Golden Era (Book 2)

73. Hunt

Days passed in a flash. Intermittent snowfall came and went in Kyoto as December arrived. During this transition to winter, Sachi immersed himself in work. He was afraid that if he stopped, he'd be faced with a monstrous vacancy he didn't yet know how to fill.

The estate took on a hollow quiet after Ayuna left. Never the one to find the imperial family appealing, Noa unsurprisingly followed suit. Noting these changes, staff tiptoed around Sachi. Ayuri, too, intentionally kept her distance at home. He could tell that she was concerned, but he avoided her because her face reminded him of the person who'd never live here again.

As Sachi sat alone in the library den, he would think back to that sunless afternoon again and again. She'd walked out resolutely when he dismissed her—she didn't bargain or look back even once. She'd left without bothering to fetch her belongings. He wondered if she knew that he was ready to hand over forgiveness if she asked. Even though she'd wounded him deeply by being with someone else, he was willing to have a do-over.

But she never did. 

Every time these thoughts came, they would slam into him like a tornado, swallowing him up into its dark tunnel, threatening to shred him to pieces. By clinging to the mundane tasks, Sachi focused on surviving each day. 

A week later, a resignation letter landed on his desk: it was from Ayuna, stating her official withdrawal from the student council. 

Following this, news spread that she would be leaving Hikari after the term was over. Quietly, whispers of their breakup were disseminated across campus. As news spread, quiet murmurings were eventually warped into egregious rumors. All the talk, however, shared one theme: Sachi was faultless and Ayuna was the villain. It was as if her glowing achievements from a month ago never existed. By betraying Sachi, she was an outcast, never to be welcomed at Hikari again.

Sachi let gossip rage on. A number of people had either furtively or directly tried to pry, but he refused to respond. Just as everyone dismissed Ayuna, time had dismissed Sachi: he was back to being the solitary prince, the sun everyone marveled but couldn't approach. Except, the admiration he thrived on became a concrete measure of how much he'd lost.

***

Noa took a hiatus from the student council shortly after Ayuna's resignation. When Ayuri received her email, she guessed it was only a matter of time before Noa quit, too. 

While Ayuri wasn't surprised with this ending, she was taken off guard by the immediacy of everything. Ayuna's departure and resignation were done so cleanly, it was as if she'd anticipated and emotionally primed herself for this breaking point all along. 

In this period of change, Sachi stayed cut off from the world. Ayuri didn't have to check on him to imagine his heartbreak. Within a year, he'd suffered physical and mental agony, fought desperately to stay afloat only to be spat out on a desert island. It was unfair in more ways she could name.

When he didn't recover at the two-week mark, Ayuri decided it was time to face the music. Despite it being a Saturday, Sachi locked himself in the library den again. When Ayuri entered, she found him sitting behind the mahogany desk. In front of him were reams of paperwork as he typed away on the laptop.

He didn't bother looking up even though she entered without knocking. 

Ayuri approached his desk cautiously. Up close, she spotted a half-filled whiskey glass on the desk.

"You're drinking?" she asked with a hint of shock. 

"It's a nightcap," he answered flatly.

It was a euphemism for drinking himself to sleep, Ayuri knew. It pained her to see him resorting to using alcohol as a remedy.