A Date In Morningstar

TWO WEEKS AFTER THE BALL...

Phantom had not shown himself again since the events of the Engagement Ball. Approaching my first full month in Aurelia, I had finally begun improving my skills in the local language. Phantom’s riddles were all the convincing I needed to start my studies, and I was beginning to accept that I might be here awhile too. The person who volunteered to be my teacher, however, caught me completely off-guard.

Jewel was a skilled but unforgiving instructor when it came to my studies. Sometimes I thought she was tough on me out of spite, but there had been a softer side to her usual insults lately. Maybe it had been as a result of the time we spent while trying to rescue Amber together, or perhaps she had turned from her tsundere ways…

Hah! Like that would ever happen.

Cedrick meanwhile announced without warning that he was going on leave for two weeks to visit family in the old elf lands to the southeast in the nation called the Theocracy of Zephyr. Although... I could imagine it was also to get the heat off his back from the likes of Poppy and others who gave him a hard time based on what happened at the ball.

Phantom called him out by name, and it sounded like he had serious dirt. As for Amber and I?

Things carried on as normal for us. Well... As normal as they could be in this castle. I had gotten some light practice with swinging a sword, but not enough to consider myself skilled at it. I had, however, been keeping up with my duties as a butler. Technically, I was no closer to getting home, but I felt like I had a much better understanding of the world at large.

Not to mention my emerging materializing abilities.

Amber and I walked into Queen Veranda's office where she was sorting through several documents. Amber gave a light tap on the doorway to alert her mother of our presence.

"Oh, it's Aurelia's newest engaged couple!" Queen Veranda smiled brightly at us. "Come in, come in."

I still wasn't used to people treating us as an item, and I wasn't certain I ever would be as long as we were faking it for all it was worth. I couldn't say I felt ashamed of being addressed that way though. It made for a great boost to my self-confidence. Amber was a Princess and a rather good-looking one at that.

"Hello, your majesty. How are you holding up? With the aftermath of the ball to deal with, and everything..." I asked Queen Veranda as we walked in.

"I've had quite the time with Cedrick on leave, but we've managed." She sighed. “Since there weren't any casualties reported, we were able to convince a majority of the attendees that it was a performance act taken a bit too far.”

A bit? That's the understatement of the year!

“Still, no casualties after all that…”

Phantom had released his hold over the Queen's guard and the others as if they'd never been possessed. The true bodies of his shadow victims, as we would later learn the night of the ball, were kept safely within another pocket dimension. His true motives still puzzled me, and I seriously doubted he was going to simply leave me alone after all the trouble he caused.

“I will be paying close attention to your progress from now on… Sakuta-kun.”

I felt personally responsible for the carnage that occurred that night, but I hadn’t openly admitted fault to anyone just yet…

"Some even enjoyed it so much that they were clamoring for us to bring back the magnificent Phantom for the next ball." Queen Veranda chuckled. “Can you imagine that?”

"And they just... believed what you guys told them?" I asked, knowing I certainly wouldn't have.

"Well... I did send our guests home with a little parting gift from our treasury to maintain good feelings and diplomatic relations." Queen Veranda gave me an innocent-looking smile. “You understand, yes?”

Sheesh... This woman is surprisingly shrewd.

"So why did you call us here, mother?" Amber finally asked.

"As it turns out, the person I really wanted to talk to was Sakuta... alone if you don't mind, dear?" Queen Veranda motioned for Amber to leave the room.

That's awfully cryptic of her... I wonder what this could be about.

"Of course. I'll see you later, Sakuta." Rather than protest as I expected her to, Amber walked out with a cheery disposition.

If it wasn't for her silver hair—which I could easily see sticking out from her hiding place on the other side of the door—I would have questioned her uncharacteristic obedience.

"So, about what I wanted to ask you..." Queen Veranda glanced around to make sure nobody else was listening. “Have you taken Amber to bed yet?”

.............

"....HUH!?" If I were sipping a glass of water at that moment, I would have spit it out in its entirety. I could hear Amber's head slam against the other side of the wall, so I coughed to muffle the sound.

"Just kidding!" The Queen smirked. "I knew I could get a reaction out of you. You two are so adorable."

I'm glad you found it so hilarious, but you almost gave me a heart attack! And ‘you two’, huh?

"The real reason I called you here is to let you know that I found all the books you requested. Everything about the history of the Mage of the Crossing, and materializing.” She smiled. “I've had them all sent to your study."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." After getting my ass thoroughly handed to me by Phantom, and surviving against Captain Dag under dire circumstances before that, I decided to learn more about this predecessor of mine and how best to use my unique abilities going forward.

Somehow, I felt that pulling out a literal cannon at the last second wasn't going to work against every foe. I could consider myself lucky that it even worked twice.

"Your majesty, he says." She crossed her arms, pouting. “When are you going to start calling me mama?”

"Okay, I'll be on my way now." I swiftly turned around, trying to break for the exit.

"Sakuta, wait! One more thing." Queen Veranda beckoned me to come closer. I obliged, leaning in.

Suddenly she grabbed my wrist, and dropped a heavy pouch in my palm. I could hear the coins clattering from within.

"Umm, what's this all abou—" I began.

"Shhh. I gave you an advance on next month's pay and included a nice bonus in there. Take Amber somewhere fun outside the castle." The Queen whispered. "You may not know this, but today is her twentieth birthday. It's the fiancé's job to show her a good time, is it not? Off you go!"

Before I could object, Queen Veranda shooed me out of the room and closed the office door with a light click.

I couldn't get a single word in… Now I see where Amber gets her pushiness from, but there’s charm in that, I suppose.

"I couldn't hear everything after she went on about books, what else did she need?" Amber asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh... Nothing much! Nothing at all." If there was one thing that I was truly terrible at, it was lying.

Amber's scoff told me that she saw through it, even without using her ability. For some reason, she didn't press the issue further. I had to stop myself from physically exhaling in relief. Still though...

Amber's birthday, huh? I had no idea. I guess that makes me a pretty terrible fake fiancé, after all.

I hadn't gone into Morningstar but once since I arrived. The castle had all the amenities needed to live a fulfilling and comfortable life. Top-of-the-line food, live entertainment, and a beautiful courtyard with a garden.

What could we do in town that Amber couldn't just do here?

As I had that thought, I happened to look outside the window. A sea of colors floated through the sky. Hot air balloons, and many dozens of them from what I could tell. There went Aurelia living up to its name as the wind kingdom. I paused, hatching an idea.

Wait a minute, that's it! THAT’S what we'll do today!

"Hey, Amber! Do you—uhh—want to go into Morningstar?" I asked, much more awkwardly than I originally intended.

"Mister Routine is asking to do something different today?" Amber laughed, ignoring my ever-reddening face. “Did Phantom replace you with a shadow minion while I wasn't looking?”

"You don't have to go if you don't want to, but I saw some of those balloons fly by and I thought it might be fun to go, or something…" I muttered excuses to myself as the expression on Amber's face morphed into one of pure joy.

"The balloon tours are back!? They haven't held tours in Morningstar since I was a kid." Amber jumped with excitement, grabbing my shoulders. “We have to go!”

Suddenly her face went beet-red, matching my own.

"Ah—I mean if it's something you want to do, I guess I’d be okay with joining you."

Talk about insincerity, you were totally getting excited.

However, insincere or not, I could take that as a yes.

"Shall we go then?" I asked as she let go of me.

Amber nodded in response as we left the castle grounds–with her walking much too fast for me to keep up. I had never ventured into the heart of the city before, but the first thing I could notice was how unique the architecture was compared to most of the fantasy novels I had read. What captured me the most was the vibrant reds, whites, and yellows that painted everything within eyeshot.

With the pointed overhangs and triangular gabled roofs, it was like stepping into Laos which I had visited once with my family. Hearing a jingle, I happened to glance down into the pouch that Queen Veranda gave me...

"An allowance, huh? It’s like I’m a little–HUH!?" Once again, I almost went into cardiac arrest.

During a normal pay period, I would have been paid in mostly coppers, with some silver pieces thrown in for good measure. It was a solid wage for a servant in this world, but this...

This is almost all silver, and there's even some gold pieces mixed in! A month's advance my ass, try two years!

“What was she thinking…?”

As I agonized over my mini newfound fortune, Amber's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I followed her gaze to a small stand displaying some interesting sweets with a jolly-looking man selling them. I was inexperienced in spending leisure time with girls my age, but even I could tell she wanted to try some.

"Do you want to go check out some of the town before we hitch a ride on the balloon?" I asked her.

With money to burn, and a rare day off, I figured I could afford to splurge a little bit on Amber and myself. Seeing the expressions on her face also told me she wanted to explore a bit, and who was I to refuse when she looked so enthusiastic? It was her birthday, after all.

"W-woah, what are you—!" I figured she'd say yes, but I didn't expect her to suddenly grab my hand and pull me along. Her grip was firm, but her hands were incredibly soft. How we must have looked to the common folk walking around...

If I didn't know any better, I would say that this is a lot like... a date!

Amber's laughter filled the afternoon air as we broke for the sweets stand. And so, our day in Morningstar flew by, as a servant boy and his royal escort spent their day taking in the sights of Aurelia’s most impressive city.

10.2

The sun began to edge closer to the horizon as we ascended far above the ground in the balloon. I was quickly overwhelmed with not only the beauty of Morningstar from above, but also the girl sitting directly across from me.

"Look at how many other balloons are up here with us, isn't it beautiful!?" Amber beamed at the colorful sight stretching across the cloudless sky. “The big cathedral over there was built as a sign of goodwill to the Theocracy of Zephyr. Oh, and there’s the canal…..”

I studied her soft features. I had succeeded in putting a smile on her face—my ultimate goal for the day—but there was only one wish that came to mind at a time like this.

Speaking of cathedrals, if there's a god out there, please let me make it down from here in one piece!

"Sakuta, are you doing alright?" Amber asked me, looking a little concerned. "You look super pale. Like you just saw a ghost or something. Did some of the street food not agree with you?"

There's ghosts in this world too?? Wait, it's probably just a figure of speech...

I shook my head. The street food was actually quite good, so that wasn't it.

I was doing less than alright due to our distance from the safety of the ground below, but I kept quiet through the sinking feeling in my stomach. I didn't want to be the reason her birthday was ruined, like the Engagement Ball. Especially when today had been a smashing success thus far.

We stopped at virtually every place there was to sell food, and I had even picked up a small necklace to give to Amber when the moment presented itself. For her birthday, that was. The Queen's allowance easily covered everything—including the balloon ride—so I wanted to buy Amber something nice out of the money I had earned for myself.

Thinking back though, I've never purchased anything for a girl who wasn't in my family before unless it was omiyage. I wonder if it's too much for a birthday present. Will she think it's weird?

"Sakuta?" Amber broke my concentration.

"Oh! It's alright. It’s just my fear of heights, but don’t worry too much about it." I decided the wisest thing was to tell the truth, but not play it up too dramatically.

As for my aforementioned fear, I had known it well since I attempted to ride a roller coaster at Planetary Studios as a kid, back in Tokyo. I should have expected the worst from a ride called ‘Kidney Slayer’, but I ignored my mother's sound advice being the adventurous boy I was back then.

"How come you didn't feel sick on our voyage?" Amber wondered. “Especially during the attack by the Golden Dragon, I figured that would be a lot worse.”

I supposed that was a good point, but–with the mighty power of delusion–I could convince myself that I was sailing on the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Not hurtling through the air. And with literal dragons attacking us, it trumped heights in my hierarchy of fears at that moment.

Such was not the case in a hot air balloon above the city. Amber suddenly smirked.

"I just learned something new about you." She giggled. “It makes me kind of happy.”

My fear of heights makes her happy?

"We've been through a lot together already, but I feel like we don't know many of the small details about each other..."

So that's it. When you've mutually saved the other's life on several occasions, you lose sight of learning about the small things. The many anecdotes and oddities that make us who we truly are.

"In that case... Why don't we play the Question Game?" I asked.

"The Question Game? Hmm... I guess I'd be interested, but how do you play?"

"The rules are pretty simple, actually. You just ask the other person a question and they have to answer as truthfully as they possibly can. Failure to answer will result in a penalty of the victor's choosing... Or so it usually goes." At the sound of the word penalty, Amber's face weirdly lit up.

Suddenly I remembered Jun conning me into buying him drinks from the convenience store when we used to play this particular game. He would purposefully ask the most embarrassing questions. From what kind of dirty magazines I read, and which teachers I found the most attractive.

I never beat him once, and judging from Amber's sudden excitement... I thought I was due for another quick loss.

"I'm game! I'll start us off, then. Hmm..." Amber took the initiative and began to think of the first question of the game. "That tuft of hair that sticks up on top of your head... What's it for? Is it a style choice, or do you not even notice it?"

What a tame question. Thank the stars.

"My cowlick, huh? It's certainly not there by choice. They're usually associated with air-headedness, but I just can't get it to stay down." I shrugged.

"Well, you are pretty dense. So maybe it fits just fine." I wasn't going to deny her words even if they stung a bit. "Besides... I think it's kind of cute. Reminds me of a bird native to Aurelia, the Fleet-Footed Warbler"

I wasn’t displeased at being called cute, but it kind of offset itself when that cuteness was equated to a bird.

"I guess it's my turn, then." I cleared my throat. "Back on the ship, you fought well. Like REALLY well. Not to phrase it in a rude way, but how did you learn to scrap like that?"

"That's an easy one!" Amber exclaimed. "My father was the one who taught me how to fight. He wanted me to be a strong leader physically, just as much as I was mentally. Looking back, his teachings have saved my life plenty...”

“And mine.” I noted.

At the mention of her father, Amber's eyes seemed a bit downcast.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get nearly as much training on how to be queenly as I did on how to fight.” Amber sighed. “Sometimes… I honestly think Mavis would be cut out more for the job, had she been born first. She’s so modest that you’d never know how impressive she is with magic, and her studies. I wonder if I’m lacking in comparison…”

“I think you’re plenty amazing too!” I blurted out. “Well, that is to say… Your sister really looks up to you, and…”

My voice trailed off, leaving a bit of an awkward silence in its wake. Even so, Amber smiled at me for my efforts. Seeing a free moment, I reached for the pocket that held Amber’s birthday present. I was interrupted in the act.

"I've been wondering... When I brought you back up to your room after our voyage, you had tears in your eyes. You kept calling for your ‘Gramps’." Her mention of my grandfather froze me in place. "It surprised me a bit at the time. I didn't know you could be so vulnerable. Was he... someone important to you?"

Mortified at the fact that she had seen me cry, I seriously pondered whether I should simply take the penalty on that question. However... Would that be fair? That thought immediately crossed my mind after she had spoken so candidly about her father and sister only moments prior, something she hadn’t easily done before we got to know each other.

Considering all that we’ve been through, I can tell her this much.

"Sorry for asking such a personal question, I'll just ask something else—" I lightly grasped her wrist, cutting off her sentence.

"It's okay. I proposed this game to get to know each other better, after all." I put on a smile, and deeply inhaled. "My grandfather… My Gramps... He was one of the bravest people I ever met, you know? The kind of old guy that would step into an alley to protect someone even if he had no chance of walking away from it... I honestly thought he was invincible."

Amber listened quietly.

"But one day... I came to learn that he wasn't as invincible as I thought." I sighed. "I used to be on the swim team in middle school. On one particular evening, a senpai of mine told me I had the potential to go for nationals if I put in the work. I was excited, of course. I had never been recognized as having any sort of talent, athletic or otherwise."

"I have that talent of yours to thank for saving our mother," Amber noted, my hand still resting on her wrist. "So getting a compliment inspired you. That's good, isn't it?"

"That's right, and I was elated at the time. So I decided to break my daily routine and stay late at the pool to train. I was supposed to be home early to help Gramps make dinner. My mother warned me that he was slowing down, but he was invincible. It couldn't hurt to be a little late, right?" I chuckled.

“Sakuta, you…”

"I broke my routine for one day, engaged in a selfish whim, and it was the one day I needed to be there for him. I arrived too late..." My voice faltered. “You know what, I’ll take that penalty after all…”

I hadn’t felt the tears rolling down my cheeks, and I was stopped before I could maneuver to wipe them away.

"In that case, your penalty..." Amber stretched her arms out wide. "Come here."

"Eh...? Oh..."

Losing control of my own body, I let myself be taken in by her embrace. The tears were flowing freely as I stifled cries and buried my face into her chest. She simply stroked my hair as if it were the natural thing to do.

"Shhhhh. Bravado for the sake of vanity doesn’t suit you." She whispered into my ear. "You lost someone important to you, and you're sad. Why not face it with an honest heart? My mother told me that once."

But I'm not honest... All the routines, and giving up on a fun high school experience were all just an act of mine.

My need to be mundane, to live life within the borders of what could be easily achieved, was born out of a need to punish myself for my many mistakes. Phantom saw right through it. Amber sees through it. My insistence that I was nobody special was a coat of armor that I wore.

"You're so strong without the act, Sakuta.” Amber squeezed me a little tighter. “Even if nobody else was, I'll be proud of you."

"I'm so proud of you, my grandson."

She sounded an awful lot like him at that moment. Covered in snot and tears, I felt the pocket that contained her gift once again. I would have to find another time to give it to her when I wasn’t in such a compromising position, but there was one thing I could do...

"I didn't get to say it before, but happy birthday, Amber." I sniffled, breaking the embrace. “And... Thanks.”

"For what? This is a penalty!" Amber insisted as she started laughing. I soon joined in on the laughter, letting go of some tension that had been building up since I arrived in this world.

Above the cozy city below at sunset, I realized it wasn't just the balloon that was soaring high in the clouds, and I had the person in front of me to thank for it.