A/N: Another chapter... hopefully, this chapter doesn't get yet another glitch and needing me to have to ask support again to keep restoring the chapters to be visible on the site. Times I feel that I should just abandon this acc and post solely on AO3 and maybe occasionally my DW.
I barely get any reactions or comments for the past recent chapters it gets pretty lonely tbh
The three of them ended up splitting up again when the Jyamato Rider that Keiwa and Ace had defeated together somehow revived themselves before launching a huge vine attack on them while in their death throes. So during that critical moment, Ace ended up taking Yoshiki towards one direction and Neon and Keiwa escaped the collapsing chapel with Tanba-san and Kozue-chan in another direction. And since there were still other Jyamato grunts walking around the area to hunt for the players, neither of them had any opportunity to regroup back together to plan their next move.
Keiwa let out a long sigh as he stared down at Ace's Spider phone. If he'd known that they'd ended up splitting apart again so soon he would've given the phone back to that guy much earlier. But that Ace... as usual he never missed any chance to want to tease him all over again!
"Will Yoshiki be all right?" Kozue suddenly spoke out loud, worried for her little brother.
Neon turned her attention towards the young girl. But before she could say anything to reassure the girl, Keiwa spoke out first.
"Ace was with your little brother... so Yoshiki-kun should be fine." Keiwa shrugged at her. "That silly fox might annoy the heck out of people sometimes, but on things like this where it involves matters like life and death... there's no one else more reliable than that stupid fox."
Keiwa grinned widely at Kozue. "Yoshiki should be safe with Ace, don't worry too much—"
.
Neon suddenly elbowed Keiwa on the sides before grinning at him. "By the way, Kei-chan... I see that you're no longer coughing out flower petals anymore. So tell us! How did you guys find a cure for that? Was it really a Hanahaki disease?"
Suddenly, Kozue's expression turned to excitement as the two girls started hounding Keiwa on both sides. Old man Tanba chuckled at the youngster's antics as Keiwa's ears rapidly turned red.
"Big Bro... by any chance, did you really have an unrequited crush on someone in this game?" exclaimed the young girl as Keiwa almost screamed at her.
"A-ah, no! How many times do I have to tell you that it's nothing like that—!"
Neon pouted to herself. "It can't be Tsumuri, that'd be too obvious. But that just leaves the guys." She started humming to herself. "It shouldn't be PunkJack... I mean last time you ended up paired with him, that guy barely talked to you... let alone anyone else. Is it Michinaga? But why—would you really have a secret crush on him of all people?"
Neon started grinning cheekily at him. "Then, it HAD to be Ace! There's no question about that! I should have KNOWN that it'll be like that. So THAT explains why Ace was in a hurry to spirit you off elsewhere... he wouldn't want to be caught kissing you by US—"
Keiwa's face continued to turn flaming red from the amount of teasings he was getting.
"That's not it, Neon-chan! Please stop!"
xxx
"You can drop the act now, Tycoon... I know that your memories have already returned—"
It had been one of Ace's cunning tricks... to create an opening to get Keiwa to ride on the bike with him. The goal was still them trying to find a way to find a cure for Keiwa's ailments, but it's not quite what Keiwa could have imagined the solution could be.
He never thought that Ace could have planned it so far ahead—While they were luring the Jyamato away from Neon and the others, Keiwa had clung onto Ace's DGP jacket for support. The two of them were still guys anyway and it might be a bit uncomfortable for him to wrap his arms around Ace's chest or waist. But then Ace had somehow single-handedly coaxed him to wrap his arms around their chest, so Keiwa had no choice other than clinging onto Ace's body throughout the ride.
And it was during THAT time when Ace managed to get him to touch their core ID.
.
It was really a shocking sensation—to suddenly receive all these large amounts of sealed memories and have them all shoved back into his head. If not because of Ace insisting that he have to hold on tightly to their body, Keiwa could've fallen off the bike and got hurt really bad.
Even then, Keiwa wasn't one to be the first to admit that he had recovered his memories... or the fact that Neon and Kozue's earlier theories about the cause of his mysterious illness and the cure for it were the truth. He would've continued pretending that he didn't know Ace—because seriously, it didn't feel right for him to force his feelings on Ace if Ace didn't feel the same way about him. Even if he might lose his own life in the process, he wouldn't want Ace to feel that they HAVE to force themselves to love him back in order to save his life.
But then without warning, Ace pulled that surprise kiss trick...
.
Ace had grinned at him smugly at that time after they were done kissing him deeply.
"So how is it... did it work?"
It took him a while to register what was it that Ace had meant before the younger man had to explain to him properly
"Did you still feel like your lungs and throat were filled with thousands of flowers?"
He shook his head at the silly fox, as Ace started to let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness... I'm almost afraid that doing that wouldn't change anything. I tried CPR on you earlier when you passed out but aside from reviving you back, it didn't cure your ailment."
"So I thought that I might need to also restore your memories AND kiss you really hard to make sure that I'm able to break the curse or spell that caused you so much pain."
The two of them could've talked more about it at the time, but then the Game Master had suddenly called them to reprimand Ace for doing something without permission. But then Keiwa remembered that they were still inside a game and he thought about Grandpa Tanba, and he wondered if it was possible for him to rejoin the game...
xxx
"It really wasn't like that—" cried Keiwa frantically, "I-it was actually a secret quest that was unexpectedly triggered when this round had started."
He shrugged carelessly, to make it look to her that he was actually telling Neon the truth instead of fibbing at her spontaneously. He coughed.
"So, after finding out about the request, Ace and I went to complete the task so that we could clear that secret mission!"
Neon stared blankly at Keiwa before shaking her head. As a last resort, Keiwa tried to remind her about all of the other unexpected incidents that had happened in the past during the last DesiGra game. And somehow he managed to convince Neon to just drop the topic and focus back on the current escape game.
Grandpa Tanba even expressed relief that Keiwa was now back to being well.
Somewhere in another dimension...
A solitary member of the audience just gaped at the holographic screen in wonder. That was so close! It didn't cross her mind that Sakurai Keiwa would actually figure out the truth about the Hanahaki disease that had been inflicted on him by chance! Even though it's probably something the young man thought up randomly to hide the fact that Ace did do something 'special' to undo the stat condition that she had sneakily slipped into the game without anyone's notice. She'd probably end up receiving a penalty for this but she had no regrets. She really enjoyed the 'fanservice'. THAT was worth the risk anyway.
Well, this had been quite fun. Not that it's completely over yet... if she did her research right.
Those guys should still have a few more hurdles to overcome, before they could rest easy. She really hoped that things will go well.
After all, she only wanted the two to be happy together.