Chapter 3
It was already night time, everyone was already asleep, except for Rena, who was up and wandering around the courtyard.
“Ah, it’s bright out tonight” Rena sighed, she sat by a nearby sakura tree and admired the stars. She soon started to doze off, but before she closed her eyes, she saw a strange male figure not far from where she was sitting, this frightened her and she immediately stood up and ran as fast as she could towards the main building
She was already halfway through but all the sudden she stumbled on her foot and fell, Rena tried to stand up but unfortunately, she injured her knees. She looked back and she the male figure getting closer and closer.
Soon enough the figure was already grabbing her by the arms and picking her up, “Are you okay?” the figure asked dusting off the dirt from Rena’s kimono, when he was done he looked up at Rena and that’s when she froze.
“Ah, look you’re bleeding” the figured pointed at Rena’s kimono, she shook her head and looked down, “Here let me help you” he was about to pick up Rena but then she pushed him away
“I-I’m fine…” Rena said blushing, she then tried to prove it by walking which failed miserably. “OOF!” Rena yelled when she fell down again, the figure came up to her and picked her up again, but this time he carried her like an ohime-sama.
Later that night, Mayu woke up from a nightmare, she was sweating and panting heavily. “AHH!” Mayu screamed as she sat up from the futon, Yuki heard this and woke up to find Mayu crying.
“What’s the matter Mayu?” Yuki said embracing her, Mayu was sobbing her eyes out
“M-Miyuki-neechan….” Mayu said stuttering, Yuki grew confused
“Who’s Miyuki-neechan?” Yuki asked, Mayu was didn’t answer, all she did was silently cry. Yuki looked at Mayu and held her tightly, it was only after a few minutes that Yuki and Mayu fell asleep while holding each other.
“OW!” Rena yelled, the figure covered her mouth
“Shh!” the figure yelled, Rena nodded, after Rena calmed down, the figure took his hand off from Rena’s mouth and continued to clean the wound on Rena’s knee
“Anyways….Uhm I never got a name from you…”Rena said awkwardly, the figure stopped for a moment and looked up
“My names Takayanagai Akane” he said, he then looked down at the wound and continued to cleanse it,
“I’m Rena, Matsui Rena”
“Nice to meet you” Akane said, after the bleeding had stopped, he wrapped the wound with a bandage
“There!” Akane said standing up, Rena still sat on the stool
“A-arigato…gozaimasu” Rena said, Akane turned around towards Rena and smiled
“No problem!” Akane said
“I will be back” Akane said, afterwards he went over to the lake which was right by the warden’s office. Rena was all alone and she grew bored as well, so she stood up, and limped over to the porch. She sat down and from there she enjoyed the moonlight.
Over at the main palace, Jurina was having trouble sleeping, since the thoughts about the girl clouded his mind.
“Hm…I do wonder….”Jurina said under his breathe, “Oh well” Jurina shrugged, he then decided to go take a small walk down by the courtyard. He got up from his futon and grabbed his knife from under his pillow. Afterwards he tucked it inside is clothes and started to walk. After a while, he was already outside in the courtyard
“Ah, this feels nice” Jurina stated as he stretched his arms out, he looked up into the moon and smiled, then he looked down and noticed someone sitting on the porch, since everything was dark, he got closer, eventually he was able to see who that person was. It was the girl, who kept invading his mind.
“Wait, is that who I think that is?” Jurina thought, he squinted his eyes in order to see better, “OH MY GOSH, IT IS!” Jurina thought, he was freaking out.
“Ha, fireflies” Rena said pointing at Jurina’s direction. He saw this and hid behind a bush
“AHH SHE JUST POINTED AT ME” Jurina thought, he peeked over the bush
“hahaha, so pretty” Rena giggled, Jurina ducked into hiding again
“AH! She just laughed at me!” Jurina thought, “No, I can’t be laughed at! I’m the most charming person there is!” Jurina then looked over to the right and noticed the fireflies, “OF COURSE! She must’ve been looking at the fireflies” Jurina thought as he nodded his head
“Ara? Jurina-sama, Is that you?” Akane said, Jurina was in shock
“Ah…Uh…”Jurina was lost at words
“It is Jurina-sama! How have you been?” Akane said as he came up towards him,
“I’m fine…”Jurina said
“That’s good to hear, anyways, why are you on the ground like that, here let me help you up!” Akane said while grabbing on to Jurina’s arm and pulling him up
“Ah n-no I’m fine” Jurina said but it was already too late and Rena could see the two talking with each other
“No you’re not fine, if you were sitting behind a bush like that people would think that you’re crazy or something! Ah, I have someone to introduce you to!” Akane said, he was pulling Jurina
“I’m back! And I brought someone with me!” Akane said
“Oh Akane-sama, you’re back, and who’s this handsome fellow?” Rena said eying Jurina up and down, Jurina looked at Rena and blushed
“This is Matsui Jurina, he’s a shogun” Akane said, “Oh, and I thought you might be hungry so I brought you some onigiri” Akane gave Rena the plate filled with onigiri
“Arigato gozaimasu” Rena said, Akane smiled
“Well, I have other things to do so, Jurina-sama, make sure to keep Rena company” Akane said, he then bowed goodbye and left, leaving Rena and Jurina all alone, together.
“Uhm” Jurina coughed
“So I take it that you’re Miyazawa-sama’s concubine?” Jurina said trying to make conversation
“Not really, I’m just one of his servants, that’s all” Rena said, Jurina cleared his throat
“Ah, it’s pretty late, uhm how about I get a futon ready for you?” Jurina said
“No it’s fine, I’m not tired at all” Rena said shaking her head
“O-okay then” Jurina said, soon after, Rena started to doze off, this attracted Jurina’s attention and he tried to wake her up
“Oi, are you awake?” Jurina said, he got no response, he then picked up Rena in an ohime-sama way and placed her down on the floor. Jurina quickly got out the futon and placed Rena on it, making sure to tuck her in. Afterwards, he was feeling a bit tired himself so he slept on the cold hard floor.
It was morning by the time Jurina woke up, and he found himself under a blanket, “Ara? Since when did I have a blanket?” Jurina thought, he then lifted up his head and noticed that Rena had no blanket
“She must’ve woken up in the middle of the night and put this over me…” Jurina thought, he then got up to put the blanket on Rena once more, and headed outside.
A few hours later, Rena woke up to find a plate of food waiting for her on the table next to her, she then saw a small note that read “For Rena-sama, Make sure to start off the day with a good healthy breakfast, From- Jurina” after reading this, Rena smiled and blushed a bit, she finished her food and went outside towards the main building.
To be Continued