Ace made a few more attempts to reach out to Keiwa inside his dreams for the next few days afterwards. Yet he couldn't do it too many times in a day, because even doing it once had worn him out... twice a day being the limit. At times he had been successful to connect to Keiwa, and at other times... his love seemed to elude him.

And he realised... that while it seemed that he had it easier trying to approach the younger versions of Keiwa, it was a bit harder for him to try to get Keiwa to respond to him... the older his lover's persona become. Even then, all of the obstacles he faced didn't weaken his resolve to reach out to Keiwa—the real him.

Except for one thing. None of the many personas of Keiwa seemed to be able to recognise him. Not a bit. While it was understandable for the younger personas to not remember or recognise him... the same shouldn't be said about the adult—the older versions of Keiwa. Especially the ones that already seemed to be of the same age as Keiwa should be at the moment!

So why couldn't Keiwa recognise him?

A part of him feared the thought that the longer Keiwa stayed asleep, the more of his memories of the present started to disappear. If THAT should happen, what should he do then? It's not as if he could use Keiwa's old Core ID to restore the memories that have no relation to the DesiGra at all—

Of course, they could always restart their relationship from scratch again... but the fact that there would still be a period where he would have to face a Keiwa who did not remember him—well, can he really go through that experience again?

xxx

Someone placed a hot bowl next to his head as Ace hastily sat up straight, after putting his face on the table for more than half an hour. Ace stared at the bowl in confusion at what looked like a hot bowl of Tanuki soba. Yet he also noted the presence of several thin slices of fried tofu.

Ace glanced up towards Sara as the older lady just smiled at him.

"Eat up," said Sara cheerfully. "You must be famished by now, isn't it? Tsumuri-san said that you can get really hungry when you used your creation powers."

Ace nodded at her before glancing back at his bowl. "Yeah... but, what is this?"

Sara just grinned at him. "It's a special version of Tanuki soba that's a fusion of Tanuki and Kitsune. Keiwa used to practice making the Aburaage taste just right... not too sweet nor too dry, and to pair it with the Tanuki soba without having one taste overpower the other. He was supposed to make it this one time... but then stuff just happened and he ended up making it for someone else." She snorted at the memory.

"Well, I tried to prepare it the way Keiwa used to do, so I hoped it'd taste fine—" Sara spoke again before Neon hollered from the other end of the living room exclaiming that the soba tasted perfect for her.

Ace chuckled at the exchange as he was reminded of something from the past. He glanced up towards Sara again.

"By the way, this reminds me... back then you used to say something to Keiwa before—about him wanting to cook something for someone. Was this... it?"

Sara blinked at him, slightly startled. But of course, it was the night when Ace first started living with them as a fox. So it made sense that Ace would be aware that she had that conversation with Keiwa. She nodded.

"Yeah... this was what I was talking about. Thinking back, I guess the person Keiwa was referring to when he used to talk about trying to make the special dish... must've been you." She shrugged at him. "Keiwa used to not really care much about trying new things—especially when it comes to his soba preferences. But then he started to change..."

Ace smiled weakly. Why doesn't that sound surprising? It's just like Keiwa to think up something like that to show off his true feelings.

He really needed to bring Keiwa back from the realm of dreams—!

xxx

He found himself in a beautiful garden... quite similar to where he found himself when he tried to find his mother. Hopefully, it doesn't mean that something bad was about to happen...

Ace looked around frantically, to see if he could find any sign that Keiwa was there. Because it wouldn't make sense if he was not. Since he had prayed earnestly to be able to meet the true Keiwa who would be able to recognise him.

"Keiwa!" he cried out. "Where are you?"

"Who's there—?"

A very familiar voice answered him from a distance, as Ace turned around to pinpoint the direction where the voice could come from...

"It's me... Ace!" Ace called out again.

"...Ace?" the voice answered back, sounding unsure. But the next moment the voice called out again towards him, as Ace was filled with renewed hope.

"Ace! Is that really you?"

"I'm over here—!"

xxx

Ace eventually found Keiwa, as he saw his beloved sitting spread-legged in the middle of a field of flowers. Ace immediately rushed over to see Keiwa, before calling out his name over and over to get Keiwa to notice him.

The moment Keiwa turned his head to look for him, Ace immediately felt that something was wrong. And it's not just because Keiwa's eyes were now green.

.

"Keiwa?" Ace gasped as he held out his hand to caress Keiwa's cheek.

The man in front of him just blinked his unseeing eyes as Keiwa leaned into his touch. Ace hastily wiped away his tears as he tried to get Keiwa to get up.

"Keiwa... let's go back? There's no need for you to be here anymore, I'm back to become human again. I need you to wake up for me now—"

Keiwa just nodded his head absentmindedly... before smiling at him.

"Ah, I seemed to remember seeing you becoming human—" said Keiwa finally as he reached out to touch Ace. Ace caught his hand and brought them to touch his own face, to let Keiwa know that he did return to be in human form.

Keiwa let out a soft chuckle. "So my prayers did work—"

Ace started crying again as he took this opportunity to embrace his lover.

"Unn... it did. So shouldn't it be enough now? There's no need for you to remain here any more, let's go back home—"

Keiwa pulled apart from Ace before gently brushing away the tears that remain on Ace's cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Ace. I've caused you so much distress. I only wanted you to get better..."

Ace immediately shook his and embraced Keiwa again, urging him to come back with him again. Yet for some reason, Keiwa couldn't make himself move. As if he was permanently stuck where he had been lying. He let out a long sad sigh.

"Ace, I'm really sorry... I don't think I have any strength left to come out from here anymore—"

xxx

Ace immediately woke up in alarm as he glanced up towards Keiwa. At the same time as well he noticed that all of his six tails had come out in full view. And his mind kept replaying the words that Keiwa has said to him earlier...

"—I don't think I have any strength left to come out from here anymore...!"

Suddenly Ace recalled an old fairy tale story that he used to read about when he was younger... as well as in one of his previous life. A story about a princess who was cursed to sleep for a hundred years before being woken up with a True Love's kiss. There were so many iterations of the story, and one story even went through a very dark direction... but one common thread was that; a prince was able to break the curse and wake the princess up.

Ace got up on his feet as he leaned over on top of Keiwa.

He might as well take a bet that this might work!

Ace lowered himself over Keiwa's sleeping body before placing a gentle kiss on his lips fully. He prayed that this kiss would finally wake his beloved prince from his long slumber—!

A/N2: Hehehe... there ya go, Ace! I gave you your fairy tale story plot 😂😂😂