Falling Kindom

Return

And so, Yoru, Rui, Aoi and Haru spent a long and arduous day traveling back to Lunox, which was significantly easier than before for Aoi and Haru, because the forest seemed very quiet all of a sudden. Not one witch, nor magic mirror, nor anything else popped up. They had an inkling that Rui's humming had alerted the forest to their presence, and that none of the creatures in the forest wanted to meet him.

Aoi and Haru both drowned themselves in documents, while Rui had pulled Yoru with him to see the city. Aoi and Haru had second thoughts about letting them roam around an unfamiliar city unsupervised, but then decided it would be fine.

Kakeru had returned to the palace a little earlier than Aoi and Haru, and Aoi was sure that Kakeru was avoiding his gaze, just by the way he would suddenly disappear when Aoi walked into a room he was in.

Aoi, after handing Haru some coffee, headed around the castle. It was awfully quiet in the palace, a feeling he wasn't quite used to. Usually you would see maids and servants gossiping in the corners, trading information on their family members. After speaking with a maid, Aoi found out that it was because most of their family members who lived in other cities had fallen ill, and they had gone to visit before the worst happened.

Aoi continued walking around the palace, and he came across a painting. He wasn't sure who the painter was, but he was surprised to see himself in the painting with Hajime. Aoi's parents were in the background. Someone had painted the scenario of when he had briefly met Hajime was he was much younger, around the age of 14. He reached out to touch the painting and froze, his gaze falling on a younger boy with blond hair speaking to his parents. Aoi wondered how old Kakeru was at that moment, and how he had been acquainted with his family.

He also wondered if this had to do with why Kakeru was avoiding him.

A flash of gold caught his eye. "Kakeru!" he called out. Perfect timing, the boy was wandering the palace as well. Kakeru started before turning to look at Aoi, a mix of dread and recognition on his face. "We need to talk."

Kakeru paled visibly, and Aoi wondered if he should have worded that better. Arata was rubbing off on him.

"About what?"

Aoi gestured to the painting, and Kakeru followed his gaze, nostalgia and sorrow on his face as he clenched the front of his shirt. "You knew my parents," Aoi said softly. "Does this have anything to do with why you're so jumpy around me?"

Kakeru rubbed his hands together nervously. "I'm not jumpy."

Aoi gave him a pointed look as the silence grew longer.

Kakeru sighed and sat at the windowsill. "Well, I wasn't always the head of intelligence."

"And?"

"I'm responsible for your dad's death."

Aoi felt his heart stop, but the tiniest part of his sanity was yelling at him to ask Kakeru for more details, that one should never assume what happened. And one look at Kakeru's face told Aoi that Kakeru was waiting for Aoi to start yelling at him, waiting for Aoi to blame him.

"What do you mean?" Aoi asked, his voice shaking lightly as he leaned against the wall.

"Your father was assassinated, and I was his protector. I failed."

"You were a bodyguard?"

"No, I was an assassin too, but in this case, a counter-assassin, hired to protect your father." Kakeru looked up, and Aoi was surprised to see tears on his face. He had a feeling that Kakeru had been carrying the guilt with him for a long time.

"It wasn't your fault," said Aoi, walking over to Kakeru. And as he said it, Kakeru started wiping his eyes furiously. "The murderer holds the blame." He ruffled Kakeru's hair.

Haru leaned against the wall beyond the corridor, unnoticed by both of them.

                                  *

"Are you sure, Rui?" asked Yoru, pulling out coins from his pocket.

Rui nodded and the shopkeeper chuckled as she handed him the rabbit doll, Yoru handing her the coins in return. Rui seemed to have bonded with the doll the moment he laid eyes on it.

They headed back to the palace, eyes taking in the city. The streets were lively, which proved the chaos hadn't yet reached here. Yoru wanted to pull out a map, because a strange pattern was forming in his head, but he really couldn't make out what it was.

"Halt!" said a voice.

Yoru and Rui looked up in surprise to see a guard standing before them. Rui quickly hid behind his doll and Yoru. Yoru, despite being worried, was a little surprised that Rui considered him safe enough to hide behind.

"Yes sir?" asked Yoru.

"I've never seen you here before," said the guard, looking suspicious. "What are your names?"

"Yoru Nagatsuki and Rui Minnaduki," said Yoru, gesturing to Rui. "We're just passing by."

"If you're travelers, I suggest you stay away from Nox for now. The infections are pretty bad there."

"Are there any differences between here and there?" asked Yoru, as Rui slowly came out of hiding. "Like in the environment for example?"

The guard ran a hand through his hair before shaking his head. "Not that I know of."

"There's a river," said another voice. Yoru looked around to see a pink-haired boy who looked like death reincarnated approach them. "There have been sightings of ghosts over the waters at night. That's probably the only difference."

He gave Yoru and Rui a hard glance, giving their clothes a quick look. "My name's Koi Kisaragi, Head of the Healers." Yoru felt a sudden pang of sympathy. "Did you two come with Haru?"

Yoru nodded.

"I see they found their way to the mystery kingdom then." He walked away, before turning back. "Come on, let's go to the palace!"

Koi pointed out landmarks, and places of interest all the way back, much like a tour guide would.

"And this is the shop that Kakeru likes," he said, pointing to a shop selling sweets, as a delicious aroma drifted from the shop. "You can bribe him with anything from here."

They walked past a fountain and Koi automatically tossed a coin in.

"Why?" asked Yoru, watching the water ripple.

"The fountain was built for Hajime when he was a child king. A gift from his father. They say it's been blessed by the gods, so it's good luck to toss a coin in." His voice dropped, so that Yoru almost missed his next words. "And the heavens know we need it."

Yoru, after reaching the palace, asked Haru for permission to access the library. Haru literally waved his concerns away, saying there was no need to even ask, before giving him directions. Yoru took his time, taking in the palace gardens, the paintings on the wall, the stars painted into the ceilings.

He knew the rumors were true the moment he stepped into the library—Lunox's was one of the largest. Shelves the length of the ceiling greeted him, the ceiling painted with the image of the night sky.

Pulling a map from the library's shelf, he marked all the places in both kingdoms that he knew were suffering from an outstanding number of cases, and then realized what the pattern was.

All of them were near the River Kyral.

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