After my little shopping, I went to meet up with Tsunan again at the open square.
Catching sight of the doctor, I half-ran to him, calling, 'Tsunan!'
Turning around, his eyes settled on me and he called back, 'Shun!'
'I'm sorry that I took so much time.'
'Don't worry about that,' he told me, before he thumbed over his shoulder, saying, 'I've seen a tempura vendor on this side. You like ebi tempura, don't you?'
'Yes. A lot,' I replied, shyly.
'Okay then, let's go.'
Turning away from me, he started to walk.
In a surge of panic, I tugged at the back of his coat, causing him to stop.
His present!
He gave me a questioning look over his shoulder.
Lowering my eyes and without releasing his coat, I murmured, timidly, 'I- I have something to give you.'
He turned to face me completely and I let go of my grip on him. Digging my hand into the shopping bag that I was carrying, I took out the small box in which was found the tie.
The cover of the box was transparent and thus, we could see the content in it.
'Here! This is for you,' I said in a murmur, holding the box out to him with my two hands. 'It is to thank you for having accompanied me. I know that it's not a lot but please, accept this modest present from my part.'
'Shun, you shouldn't have,' he told me as he took the present and I panicked.
'Perhaps, you would have preferred something else instead of a tie? I should have got it wrapped! Or maybe, it's the color that's posing problem. We can still go get it exchanged-'
'No,' he interjected. 'I like it!'
I gazed at him, realizing that I had misunderstood his words.
He gave me a smile, which I gladly returned.
'Shall we?' he asked, then, and giving him a nod, I tagged along with him, heading for the tempura vendor.
'I was thinking that we could visit the royal palace tomorrow before we leave. What do you say?'
Filled with enthusiasm, I replied, 'Yes. That would please me a lot.'
***
As we had planned, we headed for the Katsuragi royal palace the next day to visit it, before we would leave for Toda.
The palace was found just outside of Ishiguro and was surrounded by a forest of bamboo.
Centuries ago, the Katsuragi and the Shintani royal families were caught in a long-time feud, massacring each other endlessly, to the day when a pact of non-aggression between the two families was put forward for the re-establishment of peace between them.
The prince Subete Katsuragi and the princess Haruse Shintani were born in these two families respectively.
The main members of the two parties needed to go at the royal palace of the other each one at their turn for the signature of the non-aggression pact.
To show their good will, the Katsuragi had decided to take the first step.
But unknowingly to them, the non-aggression pact was only a ploy that had been set by the Shintani in order to have the Katsuragi lower their guards, only for the former family to attack them when these expected it the least.
The Shintani had, in fact, planned to ambush the Katsuragi.
During the latter's visit at the Shintani royal palace, the princess Haruse discovered about the terrible plan of her family and being a fervent partisan of peace between her family and the Katsuragi, she managed to inform the Katsuragi of the trap that had been laid for them in the nick of time.
She asked the prince Subete and his people to take her away along with them.
This would allow the Katsuragi to leave the Shintani royal palace without hurt and also, by becoming their hostage, the members of the princess's family would have to renounce attacking the Katsuragi as long as she would stay with them and thus, peace would be restored between them.
This was how they took the princess alongside them and the Katsuragi royal palace became Haruse Shintani's new home.
The members of the family didn't treat her as a hostage; they accepted her amongst them and were loyal to her. Slowly, the prince Subete and her became romantically involved and their marriage was envisaged.
Unfortunately, the family of Haruse decided to attack the Katsuragi despite everything, no matter if the princess had to perish.
And she died in the midst of the battle, alongside the prince Subete and his comrades, who protected her till their last breaths.
The story of the princess Haruse was what made the Katsuragi royal palace popular.
'It's strange that we can't see anyone around, isn't it?' I said to Tsunan, as we entered the courtyard of the palace. But since it was lunchtime, I supposed that the guardian must be taking his meal somewhere under a tree.
I was utterly fascinated by the structure of the building and I couldn't be happier at visiting such a historical place.
Tsunan and I were making our way down a corridor of the palace, when suddenly, he came to a stop and turned half-around to take a look behind us.
Bewildered, I turned to look behind us too and gasped in shock as I realized that the path that we had taken had disappeared, only to be replaced by a wall which was facing us.
'Tsunan!' I whispered, giving him a scared look.
What's going on?
He groped at the wall for a minute before he declared, 'I fear that we don't have another choice but to continue to move ahead of us.'
Unexpectedly, he grabbed hold of my hand and set back walking, telling me, 'Don't let go of my hand at any cost!'
I lowered my eyes, blushing hard.
The path behind us continued to disappear gradually as we walked, and slowly, the corridors of the palace began to take the form of the ramparts of a cave.
Tsunan and I staggered to a stop when we caught sight of girl with incredibly long black hair, who was sleeping a few feet away ahead of us on a bed of human skulls!
Human skeletons sat in every corner around of us.
The morbid view made my blood run cold.
As the dark-haired girl stirred up, I realized that she was clothed in a Jūnihitoe and she was feet-less.
'I feel so lonely,' she said, in a low plaintive voice. 'But now that you're here, you're going to keep me company. Unfortunately, all my companions always end up abandoning me.'
Her eyes traveled across of the human skeletons around us; her expression desolated, her eyes empty.
I was stricken with horror as I realized that these skeletons could be none other than those of people who had come to visit the palace, just like Tsunan and I, and she had trapped them here, causing them to die of starvation.
She was definitely no human!
Instantly, I tried to activate my Godai Shakujō but, to my stupefaction, I found that I couldn't.
'I am the princess Haruse Shintani. And you are going to be my new companions for a moment.'
She- She is the ghost of the princess Haruse Shintani?!
I remembered that I had read somewhere that certain ghosts could trap their victims in a dimension that was their own; it was like their personal world, an alternative reality.
If I couldn't activate my Godai shakujō, it was without any doubt because Tsunan and I were no longer in the world that we knew; we were trapped in the fabricated world of the ghost of the princess, which was interfering with my ability.
'Let us go,' I told her with angst. 'The princess Haruse of the story that everybody knows was someone honorable and admirable as a living. You have to let us go.'
'You don't want to stay with me?' she asked, sounding hurt, before she exclaimed, in a fit of anger, 'Well, if you want to leave, then leave!'
At this, a door opened in the wall on my right as per magic.
'But he, he remains here!' she declared, and I looked at Tsunan, my heart skipping a beat.
A kind of black jelly-like substance- ectoplasm- began to ooze out of the princess's body, taking shape in front of us.
Tsunan tried to ward it off with his needles but the poison didn't seem to affect the ectoplasm; it swallowed the needles that the doctor hurled at it, before it began to engulf him.
'Tsunan!' I cried, pulling at his hand which was still around mine; my heart fluttering. His other arm and half his body had already been swallowed by the animated jelly-like substance and he seemed to be growing weaker and weaker with each passing second; the ectoplasm absorbing his energy.
'No, Tsunan!' I pulled harder onto his hand with both of mine, desperately.
'Let go of him!' the princess shouted at me. 'I told you that you could leave, then why aren't you going?!'
'Shun, let go of my hand!' Tsunan ordered in a strained voice. 'Otherwise, you're going to get swallowed too!'
'No, I refuse!' I exclaimed with fervor, getting a better grip on him by sending my arm around his waist to try and pull him towards me.
As I entered into direct contact with the ectoplasm, suddenly, the Omamori in my possession began to shine brightly and it repelled the ectoplasm on the spot, forcing it to disappear.
Tsunan and I fell to the ground.
Helping him to sit up, I clung at him, refusing to let go of him even for a second.
'You'd be ready to stay here with him instead of leaving without him?' the princess asked me, her expression staggered. 'Do you hold on so much to this young man?'
'Shun, go away while it's still time!' the doctor breathed.
Blinking back the tears in my eyes, I shook my head, stating firmly, 'No, I refuse!'
My eyes landed onto the book lying on the floor next to him at that moment; it had fell off my bag when I had released the latter.
The sight of the novel triggered something in me.
If she is the ghost of the princess, then why would she search for companions this desperately? To replace those she has lost?
Unless…
Staring at the female ghost, I gasped, 'You're not the ghost of the princess Haruse!'
The soul of the princess Haruse can't be here. She has definitely passed on for she couldn't really have any regrets. She died, alongside the man that she loved, and surrounded by comrades who remained loyal towards her till the end.
'No,' I asserted, with more conviction. 'You're a writer. Your name is Nana Yasuri.'
'What are you saying?!' she growled, looking disturbed. 'I am the princess Haruse Shintani!'
'No,' I dared to insist.
Picking the book up, I showed it to her.
'You're a writer. You're not the princess Haruse. You have written this novel. I met your friend Miusagi-san yesterday and she told me about your life.'
When Nana Yasuri died, it had been totally different from the princess Haruse's death; the writer was all alone and her heart full of pain. Because of her regrets, her soul didn't pass on. Perhaps, she lost her memory in the process and believed that she's the princess; or maybe, she convinced herself of it unconsciously to fill up her despair. She became one of those ghosts that could change their appearance.
Holding her head in-between her hands, she began to retrogress, seeming to be caught in an internal conflict with herself.
'I am the princess Haruse! I am the princess Haruse!' she repeated, in emotional distress; trying to convince herself of it.
'No, you're not,' I whispered, saddened by the situation.
She stared at me for a minute, then at the book.
And then, out of the blue, her appearance changed; she was no longer the dark-haired girl in a Jūnihitoe, but a slightly younger person with short brown hair and who was clothed in a grayish-blue dress.
Approaching Tsunan and I, she tried to touch the book that I was holding, but her hand went through it.
'Yes, I remember,' she murmured, as she pulled her hand back, her expression appalled. 'I have written this novel. Some people say that music has helped them forget their pain of living; for me, it was stories. For a brief moment, I could enter into the skin of any one of my characters and live their adventures. I had companions all suddenly and even if difficulties appeared, there were also joyful moments; every night ended with daybreak, contrarily to real life which doesn't follow the rule where everyone has their share of misfortune but also, happiness. I could find an escape. I could laugh with my characters and cry with them. Stories are truly incredible. They transport you.'
She paused.
'Unfortunately, reality caught up with me. I realized that I was happy only within my stories. Life, in general, was insupportable to me.'
That was when she decided to put an end to her life.
People usually lived for their passion. Nana Yasuri gave up her life for it.
'I knew that for me, everything was lost, but I wanted to give Momo Kanegai her happy ending.'
Last night, I had read the book. Momo Kanegai was the main protagonist of the novel.
'But it doesn't change anything whether I am the princess Haruse or not. I feel so lonely.'
'You have known what suffering is and today, you're the cause of it,' I murmured. 'We can change your condition. If you let us the two of us go, I promise you that we'll come back tomorrow with a priest to accomplish the necessary rituals to help you pass on. You won't have to be alone anymore.'
'If I join the Kingdom of the Dead, I'll be punished for what I have done.'
She took a glance around us.
'Yes, indeed,' I whispered.
'But I would have deserved it,' she decided, before telling us, 'You may both leave. I hope to see you tomorrow.'
Giving her a nod, I looked at Tsunan again; the latter was pretty weakened down.
Sending his arm around my neck, I wound my arm around his waist and helped him to his feet and then, walk.
***
Respecting her part of the bargain, the ghost of the writer Nana Yasuri allowed them to leave the palace.
As they came out into the open, Tsunan couldn't help but stare at the red-haired girl who was helping him walk, utterly captivated by her.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Jūnihitoe - an exceptionally elegant and very intricate kimono worn only by court-ladies of ancient times and still officially used today by the Imperial household during certain important functions