Chapter XLII.

The boys and I reached the shrine by dusk. The decline of sunlight marked the beginning of the funfair. And already there was crowd. 

Never before had I seen so many people, so much animation at the shrine. The whole place was illuminated with traditional lanterns, and there were stalls everywhere. The whole place was buzzing!

'Hime!' I heard Katsura-san call out to me, and turning around onto myself, I searched for her with the eyes until I caught sight of her where she was standing by the Shamusho a distance away, waving at us. 

The boys and I ran to meet up with her instantly.

'I'm sorry. We got late!' I apologized.

'It's alright,' she said, with a pleasant smile, and looking at Shunsui, then, she told him, cheerily, 'Ah, you must be Shunsui Shigeizumi. Hime has told me a lot about you!'

'Eh? I wonder what she has told you,' the reddish-brown-haired murmured, looking at me with narrowed eyes, and reaching out for my cheeks, he pulled at them, muttering at me, 'I'm sure that you told her that I treat you like a slave! Am I wrong?!'

'Ah! Ah! Shunsui, it hurts!' I whimpered.

My cheeks were stinging!

I rubbed them with my hands, sniffling a little, when he finally decided to let go of me.

Katsura-san giggled. 

'Not at all. Your mother has told me a lot about you too!'

'My mother?!'

All three of us were surprised. Tsubasa-sama is here?!

Just at that moment, the blonde woman came out of the Shamusho, and the instant her eyes fell onto Shunsui, she jumped at him to rub her cheek against his, exclaiming, ecstatically, 'Ah, Katsura! I see that you've finally been able to meet my son! Isn't he a cute lad?!' 

That's right! I had forgotten that Tsubasa-sama has offered us her help!

I smiled.

'Stop that! There are people around! It's so embarrassing!' Shunsui shouted at the blond woman, as he desperately tried to push her face away. 

'What are you saying, you little devil?!' she demanded, as she released him, and putting her forefinger up at him and closing her eyes, she asserted, in a solemn tone, 'No expression of love from a mother can be viewed as embarrassing for his children!'

'I totally agree!' Katsura-san declared, with as much a solemn nod.

While I was a bit surprised by the two women's complicity, Shunsui's mouth hung open at them in disbelief.

'And who said that?!' he demanded.

'I said it, and therefore it has to be true!' Tsubasa-sama affirmed, and the reddish-brown-haired young man's mouth went further agape.

I chuckled. It is so nice to see them like this! There is so much love between them!

'Ne, ne, Hime,' Katsura-san said to me, then, 'How do you like the organization? Isn't it good? I have to admit that Tsubasa has helped me a lot! Without her help, I wouldn't have been able to do so much!'

'Now, you're embarrassing me!' the blonde woman told her, scratching her cheek and blushing in embarrassment. 'I didn't do anything special! At the beginning, it was your plan and that of Hime!'

I gazed at the two women again, another smile coming to my lips. They seem to have become great friends!

'Everything looks perfect!' Katsura-san stated, with a joyous look, her eyes traveling around the crowd of people on the premises of the shrine. 'All that is left now is for the Kagura dance to make the funfair a total success!'

Yes… The Kagura dance…

I felt a bit nervous as I thought about it. 

'Here you go, Hime!' the brown-haired woman declared, handing out to me one of the two robe bags she was carrying in her arms. 'It is your costume. It's a gift from Tsubasa!'

Instantly, I looked at the blonde woman's face, my heart swelling. She gave me a large smile, while making a V sign with one of her hands.

Oh, Tsubasa-sama...

Katsura-san opened the bag for me to show me the costume. My eyes illuminated. It was absolutely magnificent! It was a Japanese traditional wear, and was extremely elegant and highly designed.

'Tsubasa-sama... Thank you so much!' I whispered, with a grateful look.

'I'm glad that you like it!' she said, with another smile, before she added, excitedly, 'Now, now, let's hurry up and get you ready!' 

And on these words, Katsura-san and she had grabbed me by my arms to drag me inside of the Shamusho to help me get dressed and do my hair. 

'Ah, Hime, you look so beautiful!' both women exclaimed, together, when they were done, clasping their hands in front of themselves to gaze at me.

I lowered my eyes and blushed.

I was fully dressed now, and the two women had tied my hair and adorned it with beautiful Kanzashi that they had brought.

'Now, come on! Let's check the boys' reaction!' they exclaimed, and already they had taken me by the hands to drag me into the entrance hall of the Shamusho. 

I held my breath; my heart beating faster.

The minute the boys saw me, their eyes went wide and they stopped breathing.

I lowered my eyes again, blushing even harder.

'Doesn't she look like a real princess?!' Tsubasa-sama cried, cheerily, and grabbing my shoulders from behind, she pushed me further to the front.

'Hime,' Shunsui murmured, 'You look so...'

He left his words hanging. 

I didn't dare to look at his face or that of Gōjun. 

The next second, the reddish-brown-haired young man let out an excited cry, and he jumped forward with the intention to send his arms around my neck and rub his cheek against mine, but Tsubasa-sama stopped him just in time by putting her hand in his face, breaking his stride. 

'Oh, no!' she stated, firmly. 'You're not ruining her hair!'

Shunsui humped his back, letting out a small moan. 

I couldn't help but chuckle.

'Where's Natsui?' I asked the boys, anxiously, after that. 'Hasn't she arrived yet?'

At this, I saw their expression change. I became scared. Did something happen?

'Hime, I'm here!' the ginger-haired girl called, entering the door by that moment. 

My heart shook as I realized that the girl had an ankle in a bandage and she was limping.

'Natsui, what happened to you?!' I exclaimed in deep worry and shock.

Scratching the back of her head in a combination of nervousness and embarrassment, she replied that it was a long story that she'd tell me some other day, but that the most important point was that she wouldn't be able to perform.

'I'm really sorry, Hime!' she told me, apologetically, her expression filled with regret. 'You will have to perform all alone.'

I let my knees drop, but before they could hit the ground, Katsura-san and Tsubasa-sama had wounded one of their arms under my arm-pits to hold me up, stating to me, 'Don't! You're going to damage your costume!'

I stared at the floor, more than fazed by the turn of events. 

Why do things always have to take such a dramatic twist? 

The same thing had happened during the kendō match- even if at that time, it had all been a set up by Shunsui! But this time, it was not!

'Hime, listen to me!' Natsui declared, bending down to hold my face with both her hands while staring at me directly in the eyes with a serious, ardent look. 'You have to dance! It's important! You can't give up, understood?!'

I stared back into the ginger-haired girl's eyes, my stomach twisting with fear.

A young man appeared in the doorway of the building, suddenly, and we all recognized the latter to be Natsui's savior from the incident in the metro; the new student Yūsei Nishoji.

'Ah, I think that you already know Yūsei! We've come to the funfair together!' Natsui told us, and taking a glance at the blond male over her shoulder, she gave him a large smile, which the young man happily returned. 

Apart from asking about each other's health, Natsui and I had not talked about much of anything else since last Saturday. I wondered what happened between the two of them during our absence. The two seemed to have become particularly close to each other.

'There's a lot of catching up to do!' Natsui said to me, quietly, and promising me that she'd tell me everything on the phone after tonight, she moved away to join the blond male, informing me that they have to hurry for the Kagura-den immediately if they want to be sure to they find a place in the front to watch the performance, while wishing me best of luck.

'Ah, please, wait!' Tsubasa-sama called after the ginger-haired girl, and picking the robe bag resting on the table close-by, she half-ran to the girl to place it in both her hands.

Natsui's eyes widened at the blonde woman. 

'But-'

'I've got these costumes specially made for Hime and you. I want you to keep it!' Tsubasa-sama told her, with a kind smile, and Natsui thanked her fervently for it, her expression touched.

And soon after that, the ginger-haired girl had left with the blond male.

'I can't dance!' I declared, holding my head in-between my hands, almost frantically. 

There are so many people out there! And they will all have their eyes fixed on me! 

I knew that Natsui could dance well, and I had hoped that no one would notice the clumsy person dancing by her side! But now-

In all of a sudden, as if, in tacit agreement, Katsura-san and Tsubasa-sama dashed at me to send their arms around my neck to give me a reassuring hug, while cradling the back of my head with their hands.

I froze into place.

'Hime,' they murmured, in my ears, their tone motherly, 'It's alright! You don't have to be scared! You can do it!'

My eyes widened, my heart skipping a beat.

Tsubasa-sama… Katsura-san…

When they pulled away, they gave me a large encouraging smile, wishing me, 'Ganbatte kudasai, ne!' before they said to the boys that it was up to them now, and taking each other's hand, the two women headed for the Kagura-den together, joyously.

I didn't understand what they had meant when they had said to the boys that it was "up to them now" until, I saw Gōjun and Shunsui exchange a look with each other, and against all expectations, they both bent down together place a kiss on my cheeks.

My face flushed tomato red; my heart skipping another beat.

'That's our encouragement for you, Princess!' Gōjun declared, and asking me not to make them- as well as everyone else- wait too much, they headed for the door too, a playful smile lingering on their lips.

What kind of encouragement was that?!

They have sent my heart beating so fast, that my head is almost spinning!

I stood there for a whole minute, trying my best to recover my composure. Closing my eyes then, and taking a deep breath, I headed for the door.

"It's alright! You can do it! You don't have to be scared!" 

I could almost hear Tsubasa-sama and Katsura-san's voices in my ears again.

As I came out of the Shamusho, however, I jerked to a stop, paralyzed with fear at the view of the crowd which has grown even bigger by now.

My knees shook, my heart palpitating. I had almost turned around to run back into the building when, out of the blue, I heard a familiar voice utter my name.

Instantaneously, my head snapped to my right, and my eyes went wide at the man who was holding himself there by the side of the door, against the wall.

'Ojii-san!'

The old man's eyes widened at me as he took in my appearance. Giving me a smile then, he told me, 'I've come with Tsubasa-sama! Hime, I know that I have never told you this before but, I find you as beautiful as your mother! When I look at you, you remind me a lot of the time when she had your age!'

My breath caught.

Oh, Ojii-san… 

This was the most beautiful compliment that he could give me. My heart was filled. I was too content to allow any fear to overpower me anymore, and together with all the encouragements that I had received from Natsui, Tsubasa-sama, Katsura-san and the boys, I managed to build up the confidence required to step onto the Kagura-den to perform.

The performance lasted for as long as it should have, and I was a bit surprised that I didn't forget any one of my steps, or anything. And at the end of it, I had to admit that I was pretty proud of myself. Had I decided not to perform, I would have most certainly regretted it all my life.

'That was a superb performance!' Tsubasa-sama exclaimed at me, cheerily, when I came down from the Kagura-den, and sending one of her arms around my neck, she put her fist up and made a small jump in the air, crying, 'Yosh!'

Katsura-san, Shunsui, Natsui, Yūsei Nishoji, and even Gōjun were all smiling at me. 

I lowered my eyes, blushing shyly.

Ojii-san, who had apparently been attending to a phone call for a short while, returned by that moment to tell me that he had loved my performance too, and to declare to Tsubasa-sama that they should probably leave now.

'The clients insist on meeting you right away! They say that they wish to return to their country as quickly as possible to attend to some urgent work, and therefore, they cannot wait for tomorrow- the meeting has to take place tonight itself! They say that are very sorry and beg for your understanding.'

'It's okay,' Tsubasa-sama replied, with a gentle smile, and turning back to us, she apologized for having to leave early. 

'Katsura, it was really nice to finally meet you in person! I hope that we'll have many more occasions to meet again!' she said to the latter, as a parting word, and saying goodbye to every one of us, she left with Ojii-san.

'Well, well, I think I'll get moving too!' Shunsui declared, soon after that. 'I've had my eyes on those girls over there since a long time now!'

'Try to control yourself a little, alright?' Gōjun told him, his expression a bit cynical. 'Don't forget that you're in a shrine!'

'Got it!' the reddish-brown-haired young man answered, distractedly, and already, he was making towards the group of girls in question. 

Katsura-san left us equally to attend to a few things, and sometimes after she was gone, we were approached by two men. They were both in their mid-twenties; the first one was blond, while the second had red hair. They accosted Yūsei Nishoji in particular.

'Oh, I present you my brother Sōken,' the latter declared, his expression a bit awkward. 'And this is his friend, and my guardian, Naoyasu Hanabusa.'

His guardian?

'Nice to meet you!' Natsui and I said to the two men, bowing down in respect. 

'It's nice to meet you too!' they both replied, smilingly.

The red-haired male and Natsui would then look at Yūsei and his brother- who were both fixating each other now, with the same awkward look as before- in contemplation for a minute, before they would exchange a look with each other, and the red-haired man would declare, in a small giggle, 'I think that these two have to a lot to say to each other. Let's give them some privacy! Are you coming, Natsui? Natsui; it's well Natsui, right? I've seen a few interesting things that I would really like to check out. Are you accompanying me?'

'Sure!' the ginger-haired girl replied, and taking my hand, she asked Gōjun and I to tag along with them. And already, she was dragging me away with her, with Gōjun following us closely from behind.

***

As the two brothers found themselves alone with each other, the atmosphere between them grew even more uncomfortable. They were both avoiding each other's look, not really knowing what to say.

But then, Sōken Nishoji reminded himself that this was the moment that he had been yearning for- Yūsei has finally accepted to talk to him- and he didn't want to it to go to waste. 

'Are you hungry?' he asked the teenaged young man, with a smile, and thumbing over his shoulder, he told him, 'There's a vendor selling ramen over there. They seem really delicious to me! Want to try some?'

Keeping his eyes down and squirming a little, Yūsei nodded once.

'Great!' the older male exclaimed, and they both headed for the said yatai. After they had taken a seat and passed their orders, Sōken decided not to beat around the bush and to attack the subject directly.

'Yūsei, I prefer to be frank with you,' he began. 'I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that when I decided to leave, I had weighed the pros and the cons. I'm not going to come up with excuses like I was too young at the time and felt inapt to take care of a child of your age, or that I was worried about how to provide for you in an unknown country, or even that I was scared to fight for your guardianship because our family is very powerful. Because, the truth is that, I didn't think about any of this. All that I wanted was to escape that family that I had never been able to consider as my own. I didn't think of you even once. You represented nothing for me. You didn't exist. And I didn't give a damn about what could have happened to you. "It's not my problem", I said to myself.'

The man took a glance at the younger male to look at his expression, marking a pause. 

Yūsei kept his face neutral. 

'I'm sorry. Maybe, I'm being a little too brutal. I'm not telling you this because I mean to hurt you. I only want to make part to you of my feelings at the time.'

'It's alright. You may carry on. I'm listening.'

The man nodded, and looking back to the front, he continued, 'And then, I met Naoyasu at university. We met during the induction week itself. It was the first time that I was meeting him in person, and very quickly, we became close to each other. He would often ask me about my little brother, but I would always categorically refuse to talk about you. I guess that it didn't take him too long to realize what I had done. He would mention your name in every conversation, so as to remind me of you constantly, so as to bring me to think about you; he didn't allow me to forget you for years. And the day he announced to me that he's returning to Japan, I don't know what happened to me but, instantly, you came to my mind, and I asked him to come to see you.'

Yūsei's eyes widened at him a little.

'When I think about it, it was so cowardly on my part!' Sōken murmured, lowering his eyes and clutching his own upper arm with his hand, his tone filled with melancholy and regret. 'It was not for him to come to see you; I should have come! And when I think about it again, even if I didn't realize it immediately, later on I took consciousness of the fact that the day he had announced to me that he was returning to Japan, it was also the same day that I had finally accepted to tell him about you. We had been talking about you that morning, and immediately after that, he had taken his decision. He had been hesitating about returning to Japan or settling there for some time; it had been like a trigger. If Naoyasu has decided to return to Japan, it was for no other reason than to find you! He would have done it whether I had asked him or not!'

Yūsei's eyes grew even wider, his heart skipping a beat.

'He stepped up to take on the role, the responsibility, that I refused to assume! While I, I remained convinced that my life was there, and that you didn't have your place in it. I was so pathetic! But, slowly, as I saw the interest that he was showing towards you, especially when he took you in, I began to feel guilty. He made me want to see you, to interact with you. He made me yearn for you. He made realize how much I was behaving selfishly!'

Looking at Yūsei again, he added, lastly, 'I owe Naoyasu everything! He's the person who made me understood the importance that you have for me, and that I need you in my life! I know that after what I've just told you, you must be hating me even more than before. But I didn't want to lie to you.'

'No. It's the whole contrary,' the teenager asserted, and Sōken blinked in confusion, telling him, 'I don't understand.'

'Naoyasu has taken me out of that hell. He gave me a home, my real one. I was already grateful towards him for that. But after what you've told me about him today, I feel even more grateful towards him. I feel greater respect for him. And if someone like him thinks that you deserve to be given a chance, if he can consider you as his friend, then I owe to respect his point of view. Sōken, my decision is made; I'm going to give you a chance!'

This time, it was the older brother's heart which skipped a beat. He stared at the young man that he had in front of him breathlessly for a whole minute, before he found his voice again to declare, 'Yūsei, I thank you! I promise you that I won't disappoint you again!'

'Yes, you'd better not!' the teenager replied, and they both gazed at each other for a moment until, the vendor served them their ramen, apologizing to them for the lateness.

'It's alright!' they both said to the middle-aged man, and picking their chopsticks up, they exchanged a timid smile with each other, before they started to eat in silence. 

They had both finished their bowl when, Naoyasu and Natsui caught up with them again.

Yawning sleepily, the red-haired male declared, 'Ah, I think I'm going to return home now! I'm not used to staying up late at night. I wake up early in the morning.'

'You're lucky not to be married, otherwise you'd end up divorced very quickly!' Sōken asserted, in good humor. 

Naoyasu gave him an intrigued look. 'And why is that?'

'Only because you'd certainly make someone very unhappy in bed! No one likes a partner who go to sleep early!' 

The red-haired male, together with Yūsei and Natsui, flushed tomato red at the crude joke.

'Oops, sorry!' Sōken apologized to the ginger-haired girl, sheepishly, immediately after that, biting his lower lip. 'It came out on its own!'

Naoyasu put a fist up at the blond man and pressing his eyes, he growled, 'You know, marriage is not only about that!'

Sōken laughed, and sending his arm around the red-haired male's neck, he told him not to take it too seriously, that he was only pulling his leg, before he proposed to drive him home.

'Aren't you going to stay a little longer with Yūsei?' Naoyasu inquired, looking at the two brothers.

'No, I think that'll be enough for tonight,' Sōken replied, casting a smile at the teenaged young man. The latter averted his eyes to return the smile timidly.

Natsui and the red-haired male looked at each other's face in surprise, before a smile came to their lips too. Things seemed to be on the good path to arranging themselves between the two brothers, and this filled both of them with immense joy and relief.

'You may stay a little while longer to enjoy the funfair, if you want Yūsei,' Naoyasu said to the young man, 'but not for too long, okay? And do make sure to walk this charming young girl that we have here to her home before you come back, alright?'

Yūsei nodded in agreement. And the two men parted with them there.

***

A few minutes later…

As Naoyasu Hanabusa and Sōken Nishoji arrived onto the street, suddenly, the red-haired male heard the latter call out his name very softly. 

Just as he was turning around to look at Sōken, the blond male seized him by his forearms in one instant movement to pull him towards him and seal their mouths in a kiss.

Naoyasu was so surprised that he froze into place, his eyes going wide, his heart fluttering in his chest. 

The kiss lasted for a minute and when Sōken let go of him, the red-haired male stared at the latter in puzzlement, his face tomato red.

'What is it?' Sōken asked him, in a murmur, becoming afraid. 'You didn't like it?'

When they were at university, they used to be a couple. They went out together for years. After Naoyasu returned to Japan, they both continued to remain faithful to each other- none of the two went out with other people- but since they didn't talk about their relationship anymore, Naoyasu was not so sure where it actually stands anymore. And after Sōken's return to the country, he didn't make mention of their relationship even once.

'No, it's not that!' Naoyasu assured him, and averting his eyes, shyly, he murmured, 'It's just that, ever since you've come back, it's the first time that you're kissing me.'

'I'm sorry. I should have done it earlier,' Sōken told him, with an apologetic smile. 'I should have done it the second I got down from the plane itself!'

The red-haired man looked at him, with tears coming to his eyes, his emotions in turmoil.

'Naoyasu, I know that I've said it to you several times, but I want to say it to you again! I love you! And today, I want you to know that I want to be by your side forever!'

Naoyasu's heart seemed to want to claw its way out of his chest now to take wings and fly away.

'We'll have to tell Yūsei about us!' he said to blond male, with a gentle smile, brushing the tears off the corner of his eyes. 'But let's wait a little, okay? It might cause him a shock.'

'Yes!' Sōken agreed, returning the smile, and both males stood there, gazing at each other for an indefinite length of time.

Thank you for reading!

Glossary

Shamusho - administration office 

Kanzashi - hair ornaments

Yosh - expression used when one is ready to do something