Chapter 15 (1/2)

Izumi loved to bath.

In the sultry summers when it felt like she would boil. In the winters when it felt like even her bones would freeze. And naturally, even in spring and summer, she continued to enjoy her baths.

Even on days when nothing went right, just the smell of soap could lift her spirits.

The moment that her body submerged into hot water, it felt like her troubles and fatigue simply disappeared.

And today too, she looked forward to bath time.

But the moment that she opened the door and her foot touched the cold floor, Izumi let out a great sigh.

Even though it should never have been in her bathroom to begin with, right now it was the first thing that entered her gaze.

In her experiences thus far, she had been given a lot of hard-to-deal with things, but this one surpa.s.sed them all.

“…What am I supposed to do with this.”

Izumi even forgot to turn the shower on, as she muttered.

Beautiful, s.h.i.+ning silver hair. It was the symbol of the Jebas Royal Family, and considering its volume, had apparently been grown to that length with much care.

Izumi tried to put it into a bucket, but there was so much that it wouldn’t fit. After a lot of thinking, she just placed it into a transparent garbage bag.

She really didn’t know what to do with it. Keeping it took up s.p.a.ce, and she had to be careful not to damage it either. But there was an even bigger problem.

Through her experiences thus far, she learnt that what she gained in the previous meeting would be useful in the next.

In that case, she was worried she would meet Hiqyuu, who wanted this hair the most. Thanks to that, she hadn’t opened the window even once.

But when she met them last night, there was one thing she noticed.

Apparently, the window often opened to somebody she wanted to see.

When she met the stranded man, and she was worried for his safety, the window opened up to Prime Minister Teo Keh.

When she met with Yeti Setsugen, and she felt sorry for something something bad to him, she ended up saving his sister.

When she met with armoured guy Arshu, and she was wondering if he reconciled with his wife, the window opened to the woman herself.

When she met Prince Hinoki trapped in the tower, and she was feeling worthless about being unable to save him, she was able to pa.s.s the key to people who wanted to save him.

When the Yohk’Zai delegation fell into Queen Akka’s trap, and she wanted them to help Prince Hinoki, in the end she met with them too.

And finally, when she met with the Old Maestro, and heard about Arshu’s marriage with the Princess, when she wondered about how the Princess felt, she was able to meet with her too.

After so many times, could you still call it coincidence?

The window would connect Izumi to those she strongly wanted to meet. Then in that case, was it possible that it would avoid the people she didn’t want to meet…? Or so thought Izumi.

But the problem was that Izumi couldn’t imagine anybody who would want this hair except for Hiqyuu.

――After all, was there any use for hair except for making a wig?

Not only that, but apparently this silver colour was rare enough that it was treated as a symbol of royalty. And truly, out of all the people Izumi had ever met, only Princess Aqua had possessed silver hair.

Izumi turned on the shower, careful to avoid getting the bag wet as much as possible.

While being careful not to get suds everywhere, Izumi finished was.h.i.+ng her head and body before getting into the bath.

But it wasn’t working. She wasn’t relaxing.

It might be a different story if she was in an onsen or public bath, but why, in her own home, did she have to worry about other people seeing her?

Izumi poked a wet finger at the hair through the bag.

To be honest, getting rid of it was easy. She only had to take it outside.

But once she considered that somebody other than Hiqyuu might need it, she was hesitant. Not only that, but she couldn’t bring herself to simply destroy such beautiful hair.

Izumi looked up at the window, and gulped.

Would it connect to Hiqyuu, or somebody else?

It was a match between her a Hiqyuu.

A match to see whose desire was stronger.

――She had a good feeling she would lose though.

She wanted Arshu and Utaseyu to be happy together. She wanted Princess Aqua to be fine with this, and find her own partner. These feelings weren’t a lie. But when she recalled Hiqyuu’s tragic expression when they partner, she thought that perhaps his feelings were stronger.

Having said that though, she couldn’t just keep the window closed forever.

As though the world had heard her thoughts, a sound came from beyond the window.

She could hear a number of people whispering to each other.

The contents of their whispers weren’t audible, but she could tell that they weren’t the voices of her neighbours.

If it was Hiqyuu, she was going to immediately shut the window.

Having found her determination, Izumi opened the window.

“…I won.”

She had never met these people before.

A middle-aged woman, a young woman, and a child.

The middle-aged woman was lying atop some bedding on the stone floor. Behind her, the other two sat on a carpet the size of a tatami mat.

“h.e.l.lo. Is anybody in need of help?”

She tried speaking to them, but Izumi was in confusion.

All three of the people staring at her speechless had a head full of dark brown hair, and none of them seemed to be balding.

She couldn’t imagine that Princess Aqua’s hair could be of any use to her.

“Who are you!”

The first one to come back to their senses was the boy, who was closest to Izumi. Probably two or three years younger than even Prince Hinoki of I’Jibro.

His eyebrows and eyes slanted upwards, and gave him a very strong-willed and sharp impression.

“Answer!”

No sooner had he stood up, did he draw the dagger at his waist to point straight at her.

“That’s a terribly difficult question for me to answer, but… If I said that I was called an angel yesterday, would that help? Do you know what an angel is?”

Izumi tilted her head in wonder.

Would a mystic have been better?

Their appearances were quite different to those of Jebas. Their clothing, their faces, everything was closer to the people of Yohk’Zai.

Behind the boy, the two women gasped.

“Angel-sama!? Roten! Sheathe your sword!”

The younger girl ran over and hugged Roten from behind.

“Sister! Please let go of me. There’s no proof that this thing is an angel. She might be a spy from I’Jibro!”

“I’Jibro!?” cried Izumi in shock.

Apparently Queen Akka had all sorts of enemies. Considering that she was the type who could lock Prince Hinoki in the tower, Izumi wasn’t surprised that she had incurred the wrath of others.

“I’m not an I’Jibro spy. Well, I’ll still be troubled if you ask for proof, though. Can’t you just believe me?”

“Who would!”

Roten glared at Izumi with sword in hand. But the young girl――apparently his older sister――frantically stopped him.

“Sheathe your blade, Roten! Even if it’s the power I’Jibro, how could a single spy make it into our village?”

Apparently her calm but stern voice was not reaching him.

As if to show that his sister could not stop him, he stepped forward anyway, and raised his sword.

“Greedy thing of I’Jibro, I shall punish you in place of the heavens! You can redeem yourself in the afterlife, you breast-flas.h.i.+ng Woman!”

“HAH!?”

At first Izumi had felt sorry for him, sure that he had been wronged by Queen Akka… But his next words caused anger to shoot through her eyes. She wasn’t naked because she wanted to be.

“Who are you calling a breast-flas.h.i.+ng woman!”

Taking a firm stance in the bathtub, she pointed vigorously at Roten.

“Have a good look! Just how am I flas.h.i.+ng anything!!”

And right after she said that, Izumi regained her sanity.

She was acting exactly like a pervert.

“Um――”