Welcome to Janome Diner! Episode 1: Princess Janome (1)

The moon is bright...
Inside the narrow palanquin, Ake thought this while looking at the perfectly round, golden, distortion-free moon through the viewing window that had been installed as a mere formality on the side.
The inside of the palanquin was dark and cold.
Ake shifted, feeling the weight of the white kimono, the hardness of the wooden floor that didn't even have a cushion, and the numbing pain in her legs.
The wind carrying the night air through the viewing window, the sound of large wings flapping, the unfamiliar sensation of floating in the air. These told her that she had left the land she was used to walking on and was in the sky, far from her home.
I will never... return.
Even thinking that, no deep emotion welled up in Ake.
Even though it was supposed to be the home where she had spent 19 years, no feelings surfaced.
She had almost no memories, either.
Memories of days without any ups and downs. Even if she flipped through them like a ledger, there was no change, and only three words were written.

Painful.
Lonely.
I want to die.

That is all.
However, that too would end soon.
If she went to the place she would arrive at soon, she wouldn't have to feel those things.
She would be freed from everything.
Just thinking that brought a small smile to Ake's lips.
She felt the palanquin slowly descending.
The sound of the wings gradually became quieter.
She would arrive soon.
Ake swallowed her saliva.
She felt her body stiffening.
(What is there to be afraid of?)
Even though I am finally going to be freed...
Ake gripped her sweaty hands tightly and waited for the palanquin to stop.

Gravity returned.
She heard several sounds of keys unlocking from the side on her right.
Ake stared at the side.
Even without being so cautious, there was no way to escape in the sky, and she had no intention of escaping anyway.
When the side was slowly opened, she saw the face of an elderly, bearded warrior wearing green armor.
"Princess Janome, we have arrived."
Princess Janome.
Being called by that name made her chest tighten.
Tears threatened to flow.
However, Ake swallowed all those emotions and nodded with a calm expression.
"I understand."
Ake and the elderly warrior's eyes met.
In that instant, fear flashed across the warrior's face, and he recoiled.
An all-too-familiar expression.
Ake stepped out of the palanquin without feeling anything.
Normally, there would be no warrior who wouldn't offer a hand to a woman wrapped in a white kimono, especially one called a princess.
However, neither the elderly warrior nor any of the warriors around her offered a hand to Ake. In fact, they didn't even try to get close.
That was nothing other than because they feared Ake.
Ake's facial features were beautiful.
However, there were two strange things about them.
One was the cloth covering the area of both eyes, on which white scales floated.
The other was a large eye with a red, vertical pupil on her forehead.
It was truly a snake's eye.
Ake moved her snake eye to look around.
Just that alone made one of the warriors let out a small scream.
However, Ake didn't even pay it any mind.
Because she was tired of hearing such voices.
It was a small plain.
The sensation of soft grass brushed against the soles of her feet.
A vast forest spread out in front, a dark sea of clouds that continued forever behind, and a sheer cliff could be seen at her feet.
Just that was enough to know that this was not the place Ake had lived until now, but the summit of the mountain feared as "Cat's Forehead."
"I've come..."
Ake muttered.
Thick ropes were tied to the four sides of the luxurious palanquin Ake had ridden in, and at the ends of those ropes, four wyverns lay on the ground, with warriors in green armor waiting beside them.
She knew they had used wyverns to hold the ropes and swim through the sky, but she was impressed that the ropes hadn't snapped. No, for them, it probably wouldn't have been a problem even if the ropes had snapped.
As long as Ake didn't return to the country...
Ake moved her snake eye and looked at the elderly warrior.
Looked at by the snake eye, the warrior's face twisted in fear.
"Um..."
"What might it be?"
The elderly warrior's voice was shrill.
"Is there any footwear?"
She had been barefoot ever since getting off the palanquin.
It might be hard to notice because of the white kimono, but it was honestly cold and painful.
The elderly warrior's reaction stopped for a moment. Then, upon understanding Ake's words, he told his fellow warriors to prepare footwear, but none of them had any.
Ake sighed softly.
However, she never let it show.
Because she knew there was no point in showing her emotions.
"Then, Princess, stay well."
The warriors bowed respectfully and hurriedly mounted the wyverns.
The warriors spoke in small voices.
"Thank goodness."
"We can get back before he comes."
"The plague god is finally gone."
"Ah, creepy."
"That eye, it gives me the chills."
"If Princess Janome is gone, the country will be peaceful too."
Saying that, the warriors clutched their throats and laughed.
Ake's ears had clearly heard the warriors' conversation.
It wasn't that she had special powers.
It was because she couldn't protect herself without the power to eavesdrop. One of the wyverns looked at Ake's face.
The way it narrowed its yellow vertical eye... she felt she could see comfort and compassion that couldn't be felt at all from the warriors.
"Thank you."
Ake said to the wyvern, but the warriors bowed their heads, thinking it was said to them.
"You..."
Ake looked at the elderly warrior and called out.
"Yes!"
The elderly warrior replied with a trembling voice.
"If you meet that child, tell him."
"That child?"
The warrior tilted his head.
Ake nodded.
"My body and soul are all dedicated to Lord Kuro-Okami. This is what I chose. Tell him to walk his own path."
In Ake's mind, a cute little boy who used to come up to her with a bright, lovely smile saying "Big Sister~" appeared.
Now, the image of that child, who had grown up splendidly.
If she had one regret in life, it was that she couldn't say a final goodbye to him.
"Understood."
The warrior bowed his head without really understanding.
And the wyverns flapped their wings widely, lifting the palanquin carefully. Even though Ake was no longer riding in it, they did it more carefully than anything else.
Thinking that the palanquin was probably more important than her, Ake watched the sea of clouds where the warrior and the wyverns had departed.
The morning sun slowly showed its face from beyond the sea of clouds.
On the opposite side, the moon was trying to sink its body beneath the sea of clouds in the same way.
It looked as if the sun and the moon were facing each other and chatting.
Ake dropped to her knees on the grass and sat formally.
The coldness of the night air, the grass, and the soil was transmitted through the thick white kimono, but it was far more comfortable than inside the palanquin.
Ake touched the fabric of the white kimono.
When she saw this white kimono prepared before her departure, she almost spat out words of aimless curses, thinking what irony it was and how much more they wanted to despise her, but now she was grateful.
Even when exposed to the outside air like this, it could keep out the cold, and above all, looking back, it might have been good that she was able to wear something she thought she would never wear in her life.
Ake closed her snake eye.
Ah, it's finally ending.
When Kuro-Okami appears and takes off this blindfold, everything will end.
She could finally give meaning to a life that had only been pain and suffering.
Ake was wrapped in a sense of euphoria she had never felt before as she recalled yesterday.

"Go to Cat's Forehead."
How long had it been since she heard her father's voice?
The voice echoed as if knocking inside the sturdy prison room reflected in the weak candlelight.
Ake was sitting formally on the hard, damp tatami, bowing her head with her hands on the floor.
Wearing a worn-out white kimono and sweeping the dirty tatami with her messy long hair, Ake's appearance was truly like that of a captive or a slave.
"Cat's Forehead... is it?"
Ake raised her face slightly.
In that instant, a small scream was raised by the monkey-like little man wearing a luxurious red kimono illuminated by the weak candle, and the men in well-tailored kimonos surrounding the little man.
"Who told you you could speak!"
The monkey-like little man, her father, shouted while spitting.
Ake cowered and bowed her head.
"I am very sorry."
Ake felt miserable.
Why must she be spoken to like this by her own father?
(Because... of... this eye...)
Ake bit her lip while keeping her face down.
Her father exhaled.
"Because of you, the lives of many innocent people were taken."
Ake's heart jumped.
"The capital was destroyed, leaving only the area around the castle. Many warriors were wounded, the people grieved, and..."
Her father groaned, clenching his back teeth.
"Lady White Snake has fallen into a deep sleep."
Ake's snake eye trembled.
At her father's words, feelings of anger surged from the men surrounding him, and they glared at Ake.
Ake did not raise her face, even while feeling the gaze that felt like being beaten.
"The crime you committed is heavy. Unforgivably heavy."
Her father said heavily and hatefully.
Ake gripped both hands while keeping them on the tatami.
"With all due respect, Father..."
"Don't speak without permission!"
Her father flew into a rage.
Ake closed her lips and made herself small.
"Also, don't call me Father."
Ake's chest felt like it was tightening at the words released coldly, as if to say it was disgusting.
"I am the Chief Advisor and Prime Minister. I am not your father."
"...Understood. Minister."
At Ake's words, her father nodded as if somewhat satisfied.
"It was your fault that you showed them an opening and were captured. Isn't that right?"
"...As you say."
Ake trembled her lips and bowed her head deeply.
Her father looked down at Ake coldly.
"However, I will give you a chance to atone for your sins."
Her father's mouth curled up slightly.
"Go to Cat's Forehead and finish off the golden Kuro-Okami."
Her snake eye trembled.
"You know, don't you? The golden Kuro-Okami that lives on Cat's Forehead. The cursed existence that once fought Lady White Snake."
There was no way she didn't know.
It was an existence in a legend passed down in the country that even a child who had just gained awareness knew.
The existence most feared by the people of Lady White Snake's country, and the enemy most to be hated.
A monster with the nickname "Calamity."
Ake's body trembled.
"It will soon be known that Lady White Snake has fallen asleep. When that happens, he will attack this country without hesitation. Having lost the power to fight, we will be eaten by him without any means to stop him... because of you."

Because... of me...

A small drop fell from her snake eye.

Is it... because of me?

Everything... everything... is it because of me?

Even becoming eyes like this?

Even being afraid of such things, trembling and unable to sleep?

Everything... is it my fault?

"Janome."
Her father spat out the words solemnly.
The men around them also straightened their posture at the powerful words befitting the Chief Advisor and Prime Minister.
"Tomorrow night, I will take you to Cat's Forehead as an offering."
Ake dug her nails slightly into the tatami.
"It is some kind of fate that it was just the time for an offering to him."
Her father chuckled.
"Your mission is to go to Cat's Forehead and use the thing inside your eyes to kill Kuro-Okami."
The thing inside my eyes...
Ake touched the cloth with white scales covering the parts corresponding to both eyes.
Use... this.
Ake dug her nails into the cloth.
The men let out small screams.
"Stop."
Her father said.
Ake took her hand off the cloth.
Her father exhaled through his nose.
"The one who nearly destroyed the country and put Lady White Snake to sleep will save the country. It is ironic."
Her father curled his mouth as if to mock.
"Janome. This is destiny. Know that this is the final opportunity to wipe away your sin-stained soul and body."
"...Understood."
Ake muttered weakly and bowed her head deeply.
Her father turned his back.
He started walking, making a sound like knocking on wooden boards.
The men followed after him.
Ake raised her face, watched her father's back as he left, tightly pursed her lips, trembled, and then opened them.
"Um..."
At Ake's voice, her father stopped.
However, he did not look back.
He did not say a word either.
"I... I..."
Ake opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Various emotions swirled and pained her chest.
And finally, she spoke one word.
"I am... Ake."
Ake said, trembling and squeezing out the words.
"I am not Janome."
Drops dripped from Ake's snake eye and became tears.
"I am... not Janome."
An earnest voice.
A painful resonance.
Even the men who had looked at Ake with eyes of contempt were shaken.
Ake reached out with trembling hands, trying to grab her father's back, which was too far away.
"Ake."
A name was spun out softly from her father's words.
A small heat lit up in Ake's heart.
However, it froze mercilessly with the next words.
"That is the name I will give to the child born to my eldest son next time."
She felt like she heard the sound of Ake's heart breaking.
"That is not your name. You are Janome. Do not forget it."
Saying that, her father left.
The men followed him and left as well.
A scream-like cry echoed through the prison room.

#Long Novel
#Fantasy Novel
#Fantasy
#Snake Eye
#Offering
#Diner