Chapter ten

Light filtered in through the curtains of a room. In the middle of the richly decorated room, there was an enormous bed. And on that bed was a sleeping girl with bright red hair. She is Youko, the new queen of Kei. She snored gently, a tendril of her hair moving closer and closer to her nostrils with each breath she took. She snored again, and this time, the tendril of hair got in her nose. She sneezed before rolling over and going back to sleep, but the damage was done. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to will herself back to sleep, but at that moment, someone knocked on the door. She groaned sleepily, knowing that it was Keiki. He had come to wake her up. She reluctantly opened her eyes, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light in the room. There was another knock on the door. 'I'm awake already.'

'Then get up.' Although she couldn't see him, she could almost sense his impatience.

Youko yawned. 'Why should I? It's still early and the only meeting I have to attend today is in the afternoon.'

'In answer to your question, isn't it about time you started planning how you're going to get your revenge?'

'Oh, that.' She yawned again, only louder this time. 'That can wait until later.'

'We can't wait. The perfect opportunity has come.'

'What?' She asked sleepily.

Behind the door, there was a sound. Maybe Keiki is going to bash his head against the door any minute, she thought. She chuckled softly. Keiki cleared his throat and she stopped. Maybe he had heard her. 'Shouryuu asked if he and Enki could have lunch here next week.'

Youko sat up in her bed, suddenly wide awake. 'Really?'

'Yes.'

'Send for Suzu, Shoukkei and Rakushun.'

'As you wish.'

She heard him going off to get them and the moment she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, she dropped back to her bed and stared at her ceiling. After such a long time, she would finally have her revenge on Shouryuu and Enki but for some reason, she didn't really want to. Thinking about how to get her revenge was fun, but when she actually got to it, everything somehow becomes different. Maybe she was the kind of person who was all talk and no action. She wondered what Keiki thought of her. No doubt he was annoyed when they found themselves in the same bed. But still, was that worth getting back at them? Maybe not. Maybe. Shouryuu had once told her that 'maybe' was a word she should not use during meetings as it makes the ministers think that she was an indecisive ruler. It was definitely something she did not want to happen. Now, there was two choices: forget about the whole business or go ahead with it. She hesitated. Which should she choose? Both are equally tempting. Just then, she remembered something Rakushun had once told her. At that moment long ago when she had to choose between Hourai and this world, she was torn as she could not bear the thought of leaving Hourai or this world behind. Now that she thought about it, it was almost like that time, only this time, it was of less importance. Rakushun's words drifted back into her mind. When making a difficult choice, choose the one which she would regret less later. But which would she regret less later? If she simply decided not to go ahead, in the future, she would regret letting such a wonderful opportunity to get her revenge pass. On the other hand, if she went ahead, would she regret doing so? Not likely unless she did something really unpleasant to Shouryuu and Enki. She sat up. She had made her choice: to get her revenge. Youko got up and hurriedly put on her robes on. When she was done, she quickly looked for some paper and a pen and when she had found both, she began scribbling the ways in which she would get her revenge. Just as she was about to finish, there was a knock on her door.

'I have brought both Suzu and Shokkei.' said Keiki from behind the door. 'Rakushun would be coming later.'

'Let them in,' said Youko, not looking up as she scribbled down the last word. They entered and sat down. Suzu stared at the piece of paper Youko was writing on.

'What are you writing?'

'The plans for revenge.'

'The ideas for revenge?' asked Suzu before suppressing a yawn. Next to her, Shokkei struggled to suppress a yawn. She and Suzu had spent the night chatting and both of them had managed to sleep only a few hours before Keiki woke them up. Suzu rubbed her eyes while Shokkei leant forward to see what Youko had written on the piece of paper.

'Yes.' said Youko.

'Finally, ' said Keiki. 'I thought you would never start.'

'Then?' asked Suzu.

'Laxatives.'

'What are laxatives?' They jumped slightly. It was Rakushun. 'Looks like everyone had started already. Sorry I'm late.' He moved towards Youko's bed, which was the only place left to seat on and sat down.

'Don't worry,' said Youko. 'We've just started. By the way, laxatives are a kind of medicine which helps to relieve people from constipation.'

A thought suddenly struck her and she stared at Rakushun for a moment before turning to Keiki.

'Are there laxatives in this world?'

Keiki thought for a while.

'I think not.'

Youko sighed. 'I should have thought of that. There goes part of my plans to get my revenge.'

Another thought struck her and she looked at the plans. 'And what about blood powder and sneezing powder?'

They answered with blank looks and Keiki stiffened. Great, she thought. She should have known. Youko was starting to feel stupid. Ever since she became the queen of Kei, she had been missing Hourai. Of course, it was nice here but without the things she was used to, she felt as though her old home was truly lost to her now. After a while, Keiki sensed her awkwardness and spoke. 'Is the blood powder dried blood made into some kind of powder?'

'No.' She wondered idly for a moment what Keiki or any of the others would do if she had told him that it was really dried blood made into a kind of powder when Rakushun asked a question she thought he would ask.

'And what is blood powder?'

Youko thought for a while. She had seen blood powder in a shop while on holiday with her parents once but it was when she was little. 'It's..., ' she struggled to remember. '... a kind of powder which is sprinkled on soap and when someone uses the soap, he or she will er...become redder the more he or she washes with the soap.'

They stared at her. 'And what is it used for?' Suzu asked curiously.

'It's used for er...playing pranks.' said Youko, playing with a strand of her hair nervously.

'And the sneezing powder?'

'It makes people sneeze.'

'And what are your plans?'

Youko thought for a while, trying to remember the plan she had come up with in the morning and realised that she had forgotten already. She was starting to panic when she remembered that she had written them down already. She quickly read it. 'My plan was to invite Shouryuu and Enki to dinner, serve them food laced with laxatives, make them use handkerchiefs sprinkled with sneezing powder and use soap sprinkled with the blood powder.'

'And?' asked Shokkei, who was starting to get bored.

'Since these obviously don't exist in this world, we'll have to come up with another plan then.' Youko walked over to her window and was about to tear up her plans and throw them out of the window when to her surprise, Rakushun spoke.

'You don't have to.' said Rakushun.

Youko turned away from the window. 'Why?'

'Because...,' Rakushun paused for a while. 'Keiki could go to Hourai and get the things you need if you want asked him to.'

'But...' said Suzu.

'It may be troublesome to go there, but I am willing to do it.' said Keiki.

'It's not that. How are you going to pay for everything?' asked Suzu.

'I could use money.' said Keiki.

'The money there is different from the currency used here.' said Youko.

Keiki faltered. 'Do you have any money from there?'

'Err...,' The truth was although she did have some money when Keiki brought her to this world, she was not sure if the amount she had was enough to pay for everything...she mentally calculated the money. It was just enough to buy the laxatives, sneezing powder and blood powder. Lucky that her parents gave her so much pocket money for being such a good girl. She swallowed and met his eyes.

'Yes.'

She reached into the sleeves of her robe and got her purse out. After counting out the money, she handed it to him. They watched as he put the money carefully into his purse.

'So...I just have to get the sneezing powder, blood powder and laxatives. Anything else?'

Youko glanced back at the paper. 'Plastic bags.'

'And plastic bags.'

'So...how long do you think you will take to come back?'

Keiki did not answer. It was apparent he did not know.

'Then...I suppose you should go now then.' said Youko.

'Then I'll go now.'

'So...bye then. And good luck.' They watched silently as he transformed and disappeared out of the window. Youko stood, watching the tiny speck which was Keiki grow smaller and smaller until she could not see him anymore. After a few minutes, Shokkei spoke.

'So what are your plans?'

Great. She had messed up again. How could she have forgotten to tell Keiki what were her plans?

Seeing the look on her face, Suzu decided to try to comfort her. 'Don't worry, ' she said. 'Keiki only had to get those things you needed. When he gets back, we'll tell him.'

Yes, Youko thought. They'll tell him.

In a few days' time, she'll have her revenge.

In a few hours' time, Keiki might be back and they could start discussing their plans.

And while waiting for Keiki to return, she'll have to attend a meeting without him for the first time.

..(V)
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