Chapter 20
The flames from the explosion continued and Nagisa could only silently watch as what was left of the ship sank into the depths. His face was wet and red, and he could barely move…barely breathe. It all happened so fast, and he was having a hard time processing everything; there was no way they could have survived that, was there? Nagisa clenched his eyes shut at the realization and lowered his head; it was all hopeless now.
Nagisa shouldn't have come here at all. This was just so selfish of him and he shouldn't have dragged Rei or anyone else into this because now they were gone…and it was all his fault. They were gone, and soon he and everyone else around him would be too.
"How disappointing…" Sumi suddenly said, causing Nagisa to lift his head back up. "It would have been better if they were closer and easier to see as they perished…but oh well! I got three down now in one go, so it wasn't a total waste! Also," Nagisa felt her shiver and watched as she tightened her grip on the scepter. "How wonderful to see what powerful things this scepter can really do."
Nagisa felt anger twinge inside of him at every word Sumi spoke, but he just didn't have the energy to act on it anymore. He was tired…tired and broken, so he said nothing and did nothing to try to escape anymore.
"Oh, what's this? Have you given up? That's very uncharacteristic of you, little Prince. I thought you were someone who never gave up." She held him closer to her face and used her finger to lift his chin to look at his defeated expression. "Have I finally broken you?" Nagisa continued to hold his gaze downward and didn't look up at her; she smirked. "Good. Everything will be much easier for me now." She harshly pulled her finger away from Nagisa's chin and let his head drop back down and Nagisa worried about what Sumi would do next.
"Rin?! Makoto?! Are you two okay?!" Gou called frantically once she found them.
"Ah…yeah." Rin groaned, rubbing his head.
Makoto looked around and noticed there was something on fire not too far from them. "What happened?!"
"I don't really know…" Gou answered. "An explosion? That's what it looks like."
"But…but how? What happened to the eel?!" Rin yelled.
"I don't know that either. I just remember she almost had us and then…" Gou gasped and she and Rin looked at each other at the same time. "You don't think…"
"That the explosion..." The two of them swam off and started frantically looking around for the eel, leaving Makoto clueless.
"Wait what? What's going on, you two?!" Makoto swam in a hurry to catch up to them. "Wait, do you think that the eel was killed in the explosion?!"
"YEAH!" Both Rin and Gou shouted back.
"That would have been extremely lucky if…" Makoto stopped, noticing something floating in the water not too far from him. "Hey, guys wait! I found something!" He swam toward it, thinking he'd find the eel…or what was left of her if she did get caught in the explosion; what he found, however, was something he had not expected. "Oh my goodness!"
"What is it?!" Gou shouted as she and Rin swam over to Makoto.
"It's Rei's brother! I think he's still alive!"
"What?!" Rin picked up his pace to have a look for himself. "But what's he doing out here?"
"I have no idea, the last I saw him he was in a row boat with Rei and Haru…" Makoto gasped. "Maybe they got caught in the explosion…that must mean Rei and Haru are out here somewhere too! We need to look for them!"
Rin and Gou both nodded agreement. "We'll look, you need to get this one to shore right now," Gou said. "He's in really bad shape."
"Right!" Makoto threw Rei's brother onto his shoulder and started swimming towards the shore, only hoping that they found Rei and Haru as well.
It wasn't long before Rin spotted someone in the water and swam over to him immediately. "Gou! I found someone!"
"Which one?!"
"Ah, I don't know. I think he has black hair? It's hard to tell in this lighting."
"I think that one's Haru…"
"Uurggh…" Haru groaned.
"Looks like he's alive too! I'll bring him to shore, so keep looking for Rei!"
"I'm on it!"
Rin hurried to shore with Haru on his back and placed him onto the sand once he got there.
"Oh, thank goodness, you found Haru!" Makoto sounded relieved. "What about Rei?"
"Gou's still looking for him. How's Rei's brother?"
"He's fine, but unconscious. I think he got really hurt from the explosion, though."
"Yeah, he looks pretty bad. He'll need to get some medical treatment, but I don't know how soon that'll be given the situation."
"M...Makoto?" came a groan.
"Haru!" Makoto hurried over as Haru sat up. "Are you all right?"
"Rei…where's Rei?"
"We don't know yet." Rin answered. "My sister Gou is still out looking for him."
"I…I need to help." Haru moved quickly to stand up but fell right back down and cried out in pain.
"Haru!" Makoto panicked. "What's wrong?!"
"It's my leg. I think…I think it's broken."
"Then you need to stay put." Rin said.
"But—" Haru argued as he tried to stand up. "Rei…he needs—"
"I said you need to stay put." Rin said again more bluntly. "Gou is taking care of it."
"Rin's right, Haru. There's nothing you can do right now. You just need to rest that leg, okay?"
Haru sighed and nodded reluctantly before making sure to settle back down in the sand again.
"So," Rin broke the silence after a few minutes. "What do we do now?"
"We need to get back out there and help Nagisa."
Rin laughed dryly. "And how do you suggest we do that? Our last plan didn't exactly go well."
"I…" Makoto looked down, feeling hopeless. "I have no idea."
Sumi swung Nagisa around aimlessly with her tentacle as she sang about the next step to her plan. "Hmm, what should I do now, little Prince? I have," she looked down at the scepter in her hands. "Ultimate power here…more than I ever could have imagined; I shouldn't let that go to waste now, should I?" Nagisa remained silent as Sumi floated across the surface. She looked around a bit more before her gaze fell onto the shore and her eyes narrowed. "Oh, I nearly forgot about the castle."
Nagisa took in a sharp breath and his heart pounded hard. No way. There was no way she was thinking what Nagisa thought she was thinking.
"It'd be great for testing out my power even more, don't you think? But hmm…how shall I do it? Blast it to smithereens? Burn it down? No…I need something bigger; something more devastating."
"N-no." Nagisa trembled, barely able to get his voice out.
"What was that?"
"No!" Nagisa finally screamed. "Why would you care about the castle anymore? Rei…" Nagisa trailed off. The sound of his name suddenly choked Nagisa up and he needed to take a deep breath before he continued. "Rei's gone. Why do you feel the need to do this?"
She shrugged. "For fun? I'm still getting used to this thing, and I need to practice somehow."
Nagisa felt sick to his stomach. How could she just want to do this for fun?! "But…what about the reason you originally wanted the scepter? Why aren't you using it for the youth potion like you wanted?"
"Youth potion? Who cares about a stupid youth potion when you have this much power?! I was a fool to only want this for a youth potion when I can achieve so much more with it." Her eyes gleamed with realization. "With this scepter, I'm now even more powerful than your father." She started to laugh. "And it was brought to me by his own son! Oh this is just too perfect." She laughed again for a few minutes, enjoying herself. Then she pointed the scepter at the castle. "Well, I definitely need this practice then if I'm going to take on your father."
Nagisa struggled against her tentacle again but it was no use, there was no way he was going to be able to stop this from happening. The scepter started to glow as it was getting charged up for the shot and Nagisa couldn't bear to watch, so he clenched his eyes shut and waited for the sound of the blast to come.
Instead, he heard a blast come from behind him and felt Sumi's entire body jolt forwards harshly before hearing her scream in pain. Nagisa then noticed that Sumi's grip around him had loosened up enough for him to escape. Nagisa wasn't sure what had happened, but he wasn't going to waste any time and wriggled himself free and dropped into the water.
He hadn't quite realized how high up he was until he hit the water with a hard smack that could have easily hurt him much more if he had gone in at a slightly different angle. He quickly swam back up to the surface to find out what had actually happened and he was surprised to see his father was there!
"Return my scepter right now, and I will spare your life!" the King yelled up at Sumi.
Sumi laughed. "You spare my life?! That's a funny joke, your Majesty. The only reason you got a good hit on me was because you caught me by surprise. You may have powers even without the help of the scepter, but they're no match for me as I hold this in my hand. So if you're smart, I would suggest you get out of here right now before this gets ugly. If you just so mindlessly attack me, you'd be putting your precious son in harm's way!"
Nagisa saw his father tense up and start to lower his arms. "What have you done with him?!"
Sumi smirked. "Not to fret, your Majesty. He safe…for now." She held up the tentacle that had been previously holding Nagisa and she apparently didn't even notice that he escaped. "Wait…w-where did he go?!" She then started checking her other tentacles in a panic. "He was…he was just here before you…uugh that brat! He must have slipped away from me!"
The King gave a proud smile and Nagisa could have sworn he heard him say "That's my boy" under his breath. He re-raised his hands at Sumi again and chuckled. "So what were you were saying about my son?"
Sumi suddenly looked furious and pointed the scepter right at the King. "You won't be laughing for long!" The scepter started to glow again and Nagisa's heart dropped. No. He wasn't going to lose anyone else! He kicked his fin and swam as fast as he could to get to his father, pushing him out of the way just mere seconds before the blast would have hit them.
"…N-Nagisa?!"
"Dad, are you okay?!"
"Nagisa! What are you…?" The King shook his head and just wrapped his arms around his son and squeezed tightly. "I'm so happy you're safe!"
"Dad…" Nagisa felt a few tears well up. It felt like it had been so long since his father hugged him like this. "I-I'm so sor—"
"Oh isn't this sweet?" Sumi's mocking voice interrupted. "Father and Son, reunited once again. I had a feeling you wouldn't have gone far, little Prince. Now you won't be getting away from me this time!" Sumi then reached a tentacle over to grab him but the King pushed Nagisa behind him and used his magic to make a shield.
"Nagisa, get out of here now!"
"But—"
"Find your sisters and get somewhere safe! I'll hold her off as long as I can!"
"But…but, Dad—!"
"Don't argue with me! Go now!" He looked back at him with insistent eyes. "Please, Nagisa. I just want you to stay safe."
Nagisa nodded hesitantly and dived under the water to swim away. He hadn't gone too far before he stopped abruptly. No…he couldn't just let his father die. This entire thing was his fault, and he couldn't let anyone else die because of his mistakes. He had to find out a way to help, but what could he do? If his own father couldn't beat Sumi, how could Nagisa expect to? He just needed a plan to outsmart Sumi…a way to get the scepter away from her. But he couldn't do it alone; he needed help.
"Did you see what just happened over there?!" Rin yelled out in an oddly hopeful panic.
"Yeah, it looked like Sumi got attacked by something!" Makoto shouted back, matching Rin's tone.
"What do you think it was?" Rei's brother asked weakly, having only gained consciousness a few minutes prior.
"I'm not really sure." Rin narrowed his eyes in thought. "What's out there that could be powerful enough to knock Sumi for a loop like that?"
Makoto suddenly realized and grabbed Rin by the shoulders. "The King! The King has powers even without the help of the scepter! They're not as strong as they are with it, but it's still something!"
Rin's eyes lit up. "That means there's still some hope!"
"But since they're not as strong," Makoto pondered, sounding discouraged. "The King won't be able do this alone. He needs help." Makoto looked out at the scene and narrowed his brows. "He needs my help."
"Are you crazy?!" Rin yelled. "How can you possibly help? You don't have some secret magic powers I'm just now hearing about, do you?"
Makoto chuckled. "No, but I have combat training. Maybe I could distract Sumi…help wear her down so the King has a better chance. It's something, at least."
Rin grit his teeth, not really too fond of the idea, but it was the only one they had right now. "Just don't die, okay?"
Makoto smiled. "I won't." He turned to leave.
"Makoto?"
Makoto turned around with a look of concern. "Haru?"
"Please, be safe."
"I will." Makoto promised and he turned away again and took a deep breath to calm his nerves before swimming away.
Not too long after Makoto's departure, Rin spotted Gou not far off in the distance. "Gou! She's back!" Rin scurried back into the water to help her, thinking that she must have found Rei, but she was at the shore a lot faster than he anticipated. Rin's heart sank because he knew why. "You…couldn't find him, could you?"
Gou shook her head sadly. "No. I looked everywhere but I…I couldn't find anything." She looked over to Haru and Rei's brother with quivering eyes. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry." Tears stung at her eyes and Rin pulled her into a hug. As he looked over her shoulder, he had a clear view of Haru and Rei's brother and watched them both break down into tears.
Makoto was definitely out of his mind, but he couldn't just wait around knowing that there was something he could do to help. He just needed to make sure he wasn't seen or else it might be bad for both him and the King. He was half way to where the fight was happening when he noticed Nagisa in the distance. He almost cried out to him, but figured that was a bad idea given the situation, so he just continued to swim over to him in a now faster pace. He was so happy to see that Nagisa was safe and finally out of Sumi's clutches.
Nagisa gasped once he finally noticed Makoto swimming toward him. "Makoto!" Nagisa seemed to pick up speed as well and met Makoto with a very tight hug. "I'm so glad to see you! I'm so sorry for rushing out and completely ignoring you before. I was just so worried about…" Nagisa looked away sadly. "…so worried about Rei that I didn't even bother to say anything to you or Rin."
"It's okay, Nagisa. I understand. He was in danger and he needed you."
"Yeah." Nagisa still held his gaze away from Makoto's. "Not like that matters anymore, though. They're all dead because of me …" Nagisa's eyes started to water.
Makoto squeezed Nagisa's shoulders. "But they're not, Nagisa! They survived the explosion!"
Nagisa whipped his gaze back to Makoto's. "W…what?! They did?!"
"Yes! Rin and Gou and I were all being chased by that other eel of Sumi's when the ship came out of nowhere and exploded almost right on top of us! Luckily it got that eel instead. But once things calmed down, we saw them in the water! I got Rei's brother and Rin got Haru!"
Nagisa's eyes started watering even more. "I-I'm so glad they're okay! I thought there was no way they could have…but they did and…" He sobbed. "But…what about Rei?" He asked hopefully.
Makoto's eyes lowered. "Well, unfortunately Gou's still out looking for him…"
"Oh…" Nagisa's expression grew solemn again, but he tried to perk himself up. "Well, I guess there's still a chance, right? And…and the others are okay! So that's great news!"
"Yes! So, try not to lose hope, Nagisa." Makoto smiled at him and gave him another tight squeeze.
"So," Nagisa broke the silence. "What are you doing all the way out here anyway?"
"I saw that your father came and took a shot at Sumi, but there's no way his magic alone is powerful enough to stop her when she has the scepter. So I came to help out."
"Makoto…" Nagisa said worriedly. "Sumi's way too powerful, you can't just—"
"I know, but I have to try. I can't just sit back and watch your father die for us. He needs help."
Nagisa clenched his fists. "I can't sit back and watch you die either. There has to be a better way to defeat her; we have to get that scepter away from her somehow! We need a plan, not just reckless improvisation!"
"Well, if you can think of a plan, then please do. But in the meantime, the King needs my help."
Nagisa reluctantly nodded and hugged Makoto one more time. "I'll think of a plan, I promise you! Just stay safe, okay?!" Nagisa released Makoto and then hurried back in the direction of the shore. If Nagisa could somehow think of a plan within the next twenty minutes, it would be a miracle.
Nagisa swam as fast as his fin could carry him back to shore, which was easier said than done because it started to rain. Nagisa groaned at the inconvenience and could only hope he could get to shore with enough time to spare to try and come up with a plan. He was able to spot Rin's red hair through the fog and shouted out to them to get their attention.
"Nagisa! You're okay!" Rin and Haru said at the same time.
Rin swam out to meet him and pulled him into a hug. "We were so worried about you, you know?!"
Nagisa was out of breath from swimming so fast, but he didn't hesitate to get to the point right away. "There's…no way that Makoto and my dad will be able…to hold Sumi off for long! We need to… come up with some kind of plan, and we need to do it fast!"
"Slow down, Nagisa. You need to catch your breath, okay?" Rin scolded as he helped him to the shore.
Nagisa wanted to argue, but he knew there was no use in trying to come up with a plan in this state; so he took a moment to rest, but only a moment! As he sat there, he saw Haru lying back in the sand with Rei's brother sitting right next to him. He was so relieved to see they were both safe, but then he realized that Kou…or I guess it was Gou now, seemed to be back but there was no sign of Rei anywhere and Nagisa's heart fell.
"Say, uh…Gou?" He said with a naïvely hopeful tone. "Makoto said you were out looking for Rei. You…didn't happen to find him, did you?"
Gou looked over at him with a very disheartened expression and she took a second before she answered. "I'm so sorry, Nagisa. I looked everywhere, but…I couldn't find him."
It pained Nagisa to hear that, but he should have expected it. When Makoto told him that they hadn't found Rei right away with the others, he couldn't bring himself to be too hopeful about it; losing Rei the first time had been hard enough, there's no way he could handle a second time. Though he still couldn't stop himself from feeling crushed all over again.
"I k-kind of expected this so…don't feel bad okay, Gou?"
Gou's eyes trembled and she swam over to pull him into a hug; Rin joined in not long after to try and comfort Nagisa as well.
"Well, I guess you were right, Haru." Rei's brother laughed. "It started to rain, so the party would've had to be moved inside."
Nagisa couldn't help but smile at that comment and he even heard Haru chuckle softly. He could only imagine that was the intention of bringing it up at a time like this...to lighten the mood; and Nagisa was thankful for it.
"So," Nagisa sniffed and pulled away from the embrace. "We need a plan to help Makoto and my dad defeat Sumi by getting the scepter away from her. Any ideas?" Everyone looked at each other in silence and then back to Nagisa.
"Nagisa," Rin started. "She's huge! The scepter also grew in size when she did. How do you expect we get it away from her when we probably can't even lift it?"
"No, no. We wouldn't lift it...we'd have to make her drop it!" Nagisa suggested.
"But how do we do that?" Rei's brother asked. "Apparently the King's magic isn't even enough to make her drop it, so what would we be able to do about it?"
Haru put a hand to his mouth in thought. "Maybe if we could distract her somehow…"
"What would even distract her, though?" Gou added. "I doubt just yelling at her would distract her enough for her to drop the scepter. It was hard enough for me and Nagisa to get out of her cave a few hours ago."
"Yeah, the only reason you two were able to escape from her was because Nagisa accidentally killed one of her lovelies, right?" Rin recalled.
"Yeah, that was…wait…" Gou's eyes widened. "I think…I think I might have an idea!"
"What is it?!" Everyone asked, leaning in closer with anticipation.
"I found something really…disturbing while I was out looking for Rei, but it might actually be of some use to us."
After hearing out Gou's idea, everyone agreed to it even though it sounded ridiculous and might not even work, but it was the only plan they had so they had to give it a shot. Apparently while Gou had been out looking for Rei, she came across more eel remains from the explosion earlier, and had even saw the head floating about in the water. She thought that if the death of that first eel was the only thing to distract Sumi enough for them to escape, then maybe they could use this head against her as well.
They decided to split up before they went back out to the water. Gou and Rin went to get the eel head, and Nagisa went to go tell Makoto and his dad about the plan. Rei's brother offered to go with him, but Nagisa did not agree because he was still badly injured and Nagisa didn't want to risk him drowning in case things got too intense.
So Nagisa swam over, only peaking his head above the surface every so often so he couldn't be seen. It took him longer to get there than he would have liked, but it was better than being spotted by Sumi and captured again.
Once he finally arrived, he found Makoto first, who looked extremely tired already, and he even had a few cuts and bruises on him. When Nagisa was sure it was safe, he swam over to Makoto and tapped on his arm.
Makoto jumped at the touch and turned around quickly. "N-Nagisa?!"
"Shhh! Don't be too loud, it'll give us away." Nagisa scolded.
"S-sorry." Makoto whispered back. "What are you doing here? It's not safe!"
"I swam back to shore and met up with the others. We came up with a plan!"
"Really?!" Makoto almost said too loudly, but was able to hold back his voice. "What's the plan?"
Nagisa bit his lip. "Well…it's a bit strange, and it might not even work but..." Makoto gestured for Nagisa to continue. "Gou said she found the head to that eel that was chasing you guys earlier, so they went to go get it. You just need to get my dad to lift it with his magic and throw it at Sumi. Hopefully she'll get freaked out by it and drop the scepter in the confusion."
"That's your plan?!" Makoto almost yelled.
"Makoto, shhhh!" Nagisa scolded again.
"That really is ridiculous. How do you even know she's going to freak out and drop the scepter?"
"Well, we don't. But the only reason Gou and I were able to escape her cave earlier was because I tackled Sumi and the blast she had aimed at Gou went in a different direction and hit her eel instead. The death of that eel distracted her enough that we could get out of there so…we thought it might work a second time. Especially since I don't think she knows the other eel is dead yet."
"Well it's a long shot, but it's the only idea we have right now." Makoto looked over to the King and saw that he was struggling. "Ah, he needs more help! I'll draw Sumi's attention to me for a few minutes so you can go tell him the plan, okay?"
Nagisa nodded and dove back under the water. He waited for Sumi's focus to be back on Makoto and he swam over to his dad to tell him the plan. The King also thought the plan was ridiculous, but agreed as well. Now the only thing to do was to wait for the eel head, which, fortunately, didn't take that much longer to get there.
"So, do they know the plan?" Gou asked, while she and Rin struggled to keep the head from floating above the water.
"Yeah!" Nagisa answered. "Let me tell my dad you're here." Nagisa swam back up to the surface and was able to whisper to his dad that the eel head was ready for him, but Sumi's focus was back on the King again and she was already throwing blasts at him. Nagisa had to quickly retreat back under the water because a blast came right in his direction. "Ugh, Sumi's attacking my dad again! If we gave him the head now, he wouldn't have time to throw it at her before she blasted him."
"Yeah," Gou groaned. "Not to mention the element of surprise would be gone if she saw the head too early."
"What do we do?! I don't think my dad can last much longer! And it doesn't look like Makoto has much energy left either."
"We'd need a distraction or something." Rin suggested. "If we could get Sumi's focus off of your dad for just a few seconds, it could work."
"Right." Nagisa nodded. "But who's going to do the distracting?"
Rin scoffed. "Me, of course. I have a few things I'd like to say to that witch."
"Okay," Gou agreed with a frown. "But you had better be careful. You don't want me to have to explain to Ai that you died doing something idiotic, do you?"
"I'll be fine, I promise." He hugged both Gou and Nagisa before cracking his neck and rushing to the surface where Sumi was sending the King blast after blast. He smirked and took a deep breath. "OI! OCOTPISS!"
Sumi suddenly stopped her attacks and slowly turned around to face Rin. "Excuse me?" She said, sounding slightly offended and slightly amused.
Rin laughed. "I'm actually surprised you responded to that. Get called that a lot?"
"No, it was just so ridiculous that I needed to take a look at the idiot who came up with it." She sighed. "Honestly, though. If you really wanted to insult me, surely you could come up with something better than octopiss."
"Well, I wasn't the one who came up with that. My dad made that up when I was a kid..." Rin's tone suddenly turned serious. "You know, before you murdered him."
Sumi blinked a few times before realization spread across her face. "Ohh! Well, I knew you looked familiar. You look just like him, after all." She narrowed her eyes. "Care to share the same fate?"
Rin cocked a brow in confusion and realized too late when one of Sumi's tentacles came right at him and scooped him out of the water.
"Hey! Let me go!"
"RIN!" Gou gasped and burst out of the water before Nagisa could stop her. "Let go of my brother, you oversized inkwell!"
"Oooh, so both of you are here? Well, lucky me!" She lifted another tentacle. "Always nice to catch two fish on the same hook, don't you think?"
"Gou! Get the hell of here!" Rin yelled.
"Don't worry, you'll all be reunited with your useless father soon enough."
"Hey, Sumi!" came the King's voice, causing Sumi to lose interest in Gou and turn around. "Think fast!"
Sumi lowered her brows in confusion just before the King threw the eel head right at her. Sumi gave out a horrified shriek and her arms seemed to move on her own to catch the head before it came too close to her face; but in doing so, she dropped the scepter!
The scepter almost seemed to be falling in slow motion, and Nagisa couldn't take his eyes off of it even as it fell right above him…nearly about to crash right onto him. He heard his father screaming at him to get out of the way and Nagisa suddenly snapped out of it and jumped out of the way, but not quick enough because it still managed to graze over Nagisa's cheek and leave a nasty cut from the bridge of his nose and down to his jaw.
Nagisa yelled out in pain at the cut and reached up to his face in hopes to stop the stinging, but he saw that the scepter was sinking and had to dive in after it. It was sinking quite fast because of how heavy it was, and the massive size of it didn't help any, but Nagisa was able to catch up with it quicker than he thought. When he wrapped his hand around it, it finally reverted back its original size and Nagisa was able to pull it to the surface with ease.
Nagisa noticed Sumi immediately and she was completely distraught…shaking violently and her voice cracking. "My LOVELY! What have you done to her, you MONSTERS!"
Nagisa hurried and took the opportunity to swim over to his dad to give him the scepter. "Dad, I got it!"
"Hand it here!" He called, frantically grabbing the scepter out of Nagisa's hands once he was close enough. He quickly pointed it right at Sumi, ready to attack. "So what were you saying earlier about killing me?!"
Sumi, still trembling, looked away from the head in her hands and her eyes widened. "How-how did you—?" She then noticed Nagisa floating there next to the King and her eyes narrowed in anger. "YOU LITTLE BRAT!" She screamed and threw the head down into the water before motioning to reach down and grab Nagisa once again, but the King didn't hesitate.
"You're mistaken if you think I'll just let you hurt my son ever again!" The scepter glowed as it was finally charged up enough and a bright beam of red light shot out of it and hit Sumi right in the chest. She grunted in pain and clutched the spot where it hit.
"You…bastard!" She gritted out as she slowly started reverting back to her original size. "Killing me slowly? That's such a villainous thing to do, don't you think? Especially for a King? How un-heroic of you. I'm sure the guilt will eat you up while you try to sleep at night."
The King lowered the scepter and looked her straight in the eye. "I'm sure I'll get over it knowing that my family and my kingdom are safe from the likes of you."
Sumi's eyes narrowed angrily and she growled before finally choking out her final breath and slumping over into the water.
A few seconds passed and there was a sudden lighter feeling to the air…and everyone had collectively sighed in complete relief. It was done; Sumi was finally gone forever.
That calmness didn't last long when Nagisa suddenly remembered Rin had been captured. "Wait! Where are Gou and Rin?"
"We're fine!" came Gou's voice from across the way. She and Rin were with Makoto on the other side of Sumi.
"I was able to get free from her tentacle when your dad threw the head at her."
Nagisa sighed in relief again and was finally confident he could be completely at ease. "We should go tell Haru and Rei's brother everything's okay, then!"
"Yeah, that's a good idea!" Makoto agreed.
"You three go on ahead." The King interrupted. "I need to have a word with my son."
Makoto nodded and gave Nagisa a reassuring smile before he, Rin, and Gou started to swim back to the shore. Nagisa gulped and took a deep breath. He just knew he was going to get the largest scolding of a life time. He slowly turned to face his dad, but couldn't look him in the eye.
"I'm so sorry, Dad I…" Nagisa looked down. "Are you mad at me?"
"No, Nagisa. I should be the one to apologize." Nagisa looked up in surprise. "I should have never ever done what I did to you. It was childish, and it was wrong. I was just so angry, that I acted rashly and I didn't mean to hurt you, but I still did. And for that I am so, so sorry, Nagisa. And you were right…I was, and still am, very bitter about your mother's death. But that was no excuse for my behavior. I guess, I guess you swimming away was the best thing you could have done, because I don't think I would have listened to you if you tried reasoning with me. So no, I'm not mad at you, I'm a bit disappointed and mad at the situation, and I was so extremely worried about you, but I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at myself for ever driving you away like I did. I hope that one day you could find it in your heart to forgive me."
"Dad…" Nagisa choked up, letting his eyes water. "Of-of course I forgive you!" He swam over and wrapped his arms around him in a giant, warm hug. "I never knew you cared that much."
"Of course I do, Nagisa. You're my son. But I suppose I need to try harder to be a better father."
"I'll try harder to be a better son too." He sniffed, almost regretting what he was about to say. "I know our Kingdom is struggling, so if I still need to go through with that arranged marriage then…I will."
The King laughed softly. "You don't have to do that anymore, Nagisa. The King of the Northern Kingdom passed and Queen Kimiko was able to change the law make her daughter Emi the Queen. There is no need for the arranged marriage anymore."
Nagisa felt so relieved to hear that, because he sure wouldn't have wanted to do that even though he was offering.
"But even if the arranged marriage was still needed, I wouldn't make you do it if you really didn't want to. I don't want you to be unhappy, Nagisa."
"But, what about our Kingdom? It's still not doing well and we need the help!"
"We'd find some other way to fix it. And we will. We'll just have to work extra hard, okay?"
Nagisa nodded. "Okay. I promise to work hard."
"We promise to work hard too!" Came the voices of two of Nagisa's sisters from behind them.
Nagisa gasped and hurried over to them and pulled them both into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh my god, I'm so glad to see you!"
"Ah, Nagisa!" yelled the youngest sister. "You're crushing us!"
"Oh, oops." Nagisa let go of them and gave an apologetic smile. "I'm just happy to see you again. And uh," he looked to the middle sister. "I'm sorry about just completely snubbing you off before. I just didn't have time to explain."
"Don't worry about it, okay? I'll get you back for it later."
Nagisa laughed and rolled his eyes playfully. "There's that snarky sister I know. But…" He looked behind them. "Where is—?"
"Oh, she suddenly swam off on our way here for some reason." said the middle sister, sounding slightly annoyed.
"Yeah," the youngest sister added. "She said she saw something and didn't even say anything else before she disappeared."
"Well, I'm sure she'll be fine." said the King. "Though it would probably be best to head home once she comes back."
"Oh." Nagisa said sadly. He hadn't expected they would be leaving so soon.
"Go ahead and get Makoto. And…say goodbye to your uh…human friends, okay?"
Nagisa nodded and turned away to swim back to the shore; he soon heard Makoto's voice and saw him smiling softly as he and Rin talked with Haru and Rei's brother. Nagisa smiled as well and hurried to the shore to join.
"Ah, and there he is!" Rin's loud voice came as he jumped back into the water and swam over to Nagisa to rub his fist over his head. "I was wondering if you were going to survive your dad! He sure looks intimidating."
Nagisa laughed. "It actually went better than I expected, he wasn't angry at all. In fact, he even apologized to me."
"Really?" Makoto asked, utterly surprised. "Wow! I'm so glad! I thought for sure he would ground you for eternity."
"I did too, haha. But we need to get back soon, so I just came by to say goodbye, I guess."
"Ah well," Rin said. "We best get going too."
"Yeah, Ai must be worried. And he still doesn't even know I'm okay! It's gonna be quite the story we'll have to tell him when we get back." Gou laughed.
"I'll come and visit when you get settled back in." Nagisa promised.
"It's a deal!" Rin agreed. "But don't come so early in the damn morning this time, okay?"
"Hehe, I won't!" Nagisa then pulled both Rin and Gou into one more hug. "Thank you for everything."
"Hey," Rin grunted. "Don't start getting all sappy on me."
"For real, though." Gou whispered. "He'll start bawling right here on the spot if you get any sappier than that."
"Oi! What can I say? I'm an emotional guy!"
Gou giggled and gave Nagisa a kiss on the cheek before turning away. "See you, Nagisa!" She started to swim off.
"Wait up!" Rin called and turned away as well; he turned back to Nagisa. "Thank you for helping me get my sister back! I owe you big time."
"Don't worry about it!" Nagisa called back and waved as Rin finally disappeared into the water.
It was quiet for a moment and Nagisa finally turned back to the shore to pull himself on the sand to talk to Rei's brother and Haru. "Sorry about leaving you with this huge mess to clean up." Nagisa apologized. "My dad just really needs me back home right now."
"We'll be fine. I just…I don't know how we're going to explain all this to Mom and Dad." Rei's brother said solemnly.
Nagisa's heart fell at the sound of his voice and it made him feel extremely guilty for everything. He could only imagine how hard it was going to be for him to tell his parents that Rei was gone… "I wish I could be the one to tell them what happened. Everything is my fault, after all."
"Don't say that." Haru argued. "There was no way you could have known any of this would happen."
"Yeah, it was just as much my fault too!" Rei's brother added. "If we had just had the party inside maybe you wouldn't have been taken as easily or something!"
"Yeah, but it was still because of me that all of this happened in the first place. If I had just obeyed my father like a good son, I would have never made that stupid deal with Sumi. If I had just…if I had just stayed home then Rei would still be alive!"
"Who said I wasn't still alive?"
Nagisa suddenly tensed and wasn't sure if he was hearing things or not. That voice...there was no possible way it was…He then noticed the look of pure relief and joy on Rei's brother and Haru's faces as they covered their mouths and let tears run down their cheeks. Nagisa gulped and turned around, barely believing it could be true. He saw his oldest sister swimming towards them while holding a very alive and very conscious Rei above the water.
"R-Rei?" Nagisa managed to stutter out. How was this even possible? Was he dreaming? "Sis, h-how did you…I…" He looked at Rei's face and Rei smiled at him weakly. Nagisa's heart turned over and he completely lost it. "Oh my god, REI!" Nagisa frantically pushed himself off of the sand and into the water, barely able to swim because he was shaking so hard and the tears were fogging his vision. He swam rather sloppily over to them and was finally close enough to wrap his arms around Rei in a tight embrace. "Rei oh my god. I…I thought you were…I can't believe you…" Nagisa started sobbing loudly and felt Rei wrap his own arms around Nagisa tightly.
"Nagisa." Rei breathed as he buried his face into Nagisa's hair. Nagisa felt him trembling as well and even felt some tears fall onto his head. Rei took a few shaky breaths and finally pulled away to place his hands on Nagisa's cheeks.
Nagisa was finally able to really look at Rei, and his heart fell when he noticed Rei's face was very badly burned. Just when Nagisa was about to ask if he was okay, Rei's expression suddenly changed to that of concern.
"You're injured."
"It's just a small scratch from when the scepter hit me earlier, it's nothing to worry about. But what about you?! That's gotta be painful, you should get to the doctor soon!"
"I'll be fine." Rei stroked Nagisa's cheek with his thumb. "I'm just so glad you're okay."
Nagisa leaned into Rei's hand and brought up his own to give Rei's a squeeze. He was so overwhelmed…he never thought he'd see Rei again, and yet he was right here in his arms.
After they held each other a little while longer, Nagisa knew he needed to pull away and help get Rei to shore to let Rei's brother and Haru hug him too; Rei was just as important to them as he was to Nagisa.
"Rei, oh my god." Rei's brother cried out, completely bewildered as he and Haru both pulled him into a hug.
"H-how did you even—?" Haru managed to mumble out through his tears.
"I don't really remember anything, to be honest. Not until Nagisa's sister here came to my rescue."
Nagisa looked to his sister in awe. "But how? Gou said she looked everywhere and couldn't find him."
"That's because he somehow drifted way, way out to sea. We were all on our way here and I thought I saw something really strange and swam off to investigate. Good thing I did too, because I found him floating on some kind of drift wood. I was surprised he hadn't fallen off because he was completely knocked out. I wasn't really sure what to do, but I kinda felt bad just leaving him there. So I grabbed him to take him to shore and not too long after, he woke up thinking I was you! Then I came to find out he was the exact person you went and got yourself changed into a human for."
Nagisa's lip quivered and it didn't take long for him to pull her into a hug. "Thank you! Thank you for saving him, Sis!"
"Yeah, yeah." She smiled. "Easy with the water works. Normally I don't think I would have saved a human, but I guess there was a part of me that was telling me…that's what Mom would have done."
Nagisa's eyes shined and he hugged her even tighter. He was forever grateful, and he'd definitely show her his gratitude somehow.
"Oh good, she's here!" Came the voice of the King not too far from them. "Thought I saw her swim over here."
"Oh…hey, dad!" Nagisa and his sister said at the same time.
"Oh…your Majesty!" Rei's brother called from the shore and he immediately knelt down in respect, Rei followed suit and Haru bowed his head since he couldn't kneel. "We must thank you for your help tonight. We are forever in your debt."
The King waved his hand for them to stop. "Please no need for that. I'm just happy to get my son back." He looked to Rei and gave him a nod of gratitude. "It's about time to go now, I'm afraid. Have you said your good-byes?"
Nagisa's heart fell. He was so happy about Rei, that he almost forgot he had to go back home. "Yeah, but…can I have just a few more minutes?"
"Of course, just make it quick."
Nagisa turned back to the shore and was almost surprised to see Rei was already sitting on the sand as close to the water as he could. Nagisa's eyes softened and he made his way over to him. He pushed himself up onto the sand and looked up at Rei sadly. "I guess…this is goodbye." Rei suddenly pulled Nagisa into his arms again.
Nagisa tried to hold back tears because he really had been crying way too much that day. He squeezed Rei and didn't want to let go. He finally got him back, and now he had to leave. It just wasn't fair. But he knew it wouldn't be forever. There was no way his dad would forbid him from seeing Rei again…at least he hoped so.
"But I'll come to visit as soon as I can. I promise. My dad just needs me at home right now."
"I know. And I'll be waiting for you. I—" Rei paused and took a deep breath. "I-I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too, Rei." Nagisa breathed out. They held each other for a few moments longer when Nagisa hesitantly pulled away to look at Rei's now tear-stained face; the sight made Nagisa almost lose it and start crying again too, but he didn't. "Thank you for taking me into your home. I had…the most amazing time with you."
Rei smiled and sniffed. "And thank you for your company. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. Well," he chuckled. "If you can count almost getting killed by a sea witch fun."
Nagisa laughed too and gave Rei's hands a squeeze. He looked up into his eyes one more time and almost wanted to tell him how much he loved him, but he stopped himself. Now probably wasn't a good time for that. How much would that suck if Nagisa just confessed only to leave immediately after? He hugged Rei once more and then pulled away to slowly wade back into the water. He smiled and waved at Rei, who returned the gesture. "Goodbye, Rei!"
"Goodbye, Nagisa."
Nagisa turned away and joined his dad, sisters, and of course, Makoto, who was still waving goodbye. They all dived under the water and were finally on their way back home.
Nagisa stuck his head through the throne room doors. "Hey, Dad. Makoto and I are going to take Ren and Ran to get a treat!"
"Okay, have fun! Don't be too long, though. You need to help your sisters hand out food tonight!"
Nagisa gave a half-smile. "I know, I'll be there!" He slipped out of the room, but forgot to shut the doors behind him.
The King sighed. "Goodness, Nagisa." He shook his head and swam over to shut the door, but his eldest daughter came swimming in and ran right into him.
"Oops, sorry, Dad! Didn't expect you to be there!"
"Ah, I was about to close the door. Nagisa forgot to…again."
She laughed. "Sometimes I think he does it on purpose. Anyway, I thought you might be hungry and brought you a snack."
"Ooh, thank you! Come join me at the table." They both sat and ate their coral cakes in silence until the King let out a big sigh.
"What's wrong, Dad?"
"Nothing, I just…I'm a little worried about Nagisa. It's been a month now and he still seems…unhappy."
"Well of course he's unhappy. He hasn't gone to seen Rei at all since he's been back home."
"Well that's the weird part, he told me he would ask me if he ever wanted to go visit, but he hasn't asked me at all."
"Hmm…maybe he's afraid you'll say no."
"I don't think that's it. I told him he didn't even need to ask me, but he said he wanted to anyway. Yet, he still hasn't asked and I know he must miss him. I hate seeing him unhappy."
She put her finger to her mouth in thought. "Maybe it's because when he goes to visit he'll have to leave? I imagine that would be kinda hard to do. Only able to see him for, what? A few hours and then have to come back home? He'd have to go visit him every day and we both know that wouldn't work out well with how busy everything is right now; and who knows how busy it is for them on the surface too. There'd have to be…some other kind of arrangement."
The King gave his daughter a stern look. "Are you implying what I think you're implying?"
She gave a knowing smile. "Well duh, Dad! Don't you think it'd be a good idea? And you have the magic to do it, so why not?"
"I…I don't know. I'm still a bit…wary of the humans."
She gave him the dirtiest look she could make. "Are you kidding me right now?"
"What?"
"You saw the way Rei looked at him. Hell, Rei almost died for him! What else does he have to do to prove to you that he's worthy?!"
He looked down, feeling guilty. "I know…you're right. It's just still hard to get over the prejudices I have for them."
"Well, you're just gonna have to get over that, because your son is in love with one of them. And you said you hated seeing him be unhappy, right?"
He sighed. "Yes. I did say that. And it's true! I just made him unhappy for so long that I never want to do that again."
"Then how about doing this for him? I know it'd make him so happy! And if you're concerned about missing him, you can always go and visit! He could even come visit us! I'm sure he wouldn't mind turning back into a merman for a few days to visit. He could even bring Rei with him! Also," she grinned widely. "Now that I think about it, if Nagisa married him, that'd give us an alliance with the humans! We could even make a pact with them and have them do their fishing elsewhere so our people won't starve anymore!"
The King blinked a few times in amazement. "I can't believe I never thought of that…"
"See?! It's a great idea, so what do we have to lose?!"
"I suppose you're right, but…"
"Oh my god," she groaned. "But what?"
"It's sure going to be quiet around here without him."
Her eyes brightened up and she squealed with delight. "Should I go get Nagisa?!"
"Once he comes home, yes. Please go get him and bring him here."
"I will!" She got up and started to exit the room.
"I hope you understand this means that Nagisa won't be here to help you and your sisters tonight."
She stopped. "Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that!"
"Well, it was your idea." The King laughed as his daughter groaned and left the room.
Rei watched as the gentle waves hit the shore over and over and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that evening. He had gone to the beach to watch the ocean every day since he parted ways with Nagisa, and he waited for him until the sun set. He didn't know why he thought today would be any different, it had been the same for a month now. He'd sit for hours and Nagisa would never come, and he was starting to get worried.
He knew Nagisa promised him he'd visit, but Nagisa's father, from what Rei understood, was very strict and didn't like humans much at all. So Rei feared that, because of what happened, he'd bar Nagisa from coming to visit him and that he might never see him again.
Still, he could have just as easily missed Nagisa since he had no idea what time he would come, but he thought Nagisa would at least leave him some kind of a message so he'd know what time they could meet later; but there was never anything. No writing in the sand, no message in a bottle…nothing; and Rei was becoming impatient.
He felt like he was being selfish, and he would obviously wait an eternity for Nagisa if he had to, but he just missed him so much. It was so strange not having Nagisa in the castle anymore. Everything was oddly quiet even though Nagisa was, of course, never loud while he was there, but that was probably because having Nagisa around was always an adventure and there was never a dull moment.
It wasn't so bad during the first week because everything was still settling down from the incident with Sumi. The guests were all scared and confused, and that took a bit of explaining; especially since many of them watched everything happen from the windows. Then they had to write to their parents and tell them that there was an emergency and they had to come home immediately. Thankfully it wasn't too hard to explain to them what had happened. They weren't even angry and had actually laughed at his brother for planning the "party from hell", as his Mother so graciously put it. Then there was the fact that he, his brother, and Haru were all badly injured from the incident and had to spend a lot of time in the infirmary to heal.
Once things had calmed down, however, was when Rei really started to notice Nagisa's absence. He wasn't in the room down the hall anymore for Rei to wake up for their morning run, he wasn't in the library working hard on his writing, and he wasn't sitting at that spot across from Rei at the dining room table. Rei even went to Nagisa's old room and tried to wake him up a few times before he realized that Nagisa wasn't there.
So this was how Rei had been spending the majority of his evenings now. He'd just sit in the sand and wait for hours, losing count of how many times the waves hit the shore. It probably wasn't good to waste so much time just sitting there waiting, but he didn't want to give up on Nagisa. He just couldn't. Not after all they've been through together; not after how hard Rei had fallen for him.
"Hey," came the soft sound of Haru's voice from behind him. "It's getting late, and you didn't eat dinner tonight. You should come inside."
Rei sighed again. "Yeah, I know." He stood up and brushed the sand off of his pants and turned to face Haru. "You know, you really shouldn't be climbing down those stairs with crutches. That can't be very safe."
Haru frowned. "Well the doctor said I needed to move around a bit. And I hate being cooped up in the castle all day. It's not fair that you get to come down here every day when I can't even swim until my leg is fully healed."
Rei smiled at Haru's whining; it was so unlike him to complain this much that it was almost funny. If Haru had actually listened to the doctor like he should have been this past month, then his leg might heal faster. The amount of times Rei and his brother had to stop Haru from jumping into the ocean with a cast on his leg was ridiculous.
"Well, no one's stopping you from just sitting out on the beach and enjoying the weather without having to go swimming."
Rei almost laughed at the face Haru made in response, but he merely scoffed and made it sound like he was clearing his throat. "Anyways…I suppose I should eat something."
Haru nodded and the two of them made their way back to the path and up the stairs. They were going at an abnormally slow pace because of Haru's leg, but Rei didn't mind. The weather had been cooling down lately and it was nice to spend more time outside. They were just about to the top of the stairs when Rei heard something coming faintly from the direction of the beach. He wasn't really sure what it was, but it almost sounded like someone was calling his name.
"Did you hear that?" Rei asked Haru as he grabbed onto his shirt to stop him.
"Hear what?"
Rei lowered his brows. "I guess it must have been my imagination." He frowned and turned back to climbing stairs. He was actually kind of disappointed. He was so sure he had heard somethi—
"Rei!"
Rei stopped in his tracks and Haru turned around instantly. "I definitely heard that one!"
Rei turned around and couldn't do anything but stare down the stairway. If Haru heard it too, he couldn't be imagining things, but could it really be... "Nagisa?" Rei almost whispered out, which was useless because there was no way anyone could have heard him.
"REI!" came the voice again, and Rei almost fell over because there was no mistaking it now.
"Nagisa!" He yelled out as he felt himself start to run down the stairs. Only a few more steps down and Rei finally saw him at the very bottom. He was panting and soaking wet, wearing something similar to that silly outfit he had on when they first met. It was quiet for a moment, and they just stared at each other. "Nagisa…" Rei breathed out again, unable to comprehend what was happening and how this was possible.
Nagisa's lip trembled slightly and he suddenly started sprinting up the stairs. "Rei!"
Rei let out a breath and started running as well to meet him half way. Once Nagisa was close enough, he practically jumped onto Rei and Rei had to catch him so they both wouldn't fall over. Once he regained his balance, he ran his palms over Nagisa's cheeks. He was real. He was real and he was here. "H-how?" Rei stammered. "How are you—you have legs again!"
"My dad." Nagisa choked out through the tears now staining his face. "He changed me back."
Rei's eyes widened. His father actually let Nagisa…? "W-what? How...? For-for how long?"
Nagisa smiled and reached a hand up to Rei's. "Forever. That is…if you'll have me."
Rei gave a breathy laugh. "Of course I'll have you!" Rei pulled him into an embrace buried his face in Nagisa's hair. "I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, Rei." Nagisa nuzzled his face into Rei's chest and that made Rei's heart start to pound really fast.
A month had definitely been too long, because he felt flustered at Nagisa's affectionate nature all over again; and all those feelings from before started to rush back. They never went away, of course, but they were so much stronger now that Nagisa was in his arms again. Rei's throat suddenly felt dry and he gulped loudly at the thought of what he was about to do.
"Nagisa?" he asked through a shaky breath.
"Yeah?"
Rei pulled away from the embrace and placed his hands on Nagisa's cheeks again, rubbing his thumbs softly over them. He looked straight into Nagisa's eyes and his heart almost melted. He remembered the first time he saw them when Nagisa saved him that night, the first time Nagisa looked up at him when they ran into each other on the beach, and the way they stared at him on the row boat the evening he showed him the lagoon. He smiled fondly at all the memories and brushed Nagisa's hair behind his ear before leaning forward and pressing their lips together.
Nagisa made a small sound of surprise, but relaxed into the kiss before bringing his hands up to the back of Rei's neck to deepen it. Rei felt like his heart was going to explode and he pulled away not too long after so he could breathe properly.
Rei placed his forehead against Nagisa's. "You have…no idea how long I've wanted to do that."
Nagisa chuckled. "Tell me about it. If only you had done that a month ago."
"Perhaps. But then Sumi would still be out there doing who knows what and you would have never reconciled with your father."
"That's true. So I guess it was all worth it in the long run." He frowned. "I could have done without the month in between, though."
"I agree. It was way too long a wait. Although, something good came out of it."
Nagisa cocked his head to the side. "And what was that?"
Rei brought his hand up to Nagisa's cheek again. "It gave me time to practice telling you how much I love you."
Nagisa released a small gasp and a huge blush spread across his face. He proceeded to bury it into Rei's shoulder to hide his embarrassment. "I love you too, Rei. I love you so much and I've been wanting to tell you for so long!"
It was now Rei's turn to blush, and he, unlike Nagisa, had nowhere to hide his face. Fortunately, Nagisa took his face from Rei's shoulder and kissed him again. Rei smiled against Nagisa's lips and buried his hands in Nagisa's curls.
"Uh…" came a voice from behind them. They pulled apart to see Haru standing there awkwardly. "Not to interrupt but um…dinner. Getting cold."
"Ah, right. Sorry about that, Haru." He and Nagisa looked at each other and pulled away, albeit unwillingly. "Would you like to join me for dinner?"
Nagisa brightened up and smiled lovingly at Rei. "I'd love to! I really missed eating with you, Rei." Haru groaned uncomfortably. "Don't worry, Haru! I missed you too!" Nagisa ran over and jumped on him to give him a huge hug.
"Th-that's not the problem!" Haru stuttered out. "Get off of me, you're heavy."
"Aww, does that mean you didn't miss me?" Nagisa pouted.
"I never said that."
"So you did miss me!"
"Nagisa!"
Rei laughed softly and shook his head fondly at Haru and Nagisa as he followed them up the steps and back to the castle. Rei had never felt more content and he was so looking forward to having Nagisa by his side for the rest of his life.
End.