EPISODE 4

LET’S GO ON A DATE IN THE EMPIRE!

“—And so, we’ll be going on a date next week,” Ryouta announced after returning home from the Tatsunami manor.

Neither girl listening to this news was impressed. The first was Shiren, while the other was Ouka, who had come to hang out.

“Tell me whose minion you’re supposed to be, Ryouta. Nice and loud.”

“I’m…Shiren’s minion…”

“You certainly are! And yet you’re going on a date with another Sacred Blooded! This is a grave act of treachery against your master!” Shiren was so angry, her pigtails were almost standing on end and steam was nearly coming out of her ears.

“I’m telling you, there’s a reason… You have no idea how bad it can get if Sasara and I aren’t on good terms…”

“Ha! Save your excuses! Yes, I allowed you to take on a temp job with Tamaki. Even if you wanted to be alone together, you were still working and performing your duties. But this is different!” Shiren’s voice was beginning to break; she was close to tears. “This is a date, no question about it! You’re going on a date with another girl without your master’s permission… That’s so…weird! And unfair!”

Shiren pounded Ryouta with her fists, and he felt so guilty about the whole situation that he let her.

“You’re so stupid, Ryouta! Stupid, stupid!”

“Sorry, I didn’t play my cards right at all…”

“Your master’s face didn’t play her cards right!”

“You know you’re insulting yourself, don’t you?”

“Shut up! You’re the bad minion that rebelled!”

“Sorry… I’ll be more careful in the future…”

“I wanna go on a date with you, too!”

Ryouta had no snarky retort for that. That was the last thing he’d expected to hear.

“Oh… What I mean is…you’re not supposed to go over your master’s head for a date… I didn’t mean that I wanna go on a date with you, but I guess that’s what I said… That’s, uh, well, just forget it!” Shiren’s face went red as she stepped back. She was done smacking him for the time being.

It was now her sister’s turn.

“You honestly have no principles, Ryouta. You almost make me think that you’re operating on animal instinct alone. Are you even human?” Ouka was not pulling her punches.

“I know it was bad, but I don’t think it makes me inhuman!”

“Why do you even need to go on a date with Sasara? Your official wedding would be far in the future, so you could have said you would court her while you were still in school. That would have tricked them easily.”

“Well…that’s a good point, but you’ve gotta think about how things might’ve played out…”

Would any guy have turned down Sasara after all she said?

When she asked, “Shall we go on a date?” the answer was a nod and a yes.

See, Sasara’s right smack between cute and gorgeous, or the best of both worlds at least…

He hadn’t noticed it since she was always moaning over Ouka, but if he took a step back to look at her, he saw a perfectly normal, beautiful young lady.

“Ugh, you’re rationalizing right now, aren’t you…? Unbelievable. This is why we always have such a hard time with you.”

“Oops… You were right on the mark, so I can’t say anything…”

Ouka’s insight was sharp as always.

“Wait. What do you mean by me giving you a hard time? You’re not really a part of this whole incident, are you?”

Ouka wavered for a brief second. Oh crap, was written across her face. “Well… If you’ve promised a date to someone without your master’s permission, you’re essentially ignoring the master-minion system. That’s technically rebellion, and I am the ultimate authority of the Empire, which means I have a responsibility to address such an evil act, which is giving me a hard time. You see?”

“That explanation sounds kind of forced…”

“I’m raising taxes.”

“Don’t flash taxes whenever something doesn’t go your way!”

“I use these taxes for the less fortunate.”

“Stop trying to make me into the bad guy!”

“I shall supply them with figurines and body pillows and bath posters.”

“Wait, less fortunate how? At least choose a story and stick to it!”

“I’ll limit it to two sets per person when it goes on sale.”

“You just said you’d give it away, but now you’re selling?!”

“All right, enough jokes.” Ouka was genuinely upset—which was incredibly rare for her.

Ryouta thought all the way back to elementary school, and he still couldn’t remember ever seeing this expression on her face.

“This whole incident has me realizing how lenient I’ve been… The idiom about a snake in the grass comes to mind… I’ve been bitten by my own dog…”

“Your dog? You mean Sasara?”

“I let my guard down because I believed she would only ever look at me… I underestimated your power, Ryouta…”

“My power? No, the curse shouldn’t affect the Sacred Blooded.”

Ryouta’s very unattractive grandfather had cursed his grandson to be unusually attractive to humans of the opposite sex. But only humans, which was why he could live in relative peace in the Empire. In exchange, he wore a collar around his neck to show that he was Shiren’s minion. Otherwise, other Sacred Blooded people might start targeting him for his blood.

He had a feeling he was constantly getting involved in some form of violence. Or maybe that was just his imagination.

“This is what happens when I let my guard down… Sigh…” Ouka was plainly upset. “Shiren, let’s get a drink. I feel like the booze will taste better with you today.” Ouka leaned on Shiren.

“Hey, she’s underage! And so are you!”

“You’re right, Big Sis. I want to give that tomato shochu a shot today.”

“Don’t go along with it! And who the heck makes tomato shochu?!”

“Go and print out the bar coupon from online for a discount. We’ll split the bill.”

Despite being the emperor, she wasn’t willing to buy the full round of drinks.

“Hey, I know the word date got all the attention, but it really is just for show.”

Sasara would never love anyone besides Ouka.

“We’ll all go back to acting normal tomorrow.”

“If you say so. But you’ll have to draw the line somewhere,” Ouka said, looking at him like he was a fool.

“The line?”

“As a personal guard of mine.”

The next day was Monday.

“G-good morning…Ryouta Fuyukura…”

“Hey, morning…Sasara…”

When they saw each other’s faces, they quickly turned to find something else to look at.

A day had passed since the incident, but they were still embarrassed by it.

The class immediately caught wind of the odd tension between them, too.

“There’s something up with those two.” “What happened over the weekend?” “I smell drama!”

Rumors immediately started circulating.

“Wait… My negative aura is usually the most powerful in this class, but it’s being smothered… What happened? Has something terrible happened without my knowledge? Ah, of course. My unhappiness is entirely inconsequential. Like an ant carrying a grasshopper husk through the forest. Even with the butterfly effect, I doubt anything I say would move anything in this world a single centimeter… Sigh…”

Tamaki was depressing herself as always, but an entirely different atmosphere was indeed circulating through the room.

“You’ve seemed unhappy all morning, Sasara. What happened?” Ouka asked, standing in front of her vacant-looking guard.

“Oh, is that so? I am as I always have been, or so I’ve assumed.”

“Maybe you aren’t completely awake yet. Should I give you a good-morning kiss?”

“Oh, please do not engage in such unladylike acts. I humbly ask you to refrain from inviting harm to yourself, even as a joke.”

“You sound like a noble lady…”

“What a silly thing to say. The Tatsunami family is a distinguished lineage that has served as the Empire’s bulwark for a long time.”

Ouka briskly walked away from Sasara and over to Ryouta.

“Wh-what is it?”

She pinched his cheek.

“What the heck?!”

“It’s your fault that Sasara’s acting like nobility! Her personality is completely different! This is worse than her malaise from last week!”

“What do you want me to—?”

“She’s not moaning over me anymore! She’s not horny at all! She’s now a completely un-depraved member of my personal guard!”

“That’s a good thing! She’s excelling at her work!”

“Excellence isn’t interesting! She’s too proper! Just look at her! She took her textbook out to prepare for the lesson!”

Sasara had her Japanese textbook open, and she seemed to be reading. Her posture was perfect. In fact, she looked so much like a model student that the whole picture was just eerie.

“But you can’t ask her to act more sloppy or start lusting after yourself…”

“Anyway, it’s wrong! Go check in on her! She has to be sick somehow!”

Left with no other choice, Ryouta approached Sasara.

“You’re studying really hard, Sasara. I really need to study, myself…” Sasara looked up from her textbook, and her face went bright red.

“Wh-what do you want…? Have you forgotten your textbook…?”

“What? No, not really.”

“Please do not talk to me without prior warning! You scared me! I am your senior as a member of the military…”

“You are, so you can teach me a lot.”

“There is nothing I can teach you… Please do not speak to me in school… You embarrass me…” Sasara half hid her face in her textbook. This was all too much for her, and she didn’t even want him to see her anymore.

Then something pulled on his neck—Shiren was yanking him back.

“Owwww! Hey! Stop that!”

“Silence! You will not be showing off this sweet little first-love performance to everyone else!”

“Why are you putting it like that?! And that’s not what it is!”

“You do not need to answer! I would allow you to laugh at the ‘com’ part of this whole romcom, but this is just ‘rom’! Watching you is making me blush!”

“Then do your blushing without the violence!”

Finally, she dragged him into a corner of the classroom.

“Dearest Ryouta,” said Kiyomizu, “I was relieved that you made it through Sunday safely, but I can’t believe it’s come to this! It’s too much! I have no choice but to use the forbidden Chobuku-ho prayer and eliminate Sasara!” Kiyomizu seemed especially motivated; she was holding an odd-looking metal weapon in her hand.

“Stop! You’ll hurt people and property!”

“It’s all right. I doubt the causal relationship between incantation and unnatural death is recognized in judicial precedent. Heh-heh-heh… I will call Atavaka down for a visit…”

“I don’t know a lot about Buddhism, but stop trying to invoke scary gods!”

“—I really must draw a line somewhere.”

Ryouta heard a voice behind him and found Ouka with her arms crossed and her brows furrowed.

She was livid, Ryouta could tell.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have them get it done quietly, in accordance with the rules.”

Wednesday night, the Imperial Office.

Ouka sat in an ornate chair meant for the imperial family.

Knock-knock, knock-knock.

The door opened a crack.

“Come in,” Ouka replied with her usual casual tone.

“What is it you need of me, Lady Ouka?” Sasara entered the room, a hint of nervousness on her face.

She had already noticed that Ouka had sent everyone else away, which she wouldn’t do if this conversation weren’t extremely important. If something happened to the emperor, it would rock the whole Empire.

“Oh, it’s nothing as dark as demotion, but nothing as bright as a commendation, either. I was just thinking about a routine reconfirmation of the rules you know well.”

“The rules? I am very well aware that you are sacred and inviolable, Lady Ouka.”

“You’re right. But I mean something different. I just want you to be aware of a certain article, which is why I called you here.”

“Which is?”

“That once any member of my personal guard gets married or is firmly betrothed, they are relieved of duty. It’s written here in article eight of the personal guard bylaws.”

Sasara’s face clouded over. “Ah, that’s… Lady Ouka…”

“It’s not unusual. My personal guard is required to protect me with their lives. I cannot safely entrust my protection to guards who have others they consider more important than me. A guard who would choose to protect her significant other over me is unfit for service.”

Thus, a guard would retire upon being married.

Sasara, of course, was aware of this. She just didn’t expect to have it explicitly pointed out to her.

“There’s no shame in it. It’d just be like leaving any other company when you get married. There’s also a ceremonial aspect to the job, you know, since all of my personal guard are required to participate in any rituals along with me. I don’t want all my soldiers to be too old, so we need a regular changing of the guard.”

Sasara’s expression did not relax. Even though she was only hearing the truth, she wasn’t sure why she felt so shaken. She certainly couldn’t put it into words anyway.

“I’ll get right to the point. The moment you develop a crush on someone, you’re fired from the guard. Take your sword to protect the one you love. That will be the best for all of us,” Ouka announced cold-heartedly.

This was the emperor’s job; niceties wouldn’t help anything. She had mercilessly denied people their requests countless times.

“Nobody would know…if I had feelings for someone else.” Sasara herself was surprised by the clarity of her counterargument. “I don’t even know when I have feelings.”

“You’re right. You’re not a superhuman. All right, then let’s say you’re out when you officially settle on a fiancé. And it’s up to you to report on yourself. I doubt you’d want to stay a guard with such duplicity. This is what I mean by drawing the line.”

“Yes, I understand.” Sasara graciously bowed to her master.

“That’s all. You can go now.”

“Lady Ouka?”

“What is it? Are you angry? You want to hit me?”

“Thank you.” Sasara bowed again, but this one was less formal and more passionate. “There was a decision I was unsure how to make. It is thanks to you that I know not to run away.”

“I only told you the rules. You are dismissed now.”

Once Sasara was gone, Ouka sighed. “Ahh, my shoulders are so stiff… This job really stresses me out.”

She turned to the framed picture hanging on the wall, depicting her and her guard.

Sasara was there, of course. She was actually standing unusually close to Ouka. Ryouta was in the corner, too, just to make sure everyone was accounted for. They had taken his photo separately afterward, like a student who was absent from the graduation ceremony.

“Sasara, I obviously can’t control who you end up liking. Do what you will,” she said to the girl in the photo. “But you do need to draw clear boundaries.”

After staring at it for a few seconds, she sighed again.

“Sigh, this might actually be more of a problem than Shiren…”

She sank deep into her chair, tired.

“Being emperor is more trouble than it’s worth.”

And then Sunday arrived—the day of the date.

“What’s wrong, Shiren…?”

The most unbelievable thing had happened first thing in the morning.

Shiren was at the table studying. She had a book titled The New Middle School Social Studies. Ryouta could ask on why a high schooler was studying from a middle school textbook, but a miracle was a miracle.

“Silence. I’ve changed my mind. With my minion falling into depravity, I must get my act together. Otherwise the Fuyukura household will fall apart. I’ve decided to start studying hard.”

“You’ll get sick if you force yourself to do something you’re not used to.”

“It may be unusual now, but it will soon be an everyday occurrence. I will set a precedent. Be quiet! And go on your date or whatever!”

“…What’s the capital of Italy?”

“Holland.”

“…What’s the capital of France?”

“Bonjour.”

“That’s not even a place name… What’re the three branches of government?”

“Effort, friendship, victory.”

“A system of government right out of a manga… What was the battle that Tokugawa Ieyasu fought in the year 1600 that led to the establishment of the bakufu?”

“His inner struggle with himself.”

“Yeah, you’re right! I bet he unified all of Japan after a dramatic internal battle! All your answers are wrong!”

Her knowledge hadn’t suddenly made a huge leap, at least.

She hadn’t touched her breakfast, so Ryouta started eating on his own. With nothing else to do, he turned on the TV.

The news was just doing its horoscope section.

“And the ones with worst luck today will be those with blood type A and whose name start with R.”

“Oh no… That’s me…”

“Your life may be in danger today, so please be careful! It might be best to stay home today.”

“Seriously?! Are horoscopes supposed to be this accurate?!”

That was pretty awful, what she’d said.

Am I really going to be okay…?

When he thought back, he remembered how both Alfoncina and Kiyomizu were wary about Ryouta encountering disaster.

I must be imagining things… I’m definitely imagining things. I mean, I didn’t get hurt at all on the day of the meeting.

“Oh, Ryouta, let me give you some advice.” Shiren’s voice was hard.

“Wh-what is it now…?”

“Be responsible for the actions you take,” Shiren said with surprising maturity. “When you make your decisions, know that your actions will affect others. You’re a good person, Ryouta. If you find someone in need of help, you always lend a hand to do so. Even if means lots of extra trouble and frustration for you, you still reach out. That’s who you are.”

“You’re going overboard with the compliments. It’s not that big of a—”

“But when you reach out, there’s someone on the other end who’s taking your hand. Can you take care of those people?”

“Wh-what are you trying to say…? This isn’t like you…”

If someone was in trouble, he would help them; Ryouta didn’t need any more motivation than that.

He wasn’t doing it for compliments, but he never thought he’d be rebuked for just helping people.

“I won’t say any more. The rest is for you to realize. Kiyomizu pointed it out to me before, too.”

Ryouta had a feeling that Shiren and Kiyomizu were getting closer these days. Shiren almost seemed to accept her.

“All right. I’ll be off, then.”

“Okay. Be sure you come back.”

At the front of the old Akinomiya station stood a bronze statue of a minor samurai general.

It was a small regional lord from the Warring States period that only the real nerds for that era in history would know. At least Ryouta, who had been born in the neighboring city of Oshiro, didn’t know who it was.

Ryouta stood in front of the statue waiting for Sasara.

When the Sacred Blood Empire split from Japan, the train had stopped running through this station. Ryouta had arrived by bus. When he thought of places that were for meeting a date, the front of the train station came to mind, so that’s why he picked it.

“Oh yeah, this might be my first-ever date, too…”

He didn’t even have a girlfriend when he’d lived in Japan. He was sure plenty of girls would have gone on dates with him because of the curse, but he wasn’t really into the idea of getting a girlfriend through brainwashing.

He also wondered if his outfit was okay. He’d tried to pick something that would look decent on him, but he wasn’t entirely confident in his fashion sense.

And since he kept hearing about fortunes and bad luck, he brought his sword.

It did feel a bit like overkill, like bringing an umbrella on a dry and sunny day, but he didn’t know what other option he had.

“Oh, you’re here already.”

Sasara had arrived five minutes before their meeting time.

Of course, she wasn’t wearing her school uniform, but she wasn’t dressed up like a noble or decked out in armor. Her outfit was something he’d see anyone wearing in town. Plus the sword. But he was used to seeing her sword anyway, so that wasn’t weird.

“Whoa…”

“What is the matter? Am I dressed that strangely…?”

“No—if anything, it’s the opposite. It really suits you…”

The youth and maturity in her look coexisted peacefully. Maybe it was her age, but Sasara really did look good in anything she wore.

“Oh, please! Do not tease me!” Sasara said with a disgruntled expression that was a bit endearing. “I did take a look at magazines to choose something nice, you know… I have never really dressed like this before…”

So this was new to her, too; Ryouta had never thought about date clothes before.

“Now, where will you be taking me today?”

“Oh… I didn’t really look into it.”

The existence of the impending date was the only thing that occupied his mind, so he had nothing in terms of a detailed schedule. He didn’t have any experience anyway, so he had no idea what they were supposed to be doing.

“Honestly, how irresponsible. We must treat this as a proper date, even if only in form. I wish you had thought at least a little about it.”

“But I don’t really know any date spots in the Empire…”

He’d visited a café with Shiren back when he’d just become her minion, but that was all he knew.

“Wait, this is a train station, so there has to be a map or something here.”

There was a large sightseeing map in front of the station; maybe he could find something for them on there.

Akinomiya was an odd combination of half-rural, half-commuter town anyway, so he doubted there would be any sightseeing spots that high schoolers would enjoy. He just had to find something, although he wasn’t expecting much as he wandered over to the map.

He quickly found a picture of a castle on top of a mountain and a cable car leading up to it.

“Wait, this has been here the whole time?!”

“Yes. That is Akinomiya Castle, which belonged to the feudal Lord Akinomiya. Were you not aware of that?” Sasara did not seem particularly shocked about this new information.

“Wait… Is this common knowledge?”

“The Akinomiya family originally lived near Akinomiya Shrine, and they controlled this area in the early sixteenth century. They built their castle on Mount Hatatate. Their most famous member is the one depicted by this statue here, Masakane Akinomiya.”

“Huh…”

“He enjoyed the blessings of the Akinomiya clan’s golden age. Just when it seemed he might have been able to have a chance at possibly ruling all of Japan, luck did not favor him, and he was attacked by the underlings of the men under the command of Oda Nobunaga and perished.”

“What a weakling! He’s barely a footnote in history!”

In short, he didn’t even have a snowball’s chance in hell.

“Ah, well ‘perished’ is a figure of speech. When the castle was surrounded and he offered to surrender, they told him the lord could save his soldiers by committing honorable suicide. He replied that he was much too scared to kill himself, so they said, ‘Oh, whatever… Just leave your weapon and get out of here…’ And thus, he successfully surrendered the castle without any bloodshed.”

“That’s embarrassing! That’s humiliating, Masakane Akinomiya! Your disgrace lives on through the generations!”

“But it is thanks to him that the Akinomiya family has survived to this day. Their family motto is ‘Don’t be a loser.’”

“His descendants are embarrassed, too! How can they take any pride in that?!”

When he looked back at the statue to study it, he saw there was nothing stately about it.

Masakane Akinomiya was stooping slightly, and his center of gravity was toward his back. Nothing about this man suggested he was capable of ruling all of Japan.

“The castle itself is rather magnificent. It is strategically difficult to attack, but it still fell in no time at all. That is why posterity has said, ‘Masakane was garbage. Honestly useless.’”

“Please, just stop insulting the dead! I’m starting to feel sorry for him!”

He’d never heard such specific contempt for a historical figure—but that also made him especially interesting.

“Hey, so should we go to the castle, then?”

They had nowhere else to go anyway, so it was the perfect spot.

“What? That is where we’ll be going…?” Sasara did not look at excited at all.

Ryouta wondered if he’d made the wrong choice. “Oh, maybe not, then… Just tell me if this isn’t an option. I’ll think of somewhere else to go…”

“I am not particularly interested in the mountain due to personal reasons, but… No, this must be fate. Let us go. I doubt anyone will realize we are there.” Sasara smiled, somewhat bitterly.

“But what do you mean by fate?”

“Oh, you know.”

EMPIRE BUSES

AKINOMIYA STATION TO MOUNT HATATATE CABLE CAR: 3,500 SACRED YEN

They rode the bus for fifteen minutes and came to the station where they could get the cable car up.

MOUNT HATATATE CABLE CAR

MOUNTAIN BASE TO SUMMIT: 500 SACRED YEN

The cable car was empty of passengers except for Ryouta and Sasara.

“This really is a minor castle…”

“I—I suppose so… But it is the weekend. I thought there would be a few more people here…”

It was a bit awkward being in there alone together.

“I—I…have never been locked in with a man in such a small space before. What a strange feeling…”

“Y-you’re exaggerating… You’re not locked in here at all; it’s just public transport…”

“But I do not frequently associate with the opposite sex, unlike you… You have been on plenty of dates before, have you not?”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never been on a date. This is my first time.”

“Your…first time? It is…?”

“I-I’m not lying… Your parents won’t be very happy if this isn’t a real date… So it’s gotta be a real date…”

“You are correct… This has to be a real date…”

It was hot in here. Probably the lack of ventilation.

“But I am surprised. I was under the impression that you were constantly going on dates with your master. After all, you do live together.”

“What? No, that’s not how we are at all. The master-minion relationship isn’t exactly a romantic relationship.”

Of course, they’d gone out alone together plenty of times, but Ryouta didn’t think that counted as a date.

“Ah… I thought you two had progressed beyond that… I am disappointed for some reason.”

“I mean, girls liked me plenty back in Japan, but that was all because of the curse. They don’t actually have any interest in me.”

Ga-thunk.

The cable car started going up.

“Ah, what a nice view.” Sasara, who was sitting opposite Ryouta, leaned forward toward the window.

“Yeah, it is. We can see over the whole empire.”

“That must be our school.”

“Hey, you’re right. I never get to look at things from this angle, so it’s a new si—”

Squish.

A strange sensation made contact with his face.

Location-wise, it was Sasara’s chest.

“Hey, Sasara, you’re, uh…”

“Eek! I-I’m sorry!”

Ryouta was starting to notice how weird the mood was. If this had happened any time before this, then she would have yelled, “What are you doing, you pervert!” and punched him. Or jumped back in a panic or something.

But none of that happened, and Ryouta’s heart was madly pounding. The sound was quiet, but he could feel the heat in his chest.

Whoa, whoa… Aren’t we acting a little too much like a real boyfriend and girlfriend…?

Their eyes naturally met—and then locked.

This was bad. Ryouta knew it instinctively.

One more push would set off some kind of chemical reaction, and then their circumstances would fall by the wayside. The reaction would run its course, no matter whether it was good or bad.

Ryouta didn’t dislike Sasara, and he was sure the same could be said for her about him. And that was enough to set things in motion.

“I’m sorry, Lady Ouka,” Sasara whispered quietly, almost as though speaking to herself.

“What do you mean by sor—?”

“Welcome aboard and thank you for taking the Mount Hatatate Cable Car today.”

“Agh!” “Eep!”

Both of them jumped at the sudden announcement. It really was the worst timing.

“The total length of the cable is three hundred meters. It will only take a few minutes for us to reach the top of Mount Hatatate, which stands at a height of four hundred meters.”

“They’re really rounding the numbers.”

“Please take a look below you. You should be able to see the city center. If this car were to fall, you would die.”

“You don’t need to tell us that! Don’t scare us!”

This was when the announcement was supposed to talk about how the trees changed throughout the seasons.

“This funicular was built in 1957.”

“Wait, wait, it just said funicular, didn’t it?! This is a cable car! I know they both use cables, but don’t get that mixed up!”

“The castle of the Akinomiya clan stands proud at the peak of Mount Hatatate. Though the castle fell in the Warring States period, the current castle was rebuilt in the mid-Showa era based on Himeji Castle and Tokyo Tower.”

“Don’t copy Tokyo Tower! And Himeji Castle was part of a different era!”

So this was a replica castle, built after the real thing fell into ruin. These kinds of castles were everywhere.

The Sacred Blood Empire tended to take a “good enough” attitude to everything, but apparently, Akinomiya itself had been the same even before it became Empire territory.

“This castle, made famous by Masakane Akinomiya, is feared as a reverse power spot, said to bring bad luck, bad grades, cheating spouses, overloads of spam mail, strange computer viruses, and other terrible things to whoever visits. It also has awful feng shui.”

“I don’t think you need to tell that to people who are on a one-way ticket to visit! We would’ve called it off if we knew about this ahead of time!”

“Abandon all hope, ye on this cable car.”

“Shut up!”

“Well, we’re almost at the top. Thank you for riding the cable car today. Please enjoy the sights this B-tier spot has to offer.”

“Don’t call it B-tier yourself! That’s not something you say about yourself!”

They arrived at the top station after yelling at the audio tour the whole way.

In a way, they’d gotten lucky—the entire romantic atmosphere was destroyed.

They arrived at Akinomiya Castle after a five-minute walk.

Sure enough, as they approached, they found a building made of concrete, one that almost screamed it had been built in the twentieth century. Definitely not the spot to pick for a first date.

“Well, we’ve come this far, so we may as well go in…”

“Indeed…”

They bought a ticket to enter for 2,000 sacred yen, placed their shoes in the shoe storage, and headed in.

Floors one to three acted as a museum.

On display were helmets and katanas of uncertain origin, and hanging scrolls from the mid-Edo era that didn’t seem to have anything to do with the lord of the castle. They may not have had any legitimate cultural assets. One display was just pictures of the general drawn by local elementary school students.

“Yeah, this sure is a B-tier spot… Sorry, this is my fault. Sasara, I’m—”

Sasara was examining the displays in earnest. “Hmm… Ah, I see. Hmm…” Surprisingly, she was carefully reading all the descriptions.

“Uh, Sasara… Is it really that interesting?”

“Oh, of course. One can attack the castle via this route.”

“Hey, Sasara?”

“But if a rock were to fall here, then it would be over for everyone. Perhaps a traitor from the inside?”

“Oh, uh, yeah…”

“Hmm, hmm. I see. Ah-ha.”

The exhibits seemed to be exactly to Sasara’s interests. She was studying them so intently that she probably wouldn’t miss a letter in the entire castle.

In the end, it almost took thirty minutes.

“My apologies, I was more interested than I thought I would be…” Suddenly aware of how she’d been behaving, Sasara seemed somewhat ashamed.

“No, it’s fine. I’m glad you were happy with it. Let’s go to the observation deck, then.”

The stairs up were more like a ladder than anything. It was such a steep incline, they probably couldn’t fit in a proper staircase.

After climbing up, they found panels about all sorts of castles.

“Whoa… I feel like you’d see these at every castle…”

But one of the panels was Western-style for some reason. It read SACRED BLOOD IMPERIAL CASTLE. Ouka’s castle.

“Ouka considers this place a rival, too, huh…?”

“This is a well-known castle, so it is not a problem. Now let us go out to the observation deck.”

Once they were outside, Sasara leaned over the railing.

“What a beautiful view!”

They could see the entire empire below, and Ryouta was getting a sense of what was where in a way he hadn’t been able to before.

“This is wonderful.”

“Yeah, I’m glad we came out here.” A movie theater would’ve been a safer option, but this one was probably better.

But then, Sasara’s face suddenly went pale, the way it might if she’d forgotten something in the middle of a trip.

“Ah… I am deeply sorry! So deeply sorry! I am deeply sorry!” She immediately flung herself to the ground in apology.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Is this some kind of Sacred Blood Holy Church etiquette or something?”

“I realized I was viewing Lady Ouka’s castle from above… This act is deserving of death…”

“Don’t worry too much about that! Calm down! On a mountain, there’s no other way to view it!”

“Oh, Lady Ouka! I am so deeply sorry for taking Ryouta!”

“What…?” What did that have to do with anything?

“Oh, I mean…I brought another one of Lady Ouka’s personal guard, who are obligated to serve her, up to the top of the mountain…”

“I see… I was the one that suggested we go here, though, so don’t worry about it…”

He got that strange feeling again. It was like Sasara kept hitting foul balls in impossible directions.

“I suppose we should go now. We might seem like real romantic partners if we watch the view for too long.”

“Yeah. It just has to be like a date. The marriage would be way off, anyway. And if you satisfy your parents, then we can probably shake this off…”

Ryouta turned back and looked toward the stairs down, where he found another steep set of stairs going up. It said NO ENTRY.

“Oh, there’s one more floor. But the sign says we shouldn’t go up, so I guess this is it.”

Suddenly, he felt a prickle of impending danger.

“Huh? Is this the lord’s curse? Let’s just head back…” Ryouta headed back to the stairs to descend. He went down facing away, which would’ve been dangerous if he wasn’t holding the handrail. “I really wish this castle was a little more accessible… Guess they couldn’t exactly fit in a spiral staircase, though…”

Fwsh.

Suddenly, a piece of cloth slid over his head.

Startled, he looked up—and saw panties.

They were a bright, blazing red.

“Oh, red… I wonder if it’s a Sacred Blooded thing…”

“Red? What are you talking about? …Eek! Why are you looking?! I cannot believe this!”

“Sorry! I should’ve let you go down first! Please! Don’t kick me! It’d be really bad if I fall!”

“That is not my problem! I would rather you fall from the castle tower instead!” Sasara took a few steps down to get within range, and she began to stomp on him.

“Hey! I’m seriously going to fall! This isn’t funny! I’ll close my eyes! Please! I’m sorry!”

He was genuinely losing his balance.

He didn’t realize his hand had reached out to grab something, but whatever it was wasn’t enough to support him anyway as he fell to the floor.

Fortunately, he’d come down far enough that he wasn’t injured.

“Sheesh, that was close… I probably would’ve broken a bone if I fell from the top… Guess my fortune did say that I’d be unlucky today.”

He then realized he still was holding something in his hand. Something warm. Something bright and fiery red.

It’s warm… Wait, this isn’t—?

It was. It was Sasara’s panties.

The most unbelievable thing had happened.

“The inside of my skirt feels quite breezy… Oh…” Sasara looked at Ryouta. She was stunned.

No way. I was losing my balance, and I just happened to grab her underwear, and my fall was enough to pull them off her. What a twist… Oh, I guess she’s not wearing any shoes, so they didn’t catch on them… Ha-ha-ha… Ha-ha-ha…

When a person struggles to believe what they are seeing, they typically stare blankly and try to parse the situation, and that’s what Ryouta was doing now as their eyes met.

And because Sasara was still above him, he could see her butt.

Welp, I’m going to die.

This was going to be Ryouta’s death poem:

Like a meal still hot in hand, my life ends with the rear.

Meaning: What is in his hand is still warm from being worn. His fate is that of his meal, the last thing it sees being a rear before its warmth fades forever—he will die, his last memory being the image of buttocks.

“Pervert, shameless, degenerate, creep, hormonal, despicable, lady killer, loin-driven beast, emotional ogre, er, and, what else was there?”

She pummeled him, and after they left the castle, she pummeled him again with invective.

And she wasn’t finished. “It would be easy for me to kill you right here, but then I will go to prison. There are no other possible suspects here on this mountain, so I would be caught immediately. I will forgive you, but I will not stop you from doing the job for me. Shall we go up the tower again? No, perhaps I should change my tune—you know I find burning interesting. Why don’t we test to see which hurts more—immolation or drowning?”

He had nothing to say in response.

*Also, she put her underwear back on in the castle bathrooms.

“Do not tell me this is what you have been planning this whole time. Is this why you brought me to a deserted mountain…?”

“You got this all wrong! I’m not that horrible!”

“Is the reason you have never gone on a date because you have always satisfied your lust in more cruel ways? Is that why you cannot even imagine seeing a movie or going shopping with your partner…?”

“I’m serious—please don’t treat me like a criminal!”

“And aiming for the underwear straightaway makes you a—a brute… Typically, you would want to remove clothes slowly, piece by piece. But you only think with your loins, so…”

“You can punch me! Twice—three times, even! Just stop insulting my character!”

“There is a time and place for everything. Why must such debauchery happen in a public facility? I would rather you at least wait until we are on a deserted mountain path…”

Sasara’s mouth froze mid-movement. They were on the mountain path that led from the castle back to the cable cars. A deserted mountain path.

“P-please do not get the wrong idea!!!!! I did not mean that I would like for it to happen here and now!!!!! You do anything and I will cut you down!!!!!”

“I know! No one’s got the wrong idea, so just calm down! Please put your sword away!”

“I had no choice but to go on this date… Mother and Father would remain suspicious if we did not go out together at least once… This was just to fool them, so…I do not think I would be happy if you treated this as a real date…” Sasara gazed out toward the scenery, somewhat regretfully.

“Yeah. Our only goal was to make sure you didn’t have to get engaged with Toraha, and it wouldn’t be good if they found us out right away.”

That was why they decided to just go on one date and then see how things played out…

“I wonder what will happen now. I doubt your family will approve if we tell them our date didn’t go well…”

“I—I… I don’t know…”

Neither of them made any concrete declarations.

“I am not certain, but…I suspect my mother would say, You can’t get to know someone on just one date, so go on more.”

“Yeah… You’re probably right…”

If that happened, then they would have to do this over and over in the future.

“According to my mother, You cannot trigger enough flags to trigger a personal route, so it is important to consistently go after events.”

“Your mom sure is…unique… W-we’ll eventually come up with a good idea. Eventually…”

“Yes… Eventually…”

With that awkwardness lingering between them, they returned to the cable car station.

Right next to it was a restaurant. The place was a bit run-down, but at least it was open.

“It’s lunchtime now, so let’s eat something,” Ryouta suggested.

“Indeed. Simply waiting for the gondola would be a waste of time.”

They went inside to find that the first floor was an arcade, while the restaurant was on the second floor.

“A lot of mountaintop restaurants come paired with these weird arcades, don’t they?”

They first sat down and looked at the menu.

“Not much variety, huh?”

There was nothing to think about here.

“Ah, this must be the Red Tengu ramen shop. I have heard it is quite famous for its tomato ramen.”

“Huh. I guess you can find a place famous for just about anything. I had no idea you knew so much about ramen, Sasara.”

He had imagined she ate French cuisine every day or something.

“They just happened to be doing a segment on it when I was watching TV. This is my first time entering such an establishment…”

“Oh, okay. Well, we’ve only got one option, then. Two tomato ramens, please!”

“And one of those with a thicker soup, thicker noodles, extra vegetables, no garlic, and red ginger, please,” Sasara added.

“You’re a regular?!”

You don’t make that kind of order if you don’t know the shop’s rules.

“As I just told you, I learned this from TV. Ramen is a commoner’s food, so I am not sure of the details.”

“Right. Yeah, I guess so.”

“I am glad it is empty here. The owner of this restaurant often closes on the weekend since he attends noodle training on a whim. Those who come typically try to do so on the weekdays. The cable car network here has even gained an increase in visitors because of this ramen spot. The noodles are imported every day from factories in Japan, and they use only the natural spring water that comes from the mountain. He has a contracted farmer send him good, fresh tomatoes, and the seafood base is a perfect match for the acidity of the tomatoes. Unsurprising, considering he has trained at Ikkaku, one of the most famous establishments in Tokyo. This is a soup that anyone would want to drink down completely, and it has a reputation for attracting so many repeat customers.”

“You really know a lot.”

Not just anyone could drop all that at once.

“Why do you insist on this? I hardly know anything. Oh, we may serve ourselves water here. Here, this is yours.” Sasara poured Ryouta a glass from the pitcher.

“Oh, thanks.”

“Many restaurants have started adopting the meal ticket system of ordering, but it does not seem to be the case here.”

“You know, adults usually go for ramen after they go out drinking. What do you think about that?”

“I am not particularly interested. One cannot truly know the taste of ramen if one does not eat it on an empty stomach. The same goes for soba and udon. And one may not realize the subtle differences between establishments while one is drunk. You may as well settle for instant. On the other hand, we cannot yet shrug off instant ramen. Some of them are so delicious it is impossible not to say so. However, most of them use chemical seasonings that can numb the tongue, so it is not best to eat it too often.”

It sounded like she was extremely picky about her ramen. People had all sorts of hobbies; a noble could be well-versed in common food if she wanted.

As they chatted (well, as Sasara chatted), their order arrived.

“Wonderful! Look how the curly noodles hold the broth! Please do slurp as you eat them. You will miss out on the superb flavor if you bother eating it too elegantly.”

“Y-yeah… Okay…”

“The flavor of the broth truly has a great reputation. This shop even did a collaboration with a snack company to make The-Ramen-Shop-Everyone-Lines-Up-For–flavored chips.”

“Hey, now that you mention it, they do taste similar!”

Ryouta had no idea that he would be thinking of those chips that he had at the convenience store here, of all places. Life was full of surprises.

Both of them had cleaned their bowls out a few minutes later.

Ryouta wondered why the shop owner came out with a piece of colored paper after they were finished eating and said, “You’re Rourou, the ramen writer! I would love your autograph!” But Sasara insisted he had the wrong person, so this was probably a case of mistaken identity.

I was surprised when I found out Alfoncina was a manga artist, but Sasara can’t be a ramen reviewer or anything, right…? Right… Ha-ha…

Ryouta decided not to overthink it.

“That was pretty good. Let’s head to the arcade downstairs while we’re here.”

“Indeed. I rarely ever come here, after all.”

“Have you ever gone to an arcade, Sasara?”

“Oh, heavens no. I would never go to any place that would attract delinquents.”

Considering the Tatsunami lineage, that sounded reasonable.

The arcade was generally out of date, both in terms of the games and the building itself. They probably adopted the more retro machines.

“Whoa, this baseball game’s from over fifteen years ago.”

“And here is Space Invaders. Isn’t it amazing that it is still operational?”

Their eyes were drawn to one game in particular—a claw machine.

The prizes inside were all merchandise from You’re Rouko, I’m Kouko!

It was mostly plushies, but there were rarer prizes in the back of the case, like boxed sports towels.

With a look of great interest on her face, Sasara stared hard at it. She was leaning in so close to the glass that her forehead was almost pressing against it.

She seemed desperate to give it a try.

“Have you ever played this before, Sasara?”

“No. I am not familiar with the games the lowborn play…”

Hey, this turning into a real date, Ryouta thought.

This was territory he knew: he’d let the girl play, then easily snag for her the prize she was unable to get. He’d read about this situation in manga loads of times. Even though he wasn’t an expert himself, he could probably get a hold of the easy stuff if he gave it a couple of shots.

“Wanna try it? I’ll pay.” Ryouta held out a one hundred sacred yen coin before she could refuse him.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have. I would use my own money if I were—”

“Just think of it as a test. It’s just a hundred sacred yen; you don’t have to pay me back.”

“I—I suppose you’re right… Then I will give it a go…” Sasara slowly inserted the coin into the slot.

She caught two in one.

“Ah, that was quite easy for a first go. I got Kanpiko and Kouko.”

“Wow! I had no idea you’d get them so fast…” Ryouta had never managed to get two in one in his whole life.

I think my chances of showing off are basically DOA…

“Oh, it seems one hundred yen affords me another try,” Sasara commented.

She caught the arm on the cable and nabbed another two.

“How simple. I got Rouko and Sonko this time.”

“You actually have played claw machines before, haven’t you?!”

“On what basis do you say that? I have never seen a real claw machine in my life. This is a UFO Catcher.”

“But you know the name of this type!”

Ryouta had no idea if this was actually specialized knowledge, but she was being pretty specific.

“It really is that easy. If you lend me one hundred sacred yen, I can get any toy for you that you like.”

Dammit, she looked really confident when she said that… “Fine, then get me that sports towel in the box over there.”

A box sat in the farthest corner, possibly the top prize.

“I cannot.”

“You were way too quick to give up!”

“No, it is physically impossible to get. The arm can only move so far, after all. It’s too deep into the corner for me to knock it down. If it were a smidge closer, I would be able to knock it over in the first run, then grab it in the second, though. I have heard that some stores may make an exception for you if you sweetly say to them, Excuse me, I have spent two thousand sacred yen, but I cannot get it, but I would not be happy to resort to cajolery.”

“You play tons of these.”

“Why do you insist that I do? Everyone knows this. Oh, and some plushies are easier or more difficult to get depending on the material they are made from. And different establishments have different arm strength. This is a suburban area, so it is configured in a way that makes it easy to win, but arcades in the city weaken the strength of the arm or place prizes out of reach to combat the more advanced users, so please be careful.”

“I knew you—”

“I have no experience.”

She wasn’t going to admit it, no matter what. Well, not that anything would change if she did admit it.

Sasara’s more mysterious than I thought…

Something must have happened to her in the past, but he didn’t especially care what that was.

“Here you go.” Sasara held out the four plushies to Ryouta.

“I feel kinda bad taking them…”

“I am not interested in this manga, nor will they fit in my bag anyway.”

“Right. Then I guess I’ll give them to Shiren as a gi— Ah.”

Sasara seemed a little sad.

“Oh, I shouldn’t have said that. And this is supposed to be a date…”

“No, this is fine. In fact, I’m rather relieved.” Sasara gave a carefree smile—almost too carefree. “Remember when I told my parents about how I drank your blood last week at the matchmaking meeting?”

“Oh yeah. I guess that’s what you meant by the final option…”

That was how Ryouta had been spared from a deadly battle against Toraha.

“I found the resolve to tell them on the first day of our training. Remember when your master came to watch because she was worried?”

“Yeah, she did show up. But what does that have to do—”

“It told me that a small incident would not shake the relationship you have as master and minion. That is when I realized that even the most explosive declaration would not cause any problems.” Sasara leaned against the old arcade cabinet. “Had I not handled this properly, your life would have changed forever. That was the danger that came with this entire incident. I could not have justified forcing you to marry someone you did not want to marry. At the time, I thought perhaps I should accept the engagement with Masatsuna.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just a coward…”

Sasara quietly shook her head. “Please do not worry about it—this is my own personal problem. Either way, with you, I can say at least a little more of what’s on my mind.” She was gazing off into the distance, as though she’d given up on everything. “That is why you should dally a bit more with your master. That way, I will not have to get my expectations up. I can talk my parents out of this somehow.”

“Expectations? What do you…?”

The atmosphere between them was strange, and there was a unique power in Sasara’s words. He couldn’t just ignore what she’d said.

“Are you seriously asking me this? I truly have no words to describe you. Insensitive, perhaps.” She gazed up at the ceiling, as though in defeat. “The expectation that, perhaps, living with you would not be so bad.”

“That means you…wouldn’t mind marrying me…right?” The shock had nearly shorted out Ryouta’s brain.

“You came to the matchmaking meeting as a candidate for marriage, did you not? The possibility of marriage is usually assumed.”

“But I thought you liked Ouka. You’ve never really spent a lot of time with a guy, so are you sure you’re not just getting the wrong idea?”

“Of course. The one I love the most at this moment is Lady Ouka. There is no lie or falsehood about that. But—”

Sasara kicked the ground, took one step closer to Ryouta, and then grabbed his hand and suddenly pulled him into an embrace.

“—You are second.”

“Second…? What am I supposed to do in second place…?’

“That is why I said I wanted the inhabitants of the Fuyukura household to be a bit naughtier! And then ignore me! Then…my wavering spirit would find peace.”

There was a shade of passion in her voice; she probably didn’t even know what she was saying herself.

“If you don’t, then I will no longer be able to make excuses for myself to Lady Ouka. I am her personal guard—how could I love someone more than Her Majesty…? How could I say anything to her after all this?!”

“Oh, so that’s what she meant by drawing the line…” Ryouta now knew why Ouka had been stern.

Sasara couldn’t be both married and a part of the personal guard. She couldn’t walk both paths. And the only one who could make that decision was Sasara herself.

But people were weak, prone to taking the path of least resistance and refusing to make a choice without some kind of compelling force.

Ouka had anticipated this problem, so she told Sasara to draw the line somewhere.

“Hey, Sasara, think about this again with a clear head. This is a big choice, one that’ll either take you to the left or the right—”

Suddenly, a powerful force ripped him away from Sasara and tossed him to the ground.

For a moment, he couldn’t hear anything, but then his lower back took a heavy blow, bringing back both sound and pain.

Who was this?

“Gimme a break.”

Above him stood Masatsuna Toraha, furious and apparently ready to cut Ryouta down at any second.

“What the hell, Toraha?! What are you doing here?!”

“I could ask you the same thing! You were the one squealing below my house!”

“What? When have I ever gone to your house?”

“Weren’t you looking at the view earlier?”

What? Was he saying he lived in Akinomiya Castle?

“Akinomiya Castle is also my house. You saw the no entry sign, right? Everything above that is our living space.”

“So that danger I sensed was you, huh…? Why do you live in a public facility?!”

“Public facility? My ancestors built that castle five hundred years ago. It only became public in modern times. The place above the observation deck is our house.”

“Oh yeah, Masakane Akinomiya, Masatsuna Toraha—your names are kind of similar…”

Both names had “Masa” in them, and some families still maintained the old tradition of using a similar element in all their names, so maybe…

“I am the twenty-fifth generation of direct descendants from Masakane! The family was embarrassed by the link, so we changed our last name!”

“Oh yeah, I did hear that his family is still around…” Ryouta had no idea the guy’s descendants would be so close by. “But I heard your ancestor was a loser… Are you sure you’re really a good swordsman?”

“One more word out of you and I will kill you where you stand. My family has worked hard to forget the loser-hood! Don’t such complexes usually drive people to work unusually hard?!”

Toraha seemed really aggravated. But then again, Ryouta had never seen him not aggravated.

Ah, I guess this is why Sasara wasn’t so keen in coming up the mountain…

He almost wanted to blame himself for inviting her up here without knowing why.

“Masatsuna, this has nothing to do with you. Leave!” Sasara, being Sasara, had no compunctions about yelling at her cousin.

“Yes it does, Lady Sasara. I’ve been listening to your conversation. Right from the moment you said ‘Return my underwear to me at once, lest I cut you down!’”

“Stop! Just forget about that! Pretend it never happened!”

He had tuned in at a very dark period in Ryouta’s life.

“That alone is an unforgivable crime, but let us set that aside for the moment. According to your conversation, I believe this boy is not your fiancé. At the moment, neither of you have any intention of actually getting married. Even if you truly did take his blood.”

Toraha’s expression was cooling from anger into something more like distrust.

“Well, I mean… It’s still kind of early for us to decide on marriage…” Ryouta interjected.

“But you would not mind being betrothed to this boy? Lady Sasara, allow me to battle with him. I, too, have samurai blood. If I am to take you, then I wish to settle this by the sword.”

“Please do not settle anything without my permission! Th-this is not about who I like, but…I still cannot yet imagine marriage…”

“How do you intend to make Lady Sasara happy, boy?” Toraha turned a sharp eye to Ryouta.

“H-how? I—”

“If I were to marry into the Tatsunami family, then her relatives will be peaceful and secure. We will also protect the family’s martial lineage. This boy has nothing. And I”—Toraha grinned—“can say with clear confidence that I love Lady Sasara.”

That was a huge difference between them.

Ryouta, of course, had never told Sasara he loved her.

“Please pardon my insolence, Lady Sasara.” Toraha’s hand made firm contact with the nape of Sasara’s neck.

“Ah…” Sasara’s head immediately drooped—she was unconscious.

Toraha caught her with great gentleness and care.

“Sasara! Hey, are you okay?! You can’t do that to a girl!”

“Of course she’s all right. I am no amateur.” Toraha lifted her up bridal style, like a prince and a slumbering princess. “At the top of this mountain is a rocky stretch called Senjojiki. I will be waiting for you there. Come when you are ready.”

“Yeah, I’ll be right th—”

“Really? Are you truly ready? I am not asking whether you are resolved to take another’s life.” Toraha cut Ryouta off. “I am asking you if you’re ready to tell Sasara exactly how you feel about her.”

Ryouta froze. Toraha wouldn’t accept a simplistic reason like “bad guy kidnap girl, good guy save her.”

“If you feel nothing for her, then do not bother. Report me to the police, to her parents if you will. That would be the proper course of action, and I will not hold it against you.”

What Toraha said threw Ryouta’s emotions into chaos.

“Farewell. Come, if you will.”

With great speed, faster than anyone carrying another person should have been able to, Toraha ran off with Sasara in his arms.