Chapter 3
She turned her face away but not before Kantai could see the lone tear sliding down her cheeks. "He was tired. What could I have said to make it better?"
She cupped her head between her hands, her body shook with silent sobs. Kantai pulled her to him and hugged her. There were no words that could have healed her broken heart, only time. It was after sometime she pulled away and wiped the tears away. The grief that had been so stark on her face just moments ago was all hidden away. Concealed behind a cool mask of confidence, only a trace of it could be seen in her eyes. She placed a hand on his shoulder as she got up.
"A king can't show any sign of weakness," she responded to the confusion on Kantai's face.
She smiled a little as she turned to leave. "Thank you."
Those shoulders that carried the burden of the kingdom never seemed any smaller and frailer than they did before.
"She is someone very important to you." Naoki's voice broke through his thoughts. He had forgotten that Naoki was there.
Chuckling just a little, Kantai gazed at her face as he said, "She is." He smiled ruefully at Naoki. "Like a light in the darkness. A fire on a cold winter's night."
"I once had someone that important as well." Naoki sighed, his eyes taking on a glazed look as someone remembering a memory. "She was, to me, the most beautiful thing. We grew up together, went to school together. Then on the way to our high school graduation ceremony, she slipped through an alley to get to school on time and she was gone." He looked down on his cracked hands. "Funny thing was that, I was right behind. I turned round the corner and she was gone. She had disappeared. None of the students on the other side had seen anyone exit. No one believed me. It's not like I would have either should someone have told me this story."
Kantai had heard stories like that from the Kaikyaku ministers: gone through a hallway, when through a cave, a door, a hole, a tunnel. Yoko sympathized their plight, but as a king she could not command Keiki to open the shoku whenever she liked. The shoku would cause much destruction to the surroundings lands. So once every several years, when no ranka resided on the Shashinboku – the special tree on Mount Hou – she would send out a notice for any kaikyaku who wished to return to be at a certain spot. That being said, there were many kaikyaku who decided to stay in their world.
Naoki continued his story, his eyes taking on a hard distant look.
"My friend, that girl. She reappeared a few years ago. Look at me, I'm 38. But she looked like she hadn't aged a day, wearing clothes like your girl. I called her out and all she could say was I'm back? Why are you so old? People called me crazy. No one believed me." He sighed and laughed that sounded forced. Kantai could hear the bitterness in his voice.
"Tell me truthfully Kantai. There is another world out there, isn't there?"
He stared at Kantai, his eyes begging Kantai to agree. Kantai swallowed loudly. To agree was to allow Naoki find a way to escape his present world. While he did come from another world, it felt to Kantai that Naoki was merely looking for a way out.
"Nao. Stop it," came the voice behind the door. The door slid open, revealing a man with spiky milk tea hair. Kantai had occasionally seen him around the house and when their eyes made contact, the man would merely give a cursory nod.
Naoki spun around and came face to face the man. His voice faltering as he spoke, "Taka—"
"Amaya ran away from home. She didn't disappear. No one disappeared. Nao, stop turning from the truth." Taka spoke, his voice had a cold edge to it.
Naoki stood up angrily; with fists clenched, he strode out of the room. Taka turned to Kantai. "I apologize for my elder brother's behaviour. He was a brilliant man, controlled the gumi with his amazing leadership. However a few years ago, he said he saw his dead girlfriend. He transferred himself to this minor branch so he could use the information network in here to find her."
Taka paused, taking in Kantai's cool disinterested look. "They say you two fell from the sky." He leaned forward, his voice barely a whisper. "I don't care if it's true. I trust you will not fuel his delusions and keep this to yourself." He eyes slid to Yoko's sleeping form. No words were needed to decipher what Taka was suggesting.
Kantai could feel the rush of anger on the back of his neck. No one threatened him or his queen. In spite of this, to flare out from Taka's obvious provocation was probably just what Taka wanted.
"Don't worry, I'm not even interested," he spat out.
"Good." With that Taka left with a satisfied look on his face.
"There must be something!" Shoukei remarked as they riffled through file after file. Although Yoko had dutifully filed away everything neatly and orderly, they were not quite sure what they were looking for. Her neat office was now a scene of a battlefield. Stacks of files and papers had been pulled out to inspect.
"It almost seems like the Eternal King is giving us those strange vague orders," Sekki commented.
"Her majesty has always been rather straight forward with her orders," Koukan added. They had been cooped in Yoko's office for days without much lead. They could not hold off the other ministers for much longer.
Sekki gazed at the miniature thorn apple plant that Yoko kept in her office. Idly saying, but not really meaning it, he asked. "Hey. Find could also refer to plant. You think she meant the tree? When do you think she decided to keep a plant in her office?"
They exchanged looks. "Kukoshou year one. Shortly after she came out of her seclusion."
Sekki tipped the large pot. The tiny red thorn apple flowers scattered on the floor. Shifting his hands through the soil, he searched for something in the soil. That was when Shoukei spotted something interesting in Yoko's desk. It was stuck in-between the wood grains, so much so that only someone searching for something would have found it.
"I think it's this." Shoukei said, turning to Sekki and Koukan. Sekki had found something as well. Shoukei had found a list of names while Sekki had found a bunch of letters wrapped in what Yoko called it plastic. He peeled the plastic off. No one was sure of what to expect from this. To Shoukei, all she wanted was closure. For Koukan, he wanted explanations, but for Sekki he was simply waiting for new orders. Closure and explanations seems closely linked but in fact they were not that similar. A closure would not require a conducive reply to Yoko's odd behaviour, an explanation would require such. Unfolding the first of the letters, Koukan began to read, translating the letters with his halting Japanese.
"It is not me who wants this, it is my heart that does. I hear the will. We hear the will. These are rocks in stormy waters, but rocks as such will erode over time. To sink, to die, to move on. That is the will of life. One cannot live forever.
Shouryu"
"Was this what Yoko had mentioned to Kantai?" Koukan asked.
"I hear them too. When I lay in my bed, they whisper. They plead with me. Rokuta doesn't know what ails me. I fear I might break the promise with Rokuta."
"All these letters are from the Eternal king to her majesty." Koukan looked up from the small stack of letters.
"Your letter brings me much comfort and fear. I have worried for the Kingdom of En much. I will hold you to your promise that you made that day. The sun will surely set one day, but the moon rise if only it finds itself. There is treachery in my courts and yours. To seek them out is the way, to leave them be is to die. The battle is uphill. I will seek Kouya. He will know how to find and kill it. I pray you will be safe. There is nowhere safe. We cannot hide from it.
Shouryu"
"This is—" Koukan paused, his eyebrows crumpling into a knot across his forehead as he peruse the letter.
"If there is treachery in the courts of Kei, then this list of names would fit perfect," Shoukei whispered. She turned to Sekki who had remained on the floor. "What does the Daishikou think?"
He takes a look at the list of names and after a long pause, he said, "I think we should pursue this with an open mind. This may be a list of names in suspicion for treachery, but this may not be either. There may be an easy way of finding out." He points at Saibou's name.