Episode 04: The Imperial Capital

## Plot

The orange light of sunset illuminates a large, austere study in which a small girl sits working. From the door a voice calls, letting her know that her brother is back, and she immediately hastens to gather her things. She knows that he's strong, but still she worries anyway... not only that he'll get hurt, but that he'll meet someone who takes away her time with him.

In the Hakurokaku the evening is just getting started, with Ukon and his men celebrating their arrival and their new friends, when the girl from the study slams open the door.

Maroro recoils and sneaks off, while Ukon's men welcome the girl with a cheer. She asks Ukon what he thinks he's doing. He laughs it off and offers her a drink. Haku is surprised to hear her call Ukon her brother—he thought she was his kid—and Nekone scolds Ukon for not coming to greet her, but her tail starts wagging when he recognizes the compliments her ribbon. He whispers a request into her ear and then suggests they all go chill out in the hot water the inn is famous for, and now the party now has bigger problems, because Kuon has just heard the word "bath". Rulutieh cannot escape in time.

Kuon basically makes a running dive right in and starts splashing around while a shocked Nekone and Rulutieh look on, impressed by both the bath and her sudden indecorum. So Kuon steals their towels to hurry them in.

While this is going on, in the separate men's bath, Ukon and Haku are drinking quietly, discussing the future, until Maroro shows up. (Rulutieh faints just from imagining it.) Maroro reveals that Nekone is the youngest Imperial Scholar in history, but not fully approved, and both sides of the bath establish that Kuon and Haku aren't dating. Nekone wonders what her brother sees in Haku... (Rulutieh imagines it and faints again.)

Bright and early the next morning Nekone coolly greets Haku, Kuon, and Rulutieh outside the Hakurokaku. She's offered them a tour around the capital, while her true objective is to find out the secret to Haku's inexplicable popularity, and how he somehow won her brother's respect.

First stop is the capital's main street. This wide, long, and well-paved artery runs straight from the city gates through to the palace: an impressive feat of city planning. Rulutieh explains that hundreds of years ago, it was the Mikado who built the city himself, and Haku is impressed at the skill of the Mikado of that age—but Nekone says no, the very same man still rules from the same palace. It seems unbelievable but Kuon confirms it. According to Nekone, the Mikado is omniscient and omnipotent.

The tour group stops by at the palace, which towers imposingly over them. Haku wonders what it's made of, so Nekone elucidates that it's a holy place made of holy stuff. Haku isn't much convinced, convincing Nekone that he must be some kind of an idiot.

They return to the main road, which Haku describes as noisy. Nekone is informing him that that's the sound of prosperity when a man in a mask rides by on a woptor, accompanied by guards and the cheers of the people. It's Oshtor, who arrested the criminals they met on the way. Haku wonders why he seems so well-loved so Nekone explains again: that man is a few hundred times cooler than him.

She asks how Haku is planning to make a living anyway, and the group drag him to a quick job waiting tables. Nekone appears to doubt whether he can manage.

Haku messes up an order, but immediately makes friends with the at-first-upset customer. That's his charm, Kuon says, and the rest go home, but Nekone stays on to see how he handles the rest of the day—and somehow he breezes through okay, despite an unending series of mistakes.

Nekone flashes back to her recent, more lonely youth, and seems a little jealous of the way Haku effortlessly ingratiates himself with everyone. He tells her she should have more fun, and accidentally reminds her of her brother's words—Ukon was always the only one she relied on. She concludes that Haku is a strange man, and he plays with the employer's children until they finally release him to go home.

Back at the Hakurokaku, Haku hands Kuon the day's pay, which turns out to be too little to cover so much as one meal. Nekone gives Haku a note and it emerges that he can't read, so the others tell him it's an invitation from Ukon. (Rulutieh faints.)

They arrive in an austere study where the one waiting is not Ukon but Oshtor. Kuon is a skilled apothecary and Haku is sharp, so Oshtor offers them a job on a friend's recommendation—not Ukon's, as it turns out, but Maroro's.

Then Oshtor's voice changes and Haku is confused, though Kuon guessed earlier when they met out in town. He teasingly chides Haku for not recognizing him. Oshtor takes off his mask and it's Ukon himself!

In the evening, Kuon, Nekone, and Rulutieh are relaxing in the baths once more. The day spent with Haku has helped Nekone stop worrying and open up a little, and she tells Kuon she hopes they'll be good friends. Kuon and Rulutieh hug her in response.

Later still, in the palace, two figures shrouded in black speak to an old man and a woman behind a screen. They present a report saying that they've "found him," and the two behind the screen react with joy...

## Characters

*By order of appearances*

* Nekone
* Ukon
* Maroro
* Haku
* Kuon
* Rulutieh
* Oshtor