(Ophelia)
A roar of applause echoed off the sides of the buildings again—louder, pulsing. It strained my eardrums as I listened to it, but I could not budge out of duty as the main event of the ceremony finally came to fruition.
While Inei's hand remained in the air, I glanced behind the stage until I noticed the tips of Leo's wings glowing purple and yellow. He was the unsung hero of the whole operation who would never show his face before an audience. After all, he was and had always been the nobility's carefully protected secret.
Raising his arms in the same manner as Inei but at a staggered interval, with a bit of strain evident on his muscles, he began to move the chunk of land that comprised the Moon Kingdom closer to the Sun Kingdom at glacial speeds that soon accelerated like the tumbling of a sled from the peak of a snowy mountain.
Even from the distance at which I was, I could see how the dark blue space gave way to deep brown rock and soil as the masses approached each other and tucked the trench away in the depths of history.
Across the aisle, there was a throng of people from the Sun Kingdom standing at its edge, waiting to cross the bridge that was soon to be formed. When the brown started to disappear into a sea of green, the lights on Leo's wings flickered to indicate his powers were weakening.
I curled my fists, digging nails into soft, barely marred flesh.
You can do this, Leo… I believe in you fully.
As if he heard that subtle encouragement from my mind, the lights evened out as he pushed through to the imminent end, and there was a large rumble when the two pieces of land collided. It was jarring to me, so I clung to my seat for dear life, thinking I was undergoing an unannounced earthquake.
The tremors seemed to shake everything around and within the audience to the extent that the moon and sun, which appeared to be locked in place as if by faulty gears, began ticking across the sky—oiled, moving fluidly into their rightful places. When they settled into a slow revolution, they landed such that the entire kingdom was about to experience its first dusk in quite a while. The colors blended into an ethereal display above our heads, enveloping the darkness of the Moon Kingdom—no, Galaxy Kingdom—in colors that were no longer merely neutral washes.
At last, the plants and small animals surrounding us were cast in warm colors rather than cold or searing light. Each person's skin glowed in its various undertones, bringing a certain amount of sublime glamour to the monotony of rural living.
"Woo-hoo!"
Cascading like glissandos in a choir, there was a round of loud cheers in succession. People immediately ran across the connected land, hugging long-lost relatives and friends. There were plenty of greetings, which ranged from simple hugs and handshakes to more glorious displays of athletic ability and dance moves. Many cried, many laughed, and all shouted, lining the kingdom from south to north with the vibrancy of people.
I thought the sky would strike my heart with a fateful bolt of lightning, but it was the citizens who did it instead. Under the sunset, a tear down my face reflected shades of orange and was almost like a precious jewel to me as it glimmered before tasting salty between my gaping lips.
This was how everything was supposed to be.
I looked into the crowd to see my parents smiling at me, giving me quick winks, and I turned to not appear anything less than regal in front of them.
When I averted my face, I could spy on the backstage at an angle that felt far too conspicuous. Sinclair had moved from the other side, halting the broadcast due to a lack of necessity. They stood beside Leo in a vaguely sheer white blouse, holding his hand softly as he breathed to recover his strength.
I grinned.
Then, I rotated my gaze to the front. Hardly anybody watched the stage anymore, and I spotted the two kings chatting in a bubble of fabricated privacy. With a bit of determination and struggle, I was able to capture their conversation.
"I still can't believe this was what became of our argument from two years ago."
"Which one?" Inei asked, seeming genuinely confused with his perturbed expression.
"To be honest, I can't even remember why I was mad at you." Ease arriving on his features, Hikaru shook his head. "It's all kind of stupid when I think about it."
"I would make fun of you, but I was the one who asked in the first place." Inei let out a hearty laugh.
I raised my eyebrows at what they did next. (It wasn't like the rapport was typical in itself, but things could definitely get stranger.)
When Inei swivelled to study Hikaru's features in the new swathes of colors, scanning them before the daylight ran out and reverted the magic of evening to dull shades, Hikaru looked directly at him. With only the tiniest pause, he leaned his face in and to the surprise and disgust of literally everyone who was cognizant of what they were doing (ah, public affection was always a fun little game of pushing boundaries), kissed Inei softly a few times on the lips behind the podium where the remainder of the attendees could easily see them.
The action was neither chaste nor inappropriate—barring Inei's entranced and perhaps suggestive countenance as he leaned his head back slightly and was pressed into the podium—but the gesture was enough to rouse some very audible groans from their children before they broke apart.
"Dad! Father!" Akiyoshi and Koharu both yelled before gagging and rolling their eyes.
"One day, both of you might understand!" Inei complained back as he blushed and hugged Hikaru to his side.
At last, I understood why Leo always had such a violent reaction to seeing Koharu and me acting lovey-dovey.
Sorry about that. But also, I don't really care.
Akiyoshi made the intelligent decision of jumping off the side of the stage to avoid his parents, and I was surprised he didn't break a bone from the sudden fall. He then went right back through the gates of the castle like the descent didn't hurt at all.
Seems about right.
As the other advisors headed off to return home or see their families, the one who caught my eye was Jisoo with her girlfriend, Sera, so I simply smiled at them as Koharu came up to me.
Without any other greetings or warnings, Koharu made the better decision of tackling me with a harsh hug.
I felt constricted by the action while my lungs begged for the sweet intake of a crucial breath, but I was too overjoyed to give much of a damn.
"Cheer up, baby!" Koharu said when she got a look at my face, focusing solely on the minimal wetness she saw.
I shook my head at her, my voice shaking when I replied, "I'm so fucking happy right now, Koko. Maybe I don't look like it, but I am."
Touching her right in front of me, I knew everything hadn't been a dream if things were so tangible. What I was delegated to do was accomplished at the end of all our perseverance and altercations in a manner that was like one of those situations in which someone reached the correct answer through the wrong means. Some would say the journey was more important, but for this specific time, it didn't matter how I got there so long as everyone made it with me.
With the events that had unfolded behind the two of us, there was nothing specific left to achieve, only to drift along the tides on which life would carry everyone. It would've been best to hope they would float us all in calm directions, but there were bound to be patches of tumultuous, feisty rapids like the past two years as we approached new predicaments.
Like the eye of a storm, however, there would always be good somewhere within them. Koharu was undoubtedly that iris for me.
The lack of tension was so calming that I immediately wanted to crash and fall asleep as if a sugar rush just concluded, but I kept myself conscious for the smiling girl in front of me. I knew Koharu was filled with energy like she was invigorated by fire, stirred in the depths of her heart by riveting passion and happiness that churned like magma.
"Is there anything you want to do now?" I asked her as we walked down the stairs extending from the stage.
I imagined the white arches to be ours one day, and the red leaves were our rose petals. Our gowns, yes—maybe one day we would get white ones (or perhaps suits) tailored if we made it that far. The voices in the crowd sang like the music accompanying us, and the wintery fantasy was all so comforting.
One day, I thought. One day I would get the courage to take that step, but all I could do then was move my feet without my mind.
"I told you before that I want us to see the kingdom together." She laced her fingers with mine as we stepped down, walking somewhere away from the crowd.
"Then, where first?"
"Can you find a lake in the middle of a forest? A desert?"
"Sure, you can," I told her while passively accepting her odd inquiry as another charming part of who she was. "The second one's just an oasis. But you'll never find what you want when you look for it. You just kind of have to… stumble upon it."
Something about that resonated with her as she smiled upon the arrival of a strange epiphany. "Can't find a lake in a forest if you don't go to one."
"Want to go?" I offered her my other hand as if it were a marriage proposal.
"I think we should go to your room," she joked while I lightly slapped her arm for ignoring my jubilant gesture. "Hey, if it's anything like mine usually is, it's a forest we can start with."
"Gotta begin somewhere."
Tugging my arm to drag us along, she giggled at me.
"Where's your house? I haven't seen it yet."
I curled the index and middle fingers on my free hand towards myself and said, "I'll show you."
Now, we can begin again without inhibitions… You'll give us this chance, right?
My mind went on a spiral of its own as we moved away from the crowd into the sparse area surrounding the new center of Mirai.
Can I love you without judgment this time? Let's do whatever we want now since we don't have to worry, and we can give our all to each other without restraint.
I closed my eyes, inhaling with ease for the first time in a while.
I want to spend every moment I can beside you like this. Will you let me stay here in this spot for which I've labored now that everything's over? Baby, we have no curse lingering over our heads, and you finally have that freedom you've been craving with hunger as if that desire hadn't been satiated since birth.
As I absent-mindedly brought us to my house, I continued to think.
And so we return to the places where everything began. Never mind the dreams with which we started: We can't—shouldn't—return to that way of living. We live in reality, among the castles and stars.
We've passed that hurdle, that last level, so that we have made a loop around it all once more, stronger than before. We're back at the town from which we commenced our journeys, which is one once more.
With merely an elated sigh, I stopped in front of the lavish building. It was nowhere near as nice as the castle, but it wasn't as homely as the rest of the residences in Mirai.
"What do you think?" I asked her, moving to hug her side and nuzzle her head with my cheek.
Pressing the pad of her index finger to her jaw while her eyes sparkled like clear puddles after a fierce storm, she hummed. "Not bad. I think it's a good launching point. Now, let me see inside."
Surprisingly collected and suave (and for once, during the correct moment), I opened the door with a key sheathed behind a rock, standing before the entrance with a chivalrous motion to direct her inside.
"Make yourself at home."
One day, I hope it becomes yours, too.
