Isolation

"Unfortunately, these two are not for sale," said the auctioneer. "Not yet anyway," he adjusted his glasses with a smirk. "Perhaps after their trial..."

Trial?!

Oh, right. We were about to be arrested.

The gravity of the situation was finally starting to settle in.

Well, at least we would get a fair trial rather than executed on the spot (or worse, given over to this freak). Yet I got the same gut feel that assuming the trial would be "fair" in a city that had so blatantly fallen to corruption was nearly as irrational as thinking they'd let us go free after explaining that this was all a misunderstanding.

"Oooo but I simply cannot wait," said the Human Harlequin. "Are you sure there isn't something we can work out? I simply must have her."

"Apologies, honored guest," answered the auctioneer in a regretful tone, "but we must follow council procedure. However, in light of the unpleasantness the offender has subjected you to, we can lobby to have her offered to you first, before putting her up for auction."

"Splendid!" said the Harlequin. "Yet I'm still sad we'll have to wait some time until then..." He turned to the two Pixies he'd just bought, who were being led around in chains by his personal guard, "but at least I have some new company I'll get to entertain in the meantime..." He was wiggling his steepled fingers again.

I saw Leilei raise her palms, but I caught her eye and shook my head, and she lowered them. To be fair, I was also struggling not go back on the offensive, but we were already in enough trouble as it was.

"Don't worry dear Minori, I'll see if I can't pull some strings to speed up this cumbersome, tedious process—so that we don't have to wait one moment longer than absolutely necessary before we can add you to my collection..."

Man, this guy had the creepiest eyes I'd ever seen, making it really hard to stare him down. Merely looking into them made me want to purge my stomach then take a steaming hot shower to burn off the outer layer of skin this freak seemed so thoroughly fond of.

Nevertheless, I held firm and gave him a dire warning: "I wouldn't count on it, honored guest of Yore," I spat those words out like a cobra spitting venom, "but I will promise you one thing, if any harm comes to those girls," I gestured to the Pixies, "then I will flay you alive and use your skin to make the most effective scarecrows the world has ever seen."

"Oooohohohohohooooooo!" he squealed, shimmying his shoulders in a way that made it hard to tell whether he was cringing with the willies, or dancing with delight. "I do love that spunk of yours! Yet I regret you feel the need to make such promises... what kind of man do you actually take me for, my dear, sweet Minori?" he said, protruding his lower lip with an exaggerated frown.

I merely glared at him.

A slaver clown would have been the most generous "kind of man" to take him for.

***

They brought me and Leilei to separate cells, in the underground prison beneath Yore. Either there were great stone walls separating us, or we were on opposite sides of the dungeon, because Leilei wasn't answering when I called out for her.

I didn't even bother trying to reason with the guards when they dragged me here. The whole "this is just a big misunderstanding" routine simply wasn't my style. That never worked on real guards anyway, so it had even less hope of being able to sway NPCs.

Alas, I was all alone again.

My cell was super gross, too. Although this world was nowhere near as sterile as modern Japan in terms of cleanliness, at least there'd been no dust or grime in places like the taverns and inns. Even the streets were well maintained compared to this.

I frowned as I looked down at my feet. My soles were nearly completely black from all the grime, as were my toes. I wanted nothing more than to wash them, or at least try to wipe them off, yet I had nothing to use except my own gown, which I wasn't going to use.

It wasn't much better than the floor in any case.

At least now it felt like I was wearing suitable attire... a burlap sack filled with holes is the perfect dress for a dungeon prisoner.

Or a slave.

Slavery...

I was currently too hung up on my lonesome self-pity to even begin to process the full gravity of that word. 

Indeed, I'd finally made a friend. Someone I cared deeply about, who was precious to me, who I would risk my life for. Just as she'd done for me, multiple times now.

A true friend.

And yet, I was all alone yet again—imprisoned, of all places, beneath the very same glorious capital I'd been so spellbound by not even an hour before.

The worst part about it was how I'd failed to protect Leilei, and right after I'd made that pinkie promise with her!

I held my up my little finger and glared at it.

Yubikiri, we called it. Taken literally, it meant "finger cut off." It was the original pinkie promise, and it originated in Japan hundreds of years ago. Those who failed to uphold the promise they'd made under Yubikiri were then compelled to cut their pinkie finger off.

Being Japanese, at least originally, if anyone should take Yubikiri seriously, then it should have been me. Indeed, I felt so miserable—sitting in that filthy cell, scowling at the pinkie that I'd anted up as collateral to the promise I failed to keep—that the only thing preventing me from literally cutting it off was the fact that I didn't have a knife.

And if I did have one then I probably wouldn't stop with my pinkie... 

No Minori, do not think like that! I shook the morbid thought from my head.

No, I couldn't let myself sink into despair like that. I had to have hope. I wasn't going to rot here, and I wasn't going to let Leilei rot here either. Besides, the promise we made to each other hadn't been broken yet—not entirely. We hadn't been humiliated per se... 

I know, maybe I was just telling myself that, but I meant it: we had stood up for what was right, stood up against the vile injustice of slavery, and then got unjustly imprisoned for it.

So the promise hadn't been broken, just a little bent...

Indeed, the real humiliation wouldn't come until the trial, at least—when we'd be sentenced to a lifetime of bondage and servitude, then led in chains onto the auction stage to be sold off to the highest bidder among nobles with sinister smiles and even worse intentions.

I really did not want to even think about what they would be having us do, how exactly we would be expected to serve our new masters, but I'd heard stories, many of them true stories from the history of our own world...

I had to shake that thought from my head too, nearly puking in my mouth as I thought the word "master." Over me? Never. Over Leilei neither—never!

No, neither of us had yet to break our promise. We still had until our trial to figure out a way out of this. I needed some kind of hope to cling to, even a shred. No matter how small, no matter how imaginary...

With nothing else to do, I rummaged through my inventory again. Although they took my staff and barrette, for some reason they left my inventory alone. They likely had inspected it with some kind of magical protocol and determined there was nothing useful or dangerous in it. There were only a few items—among them my needle, thread and Kosuke's remains.

I know what you're thinking: hey, just use the needle to pick the lock, then bust out Leilei and ride into the sunset!

Sorry to inform you that magical locks don't work like that. And it wasn't the needle and thread I was interested right now, nor was it Kosuke's tattered remains.

I took out the Elven scroll and unrolled it, vainly wishing it would tell me something, or otherwise somehow alert the Magi who'd given it to me of my distress...

I couldn't help but imagine him... standing proud and heroic in his impeccable, pristine white desert attire, his shimmering crystal eyes... his long silver hair. 

I imagined him descending upon this corrupt city upon the back of his White Flame Phoenix and carrying us away to freedom... maybe to a little farmstead within a dreamy forest glade... there we would get married and start a family... 

Oh, but what about Leilei? 

Well, I'm sure she wouldn't mind being in a harem with me... if anyone could handle multiple wives, it'd be a man such as him... 

What was I saying?! 

I'd been locked away from the fresh air for only an hour and I'd already begun to think such insane thoughts?

Whatever, judge me if you like. 

At least I was able to lull myself to sleep comforted by these sweet, crazy thoughts...