Self-Cancellation

Oto couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Just a few days before had been the best day of his life, and then, in a relative flash of time, he was experiencing what he perceived as the end of his very being.

“What?” He asked, looking between Hayami and Giles. “Y-You can’t be serious.”

“It’s the only way, Oto,” Hayami replied, her look stern from across the table as she sat, sipping her Turkish coffee.

“I must agree with Miss Hayami, Young Master,” Giles added from over her shoulder. "It would truly be in your best interest to take a step back from it all."

“But-but they’re only paparazzi. Sure, they’re a bit more aggressive as of late, but that’s only because I’m-I'm trending regularly. I'm—” He looked to the girl he loved. "We're trending!"

Hayami sighed, placing her drink down before reaching across the table. Her hand gently took his, rubbing at it as she pushed out as sweet a smile as she could manage.

“Oto…dear.” Her voice, like her touch, was compassionate yet firm. “L-Listen. T-They’re not paparazzi. Their mafiosos. Some of them are bounty hunters. And they want both of us dead. And the more we're in the public eye, the easier it is for them to kill us.”

“Kill us?! But-But they were taking pictures of us—”

“They were shooting at us.”

“But angles they were getting, those were headshots.”

“No, they were taking shots at your head. There’s a difference.”

Trying to comprehend what they were telling him, Oto began to panic. They were attempting to convince him that the paparazzi who had been taking photos of him were nothing more than villainous goons wanting him dead. That they, the paparazzi, wanted him dead because of his father, a harbourmaster, and equally wished to harm Hayami, someone who was in fact not poor, because she refused to kill him. To him, it felt so hard to believe and even more so to process.

And, while their solution was easy to do, it was hard for Oto to commit to. He had spent his entire teenage life building his fanbase, creating a brand, and marketing it to the world. It was his existence—mostly. And now, both Hayami and Giles were insisting that he had to throw it all away. That, to fix everything, he would have to do something drastic that would end it all in an evening. That he should purposefully get himself—

Cancelled.

“I just—I can’t do it, Hayami. I’ve worked too hard to—”

“Young Master, if I may.” Giles cut in, drawing the panicked boy's attention.

“Giles?” Oto pleaded. “You have been with me since the beginning of this. You can’t honestly believe it is a good idea, right?”

“What I believe is that your life is more important to me and Miss Hayami than fame, fortune, and branding. You are still young, with many opportunities to grow and develop. Reputations can be mended. Death cannot.”

“Yeah, what Major Manservant said,” Hayami added, catching the unimpressed side-eye from the butler. “You can fix a lot of things, but you can’t fix getting shot in the head.”

“I’m sure with a few million I could—”

“No.” Both Hayami and Giles shut down Oto’s bargaining.

Oto became quiet as he reached a shaking hand for his cortado. Pulling it to his lips, he sipped at the beverage before a twitch of his wrist spilled some of the lukewarm drink down his dress shirt.

“Gah! Damn it all!” He cursed, looking at the stain. “Look what all this business made me do! Now I’m no better than a vagrant at one of those rest-stop motels.”

Hayami cocked an eyebrow and smirked. Continuing to caress his free hand with her own, she tried to comfort him.

“I’m surprised you know what a motel is.” She chuckled.

“I do watch television, Hayami. And I know that if I stop trending and disappear from society, I’ll have to live in one of them down some back road in a Canadian state for the rest of my life. Or worse. Kentucky.”

Hayami gently rubbed his hand, sighing softly before responding. “No, you won’t, Oto. You won’t have to live in a state or Canadian province—”

“It’s pronounced poverty! And if I stop trending, Hayami, I most certainly will!”

Growling to herself, Hayami removed her hand from Oto’s and leaned back in her seat. With a deep breath, she looked past him, eyeing the horizon and the calm sea. They were a week away from Oto’s Big Birthday Ball, and while she and Giles already had a plan being set into motion to guarantee both Hayami and Oto’s escape that night, she needed the boy on board for it to work.

But just as she had feared, he was being obstinate. Having spent a lifetime of luxury and almost half of it in the spotlight, Oto was scared to let go. Thus, as Giles attempted to calm him down, the task he had previously agreed to take over during this conversation, Hayami pondered what she could say that would change his mind.

She sipped her coffee once more, the rich beverage passing her lips and biting at her taste buds. The coastal breeze whipped her hair as a passing cloud lazily drifted by in the distance. It was beautiful and tranquil. And having only lived Oto's lifestyle for a few months, even she could understand not wanting to give it up easily. But that wouldn't help either of them. Eventually, the goons would get them. She needed to think of something, but nothing was coming to her.

Her’s and Oto’s lives had been vastly different before their meet-cute. There was nothing that she could think of that would make him willing to leave his gilded cage atop the ivory tower he called home. Nothing that they shared in common that she could use to reach him.

Then it hit her—the one thing they shared.

“Oto,” She cut into the conversation as she placed her cup down. “Do you remember what you told me a few days ago?”

Oto froze, his face going blank as he tried to think of what he had been saying. Then, with a snap of his fingers, he pointed to her.

“Yes. But I hardly see what narwhals have to do with any of this, Hayami.”

Hayami grumbled, rubbing at her face as she realized she had fallen into one of his stupidity traps.

“No, Oto, not the unicorn discussion.” She sighed before reaching out and taking his hand. “What you said in the ballroom. How your brother—our half-brother—threatened you. The fear you felt. Your prayer.”

“Yes, of course. How could I forget such a wonderful moment where I got to finally confess to my guardian angel that I loved her and discover that she loved me in return?”

Oto smiled, adjusting his fingers so that they laced with Hayami’s as they looked into each other’s eyes. Their faces simultaneously blushed as hearts raced.

“Good, I’m glad you remember.” She added. “Much like you felt that day, I’m afraid for you. That someone wants to do to you what Corbin threatened. And, because of that, I want to be your Guardian Angel again...to protect you.”

The words lingered in the air for a moment as the breeze continued to toy with Hayami’s hair. Oto watched, his heart now thudding strongly against his chest as he admired her beauty and the sincerity in her voice.

“Oh…” He replied, suddenly understanding. “You…you really think they mean to kill me? Just because of who I am?”

“I do, Oto.” Hayami looked to Giles for a moment, receiving a nod of approval before continuing. “We both do. And we want to protect you, but to do that, we need your help.”

“My help? What could I possibly do?”

Hayami smiled, knowing that she had finally caught the boy’s attention. Releasing his grip, she stood and approached him. She adjusted her dress as she knelt beside him and gently caressed his face in the same way she had seen on the statue of his mother.

“The night of your Ball, we need you to shine so brightly that all the eyes in the world look at you.”

Oto’s heart raced, his eyes beaming with joy and optimism at the prospect.

“I-I can do that!” He responded excitedly. “I can definitely do that. But why?”

“So Giles can hide in your shadow…” Hayami smirked, looking to the Butler once more before continuing. “And make the final preparations to fake our own deaths.”

Oto nodded excitedly at the prospect before suddenly realizing something.

“But…wait,” He quickly added. “How will I go to school if I’m supposed to be fake-dead?”

Hayami stared at him, her face scrunching up, trying to find the right words to say. She didn't want to call him an idiot in that moment, but the fact of the matter was simple.

“Oto,” She finally asked him. “What’s eleven times one?”

The boy’s face dropped as his stare became distant. After a moment of slack-jawed panic, his face tightened up once more, and he replied.

“Okay, wait, I know this. It’s a trick question, right? Now, if I carry the one…”

Hayami watched as he went through a series of emotions, trying to solve a simple math problem.

“Oto, listen.” She leaned in, gently patting his head. “You’re pretty. You don’t need any more schooling, okay? So are you in?”