Secret and Letter

Lord Kaiser walked down the Drezore halls, feeling better about himself after seeing Kiyo’s smile.

He went outside and sat down on one of the benches that were safe from the rain, hiding under the protruding roof.

Looking at the easing rain, he smelled the fresh petrichor scent carried by the wind.

He liked the experience.

“Quite nice, huh? Watching it from the comforts of the awning…”

Lord Kaiser flinched, anxiously turning around.

Beside him sat a woman he recognized to be the staff member who checked their identifications.

He looked at her surprised and a little ashamed for not even noticing her presence. But to him it felt like she appeared out of thin air.

“…yeah…” Lord Kaiser muttered awkwardly after a while.

“What?” she asked, seeing him staring.

“Nothing…” he replied, turning back to the scenery beneath the rain, “thank you for earlier…”

“For what?” the woman asked, as unenthusiastic as ever.

Lord Kaiser turned to her, confused.

“…for telling us about the uniforms…” he said, “I don’t know if we’d have even been allowed to participate otherwise.”

“Ah. That…” she muttered, pulling out a cigarette.

She quickly glanced at Lord Kaiser for approval, who gestured her to proceed.

“Thank you” she said.

“Of course,” Lord Kaiser said, “as long as it doesn’t smell like skunk, I really don’t mind.”

She chuckled and lit up her cigarette.

“…I heard you guys won,” she said, “congrats.”

“Thank you” Lord Kaiser now said.

“How’s your partner by the way?” she asked as she took a puff.

“Huh? Has everyone heard already?” Lord Kaiser asked shocked.

“Yeah. He’s famous…” she grinned, “even the domestic students know.”

“Hmm…” uttered Lord Kaiser, “It’s just like him. He becomes the center of attention wherever he goes. Not in a good way, though…”

“Yeah…” the woman agreed pensively.

“Huh?” Lord Kaiser uttered, looking at her.

“Huh?” she uttered back, staring at him.

He looked at her suspicious behaviour, when she suddenly cleared her throat, and switched the subject.

“…You guys were from Brimor, right?” she continued as if nothing happened.

“Yes…” Lord Kaiser answered, eyeing her.

“I knew someone from Brimor” she said, smiling as she remembered fondly.

She took one last puff, before stubbing out the cigarette.

“I bet the old man would be proud” she said kindly, standing up.

Lord Kaiser stared in confusion, as she turned around to leave.

“Oh! Before I forget, there was a letter that came in earlier. It was addressed to you and the celebrity,” she said, “it should be in your room right now.”

She turned back around to leave, when Lord Kaiser stopped her.

“Wait!” he said quickly, “What’s your name?”

She looked at him, smirking.

“Secret.”

***

Back at the infirmary, Atsuo was blushing as he comforted the ‘excessively grateful’ Kiyo.

She cried as he patted her head, eventually settling down.

She eased her grip around him, stepping back and wiping her face.

“Thank you…” she said, sniffling, “…sleeper…”

Atsuo stiffened, looking at her like he misheard.

She stared back at him confused, tilting her head a little to the left.

“Sleeper is the nickname he gave me…” Atsuo said awkwardly, “…my actual name is Atsuo…”

The girl stared at him for a few seconds, before giggling out of nowhere.

“…I’m sorry…” she said, wiping more tears.

“Thank you… Atsuo” she said radiantly.

She waved and exited the room, while Atsuo stood completely motionless, smiling as he stared at the floor.

He exhaled and turned towards the window.

The storm that was terrorizing the trees and windows of the academy this morning, cleared up, leaving behind a brisk autumn breeze that carried the scent and moisture of the rain.

All the while, Ivia slept like a log on one of the infirmary beds.

Atsuo felt like he was in the best mood in a while.

He sighed and left the room as well, stumbling upon Lord Kaiser, who was creeping up.

“What are you doing?” Atsuo said curtly, looking at him down the hallway.

Lord Kaiser straightened up a bit and cleared his throat.

“Just uhh… didn’t want to disturb your moment…” he said half-truthfully.

Atsuo sighed and went in the opposite direction.

“Hmm?” Lord Kaiser uttered, looking at him walking away, “is it over already?”

He ran after Atsuo, briefly stopping by the infirmary and checking whether Kiyo was still there. He put his head inside, seeing that only Ivia was there and looked back at Atsuo.

Confused, Lord Kaiser moved the doors towards himself, leaving them slightly ajar, and caught up to Atsuo.

“So? What happened, sleeper?” Lord Kaiser asked inquisitively.

“Nothing happened…” Atsuo said irritably.

“Come on…” Lord Kaiser said, nudging him with his elbow.

“Nothing happened,” Atsuo hissed, “she just thanked me…”

“With a…?” Lord Kaiser asked, gesturing.

Atsuo stopped walking, giving Lord Kaiser a disgruntled stare.

“Fine…” Lord Kaiser said, giving up, “…if you don’t want to talk about it…”

“There’s nothing to talk about” Atsuo exclaimed.

As soon as the words left his mouth, they saw their friends come from around the corner of the hallway. Having left them alone overnight, they were back to check up on them.

“Perfect timing…” Lord Kaiser said, turning to them, “listen to this…”

Atsuo’s eyes widened and he grabbed Lord Kaiser’s arm. He strained his brain for a possible solution, arriving at the lowliest one.

He did not like it, but it had to be done.

“What if something happened to Yuna if you opened your mouth…” Atsuo whispered, to which Lord Kaiser turned to him, baffled.

“…About what happened that is” Atsuo quickly clarified.

“Sleeper, you fucking bastard…” he said glaring at him, “how do you even have the gall to say that…?”

“I’m not happy about it…” Atsuo said dejectedly, as self-loathing overwhelmed him, “but all you have to do is keep your mouth shut…”

Atsuo regretted his decision with every passing second.

Lord Kaiser’s look of disappointment and betrayal did not make it any better.

“Listen to what?” Rivia asked, as the friends approached.

“Nothing…” Lord Kaiser said, turning to them, “you guys can go ahead to the cafeteria, sleeper and I have some mail that came in earlier. Give us a couple of minutes…”

“Ah… sure…” Rivia said as they started walking away, “BEFORE YOU LEAVE, HOW ARE YOU GUYS FEELING…?”

“…we’re fine…” Atsuo’s voice echoed from around the corner.

They were gone.

With that, the friends went to the dining hall for their breakfast, getting a table while Lord Kaiser and Atsuo went back to the Minae dorm.

A lot of people were already there, and the three friends wondered where they should sit.

With what happened yesterday in mind, they decided to sit away from the windows, and await their friends.

***

Lord Kaiser and Atsuo were making their way to Lord Kaiser’s room.

“What letter?” Atsuo asked him, as they walked up the stairs.

“I don’t know, I was just told that it came in earlier” Lord Kaiser said.

“Why now, though? Could it not wait?” Atsuo asked confused.

“Shut up…” Lord Kaiser said irately, “…‘what if something happened to Yuna…’, what were you thinking?”

“I… I know it was stupid…” Atsuo said, “I just didn’t want you mentioning anything about what happened, and well…”

“that’s the only thing I could come up with…” Atsuo said ashamed, “because I know how much you care about her…”

Lord Kaiser stopped in his tracks, as stiff as a board.

“Huh?” he uttered, “…You do…?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t…” Atsuo said seriously, “not even her, herself…”

Lord Kaiser twitched at the comment.

“Well… you’re right…” he said bashfully.

“So never do that again” he said, seriously, “just tell me next time…”

Atsuo nodded, and they continued walking.

When they got to the door, there were more than a hundred envelopes under Lord Kaiser’s door again.

It seemed as if more than half of Drezore’s mail went to Lord Kaiser. Such was the obsession of his fan club.

“Don’t tell me this was it…” Atsuo said, disappointingly.

“No…” Lord Kaiser said uneasily, “I was told it’s inside…”

Somewhat relieved, Atsuo stepped over the mountain of letters and they went inside.

On the table was a letter with a Brimor stamp and handwriting that Lord Kaiser instantly recognized.

“It’s her…”