To go to the beach for the day, a few prerequisites were essential.
Koharu sent me off to the Sun Kingdom—giving me a time limit of precisely thirty minutes to sneak into her room and grab some swimwear from her wardrobe, which would be in a small box with three different sets. When I asked her why she had such clothing even though she never swam, she simply replied a seamstress had brought the box up one time, and it was handed to her. Her parents had no use for them, while Akiyoshi didn't really want them either.
*How do you even know they remotely fit? I doubt they're one-size-fits-all.*
Trying to find her room was like wandering through a corn maze. Sure, it seemed like an obvious destination after she had brought me up there several times before, but that didn't mean I internalized the information. I figured she would always lead me up there.
However, there was some mismatch along the way, so she neglected to give me any instructions. I was left to dart up and down floors in a poor attempt to locate it, knowing approximately where it was but never quite hitting the mark. It wasn't in the same location as Akiyoshi's was in the other castle, which further complicated my search. I supposed it wasn't very smart of me to think that would be the case; little about the castles mirrored each other except for their structures on the outside.
I was about to scream in frustration, running time like the burning strings on explosives. Disappearing like the bubbles from an effervescent mixture, seconds flew away from me. Though they appeared light to any onlooker, the heavy stamping of feet against the floor radiated my anger outwards in ripples.
"Do you need assistance with anything?"
Crap. King Hikaru found me in a pale yellow hallway not far from his chamber. I turned to look at him, fixing myself to seem collected.
*Did we come up with a backup plan?*
"A bit if I'm honest." I chuckled anxiously and thought how I was ready to beg him for help again. "Might you be able to tell me where your daughter's room is, Your Majesty?"
He laughed. "She hasn't told you yet?"
"She has, Your Majesty. I'm just forgetful. You'd have to tell me 'the other left' to get me to go the right direction."
"And why might you need to know now? I'm simply curious—not suspicious." The corner of his lip was upturned.
"She…"
I contemplated what to say for a split second. I didn't think it was wise to let the other king know I was slacking on my job for the day—even if he was on bad terms with his husband—so I kept my answer vague and stretched the truth like rubber.
"She asked me to grab something from her wardrobe. She wanted a,"—I almost stuttered—"change of clothes. She landed on a horse when she arrived today, so she got hair all over her, Your Majesty."
*I didn't have to alter what happened too much. As long as the facts don't break, I'm fine.*
"I see." He grinned again. "It's on the next level. I hope you can find whatever she needs. Her wardrobe's messy. She likes to shove as much as she can in it until it's about to fall apart. Ah, at least it's not all on the carpet."
*You're telling me I was just about to find it, anyway?*
"I appreciate your help."
I bowed my head and dashed off. I could almost feel the king shake his head with a smile and walk in the opposite direction.
Finding her room on the next floor wasn't hard. If one couldn't spot it in the forest of doors, they'd be just as blind to metal glinting in the sunlight—straining the eyes to see but noticeable above all else. Her door was a striking black against the white and yellow walls in the rest of the building. It was hilarious in a way; she was so adamantly against the color scheme of the other castle, yet her own door was similar to the goth-like style that consumed the Moon Kingdom.
*Well, she *did* say her favorite color is black, but she hates that sort of aesthetic.*
I pushed the flaps apart. Thankfully, the entrance wasn't locked, or else a whole other can of worms would have been opened. Her room was neat and orderly, likely the work of the maids; she couldn't even organize a proper thought most of the time—let alone a living space (if her father was right).
Her wardrobe wasn't stately. It stood out for being so plain against the fancy floral wallpaper that began to peel slightly.
Wiggling the handles of the wooden piece of furniture, it seemed the thing would not open. Naturally, with a nasty temper, I shook them harder (*violence is sometimes the answer*), and a pile of clothing came tumbling out like a snowball growing in girth on the side of a hill.
*Hikaru wasn't lying! Nobody tell the rats and bugs about this luxury suite, or it'll be booked!*
All of it was heavily wrinkled and weighty upon me when it landed. Most of the garments were precariously stacked in a pile, that careful balance being disturbed when I shook the wardrobe. The displacement of the cabinet's lighter contents made a stable box placed on the bottom obvious, so I grabbed it.
The clock standing beside another wall indicated I had about a minute left before I returned home. I scrambled to shake the mountain of fabric off me—the rather hefty, cloth-covered box in hand. When I stepped out of most of the pile, I found the dark gray carpet turned to bright green grass.
Koharu, who was picking at her nails while sitting on a stone bench, peered up, and she laughed.
"There's a sock on your foot."
*I feel like a fucking idiot.*
"Gah, that's as embarrassing as walking out of a meeting with parchment stuck to you. It makes you think you've been trapped too long."
I shook off the fabric and leaned down. I then threw it at her. It hit her chest, and she slid it into a pocket.
"Definitely. For an upgrade, try animal shit on your soles."
I scoffed at her. "Did you tell your dad?"
She nodded. "He said to have a good time and be safe. It'll all be okay. I'll have Leo escort us."
"To where?"
"Aki?" Koharu asked, and I turned around in silence.
Appearing from behind a bush, he asked, "Why are you so surprised?"
*Someone needs to cut these fucking hedges! What if a robber hid in them?*
"Why do you always come out of nowhere?" I whined.
Akiyoshi was oddly stealthy. Perhaps it was because he was a more quiet character than the others in the castle, though Jisoo had her moments.
"I don't mean to,"—Akiyoshi turned soft when he glanced over to his sister—"but would you kindly answer?"
"To Lia's house!" Koharu said almost too suddenly like she did whenever she lied.
*Akiyoshi probably knows that.*
"She's feeling a little sick. Her cheeks are even red!"
I almost questioned Koharu, but I got the hint. She didn't want Akiyoshi to know we were ditching the meeting for fun. That was it. I didn't want to piss him off either.
The unconscious blush on my cheeks helped aid her argument as I contributed by saying in a weak voice, "Yeah. I haven't been feeling so good."
"I was going to get her some cinchona bark to get her fever to calm down. Homeopathy, I think?" Koharu said to include some medical bullshit to confuse everyone enough so that she wouldn't get questioned.
However, Akiyoshi seemed suspicious. Koharu and I had—
"That's sweet, but isn't that for malaria? She just needs to lay down, in my opinion, but Ophelia, I hope you feel better. Rest well."
*Phew.*
"Of course."
After I acknowledged him, he walked towards Koharu and whispered something in her ear in a way I couldn't hear him or read his lips.
"Aki, I know that!" She smacked him on the arm a few seconds later. "I just want to take care of one of your advisors. You should be thanking me."
He let out a snort for a laugh and nodded, going about his day planning minutiae.