Needs to be worked on more…

A song-like voice slipped through the half-opened door of the balcony, spoiling the moonlit night.

Ou Ki put down his brush, and with an elegance of movement which belied his years, went out onto the balcony.

Son Ryouou, with a cup of wine in one hand, had taken over the balcony of Ou Ki’s mansion, and was merrily reciting poems. His face was half covered in darkness, and so the creases and wrinkles which had been carved into his face by the passage of long years were now hidden. What could be seen were his eyes, which always glinted with interest, lively as those of a child. In his sonorous voice, he recited a classic poem of parting, of beautiful flowers being scattered by a storm. Ryouou had in the long-ago past read that same poem. On the eve of a deadly battle:

“You are the flower, Ou Ki.”
“…What?”
“Probably, when you die, you’ll fall at once, beautifully, purely. Like a passing dream. But I am the one who protects the flower, so I’ll guard it from the storm until the very end. I like to watch you. Just seeing is boring, but just looking at flowers feels good. Under the flowers, everything seems sublime. The moon, wine, wind of poetry, —-living itself. That’s why. That’s enough for me.”

That’s why, until the end, I will stay by your side.

Although he was a self-styled commoner, these were the words of a man who loved the beauty of nature even more than a blue-blooded aristocrat would. The two of them had not died. And from then on, time had passed, and now, Ryouou was, with the same face, still with Ou Ki. However, Ou Ki was no longer the youth of that time.

“….If the flower now is the king, do you mean that I am the storm which will come to scatter him?”
Ryouou smiled a bit, but did not agree nor disagree.
“Well now. But then who would be the “protector of the flower” for the king? It would be that young lady. She’s stiching up the holes with all of her might, running all around, how noble. It’s just like seeing your older sister and King Senka.”

Ou Ki’s irises wavered, but faintly enough so that this was almost invisible.

“That’s why you don’t like seeing that young lady? You don’t mind her being an official, but you hate seeing that king relying her unrewarded devotion, with the excuse that she’s an official. Just like your older sister, she’ll run herself ragged, giving her all for king and country, and then, someday, in a blink of an eye, fall and scatter like the cherry blossoms, ending her short life.”

Ou Ki breathed out a bit, making a small noise. He dismissed these words without any emotion, as if finding it foolished.

“…If you run off your mouth like that any more, I’ll ban smoking in all of these rooms.”
“Sorry. But here’s what I really came to say. Uu-sama has a favor to ask you. He wants you to play your guqin for him.”

Ou Ki’s brows shot up. The guqin?
“…..Well, if it’s a request from Uu Uu-dono, then it can’t be helped. But that person has a good memory.”
“Hey. By guqin, does he mean that? Could it be that our current sovereign lord the king cannot play it? But certainly—”
“Shut up, black-beard. Your stubborn face is enough. If you continue I’ll also ban drinking. “
“What a mean guy! Wine and tobacco are the essential props of my life as a stylish man. Don’t you care that your dapper friend might become just a bothersome geezer?”
“You were already one to start. Doesn’t bother me at all. With that dark, strong-featured face of yours, if you become an old man, it’ll be sweltering. [GUHHHH HOW DO I TRANSLATE THIS] What will you do? “
“I can’t help the way my face is! Don’t say those things. Hehehe, though in the winter it’ll come in handy.”
After Ou Ki tuned his guqin, he laid his knotted fingers upon the strings with a natural gesture.
A beautiful tune filled the moonlit night. All of a sudden Ryouou narrowed his eyes in good humor, and began to listen. Of the many kinds of qin, the guqin was the most ancient, and playing it was famously difficult and complex. Even among the court musicians, there were few who could play it proficiently. But when Ou Ki set his hand to it, he made it look like child’s play, as he easily plucked out a heavenly melody. Ryouou poured more wine from the flask into his cup. Even the night wind had died down in silence, as if it were listening. Why was that? Always, when Ou Ki played the guqin, there was always a mysterious sensation, as if a refreshing wind had blown in from somewhere, purifying everything. It was as if clear water were washing away impurities, as if he were hearing a sacred hymn, as if something pristine were filling him, to the tips of his fingers. The sound was as pleasant as hearing a gentle rain while drowsing off.
….If there was something special a king had, Ou Ki had it, Ryouou had always believed. Just as if he were under a storm of beautiful flower petals, his life at the side of Ou Ki seemed the finest. Even if, fearing for their lives, soldiers continued to retreat, this foolish man would ignore this, even to the point of giving them gold and provisions. He would give his life, and live it for this man. [turn this into one sentence] Within that era of ghastly war in which blood had washed away blood, he was the only man who Ryouou would not mind dying for. Ryouou had decided that he would never serve anyone, but Ou Ki had changed his mind. Thus, Ryouou would help Ou Ki gain whatever he desired, even if it was the throne.
(It’s like King Senka and Shou Taishi had us all in the palms of their hands. How annoying. Those crafty old bastards….)
Those two of them had deliberately placed Ou Ki’s old friend, Ryouou, at the head of the Military Bureau, equal, in the Six Bureaus, to Civil Administration, and given Ou Ki the great authority of Chancellor, as if to say ‘if you see a gap, just try and seize power,” thought Ryouou. Although it was often forgotten [prefer to forget?], the king, with Shou Taishi, had destroyed many nobles, including his own relatives, collected some of the commoners, and then by promoting the national exam system, put forth a policy of meritocracy. Which meant, they wouldn’t care if those who just sat complacently at their posts were chased out by anyone. [revise this]
(The previous king and Shou Taishi were harsh. They didn’t give the son a throne he could easily sit upon, they set up the administration so that in time, sparks would start flying. Consistent to the last. Rather admirable.)
Thus the young king had let too much time pass, and the Civil Administration Bureau had fallen.

“Who will the next Civil Adminstration Secretary be? Will you promote You Shuu?”
Ryouou had suddenly gone right into the matter. Huh, that was inelegant, he thought. I could have brought that up at any time.
Fortuantely, Ou Ki continued to play the guqin, and in contrast to the sound, his answer was, expectedly, unromantic in its realism.
“No, the post of secretary should remain open for now. Fortunately, since Kou Reishin has been there, it’s been as if there has been no secretary anyway. You Shuu has ability and experience, but since much of his work has been as an undercover official, many don’t know either his face or his achievements. So quick a rise would provoke opposition. For the time being, he should stay as Civil Administration Undersecretary, and work as the secretary’s stand-in.”
“Mmm, with this, both personnel and military matters have easily fallen into your hands.”
“He brought it upon himself.”
“Well. If he had quickly replaced me with Ran Shuuei, then he would still have control over the military department.”
He should have at least put him in the empty Military Undersecretary post. Shuuei had passed the civil service exam, and he also was respected as a military officer. As long as his contemporary Kouyuu was also an undersecretary, it would have been difficult to complain that he was too young. But after Kouyuu had disgracefully fallen, Shuuei, who had returned the “flower” voluntarily, could not do this.

“Whether it’s sincerity, or guilelessness, they’re all full of their own affairs, chasing after the youth in front of them. Isn’t that great? If you think about it, I also had such a pure and glorious youth.”

“You liar. You’re just imagining things. About all you have is that strong face,” Ou Ki cuttingly declared.
“Don’t just fire back like that!”
“As long as that unmotivated Kou Reishin was in charge of personnel, all of that would have just been a pipe dream. Now, if he had switched Kou Reishin for the Ran province governor Kyou Bunchuu before Yuushun returned, then that would have been another story.”

“Ah, now I see.”

The post of Ran Province governor would have perfectly suited Kou Reishin. He and the triplets got on about as well as cats and dogs. Although he had no interest in national politics, if he were up against the triplets, he would have definitely actively worked at the task. He would have thoroughly squeezed Ran province for whatever extra cash could be gotten, fought tooth and nail with the Ran clan, and after fighting with them over and over again, perhaps in the end he would have gotten them to send the Ran officials back. The national treasury would be flush, the Ran clan would be welcomed, the suspicion that the king favored the Seven Clans would be extinguished, and his stock would rise. If Kyou Bunchuu were the Civil Administration Secretary, in three days he would have reformed the administration, and having cleaned up everything, welcomed Yuushun. Then, probably by now the new king’s reign would have been established as watertight.
“And with that, you and I would be sent off somewhere into the country, and we would spend every day counting horses tails and running after sheep, and peacefully grow old there, probably.”
Ou Ki’s lips curled into a smile. He showed this relaxed smile only to his friends.
“…That would have been good too.”
Ryouou wondered whether Ou Ki had really always been waiting for that over these past two years. No, not for the past two years. From the time of the end of the war between the princes, he had been waiting from that time.
“Since that didn’t happen, it can’t be helped. The government and the throne are not toys for playing house. ….The king has never listened to what you have told him.”
He only listened to his close confidants. He listned only to people he liked, and only made decisions comfortably. [? 居心地の良い場所だけで判断した] He had bent the law and made special provisions for a single woman. Did the young king know that from a certain angle, he looked like the very definition of a foolish king? Ou Ki’s numerous admonishments: the discontent of the officials is mounting, so even though they are talented, stop favoring certain retainers, seek opinions from a variety of people, and reform yourself, were probably heard by the young king as merely the bothersome complaints of the nobles.

If Ou Ki did not act, things would remain as they were now.

“Yuushun is having a hard time. I feel sorry for him.”
“However, with the few cards he has, he’s doing what he must well.”
At Yuushun’s name, Ou Ki’s gaze slightly softened. While tipping back his cup, Ryouou looked up at the moon. The king had chosen Yuushun. Was that a good choice, or an unfortunate one? Yuushun was certainly brilliant. However…
(That guy—)
The refined liquor melted upon his tongue.
But, perhaps this too was fate.
Ou Ki’s fingers plucked the last chord, announcing, with the echoes, the ending of this dream-like night.
“I want to bring an end to this by spring.”
Once Ou Ki had decided something, he would see it through until the end. Now, as in the past. Having chosen, he would not waver. Ever since he had declared his wish for the throne, for Ou Ki, there were now only two paths: the throne, or death.
It was the same with Ryouou.
If he had it die, it would be under the flowers. Ryouou had always thought so, but he wouldn’t mind even if it wasn’t in the spring. If he was with Ou Ki, even in the depths of winter, he would perish in a world of falling blossoms.
(Hasn’t it been enough? King Senka. Your era has come to an end, too.)
Soon, it would be time for Ou Ki to become king.

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