Chapter 3

He is the Queen's Knight in Hooded Armor

A week after the incident, Add Kim returned to school. His heroic deed of saving Rena Erendil was the talk for the whole time he was absent. He explained his situation and talked to the teachers to catch up with the lessons he missed. When he attended homeroom, his classmates bombarded him with questions. "I heard you save Queen!" "Do you think you'll have a chance with Rena now?" "Is Rena reconsidering now that you save her?" "Will you finally have a chance?"

As homeroom's time was passing, he smirked at the crazy ideas of his classmates. Silly, I believe I have the chance for a long time now. But his smirks turn into a sigh when he realized that his only chance to get Rena's affection was being the hero, Nekomata. He knew for long time that Rena has secretly bought all of the merchandises that plastered his name all over Elrios. When he first donned the Nekomata, coincidentally, the first person he has to save was Rena who has a stalker-thief problem.

It was easy to come up with another similar scenario since Rena is a magnet of danger. Rena came from a family of distinguished individuals; her father is known for his advocacy in preserving and saving Elrios' nature and her mother is known for being a talented musician in the industry. Being the only child, Rena has understood that both her parents are famous and known all throughout Elrios. Enemies, rivals or those who wanted to destroy the Erendil couple knew that doing harm to the sole princess of Mr. and Mrs. Erendil would definitely bring her parents to their knees just for her sake. Their worries start to grow when they have to leave Rena to go overseas for their work; she was underage at that time so they couldn't bring her.

At a very young age, Rena knew of these risks and began to ask her parents for someone to tutor her different Martial Arts. Luckily, she was easy to adapt to multiple kicking techniques and used it as her close-combat ability.

Lunch time, Rena and Add decided to meet up by the rooftop.

"Is it really easy for the Kim family to just do that kind of thing? Spreading this and that, is it part of the Nekomata's job?" Rena asked in curiosity.

"Sort of. Sending a word through connections, here and there like what transpired these days. This is why the Kim family, even not in politics, is a bit influential around Elrios. Knowledge, our family believes, is one of the greatest assets of being part of this family. That's why I've maintained this composure, aiming for the top spot at our school for me to prepare myself in the real world." Add replied as he eating his lunch.

"Is this also a preparation for Nekomata's persona?" Rena looked at Add. The latter noticed but he didn't look at her eyes. "Well, it's family tradition. We hold the bloodline of Ebalon, after all." "Ebalon… Isn't he part of what we were reading in history books? One of the guardians of the priestess, Seres?" "Yeah. Surprisingly, we have this bloodline in us and this Nekomata is Ebalon's animal and symbol. This has been a long tradition and each generation, the powers of Nekomata are being passed on the eldest child of the Kim family or the clan itself."

When Add mentioned of "eldest", Rena's face has this confusion and surprise painted all over. "Hold on, you are not the eldest in the Kim clan." Add bitterly smiled. "Every generation, a birthmark would appear to the eldest of the Kim family at the day he turns 18. During that time, it was my cousin who was turning 18 but when the ritual was initiated, the symbol didn't appear much to the dismay of the Elders. 17 years ago, I was born. My parents were surprised that the mark of Nekomata appeared to me when I was born. Our branch family became known by the main family. Growing up, I was educated by the ways of the Nekomata, the clan tradition and everything. I had to bear this identity until the next generation." There was a pain with Add's words as Rena listened. That's how harsh his life was.

"I was given a chance to attend elementary and that's when I met you. You were my first friend. Others were afraid of me because I was from the Kim family. Even if no one knew that the blood of Ebalon or our family has donned the masked of Nekomata for years, they're afraid of our existence. But you paid no heed to that. You approached me and befriended me. Coincidentally, our houses are just beside each other. I started to even like you during Junior High, and I began to fall in love even more during High School. But I couldn't express it. You were at the center, I was merely a shadow. I was nothing more but a childhood friend. The moment I knew you were interested on Nekomata, I had that glimpse of hope. But then… I realized, you would only fall for the hooded one, not for me. Right now, you were talking to me because you discovered my identity. You knew it was me. But without this, would you even notice me?" Another pained expression emit from Add. Rena was about to speak when Add lay down at her lap.

"And the confession, you confessed because you were going to endanger yourself…" Rena reminded Add of the sudden confession. The young man just laughed. "I knew that the mission was going to be difficult. How could an 18 year old handle such adult job? Ha ha!" "Don't joke around! You almost died!" Rena fumed in anger.

The bell rang as it signals the end of lunch period. But Add didn't bother to move. "Add, let's go back to class. Lunch time is over." The young man still didn't move "Add-" "Let me sleep. I'm kind of tired." "We're going to miss a class." "Princess. Just for awhile, before we return to who we are at school, stay with me…" Add closed his eyes.

"And when we return, even if you change… You would still be my Princess, and I will be your Knight in Hooded Armor, no matter what."