I didn’t—couldn’t—reply. It felt like there was a storm brewing in my heart and I desperately wanted a way to let out my jealousy. That’s so unfair. I want to have tea with him every afternoon too, not only at night. There’s so many things I wish to talk to him about. Once this battle is over... Wait!
“Hakurei?”
“Lady Hakurei?”
I shook my head rapidly as I came back to the present. Father and Asaka were giving me strange looks while Miss Shizuka smiled at me. I must be more tired than I thought. I have to forget about all that right now. And I’m going to ignore the way Ou Meirin hummed at me just now! I looked over at my father as a signal for him to continue speaking.
“Then, let’s make our move,” he said, pressing his hand against his chest. “Hakurei, I must inform the grand chancellor of what was in Sekiei’s letter. We’ll meet later! Asaka, I know you must be exhausted and I apologize, but accompany Hakurei for me. Lady Meirin, I leave the ships to you.”
“Yes, father.”
“Please leave everything to me!”
“Understood, sir.”
After hearing our responses, he turned and walked back towards the manor. Halfway there, however, he stopped and said, “Ah, that reminds me.” Turning around he gave me a wide smile, his eyes warm with affection. “Good job on making the trip from Keiyou in a mere five days! Don’t fret. We won’t abandon Sekiei. He’s my son, no matter what people say.”
“Father!” Tears almost brimmed in my eyes as emotion overwhelmed me. Had I fulfilled a measure of my duties as Chou Tairan’s daughter? The weight on my chest lessened slightly at the praise. I watched father disappear into the house before I turned to Ou Meirin. She was fiddling with her hair, wrapping locks of it around her finger. “Just what are you planning?”
“I was telling you the whole truth, you know? Or were you not being honest with me?”
I didn’t reply. She spoke in such a calm voice, with no frills or embellishments. It didn’t seem like she was lying. So then that means she actually wants Sekiei?
“Oh, that reminds me.”
“Hmm?” I watched as Ou Meirin returned to the table, picking up a long, thin cloth bag. She opened it up and took something out. “What’s that?”
She placed upon the round table two swords. A pure white scabbard hid away the blade of one sword while an obsidian black scabbard held the other. The intricate design on the hilts looked like a large tree underneath a star. It looked like a picture that Sekiei drew me once when we were children.
Ou Meirin sat down in her chair and poured herself a cup of tea. “These are the swords that Kou Eihou used before he passed them down to Ou Eifuu. They’re the Heavenly Swords, the swords that unified the land.”
“What?!” It was the only word I could manage to choke out. Unbelievable! In the thousand years since the great hero himself swung these swords, countless emperors had scoured the land for these weapons, desperate to get their hands on them. These are the Heavenly Swords? The real ones? How did she find them? I stared in disbelief at what she had just taken out as she took a sip of her drink.
“They were incredibly difficult to track down. I really, truly, spent a great amount of time and effort finding them. I studied all of the books I could get my hands on and traced Ou Eifuu’s steps, since he was the last one to possess them. I even had to bow my head to ask a suspicious self-professed ascendant soothsayer from Seitou to get information until finally, I discovered these swords in an abandoned temple just outside the western regions! Apparently, Ou Eifuu spent his final years there. Hee hee, I’ve never lost a game before, you know? ♪ Please hand these swords to Lord Sekiei and remind him to keep his promise. ★”
I started to get a bad feeling about what she was saying. I thought back to what I saw the last time I visited the Ou family and said, “Didn’t you lose to him in a tea-tasting contest?”
The moment I asked her, clear panic appeared on the girl’s face and she waved her hands frantically. “I was just playing around. Y-Yes, that’s right, I never lose. Lord Sekiei is a little different, that’s all!”
When she acted like this, she looked every bit like a harmless little girl. If only she could act like this all the time. “I agree with your assessment that he’s ‘a little different.’ So, are these swords usable?”
“Um, I don’t know.”
“Are you serious?” There was no point in wielding a useless sword. If Sekiei was here, he’d agree with me.
Ou Meirin looked away and said in a rush, “I-I wanted to check out the blades too, you know? If the legends are accurate then these were made a thousand years ago. According to that self-professed ascendant, the weapons and the scabbards were both created during the age of the gods—the problem is that I can’t draw them from their sheaths!”
“You can’t draw them?” I stared down at the twin swords. They were so beautiful, and without a single hint of rust on them it was hard to believe they’d been crafted over a millennium ago. However... Just to make sure Ou Meirin wasn’t lying, I looked over at Miss Shizuka behind her. The moment our eyes met, she gave a slight nod. Looks like it’s the truth.
Ou Meirin shook her head and slumped her shoulders. “In any case, I couldn’t find anyone who could unsheathe them. Legend has it that the only people who were able to draw the Heavenly Swords were the Twin Stars, Kou Eihou and Ou Eifuu.”
“I see.” I placed the swords back into the cloth bag and said, “I swear that I will deliver these swords to Sekiei. I promise.”
Ou Meirin gave me a suspicious look and said slowly, “Are you sure about that? I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now that if you give those swords to him, then Lord Sekiei and I will—”
“This is an emergency. Since you’re the one who possesses the ships to return father and his men to Keiyou...” My personal feelings on the matter have no place in this discussion. That was what I wanted to say, but the words caught in my throat. It must have been due to exhaustion. Nothing else.
The girl stared at me for a moment longer before she winked. “Hmm, well, all right then. I’ll be the winner between us anyway. Now then, we still have plenty of time before the boat is ready to depart, so why don’t you go take a bath, eat, and sleep a little? You’ll be of no use to anyone if you’re tired, Lady Chou Hakurei.”