Chapter 74

“Oh, I meant in an unable-to-sleep way, not in an erotic way.” “I didn’t ask anything about that!” “Make the right choices, Ryouta!” Shiren called, still in her pajamas. She had come out to see them off. “I know. I’ll be home tomorrow. Make sure you lock all the doors and windows today.” “I trust you, Ryouta. And this is proof.” Shiren dangled a key in front of her face, then stuck it into the collar around his neck. “I know it’d be embarrassing if you went back to Japan collared. This is just for the weekend.” “Thanks…” “But you’re still my minion. Don’t forget that…” “Y-yeah…I know…” “Heh-heh~. Ah, to be young again~.” Alfoncina was enjoying the scene. “D-don’t make fun of us… There’s nothing weird going on here…” “And remember your pledge, Alfoncina. I don’t care what you feel on the inside; keep to form. Don’t let it affect your actions.” “You don’t trust me at all~. I am the archbishop, you know. I am essentially a politician.” “Who trusts anything a politician says?” Shiren retorted. A surprisingly sound argument. “All right, Ryouta, we don’t have much time, so let’s get going~.” Alfoncina took Ryouta’s arm. She generally had no objections to physical contact. “All right. We’re off!” “Mm, I’m still worried…,” Shiren sighed. But the car left her worries in the dust. “By the way, where do you have to go for tomorrow?” Ryouta hadn’t heard any details about the trip’s itinerary. “Tokyo, of course.” “Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Sometimes they hold summits in other regions, though.” The capital city was the typical place for international negotiations. “And we won’t have any VIP reception. I am essentially attending this meeting on my own, you know. I need your help carrying my luggage~.” “Of course I’ll help. I’m going with you as your staff anyway.” The car quickly reached the edge of the Empire. They entered the border office, handed over their documents to the Japanese official, and were quickly granted permission to enter. They were guided to the exit on the other side. One more step and they would be in Japanese territory. “Here we go, to Japan~!” Alfoncina put her feet together and jumped. “Yeah, I had no idea I’d be coming back like this…” They’d only gone a few kilometers as the crow flies, but there was something deeply emotive about it. “There, our taxi is waiting for us already~. We’ll take it to the station, where we’ll go the rest of the way by Shinkansen.” They managed to reach JR Oshiro Station without much trouble. “Here, Ryouta, hold on to our tickets.” She handed him tickets for the first-class car. “Wow, I should have expected we’d be riding fancy… I’ve never taken one before.” “I do want us to have a comfortable journey~. Oh, and be careful of what you talk about.” Alfoncina leaned closer to Ryouta’s ear. “Whoa! I hope you’re not biting me again!” “Quiet.” When she whispered to him, he had no choice but to stay quiet. “See, it would mean trouble if people found out I was Sacred Blooded. So take care.” “Oh, I get it.” Ryouta was not only in his home country, but also in an enemy country. “But we’re off today. Let’s have fun!” “Have fun?” “Yes! This is my first time off in so long. I’ve been working nonstop for a while now~.” “I guess you have a lot of work-related things to take care of.” “Yes, YouRou IKou! has been positively backbreaking.” “Oh, that’s what you mean!” “Things have been awful in the lead-up to the anime adaptation… I think I’m rather confident I can fall asleep standing up now… Here we go~. Let’s go to the Shinkansen platform~.” They then boarded the Nozomi express train and sank into the plush seats, with Ryouta by the aisle and Alfoncina by the window. “Ah, we’re on an N700 series train~.” “I’m surprised you can tell,” Ryouta commented. “I haven’t ridden the Shinkansen in a really long time. I’ve never been to Tokyo, either.” “I see~. But Tokyo is so much fun~. Is there a reason why? I suppose high school students don’t have a reason to go. It is quite expensive~.” “If I went somewhere with that many people…my curse…” Just thinking about it made him shiver. “Ah, right~. That was your curse.” Because of his grandfather’s curse, Ryouta was so attractive to human women that it drove them mad—he’d been nearly kidnapped on multiple occasions. “It has no effect on the Sacred Blooded, so I can live peacefully in the Empire.” “Peacefully?” Alfoncina asked genuinely. “I guess I mean…peaceful may not really be the right word… I won’t deny that.” He had almost died a few days ago. “But there’s an electricity in the air here that isn’t in the Empire. Even when we were at the station just now, I saw people glancing at me… I doubted I was going to get attacked or anything, though…” “Oh, I did notice the stares. I suppose that’s your doing~.” “If you weren’t here, I’d have so many people coming after me already.” “Gosh, imagine how cruel that would be to say to someone ugly,” Alfoncina chirped. That certainly was an addition to this conversation. “But it’s true. I think you’ll start to see it for yourself very soon…” A few minutes later, the snack cart and vendor entered their car. “Lunch boxes, drinks, unique Shinkansen sweets, all for sale~.” “Oh, Ryouta, do you want anything?” “No, I’ll buy something myself if I really need anything. I put a lot in my wallet just in case.” “But you didn’t bring any Japanese yen, did you?” “Oops.” The currency of the Sacred Blood Empire was just Japanese yen with “SACRED YEN” written on it in marker. “…I guess I could use it, but it would be embarrassing.” Then the snack vendor came to stop in front of Ryouta, apparently sensing that he wanted something. She was in her twenties. “Would you like anything?” “I don’t think I’m going to get—” “Then please have this coffee, on the house. And this soda, on the house. And this lunch set, on the house. And this ice cream, on the house.” She pulled out all the things in rapid succession. “Uh…I’m not really going to buy anything…” “It’s fine, everything’s on the house. Huff, huff…” Her eyes were turning red. “And here, a smile on the house! Tee-hee!” “Th-thanks… Um, you’re blocking the aisle, so I think you should go now…” “And please have my number, on the hou—” “No thanks!” “So this is your curse~,” Alfoncina remarked, somewhat taken aback by the scene. The woman hadn’t tried anything else, so he came away from the incident with a free lunch. Unfortunately, this food had come with nausea and guilt, so he didn’t consider himself all that lucky. “That’s how it normally is. Isn’t it weird…?” “You’re right. It’s quite a high-level phenomenon. I’d say curse is an apt word for it~.” “It really sucked. Even my family came after me…” He wasn’t particularly fond of the memories this was dredging up. And there were way more than just one or two of those. “I suppose you couldn’t find genuine love here in Japan like that. Poor thing~.” “You’re right. Oh—” There had been one exception: Ouka Sarano. She was immune, so they had been regular friends. Ryouta guessed that was why he’d been so attracted to her. “Oh~? That tells me you must have had a crush on someone~.” Alfoncina smiled gleefully, as though she’d discovered his weak point. “W-well, yeah, I am a boy. I’ve at least had that experience, of course…” “Hmmm. Would that someone be Ouka Sarano~?” She found him out right away. “Wh-why did you think of her…?” “If I had to say, I’d call it a woman’s instinct~. No one would have told me personally or anything. There’s nothing to tell~.” “Well, the way you’re phrasing that definitely makes it sound like you heard it from someone… It’s not like anyone else knows…” He was sure the only person he’d told in the Empire was Shiren. But it was hard to imagine Shiren blabbing about it to anyone else.