The two musicians looked at each other again and smiled before they answered in unison.
”We’re royal performers of the Second Master” they answered.
”The Second Master is a woman who has a love for music; both traditional and modern so she calls in different performers to her castle at different times” the female musician explained.
”To be completely honest with you, I had no idea either” the judge shrugged.
He started to guide Ryuusei down from the mountain and as they reached the bottom, the bubble had disintegrated.
”That was exactly thirty minutes… somehow” the judge was revealed to be quite surprised with the time that went by so quickly. He can guarantee that the fight with the creature lasted at most around five minutes. Perhaps they were just slow walkers.
”So, Ryuu-kun—“ the judge realized what he had called his visitor and immediately cleared his throat ”—Ryuusei, where do you wanna go next or would you prefer to rest with the time you have left? If you don’t wanna head back to the mansion, Oscar’s prepared a room for you”
"That's awesome!" Koki grinned, looking sheepish for a moment as she said: "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm sorry. My name's Koki Popoli!" She introduced, her eyes squinting with how wide her smile was.
Ryuusei pondered for a few moments, considering his options.
"Well, i think i could use a little more training, but only if my lord considers it fit." Today's events had given him a rough idea of just how unprepared he was for his future job, therefore, he wanted to catch up as soon as possible. "If my lord considers that further training for today won't do good, i guess i can stay for the night" If training was out of the question, he could at least ask some questions while he was there.
”The name’s Haru” the male introduced.
”And I’m Akari” the female followed.
”Pleasure to meet you” the two said in unison as they played a short, energetic melody.
”So, Koki-chan, Enenma was the one who brought you here right?” the female asked, leaning a little towards Koki.
”Very well, I’ll tell Oscar to bring you to your room. Don’t worry, I’ve already cleaned and decorated every one of my empty rooms…” the eighth judge claimed as he started to walk towards his own court that was not that far away from the mountains.
Arriving at the court, the judge opened the door and there was Oscar, the gentleman’s servant waiting for their return.
”Welcome back” the masked man nodded as he spoke up.
”Bring Ryuu-kun to his room Oscar… I need to get some sleep as well… do we have any spirits tomorrow morning?”
”No sir, just a meeting with Qinguang, do you want me to postpone it?”
”That’d be great, thank you” the judge walked towards a seemingly impassable wall and waved goodbye to the two figures while mouthing ‘Good night’.
”Now Ryuusei-san, please follow me” the masked man brought Ryuusei back into the waiting room pass the painting where his first trainings occurred at. The officer opened the doors that were across the painting entrance which led to a beautifully decorated room with a calming setting and a sweet scent.
”This is your room Ryuusei-san” the officer stated.
The room was arranged quite well, things were in the place they were supposed to be in. The bed seemed like a soft and cuddly one which was very inviting. There was a white yukata by the edge of the bed as well as wooden sandals by the door.
”Like last time sir, if you need anything from me, just open the door and call me” the masked man repeated himself from a while ago.
Ryuusei mouthed a "good night" back to the judge, nodding his head before walking after the masked man. He felt a little happy that the judge had called him "Ryuu-kun" - aside from some younger kids and familiars in his village, no one else called him so, therefore having a high ranked person address him like that, he felt like a stray puppy who's been shown great kindness.
Led to his room by the masked officer, he did a quick survey of it as soon as the door was opened, before turning to the man and doing a bow. "Thank you, sir. I will call if there's anything. Hope you have a good night!" he said, before walking in and closing the door. He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked around, eventually deciding a hot bath before bed would be wonderful.
The time then was around 1 AM. The fourth judge wouldn’t be so happy about this but it was as if the eighth judge cared. Besides, the fourth judge’s pouting face when she’s ‘angry’ is golden.
Without a knock, the masked officer came into the room with bottles of water in his hand.
”Apologies, I forgot to set these down” he quickly left the room after setting the bottles down on the bedside table.
"Ah, it's alright." Ryuusei waved his hand. He'd only taken half of his uniform shirt off, in order to fold it and put it away.
He finished removing his shirt after the officer left, and made his way to the bathroom; he was quite enthusiastic when he saw the large room, filled with a light yet sweet fragrance and equipped with all the necessary objects. Long story short he enjoyed the hot bath, taking his sweet time to spoil himself a little, before finally exiting and putting on the yukata he'd been given.
He sat on the bed, drying his long hair with a soft towel he'd taken from the bathroom - he frowned slightly when finally discovering his normally dark brown locks had turned silvery white
The room gave quite the luxury experience and was for a good reason. Ryuusei was going to be witnessing some cruel scenes after all. One interesting and quite unique piece of furniture was the miniature hourglass that was on the bedside table. The sand inside was purple and was shining slightly; it looked expensive, yes, but it was also pretty and beautiful.
All the sand was on the bottom half of the hourglass though, perhaps it will start flowing again if someone was to flip it.
(What happened to Kaito?)
(Oh… you’ll soon enough, I’ve got everything for the Training Arc planned out, don’t worry)
After he finished drying his hair, Ryuusei stood on the bed a little longer, looking around the room and admiring it. It still felt huge compared to his old home - well, at least back then he had to share it with his parents, while now he was all alone.
The boy let out a heavy sigh, still wondering about the fate of his family; according to Kaito, plenty of years had passed, the lifestyle of the people had changed, his era was nothing more than history now, which meant his family was long gone as well - still, he wished he could at least know what happened.
He leaned backwards, letting his body sprawl onto the bed, wondering when he'll get to see the human realm again, and how much had it really changed. Turning on the side, he finally noticed the small hourglass - he'd never seen one before, so out of curiosity, he gently picked up, inspected it and turned it upside down, watching the sand flow.
As the sand inside the glass chambers moved, it seemed like nothing more interesting happened at first until… a picture started to form. Particle by particle it started to complete itself.
As the item was fully constructed, it was just a regular photo which was placed face-first on the table. Not yet revealing what the picture was of.
(Wow, 24 pages in and I already hate my character XD)
Ryuusei watched the peculiar occurence, partially thinking if he was just imagining it because he was tired. He sat up in bed, carefully picked the hourglass up again, careful not to disturb it too much and tried to have a better look at the image inside. He couldn't really tell what it was
(Well, I guess I could say the same? XD)
As the picture was moved around in the glass chamber, it started to fade and before long, disappeared without remains.
Despite it seeming like it was completely gone, the same image started to fade into reality again; this time physically visible on the table beside the hourglass.
(Pick up the image?)
(Leave it as it is?)
(This happens way too often.)
Completely weirded out by the strange occurence, Ryuusei did not move for a few solid moments, his eyes moving between the hourglass and the picture on the bedside table.
Eventually, he reached out a hand slowly, touching the picture, as if trying to convince himself he wasnt imagining it
The photograph was faced down on the table and was very much physically tangible. Something worth noting about the backside of the photograph though was the signature that was written in a nice Japanese text with a black color.
Translated the text reads as follows…
”Congratulations friend! I know we’ve been friends for too long and this might confuse you but congratulations on your rank promotion! You’re one step closer to your dream which is great! I’m looking forward to be working with you :D!”
Signed a bit underneath the text…
”Yours truly, Oscar, Public Relation Officer”
(It does but who’s to blame honestly :/)
(Me, for creating characters to music that I listen too untill I get sick of it-)
(Writer’s block happens to everyone, especially when it comes to temporary characters, don’t think about it)
After reading the text written on the back of the photograph, Ryuusei concluded it was adressed to the eighth judge, but had somehow ended up in his room. His initial instinct was to return it immediately to the rightful person to whom it was adressed, but having never seen a photograph before, he first wanted to take a better look at it
The photograph was of Oscar, the masked officer, with the eighth judge who had a big smile on his face. It was a group photo as well; the other person in the photo was the First Judge who was also giving a bright smile. The eighth judge was in the middle of the photo, wrapping his arms around the two other figures.
Oscar was showing a peace sign while the first judge gave a wink with a ‘salute’ gesture.
Seeing the three people in the picture, he felt really weirded out. First because he was confused by the image itself - it was like a painting, but incredibly life like, that was the only explanation he could find - second because of the people in the picture. He'd never seen them smile like that nor act that way. He hadn't been here for long, but the way the eighth judge had his arms wrapped around the two and the gestures the others were doing confused him - he must have been really behind on the behaviour of the current day, that was for sure.
Turning the photo around in his hand, he thought about whether he should return it now himself or wait for an opportunity to give it anonimously. Returning it now would probably make the officer awkward, but then again, he could not keep it on himself, otherwise he might be suspected of theft or who knows what.
In the end, his morals won over, and he got off the bed, heading towards the door, opening it and peeking his head out.
"Um, Sir Oscar?" he called out
