A FIRE THAT BURNS UNNOTICED
Chapter 2 - Wake Up, Young Man... It's Time to Wake Up
The long-haired knight walked with reverence towards King Rhaegar, who eagerly sat on the Iron Throne. The soldiers that formed his Kingsguard seemed to salute him as he walked the carpeted aisle that led to where his liege sat, which gave the knight quite some confidence even as he knelt in front of the sovereign.
Thus the King spoke: "Ser Chadwick of House Holdenford, I suppose you know already of Madarax, an old dragon of mine that has gone berserk. I want it slain, for it has caused many innocent deaths and burned many crops and shelters across the Crownlands. Worst of all to me... He captured my dear daughter Raye. Please bring her back, and bring proof of the dragon's death."
"With all pleasure!" the knight answered effusively.
"Be not too eager, young ser," the King requested. "Madarax has become known as the Knightslayer, due to its cunning and viciousness against braves and fools alike. One does not simply walk into its lair, at the foot of the island south of Dragonstone, and come back to tell the tale. All I ask for you... is confidence and temperance, so that you can also become worthy of my daughter and of your titles. You may now go, and may the Seven bless you."
It didn't take long to reach the footing of Dragonstone, whose mountainous landscape already started as it touched the sea. Yuuichirou thought of the daunting task ahead of him, but for some reason, what truly bothered him the most was the piece of advice spoken by the King. "Confidence and temperance..."
A humongous purple dragon with ram-like horns lurked from the shadows. And somehow, tied up to a stalactite right above where Madarax stood, there was the target of his own affections, the Princess herself. Her long locks of raven black hair and amethyst eyes shined brightly even as she was at her most vulnerable.
"Chadwick, help me!" cried out Princess Raye, which gave the knight the courage needed to face his fears headfirst.
"Prepare to die, foul beast!" Yuuichirou boasted boldly as he drew forth his sword. However, as soon as the dragon shouted out its ferocious roar, the hapless knight quaked on his boots and started to run pell-mell around the rocky galleries as Madarax swiped its claws against him.
"What in all Seven Hells are you doing?" the Princess cried out once more, notably disturbed and bothered by his attitude. "Are you this much of a craven weakling?"
What a terrible idea it was to attend to the King's summons! the knight thought as he barely managed to escape a sonic boom that Madarax emitted from its throat. Worse still was to be caught in its incinerating breath. Yuuichirou felt the blazes cover his entire body and thought he was going to die then and there... But when he opened his eyes, he did not see a dragon, or a cave, or any signals of his body being burned to a crisp.
He saw himself once more in King Rhaegar's court, where a large feast was taking place. The King himself was jolly as he could be, raising a golden chalice. Princess Raye was also there somehow. It didn't look as if she had spent her latest time in captivity. To Yuuichirou's ultimate chagrin, the Princess was dancing around with some kind of noble, clad in purple from head to toe. They eventually shared a quick kiss on the lips.
"Confound it all!" Yuuichirou burst in his disappointment. "Why does he get the hand of the Princess?"
The King walked to his side and shook his head in disapproval. "Because you were neither confident nor controlled. You, ser, are an idiot."
(xx)
Of course, Yuuichirou was far from the only person having a strange dream that night. A living reference in the Japanese astronomy field, Dr. Kakeru Oozora still had to deal with the very human and very natural realm of dreams - Most of which made no sense to a logical man like him, so he made no real effort to see what they truly meant.
But the dream he had that night, he would never forget, for it turned him into something new. Literally, and against his own will.
A dark purple background and a fierce snowstorm greeted Dr. Kakeru as he walked aimlessly through an open field. He knew not where he was, only that he felt an impending sense of wrongness about the whole place. But the curiousness that led him into his career and always guided his approach to even the smallest thing made him go ahead, even with those adverse conditions, and eventually discover mounts of rock-made structures that, upon closer inspection, seemed to form some kind of abandoned city. Signs of an ancient civilization, perhaps?
The more he penetrated into the inhospitable place, the more he noticed strange patterns written on its dilapidated walls. Likely the language and alphabet used by the people that built it all, as well as depictions of non-descript activities. His astonishment did not let him deduce it was all product of his own imagination within a dream.
Amazed by those discoveries, Dr. Kakeru did not notice he had arrived at what seemed to be the central hub of the ancient settlement, where a cloaked humanoid figure floated above some kind of stone fountain. His heart was filled with utmost dread with that sight, especially with what it had to say: "Your fear is of the unknown. Of the incomprehensible, unbelievable and uncontrollable by any means. It is all symbolized by this strange location, of which you cannot and will not understand. Give in to the fear that permeates your mind, child. Become your fear..."
"Who or what are you?" Dr. Kakeru frightfully questioned.
The cloaked figure scoffed. "Skeptical as ever, it seems. You stand before that which you refuse to believe, given your paths and choices in life. You stand before a God."
Some sort of dark mist then covered the Doctor's figure, who wanted to scream... But no voice came out of his throat. In fact, whatever frightened reactions he could have made were subdued by a sense of tranquility that took over his entire being once the shadows covered him completely.
"Your turbulent mind seeks peace. Peace without voice is fear... But it is still peace nonetheless. This peace has taken you, and soon it shall take everything."
The shadows then took a strange inhuman shape, with appendages full of tentacles and tendrils instead of limbs, a head with no facial features whatsoever, and bloody eyeballs growing as some kind of fleshy necklace around what was supposed to be the creature's neck.
"It is a shame that you gave yourself so easily to this fear. This means you are not worthy of being my vessel. But you can be useful still, my child. Reach for the Sailor Guardians."
It is said that the mind can control and bend reality at will, depending on the situation and the strength of one's mental capabilities. And indeed, such was the case with Dr. Kakeru's figure upon having the nightmare. The shape he took in his nightmare transfigured to the real plane somehow.
His wife Dr. Himeko Nayotake slept peacefully beside him until feeling a strange moist cold on their shared bed. Upon opening her eyes and seeing whatever it was that Dr. Kakeru had become, she released the loudest and shrillest scream of her life.
(xx)
"Damn... What a weird dream!" Yuuichirou commented as soon as he got up from bed. "I don't even like Medieval stuff..."
It wasn't even the break of dawn when he woke up, ignoring the absolute cold that touched his bare chest. The young man turned on a desklamp, picked up a small notebook beside his futon and annotated as much as he could recall of what he saw that night. Only one detail was off-putting. "Huh, that guy who was with Rei, he didn't look like the Touya dude she's going out with. Who was that, then?" He wondered if that dream he just had could be a sign on how to behave himself, or a trick his own mind was playing on him.
Yuuichirou stood in front of the large mirror in his room, wearing only his sleeping boxers, and tried to appreciate his physical attributes. He flexed his arms and lats, did Bruce Lee-style battle poses, but still felt silly and out of place in his solitude. He felt like a creep and a weirdo. Impotent. Inadequate.
"I'm a star," he tried to pep himself up to no avail. "I'm a star, I'm a star, I'm a star. I'm a big shiny star way up in the... Ah, screw this."
Since he cut all the wood needed for the season in a single seating, Yuuichirou was free to practice martial arts in the backyard before his shift at the temple. From a pile of textbooks in the corner of the room, he picked up a couple of them, put on his light exercise garments and went outside, still ignoring the cold. Some stretches, some basic warming-up exercises, and he was ready to go. Punches, kicks, lunges, all kinds of punishment upon the sandbags and wooden planks that hung from the poplars and cherry-trees planted away from the Shrine's main grounds would be the order for the next half-hour.
Ugh, what does that guy have that I don't?
Unfortunately for the Shrine's servant, as much as he beat on the targets and as much as he attempted to concentrate, his thoughts raced back and forth with what little he saw of Rei and her new Touya Minamimoto beau in the last few days.
Take his fancy stuff, his neatly-combed hair, his confidence, and what do you get?
The young man the shook off the negativity and the freeze that was getting to him, and peeked at one of the instructional booklets he had brought. The page he opened described how to perform a Dempsey roll to destabilize an opponent. Yuuichirou bobbed and weaved for a short while, then lunged forward to test the technique on the largest sandbag...
...You get me! DAMMIT!
Only to get hit back by the bag when it swung back, effectively throwing him down. Yuuichirou shouted out as he got up and tried again. His blood boiled with rage and frustration at himself, and somehow it gave him the focus he needed to properly practice his new fighting move.
"Hey, Yuuichirou!" Grandpa Hino called from afar. "It's time for work!"
"Coming, sir!" he answered before getting hit by the swinging sandbag once more.
(xx)
While Grandpa Hino and Yuuichirou tended to the Shrine's visitors and devotees in the temple proper, the Sailor Guardians plus Luna and Artemis reunited in the backyard to discuss the happenings of the day before, and the prospect of a new enemy upon their city.
"First things first, I should apologize to you, Mina," Rei commented. "I really don't know what had got into me yesterday to shriek like that. It's just... Oh dear, I dreamed of Yuuichirou yesterday, and I spent the whole day thinking of... Thinking of that dream. It got me out of balance, really."
"Oh, don't sweat it," Minako reassured her friend. "We all know why you acted that way."
"Huh? How so?" The raven-haired girl asked, fearing for the answer.
"If you act jealous over such a joke, it is a classic sign that you are hung up on someone," Usagi almost leaped forward to give her answer. "And from what you just said, it's clear you are hung up on Yuuichirou!"
"I told you already, I don't like him!" Rei incisively affirmed. "Heck, yesterday I went out with the Touya guy I told you about, and we hit it off just fine."
"In normal circumstances, I wouldn't do this, but... I have to agree with Usagi," Ami added, apparently ignoring what Rei had just said. "And it's not something we found out yesterday, mind you. It is a recurring sight that you may not say out loud, but you express in your actions."
"For instance, remember when he quit the Shrine over that strange altercation with Haruka?" Makoto reminded. "You were a total wreck over it, and you went all the way to forgive his slight and bring him back. You wouldn't do that if you didn't at least hold him in high regard."
"And that time when he brought a load of girls to your grandpa's failed gym?" This time, Minako brought it up. "You were so jealous, you could have set the Shrine on fire with your look alone. Luckily the only thing you burned was your own hand with boiling water. Not that I'm glad it happened or anything, mind you..."
"Oh, and when he tried to rescue us when we got stuck in that mountain range," added Usagi. "You tried to hide it, but you were pretty angry when the youma froze him to near death. You even called him "My Yuuichirou" and gave him a peck in the cheek for his troubles! Too bad he was literally out cold when you did it."
Rei would protest each and every single claim her friends brought up... But in fact, all of these tidbits somehow made sense - Especially when she remembered that dream and the way she acted around Yuuichirou the day before. All of it only made Rei feel even more dizzy and unsure.
"You may be going with somebody else right now, but it is clear where your heart resides," Ami finished. "If I were you, I'd come clean to Touya about this before you hurt him."
"AH-HEM!" Artemis did a "clearing throat" noise as best as his feline organism permitted to center attention. "We can discuss Rei's love life another time. Remember why we came here in first place."
"Thanks a whole bunch, Artemis!" Rei relievedly interjected to the wise cat's subject change.
"That's right," Luna continued. "The only thing we know of this enemy is that it is called an Oneiros."
"Oneiros is Greek for dream," Ami clarified. "And judging by Naru's explanation on how she became that thing, it crawled into her own dreams during the night."
"So, we are dealing with something out of Greece?" Usagi innocently asked.
"We cannot be sure," explained Luna once more. "But it may be a clue as to who is our enemy du jour."
"Then it is settled," Makoto got up, eager for a fight. "We better keep our eyes peeled for any other of those Oneiros things that may appear, and in the meantime, we should research what kind of creature could invade people's dreams, especially if they are Greek."
As the Guardians and the wise cats stepped out of her home and went their own way, Rei started to reflect on what had been discussed so far. In a way, Rei felt relieved that the attention was diverted back to their most pressing mission. But the images of her own unspoken acts of love and kindness towards the Shrine's servant would permeate her mind for the rest of the day, putting in doubt her own feelings towards both Yuuichirou and Touya.
Ah, what am I thinking? Rei insisted to herself as she retired to her room. All those acts for Yuuichirou were pure courtesy. Besides, committed couples get attracted to different people all the time, it doesn't mean a damn thing. The girls should know better, especially Usagi and her unresolved thing with Seiya. Her rationalization was enough to calm her and stop mulling over that subject. The Guardian of Fire then went to her room's bookshelf to look for any and all books she had on the subject of dreams, but stopped at herself once drawing the first book. Did I just admit I'm attracted to Yuuichirou?
(xx)
"Why, if it isn't the belt scroller champion himself!" Motoki greeted Yuuichirou as soon as he stepped into Game Center Crown. "I take it you'll have the usual."
"Yeah, sure," Yuuichirou meekly confirmed. The "usual" meant a sports drink and a couple of tokens to play in the cabinets. The two men became well-acquainted through the years as he came down to the arcade to unwind after a long day of work at the Hikawa Shrine, and the sight of a tall long-haired guy in a powder-blue yukata having a good time with almost any given game became quite frequent in the joint.
Motoki noticed that, contrary to the usual, the big guy spent his tokens on a fighting game. He knew Yuuichirou avoided those cabinets due to his lack of ability with them, but on that occasion, he played on the Street Fighter Alpha 2 cabinet, looking morose and unable to enjoy himself, and inevitably wasting his credits after a short while. Naturally, he went to his side to cheer him up the best way he could.
"You look like you're in the dumps..." He then directed Yuuichirou to the air hockey table, where he inserted a token for them. "Penny for your thoughts, maybe?"
Yuuichirou sighed and spoke to his friend while partaking on the freebie he handed him. "The girl of my dreams has a boyfriend, and it ain't me. I feel like I failed at life."
"Pfffft-AH-HAHAHAHA!" Motoki found Yuuichirou's dramatic explanation hilarious.
"Dammit, it's serious!" The long-haired youngster bellowed as he hit the puck with such strength that it went straight to Motoki's goal. "Don't tell me you've never been in love before."
"Ah man, sorry for that..." Motoki was somewhat startled at his friend's reaction, so he stifled his laughing immediately. "Of course I've been in love - Still am, in fact. And I'm going just fine with my relationship with Reika, thank you very much. It's just that you made your case sound far harder and melodramatic than it actually is. I mean, have you ever asked her out on a date or something?"
"Once. She made up an excuse and left me hanging high and dry, and I never bothered again. Why?"
"Chances are she played hard-to-get to see how far you would go. All women do that to test a potential partner's commitment in getting to her side. Sorry to say, but... You failed."
Yuuichirou could only sigh at that last affirmation. He didn't even pay attention to the game he and Motoki were playing, even as the puck slid towards his goal.
Motoki resumed his commiseration session. "Listen, it's a shame that it happened... But this should be used as knowledge for future attempts to approach women. If she's dating someone else, move on."
"It's kinda hard to do that when you literally live right next to her."
Only then did the Crown worker realize who Yuuichirou was talking about. By that time, they called their air hockey bout a draw and just concentrated on their conversation. "Aw man, that's... Complicated, for sure. But no reason to think this is the end of the world. I mean, you have a lot more going for you, and..."
The conversation would have gone further if three sinister-looking men didn't enter the establishment. It was as if their presence alone sucked out all the good mood of the place. And why wouldn't it? They looked dangerous with their mean looks. Especially the two burly men in suits, who wore Oni masks for some reason, who transpired pure danger. Not a single patron in the arcade felt unintimidated.
"Huh... Are there no pachinko machines in this joint?" The apparent leader of the entourage spoke in a condescending manner after glancing all over the place.
"Sorry, but we do not deal with gambling games," Motoki answered, trying to hide his annoyance and his apprehension.
"Well, that's too bad. This could use a bit more movement with gambling machines, and I'd be all too glad to help you out. Think of the maximized profits, for instance."
"This place is not for sale," he incisively told the young leader.
"Who said anything about selling, my friend?" he spoke once more, this time in a friendly but mocking manner. He then stood in front of Motoki as if trying to harangue him. "I was just suggesting a nice business partnership where you'd still retain ownership of the place. But if you insist in acting without proper manners, then I'm afraid you'll be in severe trouble with me and my associates.
"Don't you dare!" Yuuichirou, in a rare moment of courage, went to Motoki's side and stood in front of the three thugs as if ready for a fight. "He said no already. No means no!"
The following thought stung Yuuichirou's mind as soon as he fell silent: Oh, crap, what am I doing?
The sight of a tall guy in a yukata playing the hero would have made the young man burst into laughter, but he seemed to recognize him and instead composed himself just enough to let out a satisfied chuckle. "Well, how convenient!" He then leaned to Yuuichirou, who didn't react to the potential danger in front of him, and whispered in the shrine servant's ear: "I know all about your family, Mr. Kumada. I don't think Rei and her grandfather would like it one bit if they knew... So, not a single word to any of them of this encounter, hear me?"
He then addressed Motoki once more. "Well, it seems you are not in the mood for negotiations just now, but soon we should discuss this better, preferably in private. Think of your future, Mr. Furuhata... And whether you'll have it at all." He and his bodyguards then got out of the Game Center without further conflict.
"Man, that was pretty scary... But you sure held them off, thanks a lot!" He gladly put a hand on his friend's shoulder in solidarity. "You are far more courageous than you think you are, you know that?"
"I-I-I... I am?" As it turns out, Yuuichirou was paralyzed in fear. Thankfully it was enough to fend off any potential skirmish in the middle of the establishment.
"Say, do you know him or something?" Motoki asked. "He whispered something to you as if he knew you."
Only then did the long-haired young man shake off his apprehension. "He... He is Rei's boyfriend."
"That guy!? That yakuza jagoff?" Motoki naturally did not believe what Yuuichirou just told him. "No, seriously, I find it hard to believe she would choose that guy over you."
"Well, believe it or not, it is what it is," he bitterly confirmed. "It's her choice, and I can only accept it."
(xx)
"Hey, Boss..." The thug in the blue Oni mask addressed Touya tentatively. "What if the guy with the apron really doesn't wanna cooperate with us?"
"That's not important right now, Aoki," Touya answered with mild annoyance. "What matters now is to guarantee that I will be with Rei. This way, we can guarantee that Minami-gumi will have a parcel of legitimacy over the running of the region. Right now, the only thing standing between the two of us... Is that long-haired klutz you just saw."
"Wouldn't it have been easier if, I dunno... Your mother married Senator Hino or something?" suggested the henchman in the red Oni mask.
Touya felt somewhat offended at that suggestion but held himself as best as he could. "It's complicated, Akagi. That's all you need to know."
A curious sight then broke away the awkward conversation between Touya and his subordinates: Several people running away in their opposite direction, as if running away from something hunting them all down. Aoki and Akagi felt a chill in their respective spines and suggested to their boss they should run away. For his part, he stood silent and attentive towards the other direction.
"Boss?"
The young man spoke nothing. Instead of the primal fear that everyone else was feeling as they fled the scene, Touya felt a rush of joy take him over as the inexplicable creature filled in tendrils approached him. The thugs had no other choice but to literally drag him away to safety.
(xx)
The creature that once was Dr. Kakeru Oozora moved at a slow pace across the streets of Azabu-Juban, but without doing a single action, every single person that looked directly at it felt utmost dread, to the point that some cried, others collapsed on the floor with violent seizures. Its presence alone made every unfortunate onlooker lose their mind completely as if they faced that which they feared without even knowing or acknowledging it. Even the ululating sound it emitted seemed to have a paralyzing effect.
"Everyone! Close your eyes and focus!" Sailor Mercury advised to everyone that could listen, but especially to her Sailor Guardian companions, ready to save the day once more. Those who heard it. Naturally, Sailor Moon did not pay attention and started bawling her eyes out as if she saw the most terrifying thing she ever saw. Sailors Venus and Jupiter went to her aid, only to feel the same pain and fear.
"Let me try to hit it... Mars Flame Sniper!" Sailor Mars tried her hand at using her extra-sensorial power to point the beast's location and hit it with her fiery arrow, only to miss her shot. When it came to defending itself, the tendril-covered Oneiros moved with unthinkable agility. It looked as if it teleported to and fro, vanishing into thin air with every other step.
Sailor Mercury focused her mind as best as she could as she activated her visor. Upon seeing a pattern on the Oneiros' erratic pathway, she called forth her Aqua Rhapsody that managed a clean hit and easily floored it. One second later, however, it was back on its feet, and thanks to some very quick action, the Guardian of Waters avoided its gloomy touch.
"Girls, please..." pleaded Sailor Mercury to her companions. "Make Sailor Moon recover, only she can turn it back to normal, but it needs to be done in time!"
"No! I WANNA GO HOOOOOOOOOOOOME! WAAAAAAAGH!" Sailor Moon cried out like a scared child. Her shrieks alone would drive them all to tears of pity, but the menace of the Oneiros was also moistening their sight to nigh-blindness.
"Leave that to me," the unmistakable voice of Tuxedo Mask called out from a nearby lamp post, and as soon as he got to ground level, he went to his beloved's side to comfort her. "Now now, Sailor Moon... Everything will be alright, okay? I'm with you now. We are all with you."
Little by little, not only Sailor Moon but everyone else seemed to recover thanks to the masked hero's reassuring words, as if he were the antithesis of the Oneiros itself. Sailor Moon managed to stifle her sobs and wipe the excessive tears off her eyes. Just as well, since the Oneiros approached as fast as it could. For a moment, all the Sailor Guardians plus Tuxedo Mask seemed to be affected once more.
"Close your eyes... Concentrate... As hard as you can..." Sailor Mercury once more requested her friends to not let the beast's presence and warcry. They all obeyed, and felt nothing strange with the Oneiros' presence. "Once I hit it, release your attacks at once."
"When I say 'now', you release your own attack, you hear me?" Tuxedo Mask requested Sailor Moon, who nodded in agreement.
The creature moved in its strange, almost-vanishing pace towards the heroes, ululating all the way. Not that it deterred the heroines' determination. They all kept their eyes shut, until Sailor Mercury hit it once again: "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Venus Love and Beauty Shock!"
"Jupiter Coconut Cyclone!"
"Mars Flame Sniper!"
The Oneiros was incapacitated in every possible manner thanks to the concentrated and well-timed effort of the Inner Guardians. "NOW!" shouted Tuxedo Mask, the signal for the leader to use her Moonlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss to bring the creature back to its human form.
"A-A-A-A-A-AWAKE!" The Oneiros shouted in a normal male voice as it turned back into Kakeru Oozora, who came to his senses soon after. "Oh... Oh no... What, what have I done? Where am I?"
"Dr. Oozora, don't you worry..." Tuxedo Mask recognized him from a previous encounter. "You were the victim of some kind of spell. I presume it was in your sleep?"
"Indeed... and I never thought this kind of thing existed at all..." the Doctor lamented. "All I remember is... Having a nightmare about some kind of God that said I feared the unknown, and next thing I know, I'm transformed into... Into... Whatever it was that I became... I'm so sorry, I..."
"A God, you say?" Sailor Mercury asked back, curious with the clue that the victim had released.
"You heard that right," spoke the voice they heard when they faced the first Oneiros that took over Naru.
"That voice!" exclaimed Dr. Kakeru. "That is the thing that calls itself a God that I met in my nightmare, I'm sure of it!"
"I do not merely call myself a God, Dr. Kakeru... I AM A GOD!" The voice affirmed as if offended. "Feel my work upon your feeble mind, and DESPAIR!"
The doctor then fell to the floor, kicking and screaming and foaming through the mouth. His mind went completely blank, and whatever words that came out of the genius astronomist were more akin to the vocalizations of someone with severe mental impairment. He kicked away any and all attempts of the Sailor Guardians to reach out for him.
"Somebody call an ambulance! QUICK!" Tuxedo Mask ordered to anyone who could listen while he tried to calm the man down as best as he could.
"Let this be a warning to all of you," the ominous voice resounded. "The mind and all of its secrets are my realms by right. Soon, you shall know the true extent of my power, once you solve the puzzle of my existence."
As soon as the voice dissipated once more, an ambulance arrived to tend to Dr. Kakeru. The paramedics had severe difficulty carrying him to the vehicle, as he was kicking and screaming. A sedative had to be injected, and he had to be tied to the hammock in order to be brought to the closest hospital.
(xx)
Rei came back in the small hours of the night, just as Yuuichirou came back from his nightly jogging session. She really did not expect to see him, of all people, that day and at that hour, just as she returned from another Sailor Guardian mission. But his presence made her feel almost as queasy and nervous as the Oneiros earlier that day, though obviously for different reasons.
"Yuuichirou?"
"Miss Rei..."
The brunette felt she had too much to say to the loyal servant of the Shrine, but as she composed herself, she focused on what most pressed her bosom and her mind in the short term.
"Listen, I... I apologize for yesterday. For acting that way, you see. It's just that... Oh dear, I don't know what had gotten into me."
"No, no, it's okay, Miss Rei. Really... No hard feelings. I'm used to it, anyways."
For some reason, that last phrase stung into her mind as if reminded her of the many past mistreatments of him. Before her mind went into shortcircuit over Yuuichirou once more, Rei stammered her parting words. "Well... I'm glad to hear that. Good night, Yuuichirou." Without saying anything else, she retired to her room.
"Good night, Miss Rei..." He muttered as he stood behind, alone with his own thoughts over the young woman that constantly broke his heart.
If only you knew who we really are. Would you forgive any of us if you knew what kind of business our families truly conduct? He thought briefly of the possibility that she could break up with Touya for his attitude and his liaisons with crime organizations that dealt with racketing, and that it could be the perfect moment to be with her... Ah, again with my wishful thinking. When will I learn? I'm no better than Touya. I'm no better than anyone...
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft nudge on his hip. He almost leaped in fear when he noticed his old master getting back at him.
"Hey, don't act like I didn't notice it, young man!" Rei's grandfather teased him with a smart-aleck face. "Can I share you something, just between you and I?"
"Ummm... Yeah, sure." He then leaned in to his master's direction, so the diminutive man can speak to him in sotto voce.
"I'd rather have Rei be with you than that Touya fellow she's going out." He continued even as Yuuichirou was visibly redder than a ripe tomato. "I really don't trust that guy one bit, and I should know... Because I feel something strange emanating from that kid."
"Oh, uh, well..." Never in all the time he's spent as an apprentice at the Shrine did Master Hino even imply that he and Rei could be together. "I don't see what could be wrong with Rei's date. Is it because he is filthy rich?"
"Oh, if it was just that, I'd never let you in our Shrine in the first place!"
"Eh, good point, sir..." Somehow, being reminded of his own family's wealth made Yuuichirou feel a pang of shame. "Well, I think it's her own choice that she's going out with Touya, and..."
The old priest's expression changed all of a sudden. "I know, I know! That's what worries me the most. We can't go around arranging marriages just like that, like this was still the Meiji period or what have you. My point is: Actions, and not words, are what dictate how you are perceived by everyone. And that is most true when it comes to women. Rei may not show it, but she appreciates what you have done to her and our Shrine so far."
"Not with the hell she gives me every day, no sir."
"Ah, that's just her way of showing her care, trust me on that one! She's always shouting at me, saying how I'm embarrassing and such, but we know we are in the best of terms. I believe it is the same with you, lucky boy! One day, she will come clean with her feelings to either one of you, so be ready and don't hurt her, alright? Nighty night!"
Yuuichirou waved his final beckoning of the day at Grandpa Hino as he retired to take a bath before going to bed. That conversation was reassuring in an odd way, though he couldn't help but nod off to his own fantasies. "Strange... The old master always shunned the idea of me and Rei together. I wonder if he knows about Touya and me... I wonder if things could go great with us, somehow..."
Alone once more in the corridor, the old priest soon retired to his own quarters, and after the last prayer of the day, he saw a black-and-white portrait of his late daughter on the improvised desk. He picked up the frame and stared at the picture with sadness and longing. "My dear Risa... I wonder how things would be if you were still here? For one, I'm sure you would be proud of your own daughter. She is fierce, independent and sometimes headstrong but certainly caring. But her stubbornness... I fear it will be her downfall, like it was yours..."
As he went to bed, Grandpa Hino remembered the tribulation where his daughter eloped with a man of political aspirations. The same situation as Rei in the present, except so far the young lady did not intend to break off with her family over misguided love.
"I already made a huge mistake letting you go with that greedy bastard Kakihara," the old man thought as he tucked into his bed. "The worthless maggot that took the name of our family for his own motives. If not for him, I'm sure you would be here with us. I... I cannot let that mistake happen again with Rei. I cannot let her waste her love and her life alongside a man that cares not about what truly matters in life. But it's her choice, and there is nothing I can do about it... I can only pray for her safety and for her mind to steer the righteous path."
(xx)
"I've been wondering... Is this what we are doing unethical?"
"Amusing that you, of all people, questioned this. Your fellows did not have the same doubt. This I can tell you: Ethics are human abstractions for the purpoted well-being and well-treatment of members of societies. Even if it was unethical, so to speak, we are doing it as an absolute necessity."
"This sounds... Like we are justifying ourselves over wrongdoings. Pardon me if I find this strange."
"Having been a human yourself, I understand why you are so disturbed. But still, once more I reiterate: Without this, Rei will be easy prey to the dark magic and the megalomania of Hypnos. The sooner she comes to terms with her feelings, the better. We are simply tampering with what she already has, not inserting new memories to force her into something she does not want to follow."
"I see. Well, at least there is no tangible way for her to get back at us."
"Unless she is dead, of course. And we are to guarantee no such tragedy comes to pass."
If you know the source of the chapter's title without resorting to Google, I'll love you forever! If you don't know, search for it anyways. It's not that obscure.
Many thanks to whoever passes by to read, and especially to litakino1987 and the anonymous person that goes by "Su" for your reviews!
Next chapter: Further developments between Rei and Yuuichirou.
Greetings from the Hospitaller Knight.