Chapter 60: The Call of the Palace

The day is over.

It is night. It is late.

My parents finally let him go.

(My dad got his gamer tag. My mom packed him leftovers.)

We are walking in my neighborhood.

It is quiet. Peaceful.

My real peaceful life.

"So," I mutter. "You survived."

"Barely," he laughs. "Your mother is a force of nature. Your father is a genius. I see where you get it from."

"Get what? My weirdness?"

"Your passion," he says softly.

He stops under a streetlight.

He is looking at me that warm way.

This is it. Again.

The almost-kiss moment.

My heart is pounding.

He is leaning in.

His phone rings.

Again.

I groan. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

Fuji winces. He looks at the phone.

His face freezes.

It is the same look as before, at his apartment.

"I have to take this, Aoi," he says. His voice is formal.

"Yeah. Fine."

He steps away.

He answers.

"Kenichi-san."

He is listening.

His face is pale. Paler than usual.

He looks devastated.

"I understand," he says, his voice strained. "The Royal Physician... he confirmed it?"

Royal? Physician? What?

"I see. That is unfortunate news."

He is silent.

"Yes. The good news? That is excellent. Please congratulate Her Highness for me."

Her Highness?

Fuji is weird, but this is next-level weird.

"I understand. My duties. Yes. I will return tonight. Have the car ready."

He hangs up.

He doesn't turn around.

He is just standing there, his shoulders tense.

"Fuji?" I ask softly. "What's wrong? What Royal... what?"

He turns around.

The Ice Prince is back.

But it's different.

He looks trapped and broken.

"Aoi..." he starts. His voice is hoarse.

"I have to go."

"Go where? It's Saturday night."

"Home," he says. "My real home."

"You... what? You live there!" I point towards his apartment.

"That is not my home, Aoi," he says. He looks so tired. "That is my escape. My vacation. My real life is calling me back."

"Fuji, you are scaring me. What is going on?"

He looks at my house. At the warm lights.

He looks at me.

"I can't explain it," he whispers. "Not yet. I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? For what?"

"For this. For what comes next."

He is scaring me.

A long, black limousine pulls up to the curb silently.

A man in a suit gets out. Kenichi.

He opens the back door.

"Your Highness," the man says. "We must hurry."

What?

Your Highness?

I look at Fuji.

He is not Fuji Kenji anymore.

He is someone else.

"Aoi... I will explain soon," he says. He sounds desperate.

"Fuji... what...?"

He does it.

He leans in.

He kisses my forehead.

Just my forehead.

It's chaste. It's terrified. It's goodbye.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

He turns. He gets in the car.

The man in the suit gets in.

The car drives away.

It disappears.

I am alone on my street.

Under the streetlight.

My forehead tingles.

"...Your Highness?"

My peaceful life. My new life.

What is happening?