Chapter 8
Murata Ken couldn't remember when he had ever seen Shibuya study.
Then, the Great Sage was standing here, watching him memorizing as many things as he could and answering questions when he asked one.
"Shibuya, do you really think you can stuff all the things you need for the term exam in, like," Murata looked up to the right and thought for three seconds, "five days?"
He got no response but the continuous mumbling of history facts while scribbling on a piece of paper.
Exhaling noisily from his nose, Murata propped his chin on his hand, "By the way, I heard about you and von Bielefeld."
The pencil stopped for a moment, then it went on writing.
"Come on…" Murata adjusted his glasses, which reflected the sunlight and hid his eyes as usual, "You took the efforts of threatening to make me travel through the cup of Coke I was drinking... Now you just ask me to sit here and watch you reciting what happened during the Honno-ji Incident?"
"..." Shibuya didn't reply until he finished writing the last stroke of the word. "Why don't you make yourself useful by giving me some advice?"
Murata raised an eyebrow, "On what? Japanese history?"
Instead of speaking, Shibuya sat back and crossed his arms, staring at him straight in the eyes. It was almost a piercing gaze. Knowing him for more than five years, Murata was the one who noticed the king's changes the most. He was still the kind, nice, friendly Shibuya he used to be, but there were moments when he would show the aura of a king, stating the dominant power that was resting within him.
Of course, Murata knew exactly what he was asking. It took a week for him to have the exam on Earth. With the end of the engagement and the absence of the king, potential suitors everywhere would grab the chance to approach von Bielefeld since he was still the closest person to the throne. It would be highly unwise if the king didn't take certain measures to protect his knight before he departed.
The Great Sage's lips turned into a smirk, "Now we're getting somewhere."
Wolfram was still thinking about the new Maryoku control technique Monica taught him in the lesson just half an hour ago.
He looked around and checked if there was anyone nearby while he was walking in the corridor. It was desert and quiet at night. Opening his right hand, he breathed in slowly and steadily. There were some small tongues of deep orange flame on his right palm. They were burning beautifully. Wolfram looked at them and tried to focus. They slowly turned into a more bluish colour, but there was still some trace of orange. When he wanted to concentrate more, the flames burst out and vanished.
Pouting a little, he stopped in front of a door. He knocked, waited for the consent upon entering and pushed open the door.
Yuuri didn't look up when Wolfram walked into his office. To his surprise, he was reading a document of the kingdom other than studying for his exam. He gave Wolfram quite a different impression whenever he was deep in thought. The serious expression on his face made him look more mature. The distant and emotionless obsidian eyes reminded Wolfram of the comment once he heard from the nobles about Yuuri.
The most formidable monarch since Shinou.
"Wolfram?"
He blinked, and it took several beats before he saw the warm smile directing at him. Whatever he saw a minute ago was like his own imagination. The knight smiled back while walking across the room and stood next to him, ignoring the normal manners which required him to keep his distance."I thought you're having a day off today."
"I am," he said and went on signing his name on the parchment. "But I find dealing with the kingdom's documents easier than studying some Maths equations."
Wolfram observed as he wrote his name stroke by stroke. He had seen the king's signature for more than a thousand times but it always fascinated him how different the characters on Earth were from their language.
His glance landed on the notebook and pencil case near him on the desk. He picked up a pen and examined it. It felt light in his hand and the material was foreign, smooth and hard.
"Have you used a pen to write before?" Yuuri always found Wolfram's curiosity towards the products on Earth endearing.
Wolfram shook his head, "Why would I have?" He held it up between his fingers and looked at it more closely. "I don't even know how to hold it properly."
"Oh, that's easy," Yuuri picked up another pen from the pencil case, showing him how it was held. "Just like this."
Wolfram glanced sideways at him, leaned a bit closer to the table and tried to imitate his pose.
"See? You almost get it perfect," the young king smiled, adjusting Wolfram's index finger a little. "Here, now you can start writing."
Turning to a blank page of his notebook, he pushed it towards Wolfram.
Surprised, he stared at the lined page, then at his king. "What am I supposed to write?"
"Er…" Yuuri thought for a while. "Write my name."
He didn't think he had suggested anything that would cause Wolfram to blush but he did anyways, "I think I would prefer writing my name instead."
"Oh, okay then."
"Aren't you going to show me how to write it?"
"Eh?" It took a few moments before he realized what Wolfram meant. "Ah, you're writing it in Japanese."
Instead of waiting for a reply (which was very likely not a friendly one), Yuuri began to write the Katakana onto the paper, "Since your full name is too long, let's just write your first name."
It wasn't easy to write in a language one wasn't familiar with but Wolfram managed to duplicate what Yuuri had written.
The blonde frowned slightly when he finished his work. "How come my name looks so different from yours?"
"That's because mine is in Kanji," he considered how he could explain the various writing systems in Japanese. "I guess that's like capitalization or something like that."
When Yuuri looked at him again, he was busy trying to write something else.
In the end, Wolfram was writing his name.
He was so focused that he didn't notice the other's stare. He was close enough to see Wolfram's long eyelashes shaking slightly. There were a few wisps of stray hair near his ear. They were just swaying near the knight's pale earlobe.
That was when he noticed that Wolfram had his ears pierced.
"I didn't know that you've ear piercings."
When 'Shibuya' was written, he leaned closer to Wolfram and he could smell the fresh scent of meadow from him.
"Ah… Mother made me do it when I was really young," he replied, eyes still focus on his writing. "I think I was only fifty then."
"Why don't you wear any earrings?" Yuuri asked conversationally.
With a sigh, he said, "You know, I have enough people talking about my looks already," his eyes became dim at this. "I would try anything that would make me look a bit plainer," he smiled bitterly. "Not that I'm bragging."
While watching Wolfram writing the word 'Yuu' slowly, neatly on the paper, Yuuri told him without thinking, "You are much more than just being beautiful."
He expected to get a mocking reply such as 'Don't flirt with me, your majesty' but instead, he saw the faint blushing on Wolfram's cheek. He smiled a little and said, "Thanks."
It appeared that he had recognised how the words were written since Yuuri didn't see him checking his signature at all. The way Wolfram pursed his lips while concentrating was a bit too distracting.
"Wolfram?"
He gave Yuuri a soft reply of 'Hm?' but didn't look his way, his mind still on the last word.
Yuuri was too fascinated to really process what had been on his own mind but when Wolfram's smile broadened and happily announced that he had finished writing his whole name, Yuuri raised his hand and tugged the locks back to behind Wolfram's ear. He turned and met his king's obsidian eyes.
They were too close. Too close so Wolfram forgot to breathe.
"Wolfram, I…"
At that moment, he remembered that he was a knight. He took a deep breath and stood straight. "There's a report I must give Aniue. I need to go," he said and marched out of the king's office.
After the door was shut, Yuuri let out a long sigh and leaned back to his chair, staring at the two names on his notebook.
To be continued