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Emu loves being a princess. Her people, with all sorts of differing personalities and backstories; her land, covered in green, lush grass for miles on end; her duties as a princess, uplifting the Otori Kingdom in all its so-called glory. It is an honor she takes much pride in to make a land where others want to reside.
She never fails to come into town every afternoon on the castle’s trolley, interacting with each and every villager, hearing out their concerns and doing her best to solve them. Many times, things are out of her control, yet she still succeeds in putting a smile on their face, which in her eyes is a massive win nonetheless.
Each time the sun sets, however, the bliss washes off, as she realizes another fun day is over. This is her least favorite part of the day. But, the days she may have to confront her family are the days that she dreads the most.
But, there is a positive to sunsets. What comes before her homecoming is the highlight of her day, and every day after that. It is when the sky begins to change color that Emu drops whatever she is doing to go find him, the person who has the privilege of making the Emu Otori, bubbliest girl in all of the land, laugh the hardest and smile the brightest. This person, whose real name is Rui, is someone who Emu has been spending lots of time with him for the past two years, someone labeled as a clown by the town, but better suits the role as a jester. But this is what she likes about him; everything that encapsulates Rui, or what makes him him, is what she finds so fascinating and the reason why she began looking for him each night.
Luckily, Emu never has to search for very long, because each day he stands in the same spot, positioned behind a bustling tavern. Whether this is where he hangs out all day or where he goes to anticipate her arrival is unknown to her but he is always bound to be there.
“RUI!” She yells, sprinting down the street to reach him. He looks up at his name being called, and then fondly smiles at the sight of the pink-haired princess coming his way. She wraps her arms around him tightly.
“It is good to see you here again, your highness,” Rui says, putting his own arms around her and patting her head gently.
Emu breaks free after a moment. “I’m sorry but I can’t stay for very long today,” she sulks. “I’m having a fancy dinner with my family tonight.”
“It’s quite alright,” Rui responds, reaching behind her ear and ‘pulling out’ a rose, much to her amusement. “Let’s just enjoy this moment while we can, then.” He presents the flower to her and she wholeheartedly accepts, taking a whiff. Its scent is so pleasant that she can’t help but contain her excitement, bouncing up and down.
“Wouldn’t a big, huge field of these be beautiful?” Emu asks, somewhat rhetorically, while looking at Rui’s gift.
“Fufu, I can confirm it is.” Rui agrees, making last-minute preparations for the performance he will be putting on for Emu today.
Her eyes glitter at that response. “You’ve seen one?!”
“I have,” he says. “Maybe we can visit it someday.”
She sinks into the grass, picking up the back of her ankle-length dress to avoid tripping on herself when she inevitably rises again. She sits criss-cross, patiently awaiting for the jester to begin.
What makes Rui’s shows so special is the passion behind his work. He thinks through every detail even using props to enhance his performance. In this story in particular that he starts to tell, he activates what he calls ‘robotic creatures’ to act as the animals mentioned during the narration. They can move and even speak. And they look super real, too! How smart one person can be on their own is something Emu can’t fathom, and how people call him crazy for these ideas of his. Maybe if people knew about his genius, then…
“...and as they continued their peaceful lives in the forest, they were able to find comfort in knowing that they were no longer in danger,” Rui narrates. “The end.”
Emu springs up from her spot and gives him a standing ovation as he bows. The smile on her face is bright enough to blind a man. “That was so epically amazing, Rui!” She cheers, being genuine about her made-up word as a compliment. “I loved it so much!” She charges at him full speed to give him a hug once again.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Rui comments, hugging her back.
“I want to tell you everything I loved about it, but I have to leave now, so…” She says, muffled by the fabric on his chest.
Rui giggles, pulling her away and holding her shoulders loosely. “Well, just tell me tomorrow then.”
“What a good idea!” she says, breaking physical contact with the boy. After running a few yards away from him in the direction of the castle, she flips around and shouts, “I’ll see you then, Mister Rui!”
He waves to her. “See you then, your highness.”
—
Walking up the castle stairs gives her a sick feeling in her stomach. She knows what to expect from them at this point in her life, but time in the castle, especially surrounded by her strict family, makes her feel uneasy nonetheless. But, she gulps that icky feeling down, burying it inside her, and charges ahead.
The knights placed in front of the doors fall to one knee and bow. “Good evening, princess,” they say, as they always do. Emu dramatically courtesies in return, as she does with every other member of the castle that she encounters. Once inside, she heads straight to the dining room, where she is greeted by her family already seated, awaiting her entry to the gathering. They turn their heads to the sound of her announcing her arrival. “Hi, everyone!” she says, curtseying the same as she did before.
“Good evening, Emu!” Her sister replies. The rest of them stay silent while rising from their seats as a way of greeting the princess. She walks over to her designated chair, and everyone sits at the same time.
“Made it just in time,” Her second-eldest brother half-assedly comments.
For the next minute her brothers and father exchange quiet words, talking about the financial standing of the kingdom and such. Emu slumps in her seat. Her eyes fixate on the grandfather clock on the other side of the room, watching the pendulum go back and forth, until it rings a familiar chime declaring the arrival of the new hour. The sound also means its dinnertime; half a dozen chefs come out with carts holding several plates of food. Each person chooses what they want, and after a few minutes, the chefs return to the kitchen. The family begins to quietly eat.
Her father is the first to break the ice. “So, who would like to go first?” he asks. One thing about the Otori family is that these family get-togethers function like business meetings, in which everyone updates their progress on their projects to their employees. Emu raises her hand first, like she does every time.
She begins to ramble about each of the concerns and wants from the townsfolk from her daily outings. Her brothers confirm whether these ideas are worth looking into or not as she goes along, and she takes mental notes of what she has to do in the village tomorrow.
“…and finally, this is something that I came up with recently… but I think people should have the freedom to be creative!”
“Well, that’s part of human nature,” Keisuke says. “Of course they can be creative.”
“Well, yeah…” She leans forward. “but we should provide more outlets to do that for them! I came up with a list of things we could build in the village, the first thing is a stage-“
“This is about that person, isn’t it?” Shousuke asks.
“Eh?“
“That fool that’s your age that you spend time with every day, this is about him. Am I correct?”
“He’s not a fool!” Emu shouts, perhaps a little louder than she anticipated. “He’s super smart, smarter than anyone I know! He invents so many things that I can’t wrap my brain around, things that no one has ever seen! And he has so much talent! if people just gave him a chance…” She goes silent, visibly frowning.
Shousuke rolls his eyes.
“Emu,” her father chimes in, carefully putting his utensils down. He folds his hands and places them on the table. “There are rumors amongst the locals about you and that jester and the fact you are together. You know that, right?”
Emu quietly nods. She knows.
“We’ve been very lenient about letting you see him all this time, but you’re expected to marry a prince, remember? We fear that these rumors will spread to other nations, and you have a reputation that you must uphold for our kingdom. By whatever means necessary, I want you to eliminate these rumors, or else I’ll have to intervene. Do you understand?”
“But-“
“I said, do you understand?” He reiterates much sterner this time.
Emu mutters a small ‘yes.’
“We’ll be having candidates from other kingdoms visit the castle soon to start on preparations for the future, so be prepared for that.” He adds on, which wraps up the conversation involving her.
The group continues their discussion as normal, but Emu is unable to focus anymore. Her emotions show on her face; dismissing rumors is one thing, but the fact that she can’t spend the rest of her life with
…Love. Yeah, she does love him, doesn’t she? She loves Rui. She loves holding him, she loves watching his shows, she loves how kind he is, how much he cares about others, how authentically himself he is. She loves him so much. But she never thought about what she wanted from their future. She always convinced herself that these moments of theirs, as platonic as they could possibly be in his eyes, would last forever, so much to the point where she started to believe they would, too. Being told that this dream of hers is impossible is a slap in the face and forgot to brace for impact.
The next day, she goes about her daily business in the town: carrying out errands, happily interacting with her people, and the like. But then she notices the sky beginning to glow a golden yellow, and she holds her breath. Everything that’s been stirring in her brain these past few days, she decides, will be kept inside for now. If she cannot smile, then he cannot smile, and seeing Rui sad is the last thing she needs right now.
She runs to him and squeezes him as per usual. In fact, she squeezes him for longer today. But unfortunately, Rui notices that she isn’t as bubbly today.
“Is there something wrong, your highness?” He points out, extending his arms and holding her arms at her elbows.
“Eh?” She exaggeratingly forces a noise. Was he able to tell just by how tightly he hugged her? She fondly copies his actions. “What do you mean?”
“Truth be told, you don’t seem in high spirits,” he explains. “I just want to make sure you’re alright.”
Emu lets go and puts in the full effort to pretend she’s happy. “I-I’m okay! I promise! Hahaha…”
Rui doesn’t buy it. He plants his butt on the dirt, leaning back against the wall. He pats the spot next to him, gesturing to Emu that she is free to sit. She reluctantly complies.
He immediately takes her gloved hand in his, rubbing his thumb over her fingers. “Your highness, all I want is to see your smile.” He brings it to his lips and kisses it gently.
“I know, but… I can’t tell you this!” She exclaims. “Because you’ll lose your smile too and…” she pulls her hand away from Rui’s and rubs her eyes. Crying sad tears is the worst thing she could do right now.
“That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to take,” he says. She can tell how much he’s attempting to communicate that he is a safe space for her, which she is grateful for. “I won’t be able to smile again until I know what’s bothering you.”
Emu isn’t used to venting, because she’s never needed to. Her optimism allowed her to wash away all the worries from the day before and start fresh, but this feeling has been eating away since her father lectured her the previous night. The first thing she can think of in this instance is to speak from the heart.
“My family, they want me to marry a prince, and they want me to dispel rumors about us being together, or else… I won’t be able to see you anymore.” She mumbles the last part, but Rui can still understand what she says.
“That’s easy enough to do, isn’t it?” Rui asks with genuine curiosity.
A tear falls from Emu’s eyes. “But I don’t want to marry a prince… in fact, they can show me anyone else, and I wouldn’t care! Because you’re the one I want to have fun forever and ever with, and it’s not fair that I have to hide that!” She locks eyes with the boy next to her. “I think you’re the one I want to marry, Rui!”
He stares at her, mouth agape, processing her words. She knows how sudden it is, but she had to let him know before she can't anymore. After a few seconds, he pathetically chuckles to himself, facing the woods in front of them. “I guess it’s really happening, huh.”
“Eh?”
“You’re a princess, your highness. Though I personally don’t agree with it, marrying someone of status is expected within your society. And me, I’m surprised your father let me at least be in your presence for this long. I suppose I believed in the benefit of the doubt too hard and… perhaps it makes me selfish for having faith that they would come around to us .” He leans back, sticking his nose in the air and exhaling deeply.
“But that’s the thing!” Emu cries. “If anyone just took the time to even see the type of shows you can put on, then they would see how wonderful you really are!” Emu can’t control it anymore; she can take care of herself, but when it comes to him, she can’t help but feel helpless, especially now. The tears fall faster now, which leads to incoherent sobbing. She wraps her arms around Rui, digging her face into his shoulder. "It's not fair..." she manages to gets out, which is distorted by his clothing's fabric. In response, the jester turns his body and holds her tight, rubbing her back and consoling her with words such as ‘it’s okay, you’re okay.’
After a few minutes, the sobs turn into quiet hiccups, which then turns into silence. The two hold each other like this for a while. With the threat of being torn apart upon them, it’s more important than ever before that they make the most of these little moments together. Emu never, ever wants to let go; she's not ready to lose any of this yet.
When they eventually break the hug, Emu looks up at the sky, which blazes a fiery orange color. She weakly smiles; sunsets are truly the worst.
Rui is the first to say something. “Would you be able to meet me here when the clock strikes eleven tonight? I have something to show you.”
She bobs her head as passionately as she can fester. “I’ll try!”
The two split off after that; it was getting late. Emu routinely returns to the castle, gobbles down dinner, and runs straight to her sleeping quarters. What could Rui possibly have prepared for her, and so quickly at that? She watches the clock hit eight, nine, ten, and waits until the big hand is on the eleven to climb out of her window. Making Otori Emu quiet is difficult, but thanks to her fitness, she successfully makes the land a few feet down without injuring herself and while not making noise. She rushes around the side of the castle, down the stairs and on the dimly-lit path that leads to their spot. she couldn't care less. What she’s welcomed by, however, is not Rui, but a squirrel.
“Mr. Squirrel?” inquires Emu, approaching it slowly.
On closer inspection, however, she realizes that it’s not a real squirrel, but one of Rui’s creations, something he calls a “robot.” She squats down to observe it, which in turn suddenly glows a warm beige. The squirrel trots into the forest, and Emu follows behind knowing this is part of the surprise.
The princess continues to accompany the squirrel for a few minutes until it leads her to him, and what she lays her eyes upon is something that can only be explained by magic; a field full of those beautiful roses, the kind that Rui presented to her the day before, covering yards of landscape. In the middle stands Rui, illuminated by the full moon behind him, reaching his hand out for her to take as they instantaneously lock eyes. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” his voice travels far enough to only reach her.
Emu’s glossy eyes widen at the sight, her body going into autopilot as she sprints to the boy faster than she ever has, as if her life depended on it. They crash into each other, taking each other in their arms; the smaller’s legs rise into the air and the taller spins her around, beaming smiles stuck to their faces. The impact is so forceful that they fall backwards into the fragrant flowers, their laughs echoing into space.
They do everything imaginable that night. They dance to the rhythm of the crickets chirping in the forest. They sing songs to the moon. She listens as he tells her everything he knows about the stars watching over them. Emu doesn’t think she’s been happier in her entire sixteen years of living–or, no, this is a heightened emotion. What she would call a sparkling, heart-pounding kaboom feeling, others refer to it as euphoria . Being in this beautiful field of flowers with the most beautiful boy in the entire world, nothing gets better than this, she thinks to herself.
She asks at one point, “How did you find this?” The two lay in the field together, allowing themselves to be devoured by the fragrant aroma of the flowers.
He shrugs, smirking, propping his head up with his arm. “Secret.” He slowly trickles rose petals from his free palm onto her hair.
And that’s simply who he is. Mysterious and full of fun, kind of like magic. Yet, he is someone so loving and caring, so gentle, and smart too… a true genius. But words alone cannot fathom the type of person Rui is. What Emu can explain is that she is his princess, with or without official declaration, and he is her jester.
Perhaps their world will end tomorrow, or the next day, or in weeks, or even months down the road. It’s a future full of uncertainty. But Emu accidentally let that impending doom get to her, so much that she has forgotten about the most important time of all: right now. Perhaps that’s why today is the day he shows her the flower field, because this could be the only chance he’s able to. And so, the time that she can still spend with him here, in this moment, with the one she loves… she won’t let it slip from her fingers.