Leaving Astrid behind, I followed Akano into the town. My home—the castle, resided at the end of the capital so it took quite some time to actually enter the town itself. The sights resembled an NPC city in the MMORPG's I played. The houses were aligned on both sides of the flagstone road made of tan colored wood and were no taller than about three stories. The same for the buildings and other various structures too.

 

The capital appeared busy. People, or should I say Demons filled the roads, each moving with a sense of purpose. Most of them were dressed in medieval style clothing. Everyone had pointy ears along with some form of horns however, no one’s horns looked like mine or my Father's. I guess that's only to be expected though. When the townspeople noticed Akano and I, they slid out of the way and greeted us with a pleasant smile or a lighthearted bow.

 

"Look! It's the Princess!"

 

"Princess Yukina Good Morning!"

 

"She's all grown up now! She looks so lovely!"

 

Red-faced, I slid closer towards Akano and sort of hid behind her. I knew that they were just being nice and friendly but I wasn't use to being the center of attention. From being an outcast who everyone looked down on to being a princess to who everyone looked up to, is kind of a huge jump. Not to mention that I've only just gotten comfortable around my family.

 

We continued walking through the capital for about five minutes before stopping at fruit market that was posted up off to the side of the road.

 

"Yuki, do you mind if we stop here for a second? I have a little business with someone here." She asked.

 

"A little business?"

 

I shook my head.

 

We walked up to the front desk of the market which was just a table that had a white tablecloth draped over it. On the ground on both sides of Akano and I were crates full of different types fruits stacked up on top of each other so high that it towered completely over both of our heads. The owner (I'm assuming), was on the other side of the table, scurrying through some more boxes of fruits behind the table, his back turned towards us. He seemed to be muttering to himself.

 

Akano rang the sliver call bell on the table, trying to get his attention.

 

"One second." The old demon groaned.

 

Akano rang the bell once more. Well, I said “rang” but in actuality, she slammed her fist onto the button. It was clear to me that she wasn’t a “Patient Person”.

 

"I said one second." He groaned even louder without facing us.

 

Akano then, unsheathed her sword from her scabbard, angled it right over the top of the bell, and impaled it, destroying the bell, eliciting a dying sound from it.

 

"Huh?!"

 

Enraged, the man furiously stood up and turned around. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE-" He started before looking at the golden emblem that was dangling from the chain around Akano's neck. Immediately after recognizing the symbol, beads of sweat started to drip from his face. Quickly, his angry facial expression changed into a scared one. "T-The Association?!" He sputtered nervously. His eyes shifted towards me. "And the Princess?!?!" He exclaimed even more startled. "P-Please excuse my rudeness, Your Highness." He glanced momentarily at Akano's sword which stabbed through the bell like a shish kebab and was currently implanted into the table. "W-What can I do for you?" He asked while anxiously rubbing his hands together. "An apple? Or maybe an orange?"

 

"You know why I'm here, Mr. Klein." Akano answered plainly.

 

Mr. Klein scratched his patchy grey beard.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Miss." He said in an "I really do know but I'm going to pretend I don't" tone but Akano snuffed it out.

 

"You don't say..." She averted her gaze to her sword then back at him and made sure that he noticed her doing so, in an attempt to send a message.

 

"Okay, okay, maybe I do know." He confessed while sighing. "I just....need more time."

 

"Even more time? Was the additional time that we allotted you not enough?"

 

"Business isn't at its best right now—I mean look, who would want to buy fruits from me when there's another shop that's larger than mines not too further from here? Not to mention that it has been here way longer than I have. You understand right? "

 

"You’re right." Akano admitted as she pulled her sword out from the table, revealing the gaping hole it made. "But that isn't the Association's problem. That's your problem. Pay your debt Mr. Klein. In a weeks’ time you better have what I came here for. Or else..." She skewered her sword through an innocent pear that was standing idly on the table, eliciting a terrifying *squish* sound from it and yelp from Mr. Klein. She slid it off with her hand and placed the pierced pear back onto the table.

 

"I-I understand. Thank you for giving me more time."

 

"Don't thank me, just get it done." She started to walk away and I turned around to follow her, only to have my foot accidentally back into the tower of crates behind me. It started to wobble towards me and eventually began to fall in my direction.

 

"Yuki watch out!" Akano yelled in hope that her voice would get me to jump out of the way of the crashing skyscraper of crates but I couldn't move. My legs felt like they were paralyzed.

 

『Tempo Spark! 』

 

Now for what happened next, if you blinked, you would have missed it. In less than a second, Akano dashed forward with lighting speed and like a knife through hot butter, slashed through the crates of fruit that were about to topple onto me, leaving a streak of blue in the air above us. Perfectly cut-in-half apples and oranges dropped from the sky above us like rain.

 

Akano put her sword away and gripped me by the shoulder, thrusting me out of all the confusion.

 

"Yuki are you alright?!" She asked me, her voice full of concern.

 

"Y-Yeah...."

 

She exhaled a breath of relief. "Thank goodness."

 

"I'm not alright!!" Mr. Klein cried out. "My fruits! What have you done!? How will you pay for this?!"

 

I looked around us and understood why he was upset. Along with dozens of destroyed crates, more than a hundred apples and oranges were split open and lying on the ground in every direction you looked. You would have thought that some type of fruit throwing festival had just taken place if you walked by.

 

"Let’s just call this….The Overdue Fee." Akano told him. "Next time pay what you owe on time." She turned back towards me. "Let's go."

 

We started to walk away when I heard Mr. Klein mutter "Damn Association Lapdog" under his breath while he was cleaning up the mess. I'm sure Akano heard him too but she chose to ignore him and continued walking.

 

 

"Sorry you had to see that." Akano told me. "It's just that Mr. Klein had been evading The Association for some time now so they sent me to deal with it. It's a pain but it has to be done by someone, right?"

 

She let out an exhausted sigh. "Anyways now that that's over with, let's change the subject. Excited about tomorrow?" She asked me.

 

"Tomorrow?"

 

And then I remembered. The first day at the Academy was tomorrow. I had totally forgotten about it. Since arriving in this world, I had more or less accepted some things but that was the one thing I wasn't going to budge on.

 

"No." I responded firmly.

 

Akano laughed a little. "That was quick. Why not? Nervous?

 

"That's not it. I just....."

 

I stopped my sentence halfway. I couldn't tell her that I had long abandoned the idea of going to school since……… well, since I stopped attending high school in the past and became an addict to the drug called Video Games.

 

"So you are nervous." She deduced. "I can understand though, with you being the Princess and all. Actually, it would be weirder if you weren't a little anxious about it." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "Well if it makes you feel any better, I'll be right beside you for most of the time, just like I have been for the past seven years.

 

"Seven years? Maybe that's why I feel so comfortable around her."

 

I nodded my head. "Thanks."

 

One thing was bothering me though. It was the fact that I still didn't know where we were heading to. So, I asked her.

 

"Oh. Well...you'll see." She replied.

 

 

———————————————————————

 

A few paces and a few minutes later, we arrived in front of a building that was just a little bigger than the rest of the structures in the capital. I read the wooden sign that hanged from the door.

 

"Medical Clinic"

 

I immediately turned back towards Akano who just rubbed the back of her head and apologized.

 

"Sorry I didn't tell you but that was only because I knew you wouldn't have agreed to come. I know you don't like the coming here but trust me, it's for your own good."

 

"My own good?" I questioned.

 

"Well," Akano reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out the folded up note that was passed around between my two maids before ending up in her hands. "It basically says here that you've been acting out of it yesterday, and that I should take you in here for a checkup."

 

"I thought I told Elvira I was fine. Elvira must've still had her doubts..."

 

Which I wasn't too upset about. It was nice having someone worry about you for once.

 

Akano folded up the note, returned it back to her pocket and studied me. "Hmm, maybe a fever? Here, hold still."

 

She closed the distance between us, reached around and placed her right hand on the back of my head. She then leaned her forehead into my forehead and held it there for a while, as if she was comparing the temperature of her body to mine, only allowing mere inches to separate my face from hers. Her eyes were the color of steel, and had the same sense of sharpness and hardness as them. However, behind their rock hard appearance, I could tell that there were fragments of softness and kindness hidden in the walls of grey.

 

"I don't think so but it's hard to tell." Akano concluded as she let go and stepped back. "I'm sure Ms. Tera could find out though."

 

For some odd reason, a chill ran down my spine when I heard Akano say that name. Nevertheless, I wrote it off as nothing and followed her through the wooden doors of the clinic.