Michiyo was admiring the lotus flowers in the Guren Garden. It's a nice day to be out eating snacks, relaxing by drinking tea, and having a nice conversation with people you liked.
Eri put onto the table, under Shouto's order, two plates of Osamanthus flower jelly since Yuuki and Michiyo both loved the treat.
"Eri-chan, you take some with you. You've worked hard enough." Michiyo said to Eri. She had taken a liking to her since she was so tiny and so cute. Michiyo wanted to care for her like a little sister.
"Really? Thank you, Michiyo-hime!" Eri took some with her. She liked apple the best, but the Osmanthus flower jellies were not half bad at all. "I'll eat it in my own room. I will leave you two to it. I will be back after I finish cleaning your room."
"Before I speak to Katsuki...I want to speak to you, Yuuki-san, was it? These Osmanthus flower jellies are my favorites too. I am glad you like this also." Michiyo said the moment Eri's gone.
"Hm~mm. It is very tasty. I wish I was a princess too, I want to be able to eat this every day~." Yuuki happily wagged her tail as she ate one jelly. "Hmm~!"
Michiyo smiled gently and she used her chopsticks to give Yuuki another jelly.
"Oh? You're giving me another one?! You are the best!"
"You are too, Yuuki-san, you brought me back from myself. Yuuki-san...no, Onee."
Yuuki froze when Michiyo called her that. She stopped eating like a happy idiot and she looked at the blue haired princess to see she looked like she wanted to cry. Yuuki put the chopsticks down and she looked at Michiyo with a sad smile, "I am not your Onee."
Michiyo shook her head in denial and she reached her hands out to grab Yuuki's hands. She grasped her hands and she looked at Yuuki as if to search for answers.
"I know it's you, Onee. Your appearance may have changed, but I know it's you!"
Yuuki shook her head, "I don't know you. I am but a demon-"
"No. You are my Onee. Even if you deny it and you keep giving me reasons after reasons you are not, why else would you help me?"
Yuuki just smiled. She moved her right hand away and put it back on top of Michiyo's hand, "I've helped you because I can't stand seeing you like this. I can't stand seeing people trapped in their very own demise. Also, I wanted to help you because you might hold answers to Katsuki's lost memories."
"That's-!"
"Michiyo-hime, you came back because you are determined to keep moving forward and no longer look back, right? You've made it on your own, I merely gave you a hand. You can do it on your own from here on out."
"Onee-"
"You can do it, Michiyo-hime."
The blue haired girl looked at Yuuki's face, then the wolf-like ears on her head, and then at her tail. Was it merely a coincidence Yuuki and her looked the same? It couldn't be a coincidence though! It just couldn't! "What about Eijirou-san?"
"What about me?"
Eijirou came over because Yuuki told him to come here without Katsuki.
"Eijirou-san..."
"Michiyo..." Eijirou wondered if he even have the rights to be in front of her right now. "Hey..."
"Eijirou-san, tell me Yuuki-san is Onee. Please..."
"I came over just to tell you Yuuki is not your sister."
"...she's not? T-then why are you with her?! Why are you-"
"I follow her and Katsuki because she looks like your sister. That is all."
"...just that?"
"It's as simple as that."
Michiyo was saddened by that. She was hoping Yuuki was her sister.
"Your sister would never become a demon. Yuuki is Katsuki's demon servant. You and I both know your sister will never ever sell her soul to become a demon, right?" Eijirou comforted Michiyo, trying to make her smile again.
Michiyo looked at Eijirou, Yuuki-san really isn't her?"
Eijirou shook his head.
"I-I see. I have nothing to ask of Yuuki-san." She looked at Yuuki and she still forced herself to smile, "Even if you are not my sister, can we still become friends?"
"I'd like that also, Michiyo-hime~." Yuuki used her chopsticks to pick up a jelly and she put it on Michiyo's plate. Yuuki picked the one with the most goji berries for Michiyo.
Michiyo looked at the dried berries in the jelly and she smiled warmly as she remembered her sister always give her the one with the most goji berries whenever they eat osamanthus flower jelly. Michiyo wondered if Yuuki and Eijirou were telling her the truth...
"One last thing, Michiyo." Eijirou whispered to Michiyo, reminding her something important.
...
Katsuki could finally find the time to talk to Michiyo. Yuuki and Eijirou were with him, Shouto's with Michiyo; there's no secrets from here on out. They're inside Shouto's study room. It's very plain and full of books and scrolls.
"Do you know me?" From the short fragment of memory he had, it seemed like Michiyo knew who Katsuki was. If that was the case, how come Shouto didn't know him?
"I do know you. You were my new guard. You have a terrible attitude, you don't follow orders, a lot of the more experienced guards at Meiun Island hate your guts." When Michiyo said that, both Yuuki and Eijirou started to laugh in the background; it sounded like the most Katsuki thing! It came to no surprise at all!
"You two..." He looked back at Michiyo, trying his best not to bet the crap out of the two.
"No one wanted to take you, but you were strong and I wanted to keep you by my side. You gave me very good advice too, I really appreciate you." Michiyo then looked at her cup of tea, "But one day...a travelling monk came to my Island and warned us of a burning disaster that will engulf Meiun Island in flames. He told us my death will appease God and spare everyone."
"That is fucking stupid!" Katsuki banged the table with his fist, making all the cups bounce once and some of the liquid spilled onto the table. Katsuki hated things like these; no God would ask for a live human sacrifice! Only a devil would ask for such a thing! "God? More like a devil wearing God's name to do his own shit!"
"I didn't believe it. Neither did you or Touya. You were both adamant about keeping me alive."
"If I knew your husband, how come I don't know him?" Katsuki thought it was weird for him to know of Michiyo's husband but not the husband's little brother.
Michiyo looked at Shouto and she smiled at him, making him blush. "Touya and I travel between Yuuei and Meiun very often. Touya left you in charge of Meiun Island and Shouto never came to Meiun."
"Huh..."
"I was stuck in Yuuei studying all the time. I only know Michiyo because she comes round to the Royal Court to play very often."
'That explains how I know Michiyo and her first husband, but not Shouto. No one is lying to me.' Katsuki thought to himself, "Is Meiun Island on fire?"
"Yes. My husband died on that Island. There was a rebellion out of nowhere and people started to slaughter each other, trying to kill me to quell the disaster."
"So the burning island is Meiun..." His fists tightened, "...am I the one who caused the island to burn?" There were people after him, they must be after him because he did something to that island. He looked at his own hands, "My Magic lets me cause explosions...did I cause that burning fire?!"
Michiyo took a sip of her tea, "No."
"No? Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"I am not taking advantage of you because you have amnesia, Katsuki-san. Truth is...I started the fire."
Katsuki, Yuuki, Eijirou, and Shouto were all in shock to hear that revelation. Michiyo was the one who started the fire that engulfed the whole of Meiun Island? She burnt the rebels, she burnt everyone's home...she caused survivors to become refugees? Her? No way...
"That is a lie!" Yuuki was the next one to shock everyone with her sudden outburst in anger, "The fire is red! If you were the one who caused the fire, why is the fire red instead of blue?!"
"Yuuki...?" Katsuki had never seen Yuuki looking this angry before. Why was she so worked up all of a sudden?
"I don't know why you all think the fire is red when the fire is blue."
The fire burning Meiun was blue? Everyone was confused!
"...illusion." Shouto concluded, "Someone is tricking everyone's eyes the moment they look at the island. if we assume the fire on Meiun is blue, the person who has cast the illusion type Magic must want people to think the culprit is someone else and not Michiyo."
"But who would do such a thing...?" Eijirou asked, equally confused like the others. He then looked at Michiyo, "Why would you burn your own people?"
"...because they were willing to kill me. They believe a travelling monk over me. Because of them, Touya...Touya's own magic killed him."
"Killed him...? His own Magic?" Katsuki doesn't understand, "I thought Magic is natural!"
"It is. But sometimes it rejects the body." Shouto looked at Michiyo and he put a hand on her shoulder, "Michiyo cannot control my brother's Magic. The blue fire comes out in its own will."
"Like that time when she's dancing in the empty garden..." Katsuki understood this in a way but if that was the case, Michiyo couldn't control the fire of that day! "You couldn't have murdered everyone else. You couldn't control the fire."
Michiyo shook her head at Katsuki, "But I wanted everyone to burn. If the fire did not see wrong in what I thought, why did it follow my will and burn everyone? I blamed them, I cursed them. I cursed every single people. The fire burnt as much as it could reach." She put her hand on top of Shouto's hand, "I wanted to die when Touya died...but there was a part of me who wished for those who wronged me to be taken down with me." She's disappointed that she's not as kind as everyone says.
"Michiyo..." Shouto wanted to say something but he didn't know what to say. Should he comfort her? What should he do?
"I think, "Katsuki started, "I think even the kindest person would have a moment where they will blacken their own heart just to get even. You are human."
That was it? Because she was a human, what she did was justified?
"Katsuki! Don't open your mouth so quick!" Eijirou could see why Katsuki would think that but to say it when the fire had already taken a lot of lives, Eijirou doesn't think it was right for katsuki to say something like this to Michiyo.
"She's only human. Humans are full of mistakes. Even if she is a princess, no matter how virtuous someone from Royalty have to be, no human can possibly forsake everything that makes them human."
"Katsuki-san..." She knew he was just stating the facts. He's not just saying it to make her feel better about herself. She felt like crying again but when she realized she had been crying too much, she stopped her tears from forming. "Katsuki-san, I can also explain why you were on that boat. I was the one who pushed you."
"You pushed me?"
She nodded, "I was chased by my own guards who wanted to rebel against me too. When we were near the port, I pushed you onto the boat. At the time, I wished for everyone to get lost and the Magic Touya passed to me suddenly caused an explosion."
With that new information right there, Katsuki worked out the cause of the amnesia. First of all, Michiyo's newly acquired Magic goes by her will. It meant at the time of the situation, Michiyo must have willed for the guards to leave Katsuki alone so the explosion happened because Michiyo wanted to force the boat to go out as fast as it could. During the time of the explosion, it must have blown him down real hard and hit his own head.
"That might be it. It's the only logical way." Katsuki concluded. However, at least that explains he's not the one who caused the fire. But there's more things unanswered; Michiyo's new Magic was clearly blue fire...how come the fire was red in everyone's eyes? Does that mean someone wanted to frame Katsuki? Who could it be? And for what reason?
"Master, now what?"
Katsuki looked at Yuuki and he wondered about her; she had an earlier outburst that was out of character for her. The Yuuki he knew would have asked a lot of irrelevant questions yet she did not ask one stupid thing. He had been observing her for a while and while she was listening to Michiyo's side of the story, he thought Yuuki was far too serious.
"...nothing."
He chose not to question...for now.