Another Memory

Mamoru found himself back in the old wooden castle, and back in a body which was obviously not his own. He was moving down a hallway, but when he tried to command the body to stop, it kept walking. He tried to lift the arm, twist the head to the side, anything which might motion, but nothing budged.

Do you think I would let you have your way with my body? Hikari’s voice rang out from every direction. She sounded a bit peeved.

“Hikari, do you know what is going on?” Mamoru wasn’t sure where his voice came from, or where it went, but it seemed to come like normal.

Hikari sighed.

A memory of mine seems to have overlapped into you while you are in a state of dreaming. I ask you politely gouge out your eyes and stab your eardrums as to not witness anything private.

“Haha, very funny joke.”

Joke?

The past Hikari stopped her walk through the wooden castle halls and stared at an overly large door. A short elderly man slept to the side with spear in hand and back leaned back against the wall. She rolled her eyes and marched through the threshold into the garden. A man with snowy hair like her own kneeled next to a koi pond with eyes closed.

The princess made a devious grin and shifted her steps, so pressure went to the outer edges of her feet to make them quieter.

A ball of water formed above her palm, spinning like the planet. She held in a chuckle and raised her hand when the man spoke up without bothering to move from his meditative pose.

“Hikari, look up.”

The princess did as told, only to witness a giant sphere floating above. Her own watery ball splooshed onto the ground. Her smile faded quickly into a look of concern.

“It is wonderful to see your spirits are still high, dear father. Why don’t we take it easy before this game gets out of hand?”

“Ha. Ha ha. Hahaha,” the emperor laughed heartily and the ball of water fell onto them both. The torrent for a split second seemed to pull her into the sphere then rushed out in every direction. It threatened to knock her over, but she stood firm with a deadpan look.

Her father continued to laugh as he stood up and hugged his soaked daughter. In a burst of air, he was dry. She made a soft hum and squeezed twisted the ends of her floral kimono to squeeze out some of the water.

Mamoru snorted, “You hardly pass for royalty.”

I don’t want to hear anything from you,

The memory of the king continued to laugh until Hikari frowned at him in a way that suggested she would never forgive him. He waved his hand and she was dry shortly after.

“That was very excessive,” past Hikari said.

“That’s what happens when you try to prank your old man!” The emperor beamed back.

Ah, why of all memories did you have to see this? Come on, wake up already you lazy bum. Wake up!

The emperor laughed a few more minutes before he finally calmed down.

“I needed a good laugh. Thanks.”

Hikari made a soft smile in reply. She pulled her arms close to her chest and looked at the koi swimming in the pond just past her father’s feet.

“So, you have to head away still?”

The whitehaired man sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “I am afraid so, the army marching at the south has already killed three of our messengers, if we don’t respond in kind they will surely start ransacking the nearby villages. But, don’t fret dear,” the emperor smiled softly at his daughter. “As soon as I take care of those idiots, I’ll get back and I can show you how to use water magic properly!”

“Alright, Father.” The past Hikari didn’t look at the king as she replied. She never looked at his face a second time as he walked away. The only final glimpse she got was a brief one of his back as he walked back into the castle.

Mamoru wracked his brain for anything that could give him a little more information. A white hair emperor surely should ring a bell even for someone who slept through most history classes—or any class even. Nothing rung a bell, it was if this emperor was as ghostly as the form of Hikari he saw hanging around him.

“Why don’t I know who this man is?” He decided to ask. “Surely I should know the emperor even if it was a long time ago?”

Much as I would like to point to your attitude to education as the culprit, he was marked as a useless emperor, along with the rest of my family.

“Marked as useless? By the same guys whose decedents went to work for Suba?”

Yes, but I was trapped in the sword and don’t know much of what happened after. All I know is what I’ve gleaned from the couple of times I’ve been… active.

There was a lot for Mamoru to process, but in the end it didn’t change anything about his objective or Hikari’s. They would take down Subarashii.

Yet, one thing ached at the back of his mind. He wasn’t one for paying attention to history—only nerds were interested in that sort of thing—but he had played enough games and watched enough anime to know a flag when he saw one.

“He didn’t make it after this, did he?” the high school boy guessed.

This time it took longer for Hikari to answer long enough for the past version of her to guide them out of the garden and back into an ever-darkening hallway.

Yes, he died in the coming battles and my elder sister did her best to hold things together for what little time was left.

Before Mamoru could reply, the darkness overtook the whole scene, and he realized it was the back of his eyelids. He opened to a plain ceiling in a dimly lit room.