A Prince for Mikan
by: Esa MaRie
Chapter 25 - The Aerial Race
"What do you mean I still can't have my kiss?"
It was irritating as hell and Hotaru felt like her eardrum had burst at that deafening shrill voice. She rubbed her forehead, trying to calm her nerves before she ended up blowing the annoying girl up with her baka gun. With a blank face, she raised her brows and told her coldly, "The deal isn't finished yet. You have given us the directions to the girl's room but we haven't confirmed it yet. You will get your reward after everything has been settled." Seeing the frustrated look on the permed-haired girl, a sadistic smirk crossed her lips as she finally ended the discussion. "You may now leave."
"You... you... arghhhh!" Sumire screamed while pulling her hair in frustration as she stomped out of the room. 'Just wait and see, you stupid Imai! When I become the princess of the Hyuuga Kingdom, I'll have your head on a platter and feed it to the dogs!'
She graced her exit with a loud slam of the door that seemed to shake the whole room.
"I pity you if she becomes your bride," Hotaru commented loudly, addressing it to the person hidden by the dark corner.
A figure stepped out from the shadows revealing the prince with a fierce scowl on his face. "I'd rather die," he growled, then handed the raven-haired girl a stock of bills.
A hint of smile crossed Hotaru's lips as she counted the money, then she turned to the prince with a warning look. "You can't avoid her forever, you know. A royalty should know how to keep promises."
Natsume's crimson eyes burned with irritation as he glared back at her. Who the heck made that deal with the boxer raider anyway?
"By the way, everything is ready for tomorrow," Hotaru effectively interrupted his thoughts as she stuffed the bills into her pocket. "You better not mess this up."
A snort escaped him at her words. "You don't have to tell me. Just do what you're supposed to do."
Hotaru's nonchalant expression softened a bit as she observed the prince. Letting out a deep sigh, she tried one more time to convince him out of the plan. "You still have time to change your mind. I don't want to be blamed if something happens to the prince of the kingdom."
"I already made my decision," he said quietly, but with finality. "I will be the one to save her." He then turned the knob and pulled the door open.
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
"Onii-chan!"
A bubbly young girl of ten immediately detached herself from the teleporter and dashed towards her older brother for a hug. But the cold brother held out his palm against the girl's forehead to stop the assault.
"Wherever are your manners, Buriko?" Natsume's voice remained cold, yet his crimson eyes softened a bit at the sight of his annoyingly energetic younger sister.
The young girl pouted as she placed her hands on her hips. "Onii-chan, you're so mean! I just missed you!" Her eyes brightened as she caught sight of someone with blond hair just behind her brother. "Ruka-kun!"
"Hello Aoi-chan, I'm glad you arrived safely," Ruka smiled at the younger girl who almost pounced on him. He ruffled her black raven hair, while she leaned on her toes trying reaching for small rabbit on his shoulders.
"Usagi-chan, it's been a while," she giggled, feeling the cute rabbit's fur against her cheeks. She then noticed her brother lost his attention on her. Seeing this opportunity, she handed back Usagi-chan to Ruka and launched herself at her brother again.
"What the heck! Aoi!" Natsume yelled as his sister finally managed to throw herself at him, hugging him by the waist.
Her teary crimson eyes stared at him. "Don't you miss me, onii-chan?"
Natsume sighed in defeat and let his younger sister hug him, while he patted her head.
"Princess Aoi, welcome," Jinno said as he approached the royal siblings.
"Jinno-sensei!" Aoi finally released her hold of her brother and skipped towards the minister. "I'm so happy you told father to let me come. But you should have told him beforehand! I missed the cheerleading competition!"
Narumi chuckled behind Jinno and stepped up to take his turn to greet the princess. "Well, you had your turn before. It's just that something important came out that we had to request for your presence here."
"Important?" Aoi asked him with confused eyes.
"We'll discuss it in somewhere more private," Jinno told her. Giving a nod to their other companions, he led the princess towards the vacant drawing room while the others followed.
As soon as they had ensured the privacy of the room, Natsume took a package from inside his coat's pocket and unwrapped the cloth covering the necklace, then handed it to Aoi.
"What's that? It looks old," the princess commented, a bit unimpressed by the ancient pendant.
"Just read through its memories, squirt," Natsume ordered dryly. "After that you can enjoy the rest of the festival."
Aoi's eyes just showed a moment of confusion before she grinned. "Okay!" She took the necklace and dangled it curiously trying to figure out what was so important with it. But it was just an old ugly necklace except that it holds the biggest alice stone she had ever seen. She then closed her palms around the large pendant and pressed it against her chest towards the necklace with her mother's alice stone.
They all watched anxiously as Aoi's face relaxed. A few moments later, her brows furrowed a bit as if already seeing something and then she turned bright red and her eyes snapped open, as if in deep shock.
"Princess Aoi, are you okay?" Narumi hurried to her side.
"Why are you letting me see this?" she cried out loud, her cheeks burning bright. "I'm still too young for this!"
"Huh?" They all stared at her with blank faces.
Narumi knelt in front of her and gently took her hand. "Princess Aoi, what did you see?"
Aoi gulped nervously and whispered. "T-they're k-k-kissing..."
There was a long pause before Natsume's annoyed voice boomed into the room.
"It's only kissing, you dimwit!"
"But you're going to devirginize my eyes!" Aoi complained loudly.
"Shut up!" Natsume growled impatiently. "Damn!" he cursed when he saw tears on Aoi's eyes.
"Natsume-sama, please calm down," Narumi told him while trying to comfort Aoi. "I'm not sure what Aoi is seeing, but if it upsets her, we have to take it slowly."
A sigh escaped Natsume's lips as he looked at the crestfallen face of his sister. He walked towards her and knelt down on one knee and opened his arms to her. "Come here, squirt." Aoi immediately jumped to his arms, while Natsume stoked her head. When she seemed to have calmed down, Natsume pushed her a bit to face her.
"Aoi," he started in a more gentler tone. "I know you don't like what you see in the stone..."
"It's embarrassing..." Aoi pouted cutely.
"Give it a few more years, I doubt you'll say that," Natsume muttered which earned a cough and reprimanding look from Jinno. With a sigh, he patted her head and said, "It's really important that we know what memories that stone contains. What you saw may only be the start and I don't know how long it will take you to have a clear picture of everything. But please give it a try, okay?"
Aoi nodded slowly before accepting the necklace again. Then with shinning, hopeful eyes, she looked up to her brother. "In return, can I sleep with you tonight? I might get nightmares, you know."
Natsume visibly groaned.
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
It had been a long day and despite that little confrontation with her brother, Aoi had enjoyed the afternoon events of the Alicea Festival. She was so tired that she fell asleep almost immediately after she jumped on her brother's bed. She woke up in the middle of the night and noted that her brother was already deep in his sleep and she was already on her night clothes. She grinned widely as she snuggled closely towards her sleeping brother. It had been so long since they had been able to sleep together like this. She had missed him a lot ever since he left the kingdom three years ago, and even when he recently returned, he had been busy with a lot of things and had no time to play with her.
Her little drama a while ago made her a little guilty. She slowly got down the bed and went towards the drawer where she kept the necklace. Taking it out of the box, she closed her eyes and held it against her heart. Her mind became a bit blurry as she felt herself being pulled into the dark mist of memories of stone and found herself again watching the same ancient-like drama that she had seen just that afternoon...
The man took the woman's lips again and again, seemingly couldn't take enough of her.
"I love you so much, Yuka," the man's blue eyes darkened with so much desire.
"I love you too, Yamato," the woman whispered back, laying her head against his broad chest, her hand gripping his shirt.
Blue eyes brightened with happiness upon hearing those words. He pulled her into his embrace, tightening his hold, afraid that everything was just a dream. "Thank you," he whispered against her hair. "I can't believe I would finally hear you say those words." He caressed her face lovingly. "After what you have confessed, there's nothing that would stop me from coming back to you. I promise, I will be back. Then, we will be together." He caressed her flat stomach. "Hopefully, the fruit of our love is already blossoming into life..."
The movement on the bed caused Aoi to break her concentration. She hurriedly placed back the necklace on the drawer and climbed up the bed, drawing the covers to her chin. She could hear her brother being restless and muttering something in his sleep. A few moments later, he got up, like he had woken up from a nightmare. She peeked from one eye, and from the moonlight, she can see her brother sitting on the bed, his head resting against his palms.
She couldn't help wonder what was happening. As her eyes began to fall shut, she heard him whisper a name.
"Mikan..."
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
She estimated it to be past midnight. And with the dead silence of the night, save for the sound of the crashing waves of the nearby sea and sound of the crickets; she assumed that everyone except the guards should already be asleep. Throwing the tied blankets out of the balcony, Mikan prepared herself to climb down. Except for the plain dress she was wearing, she left everything that Shun had given her; after all, she came into the castle with nothing else. The balcony was on the third floor so it wasn't that high to climb down. When she reached the end of makeshift rope, she jumped to the ground and hurried towards the back gate.
They were not aware of it, neither Shun nor her maids; but while taking a walk during the day, she would take note of some significant places in the palace, particularly the way towards the exits, so she didn't much have trouble finding her way out towards the back exit. The festivities still continued even after past midnight so she knew that once she had gotten out of the gates, it would be hard for them to find her.
But the biggest problem would be on how to get past the guards guarding the entrance and the back gates of the palace. But earlier, she heard a servant talking that there was supposed to be a delivery of several barrels of the finest wine from the Kamigawa Kingdom that afternoon but some bandits tried to steal the cargo. The bandits were apprehended but the delivery was delayed and didn't make it to banquet that night. The steward was furious and told the seller to deliver it immediately, regardless of the time. The seller promised that they would reach the palace approximately past midnight. Mikan knew immediately that she could use this chance to escape.
She hid herself among the bushes near the kitchen entrance, waiting for the opportunity to present itself. An hour passed and nothing happened. Mikan began to wonder if the delivery had already left and she began to lose hope when she heard faint sound of hooves. Hope filled her when three carts pulled by horses stopped and some men began to unload the barrels of wine from the carts.
It had taken quite a while before everything was unloaded. As soon as everything was clear, Mikan dashed out and climbed on one of the carts and hid herself under the dirty covers that were used on the barrels.
It was standard protocol among the guards to check all the delivery carts coming and going out of the palace. It was a routine that was done almost every day that it was becoming a bore since almost nothing was found during each inspection.
"Oi Kaito," one of the guards told his companion. "Go check the third cart."
"Bastard," Kaito muttered in a low growl. He had been a bad mood that night after he caught his woman flirting with the captain and it was pissing the hell out of him. And now getting ordered by that same bastard made his blood boil. 'It's not like we're going to find anything here,' he grumbled silently. He had been working as a guard here for year already and nothing exciting had ever happened. Well, there was one time wherein an intruder not only managed entered to enter the palace grounds, but he was also able to escape as well. Unfortunately, he was off duty during that time so he missed the excitement.
He climbed up the cart and without even bothering to look around, he shouted, "There's nothing here!"
He was about to jump down when his foot caught against the pile of dirty fabric that he almost fell down. Feeling the need to let out his anger, he kicked the puddled cloth with all his might. At first he ignored what he heard that sounded like a muffled voice. But curiosity had gotten him; he turned and pulled the dirty cloth aback, only to be surprised to find a figure huddled under the covers.
"What the hell..." He then grabbed the woman's arm, ignoring her yelp, then shouted at the driver of the cart. "Who the hell is this? Is she one of yours?"
The driver had a bewildered look on his face as he glanced back from the woman to the guard. "Sir... I don't know her."
"What?"
"I swear she was not there when we arrived her," the driver tried to explain nervously. "She must have snuck inside when we were about to leave. You can ask my companions and they will tell you I'm telling the truth."
Kaito's brows furrowed as he pulled the woman's arm harshly. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
He saw the woman wince in pain, probably she was still hurting from the kick she received when she was trying to hide under the dirty covers. "I... I j-just w-want to leave for the festival."
'Leave for the festival? Who is she trying to kid?' he thought darkly. True, there were some servants who tried to sneak out for the festival and would only come back during dawn. Usually, the guards would be lax on them since they would expect some sort of bribe from those servants, either money or some treats. But even if he didn't know all the people who work in the palace, he was somehow familiar with their faces. And he knew that he had never seen this girl before.
"Liar. You must be an intruder," Kaito growled and dragged her out of the cart and threw her on the ground. "Call the captain, we have a suspicious woman in here."
"Wait!" she tried to stop him, holding unto his sleeves. "I'm not really trying to cause trouble. I just want to leave..."
SLAP!
Mikan fell back onto the ground, feeling like her head had twisted from the impact of that slap.
"What is going on here?"
Kaito pulled Mikan by her hair and presented her to the captain. "We caught this woman trying to get out of the palace."
The captain looked at the disheveled girl being manhandled by one of his men. His brows furrowed noticing that the girl was quite a beauty despite swell on her left cheek. 'She looked a bit familiar,' a nagging thought occurred to him.
"Please stop," she whispered as she felt like her hair was going to be pulled off, tears forming on her eyes. "It hurts."
"Stop it! Release her!"
They turned at the sound of the voice and saw several guards from inside the palace rushing towards them. When the group arrived, the leader stepped forward and glared at Kaito. "I said release her!"
"Why the hell would you stop me?" Kaito shouted back, tightening his hold on the girl's hair. "This woman is obviously an intruder."
"You're making a mistake. The woman you are hurting right now is Lady Sakura, Prince Shun's fiancée!"
"What?" As if his hand was burned, Kaito immediately released her hair, his face paled as he stared at the other guard with a stricken face. "W-wait! A-are you sure it's her?"
Mikan was shocked as well at what the guard had said. 'Fiancée? Shun's fiancée? Me?' She shook her head in denial. "I think you're misunderstanding something, I'm not Shun's fiancée!" She backed away as the guards continued to approach her. "Please, just let me go."
"I'm sorry Lady Sakura," the leader said softly. "But there were specific instructions from the prince not to let you out of the palace."
It did not take long before they managed to convince Mikan to return to the palace despite her protests. Kaito, on the other hand, was taken by the other guards to await his punishment.
At the back gates, the remaining guards were left speculating on what had just happened.
"I don't get it. She's the prince's fiancée. Why would she want to leave the palace?" one of the guards wondered.
"I don't know but maybe she's feeling too much pressure. I heard some rumors that the king was against the match."
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
The frightened servant pointed at the direction of the drawing room and he immediately strode towards it, leaving the servant to scamper away to escape his forbidding expression. It was not surprising for the servant to feel that way, after all, Shun was furious… and scared. When he heard that Mikan had disappeared from her room, a number of horrid thoughts had entered his mind, including Mikan getting kidnapped by the Hirazaki's enemies. After all, even without an official proclamation, he had announced his intention to everyone present in the ball and in the opening ceremony to make Mikan his.
Even though he had expected that Mikan might try to run away, it still hurt him and it felt like she betrayed him. But he knew he had no right to be angry at her.
As he opened the door, he saw her sitting on the couch, her head bent on her palms. The hardened lines on his face softened and he slowly walked towards her and kneeled in front of her.
"Mikan, what's wrong?" he asked softly, he raised his arms and reached for her hands and clasped them against his. "Why did you try to escape?"
"S-shun-kun…" Mikan's voice cracked as she called his name. "W-what's going on?" Her beautiful hazel eyes were moist with unshed tears. "I don't understand what's happening around me? Am I a prisoner here in the palace? And why are they saying that I'm your fiancée?"
"Mikan…"
"I'm so confused and I feel so trapped. I'm thankful for everything you're doing for me but I can't stay here. I don't want to stay idle and wait here for the next days. I want to find Natsu and Anna."
"No."
His voice was firm and determined that Mikan lifted her face up to look at him. "Shun-kun…" she whispered desperately but his eyes remained unyielding that it made her even more frustrated. "Why? Why are you doing this?" she cried trying to pry her hands from his hold. "You don't have any right to hold me here against my will!"
"Mikan… they're dead."
Mikan froze as she stared back at him. "W-what?"
"I did not tell you this but the day after I brought you here, two burned corpses were found inside your apartment."
He did not bother explain more because he knew Mikan already understood what that meant. He told the truth, it was up to Mikan to interpret it.
"N-no... you're lying..." Tears began to fall from her eyes as she continued to shake her head. "They're not dead... they're not dead!"
"Mikan..."
"Nooo!" She threw her fists against his chest but Shun just remained still, letting her throw her grief against him. When she finally lost her strength, he took the sobbing girl into his embrace, whispering words of comfort.
"I'll take you back to your room." He lifted her up into his arms while she clutched against his shirt, burying her head to his chest.
When they went out of the drawing room, the servants shared some secret smirk, totally misunderstanding everything.
'Lovers' quarrel…'
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
"Do you think Hotaru-chan will be able to execute this perfectly?" Narumi asked with a worried tone, his gaze fixed on the white aircraft with red rabbit currency sign lined up on the front along with fourteen other aircrafts getting ready for the huge event.
"We just have to put our trust on her," Jinno answered as he settled on his seat as they waited for the race to begin.
The Aerial Race was a competition wherein three customized aircrafts called "aeros" assembled by technical alices from each kingdom will compete in a race. The race will start from the grandstand and will fly around the entire kingdom and end back to the starting point. Each plane will have two pilots. Compared to the other events, no offensive alices are allowed in the race, but the players are allowed to use their alice to defend against the attacks of the other teams. The plane can be customized in order to be equipped with all the weapons they could use in order to bring down the other team.
Looking around, Jinno's brows furrowed as he asked, "Where's the prince?"
"He was just behind us along with the other kids," Narumi answered. "Oh, here they are."
Jinno let out a sigh of relief when he saw the raven-haired prince beside his blond friend. Princess Aoi, on the other hand, was talking excitedly with her reunited bodyguard Misaki. He had been tense the whole morning, worried that the prince would do something troublesome again. He had already warned the prince to leave the rescue mission to Andou and his group. The prince had refused at first but reluctantly agreed in the end. But he couldn't take his chances. He knew Natsume Hyuuga since he was a baby and he was one who wasn't inclined to follow advices or even orders.
A loud cheer erupted from the audience when all the participants finally got into their planes getting ready to start. Jinno finally got to relax his shoulders and just placed his trust on Hotaru Imai to complete her task.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third major competition of the Alicea Festival…"
"Yes, I made it!" Tono exclaimed as he jumped to sit beside Misaki.
Jinno's eyes widened in surprise when he saw him. "Tono! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Andou?"
"Ah sensei," Tono grinned as he raised his hand in greeting. "That capsule seemed too small for me so Imai-san said someone is going to replace me."
A deep frown crossed Jinno's face. Everything had already been planned and set into motion. No one had informed him that there were going to be changes. And as far as he knew, everyone who knew about the mission was already here. "Replace you?" Jinno bit out the words dangerously. "Who?"
Tono could feel little drop of sweats forming at the side of his face. "Errr… I didn't ask…"
'Dammit!' Jinno cursed silently as he dashed towards the prince's group. He reached for the prince's shoulder and turned him around.
The same black raven hair, crimson blood eyes, slightly tanned face. Every feature he saw confirmed that it was Prince Natsume Hyuuga, except... his reaction was slow.
"Seito…" his voice shook a little as he looked at the boy dangerously in the eye.
A flash of surprise and guilt crossed over the boy's features but he did not say a word. But it was enough to confirm his suspicions.
'Damn it, we have to stop the race or else…' He immediately turned his glance towards the aeros lined up for the race but it was too late...
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
The cheers of the audience was getting louder as a two sexily clad girls walked over the two opposite pillars which marked the starting point of the race.
"On your mark…"
The girls lowered their torch towards the rope.
"Get set…"
All the aircrafts had already started their engines and were only warming them up as they wait for the explosion that would mark the start of the race.
"GO!"
As soon as the first explosion was heard, fifteen aircrafts surged forward, some crazily spinning before setting into a steady direction. The audience cheered loudly as fireworks erupted. A wide screen was set up in front of the stage which shows footages and updates of the race.
A huge amount of barrier alices were actually used surrounding the path that the aeros had to take in order to prevent damages from below.
"What the hell was she thinking?" Jinno felt like pulling his hair in frustration, still unable to get over the fact that Hotaru had tricked him and placed the prince into great danger.
Narumi sighed, worry also evident on his face as he watched the progress of the race. "There's nothing we can do for now. We just hope everything would turn out well."
Suddenly, an explosion was heard and the bleachers were filled with screams, gasps, and cheers as they saw on the screen one of the aeros crashing down against the barrier.
"Imai had started," Narumi whispered which only seemed to agitate Jinno more.
That incident triggered the audience to notice that one of the Hyuugan aeros was significantly behind the other aeros and was attacking the opponents from behind. The race had progressed into a fierce battle and by the time a third of the course was completed, four aeros had been downed, all had been destroyed by that one Hyuugan aero with the code HY-3. It was white in color with red stripes and a huge red rabbit sign on its tail. Most of the aeros were built to be as small and light as possible for the sake of speed, but this specific aero was quite bulkier compared to the other two. Based on those facts, many began to realize that HY-3 was an aero built not to win the race but for offensive attacks in order to aid its comrades towards the goal.
And true to its purpose, the other two Hyuugan aeros started to gain the lead using the diversion and distractions caused by HY-3. The audience went crazy screaming and booing against the Hyuugas, particularly the kingdoms whose aeros had been left out of the race.
"It's part of the strategy, you dimwits!" Tono shouted back.
Two Kamigawas, and one each from Ibaragi and Arizugawa had been destroyed. Now, the HY-3 aero was tailing one of the Hirazakis aircrafts and began to launch full attack on it. The pilots of the target tried to defend the aero using their alices but the HY-3 was definitely more skillful than they thought that before they knew it, they were caught in an offensive attack and crashed. Boos and cheers were heard as the victorious aero twirled in the air like a victory dance and it seemed to aggravate its opponents more.
Starting from that point, the other kingdoms began to unite to bring down the Hyuugan aeros.
"Imai-san, they are all attacking us!"
"Shut up and continue to deflect their attacks!" Hotaru shouted back as she suddenly tipped the aero to the right, avoiding the missile attacks of the green aero behind them.
She had chosen her co-pilot Haruki-kun because of his deflection alice and it had indeed served useful against all the attacks being thrown against them. But he had been overexerting his alice for a while now after their opponents began to focus their attention against the Hyuugas, especially the aero she was piloting, HY-3.
'Not yet. Just hang on a little more,' she thought as she continued to concentrate on controlling the aero. Just a few miles more and they would reach the area near the Hirazaki palace. She had to make sure that everything will go according to plan or else everything will be for naught and she would be putting the prince's life in danger.
She had studied the route of the race and immediately realized that this could be a good chance to enter the palace. The reason why they placed one of the routes near the palace grounds was that several of the Hirazaki royals and nobles will be watching the race on one of the towers. What would be more exciting than watching the race up close? It would have been harmless except that they had to deactivate a portion of the barrier alice covering the palace area in order to accommodate the aero route. Little did they know that such extravagance will cost them the security of the palace.
Some of the attacks were starting to get through Haruki's deflection and she knew that it was only a matter of time before he finally succumb to exhaustion. Only a fourth of the course remains, and one of Hyuugan areos, HY-2, had already crashed. The rest of their opponents were now focusing their attention on the remaining two, especially HY-3.
"Imai-san, I really can't hold it anymore!" Haruki yelled, strain was evident on his voice.
"Then don't," Hotaru replied calmly.
"Huh?"
'Because we're already here.' A smirk crossed her lips as she saw the palace. 'Now, let the plan commence.'
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
Shouts of cheers and jeers thundered across the audience when the Hyuugan aero HY-3 finally got hit. Many were impressed by the skills showed by the pilots and many had thought that it was almost impossible to destroy it considering that it was expertly deflecting and dodging all the attacks thrown against it. But as the race continued, the deflection alice began to wane. Well, it was expected considering that the aero was the target of almost all the other participants. Many critics had thought that though the tactic by the Hyuugas at the start was quite ingenious, it had backfired in the end. It was only a matter of time before the deflection alice was exhausted and the pilots will have to avoid all attacks by skillfully maneuvering the aero.
But even after being hit, HY-3 continued to struggle using a spare engine. Two opposing aeros began to attack it simultaneously and in its effort to dodge the attack, HY-3 was flying too recklessly. The audience watched holding their breaths as the HY-3 got hit again and flew past the barrier and began to fall down, crashing into the ground before it exploded.
Members of the Hyuuga representatives among the audience all stood up, worrying about the pilots. Normally, as soon as an aero was hit, the pilots should immediately push the eject button in order to avoid any injuries and casualties in the race. But HY-3 continued to fight even when it was already hit. It was a brave act, but also ridiculously stupid. Gasps of relief were only heard when they saw two parachutes emerging from the smoke caused by the crash.
It was quite lucky that even though the aero crashed inside the palace grounds, it was far off from the buildings and only damaged a portion of the gardens.
In the end, the remaining Hyuuga aero finished only third, while the Hirazakis cheered for their victory. Overall it had been one of the most exciting events in the Alicea Festival, and to add that it had been a major loss to the defending champion and the technologically renowned Hyuuga Empire, the victory of the Hirazakis was definitely sweet.
"I'm so sorry Imai-san!" Haruki bowed his head apologetically. "It was because of me that we lost. I was not strong enough to control my alice until the end. If only..."
"Shut up," Hotaru told him coldly. "There was nothing we can do about it. We already lost. Besides, I was the one with full control of the aero so the blame was pretty much on me."
Both of them suffered only minor bruises but it was Haruki's pride and self-confidence that was quite shattered. "Don't worry, I don't think the Hyuuga Kingdom will lose because of this. Now, quit crying or I'll shoot you with my baka-gun."
After they had returned to the villa, most of the Hyuuga representatives congratulated them for doing a good job, although it can't be avoided that some were quite bitter because of the loss. Some of them were blaming Hotaru for starting a war early at the race which caused their opponents to unite against the Hyuugas. Others were praising her for trying to sacrifice herself in order for her comrades to win, although it had badly backfired on them. Well, Hotaru managed to effectively silence the sore losers by shooting them with her baka gun.
It didn't surprise them when the ministers called Hotaru for a private meeting. After all, the ministers should be quite disappointed with the results of the race.
As soon as the door closed, Jinno turned a inquiring look at Hotaru, obviously keeping his emotions in check. "Well?"
Hotaru shrugged as she took her seat. "Don't worry. Everything went according to plan. They won't know that someone had already sneaked into the palace."
"But you think they're safe?" Narumi asked worriedly. Even if she said that, the aero had crashed and exploded. Right now, they don't have any idea as to what happened to its cargo. And just the thought that the prince may have been harmed during that gamble was enough to make them distressed.
"I'm sure," Hotaru said confidently and tried to explain. "That pod won't be destroyed easily by that crash. It was designed to eject immediately a few meters prior to impact. As of now, it should be buried underground. The pod has enough oxygen to last them throughout the night. I have attached a transmitter on their bodies so I know that they're still safe and alive." She then stood up and politely excused herself. "I have to go to my laboratory. They will wake up in a little while so I need to remotely control the pod to somewhere safe in the palace grounds. They would need at least a hour to recover from the headache they will get as aftereffects of that race."
But as she reached for the door's handle, she heard Jinno-sensei speak.
"I will trust you, Hotaru Imai," Jinno said in a stern voice. "But you have to remember that you're putting the prince's life at risk here. Whatever happens to him, know that even though you're a valuable asset to the kingdom, it will be a crime against you."
Hotaru met his stare with a determined look of her own. "I know that. The moment I agreed to his terms, I already know the risk that I have to take." She turned away first and reached for the door knob and opened it. "Besides, I'm risking my reputation here. There's no way I will fail on something as important as this."
Jinno and Narumi just stood there, hoping against hope that she was right. Or else, they had just participated in the destruction of the Hyuuga Kingdom.
.: to be continued :.
I actually planned to update this together with Love's Consequence but some things came up. It took me some time to regain my focus on finishing this that I didn't even make it in time for my sister's birthday. So Coree, belated happy birthday! It's a few days late but it's better than never, right? hehehe.
I'm currently having a hard time concentrating on writing fics lately, so my apologies for the late updates. Wow! 2000+ reviews! :D Thank you so much for all your reviews! Thank you also to all who continued to read this despite my delays. I really can't promise regular updates right now, but I'll just try to do whatever I can.
Hope you like this chapter! :D