Chapter Hundred Forty-Four

His Name Was Suminoe

Part 3 of 3

 

 

The last few weeks of his confinement within the Spiritual enlightenment did not leave an impression on him. Nekohiko was still baffled by what wrong he had done that night to Arata and Etsuko if all he had tried to do was protect Abihiko.

Was a person not allowed to protect the one he cared about?

Apparently not when this person was Nekohiko.

...

One early winter morning, he woke up to the trickling pale light in his "tent" room and realized he could focus his eyes on the dust particles floating in the air instead of the Spiritside layers of reality...

He blinked at it and refocused his eyes again, checking.

Then he swiped his hand across his face and found out he could move exactly as he liked rather than with a delay or through the thick of water all his movements had been recently swaddled in.

He was... awake, at last.

But with this bleary awakening, came a much less happy thought:

His bed was cold.

And he was alone in it. Once the Great Lords had found out that Abihiko had been sneaking into Nekohiko's rooms and beds,  this wasn't allowed any longer.

Nekohiko's entire body felt stale and uncomfortable. The pressure of loneliness crushed him. He couldn't even sit up because, while his mind was slowly thawing out of his Spiritual haze -- his body still didn't.

Everything felt alien, and he couldn't move as fast as he wanted. Couldn't jump up and run -- couldn't find Suminoe to ask him about Abihiko and whether the other youth was all right.

With a dejected sigh, Nekohiko gave up trying to sit and looked up above him, at the ugly stone ceiling.

"I hate everything," he told it just to hear some sound in his quiet, hollow room.

...

This was the worst awakening he'd ever had.

But he had no idea what was waiting for him once the others knew he was awake.

 

---

***

 

"Did you not intend to shove Arata and Etsuko across the entire plain?" Suminoe asked him as they went to the meeting with the Lords.

After the incident had exposed Nekohiko's "unruly" behavior and Abihiko's disregard for the Great Lords' rules, the atmosphere in the Hira military camp Nekohiko was currently in wafted of dread. Add to this the fact that Hira magic's heat was constantly melting and warming up the surrounding area -- and the thawing winter all around felt a bit too intense for Nekohiko's newly awakened senses.

Everything was dripping, and the warmth in the air felt unnatural and humid with the vapors rising from the frozen ground. He shivered even though the camp itself seemed to radiate heat. He felt ill and groggy. Even his footsteps were slow and unsteady.

He had to lean on Suminoe to walk.

And oddly enough, Suminoe was the only person who was near him. None of his Imperial bodyguards flocked around him as they'd done before.

He had a suspicion why...

"I did intend to push them away," Nekohiko said. "They wanted to harm Abihiko and I couldn't allow them."

"So you do remember everything clearly?"

...

Nekohiko skewed his eyes at Suminoe, wounded by the insinuation. "I wasn't very focused or receptive. But I did perceive everything around me. I was completely aware and conscious."

I just hadn't calculated the exact power level I possess. And thus, a small shove away from Abihiko ended up a bombastic spell that had sent Etsuko and Arata flying so hard, one of them had almost been squished to death at the impact with the ground.

Which... was bad?

But also -- Nekohiko didn't feel all that guilty at what he'd done.

"I miscounted how greatly my powers had increased after the opening of the Hisome seal," he confessed, looking down at the mushy melted snow beneath their feet. "I didn't expect them to have gained such a great boost. But at no point was I unaware of what I was doing. Only about how it would end up coming across."

"Mn. Good, good."

Suminoe genuinely sounded relieved to hear this. According to him, the only reason Etsuko hadn't died from the blast Nekohiko had sent her way was because Kazuragi's winds had sensed how fatal her crash to the ground would be. The Lord of the Skies had protected her, but that also had exposed the situation to him.

One more witness to the terrible incident that had occurred. And this witness was a Great Lord. Which had, of course, worsened the situation for Nekohiko and Abihiko.

The thing was -- Nekohiko was too lethargic to punish him or to admonish him for what he'd done. But Abihiko was right there. He was wakeful and he was convenient for everyone to pin the blame on him.

Thus, all the punishments for the incident had gone to Abihiko.

Nekohiko fumed.

"What right do they even have, to guard my life from the people I like? Abihiko belongs to me, not to them. He and I aren't even spending time together -- yet they dare to arrest him and harm him!"

He was upset. He wanted to argue and demand justice from whoever had decided they should punish Abihiko. Why him? Why not punish Nekohiko instead?

This was insane.

"No harm would come to him, don't worry." Suminoe's tone maintained its cool at all times. "Neither Okinaga nor I would let anyone abuse him. His is Okinaga's Ward, and only Okinaga has the right to administer punishments to him."

Nekohiko swerved, blazing with fury. "But they said he is a criminal when he'd done nothing wrong! They wanted to claim he went against the Emerald Throne! If they dare, I will--"

I will depose them all.

I will have new Great Lords, for all I care! Ones I pick and--

ARGH!

Face to face with Suminoe, Nekohiko could not keep up with his rage much longer. Seeing this pristine, calm face and the reserved manner with which Suminoe held himself reminded Nekohiko how often he had relied on him through the years and that this person had almost singlehandedly provided him with guidance and support and... the sense of purpose in Nekohiko's life. Someone watching over him even if Nekohiko didn't have a clue.

Suminoe's eyes had a subtle shade of ethereal lilac in them, Nekohiko noticed.

Like petals on the wind... evanescent and transient.

His steadiness, however, never went away. Under such a tempered gaze, Nekohiko felt ashamed of his outburst. He breathed out, quietening.

"Forgive me. I didn't mean to lose my temper like this. It's just that..."

Suminoe's hand lay on Nekohiko's shoulder. In the middle of the thawing, chilly camp grounds, with all the grumbling soldiers in the background, this small gesture felt oddly intimate and encouraging.

A moment of true commiseration.

"I know. You care about him deeply. I told him as much, even if he will never believe." Suminoe's gaze softened on Nekohiko's features -- but only for a moment. Shortly, he averted his eyes, scanning the bleak wintery horizon instead. "People like us will forever have trouble expressing our affection. Our pride, our care for others. We will forever doubt if we even should or if we commit enough to warrant such strong words as 'love'. If we deserve to even use them...

"But I know we do. What else to call it, really?"

...

Nekohiko balked, unsure.

To call what? Nekohiko's feelings for Abihiko? Or... was Suminoe talking about himself?

About something he felt? His affection, his pride, his... care?

For whom? Nekohiko wondered.

"You are the Head Priest of Izumo. I am your Emperor," Nekohiko said clumsily. "Of course you would care about me and feel proud of my achievements. That is... your job, after all."

He didn't mean to say it as though he was putting Suminoe back in his place. He just meant that he couldn't believe a person as removed or as devoted to his job as Suminoe would ever spare true affection to anyone.

Thus, to him, Nekohiko had to be just that -- the Emperor.

Not Nekohiko-the-person. Right?

Suminoe didn't feel offended by the question. He found it amusing. As he ruled Nekohiko back onto their path to the main tent of the camp -- a giant icy cavern created for the occasion by the Lady of the Seas, Hinokuma -- Suminoe told Nekohiko just one single thing:

"Of course, Your Majesty. I would never impose on you. My duties are to the Throne, not to a person. Never worry. I will never forget my place or what my job is."

...

Nekohiko's soul panged with a heavy sadness. He felt as though he and Suminoe had almost had a moment of sincerity between them. Something that they could have told each other. Something meaningful.

But of course no. Not during the war, not after Suminoe had betrayed Nekohiko's trust with that whole Yakabe murder... Ever since then, something had broken between them and had never recovered from it.

Maybe it would. Some other time...

Besides, right now, they had business to attend to. Nothing more important than this.

 

 

---

***

 

"Please notify the Young Prince when he awakens -- that his presence is crucial for solving the issue at hand."

Lady Takarashi's voice was the sweetest. Yet the fact that she said this almost an hour into the council meeting was like a knife wrapped in velvet to Nekohiko's chest.

...

"I am awake," he reminded her.

"Oh?" The beautiful Hisome Lady fluttered her eyelashes as though caught off guard. "Well... you were so quiet and reluctant to speak up that it was hard to tell."

Nekohiko wanted to drop his head into his hands.

He hadn't been that quiet. He had only tried to take into account everyone's words and their demands. They were his Lords and he had to listen to them before he put forth his own orders.

And what she took for reluctance was him unable to comprehend what the Lords wanted from him.

There were five of them and one of him. The barrage of petty grievances and blames they spewed did not help clarify the issue whatsoever.

Hinokuma and Kazuragi were the most frustrated with him. He had injured and nearly killed their aides. Apart from that, those were Hinokuma and Kazuragi whose sister and daughter Nekohiko was supposed to marry after the war. Yet, instead of preserving his premarital solitude, he'd been caught with Abihiko again...

Oh, he could absolutely understand their frustrations with him.

But not when they were screaming from both sides, demanding his attention.

"How can I marry my daughter to the Throne if the Prince is whoring about while pretending he is a mindless vegetable when he clearly isn't?"

"This is a cowardly move," Hinokuma echoed him. "If Your Majesty disagreed with the rules we established about avoiding the Hira Ward -- then backstabbing us all with this behavior is unbefitting the Emerald Throne! Iokirihime cannot marry the Emperor under such unappealing circumstances. Thus, House Towa cannot support Your Majesty in the War. We would have to try our luck with the current Emperor..."

"Traitors," Kazuragi hissed at Hinokuma, out of his mind with disgust. "But sure. Run away. The Nagare army will meet you in the field face-to-face to settle the question once and for all. The Nagare army is stronger than Towa anyway."

"We do not need to be on the opposing sides of the Throne to see how the 'question' would be settled," Hinokuma replied dryly.

"Indeed, we do not."

"My dearest Lords Nagare and Towa are going to rip each others' throats out, ah. While the actual perpetrator is sitting here as silent as a cute little mouse," Lady Takarashi said, giving Hira Okinaga a fond glance.

...

The Hira Lord finally stirred. His mind had been far away just now, as though unable to participate in the debates that went on in the room.

But Takarashi's direct poking could not pass him by.

"Your raising of your Ward has been found lacking," Takarashi crooned, fanning herself. Just the edge of her face veil rippled from the gentle breeze of her round fan with embroidered petals on it. "Dear Abiko is disrespecting all the Great Lords and even the Emperor himself. Either, Dear Okinaga, you have raised him poorly that he thinks this kind of behavior is allowed, or you want him to be like this. In order to push the Hira agenda forward with the Emerald Throne..."

Hira agenda.

What?

Nekohiko unsuccessfully tried to wedge in a word. "This is not the case. Please--"

"House Hira has no agendas. Abihiko is already punished for his misdeeds enough. I keep him around myself at all times, to not let him out of my eye for even a moment. After this council meeting is over, we return to Adamantine Mountain and to our main army's body." Okinaga gave Nekohiko a sideways look and bowed, stiffly. "Serving the Emperor on the battlefield as it befits us."

"Battlefield is a much more suitable place to serve than the Emperor's bed, true!"

Takarashi just couldn't let this go. Whenever Kazuragi or Hinokuma quietened down, their attention shifting to other topics, Takarashi fanned the flames of their resentment, reminding them how grievously Nekohiko's and Abihiko's relationship offended everyone.

"My Lady Takarashi, please keep your insinuations to yourself," Suminoe reminded her. "Abihiko's presence during the Arata-Etsuko incident had happened solely because the constant attacks by the Dark Sisterhood posed such a great danger to Nekohiko's life that I found it reasonable to summon Abihiko to help with guarding Nekohiko's life.

"These two young men have a bond that is very helpful in protecting the future Emperor. That is all. Do not corrupt this relationship with baseless allegations. Including those that claim that Abihiko had done this to disrespect the Lords. He did not.

"I did," Suminoe ended, solemn as though pledging a vow. "It was my decision to let Abihiko and Nekohiko see each other in private, and I bear the sole responsibility for it."

...

"The youths nowadays and their guardians, tsk," Takarashi sighed at last. She reclined in her chair, her eyes contemplative on the ceiling as she went on fanning herself languidly. "Dear Okinaga couldn't raise his Ward properly, and you, Dear Suminoe, could not raise your own disciple either. What is this, with the endless failure to educate and cultivate your disciples in a manner that would make them respectful and pious, humble members of society? Tsk, tsk.

"Or is it because Dear Suminoe and Dear Okinaga have once been classmates in Izumo? Are you two not scheming behind all our backs to have your respective Wards end up together? Perhaps it is not the Young Prince who is favoriting someone, but Dear Suminoe, the Young Prince's guardian?

"And if so -- then what other things can we find in Dear Suminoe that would expose just how much of a failure his guardianship over the future Emperor has been, mmm?"

Slowly, she tapped the edge of her fan against her chin, a flicker of mischief in her luminous eyes.

Her gaze was locked with Suminoe, and Nekohiko felt a shiver of panic creep up his spine at the realization of what Takarashi could do now, in front of all the other Lords.

She could tell them about Yakabe.

And about Suminoe's involvement in Yakabe's murder... If Suminoe was correct in his guesses, then House Hisome knew about Yakabe's assassination and who had been behind it.

She could tell everyone the truth, and nothing would stop her. Thus, the Lords would succeed in doing what they had always wanted most:

Separating Nekohiko from the two only people in his life he could trust and be safe around. Abihiko and Suminoe.

One had already been taken away from him. Now the other one, too?

...

"His Holiness always wanted only the Empire's wellbeing," Nekohiko said quickly. "Any of his methods pursue the good of the people and the Spirits--"

"That is the case, but Your Majesty does not need to defend any of my actions," Suminoe replied. His dignified attitude didn't shift even under the threat of being exposed like this. "I alone am responsible for any of the methods I used to get where we stand now."

Takarashi could do it. Nekohiko saw that she would. Any moment now -- if only to mock them and how flimsy this meeting's peace truly was.

Distraught, Nekohiko shook his head. His heart sped up. Clammy sweat clutched him.

"I am the Emperor," he muttered. It took all of his will to not avert his gaze when Takarashi, Hinokuma, and Kazuragi flicked their eyes to him. He had to withstand this.

Or he would be forever under the heel of all these petty manipulators.

"You cannot demand or order anything from me," he went on, struggling to maintain the steadiness of his voice. "Or from those I choose as my most trusted advisors. Which are Abihiko and His Holiness. Both of them. They are the law, because they stand directly beneath the Throne -- and I will make sure--"

Even Okinaga and Sakai finally met his gaze. Okinaga had always preferred to not take part in the arguments and the heat of the discussions at the Great Lords' meetings. He had never had anything to add or to argue.

The interests of his Lordship and his House had never aligned or strayed too far from what the others decided upon. He was the ultimate silent, agreeable vote in everything.

That he now gave Nekohiko his attention was either incredibly good news. Or incredibly bad.

But Sakai's involvement... it could not have been stranger that he focused on this conversation now. The Lord of Utsuro was never asked about anything in the Empire. His presence was nominal. By law, not by necessity.

Yet now, he watched Nekohiko from his far shadowy corner, and his attention was like standing at the precipice of an abyss. Nekohiko shivered, uncomfortable.

"I will do as the Emperor does," Nekohiko said through immense force. "I will make the decisions. You all will... follow whatever I say, or--"

"You are making ultimatums?" Kazuragi furrowed his brow, straightening in his seat. "You, the person without an army other than those we give you?"

"How are you better than the current Emperor?" Hinokuma asked, her head tilted to the side in utter confusion. "If anything, the current Emperor is more agreeable because if we go back to him, he might give us more benefits and trade-offs now that he is so desperate."

"This is madness. Ultimatums and arrogance," Okinaga whispered, shaking his head. The look he gave Nekohiko was scathing. "If this is how you want to reign this land, this is disappointing."

"As bratty and entitled as all the Emperors are," Kazuragi echoed. "What else did we expect?"

...

"His Majesty does not mean this," Suminoe interjected. Subtly, he began tugging Nekohiko by the sleeve under the table. "Please, let him speak up, and we will sort it all out shortly."

"What is the reason the Young Prince wants to become the Emperor?"

Lady Takarashi's question, as always, hit differently than all the others.

"Was it not the peace and the bright future of all the people of the Empire?" she went on, prodding. "And if so -- then the Young Prince's ultimatums to keep His Holiness Suminoe and his lover Abihiko beside him while they disadvantage the Empire so much... is this not the betrayal of everything the Young Prince stands for?"

...

Nekohiko couldn't respond to them all. They kept stabbing him with all the most hurtful words from all sides. He could not be this quick. He had only woken up from his haze after the seal opening!

And they had jumped into a full-on attack on him at this time?

...

This was so unfair.

Just as unfair as them wanting to punish Abihiko for Nekohiko's misuse of his powers. Just like them wanting to push Suminoe aside, leaving Nekohiko alone.

"I will do the best I can with the Empire. All I ask is not to pose obstacles and hardships on my path..."

Takarashi made an amused face. "Are we the obstacles? The Young Prince's own army and most powerful allies? How intriguing."

This was not remotely what I said.

"And if we do pose obstacles in the Young Prince's path -- like trying to enforce the rules and laws the Young Prince had signed by himself -- will the Young Prince abuse his overwhelming powers against us, too?" Takarashi nodded at Suminoe, puzzled. "His Holiness had told us all about how much in control the Young Prince is of his many opened seals. But by now, His Holiness's judgment needs to be called under question."

"Indeed, if anything, opening so many seals so early in the Emperor's life can make them unruly. Which was the case with Officers Etsuko and Arata," Hinokuma backed Takarashi up.

Kazuragi and Okinaga joined in, clearly very agitated by the new tangent.

"The Emperor's power is so unrestrained, how can we all be secure that this power won't ever be used against us? His Majesty already shows hints of making demands and ultimatums. With his incredible powers, this sounds dangerous."

"Nonsense." Suminoe was also losing the battle against so many voices at once. "His Majesty was fully aware of his actions and what he wanted to do with them. Officers Arata and Etsuko had exceeded their duties at the job. He was only restoring order."

"So he was fully aware of nearly murdering two people?" Takarashi appeared excited the longer this conversation went. "And wanted to do it? That said," she continued, now addressing Hinokuma and Kazuragi as she often did, "Officer Chunatsu has reported that the sight of the battle and deaths of the combatants had evoked the expressions of joy and fun in the Young Prince. Have you read those reports, too?"

"Yes." Hinokuma's tone promised nothing good. "I did."

"I would say this is normal for a young person -- but not when he had almost killed my most trusted aide in a fit of rage," Kazuragi said with a sigh. "And for what? For restraining a criminal?"

Nekohiko could not handle this any more.

He rose from his seat, his fists slamming the table. "Lord Kazuragi, you have nearly murdered me and Abihiko in a fit of rage once, too!"

You are the one to talk.

How... dare you? How can you all be like this?!

Nekohiko should not have reminded Kazuragi about Yakabe's death and its aftermath.

Not when the person who had ordered the murder of Yakabe sat a few meager steps away from Kazuragi. Bad idea.

Kazuragi's eyes darkened, a flash of purple electric light gleaming inside. "Suminoe, contain your fosterling. He is being unruly again."

...

"I am not unruly," Nekohiko whispered, paling. "I am fully in control. I promise you this."

This made Takarashi's eyes crinkle up in a smile. "In control of what? You cannot control your lover, your mentor who commits crimes behind your back, your Lords, your bodyguards, your armies and even your Empire. Please, Young Prince, do tell us -- in control of what are you, exactly?"

It was Okinaga who noted a specific statement in Takarashi's words. His brow creased. "Mentor who commits crimes behind his back? What do you mean, Lady Takarashi?"

"Oh? Ahh..." Takarashi's silvery laughter was like chimes on the breeze. Gleeful, her eyes trailed over to Suminoe in the expression closest to a dark, spiteful victory. "Let me see. I thought everyone would know with how obvious this one is. But if none of you is aware, then I can explain, surely. Lord Yakabe's sudden and shocking demise--"

No.

NO.

Nekohiko's breath stuttered in his throat, his insides petrifying with the terrible premonition of what was to come.

He closed his face with his hands and did the only thing he could do to stop this discussion.

Now.

"I do not need your help in the war against the Usurper!" he screamed, shaken with panic. He gave all the Five Lords before him a lost look, trembling all across. "I can do it on my own. With just... His Holiness and Abihiko at my side."

I... can.

I will be on the Throne. Spirits said so. I do not need the help of anyone. I am the most powerful person in the Empire.

I...

...will do my best, even if my best isn't good enough. As long as I can do it on my own terms.

But as if this were that easy.

Rather than take his words for what they were, Kazuragi and Hinokuma gaped in stunned amazement. Takarashi was the first to begin chuckling softly at his words. But with her prompt, the other two joined in, lost between disbelief and shock.

"Is Young Prince running away from his duties and his own people? Is that so? Is a little bit of ruling already too hard for him to handle? We are just five people. How can he expect to rule over thousands if he cannot manage five?"

"Is this war or a child's play for you?" Kazuragi scowled. "We are doing adult's business here. Not play-pretend, Nekohiko."

"It is still all right as long as he marries Iokirihime in due time," Hinokuma argued. "His input is not necessary in the war. We will win the war for him anyway. What is important is whether he will honor our agreements and marry according to reason."

"Then Kasuga should be the First wife, if so!"

"Need I remind everyone that the question of His Holiness's methods wasn't discussed yet? May we go back to that, please?"

...

"SHUT UP! Shut up you all!"

Nekohiko's hands went for his ears. Just to keep them out of his head.

Out of his mind.

Out of his life.

She felt physically sick with the worry and the endless stress these people were subjecting him to. He wanted to throw up, but had nothing in his stomach. Shivering like a fevered person, he tried to push himself from behind the table and make a run for the doors. But the Lords looked at him with such dismissiveness, he just couldn't fathom making it to the doors.

There, beyond the threshold, would wait five of his Imperial bodyguards. Five loyal servants of their masters.

If he went for the doors, he would just leave this room with terrible people to be trapped by different terrible people in another room.

He would still lose, whether he stayed where he was -- or left.

One word stuck out to him in what Takarashi had told among her last lines.

Run.

Running away from his duties.

From his own people.

Yes. Yes, he thought, mesmerized the how beautifully this sounded to him.

Run away.

However far there was to run.

The potent mixture of his new Hisome powers -- and Towa, and Hira, and Nagare -- flared in his palms like last the source of calm and security he had access to: his endless reserves of power with which he could do anything he wanted.

No?

The searing blast slashed through the wall behind him.

Instantly, defensive spells rose up all around him. The Five Great Lords deserved their titles. They were quick and way too experienced not to realize he was casting a spell to destroy the tent they were all in.

"Suminoe! Control your Disciple! He is gone Savage--! What the hell are you thinking?!"

Hinokuma and Kazuragi assembled shields to keep the structure whole while Okinaga stabilized the ground. Takarashi dispelled the cloud of rock dust Nekohiko's spell had caused.

They were all efficient and fast, yes. But also not fast enough to see what exactly he was doing.

He knew that his bodyguards were powerful Binders, too -- and would track and find him within seconds of him trying to flee. They were his bodyguards, after all. They were meant to always find him and protect him. Even from himself.

Plus, the Great Lords. How could one truly flee such a crowd of immensely strong Binders?

...

Only if he ran through the place none of them had access to.

Through the Spiritside. The Great Lords and the Imperial bodyguards were mighty, true. And they could enter the Spiritside as most Binders could. But they could not move freely through it -- and could not pursue him there. Because out of all of them, only one person here was Spiritually-attuned apart from Nekohiko.

Suminoe.

...

And Nekohiko was sure he could outrun him.

Just one person he needed to flee. Already better odds.

Using the distraction of the wall exploding, Nekohiko swept the dark gust of Spiritside winds over the land -- and shifted into the Spirit realm.

Running as hard as he could. From his duties. From his petty, manipulative, wicked, and selfish people. From this horrible room.

From his inability to handle people at all, period.

Above all -- from Suminoe.

...

He could not look into Suminoe's eyes now and see just how disappointed Suminoe would be.

 

---

***

 

This was such a bizarre flashback to his past.

As though years had vanished, and Nekohiko was once again just a small child during his first days in Izumo. He remembered it all. How his retainers had told him to be a good boy and do as told. To not run away, to not be weak, to not let down everything he'd been born to do.

And yet, here he was once again.

Running away just like on one of his very first days in Izumo. A young man who was not much better or stronger than a child.

Tears burned his eyes even though they didn't fall. He blinked them off, speeding up down the obscure, shadowy paths of the Spiritside. The horizon wavered in the monochrome colors of his surroundings. After the months spent in the rainbow-infused gorgeous landscape of his enlightened sight, this monotone world was depressing.

But fitting with how he felt.

"Nekohiko!"

...

Suminoe's voice. Still following closely behind? Nekohiko had taken care to run away far enough to lose anyone who would pursue him. All of the Great Lords and the bodyguards would not be able to keep up, with how little their attunement with the Spirits was. Of course Suminoe would have an advantage.

But not compared to Nekohiko, yes? Nekohiko was the true Lord of the Spirits -- and thus, he would hide and flee and not be followed.

Let alone dragged back.

Never again.

"Leave me alone!" Nekohiko whispered under his breath, refusing to scream and further disappoint Suminoe in how weak and pathetic he had ended up being.

And with how highly Suminoe had praised him just a few weeks ago...

No, this was too shameful to endure.

"Don't follow me!"

But however fast he ran, hopping over the spectral forms of the real-world counterparts -- shadowy swirls of bushes, the dark lakes of grass, the haggard trees of the Spiritside -- he was inexperienced about escaping through this realm. And it took almost no time for Suminoe to catch up to him.

A wall of wind blocked Nekohiko's path when he wasn't paying attention. He crashed into it. With a pained gasp, he bounced off to the ground. Above him, the flicker of white and black clothes caught his attention, and Nekohiko froze, knowing he had been caught so easily.

Suminoe stopped mere feet away, his elegant priestly robes and long black hair swaying after the mad dash he'd just done. But his expression remained the same as always. Not upset, neither disappointed.

Only thoughtful.

"Nekohiko, you should not run away like this."

"I know." The pain and shame came out in Nekohiko's voice, giving him a sobbing tune even when he didn't intend it. Heavily, he pushed himself off the ground to face Suminoe.

Everything about him felt disheveled and inappropriate and unruly. Just like the Lords had said. Compared to the pristine Head Priest, Nekohiko could not have felt less befitting the title of the Emperor.

"But I cannot handle the duties of reigning when all the Lords hound me like this. I don't think I am cut out for ruling, if this is what ruling is like."

Being trampled by everyone. Being abused...

Had Sakai been right all those years ago when he had told Nekohiko they weren't that different? And that he, Sakai, the Lord of Nothing -- had the same power over people of the Empire that Nekohiko, Lord of Everything?

So, no powers at all?

Being powerful magically didn't imply one would have freedom or choices to make or to not be abused by people. Sometimes, unlimited power felt most like... a prison cell Nekohiko had always been destined for.

He reeled.

"I did not mean that you shouldn't run from your duties," Suminoe corrected him. "I just meant that you shouldn't run away through the Spiritside because nobody would be able to follow you. Apart from me."

"You are more than enough." Pained, Nekohiko turned away, focusing his sight on the endless waver of the Spiritside's darkness.

It soothed him, the hollowness of this domain, and how silent and bleak it was compared to the frenetic nature of the human realm.

After the council with the Lords... this was the best he could accept to calm down.

"You have always caught me, even when I was a child, trying to run away from you that first time," Nekohiko mumbled. "There is no need for anyone else because you will always remind me of my duties. I will never truly escape, will I?"

...

Suminoe's clothes stirred as he moved. Faintly, his chin dropped as he pondered. He stepped up to Nekohiko, side-by-side, watching him warily.

"Is that what you think I've been doing all these years? Catching you and never letting go?"

"You did tell me that your whole life's goal is to put me on the Throne, so... I do not think I have any other way of thinking about you or what you want."

Rather than reply or deny this, Suminoe kept quiet.

He gazed at Nekohiko and chose to not add any more words to the moment between them. Then, shyly, he put his hand on top of Nekohiko's head. It lay there heavily and clumsily, as though the hand of someone who didn't know how to show tenderness or affection.

But was desperately trying to.

"Nekohiko, me being the only person to follow you here is not a good thing. There are other people... or at least one other person who would want to follow you, but won't be able to. Do not shut him out by running away like this."

"Abihiko will understand," Nekohiko said stubbornly. 

"No, he will not. If you end up coming to harm because of something so stupid, he won't. Your life is constantly under threat. The Usurper's assassins track you and plan ambushes and traps for you at every point. And if one of the Great Lords is on their side, then you running away like this might be... just another scheme to push you into what they truly want.

"Do not let them."

He wrapped his arm around Nekohiko's elbow and gave it a tentative tug.

Back toward where they had come from.

Back to the Great Lords and the bodyguards... and to Abihiko, who was among them.

Nekohiko had never felt more betrayed. He freed his elbow from Suminoe's hold, shaking his head in negation as he backed away.

"No. I am not going back to them. They will keep abusing me, and you, and Abihiko. I do not want to take part. I would rather not have the allyship of all these Lords than to surrender to their whims ever again. I am sick of their squabbles and hatred.

"I refuse to go back."

This time, Suminoe was getting visibly annoyed. He threw a glance around, then at Nekohiko.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else? Nekohiko, this is the middle of nowhere -- and the Dark Sisters are perfectly capable of entering the Spiritside. They cannot run through it, but they can be very close, without you realizing."

"Stop diverting my attention! The issue with the Lords is not solved yet!"

Never will be.

Instead of arguing more, Suminoe snapped his hand at Nekohiko and caught his wrist. The hold of his fingers was so harsh, it felt bruising, straining the fragile bone.

"The Lords squabbling is the least of your troubles. They are playing you! Even right now -- you are being pushed right into their trap. You, being here all alone with only me at your side -- and no other people to protect you with?! Nekohiko, wake up. We have to leave right now. We have to go back to where you will be safe."

...

To... the Lords?

Are you insane, Suminoe?

"N-no!"

Nekohiko had much more strength now than when he'd been a child. He and Suminoe were equals. One single maneuver -- and Nekohiko shoved Suminoe away. While he was at it, he swept a repulsing spell, too -- a gust of wind he shot at Suminoe to keep him at bay.

Suminoe diverted the wind stream with his own spells. He dropped to his feet several steps from Nekohiko, watching him with the ever-more upset expression. Dead leaves and snowflakes from the frozen ground fluttered around him, slowly settling down on his robes.

"Do not you dare touch me," Nekohiko warned him. "Next time, my spell will hit much harder."

They were fighting now.

Nekohiko felt down, himself. But not to the extent that he would allow Suminoe to drag him back where he didn't want to go.

He wanted to turn away and leave -- wherever his heart would lead him, but--

Yeah.

He felt it, too.

The presence of the dark, cursed aura nearby.

His soul reacted to it in an instant, snapping his body in a film of chill and tension.

He froze, his hands whipping to his chest to form an attacking spell in case anyone jumped at him. But so far, nobody did. He couldn't even see his potential attackers if they were there...

Either they were hiding in the real world just outside the Spiritual realm, or...

They were hidden here, right next to him. Exactly as Suminoe had warned him.

Suminoe didn't say "I told you so". He simply dashed toward Nekohiko to put his hand on his shoulder and lend him even a bit of his protective touch.

As though Nekohiko hadn't hit him moments ago.

As though none of that mattered to Suminoe. Only Nekohiko's safety did.

"Go back to the Lords, now," Suminoe cut, his voice solemn. With one free hand, he whooshed his sleeves in the direction of where he and Nekohiko had come from beyond the desolate landscape of the Spiritside.

Immediately, like a guiding light, a silvery glow of Suminoe's magic shone up. Its trickly, beautiful glow made a trail for them to follow to find their way back through the darkness. And out of this white shimmer, came out a shape -- a wisp, slowly coalescing into the form of the giant Spirit Fox with nine tails sweeping behind it.

Ashflake.

Nekohiko hadn't seen it in ages! Even the sight of the majestic beast filled him with the sense of hope he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Quick," Suminoe ordered, and Nekohiko did not dare resist any longer.

"Mn!"

The two of them rushed toward the Spirit Fox that lowered itself to the ground to let them onto its back. Yet just at the moment when the fabulous silvery fur of its side brushed against Nekohiko's hands as he mounted it--

A horrible voice caught him off guard.

"Your Holiness Suminoe and Your Majesty Nekohiko?"

It sounded so painfully familiar, this voice.

As though coming to them from beyond the grave.

"Two people responsible for my death. Do you believe you are free to leave me just like that?" Yakabe's eerily warped voice taunted, reverberating disturbingly through the hollow Spiritside.

Behind them, out of the mists that swaddled the dark expanses of this world, came out several figures.

Most of them dressed in dark colors best fit for assassinations and spying work. Like a uniform these horrible women preferred to wear.

Dark Sisters.

And in their lead, came a young man. In the recognizable garments of the Nagare hues, with the hair left undone, streaming down his cadaverously-pale face like seaweed.

His features were... familiar, yes. Yakabe's refined features, but somehow gone wrong -- twisted in the evil mockery of what Yakabe's expressions had always been. Unlike the real Yakabe, who had always smiled gently like a kind-hearted man he'd been, this Yakabe was sneering.

A feral grin on his lips.

Now that Nekohiko had unlocked his Hisome seal, he could tell... He knew for sure. This wasn't even the ghoul Puppet of Yakabe. And this wasn't a Dark Sister.

This was a very high-level Hisome Binder, wearing a glamor of Yakabe with which he could torment Nekohiko and Suminoe both.

But heavens, was this glamor incredibly well-done. So well, part of Nekohiko still felt paralyzed by what he saw and refused to believe he was seeing. And judging by how tense Suminoe's shoulder next to Nekohiko's became, all these panicked, guilty thoughts were paralyzing Suminoe, too.

Suminoe breathed through the mouth, his brow furrowing for the very first time that Nekohiko had seen it.

Anguish was written on Suminoe's face, so unfit to be there.

"You are not him," Suminoe told the Yakabe's imposter, but his voice cracked, vulnerable.

"Of course I am not. Yakabe is no more. He is dead. You two killed him." Fake Yakabe's eyes crinkled up in crescents as he tilted his head to the side. "I am but a vengeful ghost from the underworld. Coming to punish those who had wronged me. Should you not know better, Your Holiness? What the rules of the Spirits are?

"Judgment cannot be stopped."

The fake Yakabe slowed down, all the Dark Sisters fanning around him as though in an attacking formation.

"Have I not been waiting for a moment like this for a very, very long time?" the man whispered, smiling at Suminoe most sweetly with his bloodied, rotting mouth.

 

 

---

***

 

"Run!" Suminoe snapped to Ashflake.

They weren't staying to see what this bizarre Yakabe imposter could do. They knew he was a fake, and yet...

And yet...

It just hurt, seeing Yakabe, broken like this -- used like a Puppet against them.

Nekohiko was too dismayed to act. He didn't know what to do!

He had only woken up early in the morning today. He had spent the last few months inside the prison of his own powers, and the first things he'd awakened to -- were news of Abihiko being punished, the ugly fight with the Lords, and then the quarrel with Suminoe.

Now this?!

His sanity felt strained to the highest degree.

Suminoe had it under control, though -- and he spurred Ashflake to run. Past the copses of trees and the snow-ridden landscape -- away, away from the ambush.

Himself, Suminoe stayed behind.

"I'll hold them off! Go out of the Spiritside and meet the Great Lords! Call Okinaga, call Kazuragi!"

Nekohiko could hardly understand what was happening, so lost he was. He clung to Ashflake's fur, watching only as the silhouettes of Suminoe and the Dark Sisters receded in the distance.

But the way Suminoe was entering that battle, it didn't seem like he would sway.

He looked confident. And, Spirits, Nekohiko believed Suminoe could win -- as long as he wasn't distracted by Nekohiko's safety. Just like Yakabe years ago. The sole reason Yakabe had died was because he had been worried about Nekohiko's life more than about his own.

The best Nekohiko could do now -- was to free Suminoe's hands and not be a burden to him in this fight.

Thus, he fled, safe with Ashflake.

But it wasn't that easy.

The two of them could not be persecuted by the Dark Sisters or the fake Yakabe. Whoever that person was -- they weren't Spiritually-attuned, and could not move freely through the Spiritside like Nekohiko and Suminoe. Good.

Great!

But there was someone else who could pursue them.

Or better to say -- something.

Nekohiko sensed the flaring of the Hisome Spiritual powers too late to duck out of the way. An explosion of pale, misty light struck the spot where Ashflake was running to -- and out of it, emerged...

A creature.

A Spirit?

But a Spirit so bizarre, Nekohiko couldn't even see what it was or why it decided to block his and Ashflake's path. He was the Emperor. No Spirit in the Land would stand in his way!

Yet this one did -- and its enormous size, hulking over Ashflake like a mountain of impenetrable mist, was truly terrifying.

The collision between the two Spirits sent Ashflake flying backward. Nekohiko was flung off its back. His shoulder hit the ground, then his knee, and his elbow, cracking under his weight.

"Aaaaarghhhhh!" A cry of pain split his lungs as he rolled to a halt amidst the frosty meadow.

Maddened, he whipped his face upward to catch the glimpse of the Spirit that had dared to attack him and Ashflake. But he could not see a thing.

The Spirit was gone as though never there.

...

What... was it?

Nekohiko knew he had felt the barest hints of Hisome powers, but... he hadn't been able to witness the actual Spirit. And besides, all the Spirits in the Land responded to him, drawn to his Imperial blood. This one had been so... antagonistic.

And so enormous, almost colossal in its size and power. Yet it dissipated within seconds like the mist itself.

Wait, a cold thought struck Nekohiko at the realization.

He had heard of this.

The Bizarre Beast of House Hisome.

Yagirimono¹夜靄物, Yagirimono = "The Thing from the Evening Mists".

Nobody knew what it looked like or even if it had a shape. But everyone knew just how deadly and terrifying it was -- and how utterly unnoticeable by anyone who was not of Hisome bloodline.

Was that it?

The actual Bizarre Beast of House Hisome? Or... was Nekohiko's mind reeling, lost in confusion? He saw nothing now -- could he have been mistaken?

He swerved his head left and right, trying to understand what he needed to do now. The guiding white light Suminoe had created to lead Nekohiko back to the Great Lords was still shining softly to the north of where Nekohiko was, and Nekohiko struggled to his feet to follow it.

"Ashflake," he coughed, fighting the pain from the collision as he shambled on. "Ashflake, come! We have to keep going."

The Spirit Fox wasn't answering.

Soon Nekohiko saw why.

The gentle, silvery Spirit was smeared into a Spiritual blur right before his eyes... As though the powerful Spirit Beast that had attacked them had torn Ashflake in half, leaving only the flickers and wisps of its Spiritual essence in its wake. The silvery particles rose like fireflies from the cold grass -- clinging only a little to Nekohiko's stunned figure.

"..."

He blinked, as though wishing to dispel this nightmare.

Ashflake was... injured? By that vile monster in the mists?

WHY?

He swung around, his eyes roving the shadowy, uncanny landscape. Trees like skeletal carcasses, bushes with beastly shapes, the bleak, grim horizon...

The Spirit Fox would not die from this, he knew. It was a Spirit, after all. It could survive this and come back one day -- fully formed once again. But for the moment, Ashflake was but a few vanishing butterflies of Spiritual essence. Nothing that could come to his aid if he needed it.

And nothing that could protect him if he was under an attack.

The realization that he was completely alone, hell knew where -- without a single soul knowing where he was...

It hit him differently now. Now that he knew there were forces in this world that could play against him so viciously. Not just the assassins and Dark Sisters. Something else.

Something sinister and ugly, right in the Spirit mists of his own land.

His own Binders who plotted against him and pushed Spirits to harm him and to harm other Spirits, kind ones who had never done anyone wrong -- like Ashflake.

...

He heaved, holding his broken arm with his hand, unable to believe the devastation that was Ashflake before him. His breaths were so fast he didn't even hear soft footsteps coming closer at first.

But when he did--

"Hellooo," Yakabe's mocking voice called him from the back.

Like a whip to Nekohiko's senses.

Nekohiko struck without even looking. His honed reflexes guided him into a flurry of hits -- and if only he were fighting against a fair opponent, he would have taken him down.

But the imposter wasn't alone. There were several others beside him. And their fast knives could not be dealt with just one lost and confused youth -- at all. Dark Sisters, quite a few of them.

A few cuts and slices dug into Nekohiko's flesh from all the sides. The sounds of snicking and cutting were thin whistles in the air, so fast they were. The Dark Sisters moved so sinuously, he couldn't trace them all. He wouldn't bother anyway, because all of his focus went to the Yakabe's taunting face before him as the imposter sprang out of Nekohiko's range, wearing that same despicable sneer at all times.

Sweat and tears scalded Nekohiko's face. His strikes were getting less and less precise or powerful, but he just couldn't help it.

This whole day was like a nightmare after awakening from a different one.

He half-thought he was still asleep, so frustrating everything tonight was.

One more failed dodge on Nekohiko's side, and a cruel boot smashed into his knee, toppling him. Blinded with his anger, Nekohiko didn't even react to the pain.

Only to the feeling of defeat this whole night had given him. On all fronts.

Suminoe's voice clashed above them like thunder.

"GET AWAY from him!" 

With a mesmerizing blur of black and white robes flapping, Suminoe sprang right before Nekohiko and the assassins who were slashing and hacking at him all this while, leaving him a bloodied, panicked mess on the ground.

Suminoe created a potent hurricane and repelled them all -- as far as his powers let him. Then, without a single look back -- he lunged after them. To pursue them, to finish them off before too late.

The flash of his beautiful, elegant figure in the sky as he flew toward the fake Yakabe. Bleary, tear-eyed, Nekohiko followed Suminoe's motions as though in a dream. He saw how Suminoe's silhouette flung the rest of the Dark Sisters away from Nekohiko, then focused solely on the fake Yakabe. Fast-paced combinations of Nagare electric bursts arching in the air, Hira explosions, Towa ice prisons -- and Suminoe brought the wretch down.

He was so efficient, so competent, so... good at this.

Nekohiko almost believed they could make it.

Suminoe finally pushed the fake Yakabe to the ground and launched himself onto him, ripping his pathetic Hisome glamor disguise off to see his face. In one of Suminoe's hands, was already formed an Utsuro Splitting spell. To kill on the spot. To forever rid this earth of the person who had dared to taunt them with Yakabe's face like this.

But...

If Yakabe's face had made Nekohiko and Suminoe stumble in disbelief and ache, then whatever Suminoe was seeing before him now -- froze him over.

Suminoe and the imposter were too far away from Nekohiko for him to see what Suminoe was looking at, but he knew.

Something was terribly wrong.

The person Suminoe held in his hands willing to kill them -- must have been too familiar to Suminoe. Because rather than kill him with his spell, Suminoe halted.

He dawdled, only looking at that person -- lost and incapable of dealing that final blow, after all.

And that was more than enough.

The imposter swerved in his hand a quick and small weapon -- and drove it right into Suminoe's stomach, using the moment of Suminoe's distraction.

"Suminoe, NOOO!" Nekohiko shrieked. From behind the Head Priest, a dark shadow of black fumes zoomed toward him, too. A Dark Sister.

Her knife also plunged deep into Suminoe's body from the back while the imposter wrung his blade in him harder from the front.

Together, the combined power of the two of them...

As though gleeful, the imposter wrung himself out of Suminoe's hold and planted a mocking kiss on Suminoe's forehead as he parted away from him. His knife and the knife of the Dark Sister stabbed and shredded into Suminoe, then broke away -- cutting through from both sides.

Suminoe's final moments were utterly quiet.

His hands fell down from casting a spell. But not any spell to repel or protect himself. Only a small spell to call someone.

Okinaga and Kazuragi. As though the last thoughts he had in his mind were not about preserving his own life, but rather... about getting someone here, as fast as possible...

To protect Nekohiko. Because himself, Suminoe was not able to.

When the Dark Sister and the imposter jumped away from the Head Priest, his body simply... collapsed. Broken almost in half by the two of them.

Like a doll, used and thrown aside no better than garbage.

...

From so far away, all Nekohiko saw was the outline of that haunting image.

Just as years ago.

On that street in Izumo town. When Suminoe had jumped in front of Nekohiko for the very first time to protect him from the deadly strike. Suminoe's blood had drizzled onto Nekohiko's face back then. From the hit Suminoe had taken to spare Nekohiko.

His blood had been hot and horrible.

Nekohiko could almost taste it even now. Could remember its scent vividly. Could feel how it would exhale at his own face and fingers -- like rain drizzle on the coldest night of the year, chilling him instantly.

Suminoe was falling down too far away from him now.

But Nekohiko still somehow knew what it would feel like, to be right next to him and see and hear as though on repeat...

Suminoe's broken body hit the cold ground as the two figures departed from it. One a dark and shadowy figure -- receding into the nightly chill the moment she was done with her job. Like a perfect professional she was.

And the other figure...

Nekohiko's deadened eyes stared, without seeing.

This person... in Yakabe's disguise. Who were they? Why...

Why would Suminoe not kill them when he'd had the chance? Who--

--the hell--

--were they!

His limbs were frozen and heavy. He could not move, only staring blankly at the person who stood far off, almost blending with the mists behind them.

Like part of the mists, themselves.

"Sumi...noe," Nekohiko finally uttered. He unfroze from his daze, realizing late that he should do to Suminoe what he hadn't done to Yakabe because he'd had too little magic back then.

He should heal him. Before it was too late and Suminoe died!

He could still do it--! He was much more powerful now!

...his footsteps were lame, almost failing him as he struggled to run over to Suminoe's fallen body.

"It's your fault, you know," the Yakabe's imposter told him in the foul parody of Yakabe's voice.

Their glamor disguise was no longer on their face, but they were hiding their true features under the curtains of long hair and the hood of Yakabe's robes, drawn low on their face.

Nekohiko stopped, trembling.

He could not see the person's expression, but he could swear -- they were smiling.

"You killed him. By running away like a little coward you are. He died because of you," the stranger kept twisting the pain in Nekohiko's heart, merciless. "You worthless piece of shit."

...

Rather than reply, Nekohiko directed all of his shock and ache at that stranger -- in one of the most potent fusions of all the Lords' methods he had access to.

An explosion of powers, aiming to obliterate and destroy. But he didn't manage to do it.

The imposter exited the Spiritside right before the searing blast could reach them. And, dazed in his fury, Nekohiko followed after, wishing nothing but to catch up to them and bring them to justice. To see their face -- to make them see Suminoe's face, too!

What they had done to him -- for no reason!

Nekohiko was deadly silent. He didn't need words to communicate with this person. He only needed to get them and restrain them.

...

The gravity of the human world crushed him as he fled the Spiritside to pursue his tormentor. All the Dark Sisters were gone. Half of them dead by Suminoe's hand, half of them... just gone, without a trace. As though they had never intended to assassinate Nekohiko as everyone had always warned him they would.

No. They were after some other goal.

Just like this taunting, imposter scum who wasn't fleeing Nekohiko that fast, either.

When Nekohiko came out from the Spiritside, there the imposter was. Just a few feet away, as though waiting for Nekohiko. As though teasing him to come out and chase him.

The person wasn't in a hurry to leave.

Slowly, they were walking backward from Nekohiko, observing every last bit of hatred and anger and spite on Nekohiko's face as though reveling in it.

Why aren't you running from me?

Are you not afraid? Why are you not afraid of me?

You are the first person in the world I have ever wanted to kill so badly, Nekohiko thought, brimming with tension and rage that coursed through him.

Do you think I will not dare to murder you? Gods, you must be madder than I am.

It was as though the imposter knew what Nekohiko's thoughts were. Because they lifted their finger toward Nekohiko and pointed.

Pointed behind Nekohiko -- over to where Suminoe had fallen, just moments ago.

"He's dead. And you know what that means? Mmm?"

...

Nekohiko stilled in his tracks.

He did know what this meant. And how helpless he was before what was coming.

He already felt it.

The Spiritside seal that Suminoe had locked on Nekohiko after Nekohiko's birth. The Five Great Lords' seals, the Imperial seal of Nekohiko's parents. And finally, the Spiritside seal of the Head Priest of Izumo.

It had come apart, too, with Suminoe's death.

Which meant...

Nekohiko's heart bled with the tenderest of shatters.

Suminoe... had died.

He had truly died, and this was the reason one other seal was opening inside Nekohiko.

He hadn't even awoken from his past one yet! He hadn't had time to... do anything! He hadn't had time to see Abihiko after awakening, he hadn't had time to talk to Suminoe without fighting with him all the time--

He hadn't had time to...

...tell him he was sorry.

That he hadn't meant to run away. Neither now, nor years ago -- as though he had always hated being in Suminoe's vicinity. As though Suminoe had always been only a prison guard in his life. As though Nekohiko had despised him or that he had perceived him only for his duties and his job...

He hadn't told him that Suminoe had meant more to him. That he hadn't been only his aide. Only his advisor.

Someone Nekohiko could almost say he... loved.

He was out of tears to cry. He only had his self-hatred and the sense of futility to cling to as he sensed the Spiritside seal claiming the last shreds of his attention. He could not delay or push it away -- this imminent creep of apathy and ethereal haze that was claiming him back after only a single day he'd spent out of it.

"I will find you--" he promised the imposter who was still walking away leisurely, almost as though on a stroll through the desolate cold field. "I will find you and I will kill you."

The imposter wasn't baited. But their teeth gleamed in their mouth as they smiled at Nekohiko, mocking.

"Good luck having more people die to save you before you do that," the imposter told him.

The sharpest of knives they could have sliced through Nekohiko's soul.

Even the traces of their voice were dissipating in the cold, wintery wind. Nekohiko was slowly being clutched in the swaddling layers of the newest seal opening, falling to his knees as he observed... this hateful person simply walking away from him.

"Good night. I don't believe you will ever wake up from this. So... sweet dreams, I guess," were the last words the imposter said before the remnants of Nekohiko's consciousness descended below the surface of the vastly-dark well.

If his previous times of the seals opening had been like dreams, then this...

This was surely a nightmare.

 

 

---

***

 

He was found only a bit later, sitting alone on the chilly meadow, clinging to the half-mutilated body of Suminoe and cradling it to himself as though a pillow he was desperately hugging for warmth and comfort.

Must have been a sight to anyone who could see him.

The Great Lords had found him soonest. Okinaga and Kazuragi among the very first just as Suminoe had intended. Abihiko was with them, and so were the other members of the Great Houses. Morokata, Iokirihime. All the Imperial bodyguards...

Nekohiko could not focus much on what they were asking of him or what he might have responded to them.

He did not care about them any more.

Only one thought was obsessive and repetitive on his tongue. Something he needed to communicate to them. Something he needed to ask.

Even Abihiko could not break to him through the impenetrable wall of this obsession.

"Neko? Neko! Talk to me -- Neko! I am here! Are you all right?!" Abihiko threw desperate glances back, to his Ward Father. Not that Okinaga could do anything for either of them. "What is wrong with him?! Why is he like this? Neko!"

Only one person took all of Nekohiko's attention. Out of all of them.

Sakai.

Nekohiko reached out his hand to him the moment he felt Sakai's proximity.

The man was right behind him and Abihiko, throwing his tall, menacing shadow over them. Sakai's unreadable face gazed down upon them and on the remains of what had once been the beautiful and graceful Suminoe.

In Sakai's dark eyes, a faint abyss of amusement wafted. Or maybe it was merely a reflection -- something many people around them might have felt and Sakai only exposed by the nature of his somber, indifferent presence.

Morokata beside him was shaking his head in concern, Hibiki craned his neck to see better. Lady Takarashi held them both off, too bothered by the tragedy that had found House Hisome tonight.

"Ah, this is so sad, so depressing," she kept sobbing in her fan, leaning heavily on her son and the young dollmaker. "And to think of it -- Dear Suminoe had never wanted to be part of House Hisome. And yet this still breaks my heart!"

"Tsk, Dear Mother... don't even say. I am gutted, too. Who knew that his involvement with the Emerald Throne would end like this?"

Nekohiko didn't even know Morokata would be here tonight.

Why? He hadn't seen Morokata in ages, yet he was here now...? How odd. How odd that Morokata found Suminoe's death disconcerting, too.

Who would have thought?

All of it so incomprehensible.

"Neko, come on. Let him go," Abihiko was telling him, tenderly trying to free Suminoe's cold, motionless hands out of Nekohiko's grip. "You have to let him be. He is at peace now. Neko... Let him go."

...

No.

Never.

"Lord Sakai," Nekohiko uttered, lifting his eyes toward the shadowy, threatening silhouette that was the Lord of Nothing. "Lift the Utsuro seal from me."

"Neko, what are you doing--! Neko, don't!"

Nekohiko only smiled.

The imposter had told him he wouldn't be able to wake up from this nightmare?

How silly.

Of course he would.

He just had to do everything in his power to do so.

"Everything will be fine, you'll see," Nekohiko promised Abihiko and raised his hand, openly and trustingly -- toward Sakai, who hadn't moved an inch.

Only his eyes flicked down, focusing grimly on Nekohiko's proffered hand.

"If I open all the seals, I will revive Suminoe just like that."

...

And then, this nightmare would end. You and me and Suminoe... and everyone else we like and care about -- will be fine and at peace and I will make sure of all of that.

As though this nightmare had never been in the first place.

...

Won't it?