Chapter 4

The princess

Mai slowly opened her eyes and sat up. She was feeling like crap. She rubbed her eyes and looked around. She was in a large room decorated in a traditional Japanese way. It looked like she was in a museum in Osaka Castle or another such place. The room had very little furniture, and the walls were beautifully painted with cranes and cherry blossoms. The bed, where she was laying, had a really impressive size. Suddenly, Mai paled as she remembered what happened earlier in the Higurashi shrine. The mirror. The girl reached to her hair and discovered that it was very long, much past her waist. She pulled it and it really hurt. “It’s not a dream,” Mai muttered under her nose. She had to find that damn mirror. She scanned the room with her eyes and found it. There it was, resting on a desk. Mai got up and nearly fell down. Angrily, she looked down and noticed that she wasn’t wearing her school uniform. Instead she was dressed in a kimono – many layers of it actually. “This has got to be some joke,” she thought and came over to the mirror. She grabbed it quickly and gave it her best threatening glare. Nothing happened. Well, nothing except that she could take in her slightly different face. Aside from the long hair, her skin looked better, and she was dressed like some princess from the feudal era. Yup, that was pretty much all when it comes to differences. Mai carefully set the mirror aside and walked over to the sliding door. She slid it slowly, watching for any sign of danger. There was none, and before her very eyes was the most beautiful Japanese garden she ever saw. She was so taken aback that she didn’t hear maidservant coming into the room.

“Hime-sama,” called a quiet and shy voice.

Mai turned around with the maximal speed that her clothes allowed. What she saw startled her. A woman was actually groveling on the floor before her. “It’s supposed to be a deep bow,” Mai thought to herself.

“Eh?” that was the only answer Mai could manage. “Hime? Is she talking to me?”

“Your lord father requested your presence during the dinner with his advisors.” said the girl on the floor respectfully. “It is time for you to prepare, my lady.”

“Alright,” Mai agreed. The woman looked confused by her answer. Lord father? Advisors? What the hell is going on here?

Mai would like to think more about the current situation, but in that very moment four women burst into the room and grabbed her. Confused, Mai didn’t fight. They led her to the bathing room and started undressing her. Embarrassed, the girl was covering herself with her hands as much as she could. If the whole situation hadn’t been so stressful, she would have enjoyed washing her hair. Soon Mai was ushered out of the tub and dried. The women dressed her in far too many layers of heavy, silk kimonos and brushed her hair. Then one of them applied make-up, and a large mirror was brought before Mai. At first the girl flinched, remembering the whole mess with mirrors, but then she looked at the reflection.

She looked like a totally different person. Very strange – like some princess from a period drama, but she had to admit that she looked prettier than previously. “Ah, good spa and make-up,” she told herself.

“My lady, it is time.” said the maidservant from before, and she showed the way. Mai went, unsure, where to take turns.

The people around her were crazy and one thing was sure – angered, crazy people were violent, and she didn’t want to end up dead. She hadn’t the slightest idea what was going on, but she decided to play along and find out what’s going on. If they wanted her to be a princess, then she would act like one. Mai wondered if it was Kagome’s sick joke or a kidnapping. Who would benefit from kidnapping her and for what purpose? The girl also had another idea but was too afraid of it to even think of it now.

She was led into the huge room where a rich-clothed man was waiting. He was around his fifties, not so tall and had a rather intimidating beard, and eyes like her own.

“Amayami,” he said in a deep voice.

Mai quickly looked around and it dawned on her that the man was addressing her. She didn’t have a clue what to say. Who was he? Presumably a relative of some sort. She decided to smile and bow slightly. Apparently, it was the right decision. The man smiled and strode towards her.

“Are you all right, my child?” he asked with a worry in a voice.

Mai wanted to scream in his face that she was NOT his child and demand to tell her what the hell is going on, but the voice in the back of her head told her not to do it. Suddenly, she got an idea that could simplify things around here.

“Actually, I tripped and I hit myself in the head. I think I might be confused right now.” Mai blurted out.

The man paled. He turned around and ordered to the one of servants:

“Bring the doctor in here immediately. My daughter is injured, and send for lady Aiko.”

The servant ran out frantically. So, I am his daughter. If I’m a princess, he must be the lord of the castle. I have a feeling that I will need all the information I can get. The attention of the lord turned back to Mai.

“Amayami, rest please. I wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself.” he said and ushered her on the bench. Mai sat down and stared at her knees. The situation is getting more and more freaky with every minute.

There was one hell of a commotion. Angry, the lord was giving servants commands, and the servants were panicked. Then a man and a woman rushed through the sliding door. The man looked somewhat like a rat – he was short and thin, with grey hair; his back was bent with the age. The woman beside him was in her fifties, dressed in fine silk. She was quite tall and slim; her face was proud. She gave Amayami a stern look and turned attention to the lord.

“My lord?” she asked while bowing slightly. The man frowned.

“Aiko, were you aware of an accident which befell Hime? My daughter informed me that she injured herself in head.”

“Oh?” the woman called Aiko lifted her hand to her lips and glanced at Mai with worry. “My lord, the servants found hime-sama lying on the floor yesterday, but we assumed she was weary and fell asleep! I offer my apologies, my lord…”

“Enough! Servants out!” yelled the lord. “Doctor, examine the princess.”

Mai definitely didn’t want the “rat-man” anywhere around her. She tried her best smile.

“I think that I feel better already.” she said. The elder woman furrowed her eyebrows.

“Amayami, do you want to faint when you meet Gorouza?” she asked sternly.

“Who is Gorouza?” asked Mai.

She realized soon that the question was a big mistake. The lord, the doctor, and lady Aiko were staring at her as though they were thinking she was crazy. Mai shifted herself on the bench and tried to think of what to say. The doctor was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

“Princess, lord Gorouza is your fiancé. You are to be married to him this summer. You didn’t remember him?” the man asked. “Fiancé? Oh crap,” thought Mai.

“No.” she said aloud.

“Who is the man beside me?” the doctor asked while pointing the lord.

“My… father. Lord…” Mai looked around searching for a hint. There! She found a familiar crest. Thank God she was good in history. “Lord Asakura.”

“And the lady on my right?” he asked. Mai didn’t know what to answer. She heard her fake-father call her Aiko, but aside that, she didn’t have any information on her. The girl decided to give up.

“I don’t remember.” she answered. The lord scowled. Aiko looked at Mai in shock. The doctor shook his head sadly and turned to lord Asakura.

“My lord, the accident may have caused some severe memory damage. Will the princess regain her lost memories, I cannot say. The best cure would be time. It would be wise to take the princess to familiar places; it could help the memories to come back to her, but I cannot promise anything.” said the doctor looking at Mai with genuine compassion.

There was silence once again. The lord looked as if he was battling with the thoughts.

“It must be kept secret. If it was known that the princess and my only child cannot remember even the woman who has raised her, the dignity of the Asakura family would be put in jeopardy. I cannot take such risk. The only ones who know about my daughter’s… condition, are us three. I trust you to keep silence.” said the lord. “Oh, great,” thought Mai, “They’re not counting me.”

“Amayami,” Lord Asakura turned to Mai. The girl flinched as he surprised her. “It is important that you do not let anyone know that there is something wrong with you. You may rely on me, Aiko or doctor Ryukamura. We will make sure no one will discover the truth about your illness. Do you understand?”

“Umm… I think so.” answered Mai unsure.

She was still unsure what was going on, but she was glad that the lord and the rest took care of keeping her identity hidden. God, if they only knew the whole truth…

“It is settled then.” stated her fake father. “I shall meet my advisors now, and Aiko, take care of Amayami.”

With those words, he marched out of the room, followed by the rat-like doctor. Mai was left with the stern-looking woman. The girl stared back at her, not wanting to be the first to break the silence. The old woman cleared her throat.

“I imagine that you must be tired, Amayami. Would you like to rest in your quarters?” she asked.

No way. Mai wasn’t going to let that woman lock her in the room. She had to look around and find out where exactly she was. Now or never.

“Actually,” she started. “I would feel better if I had a stroll outside. The doctor said himself that I should look around for the memories to come back.” she tried to sound as convincing as possible. The older woman sighed. She obviously wasn’t happy about the perspective of the walk.

“Very well, Amayami. Let’s go then.”

For the next hour Mai and the older woman were walking around the castle, barely saying a word to each other. The place was huge and looked like no other medieval castle Mai had seen. This one was fully decorated with the most beautiful pieces of furniture and art and looked disturbingly… new. All the castles Mai had seen so far were much poorer and this one actually looked like a castle would in the feudal era. The servant and nobles were dressed in kimonos, the last ones in very expensive ones, like the one she was wearing. Mai shivered at the thought that the clothes on her back were probably worth more than all she possessed back at home.

“Aiko-san?” Mai spoke up. “Can we go outside the castle?”

“Hime-sama!” the woman scolded Mai. “You want to go to the village? You could get yourself dirty! But… I think it is fine, if it is for your health.”

Mai and Aiko went outside the gates, passing by armed guardsmen. The older woman was complaining all the time – about the dirt on the ground, about noise or the peasant’s lack of manners. They were walking across the village situated next to the castle. The people there were staring at them and pointing at her with their fingers, whispering. Mai also noticed that they were bowing all the time and avoided looking her in the eye. Such strange behavior annoyed her, but it wasn’t really surprising. She was dressed like a princess and her hair was so long that it reached her knees. The village itself looked like a museum, but it was much livelier here. All the people here had similar peasant clothing and hairstyles – all the men had traditional Japanese ponytails. In the present time no one has that anymore. Present day?

“Oh crap,” thought panicked Mai, “It’s a freaking time slip. The damn mirror wasn’t fake, and it must have switched my and this princess’s souls. Dear God, I’m in the feudal era!” She paled and Aiko noticed it.

“Amayami? Child, you are so pale! Let us go back to the castle!” she said, dragging her along.

Mai wasn’t in a state to think clearly on the way back to the castle. Why must all the bad things happen to me? Why was it me who was sent to the feudal era by some freaky magic, not, for example, Kagome? Why me? Mai knew that she had to think of a plan. Objective number one: stay alive. Objective number two: go home. Sounds like a plan. Mai had an idea of what would happen if the lord and the people here found out that she was not the real princess: decapitation. So she had to act like a real princess would. That wouldn’t be so hard. Thankfully, the lord himself solved that problem for her. To go home, she had to figure out how to get that cursed mirror working.

She was almost in her quarters when she heard a commotion around a sobbing woman.

Aiko rushed into her room and Mai followed her. They found a servant sitting on the floor and leaning over something, trying to pick it up. The woman looked at her with teary eyes and guilt on her face.

“My lady, please, forgive me,” she pleaded. “The gift from Gorouza-dono… I was cleaning and…”

She tried to say something more, but it was no longer audible. Then Mai looked at what exactly the woman tried to pick up. Her eyes widened. Fragments of the mirror! Mai leaned heavily against the wall, processing what she just saw: the mirror shattered, her way home! There must be some other way. There must be one and she had to find it. She will.

Present day, Higurashi shrine.

Kagome went towards the storage house, carrying rice balls from her mother. She was sure Mai would also appreciate a little snack.

“Mai!” she called. “I’ve got rice balls. Want one?”

Nobody answered. Kagome got nervous all of a sudden and stormed into the storage house. Mai was lying on the floor unconscious. Next to her was the mirror. Kagome checked Mai’s pulse. All right. Her heart was beating and she was breathing. The girl looked once more at the looking glass. She had a bad feeling about this.

Mai moaned and her eyes slowly opened.

“Mai!” Kagome exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

Mai looked at Kagome’s face, then down at her school uniform and finally around the room, and she screamed. Kagome tried to calm her down, but that only made matters worse. Panicked, Mai backed away from Kagome.

“Who are you?” she screamed. “Answer me this instant!”

Kagome didn’t know what to think. Mai didn’t recognize her?

“I’m Kagome, your friend. Mai, don’t joke…”

“Mai?” Mai looked confused and slightly angry. “How dare you speak to me in that manner? I am a princess, the daughter of a powerful warlord! What do you want with me, youkai?”

“So… you are not Mai?” asked Kagome slowly.

Damn. Grandpa and his artifacts.