An Attempted Assassination.

“Why are you here… Hanahoshi?” Chief Justice held her forehead. “This is my court…”

Hanahoshi grinned. “The court is yours, but that bell is mine!”

“Hanahoshi, dear, this is an important meeting that concerns your safety.” She replied. “Maybe next time?”

“You still think of me as a child, sister Masayoshi,” Hanahoshi replied. “But I am here not to fool around!”

She looked around until her eyes locked with Hitsuki.

Her eyes looked as terrified as her time in the forest of spirits.

“What… happened to him…?” She muttered, biting her lips. “SISTER!!! WHAT DID YOU DO??”

Now, spectators looked like side characters. They had no authority over them.

“HE IS A VAMPIRE, HANAHOSHI!!!” Masayoshi yelled. “STAY OUT OF IT!!”

“HE IS NOT!!” Hanahoshi replied. Her eyes saw Hitsuki’s bare, bloody hands and bruised body—and the fact that his book was missing.

“What are you doing!” She clicked her tongue. “He cannot speak without his book!!”

“What do you mean?” Masayoshi asked, her brows creased.

Hanahoshi climbed up the towers where the spectators sat with Hitsuki’s book and pocket watch in front of them, and threw the book to Hitsuki.

“Catch!” Hanahoshi said. But to everyone, it was nothing more than utter foolishness. Who would think that throwing a book to a chained prisoner through a four-story deep gap would be a good idea?

But it actually turned out to be a good idea.

For they have witnessed something they shouldn’t. Everyone watched in wonder.

The air remained still.

Even Hanahoshi’s maid looked in awe.

The lifeless book was about to touch the ground, falling with disgrace to its worth. But it stopped—it levitated a few inches away, before it flew up at great speeds. Until it reached before Hitsuki’s eyes.

Hanahoshi smiled. Somehow, her idiotic plan had worked. While others looked surprised.

“You can tell them what you want!!” Hanahoshi shouted at Hitsuki.

Hitsuki was half-conscious when he heard the familiar voice of Hanahoshi ringing in his ear. As he opened his eyes, he saw her voice imprinted on the book’s pages.

First, he mumbled something under his breath in their tongue. But it was so low they could hardly hear it.

“Say it louder!” Hanahoshi tried to encourage Hitsuki.

“I SAID. I AM FREAKING HUNGRY YOU IDIOTSS!! GIVE ME FOOD!! YOU HAVE BEEN STARVING ME FOR A WHOLE DAY!!”

…

“Eh?”

“Eh?”

Princess Hanahoshi, Masayoshi, and the spectators looked in awe. Wherever they had expected to hear, it was definitely not this. Hanahoshi’s face turned red due to the second-hand embarrassment.

*****

“I-I… heard that vampires drink… blood…” Chief Justice Masayoshi looked scared and disgusted at the same time, seeing Hitsuki floating above the air with his mysterious book.

“I EAT HUMAN FOOD!!” Hitsuki yelled.

“B-but… human food is poison to vampires…” thats what Masayoshi knew.

“I AM A HUMAN DAMMIT!!” Hitsuki yelled. Hanahoshi could hardly hold her laughter. Hitsuki was the same person she had known from their joint survival mission in the Forest of Spirits.

“Test me. Give me human food and see if I die or not.” Hitsuki replied. He looked at Hanahoshi to support him.

“Ahm. I would like to say that he survived under the sunlight, as almost all the guards back then saw.” She replied. “Also, he did save me in the forest of spirits.”

“Still, we cannot leave him without a proper investigation,” Masayoshi replied, crossing her hands. Things had turned out a way she didn’t expect.

“So, where did you come from?” The chief justice asked.

“I came from another world!” he replied. But suddenly, his book that connected him with the people of this world didn’t transliterate his speech. To others, it sounded gibberish once again.

“What are you saying?” Hanahoshi asked.

It seems like the book doesn’t want the people to know about him, yet. Masayoshi again became skeptical.

“Hanahoshi, keeping him alive would be a risk,” she replied. “He might be innocent, but he might as well not be. We don’t know for sure.”

“What are you saying??” Hitsuki defended. “Are you just going to end someone’s life because of some speculation??”

“Then, can you prove to me that you are innocent?” Masayoshi’s voice ran cold. The courtroom returned to its serious environment.

“I can survive the sunlight!”

“The lunaris might have developed a way to do that.”

“I can eat human food!”

“It still isn’t proven.”

“I have saved the princess of your nation!!”

“You might have done it to infiltrate the kingdom.”

To all of Hitsuki’s proof, there were flaws. And Masayoshi saw through it all. She was angry for Hanahoshi’s sake. For she could not bear her getting kidnapped and possibly killed for something the nation did.

And thinking of the possibility that the man hovering in front of him might have deceived her sister only angered her even more.

Hitsuki looked at Hanahoshi, hoping for something. But she panicked, looking away. She was trying to help him in some way, trying to find a loophole in the system.

“The law states that any threats or potential threats to the royal bloodline should be executed,” Masayoshi said, her voice cold. It echoed through the courtroom as the wind ran cold.

In this court, none but Hanahoshi supported Hitsuki. But Masayoshi outranked Hanahoshi in power. Therefore, his fate was sealed.

It was already decided how it would all play out. To Hanahoshi, it felt like a betrayal. Hitsuki saved him, yet he was going to die. The same was for her guards.

It seemed like everyone who tries to save her gets killed eventually. Her eyes shrieked as she panicked.

She ran to her maid, hoping to get some help. But what would a lowly maid know about it?

“As far as court proceedings, the majority has voted for his execution under the law. And there hasn’t been a change of heart among the voters…” Masayoshi declared. “I am sorry, Hanahoshi, but he is going to be executed. It’s for the better of us-”

That’s when all of the courtroom heard a crack.

A crackle and shards of beautiful stained glass.

It broke in harmony, it broke in cruelty.

It broke with revenge etched in its body.

It broke as two arrows flew through it. One aimed at Masayoshi, one aimed at Hanahoshi.

One blink, and Hitsuki saw those arrows a few inches away from their head. Sunlight shone on his bare body as he saw the shadowy figure lurking behind the courtroom with a bow in its hands.

His pupils shrieked.

“WATCH OUT!” He screamed. But it seemed to be too late.

An instant felt like an eternity, as Hitsuki saw death lurking beneath their faces…