Chapter 14: Farewell
Ruri was in Jade’s office, resting atop his lap in her cat form. After Finn delivered his report that Asahi was safe and sound, Ruri breathed a sigh of relief.
“Kotaro, thank you.”
“So long as I was of some assistance to you, that’s all I need,” he said piously, nodding.
Seeing that, Rin whispered to him so Ruri wouldn’t hear, “You managed to get her out of there, but you fixed it so she would stay there and get freaked out, didn’t you?”
“I’m not used to this body yet, so that was the best I could exert my powers.”
Rin could smell the lie coming off of him—but she decided to keep it to herself. After all, Kotaro had been in his new body for quite some time; he should already be well accustomed to it by now. While Kotaro was acting as if nothing had happened, all of the inconveniences Asahi caused for Ruri hung on his mind, so keeping her behind that barrier was probably his form of payback. Rin had to admit that he did do a good job of it, so she decided to keep her hunch a secret from Ruri.
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“So, Finn-san? Where is she now?”
“She is resting in her room. No injuries, but being surrounded by those men shocked her so much that she starts to tremble when anyone approaches her. Other than that, she is perfectly healthy.”
“Good to hear...”
“What’s the matter? You seem awfully interested in the Priestess Princess.”
“A-Ahahah, no, just a little curious; that’s all.”
“I suppose that’s reasonable.” Though Finn was probably suspicious, he didn’t know about her relationship with Asahi. Luckily, it seemed he was buying her story.
“What about the servant girl who helped her escape?” Jade asked.
Joshua, also in the room, came to the front to deliver his report. “The servant girl has been jailed for abetting an escape, sir. She is a human girl who was among the slaves we recovered and not a citizen of the Nation of the Dragon King. But since she was sold off within our nation’s walls, we recovered her with the other slaves. And since she said she had no home to return to, I gave her a job as a castle servant. It seems she partially overheard a conversation between my colleagues on the way back and got the impression that she was your future bride, the Dragon Queen. She said she overheard the guards talking about how you were supposed to come see the Priestess Princess, so she helped her escape in hopes of meeting you on her behalf. And she also said that she’d never met the Priestess Princess before then.”
“I explicitly told you to not make such careless remarks,” Claus harshly admonished.
Joshua was left at a loss for words. Though he hadn’t said it himself, he was the person in charge at the time. All he could do was bow his head before Jade. “...My sincerest apologies.”
“I will deal with her later,” Jade said. “Nevertheless, even if she did overhear half of a conversation, don’t you still find it strange? We’ve never even met before. I could understand if she belonged to the kingdom, but she only came to the royal capital once—and she only passed through it, at that. How does one even misconstrue things that badly?”
“Yes, it’s quite baffling,” Claus said in agreement.
Once their meeting was over, Joshua called Ruri over. He looked around and then lowered his voice before speaking. “Due to this incident, the other four are going to be shipped off to Idocrase sooner than planned now. I’ve heard the Bewitchment has worn off too, so do you want to have that meeting?”
“I do.”
“There’s just one issue, though. Because of her little escape, the Priestess Princess is now sharing a room with the other four since we’re not sure what’d she try to pull on her own.”
That meant if Ruri was going to see her former classmates, she’d have to inadvertently see Asahi as well. She was actually fine with that, however.
“That’s okay. It’s the last time, after all. And I have some words for Asahi now.”
And so, following Joshua’s lead, Ruri visited Asahi and the others in their room.
There were guards on duty in front of the door, but they left as soon as Joshua told them he had matters to discuss with the occupants. Ruri watched him deal with the guards from a short distance away. Once the coast was clear, Joshua gave her the signal and she approached closer.
“Is it safe?”
“Safe as safe can be. Now, c’mere, I’ll take your bracelet off.”
Since the room was tucked far back in an isolated corner and no one was around, Ruri allowed Joshua to take off her bracelet. She turned back to her human form, and then she opened the door and headed inside. She entered the room, anxious as to what kind of reception she would receive.
As soon as the others saw her, they froze in place, eyes wide with shock. The first one to move was, of course, Asahi.
“Ruri-chan!!” cried Asahi with a big smile as she ran toward Ruri.
Thrilled to see her old friend once again, she reached out her arms to embrace her, but before she could reach, Joshua came from behind, grabbed her arms, and held her back.
Asahi glared straight at him, saying, “Let go of me.”
“No can do.”
“Don’t get in the way of me and Ruri-chan! I knew Ruri-chan was here the whole time, you big liars!” Asahi screamed, still staring at Joshua with the same glare.
Joshua, however, seemed completely unaffected.
As the air in the room turned hostile, Ruri spoke up in a tone so cold it even surprised herself. “Asahi, why did you pull that stunt?”
“Stunt? What stunt?” Asahi asked. She was oblivious to Ruri’s stern look and alight with joy from simply speaking to her.
“The King of Nadasha and his people fed you lies to incite that war.”
“But I did it because I couldn’t save you all on my own, Ruri-chan...”
“There’s nothing or no one to ‘save’! I told you that, didn’t I?!” Ruri exclaimed. She proceeded to carefully explain King Nadasha and the Head Priest’s plot to her once again—loud enough for her former classmates to hear as well. Furthermore, she explained that Asahi was almost killed alongside the Prince back on the battlefield.
It seemed as though Asahi hadn’t discussed any of this with the other four. They all stood motionless, mouths agape.
Perhaps the massive explosion on the battlefield was still fresh in her mind because it seemed Asahi finally realized she’d had a target on her back the entire time. Fear rocked her to the core. “No way... That’s too cruel. They tricked me the whole time, didn’t they?”
The other four still looked bewildered.
Ruri gritted her teeth and slowly lifted her right hand. Then, with all the power she could muster, she quickly slapped her open palm square across Asahi’s cheek. A sharp sound resonated throughout the room.
Reeling from the impact, Asahi looked at Ruri, flabbergasted. She held her cheek, now red and singing in pain. “Ruri... chan...?”
“Why, you... Don’t you dare say that anything is ‘too cruel’! Do you have any idea how many people died in this war?! It had to sink in when that mob attacked you, didn’t it? That rage? That sadness? That’s all from the people who lost friends and family in the war!”
“But the King and everyone else did that. Why aren’t you angry at them, too?”
“Yes, the King and the Head Priest are the ones who incited the war. But things might’ve been different if you had just tried a little harder to think for yourself. I gave you more than enough warning. So why did you let the King and the Head Priest play you like a fool? I told you to not trust them! Didn’t I?!”
“I mean, I was still lost even after hearing that, though...” Asahi replied irresponsibly.
Those words almost raised Ruri’s rage to the boiling point, but she took a deep breath and pushed it back down. “Listen, the people in Nadasha are no better than kidnappers! If you’re willing to swallow anything they give you whole, then your sense of danger is practically nonexistent!”
“I was confused, and I thought it was the truth. It sounded so convincing.”
“Wait, what are you saying? If you’re confused, that suddenly makes crime legal? You can never trust manipulators like them! For God’s sake, think on your own for once in your life!” Ruri vented.
Joshua simply nodded his head in agreement.
Ruri glared icily at Asahi, hoping to get her to understand, but Asahi showed no signs of feeling even the slightest bit of guilt. The rage that had taken hold in Ruri’s heart waned as resignation took root.
Ruri let out a sigh, expelling her drive to keep convincing Asahi. “Whatever. There’s no one here to listen to your selfish requests like in the past, so you’ll see the reality whether you like it or not.”
“Selfish? But I...” Asahi looked saddened by Ruri’s words.
But Ruri couldn’t care less. “There’s no way back home, so you better start shaping up.”
“That’s what the King and the others told us, but you always end up back home at the end of video games, so we should be just fi—”
Before Asahi could finish her sentence, Ruri swiped her palm across Asahi’s other cheek, knocking her head clear out of the clouds.
Asahi’s eyes filled with tears. “...Ruri-chan, stop. It hurts...”
“Yeah, it does hurt, doesn’t it? This world may have magic and people with animal ears, but this is not some video game. This is reality. Things aren’t as convenient. We can’t get back home anymore.”
It wasn’t as though Ruri had stopped hoping for the same thing, but from living in this world for so long, Ruri knew this was real—all too real.
“There’s no embassy here, and your knowledge from our world won’t fly. All of you are going to have to live pulling your own weight from now on—no family, no relatives, no one else to rely on but yourselves. You can’t just quit like a game because you’re tired of it. You’ll have to spend the rest of your lives in this world,” Ruri lectured, almost as if she were giving herself a reminder at the same time.
The heads of the other four all snapped up, and they stared at Ruri. It seemed as though reality was finally starting to sink in.
It wasn’t unreasonable that it took this long for them to understand. Getting suddenly transported to a world where magic existed—a concept completely fictional by their standards—and being guaranteed all the living necessities on the spot probably didn’t enforce any semblance of reality.
The same went for Ruri. If she hadn’t been tossed into the forest almost as soon as she came to this world, she’d probably be living without a grip on reality, too.
However, Asahi continued being Asahi. “It’s fine. I can do my best anywhere so long as you’re there, Ruri-chan!” she declared with a smile.
Knowing that not a single thing she said actually got through to Asahi, Ruri felt less resigned and more exhausted. “Just so you know, I don’t intend on being involved with you at all from now on, Asahi.”
“Huh...? But why?”
“‘Why’? That should be my question. Tell me, Asahi, why do I have to take care of you?”
Asahi’s smile was the picture of innocence. “I wasn’t planning on just you taking care of me. I can work on my own. We can live working as a team.”
Ruri couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “I want you to think back on life in our world. You always insisted on your own needs and wouldn’t give my requests the time of day. That’s some way to treat your supposed ‘best friend.’ I’m nothing more than a servant to you. I’m tired of being your convenient little companion. I only foresee you pushing all the burden onto me anyway, so I have zero desire to be together with you,” said Ruri, laying it out as frankly as she could.
Asahi’s face scrunched up as though she were going to cry. “This isn’t right... I can’t believe you thought that way this whole time, Ruri-chan... You should have just told me. I would have...”
(I did freaking tell you!) Ruri thought in an outburst of anger. She had told her over and over again, yet Asahi refused to listen every single time.
Just as Ruri started to feel that continuing this conversation any longer would just cause her anguish, one of her former classmates rushed in front of her and got on his hands and knees.
“Huh?”
“We’re sorry for what we’ve done to you,” he said, apologizing.
The remaining three followed after him, prostrating themselves before Ruri and apologizing in suit. Ruri’s jaw almost hit the floor—same for Asahi. She had never seen these four treat her like this before in her life.
“We’re glad you made it through all that alive. I can’t even believe what we tried to do to you...” said the second male classmate.
The female classmate added, “We’re sorry. Even if we were under a spell, we did the unthinkable.”
“I don’t think you can ever forgive us even if we apologize, but we feel terrible about this,” said the last classmate.
Ruri didn’t know how to react, rightfully so. They had done nothing but diss her, but now they were apologizing one by one. It was clearly a result of them being free of Asahi’s Bewitchment.
Since she couldn’t rationally converse with a group of people on all fours, she said, “Okay, but in the meantime, could you guys stand up?”
Her request lifted them to their feet, and one of them continued, “I don’t even understand why we did that to you, but we did it nonetheless, and that’s a fact. Right now, I can’t help but say that we’re sorry. Please, forgive us.”
Ruri couldn’t bring herself to say if she forgave them or not. She understood their actions weren’t of their own free will, but that didn’t just wipe away their treatment toward her. While she eventually learned to ignore the constant badmouthing and cold-shouldering, the memories of all the times their bullying hurt and made her cry still remained. Worst of all, they tossed her to the mercy of the woods—an act that clearly endangered her life.
Unable to find the right words, she changed the subject. “What did it feel like while you were under Bewitchment?”
They all looked disappointed at the shift in topic, but they followed Ruri’s wishes and answered her question, possibly thinking they’d be immediately forgiven if they did.
“When I would think about Asahi-san, a faint feeling of intoxication would overcome me. Once it did, I identified you as someone different from us. And because you were different, I got defensive. I hated the fact that Asahi-san cared about you so much,” explained one of the male classmates.
Another classmate explained, “I couldn’t contain my emotions, and I didn’t think it was wrong.”
“I even thought it was right to feel that way since you were different,” said another.
“And what about now?”
“I feel extremely refreshed, but extremely guilty at the same time. Back then, I didn’t feel a shred of doubt about the actions we were taking. But now I understand completely. I understand that what we did to you was heinous.”
“After the Bewitchment wore off, I was terrified looking back at what we’d done.”
“Thank goodness you’re safe.”
“We’re so sorry for everything.”
They bowed their heads in forgiveness.
Ruri figured they were being truthful from the bitter anguish on their faces. It seemed that Asahi’s Bewitchment was completely dispelled.
“That’s enough...” Ruri murmured, causing them to suddenly lift their heads in surprise. “Don’t get things twisted. I haven’t forgiven any of you... But there’s no point in talking about what’s already done. We all have a lot we need to think about in order to live from now on, so that’s enough.”
No matter how much that Bewitchment had thrown their sensibilities out of whack, Ruri wasn’t the type to just say, “Well, them’s the breaks,” and completely forgive someone. If just one thing had gone wrong back then, she would’ve been dead, after all. But now that she knew they wouldn’t have wronged her so if they weren’t under the Bewitch spell, Ruri couldn’t find it in herself to hate them.
“But...”
“I said that’s enough, so that’s enough. I can’t forgive you, but I accept your apologies.”
“...Thank you.”
Ruri looked back at Joshua.
“All done?” he asked.
“Yeah,” replied Ruri as she held her hand out to the four, “Farewell.”
As Ruri shook each of their hands, they all got the feeling they’d likely never meet again.
With that done, Ruri turned toward the door.
“Ruri-chan!” Asahi shouted as Ruri walked away, but Ruri ignored her cries. She knew they’d never see eye to eye, no matter what she told her.
Several days after their meeting, Asahi and Ruri’s former classmates all ventured to Idocrase.
The girl who assisted in Asahi’s escape was charged as a criminal. She repeatedly claimed she was the Dragon Queen, even while in her prison cell, but naturally no one bought into her claims.
Later on, Joshua, the one who had brought her to the Nation of the Dragon King in the first place, came to explain that she was mistaken. At first, she didn’t believe him. However, it became apparent that, no matter how long she waited, the Dragon King wasn’t coming to her rescue. She at last opened her eyes to the truth and gradually began to cease her claims.
Although she eventually came around, it didn’t abolish her crime. Afterward, she would be given suitable punishment for her actions.
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