Mitsuru looked at Mahiru. In unspoken agreement, they turned to Misoka and grabbed him, intending to drag their power-hungry leader to Nozomu.
Unfortunately, this noble attempt was foiled. Although the pair's strength should have overcome the shorter personage, Misoka whirled around with astonishing speed, and calling out, "Wind! You are my blood! Now come!" he grabbed them both instead of the vice versa and hurled them onto the bed next to the queen and Shirogane.
"Misoka!" Mahiru said angrily.
"I'm sorry, princess, but this is for your own good."
"No, you're crazy!" Mahiru said, getting worked up. Mitsuru hushed her, leaning close to whisper, "Listen! You are the princess – you can take this magic from him, can't you?"
"Oh, yeah…" Mahiru said, shame staining her cheeks because she had not thought of this sooner.
"All you have to do is touch him and…"
"I'm afraid that won't work," said Misoka, interrupting. His hearing was remarkable.
"Why not?" Mahiru asked, stalling for time. She inched off the edge of the bed veerryy s l o w l y…
"You have to get past my barrier first," said Misoka, as he set up his barrier.
"Easy, I'll just throw a thunderbolt," Mitsuru said, his blood boiling. He transformed into a huge Tengu, and for just a moment, Misoka seemed daunted until he turned into his fox form.
"Wait! Don't fight!" Mahiru pleaded. Everyone seemed to have forgotten the queen and Shirogane as they huddled on the rich bed in fear.
"Princess, princess, why do you cry?" mocked Misoka. His once beautiful voice turned into an ugly snarl; the beautiful lyrics seemed to become a death chant.
"Misoka!" came a cry from the door. Misoka turned; so did Mahiru and Mitsuru. (The queen and her son kept on the bed, more scared than ever.) Nozomu and Akira stood there, with…Keiko Himura!
"What?" asked Mahiru. "How'd you guys know we needed help?"
"Hi, Mahiru!" piped Akira happily. "We heard the commotion. So what's up?"
"Be quiet!" ordered Misoka, and suddenly Mahiru couldn't open her mouth!
"Misoka! Stop that!" Nozomu protested. "Does anyone know what's going on?"
A quiet voice broke the confusion. "I know," said Himura, stepping from behind the other two at the door. Mahiru looked at her; Mitsuru looked at her; even the queen and Shirogane stopped knocking their knees together and looked at her.
"It was all because of my brother," she said. "Hokuto. He and Misoka have been planning this: a dupe on the queen, and me sending these premonitions. Misoka was the mastermind. He planned the whole thing. I went along with it, because I hate you. All of you…I wanted to get rid of you." She paused, eyes looking everywhere except at Akira, who looked stricken.
Taking a deep breath, she went on. "I was glad to pretend I was on your side, until I remembered…Akira…" The room was silent as she let a faint blush spread across her cheeks.
"I wanted to quit. I came to the castle, because that was where Misoka was, and he was leader. I came to help, because I knew what was going on." Himura looked around defiantly. "I can defeat you, Misoka, anytime I want. Because…because Maya Yuan's spirit is inside me, and I can do anything that she has done, and more. And she did defeat you before."
"What?" asked Nozomu. "How has she defeated Misoka before? She's dead."
Misoka looked almost pleadingly at Himura, but she ignored him. "Maya Yuan was a World War I hero. She sent premonitions, she was a seer…as I am sure you all knew.
"Well, she also used her seer skills to defeat enemies. One night, two years before she died, Maya Yuan sent a premonition to a demon lord. He was a horrible beast – not the one that the princess fell in love with, but a brute that loved blood and killing. He was terrorizing villages, and one day he ruined Maya's home town. She couldn't abide that, and sent a premonition to the demon lord. It drove him crazy, and he committed suicide."
Himura looked at everyone in the room now; Akira's eyes were shining with respect and happiness. Then she finished her story. "And then his spirit seeked vengeance. It found a home in Misoka, as Maya Yuan found me. Isn't it a coincidence that we should meet?" And she grinned at Misoka with anything but humor; for the first time, Misoka quailed.
"She has it right," he said. "But I am not asleep; this time you can not send me a dream! And what then!" His voice had changed to a harsher baritone, and Mahiru recognized it as the one who had so cruelly twisted the "Princess, Princess" song.
"I have other weapons at hand," said Himura. Her voice had changed to – it was higher, and more sweet, though right now defiant. "Watch!"
And suddenly Misoka was twisting in agony on the floor, his limbs convulsed, and his glasses flew askew. He let out a high, keening cry, and Himura stopped. Misoka shuddered on the floor once, and lay still.
"What did you do to him?" Mahiru whispered into the shocked silence.
"I entered his mind," said Himura grimly. "I weeded out his most horrible memories. They really are quite…horrifying."
"What do we do with him?" Mitsuru asked harshly.
"Leave him here," said Himura, "and let justice deal with him." She walked out of the room with dignity, but looking tired and older beyond her years, and silently the rest followed, leaving Misoka cold, pale, and unconscious on the floor.
Mitsuru and Mahiru walked side by side, silently, in the cold air as they headed back to Moonshine. Then Mahiru looked up. "Mitsuru?" she asked. "Have you thought of an answer yet?"
"To what?" asked Mitsuru.
"To my question."
Mitsuru still looked puzzled, so Mahiru said, "If you would go to my school dance with me."
Mitsuru laughed then, and Mahiru laughed too; so did Nozomu, Akira, and Himura. It felt good to laugh again, like they had not for what seemed an eternity.
"I'll come," he said. And Mahiru, content, went onwards, leaving a smiling Mitsuru behind.
THE END