"Where the fuck is that asshole?"

She grits her teeth as she jogs down the humongous hallway again for the fifth time the last ten minutes. She could feel her steps are getting quicker by each pass despite not consciously doing it. That is due to the worry that is slowly growing inside her.

And the source of her worry is that the fucking Prince is fucking missing.

She had been trying to find him for the last hour or so. She had been searching the entire fucking castle up and down left and right yet not a single asshair of that asshole is seen. Fuck that fucking asshole. Just because he is the son of the King of Yuuei does not mean he could do whatever he wants.

As she makes her way to the east side of the castle much quicker than ever before she sees servants are glancing at her. She bites her lips. They must be thinking she's doing a horrible job for not finding the prince.

She burst through the kitchen door for probably the third time now. The chefs give her a glance, no longer surprised by now. When she can't find the Prince anywhere here again, she releases a defeated sigh.

"Are you perhaps missing something, Knight Miruko?" she hears one of the chefs ask in a… coy, playful and knowing tone? She scans the chefs once more, paying closer attention to them. She realizes that their shoulders are shaking slightly.

Are they… laughing at her?

"It seems that Knight Miruko could not find Prince Aizawa," one of the chefs says in a similar knowing tone.

"We apologize, Knight Miruko. The Prince is not here."

"He could be anywhere by now."

"He could be in the courtyard. He could be in the garden at the back. He could be back in his chamber by now."

"We shall never know."

She watches as they speak one after another, all look like they're holding back a laugh. The way they say them, it doesn't sound like they're practiced. It sounds very natural.

It also sounds like they're not surprised that she can't find the prince.

She doesn't want to dwell on it very long. She has the prince to find anyway. So she backs away and exits the kitchen quietly, closing the door once she is out.

She doesn't know if finding out that they're laughing at her, instead of judging her, is worse.

"Is something bothering you, Knight Miruko?"

Instantly, her spine straightens at the voice. She spins around towards the speaker and gets down to one knee and her head bows.

"I apologize for losing your son, Your Majesty," she says to King Nedzu in her formal voice before bowing her head even more, a silent gesture for forgiveness.

What terrible timing, to come across the king just as she couldn't properly do her job. He must be very displeased with failing to do a basic and simple task.

"No need for your apology, Miruko," King Nedzu reassures her. She releases a sigh of relief, knowing she is forgiven. She lifts her head but doesn't stand up from her kneeling position. It's better that way due to the King's short stature. "In fact, I already suspected such an occurrence to happen by now."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" she asks respectfully, frowning when she hears the humor in his tone. King Nedzu chuckles.

"Everyone in the castle had lost Shouta at least once. It was a lot more prominent when he was younger, disappearing from the castle every single day, every single afternoon and back before sundown."

She looks away when the King gives her a knowing look.

She refuses to acknowledge the rising heat to her cheeks. She refuses to acknowledge the memories of her younger years going to a clearing deep in the forest, meeting a black haired boy in the afternoon.

So the King did know about it the whole time.

So much for being secret.

"Walk with me, Miruko," the King suddenly urges. She stands up to her full height before she follows him.

The King brings her around the castle, much to her confusion. She had burned the layout of the castle directly into her brain the first day of her job. She knows little things around the castle.

But, led and pointed out by the King, she begins to notice places she had never thought would exist.

He shows her crevasses hiding from plain sights within the castle. Upon looking out one seemingly normal window, urged by King Nedzu, she notices a number of ledges that lead to another window that she knows she has not seen before.

Walking down the hallway she had passed many times before, King Nedzu suddenly points up towards the rafters high near the ceilings, shrouded in the shadow.

"Shouta tends to nap anywhere he can, but usually it's the quieter places where he would be found. Well, what little times he was found during those times. In the midst of it, he discovered many numerous spots many do not know," the King explains to her after showing a trapdoor that is disguised as one of the giant tiles on the floor.

She… had never noticed all the secret details before.

Maybe she doesn't know the layout of the castle as much as she likes.

"I shall leave you here, Knight Miruko," King Nedzu says as he leads her into a storage room and suddenly stops right by a wooden closet. She frowns at him, confused. "If you realize it by now, everything is not what they seem to be. You would already know that the walls are not as filled as they seem to be."

Of course he's also already know about that.

"Good day, Knight Miruko!"

With that being said, she bows at the dismissal and he walks away. She continues to bow until she knows he is out of the room and out of sight. Then, she straightens up and gives the closet a curious look. She opens it and carefully looks inside. There are numerous mops and brooms inside, along with buckets and clean rags. There is nothing particularly outstanding inside.

That is until she pushes aside the mops and brooms, revealing a sliding door behind, disguised as the back wall of the closet. She slides it open, revealing another room, a smaller one, behind the closet.

The very first thing she sees is something yellow on the floor, seemingly rolled up or something similar. She approaches it carefully, making sure her steps are quiet. Upon close inspection, she sees the familiar mop of black hair.

It's the Prince she had been searching for, sleeping on the floor and rolled into a yellow caterpillar with a yellow blanket.

So this is where this asshole is at.

Without a single sliver of empathy, she kicks his thigh with not little amount of force behind it.

"Gah- Wuh-"

"Wake the fuck up, asshole," she sneers as the Prince instantly sits up, looking around with a confused look on his face before his eyes, squinting, land on her.

"Rumi…?"

She responds to that by chopping the top of his head.

"OW! Why you-"

"That's for making me worried, fucker."

"You could ha-"

She begins to wrap her arms around his neck and wrestles him to the ground.

.

She opens the door to his chamber and takes a look inside. She scans the room, taking note of how untouched it is.

He's not here either.

It seems the Prince is off to his napping spot again.

She has general ideas where he could be at.

She closes the door before making her way to one particular long hallway. Upon arriving there, she looks up at the many rafters above, almost hidden in the shadows as the windows don't go high enough to shed light on them. With one powerful leap, thanks to her power, she easily gets onto one of the rafters.

She has no fucking idea how he gets up here, considering he has no power that physically aids him and there is no ladder or any leverages that could propel him up.

She notices the wear mark right on the rafter by her feet, one that is bigger and older. She then jumps from one rafter to another, making sure not to step on the wear marks on every rafter she lands on.

She wants to make her own.

The rafter leads into an opening in the wall, a hidden section unseen from the eyes below and can only be found up above. The opening is only covered by a blanket because there is no need for high priority of security and privacy considering very few know it exists. It does match with the color of the wall though, so there's that.

She pushes the blanket aside and enters the opening. It leads her to a decently sized room, barren, with a single window shining through and casting light inside.

In the middle of the room is the Prince, lying down with his eyes closed in a gray hammock that is secured from one wall to another.

"Got some catnap?" she asks, revealing her presence as she steps closer to him. The Prince cracks an eye open and is giving her a half-lidded look.

"I only just got here," he replies, shifting around on the hammock to put his arms behind his back. She sees the crown is on the ground beneath him. He probably throws it down without care, which is typical of him.

"Uh huh."

"Join me."

She lifts her eyes until they meet the Prince's, who now has both eyes open. She gives him a long look and he stares back equally.

Then, she starts shedding her armor.

She lets them fall onto the ground before she climbs onto the hammock. The Prince, Shouta, doesn't leave a room for her, so she lies down on his chest.

She feels his arms circling around her as she snuggles into his embrace, closing her eyes in content.

Slowly she drifts off into slumber, swayed by the gentle swinging of the hammock, and soothed by the strong yet soft rhythm of his heart.

.

"One… Two… Th- TEN! Ready or not, here I come!"

She twirls around and away from the tree she had pressed her face against and tries not to cackle maniacally. She knows she's cheating but they didn't agree that she will play fairly.

And besides, playing hide and seek in this area is easy! There are only trees!

So, she begins her search for Sho-Sho. He's got to be behind one of the trees around here. They agreed to never go very far or else that's cheating! She searches in a circular motion, starting from the closest to the clearing field and makes the circle bigger.

She is bound to find him no matter what!

But as time went by, and more trees had been searched, there was no sign of him.

"Sho-Sho!" she calls out after finally giving up on finding him. "Sho-Sho, where are you?!"

She doesn't get any reply. Now she begins to worry.

Why didn't he answer her? He always replies to her call!

Did he abandon her?

No, he would never! Sho-Sho is never the one to abandon anyone, especially her!

She looks up at the sky, trying to judge the position of the sun. It's still very high so not a lot of time has passed.

Wait, up…

The canopy!

He could be hiding on a branch somewhere up there.

She quickly renews her search. Now, instead of looking around the trees, she looks up at the canopy. It's more complicated because she has to peer through the leaves and thoroughly look at the branches that could support Sho-Sho.

Then, upon peering up at the tree she was up against earlier, she sees something black on one thick branch, almost hidden by the leaves.

Of course he would be hiding on the exact same tree as where she was at.

"Found you!" she yells up at him. Surprisingly, he doesn't show any sign of response. Is he pretending to not hear her? Fine then, she'll get up there and smack him in the head. Thankfully, she can jump very high. With one leap, she's already halfway there; she just has to climb from one branch to another on the other half up.

Upon arriving at his branch, she's about to scream into his face when immediately halts.

Sho-Sho… is sleeping.

No wonder he was quiet the whole time.

He has his back against the tree, head tilted to the side, towards her, hands on his stomach and lips partly apart.

She doesn't wake him up immediately. Instead, she continues to stare at his face, spending the time taking in his young features.

He looks peaceful.

She wants to witness that face develop into a man.

Then, slowly, bravely, she inches closer.

Her lips brush against his cheek.

She immediately pulls back.

Then, his eyes begin to twitch. He's beginning to wake up.

She immediately pushes him off so he couldn't see how red her cheeks have become.