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Chapter 10

The Wounded Prince.

…

[While Kise was learning how to use magic]…

The next week rolled around and finally, Ryouta was back in school. However, it was a Tuesday since he got suspended on a Monday. This time, the moment both he and Hakase stepped out of Ryouhei's car, he plugged in his earphones but played no music. His face was deadpan, devoid of any expression. Looking at his face, students saw Ryouta as unapproachable and wondered what the cause of it was. Everyone in Kaijou knew just how bubbly the blond was, so to see him like this was a shocking surprise.

When he had entered his classroom, he wore a sour face, and not one of Kise's fans asked the boy what was wrong. Hakase laughed at this, but being around Ryouta, he could tell that the boy was inwardly happy.

"What class do we have first?" Ryouta asked Hakase, taking him out of his thoughts.

"Umm, English." Hakase replied.

"Okay," the Prince frowned and sank in his seat.

"You look sad, is everything alright?" Hakase asked. Since school hasn't started yet, so they were sitting side-by-side.

"I just miss duelling other students with magic and weaponry."

Hakase burst with laughter. "By the way, what's your school like?"

"Hmm, school is compulsory. That's one." Ryouta said. "Second, we have four stages of school so to speak ―Shogakkō, Chuugakkō, Kōtō Gakkō and Daigaku. My school is called Kaijou Kōtō Gakkō and it's pretty large. Well, almost every school centred on the Defense Force is massive. Also, it's the umm…" Ryouta trailed off, thinking of the right words to use. "…the high school division of Kaijou Daigaku or university in your case."

"Oh, we have those schools here as well."

"Oh, I see." Ryouta nodded. "Anyway, school is divided into roughly three sections ―Magic, Chevalier, Science & Technology." Ryouta explained. "Magic and Sci-Tech are self-explanatory; Chevalier is where we learn how to use our weapons and such."

"No they're not. What do you do in these divisions?"

Ryouta sighed and rolled his eyes. "Magic, we learn how to control our Mana and magic. We also learn magic creation where we basically create our own magic spells, however, that's for third years and up. We only learn the theory and not put it in practice. We learn magic spell recognition and learn how to counter them. That's for when we encounter enemies that use certain magic that isn't in our Kingdom."

"That's cool. But each country has their own set of magic spells?"

"No not really." Ryouta denied. "It's just that a country may develop a new spell or something."

"Oh."

"Alright, in Chevalier, we mostly learn how to use weapons and strategize. Each person has a 'weapon class' and Geography as compulsory subjects, and for me, I have Military tactics, military strategies, and tactical formation. Don't ask me about others, I don't know."

"That sounds like a lot. Isn't that too much?"

"Nope! It's actually fun."

"How is school fun?"

"You get to bust people's ass in practical exams; depending on the club you join, you get to create weapons and highly destructive magic spells. And you get to plan sieges on other clubs."

"Really?" Hakase asked. "But what do you mean by 'weapon class'?"

"There are a various weapons that people use to battle. So the school groups them into classes and have a teacher that specializes in that weapon. For me, I'll have Spear class, Ryouji ―my second older brother, will have Whip and Ryouma ―even though he's in Daigaku, has Archery and Staff."

"Why does Ryouma have two?"

Ryouta blinked at Hakase as though he was an idiot. "It's compulsory for Archers to have a close-range secondary weapon. Can't have a glass cannon, now can we? Apart from that, students can learn to use more than one weapon, we aren't restricted, you know?"

"Wow, so you can choose whatever you want to do?"

"Yup! Even though I belong to the Chevalier division, I have classes in Magic and one in Sci-Tech."

"Wow, I'd like to visit your school."

Ryouta grinned. "It can be arranged."

"How?!"

"I won't tell you." Ryouta said with a smile. But of course, there was more to that. The Prince was sure that if he brought Hakase over there, his father would lock him up and send away the other Ryouta and Hakase back to Earth. There's no way he's giving up his freedom just yet.

Plus, if Hakase should enter Sekai, Ryouta wouldn't want Hakase to experience what happened to Earth's Kise. He'd have to probably get a Regular and then again, acquiring one of those would be difficult.

A couple more minutes and the bell rang, signalling the start of the school day.

…

After school, Ryouta and Hakase made their way to the gym. Inter-High Preliminaries have started, and Kaijou was going to play their first match today. Ryouta was ecstatic and couldn't wait to step foot on the court. Practicing with the regulars was fun, but he wanted to play in official games.

Travelling for thirty minutes, the Blue Elites finally made their way to the gymnasium. Entering their locker room, Hakase once more went through the game plan that he and Kasamatsu had thought up. But, Takeuchi had said something that nearly made the Prince explode.

"Kise, you won't be playing in this match."

"Why not?!" the Prince screeched in horror.

"There isn't a need to. I'm preserving you for when we play the stronger teams."

"You're joking right?! I don't need to be preserved! I won't burn out!"

"Kise," Takeuchi said, in a serious tone.

"Don't 'Kise' me you old ―" Ryouta stopped abruptly as a hand covered his mouth.

"Coach, Ryouta has been restless due to his suspension. Let him play in the first quarter to de-stress himself, please?" Hakase said calmly. "I know him the best, so the more pent-up he is, the more he'll likely lash out and destroy everything in sight." The last part of that sentence was all too true.

Listening to the reasoning, Takeuchi gave in. "Alright, but just the first quarter."

Hakase and the rest of the regulars heaved a relief. Whilst the regulars didn't know exactly how destructive the Prince can be, they wouldn't want to find out personally. Hakase had already witnessed firsthand how monstrous the boy could get.

Hakase then shot the Prince a warning glare and immediately the boy sat on the bench and said nothing. Hakase had already threatened him that if he didn't behave himself, they won't be going to Akihabara and he won't be cooking for him. Ever. Ryouta actually agreed and decided that it's best that he keeps his mouth shut.

"I'm going for a breather." The Prince then said, getting up off the bench. "Mahiro, could you come with me?"

The two boys left the room and walked down the hallway. Ryouta had no idea where he was going, but luckily, Hakase stopped them before they got lost.

"Mahiro, do you want back your best friend?"

"Yes, I do." Hakase said without hitch. Ryouta froze. "I mean, you can't erase thirteen years of friendship like that. But, I'd like to know you as well. You're really amusing, albeit frightening sometimes."

The Prince almost tore up. "I love you Mahiro!" he screeched as he made a lunge for the teen.

Not knowing how to respond, Hakase returned the hug and rubbed his back. "Thanks." But then he wondered about the Prince's friends. "Don't you have friends who might miss you?"

"Hmm," Ryouta tapped his chin. "Yeah, I do. But they'll see it more of a 'relief' than actual 'miss'. I'm quite the terror, you know?"

"Wow, shouldn't you be ashamed?"

"I should?"

With a sigh, Hakase glanced at his watch and such, they returned to the locker room since it was almost time to head out to the court. When they returned, the entire team headed to the court, and changed into their jerseys. The other team came out as well, and seeing them, the Prince got even more excited.

After warming up, the regulars of each team assembled at the centre circle after which they bowed at each other. Ryouta reacted later than everyone else, since he was not accustomed to this. Kaijou's starters were the standard.

They were facing Yokohama Gakuen, a team dressed in mostly white.

Kobori and Four jumped for the tip-off, and luckily, Kobori managed to get it to Kasamatsu. The point guard dribbled towards the net until the other players got into their positions. Hayakawa was the furthest away and the closest to the net in case of a rebound, followed by Moriyama who was close to the three point line. Ryouta was at the same position as Moriyama, Kobori was in the paint, Kasamatsu was at the top-of-the-circle.

Ryouta had an eager look on his face, but as soon as Kasamatsu thought about passing the ball to the blond, two big defenders surrounded him. The Prince looked distraught.

"Umm, can you back off a little bit? You're too close." Ryouta said, twisting his face in disgust. "I'm claustrophobic."

Eight and Nine looked confused. Whilst they've never met Kise Ryouta before, hearing him now, erased all previous preconceptions of him. While he was a monster in basketball, it seems like he was an eccentric. Who asks a double team to step back because they're claustrophobic?

"We can't do that." Eight answered with a smirk.

"Why not? Why are you so unreasonable? You're too close to me!"

Is he an idiot or what? Was the unison thought of both Eight and Nine. Kasamatsu and those who were near that heard the conversation couldn't help but gawk. Kise Ryouta was one of the best of players in the sport, what's with this attitude?

Just then, Ryouta moved to the left, they blocked him. He moved to the right, it was the same thing. But he smiled. He had learned this tactic from Hakase, and soon, Ryouta managed to break away from his two defenders and headed towards the net.

By this time, Kasamatsu had long passed the ball to Hayakawa who had passed it to Moriyama. The shooting guard was taking his shot. Seeing the ball head into the hoop, the Prince was heartbroken.

"I wanted to make a shot too." He whined loudly. He then scrounged up his face while his hands shook, looking like a child who was about to burst into a tantrum.

"C-C-Calm down!" Kobori stuttered. "Next time, you'll make the shot, alright?" he said frantically to calm the boy. Meanwhile on the bench, Hakase gripped his chest. He was quite relieved that Kobori acted quickly.

"Okay!" He perked and skipped off merrily towards his court to help with defense. Kasamatsu raked a hand through his hair. That boy was like a ticking bomb.

While Kaijou was making their way back, Eight quickly took the ball and threw it to Seven. The point guard dribbled until he encountered Kasamatsu. He made attempt to pass the captain, but failed. His attempts continued to end in failure and he was beginning to get frustrated.

Seeing this unfold, Ryouta was amazed.

It seems that no matter the dimension or world, Kasamatsu Yukio would always be amazing. He then saw Seven pass the ball to Four via an overhead pass. Four then dashed towards the net; however, he was stopped by Kobori.

In that instant, Five had broken away from Hayakawa and headed into Four's direction. By the time Four passed the ball to Five, Ryouta intercepted the pass and dashed off towards Yokohama's net.

He laughed out loud at his act, although he was happy that the ball was finally in his hand. Thundering towards the net, Ryouta was chased by Yokohama's players. Kaijou followed suit as well, but they weren't worried about the ball getting stolen, they more worried that the Prince forgot to restrain himself and tear off the hoop from the backboard.

On that note, Ryouta thought to himself that maybe he was moving too fast and decided to slow down. That very moment, Eight and Nine tried to stop him but the Prince only smirked.

Pausing for a moment, Ryouta straightened before leaning forwards again. Then, a loud dribble sounded and within a flash, he used a crossover to evade his defenders. Finally reaching the net, Ryouta jumped to make a dunk (Kobori taught him that), but Yokohama's players were persistent.

Nine jumped for the block but with Ryouta's strength, he was sent crashing to the floor. Jumping down from the net, Ryouta turned to face his team with sparkling eyes.

"Did you see that?!" he chirped. "I made a dunk!" He then turned to face Hakase. "Mahiro~! I made a dunk!"

"Good job, Ryouta!" he gave him a thumb's up.

However, Yokohama's players, Takeuchi and the other bench players were getting even more confused. Everyone knows that Kise was a prodigious player. This behaviour was extremely strange. If they didn't know better, they would have thought that Kaijou's blond ace was playing his first ever basketball match.

"What's happened to Kise?" Takeuchi asked in shock. "Why's he so…?"

"He's having an episode." Nakamura deadpanned.

"An episode?" The coach was falling deeper into confusion. Just then, they heard the other players scream out. Focusing back to the match, they saw Eight tried to make a shot but it was blocked by Ryouta. The Prince viciously slammed the ball into the ground which left a small dent in the floor.

Kaijou were the only ones who noticed this, so quickly, Kasamatsu snatched it up and headed towards the net to take their eyes off it. Ryouta lagged behind the others as he thought that if he were to catch it, it'll draw attention. After all, he was taking Hakase's words seriously.

When everyone was in Yokohama's court, Ryouta stopped behind Kasamatsu, not knowing what to do. He still didn't know all there is to about basketball, but he wasn't going to go further. He didn't want to get double-teamed again. It was disgusting.

"Are you up for another round?" Kasamatsu smirked to him. "Go on; show them what the ace of Kaijou can do." He said as he passed the ball to the blond.

"Un!" With a nod, Ryouta grabbed the ball and dashed off once more. Erupting with happiness, he stormed towards the paint area. Yet again, defenders came to block the blond, but this time it was Seven and Four.

"We're not letting you go, blondie." Four said with a determined look on his face.

Ryouta paused and trembled. His face took on a mortified expression and the ball was released from his grip. Seeing the sudden change in attitude, Hakase stood up with worry.

"What's wrong Hakase?" Takeuchi asked, he had drawn the attention of the bench.

"My Ryouta senses are tingling again." He said with a sweat-drop. "Coach, we have to sub him off, right now."

"Huh? Why?" He asked. But Ryouta's actions answered his question. Seven took the ball and ran away from Ryouta but then the blond collapsed on his fours and was trembling even more.

Not caring that Yokohama were closing in, Kaijou's players dashed to Ryouta instead, worried about the blond. The referee was quick to act, calling for a timeout. He too had rushed over to the panicking blond, Hakase came after.

But Ryouta felt like he was reliving a nightmare. The world around seemed to be spiralling into a dark abyss of water, and he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. Although the others around him were calling his name, he covered his ears to tune them out. It was driving him insane. But there was one thing that continued to ring in his ear.

We're not letting you go, blondie.

The moment he closed his eyes, he remembered his horrid past. That shitting nightmare. Unable to cope with these repressed feelings, his magic was slowly getting out of control. There were faint traces of lightning crackling around his body, and those that were gathered around him (especially the referee and Takeuchi and Kaijou's bench players had to rub their eyes, thinking that they were hallucinating.

However, Hakase and the regulators didn't hitch.

Hakase and Kobori motioned to pick up the panicking boy, but that's when it happened. The floor glowed a dazzling light, and afterwards, massive lightning bolts shot upwards.

Seeing this terror, the few who came to watch the match ran away in horror and fright, as a matter of fact, everyone did. The roof was caving in due to it being destroyed; no one could see the floor due to the brightness of the yellow bolts. Those that were around the blond Prince fretted for their life, as some had been grazed and electrocuted by the lightning.

Amidst the chaos, Hakase, with his voice laced with fear, tried to calm down the Prince.

"R-Ryouta," He said with a stutter. But he heard Ryouta mumbled almost in a whimper.

"Save me, someone…save me."

Hakase froze for a second. There's no way this could be same fearless and imposing Prince that he knew. Trying not to touch any of the pillars of lightning, Hakase bent down to look the Prince in the eye and what he saw shocked him.

Ryouta was crying.

He looked so hurt, so wounded that Hakase nearly started to cry too. But gathering himself, he had to wake up the blond boy. Not for himself but for everyone else who had been caught up in this.

"Ryouta." He called. But the Prince didn't budge, instead, the lightning intensified. Having no time to waste, or energy, Hakase grabbed the Prince under his chin, although the lightning on his body burnt him. After they made eye-contact, Hakase slapped him across the face. "Wake the hell up!" he shouted. "You said you needed someone to save you, right? Well, I'm right here." He smiled.

With trembling lips, Ryouta lunged at Hakase with tears streaming down his face. The lightning was gone from his body and the bolts around the court were slowly dissipating.

When they were completely faded, Hakase looked around the gym to see it vacant, albeit for the players on the court. Kaijou and Yokohama were in somewhat funny positions, most of them crouching down and covering their faces, while someone from Yokohama's team had fainted in this mess.

The smooth and pristine court was now filled with so many holes that it resembled cheese, the roof, likewise. There were a few burn marks in the stands as well, and some of the players had either burnt their shoulders, their legs or some other parts of their body. But luckily no one died.

Standing up, Hakase moved with the Prince to the locker room, knowing that in a situation such as this, everyone will most likely head for the outside. Once there, Hakase didn't hesitate,

"Ryouta, what happened?"

"I…remembered something…" he replied in between sniffs. "Something…that may haunt me…forever…"

"Haunt? What?"

"I was kidnapped when I was ten." Ryouta started. "Someone had a grudge against my father for something that not even I knew about. They locked me in a water dungeon so as to negate my lightning. For five days, I was tortured and I'm not going to tell you what they did to me. Because they didn't know my name, they had to refer to me as 'blondie'. What the Yokohama player said to me, was the exact same thing my kidnappers told me over and over." The Prince shivered. "I tried to bury it in the recesses of my mind…guess I just broke at that moment."

Hakase almost ended up crying as well. To think that the Prince was actually damaged to this extent…and at such a young age no less. He finally understood why Ryouta was so explosive sometimes and short-tempered. Five days is pretty long in Sekai, he remembered that one hour had one hundred and fifty minutes. Hakase's heart felt like it moved out of place. This was a wound that was so deep that it'll never go away, no matter how hard one tried.

Without a word (not like he could say anything to alleviate the situation), Hakase embraced the Prince. It was full of comfort, and warmth. The Prince broke down even further, his tears soaking Hakase's shirt. The raven-haired teen rubbed the Prince's back although it hurt due to his hands being burnt.

And for what seemed like an eternity, Hakase comforted Ryouta as best as he could. Eventually, though, the blond cried himself to sleep.

…

Outside was a mess. Police and fire-fighters and ambulances had arrived; police trying to get information on what happened, fire-fighters entering the building to get out anyone that may be trapped, ambulances tending to those who were injured.

Takeuchi didn't need to do a head count to know who was missing. Ryouta's obnoxiously blond hair was nowhere to be seen, and of course, their newly acquired manager with the ridiculously curly hair. Looking at his boys, he could see that they were shaken, hell, everyone who was inside that gym was.

But the coach didn't have the slightest idea where the lightning could have come from. He refused to believe his eyes when he saw electricity crackling around Ryouta's body, as there's no way a human being could channel electricity.

Some minutes later, two fire-fighters had emerged with Ryouta and Hakase. The blond's eyes were puffy and red, but he looked like he just woke up. Hakase looked ragged and haggard, seeming as though he was coming from an intensive training camp.

They were both ushered to an ambulance to get treated, but of course, Ryouta didn't need any, only Hakase. A nurse attended to his palms and tried her best to ignore their conversation ―Ryouta was constantly saying sorry to Hakase, while the latter was reassuring the former that it wasn't his fault.

After everything was said and done, the match was postponed until further notice.

…

"Ryouta, if you don't mind me asking," Hakase said, "Did you receive counselling?"

"Yeah, I did. Until I was fifteen." Ryouta answered looking through the window. Currently, the two boys were sitting in a train, heading home.

"Oh, what did your dad do?"

"It was a small island nation that took me, so Daddy destroyed it." Ryouta said with supreme nonchalance.

"Destroyed? In what way? Politically? Financially?"

"Physically," he answered. "Daddy wiped out the entire nation. The landscape was charred into black ashes, and such. Mom and General Aida used their Water and Earth magic to submerge the land in case anyone (which was highly unlikely) escaped from Daddy's wrath."

Hakase trembled. That meant, should anything happen to the Prince over here and the King found out, then everyone can kiss Japan goodbye.

"That's scary."

"Very. Daddy also got the nickname 'Hell-bringer' from it."

Hakase paled. "I can imagine."

Just then, the Prince perked up, "So what's for dinner?"

Hakase gave Ryouta an incredulous look and showed him his bandaged hands. "I'm the one who should be asking you that!"

"Oh. Then you tell me what to do and I'll cook it."

Hakase sighed. "I'll just order take-out or something."

"Mahiro~" Ryouta whined.

"Fine, fine." The teen dark haired teen succumbed. "Just make sure you follow my instructions perfectly."

"That's my precious housewife!"

However, Hakase didn't have the energy to counter, so he let it slide just this once.

Meanwhile, the other passengers who were nearby could only look on the two boys with surprise.

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