I have to apologize for subjecting you all to what the brat's been up to for the past 300 years at the beginning of this chapter, but don't worry! After we catch up with the brat, we get to see our two lovebirds both at the East Sea Royal Palace...
"Pochi, what's she been up to lately?" Sho asked. Mimori rolled her eyes.
"Her little imp got lost in the woods and saved by Hidehito Kijima. To repay him, the Crown Princess let him serve them until they departed for the East Sea to that dumb banquet," Mimori reported.
"But I heard that platform-wearing Hizuri-Kuon is going to be there too! Why did you come back so early without following Kyoko inside?!" Sho asked in jealousy.
"Why do you care if he's there or not? The Crown Princess is already engaged to him anyways. They're going to get married sooner or later, so just pay attention to me from now on, Sho-chan! The Crown Princess hasn't visited you in 300 years, and it's not like you've been faithful to her either!" Mimori yelled.
"Shhhh! Not so loud Pochi!"
"Just divorce her already! It's not like she harbors feelings for you anyways! She made that clear when she stabbed you and swore revenge! You can have me instead!" Mimori exclaimed.
"I don't want you! She's the one I'm supposed to be with! You're just a new maid that distracted me from my true love!" Sho frowned.
"Then what about Shoko-san? Or Asami-san? I know you've been attracted to all of your maids, Sho-chan!" Mimori yelled.
"Leave me alone, Pochi!" Sho yelled, teleporting himself to his bedroom where he wouldn't be disturbed. If Mimori wasn't so good at giving him intel, he would have requested to remove her a long time ago for her annoying personality.
...
After they had collected all their belongings from the hut and were ready to depart, Kyoko and Hana teleported to the East Sea with their guards. It was night time, and Kyoko looked out across the sand to see the moonlight glistening off the dark ocean. She felt melancholy as she gazed at the dark depths of the ocean, the waves reminding her too much of her memories with Ren at the North Sea.
"I'm going to put you to bed, Hana, but afterwards I need to take a walk to clear my head," Kyoko told her daughter with a hint of sorrow in her voice.
"Okay, Mother. Return soon. Father would be heartbroken if you made a habit of not returning to your chambers at night," Hana replied.
"Hana, didn't I already tell you that your father won't be-"
"I heard what you told me, but I cannot accept it. I have a feeling that Father will return. Even if you've given up on him, Mother, I still choose to believe in him," Hana said determinedly. Kyoko nodded before grabbing Hana's hand and leading her towards the East Sea's Royal Palace to tuck her in for the night.
…
When he arrived at the East Sea, Kuon didn't feel like making his presence known. He hadn't attended a social gathering like this one ever since his training at Goraku Mountain, and he never really liked to socialize that much anyways. When Kuon arrived at the East Sea Royal Palace, he looked to his left and saw the moonlit ocean and felt his legs pulling him towards it, urging him to visit the beach. He couldn't recall ever visiting a beach before, but somehow he felt drawn to it.
The beach was littered with large stones amidst small patches of sand. As Kuon came up to the edge of the shore, he looked into the water and spotted a group of fish swimming not too far away from the shore. He felt curious and heaved a big rock onto his shoulders, walking out into the water. When the water reached just above his hips, Kuon plopped into the water with the rock, allowing him to stay underwater. The moonlight was bright enough for him to see the various fish swimming around him, and Kuon smiled as he reached out to see the small creatures in action. He had always liked animals, and fish were no exception.
One small blue fish came to stare at him straight on before pecking him on the nose. He chuckled before closing his eyes to relax in the oceanic wonderland.
…
After tucking Hana in, Kyoko resolved to walk along the beach, remembering her first ever beach visit with Ren by her side. The beach was more rocky than the beach she had visited with Ren, and Kyoko kept on her shoes this time to avoid hurting her feet on sharp rocks. She stopped on the shore to look out into the ocean and reached into her robe to pull out both Ren's pendant and her own stone, each with half of their wedding stone. Ever since he had jumped off Korosu Terrace, Kyoko had always kept the stones with her. She cradled them in her hand and pressed them to her heart, crying as she remembered him tossing it to the ground before he jumped. She knew she would never be able to let go of the images that assaulted her mind from that day.
Tomorrow she would be attending a banquet where, according to rumors, she would meet her future husband. She had already been engaged to him for 300 years, but she knew in her heart that she could never grow to love him. She would never love Hizuri Kuon as long as her failure to protect Ren lingered in her heart. She wouldn't let herself be happy after she had driven Ren to jumping off Korosu Terrace rather than spend another second in her presence.
As she walked along the rocks further down the beach, she saw a figure emerging from the water and froze, quickly putting the stones in her robe and wiping the tears off her face. Did sea monsters exist so close to shore?
As the figure came closer, she saw it was a man and sighed in relief, going closer to see who had surfaced from the water. The man used his hands to lift his wet hair off of his face, whisking tiny droplets of water into the air around him. He looked up to see a beautiful lady standing across from him with her mouth gaped open in shock as she looked at the blonde man with emerald eyes coming out of the water. The many locks around Kyoko's heart blew open, tiny angels flying out in joy as Kyoko's demons cowered back at the light emitted from the box.
This man looked exactly like Ren. The body proportions were right and everything! Sure his hair color and eye color were different, but Kyoko knew it was him! The water droplets on his hair glistened like diamond grains, and the dazzling moonlight framed the wet robe that stuck to his toned chest. Kyoko put her hands over her mouth as she realized Ren was alive and she smiled at the sight of her love who she had thought died 300 years ago. Kuon wondered why the lady smiled at him so. She seemed very familiar, but Kuon couldn't recall ever meeting her before.
"Ren!" Kyoko exclaimed before running up to embrace him. He widened his eyes in confusion at the stranger's forwardness. He shrugged her off then proceeded to walk out of the water, not knowing who this woman was. Wringing out his robe, he looked at her in confusion again when he realized she was following him.
"Ah, say, Ren…Well you see…I-" Kyoko stammered before Kuon glared at her, not understanding why she kept confusing him for someone else. He didn't know her!
Kuon's glare made a cloud of gloom form around Kyoko. He didn't forgive her for what had happened. Of course he hated her. He wouldn't even acknowledge her anymore or even speak to her. She had failed him, and she deserved this punishment. Kyoko slumped to the ground and put her head on her knees, tears forming in her eyes. As Kyoko heard a gust of wind, she looked up to see the man had already vanished. She immediately stood up and rushed around the beach, looking for him.
"Ren!" Kyoko called out repeatedly. She ran around shouting his name, but she was unable to find him again. Maybe she had accidentally walked into a confusion shield. Her mind was just playing tricks on her. She had to accept that he wasn't coming back.
Kyoko stuffed the angels into her box again, shutting it with a single lock. She was too disheartened to put any more effort into shielding it again.
…
The next day, Kyoko went to attend the banquet with Hana, both wearing the imperial purple robes of the royal family. As they walked along the coast towards the banquet hall, Hana saw some tide pools and asked if they could see the tide pools for a few moments. Kyoko had allowed it, still dispirited from her hallucinations the night before. As they had arrived at the tide pools, Kyoko again remembered her memories with Ren snooping on a conversation between the Ishibashis at a tide pool. She sunk onto her knees and let go of her daughter's hand, closing her eyes tightly so that the memories would leave her alone. When she opened them again, she found Hana to be missing. Kyoko worriedly stood up, calling out Hana's name and running around to look for her.
…
Kuon woke up on the branch of a tree in the morning where he had teleported the night before after meeting that weird girl. Kuon didn't want to immediately go into the banquet, so he spent time wandering around outside before he would have to go inside. He was touched that all of the light fixtures around the palace had been covered with water lily leaves for his sake, but he felt bad that the East Sea had spent so much time and effort just to accommodate him. Upon turning right to see a gigantic palm tree, Kuon found a little pigtailed girl at the tree's base, digging at the grass surrounding it. He crouched down next to her, but she didn't turn to look at him, still concentrated on her task. She looked pretty similar to the girl he had seen by the beach, but this couldn't be her because this little girl was too young. Kuon looked at her emerald eyes and wondered why he felt as if those emerald eyes looked like . What was with him? He was experiencing lots of déjà vu lately.
"What are you digging for?" Kuon wondered.
"I'm pulling out the grass. I read that the coral under the weeds is the most beautiful thing on the East Sea seafloor. I wanted to see it, so I snuck away from Mother so that she wouldn't force me to go to the banquet," Hana replied, not stopping in her digging.
"Your Mother must be worried about you suddenly missing. Are you from the Sky Kingdom?" Kuon asked, noticing the purple imperial robe that the little girl wore. She nodded, still on her quest to find the coral.
"Have you ever tried a wind spell? It might clear away the grass easier," Kuon suggested.
"Good idea! I've never performed a wind spell before, but it shouldn't be that hard, right? I read about them already!" Hana exclaimed before casting a wind spell. However, since she was still inexperienced in elemental magic and not in full control over her powers yet, she accidentally cast a wind spell whose effects could be felt around the entire palace as the water lily leaves covering the lighting fixtures all fell off. Kuon's white silk immediately came over his eyes as the bright lights assaulted his fragile eyes.
"Am I in trouble now?" Hana wondered, looking around at the wreckage she had caused.
"It's all right. I was the one who suggested you use a wind spell, and no one else but me saw that it was you who did it. It'll be our secret," Kuon smiled. Hana for the first time turned to look at the immortal who she had been talking to and gasped. The many sculptures and dolls that her mother had made of Ren with accurate body proportions let Hana immediately recognize who this man was. Even though his hair color was different, he was wearing the same type of white silk around his eyes that he had been wearing in many of the sculptures!
"Father!" Hana exclaimed, running up to hug Kuon.
"You must have the wrong person, little immortal."
At that moment, Kyoko turned the corner to see Hana and sighed in relief that she had found her. However, upon coming closer to see who her daughter was hugging, she widened her eyes in surprise. The single lock around her box was destroyed in an instant again. This couldn't be a trick, right? Hana was hugging him, so he had to be real this time!
"Ren?!" Kyoko exclaimed, approaching the pair with her hands over her mouth in shock. He looked at her in confusion. Wasn't this the girl from before? She slowly walked up to him, reaching out her hand when she was in front of him to see if he really was real. When she touched his cheek lightly, Kuon swatted her hand away. She looked at him, hurt, before looking down dejectedly. This man might be real, but she had to be mistaken to think he was Ren. She had to remind herself that Ren was dead already. She couldn't keep looking for signs of him in everything.
"I'm sorry. I must be mistaken. You aren't who I thought you were. My apologies for offending you," Kyoko bowed, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes.
"You are too courteous," Kuon replied, turning his face away from her in guilt at hurting her.
"Is Father angry?" Hana asked in a small voice, grabbing Kuon's hand.
"Hana, let's go," Kyoko commanded, turning her back to try to not take another look at Kuon. Every time she looked at him, she was only reminded of Ren even though this clearly wasn't him. He acted like he had never seen her before in his life, so this couldn't be Ren.
"But Father-"
"Hana. Please," Kyoko repeated. Hana took one more sad look at Kuon before taking her mother's hand reluctantly.
"Farewell," Kyoko said to Ren before leaving with Hana.
"Mother, he looks very much like the sculpture in the Hall of Radiance at the Sky Palace," Hana said as Kyoko led her away from Kuon. Overhearing the comment, Kuon finally realized who this woman could be. The Hall of Radiance was part of the Crown Princess's palace in the Sky Palace. Could this be the Crown Princess, Mogami Kyoko?
Thank you for reading this chapter, and thank you to all who commented on last chapter!
H-Nala- Hope you enjoyed seeing their first reunion this chapter! Thanks for commenting!
Ivy- This is the first time Hana's met her father although for a short period of time, but don't worry because we'll have some more father-daughter scenes soon! She's very intelligent for her age due to how smart her parents both are, but she also has her head in the sky at times like Kyoko. Thanks for always leaving me comments, Ivy!
Erza- Right now, Kyoko believes that Kuon is someone else because of how he's acting, but she was ecstatic to learn he wasn't dead when she first saw him on that beach! Her misunderstanding will be resolved next chapter though, and we'll finally be able to resolve the angst! Thank you for all of your kind compliments :).
paulagato- After Kuon took the memory potion, he forgot everything that happened in his mortal life. He doesn't remember anyone he met, including Kyoko, Kanae, or Sho. That doesn't mean they don't remember him though, and someone might tell him about Ren sooner or later... Lory's realized that Kyoko might actually love Ren though, so he's essentially helping her get a chance by letting Kuon stay engaged to her and meeting her at the banquet. Hana's optimism let her stay positive even after learning that her father might not come back, and it paid off since she's going to be able to get to know her father soon! Thanks for commenting as always, paulagato!
Guest- I'm so glad you've been enjoying this fic! Thank you for leaving such a kind comment!
Moon-lit Shadows12- You and me both became a bit distracted recently since I took a month hiatus just recently as well! Thank you for enjoying my work! I hope you enjoyed watching our couple finally reunite!