The Wings of Dreams

hems of a young girl’s kimono.
    “Oh, bother.” The girl clutched her bag against her side while slapping down the dancing hems. “It’s cold,” she muttered.
    Behind her a voice called out. “Hey, Shushou, you going home or what?”
    She glanced over her shoulder as a boy emerged from deserted courtyard of the prefectural academy.
    “Of course I am.” Leaning against one of the gate’s pillar, Shushou pointedly averted her gaze.
    “Yeah, but you’ve been standing there forever.”
    “And you’ve been watching me the whole time?”
    The boy blushed a bit and glared at her in turn. “Doesn’t meant I’ve been watching you the whole time. I happened to catch sight of you now and then. Like I would look at you even if you asked!”
    “And I would be the last person on earth to ask you. Thank goodness.”
    The boy scowled at Shushou’s prim profile, turned on his heels, and started up the stone steps in front of the gate. He whirled around and said, “Are you coming or not?”
    “I am. You are, aren’t you? Then why don’t you hurry it up?”
    “Same goes for you. If you’re going home anyway, why don’t you hurry it up?”
    Shushou answered with a small sigh. “My bodyguards haven’t arrived. I don’t know where they’re off wasting time, but I cannot very well leave without them. So I am going to wait.”
    “Ha!” exclaimed the boy. “You’re scared of going home alone.”
    “What have I got to be afraid of? It’s a straight walk from here.”
    “Tell the truth. A little princess like Shushou is scared to go anywhere without somebody accompanying her.”
    Shushou set her mouth and glared at the jesting boy. “You are correct. I was brought up to be a proper young lady. A proper young lady like me should not be seen walking around without an attendant. Were I to do so, I would not be the one taken to task, but my attendants.”
    “Still doesn’t mean you’re not a fraidy cat. Send them home ahead of you, then.”
    “You aren’t listening to a single thing I’m saying.”
    Just then three burly men came running up the road, the bodyguards employed by Shushou’s father. Slouched against the pillar, the impatiently waiting Shushou straightened and said, her voice rising slightly, “What happened? Is that blood?”
    The bodyguards exchanged glances. Their leather armor was spattered with tiny red splotches.
    “Please excuse the delay. We heard a scream from over there.”
    He pointed down the main thoroughfare that ran straight south from the main gate. Approaching dusk, the wide boulevard was thronged with the usual crowds. But among them were apprehensive faces, and where the bodyguard was pointing, people in a great hurry.
    “What happened?”
    “A mushi swarm. We took care of ’em. Sorry for making you wait.”
    Shushou furrowed her brows. Twenty-seven years had passed since the demise of the empress. Even here in Renshou, the capital city, youma outbreaks were becoming more and more frequent. As youma went, “mushi” referred to a variety of small and relatively benign creatures. But they were also a harbinger of worse things to come. When a swarm of mushi appeared, much bigger youma often followed soon after.
    “We’d better hurry,” the bodyguard urged.
    Shushou nodded, and stepped quickly down the stone staircase, the boy bringing up the rear.
    “Hey, Shushou, do you think it’d be okay?”
    “What?”
    “To come with you?”
    Shushou cast a peeved look over her shoulder. “What good would that do? As soon as we got home, the bodyguards would have to turn right around and head back out with you.”
    “But—” The boy hesitated then smiled. “This is the last time, after all. So I might as well keep watching out for you until we’re all done here.”
    “Hardly necessary,” Shushou muttered. “Besides, isn’t it about time you headed home too? Well, then—”
    Her words trailed off as Shushou skipped down the stone steps of the main gate. The boy watched her leave, his sigh swept away by the swirling wind.

Chapter 2
    [1-2]  S hushou’s house was located in the northern outskirts of Renshou, a stone’s throw from the prefectural academy.
    Renshou sat at the foot of Mt. Ryou’un, facing north along its rising slopes. Ascending the angled streets to a quiet neighborhood lined with monasteries and shrines, then following the city walls surrounding the city higher until obstructed by the northern barrier wall, a magnificent, multistoried gate came