Sakuya Sakuma/Innocence of the Royal Palace

A Tour on Horseback of The Kingdom of Zahra

Backstage Stories

Part 1Part 2

Sakuya	Can I come with you today?
Guy	Yes, of course you may.
Izumi	Hey you two, where are you going?
Sakuya	Oh, director! We are going to go tend to the horses.
Izumi	Tend to the horses?
	Oh, come to think of it, I think Citron mentioned that he had a pet horse too.
Guy	I also have a horse.
Sakuya	I saw Guy tending to the horses in the courtyard one day and asked if I could help out.
Guy	Sakuya seems to understand the horses well, so he was a big help.
Sakuya	The horses were really smart and really cute. I had a lot of fun helping out.
Izumi	Oh I see, I wanna meet them too. Could I come along too, Guy?
Guy	Yes, this way.
Citron	Pochi~ Are you doing well today~? Ohh, good good.
Sakuya	Oh, are you tending to the horses today too?
Citron	Yes! I came to visit my favourite horse.
Izumi	Wow, what a splendid white horse!
Citron	This is my favourite horse, Pochi!
Izumi	Uhh... So this horse is Pochi....?
	(Citron’s skill at choosing names is great.)
Citron	Oh Sakuya, I heard from Guy that you were able to understand Pochi’s feelings! Pochi also seemed happy, thank you!
Sakuya	No problem! Pochi and Chibi are both good boys, I had a lot of fun caring for them.
Izumi	Chibi?
Guy	My horse.
Chibi	burururururu....
Izumi	You mean the giant horse over here...!?
Citron	I named Chibi too! I named him that because when we got him he was still really tiny.
Izumi	U-Uhh I see....
Sakuya	Pochi and Chibi both have their own unique charms. Citron picked good names.
Pochi and Chibi	bururu....
Sakuya	Hmm, what’s wrong?
Guy	It seems like they are hungry. Sakuma, could you please go get their food?
Sakuya	Okay!
	Just a moment please. ...... Okay, got it, here you go.
Pochi and Chibi	hyuu hyuun!
Izumi	Fufu, looks like they like it.
Sakuya	They were really hungry, glad we got here to feed them.
Guy	It seems you also got the hang of brushing them, Sakuma.
Citron	Sakuya is great with horses. It seems like Pochi and Chibi agree~
Sakuya	I am just following the method Guy taught me. I want to be able to understand the horses feelings better....
Citron	That’s right! I just thought of a good idea. We should take Pochi and Chibi out on a ride today!
	Think of it as a thank you to Sakuya for being so good with them. Back in the day, we used to take them out to the meadows a lot.
Guy	That sounds like a good idea.
Citron	Running wild with our horses is the bessssttttt!
Izumi	Ahaha, when you say it like that it sounds like we’re some type of street gang.
Sakuya	Umm, actually I don’t really think I am very good at horseback riding, could we really do that?
Guy	No need to worry, you can ride with me and Chibi.
Citron	And director can ride with me and Pochi. Let’s ride like the wind together~
Izumi	What, me too?
Citron	Rub curse! It’s more fun riding with friends!
Sakuya	That’s true. So then, let’s ride together, Guy!

Citron	Let’s stop here and take a break~. Let me give you a hand, Sakuya.
Sakuya	T-Thank you. one-two...
Izumi	We really rode a lot.
Sakuya	Hmm? It seems to be what looks like a house in the middle of this meadow.
Izumi	There is, I wonder who lives there?
Old Man	<< Citronia!>>
Citron	<< .... Long time no see, old man!>>
Izumi	Who is that..?
Guy	He used to be one of the caretakers at the Royal Palace when Citronia was little. I heard that since his retirement, he sometimes takes visits to stay at his villa here.
Old Man	<< It is nice to see Citronia and Guy looking as happy as ever. It is not much, but I have a present for you. Please come and stay a bit.>>
Sakuya	What is he saying?
Guy	He said that he has a present for us and is asking if we could stay for a bit.
Citron	Sakuya, director, do you think we could talk to him for a bit?
Sakuya	No problem!
Izumi	He probably has a lot to tell you, so take your time.
Citron	Thank you! We will be back soon!
Guy	My apologies, please look after Pochi and Chibi.
Sakuya	Leave it to us!
	Running around the meadows on horseback... That’s something you definitely couldn’t do in Japan.
Izumi	You’re right, what a refreshing feeling.
Sakuya	Thank you Chibi, thank you Pochi! It was really fun!
Pochi and Chibi	hyuun!
Sakuya	Good boys, good boys.
Izumi	Wow, Sakuya, animals are really drawn to you.
Sakuya	Hehe, that makes me happy.
	Oh, director, look at that over there! There are flowers there!
Izumi	Woah, how pretty. Hey, Sakuya, if you would like you can go over there and get a better look.
Sakuya	Oh, can I?
Izumi	Yea, we came out this far after all! I’ll keep an eye on Pochi and Chibi over here.
Sakuya	Alright then, I won’t take long... I’ll be right back!
	Wow there are quite a lot of different types of flowers. I wonder what kind of flowers they are...
	-- Oh.
	I’m back!
Izumi	Welcome back, how was it? O-Ohh, wow... What a pretty flower.
Sakuya	Yea, right! I wanted you to see it too....
	So I thought, why not bring this to you myself?
Izumi	Thank you! Wow, it smells lovely!
Sakuya	Right! It was so beautiful it caught my eye and then I noticed it smelled really good. I immediately thought of you, director, so I just had to show you.
CHOICE 1: I have never seen this type of flower before. [+] Izumi I have never seen this type of flower before. Sakuya Yea, me too. Maybe it’s a flower that only grows in Zahra? Izumi It looks very rare. Thank you so much for showing me, Sakuya. Sakuya; I’m happy you like it! We should ask Citron and Guy about this flower too. Sakuya Yea we should, I wanna know more about it too.
CHOICE 2: I’m so happy. [+] Izumi I’m so happy. Sakuya I am happy that you are so happy! Pochi and Chibi Buru! Izumi Ahaha, I wonder what made them so excited. Sakuya Maybe they also want to continue having fun adventures with everyone. Izumi Yea, maybe. It does sound nice to travel to so many different places with everyone.
Citron	Sorry to keep you two waiting!
	-- Hmm? Oh, that flower!
Sakuya	We saw it growing over there. It was really pretty so I picked it for the director.
Citron	....... Ohoho so Sakuya picked it?
Sakuya	.... What?
Citron	In Zahra, we give that flower to someone when we are proposing!
	Once a person smells it..... That person becomes your prisoner..... of love, it’s an aphrodisiac!
Sakuya	An aphrodisiac!?
Izumi	(Well I did smell that flower earlier, but for some reason I don’t feel like my body has changed or anything...)
Sakuya	U-Uhh, really!? But director just smelled it earlier...!
	I’m sorry, I had no idea when I picked that flower....
Izumi	No, I don’t...
Guy	I do not remember that flower having that sort of power.
Citron	Oh! Exposing my lie so quickly~! A piece of junk will always just be a piece of junk!
Guy	Exposing? You were joking, were you not?
Citron	Yes! A Zahra joke.
Sakuya	Uh... I can’t believe I fell for it.
Citron	Sorry~! Sakuya is so cute I couldn’t help but string him along.
Izumi	I don’t really think I could call that a joke... Citron..
Citron	Understood!

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