Chapter 11.

Ritsu held another package of sweets in his hands, much like Shinji, courtesy of Shiori’s parents, who turned out to be as powerful as he had suspected. Her father was the Commander of the Imperial Guard, responsible for protecting the Forbidden City. Her mother was the Head Weaver, one of the women who directed the seamstresses that crafted the finest and most luxurious outfits for the empress and ladies of the court. It was hard to believe that such influential and wealthy people would give them anything more than a disdainful glance, but that was the case. They had sent sweets several times since they met Shiori, as a show of gratitude and affection.

Ritsu didn’t know how to feel about it. On the one hand, he was deeply grateful for their generosity and kindness. On the other hand, it felt strange and uncomfortable to accept gifts from people so influential and powerful. With a power that he could never access, not even in dreams.

“What do you think is inside?” Shinji asked, shaking the package curiously.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Maybe they’re candies or pastries.”

“Or maybe they’re chocolates or cookies,” Shinji suggested with eyes gleaming with excitement.

“Perhaps candied fruits or nuts,” Ritsu added.

The two looked at each other with anticipation. Then, they carefully opened the packages.

Inside was a variety of sweets they had never seen or tasted before. There were chocolates filled with cream, almonds covered in sugar, fluffy sponge cakes with jam, mint and vanilla candies, ginger and cinnamon cookies, and many other delights.

They were left open-mouthed, admiring the sweets with delight.

“Wow!” they exclaimed in unison.

“This is amazing,” Shinji said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Neither have I,” he agreed, amazed. “This must be what the nobles at court eat.”

“Well, now we are eating it too,” said Shinji. “Thanks to Shiori and her parents.”

Ritsu nodded his head. Then, he took one of the chocolates and brought it to his lips. The flavor was sweet and smooth, like a caress over his palate. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to be enveloped by pleasure. Next, he tried a cookie. It was different, spicy and fragrant, like an explosion of flavors on his tongue. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised by the experience.

They looked at each other with smiles of complete satisfaction.

“This is delicious,” they said.

Then they laughed and continued eating the sweets.

“Do you want to go for a walk?” Shinji suddenly asked, with a mischievous spark in his eyes.

“Where to?”

With a sly smile and a wink, Shinji closed his box of goodies, then climbed down from the tree branch where they were sitting.

“Follow me!” he shouted as he started running.

Ritsu shrugged and did the same. They ran through the forest surrounding the academy, dodging branches and bushes. Shinji stopped in front of a stone door covered in ivy. He pulled Ritsu toward him and told him to crouch down.

“Do you know where we are?” he whispered in his ear.

Ritsu looked around and was surprised to recognize the place.

“We’re on the southeast side of the academy... This is the wall that separates the girls’ dormitories!”

Shinji nodded with a sly smile.

“That’s right, it’s a hidden entrance. And I know how to get in.”

A shiver of excitement and nervousness ran through him.

“How?” he asked with a trembling voice. “Are you crazy? That’s forbidden.”

Shinji shrugged.

“So what?” he said. “Nobody is going to see us. Besides, it’s fun.”

Shinji pointed to a part of the door where there was an old lock. Then, he pulled a small metal object from his pocket.

“It’s a key forged with reikiri, the iron that absorbs reiki. I found it in the library, among some old books. It seems that someone forgot it a long time ago. With it, we can open any door that has a lock.”

He looked at him with a mixture of admiration and disbelief.

“Are you sure it works?”

Shinji nodded confidently.

“I’ve tested it several times. You just have to bring it closer to the lock and release some reiki. The key will glow, and the door will open.”

He bit his lip, undecided.

Why the hell did Shinji want to go to the girls’ dormitories?

“And if we get caught?” he asked anxiously.

Shinji shook his head.

“They won’t catch us. It’ll be quick and silent. Besides, we have a perfect excuse: we are doing a practical work on the building’s defenses for Professor Soda.”

“Well, that’s not a bad excuse,” he thought. But still, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to follow Shinji. He was afraid of getting into trouble, or worse, if any of the girls saw them and thought they were perverts.

Shinji seemed to guess his thoughts and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Come on, don’t be a coward. It’ll be fun.”

He looked at him incredulously.

“What do you want to do in the girls’ dormitory?”

Shinji looked puzzled, not understanding the question.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“What do you mean?”

Ritsu moved closer to him and whispered in his ear:

“You know, what boys and girls do when they’re alone in a room.”

Shinji blushed and foolishly waved his hands.

“No, no, nothing like that! I just want to thank Shiori for the sweets. I’m not a pervert!”

“And for what did you enter the other times?” His friend had said that he “knew how to get in,” which implied that this was not the first time. But he didn’t ask aloud, he didn’t want to prolong the topic and, knowing that at least that time they were only going to thank Shiori, he agreed.

“Okay!” he exclaimed, then looked at the lock. “I follow you. But just this once.”

Shinji hugged him and passed him the key.

“You’re a good friend. Now you go first. I’ll cover your back.”

He pushed him towards the door and encouraged him to use the key.

He felt a shiver run down his spine as he placed his fingers on the rusty lock. He took a deep breath, gathering his concentration, and released a thread of bluish reiki that flowed from his hands to the key. The key warmed under his touch as the spiritual energy merged with the metal. Then, he inserted it, and with a click, the internal gears came to life. The key turned smoothly, opening the door with a creak.

“Excellent!” Shinji congratulated him from behind.

Ritsu gave a shy smile. He knew that the key would have worked the same for anyone, but having released his own energy to activate it filled him with pride.

That was something.

His lessons with Professor Norio and Professor Hikari were finally bearing fruit.

“Come on, go through,” Shinji hurried him. “We don’t want them to see us here.”

Ritsu took the key and started walking. When they reached the other side, the door closed with a dry thud. Everything was dark.

Shinji cursed under his breath as he frantically searched his leather bag.

“Damn, I forgot the oil lamp!” he muttered, frustrated. “How are we supposed to see anything in this darkness?”

Ritsu was about to laugh, but he held back. Instead, he raised an eyebrow with a mocking expression.

“Why do you need that?” he asked, feigning innocence. “We use reiki, Shinji.”

He raised the index finger of his right hand and closed his eyes. A tingling began to slowly spread through his veins as he concentrated his energy. When he opened his eyes again, a faint blue light emanated from his fingertip, flickering like the wing of a nocturnal moth.

Shinji snorted, somewhat embarrassed.

“Right, I forgot,” he mumbled. “I still think like a normal peasant sometimes.”

The faint flame bathed the shadows, revealing a decrepit room, with cracked walls and a dust-covered floor. It was clear that it was an abandoned place. Mold covered the corners in velvety patches, and a smell of decay permeated the air.

In addition, deep holes drilled by rats or mice marked the walls, and spider webs hung from the ceiling, swaying slightly with the breeze that seeped through the cracks.

“Walk, walk,” Shinji pushed him on the back. “I hate being here. This place gives me the creeps.”

He didn’t need to be told. That atmosphere of abandonment also gave him chills. They moved a few more steps to the next door. He did the same as the last time and opened it.

“At this time, most of the girls have their special classes,” Shinji said in a low voice. “So, there shouldn’t be anyone around here.”

“What special classes?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know. Something about music, dance, sewing... girl stuff,” Shinji replied disdainfully.

“I see...” he replied, not very convinced. “But how are we supposed to know which is Shiori’s room?” he asked after a while. “And... how did you know she wasn’t in those special classes?” he added suspiciously.

Shinji stood still for a few moments, noticeably embarrassed. Then, he tried to dodge the question.

“Well... I... it’s just that...”

“Come on, say it,” he insisted.

Shinji sighed and finally, after some attempts to evade the question, admitted:

“Alright, I confess. Sometimes I sneak in here... but it’s not to see the girls, yuck! It’s to steal breads from the living room,” he opened his mouth and licked his lips. “They are given some exquisite raisin breads.”

“You’re a glutton...” he said, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe that Shinji risked so much for a sweet bite. “You didn’t answer the other question. How will we know which is Shiori’s room?”

Shinji shrugged.

“Don’t worry, I know. I’ve been here before, remember.”

Then, he pointed to one of the doors that had a painting of a red panda. The animal was sitting on a tree trunk, with its front paw raised in a greeting gesture. It was adorable.

“There it is. That’s Shiori’s room.”

Ritsu was surprised.

“How do you know?”

“I saw her go in there once.” Shinji blushed. “It was by chance, I swear.”

Ritsu couldn’t help but laugh.

“Sure, sure. It was by chance.”

“Well, shall we go or not?” Shinji pouted. “We don’t have much time.”

“Let’s go. But be careful. We don’t know if there’s anyone else inside.”

They continued down the corridor. Suddenly, as they passed one of the ajar doors, Ritsu glimpsed something unusual. He stopped short and peered inside the room.

In front of him was a small interior garden. The white sand was carefully raked forming waves around some rocks arranged with harmony. In one corner, a tiny bamboo waterfall poured water over white rocks, producing a soft and relaxing sound.

But what caught him the most, what plunged his heart into a whirlwind of wonder and curiosity, was the figure that was there. Sitting next to the waterfall was a girl in a sky-blue kimono, looking at the garden with a serene expression.

The hair that cascaded from her crown was a tide of darkness, smooth and silky as moonless nights. Each strand was like a melody in the silence, a symphony of shadows that danced with the wind. It was as if the very cloak of the night had taken shape and life in her hair, woven by celestial hands that had forgotten the texture of light.

Her porcelain skin, paler than the moon at its zenith, shone like a pearl in the garden. Every tiny drop of dew that rested on the leaves paled in comparison to the perfection of her complexion. And under the eye that was visible, a mole, tiny and exquisitely circular, accentuated the elegance of her face.

Ritsu stood still, caught in the spell of her presence, as if he were in front of a goddess hidden in the folds of the mortal world.

“Hey, who is she?” he whispered to Shinji. “She looks like a doll in that garden.”

Shinji looked where he was pointing and shook his head.

“I don’t know her; she must be one of the girls who lives here and has private classes. Come on, we better continue, we can’t get distracted,” he said, gently pulling his arm away from there.

Ritsu nodded, but he couldn’t help but take one last look at that mysterious girl, wondering what her story was.

And for a few seconds, he believed she looked at him.

***

They stopped in front of the door with the painting of the red panda. Shinji looked both ways down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear, then knocked softly on the door.

Footsteps were heard on the other side and a child’s voice.

“Who is it?”

“It’s us, Shinji and Ritsu,” Shinji whispered.

There was a moment of silence and then the door swung open. There was Shiori, wearing a sky blue kosode and pink slippers. She looked at them with wide eyes, clearly surprised to see them.

“What are you doing here?” she asked in a low voice, quickly pulling them into the room.

She closed the door and turned to them with a reproachful expression.

“Have you gone mad? Do you know the risk you’re running coming here? If they find out, it’ll go very bad for you...” she scolded them, worried about their safety.

“Don’t worry, nobody is going to find out,” Shinji calmed her down. “We’re just passing by, we had to see you for a moment.”

“That’s right... we wanted to thank you for the sweets your parents sent,” Ritsu added shyly. “They were delicious.”

At that, Shiori’s expression softened, and a shy smile appeared on her lips.

“I’m glad you liked them... But you still shouldn’t risk yourselves this way.”

Shiori led them to her bed, which was an oasis of softness and color. It was full of stuffed animals of all sizes and colors, creating a soft mountain of plush. Each one had a story behind it, surely a gift from her parents or a memory from some trip.

It was no surprise, Shiori was the descendant of eminences, a girl touched by the hand of privileges.

The three of them sat among bears, rabbits, and dragons, and continued talking in whispers.

“By the way, I have to ask you something,” Shinji said as he opened his box of sweets again. “Why are your parents so kind to us?”

Shiori averted her gaze shyly.

“I’ve never made friends easily; many girls think I’m too straightforward. I guess they’re happy that I’ve made friends... plus, I know deep down they longed for a son to spoil. Having only me, I guess they treat you guys like the sons they always wanted.”

They were speechless. Ritsu didn’t know how to react to that confession. On the one hand, he felt somewhat flattered by the affection of Shiori’s parents. On the other hand, he felt sad for the loneliness of his new friend. Besides... everything seemed surreal to him. Shiori’s parents didn’t even know him personally, and he still doubted their intentions.

“I’m sorry, Shiori. We didn’t know you felt that way,” Shinji said, hugging her affectionately.

Shiori returned the hug, then hugged him too and smiled.

“Don’t worry, guys. I’m not sad. I have everything I need here,” she whispered, pointing at the plush toys and them. “You guys are part of my family now.”