It was a beautiful day in Shin Makoku, and Yuuri was yet again.. stuck inside.

"Ah, HEIKAAA~" Gunter looked as though he might drool from the thought of cramming Yuuri's poor mind with tons of boring history.

The youth shuddered.

"Today we'll be learning about Batholomattis, the 13th Maoh who hired an assassin to kill him, because committing suicide as the king was punishable by death- "

"Aha.. ah- Gunter? I think I uh, have a stoma- no- headache! Yeah, my head kinda hurts, can I go lay down..? I.. don't think I'll be able to really learn anything today.. heh.." he sheepishly rubbed his head, unable to look the man in the eyes due to the shame of lying.

"Oh- Heika!" Gunter grabbed Yuuri's face in his hands, turning his face upwards and SQUEEZING it with concern.

"OH HEIKA, you're sweating! Why did you not tell me earlier you were not feeling well! I'll summon Gisela at once!"

"N-n-no! Gunter! There's no reason to summon-"

But he couldn't finish before Gunter was across the room faster than Yuuri could blink,

"HEIKA HAS A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, Fetch my daughter Gisela immediately! Oh.. HEIKA!"

However, Yuuri did NOT stick around to hear the rest of it- he was up on the desk, and out on the windowsill in a second, matching Gunter's speed. He looked desperately for his savior- he had seen Conrad in the courtyard earlier, perhaps the soldier wouldn't mind catching him, so he could be spared today..?

The window was two stories up- and with time dwindling, Yuuri spotted a nearby tree.. well... it was pretty close, he could jump into the tree before he was caught and find Conrad later-

Gunter was turning around-! NO TIME! Yuuri scooted closer to the tree and LEAPT for it-!

"Yuuri!"

That voice was always there when he was in danger, or being stupid.. or both. OOF!

Yuuri crashed through the multitude of branches and fell straight into waiting arms, and there he was! Like magic! Just add any amount of danger to 1 Yuuri, and you get a Conrad.

"Conrad!" the soldier's face looked relieved but not terribly amused.

"Yuuri- are your studies that bad? Please, do not do that again! Granted.. one time I did help you escape through the window- but please do not attempt that without me here! You could have been badly injured, your majesty."

"No time Conrad! Gunter's coming and he's going to force me to -"

"To..?" Conrad raised an eyebrow, setting Yuuri down and leading him briskly to a nearby hallway- safely out of sight from the window; where Gunter wailed helplessly.

"To-" Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief, but still couldn't find the word.

"Learn?" Conrad supplied, looking down at Yuuri with a mixture of amusement and concern. "You know, your majesty, you can not always avoid these things." he walked with the youth, trying to scold him but.. he was never good at being strict- just ask Wolfram.

"But so long as I'm around, you can depend on me to help you with your.. endeavors. So long as you promise to wait for me."

"Heh.. thanks Conrad, I promise.." Yuuri smiled- then his face scrunched in scrutiny. "..Hey, it's not 'your majesty' to you Con-"

"HEIKAAAAAA-! OH, HEEEEIKAAAAAA!"

"Time to hide." Conrad didn't waste any time in pushing Yuuri into a nearby closet, while Gunter rounded the corner.

However, it wasn't a closet.. it was a staircase leading to the treasury- well... one of the lesser treasuries, the treasures stored here were not made of gold, or overly expensive.

It was dark and musty- and after descending to the bottom of the steps, Yuuri decided to go hide among the shelves in case someone came in while he was out in the open.

"Hmm they don't really dust or clean down here often.." Yuuri muttered, sneezing. "Conrad will be able to find me when he comes down here soon."

He found some shelves he could slip between and hide.. and when he did, he came face-to-face with what looked to be.. a walnut? Sitting on a shelf.

Huh.. in the dim light, it looked like a metal walnut.

Weird..

In fact, all this stuff was weird.

However, it didn't take long, with Yuuri's luck, sense of balance, and grace to bump into something- a lot of somethings- and manage to knock them all over.

"W-WOAH-!"

CLANG, CLATTER, BANG!

Yuuri, in an attempt to catch said falling objects, he ended up falling as well and-

and.. landed on the.. walnut.

SLAM.

OUCH.. that really- really hurt.

0-0-0-0-0

It was like he was sinking.. falling.. like... well, like he was traveling between worlds..!

Oh no! Did he accidentally touch water..? But no.. it was different than that..

When he opened his eyes.. it nearly took his breath away- he WAS falling!

"AHHHHHHHH-! NO! MURATA, HELP! What is this!?" he twisted through the air, trying to find his bearings, when he suddenly saw it- the sky.. it was bright and blue and full of fluffy white clouds.. but it was made of numbers, thousands of tiny digits, all of them ticking away, was he being transferred somewhere else..?

"What.. What's happening to me..!?"

The ground was fast approaching- but Yuuri never hit it, instead he leapt past it, as if he was going through it.. but backwards..?

It was like there was a barrier and he was going backwards through it- by moving forwards.. He really couldn't explain it.

And then.. silence.