Chapter Hundred Eighteen — The Trial of Reunions
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Chapter Hundred Eighteen

The Trial of Reunions

 

 

He couldn't believe his eyes and ears. The place looked exactly as it had, years ago. The old floorboards and steps of the porch sounded exactly like that, too! The garden, the small front yard, the worn-down, rainwater-stained wood of the house walls and its hooded, slightly sinister roof...!

Ah, memories flooded him just from the first glance around the place.

Nekohiko slowly rose onto the porch and glimpsed the edge of the back garden from here. The garden was just as overgrown and wild as always, yet something had changed about it, subtly.

So many more new maple trees in it... Their red in this autumn time burned so brightly, even the darkness of the night couldn't temper it down.

Behind him, Abihiko followed. Nekohiko met his gaze, slightly ashamed with how agitated he felt about this small house being preserved in all its glory for the last years. Like a small piece of their happy youth together, in a secure Aspect-sealing glass orb.

A souvenir.

But even more he was annoyed by Abihiko's smile, so knowing and patronizing about Nekohiko's joy...

"Told you we should have come here, a month ago," Abihiko drawled, leaning against the porch beam flamboyantly. "Should have listened to me, just so you know."

"Oh, shut it."

Nekohiko slid the front door open and slowly stepped in, removing his shoes at the entrance. The usual darkness of the house greeted him along with the lived-in smells of the old wood and faint lingering of incense in the air. The silence here was deafening, and Nekohiko turned back, a tinge of sadness clouding his expression.

"Who owns this place? Don't tell me Old Ema is gone..."

She'd been quite ancient, even years ago.

Yet Abihiko didn't manage a single word out before--

"Ah, the dull one showed up. I was wondering when you'll deign to come back," a rattly voice of an extremely irritable person snapped at Nekohiko from the side.

...Old Ema?

Still alive! And... doing quite well, apparently.

Nekohiko still flinched, sizing the old lady up and down. He discovered that she hadn't changed much, as well, just like the house itself. The mean curve of her lips on the prune-like face, the covered head, the bent-up frame -- the menacing walking stick in her hand!

As though he'd seen her yesterday.

"...hi," he squeezed out at last.

And froze over, unsure of what to add. He was never that great at smalltalking to people. Besides, he didn't actually feel like he'd missed this woman or thought about her a lot. He had nothing to say to her.

Maybe only the--

"Thank you," he added after a prolonged thought, and bowed.

"See? My Neko returned, and now we can all live here the three of us together again!" Abihiko gushed, hurrying out of the street cold and toward the old lady to give her a passionate hug.

But she dodged him, looking every bit as though his actions appalled her. Such classic Old Ema.

"Yeah, I don't care. Just stop bothering me," she blurted, then turned to trudge back to her own room. Though she did throw a brief, concerned glance over her shoulder toward Nekohiko as though wondering about him and Abihiko's reunion in the room they rented from her.

As though secretly pleased.

But neither she nor Nekohiko had ever interacted before. So this was as much of an eye or verbal contact they felt comfortable to share. It had always been Abihiko who would attempt, unsuccessfully, to drag either of them into a conversation, here and there.

Even now, he was still too hopeless to drop it.

"And you told me he dumped me!" he clamored after the old woman's slamming of her door shut. "Where is my money, Ema? You lost the bet, didn't you? I expect to see the payment on the porch first thing in the morning--"

"She's gone and she's deaf," Nekohiko told him, strolling into their room at the other wing of the house. "And if you keep screaming like that, I might be, too."

"She's far less deaf than she makes it out to be," Abihiko piped back. But still came in after Nekohiko, carefully sliding the weathered door of the room closed.

...

All of Nekohiko's arguments scattered when his gaze fell on the middle of the room before him.

There it was, the wooden chest with the Abi family sigil on the lid -- just as Nekohiko had seen it last in the Utsuro Kingdom when Abihiko and Mikawa took it out of the Shiriya castle's stash.

The chest that held Nekohiko's body parts in it.

And on top of it, stood the recognizable ceramic pot. Green needles, thin branches. A small potted plant -- the last live part of the Emerald Fir Nekohiko's log came from.

"When have you gotten the potted Fir from the Palace...?" Nekohiko asked. "How long ago have you prepared this?"

"When you ran away from me and I had to follow you into The Doll Palace. I carried the pot and Maple Apple to stash away here, just in case. I didn't know if we would never return there again, and I wanted the pot to be looked after. Somewhere safe and nice. Like right here."

Heavy, Nekohiko dropped to his knees before the chest and the plant, his hands going for the lid but afraid to touch it. Tremors ran through his fingers, and in doubt, he glanced up to Abihiko.

Abihiko lowered himself beside him, folding his legs up and putting his elbows on his knees. "Am I that unpredictable, Neko? I thought you would guess what the surprise safe place in Nara was. The one I could put this chest in without being spied on or bothered."

...

"How could have I predicted this?"

I didn't even know you held as much meaning about this small home as I had.

I didn't even know you'd keep renting this house long after I was no longer here to share it with you.

Abihiko gave him an easy smile that only slightly wafted of melancholy. "The only place where you and I could hide from the outside world and not be found in? Are you kidding me, Neko? Do you really think I would not keep it close to my heart?"

Nekohiko covered his face with his hands, so shy he grew with such a... sappy, confusing turn of events.

Ahh, it was just too obnoxious of Abihiko! Did he want Nekohiko to melt on the spot and turn into a pile of cozied-up goo?

"But Mikawa said..." He suddenly remembered, stilling. "That he recognized this place even before coming here! Just from the address you gave him. What did that mean--?"

Instead of answering, Abihiko snorted, rising to his feet. He offered Nekohiko a hand, then nodded toward the sliding doors leading to the back porch and into the inner garden.

Nekohiko expected anything there but not such a random and weird sight. When Abihiko opened the door and let him look out into the garden, Nekohiko thought he'd see all those red maples he'd glimpsed before. And true -- the back garden was filled with them. But also, something else.

And much brighter and splendid than even the burning-red maples.

Because right there, under the canopies of all the ornamental leaves of maple branches, there stood just a tiny bit of other trees. Small and thin and frail, but very beautiful.

Five or four growing Emerald Firs, so little and branchy, Nekohiko couldn't tell how many exactly they were. He doubted these trees were older than five years, just from the looks of it.

Which meant that they'd been planted here after Nekohiko's death and then raised and cared for... all this while.

Why?

Nekohiko stepped into the grass, baffled. "Emerald Firs...? Here?"

When he and Mikawa had come to Nara the first time, he'd asked the boy to search it for any signs of Emerald Firs, to determine from which tree Nekohiko's log might have come. Back then, he'd never suspect the Tree in the Emerald Palace was only an illusion, so he had been determined to find another one he was made of.

Mikawa's Winds had come back with nothing. There weren't many Emerald Firs around, rare as such trees were. And the ones he'd found, were tiny, the boy had told him.

Tiny and too closely bunched together as though somebody was raising them, intentionally. Which was funny because almost nobody did. The Emerald Firs were too high-maintenance, really.

...

Was this it?

They were funny-looking due to their small size, and in different hues compared to the Emerald Fir in the Palace. But their majestic effect was just as deep, glowing as though from within with a mystical green light. And their needles... oooof, just from the looks of it -- Nekohiko could tell they were razor-sharp.

"Since I cut down the most ancient and famous tree in the Empire, I figured I might as well try to make amends for it." Abihiko squatted before the trees which were as tall as his knees. His smile was warm with fondness as he studied them up close, wary of anything new about them.

Gentle, he plucked a few weeds that had lodged in between the frail roots, and discarded them like a fussy farmer. Nekohiko couldn't believe his eyes.

Abihiko? Cultivating plants in a garden?

Yeah, right.

"And your way of making amends is to grow new trees?"

Abihiko flashed him a grin. "Well, your family might need a spare one after we uproot the one in the Palace, no? These little fuckers are notoriously hard to cultivate, and they tend to only grow well when fed with Imperial Binding... If you had any clue how many shoots I've actually rooted here, and how many withered and died under my care, argh..."

...

After years of making fun of me and my onion patch at the back of Izumo -- you, farming all these poor Emerald Firs?

Not at all ironic, Abihiko. Not at all.

"So you admit you cut down the original one for some mysterious purposes?" Nekohiko also knelt by the trees, smug in his delivery. "Before, you dared to even deny that. Could you maybe tell me now why you did that to the Tree? And why is it so corrupted, and if that is related to your own Binder's Corruption--"

"Khem-khem. So what do you think about Old Ema? She looks great, doesn't she? She was very sick earlier this year, so I worried about her a lot."

...

Nekohiko didn't try to push it again. He let out a tired sigh, and sat back, enjoying the view of the heavy crimson branches of maples shielding them from the above. Overall, this hidden garden of tiny Emerald Firs under the maples... it gave him such a sense of peace and quiet.

Abihiko swept a few fallen red leaves off the shiny needles. Across his fingers, a fine lace of cuts bloomed. Just from a single careless touch.

Such were these stingy Firs. Even the smallest of caresses could hurt like hell.

Abihiko stuck his bleeding thumb into his mouth with a well-used dismissiveness when they pattered back to their room, elbowing each other in the doorway. Once inside, Nekohiko wanted to Bind his wound back straightaway, but... Abihiko already did.

Annoyingly, he'd used his own magic to do it, even without noticing.

"Hey, stop using magic!" Nekohiko swatted him as the two of them fumbled around, dragging their sleeping mattress out of the wall shelf. "For such minuscule things, I will do everything for you. Your Binder's Corruption cannot spread further -- we need to take care of it if you want to get better one day."

Abihiko paused, stunned by Nekohiko's outburst, but took it in stride. "Sorry, sorry. It's a habit. I'm not even aware of it, so often it happens with those stupid trees--"

Nekohiko pointed his chin at Abihiko's scarred fingers. "And I thought you never heal wounds you get from Emerald Firs."

...

He knew the answer even before Abihiko said it.

Their mattress fell to the floor heavily, unrolling, and Abihiko got hold of him, slowly topping him to go on the pile of blankets and cuddle together in it. Just for the sake of it.

"Only you have such a prerogative," Abihiko told him, covering his face with kisses, to Nekohiko's vivid annoyance and excessive groaning to stop wasting time and get to sleep already.

They had a big day tomorrow, all right? Was Nekohiko the only one who still remembered that?

Abihiko might as well not.

His only care was to whisper at him sweetly, even as they finally rolled onto their bed. Not about the Trial, not about the body in the chest, not about all those other firs in the garden.

About Nekohiko, and only him.

"My stingiest and most demanding Fir."

...

You're goddamn right.

 

 


***

 

The morning of the Trial wasn't anything special, misty and chilly since the beginning. Abihiko changed into the Imperial robes, which he then hid under a much less noticeable cloak and wanted to tie his hair up with a throwaway ribbon.

But Nekohiko didn't let him. He got up and took over Abihiko's brush to help him get his hair in order. Without any ribbons, today.

Out of his traveling cloak, he lifted the gold filigree band of the Emerald Crown and threaded Abihiko's hair through it, amassing it into a top knot over his smooth, long waterfall of strands.

In the mirror they'd Bound out of water to dress up in front of, Abihiko's face took a stunned expression. He watched Nekohiko help him fit the crown on his head, frowning.

Nekohiko smiled. "Since I am not allowed to come, you may take my crown for today. But only for today and tomorrow. Solely for the Trial, you know."

"Didn't know you had so much kindness in your heart to share your precious crown with me."

...

I do not.

"You are merely my representative in there, so you are allowed to take my crown for one or two days. Don't overthink this."

"Good that you are so agreeable. Let's hope everyone else is the same, out there."

Abihiko beamed at him through the reflection, somehow getting so cute and charming in his green robes and the crown, even though they never suited him well.

He was more himself in red and ribbons, but today -- Nekohiko reveled in seeing him wear Nekohiko's own clothes. His own crown.

Another way in which Abihiko belonged to him, completely.

When he left, Nekohiko slowly slid down into the bed again, too buzzing with anxiety over the upcoming Trial and everything Abihiko would have to go through, alone.

They'd decided to not take Nekohiko to the Tribunal, yet.

The presence of a person unknown to most would distract from the actual defenses. The people observing the Trial from the tribunes would not pay attention to what would be said if the Emperor's new spouse was introduced to them in such a dramatic and unpredictable manner.

And for those few rare others who did know of Nekohiko's identity...

They would probably attack him in the spot. Thus ruining the Trial and the opportunity it gave Abihiko. One that he had craved so much and had been readying for this entire month.

A chance to speak to the Empire's people and be heard, under the sacred oaths and the spell of Transparency. No lies, no hidden agendas. Only truth, for everyone to witness.

So yes, Nekohiko didn't mind not being able to go.

Such large crowds frustrated him anyway, let alone in an environment of a covert battle going on between him and Abihiko on one side -- and their enemies on the other.

Abihiko wouldn't be alone in there, either. Perhaps, nobody would stand by him, holding his hand as Nekohiko wanted to. But he would hang off his neck, listening to every heartbeat and every hitch of his breath. Observing and taking note of everything that went around Abihiko. And above all, waiting for him here, to come back in the evening after the first no-doubt grueling day at court -- to welcome into his arms and help him prepare for tomorrow.

From his seashell, he checked in on Abihiko as Abihiko strolled down the Nara streets toward the central districts, but saw nothing of importance other than sluggish people in a somber mood, some of them also dragging their feet toward the government buildings in the distance, while others wound toward the nearest Towa news exchange buildings. Probably wanting to take the best spots before the Trial -- to see it all, even if they couldn't attend the Tribunal itself.

...

The number of people watching would be great, today. Even greater -- tomorrow, for Kasuga's defense. Nekohiko had no idea how many people would arrive before the third day of the Trial -- solely to witness the sentence and the conviction.

For now, all he knew was that this tense intrigue before such a big event translated to him. From all those people in the streets and the tight feeling in the air, from how misty and slow the day began.

Even Abihiko's steady footsteps as he navigated the soaked city streets, the noise echoing in Nekohiko's seashell ears as he resurfaced back in his doll body.

He reeled.

Argh, such tension! He almost couldn't take it. To distract himself, he once again watered the potted alive tree version of himself and peeked into the back yard at all those other firs. Then wondered about Old Ema in the other room. Then settled down, irritated and worried, and fidgeted with his hands, unable to settle down.

Kataji, came a bright yet relieving thought.

He owed it to the young man, no? To check in on him, and to apologize for his behavior. To make peace with him. Uncomfortable, yes, but better late than never...

Yet as soon as he tried to flicker his mind into any of the wood chips he knew Kataji had, he realized something odd.

There were none there.

...

Nekohiko scowled, searching anything to grasp for. Any trace of the wood chips he remembered being either somewhere in Kataji's belongings or carried around in his clothes. And yet...

Nothing.

Huh.

Nekohiko might have destroyed some of them during his training for the damage-redistribution across his many bodies. But not all of them! He would never take out all the bodies Kataji had, just in case the young man needed him or was in danger.

So, what the hell was going on?

Nekohiko tried to count how many bodies he even could shift his consciousness to, but there weren't many left. About three or four smaller pieces scattered between Mikawa and Kasuga. A big wooden cube Kasuga had -- to always be able to reach him if she needed. Aomi's ladybug. The cat, hidden safely away in the Spring Sunlight Shrine grounds... and this body right here.

His doll self.

And none of them near Kataji.

Nekohiko raked his memory, trying to recall if he'd destroyed that many spare parts, after all -- but he doubted that. He'd been careful and thorough about it. There was no way he would have destroyed so many, cutting off any potential link he had to Kataji.

Which only meant one thing...

Kataji had destroyed the leftover parts of Nekohiko on his own.

How? Why? When? Not something Nekohiko could answer. Only Kataji could, and Kataji was far away now, already in the Utsuro Kingdom, in Sai or the Red Stone Estate. Alone and abandoned.

...

Some deeper part of Nekohiko's soul grieved such a broken relationship between the two of them, but at the same time... he was relieved. Kataji would only suffer more in his presence, knowing that he and Abihiko were married and united in their court battles.

Perhaps it was for the best, to have finally split apart and have their time away from each other. One day, maybe they would be able to meet again and not hold resentment or guilt for one another. But Nekohiko didn't know how far such a day would be.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" A rude male voice blared somewhere around Nekohiko's poor seashell, making him cringe. "This is restricted solely for those with clearance. Get back off into the crowd!"

...

Nekohiko could sense Abihiko's tired indifference just from the way he stopped before the Imperial guards who blocked his path. An entire squad of them, wearing their showy Emerald scale armor and eyeless helmets as they paraded their significance in front of a mere commoner they thought Abihiko was.

The area to which Nekohiko snapped his mind to witness this, was one of the government district's old Imperial Palaces before the Emerald Palace had been built. Nara had many ancient seats of Imperial power, most of them unused today. All of these uninhabited buildings had been repurposed to the government services long ago, and the Quiet Palace1平城宮 (Heijo Palace) -- the remains of a real Palace Compex In Nara. was one of those.

One of the biggest and most famous old building complexes in Nara. This Palace's State Hall with its wide main room was the Tribunal of the Empire. Nekohiko blinked up the smooth red-and-white walls and the intimidating facade in the foggy, silvery distance, but of course, all these guards in front of the building ruined the imagery.

Partly because they already walked toward Abihiko menacingly, fully prepared to arrest him for daring to come so close.

Abihiko didn't respond, merely reaching for his cloak hood. He pulled it off, turning aside as though disinterested, and gave the square behind him a look.

And ahhhh... the squares of the Quiet Palace complex were slowly filling with such an enormous crowd of people! The city guards and constables there clearly couldn't take care of all of them -- because of how many people came to witness the Trial. Now, Nekohiko understood the grim mood of the Imperial guards before the State Hall.

"...Supreme Divine Majesty!"

Gasps and hush came from the guards' side as they stared at Abihiko in his full glory.

Abihiko shrugged the rest of his cloak off, depositing it in the hands of the nearest Imperial guard and walked forward, past the men and women who seemed too stricken to even bow to him properly.

"His Majesty is finally here!"

"Salute His Majesty--"

Abihiko must be so used to all this fawning because his step didn't slow down to accommodate them or even acknowledge their endless relief at seeing him. Part of Nekohiko was jealous to the brim. What! To be so admired, and not react to that at all?

You... idiot. You don't even know what you have, to dismiss it so!

"At last!" One of the higher officers in the guards' midst signaled to the others, his commands brief and to the point. "Call for the Imperial escort and entourage. The Emperor needs to arrive at the State Hall in due fashion--"

"I do not." Abihiko already strolled past the man, his eyes only for the building before him. "At ease, officers."

"His Majesty King Morokata had predicted you would come on your own. We didn't even expect-- but he was right, after all."

"Oh yes," Abihiko murmured, sounding darkly pleased. "His Majesty King Morokata tends to be right about these things, doesn't he?"

"But now the traditional rituals of the Emperor's arrival need to be fulfilled! Please allow us, Supreme Divine Majesty--! We failed to be warned about your coming, so..."

All this pompous monotone faded as Abihiko walked away from it, motioning for all the remaining guards to step out of his path. The heavy doors of the State Hall swung open at his advance, and the polished, colorful insides welcomed him in. Abihiko didn't stop in the ante-chambers, going straight for the inner hall where the Trial would take place. Already, in the side-corridors, Nekohiko saw all the snooping Towa Memory Binders, ready to document and take everything they saw for the consumption of the public later on with the Towa Memory exchange spells. Everything that would go on inside this Trial room, in which only the statesmen, nobles from each Great House, and the Great Lords, would sit.

The rest of the Empire would receive the images and voices coming from this place with a delay. But they would still get them.

Such gatherings as the Grand Imperial Tribunal were monitored by almost everyone in the Empire, especially since the fate of one of the Great Lords was decided here.

Nekohiko's stomach cramped just from the idea of so many people paying attention to it. But Abihiko, as always, didn't care.

"King Morokata demanded Your Supreme Divine Majesty adhere to the rules of how the Trial has to be advanced," the same clingy officer from before called after Abihiko, running to follow him. "All the Lords arrive first, in the order they were designated. Then Your Majesty arrives last! That is the tradition! Everyone waits for the Emperor -- not the other way around. Right now, Your Majesty are the first to be here, so--"

"I am not waiting, cooped up in some backroom like a scared little maiden to be married off without consent." Abihiko waved off another group of surprised councilors and guards who bowed at his passing.

"But the rules--!"

Oh-so-elegant, Abihiko turned around to give the officer his eloquent expression.

"I am the rules."

He'd grown bolder, Nekohiko realized. Before, Abihiko had been so tame... so reserved and hushed and pushed back into agreeing with everything the courtly life had imposed on him. Yet after the marriage to him, Abihiko no longer showed any qualms about disregarding people around him if they annoyed him.

Just like he'd always been.

Insufferable, irreverent and... so unapologetically himself. As though he'd waited for this moment for all these years and was unable to wait even a single second more.

He nearly kicked the doors of the main hall open, so forward he was in his entry. The guards inside the room froze, and so did all the nobles and ministers already dutifully settled around in the tribunes circling the room. Seven sections, seven raised dais before them. For each of the Five Great Lords, for the Head Priest of Izumo -- and at the opposite end from the doors -- the Emperor's side. Most statesmen sat there, to not have the tribune appear too empty since the Imperial Family was so small and couldn't take part...

Everyone silenced at once -- a hundred of people, gathered here to wait for the arrival of each individual Great Lord at their prescribed time.

Instead, the Emperor showed up and marched on through the room without even a single person escorting him.

In the utter, stunned silence, Abihiko's even footsteps evoked an image of stilled breaths and thoughts. Everyone, merely observing him swag on as he ascended the central tribunes and stepped on the gilded dais encrusted with emeralds to represent the Imperial House. With a swoosh of his clothes and hair, he turned around and leaned his arms on the speaker's banisters before him.

A spooked minister behind him stammered something about a chair for the Majesty, but Abihiko ignored him.

Only now, when Abihiko did not disappear like a bizarre illusion, did everyone belatedly murmur their admirations and salutations at him as they stood up from their seats, only to drop in ceremonious bows next.

...

So much fawning! So much Imperial traditionalism!

Nekohiko cowered on Abihiko's neck singly from seeing all this, uncomfortable to the fullest. It was good that Abihiko did not let the greeting go on for longer than was humanly endurable, and already signaled for the guards at the doors to usher in the Great Lords.

...

Which was also quite out of the rules of how these things should go. The guards dithered, fumbling when they backed away to announce the arrival of the first Lord. But at least the gathering could begin now.

Whether or not Abihiko was totally rushing it with his impatience.

Or maybe with his cunning plan to take some of the Great Lords out of their comfort zone? Either way, Nekohiko was both mortified and fascinated, so he didn't even react to Abihiko's prodding of him.

"Neko Neko Neko?"

...?

What if somebody nearby heard you speaking to yourself like that? What are you even doing, Abihiko?

"What?" Nekohiko whispered, worried.

"Nothing. Just wanted to say hi and make sure you are witnessing everything."

"..."

You, strutting it out at the Grand Imperial Tribunal and hogging the spotlight so demandingly? Yeah. I am witnessing it all, to my deepest regret.

"You promised not to dishonor the crown and my family's name," Nekohiko sighed. "I don't know why I ever believed you would deliver."

Abihiko only scoffed in response. Mainly because one of the first Great Lords showed up, in their small entourage of House nobles and bodyguards.

Kasuga. Alongside Mikawa and her next-in-commands, she walked first through the double doors, looking downright sickly with shadowed dark eyes on an ashen face. Her hair was carefully brushed but worn simply. She still projected the image of being collected and in control. Likewise, her uniform was simpler than ever. No adornments at all. Only plates of black Nagare glass as her epaulets, and the strict monochrome of the rest of it.

But her gaze...

"Your Supreme Divine Majesty." She bowed when she realized Abihiko was already inside and at his place. She didn't show any shock at seeing him here, and neither did Mikawa.

The two Nagare siblings were perfectly in accord and subdued in their reactions as they strode to the Nagare dais to the right hand of Abihiko. Unlike the other Great Lords who followed.

The next should have been the Hisome representatives, but instead -- Towa showed up, followed quickly by the Hiras.

Apparently, Morokata was not prepared for such an early entry into the State Hall, and so he forfeited his turn, sending his great apologies to the Supreme Divine Majesty with his messengers.

No matter. The Trial's gathering could go on without him, yet. All the participants had to take their spots anyway -- for the benefit of the masses who would witness this outside in the wide square of the Quiet Palace or in the Towa News Exchange buildings across Nara and other big cities.

What a great show, this was.

Of course Morokata would not miss a chance to hog attention to his own persona today, if simply to downplay Abihiko's spotlight. Making the Trial wait for his arrival would do that.

Iokirihime dressed up as usual -- in such dazzling, crystal and fluid-glass robes, that it was quite a mystery how she did not overshadow Abihiko's presence in the hall with her entry. But she still acted in the apathetic manner she always bore, so while looking incredibly beautiful in her unnaturally-still poses on the Towa House dais -- she did not distract from anyone else.

One might wonder if she even cared to be here, but nobody was asking. All Lords had to pitch in and judge, for this to be considered the Grand Imperial Tribunal. So even she would have to pay attention to what was being said and decided here, sooner or later.

Lord Okinaga measured Abihiko with a somber look when he came in. A slight tinge of disappointment as though telling him "why do you have to act so much like yourself in this fine society, Abihiko? Your behavior reflects poorly on my Ward Father skills..." with his subtle shaking of his head as he beelined toward the Hira dais to Abihiko's left hand.

And just as Okinaga was going to his place under the solemn gazes of the gathering, Sakai slipped in, almost completely unnoticed. No big entourage, no desire to stop and accept salutations from the tribunes. Dressed in the House Utsuro's cadaverously-pale white clothes, topped with Sakai's Ezo barbarian metallic fur collar, Sakai came in alone. He threw a withering stare around and strolled over to the dais directly opposite from the Emperor's.

...

The silence of the gathering and the stilling of all the Lords present had such a heavy, oppressive aura of chill and dread that Nekohiko cringed, wanting nothing more than to snuggle deeper into Abihiko's collars and not participate in this awful spectacle at all.

As though knowing how uncomfortable Nekohiko would be in such a bitter environment, Abihiko stroked the seashell lightly with his finger. Instantly reminding Nekohiko of the... doodled-on dick issue of a day ago.

Nekohiko tried to bite at Abihiko's finger, even though his seashell version of a mouth had no teeth in it. His bite turned out to be more of a lick at Abihiko's fingertip, but oh well.

"Are you flirting with me?" Abihiko whispered at him, shocked. "I am in court, how dare you, husband."

"..."

In the distance, a commotion of the crowd and the faint echoes of excited screaming and gushing wafted into the State Hall. All those people gathered at the square in front of the Quiet Palace... they were cheering for someone right this moment?

Sour, Nekohiko had no doubt about whom they cheered for so fervently.

People in the court room also visibly livened up -- and just a few minutes later, the heavy doors of the room swung open again. And from behind them --

Entered Morokata.

As heavenly splendid and graceful in his palest-pink robes, as always. The cheers from the outside crowds coincided so overwhelmingly with the animated faces turning to him from everywhere in the room, as well.

On his hair, he wore the flower wreath of snowy-white and tenderest-pink roses, their enormous, heavy blossoms so fresh and dewy, he was like a vision of spring on this chilly, autumn day. Even though behind him, a whole escort of similarly-dressed pastel-hued Hisome girls and youths followed, none of them could measure up to a single curving of his lips he directed straight at Abihiko.

His smile seemed to light up the entire room, so lovely it was.

"I hope I am not too late, Dear Brother-in-Law," he told Abihiko with a gentle swing of his round paper fan.

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