Episode 07: The Young Princess

## Plot

Rulutieh has invited Atuy to join her on a shopping trip, but as they pass a store with a big crowd, Rulutieh insists on a detour into the shop, which turns out to be full of homoerotic doujinshi. Atuy has some questions but Rulutieh has no answers, only shooshes, because *this is her battlefield*—and to her joy, she's just found a rare issue by Raurau-sensei!

Later, as the two continue their shopping, a short, elaborately-dressed girl with a snow-leopard tail crashes into Rulutieh at a blind corner. As they dust themselves off, the girl takes up Rulutieh's prize purchase, reads it, and decides she likes it... so she accepts the book as an offering and scampers off with it.

Atuy is still consoling a crestfallen Rulutieh in the aftermath when the two encounter Raurau, whom a starstruck Rulutieh recognizes on sight. He offers a replacement copy of the doujinshi she just lost, and Rulutieh falls over in a faint.

Meanwhile, Kiwru and Haku are hanging decorations to prepare for the upcoming Princess's Birthday celebration, which is set to be a major event in the Capital. Haku mistakes a passing girl for Nekone and calls out to her—causing a flustered Kiwru to fall off his stepladder. It's not Nekone and Haku can only apologize.

Kiwru tells Haku more about the princess, who'll appear before Yamato's people for the first time at the festival. Haku knocks Kiwru off his pedestal again, literally, by asking if she's prettier than Nekone...

Haku persuades Kiwru to take a break for food. They turn to a food stand, where they find the girl with the snow-leopard tail. She's enjoying a meat skewer, but having trouble understanding the concept that she needs to pay for it. Kiwru worries about the situation while Haku ignores it and digs in, and Kiwru pays for the three out of their lunch allowance from Kuon.

Then Haku wants to go grab a meal... but they've just used the whole allowance on skewers. Most of which were eaten by the girl.

The three pass the gates of the Imperial Capital. The girl looks at them with shining eyes and asks if it's true that there's mountains and oceans and everything out there, and then she wanders off, following her nose to the Hakurokaku. They ask where she lives, and she points to the Imperial Mausoleum... and by the time Haku is done telling her not to joke around, she's gone.

While all of this is going on, in the Hakurokaku's kitchens, Kuon has been doing some cooking. Strolling through the halls of the Hakurokaku, she encounters Nekone, who has been looking for Rulutieh and Atuy, and Kuon can see why: as princesses, the two have to prepare for the festivities tomorrow. Luckily, they should be back by evening, so Kuon asks Nekone to sample her cooking in the meantime. She says that she's prepared a dish based on something Rulutieh made for them before.

It's Kuon and Nekone who find the leopard-tailed girl in the kitchens, polishing off the cooking that Kuon worked so hard on. She escapes justice for the moment, and when Haku and Kiwru come home, Kuon lands a cooking implement square on Haku's face, mistaking him for the cooking thief come back for more.

Fortunately, they don't have to look for her long, as a scream issues from the hall, Rulutieh and Atuy having found the girl. She's in the lounge, happily reading doujinshi.

Kuon prepares to dispenses punishment. The girl runs, slipping past Atuy at the door, but plows right into Haku in the hall and falls over.

When Kuon at last catches her, justice is swift. She makes the thief clean in penance, and when this concludes, finally mellows and proffers some tea—at which point a stern woman in white arrives and starts spanking the offender, a spectacle that the whole gang ends up witnessing.

Kiwru identifies this new intruder as Munechika the Guardian, one of the eight Pillar Generals of Yamato. What could she be doing in this place...? Other than spanking the girl, which she's definitely doing, with gusto, while lecturing. Kuon looks on with intense sympathy.

Munechika apologizes, since the girl won't, and the two leave. Rulutieh lets her take the extra doujinshi as she goes, so Munechika inspects it on the road, surprised that her wayward charge is reading anything, and takes it into her custody for further perusal...

On the day of the festival, Atuy and Rulutieh are in full dress, while Kuon and Haku move through the crowd among the spectators. Standing before them all are Oshtor and his fellow Imperial Guard, Mikazuchi, along with most of the eight Pillar Generals: Vurai the Vanguard, Raiko the Sage, Soyankekur the Mariner, Ozen the Harvester, Tokifusa the Attuner, Dekopompo the Aristocrat, and Woshis the Shadowlight. Vurai's intimidating eye catches Haku, who quakes under the pressure.

Munechika arrives with the palanquin, and out steps the Mikado's daughter, scion of Yamato, the princess for whom all these festivities were arranged... and Haku is shocked. Kuon isn't surprised. It's the girl with the leopard tail. She introduces herself to her people as Anju, the Mikado's future heir!