Chapter Text
No matter where, or in whatever circumstances, hope would always exist.
Yujiro yawned, getting up from his bed as the warm rays of sunlight hit his skin. It was a little chilly during the night making it very comfortable for him to sleep despite hating the cold. However, when morning came the temperature became warm again which was more to his liking.
"Looks like it’s going to be another good day." He stretched a few times before switching out of his pajamas to his usual travel clothes minus the cape and hat. He got out of his room before heading downstairs greeting the people there.
"Good morning Mister Yamamoto."
"Oh, Good Morning Sir Yujiro." A tall young man with glasses who is a year older than Yujiro greeted him back while sweeping the floor."It's quite rare for you to wake up this early. "
"Well, I had a good night's sleep. "
After saying that he heard a snort coming from the nearby kitchen." Since when do you not get a good night's sleep? You sleep like a log every single cold damn night."
Yujiro only glared at the familiar blond who came out of the kitchen." Well at the very least I don't snore so loudly unlike someone I know."
"Oi! I don't snore!" The blond stomped towards him. "And here I was being nice not putting any vegetables for you to eat for breakfast! Yujiro is always evil!" He gave a glare.
Yujiro only gave him a smirk. "No one told you to make breakfast for me stupid Aizou. Your cooking sucks anyway."
"Why you-"
"Okay break it up." Mister Yamamoto clapped his hands as a sign for them to stop. "Both of you please do your usual chores and let's not get into fights first thing in the morning without having breakfast first."
"Yes sir..." Both turned away from each other with audible huffs.
It has been exactly a year or so, ever since both Yujiro and Aizou left the Kingdom of the twin princesses Rino and Aoi and traveled together in search of their lost memories. Both of them are currently staying in an inn where they were luckily taken in by the owner Koudai Yamamoto to stay there as long as they want in exchange for helping out with a few chores.
"Morning!" a woman with orange wavy hair entered the inn. "Kou dear~I'm here!"
"Juri not with the nicknames please." Mister Yamamoto seemed to blush from such a calling.
The woman giggled and ran towards him for a big hug. "Then just 'Kou' will do?"
"Yes please." the man smiled placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Miss Hattori, good morning. You're here early, are you having breakfast with us?" Aizou's head peeked out from the kitchen.
The woman gave a Aizou a wave. "Oh, Aizou! Yep! My parents are working and I can barely cook for myself."
"Mister Yamamamoto to the rescue huh?" Yujiro sighed.
"That's why he is the best boyfriend in the entire world~" The girl gushed.
Koudai Yamamoto, the owner of this inn, and Juri Hattori, the daughter of the tailor's owner in a town a few miles from here. What an odd pair but as long as they're happy with each other it's all good.
"Oh yeah, can I ask Yujiro to deliver these to town after breakfast? I know it's my job but the person I'm delivering it to is um..." Juri averted her gaze.
"Someone you don't like?" Yujiro immediately guessed. "No problem, I can do it for you."
"Really?! Thank you! In return, I'll do your clothes for free next time." She gave a thumbs-up.
Yujiro shrugged."Sounds like a sweet deal to me."
"Oi breakfast's ready, let's all eat before it gets cold," Aizou called out, the delicious smelling aroma of their breakfast filled the kitchen.
...
After breakfast.
"That was delicious! You really got better at cooking Aizou!" Juri happily praised as she leaned onto her chair.
Aizou grinned. "It was nothing. It was all thanks to Mister Yamamoto's teaching."
"I'm glad to have a good listener. Anyways, I can wash the dishes. Sir Aizou can I ask you to finish cleaning the floor near the entrance?"
"No problem!"
"And Sir Yujiro, before you go to town can you flip the sign for the inn's dinning area outside to 'open'?"
"Okay."
"Juri, take over at the front while I wash the dishes. Miss Suzumi should be here soon to help with customers."
"You can count on me ~"
"That's all thank you let's all do our best."
...
"There we go."
Just as Yujiro was finished flipping the sign, he felt like someone places something on his head. It was his hat.
"Wear that. Don't come complaining it'll be hotter later on."
It was Aizou who just gave him his hat and promptly left to go do his chores.
As always I can't understand what he's thinking..
As Yujiro went to town it was peaceful, no fights, or wild animals attacking, the walk was normal. He only didn't expect the location of the delivery was a little farther than he thought.
He didn't mind though, he could use some exercise after slacking off during the weekends.
After a 30-minute walk, he finally finished the delivery and thought he could reward himself by buying a milkshake on the way back. And he did.
While walking, he thought about whether to take a detour or just go back to the inn and help out like usual.
Yujiro decided since it's a fair sunny weather it would be a nice opportunity to slack off a little and just help out at the inn in the afternoon where there are more merchants and travelers as customers.
He finds a quiet and cool place to take a rest, below a huge tree in front of a huge flower field. Lying down on the soft grass using his arms as a pillow and hat to block the sunlight from his eyes, Yujiro started to slowly drift sleep.
"Someone's slacking off at work."
A voice awfully quite similar to his blond partner can be heard with footsteps approaching in his direction.
"I'm not slacking, I'm just taking a small nap. Plus I just came back from a delivery so cut me some slack." Yujiro made no effort to remove his hat to look or know it's Aizou. He just continued to go back to sleep letting out a yawn.
"Whatever." He heard Aizou sigh and sat next to him. "The breeze does feel nice here."
Yujiro hummed in acknowledgement.
It may be a year already, but Yujiro still isn't that very familiar with Aizou. It's not that he's still wary of him, they have been through a lot even after so many months defeating the dragon and leaving the kingdom.
Yujiro really just doesn't see why he has to go through the effort of getting to know his weird partner.
He doesn't even know how to start, he can't even hold a normal conversation without them arguing about something. But one thing Yujiro would never fail to notice, that Aizou's presence beside him would give him an unnameable comfort. Even if he didn't have to express it out loud.
Like now, just sitting together under the shade, feeling a soft cool breeze of the wind, the slightly warm temperature of the weather, the sound of birds chirping, and their wings flapping against the wind.
Yujiro liked it. It's peaceful. He sometimes wonders if before he lost his memories and constantly went looking for them, he had ever taken a break and looked at his surroundings to give himself peace of mind instead of just thinking about his lost memories?
With many thoughts in mind, Yujiro finally drifted asleep.
...
Yujiro felt Aizou gently shaking his shoulder to wake up.
"Yujiro wake up. It's time to go back soon, Mister Yamamoto might scold us if we take this break too long. I feel bad for the ladies working since morning."
"Fine..." Yujiro grumbled under his breath sitting up rubbing his eyes, his hat fell onto his lap in the process.
"Here." Aizou gave him an apple. Yujiro looked at him confused about where he got it.
Aizou grinned showing he had two more on his hands. "A fruit vendor was passing by and I bought some for us as a snack. Besides you always get hungry after waking up." He took a bite of his apple.
"Oh. Thanks, I guess." Yujiro awkwardly spoke before also taking a bite. "It's sweet!"
"Right?"
Both of them shared grins and continued eating until they were finished and walked back to the inn together sharing a small banter along the way.
...
"You two are finally back! I can't believe you just ditched morning work on me!" A familiar high-pitched voice greeted them as they arrived back at the inn. Another woman around their age with messy brown hair and thick eyebrows came walking towards them clearly huffing in annoyance.
Both of them just gave her a blank stare.
"Oh yeah. Want an apple?" Aizou threw one at the brunette who caught it.
"Oh, apple thanks! Wait no! Don't think you can fool me into forgiving you for an apple!" She retorted jabbing a finger.
"Tch." Aizou clicked his tongue.
"But you still did your job well Suzumi. I'm impressed there's no broken plates anymore." Yujiro mused.
"Hey!"
She is Hiyori Suzumi, the daughter of the town's well-known fisherman and helps her mother on the farm. She works on Mondays at the inn for extra savings. She happens to be the same age with Yujiro and Aizou.
"Juri! These two are being mean to me again!!" Hiyori whined.
Juri just let out a laugh already seems used to them being like this. "Oh come on Hiyori~ It's always like this."
"Still they're always mean!"
"Fine then you two will help out until closing shift!" Juri spoke in a bossy yet friendly tone.
"Yes, Yes ma'am"
Both obeyed and went to do their respective work. With Aizou helping Hiyori serve customers of the inn's dining area and Yujiro helping Koudai behind the counter.
Work isn't that hard when the five of them are always working together.
An hour of working passed, and Yujiro noticed that the noise of customers began to increase. It seems like there's a group of noisy yet cheerful customers. Aizou even had to help out poor Hiyori carry what they ordered. The group ordered quite a lot large portion of food.
"Yujiro can you take this blueberry latte to table 5? Hiyori and Aizou are both busy with the big group of people there." Juri pointed out.
"Sure thing." Yujiro carefully took the order from Juri and walked towards the assigned table. With that, he got to see what the big group of noisy customers looked like.
I don't think they're a group of travelers... They don't look like any of the townspeople I've seen from town either. From their attire, they look kind of like knights. What are a group of knights doing around here?
"Here's your order ma'am. " Yujiro smiled and gently placed the customer's order on the table.
"Oh thank you." The customer who was a woman who was reading a book thanked him.
Then suddenly both their attentions were at the table where the group of knights were after one of them made a really loud cheer.
"Here's to us taking a full year break! Yahooo!"
"After all it's that time of the year again!"
"The King sure knows how to make the kingdom stand out!"
"Heck! Who wouldn't be interested in hearing about wish-granting stuff hahahah!"
"Too bad we're not as brave to try!
" Oi just shut up and let's dig in all of you! "
Despite being annoyed by the loud voices, Yujiro only perked up after hearing the wish-granting part.
"Probably just a false rumor. " He mumbles to himself.
"Oh no it's not. "
" Huh? " Yujiro snapped his attention to the woman who was pleasantly enjoying her drink.
The customer covered her mouth in one hand she seemed embarrassed. "Oh pardon my rudeness. It just came out by instinct. But you don't happen to be interested in wish-granting types of rumor right?"
"You're good don't worry. Anyways is there such a thing?" After all, Yujiro couldn't believe it upon hearing the first time. The jewel they got from the dragon didn't do anything after all.
The woman nodded and placed her cup on the table."Have you heard of the Central Kingdom? Those knights over there are from that kingdom. But judging from their attire... They're just knight apprentices."
"I haven't heard of the Central Kingdom. This is the first time I've heard of the name." Yujiro replied.
The woman looked surprised. "Oh really? Then to explain. The Central Kingdom also well known to be a magical golden kingdom, which is ruled by the King and Queen. What makes the kingdom itself unique is not only its history of battles and trade, but all members of the royal family have magical powers. To such, the King's power is to grant wishes."
Yujiro was in awe of knowing such a kingdom existed. He should probably take note of this information.
"And once every 3 years, the king holds a celebration and an event where those who pass the trials have a chance to have their wishes granted by the king himself.
"An event?"
"I'm sorry I don't have much information about how the event works. All I know is that it varies every three years."
Yujiro gave her a smile. "I see. Thank you very much for telling me all this. "
Wow, that was quite an information... A wish-granting ability huh... I wonder if I can get my lost memories with it...
As the rest of the afternoon came to end of their work in the inn's dining and finally closed. The only thing left functioning is the reception in case there would be travelers at night needing a place to stay.
After closing, both Hiyori and Juri went back home to town together. Koudai insisted the ladies should have stayed longer for dinner but it seems that Juri's family is home and prepared dinner and the same with Hiyori who had a big family waiting for her.
After a pleasant bath and dinner, Yujiro was about to call it a day until he remembered something. He then walks in the direction of the room he and Aizou are sharing. He knocks on the door twice before coming in.
"You decent there?"
"You can come in."
After confirming Aizou was there he opens the door and steps inside the room finding Aizou sitting on his separate bed drying his messy blond hair which is not tied to his usual ponytail.
Yujiro knows he was supposed to tell him something important but was struck with an awkward feeling on how to suddenly bring it up.
"You got something to say don't you?" Aizou spoke.
Yujiro stared at him. "How did you know?"
Aizou shrugged. "Who knows?"
Yujiro rolled his eyes. "I just got some interesting information. Though I'm not sure if it would be of any worth to us in the end."
Aizou's eyes widened. "Wait you don't mean it's something related to getting our memories back?"
Yujiro nodded and sat on his own bed before continuing. "Remember that group of noisy knights earlier?"
Aizou nodded. "Yeah, they sure ordered a lot. Glad they weren't impatient though."
"Well to start. Have you heard about a place called the Central Kingdom?" Yujiro asked him.
"Central Kingdom... No... This is the first I've heard of it." Aizou replied.
That was exactly what I said earlier...
"Then pay attention."Yujiro began to explain."Apparently, the Central Kingdom is a unique kingdom that is ruled by a king and queen who have magical powers. The King has the power of wish-granting."
At the mention of the word wish-granting, Aizou visibly perked up. "You're telling me what if we can get our memories from this wish?"
Yujiro shrugged. "I guess. I have no idea if it will be easy. After all the only info I got was the event being held every once in 3 years by the King. Whoever wins the event gets to have their wish granted."
Aizou blinked. "This sounds like something from a fairytale, to be honest."
Yujiro sighed. "I hate to agree but as much as I think it sounds all fake, we did literally defeat a dragon. Like that's any different."
Aizou chuckled. "Right?"
A knock on their door was heard. "Travelers, are you two there?" It was Mister Yamamoto's voice.
"Oh come in Mister Yamamoto."
"Ah, no need." Mister Yamamoto replied. "I just need you two to come downstairs. There's someone I would like you to meet, it's an old friend of mine."
Yujiro and Aizou stared at each other both a little confused.
This was the first time Koudai wanted to introduce them to someone aside from his girlfriend. And it's already nighttime who is visiting in the middle of the night?
Both just shrugged it off and went downstairs to the cafe area. There, they both saw someone, a slightly familiar figure sitting beside Mister Yamamoto.
Yujiro recognizes the guy.
Isn't he from that group of knights from earlier?
"They're here. Please take a seat." Mister Yamamoto gestured to the two chairs in front of him and his guest.
Yujiro and Aizou just quietly took their seats.
"Now then. Travelers, this young man is Kotaro Enomoto. He's one of the captain for the knights in training of the Central Kingdom. He is also happen to be one of my very good friends." Mister Yamamoto introduced.
The young man, Kotaro, bowed lightly. "It's nice to meet ya two. Sorry about my friends earlier I'm sure they were too loud."
"It was no problem Kotaro." Mister Yamamoto shook his head. "At least they didn't get drunk or faint."
"You're still the same as ever." Kotaro mused. "Anyways it's already late so I'm going straight to it. Kodai told me that you two might be interested in some wish-granting rumors be it true or not."
Both Yujiro and Aizou nodded.
"You're in luck." The man, Kotaro grinned. "I say you two should visit the Central Kingdom this month. Have you heard about the grand celebration there?"
"We heard bits of it." Yujiro replied.
Kotaro nodded in approval. "Good. So are you two interested in participating? If so I can give you a map to the Central Kingdom so you can go there for yourselves."
"Well? It has been a while since we have had to go on an actual journey." Aizou spoke gesturing to Yujiro beside him who was in the middle of thinking.
"This is so far the only rumor we came across that has a lot of people confirming it's true..." Yujiro mumbled.
"It's a long journey ahead, but since Koudai wanted me to help you out... The only thing I can do is help you once you two have successfully passed the first part of the trial, from there I can do a lot of stuff for you two." Kotaro spoke.
"What do you say?" Aizou asked Yujiro with a knowing grin.
Yujiro rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Hmmm... I say why not?"
Kotaro looked pleased with their decision. "Then it's settled, I'll remember your names once you get to the event. So do your best! I should get going now," Kotaro handed map. "Here's the map by the way. I've marked a few shortcut routes and precautions."
Yujiro accepted the map. "Thank you very much."
Kotaro waved a hand. "No problem it's the least I can do for the trouble earlier. Koudai come visit the Central Kingdom sometimes ya know."
Mister Yamamoto smiled. "I'll try to find time. Have a safe trip back Kotaro, say hello to Ken for me."
" Roger that." With that, Kotaro left riding his horse back to the Central Kingdom.
"Looks like a new adventure awaits us tomorrow partner." Aizou rested his arms on Yujiro's shoulder.
Yujiro coolly removed Aizou's arm. "Yeah. Don't get left behind stupid Aizou. "
After exchanging grins, both then bumped their fist together just like they always did whenever they were about to do something together.