We entered the clinic and walked up to the front desk where there was a demon woman with long purple hair wearing a white nurse outfit sitting on a chair behind it. She looked up from the clipboard she was holding upon us approaching.

 

"Good Morning. What brings you two in today?"

 

"Just a check-up for her," Akano answered the nurse.

 

"A check-up for the Princess? Didn't she come in already not too long ago? If I remember right, her next appointment isn't supposed to until for about two more weeks,"

 

"Yeah but it seems she's been feeling a little sick recently. You know how she is. A little breeze is all it takes for her to be bedridden for a week."

 

The nurse let out a gentle chuckle. "You're right about that. I'll go fetch Dr. Tera. Please, take a seat."

 

While the nurse left the front desk and headed through the hallway behind her, we sat down in the waiting area which was just a few leather chairs that were placed off to the side and against the dark oak walls of the clinic.

 

"Yuki, you alright?" She asked me while her eyes locked onto my hands which were folded into my lap. "You're shaking."

 

"Shaking?"

 

I looked down and saw that Akano was right. My hands were shaking back and forth, giving off slight tremors. I didn't even notice it. I clasped them together even tighter in an attempt to cease the quivering but to no avail.

 

"What am I so afraid of?"

 

Including the cold shiver that traversed my spine a few minutes ago, I had been feeling uneasy ever since entering the clinic. I was never scared of the doctor in my past so getting this nervous about a small check-up felt strange to me.

 

"Hey," Akano started gently while placing her right hand over my folded ones, covering them. "Relax, it's just a small examination. Nothing to be worried about. Yeah, Ms. Tera could seem a bit….. erratic, but she knows what she's doing. And I'm positive that whatever kind of sickness you're feeling right now will blow over and be gone the next day, so relax, alright?”

 

Akano treated me the polar opposite of how she treated Mr. Klein. It was almost hard to believe that she was the same person who slashed up an entire month’s worth of fruits in mere seconds. The shaking in my hands slowed and eventually ceased.

 

"Alright," I replied.

 

The nurse emerged from the hallway. "Princess, if you would follow me, Dr. Tera should be ready for you soon.”

 

We both got up from our chairs and followed the nurse through the wood floored hallway until we stopped at the door at the end of the hall.

The nurse opened the door and gestured for us to go inside. It looked like the typical high school nurse's office with a desk and chair to the side and multiple beds with white sheets and curtains. There was no one in the room however.

 

Akano entered but when I tried to, I couldn't. Immediately, a feeling of dread and fear washed over me. I froze. No matter how hard I tried to will myself to step forward, I couldn't. It was as if my body had a mind of its own and was ignoring my commands.

 

"Princess?"

 

"Yuki?"

 

I started to take a few steps back when I ran into someone's chest.

 

"Oh? What do we have here?"

 

I turned around to women with long flowing sand-colored hair that extended past her waist, wearing a pure white unbuttoned coat, revealing her brown dress shirt that was tucked into her grey knee-length skirt.

 

On top of me recognizing her and her name popping into my mind, unlike the others, it was associated with a feeling different than what I've received before—a feeling of uneasiness. It was as if all of my sense were screaming at me, "Stay away!"

 

Listening to my instincts, I step back, trying to get away from Dr. Tera but she seemed to be used to me trying to get away from her.

 

"Oh no, you don't!"

Dr. Tera grabbed both of my shoulders, spun me around, and pushed me into a chair in her office, shutting the door behind her. She skipped over to the other side the desk and plopped herself down in the chair that was sitting across from me, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.

 

"So, what the reason for visiting me again so soon, Your Highness?--Let me guess! You're pregnant!" She let out a jolly sounding laugh though, it only made me scoot back into the wooden chair I was sitting on, feeling even more uncomfortable than I already was.

 

"Cut the jokes out, Ms. Tera," Akano called from the bed she was sitting on in the corner. "They're not funny."

 

"Hm? But I wasn't joking, why else would she visit me again? It's the only answer! I mean, it wouldn't be so strange you know. It's not unheard of for royalty to start getting active at her age." She turned back to me. "Who's the lucky guy? You can tell me! I won't tell the King! I bet its--"

 

"I'm not pregnant!" I blurted out, my cheeks tinted with pink.

 

Doctor Tera clicked her tongue. "Aww, that's no fun. So, why are you here then?" She asked, obviously disappointed with the fact that I don't have a little me in my stomach.

 

"She's been feeling sick as of late," Akano answered for me. She jumped up from her the bed she was sitting on and walked over to the desk, handing the note that was residing in her pocket over to Doctor Tera. "Here."

 

Doctor Tera scanned over it before placing it face down on her desk. I noticed her expression change for a second while reading it, but her face reverted back to normal in no time. She took out a piece of paper and scribbled something down on it with the feather pen that was resting in a cup of black ink. "So how do you feel right now?" She asked me.

 

"I.... feel fine."

 

"Are you sure? Nothing's too small a detail."

 

"I can't. I can't tell her."

 

"I'm sure."

 

"You don't sound sure. Anything, anything at all? It wouldn't do any good to hide things from me."

 

"Yuki's not that type of person," Akano interjected. "She wouldn't hide anything. Maybe she really does feel fine."

 

"Hmm..., "Doctor Tera stared at me for some time before standing up from her chair. “Let’s run some test to be sure." She concluded. "Just to be on the safe side. You can go sit on one of the beds while I get things ready."

 

While Doctor Tera got up and started rummaging through things from her closet, I left my chair and took a seat on the white covers of the bed, right next to Akano.

 

Minutes later, Doctor Tera returned with a conspicuous rectangular looking instrument cradled in her arms. She set it on the bed and pulled a chair up and sat down right in front of us.

 

"Let's start with a simple blood test, shall we? Just like we always do. Roll up one of your sleeves and place your arm on here."

 

Following her instructions, I laid my arm on the metal board. She quickly pulled out a transparent hypodermic needle and placed the tip into one of my veins and extracted blood from it, causing me to wince a little. When I looked at the blood that was collecting in the tube, I noticed that my blood wasn't the usual murky red. It was the color of a starless sky. The color of violent black. It seeped into the cylinder needle tube like sticky goo. I couldn't help but feel queasy at the sight of it. It seemed the same for Akano because she just scowled and turned away.

 

"Honestly, every time I see your blood, the former scientist in me can't help but get motivated, Princess. It still fascinates us as to why demon royalty blood is black, and not red like everybody else’s. It's truly a phenomenon that has yet to be explained." Her tone started to turn into one full of excitement. "Oh, I wish I could just siphon out all of your blood and analyze it for days." She ended her fantasy with one of her trademark creepy laughs that only sent more shivers down my spine. I could clearly see why I was so nervous entering here.

 

Followed by that hair-raising blood test, I had no choice but to participate in the rest of Doctor Tera's trials, each one getting stranger than the last. I didn't know how I managed to get through them but nevertheless, I did. It felt like forever until we arrived at the last test.

 

"Ah, what a shame Princess, we're almost done." Doctor Tera sighed. "I just need to check your mana circuits now."

 

"Mana circuits?"

 

Doctor Tera rose from her chair and circled around the bed until she was at my back. "You don't have to take your shirt all the way off. Just enough so I can see your back."

 

I unbuttoned my plaid shirt and slowly lowered it until almost all of my back was exposed.

 

"It's important that you try to limit your movement as much as possible. Tell me when you're ready so I can begin the inspection."

 

I nodded my head and so, she began. Doctor Tera held up her index finger and began chanted something under her breath. When she finished, the tip of her finger started to hum a fluorescent yellow. "This might sting a little." She placed her finger directly in the middle of my spine and sure enough, I felt a sharp jolt run through me, almost enough to make me spark up from the bed.

Out of curiosity, I turned my head and used the mirror fixed to the wall to see what she was doing. Dozens of yellow tree-like branches were spread out all over my back, sprouting like roots from Doctor Tera's finger which was still firmly being pressed against my spine. She lifted her other finger, placed it against my back and began to trace along the yellow branches one by one. "You were born with I'd say about twice more the number of circuits than other people. And they're still expanding. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up becoming a great user of magic." She continued to trace along my back until suddenly, she stopped.

 

"Princess, I see why you aren’t feeling well now. This isn't good. Not good at all."

 

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Akano asked.

 

"See for yourself."

 

Akano peered over and must've seen whatever Doctor Tera was looking at because I could see the look on her face transform. "Yuki..."

 

I didn't know what they were talking about so I focused my eyes on the yellow branches and tried to make out anything that didn't look right. When I took a harder look, I immediately figured out what was wrong. Along with the several branches that glowed a bright golden color, there were many that appeared dried out. Instead of yellow, they were a lifeless grey.