perfect princess (the royal tutor)

the traitor

"theres definitely another party in this..." i mumbled, biting my nail. i can't seem to keep myself out of jail. i looked out the bars. "haruka..." i went towards her "haruka!" "miss!" "are you-" "i'm sorry, miss. this is my fault. i really wanted to stay with you. but i didn't want to cause you and everyone more trouble." i pet her hair. "don't be ridiculous... what would make you think you were trouble?" date walked up with heine. "hey, sorry it took me this long." "this is gonna be bad for you!" "it'll be bad alright. too late now. let's go, aline!" date said as he pulled open the door.

we rode in the carriage. "well, here we are." "sorry, date." "nah. i was going to get canned either way. only a matter of time. anyway, this case seems to go to a lot deeper we thought." i blinked. "did something happen?" "yeah. remember this?" he held up a badge. "the man who took haruka to stardust wore it. the florist indicated it could belong to an underground government organization. so i looked into it, and he was on the mark. an underground organization of the cabinet office known as the 'MIA'" "MIA?" heine asked. "ministry intelligence agency. it's a unit that takes orders directly from the cabinet. shady government deals, guarding dignitaries... and the man in charge... is a member of the diet with a background in law enforcement named jingu. although i haven't found a connection between him and the ten billion, or haruka." "a politician huh? lau ka long said somehthing along those lines. that haruka has a value beyond ten billion." "beyond the ten billion?" i nodded. "i have no idea what that could mean, but i do have another piece of info for you. the body pulled from tokyo bay... it wasn't mizu. the lab identified him. he was a completely different person. and there's proof. his dental records." "so, my dad is still-" "right, that means he's still out there." heine assured. "listen, haruka. i'm looking for yuma, and your looking for mizu. so... no matter how dangerous this gets, i'm going to protect you. you're going to get to see your father." haruka hugged me. "okay."

"oh yeah, aline. your phone." date said, tossing it to me. "thanks." "shinji left you a message. you oughta check it." i nodded and looked for the message. "this is shinji. i overheard a nishikiyama family discussion. nishiki is getting info she shouldn't have. someone close to you is talking. be careful." i shoved the phone into my pocket. "date, can you take us to the florist?"

"oh, your alive! what's up?" "i have a request."

we stood in the computer room. "what are we doing, aline?" date asked. "i should have realized it sooner. when i went to utabori, nishiki called me there. she'd figured out my every move." "i see." "and if the dead body wasn't mizu, then how'd she know about the pendant's secret? yumi is missing. and haruka has never even met nishikiyama. then..." "here it is, aline. footage from serena." the florist cut in. "can you show me four days ago?" "you sure?" date asked. it showed ren walking over to a magazine. "there, play it back." the video resumed. "we're heading out." "see you later." a few seconds after we left, ren set down the magazine and went to a phone he hid. "yeah. aline just left. a tattoo artist, i think. yes, utabori. okay. got it. all right." "it was ren..." date said. "i don't like this..." haruka mumbled. "aline. before you showed up, i got a visit from a man looking for haruka. you remember that?" the florist asked. "yeah." "it was him." the florist said. "date.... let's head to serena."

the moment we walked into serena we saw a mess. chairs were walked over and there were stains on the floor.  there was a single note on the bar. i picked it up and read it.

aline, if you're reading this, then you must already know. yes, nishikiyama was getting her information... from me. truly... i'm truly sorry. i... was in love with nishikiyama. i just wanted her to love me back. so i did anything that would make her happy. i wanted to make her every wish come true. i knew it wasn't right, but i did it anyway, to my shame. i was such a fool. but when i met you guys, i remembered that really mattered. even through it was too late. i want to take some responsibility. to make up for what i've done.

"ren..." my phone began ringing. i picked it up slowly. "m-ma'am..." "shinji? what's wrong?" i asked. "it was ren... ma'am, he's the mole..." "yeah, i just found out." "ren called nishikiyama to serena... and tried to shoot her." "what!?" i looked down at the red stains. i was hoping that was wine. "he and i are on the run right now..." "shinji! where are you!?" "i'm not really sure... millennium tower? i can see purgatory." "hold on shinji! i'm on my way. don't you die on me!" i closed the phone. "Stay here." i said as i ran out, heine behind me.

outside i saw a pool of blood, then another one a few feet away. and another. i followed it, running as fast as i could. i found my way through winding streets. some blood stains had beat up yakuza around it. he was bleeding a lot. he would die at that rate. i finally found an abandoned building the blood was going into. i got a call from shinji. "m-ma'am... i'm heading up to the roof of the building. but it's only a matter of time until they catch up to me." "i know. i'm trying to reach you." i said, heading to a stairway. a bunch of men were on the second floor. "crap..." i said, getting ready for a fight.

we fought our way up to the roof as quickly as we could. they just kept coming, but we  made it eventually. "wait!" i yelled to a man who was aiming a gun at shinji. "ma'am..." "aline... please stay out of this!" "shut up." the man shot at my feet. "don't come any closer! you've caused enough trouble for our family!" "aren't you ashamed to point your gun at shinji? he outranks you." "it's his own fault! he turned his back on his patriarch. he betrayed his family!" "and nishiki is betraying the tojo clan. so who's the real traitor?" "shut up!" the man shot a bullet that skimmed past my face. "to us the patriarch is absolute! a patriarch killer can't say shit!" "then go ahead and shoot. you can shoot shinji, but not me!?" the man hesitated. "what are you waiting for, fool?" a voice asked. i turned and saw a man with two hench men. he nodded to one of them, and one of them dragged forward the body of ren. "ren!" "just shoot him and put an end to this!" i glared at him. "i'll kill you for that!"

i fought off all the hench men violently. i pretty much beat them half to death.

i walked over to ren's corpse and shut his half lidded eyes. i then turned and went to pick up shinji. "ma'am... i'm sorry... to the last... shinji... kazama is with a woman named akemi. she's my... girl." "got it. akemi." "ma'am... this is..." he pulled yuma's ring out of his jacket and handed it to me. "shinji, you..." before i could finish my sentence he died. "sh-shinji... shinji!!" i cried.