Red Princess

A series of knocks drove Amaragi out of her sleep, after the first rays of sunlight had failed in that task due to her pulling the blanket over her face. However, with the knocks never starting to cease, occuring at irregular intervals despite her groans of irritation, she finally all but threw the blanket upon the ground before she literally jumped off the bed in one, fluid motion. 

 

With long and heavy steps, the person behind the door could only hope to survive her murderous gaze before Amaragi finally opened the door-

 

-only to see the face of her sister on the other side, who had just been about to knock once more. At least, her hand halted midair the moment she witnessed Amaragi's expression, her long hair almost all over the place and her lips drawn into a thin line in obvious dissatisfaction. 

 

Which quickly prompted Namagi to smile awkwardly, stretching out her arms to present- and almost shove- a freshly baked chocolate cake into her face. If only to keep her sister at arms length. 

 

"Happy birthday…!" her quick and improvised enthusiasm bore no fruits when she received no response from her sister, due to which Namagi slowly but carefully opened an eye to glance at her. 

 

However, instead of the previous, murderous gleam in her eyes, there was now a small amount of confusion written within them. And it only caused Namagi to blink once, her face now growing seriously concerned. 

 

"... don't tell me you've forgotten your own birthday…?" while Namagi kept regarding her sister, she could almost see the gears ticking in her head until Amaragi's eyes suddenly began to widen. At least, until her head slumped downward, facing the ground with an exhausted sigh. 

 

"... I… actually did…" this time, Namagi's expression almost turned blank before she wordlessly passed by her sister and into her room, placing the cake down upon one of the drawers. 

 

"Alright, hold your fire for a moment. Birthday second, sisterly concerns first. What is bothering you?" when she turned around, Amaragi saw the now serious glint in her sister's eyes, telling her that Namagi would see through each and every single lie. 

 

Thus, with another long sigh, she hesitantly glanced at the ground. 

 

"I'm sorry… I've just been thinking a lot about the ambassadors that are currently present, and… I don't know, something about them just wouldn't let my mind come to rest." Namagi pondered about it for a moment before she recognized what she meant. 

 

"You mean those two Norians? From what I've heard, today should be the last day they're staying. Is that what's been bothering you? Because it doesn't look like that was all." almost feeling as though she had been caught stealing some sweets, Amaragi suddenly turned even more hesitant, and the next words merely escaped her as an overly quick and almost silent whisper. 

 

"You didn't happen to see Maren anywhere…?" 

 

She felt stupid. Amidst the stress she recently had, she had all but pushed any thoughts about her birthday into the back of her mind, however, now that, even after two days, Maren had not shown up at all, her mind had started to overthink it without any bounds. And whereas she had secretly been so thrilled and excited about her birthday before, it had suddenly turned into a solemn and disappointing emptiness within her. 

 

She did tell him merely a few days prior… 

 

And with that, Namagi's eyes seemed to widen with a certain emotion. At least, before suddenly, a small grin formed upon her lips. 

 

"... you know what? I think I know just the right thing to solve this…" with a small whistle, Amaragi perked up slightly when she heard another pair of steps behind her. 

 

"I still think that signal was not necessary…" the moment Maren had uttered these words, he barely had a second to brace himself before he was almost tackled to the ground, merely seeing a batch of crimson hair in front of his eyes while Amaragi's arms clung around his neck. It lasted for at least almost a minute before she reluctantly pulled back, and Maren was trying hard to keep both of his hands crossed behind his back through all of this. 

 

"Maren! Where have you been…? I thought…" before she could utter a coherent sentence, Namagi had suddenly joined her side as she shot a grin towards Maren. 

 

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you, but Maren had actually been quite busy the last two days when I met him in one of the hallways…" 

 

She hadn't even heard his steps, but as she was calmly reading a book while leaning against the wall behind her, not harming a single soul, a sudden smell assaulted her nostrils. 

 

With a single glance upward, Maren almost froze in place with shock when Namagi abruptly shut her book loudly with a flick of her fingers. 

 

When she wordlessly approached him, the latter almost stiffening as she did so while keeping his hands tightly behind his back, Namagi merely stopped a few feet in front of him before she leaned forward ever so slightly and sniffed twice. 

 

'... you smell like the filthiest of trash. No offence.'

 

While her gaze was utterly blank and expressionless, Maren merely smiled in an awkward but uncomfortable manner at her matter-of-fact statement. 

 

'None taken…' she blinked once until her eyes subtly glanced at his hands, which he was obviously making an effort to hide. 

 

'So would you mind telling me what you have been up to?' seeing the way she was regarding him, a look that told him he had no choice in the matter, he hesitantly relented in the end, sighing deeply. 

 

'Alright, but don't tell Amaragi a single thing, agreed?' if her curiosity hadn't been picked before, it certainly was now the moment Maren finally revealed what he was hiding behind his back. 

 

And her eyes widened after a moment. 

 

"Poor him had been spending almost two entire days beneath the ground." when Amaragi's eyes filled with confusion, she followed Maren's arms once he finally revealed the object he had been hiding behind his back all the time. 

 

And when she laid eyes upon it, she all but froze. 

 

So much actually that Maren suddenly grew a little bit tense, at least, until he caught a glimmer in her gaze. 

 

Tears had formed in her eyes. 

 

There, sitting neatly in his hands, was a small plush bear, the small bow upon his ear unmistakable and the face cleaned off of any kind of dirt as best as possible, leaving barely a trace of the origin from where it had been taken. Even the smell had been removed after a tiresome amount of washing and cleaning, all of it done as carefully as possible to preserve all of its features without damaging anything. 

 

And upon its fluffy stomach, slightly hidden beneath the freshly cleaned fur, was a name inscribed. 

 

Amaragi

 

Slowly but surely, more and more tears began to form at the corner of her eyes until they rolled down her cheeks, and the smile that followed was filled with a joy that caused Maren's heart to melt. 

 

All until she leapt at him once more, almost taking the breath out of him as she hugged him dearly. 

 

"Thank you… thank you so much…" 

 

And all the previous emptiness, all of the negative thoughts, it all simply faded away.

 

---

 

AN:

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