Reiji pressed me against his side and I breathed deep, trying to keep my worry at bay. It had been years since the media had dogged me, but I’d never forget how they’d swarmed around our car, crowding us. “Hurry.”
Goro took my hand and squeezed my fingers. His palm was sweaty, as I’m sure mine was, and he jogged next to Reiji. At some point, we’d all begun to run. I kept one hand over my face. I began to chant in my head, over and over, don’t let them see my face.
The princes’ opinions had come to mean something to me. I didn’t want them to go. Their novel, unique personalities were the bright spot in a life that had become boring and lonely.
“They’re following,” Goro said, his voice loud enough to startle me.
I started to glance over my shoulder, but Reiji squeezed me hard. “Don’t,” he said. “Don’t look.”
The exit to the park, a gate overhung with the words, “Suita Park,” was just ahead, but beyond the gate waited my nightmare.
“Where are the guards?” Wataru yelled behind me.
Swarms of people trained their cameras in our direction along with curious passers-by who had their phones out as they waited for whoever could gather this much interest.
“I guess we shouldn’t have bothered with disguises,” I joked, but it fell flat. Dai came to a standstill in front of me, but glanced over his shoulder when I spoke.
“We’ll get you out of here,” he promised.
I craned my neck to see around him. “I don’t know how we’re going to get through them.”
“Guards are on their way.” Wataru held his phone to his ear. “And the park isn’t letting anyone else in. They’re stuck out there.”
“And we’re stuck in here,” Dai finished.
“Your Highness!” someone called behind me. Reiji’s arm tightened around me while Goro, Dai and Wataru surrounded me, their bodies tight to mine. Their size, which I’d noted but not truly understood until then, dwarfed me as they created a human wall between me and the person yelling for me.
“Your Highness, is the curse broken? Show your face to your people!”
Dai moved in closer, so close it threw me off balance and I had to jerk my hand from Goro to steady myself. A vibration moved through Dai’s frame. I couldn’t hear him, but the tremor I felt gave me the impression the man was growling at the people surrounding us.
“Back up,” Wataru yelled when he was forced closer as well.
The questions were coming rapid fire now. In order not to fall, I had to keep my hands on the princes. Which meant I couldn’t touch my scarf. I was so scared, so certain the scarf would slip, and then the princes would see me in all my unfiltered ugly glory.
“Back up!” Wataru said again, but no one was listening, and the entire group of us was jostled.
Hard.
Dai slammed into me, stepping on my toes and I fell backward. We were too close for Reiji to catch me and we all fell in a tangle of limbs and elbows. Someone stepped on my hand so hard I was sure something broke. Lights flashed around me, but I still managed to bring my throbbing hand to my face.
Gone.
The hat. The scarf. The glasses. All of it was gone.
The sudden silence was louder than all the cries and questions flung at me only a second before.
Then the lights dimmed as something flew over my head. I was lifted up and the princes’ angry voices filtered through whatever covered me.
“I’ve got you,” a breathless Goro whispered in my ear. He squeezed me and I realized I it was in his arms. “I’ve got you. Move!” His voice came out deeper than I’d ever heard it. Other voices joined his, not only the other princes, but shorter, clipped commands. The guards had arrived.
My hand throbbed, but I held the fabric over my face. It was a warm spring night, and I was sweaty from our dash across the park, but for some reason, I had broken out into full body shivers. My teeth chattered, and I clenched them tight.
“Almost there,” Goro said. It sounded as if he was speaking through a locked jaw, too. “Hang on, Kumiko.”
My body suddenly flew through the air and I hit a padded leather seat hard enough to knock the breath out of me. Goro tumbled in after me, panting, and another body slid in from the other direction. Someone tugged at my covering and I gripped it with both hands, crying out when pain shot from my hand all the way up my arms.
“She’s hurt,” Reiji said. He was the one who’d come in on the other side of the car. We were now in motion, but starting and stopping jerkily. From beneath the fabric, lights flashed. We were surrounded and the photographers weren’t giving up.
I tried to answer, to tell them I’d make it home, but a wave of nausea made me smash my lips together. I would not throw up.
“Take this off, Kumiko,” Goro begged. “Please.”
I shook my head. I can’t. Not just because we were hemmed in by the media, but because they were so close. I’d see every emotion on their faces. Stuck in this car, there’d be no escape from me.
And they’d want to escape.
“There’s blood everywhere,” Reiji said. “Where are you hurt?”
My hand pulsed with my heartbeat. I could continue to hide here, if I could show them what happened. Trying my best not to scream, I held out my hand.
“Hospital.” Dai’s voice was deep. He clasped my shoulder and I swear, though it could have been the pain and wishful thinking, I felt his lips press against me through the material.
“We need to go the hospital,” Wataru repeated. “Her hand is covered in blood.” He paused, as if someone else was speaking. I wanted to ask what was happening, but I couldn’t.
Don’t scream. Don’t puke.
“They say bring her home, they’ll have a doctor waiting,” Wataru said. So he was on the phone with someone, hopefully one of my sisters.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said, and my stomach dropped.
“I’m going to throw up,” I said. A bag was thrust beneath the fabric right before I threw up cherry blossom milkshake everywhere. I clutched the bag with my good hand, fully aware that the other person who held it steady was one of the princes. Someone rubbed my back, no, two someones.
“You’ll be okay,” Reiji said. “Just hang on. We’re almost home.”
“Fucking witch. This is all her fault,” I said, holding the bag shut in one hand.
“Fuck her,” Goro said. His head touched my shoulder, and then I was certain his lips touched me.
If I had magic like my sisters, I’d have wished for this to be true love’s kiss.
But nothing happened. My hand continued to throb, and my stomach continued to clench, and as soon as I walked-slash-limped or was carried into my house, I’d be forced to endure an epic showdown with my parents.
The car rolled to a stop. “I’ll help you out,” Goro said. I heard the door open, my mother and my sister talking in low, rushed voices close by.
“Why is there blood?” my mother’s voice reached a pitch I’d never heard before. I slid across the seat, each inch making me clench my teeth harder until I was sure they’d break. Everything inside me rolled and shook, and if I didn’t get some relief from the pain, I was going to pass out.
I’d never fainted before, but I suddenly knew it was on the horizon. My feet hadn’t touched the cobblestone before Goro had lifted me up again. “And you said you’re not athletic,” I got out.
He chuckled. “I guess I needed incentive.”
There was more I wanted to say, to tease or joke with him about, but I’d reached the end of my endurance.
We went inside. My mother and father barked orders and Goro lowered me to a couch.
“Leave us,” my father said.
“We’d like to stay,” Wataru answered.
“No.” My father’s answer was clipped and short.
“Kumiko?” Wataru asked. How I wanted this thing off my face. I couldn’t see them. Did he really want to stay or had he made the offer because he thought he should? Without seeing hi
m, I didn’t know what to do.
“Leave,” my father said again. “Or I will have the guards escort you out.”
My sisters gasped and if I hadn’t been panting with pain, I may have as well. I’d never heard my father speak to anyone so harshly before.
“Your Majesty,” Wataru answered. “Kumiko, we’ll check on you as soon as we’re allowed.”
“All right,” I answered, but what I wanted to say was, “Stay.”
Their footsteps retreated from us and a door shut. I dragged the fabric off my face, only to come eye to eye with a red-faced, incensed father.
“What the hell were you thinking?” my father asked.
“I wanted to get out of here,” I answered. Behind him, I saw a woman in blue scrubs hovering.
“Your Majesty,” she interrupted and then bowed quickly when Dad glanced over his shoulder at her.
In his anger, he’d forgotten about my injury, but he glanced down and all the color left his face. “Kumiko. Your hand.”
I followed his gaze, and all the blood left my head. Spots danced in front of my eyes, and then that was it.
I was done.
14
Goro
Kumiko’s blood stained my clothes. I had it on my hands, on my pants, on my shirt. My friends and I remained outside the room where Kumiko and her family were. I could hear them inside, her father’s deep, angry voice, and then another woman spoke. Her voice was unfamiliar—probably she was the doctor who’d been waiting for us.
“I need to clean up.” My voice sounded hollow to my ears, wooden, like I was speaking through a tube.
“Me, too,” Dai said. All of us, in some way or another, were worse for wear. Dai’s sweatshirt, which he’d put over Kumiko’s head when her scarf was ripped off her face, was gone. His t-shirt was ripped at one shoulder.
Wataru’s clothes were in a similar state, and Reiji was missing one sleeve completely. He also had a black eye and dried blood beneath one nostril. How had I missed all of this?
My hands shook as I went to drag them down my face before I stopped. There was more stuck to my body than blood and dirt. If fear had a smell, then I had it.
“Come on.” Dai pushed me toward the stairs and I stumbled. We trudged upstairs, none of us speaking and when we reached our rooms, we split off, one after another, to go our own way.
When I’d shut my door behind me, my knees suddenly gave out. If the door hadn’t been at my back, I would have hit the floor hard, but as it was, I slid down to land on my ass.
What had happened?
One second we were drinking milkshakes, happy, and the next, rabid photographers were trying to yank her out of my arms. What sort of world did we live in?
No wonder Kumiko stayed inside. No wonder her parents were angry.
Drawing my legs up to my chest, I stared at my hands. They shook when I spread my fingers. It was maybe ten feet between me and the shower, but every ounce of energy I had was drained. The only way I was getting there was to crawl.
Kumiko’s hands had shaken when she’d held the bag beneath her and thrown up. She’d clenched it in her fist, but I’d seen her tremble. I’d felt it beneath my lips when I’d kissed her shoulder.
I’d kissed her!
Suddenly, I didn’t care about being tired. I wanted to see her again. Forcing myself to stand, I wavered for a moment, holding onto the door to gain my footing before I stepped away. Each step took all my concentration, but I made it to the bathroom where I turned on the water in the shower and stepped inside, fully clothed.
Then I sunk to the porcelain tiled floor, and let the water beat down on me.
As much as I wanted to hurry, to scrub and bound out, my body had other plans. I don’t remember the last time I’d been so exhausted. The water did most of the job, but my sodden clothes made movement even more difficult. I stripped, my clothes making a wet slap against the tub when I wrestled them off, and then I sat there, watching the water turn pink.
By the time I was able to wash my body and step out of the tub, the water was frigid. The room was chilly and I shivered as I dried off and hurried into my room. My friends were waiting for me.
“You took forever,” Reiji said.
“Sorry.” Uncaring of my nakedness, I found my clothes and pulled them on, shivering the entire time. Despite adding a sweater on top of my long-sleeved shirt, I was still freezing when I sat on the bed.
“So what do we do?” Reiji asked as soon as I’d dropped my head against the wooden headboard.
“I tried to go to her, they wouldn’t let me in,” Wataru answered. He sat in the same place I had earlier, against the door. His long hair dripped onto his shoulders, soaking into his shirt.
A sudden knock on the door had all of us jumping. Wataru struggled to his feet and opened it to reveal a red-faced, incensed king. He strode inside, every inch a monarch.
“Her hand is broken,” he announced. “And I hold you four personally responsible.”
Though he was shorter and slighter than any of us, he held himself in a way that made it seem as if he towered above us. Monarchs no longer had the power to draw and quarter their subjects, but I had no doubt, as he regarded us like bugs, he wished for a return of those days.
“My daughters assured me you could be trusted,” he continued. His hands flexed next to his thighs and he suddenly thrust them behind his back as if he didn’t trust himself not to punch the first person he could reach. “And yet you’ve come into my house, and put my daughter in danger. You’ve exposed her! Have you looked online yet? The story is everywhere!” The last words were ripped out of his throat, and I worried for the man. I’d never seen anyone so upset. Veins throbbed at his temple and in his neck.
“Your Majesty,” I said. “We apologize. We’re horrified by what happened this evening. We never meant for—”
“My daughter plays the piano,” the king said, striding toward me. Though he had to look up at me, I felt two feet tall. “Did you know that? It is one of the few pleasures she has in this life. One of things I’ve been able to indulge for a girl who asks for nothing but—” He stopped himself before he could yell. Eyes shutting, he dropped his head in his hands and let out a shaky breath. “You will leave.”
“No!” I argued. “I won’t. We won’t. We won’t leave her.”
The king gave a short laugh. “You will if I command it. The only thing you can give my girl is more heartache. Leave before you make everything worse.”
“No,” Wataru said, quietly.
“I won’t leave,” Reiji said. “You’ll have to drag me out.”
“I can’t,” Dai answered simply.
The king lifted his head. “You’ll hurt her more.”
I shook my head. We wouldn’t. I knew my friends like I knew myself, and none of us would do anything to hurt her. Kumiko was important for reasons more than what it would mean materially if we broke the curse.
“I’ll pay you to leave,” her father said. “I know you’ve come for Iriogaki. Name your price.”
My mouth dropped open. “But her curse!” Surely her father wouldn’t damn her to be cursed her entire life.
“The curse was never meant to be broken,” he said tiredly. He walked further into the room, pulled out a desk chair, and sat. “Never.”
It was time for me to be brave and strong. “I may not be in love with her yet, but I could be. Right now, I care about her. Very much. She is…” How could I sum up in words the fear I’d felt when I’d rushed with her through the park, or when I saw her bleeding in the car. Whatever it was—it was more than friendship. “She is unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”
Her father chuckled. “She is that.” He ran a hand down his face and sighed. “We never expected Kumiko,” he said, staring over our heads and out the window. “We had our three girls, and we were satisfied. Then Kumiko came, and we were so proud. Four children. Four healthy daughters. It was my pride that led to her curse. It is my fault she is the way she is.”
Next to me, Dai shifted. “What do you mean?”
“My daughters get their magic from my family. It skipped over me, but it didn’t skip my sister.” The king met my stare and then glanced at Dai. “My parents sent my sister away when they saw her magic. It was mundane when we were children. Harmless. Perhaps it always would have remained such if they hadn’t treated her with fear, and horror.”
“What did she do?” I asked, trying to make sense of what he said. I tried to imagine a modern world were families sent away their children because of magic. It seemed more a fairy tale than a reality.
The king shrugged. “Like I said, it was harmless. A blue dress made green. A flower blossoming out of season. A wart on the governess’s nose. One day my sister was here, and the next she was exacting a promise from me. I was never, ever to forget her. As soon as I was able, I would bring her home from wherever she was to be sent.” His dark eyes, so like Kumiko’s, held mine. “I meant to. But I didn’t. I did what I promised I wouldn’t do. I forgot.”
“Your sister cursed Kumiko.” Wataru moved closer to the man who shrunk with every passing second. Shoulders hunched, head lowered, the king was now more old man than monarch.
“She did,” he answered. “The day of Kumiko’s presentation to the kingdom. We’d sent lanterns into the night sky. I’d kissed my wife and held my daughter in my arms, and there she was. Eyes so angry.” The man jammed the heels of his hands against his eyes as if he could stop himself from seeing the memory he shared. “She cursed Kumiko to always reflect the worst parts of ourselves. ‘Every time you look at your innocent daughter,’ she said, ‘you’ll be reminded of your betrayal. Every man, woman, and child who gazes upon her will see what they hate about themselves.’”
His words were a revelation. When I’d glimpsed Kumiko’s face yesterday, I had felt anger and guilt. My emotions colored what I saw. Like she’d said, she was not ugly. It was what was inside me, the worst of me, that I saw. It was me who was ugly.
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