Hakurei smacked her hands over her mouth before she could scream, but a squeak slipped out. She was normally so stoic, but she looked halfway to tears as she tugged on my sleeve. “That’s not good... That’s not good at all. P-Please do something about it.”
“Hmm, I dunno. I guess you only have your normal behavior to blame...”
I was starting to have a lot of fun messing with her, but the sailors gathered at the stern of the ship had started to chatter.
“Oh, did you see that? The river dolphin just jumped out of the water.”
“What a fortuitous sign.”
“I wonder if it’s trying to lead our guests to the city?”
Oh no. I glanced down at Hakurei.
Slowly she straightened herself and then gave me a beautiful smile. The strong wind played with her long silver hair and red ribbon. “Sekiei?” she asked in the sweetest tone. “Do you have any final words?”
A shiver went down my spine and I looked away from her. Asaka, dressed in her lady-in-waiting clothes and wearing a hat to keep the sun out of her face, met my eyes. She must have realized what my predicament was, however, and just smiled. “Oh my ♪,” I could practically hear her saying.
This isn’t good. Asaka’s not gonna help me. I did my best to think of a way out of this, but I couldn’t come up with a good excuse. So, I did the next best thing: I leaped backward to put some distance between us before yelling, “Good for you! You learned something new today, Chou Hakurei, you spoiled little princess!”
“Go kill yourself right now,” she said. “Wait, no, in fact, I shall kill you on the spot myself. Besides, if I’m unable to get married, aren’t you the one who would...” Hakurei had been glaring at me with eyes as cold as a blizzard, but suddenly she hesitated and fell silent before looking away.
“Uh, what’s wrong?” I asked. D-Did I make her that mad? I approached—with caution—and peered down at her.
“It’s nothing,” was Hakurei’s brusque reply, covering her face with both her hands.
“It doesn’t look like nothing. Your face is bright red...” I reached out and pressed the back of my hand against her forehead. “Whoa! That’s a high fever! Did you catch a cold from getting all excited about traveling on a boat?” Not only was there a clear heat emanating from Hakurei’s face, but for some reason it seemed to be getting hotter and hotter.
“I-I’m perfectly healthy. I’m fine, so please get awa— Ah!”
Hakurei tried to slap my hand away, but as she did, another strong wind rocked the ship. Without thinking I grabbed and steadied her so she didn’t fall over. This close, I could smell the scent of flowers, as well as feel her soft body, which was so different from a man’s. It was kind of embarrassing, but the priority right now was Hakurei’s safety. I looked down at the girl in my arms to make sure she was all right.
“You good?”
“Y-Yes...”
Hakurei was acting so meek compared to usual that I started to panic. Before I could get anything out, though, laughter boomed out from behind me.
“Sekiei, you’re gonna be in a world of hurt if you keep on messing with her! My late wife used to scold me so much whenever I joked with her.”
“Uh-huh...”
“Father,” Hakurei said, “I think the majority of the blame for that rests on your shoulders.”
Father, his dark green clothing very eye-catching, had been talking about something with the ship’s captain when he’d overhead and laughed at us. After a moment, however, Hakurei and I realized that we had been hugging each other the entire time. We took three hurried steps back, but after a brief contemplation, took two towards each other again.
Father stared at us, running his fingers through his magnificent beard, which seemed to shine in the sunlight. He didn’t say anything about us at all; instead, he looked straight ahead with a twinkle in his eye. Asaka had clasped her hands together and was smiling at us brightly. It was oddly embarrassing to have them react that way.
“Oh? It seems like we’re close enough to see it now.”
We followed father’s line of sight. Far ahead, we could see the faint outline of something that resembled a tower.
“To think that we’d be able to see it even from this distance,” Hakurei whispered, as if she couldn’t believe what was in front of her eyes.
“That’s the huge dam right in front of the city,” I explained. “Since Keiyou and Rinkei are connected via the Grand Canal, they had to think of a way to defend themselves. The city itself is full of waterways and bridges, you know? So the dam is apparently their way of keeping themselves safe from cavalrymen.”
“You seem to know a lot about Rinkei,” Hakurei muttered. “Yesterday, you told me that parents in the city threaten them with the White Wraith if they’re being naughty. Who told you about all this?” She gave me a suspicious look.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to let her know that Meirin’s attendant was the one to tell me. I used my hands to block Hakurei’s gaze and replied, “I-I figured it out on my own! I was in the city for half a year, after all!”
“Oh, really...” Hakurei ran her fingers through her long silver hair. She didn’t look convinced.
Seeing her reminded me of an old superstition from my past life: “Women with silver hair and blue eyes will bring misfortune to the country.” I doubted that anyone cared about those old fairy tales now—certainly not enough to try and hurt her to stop ill fortune from happening. Father didn’t care, and the sailors were even besotted with Hakurei. But on the off chance that something bad happened, well, I would have to be the one to rescue her!
“Why are you making such a weird face?” Hakurei said—right before she started to tidy up my hair, which had been messed up by the wind. “Sheesh. No matter how old you get, you just can’t function without me.”
“What?! That should be my li—”
“No. It’s my line.”
I gritted my teeth at the pompous little princess’s words.
My father laughed at us. “I’m glad you two are so close. We’ll have our fair share of troubles once we reach Rinkei, but I want you both to study hard and play harder! I order you to do so, as Chou Tairan!”