Intro: its been a while… I have to say I had a very hard time thinking of what to include in the next chapter… thank you for patiently waiting…!
Disclaimer: I do not own Touken Ranbu and Cardfight! Vanguard and other material which came from the said Game/Anime, they are owned by its original creators. The making of this story and this story is made for the fans and the writer XD. Although the plot and some changes in the story are from me ^_^.
Chapter 75: Illusion
"Does that mean that our relationship is purely of master and his sword and nothing more?" Mikazuki's eyes shine when realization strikes his mind was somewhat clouded as the relationship between the two of them were still undetermined.
"Yes!" Kon nodded assuring Mikazuki that it was only just purely coincidental and nothing more.
"Then…" Mikazuki stares at Aichi and at that moment Mikazuki slowly cups Aichi's chin confusing him of the reason why and slowly Mikazuki inches closer as their face comes close to each other.
Closing his eyes when they were only breathes apart Mikazuki met with Aichi's lips stunning Aichi making him feel warm inside especially on his cheek as a visible deep red blush on Aichi's cheek can be seen by the three surprising Kon, Konnosuke, and Mina by covering her eyes from surprise but quickly parted her fingers to clarify that in front of her, Mikazuki just kissed Aichi on the lips and is already blushing at this point from the realization.
Or maybe not since when Mikazuki has parted with him, Mikazuki still cupping his chin smiles at the stunned Aichi in front of him, noticing the blush on his cheeks "Aside from being connected…" Mikazuki places a hand on his chest "I can see and feel at the same time that you are flustered and bashful" the hand on Aichi's chin moved from his head caressing it a little.
"I did as promised to tell you the answer of the reason why I am eager and anxious to learn about the bond that we have once we have learned of the answer." Closing in on Aichi he was still stunned and unmoving and had no reaction yet "Well you have your answer, but I wonder if you will be able to get that on how dense you are." placing the hand that was on his chest to Aichi's chest.
"At least I have a chance and an idea that you are thinking the same thing as I am thinking." Mikazuki chuckles as he feels the fast beating of Aichi's heart from inside as if it is begging to jump out.
Getting his answer Mikazuki then stood up from his seat greatly amused at Aichi's reaction and what will happen next in the days to come "I won't repeat it again unless you gave me permission when I ask for it, of course I won't do something you don't want to and you will hate, but at least give me this one chance of stealing a kiss." Mikazuki smiles playfully at him "Knowing we have no blood relation, I won't back down and hold down my feelings anymore, I hope you are ready."
Placing a hand on top of his lips he turns to Mina "I hope this can be a secret between all of us."
In Mina's mind "He is no old man…"
"Will it be alright if I take my leave first?" Mikazuki asked as he walks over to the door.
"Y-yes…" Still surprised at what happened she takes down the talisman and let Mikazuki head out first.
And when he was away "Aichi-kun?" Mina waves her hand in front of Aichi to wake him up from reality with a still visible flush on his face.
"I didn't think Mikazuki Munechika would be this type of person…" Kon was amazed at what Mikazuki did to Aichi "We know his past but is what he is doing has something to do with it as if influenced by it or he decided to let go of it because of Aichi?"
Hearing the words about Mikazuki's past Aichi somehow came back to normal but was still a little out of it upon remembering the fact that he is just not their second owner but maybe more than 10 on the others and probably still loves them more, thinking that what if Mikazuki is just doing this to forget the past and not because his feeling are true? Maybe he should really look into their past more and research.
"Are you okay Aichi-kun?" Mina walks over to him and checks him up receiving only a nod from him. "I don't think you are still fine though."
Mina turns to Kon "I wonder about dinner…" Mina thought.
"Oh yeah that will be troublesome." Kon realizes.
"Add to the fact that tomorrow Mikazuki will be one of the toudans who will be escorting him to and from school." Mina added "He is so playful and crafty… I think he did it on purpose." She sighs after.
"Well that aside I think I have an idea why Konnosuke confused you all with his words and why he hasn't given you a proper answer." Kon looks at Konnosuke as he flinches feeling the stare from him "It was because he didn't have enough information about it."
"Oh yeah you did mention that it's only the third time that happened." Mina recalls their earlier conversation.
Nodding to her he continues "Well let's just see what will happen in the future though I am quite curious of what will happen when Aichi-kun tries to repeat the same thing with his blood contract." He wags his tail clearly curious and excited.
"So what will we do about dinner?" Mina asks.
"For now we should eat with him inside your room, he won't sober up that easily from what happened, what will happen tomorrow is something to be waiting for." Kon smiles.
"I think it will take some time for him to eat though." Mina stares at Aichi who is still flushed and not moving.
"We'll see whatever happened after dinner we will take him back to his room." Kon drops down on the table as he continues outside "I'll tell them about dinner so wait here…"
"Okay…" After Kon left Mina smiles to herself looking at Aichi "I should have taken a picture of that…" she thought.
~Aichi's Room~
Although Aichi has recovered a little from the kiss Mina and Kon insisted on accompanying him back to his room, just to be safe and of course to give him a breather first.
Aichi now changed into his night attire lays on his bed still flustered about what happened a moment ago. Staring into the ceiling slowly his hands trails onto his lips "Why does it feel like…" blushing from remembering what happened Aichi felt his cheeks warm again, using a pillow to cover his face as a way to forget it, but the thought won't go away making him unable to fall asleep.
~Morning~
A little tipsy from the lack of sleep Aichi wakes up on his own and made his way to the stairs of his room, but there is something that he wasn't able to remember because of yesterday's event, is that today, for him coming and going to school, the ones who will have to accompany him is Yamanbagiri, Mutsunokami, and of course the reason for him being like this is none other than Mikazuki.
Shocked as he was staring onto the bulletin board, he became sober in an instant upon taking notice of the board.
"Aichi-sama?" Mutsunokami calls out in surprise watching in curiosity that their master is awake already without being woken up.
Flinching in surprise Aichi was not able to recognize the voice and only thought that it would come from you know who from panic.
"Oh… Mu-Mutsunokami-kun…" Aichi was relieved that it wasn't the one he thinks it would have been but his wordings did surprise the two.
After the two looked at each other "Kun?" Yamanbagiri and Mutsunokami tilted their head as if there is a big question mark on their heads.
"Well, whatever it is ya' prefer." Mutsunokami just laughed at it.
Noticing his mistakes Aichi bowed his head "So-sorry!..."
Mutsunokami laughs it off again while Yamanbagiri is not used to it "It's fine it's fine!" Mutsunokami grins.
"We came to wake you up for breakfast since we are the ones who will be in sending you off to your school and in charge of picking you up today." Yamanbagiri explained.
"Oh…" hearing their answer Aichi looks away making them more curious than ever, it seems he was right about the fact that he is going to be escorted by him "I'll follow to the dining hall…"
The two looked again at each other and then to Aichi who is staring at the floor, as they started moving forward Aichi follows.
~Dining hall~
At the dining hall he sat with the others and started eating his breakfast with of course looking at his left and his right searching for a certain sword, eating fast as he can than his normal phase, the toudans become curious and now wary of his actions, of course Mutsunokami and Yamanbagiri has already relayed the news to the others when they arrived and it spread around fast hence they were studying his actions.
After finishing his breakfast and surprisingly not meeting up with the certain sword, in his head there is one thing that he should be ready, and that is when he is being escorted.
With that in mind Aichi hurries up to his room, got himself changed and called Horikawa at the entrance after.
~Entrance~
At the entrance of the citadel Aichi asks for Horikawa's hand, the one with the bracelet and then "Alright Horikawa, I am counting on you!" he receives the badge that from today onwards he is the attendant until of course it is taken off from him.
"Oh! Nice Kunihiro!" Izuminokami and Horikawa's eyes shine and twinkle at the sight, of course having the badge is different from just doing normal assistant things such as waking him up.
"I won't let you down!" Horikawa smiles while Aichi handed him the list of to do and the list of whom are in charge for the whole week.
And then finally "Aren't you going to be late." This time he wasn't mistaking that voice, frozen up in surprise and panic he tries his best not to show a pink flush on his face.
"N-no… i-its fine…" Aichi said not even turning to see the owner of the voice and find out who is the owner if he was mistaken, well just from his tensing up, stuttering, and not looking at him, all of them already has an idea of whom, what, and why was he acting like that. Their master being an open book is somehow let us say, really really useful at this times nope, it's all times.
Turning to the perpetrator Mikazuki just smiles at the others while Mina, Konnosuke, and Kon can only sigh at his actions, clearly he is somehow enjoying the boy's reaction.
"If this gets out of hand I am going to punish him…" Mina muttered.
"A-alright, l-let's head out." As soon as Aichi started walking off Yamanbagiri and Mutsunokami silently follows behind, but on the other hand Mikazuki stops from his tracks as soon as he felt Mina's intent, glancing towards them Mikazuki playfully smiles.
Of course the others noticed this, and because of this the others interested turns around to where they were only to find nothing at the area which Mikazuki stared at, which Mina, Konnosuke, and Kon were confusing them since they didn't know who were at that area.
~Inside the entrance hall~
"We just instinctively ran away…" Konnosuke pants while peeking outside seeing the confused toudans.
"From my years of-… I just ran away…" Kon's eyes were wide open staring at the floor very much confused of what he did.
"I wonder how we should explain this to the others… " Mina said "I just instinctively ran away since I have no answer for them yet."
"We should think this thoroughly and fast if ever, before Mikazuki comes back…" Kon sighs turning to the two which they nodded to.
~On their way to School~
Still panicking at the thought of Mikazuki with them, from time to time the thought of that time comes crossing from his mind unable to think straight and wasn't conscious of the surrounding.
While the two are still unsure of what happened they took notice of the fact that clearly they were catching attention of passerby's but Aichi did not mind them one bit. They know Aichi and if he notices people staring at them, he becomes uncomfortable and tries his best to get away from the crowd.
But he was too focused on something and is about to walk to a green light "Aichi-sama!" in an instant, Mutsunokami and Yamanbagiri held Aichi's arms and placed a gentle touch on the shoulders to drag him back without irritating the injury, holding his arms and shoulders on each side while Mikazuki who was surprised and is in utter worry and somewhat guilty at what happened to him assuming that it was that is occupying his mind, held onto his waist upon noticing him crossing a street with a green light.
Amused as he was at the fact that his mind was about him, but of course his master's safety is number one "I'm sorry…" whispering to his ear Aichi came back to reality from both his voice and the shock from being pulled.
Pulling away from him they wait for Aichi's response, looking above where the stop light is Aichi finally remembered that they were on his way to school, and now the people around him are saying very unpleasant things about him because of this incident forgetting the fact about what made him almost cross.
"He is giving them trouble." "Clearly I think he is doing it on purpose to get attention from the people with him." "Such a drag kid." "They look like they aren't fond of being with him." "Maybe he just dragged them with him."
Even if they wanted some response from him, from what they are hearing around, they knew that he would be much more unresponsive than before "Tsk." Mutsunokami clicked his tongue in annoyance while Yamanbagiri looks around the people with disgust.
On the other hand noticing that the light became red, meaning they can now cross the street, although Aichi who is still out of it this time from the voices of the people around, Mikazuki holds Aichi's hand "Let's go." And helps him get away from the crowd.
Forgetting about his earlier thoughts, right now Aichi felt ashamed, surely they have his back and it was silly of him to be thinking of something like that at this times, he should be not giving them any trouble, he thought to himself.
Added to the fact that this coming and going to school just to look out for him and accompany him to keep him safe through any types of trouble or danger just in case, is already troubling them especially when people gossip about them, of course this is again something that he thought to himself. With this in mind he thought to stop thinking about that part to not worry or give them more trouble than he already is.
~School~
Upon successfully sending him off to school Aichi gave a smile to them before they leave, making his way to his class, with of course in mind of the kiss once again, which of course it won't go away that easily, but not so much so than before because of what happened on the streets, Aichi came back to normal and Mutsunokami and Yamanbagiri has their suspicions gone now, with in mind to relay again the message to the others that he is back to normal, with of course will help Mina, Kon, and Konnosuke greatly.
With lunch break around the corner Aichi is heading with Izaki and Morikawa to the cafeteria, only to see a very familiar yet different face at the school, something that he knew would be something like his eyes are playing with him.
"Kiyomitsu?..." Aichi muttered noticing the silhouette that passed by from the crowds. But of course with his curiosity Aichi decided to follow and investigate this.
"Oi Aichi, where are you going?!" Izaki and Morikawa called but to no avail, Aichi was dead set on this doppelganger or what that is, he has to see it himself and confirm no matter what.
At the courtyard of the school he was sure himself that he was following the right path but it seems that his eyes were just really playing with him only. Somehow saddened that even though he was sure that his eyes were playing with him, he somehow wished it was true, and a thought came across him, what would it feel if they go to his school with him, and is only enjoying everyday school life.
"What would it be like?" He thought to himself.
But he took it off from his thoughts and continued on to go back to the cafeteria and look for Izaki and Morikawa who he left there.
~Citadel~
Back at the citadel, Mina, Kon, and Konnosuke were really relieved that Aichi was back to normal and is not overthinking about what happened yesterday, and because of that they were spared from the question of the toudans that will be very persistent about it, looking at Mikazuki it seems that from his looks he is still saying to them that they should still get ready whenever the time arises.
But another new thing bothered them all "A-Aichi-sama?" a little flustered that Aichi sometimes glances at him and stares at him, Kiyomitsu finally questioned his actions.
"Oh, uhm… s-sorry… There is just something on your face."
Checking up his face he comes across what seems to be a fur "Oh you were right…"
With that Aichi was able to spare himself and they weren't suspicious again, of course Mikazuki was aware, somewhat though, but he thought it might be the best to just wait.
~The next day~
"Finally! This is our chance to stroll around." Hakata jumps with all his might while talking to his brothers.
"Don't get too energetic." Yagen mentions.
"Of course don't worry!" His eyes immediately felt like it turned to gold coins by now "I'm sure I'll be able to see variety of things that can be sold and earn money!" the other Tantous could only sigh.
"I too am very fascinated too see this era, although it will only be for a short walk it will surely make my curiosity hungry, I will wait for a time that I can have a long stroll outside." Hachisuka said, speaking with Kasen.
"I too look forward to this too, although I think there is nothing that can change my mind that the most beautiful that I've seen is the ocean." The others agree with Taroutachi by nodding at his words.
"Well, we will have to wait for another time to go to the beach." Aichi said when he finished from preparing. "Alright, I'm all set, let's go?"
~On their way to school~
Then again of course something that is normal when he goes out with them, is that everyone is eyeing them again, with this time their eyes trailed off mostly to Taroutachi, as if they have seen a behemoth or something with how tall he is, but most importantly is their godly features, as commented by one of the woman who kept staring at them in awe.
"This is somehow… making me feel uncomfortable…" Aichi somehow lightens up that someone is finally speaking out, although is it because of the attention they are getting or something else entirely.
"Uncomfortable how?" Hachisuka asked, deep inside Aichi, he was really thankful at that question, although on the other hand Hakata continued on to keep looking at his left and right not thinking of the peering eyes at them.
"The looks that they are giving…" Taroutachi answered, yes finally someone has said something "Though it was much worse at the ocean since there are many people there, but while having fun you will forget all about it." although Aichi knew that the others are also the same about being stared at and hearing comments and such but they don't say anything to him, so this is a perfect chance.
"Why don't you tell Mina-nee and Kon-san regarding this?" Aichi asks of course he can't say it forward he has to be sublime a little.
"It is alright Aichi-sama, you don't have to be so worried, but I must say thank you for your thoughtfulness. But I was taught by the others to not mind them and just think of one thing." Taroutachi curls his lips into a smile a little surprising Aichi.
"And what is that?" Aichi tilts his head as he questions the Ootachi.
Simply closing his eyes "Let us make haste if you also don't like the attention." With that Taroutachi walks into his normal phase which is fast considering of how tall he is.
Sadly, Aichi did not get an answer and is now trying to match Taroutachi's speed which he is having a hard time keeping up, and he has to think of a way to not make it look like he is having trouble or else he might get picked up by Taroutachi again and carry him.
~At school~
At break time Aichi needed to use the bathroom so he had to go but along his way after he finished his business, once again his eyes were playing tricks "Kiyomitsu…? Again…" this time he was sure that this one is different, although he has almost the same face as Kiyomitsu but that face and built was very different.
It is different from the Kiyomitsu he is with he was sure of that in mind, because there was no crowd like last time, he was able to clearly get a glimpse of this doppelganger, but then again, maybe his eyes are just playing with him right now.
Trying to once again follow this Kiyomitsu he was again led to the courtyard, looking left and right he noticed that this time it was different, he saw this Kiyomitsu turn to a corner and did not disappear and when he tried to follow this illusion which he might call it, his shoulder with his injury ached for a moment stopping him from his tracks.
After the aching stopped he followed him onto the corner but alas, the illusion there is no more, again this illusion was playing with him, but why? And why did he chose Kiyomitsu's face to lure him and also not a perfect copy, although he has to admit it really works like a charm luring him but still, the question lingers… the question, why?.
Is that illusion from an enemy or something of an ally, but either way he thought of following this even if this might take days until he find the answer, is it hostile or friendly and should he stop or continue on.
Although thinking about it, if it's an enemy wouldn't that be alarming that they found a way to him?
Outro: and it comes to a close! A cliffhanger again i might say… hoping I could finish another one faster!
I'm very sorry for my lack of vocabulary, wrong grammars and wrong spellings, but I hope you like the story nonetheless, and thank you for everyone's continuous support! Thank you for reading!
