”

She wriggled on top of him.

Stop, that’s making it worse.

“Ohhh, we’re sinking. I just had to order a fluffy bed, didn’t I…? It’s so hard to get up…”

Ouka was putting up a desperate fight—right on top of Ryouta.

Various parts of her body were touching him. This was not good, not at all.

“Hey, why is there something hard…? Ew! I can’t believe you!”

Ouka sounded disgusted. His only relief was that he couldn’t clearly see her face.

“I know; I’m sorry. But wouldn’t it be even weirder if someone wasn’t excited about this at all?”

He could smell really expensive perfume. He couldn’t know if it was high-quality by smell alone, but it had to be. It was the kind of scent that would seize commoners with fear.

He regretted ever thinking about Ouka romantically. There was no way they could be well suited for each other. They were worlds apart. It was like an ant falling in love with a tiger.

He wanted to run straight to the border. Just let me go.

“Hey, Ryouta.”

Ouka leaned in close and stopped.

He wasn’t sure why she decided to stop there.

Their faces, and their lips, were mere inches apart.

“What is it…?”

“What would you do if I told you I loved you here and now?”

“…”

“……”

“………Don’t say stuff like that; you’re not going to anyway.”

“…Yeah, you’re right! It was just a bad joke.”

They both laughed to avoid the silence. They had to, lest the situation take a turn for the worse. It almost felt like that Destroyer thingamajig had been activated inside him.

Ouka finally stood up.

“It’s almost time for lunch. Time sure does pass quickly, doesn’t it?” Three hours had flown by in an instant. “Why don’t we take a walk to my favorite place to finish off the tour? Come along.” Ouka nonchalantly took Ryouta’s hand.

Her hands were delicate and slender, like they would crumble away if he squeezed them.

“Whoa… It’s fine. I can walk myself…”

He was extremely aware of everything around her because of what had just happened.

“I am the emperor. I can at least escort my guests. It is royal etiquette!”

“…Ouka.”

“What.”

“Aren’t you walking a little too fast?”

“Rulers should be more relaxed, yes. Indeed, it is as you say.”

Ouka made a short, deep breath.

“Well then, let us go.”

This time, they went to a proper garden—at least, one without any dangerous mushrooms.

There was a tiny brook running through the middle and a small Western-style bridge over it.

“This is the castle’s rear garden. You can see how everything beyond here is natural forest, yes?”

Just as she said, a mountain suddenly sprouted up at the back end of the garden. It was less of a mountain and more of a sheer cliffside. The garden was right at the bottom of the cliff.

“This mountain leads straight to the city of Oshiro in Japan. You could probably get there if you took the risk to climb up. We’d find you right away and pull you down, though.”

“Isn’t this kind of dangerous? I mean, security-wise? What if the Self-Defense Force attacks from above?”

A little scared, Ryouta looked up the cliff.

“If they surprise attacked us from this cliff, they’d just fall to their deaths. We also have security personnel up top anyway. Ever since Kiyomizu Jouryuuji infiltrated, we’ve strengthened security across the rest of our borders. And we have been on high alert with Sasara as well, so we have eyes on everything.”

“What’s the point of an Imperial Guard under security just as tight as the border…?”

“It’s so no more scoundrels will ever find their way in here again.”

When she put it that way, she was probably right.

But Ouka didn’t seem as bold as she had been just a little while ago. In fact, she was almost nervous, stumbling along with less grace than before.

“Ouka, are you hurt anywhere? You’re acting weird,” he said, ignoring how she had pushed him down.

“Don’t worry about it… More importantly, I just mentioned how no scoundrels will come in, right?”

“Yeah, I heard you.”

“So I ordered everyone who was in the garden to leave. We’re the only two here, Ryouta.”

“Yeah, no way that’s safe…”

“It’s just for ten minutes.”

By the time he realized it, Ouka had taken him to the very bottom of the cliff.

It was the end of the garden. When he looked up, the cliffside reached high into the heavens.

Ouka then turned around to look at him.

There was a shade of melancholy hidden somewhere behind her eyes.

“Hey, Shiren is just a temporary master to you and nothing more, right?”

“W-well, yeah…”

He found himself a little embarrassed when she said “more,” but of course there was nothing there to be ashamed of.

“So even if you can’t be my minion, it’s not a problem if you act as one of my personal guard, right?”

“I mean, you already gave me a sword, so sure.”

He hadn’t returned the sword that Ouka had given him. So according to the rules, he was now one of the Imperial Guard.

“I gave it to you informally, but we haven’t held a ceremony of appointment yet. I was thinking that maybe we could do that now.”

He’d learned about this in world history—rites where someone shows their loyalty to the king and then is officially appointed as a knight, and stuff like that.

“But I don’t know how the ceremony of appointment works.”

“I do. It’s fine; it’ll be over in an instant.” Ouka gracefully held out her right hand. “Ryouta, I hereby recognize you as a member of the Imperial Guard. As proof of your appointment…kiss…my hand.”

For a moment, time stopped.

“Huh? Hey, wait a sec…”

This was much too dramatic. Ryouta unconsciously took a step backward.

Even though it was just her hand, how could he kiss his first crush?

“Why are you making this weird?! This is typical for a knight’s ceremony; it’s just a ritual!”

“Sure, it might be normal for a ceremony…”

“Didn’t I say…you would have to do one thing that I asked of you…?”

Even though it was supposed to be an order, Ouka’s face was beet red.

Yeah, the promise he had made just as he was about to be impaled by the bamboo spears.

“Are you sure about this? Don’t regret your choice.”

“Of course I won’t! Now hurry up!”

“Wait, what does that mean…?”

Ouka was so impatient that her Imperial dignity was nowhere to be seen. “That’s because the emperor never goes back on her word. I’d fail as a ruler if I regretted everything I said! So hurry up and kiss me!”

Kissing Ouka.

Kissing his first crush.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.

Ryouta was trying to calm his pounding heart. But there was no way he could reach a state of euphoria or a state of zen. All the blood was rushing to his head.

Oh, whatever. He couldn’t keep her waiting any longer.

“Okay, I’m doing this, Ouka…”

“You’ve kept me waiting too long, idiot.”

And just as his face neared her hand—

Bwoooooom!!!

He heard the dull sound of something falling.

Someone landed right beside them, probably from the top of the cliff.

“Ahhh! Trouble, there’s trouble! Call an ambulance! Or is this an enemy attack?!”

Now was no time for kissing; their concentration had completely shifted to whatever fell. But was it just an accident? The Self-Defense Force Special Ops coming in to attack them wasn’t completely out of the question.

“Unbelievable! How unlucky can we be to have this happen now?!”

“Now’s not the time to get angry! Hey, are you okay? Are you alive?” Ryouta immediately dashed toward the victim.

“Ohhh… Am I going to die…? What a short life I lived…”

Judging by the voice, the one who fell was a young woman. She sounded weak from her injuries.

She was talking about dying, but at least she was still conscious. She wasn’t dead, and that was what mattered.

“Just hang on! Keep your spirits up!”

“If this was going to happen, then I should have just climbed Mount Tenpo in the winter…”

“Wait, you know that’s the lowest mountain in all of Japan, right?! Don’t talk like it’s Mount Everest!”

“If this was going to happen, then I wanted to cross a twenty-five-meter pool on a yacht…”

“Just getting the yacht into the pool is trouble enough! Don’t talk like you’re crossing the Pacific!”

“I wanted to see a visionary ancient culture…in Nara…”

“You can just go by train or by car or whatever!”

“I wanted to unite the world…in a video game.”

“Just do what you want.”

She was talking a lot, so she was probably fine.

“Ohhh, I don’t think I have much time left… I’m seeing visions of Ryou… Is this heaven? It has to be. I worked so hard; I never bossed my bosses around…”

Wait, Ryouta had heard this voice before…

He knew exactly who it was.

He hadn’t recognized it right away, but his brain had apparently rejected logic and reason.

“Wait, no way! Rei?”

“Wait, no way! Ryou?”

He looked closer to see that this woman was his older sister, Rei Asagiri.