The Outlaw Princess and her Illegal Property!

Lyrielle realises there's someone sleeping above her upon seeing a pair of legs under her.

She tries to move but her body is too exhausted to even shift her position.

'I have to do something fast!' She gathers what little mana she has into her right hand, it begins to glow orange with runic symbols appearing all over it.

With a grunt, she punches upwards with all her strength.

The table flies upwards towards the roof of the canopy, breaking apart its metal supports and causing the canopy to collapse.

By the head, Ryunosuke gets sent along with the table as several dirty pages on the ground get blown into the air.

Lyrielle panics as the canopy falls down on itself and she gets covered by the white polyester roof.

In her panic she falls off the boxes and hits the hard ground, causing her to flinch in pain.

She struggles to find an exit from the mess she created, 'my punch shouldn't have been that strong! What happened to me?!'

Lyrielle crawls until eventualy finding the edge of the mess and dragging herself out.

Upon standing up, she realises her clothes have been replaced by the table cloth from the table. "Wha-!"

Lyrielle quickly becomes quiet when a sound comes from the fallen canopy, 'no, don't tell me it's that man... I don't have any mana left to fight him.'

Getting into a fighting stance, she prepares to engage to unknown foe as she tip toes closer.

Meanwhile Ryunosuke struggles to process what happened, 'did the canopy collapse while I was sleeping...!'

He quickly crawls in one direction, along the way avoiding metal beams and wooden boxes.

Upon seeing the outside light peering underneath, he hastens his pace and sticks his head out sideways.

A heavy punch connects with the right side of his face as he watches the sun rising in the east, it pins him to the ground and a jagged rock pokes the side of his left eye, threatening to gouge it out.

"Relax! Relax! I'm not hostile!" He desperately yells out.

Lyrielle keeps pushing on his head, "who are you!" She grabs the rock and points it the center at his face.

"Kobayashi Ryunosuke! That's my name I swear! I don't know where I am but I'm sorry anyway!"

"Kobayashi Ryunosuke...? You're lying! Tell me your real name or I'll poke your eyes out..." She begins to rub the rock against his forehead.

"Don't test me!" Ryunosuke recalls hearing his second year teacher saying the same line, when a student was disobeying them, that student later got put in detention for a month.

Sounding even more desperate he continues, "I'm not lying!!"

'Hmm...' Lyrielle's face scrounges as she ponders his answer. Reluctantly she lightens her grip.

"Thank you very much!"

Ryunosuke climbs out and pats himself down before looking up at Lyrielle.

"Y-you! The one that killed Aelrion...!" Ryunosuke recalls the name of the man he'd killed earlier than morning.

"Woah woah woah, hold on!" He sticks his arms out towards Lyriells and waves his hands frantically.

Lyrielle charges mana beyond her limit and points her palm at Ryunosuke, but before being able to proceed, she loses strength and falls to her knees.

Ryunosuke watches as Lyrielle falls, 'what do I do...?'

Lyrielle pushes her hands against the ground and vainly attempts to stand. Ryunosuke speaks gently, "don't push yourself..."

"I don't need your concern! You..." She's interrupted as she falls to her knees again, "you killed Aelrion...!"

Ryunosuke notices her gritted teeth, injured lip, bruised knees and a bump on her head, 'she must've caused the canopy to collapse.'

"I'm sorry." He bows his head forward as far as he can, "should I dogeza instead?" Lyrielle looks at him clearly puzzled, "dogeza...?"

"Like this." He gets down on his knees and sits backwards on his legs, he then places his hands together in front and shouts, "I'M SORRY!" As he lowers his head forwards.

Lyrielle flinches when he yells, her face still visibly confused. "Okay I get it! That's enough...!" A lonely tear goes down her face, she quickly wipes it away before breathing in.

'I shouldn't be mad at him.' She looks at Ryunosuke, a solemn expression on her face.

'By that point Aelrion would've already died by my hand if he hadn't miraculously recovered..."

Lyrielle looks up at the bright blue sky, "I forgive you okay? I was trying to kill him before you did... Yea... I wasn't even trying to hide it at the end."

Ryunosuke lifts his head and watches Lyrielle recount her experience that morning. "I'm sure he realised too, one of us had to die at that moment, I wouldn't be susprised if I go to hell."

"You did what you had to, right?" Lyrielle looks down at Ryunosuke, her white hair flowing about in the wind.

Ryunosuke sits cross legged in front of Lyrielle as she responds, "no. I didn't. I didn't have to bring Aelrion with me, didn't have to let it end the way it did. I could've easily avoided it."

"In that case... Why didn't you?"

Lyrielle turns her gaze to the ground and caresses her bruises, "my own weakness, I suppose. Hah, I'm not prepared for this at all... Am I?"

Her voice progressively becomes quieter, the silence of the moment imprints itself in Ryunosuke's mind.

A cool early morning breeze blows past, grass rustles around them as the sun shines to the right, casting Lyrielle's shadow to his left.

The vivid green trees behind her sway slowly and a flock of gray birds fly overhead, he feels the right side of his face get slightly hotter than the left.

'She looks as if she's given up.'

Ryunosuke stands up and walks to Lyrielle, he squats down before her as she raises her eyes to lock with his.

"I like to think that... As long as I do my best, then I can be satisfied with the result, you know... Knowing that I did my best."

"So maybe even if you're not prepared for whatever it is you're doing, I think you should just go for it before you miss your chance."

Lyrielle continues to stare into his eyes, Ryunosuke doesn't move but feels a blush coming on.

"Better to regret the mistakes you make, than regret not having made them at all. That's what I think, as long as what you're doing isn't bad of course."

He speaks sweetly to her, "do you pity me?" She asks. "I don't think so, I'm sure you're much more capable than me at least."

'My knees ache...' He lightly pushes against his knees to stand back up. "Where are you going?" Lyrielle asks.

"Nowhere really, heck I don't even know where I am or why I'm here."

Lyrielle chuckles upon hearing his answer, she wipes her eyes with one hand whilst patting the ground with the other, "why don't you sit with me?"

Ryunosuke immediately looks downwards at Lyrielle, "why?" Her expression turns sour at his response, "just do it."

'Well I guess I do need a proper rest...' He clears away a patch of grass as Lyrielle retracts her hand.

"You said your was Koriyashishi Ryonoske?" Ryunosuke turns his head to Lyrielle, "my name is what now?"

"Am I wrong?" He laughs at the seriousness of her tone, "it's Kobayashi..." Lyrielle follows after him, "Kobayashi..."

"Ryunosuke..." Once again she follows up, "Ryunosuke. Got it, I'm sorry for getting your name wrong." He gestures to her by flailing his right hand up and down.

"It's alright, just don't get it wrong from now on." Lyrielle snuggles up in the cloth and faces Ryunosuke.

"You're probably the dragon I was trying to summon along with those fanatics... You know." Their eyes lock again.

"By fanatics do you mean..." He tugs on the brown robe he's wearing. "Mhmm, them."

Ryunosuke shudders as he remembers the ghastly husks of the fanatics. "What's wrong?" She asks curiously.

"Please don't remind me of them ever again." He rubs his forearms nervously, "oh... I'll try not to."

"Thanks, anyway, what do you mean by I'm the dragon you were summoning? I'm a human man, human."

"I don't know about where you came from, but humans here don't have white hair." She replies nonchalantly and with the same tone Ryunosuke remarks, "but your hair is white too."

"My hair is what?" Lyrielle reaches behind her head and pulls her hair forward, it's now turned stark white.

Lyrielle stares at her hair in shock as Ryunosuke watches her.

"T-the records didn't mention anything like this..." Her voice shakes as she speaks.

"I'm actually quite happy, I've always liked anime and manga characters with white hair, the color compliments your pretty red eyes."

Ryunosuke continues to watch as Lyrielle fiddles with her hair, 'she reminds me of Himari whilst she was alive.'

He smiles warmly and turns forward, before him the grass expanse stretches to the horizon, 'it's beatiful...'

Lyrielle looks up at Ryunosuke who gazes off into the distance. She sees sunlight on the tip of his nose and his white hair flowing softly.

Ryunosuke leans back on his arms, fully taking in the environment around him, he inhales loudly before exhaling just as loud.

Lyrielle tugs on the wrist of his robe, 'I have a lot of questions for you, uh... Ryunosuke."

Hearing Lyrielle call him by his first name reminds him of Himari again, "hit me, we've got lots of time."

"I don't think so, I sense a group of powerful mages approaching." Ryunosuke stands up straight, a chill goes up his back.

"D-do we have to fight them...?" He looks down at Lyrielle.

"I'm out of mana." She throws up her hands as if surrendering, "looks like you'll have to do something about it."

His expression turns to one of disbelief. "I have to fight...?"

"I lost agaisnt Aelrion because I still don't have what it takes to save Imram alone." Her tone drops as she speaks of Aelrion.

"But! Stuff like this is almost everyday life for people like me." Cold sweat begins to form on his face.

"By stuff like this, I mean constant assassins, mages, warriors and the like being sent to kill me, that's why I had Aelrion."

"This all started when one of those fanatics got captured and leaked my plan to summon a great dragon, which is illegal for obvious reasons."

Lyrielle waves her hands around whilst talking, she then rudely points her index finger at him.

"Your job is to protect me now, you're under my command, that makes me an outlaw and you, my illegal property."

"Kobayashi Ryunosuke, welcome to Imram!" Lyrielle begins to laugh.

Ryunosuke turns his head up and looks into the dense forest, he makes out four shapes in the distance. 

He smirks, the corners of his lips crooked.

'You've got to be fucking joking, seriously...?'