Mori knew it was now or never. He had to leave tonight. Suspicions were hovering around the manor and Count Hikaru, although he did not mention it directly, had his eyes especially on Mori. He was handling the children with Kyouya one day when one of them, out of anger, lashed out at him saying that they would be caught by the law-enforcers and burn in hell for what they were doing. When Count Hikaru asked what he meant, the child blurted out about some of his friends being smuggled out by an errand boy to be given to the law-enforcers in order to testify against him. Count Hikaru tried to squeeze more information out of the child, the child said he’d rather die than betray the errand boy and help Count Hikaru in his dastardly deeds and banged his head against the wall hard, killing himself instantly.
Mori knew he was going to be in trouble. He had been involved in the dealings with slaves alongside the Count and Kyouya, so it was no surprise that he was the first in the list of suspected people. He had to leave and report to the camp immediately. But first, he had to say goodbye to someone.
Quietly, he crept into Haruhi’s room and whispered, “Haruhi-sama, Haruhi-sama, wake up.”
Haruhi stirred and asked, “What is it, Mori?”
“I’m leaving tonight. It’s not safe for me to stay here any longer anymore.”
“Where to?”
“I’m sorry, Haruhi-sama. I can’t tell you.”
“Take me with you,” Haruhi said suddenly, catching him by surprise.
“No, no, I can’t. I can’t do that. You know the drill. I can’t, Haruhi-sama. But I’ll come back for you, I promise…”
“I don’t care,” Haruhi said, hugging him tightly. “Take me with you. I have nothing here. I don’t mean anything to the Count anymore. I cannot do what I promised to Hikari-chan anymore. Please, take me away.”
After much persuasion (and a brother’s aching heart for a sister), Haruhi finally got Mori to take her with him. Quietly and stealthily, the duo went out through the back door of the kitchen and out into the pouring rain. Armed with only an umbrella, they braved their way into the woods in search of Mori’s colleagues’ secret camp. Halfway through, Mori stopped short, looking around warily.
“I heard something,” Mori whispered, then looked around for another minute or two before saying, “No, it’s nothing. Don’t worry.”
Mori couldn’t be further than the truth, because as they spun round to continue their way, they saw Count Hikaru and Kyouya and his men standing right behind them. They were found! They were busted! They were done for!
“Mori,” Count Hikaru muttered venomously and shifted his gaze towards his daughter-in-law, “Haruhi. I should’ve known.”
There was no doubt something bad awaited their fate.
While Kyouya and his men dragged Mori to the warehouse, Count Hikaru dragged Haruhi back to her room. He grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her and asked, “How long have you known about this? How long have you been laughing at me? You little bitch! I knew you were trouble the very first moment I saw you!”
Count Hikaru gave her a slap before throwing her onto her bed. As he went out of the room and locked it, he turned to Kasanoda, one of Kyouya’s henchmen, who followed after him, and said, “Watch her. If anyone tries to get in, kill her first.”
Haruhi broke into tears thinking about what might happen to Mori under the Count’s custody. Everything went so wrong. Ever since her failure of her second task, everything went horribly wrong. Not only had she brought the curse of Nekozawa’s denouncing onto her, but to the person that she loved as well.
What could possibly get worse than this?
--:--
“You can go, Kyouya. Leave him to me.”
Mori was in the cellar with the other sobbing children, tied to one of the pillars that held the ceiling of the cellar together. While Count Hikaru handled Haruhi, Kyouya and his men had their chance to ravage Mori, and needless to say, when the Count came down the cellar, he was covered with cuts and bruises everywhere.
“Are you sure, Master?” Kyouya asked, a little unsure.
“For God’s sake, Kyouya, he’s only an errand boy.”
Kyouya nodded and went up. As Count Hikaru came closer to Mori, he struggled to speak.
“That’s what you’ve always thought. That’s why I was able to get away with it. I was invisible to you.”
“Damn, young boy,” Count Hikaru grinned, looking slightly impressed. “You’ve discovered my weakness: arrogance. But it’s your weak points we’re interested in. I want you to tell me who sent you and what are they planning to do with me, and I’m sure some of these things may persuade you to do so…”
While the Count talked, his back facing towards him and preparing all the torture devices he had beforehand to make him talk, Mori reached for his back pocket for the small knife he had kept hidden in it and started cutting the rope that tied his hands together on the pillar. As an errand boy, there were things he needed to cut with his knife, especially ropes that get tangled on young calves and seals whenever there is a delivery from town, and the knife was slim and small enough to be hidden and remain undetected in his back pocket without rousing any suspicion.
As soon as he broke free, the first thing he did was stab Count Hikaru on the back. He added another stab onto his shoulder for good measure before pressing it threateningly inside the Count’s mouth. The children, who were witnessing all this, cheered him on.
“I am a law-enforcer, not some child you can boss around and torture at! I am not a little boy you can tell what to do anymore! You son of a bitch! Don’t you even dare touch the girl! If I see even a hair missing from Haruhi-sama, get it through to your thick skull that you will not be the first chicken I have gutted!”
With that, he cut through the Count’s cheek and quickly made his way out of the cellar, promising to the children that he would come back for them. Count Hikaru, after struggling to get on his feet and fight the pain that was throbbing badly on his cheek, gave the order to Kyouya and his men to give chase. They mounted their horses and chased after the poor Mori all the way to the middle of the woods before cornering him. This is it, he thought. I’m going to die in enemy lines and in the hands of these dogs.
“Now then, Mori,” Kyouya said as he got off his horse and prepared to capture him. “You know we’ve been friends for so long, and you know I’m very fond of you. You’re my best friend, and the last thing I want to do is hurt you like this, but you betrayed the Master and I had no choice. It’ll be better if you come with me without struggling. The Master said if you behave…”
Kyouya never got to finish his words because three shots were fired at him out of nowhere, killing him instantly. More fires were shot and exchanges of fire between Kyouya’s men and the mysterious shooter, or shooters, ensued. After all the men were killed, the mysterious shooters revealed themselves as his colleagues. One of them, who so happen to be his cousin and beloved Honey, came to him and hugged him, telling him that he had done a great job and everything will soon be over while the rest of his colleagues checked through the bodies to see if there were any evidence they could salvage from them.
Meanwhile, Haruhi was in her room contemplating about what her fate has in store for her. She dared not think of it, but she was sure she would get even worse treatment than she had just received from the Count. He might end up force her to do unimaginable things and would be at his mercy every single moment of her living days, or worse. In a way, she thought, I think I deserve all this. I screwed up the previous task, I broke the rules, and I killed my fairy friends. I deserve to be punished. I…
In the middle of her musings, the ever familiar sounds of mewing echoed through her room. She looked up and saw Belzenev flying towards her, mewing happily as she perched onto her shoulder.
“I’ve decided to give you one last chance.”
Oh, how happy she was to see Nekozawa standing proud and tall in front of her. She quickly got up and hugged him, relieved to see finally another familiar face. Nekozawa chuckled and reciprocated, patting her head with one hand and stroking her back with the other.
After a brief moment of reunion, Nekozawa made her face him and said, “Now, do you promise to do what I say? Will you do anything I tell you without question? This is your last chance.”
Haruhi nodded hard. She’s willing to do anything to turn things around and make up for her mistake.
“Alright, then listen to me. Fetch your fiancée and bring him to the labyrinth as quickly as you can, Your Highness.”
“My fiancée?” Haruhi asked, surprised.
“We need him,” Nekozawa replied briefly.
“But…”
“No more questions. Just do as I say.”
“But the door is locked. I can’t leave.”
“In that case, create your own door,” Nekozawa said as he took out another chalk for her. Haruhi took it and nodded before Nekozawa disappeared into the shadows again.
It’s now or never.
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