*Ashi*

[Present]

"That's so sad. I don't remember this being in the fairy tail you told me," I say, wiping the tears off my eyes. "What happened next? Do Tetsu, Serra, Hideo, and the others save Dan?"

Papa sighs. "You sure do love this story. I'll tell you later." He smiles as he stops the car. 

"Huh? Why did you stop?" I ask.

He pointed out of the window. "Look outside, we're here."

My mouth drops as I stare at the old fashioned wooden buildings all around it. It's as if we drove several centuries to the past. "Wow," my siblings and I say.

"So this is the capital of Kasai no Ki," I say. 

"Yup,  Sakushi," Papa said.

I open the door and fully take in the dazzling sight around me. A pair of twin pagodas stand out among all the buildings. Not only because of their height, but also because of the golden angels with phoenix wings mounted on top of them. The trees meanwhile are a shade of red that I didn't even know existed in real life.

"You seem surprised little one," Papa says, patting my head.

I smile shyly. "This is my first time seeing a city this big."

"Wait until you see Kaguya," Mama says, chuckling.

Papa puts on a red masquerade mask he had in his hand and sighs. "Its best that he and the others stay far away from that cursed city."

I tilt my head. "Say, Pa, what's your story?"

He glances up at the fiery sky above. His golden eyes widen at the sight of various shades of orange, red, yellow, and purple. He reaches hand out for the heavens as his stares at it nostalgically. "This sky..."

"Pa?" I say.

He shakes his head. "Sorry for spacing out there, kiddo. Hey, didn't we come here for the autumn festival?" he asks, grinning widely.

"Yeah!" I say, giggling. I stare at the crowded streets below and sigh. It's a miracle that Papa even managed to find a parking space as quick as he did.

"Oi! Ashi!" a voice yells. I walk toward the voice and see black haired girl with bright purple eyes. "Ahh!  There you are!" She jogs over to me and hugs me, knocking me into a patch of grass. "I'm so glad that you made it!"

My face warms up. "Y-yeah, I did. Nice to see you too, Keiko," I say, grinning as I rub my neck.

"Look, you're already ten and you already got a crush," Papa says, snickering. "I didn't fall in love until I was over twice your age." He rubs his chin and looks back up at the sky. "Though I did meet her when I was ten..."

"I... I do not! Keiko is only a friend," I yell. I narrow my eyes at him. 

Papa chuckles. "I said something similar about your mom at one point."

"How about you continue the story?" I grumbled.

"What story?" Keiko asks as she gets off of me.

"The story of the Five Knights of Prophecy," I say.

"The story you told me about?" she asks. "The one about the Agnes Knight?"

I nod. "Yeah. My papa is telling me what actually happened. Well, at least the Shield Knight's side of the story."

"How does he know about that treasonous knight?" a voice calls out. I glance over Keiko and see two blue-haired boys making their way over. Both of them are dressed in blue kimono which shimmers in the dying light of the sun. The one who had spoken seems to have been the taller and older of the two. 

"Don't talk about him like that!" I yell, jumping to my feet. "And who are you anyway?"

The taller of the boys scoffs. "I can talk about him as I want to, you plebeian."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I... I may be a plebeian, but at least I'm not some bully picking on a kid!"

The boy sighs. "I'm not sure why I agreed to come here when I could be enjoying the festival below. Brother, I'm not sure why you like to hang out with Keiko. Plebeians are such boring people. Then again, your mom is one."

The younger boy remained silent.

The older one grins as he looks at me. "Something about you makes me think about the stories I've heard, about that criminal once known as the Agnes Knight."

"Why you..." I charge at him but I'm yanked back.

"Don't, Ashi!" Papa says. "Calm down. Don't let him get to you!" He looks up at Kairi and snickers. "You know, you remind me of another one of the five knights."

"He does?" the boy's younger brother asks.

Pa nods. "Yeah, a certain jerk."

"Then it has to be the perv knight," I say, tilting my head. I glance up at my pa questioningly. Did he know him?

"Perverted blond knight?" the younger blue-haired kid asks.

"Want me to tell you the story?" Pa asks. "I can tell it to you while we make our way to the festival."

The older boy smiles. "Hopefully this story will be entertaining cause I'm dying of boredom here."

"Story?" a voice calls out. A blond kid runs up hill and almost bumps into Keiko and me. 

"Aerkain! Look where you're going," Keiko says, pouting.

The kid chuckles nervously. "Sorry. It's just that I heard someone mention a story and something about knights." He looks up at Pa and grins. "I wanna hear it."

Pa smiles and pats the kid's head. "Alright, little one. I'll tell you the story too."

The kid leaps several meters into the air. "Yippe!"

I step back. "Wow... how can you jump so high?" I ask.

The boy puts a hand on his hip and grins. "I'm simply amazing."

Pa chuckles. "Another one who sounds like that guy."

The blond raised a hand to his mouth. "Huh? What guy?"

Pa rubs the back of his neck and sighs. "A certain knight with a knack of getting into people's nerves. Though more so his self-assured side. Meanwhile, that older blue-haired one next to you is as elitist and condescending as he was."

The older blue-haired boy narrows his eyes at him. "Hey, pleb, what's your name?"

Pa gives him an impish smile. "Mine? It's Kurogane, Kurogane Kuroriku. Why do you ask?" He snickers as the rude kid looks away. "What? Did you think that I was the Agnes Knight himself?"

**Solar Note: I hope that you enjoyed this intermission in the main story ^^. Hope that you'll stick around and along with Ashi discover what became of the Agnes Knight and the other four :3**