A/N: Aaaa AO3 server down atm due to DDoS, so I can't update new chapters there atm so here gets the first look this time. Enjoy.
Doctor Kiryu walked up towards Sara before greeting her with a bow. Behind him, Ace could see the nurses and medical attendants wheeling Keiwa out of the emergency room to move him to the ICU.
The older doctor cast a brief glance at his back when he noticed all of the attention was directed to Keiwa, before sighing softly.
"Well, the good news is—" the man started to say as everyone turned their attention back to Kiryu. "—there wasn't any other complication with Keiwa-kun's heart and there seemed to be nothing else that should be concerning about his well-being." The man sighed again. "Bad news is... we had no idea of what might be the reason for Keiwa-kun to lose his consciousness. But rest assured, we will monitor his condition closely and make sure that Keiwa-kun remained stabilised. I'll conduct some tests tomorrow to check on his brain activity and see if there wasn't any swelling or other things that we may have missed seeing today. But for now, I suggest that all of you go home and rest. We'll see how it goes from here..."
Everyone let out a sigh of relief after that though Ace didn't feel any better because he knows the reason why Keiwa was not waking up from his slumber. While everyone was distracted, Ace slipped away from them without saying anything...
.
"So that's it... huh? We'll just wait and see?"
Win glanced towards Michinaga before shrugging. "Well, at least we can make sure that Keiwa-kun was safe. I mean, with him in that state there's no guarantee that his body wouldn't be harmed in any way. So at least by putting him here, we can be sure that Keiwa-kun is well taken care of."
Neon nodded her head as she turned to hold Sara's hand to reassure her. "Keiwa should be all right, we'll figure out how to save him," said the young girl as Sara nodded her head, trying her hardest not to break down in front of everyone.
Win eyed the girls silently before turning around to speak to Ace. "And in the meanwhile, we might as well try to—eh? Where's Ace?"
Right away everyone started looking around the corridors to find him but there was no sign of Ace in their immediate vicinity. "Dammit, that fox!" cried out Michinaga as Win started ushering them to split up to look for him.
"Come on... he couldn't be that far off from here. At his current state, I doubt he'll run away too far from here—!"
xxx
"This is not... even... first time..."
"...can't stay... so sleepy..."
Ace wrapped his arms around his legs as he buried his face against his knees and curled himself into a ball at the corner of the rooftop. High places often gave him a sense of exhilaration, excitement... and sometimes, peace. But right now, he couldn't even feel any of those emotions. He just felt... hollow. As if he was surrounded by darkness... despair... overwhelming emptiness.
It's already happening to him TWICE now. No, three times. Keiwa had almost slipped away from him as well at that time... just mere minutes after he had barely revived him.
He could never wipe those memories away. Having to hold onto Keiwa's weakening body... before his person starting to fade away right before his very eyes! And he had no way to stop it from happening...
This was his fault. Because even until now... he was no closer to figuring out the full extent of the power of creation he inherited from his parents, or how to control it and grant happiness to everyone. Yet he tried it anyway... but never completely achieved it. And with every blunder... every mistake he did and overlooked, he continued to bring grief to the people he cared about most.
And because of him... Keiwa will... Keiwa could—!
"Ace... I love you..."
Will he also lose Keiwa again... the same way he had lost his mother—?
.
"Ace-sama! Ace-sama... please snap out of this!"
Ace raised his head from where he was, to see Tsumuri kneeling in front of him...
xxx
"You guys have found Ace—?" Michinaga exclaimed as he, Neon and Sara ran up to the rooftop towards Win. Win just idly waved at them as Michi turned his eyes towards the direction the man was staring—to see Tsumuri kneeling in front of Ace, trying to get the other young man to respond to her.
Ace, on the other hand, was curled into a ball in the corner like some lost child.
Yet, that wasn't the most important thing to note right now. The most important thing was, Ace's fox ears and six tails were visible again. But unlike before, when the ears and tails had appeared quite solid and real... these ones were more ghostly and intangible; like they were made of light and fire and smoke. And even more pressing thing that was quite notable... was that out of the six of Ace's tails, one of them had become black like burnt coal... while a second tail beside the first one started to also burn out like the other... as if there was an invisible flame trying to consume the rest of Ace's many tails.
Even if he had no idea about what was going on between Ace and Keiwa, he had a strong feeling that THIS was bad news...
.
"Ace-sama!" Tsumuri cried out. "Please snap out of this!"
Ace finally raised his head, as everyone noted the red and bloodshot eyes. So Ace had been crying by himself at this corner for a while. Guess despite the doctor's hopeful speech to them earlier about Keiwa's recovery, Ace did not share the same sentiment. Which made sense, probably... since Ace should be aware of the real reason why Keiwa had fallen into a deep sleep and why it was not likely for Keiwa to be getting better any time soon.
But seriously? Must he do this right now? What's the point of Geats moping around here when Tycoon was fighting for his life down there because of him?
"It's my fault. Because of me and my own selfishness... Keiwa would have to suffer the consequences of my actions..."
Michinaga fumed as he walked over and gently pushed Tsumuri aside so that he could take her place in front of Ace. He knelt in front of the man before grabbing Ace by the collar.
"So, your point is? Sure, you botched something when you tried to revive him in the past, and we ended up in this situation right now. But did you forget something important—?" Ace glanced up at him as Michinaga gritted his teeth. "It's ALSO because of you that we got Keiwa back! It's because of you that he's still alive right now! Can't you stop wallowing in your sorrows and think up of a way to save Keiwa's life again this time? Or did you already forget what that guy said to you earlier?"
Ace blinked at him dumbly as Michinaga let out a cry of frustration.
"THAT guy said that he trusted you to save his life! Even when in the past he used to pay a heavy price whenever he trusted you blindly and get hurt in the process. Even when he used to vow to himself to never fall for your tricks again, Tycoon almost always end up trusting you blindly again! So are you still going to give up now without trying your best to save him?"
Ace continued gaping at the man in front of him before he started to recall the words that Keiwa used to say to him in the past...
"Nothing like that should happen to me, Ace. I trust you, no, I want to trust you."
"You'll figure out a way to overcome this situation..."
.
Win took note that the corruption on Ace's second tail had suddenly stopped progressing as soon as Michinaga finished talking. Meaning that at least some of the kid's words had finally reached Ace's heart. He smiled before pulling at the two to get them back on their feet again.
"Guess that's settled now, " he started to say before turning to face Ace again. "I would have liked to get some answers tonight, but I guess we can always do that later. It's late... already," said Win again as he glanced at the night sky above.
"I'm sure everyone is tired after so many things happening today. We all deserve to take a break for a while and rest at home."
.
Ace suddenly chuckled mirthlessly. "Home?" he asked. "Do I even have a home to go back to?"
Tsumuri was about to open her mouth to speak when Sara walked over to Ace's side and hugged him warmly. "What do you mean that you've got nowhere to go home to?" She smiled. "You've been living with us for quite some time already, it wouldn't make any sense for me to kick you out now. And Keiwa would be mad at me if I did that."
Ace smiled weakly at Sara before nodding his head slowly.
"Alright," he said.
"Let's go home.
xxx
As soon as they reached the apartment, Ace immediately rushed into Keiwa's room. Without even changing his clothes, Ace jumped onto Keiwa's bed and wrapped his whole body in Keiwa's blanket and buried his face into Keiwa's pillows.
And just like that, Ace forced himself to fall asleep surrounded by all the things that reminded him of Sakurai Keiwa's presence.