EPISODE 1 LET’S THINK OF A WAY TO COUNTER MOTHER’S ATTACK! The next day, they reported the letter to Ouka and the others. That one piece of news sent a ruinous ripple through the Imperial court. “Are you serious? Seriously? I mean, seriously? Are we being serious right now? Do I need to implement an urgent tax increase?” Ouka, sitting on the imperial throne, went pale. “Seriously, seriously? Can we only get through this national emergency with higher taxes? I think the people would understand if I called it a predicament tax. Now’s our chance to up taxes. Send it through the roof.” “Calm down, Ouka! And stop taking advantage of these emergencies by increasing taxes!” “Listen, the basic rule of a politician’s job is to quietly pass unpopular measures while the people are distracted.” “Some rules are made to be broken, right? Govern for the people!” “Okay, all that stuff was, like, twenty percent joking. But this is still a really bad situation.” “So eighty percent was serious…” In that case, it sounded like taxes were going up. “Oh, whatever. We’re not getting anywhere, so keep talking.” “Look, this is essentially a declaration of war! The Virginal Father will be attacking us in force! We’re not up against rank and file this time. She’s calling herself the head of the organization!” Ouka reeled, rumpling up her dress. “I guess so… This isn’t something we can afford to ignore…” “There is no need to worry, Lady Ouka!” Sasara, clad in her knight’s gear, stepped forward. “I will protect you no matter what happens. Even if this castle were to burn to the ground, even if the Empire were to fall, even if we were on the verge of losing everything, I will still protect you and only you!” “No, we can’t have the Empire fall! You need to protect the Empire!” “Actually, once we’ve lost everything, you could start a new life with m—” “Anyway, do your job. Dismissed.” It was too much for her, so Ouka cut the conversation short. “But we still need to prepare for the Virginal Father by getting our forces ready. Ah right, can I expect you to fight on behalf of the Empire, Rei?” She turned an expectant eye toward Ryouta’s sister. “I believe we could take down most enemies by using the power of your enraged spirits.” Rei was haunted by enraged spirits—it was unclear if they were more like guardian angels or vengeful demons. But when she was in battle, she could use their power to fight. Her enemies were tossed through the air by sudden attacks from invisible entities. “I could take on the whole Virginal Father on my o— Ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem, ehem! Cough! Bleugh!” …Thunk. “She’s already down!” Ryouta exclaimed. “It’s basically a running gag at this point, but she doesn’t disappoint!” Though Rei’s spirits made her tenacious, she was exceedingly sickly and weak. “Yeah, I don’t think she will be very reliable strength-wise… Which means, who else can we use…? Oh, that’s right!” Ouka whipped out her phone, as though inspiration had struck her. “Oh, hello, this is the emperor. Is this the Toraha household? Oh, Masatsuna! Good, this will go quickly.” She had apparently called Sasara’s cousin, Masatsuna Toraha. He was a swordsman skilled enough to be called the strongest in the Empire. Ryouta had fought him once and was sent straight to death’s doorstep. “Whoa, hey! Lady Ouka! Why are you calling him?!” Sasara rushed toward Ouka in a panic. The two cousins, at one point, were very close to getting engaged with each other. And it was very clear that Masatsuna was romantically interested in Sasara. He practically worshipped her. “Actually, Masatsuna, there’s a chance the Virginal Father might be attacking. When that happens, I want you to handle city’s defenses~. And if we succeed, then I’ll give you the right to kiss or do whatever you like to Sasara for an entire day~.” “Please wait! Please do not make dubious promises! I have heard nothing about this!” “Huh~? You don’t need such a generous reward? You are surprisingly pure of heart. But I guess you are a knight. A samurai. So sincere~.” “Well done, Masatsuna! As thanks, I’ll gift you some cling wrap, or some paper towels!” “Sasara, you should give your cousin something a little nicer. Those sound like freebies you got handed at a bank,” Ryouta remarked. “Indeed, I have some left over from when I made my fixed deposit at the Third Sacred Blood Imperial Bank.” “They really are freebies from a bank!” Even though Masatsuna had come close to killing him before, Ryouta began to feel some sympathy for the guy. Meanwhile, Ouka’s phone call with him continued. “Aww, come on, you’re so quiet! Look, I’ll even issue you a ticket that lets you kiss or do whatever you want to do with Sasara for a whole day, so you can just decide whether or not you want to use it, okay? Okaaay, bye~!” Ouka hung up after that bizarre promise. “Lady Ouka… How awful of you… How could use take advantage of this chaos to offer such a thing…?” “Is that so? We don’t even know if he’ll actually use it, so it’s fine, right? And besides, you two should hurry up and get engaged. That would straighten out a lot of things.” “H-how could I…? It’s unthinkable for someone as young as I am. And I must carefully consider my partner… Actually, Lady Ouka, shouldn’t you be thinking about getting engaged to a prince from another country?” “When did you get important enough to tell the emperor your opinions?” A charged air filled the space between them. Things between Ouka and Sasara have been kind of tense lately… They’re not fighting, though… “Ah, then we may as well end up together, Lady Ouka, because that will solve all our problems!” “Hmm, I’ve been losing trust in your characterization as a lesbian… Well, I don’t necessarily mind, though…” Just then, Shiren’s phone rang. “Oh, it’s from Tamaki… I have an awful feeling about this…,” she said. “Same here… Shijou never calls to talk about positive things anyway…” “Maybe I should pretend I never saw it…” “No, you should probably answer it…” Shiren reluctantly answered the phone. “Ah, Shiren? I have to tell you that a lot of unfortunate things have been happening to me…” “Right, I thought so. What kind of unfortunate things?” “I thought I ordered ten jam rolls, but I got the number wrong…” “Uh-huh, you added an extra zero and got one hundred? That’s a mistake groceries and convenience stores make a lot.” “I thought I ordered ten, but I realized I accidentally ordered one hundred thousand of them. The store is swimming in jam rolls right now…” “That’s way too big of a mistake! At least keep it to one extra zero!” “You know how they say misfortunes come in pairs? Well, I thought I ordered ten copies of Kairakuten magazine, but I accidentally ordered one hundred thousand copies, and now customers can’t even get into the store…” “Like I said, that’s way too many zeroes to be an accident!” “And now we have this new debt all of a sudden, and I believe our business is about to go under. Hee-hee-hee, hee-hee-hee…” “You should really think about taking a different job. If you stay at the convenience store, things are gonna spiral out of control…” “Oh my, I’ve just found the perfect rope…” “Don’t use it! Don’t use it for anything, I’m telling you!” “Well, things have been so unfortunate for me that I started to worry that it had spread to you, too, so I called…” “To be honest, there is a really big problem over here. Though, I’m not sure if it’s worse than a hundred thousand jam rolls…” “It must be my fault. There’s no other explanation. I’m sorry… I’ll send you a ten-year supply of jam rolls as an apology.” “What do I need that for?! I’ll just end up swimming in jam rolls, too!” “Then how about ten thousand copies of Kairakuten…?” “I don’t need ten thousand copies of the same magazine! You only need three: one to read, one to admire, and one for storage! Oh, but Ryouta might use them, so just give me five.” “No thanks! Please don’t order things for me! And why five?!” “With five, we don’t need to worry if one of them gets dirty—” “Agh, just shut up! I don’t want any of them!” “Well, I cannot have my misfortune infecting you, so I should hang up… Oh, the huge stack of Kairakuten magazines is about to fall. I don’t know if I could sur—ksssshk, ksssshk, ksssshk—” What a horrible way to end a phone conversation. “Hey, should we go help her? Getting crushed under a pile of porno mags sounds like the worst way to go…,” Ryouta said. “I feel bad, but we’ll just have to trust that she’s okay… We’re facing a countrywide problem over here…,” Shiren said. “Yeah, you’re right… I don’t think she’d actually die…” “And Tamaki’s our class librarian. I’m pretty sure she’d love it if she got killed by books.” “Definitely not! And I know she’s our class librarian, but that doesn’t mean she loves books that much!” Tamaki had seemed pretty reluctant to take on the job, if he recalled correctly. “Sorry, but we need to get back on topic. I don’t care if the convenience store has to close.” Ouka cleared her throat. It was a rude thing to say, but she was right that this wasn’t the time to be thinking about the convenience store’s problems. “We’ll make use of everything in our power. First—Matsuko Kimura.” “Please, call me Alfoncina, Ouka! Don’t use my real name!” The archbishop, one of the most important people in the Empire, was present for obvious reasons. “Alfoncina, you will use your own connections to keep negotiations with Japan going.” “Yes, I’ll check on my channels~. That way, we can tell if Japan is getting involved on the national level.” “So you do have that kind of power…” Ryouta was impressed by the archbishop. She was no ordinary manga artist. “Well, I did create a fan club back when I released my swimsuit photo collection, and there were a few big-name politicians and bureaucrats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs among the fans. Some of my information comes through there~.” “That’s not okay, Japan!” “Even though we’re now in the digital age, at the end of the day, information still leaks from the same places~. I’ll have to send out an e-mail. I’ll title it, What did you think of the first episode of my anime, YouRou IKou!?” “Don’t you think you should be asking something different?!” “Look, they’ll have their guard up if I suddenly cut to the chase. That’s why I should at least start out by talking about anime or manga, since after that is when I ask for an extension on the next draft. That is basic etiquette.” “That’s basic etiquette for when you e-mail your editor! This is a national catastrophe! A national catastrophe!! And does your anime audience overlap with your swimsuit audience?!” “It’s true, I did try to make everyone buy both by including lots of connected extras, but I knew it was going to give me a bad reputation, so I decided not to.” What a cheap sales strategy. “Ah~, but Matsuko Kimura’s connections are all genuine. The Kimura family has always been prominent, even back when they lived in Japan, so their network is quite useful,” Ouka added. “I told you not to use my real name!” “You have to use everything in your power, Alfoncina. Work as hard as you can so that you do not embarrass Alfoncinas One through Twelve.” “Yes. In the name of Archbishop Alfoncina, I shall do what I can.” “Wow, that’s quite a history… I had no idea the name Alfoncina alone had such a past behind it…” Ryouta had been forced to memorize the names of all kinds of Roman popes in history class before, and he thought back on them now. They were always called So-and-so the Ninth or the Thirteenth. “Ah~, all the archbishops of the past are detailed in the Encyclopedia of the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood. If you look up Alfoncina, you’ll find all of them.” Ouka pulled a book from the shelf beside her. It must have been an important document to be kept right there so handily. Alfoncina 0: A legendary figure. Said to have been archbishop for centuries, but that is not possible, so she is a myth. Alfoncina I: Was found to be engaging in embezzlement. Dismissed. Alfoncina II: Was found to be committing adultery. Dismissed. Alfoncina III: Often forgot ritual schedules and did not show up to important events throughout the year. Dismissed. Alfoncina IV: Felt the work was harder than she had imagined. Quit after three days. Alfoncina V: Declared the job was different from what she had anticipated. Quit after three months. Alfoncina VI: Said she wanted to take over her parents’ farm instead of being archbishop. Quit after six months. Alfoncina VII: Was always late. Dismissed after three months. Alfoncina VIII: Declared she was going back to being a “normal girl.” Quit after eighteen months. Alfoncina IX: Was discovered to be drinking and smoking despite being underage. Dismissed. Alfoncina X: Quite capable and the greatest figure said to have taken on the Alfoncina name. However, an offer for a high position in another religion drew her away, and she quit after three years. Alfoncina XI: Loved remote-controlled everything, so she remodeled the cathedral into a museum dedicated to remote-controlled vehicles. She was clearly not taking this seriously and was dismissed after eight months. Alfoncina XII (the 1st): Failed the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood exam five times in a row; she clearly did not know anything about the church and was dismissed. Alfoncina XII (the 2nd): Called herself XII, since some believed her predecessor should not be recognized after her failure at the exam. Two months after taking her post, it was discovered that she had cheated on her own exam, and she was dismissed. Alfoncina XII (the 3rd): Called herself XII due to the above circumstances. Attempted to do away with the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood exam due to her lack of confidence in the test, but an opposition group removed her from office. The Dark Ages: (No one successfully passed the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood exam, and the Sacred Blooded faced an unprecedented crisis, lacking an archbishop for thirty years. No one calling herself Alfoncina appeared.) Alfoncina XII (the 4th): At last, one successfully passed the exam to become XII, but she was also accepted to the University of Tokyo and went there instead. She had reportedly taken the Holy Church of the Sacred Blood exam as a backup. The name became associated with such bad luck that no archbishop calling herself Alfoncina came forth afterward. Casually taking up the post, XIII became the first Alfoncina in a long time. “Not one of them actually served out their time!” It was way worse than Ryouta had expected. It was a mess. “That list really brings out how excellent our current Alfoncina is, doesn’t it?” Ouka said. “But why did she take on such a cursed name?!” “Because the first one was a perfect, mythical superhuman. And all the other choices were super uncool. You wouldn’t want to be called Henyonyo V, Pyoppyoro VII, or Ohyourossho III, would you?” “Yeah, with those alternatives, I guess I do understand why she went with Alfoncina… What idiot came up with Henyonyo?” “Anyway, you do your job, Alfoncina. If you fail, I’m going to call you Matsuko Kimura for the rest of your life. No, I’ll call you Matsuko I.” “I will do my best, Ouka!” Apparently, Alfoncina really hated her real name. “That can’t be the best way to motivate her…” “Next, speaking of the Virginal Father makes me think of Kiyomizu. I have a lot I want to ask her,” Ouka said. She had been among their ranks, so it was likely she knew some detailed information. “But it doesn’t seem like she’s around…” “Now that you mention it, she wasn’t at our house last night…” Technically, it was weirder for her to be hanging around the Fuyukura household at all, but she always showed up whenever and wherever you least expected, so both Shiren and Ryouta were used to it by now. “Wait, could she be the one who invited the Virginal Father here in the first place…?” Ryouta was a bit sad that Ouka was casting doubt on Kiyomizu, but timing was everything; he could understand why. “That can’t be, Big Sis,” Shiren immediately denied. “How do you know?” “She’s an oddball, but we can trust her on this. That is to say, I don’t think she’d double-cross us. And she’s had plenty of chances to attack me.” A unique bond of trust had formed between Shiren and Kiyomizu at some point. “And she’s not interested in the Sacred Blooded. She only thinks about Ryouta. Maybe she was educated to believe that we were once bad people, but I think she’s grown past that now.” If they set aside her obsession with Ryouta, she was indeed just a good citizen of the Sacred Blood Empire. “Shiren’s right. If she was actually plotting the downfall of the Empire, she would have gone after you by now, Ouka.” “But she’s going after you, Ryouta.” “Yeah, everyone but me is safe—and the fact I can’t deny that is kind of sad…” “Indeed… You are right that it’s pointless to doubt her, so I’ll trust her on this one.” Ouka sighed and nodded. “What we can do right now is increase security. That’s about it. We can’t do much else without knowing when or with how large a force they’ll attack.” Their only clue was Sairi’s letter. Not only was their information scant, but it was also unreliable. It was hard to prepare on that alone. “And so I’d like to make some things clear, as far as I can.” The air around Ouka shifted into something more intense and dignified as she said, “So, Shiren, I have some questions. Answer everything with complete honesty.” “Of course. What is it, Big Sis?” “You are certain you want to remain in the Empire, correct? You have absolutely no intention of going back to Japan with your mother?” Ouka was sounding more and more like an interrogator. “O-obviously! Why would I ever leave the Empire? I can think of nothing more preposterous!” “Is that so? Perhaps I’ve gotten the wrong idea here, but it seems as though you have some unfinished business with your mother.” Ryouta swallowed. He had gotten the same sense. “Who would want to meet a parent trying to waltz back into their life after all this time?! I’m the victim here! I don’t even want to see her face!” “Great, if it’s really that clear-cut for you. But see, love for family is special, and logic does not always count for much in these situations. I just wanted to ask to make sure.” Ouka was not speaking to Shiren as her older sister, but from her position as emperor. That’s what it sounded like to Ryouta. This was indeed bigger than a family problem—this was a national problem. Even if Sairi came alone, she was not someone the Sacred Blood Empire could welcome as a guest. “If I learn that Sairi Fuyukura has infiltrated the Empire, I will give the order for her arrest. We have no capital punishment here, but we will interrogate her as thoroughly as possible.” Ouka was doing her best to speak without emotion. There was nothing odd about any of this; the Empire could not allow the top suspect of the previous emperor’s assassination to roam free. This isn’t easy to hear, but I bet it’s even harder for her to say… Even if a national problem was bigger, this was still a family problem. Ryouta, the outsider, could do nothing but stand and watch things develop. But then the outsider received a question. “By the way, Ryouta, if Shiren does go with Sairi to Japan, do you plan on following her?” “Why are you asking me this…?” He had not been expecting anyone to ask him anything, so he was a bit taken aback. Plus, it was an odd question. Shiren had just told them that she was not going anywhere. “Look, you are her provisional minion, aren’t you? I was just thinking you might go along with her.” “That would never happen. Shiren just said she wouldn’t leave… And anyway, I can’t go back to Japan the way I am. You know about my curse, Ouka.” Ryouta had been irresistible to girls, even way back in elementary school, causing him no shortage of distress. Among his classmates, only Ouka, the Sacred Blooded, was able to see him with clear eyes. She was the only one he could open up to. And for that reason, she was his first love. She was the sole person in his class, in the whole school, who treated him normally. He never said anything about liking her at the time, though, and he hadn’t said anything about it since, either. “Understood. Then let me tell you a bit about what I think as your emperor.” Ouka slowly stood from the throne. “Shiren, this is all conjecture, okay? You know I will never forgive Sairi Fuyukura, the prime suspect in our father’s death. I’ll be treating her like a traitor, an enemy of the state. You need to understand that, okay?” “You just said that. Of course. It was probably Sairi’s fault that Dad was killed, so…” “But we haven’t established real diplomatic ties with Japan yet, so if Sairi came to the Empire and then immediately left, there would be nothing we could do. I would not even request her extradition.” “What do you mean, Big Sis…?” Shiren looked nervously at Ouka. “What I mean to say is that I would not stop you if you left with Sairi and went to Japan. I wouldn’t even cause you trouble by sending someone after you.” “I’m telling you, that’s not even a possibility—” “That may be true now, but I would not blame you if you wanted to live with your mother.” Ouka cut Shiren off. “Those feelings are natural for anyone. And I promise you, I will not incriminate you for going to Japan. I acknowledge that is an important choice for you, as your emperor, and as your sister.” There was a slight smile on her face. “No matter what kind of person Sairi Fuyukura is, she is still your mother.” Though her smile did not reach her eyes, Ryouta could tell that her words were coming from the heart. “Okay. Thank you, Big Sis…” There was the briefest hint of a smile on Shiren’s face, too. This was only goodwill coming from her older sister—or so Ryouta thought, until Ouka’s face turned cold. “If you do, however, then you’d best consider all your ties with the Empire completely cut.” “What…?” “And your minion will not be going with you, either. A minion is a subject of the Empire. Though I may accept your own personal decisions, I will not allow you to involve other citizens. Ryouta has no intention of going back to Japan anyway.” “So what are you trying to say…?” “I’m practically spelling it out for you. I had hoped you would understand my meaning.” Ouka heaved a sigh, appalled. But there was a feverish hint to her sigh. “You will have to give up Ryouta when you leave with Sairi. He will no longer be your minion once you leave for Japan. That is all.” The only reason Ryouta could remain as Ryouta Fuyukura, Shiren Fuyukura’s minion, was because Shiren was a member of the Empire. There was no minion-master bond between them from the drinking of blood. Shiren hadn’t officially made him her minion yet. Their relationship was only formally that of minion and master because the two of them acknowledged that it was. If Shiren were to leave, then Ryouta Fuyukura would become a normal citizen of the Empire, Ryouta Asagiri. “And when that happens…” Ouka turned to look at Ryouta, embarrassed. “…Ryouta, you will become my minion. The emperor’s minion.” Ouka declared it so with solemnity, with the dignity befitting an emperor. “What…? Ouka…?” Ryouta, unable to fully understand what she was hinting at, faltered. He wasn’t alone. Shiren was also frozen in shock. After all, this was the first time since Ryouta came to the Empire that Ouka had stepped between them. It had become routine for Ryouta and Shiren to spend all their time together. Neither of them had so much as imagined living any other way for a very long time. But that wasn’t a fixed arrangement at all. Ryouta was a unique presence within the Empire—he was neither Sacred Blooded nor a minion. So unique, in fact, that his presence had political impact. How he was treated within the Empire was a concern that affected more than personal feelings. Whether he was given preferential treatment or discriminated against would directly impact the Empire’s image within Japan. That was why Ouka had told him to be her minion once before. She had determined that it would be the most beneficial choice. At the time, he had insisted on staying with Shiren, who was still weak and in need of help. But even if he had avoided the order once, the issue had come back around. And now it had a different weight to it. “Well, this is really sudden…” He hadn’t been emotionally prepared for this. After all, becoming Ouka’s minion meant that he would have to live with her… And to him, she was his first love… “What? It shouldn’t cause any inconvenience. You are a member of the Imperial Guard. It is perfectly normal for you to stay by my side as my minion.”
Chapter 86
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