(Ophelia)
***
"…Yes… That's who I want to see… Damn, sir, just let me go there already!"
My eyes came open sometime during the night after having dreamt of nothing in particular. A high-pitched voice nagged somewhere nearby. I figured our cell was near the front of the place, so I had to deal with grouchy visitors—likely new inmates. The sound, though, quickly grew into white noise that droned along to the call of some fanfare out of earshot.
"No, I don't want a damn phone call… You don't know who I am?"
She probably wasn't getting far out of there if she kept fighting against arrest like that. If anything, she sounded like a pompous noble who had been arrested for something major while using her status to deflect it—a cheeky brat like Leo.
I closed my eyes again, ignoring the commotion down the hall. Koharu's breaths tingled against my skin, and her eyelashes flirted with the underside of my jaw as I laid down.
It wasn't much later that I heard the cacophonous screeching of metal, its vibrations dispersing throughout the room. A nasal voice added to the music.
"Hey! Hey! Wake up!"
I recognized her as the same person from the front, so I kept my eyes shut. I wasn't going to deal with someone like that.
*Find someone else to bother!*
However, she managed to scare Koharu awake, and my girlfriend rustled in front of me before wiping her eyes.
"What do you want?" she shouted to the girl near the front of the cell. "I'm trying to sleep."
"Get up!"
*Don't tell me you're an intern here…*
Koharu protested, "Why?"
"Because," the intruder began with some smugness to her voice, "I think you're obligated to do so by the orders of me, Princess Roslynn."
I shot up out of the bed, body aching from it. Upon hearing the familiar name, I almost slammed straight into Koharu, but I only hit her arm as I sat up.
"You're kidding," I said to Roslynn.
She was dressed like a commoner, much like myself. Her pants were of the same style, but her shirt was knitted and looked comfortable with thousands of cloudy threads giving it a nebulous look over her body.
I pulled the piece of newspaper from my pocket, unfolding it to the headline on the front page. Through blurry, tired vision, I held it in front of me so that it appeared beside her, using it as a basis for comparison.
Like in the faded picture, her hair was nearly snow white with her skin barely darker, and as noted in the caption, her irises were a violet color that seemed to flare due to their surrounding red lines while she shook the door. It was hard to tell if she was an impersonator, but she looked pretty close to the smiling girl in the picture that was supposedly her.
*I mean… That eye color isn't exactly the most common, but that's not hard to change.*
"You want me to have a procession or something to prove it? Just come with me." She curled her hand towards herself. "They wouldn't have let me back here if I was lying."
Koharu stood, sauntering to the door.
Why was she suddenly so convinced?
I grabbed her arm. "How do you know this isn't a trick?"
"If it's a trick, it's a pretty damn elaborate one. It's some stupid time at night." Koharu shrugged. "I don't think she's kidding. Plus, we've heard that name before, and she looks exactly like those posters."
I decided against arguing with her on that, accepting this was a better chance at escaping than any of our other plans. (I wasn't about to waste money on vast amounts of coffee.)
We went up to the door, and Princess Roslynn pulled a key out to open it, not bothering to handcuff either of us. I looked at her, expression frazzled.
"What?" She stepped back. "I don't bite. Just don't try to run. I have enough magic to stop you from doing that."
What I thought was a bright idea hit me atop the head like an idiotically placed sledgehammer.
*Can't know if I don't try.*
"Lia! What are you—"
I dashed away to the entrance, and a tug at the back of my shirt instantly dragged me back to my starting point with my heels on the ground. However, no fingers tapped against my skin through the fabric.
I grinned a bit deviously. That must have been what Koharu always felt like while engaging in her antics.
"I literally just said not to do that. Oh my gosh. Are you dumb?" Roslynn was annoyed already. "I can put you back in there, you know."
I smiled at her. "I was just seeing something."
"Well, Ophelia—if you're done—why don't the two of you follow me to my car?"
*How much did you have to bribe the officers for my name, huh?*
***
"I didn't want to bother my chauffeur today. I don't think he wants to drive this thing in the middle of the night. He does it enough already, you know."
Roslynn giggled, hitting the wheel with one palm. "I don't think I would either, but hey, I did it anyway. I know my parents are going to murder me." She let out a sarcastic exhale. "Oh, well. I think they would have murdered the two of you first. We unfortunately still have the death penalty here. Feels archaic."
She had rambled since we got into the car, somehow overshadowing even Koharu's vibrant personality with her loquaciousness. I did not know where we were going with her, but the leather seating was far more hospitable than the wasteland of the cell.
"You're not mad about it?" Koharu asked.
"Do I look like I'd be?" As she stared at the road ahead of her, Roslynn chuckled. "My dad's just nuts, honestly. He has enough money to replace anything. I don't know why he drew the line with clothes."
*She seems nice enough. Too nice?*
"That's a relief. I'm sorry about doing that, Princess Roslynn."
For once, Koharu sounded as if she had some remorse. Maybe it was because she didn't have to beg for forgiveness.
The white-haired girl took a hand off the wheel and flicked it. "I told you: Don't worry about it. I thought it was dumb how much they were gonna fine you, anyway."
"Why'd you help *me*, though?" I finally asked her after remaining quiet most of the ride.
"Do you object to that?" she snapped. "I can turn this thing around right now if you want a return trip."
I kept silent.
"Neither of you can probably tell, but I'm a bit of a history buff." On her key ring, she hit a figurine of an old king, which jingled with a few sculptures of generals and other heroes.
*Checks out.*
"Okay?" I said to her.
I didn't see the point in her mentioning that. I had no use for her life story.
The car slowing to a stop, she smirked in front of a red light.
"'Okay', you say, Advisor Ophelia from the Galaxy Kingdom. And why don't you say anything, Princess Koharu?"
*What is this girl—*
"Eh?" Koharu shouted.
I was incredulous.
*You're telling me she recognizes us? That can't be.*
"You… You know who we are?" I tensed up. "Really? You don't think we're fakes?"
She nodded as the car roared and powered forward. "Of course I know who the two of you are."
"Then—"
"I'm here to help." Excessively thrilled, she leaned against the seat. "They say you shouldn't tamper with history. Records are kept to keep it accurate—not to screw around with. You don't belong here, so you two are already flopping around like fish out of water. That's how you got in jail. A weird time vortex."
I was surprised at her sudden shift in tone from a gossiping student to a benevolent but perhaps fallen angel. More than that, though, I could not fathom how lucky Koharu and I were to run into her. It seemed as if we had a ticket to safety if not home—whatever that was anymore.
(Was it ever the same after something of this magnitude?)
I could not contain my shaking excitement as she talked, but the uncanny thought of someone knowing our lives—our futures—scared the shit out of me as I sat in the back of the car while the glow of the moon formed a halo around her white hair.
If we didn't have to sleep under the night sky anymore and could return home… Oh, if that came true, then I would have broken down crying. I almost did at the possibility of it—the thought of living with my usual comforts and the mundane faces. I longed for another fight with King Inei or a tense cup of tea with Prince Akiyoshi.
Going to jail seemed to be a bad omen, but perhaps it was a shamrock hidden beneath the dirt, waiting for someone to dig it up.
"Then… where are we going?" Koharu asked.
Princess Roslynn turned to us with a smile at another intersection. "My house."
Koharu and I glanced at each other, faces set alight at the thought of our destination being within reach and ready to greet our fingertips in a matter of minutes. For all our suffering, all it took was a car ride to set the stars back into alignment.