章 25: A Royal Letter

Like a breeze, two days had rolled by and to mark the significance of that night, the gates of heaven wouldn't close, leaving the earth damp with continuous rainfall.

Ace had plodded into the night slowly, his grandmother heavily laden in his arms as he walked through the rain, pouring heartlessly over him without pity and for two days, he was curled and tucked in his bed lazily with almost no sign of life in him as he laid still.

The door of his tarky apartment dragged open, giving entrance to the one who had made way for himself to scurry in while beating their clothes to drain off the wet areas.

Even without looking at who the uninvited guest was, Ace already knew who had rushed into his home, but this was not enough to move him as it only flattened his desire to get up and turn on his active status.

He could hear him drop some bags in the kitchenette's sink and the once quiet house that was only disturbed by the rain was filled up with a charade of noises. The clattering of pots and clattering of knives on the steel table top gave off a tingling feeling— an annoyance to Ace as it was disrupting his peace.

"Why have you come again?" Ace finally asked, his dead eyes glazing at the intruder— Kaito.

Kaito turned at him, holding two kitchen knives like an amateur with a ridiculous amount of flour smeared on his clothes. His mask was actively hiding his face, but Ace could make count of a goofy smile breeding on his face.

"The grocery market called to make dumplings, and I responded, but guess what? I got all these groceries with a discount… 2500 tokens for all of them." Kaito replied dramatically.

But this did not move Ace one bit, his dead, tired eyes fully hinged on whatever show Kaito was demonstrating which he knew would not spark an ounce of amusement.

"Really? That's a nice way to tell me you've been scammed." He yawned, rolling back into the bed while pulling the blanket over his head.

For a moment, the world was silent again as Kaito took a moment to digest Ace's words. It was after about five minutes had passed did he realize he might have been charged extra on the groceries he had bought.

Flap!

"Just let me be!" Ace groaned wryly as Kaito pulled the blanket over with a single yank.

"Stop acting like a depressed kid, get out of bed and make some ramen while I fold the dumplings. It's a perfect meal for a cold day, don't you think?"

Ace shot up, ready to make Kaito listen to him talk. "Can you at least try to sympathize with me? I just lost my grandmother ffs!"

They both paused, staring into nothing and everything at the same time until Kaito broke the brief intermission.

"Feed me first, that sympathetic feature comes after."

"Really?"

Kaito shook his head, tossing the blanket aside. "Don't be dramatic, boy. I even got you a beautiful urn to send her away with, but your ungrateful arse wouldn't say 'thank you'."

"I never asked you to!" Ace retorted, returning an indifferent look.

"I will chop the veggies for side dishes while you've got another task; make the dumplings as well." Kaito said, walking back towards the kitchenette while leaving Ace dumbfounded.

***

"Was it you who… at the dungeon?" Ace finally raised a question as they dined.

With his mouth full, Kaito forced a reply. "Did anyone tell you it was me?"

"If it wasn't you, then who else would have? I don't recall fighting those hunters after I passed out or perhaps, did the dungeon have life— enough to wipe out a squad's memory?"

"Strange." Kaito muffled, stretching his chopsticks towards Ace's plate and picked an extra dumpling for himself.

Ace let out a small sigh, dropping his chopsticks as he leaned forward with his elbows resting on the table.

"Why was the dungeon suddenly infiltrated by hunters? The demons we were fighting, they were certainly on the same side with them an—"

Kaito forced him to stop as he dropped his chopsticks as well. He knew the ones behind the elimination heist were fully backed up by the academy, but what he couldn't understand was who had saved Ace from their nest.

The timing of the events that had taken place within the space of that week was highly contradictory and he couldn't bring himself to tell Ace everything just yet. The boy was still young and a slight mistake with a spill would definitely ruin things for not just Kaito, but might change the fate of the entire world.

Not just their own world, the worlds beyond, worlds trapped in diverse dimensions, the underworld, heaven and hell will also get roped in.

After all, there was a prophecy concerning all these events, but the timings of occurrence are not right. If he— Kaito had not saved Ace from that dungeon, who had saved him? Did he awaken the forbidden or perhaps was there someone else who knew what was meant to be a secret?

"I see you're growing on the kids fast." Kaito said, piling the empty plates as they were ready to be discarded into the sink.

"Eh?"

"You got a letter from the daughter of the governor." He continued, pulling out a royal envelope and stretched it over to Ace.

"The governor's daughter?" Ace shrugged, his frown deepening as he collected the envelope, his mind reeling on who it was and why he had suddenly received a letter from her. "Who's that?"

"Perhaps,..." Kaito continued, muffling a small chuckle, ignoring his questions. "It's a love letter."

Ace shot him a disgusted look as Kaito scurried away to drop the plates. He pieced out the content of the envelope, ready to find out who was behind the curtain and for what reason he had received a letter from them.

He read;

I'd like to meet you, Ace Kiryū. I have something important to discuss with you as well. I will be waiting for you at the academy's library.

"Huh?"

He pondered, a mist of confusion settling in his mind, but he got roped into the envelope again as he noticed another card inside it. He pulled it out, realizing it was a photo card.

Flipping it over, his eyes glistened in surprise, his heart tightening against his rib cage as he saw the content of the photo. The photo card was bearing the second piece of his tribrid charm neck-piece, drawing a conclusion to the purpose of the letter.

"Anya's piece!"