"It's not your fault, Keiwa! They broke your mind, they manipulated you to do what they wanted!"
"If there was anyone to be blamed, it's me. Because I haven't been able to fully understand my powers, because I wasn't able to fully undo the damage that the DesiGra had done to this world by using my mother's powers... it cost you a lot of pain and suffering..."
Keiwa let out a long sigh as he paused from typing out the transcripts for the work assigned to him by his senior co-workers. He glanced down towards his legs as he eyed the lone fox sitting upright, next to his chair. He ran his hand to caress Ace's foxy head as the fox let him do it.
What should he do about Ace?
Even when both of them should be aware of how wrong his actions in the past had been, Ace kept insisting that he had been innocent of any wrongdoing. And even when Ace wasn't responsible for the things that Daichi and Kekera had done to him, Ace would've still insisted that the one who should be blamed was himself.
It was his fault. Because all those times he hadn't stopped putting all the blame on Ace and his mother, and all those words had scarred Ace's heart deeply. Even when all along... Mitsume had just been used by the old DGP management to fulfil their own greed. He was aware of all these facts after all... but he chose to ignore that reality for a good portion of the time in the past...
Keiwa blinked. Wait... doesn't THIS feels familiar?
The way Ace kept trying to defend him and trying to insist on his innocence... had been the same as the way Ace used to defend his mother. Because his mother had no choice but to submit to Suel and allowed herself to be used as a tool.
"So it's a matter of blaming the tool... or its user, huh?"
Keiwa snorted at that irony. Is this what you'd call divine retribution? It's his punishment for refusing to acknowledge Mitsume's plight back then.
A soft whine resounded from his side as Keiwa snapped out of his daze and looked down to see Ace staring back at him with worry. The fox squeaked out another question to him as Keiwa just shook his head at the poor fox.
There was no need for him to burden Ace with his own self-deprecating thoughts...
xxx
"Eh? Where's my medicine pouch?" muttered Keiwa in confusion as they were walking towards the bus stop. He started looking down at the pavement around him as Keiwa tried to see if he had accidentally dropped it.
"I'm sure I had been holding on to it while we were leaving earlier—!"
Ace also started to look around him as he spotted the item a few meters behind them.
"I saw it—" the fox glanced up to see Keiwa looking slightly pale, "Wait here a bit, I'll go and pick it up!"
Keiwa nodded slowly as the albino fox ran off to retrieve his dropped item. He just shook his head over the unexpected blunder. How could he be so careless—?
Without warning Keiwa found himself being shoved aside roughly by some passing youths as he staggered to the side, before tripping on something and falling—!
.
"Watch out!"
Ace turned around abruptly as he picked up Keiwa's pouch and his heart was suddenly gripped with horror as he saw Keiwa falling towards the middle of the road—and there was a very fast truck speeding straight towards Keiwa's direction...!
The fox immediately started to speed towards Keiwa to try to save him—Will he make it in time?
.
Almost as soon as he thought the truck wouldn't stop in time and hit him, Keiwa felt someone grabbing a hold of his arm and pulling him back to safety—!
.
The man who saved Keiwa from the truck immediately let go of him before turning towards the pair of youths who had suddenly become frozen after witnessing the disaster that almost happened just now.
"You idiots! Do you realise what you guys almost did? Someone could've DIED just now!"
The pair shakily uttered their apologies and hastily excused themselves as soon as Ace arrived on the scene with the pouch in his mouth.
The man turned around to check on Keiwa as he looked at the other man anxiously.
"Are you alright, Tyc—Keiwa?" exclaimed Michinaga in alarm as Keiwa just shook his head weakly.
"No, I'm... thank you, Miich—!"
Keiwa barely let out a squeak before Michinaga had to rush in and catch him as the man collapsed on the pavement.
xxx
Michinaga carried Keiwa to the apartment as he turned his head towards Ace.
"Eh, Geats... do you know where they kept the spare keys—?" he asked as Ace immediately pointed the man towards the spot where Sara usually kept them hidden.
"Hmm..." mumbled Michinaga to himself as he grabbed the key from the fox. "Gotta admit it's a good thing that you're not just a dumb animal right now—" said the man again as Ace bumped his head onto Michinaga's leg...
.
Michinaga slowly laid Keiwa on the couch as the man was still unconscious. He just shook his head before turning towards Ace.
"You're damn lucky that I happened to be nearby! I never pegged you to be so careless like this. What could've happened if I wasn't quick enough to grab Keiwa when I did?" the man shook his head again. "Damned kids—!"
Michinaga was about to scold Ace even more when he saw that a third tail suddenly grew out from Ace's behind.
"What the—? Why are you getting a third tail right now?"
The fox's eyes also started to widen as Ace turned around to see that Michinaga was right. He HAD grown out another tail! Why was that? He didn't even TOUCH Keiwa ever since they reached home!
Michinaga frowned at this. "I... I gotta tell the others about this. Geats, stay here and take care of your Tycoon—!"
Ace quickly followed him out as Miichi was about to leave the apartment.
"What're you doing, idiot fox?" exclaimed Michinaga. "You can't be leaving Tycoon here all alone when he's like this—!"
He tried to sidestep the fox to get out of the apartment and push Ace back inside as Ace kept shaking his head at Miichi. Michinaga sighed.
"Fine. Come with me then, if you insist!"
xxx
Sara started singing by herself as she reached home early today. It's been a great day today so she thought she'd like to celebrate it with Keiwa once her brother has come home as well. It's been a while since they had tanuki soba together after all...
She started to pull out her keys before noticing that the door was already unlocked. Has Keiwa already come home?, Sara wondered as she entered the apartment.
But not long after she stepped into the apartment, Sara started to scream. The girl in front of her turned around and smiled at her awkwardly.
"Hi... Sara-san—!" said the girl as Sara couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"Neon-chan—? What... WHY? WHY WAS NEON-CHAN HERE AT OUR APARTMENT?"
"Ahahaha..." Neon laughed nervously as she bowed apologetically at her. "It's... a long story."
A/N: Eh nice... I was able to write this down in one go. The Angst star really was shining brightly now, much brighter than the angst moon...