The Sun of the Flower.

Hitsuki placed his hands on Hanahoshi’s shoulder. “You have got this, Hanahoshi.”

But she was still a bit sad. “You know, people’s lives aren’t redeemable. I… don’t think it might be good to visit the families. You know… seeing the person for whom their loved ones have died…”

“Don’t worry,” Hitsuki said. “I think it’s more important that you meet them. It shows that you do care about those lives.”

“Thats right, Princess Hanahoshi,” Sol added. “We will be apologizing to them with you.”

“I didn’t know… human lives could be gone… this easily…” Hanahoshi teared up, while Sol consoled her.

Hitsuki watched from afar, walking a few steps behind them. His pristine white and gold cloak shone under his black coat, and it contrasted well with his skin tone. He looked like royalty.

“Where would we be going from here?” He asked Sol.

“A small walk outside the city square is their house,” Sol replied. “Princess’s Royal guards lived in that area together. But now…”

“I see…” Hitsuki replied. His head spun as he remembered the smell of burnt flesh.

*****

Hitsuki honestly didn’t think that Sol’s interpretation of the houses being right outside the city square was an hour's walk, until the houses of the city were barely visible. They were now traversing over damp, fertile lands, with humid air flowing through their faces.

But surprisingly, Hitsuki didn’t sweat. He only felt the heat.

“Does the cloak also prevent sunlight?” He asked.

“Yes,” Sol replied.

As they entered a village, amid the long stretches of wheat fields, they were welcomed with fresh graves. Their tombstones stood in rows as they entered.

|Here lies the great soldiers who laid down their lives, protecting the royal blood under the pledge of The Sun of The Flower… |

The part about The Sun of the Flower piqued curiosity inside Hitsuki, but he knew it wasn’t the time to be curious. Seeing the graves, Hanahoshi felt even more depressed, burdened with the loss of human lives.

“How can I even face their families…?” Hanahoshi looked at Sol, desperate. “Hey… Sol, tell me… they had children, wives… families… and I have taken their blessing away from them. How can I show my face to them…?”

Sol consoled her. “It’s gonna be okay, Princess Hanahoshi.”

Both of them lifted off their hood. To which Hitsuki followed.

“I think you should stay outside while we sort things out…” Sol said to Hitsuki. “You know… personal stuff. Princess knew these people for a long time.”

“I get it.” Hitsuki raised his hands in the air. “Don’t worry about me in these situations. Just do what you have to do. I will find a haystack or something to lie down on.”

Sol nodded. “I knew you were the perfect type of person in these situations.”

Hitsuki found a bench under a tree, right outside the village. Right now, it felt like an abandoned ruin. There were no cries, no screams, and no life. Just the silent heavy atmosphere prevailed. Hitsuki felt his chest tighten as he sighed.

“I would have been dead if this chain of lucky events hadn’t happened to me.” He muttered to himself. “Well, these wouldn’t have happened if I weren’t transported into this world in the first place.”

He looked up at the sky, basking under its light. “Well, I suppose I can’t do anything about it, can I? I just have to survive ten years in this world… if this clock stays true to its work.”

As he turned his back to sit down under the shade of the tree, he saw children who followed him silently. Their eyes looked saddened. Their expressions hinted at worry, and their body showed the hard times they were going through.

But most importantly, they held a book in their hands. A book that was torn and ancient, as if it had been read a thousand times.

“Mister, do you know how to read?” One of the boys asked. About seven of them circled him. “We want to listen to this story, but Mom didn’t want to read it to us.”

“Same here. She looked sad.” Another child said.

“I am sad too. Mom said Dad’s going on a long trip.” A girl cried.

Hitsuki felt it then—the true weight of human lives.

It wasn’t the lives themselves.

But what those carried, what those lives connected.

And what had been severed.

His mouth stuttered as he scrambled to formulate a speech. Tears welled up in his eyes.

“Yes, I know how to read. What should I read to you curious fellas?” He said with a smile.

They handed him the book. Those foreign words were transliterated in his book.

“The Origin of Ghosts,” Hitsuki uttered. The happy children climbed around him to hear eagerly.

But in this children’s book, he found information he didn’t know about. His eyes shrank as he spoke those words.

“A long, long time ago… at the dawn of life, there was a man. He was a commander who led victories in every war. But one day, he fell in love with someone special. He fell in love with a spirit, Mother Hannah. With that began the journey of a new tribe of humans, which we call The Ghost Tribe…”