I let my bag slip down my shoulder and fall on the floor. I stood totally in shock. This was my aunt? The woman looked like an old, worn out lady. She was the total opposite of the confident, prideful lady I had met at the restaurant.
I wouldn't have believed that she was my aunt had Arata not been sitting next to her. She smiled vaguely at me.
"Hello, Haruhi, it's been a while." She greeted.
"H-hello…" I replied. I regained control over my body and stepped inside the house. I tried to meet Arata's eyes but he kept looking down at the floor. I sat down next to Oto-san. My whole body was tense. Though my aunt looked like this and absolutely looks like she has no backbone, she had ordered Arata to kill me so I kept my guard. Aunt Aneko noticed and smiled sadly.
"First of all…" she started." … I apologize for attempting to kill you." She said and bowed down till her head touched the ground. I didn't answer and waited for her to speak again.
"Secondly… I want to apologize for involving you friends in this." She continued.
"So Shiori was your employee?" I asked. "But she forced me to meet my fake aunt, how would that benefit you?"
"Shiori was indeed one of my spies in your school but she betrayed me and joined Akito. You meeting that fake me was all an act to force you into becoming princess." She explained.
"Where's Shiori now?"
Aneko closed her eyes. "I don't know." An awkward silence filled my house.
"… I would like to stop Akito's scheme…" I said. "Are you willingly to help me?"
"I am… but on some conditions."
Arata looked up and frowned, he mustn't have been aware of this part.
"To stop my son, you, my dear niece, must become princess." She announced, surprising me, Arata and Oto-san. It was the first time since I had come in that my father spoke. "No way!"
"Oto-san…" I called him to calm him down. His eyes shifted from me to Aneko and back again. He sighed and closed his mouth. I turned to my aunt.
"Why should I become princess?" I asked her.
"To beat Akito at his own game. You will have to proof his attempts to kill you." She explained.
"Do I really have to become princess for that?"
"Yes, you have to."
"I see…" Arata and Oto-san both looked at me in worry. "Let me think about it."
"Of course."
"Haruhi…" My father said, he patted my hand. "Whatever you choose , I will always be there for you." He said but I had already sunken too deep into thoughts to reply him. I had no idea what were to happen were I to become princess again. But I really felt betrayed by Akito….
He had been my only support when there was no one I could entrust with my problems and now he had turned my whole world upside down with his betrayal. I did want to punish Akito for fooling me, but was it worth sacrificing my commoner's life for? Moreover… Could I trust Arata and my aunt? I sighed.
"I have two more questions before I take a decision."
"Yes?"
I took a breath, fearing the answer. "Was it you who ordered my mother's dead?"
The question both shocked Oto-san and Arata and both turned to Aneko, just as curious as I was.
"I… did want to chase her out the palace, I've always disliked you mother but it had never been my intention to kill her."
"Then why did you still kill her?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"Because she tried to flee. If she had accepted exile, it wouldn't have been necessary to murder her."
Oto-san suddenly jumped up."It's because she didn't want to be separated from Haruhi!" Oto-san angrily yelled, pointing his finger at Aneko's face. "She would have accepted exile if you had permitted that she could take Haruhi with her!" Aneko averted her eyes. "It's because you didn't permit that, that she had to flee! So she could be together with Haruhi!"
"Is that true?" I asked.
"It is." Aneko whispered. For a moment, my mind went blank and only those two words echoed over and over again.
I suddenly felt a hot rage fill my body. My hands and shoulders started shaking. I had to clench my hands into fists and bury my nails into my flesh to control my urge to break something. My breathe came out in short and quick gasps.
It was the first time in my life I ever went out of control like this and I didn't know how to calm down. The cropped up emotions from the past ten years came boiling up and my eyes filled with tears but I refused to let them go.
I suddenly felt a great hatred for my aunt and at the same time I was being consumed by the guilt now I knew I was partly responsible for my mother's dead. I might have just been a child back then, but if I had noticed something, if I had done something, if I had talked to mother, if I had –
Suddenly a warm object pressed against my shoulder. It pulled me out of my thoughts and I looked straight into Arata's eyes, whom had place his hand on my shoulder.
"Haruhi-sama, calm down." At first his words didn't really go through, he had to say it a second time before I blinked and understood what he meant. I found my father looking worried at me, with his hand on my hand and my aunt, who's eyes gleamed with pain and regret.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you." Oto-san said. "But I knew you were going to blame yourself when you'd hear it." I didn't comment on that remark but just stared at his hand, I turned mine and intertwined our fingers.
Arata retreated his hand, his warmth still lingered on my shoulder but I couldn't bring myself to thank him for trying to calm me. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. We hadn't time for my raging thoughts, I should hurry this up so that I never had to see this woman ever again.
"Then the second question." I continued, my voice still trembling. "Are you really able to betray your only son?"
Aunt Aneko nodded. "To me… he is no longer my son."
"I see." I muttered and I hesitated one last time. "Then I'll take your offer."
All eyes were fixated on me. "I will become princess again."
My aunt smiled and I found myself unable to look her in the eyes longer than five seconds, I felt my hands starting to shake again.
"Then let's discus our plans." She signed to Arata and he started to talk. I suddenly realized they had organized this very well.
"For our plan we have you to contact Aktio and tell him you will take his offer to become princess. He will certainly hold a press conference and maybe even a party to celebrate you return." He explained and shoved a black object to me. "We want you to take him apart and persuade him into talking about his plans to assassinate you and to take the throne, you will record it with this." He held up the black recorder.
"How do I get him to talk?" I asked.
"Get him drunk." Arata smirked. "I'm sure he'll talk.
I smiled back, out of habit and quickly drew my lips in a straight line.
I took out my phone. "Then I'll inform Akito of my decision."
"Please do so." My aunt said.
I called Akito and he answered immediately. "Haruhi, how can I help you?" he asked politely.
"Akito, I've decided…."
Sorry~ for the late update, good anime and my laziness are to blame :) Thank you for reading! ^^