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The evening of the day that Yuki was arrested, Momo tried to visit him only to learn that, as this was an important and attention-gathering murder trial, Yuki was not allowed to have visitors, for his own safety and for the sanctity of the trial. Momo left, got changed, and marched right back to the dungeons in order to exercise his right to a conjugal visit. He was turned away again: as he had been Yuki’s lover at the time of the murder, he was a possible co-conspirator in the crime and most certainly had motive to attempt to convince Yuki to obscure facts or change his testimony, and he might even be entering in order for them to get their story straight, so—better safe than sorry. No visitors other than the accuser or the histor, and Momo specifically was banned as he was under suspicion for the same crime.
The crime that couldn’t have happened, not ever under any circumstances, because Yuki and Ban-san loved each other, because Yuki had been devastated by Ban-san’s disappearance, because there wasn’t the coldest chance in hell that Yuki would lay so much as a violent finger on Ban-san, let alone kill him dead. Let alone kill him because he wanted to marry Momo—!
It was true that Momo had been his lover during his marriage with Ban-san. They had been met two years into the marriage, and had become lovers a little over half a year later, and Ban-san hadn’t known about it but Yuki had assured him that Ban-san wouldn’t care, because their marriage, like every other marriage amongst the nobility, had been arranged for political reasons, that Ban-san didn’t love him in that way and definitely wouldn’t mind if they were together, would be happy for them if he knew. Momo had sworn Yuki to secrecy anyway; he hadn’t wanted Ban-san to think any less of him.
When Ban-san had vanished, he had left behind a letter for Yuki and filled-out divorce papers where Momo had been mentioned by name, where Ban-san had conferred all of his titles and property onto Momo so that his and Yuki’s love-match would not hinder them monetarily or politically. He had written that he had been so lucky to have five years of marriage to a husband with whom he was deeply in love and how he wanted Yuki to have the same, for not just five years but for eternity. He had given them his blessing and implied that he’d known they were lovers since the beginning, and then Momo had thrown up all over Ban-san’s beautiful abandoned mahogany desk, and then he’d gotten to live Ban-san’s beautiful and perfect life, and he hadn’t deserved any of it, but that didn’t mean that Ban-san was dead. That didn’t mean that Yuki had killed him.
There wasn’t a motive, even. Ban-san’s divorce papers had made sure of it, because they made it so, so clear that Ban-san had known, and that Ban-san had, at least on paper, supported it—that he had gone behind Yuki’s back to make sure that he and Momo could marry, that he’d written a kind letter, that he’d divorced Yuki before leaving, and all Yuki had had to do was sign and submit the documents—
Except they definitely hadn’t done that. Yuki had crumpled them up and shoved them in the back corner of Ban-san’s desk and left them there to rot because technically nobility were allowed multiple marriages if you got approval from the king, and so technically Momo and Yuki could just get married without the divorce and then Momo and Ban-san would be legally engaged, and Yuki thought that Ban-san would be happy about that and thus come back.
It hadn’t worked. It hadn’t worked in the slightest, and now there wasn’t any record of the divorce anywhere, because it wasn’t an official divorce, and nobody would know about that, because nobody did know about it other than Momo, and Yuki, and Ban-san, and if Momo’s conjugal visit had been refused because he was under suspicion absolutely nobody would believe him if he produced some amazingly convenient divorce papers.
This left him with one course of action, a course that he would have taken pretty much immediately under any other circumstances. He went to ask Ryo for help. They had been friends since Momo was a member of his town’s militia, long before he ever knew of Yuki and Ban-san, and he had helped Momo out a great deal in the past—but now he was Yuki’s accuser. Momo knew that Ryo knew what he was doing, that he could easily destroy Yuki’s life and Momo’s with it, just for a laugh. Momo and Ryo had often done such things to anyone who tried to get in Re:vale’s way before. Momo knew how this worked. He just didn’t know why Ryo would do this, why now, what he’d done to get on his bad side—if this was his bad side. If this was his bad side, and not just another way for him to have fun with Momo, this time with Momo’s husband on the line, with their reputation, their life—
Momo hoped that this was just getting on Ryo’s bad side. If he was on Ryo’s bad side, this would all go away once he was on Ryo’s good side again. But if he was still on Ryo’s good side and this was just Ryo having fun, it wouldn’t stop until Ryo wanted it to. Until it was no longer fun for him anymore—and not because Momo made it boring, but because something else caught his interest, because he found another pretty little butterfly to rip the wings off of, a butterfly that was not Yuki.
How can I supply that butterfly? Momo thought. Whose wings will be entertaining enough to Ryo that he won’t want to go after Yuki’s anymore? And how can I find it and get it into position before things go too far with this trial and decisions are made that can’t be walked back?
The easiest “butterfly” would be a new hobby. Something constructive and not destructive, though that would be hard to pull off. Ryo had never really been into those kinds of things, which had never been an issue for them before, because it was fun to tear down the obstacles in your way and eat alive those who opposed you and who hurt the ones you loved. It was fun, but…
During the accusation, Yuki confessed right after Ryo started talking about Nikaido Yamato’s father, Momo thought. Which was odd, because when I looked into Lady Tsumugi and her retainers, all my sources said that the boy didn’t have a father, or rather, that nobody knew who the father was. His mother was the daughter of a minor minister who was married in a foreign land to someone of similar status who died when Yamato was a toddler, at which point she returned to her father’s household with the child, which she inherited upon her father’s death a few years later. There’s nothing out of the ordinary there…so why would both Yuki and Ryo…?
There wasn’t a way to solve that riddle with the knowledge he had—for all he knew, it was a complete coincidence, and Yuki had just decided to confess to a murder he never committed for absolutely no reason right when Ryo started picking on Yamato—
No. He did have a reason. When Lady Tsumugi had first started contacted Re:vale, and Momo had begun compiling a list of those she kept around her, Yuki had noticed Yamato’s name on the list and then referred to him as “like my own little brother”, “the little brother of one of my ex-girlfriends”, “a cute kid”, and “the young master”, in that order. The last one had been to Yamato’s face, and Yamato had nearly punched him in public. The Lady Tsumugi had been horrified and apologetic; Yuki had laughed it off and then conferred with Yamato in private, a conversation that had lasted less than a minute before Yamato had stormed off, his face red. At the time, Momo had assumed that whatever had humiliated the young retainer was related to Yuki scolding him, and that the “young master” comment had been poking subtle fun at his status—that the Lady Tsumugi dared attempt to curry favor with Re:vale while the captain of her guard was a fatherless nobody from the lands of Chiba Shizuo, who had once been Yuki’s patron. He had assumed that Yamato had been made aware of the disrespect he and his lady were showing and had been chastened. But maybe that had been related to something else…
In that case, Momo thought, how could Yuki and Ryo know it, but not me? Yuki despised Ryo; Ryo disdained Yuki. The idea of them sharing intelligence could hardly be believed, and them sharing intelligence without Momo being involved was simply impossible.
Perhaps the Lady Tsumugi knows, Momo thought. If her retainer’s paternity is something Ryo’s genuinely interested in, I could make him my scapegoat in order to buy enough time to rescue Yuki and put up some protections against another accusation coming at us…
Except if Momo was right, and there was something about Nikaido Yamato that had drawn both Yuki’s and Ryo’s attention, Yuki would be furious with Momo for selling him out. This was a path he would need to tread carefully.
On the bright side, he had a little bit of time. Lady Tsumugi had already made her intention to depart immediately to her father’s lands and inform him and the Takanashi histor of Yuki’s situation, and due to some risky political maneuvering on Yamato’s part, Ryo would be gone for a week at least as he traveled to Yaotome and Takanashi to request that their histor take on the trial. The ideal situation for Momo would be two refusals; after each house turned Ryo away, he would be forced to request that Okarin be histor before taking the trial on himself, and there was no way that Okarin would refuse. Of course, from that moment on he would be bound to consider Yuki a murderer, but at least Okarin would have reason to search Ban-san’s old room and easy access to the room itself. He would be able to find Ban-san’s divorce papers, and that would give them something of a fighting chance, or at least a chip that they could use as a kind of leverage.
…They being Momo and Yuki, assuming Yuki would fight to prove his innocence. Okarin would no longer be their ally; he would be the histor, and bound by magical oath to treat Yuki as nothing more than a murderer. It would be lonely and painful, but it was their best shot at getting a histor who would both judge fairly and have access to facts that pointed away from Yuki murdering Ban-san.
One week, Momo thought. One week, at least, to attempt to find some shiny thing to distract Ryo with, before any histors start moving in earnest.
Where to start looking? Was Nikaido Yamato a good lead, or a dead end? Or—Ban-san had been alive when he left. There was no reason other than Ryo’s word not to believe that he was alive still.
Unless Ryo had chosen to make this move because he found Ban-san’s corpse and decided to play around with it a little, use it to torment Yuki. Momo liked Ryo a lot; if he’d pulled this with anyone else, he would probably have turned a blind eye, or helped out if things could end up favoring Re:vale. But if he’s doing this just because he thinks it would be fun to hurt Yuki, then he’s got another think coming, Momo thought. To hurt Yuki was unforgivable. To use Ban-san to hurt Yuki was even worse. It was fine if this was happening because Ryo was angry with Momo, or because he wanted to toy with him to hurt him. But if it was about hurting Yuki…
A week. A week. A week until the histor was decided, a week until Momo could ask Ryo what in the seven fresh hells he was thinking. A week without seeing Yuki, a week of trying to find a pawn to distract Ryo with, a week of being allies with Okarin before Okarin was divinely ordained to be entirely neutral. And neutral he would have to be, regardless of his personal feelings on the matter. It was a matter of life and death for Yuki. If Okarin couldn’t be neutral, then Ryo would automatically be both histor and accuser, and that would be it, lights out, Yuki gone forever—or worse.
Momo spent the next day looking into Nikaido Yamato’s family history, to no avail. There was plenty of information on his maternal line, and absolutely none of it was useful; there was next to no information on his paternal line other than his father’s name, and that name was not important enough to come up in any other documents. When a letter came for him that evening from Lady Kaoru, Duke Yaotome’s histor, Momo was glad of an excuse to stop his research and sent off a message to the neighboring kingdom’s ambassador requesting information on Yamato’s father and went to read Kaoru’s letter.
It was short and to the point, as per usual. She wrote that she had rejected Ryo’s offer to be the histor, not because she felt she owed Re:vale any favors but because she didn’t want to become any more entangled in their romantic drama than she already was. She wrote that, though Yaotome was secure, the Takanashi dukedom had been weakened since the death of their duchess and as such might agree to provide their histor and take charge of the trial in order to regain some of their lost power. Finally, and most importantly, she suggested that Momo take steps to ensure that Yuki’s and Ban-san’s divorce made its way completely through the courts, and suggested that if it were to be completed, she might be able to provide a witness to support Yuki’s innocence.
A witness. There were only two real options for what that could be: Kujo Takamasa, who had allied himself with the Yaotome dukedom and had been the driving factor in Ban-san’s disappearance, or Ban-san himself, alive and well.
Momo flew to his writing desk and penned a response faster than he had ever written anything in his life, begging her to tell him whether that witness was Ban-san, if she knew anything about his fate or could produce him and prove that there was no murder to begin with. He sent the message off with the Okazaki dukedom’s fastest messenger and waited for her response all night, pacing back and forth in the entrance hall and hoping against hope that her response would be a resounding yes, that her witness was Ban-san, and that he had decided for some reason that he’d rather see his divorce go through than immediately clear Yuki’s name.
Her response didn’t come for the entirety of the next day, however. Instead, in the afternoon he received a reply from the ambassador saying that no such person by the name listed as Nikaido Yamato's father had ever existed, and in the evening, as Momo was arguing with Okarin about how much caffeine and how little sleep was actually necessary for him to have at a time like this, another letter came from the Lady Tsumugi, explaining how her family’s histor, a man who was like an older brother to her, had agreed to provide Ryo his services; moreover, he seemed fully taken in by Momo’s old friend and had vowed to make sure that Re:vale suffered during the trial a hundred times more than anyone else. Lady Tsumugi was clearly shocked and horrified by this vow; she wrote of how the Takanashi histor had always spoken highly to her of Re:vale and how she had initially attempted to curry their favor based off of his high assessment of them, and how shocked and personally betrayed she felt when he immediately took Ryo’s accusation as fact and vowed to conduct a painful trial.
…At least Okarin and I will be able to remain allies now, Momo thought. Still, for Takanashi’s histor to make a vow like that on top of agreeing to perform his duties…that can’t be good. I suppose he was always rumored to be exceptionally devoted to his job, but still, that’s going a little far, isn’t it?
It was a very cold comfort the next morning when Kaoru’s letter finally arrived, cheerful and teasing and saying that no, her witness was not Ban-san. Her witness was instead someone who had engaged in courtship with Ban-san—nothing big, nothing serious, but it was still the sort of thing that would cause the witness trouble if they were to swear before a histor that they had been courting a married man, even casually. But if Ban-san were divorced, everything would be fine! And Anesagi Kaoru would have a witness for Re:vale, and Re:vale would owe her a favor now, and oh look at that lovely turn of events.
“I’m going to kill her,” Momo said. “I am actually going to kill that woman.”
“Please don’t say anything that makes it sound like murder is a hobby of yours,” said Okarin. “I have a headache already.”
“Okarinnnnn,” said Momo. “She knows something about Ban-san! She knows somebody who knows Ban-san! And she’s not going to do anything about it unless we push Ban-san’s and Yuki’s divorce through the courts!”
Okarin buried his face in his hands. “That’s impossible without a signed paper from Ogami,” he said. “Divorce papers would need to be drawn up with property divided between the two of them, your position named and accepted, and then they would both need to sign it after at least one duke had agreed to it and given it his seal. Which can’t happen, because—”
“Because Yuki said he would sign the divorce papers over his dead body, I know!” said Momo. “And I don’t want him to sign them either, that divorce agreement is just way too unfair! I mean, it would have left Ban-san with absolutely nothing, it was terrible!”
“A divorce agreement already exists?!”
“Yep. All that needed to happen was Yuki’s signature, but we both agreed that—”
“Are you two idiots?!” said Okarin, aghast. “If Yuki had divorced Ogami, he could never have been accused of his murder! And it isn’t like the man has been using any of his properties for the past five years! Are you telling me that I’ve been having to take two extra months to sort through the bureaucracy of handling Yuki’s missing and estranged husband’s properties every year for five years just because neither of you considered the possibility of remarriage?!”
“As in divorcing Ban-san and then marrying him again?! We could never, that would be—”
Momo considered it.
“That would be kind of fun, actually…We could compete in wooing Ban-san, and then—wait, Okarin, is there any limit on how many times someone can divorce and remarry?!”
Okarin buried his head in his hands. “Please just find the divorce papers and get Yuki to sign them…If we move quickly we might be able to nip this in the bud, and then—”
“Nip what in the bud?”
Momo and Okarin both jumped, and Okarin rose to his feet in hurried respect as Ryo entered the room, grinning at them both. Momo folded up Kaoru and Lady Tsumugi’s letters and replaced them in the envelopes, and then took a deep breath and pulled up his best smile.
“Ryo!” he said, rushing across the room and taking his friend’s hands. “What a surprise! I heard that you’d be away for a week or more. Don’t tell me, you got bored searching for histors and decided to give up?”
“Nope!” said Ryo. “The opposite, actually. I’ve found an exceptionally obedient and motivated toy to be my histor for the trial. It was quite entertaining! Especially with that little lady in the room there, so motivated, so righteous, so angry… I wish you could have seen it!”
“I wish I could have too!” Momo said. “It’s too bad you didn’t invite me along! It’s really not fair, you know? We’ve both been so busy we haven’t been able to hang out in aaages, and then you go and take my husband away and go off around the country without saying anything to me? How mean!”
Ryo laughed. “Mean? Never! After all, didn’t you know? I’m doing this for you, Momo.”
Good. Momo wouldn’t need to end this friendship and smear Ryo’s entrails all over the courtyard. He wasn’t gunning for Yuki.
“For me? Wow!” said Momo. “You didn’t have to put in all this effort, though? I would just like it best if I could live with my husband in peace, safety, and happiness! So wouldn’t you please withdraw your accusation and call off your histor?”
“It’s so hard to say no to you, Momo…” said Ryo. “Ooh, I have an idea! I’ll call this off one one condition.”
“Ooh, really?!” said Momo. “That’s so wonderfully generous of you, Ryo! So what’s that condition of yours?”
Ryo leaned close, his breath hot and metallic on Momo’s face. “Divorce Yuki and marry me,” he said. “Then I’ll have my new pet find evidence that Yuki didn’t kill his first husband and let him off the hook! How does that sound?”
Momo beamed brightly at him. “Wow, how nice of you!” he said. “That sounds like something you should have asked me before I became Yuki’s lover, though…? And definitely something you should have asked before I got married. I’m totally, completely, one hundred percent faithful to my husband, after all!”
“Really?” said Ryo. “Even though initially you were totally happy to be sleeping with a married man five years ago? You’ve really changed, Momo!”
“Not really!” Momo said. “I’ve only ever had eyes for Yuki and for Ban-san, after all. And Ban-san didn’t mind, so it was all okay!”
“If he didn’t mind, then why did Yuki kill him?”
“Silly! Yuki didn’t kill him! Ban-san disappeared, and he left behind quite a nice note for us when he did,” said Momo. “I’m sure Yuki will say as much to the histor, and Okarin and I will provide complete access to each and every one of the papers and items Ban-san left behind! We haven’t touched any of them in five years. I’m sure that Duke Takanashi’s excellently devoted and talented histor will be able to find the truth in those.”
“Oh, Momo, Momo, Momo…” said Ryo. “I’m the accuser! The truth is whatever I say it is. Our dear Lord Histor understands that quite well…don’t you, horsey?”
Momo’s eyes shot away from Ryo’s face and Okarin turned fully in the direction Ryo had indicated. There was indeed a man there—a servant, which was probably why neither of them had paid him any mind when compared to Ryo. His face was obscured by a hood, but he wore the crest of the Takanashi family on his shoulder, and Momo was certain that under the hood he wore the ceremonial mask of a histor on duty.
“I understand,” said the histor. “I shall only take what documents provide facts that I can present in this trial.”
“Take anything embarrassing you find, too,” Ryo ordered. “It’ll be fun to watch them squirm, won’t it?”
“As you say, Your Highness.”
Ryo leaned in closer, cutting off Momo’s view of the histor. “See?” he said. “Everything is going the way I want it.”
Momo clenched his jaw and then forced a final, huge smile onto his face. “Wow, you’re so good at this, Ryo!” he said. “But don’t you think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself? Yuki didn’t really kill Ban-san, after all. He’d never do any such thing!”
Ryo laughed. “That’s not for you to decide, Momo!” he said. “But don’t worry. I’ll accept your real answer anytime.”
He whirled around and left the room before Momo could get another word in edgewise, leaving Momo and Okarin with the hooded histor, who looked far less tense now that the prince was gone.
“Lord Histor,” Momo said. “Do you…do you really believe what Ryo said about my husband?”
“I can only present the facts that I acquire in my search, Lord Momose,” said the histor. “At the moment, I’ve not found any usable facts that deny his claims.”
“But…”
“Momo,” said Okarin. “Remember, this is a histor’s duty.” He eyed the man carefully. “It would be worse for all of us if he did say anything that disagrees with the current state of the accusation. The sanctity of our role is more important than any one person’s plight.”
“Yuki is definitely more important than any role,” Momo said, pouting.
“The truth will come out regardless, Lord Momose,” said the histor.
“It’s just at the moment the truth is whatever Ryo decides, right?”
“His position demands nothing else.”
Momo narrowed his eyes. “Once the trial’s over,” he said, “if anything bad happens to Yuki between now and then I am punching you.”
“I look forward to it,” said the histor. “I personally guarantee you that he is going to have a terrible time, so feel free to hit me as hard as you please. For now, though, if I could see any and all records you have of five years ago and prior, as well as any preserved personal effects of the alleged victim? I have a job to do, and a role to play.”
“Of course,” said Okarin. “Please, follow me. Momo—I’ll show the histor around. Please get some rest. I’m sure you’ll be able to find evidence of the real truth once you’ve had a good night’s sleep.”
“You haven’t been sleeping?” said the histor.
“My husband was arrested for murder!”
For a second, it seemed like the histor was about to snap something back, but then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “As you will it,” he said, and stepped out of the room. Momo and Okarin exchanged exasperated glances, and then Okarin left as well like a man who was going to war and Momo dropped back into his chair and buried his head in his hands.
“How can I save you, Yuki?” he whispered. “What can I do?”
But the only response he got was the silence of the room around him.