Look Away

by wetsockkkkkk

Summary:

While fighting, Rui accidentally turns Tsukasa into a cat. He has no choice but to bring him back to his inn.

 

[Rewritten-weekly updates]

Chapter 1: Chapter 1

Rui falls to the ground with a thud, breathing heavily. His head is throbbing, and the harsh winter wind is blowing mercilessly across his face. Every breath he takes makes his chest ache from the pressure. His ears ring in distress.

He quickly blinks open his bleary eyes to look at the man standing a couple meters away from him, out of breath like Rui. He is clenching his sword with what seems to be his last energy he can muster up, and yet, the glare he is giving Rui is unwavering.

Rui tries getting up from the damp forest floor, but he suddenly feels impossibly heavy, like his legs are made of lead. He grabs his aching head, and grunts with discomfort.

He eyes the man standing in front of him through the gaps between his fingers as he tries to come up with a plan. The man seems to be thinking too, still clutching the sword for dear life. Rui doesn’t have any energy left to summon magic, and albeit grudgingly, he accepts that the man is the better one in a sword fight.

He can’t form any useful plan, he can’t think properly, and he is starting to feel the despair creeping in. He has to escape, and he has to do it fast. But his legs feel as though they are welded to the floor, and his body feels impossibly heavy. Though, if he doesn’t move soon, the man in front of him…

Tsukasa Tenma will kill him.

Tsukasa seemingly has the same idea too, as he approaches Rui slowly, lifting his sword up with trembling hands. Rui’s eyes widens in terror, his thoughts all jumbled up, and he feels adrenaline coursing through his veins. The fight suddenly comes back to him, and he reaches down for his belt, grabbing the first potion he can get a hold on, and hurls the potion in Tsukasa’s way with a grunt.

The bottle hits Tsukasa directly on the chest, shattering from the impact. The shattered pieces slash him in various places, and he hunches in on himself with a wince. Uh oh, Rui has no idea which potion he threw at Tsukasa. He feels nervousness pool in his stomach as he gets up from the ground with a newfound energy.

Tsukasa looks up at him with a glare, his face all bloodied now, and tries swinging his sword one last time. It doesn’t touch Rui at all, and the sword falls to the ground with a clank. Tsukasa’s eyes seem hazy, unseeing, and he stumbles on his feet as he tries gaining balance. But it is all in vain, as he collapses to the floor unceremoniously.

The world around Rui stills for a second, and the only thing he can hear is his staggering breaths. He looks down at Tsukasa’s body, horrified. Did he… actually manage to kill him? No way, that’s not possible, right? He kneels down beside Tsukasa to check his pulse, but suddenly a dense fog starts coming out of his body.

Rui quickly backs up, eyes bulging as he stares at Tsukasa. Well, not at Tsukasa, since he can’t even see him from how dense the fog is. He waves his hand in the air as an attempt to clear away the fog, and the fog dissipates little by little. And… Tsukasa isn’t there anymore? He …vanished? He didn’t even know he had a potion like that?! Then his eyes wander to the floor, and catch a flash of yellow.

He immediately kneels down beside it, only to find out the yellow thing was a… cat? Lying where Tsukasa is supposed to be?  Rui feels his brain fry up.

“What?” Rui mutters under his breath, still not processing the situation enough to make a move. Then, it hits him. The cat potion, which he has been working on lately in his free time, not really expecting it to work. But Tsukasa has to be the cat lying on the ground, right?

He quickly checks the potions in his belt, and sure enough, the cat potion is the one missing.  He cards his fingers through his hair, damp with snow, as the situation slowly sinks in. He scrutinizes the unconscious cat slowly. It is covered in blood, and he can see a glass shard stuck to its ear. He winces at the sight, seeing an injured cat is never fun, even if it is his enemy.

If Tsukasa was still a human, his injuries probably wouldn’t affect him much, but as a cat, these injuries could be lethal if he leaves it on the ground like that. He checks his surroundings; they are at the part of the forest that almost no one visited. No one would find Tsukasa if he leaves him there, and he would probably bleed to death because of his injuries. While the scenario doesn’t look too bad to him, he has a promise to keep.

Now, what is he supposed to do with it? He can’t just go to the enemy and say “Yeah this cat is Tsukasa Tenma, please take him. Okay, bye.”, can he?

He grits his teeth, feeling annoyed. He has no choice, does he? He has to take Tsukasa with him and keep an eye on him until the potion wears off. With a sigh, he takes off his robe to wrap Tsukasa in it. He doesn’t want people to see him carry a cat in his arms, they would most definitely question him. Speaking of which, how is he even going to explain this situation to the people in the inn?

He walks back to the inn with quick steps, ignoring the occasional looks people give him. It is probably a weird sight to see the collected and calm mage all jittery. But Rui doesn’t have the time to dissipate any suspicion that might rise because of him. He will deal with it later. Probably. He isn’t the best at communicating with people, so he can only hope that Emu would lend a helping hand.

He enters the inn while lost in his thoughts, not really paying attention to his surroundings, relying on his muscle memory to help him get back to his room. He opens the door harshly after securing Tsukasa in his other hand, and steps inside.

His room is tinted with a green glow, caused by the moss stuck to his windows, illuminated softly by the afternoon sun. He wouldn’t call his room ‘big’, not quite, but he has enough room to store all his plants, his books, and his tiny bed he can barely fit in (having a tall body is a curse in disguise) with a wooden table large enough that he can work comfortably.

Taking large steps, he lays Tsukasa down on his table and fetches the medical kit he had stored under his table. He shoves the chair out of the way haphazardly, and unwraps Tsukasa from his robe.

Then, he works swiftly with the moderate experience he has with treating wounds. He only really started to learn since last year, when Nene had fallen into a pit and injured her leg badly. They were alone in the forest, in the danger zone, and Nene had a huge gash in her leg. It had been one of the moments where he felt truly helpless, and he rarely experiences that emotion.

Once again, he feels completely helpless as he takes out a big glass shard out of Tsukasa’s ear. He doesn’t like the way his despair coils around his neck like a poisonous vine, nor does he like the way his eyes burns.

After he took out all the glass shards, he bathed him in a small container he had laying around in his room. Tsukasa was mostly limp for the whole process, which worried Rui a little, since he almost looked like he wasn’t alive anymore. But his heart is beating and he is breathing, albeit irregular.

He will be fine, Rui thinks. He despises the way that thought makes him feel a tad bit relieved.

After disinfecting his wounds and wrapping them in gauze, he deems his job done. He places Tsukasa down in his bed, careful to not rustle him so much. He turns his chair to face his bed as he sits down on it.

Tsukasa looks peaceful in his sleep, like he is dreaming of something wonderful. His bandaged chest rises softly with his rhythmic breathing, and his ears twitches occasionally. His fur looks like it is almost glowing, and it gets even brighter at the tips. Rui has an inkling it would actually glow under the sun.

He sighs as he places his head in his hands. He feels the mess he put himself in finally sink in as he starts to feel a sense of dread again. He groans loudly as he tugs at his hair.

“What am I supposed to do now?” He mutters under his breath. He gets up from his seat swiftly to pace back and forth in his room. His potions clink loudly in his bag that is still attached to his hip.

“The potion actually worked. How is that even possible? There is simply not a logical explanation for it! And it is fairly easy to create. Does that mean the other spells in the book are real too?” He turns around to look at the book lying down right in the center of his table.

“…I honestly thought someone wrote it to mess with people.” He walks up to his table to open the book.

“Does this mean I can turn people into actual frogs? What about the truth potion?” He says as he riffles through the pages. He stops as he finds the page containing the cat potion description.

“…the person, whom will not lose consciousness, will be affected for 1 to 3 months, although it might last longer/shorter depending on the slight changes in the ingredient ratio.” He mumbles to himself as he reads the page carefully.

“…3 whole months?” Rui feels blood drain from his face as he stares at the words in disbelief. Tsukasa doesn’t so much as twitch from where he is sleeping, unaware of his impending doom.

Rui slowly sinks down the chair, as his knees are no longer supporting him, suddenly weak. He is caught in between feeling an ever growing awe and a cloying dread. The surge of emotions starts to become overwhelming, suffocating even, and he chuckles humorlessly in disbelief.

He straightens his back, which cracks loudly, and takes a couple of big breaths. Kaito trained him to have a serene mind, and Rui isn’t looking to fail him any time soon.

 

“Rui-san… are you going to patrol?” Saki whispered softly in the dead of the night. Rui flinched as he turned around sharply.

“You shouldn’t be sneaking up on people like that, Saki-kun.” Rui said in a serious tone, “Especially me. I could have hurt you.”

“Pardon us for our rudeness, Kamishiro-senpai.” Answered a deeper voice. The source of the voice showed himself as he stepped into the moonlight.

“Aoyagi-kun, what’s the meaning of this? A sneak attack of some sorts? Is this how you repay someone who saved your lives?” Rui questioned with narrowed eyes full of distrust. Saki worried her lip between her teeth, but answered nonetheless.

“No… of course not. We are here to ask for a… favor.” Rui’s eyebrows rose.

“A favor, you say? What makes you think I will comply?”

“Even if you don’t, we would like to think that you will at least regard our words.” Toya said, his hand on his chest.

“…I am listening.”

“Please don’t kill my brother.” Saki said in one quick hitched breath. Rui stared at her expressionlessly.

“Just to be clear, you’re asking me not to kill my mortal enemy, whom I very much hate and want dead, correct?” Saki and Toya shook their head in confirmation, they had a weird glint of desperation in their eyes.

“…Do you hear yourselves? That man left you both to die, and if it wasn’t for me, you WOULD be dead. Doesn’t that anger you? Don’t you feel resentful? Or did he brainwashed you to the point you feel the need to protect his life in cost of your own lives?” Rui said, baffled. Saki winced, her eyes still not meeting his, while Toya frowned slightly at his words.

“I can assure you that he didn’t have enough communication with us to brainwash us in the first place. Yes, I feel angry, resentful even, but I am also confused and lost.”

“So am I.” Saki butted in, “We need answers, a salvation for our countless questions that went unanswered, and we can’t even have that if you get rid of him.” She paused, suddenly unsure. “He’s also… my brother, as you said. I can’t help but place the little trust I left in me to him.” She licked her lips and finally met his gaze.

“Call it intuition, or our blood bond. I just know that he wouldn’t have let us die even if you weren’t there to save us.”

“It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself of that.”

“Maybe I am. It doesn’t matter, does it? Both you and me know that his hands haven’t been tainted with blood yet. That’s a choice he made. He could have killed countless people if he so wished by now. He knew about me and Toya’s intentions for a long time, but guess what? He didn’t do anything about it. He could have got us killed long before our voices got louder. He isn’t heartless, and he knows something. We need that truth if we want to win.”

“Please don’t try to convince me your lapdog of a brother is a good person; you’re just wasting your breath.” Saki’s eye twitched at the ‘lapdog’ mention, but she didn’t say anything. Rui rubbed the tip of his fingers into his temples as he continued. “This conversation is getting far too long for my tastes, and all you keep trying to make is a ridiculous point.”

Rui turned around to head out the door, but Saki caught up with him to latch onto his arm like a parasite. Rui glared at her but didn’t try to get out of her hold.

“I will beg if I have to. Please, Rui-san. Do whatever you must, just don’t kill him.” Her hold tightened. “Please.”

Rui wretched his arm away with a grimace. “Fine. I won’t kill him, happy? Now leave me alone, I stalled long enough.”

“Promise?”

Rui didn’t answer as he exited the door.

“…I didn’t kill him.” He sighs loudly. “They better be grateful.”

He puts down his head on his desk slowly, suddenly drowsy. He shuts his eyes and sighs again.

First and foremost, his biggest concern is how is he supposed to look after a cat?! He is barely able to look after himself, always skipping meals or forgetting them and what not. People would think he lost his mind if he suddenly adopted a cat out of nowhere, added with the fact that cats don’t like him at all.

The situation becomes even more muddier if he adds in the fact that the cat isn’t really a cat. He could potentially offend Tsukasa if he pretends him to be a normal cat. While it would be funny to see him struggle with cat foods and litter boxes, he really doesn’t want to test out if the cat is as noisy as he was as a man.

He feels frustration tighten his chest. While rare, people do in fact go in and out of his room, and he isn’t so sure if he can hide Tsukasa every time someone enters his room.

…Why did it have to be Tsukasa, out of all people? He would have been fine with even Akito, but no, it just had to be the one person he feels genuine hatred towards.

While it would be easier to just hate the kingdom folk, he can’t bring himself to bear that hatred. In a sense, they are a sheep herd following their shepherd blindly, who happens to be their queen, Hatsune Miku. He can’t blame them for following her, not really. Miku is like a goddess that descended down the earth in the kingdom’s most desperate times. She offered them safety, food, power. Her power is unmatched, unheard of across the whole world. It was only natural for them to flock to her like bees to a honey pot.

They didn’t question when she started to banish the magicians one by one, and they are certainly not going to start questioning any time soon. Their faith in her is absolute.

It is a whole lot different in Tsukasa’s case, though. He is perfectly aware that magic doesn’t make people go ‘crazy’, unlike Miku claimed it to be. He still follows Miku’s orders without complaint, even more than your average person. He is always seen with Miku, as he is her personal knight, to the point people started to call him Miku’s lapdog, although the kingdom folk is quieter about it.

Calling him a lapdog now would be quite ironic, Rui thinks.

Tsukasa is well loved in the kingdom because of his warm personality and his overly enthusiastic way of being. His friendly demeanor makes it hard for the army to see him as an authority figure, even though they are supposed to be under his command. However, the situation completely flips when he and his army enter the battle field.

Which is why the magicians are having such a hard time in the war. Tsukasa knows how to coordinate people, to make himself listened.  Knights doesn’t need magic as long as they have Tsukasa.

His warm presence that Tsukasa makes oh so sure to carry with himself all the time, vanishes in an instant he steps foot into the battlefield. His eyes become hollow. The magicians know well to fear him, but not because they are scared for their lives.

They are scared because they don’t know what came after.

Some of the magicians they lost in the war, they aren’t sure if they are alive or not anymore. Tsukasa never kills them, at least not in front of them. He always stops abruptly when they are on the brink of death. Instead, he has them escorted back to the castle.

They never see them again.

So, people usually try to stay out of Tsukasa’s way on the battlefield. Dying for your freedom is one thing, getting dragged into the unknown is another.

Rui never lets that stop him, though. He is the only one who can go head to head with Tsukasa, and… win, apparently.

He looks at the cat mindlessly. Through the whole ordeal, he didn’t have the chance to even pat himself on the back because he finally won against Tsukasa, the strongest knight in the whole kingdom. But he doesn’t have the energy to feel proud of himself now.

Reflecting back at the encounter, he suddenly becomes suspicious. Tsukasa is too busy to be patrolling, and he was in an area that most knights doesn’t patrol at all.

He saw Akito a few times there though, thankfully he isn’t aggressive like Tsukasa is, so they just went their separate ways after giving each other the stink eye.

...Well, Rui might have attacked first, but that didn’t change the fact that Tsukasa answered as much as aggressive, if not more.

“What were you doing there in the first place?” Rui questions, but Tsukasa isn’t awake to hear it. 

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Tsukasa immediately knew something was amiss when he gained his consciousness back in the morning. The scents in the air assaulted his senses, which has never happened before, except when he accidentally poured a whole tube of lavender mixture onto his pillow.

He could smell the scent of herbs in the air, and the scent of… books, for some reason. He didn’t know he could smell books without burying his nose in them.

There is also a distinct scent in the air, nostalgic in its familiarity, but he couldn’t figure out the source with his eyes closed.

He also feels incredibly cozy, probably more than he felt in his entire life. Seriously, he wouldn’t say no to sleeping and cozying around all day if that meant he would be this comfortable.

But alas, he is a busy man, you know? The kingdom practically lived off of his shoulders if he said so himself! And they don’t have another Tsukasa to look after it! So, he would be damned if he doesn’t do his duties with all his might!

Which is why he doesn’t have the luxury to spend another moment with his eyes closed. What a bummer.

He peels his eyes open and stretches a little, and god, that stretch feels good.

He abruptly stops stretching midway through, frozen solid. His fur that he doesn’t know exists (yet) stands up in danger.

He doesn’t know where he is. He honestly feels a bit stupid for not realizing this sooner.

His surroundings are a complete stranger to him, shelves full of weird books with weird names, lots and lots of plants he didn’t even know that existed, and… potions? Whose damn bed is he even in?

His eyes land sharply on the chair in front of him when he hears shuffling. His instincts scream at him to run away as he realizes he isn’t alone in the room.

There is a seemingly huge man (seriously, he didn’t know humans could get that big) sitting on the chair, his head down on the table. He slowly rises his head from the table and stretches with his arms in the air. His back cracks and pops with an awful noise, making Tsukasa wince.

The man yawns with a hand to his mouth, then scratches his head as he looks around. he turns around, makes eye contact with Tsukasa, then turns away like it’s a completely normal thursday morning. He reaches for a shelf right above the table to pick up a book, but suddenly bolts out of his chair. Startled, Tsukasa jumps in place.

Is… is that Rui?! Tsukasa thinks with shock. What the hell is he doing in Rui’s room? Did Rui bring him here to kill him? Wait, what even happened for him to be here in the first place? They were fighting in the forest, weren’t they? And then what? He doesn’t remember at all; his memories are frustratingly fuzzy.

While he tries to remember, Rui is looking at him with his mouth agape. His hair is a bit tousled from sleeping, and his glasses that he usually dons is missing from its place. His eyes are full of guarded amazement, making Tsukasa feel like he isn’t supposed to notice in the first place. His amazement at… what exactly? What is there to be amazed about?

They stare at each other for a couple seconds more that seems to stretch into eternity before Rui decides to speak up.

“Just to be sure, you’re Tsu-Tenma, right? You are aware of who you are, and your consciousness is intact, right?” Rui asks, his tone carrying a hint of doubt.

Tsukasa scrunches up his face in confusion. What kind of question even is that? Isn’t it obvious he is the one and only Tsukasa Tenma, written as the Pegasus soaring through the heavens, in his full glory?

Tsukasa opens his mouth to affirm that, yes, he is in fact himself, but the only thing that comes out of his mouth is a… weak meow?

He looks down in confusion.

“Was that a yes, hm?” Rui asks, but Tsukasa isn’t listening. Instead, he is staring down at fur and paws, where his body is supposed to be.

This can’t be real, Tsukasa thinks. He tries to move the paws a little to test out if they’re attached to him or not, and feels horror creep up his spine when they actually move.

He weakly meows in disbelief. Rui is still dissecting him with his gaze.

“Oh? Not so confident now, are you?” Rui says, but the mean remark completely flies over Tsukasa’s head. He feels lightheaded as he tries to stand on his wobbly feet –now four of them. He stumbles as he tries to move, to go somewhere, to escape somehow, but it is all in vain as he tumbles down when his foot gets stuck in Rui’s robe.

He looks up at Rui’s face, still frustratingly full of that analytic look, and meows desperately. Rui is looking at him without any resemblance of empathy, without any answers. If Tsukasa could talk, he would demand an explanation, would ask how this is even humanely possible in the first place. But he can’t, of course, since his most important means of communication got taken away from him.

Rui turns away and reaches for his desk. There is some rattling, and when he turns back, he has a shiny scalpel in hand.

“Now, I want you to be as calm as possible, alright? Then I can explain what happened.” Rui says, but Tsukasa has already fainted, his mouth hanging open in shock.

Rui puts the scalpel and the gauze back in their place as he sighs. What a shame… he was just going to change his bandages, but of course Tsukasa fainted, being the drama queen he is. He turns his chair around to face Tsukasa and sits down on it.

After a good night’s sleep and added neck pain, he could feel his head clear a bit. It will be quite easy to blend Tsukasa in, he thinks. How, you may ask, which is easy to answer. When someone asks why he got a cat, he will simply say that he found it injured in the forest, and didn’t have the heart to leave it there. There, problem solved. He has plenty of time to figure out what he should do next.

The door flies open. The bottles on the shelves rattle with the force as a person enters his room hastily.

“Rui!! Did- did you- ugh…” The person holds onto their knees as they cough.

“Take your time Nene, it’s alright.” Rui says, smiling worriedly. What got Nene so worked up for her to be shouting, out of all people?

“Thanks…” Nene says, coughing one last time and then straightening back. She adjusts the bag hanging on her shoulder, and pats down her blue dress. She came here dashing, it seems.

“Did you hear the news?! Tsukasa was declared missing!!” she practically shouts, her voice the loudest it has ever been. It isn’t surprising much, considering that’s the kingdom’s strongest knight disappearing out of the blue, which is thoroughly baffling for your average person. Rui feigns shock as he stares at her.

“How so? Was there any explanation?”

No…the queen announced it actually, and she sounded really mad. It is really strange for her out of all people to go out of her way to announce it… its almost scary.” Nene says. Her head lowers in imagined fear, her large blue hat obscuring her from Rui’s eyes. Rui frowns.

“You were at the kingdom? You aren’t supposed to go there.” Nene brings her head back up, but her eyes don’t meet his.

“What is a cat doing here?” Rui’s eyes widen as he takes a look at Tsukasa. He has already woken up, it seems. Nene’s voice probably woke him up, as surprising as it seems. He has a wary look in his eyes, his distress evident from his posture. But whatever, this isn’t about him.

“Found him in the forest.” Nene looks at him suspiciously.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“Nor did you answer mine.” Rui says, smiling with his eyes closed. Nene grumbles, not even trying to hide her annoyance.

“Fine. The one who was supposed to go the markets today got sick, so I volunteered to go in their place. I even got a disguise and stuff, so nothing happened.” Nene explains, playing with her fingers nervously.

“I get that you might want to help, but this is not your responsibility. I wonder what they were thinking when they let you do the job.” Rui says, irritation seeping into his voice.

“Um… they really didn’t want me to go, but I insisted. This is completely my fault, so please don’t blame them.” Nene says with downcast eyes. Rui rubs at his temples and sighs.

“But why?” He asks, feeling a little exasperated.

“I… I felt like I wasn’t doing much to help, I guess.” Rui’s eyes softened upon hearing her words. “…and, y’know, my last potion was a disaster, so I thought if I went to the markets I wouldn’t be so-” useless. 

Rui’s eyes shine with worry and warmth as he considers her words. Nene is so harsh on herself, he thinks.

“I can assure you no one questions your efficiency in potion making, Nene. Accidents happen, something that carries such small importance won’t affect all your other achievements. But I would be incredibly worried if something had happened to you in the markets.” Rui says, not unkindly. Nene smiles, feeling reassured.

“You’re right. I’m sorry for acting so recklessly… Anyway, why is the cat here? You obviously bandaged it up, why keep it around still?” Nene questions curiously.

“I don’t think he can walk very well right now, and it would be a bit irresponsible for me to immediately release it back into the forest.” Rui lies through his teeth. When did he get so good at this?

He takes another look at Tsukasa, and suddenly finds himself nervous. It wasn’t too obvious if you looked in under a dim light, but he can very much tell Tsukasa’s fur has a weird glint to it in the daylight.

“That makes sense.” Nene says as she inspects Tsukasa with her eyes.

“Poor thing… he seems really scared.” She adds as she slowly gets closer, the wooden floor crackling under her weight. Tsukasa’s fur rises in defense, his ears flattening against his head.

“Ah, well, probably because he woke up in an unfamiliar place.” Rui says, hoping Nene doesn’t question things any further.

“Will you keep him around after he heals?” Nene asks. Rui sheepishly scratches his neck.

“You see; I didn’t really plan that far. I am not sure if I’m qualified to look after a cat…” plus, the thought of spending even more time with Tsukasa really doesn’t spark joy in him. Nene sighs and sits down on the furthest corner of the bed, careful not to scare the cat more than it is already.

“I think it would be a nice change of things for you.” Rui tilts his head in question.

“What do you mean by that?” He asks.

“Um, it’s just my opinion, but I think he can help with your loneliness.” Mortified, Rui’s mouth hangs open as his face goes hot. Really, Nene? In front of his archenemy?

Time and place, Nene. Time and place.

“I am perfectly fine like this. You and Emu are more than enough for me to not feel lonely.” Nene’s face scrunches up in frustration. She scrunches up Rui’s blanket in her hand to try and ground herself, but fails.

“Stop trying to fool me, Rui. I know that after everything that happened… there is no way you aren’t affected by it!” Nene snaps, but is quick to mellow out as she takes in Rui’s expression. She shakes her head in resign.

“Never mind… all I am trying to say is that a pet could help take your mind off of things. So don’t rush your decision.” She finishes. Her eyes land on Tsukasa again. Rui turns around to observe Tsukasa, whom was listening in their conversation this whole time. He almost looks tranquil in his silence.

Great, now his enemy is aware of his weakness. Thank you so much, Nene, Rui wants to say, but has to swallow it down.

“…Also, for a cat found in a forest, it looks really cute.” Nene notes, her desire to pet Tsukasa evident from her voice. Rui takes a good look at Tsukasa, and finds himself at a loss of words.

He never really thought about Tsukasa’s cat form from an aesthetic perspective, since he was too busy trying to fix the mess he put himself in. But now that he is looking at Tsukasa, really looking at him, he realizes that the cat looks… incredibly elegant.

Which deeply pisses Rui off. But he can’t help himself as he observes how shiny and beautiful his fur looks from where it peeks out from the bandages. His eyes look pretty cute too. Sadly, of course.

“…He is, isn’t he?” Rui murmurs, barely audible. But he quickly finds himself regretting it as Tsukasa throws a weird look at him. His eyebrows would be cocked if he actually had a pair. He still has that annoying attitude even as a cat, what a surprise.

Nene hums in agreement as she slowly gets up from the bed, trying her best to not startle the cat. She looks a bit disappointed that she couldn’t pet the cat.

“I better be on my way now. Everyone is a bit panicked because of Tsukasa’s disappearance, so I want to help as much as I can.” Nene explains.

“But Emu is waiting for me in the kitchen, so I will go there first. Drop by if you want some food.” Nene adds.

“Thank you, I might consider.” Rui says and waves her goodbye. Nene does the same and leaves his room, closing the door gently, unlike how she barged in before.

Rui smiles after her until she disappears from sight, and immediately drops it and buries his face in his hands. He groans as he wipes his hands down his face, and then slaps them to his face again. First, he had to lie to his beloved childhood friend, second, that childhood friend just went ahead and exposed him without remorse. Not that she realizes, but still, this feels like she is somehow subconsciously punishing him for lying.

He stares at Tsukasa through the gaps between his fingers. Tsukasa stares right back. Rui takes his hands off his face and straightens his back as he crosses his legs.

“So,” Rui clears his throat, “just for further clarification, you do understand me, right?” he questions. Tsukasa nods his head awkwardly. It is incredibly jarring to see a cat nodding its head. Rui taps his fingers rhythmically on his thigh as he mulls over his thoughts.

“Great. Perfect.” He feels somewhat unnerved, talking to his archenemy in its cat form, even though he knows Tsukasa won’t be able to do anything to him for a good while. Still, knowing that his enemy is in there feels… bizarre. Tsukasa is still staring at him, perfectly still.

“Alright. Do you remember what happened?” Rui asks. Tsukasa meows in response.

…Rui doesn’t really know if that’s a yes or no.

“Blink twice for yes, blink once for no, alright?” Rui asks again. Tsukasa blinks once.

“Well, we fought in the forest. Do you remember that?” Tsukasa blinks twice.

“That makes it easier. I ended up throwing a potion at you. Do you remember that happening?” Tsukasa lowers his head, seemingly thinking, then looks up and blinks once.

“I guessed so. I threw a potion at you, and you turned into a cat in an instant. But you fainted, so I took you here and tended to your wounds. You will be fine, but your ear might scar. I don’t know if it will carry on to your human appearance, though.” Rui explains. Tsukasa’s face looks incredibly perplexed, like he has a million questions to ask.

“First of all, don’t expect me to explain why I saved you, alright? That’s off the table. But I can explain what will happen to you, if you want.” Tsukasa blinks twice instantly. Rui uncrosses his legs as he leans forward.

“I don’t think anyone has done this potion before, so I can’t be absolutely sure of what’s going to happen to you. But the book I used says that you will be staying as a cat for one to three months, and then you will be back to your human self.” Tsukasa’s eyes widen at the explanation as he shrinks in on himself. Rui gazes at him silently, taking in his response.

He pats down his knees once and turns his wooden chair around to face the table again.

“That’s all I can think of right now. I would tell you to ask me if you’re curious about something but… you know.” Rui picks up his quill and opens a book. He is still for a split second, then turns around to look at Tsukasa again.

“I almost forgot. The queen herself declared you missing, in case you weren’t awake to hear that part.”

Rui is not a cat language expert at all, but he can certainly tell Tsukasa’s yowl is not a positive answer.

Chapter 3: Chapetr 3

“You know, maybe I should make you my test subject after you heal.” Rui teases, fully rotating his chair to face Tsukasa. It creaks against the wooden floor. Tsukasa flinches, not expecting the silence to be broken, and definitely not by that sentence.

Rui’s room can’t be considered big, at least not widthwise. When he turns his chair around, there is barely any room for his feet in between the chair and the bed. So, the distance is incredibly intimidating for Tsukasa, which Rui is very well aware of.

But he doesn’t really care enough to make his unwanted guest comfortable.

He crosses his legs, impatiently swinging one in the air back and forth, the tip of his foot rhythmically tapping against the bed.

It would be better if Tsukasa was a human right now and not a cat, Rui thinks. He would be lying if he said he doesn’t fantasize about confronting Tsukasa in a way that would leave him shivering in a corner like he is doing right now.

He suddenly snaps out of his thoughts when he hears hissing.

Tsukasa is pushed against the corner of his bed, like he is trying to disappear from Rui’s view, his back arched weirdly and his fur all prickly. And he is hissing at Rui. Rui can’t say he is surprised at the reaction, considering what he just said, but still. The audacity.

“I was just kidding. It wouldn’t be nice if the queen sent her whole army after my head just because I killed her lapdog. So relax.” Rui says, but with the way he is furrowing his brows and tapping against the chair furiously, no one would ever believe he was kidding. Also, they are both pretty much sure Rui could and would go head to head with the army, and still come out victorious.

Tsukasa stops hissing, his fur mellowing out a little. Still, it’s obvious he doesn’t like Rui’s words, since he still looks so tense. Rui chuckles humorlessly.

“Now you are scared, huh, when your life is the one in danger.” Rui comments, his face eerily blank. He untangles his legs, leaning over, his tapping on the chair coming to a stop.

“Honestly, you look quite pathetic right now. What kind of knight would fall this low?” Rui hisses, his words like blades, intentionally sharpened so it cuts.

He expects Tsukasa to hiss at him again, maybe yowl, or even attack him. What he doesn’t expect is Tsukasa shrinking in himself. Tsukasa lowers his head, further tucking himself in. He is still looking at him.

Baffled, Rui leans back slowly. Somehow, on a subconscious level, he finds it too cruel to crowd his space when he already looks overwhelmed. Still, Tsukasa’s actions… it doesn’t make sense to him at all. Why does he look like he is expecting, waiting for Rui to spit these cruel words in his way?

It makes Rui feel even more frustrated. He grits his teeth. Why is Tsukasa, out of all people, acting like a victim, looking all sad and miserable? Rui doesn’t think he has the right to act this way. Not after everything he did.

Now he feels mad and confused, great.

Standing right in front of his enemy, whom he has been seeking answers from for years, and not being able to do anything about it gnaws at his very core. He feels like some sort of deity is out there, cursing him for… He doesn’t know, really. It feels wholly unfair, dropping his enemy to his hand, only for him to become a cat.

You’re reaping what you sow, a voice whispers in his head, but he pretends he doesn’t hear.

He harshly turns his chair back, indicating he is done with the conversation. The creak the chair gives is more disturbing than before; it makes Tsukasa flinch once again. Rui takes in a deep breath and slowly breathes out.

I’m getting far too worked up over this, he thinks. He is known for being calculating and making point on decisions in war without his emotions meddling with it, and he wants it to stay like that.

Speaking of war, even if he wants to poke and prod Tsukasa a bit more, he has tons of work to do. He doesn’t have the luxury to dawdle when the war is slowly but surely nearing its tension point.

So, with that in mind, he leaves Tsukasa to his own devices as he gets back to his work. He is pretty sure Tsukasa isn’t brave enough to do something stupid right now anyways.

He opens up his potion book he always carries with him. Its pages are yellow and withered with how much he uses that book. He has been working on a potion with Minori and Shizuku, which can stop the motions of any object for a couple seconds. They have been trying to find a way to make it last longer, and he just might have found how.

That’s why he even got out of his room in the first place, to collect materials for the potion, but he definitely wasn’t expecting to encounter Tsukasa in the forest. Or changing him into a cat, just to clarify.

Thankfully, he had already collected all the materials needed before fighting with Tsukasa, so he can dive straight into his work without any distractions.

Or so he thought.

In truth, he is incredibly distracted by the cat’s presence. Rui doesn’t even think it’s doing anything, at least he hopes so, but he keeps hearing shuffling here and there. He doesn’t turn around to see what’s happening, no, that would seem like he cares about what the cat is up to (He definitely doesn’t care. Not at all. Not even a little bit.)

But still, his mind keeps wandering back to the cat, back to the fight, back to Tsu-

A knock on the door.

“Rui-kuuun! Are you in there?” Rui feels relief wash over him.

“Come in, Emu-kun, the door isn’t locked.” Rui answers. The door opens gently, and there she stands, his savior from the silent crisis in his head.

“Wonderhoy! What are you up to, Rui-kun?” Emu asks as she steps inside. Her boots clank against the floor, seemingly a little large for a human her size.

“I was working on the potion we created earlier. Although I couldn’t progress much.” Because I couldn’t focus with my enemy as a cat in my bed, but he doesn’t say that. Emu sits on the edge of the table near the door. He keeps it there to keep his books and stuff he couldn’t fit in his bookcase. Also to have a more organized work space. That one doesn’t work though.

“Its fine, don’t be too harsh on yourself. I know you’re doing everything you can.” Emu encourages, her eyes shining brightly. Rui gives her a glad looking smile.

“Nene said you got a cat in your room! Where is it??” Emu suddenly changes the subject as she hops off the table, her energy levels suddenly increasing tenfold.

Rui puts his quill on the table and turns around. He doesn’t notice ink dropping on his paper. He takes a look at his bed, trying to locate where the cat could be.

“It should be on my bed actually…” He murmurs. Emu approaches excitedly, her hair swishing side to side. Then, Rui sees a cat shaped bump in his blanket and chuckles to himself.

“There it is.” He points at the bump. Emu is standing against the bed, her eyes sparkling.

“Do you think it would be startled if I sat next to it?” She asks, staring at the bump. Rui purses his lip.

“I don’t know. He isn’t hostile though, I don’t think he would make a big deal out of it.” Rui says, more to Tsukasa than Emu. He hopes Tsukasa hears the threat in his tone. Emu carefully takes a step forward and sits down the bed. The sudden shift makes a dip in the bed, which makes the bump shuffle around a little.

Rui wonders if he has been awake and listening, or just woke up. He turns around his chair to see a bit clearer.

“Also, he is injured, so be careful.” He warns. Emu gasps, looking at the bump with pity. Rui grimaces internally, not so sure if Emu would still feel pity for the cat if she knew who he is.

“That’s horrible. What happened to him? Is he going to be okay?” she asks worriedly.

Rui feels himself get nervous. He… didn’t really think about how he would explain the cat’s injury, did he? He can’t lie his way out of this one, it seems. So, he settles on a half true version of the incident.

“…I found it in the forest, he had a lot of wounds from what seemed like glass shards. So I took him with me and treated his wounds.” He explains in a high pitched tone. Emu throws him a weird look, but it’s gone in a flash as she looks down at her lap, squeezing the blanket.

“How horrible… judging from the glass, there was definitely a human involved.” She says, dejected. Then, in an angrier tone, “Some people are really horrible.” She adds.

Oh, that stings. It stings like a thousand prickly needles. He looks down on the floor, his hair shadowing his eyes. He silently hums in an agreeing tone.

He wants to throw Tsukasa off the window.

“Thankfully you were there to save him, right Rui-kun?” Emu asks, her cheer returning swiftly.

What a way to rub salt in the wound, Rui thinks as he opens his mouth, but a noise cuts him off.

The bump on the blanket shuffles again, and they hear a ‘mrp’ing sound. Emu squeals, her cheeks rosy with excitement, and slowly peels off the blanket.

Rui watches nervously. He doesn’t know why he feels so nervous.

“Oh gosh!! He’s beautiful!!” Emu gushes, holding onto the blanket to stop herself from petting it. Tsukasa seems a little weirded out, his head moving away from Emu, but it seems reasonable. Emu slowly let’s go of the blanket, shuffling closer to the cat.

While Tsukasa wants to back away, he is also curious. Cats always flock to him for pets and scratches, and without fail, they always look so happy when he does so. Does it really feel that good…? He just might learn now.

Also, the girl clearly doesn’t have any ill intention towards him, so why not? So, he sits up and looks at her silently.

“His eyes are so beautiful too! He’s so so cute!” Emu exclaims with a whispered excitement, careful to not startle the cat. She slowly raises a hand, then stops halfway through. Tsukasa looks at her, confused.

“Wait, I have to introduce myself first, right? I think I should let him sniff me first.” Rui shrugs. The cats flee the moment he approaches them, he wouldn’t know. Well, his answer wouldn’t have mattered anyways, as she already offered Tsukasa her finger.

Tsukasa observes the finger in front of him. It feels weird and uncomfortable. But at the same time, he can tell some sort of instinct in him is telling him to sniff it. So, he does. He slowly leans forward and sniffs her hand stiffly. To his surprise, she actually has a distinct scent he can pick up with his nose. Amazed by his discovery, he keeps sniffing her hand, pushing his head into her palm in the process.

Emu practically vibrates in her seat, looking like she is about to combust at any given second. She presses down her hand to his head and pets it a little. He freezes for a second, but doesn’t back away. Emu takes it as a sign of approval as she keeps petting him.

Tsukasa understands now. He understands the way cats melt when he pets them. Because it does, in fact, feel really good. Probably better than it should be.

Seeing how comfortable the cat got, Emu decides to pick him up and put him on her lap.

“I’m going to pick you up now, Mr. Cat!” Emu exclaims. Rui’s eyebrows shoots up in surprise. Emu gently picks Tsukasa up, who kind of… doesn’t even react?, and puts him in her lap. Rui watches the scene unfold with mild annoyance.

If he told her who the cat is, she probably wouldn’t be this gentle. Or not. She is far too kind for her own good, to the point of showing mercy to a heartless knight.

“There you go.” Emu says, smiling gently at the cat. Tsukasa short circuits as he freezes like a rock. But then she starts to scratch behind his ears again, and he immediately forgets the breach of his personal space as he melts into her touch. He feels a rumble rise up his throat. Oh god, is… is he purring?! His face would be beet red if he was a human still.

“What is his name?” Emu asks, her eyes finding Rui’s. He shrugs.

“I didn’t think about it, I don’t even know if I’m going to keep him around after he heals.” Emu gasps, looking offended, and holds Tsukasa a bit tighter.

“He isn’t staying permanently?!” She shouts, making Tsukasa jump in her hold. Rui sighs, fully turning his chair around to face Emu.

“Emu-kun, I don’t know if I can look after a cat. It seems like too much work.” I can barely look after myself, he wants to add, but keeps it to himself. He tucks his feet under the chair. Emu frowns.

“We can look after him together; I promise I will help!” She says, somewhat desperate. Rui opens his mouth in protest, but she cuts him off.

“What if something happens to him in the forest again, and you aren’t there to save him?” Emu insists. What she doesn’t know is that the cat could be anywhere else and it would be safer. But once again, he doesn’t say it.

“Alright, I will consider, how about we give him a name now?” He asks to change the topic. Emu senses his discomfort, and decides to not press further for now. She grins and nods.

“What should we name you, Mr. Cat?” Emu asks as she looks Tsukasa in the eye, almost like she is expecting him to answer.

Tsukasa knows what he wants to be called, but he has no way of telling, so he just meows back in answer. Emu giggles.

“The way his fur fades into pink is really unique, don’t you think, Rui-kun?” she asks as she gently strokes Tsukasa’s fur.

“I think we should name him Sun; it suits his fur.” She adds, but then shakes her head in dismissal, “That’s too short. Sunny, maybe?” She looks at Rui.

“What do you think, Rui-kun?” She asks. Rui squints his eyes in distaste as he looks into Tsukasa’s hopeful eyes. Rui catches himself agreeing with how cute his eyes look, and quickly dismisses the thought with mild disgust.

But then again, he has been kind of bullying Tsukasa since the morning, hasn’t he? He feels a sliver of mercy squirm its way into his heart. But only because Tsukasa simply looks cute as a cat, nothing more. Don’t tell anyone he admitted that.

“What about Star?” Rui offers. Tsukasa meows excitedly, lifting his head from where it was resting. Emu giggles with awe.

“It’s almost like he understands! Star it is, then. It suits him very well.” She agrees as she scratches behind his ears. Tsukasa melts into her touch as he lowers his head back into place, suddenly drowsy. She smiles at him, then turns back to Rui.

“Also, why didn’t you come for breakfast? You skip a lot of meals, you know.” She says, a small frown on her face. Rui sheepishly smiles.

“There is a lot of demand for potion supply, Emu-kun. I get too caught up in my work that I forget to eat sometimes, it’s nothing I’m unattuned to.” His answer only deepens her frown. He fiddles with his fingers nervously.

“Alright, I’m sorry, Emu-kun. I’ll try to be more careful with my meals.” She gives a smile, seemingly satisfied enough.

While they were talking, she leaned against the wall the bed is pushed against to, Tsukasa still on her lap, and her legs dangle freely in the air. She gently swings them back and forth.

“Nene-chan is making soup, it should be ready in half an hour, I think? We should go together!” She proposes.

“Does it have vegetables in it?” Rui asks. Emu laughs nervously.

“There shouldn’t be much in it, I think you ca-“

“I’m sorry, Emu-kun, but I can’t eat that.” Rui cuts in. Emu pouts.

“Well, we can always make sandwiches instead.” She offers nervously. He shoots her an unimpressed look.

“Really.” Rui says. Emu rolls her eyes at him. She looks down at Tsukasa, who fell asleep at some point during their conversation.

“Star fell asleep so easily! I think he liked me, don’t you think so, Rui-kun?” Emu says, grinning brightly. Rui looks at Emu, then Tsukasa, then Emu again and gives her a crooked smile. He is trying to hide his feelings, he really is, but still, the scene makes his blood boil.

Tsukasa looks so comfortable, sleeping soundly. Way too comfortable. Maybe even more comfortable than Rui has ever felt in his entire life.

Tsukasa doesn’t deserve that comfort.

His gaze, which was fixated on Tsukasa, finds Emu’s eyes again, and he knows he did a bad job trying to cover his feelings. He feels his heart sink to his stomach.

To your average people, Emu is just a childish girl with a freakishly good ability to control water, but Rui knows better. Emu has the eyes of a hawk, a freakish intuition.

She probably already caught his lie, but chose not to say anything.

Emu breaks the eye contact to look at Tsukasa again. Even though the afternoon sun is well up in the sky, shining brightly, the vines adorning his windows dims his room. Light beams enters through the window overhead, making the dust particles visible in their track. It directly shines onto Tsukasa, illuminating him softly, making his fur look golden.

Almost glowing, Rui thinks, and knows Emu thinks the same too. But when she looks up, a solemn expression dons her face. It doesn’t suit her.

“Do you… hate the cat? Emu mumbles, so quietly, Rui barely catches it. She sounds unsure of herself, like she doesn’t want to believe she is asking a question like that. Rui stops fiddling with his fingers and places his hands on his lap.

“What makes you say that, Emu-kun? You know that I love cats.” He argues, but his smile looks more like a grimace. He knows there is no running away from her, but still, he tries.

Emu’s face scrunches up, looking uncomfortable. She stops swinging her legs. Her gaze falls onto the wooden floor.

“You look at the cat with hatred, you know? Did… did something happen?” Emu asks, nervous.

Rui doesn’t know what to say to change the topic. He sighs as he cards a hand through his hair.

But, maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t have to change the topic. Why can’t he just tell her? Emu knows how to hold a secret after all (at the very least, he wants to think so.) Also, it has barely been a day, but the situation is gnawing at him from the inside.

He doesn’t really think he can keep going without confiding his troubles to another person.

“I… look, it’s hard to explain.” He says without catching her gaze. He takes in a big breath. All he has to say is a few words.

“The… cat in your lap, it isn’t really a cat.” He grits out, his body tingling all over.

Emu’s eyes widen as she turns them down at Tsukasa.

“Star looks like a perfectly fine cat. Why would you say that?” She questions, the topic clearly a bit ridiculous for her. Rui sighs.

“He is a human.” Rui says, tensing up at his own words. Emu gasps, her hands coming to an abrupt stop.

“What do you mean he is a human? How is that even possible”

“Remember the ‘cat potion’?” Rui asks at a low tone. Emu slaps a hand to her mouth.

“No way! That potion actually works?! And you used it on someone?!” She frowns. “But that’s so dangerous! Why did you even decide to use it?! Did the person who turned into the cat give consent?! Who even are they?!” She fires questions back to back without even stopping to breathe.

“Emu-kun, breathe.” Rui worriedly says. She breathes deeply to calm down, then checks on Tsukasa to see if she woke him up. Thankfully, he didn’t.

He must be exhausted if he didn’t wake up after all that noise, Rui thinks, or just comfortable.

Emu takes a couple of seconds to compose herself, and then speaks up again;

“Alright, let’s start with who he is.” She says. Rui nervously looks to the side, inspecting his plants. He needs to water them.

“…Rui-kun?” She tries again.

“…He is Tsukasa Tenma, the knight.” He says in a hushed tone, afraid that if he raises his voice even a little bit, someone else would hear. Maybe he doesn’t want to hear it too. Maybe he doesn’t want to face his major fuck up, but here we are now.

Emu freezes, fear evident in her face. She stiffly brings her hands down to her sides, afraid of petting the cat- the knight?

“You’re joking, right, Rui-kun? That’s not funny.” She says nervously. When she sees the way Rui only looks at her with despair, she giggles nervously.

“You’re telling me I’m holding the strongest knight in the kingdom in my lap.” She is silent for a second, then bursts into a laugh at how absurd the situation is. Rui smiles helplessly in response.

They sit in silence for a little while. Rui feels like Emu needs it to collect her thoughts, so he doesn’t break the silence. He looks at his windows, stained with rain tracks. He needs to clean them sometime.

“So… how did this happen?” Emu asks, breaking the silence. Rui turns back to Emu.

“Remember how I went to the forest to collect some materials yesterday?” She nods.

“I accidentally ran into Tsu-Tenma while he was on duty, all alone.” Emu frowns.

“Why would he be on duty all alone?”

“He isn’t much bright; can’t say I’m surprised.” Rui says, uncaring. Emu scowls at him.

“That’s not a nice thing to say.” Rui waves a hand dismissively.

“Anyways, we attacked each other.” Emu gasps.

“Why would you attack each other? Just ignore each other, it wasn’t like you guys were there to fight, right?” Emu questions, baffled.

“That’s beside the point. Anyway, it got pretty heated up, and neither of us wanted to back down. Especially since our dear little knight couldn’t take a hit to his ego like that.” He crosses his legs again, his anger returning with vigor as he recounts the scene.

“Both of us got tired, to the point I couldn’t control my magic. He took advantage of it, and knocked me to the ground. And I did the first thing that came to mind.” Emu is listening to him intently, her hands already back to petting Tsukasa, probably without realizing.

“I reached for my bag and threw the first thing I grabbed. Which happened to be the cat potion.” He rubs at his neck.

“He turned into a cat instantly. It was honestly such a jarring thing to see.” Emu’s eyes open wide in surprise.

“He would have died there if I left him like that, which wouldn’t be optimal, considering my promise to Saki and Toya. So I took him with me, bandaged his wounds, and now we’re here.” He finishes as he feels a wave of relief wash over him. Getting that out of his system felt nice.

Emu looks at him, looks at the feline in her lap, then looks at Rui again.

“That’s horrible.” Is the only thing she can say in response. Rui shakes his head in agreement.

“Also, Emu-kun, you shouldn’t tell this to anyone. Not even Nene.” He adds with a serious tone. Emu considers his words with a silent sadness in her eyes.

“Alright… I won’t.” Emu agrees as the room falls silent again. The only noise they can hear is Tsukasa’s purring. Which, could have been nice if the situation was different.

“So… is he conscious?” Emu asks. Rui nods.

“His memory is still intact and he is able to understand everything perfectly fine, as far as I’m concerned.” Rui explains.

“So, he willingly let me pet him and even put him on my lap, even though he knows I’m the enemy… He must have been so lonely.” Emu says, her eyes glossing over. Rui raises his eyebrows.

“What makes you say that?” he inquires.

“Well, he is a scary knight, scariest one in the whole kingdom if I dare say, probably no one even tries to get close to him. His siblings fled from the castle too, he probably didn’t have anyone to share even a hug.” Emu says, sorrowful.

Rui mulls over her words, and thinks she might be right.

But he chose that kind of life, Rui thinks, he doesn’t deserve pity. He doesn’t voice his thoughts, so he doesn’t make Emu even more sad than she already is.

“How long does the potion’s effects last? Please don’t tell me he is stuck as a cat forever.” Emu asks nervously.

“The book says it will last for one to three months, but I’m not sure. This is the first time I used this potion after all.” Emu groans in response.

“So, what are we going to do?” She asks. Rui gives her a weird look.

“We?” Emu puffs up her cheeks.

“Of course! You shared your secret with me, it’s only reasonable I help you with it. I will face the blame with you if the time ever comes!” Emu exclaims proudly. A warm smile adorns Rui’s face.

“Thank you, Emu-kun” Rui says, completely genuine. Emu smiles back in response.

Rui turns back to his work, much more relaxed. Well, his mood turns a bit sour when his eyes land on the huge ink blotch on his paper, but it doesn’t really matter after all.

 

 

Notes:

Everytime I see someone left a comment i giggle and kick my feet happily

Chapter 4: Chaptre 4

There was a comfortable atmosphere in the air for the last half hour as Emu, Tsukasa and Rui sat in silence, only interrupted by Tsukasa’s occasional rumbling and Rui’s quill’s scratching sound.

Emu keeps petting Tsukasa rhythmically as she looks out the window, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. Meanwhile, Rui busies himself with rewriting everything that has been ruined by ink. The sun shines down by the overhead window, making the dust particles visible in its track.

Rui usually does his best to keep his room clean, even though he simply can’t keep it organized. But the last few weeks were harsh on him, and if you can’t see it in his eye bags and ruffled hair, one glance at his room can easily tell the story.

To make the matters worse, the potion he is working on needs a lot of rare herbs and flowers, and since those plants can’t be easily found in the wild in large amounts, he has to grow them himself.

A plant exists in almost every single nook and cranny of his room, completely filling it up. And even though there is far too much already, another batch will be coming today.

He toys with his hair tie with annoyance and tugs it away. It was already loose anyways. He puts down his quill to tie up his hair again.

“Are you tired already?” Emu asks in a low tone. Rui looks back with his hands still in his hair, spooked. He totally forgot Emu is in the room with him, far too carried away by his work. He finishes tying his hair up, and strains his neck to see her a bit clearer.

Emu gives him a weird look. Rui sighs and turns his chair around to face her directly.

“No…” He rubs his forehead with his hand, “…I can’t focus, that’s all.” He says. Emu gives him a weird look again.

“Wow, something could take the great sorcerer’s mind off his work? Impressive.” Emu says, voice laced with sarcasm. Rui narrows his eyes and gives an unimpressed look.

“You hang out with Nene far too much, Emu-kun.” Rui retorts, and Emu bursts into a laugh at his answer.

“But your reaction was priceless! You should have seen your face.” She says while giggling. She looks down at her lap, and her smile fades. There is that weird look on her face again. Rui doesn’t ask why, since he has an inkling it’s about his relationship with Tsukasa, which he doesn’t want to talk about in the slightest.

They hear a gentle knock on the door.

“Rui? I’m coming in.” Enters Nene, her posture somewhat tense. Upon seeing Nene, Emu’s cheer turns back in a second, like it was never gone in the first place.

“Speak of the devil.” Rui says, and Nene side eyes him with narrowed eyes.

“Welcome, Nene-chan! Come, sit next to me.” Emu says with an excited but hushed tone, patting the empty space beside her. Nene shakes her head in refusal.

“Sorry, I’m in a bit of a rush, but it seems like you made good friends with the cat.” Nene notes with a slight smile.

“Yeah! We named him Star, by the way.” Emu chirps with a wide smile on her face.

“It suits him a lot.” Nene approves, then turns to Rui.

“Kohane came with your flowers, and I made some tea for her.”

Ah, that’s why she is so tense, Rui thinks.

“She is waiting for us in the kitchen.” She adds, then turns to Emu.

“Why don’t you come too? You’re friends with Kohane, right?” She invites, but it sounds more like a plead than an invitation. Emu nods excitedly.

Nene should work on her social interactions, Rui thinks as he dusts off and stands up.

The sudden silence makes him realize Tsukasa is wide awake and stopped purring. Tsukasa yawns and stretches, digging his nails into Emu’s clothes. He suddenly jumps off Emu’s lap as she tries to pet him. Emu gives a little pout while Tsukasa looks at her, bewildered.

The shame got to him, Rui and Emu think at the same time.

Nene chuckles, clearly seeing the action in a different light. Hiding the truth from her makes Rui feel horrible, but he doesn’t want to trouble another person with his own problems.

“Alright, let’s go.” Nene says and turns around to twist the knob.

“Wait! Is Star not coming with us?” Emu yells as she jumps off from her seat.

“That’s up to Rui.” Nene answers and opens the door. Rui looks at Emu with surprise, and a hint of betrayal in his eyes. Why would they even take Tsukasa out of his room? So that he can see their lair and use it against them when he turns back to his human form?

His discouraging look only fuels Emu further, and she gives him the most pleading puppy eyes he has ever seen. Rui feels his determination shatter. He sighs.

“If Emu-kun wants him to come, who am I to refuse?” Rui says and turns around to look at Tsukasa. His look is probably the deadliest look Tsukasa has ever seen, “Do anything funny, and you’re dead” written in his eyes. Tsukasa runs to hide behind Emu and tucks in his tail.

“Rui, you’re scaring him.” Nene scolds. Rui shrugs, smiling as if he didn’t do anything wrong. Nene steps out with a sigh.

“Star, follow us, alright?” Emu asks as she kneels down to look at him. Tsukasa meows back. Emu giggles, not really feeling like she is talking to the strongest knight in the kingdom.

Honestly, when you know the truth, it feels funny watching a human pretending to be a cat.

Tsukasa wobbles as he walks to the door, wincing every few steps. Not only is he hyperaware that he is walking on four legs, one of his legs are injured, causing it to become harder to walk.

Tsukasa looks up at them and meows, feeling a little desperate.

“Rui, pick Star up.” Nene demands with a deadpan voice. Rui’s eyes fly open, looking at Nene like she suddenly grew a second head. Emu nervously tries to cut in.

“I can pick him up! He was ju-”

“No no. I think Rui should pick him up.” Nene cuts her off, and gives a mean smile to Rui.

“…Why is that, Nene-chan?” Emu asks as she giggles nervously.

“You see, Emu, he was actually weeping about how he couldn’t hold a singular cat in his entire life the other day.” Nene explains with a smirk. “I just think this is a good opportunity for him.” She adds. Emu looks at Tsukasa, not really knowing how to object.

Tsukasa looks back at her, incredibly tense with his ears flattened against his head, standing still like a statue.

“Uh… I don’t know how to hold a cat.” Rui says sheepishly. While what he said is true, he also really doesn’t want to hold Tsukasa.

…However, he would be lying if he said he isn’t curious about how it feels to hold a cat. He wasn’t really able to experience how it feels when he brought Tsukasa back to his inn, since he was wrapped in his robe. He was also too panicked to give any notice to it.

Yet, he is quite sure Tsukasa will scratch him on the face at any given chance.

Emu looks up at him in surprise.

“You don’t?” She yells. He laughs to mask how nervous he is, but it is futile.

“Just hold him like how you would hold a baby.” Nene says as if Rui holds a baby every day.

Rui sighs. He doesn’t have the energy to argue.

He slowly approaches Tsukasa and kneels down. Tsukasa doesn’t move an inch, the poor cat too scared to even react. Rui’s eyes emit a dark aura as he slowly inches his hands forward.

The more he gets closer, the more Tsukasa melts into the ground. He kind of looks like a pancake.

“Hold him by the back of his arms and lift him up. Then cradle him against your chest.” Nene instructs, seemingly taking pity on him. Rui does as he is told and holds Tsukasa by his front legs.

Tsukasa snaps out of a trance the moment Rui touches him, and he wiggles around a little with discomfort. Rui’s hold on him becomes firm, and Tsukasa turns into a statue again.

Rui slowly lifts him up, but… Tsukasa’s backside doesn’t seem to agree with it, as it doesn’t lift up from the floor. Rui stretches Tsukasa out like a gum, and the three of them look at it in bewilderment. 

Rui gets up from the floor, holding Tsukasa in an arm’s length. He feels like he is holding an overgrown noodle. Tsukasa meows and wiggles a little in his hold, getting anxious just dangling in the air like that.

Rui frowns as he slowly brings Tsukasa closer, then cradles him against his chest. Tsukasa’s tail anxiously swishes side to side, on the verge of an internal meltdown.

Rui lets go of the breath he didn’t even realize he was holding, and looks at the girls, who were watching them intently.

“Let’s go.” Rui says to break the silence. The girls nod, not wanting to comment on what just happened. They go to the kitchen in silence.

 

 

 

The walk to the kitchen doesn’t take long, as Rui conveniently chose the closest room to the kitchen. Tsukasa is completely still in his hold, almost like he isn’t even breathing.

The cat feels… incredibly warm and comfortable. He doesn’t really know if cats are supposed to be this warm or not, but still, holding him feels like being surrounded by a shield made to protect from the harsh winter cold. He can picture himself using the cat’s tummy as a pillow.

He snaps out of his thoughts when they arrive to the kitchen.

The kitchen is just big enough to handle all the residents in the inn, with a cozy atmosphere, thanks to Minori for arranging it. It’s filled to the brim with colorful flowers, alike with Rui’s room in this way, but still, remarkably cleaner.

When they enter the kitchen, they find Kohane arranging the flowers she brought on the round table right in the middle of the room. She lifts her head when she hears them coming in.

“Hi guys! What are you up to?” Kohane cheerfully greets them as they enter. Nene gives a small wave while Rui greets back with a simple hello.

“Kohane-chan, hi! We are looking after the cat Rui found!” Emu says excitedly as she steps aside to show the cat in Rui’s arms. Meanwhile, Nene has already gone ahead to pour tea for them.

“Woah, it looks so cute! Where did you find it, Kamishiro-san?” Kohane asks as she inches closer, leaving the flowers behind.

“I found him injured in the forest yesterday. His wounds are pretty severe, so I brought him back to treat him.” Rui lies smoothly. Maybe a bit too smooth, as Emu looks at him with widened eyes.

“Oh, poor kitty! I hope he gets better soon.” Kohane says, frowning with sympathy. Once again, Rui finds himself thinking she wouldn’t be wishing for his well being if she knew who he is.

“Thanks! We named him Star, by the way.” Emu chimes in.

“Such a cute name too! His fur looks so nice… Can I pet him?” Kohane asks, her eyes sparkling. Rui looks at Tsukasa with a glare, as if daring him to move an inch. Which, Tsukasa doesn’t have the guts to do from the very start.

“Sure, go ahead.” Rui says with a pleasant smile. Kohane slowly brings her hand closer, then scratches under his chin. Tsukasa leans into the touch with a small ‘mrp’. Kohane giggles at it.

“Such a nice kitty. It’s so docile too!” Kohane praises. Rui’s smile grows a little tense.

“Yeah, it is. Actually, you can hold him if you want?” He offers.

“Of course!” Kohane says happily, and takes Tsukasa from Rui’s arms. The cat’s sudden absence makes him feel cold, but he doesn’t linger on the sensation.

“The tea is done.” Nene announces as she pours everyone a cup. Emu skips to a chair and sits down, with Kohane and Rui following suit, and looks at the tea to try and guess what kind of tea it is.

“Nene-chan, is this the jasmine tea you have been making recently?” Emu asks, confident in her guess. Nene shakes her head no.

“Nope, I wanted to try something different today, its sunflower. It’s supposed to make you feel relaxed, and I thought it would suitable considering that…” She wanders off as she averts her eyes.

“Yeah…” Kohane agrees with a grimace. The air surrounding them suddenly feels heavier.

“How come no one saw him before he disappeared? I mean, we would know about it if someone from our side defeated him, right? It just doesn’t make sense…” Nene mutters, mixing the tea in her hand mindlessly. Rui and Emu look at each other, both grimacing.

Holding a secret is easier said than done, after all.

“Right? I wonder if there is a third party involved, but it seems very unlikely…” Kohane responds as she absentmindedly pets Tsukasa, too deep in thought to notice how tense he is. 

Rui gives his signature feline like smile to try to dissipate the heavy air as he talks.

“Well, it’s a good thing, no?” He is the sole reason we still haven’t won yet. With a nuisance like him out of the picture, our chances of winning the war will skyrocket.” He says as he chuckles. Emu gives him a sad look, but he ignores it. Nene looks like she wants to retort, but sadly for her, he ignores that too.

“But… Saki and Aoyagi will be devastated…” Kohane whispers sadly.

Rui frowns. Yeah, they will be.

He just hopes he won’t be there to see it.

“A-anyways, how are the potions coming along? Got any updates from Minori about that healing potion?” Emu asks, trying to change the subject. Kohane sighs.

“They said they couldn’t do much progress with that potion, unfortunately. It apparently only works on really small injuries like paper cuts. They also said they have to find a light magic user to replicate their abilities, or it will be pretty much impossible to make a useful healing potion. But uh… finding a light magic user is already impossible, so…” Kohane explains with a discouraged tone.

Rui’s frown deepens. He knew that trying to make a healing potion would be hard, but still, he wasn’t expecting it to be this difficult. As Kohane said, finding a light magic user is practically impossible.

Not much people is able to use magic in the first place, and light magic users are far more uncommon than the other ones.

Emu tried finding one while she was travelling around the world, and she did, but it was futile. Rich people exploited the users and practically made them their slaves. So, most of the light magic users chose to hide their abilities, afraid of their freedom being taken away from them.

“We will have to do a strategy meet up soon.” Rui says suddenly, gathering everyone’s attention.

“It doesn’t matter if we have the healing potion or not, we simply can’t stall any longer. And with Tenma out of the picture, we clearly have the upper hand.” Rui adds. Emu looks down wordlessly.

“Yeah… I was thinking about that too. Should I go talk to Kaito about it?” Nene offers as she stands up.

“Please do.” Rui answers as he stands up too. Kohane and Emu follow suit.

“Want me to come along, Nene-chan?” Emu asks. Nene nods in answer. They leave the kitchen together after they say their goodbyes, chatting about something Rui isn’t able to catch.

“I should go too. I still have some flowers left to deliver.” Kohane announces, and turns around to face Rui.

“There you go.” She says and gives Tsukasa back to Rui. 

“Goodbye, Kamishiro-kun. You know where to find me if you need more flowers.”

“And goodbye to you too.” She says happily as she scratches under Star’s chin for the last time.

Rui waves her goodbye as she leaves, and once again, he is alone with Tsukasa.

Rui narrows his eyes as he looks down at Tsukasa. Tsukasa’s constant mood of stress will be definitely noticeable if he keeps it up.

“Do you want people to notice something is off with you, hm? It isn’t surprising that you would still be an attention seeker even as a cat, but still, I hope you realize what will happen once you’re found out.” Rui hisses the words out, his tone harsh and unforgiving.

Tsukasa shrinks into his arms, and hisses in answer. He suddenly freezes up in place.

He… he didn’t mean to do that. Oh no.

Rui’s face, normally blank even if he is angry, starts showing signs of fury. He grabs Tsukasa by the scruff and raises him into the air as he looks into his eyes.

“What do you think you are doing? Don’t you realize your life is hanging in the balance? Are you really that dense?” Rui barks the words out, his blood boiling with rage, as he dangles Tsukasa in the air.

Tsukasa, already distraught by the words thrown his way, yowls with distress to try and get out of Rui’s hold as his fight or flight instinct kicks in.

He tries to wriggle his way out, but Rui only holds him tighter. Panicked, Tsukasa yowls and hisses and bristles, despite Rui’s threats. Rui feels Tsukasa’s skin get hot in his hold, almost enough to burn his fingers.

His claws come out, his voice gets louder, and he lands a hit right across Rui’s face.

Rui’s hold immediately loosens, and Tsukasa falls down to the ground with a dull thud. The silence rings in his ears as his injured leg aches.

But the pain doesn’t compare to the sheer horror he feels when he looks up at Rui’s face, dripping with blood.

Rui hunches over, hovering a hand over his face. His face burns with vigor as he grunts. He feels himself tearing up. He isn’t so sure a cat scratch is supposed to feel this painful.

He looks at Tsukasa through the gaps of his fingers. Tsukasa looks back at him, his eyes wide open. Rui watches blood drip onto his fingers.

The silence feels deafening as he heaves, the only sound audible being his shallow breaths.

“You are a dead man, Tenma.” Rui growls as he approaches the cat, his face bloodied all over. Tsukasa scrambles to get away, but it’s all for naught as Rui secures him by the neck, pinching it harshly.

He picks him up and storms back into his room, the now empty tea cups forgotten on the table.

Tsukasa yowls, wriggles and swings his limbs in the air as he tries to get away, the fight still in his body. He feels nauseous. Rui doesn’t pay any mind to it.

Rui opens the door of his room with a resonating bang, and drops Tsukasa down to the bed.

He paces inside the room, tugging at his hair, trembling from anger.

The shadows set by the sun, slowly dipping down to the horizon, starts to tremble and distort, the light in the room gets dimmer, and Rui feels a pang of panic strike his heart.

“This can’t be happening.” He murmurs to himself, suddenly delirious. His surroundings get darker and darker, swallowing any light that dares enter the room.

He scampers to reach his table, knocking down the objects in his way.

He needs to find the potion Kaito lent him.

He frantically searches for the potion, feeling the objects in his hand before shoving them away. His face drains of any color when he realizes it isn’t there.

He turns around to check his shelves, truly on his last leg. He tries to walk over to the shelves as the last light seeping into his room snuffs out, leaving him blind.

He stumbles over a pot he left on the ground and falls, hard. He tries to cushion his fall with his hands and knees. His knees hurt with the sharp sting of pain, and he is pretty sure he skinned his hands.

He grunts in pain as he tries to get up, but stops dead in his tracks as a light suddenly engulfs the room, far brighter than the sun is supposed to be, like it is directly coming from inside the room.

He squints his eyes as he turns around, trying to adjust to the light. But just before his eyes can adjust, something jumps him.

And he faints.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

i have been waiting for AGES to FINALLY post this chapter

also thank you all so so much for your kind comments, they never fail to make my day :)

Chapter 5: Chpatre 5

Someone is poking him on the cheek.

Rui’s eyes blink open.

And closes them the second the morning sun assaults his senses, making him wince. But the poking on his cheek is persistent, along with the muffled voice. He doesn’t understand what they are saying, but he feels annoyed.

He tries to bat the hand away, and the poking finally stops. He yawns and runs a hand through his face.

“Are you okay, Rui-kun?” The voice says, and Rui’s eyes fly open.

Emu is hovering over him with a slightly worried expression. He slowly sits up as Emu backs away to give him space. He holds his head with a groan. His head is splitting.

“Emu-kun…? Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to go talk with Kaito?” He questions drowsily, his words slurring together. Emu’s face becomes even more worried.

“That was yesterday, Rui-kun. Are you really okay?” Emu asks, worry bleeding from her voice. Rui looks around, confused. His eyes land on Tsukasa, who is under the table, watching him from afar.

Yesterday’s memories flood into his brain the moment he looks into the cat’s eyes, and he swiftly gets up from the floor. He scowls at Tsukasa, and Tsukasa hides behind the table’s leg.

“No. It is probably evident from my face, but we got into a brawl right after you left, since our dear little knight here couldn’t keep his actions in check.” Rui spits out with a harsh tone. Tsukasa seeps further inside.

Emu gets up from the floor with a jump and looks at him, confused.

“Um… What’s supposed to be wrong with your face…?” She asks nervously. Rui turns around to look at her, bewildered.

“Isn’t it obvious? He scratched me on the face.” He answers.

“But… Rui-kun… there is nothing wrong with your face.” Emu says, giving an uneasy smile.

“Huh?” Rui says in shock. He reaches for the mirror on his table.

And sure enough, his face is perfectly fine. There isn’t even a scarring left behind, like it never happened in the first place. He places the mirror down, trying to remember what exactly happened. His memory is blurry, but he indisputably knows that it happened.

He still remembers the pain.

“Emu-kun, I know this sounds impossible, but he really did scratch me on the face.” Rui insists, desperate to make her believe. Emu glances at Tsukasa, then looks at Rui again. She frowns.

“I don’t think you’re lying, but… how? How could he scratch you without leaving any trace of it?” Emu questions. Rui wracks his brain to try and remember.

“Well, after he scratched me, I got furious, to the point I lost control over my magic.” Rui recounts. Emu gasps with shock.

“I tried searching for the potion Kaito gave me, but I couldn’t find it. Now that I think about it, I tripped over a flower pot too…” He looks at his hands. They look perfectly fine, any trace of the fall seemingly vanished into thin air. He glances around his room, and sees the pot he tripped over, toppled over with dirt all over the place.

“I remember panicking, and it got so bad to the point darkness engulfed the room, but then… some sort of light filled the room? I think I fainted before I even registered what happened.” Rui finishes explaining. Emu pouts, thinking.

“That’s so weird, I honestly have no idea what could have caused it…” She comments, feeling lost.  

“I don’t have a clue either.” Rui says as he yawns and stretches, and finds that his back feels perfectly fine.

That surprises him more than anything that happened up until this point.

“What time is it?” He asks.

“8 am. But if you fainted right after we left…” Emu looks at him with horror. “Were you unconscious for more than 18 hours?!” She yells.

“It seems so. I missed what you talked about with Kaito-san, right?” Rui asks.

“Yeah… I actually came this early just to inform you, but it was such a shock seeing you asleep on the floor! I mean, I’m used to seeing you sleep on your desk, but sleeping on the floor seems extreme even for you.” Emu says.

He knows his sleep schedule isn’t… the best, least to say.

“Fufu, it certainly is. But somehow, my back feels perfectly fine after spending almost a day on the ground.” Rui says curiously, but dusts himself off with a sigh.

“Well, we probably won’t be finding out what happened any time soon. So let’s forget about this for now, we have a much more important matter in our hands.” Rui states, and Emu agrees with a nod.

“We planned the formation and the blocks, and Minori-chan went ahead to spread the news so everyone can start to prepare.” Emu explains with a serious expression on her face.

“Did you settle on a date?” Rui asks, holding his chin with a hand.

“Yes, we planned to attack in about two weeks from now on.” Emu answers, shuffling in place.

“I see…” Rui hums.

Two weeks is a rather short time to prepare, but Kaito probably wants to attack before Tsukasa is able to take the lead again. Emu seems to be thinking the same too, as she searches for something in his eyes.

“Rui-kun… you know what this means, right? Should we tell Kaito-san…?” She asks, unsure. Rui sighs as he runs a hand through his hair in distress.

“If Kaito-san learns the truth, I’m not sure I will be able to guarantee Tenma’s safety, or his life.” He explains. Emu looks at the ground as she listens, clearly not liking the situation.

“I don’t think he would be so lenient to Aoyagi-kun and Saki-kun’s wishes, and I want to make sure I follow through with my promise.” He adds. Emu nods sadly.

“What are we going to do now?” Emu asks.

“If Kaito-san decided two weeks will be enough, we have nothing to worry about. I don’t think anything could go wrong.” Rui answers, and turns around to search at his shelves, and still finds Kaito’s potion missing. He turns around.

“I need to go talk to Kaito-san. Can you look after the cat while I’m gone?” Rui asks. He doesn’t think Tsukasa has the guts to do something stupid after all that happened, but he has an inkling that Emu wants to spend time with it. Emu smiles brightly at him.

“Okay! Grab something to eat from the kitchen before you go!” Emu says and sits down on the floor, trying to spot Tsukasa. Rui smiles with appreciation.

“Thanks, I will.” He says as he turns around to reach for the knob, but stops his motion abruptly.

“By the way, Emu-kun knows who you are, no need to pretend.” He adds, loud enough for Tsukasa to hear.

“Farewell, Emu-kun.”

“Be careful, bye!” Emu cheerfully says as she waves a hand, and Rui waves one back as he leaves, closing the door gently behind his back.

 

 

“Kaito-san, may I come in?” Rui calls out to Kaito as he knocks. Kaito suddenly opens the door, and Rui backs away in surprise.

“Please, Rui, come in. I was just about to search for you, actually.” Kaito says as he guides Rui inside with a hand. Rui’s eyebrows rise.

“Me? Why?” He questions.

“Please, sit.” Kaito says as he points at the chair in front of the huge desk sitting in the middle of the room. The curtains are closed shut, the only light coming from the candles lit on the desk. Rui does as he is told.

Kaito walks around the desk, and sits in front of Rui. Rui feels himself get nervous.

“So,” Kaito starts, and leans forward. “I assume Emu told you what we talked about.” Rui nods.

“Great. I want your input too.” Rui’s eyes widen.

“Why? I mean, I would love to share my input, but I’m usually more on the attacking side of it all, not strategizing.” Rui blabbers. Kaito smiles at him.

“I know. But, with Tenma out of the way, your burden is much more light, no? And I know how bright that mind of yours is. It would be a shame not to put you to work when I can.” Kaito explains, tapping a finger against the desk. Rui hums as he contemplates Kaito’s words.

“I see… Well, I will do the best I can.” Rui agrees. Kaito hums happily as he takes out pieces of paper and maps.

“Perfect. Here are the strategies we decided on. This block can…” Kaito starts to explain, and Rui listens intently.

After half an hour of explaining, strategizing and idea inputs, Kaito claps his hands once, indicating that the discussion is over.

“That was incredibly productive, Rui. I know to trust my gut when it comes to you.” He says, pleased, as he gets up from his seat to place the papers back in their place.

Rui averts his eyes, feeling bashful.

He used to strategize in his first years when he wasn’t able to control his magic, and he still has a knack for it, it seems.

He faces Kaito again when he remembers what he came here for. He gets up from his chair, his shoulders tense.

“Kaito-san, before I go, I need to tell you something.” He says in a serious tone. Kaito frowns and folds his arms.

“This is completely my recklessness, and I am incredibly sorry for it, but I can’t find the potion you gave me…” Rui says, his head hanging low. Kaito’s eyes widen as he lowers his arms.

“That’s certainly a tricky situation.” Kaito sighs. “It’s fine. But it will probably become a problem for you.” Rui raises his head in question.

“You see, that was the last potion of the batch. We will be making a new batch, but…” Kaito wanders off. Rui tilts his head.

“But?”

“It will probably take more than a month.” Kaito finishes as color drains from Rui’s face.

“A month…? Why does it take that long, if I may ask?” Rui questions, his voice tinged with frustration.

“There is a specific flower being used in the potion, and it’s incredibly hard to grow. It resonates with light magic, but when someone with black magic makes contact with it… the consequences of it is horrid. Because of this, I can’t personally watch over the botanic when they are growing this flower.” Kaito explains.

“I see…” Rui says, his face dripping with dread, feeling dizzy all of a sudden. Kaito reaches for him to pat him on the shoulder.

“Don’t let yourself feel too let down about it. I know the situation feels frustrating, but you can get through this. You have me on your back. Just make sure to keep your emotions in check.” Kaito encourages with a smile as he pats him on the shoulder one last time. Rui gives him a tired smile.

He wouldn’t think the same if he knew my mortal enemy is currently residing in my bedroom, Rui thinks. Kaito takes his hand off his shoulder and waves at him, completely oblivious to the crisis in Rui’s mind.

“Goodbye for now. Don’t forget to stop by my office tomorrow.” He gently reminds.

“Thank you for your time, I promise I won’t. Farewell.” Rui says and opens the door, the sudden increase in light making him squint his eyes. He carefully closes the door as he starts to walk back to his room, but a familiar voice shouting stops him dead in his tracks. Loud footsteps approach him quickly.

He turns around to see a pair of furious eyes.

 

 

After Rui closes the door, Emu turns around to look at Tsukasa again. Tsukasa looks back at her, as stiff as a rock. Rui’s words ring in his head.

Emu knows who you are.

Is this how Rui decided to kill him? Slowly, and shamefully? Would he tell everyone, so his execution is as public as it gets?

How would they even execute a cat?

He doesn’t know what he would do if Saki and Toya learns of it. He doesn’t want to know.

He looks up from under the table, and finds Emu looking right back at him. But strangely, she doesn’t come across as… dangerous, somehow. Isn’t she the enemy?

Isn’t she supposed to hate him?

“Umm…” Emu mutters as she averts her eyes, not really sure what to say.

She brings her hands up defensively as she looks at him again.

“Just for the record, I promise I won’t harm you. But I hope you don’t attack me too!” She exclaims nervously.

Of course, since Rui didn’t feel the need to tell the full story, she would assume he would be aggressive for no apparent reason. Tsukasa slowly sticks his head out from under the table and meows. Emu giggles as she lowers her arms down, seemingly deeming him unharmful.

“I have no idea what you mean, but I hope it is positive. Should I still call you Star, or should I switch to Tenma?” She questions.

While it might seem embarrassing to want to be referred by a pet name, he definitely prefers being called Star over Tenma. That name is only useful in making him remember countless exhausting formalities.

…Also, Star is a pretty cool name, no?

He meows back.

“I don’t really understand… Wait!” Emu says excitedly, and gets up from the floor to take a piece of paper and a pencil from Rui’s desk. She sits back down on the floor and starts to scribble something onto the paper. Tsukasa slowly inches closer, trying to see what she is up to.

“Tada! I wrote some words here, and the alphabet. This should make it easier to communicate!” She exclaims proudly. Tsukasa shuffles even closer to read what it says in the paper.

Indeed, like she said, there is some basic words like maybe, yes, no, and there is the alphabet.

“So, do you want me to call you Tenma?” She asks. Tsukasa presses his paw on top of ‘no’.

“Star, then?” Tsukasa presses yes. Emu hums happily.

“Star it is! Well, how does it feel to be a cat?” Emu questions, her eyes shining with curiosity. Tsukasa looks at her weirdly.

Out of all the questions she could ask… she chose to ask that?

Whatever, it’s better for him anyways. He starts pressing on letters.

“W-E-I-R-D. Weird.” Emu says out loud as he presses. She hums with consideration.

“Weird, huh? It probably is, considering how different a human and a cat is.” She says. Tsukasa presses ‘yes’. It is indeed an incredibly perplexing experience, and he still can’t claim he got used to it. Emu pouts as she takes a look at him.

“Does your wounds still hurt? I hope Rui did a good job patching you up.” She says with a frown.

In all honesty, his wounds still ache, though the pain has diminished. Especially his leg, after slipping down Rui’s hand yesterday, throbs with pain.

But she doesn’t need to know all that, so he presses ‘yes’.

“I’m glad.” She says, and it’s evident in her eyes that she really is. But they turn downcast a moment after.

“Why would you attack Rui-kun, though?” She questions. Tsukasa looks at her eyes, contemplating.

She seems a bit naïve, like she doesn’t have a care in the world, but it’s obvious she cares about Rui a lot. Would she believe him if he said he felt threatened?

It doesn’t hurt to try.

“T-H-R-E-A-T-E-N-E-D. Threatened.” Emu blinks in surprise, then smiles, unimpressed.

“Did he threaten you?” Tsukasa presses yes. Emu shakes her head in disbelief.

“Seriously, I can’t even say I’m surprised. He is a bit aggressive, especially towards you.” Tsukasa presses yes again. Emu huffs out a laugh.

“He is normally the sweetest person ever, but… you know.” Emu wanders off, realizing she should probably not open that subject.

“At the very least, he isn’t harmed. I don’t think he will hold a grudge for long.” Emu says, trying to sound assuring. Tsukasa wonders if she actually believes what she just said.

“Did you see what exactly made Rui faint?” Emu asks. Tsukasa stills.

He is not willing to explain that. He presses ‘no’ swiftly.

“I see… That’s a shame. But you were probably blinded with the light too, weren’t you?” Emu asks. Tsukasa presses ‘yes’, not looking at her.

“Can I pet you again?” She blurts out, and Tsukasa lifts his head up in a flash, alarmed.

“It’s just… your fur is so soft!” She adds, looking at him with pleading eyes. Tsukasa feels embarrassment creep up his spine. He presses ‘no’.

“Aw, I really wanted to pet you though.” Emu says wistfully. Tsukasa doesn’t lift his paw up from the word. Emu sighs as she raises her hands in surrender.

“Fine, but don’t think I forgot how you were purring in my lap.” She teases.

Oh god, Tsukasa would be beet red if he was still in his human form. He yowls in protest. Emu giggles at it, but her smile is quick to fade away. She looks down at her lap, fiddling with her thumbs.

“You know; I don’t think Rui means half the words he says about you.” She murmurs, like she didn’t mean to say it out loud. Her voice holds a melancholic undertone. Tsukasa looks at her, shocked.

“Haha, I don’t need you to tell me you’re surprised with an expression like that. I honestly didn’t know cats could be this expressive.” Emu says as she giggles, but her eyes still look sad.

“But still, it’s true. I think, deep down, he still cares about you.” Emu says, her voice barely above a whisper, like she is scared someone else will hear.

Tsukasa doesn’t even know what to think. Rui, caring about him?

That just seems absurd. An idea he would never entertain.

“I think he is trying to convince himself that he doesn’t care anymore, which is tormenting him.”

Tsukasa feels a sharp pain in his chest, like his ribcage is restricting his heart.

He doesn’t want this.

“S-O-R-R-Y. Sorry.” Emu sighs as she looks at Tsukasa, disappointed.

“That’s a very strange thing to say. Considering… y’know. Your war crimes.” Tsukasa hangs his head low.

“I do wonder though, if you would be able to explain your actions if you could talk.”

Tsukasa stills, looks at her for a split second, and presses ‘maybe’.

 

 

“Rui, what’s the meaning of this?!” Saki screams at him, her voice echoing off the empty walls in the hallway. Toya stands beside her, expressionless.

 “My brother!! What happened to him?! Everyone keeps saying he vanished, he isn’t here anymore and- and that he might be dead already!” Saki keeps shouting, tears streaming down her face.

“Saki-kun, please calm down.” Rui says, raising his hand, but Saki swats it away.

“Don’t tell me to calm down when I don’t even know if my brother is alive or not!” She yells, pressing her sleeve to her eyes to wipe away her tears. Rui grimaces.

Toya puts a hand to Saki’s shoulder, signaling her to step aside.

“Kamishiro-senpai, I’m sure you have your own worries as of now, but we have our questions, if you’d answer.” Toya says, his tone cold. Rui stills for a second, and sighs.

He had to lie to Nene, now he has to lie to them too, huh? How terrible.

“I don’t mind, Aoyagi-kun, ask away.” Rui says with a slight smile, but just when Toya opens his mouth again, Saki steps up.

“Where is my brother?!” She sobs out.

“…I don’t know, Saki-kun. Nene informed me that he is missing, and that’s all I know.” Rui lies, his heart churning. Saki’s face scrunches up in frustration.

 “How could you not know?! Didn’t you promise to us, huh? Didn’t you promise our big brother’s safe-” Rui raises a hand to cut Saki off.

“I will have to stop you right there. I don’t know your brother’s location, nor did I promise his safety. I only agreed to not kill him.” Rui explains, each word clipped and emotionless. Saki’s eyes narrow as tears keep pouring out her eyes silently. She doesn’t retort.

“You’re correct, Kamishiro-senpai. But, I think you know how important this matter is to us, so please, help us out a little.” Toya says, as desperate as his voice gets. Rui folds his arms with a sigh.

“Alright, how can I be of help?” Rui accepts, even though he knows he won’t be able to help in the slightest. It leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

“Do you have any inkling where he could be? You… you knew him best, after all.” Toya says. Rui grits his teeth. He needs to stay calm.

“That was years ago, Aoyagi-kun. I don’t know who he is anymore.” Rui retorts. Toya looks down.

“…I know.”  He says, and doesn’t add anything. Rui sighs as he presses his fingers into his temple.

“Look. I know you think you lost someone dear to you, and I get you might be devastated. But still, there is limitations to what I can and can’t do.”

“One of the things I can’t do is tell you my guess of your brother’s location right in front of Kaito’s door.” Saki and Toya turn around with a gasp at the same time, checking the door just a meter away from them.

“Why didn’t you tell any sooner?” Saki asks, her voice down to a whisper.

“You didn’t leave me room to speak. And it should be fine, he soundproofed it. But, just in case, let’s go somewhere else.” Rui answers.

Saki nods with a sniffle, her tears slowly subsiding. Rui starts to walk, and they follow him.

“I am assuming you heard that we will be attacking two weeks from now on.” Rui starts, not stopping to turn around.

“Yes, we are aware. Hanasato-san informed us alongside with… our brother’s disappearance.” Toya says, his voice becoming somber.

“I see. Then, you should know we don’t have time to spare looking for your brother, correct?” Rui says, making Saki wince.

“We know, but-”

“There is no ‘but’s. This is the simple truth. I shouldn’t even be indulging you this much.” Rui cuts in. They stay silent, unable to answer. Rui sighs again, tired.

“…You did the right thing, coming to me for help, because if it was anyone other than me in my place, the consequences of your actions would be dire. Do you understand where I’m coming from?”

“Yes…” Saki affirms sadly. Her tone softens something in Rui’s heart.

“Just for your sake, this will stay in between us. All I want from you is for you to stay silent for two weeks, and then I promise to help.” He abruptly stops in front of his room. Toya almost bumps into him, but is able to pull back in the last second.

“This is my stop. Is there anything else you want to ask?” Rui questions. Saki worries her lip in between her teeth and looks to the side.

“You said ‘you think you lost someone dear’ just know. Are you really that sure he is alive?” Saki asks and looks into his eyes, searching for the truth.

“…I don’t think he would go down that easily.” Rui answers, and even though Saki is still not smiling, her eyes shine with something akin to hope. Toya’s face softens.

“Thank you, Kamishiro-senpai.” Toya says, truly grateful.

“You’re welcome. Well, this is goodbye for now. I will see you both soon.” Rui says, and they say their goodbyes as they disappear out of his sight.

He turns around and opens the door.

 

 

Notes:

emu don't say that he's jsut a silly cat now haha wdym war crimes

Chapter 6: Cptahre 6

“Emu-kun?” Rui calls out to her, and Emu excitedly turns around. Tsukasa looks at him silently.

“Rui-kun, welcome back! How did it go?” She says as she gets up from the floor with a jump. Rui slowly approaches her as he smiles slightly.

“Better than I expected it to go, actually. But…” He wanders off, averting his eyes. Emu tilts her head in question.

Rui doesn’t really have the energy to talk about it, actually. He shakes his head in dismissal.

“Never mind. How did it go with Tenma? He didn’t try to attack you, right?” Rui questions with narrowed eyes, glaring holes into Tsukasa. Tsukasa shuffles closer to Emu.

“Of course he didn’t!” Emu answers with a pout, covering Tsukasa from Rui’s sight.

“That’s a bit surprising, considering his… hostile tendencies.” Rui shoots back with his mouth curled down in distaste. Emu sighs exaggeratedly.

“You would know about it, Rui-kun.” Emu says, unimpressed. Rui’s eyebrows shoot up, and he gives Emu a look that screams ‘really?’.

“I’m wounded you would think about me like that, Emu-kun. What makes you say that?” Rui says, feigning hurt. For once, Emu doesn’t seem entertained by his theatrics.

“I talked with Star.” Emu begins, a sudden serious expression on her face. Rui shoots her a dubious look.

“How?”

Emu points at the paper in front of her and signals for him to come closer.

“He wasn’t able to say much, but he was able to say that you threatened him.” Emu explains as Rui inspects the paper on the ground. Her words carry an accusation with them.

Rui backs off with a scoff, and folds his arms.

“And what if I did? Emu-kun, I think you’re skipping the fact that he is our enemy.” Rui says, his tone as light as ever. Emu frowns as she puts a hand on Tsukasa. Tsukasa doesn’t protest.

“But… Rui-kun, you’re only like this when it comes to him. I really don’t understand.” Emu mumbles, not looking at him in the eye. Rui sighs as he runs a hand through his hair.

“I’m refusing to act nice to a person who was willing to watch the closest people to him die right in front of his eyes.” Rui spits out harshly as he bends down to make eye contact with Tsukasa. Emu covers Tsukasa again with a gasp.

“R-Rui-kun! Calm down!” Emu exclaims as she brings her hands up in front of her. Rui’s eyes narrow further, his lips pressing into a thin line, but he doesn’t protest.

He steps back and looks at her intently.

“We don’t really know what happened, do we? We-” Emu begins, but Rui cuts her off.

“We don’t know, but the things I saw is enough for me. It should be enough for you too. Do you really remember what happened that day?”

 

 Rui turned around at the loud noise, his disguise cloak almost falling off of his head. The markets were jammed that day; he could barely see what was happening. A few people bumped into his shoulder as they passed him hastily, murmuring among each other. Was it because it was about to rain soon?

Rui dropped the apple he had in hand back to its place, forgotten. The murmurs rose in volume, more and more people passed him by.

He could barely make his way around the people he was lumped with, always on the edge of getting knocked over. His grip on his disguise tightened.

He looked around nervously, trying to see where the sound came from. His height somehow didn’t help him at all.

He heard the loud cry of a knight.

“CATCH THEM, NOW!” he said. The crowd started splitting in half, leaving the road empty. Rui pushed his way through to see what was happening. A few people cursed at him along the way, but he didn’t catch it over the thumping of his heartbeat in his ears.

He saw a flash of blue and yellow whirl across his eyes. And came the knights soon after, shrieking as they pursued. He followed after them, not able to take his eyes off of the disaster happening in front of him.

His eyes caught the blue and yellow again, and realized who they are.

Saki Tenma and Toya Aoyagi. His… old friend’s siblings.  

Their movements carried a terror with itself, like they were expecting death himself to catch up to them. Their eyes had a weird glint to them, like a madman who gave up everything.

Morbid curiosity kept Rui watching.

They climbed up a platform right next to the castle’s entrance, the knights following suit.

But Saki had already started to shout.

“WE HAVE BEEN DECEIVED! YOU, ALL OF YOU, LISTEN! THE QUEEN HAS BEEN FEEDING US LI-” Her words became muffled as a knight jumped at her, closing a hand to her mouth. Toya kicked at the knight as he continued where she left.

“SHE HAS BEEN FEEDING US LIES! MAGIC DOESN’T MAKE PEOPLE GO CRAZY!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, still trying to ward off the knight.

Another one jumped at him, muffling him with a hand.

Rui felt his knees go weak.

The knights knocked both of them down after they brought them down the platform, tying up their mouths soon after.

“Make way for the queen!” said a voice, and Rui’s blood ran cold with fear.

The marketplace stilled, all the murmuring vanishing in an instant. The sudden silence ringed with vigor in his ears.

He saw her approach slowly to the scene, with him standing next to her. He had a dull expression on his face, seemingly staring into the distance. Rui felt his chest burn up with hatred, overpowering his fear.

The queen didn’t rush her arrival; every step she took as elegant as ever. She had a pleasant smile on her face, one that made chills run down your spine. Her flower necklace twinkled, even though there was no sun to shine light on it. Each deliberate click of her heals echoed like a countdown.

“Oh me oh my, what do we have here?” She said as she clasped her hands in front of her, looking down at them. Saki and Toya looked up with fury bleeding from their gaze.

“They can’t answer me. Untie their mouths for me, will you?” She said as she pointed at a knight. The knight scrambled to untie the cloths.

“You were causing quite the ruckus just now, weren’t you? Don’t be shy now, share your thoughts with me too.” Miku said airily, clapping her hands once.

“We know the truth, and soon, everyone will know too.” Saki gritted out, her breaths harsh and shallow.

“The truth?” Miku laughed with a hand to her face. “You know the truth? Does that make you special? Because I’m pretty sure everyone around here knows the truth.” She said as she looked at Saki dead in the eyes.

“The truth is,” She started, and turned around to face the folk surrounding them. “That this kingdom wouldn’t exist without me. I gave you everything you could ask for. And…” She turned around to face them again. “…this is how you pay me? With fabricating lies?”

“Everyone knows what happened with Kaito, most of us was there to see it with our very own eyes. And you still have the guts to tell people that I quote, unquote, ‘Magic doesn’t make people go crazy.’”

“That’s-” Toya opened his mouth to protest, but the knight kicked his head back into the ground. Rui couldn’t hold the gasp escaping from his lips.

He was still gazing at them motionlessly.

Miku gave off an exaggerated sigh.

“Let this be a lesson. This is what happens to ungrateful brats like you. Guards, take them.” She motioned at them, and they quickly got into action. Saki and Toya paled, screaming and kicking at the guards, trying to free themselves.

It was useless.

Rui felt useless as he watched them go. He turned around to look at him again.

His face was swiped of any emotion, eerily blank. Like he was reduced to a simple doll.

Rage coiled in his gut as he watched Miku and him leave the scene.

 

 

Two days later, when he could barely digest what had happened, an anonymous letter showed up at his door, delivered by Kohane. Apparently, An found the letter on her desk, and asked Kohane to deliver it to him.

It contained the date and place of Saki and Toya’s execution.

 Rui’s hands shook as he read the words over and over again, like it would change anything.

While the words didn’t change, he had the chance to change their destiny.

 

 

Once again, he was lost in the crowd. The crowd’s murmurs weren’t hushed anymore, not a trace of fear. Instead, the air felt electric, excited.

Like they were expecting something.

Rui looked around, one of his hands in his disguise. Emu stood beside him silently, donned in a similar disguise.

His eyes caught Saki and Toya, their hands tied, getting tugged by the guards. The guillotine stood in the middle of the square, a silent threat.  

Emu held his hand, squeezing it tightly. He took in a sharp breath.

He couldn’t lose his nerve now. He couldn’t afford to.

Saki and Toya were standing silently, their eyes lifeless. The fight in them gone, like it never existed in the first place.

Rui could barely bear to look at them.

Not long after, the queen approached the guillotine.

He wasn’t by her side, somehow. Rui found his eyes searching the crowd.

Their eyes met. He was standing by the side of the platform, silently waiting. His face as expressionless ever.

Rui felt his breath get stuck in his throat. He quickly averted his wide open eyes.

“Emu-kun.” He whispered. Emu hummed in response. She already knew what to do, waiting for the right moment to strike.

He slowly let go of her hand.

The queen clapped her hands once, and it was dead silent once again.

“Today, we are gathered here to witness the execution of Saki Tenma and Toya Aoyagi, for disrupting the peace and fabricating lies against the kingdom’s ruler.” She said, her voice loud and booming. It made Rui’s ears ring.

“As you may all know; I am not a cruel person. This wouldn’t be happening if they agreed on meeting on a middle ground, but alas, it was impossible to break their shell.” She continued, her eyes wandering across the crowd. Like she wasn’t just explaining her actions, but threatening them.

“That’s all I will say. Let’s start, no need to make this longer than needed.” She signaled to the guard. The guard tugged at Saki, and her face contorted in fear.

Rui’s eyes frantically searched the crowd, his heartbeat quickening, only to calm down when his eyes caught Minori in the crowd. She gave him a thumbs up, her hand visibly shaking, even from the distance.

It would start soon.

An explosion echoed through the square, followed up by several more. Rui started running as thick smoke started filling the place, panicked voices raising.

He got up to the platform, using his magic, and quickly grabbed Toya and Saki. He told them to run with him, and to never look back.

They ran as their life depended on it. He could hear the cries of knights, but he didn’t look back at all.

Soon, it would be all over.

 

 

“I remember, Rui-kun.” Emu answers quietly, her tone solemn.

“But…” She continues, fiddling with her fingers nervously. “…I feel like that’s not the whole story.” She says. Rui gives her a helpless smile.

“There is no hiding from you. It is indeed not the full story, but…” Rui’s smile fades as he presses his lips into a thin line. Emu gets up from the ground, and holds his hands.

“I understand. You don’t have to tell me now. Or ever. I don’t want you to force yourself, when you already have so much weighing down your mind. I just-” She takes in a sharp breath as she averts her eyes. “-wish you would at least give him a chance again. Something in me, call it intuition, tells me that he deserves it.” She finishes as she lets go of his hands. Rui’s eyebrows rise.

“Him? He deserves it? Emu-kun, I’m trying to understand, I really am, but what you’re saying does not make sense to me at all.” He answers, baffled.

“Rui-kun… But did you ever talk to him?” Emu asks. Rui opens his mouth to answer, but Emu starts talking again.

“And with that I mean actual talking, not words thrown to each other while fighting.” Rui’s mouth closes with an audible click.

“…No.” He grits out.

“See?” Emu sighs. “Just… give him a chance. You don’t have to forgive him or anything, but it will only keep hurting you further if you keep acting like this.” She says.

Rui grumbles, looks to the side, and sighs in defeat.

“Alright. Even though I simply refuse to act friendly towards him… I will try my best to not be hostile.” Rui says as he looks down at Tsukasa. Tsukasa looks back at him, his eyes shimmering with something Rui can’t put a name on.

“And, maybe, I will listen to his reasoning if the day comes."

 

 

 

Notes:

sorry for the short update but the next chapter is longer than usual so i hope that makes up for it c:

Chapter 7: Chapte 7

The two weeks he spends with Tsukasa is… strange, to put it lightly.

The first day is the one to start it off. Actually, it isn’t that bad in the morning, if bad at all.  

He undresses Tsukasa’s bandages, and sees that there isn’t any open wound left. It’s quite a surprise to him how fast his wounds seem to heal. Though, one of his ears is missing a good chunk of it now. Rui isn’t sure if it will carry onto his human form or not.

Thankfully, Tsukasa is still and silent through the whole process, so he gets done with it quickly, and doesn’t linger on it too much.

Tsukasa’s presence doesn’t bother him like it did the other day, and he feels calm enough to focus on his work. Nene and Emu even take Tsukasa out to play with him. And they apparently have a great time, based on Nene’s words. He still feels bad when Nene talks about Tsukasa like he is a normal cat, but it’s a small sacrifice.

It’s night when the day gets a bit… awkward. Rui, being scolded by Emu and Nene for his sleeping habits, decides on sleeping on his bed. But the problem is, Tsukasa is already on his bed, knocked out cold. He is even snoring. Rui had no idea cats could snore.

He awkwardly stands beside his bed, not knowing what to do. The thing is, if Tsukasa was sleeping in a corner, he would be able to sleep in the bed no problem. But, Tsukasa is sleeping right in the center of the bed, like he owns it. The moonlight spills over him through his window, making his fur glow.

He heaves a sigh, suddenly feeling the tiredness drape over him like a heavy blanket. He doesn’t have much of a choice here, it seems.

He slowly puts a hand under Tsukasa, careful to not wake him up. He gives him a little nudge, and Tsukasa startles awake, his fur standing up straight. Rui quickly backs up.

Tsukasa looks at him with wide open eyes, bewildered. His eyes shine like glass in the dark.

“Calm down, I’m trying to get into the bed.” Rui whispers into the dark. Tsukasa’s fur mellows out, his posture relaxing.

Rui shuffles closer to the bed, and sits down on it. Tsukasa doesn’t move from his place, seemingly uncertain.

“Can you… move away?” Rui asks. Tsukasa jumps down the bed, looking around to find a spot he can sleep on. Rui frowns.

“You can sleep in the bed, I don’t mind. Just… scoot over a little.” Rui says. Tsukasa turns around to approach the bed again, his steps a bit hesitant. Rui lies down stiffly, turning around to face the wall.

It’s up to Tsukasa if he wants to sleep on the bed or not, Rui isn’t going to spend time convincing him. Because that’s not his business… of course.

The bed dips with a soft sound, and Rui feels himself get even more stiff. There is some shuffling, and then absolute silence.

…He is going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.

 

When he wakes up in the morning, barely feeling any rested, he realizes something is vibrating against his back. He turns his head around, still groggy and confused, and sees that Tsukasa is practically plastered to his back, purring loudly.

He turns around again quickly, slapping a hand over his beet red face.

 

Aside from the initial awkwardness of the morning, they quickly fall into an easy rhythm with each other. Tsukasa doesn’t bother him, and he doesn’t bother Tsukasa. He keeps on working on his potions, finally laser focused on his tasks, like he was just a week ago.

But after a few hours, he feels Tsukasa get… restless. He is meandering around the room, smelling random plants, staring at Rui’s book’s covers, and jumping up to the window side to look at outside.

It’s obvious he is incredibly bored.

“Tenma?” Rui asks to get his attention, which startles Tsukasa out of the daze he was in, looking at a book’s cover about flowers. He tilts his head questioningly. Rui pulls out the sheet of paper Emu prepared to communicate with Tsukasa and puts it to the floor. Tsukasa shuffles closer, still looking a bit confused.

“Are you bored?” Rui asks curtly, and Tsukasa freezes up like he got caught doing something he isn’t supposed to be. He sheepishly presses ‘yes’.

“I see…” Rui hums. “Do you want to go outside?” He offers, taking Tsukasa by surprise.

“It is probably incredibly boring to sit around doing nothing all day, and I told you I wouldn’t torture you, right? You can roam around the inn a little, but don’t go overboard.” Rui explains. Tsukasa meows and presses ‘yes’ again. Rui gets up to crack the door open, and Tsukasa flees the moment he opens the door.

He must be incredibly bored, then. He sits back down on his chair, and once again immerses himself in his work.

 

Not even an hour later, he hears furious knocking on his door. He opens the door and finds himself face to face with Minori, completely out of breath.

“Hanasato-kun…? Is everything alright?” Rui questions worriedly.

“I-I think Star fled the inn! The yellow cat is Star, right?” Minori questions hurriedly, worry evident in her face. Rui furrows his burrows. Just as he is about to open his mouth, another person steps in.

“Kamishiro-san, I’m so sorry!” Shizuku says, panicked. Rui’s eyes widen.

“What happened exactly?” He questions.

“Well…” Minori starts, and averts her eyes.

 

The sweet taste of freedom, Tsukasa thinks as he hurriedly gets out of the room, scared Rui might change his mind. In truth, he is incredibly bored, and he feels even more restless in this body. He feels like he should be doing something, like hunting, or scratching a surface.

Rui would certainly not appreciate it if he scratched his floor though, so he refrains from it. But, he is pretty sure he will be able to find a nice spot to scratch on if he looks hard enough. With that in mind, he trots happily, sniffing around along the way, poking his head inside the open doors.

Sadly, most of the doors are closed, and the ones that are actually open are mostly full of weird potion making stuff, and he really doesn’t want to meddle with anything that involves potions, since that didn’t exactly turn out well for him the last time.

He roams the whole inn from head to toe, and isn’t able to find a spot he can comfortably scratch on. His ears lower in sadness, but he doesn’t mull it over too much. He can just nap the day away, no big deal. He turns around to go back to Rui’s room, as he really doesn’t want to be scolded for not coming back.

He hears voices coming from the kitchen while he passes by. He turns around to see what is happening, peeking from the door.

He sees two girls excitedly chatting up a storm, holding potions in their hands. He curiously tries to listen in to the conversation, but the blue haired one turns around and spots him by the door.

“Minori-chan, does any of us have a cat?” She asks curiously. The other girl, apparently named Minori, turns around to look at him with surprise.

“Emu-chan told me Kamishiro-san has a cat named Star, so it should probably be this cat…?” She explains, kind of unsure of herself.

“It probably is.” Shizuku answers, and scoots closer to Tsukasa, leaning down to look at him.

“His eyes are so cute!” She exclaims with a smile. Tsukasa pushes his chest out proudly, his tail upright.

Heh, not a bad compliment at all.

“Right, his fur looks so nice too!” Minori says as she comes closer. If Tsukasa was still a human, he would have his self-satisfied smile on him. He steps inside the room confidently.

Minori tries leaning down too, but suddenly, the potion on her belt falls to the floor, crashing upon impact. Both the girls jump back with an ‘eek’.

The mysterious green liquid inside seeps down the wooden floor, and Minori’s face becomes sheet white.

“O-oh no…! This is terrible! What do we do, Shizuku-chan?!” She exclaims to Shizuku, who looks a bit confused.

“What was that potion?” She asks.

“The one we use for the plants… but we only use one drop for a single plant! If… if we leave a whole bottle exposed in the open…” She looks around, and seemingly spots something as dread becomes evident in her face. “The whole kitchen is going to be swarmed by bugs!” She yells.

Tsukasa feels his heart drop to his stomach as he spots the centipede too. He freezes up.

“Oh no! But Star can help us shoo them away, right?” Shizuku asks worriedly.

“R-right.” Minori says as she looks at Tsukasa. She grabs a broom with shaking hands and gets closer to the bug.

“Star, please catch the bug!” Shizuku says to Tsukasa. Tsukasa still doesn’t move an inch.

“Wait, I should probably close the window, right?” Shizuku asks and turns around to close the window. Just before she is able to close the window, a bug flies in, directly going for Tsukasa, almost like it is targeting him.

Tsukasa screams, and flees the room. Shizuku and Minori watch him go with their mouths hanging open in horror.

“O-oh no!” Minori exclaims, alarmed, and thrusts the broom into Shizuku’s hands.

“Shizuku-chan, please take care of the bugs, I will go after Star!” She yells and storms out of the room.

 

Meanwhile, Tsukasa is still running as fast as a cat can possibly get. He feels his legs burn, and knows that he is probably safe now, but he is still too scared to stop.

He comes across a door bigger than the usual ones in the inn, and sees people coming inside, light spilling behind them.

He dashes for the door without thinking, ignoring the surprised shouts, and one suspicious shout of his name. His feet touch damp grass, but he can’t bring himself to care as he keeps on running and running.

The road gets narrower by the second, the trees start looming over him, blocking the sun. The subtle chatter of the inn is gone, replaced by the birds singing their tunes.

He slowly comes to a stop, and looks around.

The only thing he can see is trees looming over him and wild bushes. They absorb the sound, leaving him able to hear his own ragged breaths. The road is nowhere to be seen.

He is completely lost. There isn’t any path he can follow back to the inn, nor can he hear any noise to follow. There isn’t even a scent he can trace back to the inn.

Uh oh. He feels panic sink into his bones. He will die here, won’t he? Some wild animal will find him and feast on his flesh.

His ears stand up straight as he hears a rustling sound coming from the bush right in front of him. He pales.

His instincts tell him to run, and he does.

He keeps on running and running, slowing down here and there only to pick up his pace when he hears a sound. He can smell the animal coming for him.

His stomach rumbles in hunger, but he doesn’t have the luxury of stopping, let alone eating.

He feels his hope diminish every minute, becoming more and more desperate with each passing moment. His hunger doesn’t help.

Suddenly, he hears a voice. It’s hard to believe his own ears, and he thinks he might be hallucinating.

He hears the voice again. He feverishly looks around, trying to locate where it could be possibly coming from.

“Star!” He hears the voice exclaim. He yowls in answer as he starts running to the source of the voice.

He jumps up to the human the second he spots them, and knocks them over.

“Ow.” Says a deadpan voice, and Tsukasa realizes the person he knocked over is Rui. He pales as he tries getting off him, but Rui holds him by his middle, and Tsukasa stills.

Rui sits up with Tsukasa still in his hands, looking at him intently. Tsukasa looks back at him, trying to guess what Rui is thinking. Rui is silent for another moment, and then, he huffs out something akin to a laugh. He gently places Tsukasa back down.

“You’re still afraid of bugs? Can’t say I am surprised.” He says teasingly, not in his usual way of mocking, but a simple friendly banter. Tsukasa looks back at him with his mouth open.

Did… did Rui just tease him?! He isn’t mad!?

“Well, you gave Hanasato-kun and Hinomori-san quite the scare. Let’s get you back to the inn.” He says as he gets up, and the moment is over just like that.

Did Rui actually mean to be friendly with Tsukasa, or was it just a slip up? Tsukasa has no idea.

His stomach growls loudly, and he flinches with embarrassment. Rui curiously looks at him.

“Did running around make you hungry? I think we still have some leftovers back in the inn, you can eat when we get back home.” He says, like he wasn’t threatening to kill him two days ago.

This is somehow scarier.

 

Minori and Shizuku profusely apologize to Tsukasa the second they get back to the inn, as they were waiting right in front of the inn’s door. Rui assures them he is just a cat and it doesn’t matter (it does), but they still seem to feel bad, so they cook him one of the most delicious fish he ever had the pleasure of eating.

Even if he was mad, he would have forgiven them the second they whipped out that fish. He purrs in delight as he chows down on it, and the three others watch him with a relieved smile. Also, he doesn’t even have to panic about any bugs in the kitchen, because Rui fixes everything up with a simple potion.

 

After the day pass, and the morning rolls over (Yes, they shared the bed again. And yes, Tsukasa somehow managed to violate his personal space completely once again.), Rui realizes that Tsukasa got a… bit dirty.

Running around the forest after a downpour does that to you, he supposes.

Tsukasa looks back at him and meows, his tone carrying his confusion. Rui freezes up when he realizes he dropped his pen and is watching Tsukasa mindlessly for some time now. He clears his throat nervously and brings out the sheet Emu made.

“Do you want to take a bath?” He asks. Tsukasa quickly trots over and presses ‘no’ without even thinking. Rui groans.

What was he thinking asking a cat if he wanted a bath or not? The answer is obviously no.

“I can’t let you sleep in my bed like this, you know.” Rui says as he points to his general direction. Tsukasa looks down to see what exactly is wrong with him, and freezes up when he realizes what it is.

His fur is muddy, first off. His beautiful blond fur is now looking a sad brown, only yellow on some random spots. There are some leaves still stuck to him. He lifts his head back up when he hears Rui sigh.

“It wasn’t the best decision to let you sleep on my bed looking like… that. I should change my sheets after I’m done bathing you.” Rui says, almost like he is talking to himself.

Tsukasa meows back, weakly, because when did he accept to be bathed?

 But, he doesn’t really want to walk around looking like a stray cat, too... What of his dignity?! He has to get in water, so what? It isn’t that big of a deal, right? He used to shower ever day before he transformed into a cat!

As it turns out, it is kind of a big deal.

He stands in front of the bowl Rui took to bathe him in as Rui checks the temperature of the water. The rhythmic sound of water dripping rings in his ears as he looks at his reflection, and it looks right back at him.

Now that he thinks about it, he didn’t really get to see the chance to properly see himself, no? He turns his face side to side, checking himself out, his fear momentarily forgotten.

He looks quite cute, if he has to say so himself. Even though he is incredibly dirty.

The thought snaps him back to reality as he turns around to look at Rui, who seems satisfied with the water’s temperature.

“I read in a book that cats are a bit more sensitive to the temperature, so I didn’t want the water to be too hot.” He explains. “Just meow if something is wrong.”

Tsukasa meows in answer, because this is so, so wrong. He wants to flee the bathroom. Rui huffs.

“Okay. I will dip you into the water now, alright?” He says as he brings his hands closer to hold Tsukasa, but Tsukasa quickly backs up. Rui sighs again with a frown.

“Don’t make this harder for me.” He says and leans forward to catch Tsukasa, and Tsukasa tries to resist at first, but Rui’s hold gets firm, and he quickly gives up.

At the very least, Rui did become a bit better at holding cats.

“Hold still.” Rui warns, and carefully starts lowering him down to the water. Tsukasa’s tail swishes side to side in danger as he gets lower and lower, and starts wiggling when the water gets a bit too close.

“Star.” Rui warns again, but it’s no use. Tsukasa wiggles harder and meows, desperate to get far away.

His foot touches the water, and he yowls. Rui quickly pulls him back and places him down.

“Is the water too hot?” He asks with a hint of worry. It isn’t hot at all, and it isn’t too cold Tsukasa can’t put his paws in it. It’s just the perfect temperature, and yet…

He really disliked the texture. Which is weird, since he loved being near water when he was a human. You would think he would be one of the water loving cats.

Tsukasa shakes his head in dismissal. Rui gives him a deadpan look.

“So you were just scared. Alright, let’s try this one more time.” He says and holds Tsukasa again to lower him down to the water.

When Tsukasa’s foot touches the water again, he yowls, again, but Rui keeps lowering him. Tsukasa starts trashing in his hold as the water splashes wildly, but Rui is relentless, even though he is getting splashed.

…Tsukasa is in the water. He yowls as he looks at Rui dead in the eye, and Rui grimaces. He has a hand over Tsukasa’s nape, not harsh, and almost reassuring. He purposefully made the water shallow so Tsukasa wasn’t swimming it, and even though his legs are the only place that is touching the water, Tsukasa makes it obvious he is not happy.

He splashes Tsukasa with a bit of water to see his reaction. Tsukasa yowls even harder, trashing in his hold.

“Star, please, calm down. You didn’t even react like this when I threatened to kill you.” Rui says, and that seems to bring Tsukasa back to his senses a little bit as he stills. He still looks distraught though.

Rui splashes him with a little bit of water to test out his reaction. Tsukasa answers with a subdued yowl, the fight in him slowly disappearing. Rui deems it safe enough to splash him with more water, and Tsukasa becomes silent after some point, just letting it happen.

Rui lathers him with soap thoroughly, until he is barely able to see Tsukasa. The soap assaults Tsukasa’s senses, and he realizes it has the exact same scent he smelled in Rui’s room. Wait…

Is Rui washing him with his own soap?! The thought is incredibly flustering for some reason.  

Rui rinses the soap off, and takes him off the bowl carefully. His hands are so gentle, and Tsukasa doesn’t understand. He really doesn’t. Why is Rui acting gentle with him out of all people?

He doesn’t deserve it.

…It has to be because he is a cat, and Rui got used to seeing him as that. There is no other explanation.

Rui starts drying him with a towel, carefully, gently, and Tsukasa melts into his touch. How can he not? The way his hands rub the towel into his fur feels just right, like scratching an itch that has been waiting for too long to be scratched. It feels pleasant, maybe a bit too pleasant as he starts purring. Why on earth can he not control that thing?!

Rui doesn’t say anything, so Tsukasa can only hope he didn’t notice. (Of course he did, Tsukasa’s purring volume is probably enough to break some record out there.)

The towel is slowly lifted off of him as Rui deems him dry enough, and cracks a smile when he sees the sight before him. He probably doesn’t even realize he is smiling.

Tsukasa’s fur is puffed up, bad. He looks like a ball of fur. Rui huffs and ruffles Tsukasa’s head, but immediately freezes up when he realizes what he is doing. He quickly retracts his hand and stands up as he clears his throat.

Tsukasa looks up at him with his mouth agape, but doesn’t say anything. Not like he could in the first place.

Also, why is Rui’s clothes completely soaked?

…Still, both of them silently decide on not to talk about what just happened as they walk back to the room in silence.

 

Disaster doesn’t strike again until two days later. Rui decides on cooking himself a meal, because why not? Everyone is really busy these days, so they don’t have much time to cook for him too. Also, he is pretty sure he can’t mess up a simple meal.

His first mistake is deciding to take Tsukasa with him. His second mistake is letting him jump up to the counter.

He decides on cooking rice and chicken, since it seems the easiest option.

He brings out a pan, and puts oil in it. Easy, right? Then, he lets the oil get hot as he cuts the chicken, and Tsukasa watches him intently, maybe too intently. Whatever, Rui is pretty sure he still doesn’t have the guts to do something stupid, like stealing Rui’s food.

Still, it doesn’t go unnoticed by Rui’s eyes how Tsukasa keeps licking his muzzle.

Rui puts the chicken down when he deems the pan hot enough, and it splashes in the oil with a loud sizzle. He turns around to get some seasoning for the chicken, but immediately turns back when he hears a loud thud.

Tsukasa knocked down the salt, somehow, and is standing very still. The said salt’s lid seemingly flew open, and the salt particles are everywhere.

“Star.” Rui says while glaring holes into Tsukasa. Tsukasa flinches in place, and meows weakly.

A weird feeling blooms in Rui’s chest. Isn’t he… supposed to be mad? Tsukasa knocked down the salt while obviously trying to steal his chicken.

Why doesn’t he feel mad?

He shakes his head and looks at Tsukasa… Star? again.

And all he sees is a cat that tried stealing his food. A typical cat behavior, not something to be made a big deal out of.

His face softens.

Rui grabs a broom and approaches the mess as Star jumps down the counter and hides behind the table.

He is sweeping the mess when the smell of something burning reaches his nose. He immediately puts down the broom and checks the chicken, and sure enough, it’s pretty much burned, not quite edible.

He sighs as he tosses the chicken to the trash, but he still has rice to eat, right?

He turns around to realize he didn’t even steam the rice. He groans as he presses his fingers to his temple.

What a disaster.

In the end, Nene finds them in the middle of an awkward staring contest, and cooks him the rice and chicken right after realizing what happened. She leaves after she scolds Rui for not being more careful.

He decides he isn’t going to let Star take a bite, but he insistently meows and yowls right next to him, and Rui gives up when Star looks at him with puppy eyes. How can a cat even do puppy eyes in the first place, he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t take Tsukasa to the kitchen again.

Aside from these, nothing major happens, but still… it’s scary how easy living with a cat, a… knight, is. Star- Tsukasa? doesn’t get in his way, since he’s napping by the window side most of the time. The times he’s awake is spent wandering around aimlessly (except the kitchen), and scratching on the scratching post Emu set up for him.

It’s hard not to get carried away with it. He catches himself numerous times mindlessly petting Star, and in the end, he stops caring. How can he not? Star doesn’t seem to mind it, so why should Rui? Why should he deprive himself of the comfort of petting a fluffy cat, one that actually accepts being petted by him?

He even starts finding comfort in its presence. He’s horrified when he realizes it, but he can’t deny how much easier the sleep seems to come to him these days.

Simply because a cat plastered to him is purring loudly. How embarrassing.

He decides on just… not thinking about it, because that will certainly help his case. Totally.

Sadly for him, a certain pink haired girl doesn’t share the sentiment.

 

 

There is two days left until they attack when he hears a knock on the door. Star lazily lifts his head from where he is sunbathing right next to the window.

“Come in.” Rui calls as he closes his book.

“Hi, Rui-kun, Wonderhoy!” Emu calls out as she enters the room, and Rui smiles softly.

The tension is pretty high in the inn, and it becomes quite evident if you take a look at its residents. Even Kaito seems a bit stressed out, but Emu doesn’t seem to get affected by it somehow.

It’s a nice breath of fresh air.

“Hi, Emu-kun. I didn’t expect you to come here, since you have been so busy these days.” Rui says.

“About that,” Emu starts with a nervous giggle, “I might have escaped from Kaito-san to meet up with you, but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?” she continues, hoping Rui understands. Rui frowns.

“Is there a problem? Or something important you wanted to tell me?” He questions. Emu frantically waves her hands in front of her.

“No! I mean- Yes! No, actually- ugh…” She lowers her head in defeat.

“I just wanted to talk to you about something that might be important to you.” She finishes with a tight smile. Rui’s brows shoot up with curiosity.

“Something important to me…? And what that might be, Emu-kun?” He asks.

“Ummm…” She mutters as she eyes Tsukasa, who already jumped down from his spot to listen to their conversation.

“I would prefer if we were alone talking about it.” She says, and Rui looks at her confusedly for a second, but is quick to understand what she means. He turns around to face Star.

“Star, can you go out for a walk while we are talking?” He asks, and it seems to be enough as Tsukasa meows at them once and quickly trots away from the room. Emu sighs with relief as she plops down to Rui’s bed.

“So, what did you want to tell me?” Rui asks curiously as he turns his chair around to face Emu.

“It’s about your relationship with Tenma.” She starts with a serious tone. Rui frowns, taken aback, but quickly composes himself.

“Tenma…? You mean Star, right? We’re fine, I promise I’m not threatening to kill him anymore.” He explains calmly. Emu grimaces.

“No, I don’t mean Star. I’m talking about Tenma, Rui-kun.” She says.

“Star is Tenma, right? I don’t see the problem here.”

“Rui-kun…” Emu says, still grimacing.

“I have been thinking about this for a while, but… do you actually realize the cat you’re looking after is Tenma?” She asks. Rui huffs in surprise.

“Of course I do. He wouldn’t be able to understand what we are saying if he was an ordinary cat.” He answers, and Emu falls silent, but it’s obvious from her face that she still wants to retort. Rui sighs.

“Look, Emu-kun, I’m giving him another chance just like you asked me to. Why is this a bad thing?”

“You told me you wouldn’t be friendly with him.”

“I warmed up to him. Is me being friendly towards Star the problem?” He asks, genuinely not understanding where she is coming from. Emu grits her teeth.

“You didn’t warm up to Tenma, you warmed up to the idea of having a pet. Would you be able to act this friendly towards Tenma, if he was still a human?” She shoots back. Rui’s eyes widen with shock. He averts them quickly.

“I… I’m not sure…” He mumbles.

Once again, Emu noticed something about him when even he wasn’t really aware of it.

Emu sighs exaggeratedly.

“It isn’t a crime to get attached to a cat you are always together with, you know. But it seems like you completely forgot who the cat is these days, and I’m worried things aren’t going to be so well once Tenma turns back to his human form.” She explains with downcast eyes. Rui sighs in answer.

“You’re right, Emu-kun. I got carried away with it… but how did you realize this in the first place? We barely talked in the past days since we are so busy.” He questions.

“It wasn’t too hard to guess actually, since you carry Star in your arms everywhere you go. You made it quite obvious.” She explains.

“Oh.” Rui says as his cheeks get tinted with pink. He was pretty obvious about it, wasn’t he?

They turn their heads to Rui’s door when they hear the shout of Emu’s name. She jumps up with an ‘eek’.

“Kaito is probably looking for me, I should go now. Wonderhoy goodbye!” She exclaims and dashes out the door without even waiting for his answer.

Rui buries his hands in his hair with a sigh. He understands the problem, but he doesn’t know how he is going to solve it at all. He can’t just… stop acting like he doesn’t own a cat, when he does. And he can’t really distance himself from Star, since they’re sharing a room together.

He gives Star a pained look when it enters the room again.

 

 

Notes:

also, tsukasa is a red turkish angora!

i hope you enjoyed this chapter, because i had a lot of fun writing it :D

Chapter 8: Chapt 8

Rui wakes up feeling uneasy the day of the attack. He quickly realizes why as he reaches around his bed blindly, and comes up empty handed. He opens his eyes drowsily, and pouts with disappointment when he sees his personal furnace really isn’t in the bed.

That’s probably why he feels cold too, as his body heat is barely passable for a human. And a blanket only helps so much.

He sits up slowly, scratching his head as he yawns, and wanders his eyes around the room. They light up when he finally spots Star, silently sitting by the window side.  

Rui sluggishly drags himself out of bed, and crouches down right next to where Star is seated.

“Morning.” He mumbles as he rubs at his eyes. Star turns around to look at him, and weakly meows, so unlike his high pitched greetings.

Still, Rui smiles softly at it. He leans over and scratches Star’s chin.

Tsukasa stiffens at the action, and Rui pulls back in confusion. He frowns.

“Is everything alright? You seem tense, Star.” Rui questions, his voice barely above a whisper.

An image of a disappointed Emu flashes before his eyes. He quickly shakes his head in dismissal.

He thought about her words, he really did, but when it came to taking action… he just couldn’t do it.

He tried, for an hour and a two, but in the end, found himself unable to keep up the act.

Then proceeded to tell himself he would think about it after today’s attack.

So, Emu shouldn’t be disappointed with him, he tried, alright?

Star meows back at him, but before Rui is able to ask him what that means, his door bangs open.

“Rui, why aren’t you out on the field yet?! Almost everything is ready, and Kaito-san has been looking for you everywhere!” Nene exclaims, hurried and breathless, a frown on her face.

Rui quickly gets up from his spot, his worries about Star forgotten.

“Sorry, Nene. You go ahead, I will be there in a minute.” He replies with a smile as he swiftly gathers his clothes and potions. Nene disappears from sight without another word.

In all honesty, he isn’t much stressed out about the attack today. While they aren’t the side that usually initiates these ‘attacks’, he’s already used to it.

Also, he wasn’t lying when he said he believes their chances of winning will skyrocket now that Tsukasa is out of the way.

 

Just before he’s about to leave his room, he turns around to smile at Star.

“I hope I don’t keep you waiting too much, Star. I will see you later.” He says with a wink, and hurriedly goes out the door.

Tsukasa feels nausea take over his senses as he watches the door close.

 

“Do you think this time will be different?” Emu suddenly asks while they are walking to the kingdom. The crowd of magicians behind them follows, their footsteps making crunchy sounds against the snow.

They weren’t really expecting it to snow, since the weather had started warming up a bit. Nonetheless, the snow isn’t enough to dampen their spirits, obvious with the way everyone has a slight smile on their face, looking more relaxed than they ever have.

Probably because Tsukasa isn’t here anymore.

“As in?” Rui shoots back.

“Like, do you think we will win? What will happen if we do? I feel like we have been in this back and forth loop for so long.” Emu asks again as she skips, trying to match his pace. Rui hums as he considers her words.

“With Tenma out of the way,” He starts, feeling like he told this a million times, “…we have a really good chance of winning. As for what will happen… I’m not quite sure, Emu-kun.” Rui answers. Emu hums too as she looks ahead, her eyes squinted.

“I just don’t want any more of us to get harmed, you know? We already lost so much and- I… I just want to get Sakurako-chan and the others back. I miss them a lot, Rui-kun.” She mumbles with a brittle tone. Rui gives her a smile, hoping that it looks reassuring. It doesn’t.

“It will be fine, Emu-kun. I’m sure we will be able to get them back one day.” He answers, even though he isn’t so sure if they are still alive or not.

Emu doesn’t say anything in return.

 

Its eerily silent when they reach the bridge connecting the kingdom to the forest. Not a single soul in sight, almost like its abandoned.

The silence leaves them confused, uneasy. Panicked murmurs rise from the magicians, looking at each other.

Rui frowns as he turns around to look at Kaito. Kaito looks back at him with a serene smile, and faces the magicians.

“Everyone.” Kaito starts, firm yet gentle. The magicians quiet down, turning to face him.

“Please don’t forget our plan, and stay royal to it. Now, please form the blocks.” He commands, and all of them scramble to go to their designated location.

Kaito holds Rui by his wrist before he’s able to go to his own location. Rui looks at him with surprise.

“Rui.” Kaito calls him, still smiling, even though it’s starting to get a bit tight on his face.

“I will cross the bridge to make our presence known, alright?” He lets go of Rui’s wrist as Rui’s eyes widen with shock. “Can you command the magicians for me?”

“Huh? I mean, I can, but-” Rui stutters before Kaito raises a hand to quiet him down, still smiling.

“-but it’s dangerous? I know, Rui. But I need you to trust me.” Kaito says, and looks straight into his eyes.

“Do you trust me?”

Rui averts his eyes with a grimace, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“But why? What if they’re planning to ambush us, and you fall right into their trap?” He questions, feeling his throat tighten.

Because he never had to question Kaito’s choices, not like this. As absurd as it sounds, Kaito simply knows what to do, he doesn’t leave any room for questioning.

That’s why Rui has been able to trust him so much, and yet…

He has a bad feeling about this.

“You know I’m strong, Rui.” Kaito answers with ease. “Even if they did, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for me. You know I can handle it.”

“Kaito-san, I’m sure they will notice us soon, so-”

“Rui.” Kaito says, his voice hardening. Rui stills, his breath hitching.

“Do you trust me?” He asks once again, a blank look on his face.

“…I do.” Rui answers, though he can’t bring himself to face Kaito. Kaito puts a hand to his shoulder.

“And I trust you, Rui. Which is why I know you’re more than capable of commanding the magicians.” He smiles again. “If something happens to me, I will send a sign. Stay high on alert.”

Kaito takes his hand off his shoulder, immediately turning around to approach the bridge swiftly.

Rui’s hands curl up into a fist by his sides, his nerves all jumbled up, jittery, as he watches Kaito go. He clenches his teeth as he looks down.

“Rui-kun?” Emu calls out to him, and Rui looks up with surprise. She has her water claymore in hand, the one she spent weeks on, trying to make it look both cute and useful.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on the other side?” Rui questions.

“I am, but, I saw Kaito-san go all by himself, and got worried. Why did he go?” she shoots a question back, worrying her lip between her teeth.

“…I don’t know. He told me to trust him, that’s all.”

Emu gasps, a frown on her face.

“And you just let him? What if- what if something happens to him? What would we do then?” Emu anxiously asks, squeezing the claymore in her hand tightly.

Worry twists in Rui’s gut as he averts his eyes.

Emu opens her mouth to talk again when they hear a loud bang, resonating in the quiet forest.

Rui feels his blood run cold as he watches a black smoke rise in the distance.

This must be the sign Kaito was talking about.

“Everyone, be on guard!” he yells as the black smoke approaches them rapidly, swallowing up everything on its way.

Before Emu could even move to her position, someone appears from the smoke, walking up to them with deliberate steps.

Hatsune Miku.

Rui feels his heart drop to his stomach as he watches her come closer.

She smiles at them, hauntingly predatory.

“My, letting your ‘leader’ go straight into the lion’s den, what a clever decision.” She starts, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Seriously, what did you think would happen? That he would somehow magically cut off my head and bring back the peace you oh so want?” She continues.

All of them tense up, angry and worried murmurs rising by the second. Rui clenches his fists even harder, his nails digging into his skin. His shadow starts shaking slightly.

“But, let me tell you, you overestimated your leader’s strength. And, guess what? You don’t even have a leader anymore.” She says sweetly, twisted with sick pleasure.

Rui’s face contorts, showing signs of fury, as he digs his nails into his skin more and more.

She turns around to look directly at him, and smiles a manic grin when she takes in his expression.

It snaps something inside Rui, as he starts running towards her with a cry, while collecting his magic into his right hand, the black matter crackling with power within.

He jumps at her, hitting her in the face with his full power as the corners of his vision go pitch black.

He immediately backs away a step in defense, and feels the whole world come to a stop, unable to breathe.

He stares at Seiryuin Sakurako, standing right in front of the queen with her arms raised in defense, one of them dripping with blood.

He unconsciously takes another step back, his breaths shaky and irregular.

He thinks he might be dreaming. He hopes this is a nightmare.

But its painfully real as Sakurako moves aside to reveal Miku, who is standing unaffected, just like she was a couple minutes ago. The grin on her face becomes even wider.

“I came here to talk with you without meaning any harm, but I see now that you’re quite willing to go ahead and attack me. So be it.” Miku says as the smile from her face vanishes, leaving a horrifyingly empty look in its place.

The black smoke is almost gone when he sees people step out of it. dread curls in his guts when he recognizes who they are.

Every single magician they lost at the hands of Tsukasa. Every single one of them, walking towards them without a trace of emotion.

“What is the meaning of this?!” Emu yells as she steps up, her face twisted with horror. Miku narrows her eyes, like she just saw a pest.

“What do you think is the meaning of this? Obviously they decided to join me, since I can offer them much more than he ever could.” Miku says as she waves a hand airily, completely uncaring and disinterested.

“Hypocrite. You banned them from the castle in the first place, why are you acting like they fled the kingdom on their own?” Emu spits out, a furious look on her face, disorienting in its existence.

“Nonsense. I only banished them because their magic was disturbing the peace of my kingdom. They decided on their own terms that they will be only using magic to serve me now. And that’s why I took them under my wing once again. You, however…” Miku’s eyes narrow further as they land on Rui once again.

“Get him.” She murmurs, and that’s enough for Sakurako to jump at him, vines growing from her hands.

Rui ducks quickly, but she is quicker as she punches him in the gut with her other hand. The thorns penetrate his skin as he coughs up blood, blanching.

He stumbles back as he clutches his stomach, gasping for breath, but Sakurako is relentless in her attacks as she kicks him in the leg, sending him flying down to the ground.

Emu jumps in, trying to shield him, but another magician attacks her, reducing her defense to nothingness.

The other magicians standing behind Miku are quick to get into action too, seemingly reaction to the scene happening in front of them.

Rui’s heartbeat rings in his ears as he looks up, seeing Sakurako approaching him slowly.

He spits out the blood in his mouth.

He doesn’t want to do this. And yet, he might get killed if he doesn’t fight back, or worse, fall to the hands of the queen.

Sakurako lifts her leg to attack when Rui repels her with a burst of magic. He quickly gets up from the floor, coughing, and glares at her.

She doesn’t glare back, nor does she smile.

She looks like she has been reduced to a simple doll.

The way she holds herself as she fights, the way she uses her attacks, it is nothing like the woman Rui remembers. His heart clenches as he repels another attack once again.

He gets close and latches onto her arm, not budging even when she starts trashing against his hold.

“Sakurako-san!” Rui yells at her, trying to make her come back to her senses. Sakurako looks at him, but her eyes seem like they are looking through him.

“What happened?! Why… why are you like this?!” He keeps on yelling, but she makes it obvious she isn’t listening as she keeps on trying to wretch her arm away.

Rui hisses in pain as he feels thorns prick his palm, but he is far too desperate to stop. He gets a hold of her forearms and shakes her violently.

“The Sakurako-san I know would never let this happen…! So why… why do you…?” He squeezes harder as he looks down in despair.

“Kamishiro-san.” A monotone voice that is supposed to be Sakurako’s starts talking, and Rui immediately snaps his head back up.

“You don’t understand, do you?” She questions and, in an instant, his arms are tightly wrapped by vines. He grunts in pain as he struggles against them, but that only makes the thorns go deeper.

“You already lost. Stop resisting. I…” Sakurako starts, but she quiets down as her face contorts with… something, something Rui can’t put a name on. The thorns retract as she stares at him, straight into his eyes, clarity evident in her eyes with the way they lit up. Rui quickly shakes off the vines and latches onto her arms again.

“Sakurako-sa-” She knocks him to the ground before he can get her name out.

He lifts his head, his vision swimming, and sees Miku standing over him, a hand clutching her necklace, and Sakurako standing beside her, her eyes pitch black.

Miku rolls her eyes with a sigh as she turns to look at Sakurako.

“Did I tell you to reason with him? No. There is no saving him, just finish him off.” She commands coldly.

Dread takes over Rui’s senses when Sakurako starts approaching him silently.

One second, there is vines flying his direction. The second, someone cuts right in front of him, water splashing wildly with the action.

 He realizes the person is Emu when she turns around to give him a weak smile, her face barely recognizable with how much bloodied it is.

Turning around turns out to be a mistake, as Sakurako is quick to strike again. Emu tumbles down to the ground, but quickly gets herself up, a glare stuck on her face.

Rui gets off the ground with shaky knees, and turns around to see a battlefield… only containing magicians. Attacking each other.

The only sounds he can hear is his shaky breaths and his erratic heartbeats as he gazes at the scene helplessly.

…How did they get here?

“Rui-kun!” Emu screams, and it snaps him out of the daze he was in. She’s barely able to stop the relentless attacks Sakurako is sending her way when Rui approaches, collecting black magic in his hands once again.

He fights back side by side with Emu, and eventually, Sakurako’s attacks start slowing down, getting disoriented, less controlled.

Rui glances over to Miku, and sees the self-satisfied expression she has been wearing has started to crack, showing signs of frustration.

Emu finally manages to knock Sakurako to the ground.

“Retreat!” Miku yells with fury when Sakurako isn’t able to get back up, holding onto her knee.

The magicians under her command come to a halt. They leave the magicians they were beating to death just a second ago, and start walking back to the kingdom.

The magicians left are only able to stare at their backs, dumbfounded.

“Don’t think you have won.” Miku hisses, her voice threateningly low, “Now that I have Kaito in my command, nothing can stop me from shutting every single one of you down.” She continues, words laced with venom.

A sinister smile grows on her face.

“Did you manage to kill Tenma? Or did you forgive your poor little best friend?” She asks slyly.

“What?” Rui grits out, clutching his stomach.

He thinks his ears might be lying to him.

“Don’t play dumb now, I know you have him, if he’s still alive, that is. And frankly, I could care less if he is or not. I don’t need him anymore.” She says as Rui’s eyes get wider with each word.

She smiles one last time, and turns around elegantly, following the retreating army.

Just as Rui is about to yell at her for an explanation, he catches Emu crumbling to the ground from the side of his vision. He quickly kneels beside her, cradling her head against his chest.  

“Emu-kun?” He calls to her, but she doesn’t answer.

He shakes her by the shoulder, trying to get her back to her senses. Dread climbs up his back like a slithering snake.

“Emu-kun, I need you to stay with me, don’t close your eyes, alright?” Rui says hurriedly, panic leaking from his voice.

Emu looks up at him with hazy eyes, slowly blinking. Blood trickles down her face with every breath she takes.

“We need to… go back home…” She murmurs, and her eyes close.

Rui shakes her with even more force, screaming her name to wake her up.

She doesn’t.

He finds himself unable to breathe.

Someone kneels beside him, and he lifts his head to find out its Nene, looking completely horrified, her hair shadowing her face.

The next moments pass like a blur.

He remembers fumbling with a first aid kit, wrapping Emu’s head with gauze.

He remembers seeing others do the same to each other, not a single person standing, painting a perfect picture of defeat.

He is standing in front of his door the next second. Nene says something to him, but he doesn’t understand what.

He opens his door slowly, and finds S̶̺̮̿͆ẗ̸͕̻́ḁ̶̬̀͜r̶̨̼̖͒͝?̵̥̗̀͗ sitting down at the very same spot he left him this morning.

He closes the door gently, and collapses to the floor unceremoniously, his knees no longer supporting him.

Tears gather in his eyes as he rubs at them harshly, taking off his glasses and tossing it aside carelessly.

He looks up when he hears a meow.

A cat is standing in front of him. His…pet? No, his enemy?

A knight?

H̷͖͈̫̿̈́̈̚ĩ̸̡̱͔̺s̵̥͇̄̾̇͝ ̵͕̄b̴͕͂͑e̵͎̞̊́ş̴̳̏͝ẗ̵̹͆f̸͖̞̺͗͌ṟ̸̙̲͆i̸̞̬͛̕ẻ̷̻͎̠̈́̚ͅń̸͎̋d̷̗̦͊?̷͍̫͂͝͝

He doesn’t know. He doesn’t want to know.

It’s meaningless.

He reaches for the cat and softly cradles it to his chest as tears start slipping down his cheeks.

“We lost. I lost everything.” He sobs out, and gets a low mrp in return.

 

 

Notes:

...sorry

also be my oomf on twitter pleassss i love yapping and we can yap together

Chapter 9: Chap 9

Rui Kamishiro is thirteen when he hears someone sobbing in the forest.

Bored, he decided to explore the forest in hopes of finding different herbs.

He didn’t expect to find a human in this part of the forest, though.

Curiosity guides his feet, going deeper and deeper, trying to find the source.

He hears the sound of a waterfall, but it’s quiet. Like it is pouring because it has nowhere else to go.

He realizes the path to the waterfall is blocked by bushes when he gets closer.

Later on, someone will teach him a secret path to it, and he won’t have to do the thing he is about to do again.

He goes inside a bush, trying to make his way to the other side as he grunts. He feels his sides get poked by the bush, but he doesn’t give it any mind.

He pops his head out of the bush, hair tousled and face scratched, and sees a baffled boy, looking at him with his mouth agape.

The boy is sitting right beside the waterfall, tears still streaming down his face.

Its silent for a stretched second before Rui gives a sheepish smile.

“Could you… help me out?” He asks, hesitant. The boy scrambles to his feet wordlessly, and reaches for Rui.

After a bit of pulling and pushing, stretching and squeezing, Rui flies off the bush, falling on top of the boy. The boy makes a loud ‘oof’ sound as he hits the ground, and quickly pushes Rui off him.

Rui dusts his clothes off before lifting his face up to look at the boy once again.

“Are you okay?” He asks, worry seeping into his voice. The boy frowns at him.

“I was before you fell on top of me.” He gives a snarky answer, still frowning. It isn’t enough to dampen Rui’s spirit.

“Are you sure? I could swear I heard someone crying…”

“You heard wrong.”

“Really? There is no explanation for the tear tracks on your face, then.” Rui notes with a feline like smile, and the boy quickly rubs at his face in panic.

“Could you maybe act like you didn’t see anything? I would really appreciate that.”

“Nuh uh.”

“What do you mean ‘Nuh uh’?!” The boy gasps with widened eyes. Rui shrugs.

“I am willing to act like I didn’t see anything if you tell me why you cried.” He answers easily.

“I’m not telling.” The boy says with a pout.

“I can wait until you’re willing to tell me.”

The boy huffs and crosses his arms.

“You will have to wait a long time then.”

Rui shrugs again, and sits down right next to the spot the boy was occupying a few minutes ago. It makes the boy grit his teeth in annoyance.

“Why do you care anyway? You don’t even know my name.”

“What is your name?”

“You’re impossible.” The boy answers with a sigh, but still puts his hand to his chest proudly.

“My name is Tsukasa Tenma, written as Pegasus soaring through the skies!” He exclaims, loud and proud. Rui claps happily. Tsukasa points a finger at him, almost accusingly.

“And what is YOUR name?” He asks, his voice booming.

“My name is Rui Kamishiro, nice to meet you.” Rui answers as he bows a little in place with a hand to his chest. Tsukasa snorts at his theatrics.

“Kamishiro, huh…? I think I heard that name before.” Tsukasa says with a hand to his chin. Rui hums with a nod.

“We’re one of the noble families, though not many people know us. Both my mom and dad are too busy to join the balls other nobles are organizing.” Rui explains.

“Woah, what do they do?” Tsukasa asks curiously as he sits beside Rui.

“Potions.” Rui answers with a smile. Tsukasa looks at him wide eyed, the question evident in his eyes. Rui’s smile turns a bit sheepish.

“Uh, I know what you’re thinking, but the kingdom still uses potions, you know? They’re just banned from the public.” He explains. Tsukasa’s eyes sparkle in amazement.

“I didn’t know that! Can they make potions that makes you jump really high? Or fly? Or give you wings??” Tsukasa shoots the questions back to back as he leans closer.

Rui giggles at his enthusiasm, but his smile turns mischievous as he leans closer too.

“I don’t really know if they do… but maybe, I can make it for you? If you’re willing to be my guinea pig.” He offers with a smirk. Tsukasa quickly backs up.

“H-huh?! Guinea pig?? No way!” He yells in horror. Rui moves away too, shaking his head with a pout.

“Too bad… and here I was thinking I finally had a friend that was willing to help me out…” He sighs and lowers his head.

“Just wishful thinking, then.” He says as crocodile tears shine in his eyes.

“HUH?!” Tsukasa yells again, his face carrying more horror than the time he saw Rui pop out of a bush. “W-wait a second! Maybe I can lend a hand with the ones that aren’t too dangerous… Just don’t turn me into a cat or something, I value my life you know.” He babbles as he flaps his hands nervously. Rui lifts his head up with a big smile, the tears long gone from his face.

“So you are willing to help?” He asks happily. Tsukasa frowns suspiciously, but still nods.

“Sure… I mean, it isn’t magic, so it can’t be that bad, right?” He murmurs. Rui’s smile dims, leaving a solemn expression in its place.

“You don’t like magic?” He asks in a low tone. Tsukasa looks at him bewildered.

“Isn’t that a weird thing to ask? The queen would probably have your head if you asked that in front of her, you know?”

“Well, it’s just the two of us here. I don’t think something bad would happen if you admitted you like magic, if you do.”

“We barely know each other?! This isn’t a thing you talk with people you met ten minutes ago.”

“Tsukasa-kun, dear Tsukasa-kun. You’re clearly missing the point here. We can get closer this way!” Rui says and clasps his hands together happily.

Tsukasa sighs in answer, giving him a judgmental look.

Rui starts looking around when he doesn’t get an answer.

He hopes he didn’t push too far.

Still, he pushes the worry down, adamant on befriending the strange boy sitting next to him.

“…You’re still not going to tell me why you were crying?”

“No.”

“Fufu, I guessed so.” Rui says airily, and lays down on the grass. Tsukasa wordlessly looks at him for a second, and lays down next to him the next.

They silently lay in the grass for a while, feeling the wind in their hair and listening to the gentle voice of the waterfall.

Rui turns his head around to face Tsukasa. Tsukasa is still looking at the sky, a small frown on his face.

Rui feels uneasy noticing it.

“…Do you come here often?” He asks quietly. Tsukasa blinks, his mind coming back from where it wandered off to.

“Yeah.” He says as he turns to face Rui too. “I discovered this place while exploring. The lake is really nice; it even has a lot of fish in it, since the water stream isn’t too strong.” He smiles softly as he looks down. “And I like being alone with my thoughts.”

“Oh.” Rui says, suddenly anxious. Is his presence bothering Tsukasa?

“Do you want to be alone now? I can go.” He says as he sits up a little, but Tsukasa is quick to grab his wrist.

“No! Not at all!!” He says, desperation laced in his voice. Rui slowly lays down again with a blink.

“I think I like this better.” Tsukasa says, smiling sweetly.

“Yeah?” Rui asks with a smile.

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” Rui says, and turns his face to the sky again.

He doesn’t stop smiling. Its addicting, how easy it is to lay silently with a complete stranger.

He doesn’t want to get up even if the grass starts to irritate his skin.

…

…

It would be nice, laying here forever.

Wouldn’t it?

 

A shiver runs down Rui’s spine.

 

…He has been staring at the sun for a while, hasn’t he?

Why doesn’t it burn his eyes?

He can’t move a muscle, his eyes locked into the sun.

They don’t tear up.

 

Where is he? What is he doing here?

 

Wasn’t this nine years ago?

 

His heartbeat gets faster as he finally takes his eyes off the sun to look at Tsukasa.

 

Tsukasa’s eyes look through him, his head lolled to the side, pupils dilated.

The sweet smile is still plastered on his face.

Rui watches the blood drip from his nose, almost in slow motion.

He pushes himself off the ground with shaky hands, nauseous with horror.

 

This isn’t how it went, is it?

 

He turns around to see a rundown stage. It looks like no one has touched it in years, like it’s about to crumble any given second.

“Rui?” A voice calls out to him, making Rui flinch. He quickly whips his head around to find… Tsukasa?

“Tsukasa-kun?” The name slips from his mouth without his permission.

Tsukasa gives him a pained look.

He also looks younger, compared to his twenty-one-year-old self. Both in the literal sense, and in the sense that he simply looks… happier. His hair isn’t stylized, and he isn’t wearing the armor he usually does, but a costume of some sorts. The scars he gained in the war are absent from his face.

He just looks like a harmless teenager.

“Rui?” Tsukasa(?) calls out to him again. It snaps Rui back to his senses.

“Don’t call me that.” Rui snaps at him. Tsukasa backs away with a grimace.

Rui looks down at his body to find out he has a costume on too. He frowns.

“Where are we?” Tsukasa asks quietly, and Rui brings his head up to roll his eyes at him.

“How would I know?” He scoffs as he starts looking around.

There is a lot of stuff made by metal around them, but he can’t comprehend what they are. They look incredibly rusty, like no one took care of it in a long while.

He looks at the sun again.

It doesn’t burn his eyes.

He pinches himself, just be sure, and finds it not hurting in the slightest.

“We are in my head.” He announces. Tsukasa looks at him like he grew a second one, and scowls.

“How are you so sure we are in your head? Maybe we’re in my head, who knows?”

“There isn’t enough space in your brain to fit the two of us.” Rui shoots back with a deadpan voice, and Tsukasa gasps, offended. He opens his mouth to retort, but Rui beats him to it.

“That doesn’t matter.” He starts with narrow eyes, and starts going forward, crowding Tsukasa’s space. “What matters is what you’re going to tell me.” He jabs a finger in Tsukasa’s chest.

“I want answers.”

Tsukasa scowls at the finger jabbing at his chest.

“How are you so sure I am not a projection of your unconscious mind?” He asks, his voice low. Rui’s eyes narrow further, but he backs away, lowering his hand.

“…You’re right.” Rui grits out, like it pains him to admit it. 

“Tell me something I don’t know.” Rui commands, crossing his arms against his chest.

“And why would I do that?” Tsukasa retorts, sounding so done. Rui glares at him.

“Just so you know, if we do get out of here, and I do remember what happened here, you will still be a cat under my care. So, I would choose my words carefully if I were you.” He threatens, the glare stuck to his face. Tsukasa grumbles and raises his hands in defeat.

“Why did I even make you question your decision…? Fine. Something you don’t know, huh…?” He sighs, thinking.

Rui uses that time to take in his surroundings further. He isn’t sure why his mind would make up a place like this.

…Though, the stage would probably look really nice if it was taken care of. He smiles softly at the image.

“Um, once I was nine, a bug-”

“You told that one before!” Rui yells, exasperated. Tsukasa scrunches his face up in frustration.

“It’s hard finding something, okay?!” He yells back.

Rui makes a face at him.

“Wait! Wait. Uh, I can tell you what I saw in the inn while wandering around?”

“I already know what is in the inn. You wouldn’t be telling me something new.” Rui answers, feeling his patience getting thin. Tsukasa groans.

“I can tell you how it feels to be a cat?” He tries again. Rui’s eyes widen.

“That… could work.”

“Alright. Well, it took me a while to adjust to my new body since I had to stand on four feet.” He starts, waving his hand around. “And my senses heightened a lot, especially my hearing and my sense of smell.” Rui hums, urging him to continue.

“And, um, I have this… instinct? if you can call it that, that tells me to scratch on surfaces and stuff.”

“You’re really embracing the cat life, huh.” Rui mocks. Tsukasa’s face burns up as he scowls.

“You asked and I answered. Don’t make fun of me.”

Rui shrugs in answer, clearly not feeling any guilt at all.

“Well, your answers seem believable, so I am going to assume our consciousness somehow linked up, and you’re in my head.”

“How do you know we’re not in my-”

“Wasn’t my answer clear? Again, not that it matters.” He approaches Tsukasa again, closing the distance. Tsukasa lifts his head up to look at his eyes.

Well, here it is. The opportunity he has been waiting for so long.

All he has to do is ask.

Rui opens his mouth, but his words fail him.

He doesn’t know what to ask. There is so much he wants to ask, so many things that gathered in a pile since… that happened.

And yet, when he has the chance to talk, his mind comes up empty.

He grits his teeth in frustration.

“Why?” He croaks out, his hands balling up into fists.

Tsukasa gives him a pained smile.

“…I can’t tell, Rui.” The answer is immediate, like he has been waiting for the question.

Rui slaps him across the face with force, sending him stumbling backwards. Tsukasa looks at him, stunned, holding his cheek.

“That didn’t hurt.” He whispers.

“First, I told you not to call me that, second, what do you mean you can’t tell? Did your master make you pinky promise not to tell anyone?” He growls, glaring holes into his face. Tsukasa winces, the words hurting more than the slap.

“Do you really think I could possibly be that childish?! I-”

“How can you still defend yourself when you are the reason everything fell apart?! Because, guess what, Miku attacked us with our magicians, and she took Kaito-san. And- and now, there is no way we will be able to win.” His face crumbles as he looks down.

“But I bet you knew that already, didn’t you?” He says as he looks up with fury. Tsukasa looks back with wide eyes, horror shadowing his face.

“She did?” He asks, so silently its barely audible. Rui pauses.

“Huh?”

“She- she used the magicians? She took Kaito?” Tsukasa asks again, running a hand through his hair in distress.

“You didn’t know?” Rui asks with confusion.

“No, I knew, but I didn’t think she would use them… not like this…” He murmurs, panic leaking into his voice.

His words, his tone, the way he’s saying it like he cares about the magicians…

It makes Rui’s blood boil.

He jumps at Tsukasa, knocking him to the ground.

His fingers coil tightly around his neck, and he squeezes.

Tsukasa grunts, flailing to escape, but its meaningless.

Rui doesn’t feel a thing, except the fury coursing through his veins.

“If you care so much, why did you take them? If you care so much, why did you betray me? Why?!” He desperately asks, squeezing harder. Tsukasa claws at his hands, gasping for breath.

“I can’t… tell…” Tsukasa grits out.

“Why?!” Rui yells, jolting him.

“I can’t tell!” Tsukasa yells back, his voice decibels higher.

“Why not?!” Rui shoots back, his voice breaking.

Tsukasa knees him in the stomach, and it weakens Rui’s grip. Before Tsukasa is able to get a grip of his hands and escape, Rui beats him to it, pinning his hands to his sides.

“Fine! Fine.” Tsukasa yells, giving up. Rui doesn’t let go of his wrists.

“I will try, alright?” He says, but his voice trembles with fear.

He takes in a shaky breath, and closes his eyes.

“…I wanted to tell you, from the start. But I was scared, Rui.” He starts, his voice rough. “I still am.” He continues, his voice barely above a whisper, and Rui’s grip loosens.

Tsukasa doesn’t try escaping, limp in his hold.

“I…” He starts once again, but Rui can’t hear.

His lips are moving, expression shifting with every word said, but Rui can’t hear what.

He tries reading his lips, but he can’t make sense of its movements, either moving too fast or too slow.

Rui isn’t able to comprehend it at all.

Tsukasa’s eyes open. They are pitch black.

The smell of something metallic assaults his senses.

His hands are weirdly warm and wet.

He looks down. Sees Tsukasa’s sword in his hands.

Sees it stabbed right in the center of Tsukasa’s chest.

He lets go of the sword, so quickly, almost like it burns his hands.

It doesn’t fall.

 

 

 

“…I do like magic.” Tsukasa murmurs after some time.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Which type do you like the most?” Rui questions, curious.

Tsukasa probably answers, but Rui doesn’t remember.

 

 

 

Notes:

so first of all i don't know how i got here, apparently writing without thinking has consequences... (though the general direction of the plot is pretty much set in stone) but still, i am REALLY enjoying writing this. and honestly, its because of you all reading my silly fiction, i probably would have already lost the motivation to continue this without the love this fanfic got (especially the comments... oh my god its so fun to read the speculations) SO thank you all SOOO much for your support, it means A LOT to me <333 i hope you continue to like this fic!!!

Chapter 10: Cha 10

Rui’s eyes slowly open. They feel heavy, every action making them sting.

He groans with discomfort as he brings his hand up to rub at his temples, head throbbing with pain.

His nose is clogged up, he can’t breathe.

He groans again, but it’s out of frustration.

He looks around, taking in his surroundings. He’s still sitting in front of the door.

Probably fell asleep crying yesterday.

He looks at his lap. Sees a cat sleeping soundly.

He takes in a sharp breath, his hand tugging at his hair.

The memories of yesterday flood his mind.

…

He can’t handle it. A sick feeling settles on his stomach.

He should probably get up, go see Emu, do something, be useful. But his limbs feel incredibly heavy, heavier than lead. Every part of his body aches.

There is so much to fix, so much to smooth out.

And it’s all his fault, isn’t it?

He let Kaito go.

This wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t. If he had been more persistent.

He should’ve questioned more, pressed further, should’ve done someth-

Someone knocks on the door. He feels the vibration on his back.

He slowly rises to his feet, holding the cat gently.

The door opens with a loud creak. He feels the cat shift in his hold.

It’s Nene.

She doesn’t look like herself at all.

The lack of sleep is evident in her eye bags, slouched posture, depressed look.

She doesn’t smile upon seeing him.

She’s probably taking in how horrible he looks too.

“Hi, Nene.” Rui starts, his voice hoarse, when she doesn’t say anything. She looks at his eyes, still dead silent.

He’s too tired to get nervous.

“She isn’t waking up.” Nene murmurs.

Rui’s blood runs cold. Still, he lets the false hope fool him.

“Huh?” He answers, not quite sure he heard that right.

“Emu isn’t waking up. I- I have been up waiting for her to wake up the whole night… I kept checking her heartbeat and um, changed her gauze too… but she isn’t waking up, Rui.” Nene explains, her eyes filling up with tears.

Rui looks at her silently, stunned out of his words.

“I came to your room a few times too, knocked on your door, even tried opening it. But it didn’t open. And you didn’t answer.” She continues, her voice breaking.

Though the words seem like an accusation, Rui knows better.

The cat shifts in his hold again. He doesn’t give it any mind.

Nene harshly wipes at her eyes, already red.

“I don’t know what else to do, Rui. What if, what if she-”

“She will wake up. She will be fine, Nene.” Rui croaks out. Though he can’t bear to look into her eyes, though he can’t help but press his lips into a thin line.

Nene doesn’t say anything in return.

The cat wiggles in his hold, and jumps down.

And proceeds to meow very loudly.

Both Nene and Rui flinch in place, turning around to look at the cat.

Nene’s face shadows with fear, but Rui doesn’t notice.

“Star?” Rui asks tiredly.

It meows very loudly again.

“…I’m going back to Emu’s side. I don’t want her to be alone if… when she wakes up.” Nene murmurs.

“Okay.” Rui answers plainly, and Nene quickly leaves the room, almost rushing out.

The cat meows very loudly again. Rui feels his head throb in answer.

“Quiet down.” He hisses out.

He turns around to see the cat sitting on top of his desk, right next to the paper Emu prepared for it.

It meows again, though noticeably quieter.

The cat frantically starts pressing the letters, almost slapping them.

“E-M-U. G-O.” Rui mumbles out the letters.

“You want to go to Emu-kun?” Rui asks, squinting his eyes. Tsukasa presses ‘yes’.

“Did you perhaps not catch what Nene just said? I’m not taking you to her when she’s…” Rui wanders off, looking at the ground.

The cat jumps down to the floor, circling his leg, and meows very loudly once again.

Rui grits his teeth in annoyance.

“And why do you even want to go so badly?” Rui asks, scowling at the cat.

It meows very loudly again, almost like a yowl.

Rui grunts at the pain stabbing into his temples, and sighs in defeat.

“Fine! Fine.” He says and stomps out the door, the cat following suit.

 

He gently knocks on Emu’s door, the cat silently sitting by his side.

Nene opens the door, looking as bad as she did a few minutes ago.

Just as Rui opens his mouth to say something, the cat sprints inside the room.

They watch it with widened eyes as it jumps up to the bed, and sits down on Emu’s stomach.

Nene scowls at it, but doesn’t say anything. Rui doesn’t notice.

He brings his eyes up from the cat, up to Emu’s face.

His heart lurches.

Her face, always rosy with excitement, is now sheet white. It feels hollow without the big smile she always has on her face.

Her head is still wrapped in gauze, neater than Rui remembers, and her chest rises rhythmically with the cat on top of it.

He can barely bear to look at her.

Still, he forces himself. He knows Emu would do the same.

Before he’s able to step inside, Nene steps out, closing the door behind her with a click.

“Nene?” Rui asks, surprised. Nene doesn’t look up.

Her hand, still around the doorknob, squeezes down.

“The cat you took in is Tenma, right?” She blurts out, more of a statement than a question. She still doesn’t look up.

The world stills around Rui.

If this had happened in another way, he would’ve laughed it off, brushed her off somehow. Told her that she might be imagining things, a way of poking fun at her.

But now, he’s too tired for those kinds of theatrics.

“How did you know?” He asks instead. Nene grits her teeth, her hold on the doorknob tightening further.

“I am right, then.” She says in answer. Rui takes in a sharp breath.

“…You are.” He whispers his answer.

She takes her hand off from the doorknob, letting it fall to her side, completely limp.

“How did you know?” Rui tries again, his ears ringing in distress.

Nene looks up at him, a grimace on her face, lower lip quivering.

“I heard the queen say… say that you have Tenma. That you might’ve just forgiven him.” She looks to the side.

“I thought about how you brought the cat here the day before Tenma was declared missing. How… tense you looked around the cat.” She continues, choking on her words.

“I’m not stupid.” She grits out.

“You aren’t.” Rui repeats.

“Emu is in this too.” She grits out again.

“…She is.” Rui repeats again.

There is no point lying about it.

“How did it happen?” Nene asks.

“I turned him into a cat accidentally.” Rui murmurs out his explanation.

“Why?” Nene sobs out, tugging at her clothes. Rui takes a step back in shock.

“Why didn’t you tell me?!” She gasps out in between her sobs, harshly wiping at her eyes with an arm.

“Nene…” Rui puts a hand to her shoulder, but Nene quickly shakes it off of her, still refusing to show her face.

Rui silently lowers his hand.

“I keep telling you, I really do, that you can rely on me a little! Am I- am I really that useless that you can’t even share your troubles with me?” Nene yells, finally taking her arm off her face, the tears freely falling.

“Of course not, Nene, I-”

“Stop it!” Nene yells, frantically waving her arms around in dismissal, “You keep making excuses as to why you can’t talk about this and that, why you can’t tell me what happened, and I’m so tired of constantly being kept in an arm’s length!” She keeps on yelling, her voice becoming shrill.

Rui can’t find any words in answer. He silently stands still with a grimace on his face, the hallway silent except for Nene’s gasped breaths and quiet sobs.

“I feel like you keep drifting apart from me. I don’t want that.” She says, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Me neither.” Rui whispers back, completely honest.

Nene sniffles and rubs her face again. Her sobs slowly quiet down.

“When you got banished,” She starts, her voice returning to normal, albeit a bit shaky, “You didn’t talk to me for days. Not even a word. Even though I made sure to keep visiting you every day, even though I stayed for hours on end, you still didn’t talk.”

She slowly rises her head to look into his eyes.

“I thought that was it. That no amount of effort would ever put your pieces back together again.”

Rui’s eyes widen.

“But then, you started talking again. You started experimenting with potions and spells once more, and you once again started dragging me into the messes you kept making. And I thought ‘I really should’ve put more faith in Rui.’” Nene continues, a slight reminiscent smile on her face.

“And yet,” Her smile vanishes as quickly as it came, “You never told me what happened the day you got banished. You still pull yourself out of the conversation the second Tenma gets mentioned, you still shut yourself in your room whenever things get rough, and you still refuse to open up to me.” She counts.

“I tried accepting it, accepting that you will never truly open up. But that just seems cruel, Rui. I just can’t give up on you. So, I need you to tell me, why won’t you trust me?” She asks, desperation leaking into her voice.

“I do trust you, Nene.” Rui immediately answers, just as desperate.

“Then why?” Nene asks, almost a plead.

“I… I didn’t want to worry you, I guess. It felt easier to just… not talk about it. I don’t know.” Rui babbles. Nene gives him an unimpressed look.

“You didn’t want to worry me, huh? And how did that end up, exactly?”

Rui smiles helplessly.

“I know that I’m… not the best at explaining myself, or my emotions. I know that I shut myself in my room. I’m sorry, Nene. I will try to do better, okay? I promise.” He mumbles out.

Nene doesn’t seem to like his apology, as her eyes shine with new tears and her lip quivers.

She hugs him really hard, squeezing with all her might.

“I don’t want you to do better, you stupid idiot! I just want you to be honest with me!” She yells, but its muffled against his clothes.

He slowly wraps his arms around her, eyes wide with shock.

His eyes soften.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbles. He doesn’t point out his clothes getting wet.

…

His eye catches something strange.

Some sort of light is spilling out from under the door, too strong to be the sunshine.

“Nene?” He calls, and Nene lets him go, stepping away.

“Your nose is running.” Rui notes with a grin.

“Shut up.” Nene snaps.

Rui’s smile widens. He steps to the side to check the door, and sure enough, the light is still there.

He opens the door gently.

His eyes bulge out, his mouth hanging open.

“The cat is glowing.” He states the obvious.

“Huh? What are you-” Nene starts, but her mouth shuts with an audible click when she looks inside the room.

The cat is glowing a yellow color, painting the whole room in its light. Its fur almost looks like its floating, and it’s still laying silently on Emu’s stomach, exactly where they left him.

It raises his head up to look at them, still silent.

Rui and Nene turn around to look at each other at the same time, checking to see if it’s actually real, and the other one is seeing it too.

“What the fuck.” Nene swears, and it resonates in the overly pink room.

 

 

Notes:

man i leave my dog alone for a second and it starts glowing?? tf

also please note that nene didn't sleep the entire night and her best friend is practically in a coma before saying she's too dramatic okay thanks

Chapter 11: ch 11

“Your cat is glowing.” Nene says, like Rui didn’t say that a minute ago.

“No, wait, Tenma is glowing.” She adds, and turns around to face Rui.

“Does he have magic or something?” She asks, so sure that her guess is completely off the bat.

Rui doesn’t turn around to look at her, fixated on the cat.

“Rui?” She calls, worried.

“I… didn’t know.” He mutters, and turns around.

“I didn’t know he has magic.” There is a grimace on his face, twisted with emotions he can’t comprehend just yet.

“Huh? Are you sure this is magic?” Nene asks, surprised.

“Because he’s glowing. Only light magic users do that, as far as I’m aware.” Rui answers.

“H-huh? This is light magic?!” Nene gasps, slapping a hand to her mouth.

“Yes, according to Emu’s description of a light magic user she crossed paths with, it is.” He swiftly walks over to Emu, Nene following suit.

He quickly undoes the bandage on her arm. Tsukasa watches him do it silently.

Nene gasps again.

The huge gash on her arm is now but a scratch, rapidly closing up.

“Does this mean Tenma has been a light magic user this whole time?” Nene murmurs.

“Apparently.” Rui answers curtly, and sits down on the chair next to Emu’s bed.

“Apparently, he does have light magic, and I haven’t known about it for the past eight years.” He runs a hand through his hair, scoffing in disbelief.

“Rui…” Nene starts, but she can’t complete it. There is nothing for her to say.

“His distrust with me goes that far back, huh. Honestly, can’t say I’m surprised.”

He suddenly gets up, startling Nene.

“I will be back in a minute.” He says, and disappears from the room.

True to his words, he barely takes a minute to come back, a book in hand.

“I didn’t feel it before, but the room is several degrees hotter than the outside.” Rui notes as he sits down on the chair.

“That’s why it felt like I had an alive furnace in my bed.” He mutters under his breath. Nene’s brow shoots up.

“You have been sleeping with Tenma?” She asks, her voice as teasing as it gets.

“Don’t say it like that.” Rui grumbles as his ears go red. Nene only smugly smiles in answer.

“So,” Rui clears his throat, “This book contains knowledge about light magic users. I haven’t looked too deep into it, as I wasn’t really expecting to come across a light user… as it turns out, he has been under our noses the entire time.” He turns around to glare at Tsukasa.

Tsukasa doesn’t react at all, only sitting and glowing. His eyes are barely open, like he’s about to fall asleep.

Rui opens the first page.

“Let’s see… There is a lot of sections.” He sighs, “This might take time.”

“It’s fine. We have time… I think.” Nene shoots back from where she is sitting on the edge of Emu’s bed. Her shoulders are hunched, her eyes half lidded.

Rui’s lips press into a thin line.

“Do we, really?” I mean, Kaito-san is gone, and we have no idea when they might strike back, and the injured-”

“Rui.” Nene calls to shut him up. It’s effective, as he immediately does. She sighs.

“Honestly, what’s gotten into you? I thought I was the nervous one between us.” She says. Rui frowns.

“Well, this is an important matter, so-”

“Just read the damn book, Rui. This is all you can do right now.” She rubs at her eyes, leaning on the wall.

“Meanwhile, can I sleep a little? I think I might start hallucinating if I don’t sleep soon.” She says, her eyes closing. Rui silently looks at her for a moment.

“Okay.” He murmurs out after, but Nene’s eyes are already closed.

He returns his eyes back to the book.

After what feels like a few hours, the light in the room dims. He takes his eyes off the book, and finds that the cat is back to normal, like it never started to glow in the first place.

The room is still warm.

He shuts the book and places it down on Emu’s desk.

Emu’s eyelashes flutter, and she frowns, her head lolling to the side. She takes in a deep breath, slowly opening her eyes.

Rui gives a soft smile, albeit tired.

“Morning, Emu-kun.” He whispers, careful to not startle.

“Bwuh?” Emu blurts out, visibly startled, as she whips her head around to face Rui.

“R-Rui-kun?!” She exclaims, her eyes open wide, “Why are you in my room? What happened?” She asks, propping herself up with her elbows.

“You fainted while we were fighting.” Rui says, but doesn’t say anything else. He really doesn’t feel like addressing the elephant in the room.

“I did…?” Emu asks more to herself, searching inside her memory.

“Yes. How do you feel now? Is there any pain?” Rui questions.

“Not really. I feel fine.” Emu answers absentmindedly.

She looks down to find Tsukasa on her stomach, seemingly not affected by her shuffling.

“Huh? Why is Star here? Did he want to visit me?” She asks. Rui tugs at his collar nervously.

He meowed at me until I brought him here to apparently heal you, is what he should say, but he doesn’t.

“You could say that.” He answers instead, not too keen on explaining the situation clearly.

“How nice of him!” Emu says happily and scratches his head, but Tsukasa doesn’t react. Emu frowns.

She pokes at Tsukasa, but still, Tsukasa doesn’t react.

“Rui-kun…? Is he sleeping…?” She asks hesitantly.

“Is he?” Rui answers with a frown as he gets up from the chair and kneels down in front of Emu’s bed.

“Star?” He calls, but Tsukasa doesn’t answer. He jostles him a little, but still, the result is the same. Rui feels panic wash over him as he shakes the cat.

“Rui-kun, calm down!” Emu yells, pushing Rui away.

“He’s still breathing. See?” She points at the cat’s tummy. Rui breathes out with relief.

“Did he pass out from healing too much?” He murmurs to himself, reaching for the desk and grabbing his book.

“Healing? What are you talking about, Rui-kun?” Emu questions, bewilderment evident in her eyes.

Rui freezes up with the book still in his hands, and turns around to give Emu a tight smile.

“We have a lot to talk about, huh.” He says, the smile turning into a grimace.

He sits back down on his chair with a deep breath, preparing himself for the conversation he does not want to have.

“Well, yeah. I don’t remember anything from the fight.”

Rui’s eyes widen.

“You don’t? Nothing at all?” He asks in disbelief.

“No… what happened, Rui-kun?” Emu asks, searching for the answer in his eyes.

Rui rubs his temples with a sigh.

“Are you sure you want to talk about it right now? I mean, we can wait until you’re better.”

“I’m sure.” Comes the immediate answer. Her eyes wander.

“Wait. What’s Nene-chan doing here?” She questions with a frown, worry evident in her face.

“She was waiting for you to wake up. But she fell asleep after I came here.” Rui explains.

“…Has she been here this whole night?” Emu murmurs, not taking her eyes off her.

“Yes.”

“And she didn’t sleep at all?”

“…probably.”

Emu slaps a hand to her forehead, sliding it down her face.

“Geez, did I really worry her that much…? I owe her an apology after this.” She murmurs into her hand.

“I’m sure she isn’t expecting an apology from you, Emu-kun. You were injured pretty badly, after all.”

“I was?”

“Yeah. Your injuries caused you to faint.”

He doesn’t mention what happened with Nene. He knows Emu would beat herself up for it, even though she did nothing at all, and he can’t bear to see it happen. Not after yesterday.

He’s pretty sure Nene won’t mention it again, too.

“How come I don’t have any injuries now?” Emu questions, checking her body.

“That’s… look, we can talk about the fight first, if you prefer.”

“Okay.” Emu accepts without protest. Though she seems fine on a surface level, it’s evident in her posture, in her mannerisms, how tired she actually is.

Rui doesn’t point it out. He knows Emu appreciates it.

“How much do you remember?” He starts.

“Like I said, not much. I remember going to the bridge, waiting for something to happen… that’s kind of it.” She purses her lips.

“Though I saw a lot of strange dreams.” Rui’s breath hitches, his heartbeat quickening.

“Do you remember them?” He asks, a weird hope in his tone.

“Not really. Just abstract shapes and colors.” She answers airily, like it’s not that big of a deal. It’s probably not for her.

Rui pretends he isn’t disappointed.

“I see… well, after we went to the bridge, Kaito-san went ahead.”

Emu hums.

“Now that you mention it, I think I kind of remember something like that happening. What happened next?”

Rui averts his eyes, shoulders slouching.

“They took Kaito-san.” He blurts out. The words bounce off the walls, deafening in its impact.

“Huh?” Emu answers, looking straight at him.

“They… also have the magicians. All of them.” Rui clasps his hands together in his lap.

“They are under Miku’s command. We fought with them, instead of the soldiers.” He adds quietly.

“Even- even Sakurako-chan?” Emu asks, so quietly that Rui almost misses it.

“You fainted fighting with her, Emu-kun.” Rui answers with a grimace. She looks at her lap for a moment, her hands turning into fists. She looks up.

“Okay.” She says, loud and clear.

“Just okay?” Rui questions, worried.

“Yeah.” She says, and proceeds to give him the tightest smile he has ever seen on anyone’s face before.

“I mean, we can fix it, right? We definitely can! We have you, and you can definitely be a great leader, and we have Nene-chan, and me, and Minori-chan, and…”

Her lower lip wobbles, her eyes shining. She smiles harder, despite it all.

“We can definitely find a way, right? We always do that. We always find a way.” She croaks out, turning her face down to her lap. A tear slips down her cheek.

“Emu-kun…” Rui calls, but Emu doesn’t look at him.

“We will find a way, alright? I promise. We still have each other. You know you can trust me.” Rui pleads, desperate to convince her, even if his very own words don’t reach him.

“I know I can. I really do.” Emu answers with a hollow, brittle voice.

“So, why do I still feel so helpless?” She sobs out, hiding her face in her hands, shoulders shaking with force.

Rui looks at her, stunned, and quickly rises to his feet to reach out to her.

She raises a hand without even looking.

“Rui-kun, I think… I think I want to be alone for a while.” She says as she sniffles, shame leaking into her tone.

He should say something soothing in response. Something that might avert her attention, something that might calm her down.

He doesn’t. He can’t bring himself to.

“If that’s what you want.” He says in answer instead.

He clears his throat, and awkwardly reaches for his book.

He turns around, eyeing the cat in her lap. It’s still unconscious.

“Can I…?” He starts, pointing at the cat.

Emu quickly straightens up, wiping at her nose.

“Yeah. Sure. Go ahead.” She mumbles with a shaky voice.

Rui picks up the cat with one hand, already used to the motion.

He turns around, about to leave the room, and glances at Emu once more.

“You can come to my room with Nene once she wakes up, if you want to.” Rui offers quietly.

“Okay. Thanks for the invitation, Rui-kun.” Emu answers with a sniffle, straining her voice to sound normal.

“…You’re welcome. Take care, Emu-kun.” Rui mumbles, and goes out the door.

“You too.” Emu calls after him.

Rui makes sure to shut the door.

 

He places the cat gently to his bed, and settles down to his chair.

He opens his book again.

He’s pretty sure Tsukasa fainted from using magic too much, considering he’s relatively weaker in his cat form.

What he doesn’t understand is the why.

Why he didn’t say anything up until now. Why he healed Emu. Why he feels so bitter about the betrayal.

And even though it has been the scariest experience in his life, he finds himself wanting to see him in his dream again.

 

 

Notes:

hi guys sorry for the long wait, a lot of stuff has been happening in my life. but guess what? i got accepted into medical school!! im gonna be a doctor!!

i'm not sure if i will be able to back to the weekly schedule, but i will try my best to post chapters as soon as possible :D

Chapter 12: C 12

Rui’s eyes open. And he squints them, trying to see his surroundings.

In the dim light of a singular candle on the wooden desk, he scrutinizes his surroundings, and quickly arrives to the conclusion that he’s in a dream again.

He gets up from the overly decorated chair, similar to the rest of the room. It’s quite small, almost all of the walls painted over by bookshelves.

He feels that the room is supposed to feel warm and cozy, but all he feels is cold, like someone forgot the window open in the winter.

Funny thing is, the room doesn’t have a window.

His eyes wander down to the ground, and he freezes up with fear.

Tsukasa is laying down on the floor, a dagger right in the center of his chest. He’s donned in an elegant white cloth, though he can barely tell the color because of the amount of blood staining it.

He scrambles to reach for the candle on the desk, and hunches over Tsukasa’s body.

“Tsukasa-kun?” He whispers, his voice shaky. The word is absorbed by the room, leaving deafening silence in its place.

“I’m dead.” Comes the answer after a moment, and Rui quickly backs up, thoroughly spooked off.

“Huh?” He can only spew out, staring with bewilderment.

“I said I’m dead.” Tsukasa(?) repeats, like Rui is the dumb one for not understanding, and cracks an eye open.

“You surely look dead.” Rui remarks dryly, his heartrate slowly returning to normal. He places the candle back on the desk.

“Thanks.” Tsukasa says, as dry as Rui, and tries rising to his feet, but stumbles.

Rui instinctively surges forward, reaching out, but Tsukasa is quick to gain composure.

Rui steps back with a cough.

They stare at each other, the air turning awkward.

Rui uses the time to inspect Tsukasa better, now that he’s a bit more visible in the light.

“Your hair is pretty long.” He blurts out before he’s even able to think it through. The tips of his ears go red.

“Oh?” Tsukasa answers with a frown, and cards his fingers through his hair.

Like Rui said, his hair reaches his chest, unlike his normally short hair. It looks tousled, spilling down his shoulders freely.

Rui has a feeling it would look good tied up.

He quickly discards the thought as he looks at Tsukasa’s face.

“You look sick.” He blurts out again, grimacing after.

Tsukasa gives him a deadpan look.

“It might be because I’m dead.” He answers.

“That’s- that’s not it.” Rui shoots back.

“Why are you so obsessed with how I look like anyway?” Tsukasa answers instead, and Rui might be making it up, but he almost sounds teasing.

“I’m not. It just gets out of my mouth.” Rui says, wincing at how unconvincing it sounds. But it doesn’t seem to matter, as Tsukasa hums and considers his words.

“Maybe it’s because we are in my dream?” Tsukasa offers.

“That’s… that makes sense, actually. Dreams are the reflection of our subconscious after all, it would explain why I can’t filter your words. Though I thought we established that we’re in my dream.” Rui retorts, clearly displeased with sharing the same opinion as Tsukasa.

Tsukasa only rolls his eyes in answer, and turns around to inspect the room.

It makes Rui’s blood boil, but he bites back the aggression. It really wouldn’t be a nice look if he attacked Tsukasa twice in a row.

He sighs, the thought of what he’s about to do already draining him.

“Tenma.” He calls, and swears he can see the question ‘What happened to Tsukasa-kun?’ in Tsukasa’s eyes, but he doesn’t say anything.

Rui sits down at one of the two chairs at the front of the desk, and lifts his hand to signal at the chair in front of him.

“I would like to have a civilized conversation with you.” He says, but the look in his eyes are less than civilized. It makes no difference to Tsukasa, apparently, as he smiles and plops himself down to the chair.

“If you insist.” He answers, knowing damn well he doesn’t. Rui breaths out slowly.

“I-”

“Before we start, can you take off your hat? I can barely see your face.” Tsukasa cuts in when he’s barely a word in. Rui stares at him, dumbfounded. He slowly takes off the hat, maintaining eye contact with Tsukasa.

“That’s one big hat.” Tsukasa notes, even though it’s not needed at all.

“Why are you so calm?” Rui raises his voice, frowning. Tsukasa stares at him, startled. And then, he laughs.

“Ha ha! Why am I so calm? I’m not! I’m definitely not!” He answers with a toothy grin.

“Is the dreamscape messing up with your brain, or have you always been like this?” Rui asks, weirded out by his strange enthusiasm.

“You wound me, Rui! I thought we established a connection of trust yesterday!” Tsukasa says, dramatically putting his hand to his chest. His hand bumps into the dagger in his chest, causing it to loosen and fall off.

Blood trickles down from the now empty hole in his chest.

“Okay that’s gross.” Tsukasa notes with a scrunched up nose and picks up the dagger.

“Should I put it back, or…?” He asks, looking at Rui.

“No, you would just be stabbing yourself again.” Rui answers, his eyes squinted with displeasure.

“Oh, okay then.” Tsukasa says, and puts down the dagger to the table.

“For the record, I don’t trust you at all. I don’t know why you would think that.” Rui says, and ties his arms against his chest.

Tsukasa gasps, offended.

“But- but I healed Emu?!” He blurts out.

“You hid that you are a light magic user from me for eight years.” Rui answers bluntly.

“But that’s…! Look, I know it sounds bad, but I can explain.” Tsukasa retorts.

“The queen you’re serving, sorry, used to serve, has turned our magicians into her soldiers. You were the direct cause of this.” Rui answers again.

Tsukasa winces, hanging his head low.

“I… I don’t know what to say to defend myself. I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say.” He murmurs out, fiddling with the bloodied cloth.

He looks small like this, Rui thinks, like he’s trying to erase his existence. It’s such an absurd clash of his usual personality, where it fills the entire room.

“Also, did you say used to serve?” Tsukasa asks as he suddenly brings his head up, eyes widening.

Rui leans back on his chair.

“Yes. Apparently, she knows I have you. She doesn’t know if you’re dead or alive, though.” Rui explains.

“Well, that’s a relief.” Tsukasa answers with a sigh. Rui squints his eyes.

“Relief?” He repeats.

“It would make things more… complicated if she knew I was alive.” Tsukasa answers, his voice carrying a hint of indecisiveness.

“What are you talking about?” Rui asks, more impatient than he ever remembers himself being.

“Look,” Tsukasa leans in, “I mean it when I say that I can’t say it. I don’t want to hide anything from you. I didn’t want to. But I had to.” He says, painfully honest.

Rui knows he’s honest. He knows it, and yet, he can’t bring himself to believe it.

“It’s hard to believe.” He voices out the thought.

“…I know.” Comes the tired answer.

“What can you talk about anyway?” Rui asks, cutting off the previous topic. He knows it wouldn’t end well.

“Maybe we can talk about what happened today, I might be able to help.” Tsukasa answers.

“Help?” Rui repeats, squinting his eyes.

“Why do you keep doubting me? What good will come out of it anyways? You don’t have to trust me, or believe me. But what are we supposed to do in this dreamscape that our minds conjured up for some reason?” Tsukasa shoots back, squinting his eyes even harder.

Rui takes in a deep breath.

“Fine. I don’t know what happened today for it to warrant your help, but go on.”

“Um, not to sound like I was eavesdropping, but I could clearly hear your conversation with Nene outside the room.”

“Don’t call her Nene.” Rui snaps back, even though he is wincing.

“I don’t know her surname.”

“Kusanagi.”

“Well, Kusanagi seems to care about you a lot. I don’t get why you don’t trust her.”

“You seemed to care a lot about me too.” The answer is quick, sharp, like it has been waiting to be said. Rui can feel the bitterness it leaves in his mouth.

Tsukasa is silent for a second, staring at him with widened eyes.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess he is hurt.

“…So you don’t trust her at all?” He answers in a low tone.

“That’s not what I meant.” Rui frowns.

“Would it really hurt for you to open up?” Tsukasa asks, a strain to his voice.

Rui frowns, feeling a twinge of anger in his chest.

“Do you really think you are in the position to say that? You, who have refused to open up to me from the very first day? Or was it just me you couldn’t trust?” Rui spews out the words, words that are closer to his heart than what he is comfortable with.

“And I told you it’s not like that!” Tsukasa raises his voice, a deep frown in his face.

“And you expect me to believe it? Just like that?” Rui shoots back, quirking a brow. He knows it does more harm than good repeatedly going through this topic, but he can’t help himself.

He needs the closure.

“…No, not really.” Tsukasa answers, looking to the side.

Rui sighs.

“What about your light magic? Can you talk about that?” Rui questions, swiftly changing topics.

“Do you remember how the last dream ended? Because I do.” Tsukasa answers, his face hardening. He looks a bit more like his normal self now.

Rui tilts his head.

“I do… but what do you mean by it? How is it correlated?” Rui questions.

“I tried saying that to you, but you probably weren’t even able to hear it.” Tsukasa explains, his voice getting quieter.

“And why was I not able to hear it?” Rui questions, frustration clawing at his neck.

“It’s the very same reason as to why I couldn’t say anything to you from the start.”

“You’re making no sense.”

Tsukasa grunts, feeling as frustrated as Rui is.

“Just- put your grudge aside for a moment, and listen to me! I’m walking around eggshells choosing my words here!” Tsukasa snaps.

Rui blinks in surprise.

“…Okay.” He answers.

“I’m telling you that I can’t say anything regarding that, and I told you I couldn’t say anything about those kinds of stuff. Do you think a mere promise would be enough to silence my voice in a dream?” Tsukasa says, looking straight into Rui’s eyes, searching for recognition.

Rui’s eyes widen, his heartbeat quickening.

Tsukasa’s serious expression breaks into a soft smile.

He reaches for Rui’s hands, grasping them gently. His hands feel cold, too cold against Rui’s.  

“Rui.” He starts, and his voice sounds younger, unburdened.

Rui stares at their hands, his limp ones, too afraid to move them.

“I’m not asking you to do this for myself. I know how you feel about me, I made my peace with that.” Tsukasa starts as he gazes at their hands, his voice plain and honest, “You will do this to help yourself, and your friends. I can’t give any guarantees, but I promise I will do my best to help. And if I ever become useless…”

He raises his head, and the illusion of his youth is shattered. Left in its place is a man with a smile that is too tight, too tired on his face.

“You can kill me if you want to.” He finishes.

Rui quickly wretches his hands away, as if they got burned.

“Don’t assume how I feel.” He protests weakly, but it falls on deaf ears.

“When we wake up, can you check Kaito’s room? You might find some clues there, if I’m not wrong.” Tsukasa says.

Rui frowns at the sudden request, but doesn’t ask why. He has an inkling Tsukasa won’t be able to explain either.

“Alright.” He accepts easily.

“And, Rui, if you can find it within your heart, there is still a lot of things I want to talk about with you. Especially my sister.” Tsukasa adds, his eyes turning sad.

Before Rui is able to answer him, he beats him to it.

“So, Rui…” He starts, and once again, Rui finds himself unable to hear him, his voice not reaching him.

The space around him distorts, and he’s on the ground again, Tsukasa beneath him.

Tsukasa’s eyes aren’t open this time, but the blood on his hands feel just as real.

He quickly let’s go of the sword once again, his hands starting to shake.

He wonders if this will keep happening. A sick feeling settles in his stomach.

 

He wakes up with a gasp.

And realizes he fell asleep on his desk again.

He quickly gets up, turning around to check the cat.

The cat is awake too, looking at him with a weird glint in its eyes.

He quickly grabs it, and makes a dash for his door.

“Rui?” A voice calls after him as he’s speed walking his way out.

He flinches, and turns around, feeling caught.

“Good morning, Nene.” He greets nervously.

“Morning to you too.” Nene says, her eyes squinted with suspicion.

“Where are you going at this hour?” She questions, “With him too?” She stares at the cat.

Rui feels Tsukasa shrink into his arms, and finds himself being able to sympathize with it. Nene does have quite the piercing gaze.

“He wanted to go outside a little.” He lies through his teeth, “Right, Star?”

Star meows very loudly in answer.

“You are a terrible liar. Both of you.” Nene says in answer, clearly unimpressed.

Rui sighs in defeat.

“Look, I have to make a quick trip to a place. It won’t last too long, I promise. And then I can tell you what’s happening.” Rui explains, the cat nodding along the way.

Nene gives him the unimpressed stare for a moment longer, and rolls her eyes with a sigh.

“Fine. I wanted to tell you what happened with Emu, but I guess it can wait.”

Rui smiles gratefully.

“Thanks, Nene. I will see you soon.”

“Yeah, see you.”  

 

 

Rui grunts, trying to make his way through the vines, being careful of his steps. Tsukasa doesn’t seem to be struggling like him, hopping from a rock to another.

He breaths out with relief when he finally reaches the cottage, barely visible through the amount of vines and leaves surrounding it.

He knocks on the wooden door. It rattles with the force.

Its silent for a second, and then, he hears a muffled voice.

“Someone’s here.” The dull voice says.

He hears footsteps coming his way, and finally, the door opens.

“Hello, Yoisaki-san.” He greets with a feline smile.

 

 

Notes:

you guessed it. its kuroshiro.

also, they held hands after almost 40k words!!!! yahooey!!!!

Notes:

Thanks for reading! Come scream at me about ruikasa on twitter, or send my strawpage the stuff you want to ask or your thoughts!!!!