Author Fangirling: After this, only five more chapters until the monster at the end of this book-I mean, until the end of the fic.

Unsure what to expect now, Miaka and Tasuki went on with the bandits to lay in waiting around the meeting hall Boushin and Nakago were using. Chiriko stayed behind to oversee activity at the fort, and was dressed in battle armor should the army at the gate have any surprises in store. The only surprise that arrived, however, was Chichiri. Juan was in his arms.

"Chichiri, your shoulder! Are you alri—your face!"

In his hurry the warrior had neglected to put his mask back on, but as soon as Chiriko mentioned it he freed one of his hands and put it on. "Letting Juan help the doctors was a bad idea."

"What happened to Juan?" he quickly turned his attention to the boy, and turned him over to see his face. When he was turned, a trickle of blood fell out out of his mouth, and Chiriko let out a startled shout.

"It was too tempting for him to use his powers. He's just gotten wiped out, and I had to get him out of there."

At a loss for words, Chiriko put a hand to his mouth and sank to his knees, shaking as memories came flooding back into his head. Chichiri squatted down with him and put his free hand on his shoulder. "As long as he gets plenty of rest, he should be fine, you know?" With all his words turning to whimpers, Chiriko merely struggled to nod, and Chichiri got choked up himself. "It's… it's going through my head too." At the mention of the day Mitsukake died, the scholar shook more violently, staring at Juan's exhausted face. Pulling him close to put their foreheads together, Chichiri continued. "It's alright to be scared. We lost Mitsukake, but we don't have to lose Juan. We aren't going to."

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as he pulled back, the power of speech returned to him. "You're right. He'll be fine. Let's take him inside, and then I need to tell you about Boushin."

At Boushin's suggestion, Nakago spared the attending officials no mind as he dived straight into the topic at hand. "When I encountered him the other day, Chiriko seemed to have gained more information. Have you learned anything of interest?"

"We have confirmed two things."

"And? Would it behoove you to share that knowledge with me?"

"We first—"

"We first could stand to make an exchange," Counselor Chou interrupted, locking eye contact with the celestial warrior. "How much does this knowledge mean to you?"

"You tell me," he looked to the boy instead. "How much is this information worth?"

"Ultimately, we would like to see an end to this war."

"Please try to be reasonable."

"Perhaps Your Highness would consider calling off any impending attack on our stronghold?" offered Counselor Shu. "Or relinquishing a recently captured fort?"

"I am afraid that would be of little long term interest to both of our countries. My generals would think me a fool for such a decision, and it would not be long before they would be threatened again."

"Aid, then," said Boushin. "We need some way to support the refugees in the capital. Regardless of the result of the war, the people need sustainence."

"Would rations for three thousand for three days suffice?"

"Make it five thousand," answered Chou.

"We can send it by a protected envoy and make an exchange at the stronghold within four days' time. Does this exchange for your two pieces of knowledge sound agreeable, Your Highness?"

"It does," he answered. "I will allow you to see Chiriko's letter if you first let me see you send the order."

They presented Nakago a brush and paper on a tray and he wrote the command, then stamped it with his seal, and gave it one of the officials behind him, ordering him to return to Kutou with it. The official left; Boushin pulled Chiriko's letter from his sleeve, and Counselor Shu delivered it between them on a platter. The blonde emperor gave Boushin a brief look as he took it, and then he read it silently. In the letter, Chiriko had detailed the results of their cross-world causality experiment. After finishing it, he returned it in the same fashion as it was presented.

"This confirms that it is a book, and confirms that the people of the priestess's world indeed have some impact on our own," Boushin summarized.

"Perhaps more specifically, the readers have some impact," replied Nakago. "Therefore the writers are not the only ones at fault—the readers make their curse continue."

"S-suppose we do think of it that way," continued the boy. "Suppose we are unfairly influenced by their world. Instead of having writers to blame now, it is the readers who force our story to continue and grow closer to its end. If that is all we have to be afraid of, then let's simply have them stop reading. We could have the priestesses use one of their remaining wishes to return home, and see to it that the book is closed. With no reader, the story cannot go on, and we will be free to exist without their influence."

Nakago smirked. "That would answer your fears, but not my desires. I have already endured enough suffering to care not how or when this world meets its end—I no longer know fear."

Outside of the meeting hall, Yui and her warriors assessed the situation. If they were going to have a chance to attack Nakago directly, this would be it. With a nod to each other, the twins moved forward, and Suboshi swiftly and quietly attacked the few guards standing outside of the doors, and then helped Kaika in through a back window.

"Your Highness," Boushin flushed, "do you mean to say you mislead me with the concerns you addressed before?"

"I do believe the permanence of Kutou will be threatened when the last of the beast gods' power is spent. While I do not wish for its destruction, I care more for revenge. I've taken revenge already against those who polluted Kutou politically, and all that is left is the heavens—the priestesses' world."

"And that's why you wanted to go there all along," the boy clenched his fists. "You care nothing for your people."

"I assure you, when I get there, I will take the safety of this world into my own hands."

"How many more people do you wish to make suffer? If you harbor so much vengeance against this world that you say gave us its violence, why do you accept violence? Both of these wars have just been a game to you all along, while people's lives are shattering!"

"Those lives meant little—they were merely here to populate this world and endure suffering."

"Then what makes your pain so special?" he rose in anger.

"My pain—as well as yours—are worth more because we were cursed to be special. Our names were destined to be recorded and bear the burden of this world's cruel fate and culture of sacrifice."

"You're the only one who thinks so. I was blessed with a responsibility to my people to lift their burdens. I gladly accept that fate, no matter who it was that determined it for me. And you, Your Highness, threaten my people!"

Nakago stood to leave. "I believe this discussion no longer—"

They were all immediately interrupted by the shrill sound of a flute. Everyone in the room immediately put their hands to their ears, but they could feel their strength being sapped and ability to focus fleeing. Suboshi, however, had aligned his life force with Kaika's so as not to be affected by that song, and slayed the guards in the room as he entered, heading for Nakago.

Constrained though he was by the song, Nakago could still stand enough movement to pull his remaining official in his way as a shield as Suboshi struck, and then he took a step behind Boushin, gripping him firmly by the neck. Counselors Shu and Chou bellowed as they saw what happened, but the splitting pain in their heads prevented them from moving forward.

"Back away, Suboshi," Nakago commanded through a grimace.

"Ha!" the warrior laughed. "Hahaha! You think I would care about whether the emperor of Konan lives or dies? You think I would have sympathy for a child? You're the one who encouraged me to take my frustrations out on children! Look at you now, hiding behind one!" Kaika, however, was not of the same persuasion. As Suboshi lunged forward he panicked, and changed the song so that he would affect Suboshi as well. Said twin dropped his meteor balls and stopped in his tracks, holding his head and looking over his shoulder to Kaika. "Why… did you stop me…? Brother…!"

The others were writhing in just as much pain, but Boushin was fearful for his life. Hurt though it did to move, it felt worse to remain still. Moving his hands slowly and with jerking movements at first, he clenched his father's sword, and then with all the strength and speed he could muster he drew it out of its sheath. With a scream, he drew it towards his side.

"Boushin!" Juan screamed and snapped awake, but the sudden movement forced him into a coughing fit. Chiriko came rushing in at the sound, patting his shoulder and turning him on his side.

"There, there, Juan, it was just a bad dream. Here, drink some water—"

The boy could make no reply, and hacked a mouthful of blood, causing Chiriko to reel. Though he started to shake again and his voice was cracking, he pulled him up and supported him in a sitting position with one hand and with the other he mixed a packet of medicine with water. "Come on, Juan. Drink this. It's bitter, but it will help you."

The moment Juan could take in a breath of air, the water was shoved down his throat. His impulse was to spit it out, but Chiriko gave him a hard pat on the back and forced him to swallow it. At last, he took a few hard breaths of air. Drowsy, he looked down to his hand and observed the blood.

Chiriko pulled a blanket up over his shoulders. "Good boy, Juan. I have more medicine where that came from. We'll have you feeling better in—"

He paused as the child rested against him and said in a low voice, "Thank you, Chiriko."

A blush, and then a smile. "Not Uncle Chiriko?"

"Chiriko…"

"It's hard to tell which side of you is talking. Is that Juan, or is that Mitsukake?"

"It's me."

He could care less which one it was, as long as he wasn't coughing. "I'm sure Boushin never intended to wake up your memories when he met you. It was good to see you having fun with him, even if you wouldn't play with me."

"You're a grown-up now. Grown-ups are no fun."

"Haha. I guess I'm dull and grey now! I never did thank you for the chance to get this old."

"You did thank me—as soon as you had beaten that monster, the first thing you did was thank me."

"I guess it's hard for me to think back to it. I'm glad I thanked you, then."

"Thank you for saving me, too."

"Of course!"

"And? Aren't you going to thank me for saving you again after that?"

"After that?"

"I used my powers to wake you up."

"I see," his tone fell. With everything else going on, he hadn't considered why he survived his second suicide encounter with Miboshi. "Is that when your memories came back to you?"

"Not all at once. They come and go. It's like I go between being full and being only half of myself."

"That's familiar," he couldn't help but chuckle and draw him closer. "I couldn't have said it any better myself. It's alright to switch between feeling like an adult and feeling like a child. I feel like I still do it now—but I can't help that on the outside I'm only one at a time."

Juan's eyes started to sting. "But I feel like I have to be Mitsukake. That's who I am inside of my head when I see these memories."

"I know, but your heart has been born anew. If only your memories mattered, you could have just remained a ghost and been the same person. But your heart wanted to live again, so you became a new person. There would be no meaning in giving new flesh to the same mind."

"Chiriko?"

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you're still the same person."

Chiriko's face twinged and his throat knotted. "Me too. I'm going to be the same person for quite some time still—and your new heart still has quite a long time before it, too."

The child nodded. "Right."

It was a sensation Boushin had never experienced. The sword forced its way into flesh, which provided little resistance, but rattled through the blade and handle when it struck bone. Within a breathless glance down towards his armpit, he saw blood running over his hands.

As if with armored footsteps that shook the foundation of the villa, Nakago took one teetering step back, then two, and a third. As the blade slipped out of his abdomen, in the gap between his armor, blood began gushing from the wound before he could press his hand to it. With an aghast but silent look down, he observed the blood spilling over his fingers.

The small emperor's hands shook violently, the stained sword clattering against the ornaments on his gown. His eyes were fixed on Nakago's injury until he felt the man's icy stare, at which point he fearfully met eyes.

Kaika stopped playing. "Brother, get out of there!"

Unable to look away from Nakago's stare, Boushin could tell in his peripheral vision that blue light was beginning to gather around the man. As if shutting down, his mind could not warn him fast enough to move until he heard his counselor's voice.

"Boushin!" he boomed. Counselor Chou drew his sword and darted towards Nakago.