Once Again... I'm in Love with You - Chapter 4
“I don’t want to eat this.” The prince said calmly. He stared at the servant who had brought his dinner that night. “I want meat.”
“Eh?” The servant looked at him dumbfoundedly. He was aware that the servant was new. She didn’t know anything about him yet. “But, didn’t you say you want to eat fish for dinner?” The servant next to her lightly nudged her elbow. Almost immediately, she stopped talking and stared at the floor, realizing that she wasn’t supposed to talk without the prince’s permission.
The prince smirked. He liked this new servant. A new servant would mean he had someone new to bully. Most of the old servants already knew him. That’s why they were more careful around him. But, new servant? Hmm.. this was going to be interesting. He stood up from the table and walked towards the servant. He stopped when he was a couple of feet away from her. She didn’t dare to lift her head, continuing to stare at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the room.
“What’s your name?” He asked the servant. She mumbled in return. Her voice was too soft, unlike when she was talking to him earlier. The prince couldn’t hear the name properly, not that he cared what her name was.
“It’s okay, I’m not angry.” He said softly, trying to sound kind. The servant was relieved and quickly lifted her head. She looked straight at him. The prince snorted. How dare she looked at him like that. When she was about to thank him for not being angry, the prince took the dish on the table and splashed it on her. Her look of disbelief was too comical and the prince couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at her.
“Of course I’m not angry. I am furious.” He said with a lazy smile. “If you want to work in the castle, remember this. First, don’t talk without my permission. Second, don’t question my order.”
None of the servants in the room dared to talk.
“Clean this.” The prince ordered. Then, he left the room with a smile. He had bullied someone today. But, it wasn’t enough. Now, he’s going out to find some entertainment.
“I’ve told you not to involve Samii, right?” Nino approached Aiba and then smacked his head. Ohno watched the scene silently, not knowing what to say. He didn’t know who Samii was but his hunch told him that Nino was talking about him. He kept looking and pointing at Ohno as he scolded Aiba. Ohno couldn’t really understand what he was talking about because he talked too fast. Aiba, on the other hand, kept his head down and didn’t say anything at all. He didn’t try to counter anything that Nino said to him. Ohno felt guilty to see Nino scold Aiba, even though he didn’t know why he should feel guilty.
“Nino…” Sho stopped Nino from continuing to blame Aiba. “It’s not Aiba’s fault. He is worried about you. Both Jun and I are guilty as well. We didn’t object to his plan.”
“Of course you cannot say no to him. He is like a puppy. Once he looked at you with his puppy eyes, you cannot resist him.” Nino said. Then, he took a deep breath before he looked at Aiba once again. His expression was softer this time. “I’m sorry, Aiba. I know you are worried about me. But, I don’t want to involve Samii in this. Not anymore,”
He hugged Aiba, who smiled in return. Aiba returned the hug and seemed unaffected with the scolding earlier. Ohno watched the two of them in silence. He was uncomfortable to see the two of them hugging each other. It’s weird. Why did he feel jealous to see Nino hugging another person? He barely knew him.
Thank goodness, the hug was only for a while. Nino lightly pushed Aiba away before directing his gaze to Ohno. He looked tense as he walked towards Ohno.
“I don’t want to involve you but since you’re already here, there’s something I hope you would help me with,” Nino told him. “We need to hurry. If he realizes I’m not in my prison, he will attack your parents again.”
“My parents?” Ohno asked in confusion. “What do you mean? Who will attack my parents?”
“No time for an explanation right now. Let’s go.” Nino said. He took out a strange-looking key from his pocket. Ohno blinked his eyes in confusion when Nino started to scribble in the air before a door suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“How… Is that even real?” Ohno rubbed his eyes a few times. He must have imagined the door. But, no matter how many times he rubbed his eyes, the door was still there. So, he extended his hand to touch the door. However, Nino pushed his hand away. He opened the door but Ohno couldn’t see what lies beyond the door. All he could see was darkness.
“I’m the only one who can open this door. If someone else opens the door… well… there are consequences.” Nino explained. “Let’s go. We need to hurry.”
Nino extended his hand towards Ohno. Feeling confused, Ohno simply stared at the hand. Can he trust Nino? What if he brought Ohno to a dangerous place?
“Trust me, please.” Nino looked at him with expectant eyes. He looked exhausted and weak. Conjuring the door seemed to drain his energy. Looking at him like this made Ohno feel worried for him. He barely knew Nino but he couldn’t deny there was something he felt for the guy. So, he took the hand and followed Nino to step inside the door, hoping he wouldn’t regret the decision later.
“Wah!” He exclaimed as he looked around. He was standing in front of his parents’ house. How was that even possible? How did he get here from the office? He looked behind to look at the door but the door was nowhere to be seen.
“Eh?” He looked at Nino confusedly. “Where is the door?”
“It’s hard to explain,” Nino said in return. He beckoned for Ohno to follow him but Ohno refused to move. He wanted to hear the explanation from Nino first. “Okay, I will explain everything but not now. We don’t have much time.”
“No,” Ohno stated firmly. Nino was asking too much from him. First, he appeared out of nowhere. And then he said Ohno’s parents were in danger before he performed the door trick. Now, he wanted Nino to follow him without explaining anything. There’s a limit for everything and Ohno had reached his limit.
Nino sighed in frustration. He looked at Ohno expectantly again, perhaps thinking that Ohno will comply if he used the same tactic as before. But, Ohno looked back at him sternly. He will not be defeated by the puppy eyes again. It became a staring battle to see who will yield first.
“Ah, Satoshi!” Ohno looked away from Nino when he heard his mother’s voice. He had been focusing on Nino too much that he didn’t notice his mother had opened the door. “You didn’t tell me you will come to visit. Who is this cute man with you?”
Ohno remained silent because he didn’t know what to answer. They were not friends.
“You look familiar.” His mother said. She tilted his head as she stared at Nino, who seemed uncomfortable to be looked at like that. After a while, her eyes widened.
“It’s you.” She gasped in surprise. Then, she pulled Nino to follow her. Ohno was confused to see her reaction. Did his mother know Nino? But, how?
She brought Nino to Ohno’s bedroom. Then, she took a box from under the bed. She opened the box and it was full of Ohno’s sketchbooks. Sketchbooks that he hadn’t seen for a while. She took one of the sketchbooks and showed the drawings to both of them.
“He had been drawing you when he was small.” His mother informed them. She flipped the pages in the book. Ohno was shocked to hear what she said. So, he took one of the books to confirm it. His eyes opened wide in disbelief. Indeed, as his mother said, the book was full of drawing of Nino. However, Nino in his drawing looked different than Nino who was with him right now. His hair was longer and his ears were pointed, just like what he saw in the office earlier. There was even a drawing of Nino wearing a fox mask. Did he… did he really draw all of these?
“Did we know…”
“AHHHHH!!!” A scream from downstairs interrupted what he was going to say. It was his father’s voice.
“Shit!” Nino cursed loudly before he sprinted out of the room. Feeling worried about his father’s safety, he followed him, with his mother trailing behind.
“Let him go.” He heard Nino’s voice once he reached downstairs. The voice was from the living room. But, the only voice he heard in return was his father’s heavy breathing. He sounded scared so Ohno quickened his pace.
“AHHHH!!!” This time it was his mother’s turn to scream before she fainted when she saw an unearthly creature in the living room.
“What…” Ohno couldn’t form coherent sentences as he looked at the creature that attacked his father, who ended up passed out in the creature’ grip. The creature was hideous. It looked like a hairless dog except it was bigger -maybe about twice Ohno’s size- and stood on its two feet. It had a misshapen head with slit-like nostrils. The creature bared its teeth at them and Ohno almost cowered in fear to see how sharp its fangs seemed to be. It had a pair of long arms with sharp claws, making it even more terrifying.
“Samejima sama.” He was surprised to hear another voice. A man emerged from the kitchen. He looked young, perhaps around twenty years old. But, there was something in his voice that made Ohno think he wasn’t as young as he seemed to be.
“Ask your pet to stop,” Nino told the newcomer sternly. The man chuckled at first before giving a signal to the creature. Just like a good pet, the creature immediately dropped his father. Ohno quickly ran towards his father and Nino stood between him and the creature. Strange, the creature didn’t seem to be dangerous right now. The mysterious man was even more intimidating.
“Samejima sama, it’s an honour to meet you again.” The newcomer said, looking straight at Ohno, who frowned at him in return. Why did he call him a name which wasn’t his?
“I’m not Sa…”
“Oh, so you don’t have your memory. Excellent.” The man said with a smirk, making Ohno even more confused. What was this guy talking about?
“You did this, right, young prince?” the man continued, looking at Nino this time. From his position, Ohno noticed how tense Nino seemed to be. Ohno wished that he could help but he had no idea what he should do. The situation was too weird for him.
“It’s me that you want. Let this family go, please.” Nino pleaded. The mysterious guy tilted his head as if considering Nino’s plea. However, it was obvious. There’s no way he’s going to let any of them escape.
“I give you the chance, didn’t I, young prince?” He said. “I give you the key so that you can rewind time to save his parents. I will not attack them as long as you follow me. But, you escape! You’re the one who broke the deal, young prince. Samejima sama, if you want to blame anyone, blame the man who was standing before you.”
The man snapped his fingers and the creature dashed towards his mother. Damn! Ohno cursed himself. How could he let his mother lying on the floor, unprotected? Even if he tried to get to his mother now, the creature was way faster than him.
However, something weird happened when the creature was about a metre away from his mother. A strong gust of wind suddenly attacked the creature, trapping it on the wall. He couldn’t see the creature because it was truly engulfed by the wind. Who did this? Who had saved his mother?
The creature’s owner seemed to know the answer. He looked past Ohno, glaring at the person that was standing behind him. Ohno turned around to see who he was looking at. Ohno tilted his head in confusion to see it was Jun. Both of his hands were directed towards the creature as if he was the one who controlled the wind. Eh? How can Jun do that?
“Matsumoto.” The man remarked. His voice was cold. He looked at Jun with too much hatred.
“Ebisawa.” Jun snorted. He gave the man a sideways glance before focusing once again on the creature that he had trapped.
“I wonder how long you can stand to keep my beloved pet from killing you,” Ebisawa remarked. It was true. Jun seemed to have a hard time maintaining his control. But, instead of panic, his boss gave Ebisawa a smirk, making the other guy annoyed with him.
“Arrogant!” Ebisawa said in frustration before he snapped his fingers once again. The creature broke free from its wind cage as Jun lowered his hand. However, before it could move, it was attacked by a big ball of fire. It didn’t take long for the fire to completely burn the creature until only ash was left on the ground.
Ohno stood there, completely bewildered by what happened. Ebisawa approached his pet, with fury evident in his eyes.
“You’re outnumbered, Ebisawa,” Jun said. Behind him, Sho emerged, giving Ebisawa the same hatred look that Jun gave him earlier. Both of them walked slowly, approaching Nino. They stood in front of Nino, like guards protecting their master.
“I thought both of you died in the battle,” Ebisawa remarked. “But, you actually hide like a coward in this realm.”
Sho and Jun didn’t say anything in return. Both of them looked at Nino and when Nino nodded his head, the two of them did the same. They walked towards Ebisawa, holding him in between them as Nino once again took out his strange key. He did the same thing in the office to conjure the door. When the door appeared out of thin air, he opened the door before both Sho and Jun pushed Ebisawa into the door. Of course, the man tried to fight them but he seemed powerless against Sho and Jun. Once the man stepped into the door, Nino quickly closed the door before he scribbled in the air once again and the door vanished.
“Are you done?” Aiba asked, peeking his head from the living room’s entrance.
“Yes,” Nino informed him. Aiba let out a sigh of relief before skipping towards them.
“Where do you send him?” Ohno asked.
“I will explain later,” Nino answered. Ohno looked at him angrily, furious to be denied another explanation. Nino quickly added before Ohno could say anything. “I promise I will explain everything to you later. We need to take care of your parents first.”
Ohno glared at him before giving his attention to his parents who were lying unconscious. Both Jun and Sho had helped to put both of them on the sofa. He approached his father first, relieved to know that he was still breathing.
“Are they okay?” He asked Sho who was checking them. Sho nodded his head.
“How long are they going to be unconscious? Will the guy named Ebisawa attack them again?”
“They will wake up soon,” Sho assured him. “I need your permission to do something.”
“To do what?”
“To erase the memory of what happened earlier,” Sho answered.
“You could do that?”
“Not me. Nino.”
Ohno frowned at first. Then, he remembered what happened in the office earlier. They had pleaded for him to try and remember Aiba but he cannot do so. Jun mentioned someone had used his magic on him and no one can undo it. He was taken aback by the sudden realization. The reason he cannot remember Aiba nor Nino was because Nino had erased his memory.
“Why did you do that to me?” He asked Nino angrily. The guy remained quiet, clearly, he knew what Ohno was talking about but chose not to answer. “Why did you erase my memory?”
His loud voice had no effect on Nino. He continued to stare at Ohno with an unreadable expression, but clearly, he didn’t feel guilty for what he did to Ohno. And now he wanted to do the same to his parents. No, Ohno won’t let that happen. He remembered how he kept seeing images that he couldn’t recall. He knew what they were now. They were the pieces of his memory that Nino had erased. There’s no way he’s going to let them suffer having images of the erased memory engraved somewhere in their mind just like him.
“Satoshi?” His mother’s soft voice surprised him. He shifted his attention from Nino to his mother, glad to see that she has woken up. She looked confused, having too many strangers in her house but smiled when she noticed Ohno.
“Mama!!” He hugged his mother. “How are you? Do you feel okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay.” She said, slightly pushing him away. “Who are all these people?”
“They are…” He paused, not knowing what to answer. Sho and Jun were his bosses but right now, he felt like he didn’t know either of them at all.
He didn’t know why he turned to look at Nino for help. The guy stared back at him with his unreadable expression before he slowly approached his mother. To his surprise, Nino smiled at his mother. A smile that made him look different than the guy who scolded Aiba earlier.
“We are his friends,” Nino told his mother. “But just like your son, we're not from this world. You know that, right?”
What he said surprised Ohno. He didn’t know what surprised him more. The fact that Nino casually mentioned they’re not from here or how his mother remained calm despite what he said.
“Satoshi is not my son but I care for him just like he is my own son.”
Ohno didn’t know how to describe how he felt to hear that. What was this? He wasn’t his parents’ son? Then, who was he?
The prince looked at the people around him. He had joined a delegation to visit the neighbouring kingdom in the south. It was his first time visiting Raitorian and even though he looked bored, he actually liked this city more than his own.
“I hope you will enjoy your stay here, Prince Kazunari.” The Raitorian King looked at him with a smile. Nino only regarded him with a nod. The king was totally different from his own father. He was gentle and kept smiling, unlike his father who only had a scowl decorating his face.
“My son will keep you company while you’re here.” The king pointed at a guy standing beside him. He was small and short, just like Nino. However, unlike Nino’s pale skin, his skin was tanned, showing that he had spent most of his time outdoors.
The other prince smiled at him. A genuine smile. Once again, Nino only regarded him with a nod. He didn’t return the smile.
He was then asked to take his seat at the dining table. The Raitorian King sat at the head of the table while his own father sat at the other end. They began talking about the political stuff that he had no interest to listen to. He ate in silence but he could feel someone was staring at him. So, he lifted his face. It was the Raitorian prince. Even though he had been caught staring, the prince didn’t cease what he was doing. Instead, he continued staring at Nino in admiration. It annoyed Nino and he wanted to scold the prince. But, he didn’t do that. He returned the stare, wondering who will yield first.
He didn’t expect to feel warm as he looked at the prince’s eyes. It felt like the prince had thawed his frozen heart. His lips curled to smile at the prince. A genuine smile.
A/N: I hope it wasn't weird. Comments are very much appreciated :)