Chapter 61

“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.