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Chapter Text

"Bloody hell, you can't be fucking serious!" Chuuya starts full of rage and disbelief at the paper in his hand the colorful group behind him peers over his shoulder and reads the lines with him

"Esteemed Susanoo Kingdom, the two kingdoms of Tsukiyomi and Amaterasu claim the hand of Prince Chuuya Nakahara."

That's it, those damn lines were the downfall of Chuuya's fucking life. Don't get Chuuya wrong, he knew he would be forced into a wedding even if it made his big brother Verlaine almost kill his father and start a war. The problem was not with the wedding itself but with the people Chuuya was to marry. Suffering, Chuuya closed his eyes and not a second later, roaring laughter sounded behind him . Chuuya rolled his eyes whoever had such friends didn't need enemies

"hahaha just these two, shit Chuuya I knew you attracted bad luck but shit Prince Dazai and Fyodor that's a new level of bad luck." Chuuya rammed his elbow into Albatross' ribs, which was easy because he was positioned so perfectly, but the worst part was that Albatross was actually right. "Wrong timing Albatross" said Piano man who bravely kept himself from laughing any more. Iceman standing right next to Piano man was Chuuya's only consolation the man still looked terribly amused but at least he wasn't laughing hard out loud at Chuuya. "As much as I want to keep laughing at Chuuya for being so unlucky in his choice of husbands, I agree that there are more serious matters to discuss at this moment." Doc spoke casually from the side and Chuuya wondered what he had done wrong to get such a group of slobs he calls friends. Lippmann puts his hand on his heart "Chuuya it is also your misfortune to marry the two princes who robbed by "Arahabaki" and who are both looking for him like they are mad"

Why was that a problem you ask? Chuuya was Arahabaki.

Chuuya had not intended to rob the two princes in the beginning Arahabaki was just there to help the humans in the slums that lived in his kingdom of course Chuuya helped the slums as a prince too but his family was mostly against it. his father had changed after the death of his mother he forbade Chuuya to do anything that could be even remotely dangerous and Chuuya didn't even know after a while if he did it out of love for him or because he was just obsessed with not losing his son who looked so much like his wife. His brother Verlaine had always been... special he had always been around him for as long as Chuuya could remember and had tried to protect him from every little risk which Chuuya appreciated in some situations like when Verlaine protested against his father saying that he should marry Prince Dazai and Fyodor but it could also be very annoying Verlaine was one of the main reasons why his work as Arahabaki was so difficult Chuuya often had to create an illusion in which Chuuya and Arahabaki stood next to each other his personal favorite was the one where he came up to Chuuya, kissed his right hand and gave him a black rose in his left Verlaine's reaction amused him for weeks afterwards. The last member of the family was the most normal, his big sister Kouyou, who lived happily married in the land of Amaterasu and wrote Chuuya letters from time to time.

Since Chuuya could not help the poor people in the city and especially in the slums, he decided to take on a new personality and got trustworthy supporters to help him realize his idea and so they created Arahabaki, gave him a backstory, a character, an appearance and abilities.It didn't take long to get this off the ground thanks to Poe. Poe was one of the few people who knew about Chuuya's identity as Arahabaki, he worked at the castle and took care of the files and books they had all over the castle so it was easy for him to forge something like this and he even had fun with it and so the group created a very bogus story about 'Arahabaki' that was supposedly based on anonymous statements made by citizens.

So after Arahabaki had a story on the paper and the file was put in a corner deep in the library they had to make sure that there were no similarities between Arahabaki and Chuuya which was surprisingly easy they just decided to make Chuuya for the public the image of a weak sickly boy with a gentle heart who cared a lot about his kingdom, and Arahabaki then became Chuuya's were even with the difference that Arahabaki mostly tried to be a gentelman which Chuuya had already broken a few times.

Then they came to the hardest part of Arahabaki's appearance since Chuuya had to admit that he was shorter than average they had to raise Arahabaki to some white height which was harder than expected since Afahabaki couldn't just walk around with visible heels since that would stand out and so Lippman, Iceman, Pianoman and Poe sat down together to make him shoes that were taller on the inside and wouldn't be recognizable from the outside at all
Chuuya didn't understand how they had managed it but he decided not to ask and so Arahabaki grew to a proud 1.72 meters and Chuuya looked at the shoes in disbelief as they didn't look like they were 12 centimeters high. Chuuya decided not to question it any further for the sake of his sanity and so they went on Arahabaki got a black suit with an equally black coat quite quickly, but then they had to stop again because questions arose. What will be done with Chuuya's hair? And what about his face? A mass discussion broke out and ideas were shouted and Chuuya was glad that they were using Poe's private archive room so that no one could hear their shouting. In the end Chuuya hit Albatross and Lippman on the head because they had the shittiest ideas and Chuuya would definitely not wear a neon pink or yellow wig. After a lot of shouting, they agreed on a black wig and a black mask with white and gold details that covered Chuuya's entire face, but he still put on dark blue contact lenses as a precaution.

So after they thought they were finally done, Atsushi said something that made perfect sense, "What will your alibi be Chuuya-san?" The group looked at each other and slumped their shoulders, letting out an agonized groan. "You're right Atsushi Chuuya-san can't just disappear all the time and then reappear it would get weird after a while." Poe looked at his poor room which was already completely messed up and couldn't help but shake his head who would have thought it would be so exhausting to create a new personality? So the group thought for a long time and threw in an idea here and there which was rejected after more than an hour Albatross suddenly jumped up and said the host which would give them a headache "Love!" He shouted delightedly, whereupon the others stared at him unimpressed Chuuya frowned and looked at him "Love?" He repeated questioningly and Albatross nodded excitedly "exactly love we pretend Arahabaki is in love with Chuuya" the group looked at him frowning but Atsushi then asked the question that was on their minds "and how is that supposed to work if Arahabaki is Chuuya-san?" Albatross didn't let it get him down and pointed wordlessly at Lippman "He's a wonderful actor he could easily step into the role of Arahabaki" the group looked at each other too tired to refuse any suggestion they nodded and agreed to the idea.

And oh how they would regret that idea.
Chuuya wished Albatross had never said this idea and they had never agreed to it and they had found some other idea because Arahabaki's "love" for Chuuya was going to give him a really bad headache

Chapter Text

Chuuya had robbed the two princes, which to be honest was not planned at all Verlaine visited the kingdom because they were allies and the kingdom threw a ball to celebrate the 20 year marriage of the royal couple. To be honest, Chuuya had absolutely no interest in it and was therefore happy that Verlaine "forced" Chuuya to stay at home because he was too weak and it might put too much strain on his body. Chuuya had to hold back his laughter very hard just like the flags who had to listen to his brother Verlaine's orders at the same time. In short: Take care of my brother or I'll kill you so painfully that you'll wish you were never born. Didn't he have a great brother?

Chuuya waved to Verlaine as he left the kingdom in the carriage and turned around when he could no longer see the carriage, finally giving Verlaine some free time to relax.

Until he looked at his friends who were all looking at him with sparkling eyes. Chuuya screwed up his face and staggered back a step and looked at the flags suspiciously "What do you want?" He then asked and regretted the question as Albatross immediately jumped forward and grabbed Chuuuya's hands and then playfully fell to his knees "Chuuuuyaaaaaaa please you have to rob this kingdom this is the perfect opportunity!" The Flags behind Albatross had a playfully serious face and nodded their heads in agreement "no way you idiots why the hell would I do that?" The Flags looked at each other and then Paino man said "For the poor people of the kingdom who live in poverty" If Chuuya didn't know the Flags he would probably believe them but the slight twitch of Ice man's lips told Chuuya all he needed to know and Albatross confirmed his theory a few seconds later "and because it's fun to annoy Verlaine of course" Chuuya sighed "Contact Poe he'll come with us we'll discuss the details on the ride." The Flags cheered loudly and Chuuya couldn't help but grin. If only they had known what consequences this action would have.

Convincing the king was easy, as expected - the king had an obvious weakness for his youngest son and as long as it was just a "hamless" visit to Poe's home in the country. Yes, Chuuya had let Lippman give him a few acting lessons here and there. Well and so Chuuya went together with the Flags and Poe in a carriage towards the Amaterasu Kingdom "Poe did you have the blueprint of the castle lying around somewhere in the archive?" Poe just nodded and pulled the blueprint out of his pocket and carefully handed it to Chuuya the paper was very old and Chuuya couldn't help but wrinkle his nose a little at the smell of dust not even the slums smelled so damn dusty. Poe, seeing Chuuya's reaction, shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Sorry Chuuya-san the blueprint is from 50 years ago when the peace treaty was signed." Doc shrugged, "Can't help Poe, maybe we should draw a new blueprint while we're here." The group agreed and then bent over the blueprints, mulling over various plans to steal from the kingdom.

Chuuya didn't know what he expected from this kingdom but what he saw shocked him a little on the surface everything about the kingdom was beautiful there were great houses big lakes and flowers danced everywhere but as Chuuya wandered alone through the alleys of the city with a big dark blue cloak covering him completely he also noticed the dark side he saw shady characters making deals in dark places, he saw several soldiers fighting each other in the name of honor, he saw far too much Chuuya had just listed the most harmless things and at some point Chuuya's last nerve burst and he beat up the first group he saw. The boy who had been beaten up recently looked at Chuuya, bent down and took a closer look at the injuries. There was nothing bad, a few purple marks and blood here and there, but that was nothing that wouldn't heal.

"Hey you're strong mister" The boy with fuzzy brown hair spoke casually and for some reason that hurt Chuuya even more than he could describe the boy sounded way too relaxed for almost getting beaten up. Chuuya stood up and held out his hand to the boy "Come on get up we'll get you some decent clothes to wear and some good food." Chuuya's voice definitely didn't sound affectionate and gently shut up. The boy opened his eyes and Chuuya stared at him with big green eyes and found them mesmerizing. The boy didn't hesitate for a second and grabbed Chuuya's hand like it was a lifeline and jumped up. Chuuya just smiled silently at this

And so Chuuya walked through the streets with a completely free man and just enjoyed the colorful hustle and bustle of the city while he walked through the city, the boy told him about the lives of the people they passed and Chuuya couldn't help but be impressed. the boy had a strange taste and ended up looking like a detective and Chuuya hesitated for a moment but then took a pair of glasses out of his pocket he had bought as a child because he thought they were so beautiful he had never really used the glasses afterwards
but the glasses reminded him a little of the time he spent with his mother. He handed the glasses to the boy and said "Hey, I know we haven't really known each other that long but somehow... I have the feeling that these glasses are better in your hands than in mine." The boy tilted his head slightly to the side and looked at the glasses "They look expensive.... Are you really going to give them to me?" Chuuya just nodded "I think they suit a boy as smart as you more than me." The boy showed Chuuya those bright green eyes again as he looked shocked but still slowly took the glasses.

Chuuya and the boy, whose name must have been Ranpo, walked through the streets and Chuuya stopped in front of a candy store. "Do you like candy, Ranpo?" Ranpo looked at the store and frowned "I've never eaten any I don't know." Chuuya nodded and pulled Ranpo with him "a smart brain needs a lot of candy to function" he said and just dumped candy into the basket, ignoring Ranpo's startled look at the number Chuuya stopped in front of a strawberry loli and glared at Ranpo "this is my favorite" Ranpo stared at the candy with a special glare after those words.
The woman at the counter just blinked in confusion when she saw all the sweets.
It turned out that Ranpo loved sweets and most of all the strawberry lolis.

As the sun was almost setting, Chuuya asked Ranpo, "What do you think about the ball tomorrow night, Ranpo?" Ranpo grimaced, his green eyes shining behind his glasses, "They're all weird guys, especially the two princes, they're supposed to be really smart, some even call them demon brothers, which sounds a bit ridiculous if you ask me, but some of them wet their pants when they hear the name." Chuuya absorbed the information and nodded. "Well it's getting late I have to go I hope we meet again sometime." Ranpo shrugged his shoulders far too casually "Yeah maybe when you visit this royal kingdom again mister." Chuuya smiled at Ranpo raised his hand and then turned and disappeared still covered by his dark blue cloak he had a battle to plan after all.

The whole time leading up to the ball their battle plan was being prepared and refined Iceman had brought a black rose to one of the towers it was their way of announcing themselves it was all up to the knights now either they threw the rose away or they sounded the alarm no matter what of the two would happen the theft today would go well they knew that. The ball was open to every citizen of the King's Circle, but most didn't dare to go for fear of the demon brothers, at least according to the inhabitants Piano had overheard.

And so Chuuya stood at 22:00 in the middle of the hall above him was an area just for the two kings to relax and above this was a large window causing the hall to be filled with the light of the moon he had put on his black wig and dark blue contact lenses he wore a realistic face mask where not even Chuuya could tell that this face he was wearing was fake face mask where not even Chuuya could tell that the face he was wearing was fake Lippmann and Poe had outdone themselves he was wearing a navy blue suit and swimming in the pack getting in here hadn't been hard so Chuuya assumed that no one had reported the black rose. How foolish

Chuuya sipped a glass of red wine and closed his eyes in pleasure normally he wasn't allowed to drink much as he was constantly under Verlaine's worried gaze another thing Chuuya hated was that everyone thought he couldn't hold his liquor admittedly that was more Chuuya's fault for making everyone believe it so he could pull off his "weak boy" act better but still. Chuuya felt burning eyes on him and turned his head slightly to meet the gazes of two princes.

Chuuya kept up a cold front as he charged the two demons. Had they seen through his plan? Did they know who Chuuya really was? Chuuya could hardly show his true colors here, he needed a little more time. Chuuya looked at the princes from the outside, still expressionless and disinterested. After a while, he turned his gaze away to grab a new glass of red wine that was positioned on the tables

"Are you enjoying the ball?" Chuuya sighed softly as he heard the voice behind him and there he stood Prince Fyodor. Dazai stood behind him, his hand clenched tightly for some reason.

The prince was wearing a white suit with golden embellishments. Chuuya had to admit that it suited him perfectly. Chuuya tilted his head slightly to one side, "I'm enjoying the wine." He replied simply. To be honest, Chuuya couldn't help but let the comment slip from his lips. Chuuya's reply seemed to amuse rather than annoy the prince in front of him, his lips curled into a smile and he bowed, "What shame would you do me the honor of dancing with you to sincerely apologize?"

What could Chuuya have done if the whole ballroom had turned on her? Reject the prince and draw unnecessary attention? No thanks Chuuya nodded slightly and grabbed the prince's hand without even thinking for a moment before gasps rang out in the hall and even Fyodor blinked at him in surprise but Chuuya didn't care, he steered the prince to the dance floor with innate grace and decided to get this over with quickly.

Music started playing as soon as they stopped and Chuuya was grateful for every dance lesson Kouyou had ever given him. Chuuya gently took the lead, steering Fyodor effortlessly but also giving him the opportunity to take the lead himself, which he didn't do, the prince staring mesmerized at where Chuuya held his hand and Chuuya wondered to himself why everyone was exaggerating such a normal touch.

The dance ended after a while and Chuuya bowed politely to the prince who returned the bow and then went back to the wine and fortunately King Mori began his speech so that Chuuya could simply disappear. Outside he met Albatross "and everything ready?" Albatross just nodded and handed Chuuya his mask and black suit.

Chuuya casually entered the kingdom's treasury it was overflowing with gold most of the guards were stationed in the hall and the pitiful 80 guards Chuuya could easily defeat himself. Chuuya looked around what should he steal this time? His thoughts went back to Ranpo who didn't even know what candy tasted like.

Chuuya stole a lot more jewelry and gold this time than last time he left two black roses in the chamber and then left the treasury outside lay the unconscious bodies of the soldiers and Chuuya stepped on a few of them without remorse he gave Lippmann the gold so he could leave Chuuya still had a little show to do. Chuuya couldn't help but laugh at this they had made it far too easy for him Chuuya always had the feeling that he would die at any moment during his normal thefts this raid was child's play in comparison

Chuuya stepped onto the balcony for the royals it was empty as expected as the royal couple were talking to the people below suddenly the hall became quiet and Chuuya looked for the reason and spotted his brother who was on his knees proposing to Arthur Rimbaud also a prince of this family, How cute.....

Wait.... damn shit his brother is proposing without Chuuya being there or him mentioning it to Chuuya ?! Oh dearest brother just wait until you get home then you can... although why wait so long Chuuya was just a wanted criminal.

But Chuuya did not interrupt the marriage proposal itself, he would not destroy this moment in his brother's life, so he waited until Arthur accepted the proposal, his brother kissed him passionately, the crowd clapped excitedly and Verlaine put the ring on Arthur's finger only then did Chuuya give the signal so that the lights went out and only the moonlight illuminated the room

"Ladies and gentelman we have gathered here today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the royal couple's marriage" the crowd below immediately erupted in chaos and Verlaine's face contorted in anger Chuuya dramatically dropped the mask he had been wearing until recently to the floor and only continued speaking when a loud clapping "But today there was also a surprise Prince Verlaine and Prince Arthur got engaged if you hadn't already clapped I would have demanded it now but we can leave that to be honest I'm very sad today" Chuuya sighed out once to emphasize his point "Verlaine-san I have to say I'm disappointed I brought two beautiful roses for your brother today but he doesn't seem to be here you can't imagine this heartbreak." Chuuya now stepped to the very edge of the balcony "It would be a waste to throw the flowers away now so I have a better idea" Chuuya took another step forward and dropped down.

But he just floated in the air normally without anything happening Verlaine's eyes widened in shock "You have an ability?" Chuuya just laughed and shook his head, gliding over to Fyodor and Dazai who were standing next to each other and handing Fyodor a rose first "Thank you for the dance your highness" he said in a playful tone and bowed once in the air.

Then he goes to Prince Dazai and also hands him a rose which he accepts just like his brother but looks at him confused Chuuya smiles which you couldn't see thanks to the mask and grabbed Dazai's hands who starts wide-eyed at him as his ability shows no reaction Chuuya quickly releases his hand and then says to the prince "and a rose for your wonderful cooperation" Chuuya turns his head to Verlaine as he continues flying "I don't have an ability Verlaine-san it's just magic" and with those words Arahabaki disappeared from the window

"Good job Poe you were the star of the show" Poe scratches his head uncomfortably as the group showered him with praise "Your ability made that even possible that was awesome" Albatross makes crazy gestures in the air "Damn we would have been so screwed if Dazai destroyed Poe's ability"

(Want to know the trick behind today's magic show? Normally a magician never tells his tricks but Chuuya is a thief so I guess it's obvious.
Just before Chuuya grabs Dazai's hand, Poe uses his ability to create the illusion that Chuuya can hold Dazai's hand. Dazai can only neutralize Poe's ability when he touches Poe's book).

Laughing, the friends made their way back to the kingdom, unaware of the consequences of Chuuya's show

But what they knew for sure was that Chuuya would make Verlaine suffer for not telling him that he liked someone, let alone proposing to him

Chapter Text

Chuuya and the rest of the group were sitting in their base again, or rather Poe's private archive room. Albatross stood in front of them and had a serious expression on his face. "My dear friends, I am very pleased that we have all gathered here for the first time in a long time." The others replied with an equally serious nod of the head, as it was the first time in a long time that the small group had been completely together, i.e. Poe, Atsushi, Tachihara, the Flags and Chuuya. The reason for the emergency meeting: jealousy.

But let's go back in time a few hours ago, the two demon brothers arrived in the kingdom.

Chuuya, who was waiting for them in the castle, ran up and down Lippmann imitated him and adopted the same posture as Chuuya, but now and then the flags held their hands over each other's mouths to keep from laughing. Suddenly Chuuya stopped abruptly and Lippmann skidded to a halt and then whistled innocently to himself as Chuuya gave him a scathing look.

"Guys take this a little more seriously damn it this is your fault why did you have to persuade me to rob the kingdom?" Chuuya put a hand on his forehead and sighed in pain, the flags just shrugged their shoulders "Maybe it won't be that bad Chuuya." Doc tried a rather weak attempt but Chuuya shook him off "I'm already dying in normal robberies almost now there's the demon duo who want to find Arahabaki oh and I'm married to exactly this demon duo, you're absolutely right Doc I'm worrying for nothing" Albatross shrugged his shoulders "Chuuya's right he's screwed." Chuuya slapped him because the truth hurts.

Chuuya had calmed down halfway and was now sitting on the balcony, staring at the street and grimacing slightly when he saw two carriages driving slowly here Verlaine was already downstairs to receive the guests, even if he only did it very reluctantly because father had ordered it and Verlaine could hardly disobey the king's order, which was only half true. Verlaine had often disobeyed his father, but this time it was different, it was to meet Chuuya's future husbands, although they had already made a good first impression on Verlaine because they hunted Arahabaki.

The Flags leaned over the grounds as they watched the carriages slowly arrive and Chuuya rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Stop it, you're embarrassing yourselves." Surprisingly, they listened to him and dutifully got behind Chuuya.

Slowly the carriage came to a halt and Chuuya could see them clearly from his position Chuuya held his breath as the carriage doors opened but then blinked in confusion when the respective princes did not immediately get out of both carriages a man with white hair tied into a plait got out of the dark blue carriage he was wearing very.... colorful clothes yes that fits . From the all-black carriage stepped a man dressed in black with black hair and wearing a very special cloak, to be honest. After the two of them stood in front of Verlaine, two other men got out of the carriage and Chuuya's breath stopped - what was he doing here?

Out of the black carriage stepped Ranpo and there was no doubt that it was Ranpo he was still bloody well wearing the same clothes Chuuya had bought him in his mouth was a loli and he looked quite bored to be honest until he looked up and Chuuya looked at him. Ranpo widened his eyes and stared at him with the same horrified look then grinned and averted his gaze Chuuya did the same and looked at the other man this time a man with two colors of hair slightly pink and... white again. Did the prince have a thing with white-haired people?

And in the end they finally came out both princes and Chuuya couldn't help but notice how handsome they both looked Prince Fyodor wore a navy blue suit and Prince Dazai a black one. Albatross behind him whistled appreciatively, "You definitely can't call them ugly." And Chuuya slapped him again because, as I said, the truth hurts.

Chuuya was on his way to the throne room the flags behind him if he had a choice he would just run away but unfortunately he had to meet his husbands as if it wasn't him who had already robbed them. What had Chuuya done wrong to get these two as husbands? He just wanted to help the poor people. When he arrived in front of the big door, he nodded gently to the guards, who gave him a sympathetic look and then opened the door.

Chuuya entered the throne room with quick steps his cloak that he had put on over his suit fluttered behind him Prince Dazai stood to the right of his father's throne and Fyodor to the left Chuuya had a polite expression on his face as he stopped in front of his father who smiled at him "Now that my son is here too, introduce yourself officially." The two princes blinked in confusion for a moment, looking so synchronized that it almost scared Chuuya, and then stepped in front of Chuuya again in complete synchrony, the flags behind Chuuya barely refraining from smiling

Prince Fyodor introduced himself first, bowing his head politely "I am very pleased to meet you Prince Chuuya it is an honor to meet you my name is Fyodor." he raised his eyes and Chuuya almost flinched the look was completely different than a moment before it was cold and wide-eyed the flags behind Chuuya tensed slightly and narrowed their eyes. But Chuuya didn't let it show and smiled back falsely "the joy is all mine Prince Fyodor."

After Chuuya had spoken the words, Prince Dazai, unlike his brother, did not bow his head but simply stared at Chuuya with the same eyes as Fyodor and then said, "Pleased to meet you Prince Chuuya, my name is Dazai." Chuuya really wanted to hit him but again Chuuya just smiled falsely and bowed his head politely "The pleasure is all mine Prince Dazai"

His father clapped once "Perfect now that that's done what do you say we eat together the servants should have already prepared the food" The princes nodded and before he followed the king with his future husbands Ranpo smiled sincerely at him which he returned taking his loli out of his mouth it was strawberry. Chuuya's smile widened but he quickly averted his eyes and didn't notice the look the two princes were giving him.

So it was that he sat at the table with the two demon brothers, his own brother and his father, the princes' respective escorts standing behind their chairs and simply watching the proceedings.

After everyone had started eating, Prince Dazai spoke first "Oh Verlaine-san I heard that Arahabaki is giving you a big headache, is that true?" Fyodor next to Dazai only nodded with interest. Chuuya tightened his fingers briefly around the gifts, but otherwise gave no external reaction to the prince's question. Verlaine next to him nodded slightly "Yes, this thief can't help but provoke me every time he can." Chuuya wants to say that this wasn't true, but it was actually true, because Arahabaki almost always made some kind of romantic gesture towards Chuuya.

"Oh, how does he provoke you Verlaine-san?" Fyodor's voice sounded gentle and his eyes shone with interest quite different from the look he had given Chuuya. Before his brother could answer, Prince Dazai quickly added, "After all, it shouldn't be easy to provoke someone as in control as you, Verlaine-san." Chuuya narrowed his eyes slightly as he understood what these questions were about, the flags behind him had also understood, the princes already knew the answer they just wanted to hear it from Verlaine's mouth.

"That's because this cunning thief always clings to Chuuya." Verlaine wouldn't you be able to lie? Chuuya does not raise his eyes when he feels the intense looks of the two princes, his gaze remains fixed on the plate, could you please change the subject? Chuuya would otherwise either beat up one or even both princes behind him Albatross puts a hand on his back and Chuuya relaxes slightly against it and exhales then he lifts his gaze and meets the gaze of the other two princes this time he didn't bother to keep a polite appearance but just looked at them with the same cold look they had been looking at him with the whole time and he enjoyed the surprised look they both gave him before he put on his usual polite look again. Chuuya was very grateful to Kouyou that she had taught him that.

Fyodor's voice had a more cautious tone as he asked the next question, "What was the worst thing Arahabaki did?" The question also interested Chuuya which of all the events did Verlaine find the worst? This time, Dazai's gaze was not directed at Verlaine but at Chuuya. Chuuya had the feeling that the guy was trying to stare into his soul. Dazai looked at Verlaine, annoyed that he hadn't found what he was looking for.

Verlaine twirled the knife between his fingers and then spoke with a cold look "He once kidnapped Chuuya for four days that was without a doubt the worst thing he had ever done." Oh yes, Chuuya and the Flags had wanted to take part in the one rescue operation that had taken place in Tsukiyomi Kingdom, but his father and Verlaine hadn't even listened to him, so they had arranged for Arahabaki to simply take Chuuya with him at a party. Chuuya had assured Verlaine that Arahabaki hadn't done anything to him, but his brother refused to listen to him again and so Chuuya stopped trying to convince him otherwise, but when he heard the bitter tone in Verlaine's voice, he suddenly felt sick. What right did these two idiots have to ask such a thing? Chuuya plucked up the courage and was ready to put the two assholes in their place when Pianomann quickly shut his mouth.

Chuuya blinked in surprise when he realized what he was about to do Painoman had already pulled his hand away and Lippmann turned to his father "Your Highness Prince Chuuya is not feeling well, he should rest in bed." His father gives him a worried look and then nods in agreement. Chuuya stands up, bows apologetically for a moment and then hurries out of the room, not noticing the looks the demon duo are giving him or the looks his friends are giving the duo.

"What the fuck was that situation just now?" Chuuya asks into the hallway when they have moved away enough the flags also look at each other helplessly suddenly Albatross' eyes light up "Jealousy!" The others look at each other "Jealousy?" Alabatross nods excitedly "Yes damn it, get Atsushi and Tachihara in here in the castle we need to have a new discussion."

And so it was that Albatross explained his idea to the whole group "My dear friends, I am very pleased that we have all gathered here after a long time" Albatross sighed once more "So you all know that Arahabaki is in love with Chuuya?" The group nodded "Yeah me and Atsushi have been spreading the story all over the country, what about it?" The others gave a nod to Tachihara none of them understood what Albatross was getting at "We know the demon brothers are looking for Arahabi like crazy right?" Slowly annoyed, the group nodded again "Perfect, I'll explain my logic now, what if our two demons are jealous of Chuuya because Arahabaki loves him? The questions they asked Verlaine weren't the kind of questions you ask when you're really only interested in catching a person, and you saw how they started at Chuuya, didn't you? Two seconds before they were still drooling over Chuuya." Chuuya's eyes were wide open and he would like to deny it but it somehow made sense "I still don't understand a few things though, I can't interpret some of their actions and looks properly" Albatross shrugged his shoulders "in any case, we'll have to come up with a new tactic because I don't have the feeling that Dazai and Fyodor just silently watch Arahabaki flirting with Chuuya." Ranpo sighed sorrowfully as he saw his friends start negotiating among themselves again, that was going to cause a lot of headaches, yet he smiled nostalgically at the sight before him.

They just didn't know that all these plans were for nothing.

Chapter Text

While Chuuya and his friends were working on a good plan, the two princes sat alone in Fyodor's room.

Dazai lay on his stomach on Fyodor's bed while he sat on the couch to the left of the bed and looked at his brother with disgust. Dazai hummed his repulsive song to himself before stopping abruptly, sitting up and looking at Fyodor "Something's really bothering me here, but I'm not alone, am I?" Fyodor's gaze became a little clearer and he straightened his posture a little "there are obviously several things wrong here."

"Firstly, there's something wrong with Chuuya's bodyguard or whatever" Fyodor nods at Dazai's words "They're strange, have you seen their gestures and actions, especially those looks" Dazai's eyes shone slightly "Right, I totally agree with you, especially that weird blond-haired boy" Fyodor hummed slightly "Albatross should be his name, at least according to Sigma's records" Dazai nodded approvingly "Where would we be without Sigma? In any case this Abatross is far too familiar with the prince have you seen his hand?" Fyodor's eyes shone dangerously at the memory "Of course his hand was on the prince's back, do you think that's more normal for them none of the others mentioned it or even reacted I would have expected a bigger reaction from Verlaine in particular." Dazai's face darkened noticeably at the words but he shook his head a moment later "Okay, we definitely need to look into that as soon as we can" Fyodor nodded in agreement

"Second, what Chuuya wants from Ranpo" Dazai and Fyodor both remembered how Chuuya smiled at Ranpo and his smile got even bigger when Ranpo smiled back at him. "Do you think Chuuya-san is interested in your chess partner?" Dazai screwed up his face when he heard Fyodor's words "he's not just my chess partner Fyodor we both know he's our equal in intelligence if this little red haired prince is into candy loving, smart, brown haired boys with green eyes we're both screwed Ranpo is in Fukuzawa's favor and Verlaine would surely love to tear us away from his little brother." Fyodor bites the tip of his thumb as he hears Dazai's words "We can't have that after the albatross thing, I'd say?" Dazai nodded slightly.

"Oi Fyodor why are we even interested in who Chuuya is in love with with Ranpo we can still blame it on Fukuzawa but with this albatross? How do we justify it?" Fyodor blinks briefly yes, they were actually only here for Arahabaki.... "I suppose it's because he has a secret, just like Arahabaki." Dazai nods in agreement "That's right, this prince is definitely hiding something"

"And so we come to point three, these terribly strange reactions he gives from time to time." Fyodor's face twisted in disgust as he tasted his blood from biting too hard on the tip of his thumb "Yeah that was really weird it almost seemed like he was holding back all the time starting when you were being incredibly rude." Dazai made a whining noise "I may have been rude but what was the point of being polite? You still ended up giving him the same attitude as if he was just an insignificant slug" Fyodor leans back slightly "Was it really that bad?" Dazai nods in response without thinking "I'm sure you scared the poor fragile prince a lot, dearest brother" Dazai's mischievous grin vanished as quickly as it came when Fyodor spoke again "Same goes for you, you were hardly better than me let's ignore that Chuuya was acting much more comical at the dinner table his demeanor looked far too... suffering and reserved."

Dazai nodded in agreement "Right, according to the stories, Chuuya shouldn't even be able to make such a dark face, we really need to observe that more closely over the course of the days"

"And the last point: Arahabaki" Dazai pinches the bridge of his nose "That makes the most sense Arahabaki is supposed to flatter Chuuya and keep making romantic gestures to him but Chuuya's whole demeanor spoke against it" Fyodor gets up from the couch and sits next to his brother on his bed "Yes it was incredible I almost can't describe it he was tense during the whole conversation but when Verlaine brought up the kidnapping he looked so angry even his bodyguard intervened and stopped Chuuya I thought for a moment he was going to have an outburst but he seemed to calm down immediately when his bodyguard I would even say his friends intervened and stopped him, do you think something bad happened when he was with Arahabaki?" Dazai looked at his brother beside him "something must have happened to upset him so much why else would he show such a reaction because of us"

Dazai mockingly threw his hands in the air to make his point "Chuuya and his group are definitely hiding something we don't know and it has something to do with our beautiful master thief Arahabaki."

While Fyodor and Dazai were in Fyodor's room thinking about what could possibly make sense, Chuuya walked through the corridors of the castle with the flags and couldn't help but be annoyed at how bad his self-confidence was today, he certainly made the princes aware that he was only playing a role and that he sometimes found it difficult to keep it that way.

In the end the group couldn't even work out a plan, all the ideas didn't seem good enough to even begin to fool the demon brothers which means they will have to watch the damn smart brothers for a while to see what makes them tick

plus Ranpo is here who knows that Chuuya was in the kingdom the day Arahabaki robbed the royal family looking for information about the ball plus Ranpo is damn smart and somehow managed to become one of the prince's two escorts.

Chuuya closed his eyes in sorrow, why did there have to be so many geniuses all around him, they just made his head hurt and look rudely handsome.

Chapter Text

The next morning Chuuya and probably the whole castle if not the whole damn country was woken up by Albatross playing his guitar really loud.

Chuuya annoyed and tired pulls open the door and sees Alabatross standing there playing the guitar loudly in the hallway without a shame " 'tross I really love you but can you stop waking us up like that every morning? It's like torture"

Abatross stared at Chuuya in surprise, which Chuuya met with a confused look. Albatross simply pointed behind Chuuya.

Chuuya, annoyed and tired, turned around and started when he saw the demon brother duo Chuuya had completely forgotten that they had moved into the room next to Chuuya.

Chuuya stared at them for a moment then realized how he looked and how he had just spoken.

Chuuya quickly turned around and slammed the door to his room shut, his cheeks stained a dark red as he leaned against the door. That was embarrassing (oh Chuuya this is just the beginning)

After Chuuya had made himself acceptable and was satisfied with his appearance, he left his room and the flags were at his door like every morning, ready to start the day.

Chuuya sighed out "I'm definitely not used to them living next door to me yet" he mumbled to himself and when he saw the looks of the flags he raised an eyebrow "What am I missing this time?" He asked, already exhausted.

The flags pointed to the side like Albatross earlier and Chuuys groaned in agony and banged his head against Albatross' chest "please tell me they're not standing there 'tross."

"They're not standing there Chuuya" Chuuya breathes a sigh of relief and straightens up and turns around to see the demon brothers staring blankly at Chuuya and his group of friends "You told me to say it" Albatross defends himself at Chuuya's annoyed look.

Chuuya clears his throat, his cheeks are slightly pink but that's nothing compared to just now "Good morning you two, my condolences for having to put up with his horrible guitar playing." The flags look away demonstratively so they don't have to laugh at Albatross' expression.

"Good morning to you too Chuuya-san" said Fyodor the definitely more polite of the two brothers as first Chuuya smiles at him just like the day before simply fake and says "Chuuya is enough we are engaged after all." Fyodor nods in acknowledgment "You can of course address us without honor."

"My prince, you should start eating Verlaine-san and the king will be worried if you are any longer late." Iceman's monotone voice rouses Chuuya from his stupor and he nods slightly in acknowledgment before making his way to the dining hall, the two princes beside him.

"Hey Chuuya is it normal for that blonde haired guy to wake you up with his horrible game?" Dazai asked while walking to Chuuya's right and giving Albatross an annoyed look, which Chuuya couldn't even blame him for. Albatross was a terrible guitarist.

"Unfortunately," he sighed out, ignoring Albatross' prodest noises. Dazai makes a thoughtful noise and then continues "You must really appreciate him if you let him get away with it anyway, I would have thrown him out on the street or at least punished him properly" Fyodor next to him nods in agreement.

Chuuya stiffens at the words and stops what the others are doing after him, he tilts his head slightly and smiles at the princes in front of him, this time genuinely.

"How nice that I am not one of the two demon brothers and that I appreciate the people who are close to me." Without another word or glance, Chuuya continues on his way.

He doesn't see the flags giving the two princes haughty looks and Albatross and Lippmann bowing sarcastically.

He also doesn't see the blank stares of the two princes.

So Chuuya arrives in the pantry first, with the princes' companions standing to the left and right of the door, and Chuuya would love to give Ranpo a look, but he can't because Verlaine's gaze is weighing heavily on him.

Chuuya smiles at his brother and sits down next to him "Good morning brother, how did you sleep?" Chuuya asked just to be polite

Verlaine gently tousles his hair "good as always, luckily I woke up before Albatross's guitar playing and how did your "fiancées" react" he spits out the word "fiancées" as if it were poison.

Chuuya saw Dazai's other companion stiffen the moment he heard Verlaine say the word fiancée.

But before anything could happen, the two demon brothers entered the dining hall.

The attendants immediately stood behind their respective princes and Chuuya couldn't help but stare at Fyodor's colorful attendant as he performed several magic tricks with his hand behind Fyodor's back.

Chuuya quickly looked away when the white-haired man returned his gaze and grinned at him.

The two princes sat down in front of Chuuya and Verlaine, just like yesterday. Only this time Fyodor sat in front of Verlaine and Dazai in front of Chuuya, so they had swapped places.

There was a quiet silence in the room until Chuuya's father entered, sat down at the head of the table and grinned to everyone, "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, you can start eating now."

And so all four of them slowly began to eat. Fyodor looked at the king with a (false) smile and then addressed the king in the same angelic voice and uttered the words that would test Chuuya's whole day. He should have expected this

"Nakahara-san me and my brother Dazai were wondering if we could go with Chuuya to see the city today since we have never visited this kingdom and it would be a great way for us to get to know each other"

Chuuya blinked in confusion, yes, they were engaged now, so objectively speaking, the proposal wasn't that stupid, but Chuuya wanted to protest, to worship and reject, but he couldn't. After all, he was the clueless, kind and gentle prince who never raised his voice.

Instead, Verlaine raised her voice for them both "Father, you can't agree to this, the city is dangerous and we hardly know these two do you think you can trust Chuuya with them?"

Chuuya's father, who was enthusiastic about Fyodor's idea a moment ago, frowned after Verlaine's objection and Chuuya was already hopeful that he might not be forced to spend his day with two demonic geniuses, but then Dazai spoke and destroyed this hope.

Dazai and Fyodot had a cold look on their faces which worried the black haired companion of Dazai and the two colored companions of Fyodor while Ranpo and Fyodor's other companions looked much more amused as if they already knew the king had lost

Dazai's tone was cold and even Chuuya was overcome with goosebumps

"Your Highness, I have to say I can't watch this spectacle anymore, how old is Chuuya 5? I think he can make it to his own city accompanied by his own bodyguard, Akutagawa and Nikolai who can intervene in case of emergency and the whole country is covered with guards who idolize Prince Chuuya and what sane person would attack Chuuya knowing full well that if he hurts even a strand of Chuuya's hair, he will face the wrath of the kingdom"

"I agree with my brother your highness sue can't keep Chuuya locked up at home all the time for fear of something happening to him"

Chuuya hates the fact that the people who stood up for Chuuya after years were the demon princes.

Chuuya also hated the fact that his father had never listened to him when he complained but now looked completely defeated.

Chapter Text

Chuuya sighed in annoyance as he returned to his room to change his clothes, as Verlaine said it would be a serious offense to walk around the city in his suit.

Since Lippmann Chuuya's actual fashion advisor was busy preparing Chuuya's carriage on Verlaine's orders, Albatross helped Chuuya.

This was of course a completely stupid decision as Albatross' fashion sense was worse than Chuuya's but no one thought about that at the moment as everyone was busy worrying about Chuuya's safety.

"Chuuya you seriously don't have casual clothes?" Albatross threw Chuuya's suits across the room as if they were worth nothing.

"Honestly Chuuya wait here I'll see what the demon duo has and see what I give you in response." Before Chuuya could protest Albatross ran out of the room leaving an annoyed Chuuya behind.

Chuuya didn't question the yelling outside Albatross' evil laugh told him that his friend had planned something he wasn't going to like.

"Chuuya, after explaining my marvelous plan to your two future husbands and barely making it back to you alive, I can proudly present you with today's clothes."

Chuuya swallowed nervously after Albatross Wirten's shout wasn't very confidence inspiring and Albatross's grin hardly made it any better.

Albatross finally showed Chuuya the clothes behind his back " We're going in partner lock Chuuya" Chuuya stumbled backwards when he saw the clothes, never would he wear something like that.

"Oh Chuuya it looks so good on you." Albatross looks at him from different positions and Chuuya can't help but feel uncomfortable as he looked at himself in the mirror.

"You're sure my looks are okay?" Chuuya looked at himself in the mirror again, it wasn't even close to what he normally wore. Albatross next to him winked at him "Don't worry you look stunning."

Chuuya sighed in defeat, he couldn't win this battle anymore so he just trusted Albatross' words.

A short time later, the rest of the Flags members entered the room, still waiting at the door. Lippmann stared at Chuuya for a long time and then slowly turned his gaze to Albatross.

"Albatross you are a genius." Lippmann said with satisfaction as he looked at Chuuya

Chuuya didn't really understand the drama surrounding his appearance, of course he looked different than usual, but did they have to exaggerate like that?

Chuuya looked in the mirror again and took in his appearance Albatross had tied his hair up in a high ponytail, put him in an oversized beige hoodie that sometimes fell off his shoulder, a pair of tight blue denim pants that were getting on Chuuya's nerves because they were too tight and the last part was a black choker that Chuuya actually quite liked to be honest.

Albatross himself had a big red hoddie, the same jeans and even the same black choker so you see partner lock .

Chuuya didn't think much about the subject of partner lock and left his room to finally go to his carriage.

Behind him, they smiled slyly at Flags and glared at each other Iceman even whispered in Doc's ear "This is going to be fun"

Chuuya walked the last few meters to the front door and could hardly hide his excitement since a long time ago he could leave this castle through this door and then without a big plan.

With a broad smile, Chuuya stepped through the door and immediately spotted two carriages. The demon brothers and their escorts were standing next to the carriages; they hadn't noticed Chuuya yet and seemed to be talking about something important.

So Chuuya had time to look at the two demon princes who were also wearing "normal" casual clothes like Chuuya. Of course not normal Chuuya was sure that even the cheapest clothes they wore could feed a family for several months

Prince Dazai wore a brown turtleneck pollover with beige pants underneath which, as much as Chuuya wanted to deny it, looked better on him than his dark suits.

Prince Fyodor had opted for a light blue sweater with white pants underneath. Chuuya couldn't help but wonder where these two damned demons got this look that anything seemed to suit them.

Ranpo first looked at Chuuya and choked on his loli and coughed a few times breathlessly the others of course started looking at him strangely but Ranpo quickly recovered from his shock and slowly a grin crept onto his face he wordlessly pointed in Chuuya's direction.

The others followed Ranpo's finger with their eyes and Chuuya began to worry about them because they all just looked at Chuuya in shock.

Chuuya looked at Albatross and whispered softly, "Are you sure I don't look weird?" Albatross just shook his head in the negative and nodded with a grin in the direction of the two princes

Chuuya followed his finger and just saw Fyodor and Dazai start at him with slightly open mouths before he turned into a dark face a second later. (How good that Chuuya wasn't close enough to see the blush on their faces)

Chuuya didn't understand these two damn princes which might be because they didn't really have a long relationship but Chuuya had always thought he was good at understanding people but the emotions of these two princes were just too weird.

Piano man gave him a gentle nudge and Chuuya just nodded slightly, tugged on his sleeve and then walked towards the colorful group that was already waiting for them downstairs.

Ranpo gave two thumbs up behind the backs of the two demon princes, causing Chuuya to blink in confusion.

It confused Chuuya even more when he saw 'tross grinning "secretly" at Ranpo.

Fyodor and Dazai still had a sharp glint in their eyes, but it was nothing like the dark look from before.

Fyodor smiled at Chuuya, "Chuuya, if you're here too, the three of us can get into the carriage with Sigma."

Chuuya just nodded and said that he could fit a maximum of 8 people in a carriage if one of their companions rode with them.

But unlike Chuuya, the Flags protested, "With all due respect, we can't allow Chuuya-san to get into a carriage full of strangers and people who can't fight."

Dazai and Fyodor frowned angrily at this prodest and Dazai was already opening his mouth when Iceman spoke.

"Of course, we can also call Verlaine-san and ask him for his opinion if they don't listen to us since we are only subordinates of Prince Chuuya"

At Iceman's words, Chuuya's face barely twisted and the Flags are not mere subordinates of Chuuya, annoyed, Chuuya was about to open his mouth when Dazai spoke

"Well then, one of you can come with us, let's not waste any more time here."

Chuuya just nodded in agreement and was about to ask Piano man if he wanted to come along when The Flags spoke in unison

"Albatross is going with Chuuya"

The Flags grinned so smugly that Chuuya tilted his head slightly then his eyes met those of the two demon princes and he had to swallow oh yes they really did look like demons that look alone was enough.

Damn this is going to be annoying.

Chapter Text

Chuuya wanted to forget this carriage ride as soon as possible, it was terrible. He still felt the goose bumps that came over him when he remembered the cold looks from the demons.

They hadn't spoken a word the whole way, which made Chuuya even more nervous than he was already.

So it was no wonder that Chuuya literally jumped out of the carriage as soon as the carriage stopped, which earned him amused looks from the demon duo and Chuuya wanted to hurl an insult at them, but then stopped when he remembered his role.

After all, he was Prince Nakahara Chuuya, the prince who couldn't hurt a fly and was always polite to everyone.

(Chuuya couldn't help but feel sick at the thought alone)

Dazai and Fyodor both slowly stepped out of the carriage after Chuuya and stood next to him.

Albatross stepped out of the carriage last and put his monotone mask back on, trying to make at least a halfway good impression to the public.

While the princes waited for their escorts, Chuuya looked around enthusiastically.

He usually only saw the city when night had already fallen or in his castle far away.

Seeing the city in broad daylight was a completely different experience, with people everywhere, children playing together, the smell of delicious food in the air, and Chuuya couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic as he looked around the lively city.

But Chuuya's moment of peace was interrupted the moment he heard Ranpo's voice calling out to the group.

"Hey there you are, we somehow got lost, I don't know how it happened"

Chuuya didn't believe him, Nikolai's grin and the way Sigma walked completely behind them proved more than a thousand words.

(Chuuya was so grateful that he had learned the names of the two demon princes' escorts from Poe. He should really think about a reward for Poe )

"Well, since you've finally made it too, we can finally get going."

Chuuya blinked in surprise as Dazai grabbed his hand and pulled him along with him, casting a desperate glance at the flags but they just shrugged. Traitor

Dazai hadn't wanted to let go of his hand so quickly, but after an eye-opening conversation with his brother Fyodor, the problem seemed to be solved and Chuuya's hand was released.

Chuuya didn't want to know what they had been talking about with their glances, but he was grateful that he could use his hand again.

The three princes walked through the city and looked at a few sights, surrounded by the murmur of the masses of people who were not exactly talking quietly about them

"Is that Prince Chuuya?"

"Yes, and next to him are the spawns of hell, our poor prince"

"So the rumors are true?"

"Our poor prince"

"What was His Highness thinking?"

"So sad to watch"

"That's so cruel we can finally see him in person after years and then he's off with those monsters"

Chuuya sighed out he had expected people to speak ill of them and tried to ignore the comments for the most part.

Still, he glanced at Fyodor and Dazai, but they didn't seem to mind at all - in fact, Akutagawa looked angrier about it than anyone else.

Chuuys next comment could not be ignored and he felt himself stiffen briefly.

"Arahabaki-san would definitely be a better match for Chuuya-sama"

"I can't wait to see how Arahabaki-san reacts to this"

It wasn't something that should really shock Chuuya in itself, people liked Arahabaki and Chuuya of course would prefer Chuuya and Arahabaki to get together.

The problem was that those words reminded Chuuya that Arahabaki had to respond somehow and as soon as possible.

Damn they had so much planning to do it was annoying.

Who would have thought it? Chuuya didn't feel the scrutinizing looks of two demons.

For the first time in a long time, Chuuya had the fun of walking through various stalls and simply disappearing into the crowd.

(Chuuya didn't notice how everyone kept at least 1.5 meters away from him)

In the meantime, Ranpo leaned down to Dazai and whispered something in his ear that made his eyes sparkle slightly.

A few meters away from Dazai stood Fyodor, who simply watched Chuuya as Nikolai pulled him close and whispered something to him in a playful voice.

Chuuya, wondering where his companions had gone, looked around in confusion, but he was alone and they had lost the flags a long time before, which didn't seem to surprise Dazai and Fyodor at all.

Chuuya wasn't worried either, the Flags were strong and could take care of themselves, he was more surprised that the two demon brothers left him alone.

Chuuya just shrugged his shoulders and was about to turn around when he heard an unpleasantly familiar voice "Ah hello Chuuya-sama you're not often out and about"

Chuuya swallowed and turned to the voice in front of him stood Nori, one of Arahabaki's most loyal fans and a pain in the ass.

You see, Arahabaki is very popular among the people and there are a few idiots here and there who think they can act "in the name of Arahabaki".

Normally you would be happy because they take Arahabaki as an example to help the poor, but these idiots know no boundaries and justify everything by saying that they are loyal to Arahabaki.

Chuuya, or rather Arahabaki, had already confronted them about their behavior, but that didn't work and they became even more determined.

And now one of those guys was standing in front of Chuuya - wasn't he lucky?

"Ehm I'm sorry but I don't remember ever talking to you"

Nori quickly raised his hands and seemed to regret his host. "I'm sorry Chuuya-sama we've actually never saved in person I'm Nori a proud follower of Arahabaki and a member of Kribto."

Chuuya blinks in confusion hearing this for the first time what is Kribto please ?

Nori didn't seem to notice Chuuya's reaction, and if he did, he ignored it and kept on talking.

"The whole country is talking about them being betrothed against their will and Kribto has decided to help them out and bring them together with Arahabaki-sama"

Chuuya took a step back he knew Nori was crazy but this crazy? This was beyond even Chuuya's guess.

Again Nori didn't seem to pay attention to Chuuya and continued speaking.

"If I bring you and Arahabaki-sama together, he will surely praise me and I will ascend to Kribto"

And then Nori's gaze met Chuuya's and immediately Chuuya felt like he was going to puke that look was the one Chuuya hated so much the reason why he loathed his role as prince so much.

The look on his face was full of self-interest, pity and confidence, as if this guy had no doubt that he could kidnap Chuuya.

Chuuya was brutally reminded again why he liked his role as Arahabaki so much, as Arahabaki Chuuya was not a prince but just a normal person.

Nori saw him at that moment as nothing more than an object to get Arahabaki's attention and praise.

Oh how ironic.

Nori walked up to Chuuya "I'm sorry Chuuya-sama this is going to hurt a little but I have to do it on behalf of Arahabaki-sama!" He grabbed Chuuya's arm in a rough grip.

The moment he grabbed Chuuya's arm, Chuuya rammed his knee into Nori's balls, kicked him in the shin and when Nori was on the ground he pretended to have lost his equal weight and kicked him in the stomach.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I was just so scared"

Chuuya then said so that he could live up to his role as a gentle prince to give the effect of his words more credibility, he even took a few steps back.

And bumped into someone when he looked up and started again. Oh That's right, they had disappeared for a moment

There stood the demon duo, known for their cruel tactics and lust for murder, looking down at him anxiously.

Chuuya felt the need to lock himself back in his artificially warm room and stare longingly out of his window.

Chapter Text

To be honest, Chuuya didn't know how to react when he looked at the two demons.

Luckily, Chuuya didn't have to think about it anymore as a loud voice called his name and hugged him tightly a moment later, leaving Chuuya breathless

"Chuuya, we're so sorry we didn't get there in time, we were distracted by a rat and a mackrel, you're okay, right?"

Chuuya gasped for air damn Lippmann had a damn tight grip when he wanted it and Chuuya couldn't kick him in the balls too.

Lippmann only now seemed to realize how hard he was squeezing Chuuya and quickly took a step back, coughing uncomfortably into his fist.

Behind Chuuya stood the Flags and Piano man and Iceman were holding Albatross who was probably trying to jump towards him and Chuuya was so grateful for that.

"I'm fine don't worry I'd be more worried about Nori-san I think I hurt him bad without realizing it"

Chuuya tilted his head slightly in despair and gave the perfect picture of a prince who couldn't come to terms with his actions.

Chuuya even briefly thought about crying a few tears, but decided not to, even though Lippmann's tough acting lessons proved useful in such situations.

Chuuya looked at his two fiancées who still had their eyes fixed on him.

To be honest, Chuuya didn't know what to say to this situation and decided to divert from the topic.

"Where were you two anyway, you disappeared so suddenly?"

Fyodor and Dazai blinked at each other in confusion as if they were confused about something.

Chuuya's suspicions were confirmed a few minutes later when they both asked the other brother at the same time:

"You were gone too?"

Chuuya frowned in confusion and only then realized that Ranpo and Nikolai were keeping as far away from the two princes as possible.

Ranpo had even put several sweets in his mouth and Chuuya didn't have the energy to question where he had gotten the sweets.

Nikolai stood next to Ranpo, whistling and doing everything but looking in their direction and looking as normal as possible.

The corners of Chuuya's mouth lifted noticeably as he looked at the situation in front of him.

The moment of false peace was broken when Akutagawa, who had caught Nori in a black... something finally broke out the question everyone had been waiting for.

"Dazai-sama how do you want to proceed with this worm?"

Chuuya looked from Akutagawa to the demon brothers, who had just been a damn cute.

Well, there wasn't any of that left over the faces of both brothers and Chuuya wanted to slap himself for thinking they could be cute.

Chuuya saw out of the corner of his eye Ranpo about to jump towards him from behind and was about to take a step to the left but decided against it as he had already caused too much of a stir.

A few seconds later Ranpo covered Chuuya's eyes and pushed him in a different direction "come Chuuya-san Nikolai has sent a letter to the king, a carriage should arrive soon"

Albatross whose voice sounded behind Chuuya asked in confusion "Why is that?"

Ranpo finally took his hands away from Chuuya's eyes and Chuuya looked around Ranpo had taken her away from the demon brothers and Akutagawa as well as Nori.

"Chuuya-san could gladly get into a carriage with us too but getting into the carriage with Fyodor and Dazai is out of the question"

Sigma behind Ranpo nodded affirmatively "for the sake of your own health Chuuya-sama, you should stay away from those two right now"

Chuuya didn't really understand why but the flags nodded in agreement so he just accepted the answer.

After the carriage arrived, they drove slowly to the castle without any incident.

For Chuuya, the ride felt a little too long but he didn't give it a second thought.

Chuuya got out of the carriage and blinked in pleasant surprise when he saw that Poe had finally left his room and seemed to have come to greet her.

"Hello Poe, you crawled out of your hell for once?" Albatross asked, just as confused as Chuuya.

Poe hugged a book to his chest and nodded once.

"Your fiancées came before you, Chuuya-san, and they had someone new with them, they went straight to Verlaine-sama's torture chamber and I haven't heard Verlaine-sama scream so angrily in a long time."

Chuuya swallowed hard, of course Verlaine was angry, he even felt a little sorry for Nori now.

Suddenly Poe made a panicked face and it took Chuuya a moment to understand why.

"Ah that's right, you've never met in person, Poe is my only friend apart from the flags"

Chuuya deliberately left out Tachihara and Atsushi.

"Poe this is Nikolai, Sigma and Ranpo you probably won't see Poe much because he doesn't really like to go out"

Poe had slightly pink cheeks as he bowed slightly "Nice to meet you"

Sigma bowed back just as politely, Nikolai bowed dramatically and exaggeratedly. And Ranpo...

Didn't bow at all, on the contrary, he quickly reduced the physical distance between Poe and himself, still holding a loli in his mouth and looking at the book in Poe's hands.

"You wrote this yourself, didn't you?"

Poe took an overwhelmed step back and then nodded, unsure where the conversation was going.

"Great, I want to read it."

"What?"

"Let me read the book"

"But, but..."

"Perfect thanks I know it's just finished"

"How?"

"Too obvious"

Chuuya watches this conversation with open amazement that Poe hasn't managed to pass out from stress yet.

During the "conversation", Nikolai had grabbed Sigma and the two of them had gone to the torture chambers.

A few seconds later, Sigma felt nauseous and almost vomited, they are crazy monsters.

Chuuya walked relaxed on his way to the torture chamber after he brought Poe safely back to his room and gave him a glass of water while telling him how proud he was of him, then he quickly went to his father to tell him what had happened.

As he approached the torture chamber he heard no sounds, which could be because Veflaine had built his chamber deep underground so that the noises would never disturb Chuuy.

But just before he reached the first door to the torture chambers, he was suddenly brought to the other side of the corridor.

"I'm very sorry Chuuya-sama but for your own good you should not enter this area"

Sigma's voice sounded next to Chuuya and as Chuuya turned around he noticed how blas Sigms looked.

Nikolai hummed lightly "I'm pretty sure we'll be executed if we allow you to enter this area"

Chuuya stared at them in shock, how bad could it be?

But Sigma just shook his head in sorrow when he saw the look on Chuuya's face. Nikolai continued without hesitation.

"Besides, if you make it past us, you'll have to get past Akutagawa, who guards the stairs, and believe me, that guy would do anything to fulfill Dazai's wishes."

Chuuya looked at them both for a moment then sighed this situation wasn't worth it Chuuya wouldn't want to execute them for no reason.

So Chuuya nodded and made his way to Poe's archiv room he got all the information he needed.

Chapter Text

Chuuya and the Flags quietly entered Poe's private archive room.

Poe sat at his desk his shoulders slumped and with a depressed aura about him.

"Hey Poe.... What's wrong?"

Doc's voice was barely more than a whisper and even Albatross looked really serious as he looked at Poe.

Poe jerked up as if Doc had shouted out loud and not whispered Chuuya's fist tightened slightly at the sight. What kind of asshole dares?

Poe raked his hair through his face and looked nervously at the group.

"I-it's nothing im-important really don't worry let's talk about Chuuya-san problem "

Lippmann grimaced slightly at this pathetic lie but didn't comment on it.

"Hey Poe, I don't care how important you think it is, you look like you've been told all the raccoons are dead"

Poe grimaced slightly at Chuuya's words, after all, raccoons were Poe's absolute favorite animals.

Poe sighed and tugged at his black cloak before looking down at the ground and whispering in a low voice

"He... solved my book so quickly and barely took it seriously."

Chuuya didn't even need to ask who "he" was.

"Oh Poe your stories are great and Ranpo just has no filter in front of his mouth and is rude"

Piano man comforted in a soft voice and the rest of the flags nodded in agreement.

Chuuya didn't really want to know what happened on that carriage ride.

"But..but he solved it so fast"

Chuuya's eyes scrutinized Poe with a gentle gaze the boy in front of him looked so sad that Ranpo didn't like his book Poe usually had strong self-doubts that must have affected his self-esteem a lot.

Before Chuuya could realize it himself, he had wrapped Poe in a gentle hug.

"Your stories are great Poe just like you I'm so happy to have you as my friend"

Poe didn't react at all to Chuuya's hug and just stood there and Chuuys was afraid that he had done something wrong but then Poe timidly raised his hands and returned Chuuya's embrace.

The flags held their breath that Poe returned such an open touch was a special sight.

"Thank you Chuuya"

At these words, everyone in the room froze, but Poe seemed to realize it a moment later.

"I mean Chuuya-san really sorry"

Chuuya hugged Poe tighter.

"I always say it to you Poe you can name me Chuuya like all my Friends should do"

Poe smiled it was small but so incredibly bright. "Okay Chuuya"

As much as they all wanted to stay in this sweet moment, they all knew they had to do something.

"The two princes, Verlaine, Nikolai, Sigma and Akutagawa are at Verlaine's torture chamber. Ranpo is being spoiled by our cooks now or never"

Chuuya looked at the group and everyone looked back they had to plan Arahabaki's appearance now maybe they wouldn't get the chance before Chuuya's engagement to the demon brothers is celebrated.

Poe looked at the wall with a thoughtful look and tapped the table a little nervously.

"People are impatiently waiting for Arahabaki's reaction regarding Chuuya's engagement we can't just immediately end Arahabaki's love for Chuuya"

The flags all made sounds of agreement and waited for Poe to continue speaking.

"We have to ignore the feelings of the demon brothers for now it's about keeping up Arahabaki's image for now"

Chuuya hummed slightly thoughtfully.

"We have to keep in mind that this robbery will probably be more difficult because the demon brothers and Ranpo will probably support Verlaine, so either we make a plan that makes our goal as easy as possible or we charge ahead with brute force."

Iceman, who had been leafing through Poe's books earlier, spoke to Chuuya.

"We also have to think about how to get Arahabaki out of there, the usual methods are unlikely to work"

Albatross' eyes widened briefly as if he had come up with a brilliant idea.

"Another problem is getting Chuuya out of there somehow. We can't use Lippmann this time, he's been assigned to protect the king because the king's bodyguard is seriously ill"

Piano man frowned.

"Another big problem is that all eyes are on Chuuya more than ever after all, the celebration is about him and people are worried because he married the demon brothers."

Poe, who was leafing through the issues for the celebration, stopped at one page.

"I have good and bad news, some citizens are allowed at the ball, which we can take advantage of, but Verlaine-san has probably set up several new guards for the ball."

Chuuya looked at what they had gathered so far and felt a headache coming on, but Doc had even found a good point.

"On top of that, we have to choose what Arahabaki steals and how he steals it, it must have some meaning since it's Chuuya's engagement."

The group started to tell each other that it was going to be a long discussion.

And so it was that several plans were made and just as many if not more were rejected the group looked at several Construction plans as well as the guest list and the order of the event.

After several hours, many headaches and a lot of ideas, the small group of friends had put together a good plan.

"Tachihara and Atsushi will have a lot to do"

The group nodded in agreement to Albatross' words.

They said goodbye to Poe who finally wanted to go to sleep because he had worked a lot today and left Poe's private archive room then they walked through the large normal archive and when they finally reached the door Chuuya opened it quickly because he finally wanted to go to his room.

Chuuya blinked and took a step back when he saw Ranpo who had his hand outstretched and was about to open the door to the archive room.

Ranpo looked just as confused as Chuuya.

"What are you doing here?"

Ranpo asked, pointing towards the archive room.

"Poe is our friend and we visited him normally, what are you doing here?"

Ranpo blinked and looked down at his hand in shock as if he was confused that he hadn't figured it out himself.

"I wanted to pick up another one of Poe's books to read"

Chuuya and Flags glanced at each other.

"What?"

Chapter Text

Chuuya first started Ranpo and then the archive.

Then a month later ranpo was grabbed by Iceman and Doc and the whole group quickly walked away from Poe's archive.

"Hey what are you doing I can walk myself let me go."

Doc and Iceman threw Ranpo into a corner and the flags formed a semi-circle around him so he couldn't escape.

Chuuya still in the role of a loving prince cleared his throat once.

"Sorry for the rough treatment but what happened between you and Poe that you can walk around here and shamelessly tell us that you want to read one of Poe's books and Poe was in there feeling ultra bad until recently because he thought you hated his book"

The Flags agreed with Chuuya's words with a nod.

Ranpo, on the other hand, looked at them as if they had told him that all the raccoons had died, he had even opened his eyes and was staring at them with that beautiful green color.

"T-that can't happen I mean I-I don't say that I think his book is bad"

Chuuya looked at Ranoo seriously, he really didn't look like he was lying, only actors as good as Lippmann could make that expression.

"How can it be that Poe misunderstood the situation like that?"

Doc gave Ranpo a cold look and Chuuya wasn't even surprised Doc really liked Poe a lot and you could think he was a bit like Poe's Verlaine.

"I-I really don't know I solved his book after page 30 but for once it was fun to read a book"

The Flags and Chuuya staggered a little. After page 30? Poe's book has over 400.

Of course, that's Poe's self-confidence.

Ranpo looked at the faces of each one.

"He was really that sad?"

The Flags and Chuuya nodded at him doubtfully they all still had Poe's face before their eyes.

Ranpo stepped a little awkwardly from one leg to the other.

"What can I do?"

Chuuya's eyes immediately shone and he leaned over to whisper something in Ranpo's ear.

After this very... interesting conversation, Chuuya walked casually through the corridors and couldn't help but hum a little to himself.

Tomorrow would be the party Father had moved the party forward after the Nori incident and Chuuya couldn't help but grin at that - it was going too well somehow.

The flags behind Chuuya shared Chuuya's good mood and talked and joked around casually.

Chuuya turned the corner just as he made a face and both demon brothers had a little blood on their sleeves.

The two looked at Chuuya and Chuuya couldn't help but look back were they really busy torturing Nori deep into the night?

"Ah Chuuya sorry you see us like this we were a little busy taking care of a pathetic little worm who thought he could do whatever he wanted without facing the consequences of his actions"

Dazai chuckled a little after Fyodor's words and Chuuya would have stared contemptuously at the two demons in front of him if he hadn't had to play the role of the dear prince. How could one have so much fun torturing a person?

"It's a pity that this worm can only endure so little, after a while it was no fun at all, so miserable"

Dazai whined and threw his hand up dramatically as if to make a point.

"I still found his screams satisfying to a certain extent brother"

Dazai nodded in agreement to Fyodor's statement after a moment.

Chuuya wondered what he had done wrong in his life to be engaged to such people.

Chuuya didn't feel like listening to the demon brothers talk about how they had slowly tortured Nori, he didn't want to know how bad it really was.

"I'm really touched that you want to show off in front of me but please find a better topic you shouldn't talk about people's lives like that"

Chuuya let the expression of disgust shine through his mask a little then turned to his room but stopped and said.

"Good night you two, see you tomorrow"

Then Chuuya went to his room.

The demon brothers, who actually wanted to justify themselves, remained there as if frozen and smiled a little after Chuuya's words.

It was a few hours after this meeting when Doc stormed violently through the castle and shouted loudly.

"Chuuya-san has a fever!"

Chapter Text

It was probably the loudest night in the castle after the Queen's death.

You see, Chuuya was weak, that's one fact.

Chuuya had to be protected that was another fact.

Chuuya never got sick that was also a fact.

The news that the weak Chuuya got sick made the whole castle go crazy because of fear.

Within minutes, everyone in the big castle was awake and the king, Verlaine and the demon brothers were immediately in his room when the news reached them.

Chuuya was lying in bed his face was completely red on his forehead was a wet cloth and he was breathing in and out heavily.

The Flags stood against the wall with Poe and looked at Chuuya blankly, their faces lacking any expression of emotion.

Verlaine looked at his brother with horror on his face he looked so weak his red hair which Verlaine normally loved so much reminded him only of blood at that moment.

Verlaine sat with his father and the demon brothers.

The demon brothers looked terribly confused, as if they didn't know what to do with themselves, both still in their sleeping clothes, just staring at Chuuya.

The king just stared at Chuuya with horror and the same look from Horor as Verlaine.

Chuuya looked very much like his mother, while Verlaine had his father's blond hair, Chuuya and Kouyou had their mother's hair.

Chuuya was almost the spitting image of the queen, but Kouyou had the look of her grandmother.

Now Chuuya sat there just as sickly as his wife had once been shortly before her death.

"What's wrong with him?"

Dazai's voice broke the silence of the room.

"High fever and severe headache"

Doc's voice was emotional and he stared at the people next to Chuuya's bed.

"He needs to sleep a lot, I'll take care of him while he's sick, he can't be stressed right now."

The others just silently nodded at Doc, and Fyodor and Dazai silently held Chuuya's hand.

Five days passed and the people inside and outside the castle became restless with worry about Chuuya.

Especially the people who lived in the city and didn't even have the chance to see Chuuya.

But on the fifth day, Chuuya finally opened his eyes and seemed to realize what he saw for the first time in five days.

Chuuya turned his head slightly and saw Fyodor and Dazai sitting next to him, holding his hand.

Chuuya visibly recoiled, which startled Fyodor and Dazai.

Both looked at Chuuya in disbelief as if it was a miracle that he was awake.

From then on, everything happened very quickly Doc stormed into the room a few seconds later and hurriedly sent the demon princes out to examine Chuuya.

The princes went to fetch Verlaine and the king who, together with the demon princes, paced anxiously back and forth in front of the door.

Doc opened the door and finally showed emotion again after five days, smiling happily at the group in front of him.

After Chuuya woke up, everything happened very quickly. They could barely give Chuuya time to rest because the humans wanted to see Chuuya and even started to protest.

Two days after Chuuya got up, Chuuya and the demon princes started the party.

Doc recommended that Chuuya wear a very thin white suit due to his fever, and the demon princes' outfits were changed.

The previously dark blue suits of the princes became white suits that matched Chuuya's.

The ceremony began at 8:00 p.m. and both commoners and nobles filled the king's great hall with guards posted everywhere and the doors were closed at 8:30 p.m. and the name of each person in the hall was recorded.

As always, Arahabaki had left a black rose, which meant he would appear again and steal something

The treasury was closely guarded with over 100 guards and several traps.

In addition, each person was checked for masks and had their hair pulled.

The party was also going very well, people were having fun, drinking together and just enjoying themselves.

Fyodor looked around the hall while Dazai went somewhere with Ranpo.

His gaze fell on Chuuya, who was walking through the hall with his eyes full of holes. Chuuya returned Fyodor's gaze and looked back.

Chuuya didn't notice the man standing next to him and ran into him.

The man spilled his glass of red wine on Chuuya's white suit, causing it to turn red and stick to Chuuya's skin.

Chuuya made a startled face.

"I'm really sorry I didn't notice you, mister"

Chuuya's voice sounded panicked as he apologized, seemingly not angry at all about his ruined suit.

The man, who was already visibly drunk, looked at Chuuya angrily.

"Can't you do anything? You don't deserve to be called a prince anyway, you're far too pathetic"

Chuuya visibly winced at these words and looked down at his feet.

"I'm very sorry, mister"

That was it for the crowd they shouted at the guy how dare he be so mean to Chuuya.

The man, visibly confused, took a step back only to bump into Verlaine standing behind him.

"How do you speak to my brother, please?"

Behind Chuuya, Fyodor and Dazai appeared, glaring coldly at the man and radiating a sinister aura.

"Guards throw the man in the dungeon and the Flags escort Chuuya to his room"

Piano man and Albatriss led Chuuya to his room while Ice man and Doc stayed in the hall because unfortunately she was still on duty the guards took the man to the basement on Verlaine's orders.

Then the party continued as normal, with only Dazai and Fyodor glancing "inconspicuously" at the door from time to time.

Poe and Ranpo were standing in a corner of the hall, talking. In the time leading up to the Baal, the two had been talking and now a raccoon was perched on Poe's shoulder, given to him by Ranpo. Who definitely didn't get the idea from Chuuya.

A few minutes after the incident, the lights were turned off and Arahabaki appeared out of nowhere on the upper floor.

The crowd's eyes nearly bugged out - how had Arahabaki made it up there?

More importantly, how did Arahabaki get the crowns of the three princes?

"Hello to all who have gathered here today I hope you have a nice night for me it will definitely be one after I have destroyed this disrespectful party"

Arahabki twirled the crowns around his hand as if they had no meaning to him.

"My heart was broken when I heard my chuuya was getting married but then to the two princes I had the most fun with? My heart couldn't take that"

Arahabaki paused dramatically and put his hand over his heart.

"But then I heard how my dear sweet Chuuya got sick and was terribly worried about him and then I find out that two days after he gets a little better, the celebration takes place."

Arahabaki shakes his head in disappointment and the people downstairs murmur words of agreement.

"I thought for a long time about whether I wanted to steal the crohns because Chuuya wouldn't be forced into the wedding without this crohn on his head, but then I remembered that I don't want any crohns, so today I'm just stealing a prose that's so similar to Chuuya's eyes and money for the poor."

Arahabaki let his words sink in and then threw a black ball on the ground and while the ball was still falling, Arahabaki's playful voice could be heard.

"See you again, geniuses."

The ball hits the ground and smoke immediately comes out, blocking the view of the people below.

As the fog cleared only one paper could be seen falling to the ground the three croons lay safely on the ground.

Ice man and Doc immediately rushed up to check and picked up the paper.

Later, The Demon Brothers, Verlaine and Ranpo looked at the paper.

"This time it wasn't a real challenge, don't you think? You're supposed to be geniuses, what went wrong? Well, it was still a great challenge.
Thank you very much
Arahabaki"

How the hell did Arahanbaki manage that?

Chapter Text

To understand how Arahabki did it, we have to go back to the beginning.

After Chuuya wished the demon prince good luck and went to his room.

"You all know what we're going to do?"

Chuuya sat casually on the bed and looked at the flags.

"Yes all set but are you sure you want to go this far Chuuya? It can be very dangerous."

Paino man stared worriedly at the red-haired prince.

Chuuya just smiled reassuringly and nodded.

"I'm afraid there's no other way to delay the celebration, something big has to happen for them to postpone it and what's bigger than the weak prince falling seriously ill?"

Chuuya almost growled the word faintly but no one in the room cared.

"Besides, you don't have to worry I'm only sick for a few days Doc made sure we forgot?"

Doc, who was standing at the back of the wall, nodded in agreement.

"As much as I don't like it, Chuuya is right, he won't suffer any consequences from the poisoning and he'll be better after a few days."

The rest nodded reluctantly at the explanation.

"We have bigger problems than my poisoning right now, we still don't have a solution to the Ranpo problem"

This time the Flags grinned broadly at Chuuya.

"Let that be our problem, we'll find a solution"

Chuuya stared skeptically at his friends but then nodded.

"Well, I suppose it's time then"

Doc handed Chuuya the pills filled with poison.

Chuuya smiled at his friends and then swallowed the pills dry.

"Well within two hours the poison will take effect, you should go to your rooms"

And two hours later Doc shouted through the whole castle that Chuuya had a fever so that everyone gathered around his bed.

Chuuya was too weak to open his eyes at that moment but he could imagine the look on the faces of Verlaine and his father.

The horror in their eyes when they realized that locking Chuuya in his room, strictly controlling what he ate, not allowing him to do anything or checking his slightest actions had done absolutely nothing.

Chuuya wanted to feel bad for causing them so much worry, but he couldn't. Deep in his heart he remembered how from one day to the next he was no longer allowed to do normal things and everything he did seemed to be controlled.

The reason why Chuuya cherished his friends was because he always knew that without them he would have gone crazy in that golden cage.

But Chuuya couldn't imagine what kind of face Fyodor or Dazai were making. Did they just look at him emotionlessly?

Perhaps they also felt sorry for him.

Chuuya felt his stomach twist at the thought.

Chuuya couldn't hear what Doc was saying through the poison and fell into a restless sleep.

Chuuya woke up from time to time during this phase, sometimes he could perceive what was happening around him and sometimes not.

But every time he was able to notice something, he felt two people holding his hand.

Although Chuuya was under the influence of the poison, he knew immediately who these two people were.

If Chuuya had the strength, he would have pulled his hand away every time, but he didn't have the strength, so he just accepted to hold the hand of the two demon princes.

On the fifth day, Chuuya felt better and was finally able to open his eyes properly.

He was not surprised when he saw Fyodor and Dazai next to him, but they both looked at him in confusion.

A short time later, Doc kicked the two princes out.

"You're feeling better?"

was the first question Doc asked Chuuya.

Chuuya grinned faintly but sincerely

"Of course."

Doc relaxed his shoulders and nodded.

"What did I miss while I was sleeping?"

Chuuya didn't find it hard to talk but now wasn't the time.

Doc seemed to think the same and answered Chuuya with a smile.

"Very well, even better than we thought, the people have become very restless and Atsushi and Tachihara are already spreading the news that you are awake again."

Doc leaned back in his chair for a moment, satisfied.

"We've also come up with a solution to the Ranpo problem that will work 100%"

Chuuya cocked a brow curiously and looked at Doc demandingly.

"We'll set him up with Poe"

Chuuya faltered and he tried to process what his friend was saying.

"Wait Doc we're not setting Poe up for a fucking scheme."

Chuuya voice sounded annoyed. How could these idiots even think of taking advantage of Poe like this?

Most of all, why did Doc seem so pleased with the idea?

"No, no Chuuya you don't see the big picture while you were sleeping here, big progress happened in Poe's dear life"

Chuuya glared at Doc, he didn't mean that, did he?

"Poe has a crush on Ranpo and Ranpo has a crush on Poe."

What had Chuuya missed while he was asleep?

"Oh and Poe has a raccoon"

So Ranpo took his idea to heart?

After that things developed very quickly and just as planned his father had to throw the party because the village started to protest and Chuuya couldn't rest anymore.

Not that Chuuya needed to rest, he was fine, but what's not to be done to live up to the role of the weak prince.

As they had planned, Chuuya then got a new white thin outfit and the next step was easy.

Several people were let into the hall because of the postponement so that his brother would have to spend a lot of time checking each of them out after Arahabaki's performance.

Everything developed as planned

Chuuya walked through the people with a smile and talked to them.

(He first sought out Poe to congratulate him and greet the raccoon he had named Karl)

Then after everyone had had a good drink of alcohol, Chuuya looked for someone who generally hated him already.

The person he chose ended up being a farmer who, like Nori, liked Arahabaki a little too much.

As he walked up to the person unobtrusively, he kept eye contact with Fyodor who stared at him intensely.

After he bumped into the man who soaked his clothes, he just had to play the poor prince and he was almost pathetically easy to get out of the hall.

He then quickly changed into his white suit, threw it on his bed and walked off casually, he didn't even have to look at the chamber, he had already stolen the items beforehand and put a black rose in it.

The guards had to be defeated and dodging all the traps was, as always, exhausting and dangerous as Verlaine did the training himself, but Chuuya managed it today too.

Then Chuuya entered the upper floor and looked down at the crowd.

The croons tumbled around his arm and Chuuya sighed one more time from near exhaustion.

Chuuya gave the signal and the laughter went out and the people turned their eyes upwards and saw Chuuya (Arahabaki)

"Hello to all who have gathered here today I hope you have a nice night for me it will definitely be one after I have destroyed this disrespectful party"

And Chuuya couldn't help but play a little with the croons to provoke the two princes a little.

"My heart was broken when I heard my chuuya was getting married but then to the two princes I had the most fun with? My heart couldn't take that"

Chuuya slipped completely into the role of Arahabaki as he spoke and placed his hand on his heart

"But then I heard how my dear sweet Chuuya got sick and was terribly worried about him and then I find out that two days after he gets a little better, the celebration takes place."

And although Chuuya knew that his father had to do it, he couldn't help but hope that he didn't.

Chuuya didn't even notice how he shook his head in disappointment.

"I thought for a long time about whether I wanted to steal the crohns because Chuuya wouldn't be forced into the wedding without this crohn on his head, but then I remembered that I don't want any crohns, so today I'm just stealing a prose that's so similar to Chuuya's eyes and money for the poor."

This was also true - the group had thought about simply stealing the rings for a long time, but that would probably look too much like a tantrum.

The croons, on the other hand, presented Chuuya's status as a prince.

Arahabaki had gotten to know Chuuya because he was a prince.

The demon brothers had gotten to know Chuuya because he was a prince.

The world loved Chuuya because he was a good prince.

Chuuya was also forced into marriage because he was a prince.

This croon presented so much but Arahabaki did not steal the croon, he showed that he could but did not want to.

He did not regret meeting Chuuya as a prince and took something that reminded him of Chuuya.

Chuuya sighed softly after a moment and stared down at the crowd and dropped a black ball on the ground.

But before it touched the ground, Chuuya had to say a few words.

"See you again, geniuses."

Arahabaki would not stop, the lives of the poor people were too important to him.

And after the ball fell to the ground and the smoke came out, Chuuya took out a sheet on which Poe had written a little story and disappeared into it.

The smoke was only there to hide this fact.

When the smoke was gone, Ice man and Doc rushed to get the sheet first and replaced it with the note they had written earlier.

No one would ever have any doubts about Doc and Iceman as they were Chuuya's friends.

So Arahabaki managed to rob the party for Prince Chuuya's engagement.

Chapter Text

After Arahabaki managed to get in and out of the king's castle, several days passed in the country.

In every corner, Arahabaki's actions were discussed and theories were put forward. In a dark corner, a person wrapped in a dark cloak listened to the conversations in silence.

And when the mysterious person seemed to be satisfied with the information he had gathered, he moved and left the dark alley.

The person stopped in front of a building that looked very old.

The person hesitated for a moment and then entered the house, not hesitating for a second to enter a certain room.

The room was very dark and the only source of light was a flickering light on the ceiling.

"And what is the current situation?"

A voice rang out in the middle of the darkness, but the person didn't seem to mind.

"The people really like Arahabaki's actions and he's getting nothing but praise, which of course pleases Kribto and Hajito too."

An annoyed sigh can be heard in the darkness.

"These idiots are getting annoying why can't everyone be like Zukito and Gisoto?"

The person just shrugs his shoulders cluelessly.

"How should we proceed, master?"

A crazed laugh rings out in the darkness.

"Destroy Kribto, that should be a good warning for the other two."

The person bows.

"Your wish is my command, Master"

The person quickly leaves the room to relay the order.

Another voice is heard in the darkness.

"Oh, it's almost that time again? That will be interesting."

Chuuya suddenly stops because goose bumps cover his whole body.

"Are you all right Chuuya?"

Poe, who has come out of his archives much more often in the last few days, looks at Chuuya worriedly.

Karl on his shoulders tries to mimic Poe's expression and Chuuya can't help but smile at the sight.

"I'm fine, don't worry, I just have a feeling that something is coming my way that I don't like."

Poe nods understandingly and Karl does the same.

Chuuya wishes he had taken Poe to Karl before, the little one is so cute.

The relaxed atmosphere around the group of friends is interrupted as they stand in front of the dining hall.

Chuuya hums once and then steps through the door.

Chuuya is the last to enter the hall today.

His brother, father, Dazai and Fyodor are already sitting at the table talking to each other.

Of course, they immediately look at Chuuya after he enters the room.

But Chuuya pays more attention to Ranpo whose eyes sparkled when he saw Poe standing next to Chuuya.

Chuuya stifled his smile as he sat down next to his brother.

The two brothers in front of him unfortunately looked as good as ever and Chuuya really wondered why these two had to look so pretty but had such a bad character.

"Now that everyone is here, we can start eating"

The king's words made everyone focus on the food in front of him and they ate in a quiet silence until Fyodor began to speak.

"Is there a festival or special event in the city? I saw people starting to decorate the city from my balcony this morning."

Chuuya stiffened at the words and looked over his shoulders at Flags and Poe who had the exact same look of recognition on their faces.

Chuuya knew that something would happen that he didn't like at all, something that Chuuya even loathed in some way.

Verlaine, who was sitting next to Chuuya, sparkled with happiness and nodded his head.

"Yes, the town celebrates a festival every year in the second week of March to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring."

Dazai leans forward at the table, his eyes have a soft glint of interest.

"Oh yeah? What can you do at the festival?"

Chuuya shifts uneasily in his chair, just wanting to get up and leave.

Verlaine's eyes sparkled as he leaned forward.

"Oh, you can do a lot of things, you could visit several stalls, enjoy the lights show, admire the shadow play or, of course, take part in the competition."

The word competition had piqued the interest of the two demon brothers.

Fyodor tilted his head slightly to one side.

"What exactly do you mean by competition?"

At this point, Chuuya really has to summon all his strength not to slam his hands on the table.

Without even realizing it, Chuuya scratches his neck.

"Oh, it's a tradition my mother had set up when Chuuya was 4. People take part in different tasks every year and the winner gets a bag of gold and a day with Chuuya."

Yes, the idea came from Chuuya's mother but over the years the idea of this reward was completely changed.

His mother had first implemented it because Chuuya was very shy as a child and she wanted him to make friends.

After his mother's death, this was simply carried on as a reminder of her.

The innocent game of getting to know his mother turned into a fight to spend the day at the festival with Chuuya and make Chuuya fall in love with the person.

Albatross put a hand on Chuuya's shoulder.

Chuuya blinked as he realized that he was starting to scratch his neck again.

Chuuya looked up and felt the intense gaze of the two demon brothers on him.

Chuuya didn't even try to return the look because he knew he couldn't and looked at Verlaine who was still talking.

"Chuuya also got to know the flags at this festival"

This seemed to upset Fyodor and Dazai.

"What?"

Verlaine nodded in agreement.

"Yes, when Chuuya was 5, Albatross also took part in the festival and thanks to Albatross, he got to know the rest of the Flags and when Chuuya was 8, the Flags came to the castle and quickly became Chuuya's bodyguards."

That wasn't quite true.

Chuuya didn't meet the Flags at the festival, he met them beforehand, he found them as a child starving in an alley and bought them food with the money he had.

Chuuya was also the reason why Albatross attended the festival in the first place.

It was also Chuuya who wanted the Flags as bodyguards because he trusted them.

Before Chuuya could notice anything, the mood in the room darkened.

Chuuya looked at the demon princes who were coldly starting Verlaine.

But that was only partly important behind the two princes, their companions were also looking very gloomy at all of them.

(Nikolai's look scared Chuuya even more than Akutagawa's, but he would never admit it)

Fyodor let a demon-like smile appear on his face which made the knights' knees tremble at his sides.

"Do I understand correctly that you use Chuuya once a year as a "reward" for a stupid competition?"

Verlaine's gaze also darkened when he heard Fyodor's words.

"I don't expect you to understand what's behind this festival"

Chuuya understood what Verlaine meant his family was painfully attached to the memories of his mother and had trouble letting them go.

Dazai across from Chuuya tilted his head back and let out a laugh that rang darkly through the hall.

"W-We're not supposed to understand what's behind this festival, a good joke. I don't think you understand that you're treating Chuuya like an object."

Verlaine slammed his hand on the table.

"I'm not going to let some princes from another country tell me to break a festival tradition."

Fyodor and Dazai looked at Verlaine unconvinced.

"We are betrothed"

"Yes, an arranged marriage"

The two parties glared angrily at each other, hurling insults at each other the whole time.

Akutagwa and Nikolai behind Fyodor and Dazai looked like they wanted to kill Verlaine with their own hands.

The king just watched and didn't really listen.

Chuuya got a headache from all this he guessed Fyodor and Dazai were trying but it was no use.

(Chuuya had tried so many times before)

Suddenly, someone threw a knife at the center of the table.

And in the next moment, Paino man and Lippmann grabbed Chuuya and pushed him out of the hall.

Chuuya faintly felt blood dripping down his neck.

Oh.... He had scratched too hard.

Before the door closed behind Chuuya, Poe turned around once more.

"If you want to argue about Chuuya, maybe you should all see him as a normal person first"

At the time, neither Chuuya nor Flags or Poe knew that this moment had brought Chuuya even deeper into the clutches of the two demon brothers

Chapter Text

Chuuya, the Flags and Poe sat in silence in Chuuya's room.

Doc had knelt in front of Chuuya and was silently cleaning the wound on his neck.

Albatross gently stroked Chuuya's hair and flashed a small smile.

"Slip."

Chuuya nodded and had to smile a little at the insider

"It hasn't happened to me in a long time, I had it so well under control."

Poe nodded in agreement and stroked Karl's fur gently.

"You had it really well under control I just think it was too much to see them fussing over you like you were just a doll with no mind of your own."

Doc stood up and looked at Chuuya.

"It went well again it definitely wasn't as bad as the seizure from 2 years ago but it's worse than the normal wounds"

Chuuya just hummed and nodded while looking to his friends.

"Thanks doc and I'm sorry you had to intervene"

Lippmann smiles warmly at Chuuya.

"Hey no need for those looks we're friends and you've already done so much for us."

Chuuya just nods and gets up to open the window to let in some fresh air.

"I also have to apologize for Verlaine, he shouldn't have just told your story like that."

The Flags just look at Chuuya and then laugh out loud along with Poe and Karl.

"Haha C-Chuuya that's why we d-did this story."

Albatross leans against Piano man's chest and gasps for air.

Chuuya's cheeks turn a little pink as he hears the laughter of his friends.

"Why am I even worried about you idiots? If you have friends like you, you don't need enemies!"

The Flags only pulled themselves together when their cheeks hurt and Karl was already lying on the ground.

(Even Karl was against Chuuya.)

The Flags and the duo of Karl and Poe tried (and succeeded) to improve Chuuya's mood for a while longer.

Only when it was night did the group leave Chuuya's room.

Chuuya stayed alone in his room and stared out the window at the city lights shining and even from here Chuuya could see the decorations for the festival the day after tomorrow.

Chuuya leaned his head against the wall, life had been so complicated since his mother's death.

(Some nights Chuuya couldn't help but think about what life would be like if his mother were still alive).

Verlaine was Chuuya's brother who worried too much about his poor little brother and tried to protect him from everything.

His father... probably loved Chuuya too, or he just saw his wife's poem in him and loved Chuuya because of it.

His sister Kouyou loved Chuuya too, but she couldn't stand living in this castle anymore and went to the land of Amaterasu where she got married at the first opportunity.

Chuuya sighed and a small fake smile formed on his face.

The two demon princes were more complicated to read the first time they were here, they seemed to hate Chuuya because they contradicted all the traditions and rules Verlaine had told them so far.

(Even though the brothers had only heard two.)

Chuuya didn't know what to think about these two demons, they were strange.

Chuuya lay down in his bed and pulled the covers over him, today his room seemed warmer than usual.

Chuuya stared at the ceiling he had seen so many times before.

Somehow this night felt strange Chuuya had a bad feeling.

So Chuuya just lay in his bed for several hours, it should be about 3 o'clock at night now.

Chuuya sighed annoyed and climbed out of bed he needed a little walk but there were surely guards outside his door so no one could enter Chuuya's room.

Chuuya quietly went to his closet, opened it and took a white wig from a small hiding place and put it on

Then he looked at the contact lenses - what color should he choose brown? No Chuuya would not imitate Prince Dazai

In the end, Chuuya decided on white, yellow cat-like contact lenses that Poe had once given him for fun.

He never had a chance to use these contact lenses so why not now?

It was cold outside because it was already night so Chuuya put on a boot that his friends had made.

It had the same system as the Arahabaki shoes but not as extreme, they made Chuuya about 8 cm taller and kept him warm.

(A win win situation)

Chuuya put on a fake latex face that had a wound on his right eye.

He quickly put on a black coat and went to his mirror.

There was a reason why Chuuya wanted this room after his mother's death.

Chuuya pulled the mirror on both sides at the same time, which was very hard to do Chuuya was glad that he was so strong.

After Chuuya did this, a small secret passage opened up behind the mirror.

Before she died, his mother had shown him some secret tunnels and there were many in the room where Chuuya had lived for years.

So Chuuya went through the secret passage and walked through the tunnel for a while until he arrived in front of a wooden wall.

Chuuya listened briefly to the noises and was glad when he heard nothing.

Chuuya went through the tunnel and was in a corridor in the castle from where it was easy to sneak into the royal garden.

A trick that Chuuya sometimes used when he found it difficult to breathe in his room.

Chuuya opened the window and jumped, landing as planned on a window sill of one of the guest rooms and jumped again, landing with perfect grace on a tree trunk

From this tree trunk he jumped down and then he was already in the royal garden.

Chuuya sighed happily as he smelled the fragrance of the flowers.

At that time, Kouyou and his mother took care of the garden, but after his mother's death, it was the job of the workers.

Verlaine and his father never entered the royal garden Chuuya didn't really know why but he never thought about it deeply.

Chuuya walked around the Royal Garden for a while, tapping on a few trees every now and then to calm himself down and have fun.

Chuuya rarely really went out into nature.

(Chuuya rarely went anywhere)

But when Chuuya was out in nature, he really enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Just as Chuuya had finished his thought.

A black something shot towards him and Chuuya dodged it.

Chuuya froze when he saw the people in front of him Akutagawa, Fyodor and Dazai. Why?

"You snuck in well, but you made a mistake when you wanted to get out again, you jumped onto Akutagwa's windowsill."

That's right, Chuuya would have liked to slap himself when he remembered that the companions had been given guest rooms near the gardens.

"But thanks to your mistake, we've seen quite a few interesting things - you're transmitting information by knocking on trees, so there must be some kind of code behind it"

Fyodor grinned arrogantly at Chuuya and Chuuya wanted to bang his head against something.

He just wanted to tap trees.

(Chuuya also didn't understand how these geniuses had confused typing with tapping, but he had bigger problems right now)

"Besides, you could literally feel the aura of a strong person, you can hardly hide with this aura, so what are you doing here, are you also from Kribto?"

(Chuuya almost laughed at these words, after all, he had been hiding his true self for years, he hardly believed that he couldn't hide).

Dazai spat out the word Kribto as if it was even disgusting to think about.

"You know, the last time we encountered a member of Kribto, he spent the last hours of his life very painfully and ended up choking on his own blood."

Dazai's voice sounds so happy when he says this that Chuuya becomes nauseous.

"We couldn't look at his body anymore and just burned it"

Chuuya then looked at Fyodor still covered by his cloak.

They were called demon brothers for a reason, they were both equally bad.

"And shall we tell you what his mistake was?"

Chuuya guessed that they would say it no matter what he answered, so he kept silent.

"He was a threat to Chuuya and so are you at the moment."

Chuuya had to decide quickly what to do Fyodor and Dazai didn't look like they would believe him when he said he was good so Chuuya had to do what he was best...

Lying and acting.

Have you wondered why exactly Poe gave Chuuya those contact lenses?

Chuuya had fought many bad guys as Arahabaki but always tried not to kill anyone.

But he accidentally kills a rather well-known person in a particularly tough fight.

Chuuya hadn't intended to look like the person, but now he had to go along with the lie.

Chuuya was grateful that he had disguised himself otherwise he would be in an even worse situation than he was without

Chuuya sighed once more, there was no turning back Chuuya was sure that he couldn't escape far just yet, he had to wait for the perfect moment.

with a strange feeling Chuuya tore the coat from his body, revealing his white hair and yellow, white eyes.

The coat stopped in the air and a red light enveloped them.

One reason why the fight against the person was so difficult was her ability to manipulate gravity

Two people with the same ability had fought each other in one day and Arahabaki had won very narrowly.

Chuuya remembered his grin that haunted him through many nightmares

and showed the perfect copy of this grin and bowedplayful and put a hand on his heart.

"I am very pleased to meet you, the people know me by the name Kazimir, former vice of Loikusto"

Chuuya didn't know at the time that disguising himself as Kazimir would cause him a lot of problems

Chapter Text

Chuuya looked into the unimpressed gazes of the three men in front of him and that alone was enough to confirm his theory.

The demon brothers and Akutagwa had no idea who Kazimir was or what kind of organization Loikusto was.

To be honest, Chuuya himself only knew about Loikusto thanks to Kazimir.

But Chuuya knew Kazimir very well, after all, he had had a lot to do with Loikusto's vice before and after Kazimir's death.

Chuuya had no time to celebrate his small victory, however, as the two demons Prinze and Akutagawa were still in front of him.

Fyodor raised his eyebrow and a mocking smile appeared on his face.

"Ah, you weren't good enough anymore and that's why you're only the former vice of Loikusto? Have you been replaced?"

Chuuya naturally realized what game Fyodor was playing and provoked Chuuya -Kazimir- so that information would slip out.

Chuuya almost instinctively threw his head back and faked a fake laugh.

(Chuuya didn't even think about the action, it seemed like his body knew how Kazimir would react).

Chuuya gasped for air and wiped the tears of laughter from the corner of his eyes.

He looked at the group in front of him with a grin.

"Oh no, no you got something wrong"

Chuuya's face, which had been beaming with amusement a second ago, was now replaced by a serious expression.

"I'm only former vice of Loikusto because everyone thinks I'm dead, admittedly I was pretty damn close to death."

This time, Chuuya made sure to say the "former vice of Loikusto" part with particular disdain, as if the title itself bothered him.

Fyodor and Dazai gave each other looks that Chuuya couldn't interpret. He didn't speak demonically either

Dazai gave Chuuya a serious look.

"Let's say your story is true, why the hell are you at the king's castle? You can't be that stupid, can you?"

Chuuya could have lied now and told them a false story but he knew how Kazimir would answer and he refused to play a role he could play so well badly.

"I was looking at what a bird without wings did~"

He says the words with a playful undertone but his expression is serious.

"You know, after I almost died, I had to go into hiding for a long time for many reasons, but I didn't expect so much to happen in that time."

Chuuya throws his arms in the air and lets the three of them see the despair on his face.

"I knew things had changed, of course, but so much? Arahabaki is more popular than ever, The King and Verlaine have completely lost it, The country has long since lost sight of its goals and Chuuya is in love with the demon princes, and those are just a few examples."

Chuuya emphasized the 'Arahabaki' part with a particularly derogatory tone, after all, Arahabaki almost killed Kazimir so it was logical.

Chuuya looks at the group of three who still look like they want to torture Kazimir long and painfully.

Chuuya sighs out, well then, different.

As if they had heard Chuuya's thoughts, Akutagawa shot those strange black pieces at him again, but Chuuya stomped them into the ground with a simple kick.

Chuuya had to watch out for several things at once.

1. fyodor was not allowed to touch him because his ability could kill him
(Chuuya had done his homework)

2. Akutagwa's ability that was trying to pierce him.
(Chuuya was sure that Poe had told him the name of Akutawga's ability)

3. dazai wasn't allowed to touch him either.
(Why did Chuuya have to fight three strong abilities?)

Chuuya had to think of a plan quickly while dodging Akutagawa's attacks.

He couldn't just crush her to the ground with gravity since Dazai's ability can quickly prevent that.

Chuuya quickly jumped over the black pieces that came out of the ground.

Chuuya couldn't take them all out one by one because Fyodor only had to touch him.

While Chuuya played passively for the time being, he had several plans in mind but rejected them all.

In the end, he decided on a classic, dropping the stones from the ground over the two of them at the same time, knowing that Akutagawa would catch them.

But it would take a moment as he would make the stones heavier with the help of his ability.

Dazai could not neutralize his ability either, otherwise he would remain under the stones.

And last but not least came Akutagwa's weak body who had just had little to no sleep, had used his ability several times and had a weak body to begin with.

Before Chuuya jumped away, he stopped and said.

"You can be glad that I appreciate this place so much, otherwise your blood would already be on the ground."

And with these words, Chuuya quickly jumped away and immediately made his way to his room where he immediately hid all the things again.

He could have ended this "fight" much faster, but he couldn't bring himself to destroy his mother's garden.

(Even if Akutagwa's attacks, Chuuya's dodging and the prince's analyzing eyes couldn't be counted as fighting)

Chuuya leaned heavily against the mirror he just wanted to take a little walk and now he had to be Kazimir.

Damn his bad luck and stupidity.

"He was damn smart"

Said Dazai as Akutagwa finally managed to free them.

"Hmn he probably planned this meeting from the beginning and saw all our actions beforehand we were too confident"

Fyodor agreed with Dazai as he tried to sort through the new information.

Akutagwa just knelt in front of Dazai with his head down, feeling guilty that he hadn't recognized Kazimir's "plan".

(At this point, I don't know if Chuuya is lucky or unlucky that everyone misunderstands everything)

"He snuck out at such a late hour and jumped onto Akutagawa's windowsill to get him to tell us"

Dazai didn't look at Akutagwa once as he turned around and walked back into the castle with Fyodor.

"Then he waited for us so that he could show us what he was looking for and then destroyed the ground so that we were forced to tell Verlaine"

Fyodor scratched his head. What was wrong with this kingdom? There's a different villain in every corner

(Chuuya had only destroyed the ground because he didn't want to harm the plants in his mother's garden, but he should be grateful that the princes were looking for meaning in his actions)

Dazai and Fyodor went to Verlaine's room which looked surprisingly beautiful.

(Dazai and Fyodor didn't grin at each other when they realized that it was Rimbaud, no, not them).

Verlaine, who woke up as soon as he heard their footsteps, gave them an annoyed start.

"What are you doing here? Get out!"

Fyodor spoke with mock regret.

"I'm sorry but I think they would be interested in what we have to say"

Dazai nodded in agreement and spoke quickly before Verlaine could.

"There was a man in the royal garden whose name was Kazimir, he said he was the former vice of Loikusto"

Verlaine, who until recently had looked annoyed and tired, winced and stared at the two of them for a long time as he realized that they were not joking and immediately headed for his cupboard.

"This is a disaster, we need to hold an emergency meeting immediately."

Somewhere on a tower, a figure stood staring at the hole that had recently been left here.

The person was speaking into a small device made from a skill.

"Master you won't believe what I just saw but Kazimir was just here fighting the demon brothers and their dog"

There was silence from the other side until a dark voice rang out.

"Are you 100% sure if not I will kill you very cruelly"

The person didn't have a single note of doubt in his voice as he spoke.

"Yes Master, the person looked like Master Kazimir and could manipulate gravity"

This time you could hear the rustling of papers.

"This is a miracle, we must hold an emergency meeting immediately."

Chapter Text

It was late at night when the people gathered in the king's conference room.

Fyodor and Dazai sat to the left of the king.

They looked around and almost everyone had the same look of horror on their faces as they realized why they were here.

"So after you all stop shitting your pants are you able to tell us what makes this Kazimir so special?"

Dazai sat casually on the chair and looked at the crowd, completely unimpressed by their fear.

He understood that this Kazimir was a danger, he had recognized it in the few minutes just by his body language.

But he seemed so bad that some of them almost wanted to scream for their mother.

Dazai (and Fyodor) found this behavior pathetic.

Verlaine looked about as pure as the demon brothers and answered Dazai's question casually.

"Kazimir was or now probably is a multiple mass murderer he is known to rip the stones from the ground and create a hole in the places he has wiped out the number of deaths we have confirmed is 479 si people he tortured and only made severely disabled is 207 but there are certainly more murders or torture we don't know about"

Verlaine shrugs his shoulders, but the others at the table (excluding Fyodor, Dazai and the king) tremble at the memory of Kazimir's cruelty.

The people who have seen Kazimir's works for themselves tremble very much.

But Verlaine is not even halfway to the end.

"Besides, he was the vice of Loikusto. Loikusto was the largest criminal organization that had control over other organizations as well as in politics, and the organization also had a large army on its side and several spies spread throughout the kingdom."

Verlaine barely pays attention to the looks of the demon brothers as he speaks, but he tilts his head slightly in acknowledgment as Fyodor and Dazai begin to speak.

"So Arahabaki helped to destroy the organizations by fighting Kazimir and keeping him out of power for a long time"

Fyodor put his hands on the table and grinned slightly at the idea.

Dazai next to Fyodor had also straightened up a little and continued Fyodor's conclusion.

"Thanks to Arahabaki's help, you also discovered Loikusto's power in the kingdom. They probably got careless after Kazimir's "death" or Arahabaki told you himself who belongs to Loikusto."

Fyodor and Dazai flashed the same creepy grin and honored the whispered name "Demon Brothers".

"It wasn't very after all, everyone in the organization had a token of their loyalty."

Dazai's voice was now more like a whisper but everyone in the room heard it.

"An injury to the skin, all made with the same dagger, the more injuries the higher you are ranked, the only exceptions being the leader and Kazimir himself."

Slowly, the crowd began to wonder if Fyodor and Dazai were taking turns speaking or if they had stopped noticing.

"That's why they had different kinds of skin in their torture room Verlaine right? It was a kind of trophy they used to torture the traitors."

Verlaine looked at the demon brothers and then clapped his hands in mock appreciation, the sound echoing loudly through the room.

"You found that out quickly, because there really is some truth to the rumors about you two."

After these words, a moment of silence returns to the hall.

A man who finally dared to speak asked.

"Your Highness, should we cancel the feast tomorrow? And will we tell Prince Chuuya about the situation?"

The king, who until recently had simply been watching the crowd, stood up from his chair and glared at them all.

"We can't afford to cause mass panic now, the festival will continue and we won't tell Chuuya about Kazimir for his own safety."

Dazai straightens up completely at these words.

Fyodor stares into the crowd and frowns.

"You're not talking about warning Chuuya about a dangerous attacker, are you? What relationship did Chuuya have with these Kazimir?"

Dazai and Fyodor start looking at the king and Verlaine with inquiring eyes, they could easily see the meaning behind the king's words but they needed confirmation.

Verlaine exhaled and suddenly looked much older than a second ago, nodding to confirm the two demon brothers' theory.

"Kazimir was Chuuya's best friend and only friend for a long time."

"Ow ow ow I'm sorry Ice man I'm sorry"

Chuuya held his sore cheek as Ice man let go of him.

The Flags and Poe were in his room to help him "get ready".

Actually, they had lectured Chuuya for 38.47 minutes for his stupid decision.

and yes Chuuya had counted problem with that?

Poe massaged his temple and seemed to be at his emotional wits end.

Karl, who was lying on Chuuya's bed, watched their conversation curiously.

"There's no point in continuing to tell you what the consequences of this action are, we have to leave soon so let's summarize everything again."

Chuuya nodded while stroking his braided hair, it felt so unfamiliar.

"So now that you've brought Kazimir back to life, we don't really have many options left either we let Kazimir continue to die or we actually bring him back to life"

Poe leaned his head back and sighed before continuing to speak normally.

"Since Loikusto no longer exists and the king will try to hide the news, it's probably best if we leave Kazimir dead for now."

The rest nodded in agreement and so they walked out together a few minutes later.

(They didn't know at the time that they no longer had a choice).

Unlike the last time, Chuuya didn't have an ounce of excitement in him as he walked to the door.

He hated everything about that moment. He hated the way Kimino wrapped his body and gently touched his skin.

He hated Kimino's from the bottom of his heart, whereas his sister Kouyou loved her.

It wasn't even the Kimino's fault they always looked beautiful and people would shower Chuuya with praise whenever he wore.

Chuuya stopped looking them in the eye after a while.

He didn't want to look at the way they looked at Chuuya.

(Like a beautiful doll. Mumbled a voice in the back of Chuuya's head)

Chuuya stopped once in front of the door and exhaled, his hand twitched and he wanted to scratch himself.

Then Chuuya stepped through the door and immediately saw Dazai and Fyodor waiting for him at the door this time to accompany him throughout the festival.

"Shall we go?"

Dazai asked after a moment of silence, not sounding like he liked the idea.

Chuuya just nodded and hummed briefly. This was going to be a long day.

(Oh if Chuuya only knew~)

Chapter Text

This time, Chuuya only rode in the carriage with the demon princes.

His father thought it would go down well to get out of the carriage with his now official fiancé.

Chuuya found it hypocritical, to be honest, but he said nothing and just stared out of the window.

The atmosphere in the carriage was very different from the last time.

Last time, Chuuya had the feeling that the demon brothers wanted to kill him with their looks.

This time it was pleasantly quiet. Fyodor and Dazai had fetched a chessboard and were playing against each other while Chuuya looked out of the window.

It was... kind of nice.

At the end of the carriage ride, neither brother won, it ended in a draw and Chuuya almost laughed at their expressions.

But then Chuuya remembered what day it was and why he was sitting in that carriage with them and his good mood disappeared.

Chuuya looked briefly at the demon brothers who nodded at him.

So Chuuya exited the carriage and soaped slightly at the familiar light show that enveloped the city.

(So damn hypocritical)

The people start at Chuuya and the two demons Prinze.

Chuuya, who was used to people's stares on him, just smiled fake as always.

Right he had to keep playing the lie of a loving child to Verlaine and his father.

Chuuya turned to the demon princes, his red kimino shining under the city lights.

"Are you coming? This is your first festival after all"

Fyodor smiles and nods once in agreement.

Dazai next to him gives a thumbs up.

And so the drio walk through the city together while their own escorts do the same.

(Chuuya had been so surprised when he saw Poe in a kimino too, the other haste such festivities).

(But when Chuuya heard that a certain candy-loving man was also coming to the festival, he couldn't help but grin).

So Chuuya played tour guide and showed Fyodor and Dazai the festival.

Chuuya would never admit it, but he somehow enjoyed taking the two of them around the city and showing them the attractions.

"Next stop strawberry stand"

Chuuya's personal favorite candy stand offered new strawberry dishes every year.

(Chuuya loved strawberries, it had become an open secret in the kingdom that strawberries could make the little red-haired man the happiest person).

Dazai and Fyodor looked at each other with amusement.

"Of course anything our leader tells us today~"

Dazai's voice sounded more than amused and in any other situation, Chuuya would have probably gotten angry but now he could only smile broadly (honestly).

"Damm right, you two have to waiting for me to show you mercy"

Chuuya already turned his head away from the two brothers to look for his favorite stand.

As a result, he didn't see the blush on Fyodor and Dazai's faces that appeared after his words.

Chuuya's eyes lit up as he entered the stall.

"Hello Mr. Haruto, it's been a long time."

Behind the stall was an old grandpa who smiled at Chuuya.

"Ah little Chu is back"

Chuuya's cheeks warmed a little at the nickname but he hadn't ported for a long time.

"Yes Mr. Haruto here like every year to taste your wonderful cuisine."

Dazai and Fyodor were making strange noises behind him, but Chuuya had more important things to do.

"Ah, of course, I've already prepared your food because I knew you were coming, it's over there"

Grandpa pointed to a bag to Chuuya's right with shaky hands.

Chuuya smiled at the gesture and bowed once gratefully, then put the money in the till.

He grabbed the bag and looked at Dazai and Fyodor who were supporting each other.

Chuuya rolled his eyes slightly, hardly believing that these dramatic idiots were called demons.

Chuuya pulled the two brothers out by their hand with the bag hanging from his right hand.

"I'll see you later Mr. Haruto take care of yourself"

Chuuya quickly shouted once more before disappearing with Fyodor and Dazai.

The two didn't seem to mind being pulled by Chuuya, who was wearing gloves for once.

(Chuuya loved wearing gloves, but was rarely allowed to).

"We can sit here."

Chuuya pointed to a bench under an apple tree.

Fyodor and Dazai exchanged glances and then sat down.

Chuuya sat down between the two brothers and first pulled out apple bags and gave one to each brother.

The apple pockets were always shaped like a square and of course Chuuya's cooks could make great dishes but Mr. Haruto's apple pockets always tasted the best.

(Chuuya didn't smile when Fyodor and Dazai shared his opinion that the sweets tasted delicious).

But then it was time for the competition to start, as it does every year, and so the three of them had to hurry to the meeting place.

And they arrived just in time, even though Chuuya pulled the two brothers along halfway through because they got lost. They are so stupid Idiots.

They arrived four minutes before the start and Chuuya held his side as Prince Chuuya should not be used to walking such "long" distances.

Chuuya quickly separated from the two princes and walked towards the flags.

(Chuuya took a quick look around to see if he could see Poe and sure enough, he saw the author with his raccoon along with a brown-haired man with a loli in his mouth).

"Hey Chuuya, there you are, we were hoping you'd run off."

Lippmann's words made Chuuya smile slightly.

"If only it were that easy, but unfortunately I can't start an international search just because I can't make it to the competition."

Chuuya made it sound like a joke, but they all knew that this was a serious option with a brother like Verlaine.

"Hey 'tross... Did you do what I asked you to do?"

Chuuya's voice softened as he spoke.

The Flags gave each other knowing looks and smiled softly.

Albatross tousled Chuuya's hair and nodded.

"Flowers just like the last time, delivered safely."

Chuuya nodded gratefully and looked around, again watched by guards all the time like annoying.

Verlaine stepped onto the stage and waved to Chuuya who slowly climbed up to him.

(He could almost have forgotten the speech.)

Verlaine cleared his throat once and almost instantly it became quiet once again a testament to Verlaine's terrible reputation.

"Hello everyone, as every year we have gathered here to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring"

The crowd remained silent as everyone was beginning to recognize this speech.

"This is now the 27th festival of this kingdom this year has only just begun but we already have something to celebrate after all my brother Chuuya was betrothed."

Verlaine didn't sound like there was anything to celebrate at all, he literally spat out the words.

Chuuya could already feel himself getting sick when he realized that they were almost at the end of Verlaine's traditional speech.

(To which the king forced Verlaine.)

Poe tensed next to Ranpo, who frowned at him until he apparently realized where this was going.

The Flags reacted similarly to Poe, looking pityingly at Chuuya who kept his level face in the center of attention.

"Ah and of course, like every year, we also celebrate the victory of Arahabaki over Kazimir and thus the traitor's death day."

And after Verlaine's words, cheers erupted from the crowd and people waved their lanterns.

Chuuya felt like he was going to puke.

Chapter Text

Chuuya hated this day like the plague, he hated how people could celebrate Kazimir's death so much.

(Whereas Kazimir's dead body and big grin haunted his nightmares and gave him sleepless nights)

But Chuuya made sure that none of his true emotions showed through his mask.

(Chuuya hazily remembers the words he said a long time ago "I want to learn so that Verlaine and father will be happy")

When the cheering of the people was over, the main event began.

The competition for a day with Chuuya.

The Flags were not allowed to participate because they spent every day with Chuuya and the people had complained after their defeat.

So the Flags didn't accompany Chuuya to the festival and Chuuya simply "enjoyed" the day alone until someone won the competition.

But this year was to be different.

Just as the people were about to meet up for the competition, a loud bang suddenly rang out.

Naturally, everyone instinctively looked in the direction of the noise.

Fyodor and Dazai were standing next to an overturned garbage can and had a dark aura around them.

Chuuya hummed softly as he watched in amazement as something happened that not even Verlaine had managed.

The people slowly stepped back from the meeting place as if they were afraid to even begin to move.

Chuuya looked over at the two strange brothers who had just knocked over a garbage can to intimidate people.

Chuuya, who until recently had been surrounded by a dark cloud, couldn't help but laugh out loud (and real) at the thought of the "demon brothers" doing something so childish.

And for a long time, Prince Chuuya didn't care about the looks people gave him, he just threw his head back and laughed.

The thought of the dangerous "Demon Brothers" knocking over a garbage can to intimidate people was just too funny.

Verlaine himself stared at his brother enthusiastically, it had been a long time since he had seen his brother laugh so openly.

(It definitely bothered Verlaine that the demon brothers could do it, but he enjoyed Chuuya's laughter more).

Dazai and Fyodor were hardly better than Verlaine, even if their fascination was more about hearing that laugh for the first time.

(If all they had to do was knock over a trash can and scare people off to get that laugh, they could definitely get used to it).

The Flags and Poe gently start at Chuuya as he laughed, they had seen Chuuya laugh many times but not so freely and blindingly.

Chuuya stood up still a small smile on his face.

"I'm really sorry to everyone who was looking forward to this competition but since I'm engaged right now, this competition seems very rude to them."

Chuuya jumped down from the stage and walked towards Fyodor and Dazai.

"It's better if I spend my day with them and I'm really sorry to everyone who was hoping to spend a day with me"

(Lippmann wiped away a tear at the back of his eyes damn Chuuya had gotten so good at lying Lippmann was so proud).

After these words, Chuuya grabbed Dazai's and Fyodor's hand.

Chuuya tried to get out of that place as quickly and skillfully as he could.

(If he saw a certain black-haired man with Atsushi, he hoped it was just his imagination)

"They'll be bursting with jealousy"

Chuuya blinked briefly in surprise as Dazai spoke but then smiled softly and shrugged his shoulders.

"What are they going to do? After all, I have two very possessive fiancées who don't like to share me"

Of course, Chuuya's words were just a joke and he said them without giving it much thought.

(How good for Chuuya that he didn't see the horror on Dazai's face and the blush on Fyodor's face and didn't have to think about this reaction)

Chuuya looked around as he wondered where he should go.

Fyodor and Dazai then suddenly stopped, of course Chuuya had to stop too.

(That was ridiculous Chuuya could pull those two skinny guys behind him without a muscle but unfortunately Prince Chuuya was a weak, sick, poor prince)

So Chuuya turned to the two princes with a puzzled look on his face.

"Why did we stop? I don't know about you, but I don't think you normally stop in the middle of walking."

Fyodor shakes his head slightly at Chuuya's words.

"Of course you don't normally do that Chuuya, but right now is anything but a normal situation."

Dazai next to Fyodor nodded seriously and in agreement.

Chuuya was beginning to feel uneasy, had he overlooked something important? Something important enough to affect the two brothers so much?

The look on Dazai's face looked like he had just learned that all the raccoons in the world had died and Chuuya felt slightly uncomfortable.

"This is going to be so annoying"

Fyodor nodded in agreement to Dazai's words.

Chuuya who was tired of watching the two brothers talk at genie level scratched his neck slightly annoyed and glared at both brothers.

"Can you two idotic geniuses please tell me what's so bad that you look like someone has died?"

Fyodor and Dazai had the courage to look at each other in confusion before they apparently realized that Chuuya had no idea what they were talking about.

(if it offended Chuuya a little, no one needed to know)

Dazai chuckled to himself and the expression of pure misery from a second ago was gone.

Fyodor just smiled apologetically as he finally explained what was going on.

"We've just seen a messenger from our kingdom and there's a 99.89% chance that Verlaine's fiancé will arrive here in a few days."

Chuuya's eyes lit up when he heard the news.

Finally, the fiancé of his brother had been raving about (and was probably obsessed with) would come to visit and Chuuya could finally meet him and thank him for being in love with Verlaine.

Chuuya had been waiting a damn long time for the day when he could finally meet him in person

Chapter Text

Chuuya had a pleasant time with Fyodor and Dazai as they went to several places together and bought a variety of things.

Chuuya also observed the people around them. Chuuya had always found it pleasant to watch people while they did normal things.

Dazai and Fyodor didn't seem to mind either and even joined Chuuya.

They would pick any person and tell Chuuya about every detail of that person's life.

(Chuuya would never admit that he found it impressive and creepy)

At one point, Dazai had put cat ears on Fyodor and Chuuya's heads and Chuuya's cheeks turned autmotic red at the action.

(Chuuya loved cats, he loved dogs more, but cats just had that sweetness about them).

It was only about 9pm now and Chuuya couldn't help but marvel at how pleasant this festival was compared to the other festivals he'd seen over the years.

(Chuuya should have known that he should never have hoped for a festival to go normally).

Chuuya and the two brothers eventually went back to the meeting place for the competition as fireworks are set off here every year.

Chuuya had learned from Poe that the fireworks this year would be red, yellow and blue.

(It was a tradition to agree on a new color combination every year).

Chuuya was a little excited, he didn't really like fireworks personally as he felt sorry for the animals but Verlaine put a lot of thought into preparing them every year so Chuuya tried to enjoy it.

So Chuuya stood at the corner with Fyodor and Dazai and waited for the start.

Chuuya had looked around for the Flags, Poe, Atsushi, Tachihara and Ranpo but didn't see any of his friends so he let it go.

In the center of the crowd stood a large statue of his mother that his father had made after her death and next to the statue the fireworks were to be set off.

(Chuuya faintly remembered his mother watching the fireworks with enthusiasm with her beautiful eyes)

Verlaine stood next to the workers and watched everything with sharp eyes.

Chuuya blinked in surprise as Fyodor and Dazai both grabbed his hands.

Fyodor took his right hand and Dazai his left.

Both looked at him with big, glittering (fake) puppy dog eyes.

Chuuya stared up at them, silently annoyed at the huge difference.

"I'm terrified of fireworks so Chuuya has to hold my hand very tightly."

"I feel much safer with your hand in mine Chuuya can you please not let go of it?"

Chuuya stared from Dazai to Fyodor, of course he knew they were lying, after all he had had Lippmann as a teacher and they weren't even trying to hide it.

But... Chuuya felt sorry for these two touch-hungry idiots who seemed to need so much attention because otherwise everyone would fall over in fear.

So Chuuya just nodded his head but couldn't quite suppress his smile when he saw the sparkle in red and purple eyes.

Then the time had finally come to light the fireworks and the lights on the streets were turned off.

The workers each bend down and light their matches and bring them towards the fuse.

The fuses explode several moments later and the colors yellow blue and white light up the air.

Wait what?

The fireworks that exploded showed words in sparkles.

The blue fireworks said "death"

The live fireworks said "Loikusto"

And the white fireworks said "Kazimir"

Chuuya's smile fell from his face when he saw this and the face that was happy a moment ago now had an expression of pure horror.

"Stop the fireworks you idiots!"

Verlaine shouted the order wildly and angrily and the people flinched and only then stopped.

(what idiots who needed an order to understand something)

Dazai and Fyodor had stood up next to Chuuya and their "fear" was gone.

When the fireworks stopped, two lanterns lit up on the statue of Chuuya's mother and his breath caught in his throat

Standing on his mother's hand was a man who looked almost exactly like Arahabaki.

The man must have been wearing a wig because his hair looked like Arahabaki's, he was wearing the same black suit Arahabaki wore but his mask was white.

"Hello Lady and Gentelman I'm so not sorry to interrupt this party I think it's terrible and I'm certainly not alone"

The man had a voice Chuuya had never heard before.

The voice sounded mostly polite, but it had a mad undertone.

But more importantly, the words Chuuya didn't know if he was imagining it or if this fake Arahabaki was looking at him when he said them.

"This festival was once a beautiful festival to celebrate nobles and the people but nowadays it's just a joke"

Chuuya almost couldn't swallow when he heard the man's words, they were so similar to his own.

"Verlaine-san's speech is just sad "celebrate the victory of Arahabaki over Kazimir and thus the traitor's death day" it makes my ears bleed"

The crowd stared up at the man in silence, only now seeming to realize what they were cheering about.

(Chuuya hated that no one took his words seriously, not his father and not even his people, he always said the same things but they only seemed to realize it when someone else said it)

Dazai and Fyodor moved closer to Chuuya as if they had read his mind or they had simply seen the extremely pale expression on his face.

"Shall I tell you the truth? The news we recently found out? Why do I even ask I'll just tell you Kazimir didn't die in the fight against Arahabaki and somehow survived."

The crowd erupted in horrified murmurs and Chuuya instinctively took a step back and bumped into the two brothers, which he didn't even realize at the time.

Only a few seconds later did his brain realize that this man had seen his fake Kazimir role and believed it.

(Chuuya did not see the worried looks from Fyodor and Dazai at the moment of shock).

"I am not Arahabaki and I don't want to be, I am the leader of Loikusto and I promise you that you will hear from us."

And with that, the lanterns went out, leaving the square in darkness.

Then, of course, chaos broke out and people were shouting like crazy.

Verlaine shouted for the lights to be opened quickly.

Chuuya's hand twitched but he couldn't move it because Fyodor and Dazai were holding it tightly.

How... Annoying

When the lights lit up the streets again, everything happened very quickly.

Chuuya was torn from Dazai and Fyodor's grasp in a matter of seconds and the flags launched at the two princes.

It almost seemed to Chuuya as if they were having a 1000 word discussion in a few seconds.

In the end, Dazai rolled his eyes in annoyance and stormed over to Verlaine.

Fyodor tensed his face briefly and then followed Dazai.

Chuuya blinked in surprise at the situation but couldn't say a word.

Albatross hugged Chuuya tightly and rubbed his back.

"Everything will be fine Chuuya it's just the shock don't worry your brother and your more than crazy fiancées will take care of the problem here you should go back to the castle quickly and sleep off the shock"

Chuuya didn't react and he didn't need to, the Flags had been his bodyguards long enough to know how he was doing.

The Flags gently led Chuuya to the carriage as they continued to talk to him

"Poe already went to the castle with Ranpo before the fireworks begin because Ranpo accidentally ate a candy that wasn't quite good for him."

Chuuya just nodded and his thoughts calmed down a little as the worry left his mind for the time being

After Chuuya arrived at the castle and silently listened to his father's worried speech, he was finally able to go to his room.

Chuuya didn't have the strength to change his clothes and finally took off his kimino and went to bed wearing only a pair of boxer shorts.

His mind needed a break after that day, he felt like he was about to overheat.

In the back of his mind, Chuuya wondered what Fyodor and Dazai were doing

But of course that was only because Verlaine could take care of himself and the two of them were just weak idiots.

Chuuya let out another sigh and was ready to finally sleep.

Chuuya opened his eyes and his vision was blurry at first.

Until a person shook his body.

"Chu come on open your eyes"

Chuuya faltered at the voice and just wanted to sigh in frustration but his lips moved upwards only to open his eyes.

In front of him stood a white-haired child with a broad grin on his face.

Not another nightmare

Chapter Text

Chuuya wanted to cry when he saw him, why did he always have to chase him?

The person who years later caused 479 confirmed deaths and 207 people to be tortured and severely disabled stood in front of him as a six-year-old child and grinned lovingly at him.

"Come on, your mother called you and you're sleeping here"

Chuuya's body reacted without listening to him and replayed his memory.

He walked together with the white-haired boy for a while until they arrived at a table where Chuuya's mother was sitting.

"Kazim, Chuuya you have finally come sit down and have tea with me"

The two nodded in agreement and climbed onto the chair.

Chuuya couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic at the name "Kazim".

Kazimir's parents had hated him since he was born and called him Kazimir, which means "destroyer of the peace", in revenge for his birth.

His mother and Kazimir's mother were rivals in their youth

But his mother couldn't help herself when she heard of Kazimir's birth and made sure that Kazimir would have at least one good friend and that was Chuuya.

Since his mother didn't want to call him Kazimir, she and Chuuya named him Kazim, which means "tolerant", "forgiving", and "having patience".

(Chuuya loved the sparkle in Kazimir's eyes when anyone called him that).

"Ah Kazim are you taking part in the competition this year too?"

Kazimir grinned again in the same way he always did.

"Of course, Your Highness, after all, you started this festival for me, among others."

Chuuya himself puffs out his cheeks after Kazimir's words and pouts.

"Stop lying Kazim, the festival is so that I can make friends"

Kazimir snorts annoyed and rolls his eyes.

"I'm not going to let that group of strays who call themselves Flags take you away from me."

Kazimir yanked Chuuya by the hand and glared at him.

"Stop being too possessive, we're not even real friends, we're just acquaintances"

Suddenly Chuuya's mother laughs and immediately Chuuya's and Kazimir's gaze shifts to her.

"What?"

They both say at the same time while glaring at each other.

"N-nothing you two are just so cute together"

The two look at each other in disgust and Kazimir quickly lets go of Chuuya's hand.

"Not true at all"

Together with his mother's laughter, the scene in front of Chuuya blurs.

Kazimir and Chuuya have been friends for a very long time, since they were 1 year old to be exact.

Kazimir was always a fighter and one day he approached Chuuya with shining eyes.

"Chu I have something incredible to show you, come with me"

And so poor Chuuya, who was just relaxing against a tree and enjoying the peace and quiet, was pulled along.

"Hey, slow down, we're going to trample Ane-san's plants and then get banned from the garden."

But Kazimir didn't listen to Chuuya and pulled him into a corner of the garden with a grin.

"You'll be soooo amazed Chu I found out something so cool"

Chuuya just smiled at his best friend's behavior.

The two friends stopped in front of a tree trunk.

Chuuya tilted his head in confusion and looked at Kazimir curiously.

He walked up to the tree trunk and touched it. The trunk lit up red and floated in the air.

Chuuya's jaw dropped and he stared at the tree trunk enthusiastically.

Kazimir showed a proud grin and grinned confidently at Chuuya.

"I can control gravity Chu that means no one can win against me."

Chuuya just nodded enthusiastically as he watched the log in the air.

Kazimir slowly let the log fall to the ground and his eyes sparkled.

Chuuya himself got goose bumps when he remembered this moment.

Kazimir went down on his knees in front of Chuuya and gently grabbed his hand.

"I promise you Chu when I grow up I will be the strongest fighter in the land and I will protect you"

Chuuya blinked in surprise at this statement but then nodded with a beaming smile.

Kazimir looked up at Chuuya and grinned broadly at him

Chuuya closed his eyes in frustration because he knew what moment was about to come.

Ane-san stood in front of him and looked down at Chuuya with a sad expression.

"A-Ane-san what's wrong? Why did mom just cry?"

Ane-san looked away and swallowed.

"Kazimir died."

Chuuya's eyes widened and he took a step back "W-what? You're joking right Ane-san?"

But Ane-san didn't answer and just shook his head.

And then 7-year-old Chuuya started crying, clinging desperately to his Ane-san's kimino

"L-liar you are such a liar Kazim"

He kept muttering to himself.

Until his voice began to break and even as his Ane-san carried him to his room.

Even in his sleep, Chuuya cried for the loss of Kazimir.

Chuuya had not smiled once for days after this incident and left with a terribly monotone expression on his face.

Even when Chuuya's mother tried to make him smile, it was no use.

In the days following Kazimir's death, Chuuya withdrew to the garden and leaned his head heavily against the wood.

After a while, his mother was desperate and took the flags to the castle.

But Chuuya didn't care, Kazimir's words stuck deep inside him

"I won't let this group of strays who call themselves Flags take you away from me."

It would feel like betrayal to make friends with the Flags a few days after Kazimir's death.

For several months, Chuuya would get up and go straight to the garden.

Meanwhile, the Flags were secretly training as bodyguards under the Queen's orders.

But then something else happened that would change Chuuya's life forever.

"The queen has fallen seriously ill."

But before the scene developed further and Chuuya reached the really bad memories, he was thrown out of bed.

"Hey Chuuya, that looked terribly unhealthy"

Albatross stood over Chuuya and Chuuya had to blink in surprise.

He had been woken up before the worst memories, luckily.

"I'm sorry we're so late, we were held up by two worried idiots"

Piano man stroked his hair and grimaced a little at the memory.

"We know you're suffering from his death day"

Poe and Karl came to Chuuya's right and slowly Chuuya felt a little ridiculous lying on the floor.

So he straightened up and was glad that he hadn't put on any clothes otherwise he would have sweated all over himself.

"We got some more information on the way"

Doc sat down behind Chuuya and quickly checked to see if he had hit his head.

Ice man leaned casually against the wall and showed his fingers a one.

"Verlaine's fiancé is expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon."

Poe got into Ice man's speech and Karl on his shoulder showed a two.

(Chuuya heart melted when he saw it so cute)

"Secondly, someone was caught by Loikusto and he will be tortured by the king's order tomorrow morning and it shall end an hour before the arrival of Verlaine's fiancée"

Albatross coughed falsely and then said.

"The torture will of course continue later"

Lippmann then showed a three and said.

"And three of your little fiancées want to spend the afternoon with you."

Chuuya felt his cheeks turn a little pink as he heard Lippmann's words.

(Chuuya didn't sleep until late morning and spent the night with the Flags and Poe so he wouldn't have to sleep until later)

Chapter Text

Chuuya woke up late in the morning, blinking tiredly and wondering if he should just go back to sleep.

Chuuya put his head down on the pillow and started at his door.

Then he got up a few seconds later. Arthur was coming today and he had a "date" with Fyodor and Dazai.

Chuuya wanted to shout with joy after 3 years he could finally meet him in person Chuuys had heard so many stories from his brother.

(Not all stories were "normal" and most people would call them terribly unhealthy, luckily Chuuya was sometimes terribly naive)

Chuuya put on a blue suit, humming, and quickly made himself a troublesome braid.

When Chuuya left the room he was just a little surprised that the flags weren't there, probably Verlaine made sure that everything was perfect down to the last detail when Arthur showed up.

Chuuya himself was in a very good mood and literally pranced around the castle.

He watched the workers running around the castle, all looking terribly stressed.

Chuuya could almost laugh at the difference when Dazai and Fyodor came here, not even 10% of this hustle and bustle.

Verlaine had told the cooks to poison the food the demon brothers were eating.

Which his father had heard and the two brothers were spared the poisoning.

Then Verlaine had tried to cover the princes' rooms with traps.

A guard noticed this and reported it to the king. Verlaine then dismantled the traps with a furious expression on his face.

Then Verlaine had tried to humiliate the two demon brothers as soon as they left the carriage and had prepared a bucket with no idea what was in it.

(It was green and Chuuya was sure that he even saw dead flying and other insects in it)

But the attempt was actually stopped by Chuuya himself because he didn't want the poor cleaners to have to clean it all up again.

(In retrospect, Chuuya was very glad that he had decided to stop Verlaine, even if he would never say so out loud).

But now Chuuya was standing here in the middle of the chaos, watching the chefs cook a five star meal and Chuuya wasn't really surprised that the chefs looked like they were afraid to make even a small mistake.

Chuuya would have been scared too, after all, Verlaine would surely kill them if Arthur didn't like the food.

But it wasn't just the cooks who were terrified.

Chuuya noticed how the maids cleaned Arthur's room with great care for fear of breaking anything or, even worse, forgetting a speck of dust.

Chuuya should probably mention here that Arthur's room was the warmest room in the whole castle and the room was full of luxury items.

Chuuya had to stifle a smile when he saw how his brother had examined all the rooms years before and moved in next to the warmest room so that Arthur couldn't accuse him of having changed his room just for him.

Then Chuuya looked out of the window and now he really had to smile.

Several lanterns were set up around the courtyard to make it as warm as possible for Arthur.

To be honest, Chuuya found it terribly cute how much Verlaine tried to please Arthur and to arrange everything to his liking.

Chuuya had heard from his brother's stories that Arthur was always terribly cold and always dressed very thickly.

To be honest, Chuuya even doubted whether his brother was even in his torture chamber, knowing his brother, he could even spend several hours in the bath to look as perfect as possible.

What Fyodor and Dazai were doing he couldn't tell to be honest, maybe they were in the torture chamber having their "fun".

Or maybe they were getting ready for their "date" later.

(Chuuya's cheeks were definitely not burning at these thoughts!)

Chuuya glanced at the clock it wasn't that much longer until the three of them would go on a "date".

(Chuuya refused to call it a real date)

Chuuya himself wasn't unhappy with his appearance, the suit suited him and his braid looked cute, but maybe Fyodor and Dazai wouldn't like it?

Maybe Chuuya should have worn something red, they both seemed to like his kimino at the festival.

Chuuya shook his head, what was he thinking? He didn't care what Fyodor and Dazai thought of him.

Chuuya nodded, he didn't care what they thought of him.

Chuuya looked in the mirror, a red suit would suit him.

In the end, Chuuya had decided on a red suit and also sports a long black coat with light-colored lining and lapels that he wears around his shoulders like a cape. The undercoat is a light shade of red.

Chuuya thought he looked awfully cool, especially since he was wearing the little gold earrings Arthur had given him.

(Chuuya was more than happy that day when Verlaine held out a small box to him with a smile)

Chuuya quickly checked his appearance and nodded, satisfied he looked good.

(Of course, there was no particular reason for him to make an effort)

Chuuya looked out the window and his eyes widened slightly as he saw an approaching carriage.

Chuuya smiled broadly and ran to the door, pushing it open with all his might, but then stopped when he saw Fyodor and Dazai.

The two were standing at his door and seemed more than ready to leave.

Chuuya almost flinched at the sight of them damn why were these idiots allowed to look so good?

Fyodor and Dazai quickly threw each other a blivk when they saw Chuuya.

Fyodor smiled and took a step forward his purple suit smoothly hugging his thin body.

"You look amazing as always Chuuya, are you ready?"

Chuuya swallowed briefly and was about to nod when he remembered that Arthur would be arriving soon.

"I'm sorry you two, can we postpone this a bit Verlaine's Verlober will be here soon"

The two glanced at each other again and Chuuya had already stopped questioning it.

Dazai pouted playfully and tried to look friendly while crossing his arms and letting his sand-colored suit make his skin glow a little.

"But Chuuuuuuuya you can't stand us up for Arthur."

Chuuuya stared at this obvious attempt and wanted to sigh in despair, he really wanted to meet Arthur but the two of them looked like kicked puppies.

(Chuuya loved puppies okey?)

Chuuya grabbed both brothers' hands after a moment of silence and pulled them along.

The two of them start happily at this battle they had won....

(At least that's what they thought)

Because Chuuya pulled them both towards the entrance.

"I'm sorry you two but I have to meet Arthur slowly I've been waiting for this for several years"

Chuuya left the door holding both demon brothers hands and saw Verlaine walking towards the carriage.

Verlaine opened the door and smiled at the person in the carriage.

The person stepped out of the carriage and Chuuya happily realized that this person was obviously Arthur.

Verlaine looked at the three newcomers and smiled warmly at Chuuya.

"Chuuya, this is my Fiancé Arthur, Arthur this is my little brother Chuuya"

Chapter Text

Cute and pretty was the first thought Chuuya had when he saw Arthur.

Arthur was wearing warm winter clothes, white earmuffs and a red scarf.

To Chuuya, the man radiated a similar aura to Poe, but Arthur's had a little more graceful beauty.

(Poe was cute too, but the raccoon lover was sometimes a little... clumsy)

Chuuya had only really seen Arthur himself once.

(although Verlaine probably has several pictures of Arthur somewhere, he never showed them to Chuuya).

And the one time Chuuya had seen Arthur, Chuuya was 1. wearing a mask and 2. they were several meters apart

But now, up close, Chuuya could easily tell that Arthur was really pretty.

Chuuya instinctively decided when he saw the man that he would probably have to postpone the "date" with Dazai and Fyodor.

(They still had plenty of time to catch up)

Chuuya quickly approached Arthur, who looked at Chuuya with a look that Chuuya couldn't really appreciate.

"I'm very pleased to finally meet you Verlaine has told me a lot about you even if it took me several years to get to know you personally and I'm sorry that I didn't give you an engagement present Verlaine unfortunately didn't tell me that he was planning to get engaged."

Arthur glanced at Verlaine and Verlaine winced a little.

Chuuya was thrilled to say the least when he saw this scene.

Verlaine flinching a little (minimally) just because of a look from Arthur was an unforgettable sight.

Arthur looked at Chuuya and this time Chuuya could see a soft glimmer of amusement in it.

"I'm also very pleased to meet you, Verlaine has told me a lot about you, even though it took me several years to get to know you personally, and I'm very pleased that Verlaine gave you the earrings I gave you for your birthday."

Chuuya had to smile a little at the gesture.

(Behind him, Fyodor and Dazai made funny noises and Verlaine gave them cold looks)

Chuuya then did something that none of those present had expected.

Chuuya gently grabbed Arthur by the hand and pulled him into the castle.

"Come on Arthur I'll show you the castle and then your room Verlaine said that you appreciate good books so let's go to the archives and then you can get to know Poe I'll have the cooks bring you some hot chocolate or would you prefer tea?"

Arthur simply let Chuuya pull him into the castle and left Verlaine and the two demon brothers alone.

Verlaine frowned at the prospect and Chuuya would have said he was sulking if he didn't know better.

"This is your revenge Chuuya, you're still angry that I didn't tell you that I'm engaged and that's why you're stealing my fiancé now?"

Chuuya stopped short and turned his head, giving Verlaine an obviously fake smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about"

And then Chuuya disappeared into the castle with Arthur, leaving behind three very disappointed and "minimally" jealous fiancées.

Chuuya had quickly let go of Arthur's hand when they were inside, not wanting to violate Arthur's private boundaries so badly.

Arthur walked behind Chuuya, shivering a little, which was understandable because the archive was in a very dark and cold part of the castle.

Chuuya frowned and looked at Arthur a little worriedly.

"I'm sorry I just brought you here Verlaine got you the warmest room in the castle where we can go right away after we got some good books and you met Poe."

Arthur smiled a little at Chuuya's anxious speech.

"Somehow I'm surprised Verlaine did that, he's a worried, loving idiot after all."

Arthur paused for a moment and sighed Chuuya probably understood best what Arthur meant.

"Just out of interest, Chuuya, which room is the second warmest, Verlaine's?"

Chuuya hummed to herself for a moment and then shook her head.

"No Verlaine's is probably the third Verlaine made sure after our mother died that my room would never be too cold so I wouldn't get sick."

Chuuya looked forward again and realized with surprise that they had already reached the archive.

Arthur looked down at Chuuya with a blurred expression as Chuuya smiled again and carefully opened the door, not wanting to accidentally scare Poe.

Poe, who was organizing a pair of folders, looked up in surprise as Karl lay on his desk, sleeping peacefully.

"Chuuya I didn't expect to see you today how are the others come sit down"

Poe didn't seem to see Arthur for some reason Chuuya blamed Poe's lack of sleep, after all, he had also had a lot of stress because of Arthur's arrival.

"Hello Poe, I brought you a new book lover, though you'll probably have to make it a little warmer here so he'll be alone more often."

Poe blinked in surprise at Chuuya's statement when he finally saw Arthur behind Chuuya Poe of course immediately stood surprised and quickly bowed.

"Sorry Rimbaud-san I didn't notice you"

Arthur, who had just been watching the scene, now shook his head.

"No problem, after all, I didn't make myself recognizable either and you can call me by my name"

Poe scratched his head sheepishly and nodded, his cheeks burning a little.

"I'm really sorry Arthur-san"

"Arthur goes too"

"I'm afraid I can't do that Arthur-san"

"But I want to be called Arthur."

"I really can't Arthur-san"

"But..."

Chuuya couldn't help but giggle at this situation.

Damn that was cute to watch after all they were both withdrawn in some way and seeing them try to argue was just entertaining.

"You won't get far Arthur, it took me years to turn Chuuya-san into Chuuya-kun and even longer to earn the name Chuuya"

Poe's cheeks turned red at these words and he stuttered helplessly.

"S-So it's not C-Chuuya, really I-I don't mean it that way"

Chuuya just smiled and nodded.

"I know, I'm just teasing you Poe."

Arthur and Chuuya then walked around the archive and let Poe finish his work in peace.

In the end, they both quickly decided on poems by relatively unknown authors and both realized that they had the same taste.

"See you later Poe Good luck with your work"

Arthur and Chuuya waved goodbye to him and then walked away from the archives as quickly as possible as Arthur was terribly cold.

"Okey let's go to the kitchen and from there to your room the quickest way from here to your room is past your room anyway."

Arthur nodded and clutched the books in his hand a little tighter as they walked through the corridors.

Chuuya almost shrugged his shoulders Arthur was probably just cold another sign that Chuuya and Arthur should hurry.

Chuuya looks to the side and sees a pack of workers who immediately look away when they notice Chuuya's gaze.

Chuuya looks at Arthur. Did the looks make him nervous? Maybe, after all, Arthur seemed to value his privacy.

Chuuya simply smiled at the workers and spoke when he and Arthur could no longer see them

"They will always stare you know? There are some who stare because they like you and there are people who literally judge you with your looks but don't worry no one in this castle would be stupid and tired of life enough to do anything after all we are under the "Verlaine protection" "

Chuuya shrugged his shoulders playfully and didn't let on how much these looks got under his skin.

Arthur literally stared into Chuuya's soul for a moment, but then smiled.

"I see, thank you Chuuya"

Chuuya just nodded, pleased with himself and didn't see the strange glint in Arthur's eyes.

"So here's the kitchen Arthur"

Chuuya casually pushed open the door to the kitchen and saw the exhausted cooks putting in extra effort for today's meal.

"I'm terribly sorry to disturb your work, but could you bring us both a cup of hot cocoa?"

The cooks looked at each other and nodded quickly and of course the normal panic that always broke out when Chuuya wanted something personally broke out again.

Arthur just watched the kitchen with a strange look.

"and what kind are you?"

Chuuya just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, but they're definitely the kind of people who are deathly afraid of Verlaine's punishments and would do anything to avoid them, but of course that's very understandable, so I usually let the flags go to the kitchen."

Arthur looked at the crowd in silence for a moment until he gave Chuuya a puzzled look.

"The flags?"

Now it was Chuuya's turn to blink in confusion until realization hit him.

"Ah sorry that's right you haven't met them yet the Flags are my only friends in this castle apart from Poe and they also work as my bodyguard they are usually always with me but I think Verlaine sent them somewhere else for the whole day."

Arthur's features softened a little at these words and Chuuya thought he should stop trying to recognize Arthur's thoughts.

The cooks carefully pressed the large cups of hot cocoa into Chuuya's hands and Chuuya then made his way to Arthur's room together.

"Verlaine sleeps here and the room next to it is yours Arthur"

Arthur and Chuuya finally entered Arthur's room.

The room was beautifully decorated, full of elegant furniture and fluffy seating.

There were several thick blankets on the bed and Chuuya immediately felt the difference between the hallway and the room.

Arthur himself closed his eyes a little in pleasure and ran his hand over the sofa.

Chuuya and Arthur sat down on this very sofa and "talked" (blasphemed) about Verlaine, Fyodor and Dazai until nightfall.

(It was a very interesting conversation to be honest)

Then they simply read their poems in peace and quiet.

Chuuya then said goodbye to Arthur and made his way to his room.

Cute and pretty was the first thought Arthur had when he saw Chuuya.

The boy looked very similar to Verlaine in some way, but they also looked completely different.

On the boy's ear shone the earrings that Arthur had made with special care.

(Arthur was more pleased than he would ever admit how pleased he was that the boy was wearing the earrings).

Chuuya let go of Dazai and Fyodor's hands, who glared at Arthur as if his presence was an insult.

Arthur himself was surprised by the two of them, he would never have thought that these two could ever dress up so freely.

Chuuya let go of Fyodor and Dazai's hands and stepped towards Arthur.

Arthur stared at Chuuya. Verlaine had told him many stories about Chuuya, but none of them said that he was able to make two demon-like geniuses look like offended cats.

Then Chuuya got to speak and Arthur was pleasantly surprised by his voice but his words annoyed him

"I'm very pleased to finally meet you Verlaine has told me a lot about you even though it took me several years to get to know you personally and I'm sorry that I didn't give you an engagement present Verlaine didn't tell me that he was planning to get engaged."

Had Verlaine really not thought it necessary to tell his only little brother something so important?

He gave Verlaine an angry look, who shifted a little uncomfortably under his gaze.

(Verlaine had definitely imagined this meeting to be much more romantic, he hadn't even gotten a kiss after so long time)

But Arthur couldn't help but find Chuuya's way of teasing Verlaine funny, so he imitated it.

"I'm also very pleased to meet you, Verlaine has told me a lot about you, even though it took me several years to get to know you personally, and I'm very pleased that Verlaine gave you the earrings I gave you for your birthday."

Chuuya's eyes literally sparkled at the words while the demon brothers behind him were terribly indignant about the earrings fact.

Arthur really wanted to laugh but he didn't

It wasn't to end there as surprisingly Chuuya grabbed Arthur's hand gently.

"Come on Arthur I'll show you the castle and then your room Verlaine said that you appreciate good books so let's go to the archives and then you can meet Poe I'll have the cooks bring you some warm cocoa or would you prefer tea?"

Arthur saw no reason to resist and just let it happen, even if Verlaine shouted after them.

"This is your revenge Chuuya, you're still angry that I didn't tell you that I'm engaged and that's why you're stealing my fiancé now?"

But then Arthur blinked Chuuya stopped, turned around and flashed one of the cutest but obviously fake smiles Arthur has seen in his life.

"I don't know what you're talking about"

Arthur almost laughed at that.

Chuuya quickly let go of his hand, which was a bit of a pity as Chuuya's hand radiated a pleasant warmth.

Especially since this part of the castle was terribly cold.

(Arthur hated the cold if you haven't noticed)

"I'm sorry I just brought you here Verlaine got you the warmest room in the castle where we can go right away after we got some good books and you met Poe."

Arthur had to smile at these words. Verlaine had told him a lot about Chuuya's big heart.

"Somehow I'm surprised Verlaine did that, he's a concerned, loving idiot after all."

Arthur sighed, he knew his fiancé could be a terrible person but at least he tried not to show it too much in front of the people he valued.

(It's just a shame that there weren't that many)

"Just out of interest Chuuya which room is the second warmest, Verlaine's?"

Arthur really wondered as he could hardly imagine the king not sleeping in the warmest room, but he didn't want to be rude and open up.

"No Verlaine's is probably the third Verlaine made sure after our mother died that my room would never be too cold so I wouldn't get sick."

Huh? That brief expression on Chuuya's face shouldn't have been there, he seemed terribly sad.

Was it because he was thinking about his mother?

Then Chuuya spoke to Poe and Arthur couldn't help but observe the conversation for a moment.

Poe and Chuuya seemed to be good friends and Chuuya looked happy like before.

Then Poe suddenly bowed and apologized to him.

Arthur was a bit overwhelmed with Poe to be honest, the boy seemed too shy but still stubborn.

Chuuya's giggle saved him from a much more awkward situation and the two of them looked at some books together

(Arthur was more than happy to have found someone with the same taste in poetry).

After saying goodbye to Poe, the two quickly left the archive.

"Okey, let's go to the kitchen and from there to your room, the quickest way from here to your room is past your room anyway."

Arthur nodded and was about to say something when he heard a soft murmur.

"See those two there? One of them is the weak prince who gets everything he asks for just once and the guy next to him is Verlaine-san's fiancé so you'd better watch out for him."

Arthur squeezed the books a little tighter, how did these workers talk about their princes, especially Chuuya?

Chuuya didn't seem to have heard or heard over it, because he didn't reply to these words.

But when they could no longer be seen, he spoke and Arthur had trouble controlling himself.

"They will always stare you know? There are some who stare because they like you and there are people who literally judge you with your looks but don't worry no one in this castle would be stupid and tired of life enough to do anything after all we are under the "Verlaine protection" "

Arthur wondered for a moment if by stare he meant the words and deliberately didn't mention them, but for the sake of the poems in his hand he didn't think about it.

Even if he meant staring, it was already bad, how much must Chuuya have felt that look on his face?

To reassure Chuuya, he simply said.

"I see, thanks Chuuya"

He definitely had to get to the bottom of this.

When Chuuya and he arrived at the kitchen, the reaction was almost the same, except that there was fear and panic in those looks.

"and what kind are you?"

The question accidentally slipped out of Arthur's mouth but he didn't regret it.

Chuuya just shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal.

"I don't know, but you're definitely one of those people who are deathly afraid of Verlaine's punishments and would do anything to avoid them, but of course that's very understandable, so I usually let the flags go to the kitchen."

Arthur looked at the crowd, he knew that Verlaine could scare people very quickly but it seemed that everyone in the castle was afraid of him.

But Chuuya said something else important

"The Flags?"

Chuuya blinked and he looked like a cat.

"Ah sorry that's right you haven't met them yet the Flags are my only friends in this castle except for Poe and they also work as my bodyguard they are usually always with me but I think Verlaine sent them somewhere else for the whole day."

Ah, so Poe had thought of them when he asked about "the others" it was kind of good to know that Chuuya had friends who didn't just live in a cold place.

After that, everything was fine.

Arthur wasn't really surprised that Verlaine wanted the room next to him, he was a jealous idiot after all.

(He was 100% sure that Fyodor and Dazai also had rooms near Chuuya).

The warmth in his room, the conversation with Chuuya where stories about the betrothed were exchanged and also reading together were very nice.

But after Chuuya left the room, Arthur's gaze darkened - something was definitely wrong in this castle and he certainly wouldn't just watch it from afar

Chapter Text

Chuuya relaxed and made his way towards his room.

Today had gone very well Chuuya would never have dared to dream that his and Arthur's first meeting would go so well.

But in the end, all his worries had been for nothing - he even had someone new to talk to about books he like.

(Chuuya only had two people to talk to, Poe, who was often busy with his own work, and Verlaine, who was still a prince with duties).

So Chuuya walked in soft, quiet steps through the corridors Chuuya's room was a little separated from the other rooms.

(Verlaine couldn't let anyone even come close to Chuuya until he got engaged to Fyodor and Dazai and the two of them moved into the rooms next to him no matter how much Verlaine protested).

Chuuya gently stroked the walls with his hand, enjoying the soft tingling sensation.

Chuuya himself hated quiet places, he needed a certain amount of noise around him, it almost made him sick to be somewhere that was too quiet.

Chuuya started humming to himself as he walked and after a while stopped touching the walls all the time.

He would probably have to ask the Flags tomorrow what they had been doing all day today as Verlaine seemed to have given them a lot of tasks.

Chuuya could already imagine Albatross' whining and Lippmann's sarcastic comments.

Chuuya turned the last corner to his room and then stopped.

What the hell?

Dazai, Fyodor and Ranpo were sitting in front of his door playing chess.

Well, rather, Fyodor and Dazai were playing chess while Ranpo sat next to them, flipping through a book in his hand.

(Chuuya realized after a scrutinizing glance that Ranpo was actually reading a book by Poe that he had finished last month, and if Chuuya thought it was cute, no one needed to know)

The three were so focused on their respective occupations that Chuuya had to clear her throat to get their attention.

"I hate to interrupt your activities, but may I ask why I'm sitting on the floor and especially in front of my door?"

To be honest, Chuuya found it very amusing to see the three of them flinch and immediately turn their eyes to Chuuya.

What Chuuya doesn't find so amusing is that Ranpo and Dazai immediately jump towards him as if they had just been waiting to see him and jump at him afterwards

(Which they most probably did)

"Chuuya you have to help me"

Ranpo said as he lightly kicked Dazai in the air, causing him to hit the ground.

(Ranpo wasn't called a genius for nothing, he had to be able to at least keep up with the two demon brothers, right?)

Chuuya grimaced a little, however, when he saw Dazai hit the ground inelegantly with an "uff" that looked painful.

Fyodor watched amusedly in the background while he cleaned up the chess game.

(The two of them probably knew how the field was set up anyway and wouldn't forget it so quickly).

Chuuya looked at Ranpo who had a puppy dog look on his face so that those green eyes looked at Chuuya cutely.

(Chuuya wanted to cry damn why did Ranpo have to have those green eyes that reminded him of a cute little puppy dog?)

Chuuya hung his head in defeat and nodded, then Ranpo threw his hands in the air and said a terribly cute "yeah"

(And if Ranpo was secretly sticking his tongue out at Dazai and Fyodor and looking at them arrogantly, Chuuya didn't need to know)

"Come on, let's go for a walk and you can tell me what you need help with while you're at it"

Ranpo nods quickly and grabs Chuuya by the hand, pulling Chuuya back into the hallway he came from while giving Fyodor and Dazai a look that Chuuya is unsure what it means.

The two walk a certain way together and then Ranpo stops.

His expression is serious and Chuuya briefly wonders what is so important.

Chuuya gently tilts his head and smiles kindly at Ranpo.

"You can tell me what you need help with Ranpo, I'll try to help you as best I can"

Chuuya just wanted to say it even though he was afraid Ranpo would blurt out that he snuck into town on the day of Arahabaki's raid, but he appreciated Ranpo anyway.

Ranpo's serious expression shifted slightly to one of despair after Chuuya's words, then he sighed out as if he had made a difficult choice.

He looked at Chuuya and then opened his mouth.

"Can you help me get together with Poe?"

Chuuya blinked in surprise at the question and looked at Ranpo who looked just as surprised as Chuuya and Ranpo's cheeks reddened extremely after he said the words.

.... Was Ranpo shy and Chuuya had never noticed?

But to be honest, it was a little adorable to see Ranpo waiting outside his door to fight Fyodor and Dazai just to ask Chuuya for help to get together with Poe.

(Chuuya would have so many things to talk about with the flags later, they were so cute)

Chuuya nodded with a smile at Ranpo's suggestion, making the other flinch a little.

Chuuya hummed a little confused when he saw Ranpo's reaction.

Maybe it was the stress of the situation?

Chuuya looked at Ranpo with a friendly smile.

"Can I tell the Flags about this too, or is that awkward for you?"

Ranpo's eyes widen and panic breaks into his body

"NO I-I mean no I would be very uncomfortable with it."

Chuuya nodded understandingly then he just didn't have an interesting conversation with the flags about Ranpo and Poe's relationship.

"Well, I'll do my best to help you get together with Poe."

Ranpo grimaced a little at the words but then nodded obviously fake.

"Thanks Chuuya."

Chuuya didn't question Ranpo's action anymore love definitely does something to people.

"Please Ranpo"

(And if Chuuya doesn't hear Ranpo's self-criticism about "not changing his decisions", it's not a problem)

Chuuya finally went back to his room he would help Ranpo get together with Poe soon but first he needs sleep.

Chuuya hummed happily to himself as he turned the last corner to his room and then stopped.

In front of his door were Dazai and Fyodor again, but this time they were simply leaning against the wall, a dark shadow on their faces.

(Was that supposed to be intimidating? If so, the two should make sure they eat a little more because Chuuya could hardly take them seriously - they were both unhealthily thin. Not that Chuuya cared)

Dazai looked at Chuuya and it would have made any other person weak in the knees but Chuuya found that look more like an offended cat.

(Chuuya was definitely not influenced by the conversation with Arthur about pets, no Chuuya wasn't)

"You know, we had good plans today Chuuya, we planned everything down to the last detail"

Dazai pushed himself away from the wall and turned properly in Chuuya's direction.

He looked incredibly annoyed.

"We've made sure that the flags are very busy today, had the gardens brought up to their best condition because the servants said you love the gardens, had the chefs cook wonderful snacks and made sure that absolutely no one will disturb us."

Fyodor's voice sounded incredibly disappointed as he spoke.

Chuuya blinked, he knew they wanted to spend time together but he hadn't thought they had gone to so much trouble.

Dazai smiled angrily and Chuuya definitely saw why people called the people in front of them demons they could definitely seem scary.

But the point that they were upset about Chuuya postponing their time together was kind of... cute

"And we had a lot more planned we even made a special effort when we got dressed and today but for what to be let down for Arthur?"

Dazai hissed annoyed like a spoiled cat while Fyodor nodded and his black hair was in his face. If Chuuya observed Fyodor correctly, he looked more like a rabbit.

"We tried so hard to make our date at the castle as suitable for you as possible, but in the end it was all for nothing"

Fyodor's eyes glittered in the dark hallway, caught up in emotion.

(Chuuya almost choked and realized when he heard the two of them fully agree that they had a date)

Chuuya looked at Fyodor and Dazai, both seemed more than angry and disappointed that their whole plan was ruined.

Chuuya felt a bit of guilt inside as he saw the real disappointment.

Chuuya glanced at his door once more and then smiled broadly.

The two looked at Chuuya in confusion but he didn't let himself be confused and looked at Dazai and Fyodor.

"What do you think of a night date then?"

Chapter Text

Admittedly, Chuuya hadn't given it much thought before the question left his mouth, but he couldn't help himself.

It seemed a little unnecessary to brutally ditch the two brothers when they had gone to so much trouble.

(Even if Chuuya felt a little stupid for not thinking that Fyodor and Dazai had kept them busy with flags and immediately blamed Verlaine)

Chuuya stared intently at Fyodor and Dazai, not wanting to miss a reaction.

(And if his cheeks burned unpleasantly, absolutely no one needed to know, got it)

Dazai choked on his words and coughed when he heard Chuuya's words, which the other uttered completely without shame.

(Dazai over saw generously that the words he and Fyodor said were much more shameful and out of character if truth be told)

Fyodor himself turned even paler if possible, and a moment later an unhealthy flush shot up his face.

Chuuya was seriously worried that the two were about to fall over in front of him, seriously who reacts like that to a few teasing words?

Had Chuuya missed something during the time when The Flags, Poe and sometimes Tachihara and Atsushi were his only conversation partners?

Dazai caught himself after a moment of bewilderment and pursed his lips.

"This is so embarrassing! Don't you feel ashamed when you ask something like that so openly and unromantically?"

Chuuya would like to roll his eyes and smack Dazai upside the head, but unfortunately he still had a role to play, even if this situation annoyed him terribly.

(How could Dazai dare to complain when his and Fyodor's words were much more embarrassing? Chuuya would like to strangle both of them for putting him in this situation)

Fyodor had also quickly composed himself and stared a little blankly at Chuuya.

"You're completely serious, aren't you Chuuya?"

Chuuya decided that he would hit Fyodor too - weren't his words obviously the truth? Chuuya didn't understand all this fuss.

But once again, Chuuya cursed his role as the innocent sunshine prince and reacted differently than he would have preferred.

So Chuuya went back to doing one of the things he had practiced hard: acting

"I-It was only a suggestion I-If you don't like it we can do something else"

Chuuya didn't look at the two brothers but stared at the ground as he spoke.

Chuuya had always had big problems playing shy and uncomfortable.

After a while, however, Chuuya came up with a solution.

He simply imitated the movements of Atsushi and especially Poe.

He had watched the two of them a lot and Lippmann had corrupted him a hell of a lot, but in the end it was very important for their lie story that Chuuya had mastered it so well.

Fyodor and Dazai eyed Chuuya with expressionless faces, then Dazai sighed and shook his head.

"It shouldn't be allowed to be such a stupid prince, come on"

This time, it wasn't Chuuya who grabbed the two brothers by the arm, but Fyodor and Dazai.

Chuuya blinked in surprise when he saw this and was speechless and overwhelmed.

("You look so cute when you have that face Chu")

Dazai and Fyodor pulled Chuuya to the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Dazai left Fyodor and Dazai standing in the corridor and went in quickly.

Fyodor and Chuuya stood alone in the corridor and waited for Dazai.

They didn't say a word and just had a comfortable silence around them.

Even though Chuuya detested the silence, he liked it a little.

Fyodor looked down at Chuuya and gently watched the smaller man's face.

Chuuya himself noticed the looks, of course, but didn't say anything about them. Fyodor's looks were different from those of the workers in the castle, more like the looks of the flags

(Although Kazimir would be a better comparison but Chuuya couldn't bring himself to think of him).

Dazai quickly pushed open the door and glanced at the two of them scrutinizingly and then nodded once he was carrying a bag in his hand.

"Next stop the garden"

The three princes and betrothed walked together along the path to the gardens, where a table was already fully decorated.

(There was no way they had done this themselves Chuuya would definitely praise the person they had blackmailed it looked beautiful)

Fyodor, Dazai and Chuuya all sat down at the table and Fyodor took out plates, forks, cutlery and sweets from the bag.

(If Chuuya's eyes lit up and his mouth watered when he saw the strawberry candy, he hoped no one saw it, but the way the two brothers' lips twitched, they definitely did.)

The three of them were sitting there eating their sweets when suddenly several lights started flying around the garden.

"We had planned to cancel it but luckily we didn't, just enjoy the light show Chuuya"

Fyodor's voice rang softly in Chuuya's ear as he watched the lights Chuuya himself had an absolute fondness for light shows, which is one of the reasons why there are annual ones at almost all festivals.

Dazai and Fyodor leaned back in his chair and just watched the show silently.

Chuuya himself had leaned forward and watched the moving colorful lights with fascination.

As the show slowly came to an end, Chuuya couldn't help but clap, even though he looked completely stupid, but he didn't care.

Fyodor chuckled softly when he saw Chuuya's childish enthusiasm.

Dazai just rolled his eyes and held back the instinct to peel the little prince's head; the other looked like a little dog.

The three fiancés spent the rest of the time in the garden until morning and only went to their rooms when the workers had already started their work.

"It was a lot of fun, thank you two"

were Chuuya's last words before he closed the door to his room to finally go to sleep.

While the three princes had a sweet date together, the Flags stood in one of the corridors and watched the garden from a window.

"It's really a joke that those two "demons" thought they could keep us out of the castle until 10 a.m."

Albatross stretched his limbs comfortably before looking out again at the group talking in the garden.

"We're not Chuuya's body guard and his closest friends for nothing, it's just part of our job to deal with possessive people"

Iceman gently cleaned his dagger, which had been stained with blood, and did not look up as he spoke.

"Hmm I can only agree with you two they definitely tried hard but underestimated our loyalty to Chuuya but don't they all do that the first time?"

Doc chuckled softly from the wall as he finished sorechen.

"Oh how was my friends, it's always a pleasure to remember their funny expressions, especially Kazimir's"

Lippmann curled his lips into a smile, very amused by the memory.

"Kazimir was definitely the worst so far, how can a human be so jealous and looking for love?"

Albatross remembered painfully realistically the kick Kazimir once gave him.

"Guys, we shouldn't mention his name so recklessly, we know best how badly Chuuya suffered from losing Kazimir several times."

Piano man's voice rang out softly from the shadows from where he started at the three people sitting in the garden he even saw the flinch of Fyodor and Dazai's bodies and their gaze in the direction of the flags.

"You're such a hypocrite Piano man you complained so much about Kazimir when he was alive too."

Doc's voice was in no way judgmental, after all, each of the Flags was in the same situation Kazimir had made their lives so difficult so many times.

"My friends, we don't have to argue, we all know that Kazimir didn't always behave well towards us, but isn't it more important that Chuuya liked him?"

Lippmann crossed his arms in front of his chest and simply glared at the group.

"Well, you're right, even if I wonder how people never realized it, I mean wasn't it so terribly obvious?"

Iceman, who had finished cleaning his dagger, looked at his friends questioningly.

"I'm sure the queen already suspected it but that the others never realized it and let Chuuya suffer with it is a bit sad yes"

Piano man frowned at the memory.

"Do you think Chuuya will ever be able to love them? I even feel a little sorry for them"

Albatross' question was more like a whisper while he spoke

"After all, Kazimir and Chuuya had been in a relationship for so long"

Chapter Text

Chuuya couldn't help but stare at the ceiling as he lay in bed.

Today had been a nice day.

Normally, Chuuya would have mourned Kazimir's death all week and not talked nearly as much as he had today.

But this time he had collected many good moments.

The time together with Arthur, the sweet talk with Ranpo and of course the "date" with Fyodor and Dazai.

It had been a long time since anyone had given Chuuya such a surprise and planned so much.

But the last person had died a long time ago and was no longer among the living.

It had felt a bit like when Kazimir used to send the Flags away out of petty jealousy so they wouldn't be around when they were on a date.

Chuuya had to laugh a little at the memory of Albatross angrily grabbing Kazimir by the collar and the two of them shouting at each other.

They had been having such a good time until the truth slapped Chuuya brutally in the face.

Now Chuuya could do nothing but visit Kazimir at his grave, which he hadn't even managed to do this year.

The only thing he could do was to ask Albatross to bring the flowers to Kazimir's grave again.

Normally Albatross would bring the flowers to the grave and Chuuya would sneak away from the festival to visit Kazimir in person.

But he still had to visit Kazimir this week or he would never be able to forgive himself.

Chuuya sighed in the end, thinking too much about Kazimir didn't do him any good.

Chuuya lay down to the side and looked at the door, smiling slightly as he saw the situation he had just witnessed.

Fyodor and Dazai playing chess together Ranpo reading Poe's book with such an affectionate look.

Chuuya fell asleep with a gentle smile on his face.

"The queen has fallen seriously ill."

Chuuya looked at the doctor in disbelief.

"W-What did you say?"

Chuuya's voice barely resembled a whisper anymore.

His brother stood behind Chuuya and held Chuuya by the shoulders, staring coldly at the doctor.

Ane-san stood by his mother's bed and her face was completely pale.

His father himself gently held his mother's hand and stared at her with sad eyes.

"The queen has fallen seriously ill."

The doctor replied, turning his gaze away from the 7-year-old Chuuya and looking at the king.

"Unfortunately, there is no way to cure the queen, Your Highness the queen will leave us in a few days, so don't get your hopes up and start planning the funeral."

Verlaine saw red after these words and slapped the doctor across the face, his nails tearing open his left cheek.

"How dare you talk like that in front of Chuuya you idiot he's fucking 7 and only recently lost his best friend"

Chuuya clung to Verlaine's leg and didn't look up.

The doctor blinked for a moment he was very young probably around 18 but he was an excellent doctor thanks to his skill.

(What Chuuya didn't know was that the doctor was even younger but could change his age at will with his ability).

The doctor looked down at little Chuuya, who was clutching Verlaine's foot in despair and sighed.

"I'm terribly sorry for my insensitive words, but I'm afraid I have to go on, there's not much more I can do here."

The doctor bowed once, his blond-black hair falling into his face, and then he turned and left the room before closing the door, glancing once more into the room and grinning behind Verlaine's back and the backs of everyone else in the room.

Only the seven-year-old Chuuya saw the grin, watching the doctor between Verlaine's legs .

The doctor who noticed Chuuya'a look gave him a wink and then closed the door.

As soon as the door closed, tears flowed from Chuuya'a's eyes and he clung to his older brother's legs.

"B-brother w-will ma-ma die too?"

Chuuya's words were muffled by his brother's pants in which Chuuya stuck his face.

Verlaine's face screwed up when he heard Chuuya's voice, his precious little brother was only seven and had already lost his only friend and soon his mother.

(Verlaine didn't dare look at his mother or he would get emotional too)

Verlaine bent down to Chuuya and lifted him into his arms Chuuya's face was covered in tears and his eyes were red but he looked terribly pale.

"Hey it's going to be okay Chuuya it's going to be okay"

Verlaine whispered in Chuuya's ear but Chuuya didn't stop crying.

Chuuya woke up feeling terrible.

His whole body was sweaty and he felt terrible.

He hated the memories that always haunted him like a bad joke.

"You looked like you suffered terribly"

Chuuya immediately jumped up when he heard the voice.

(Chuuya only vaguely noticed that his eyes hurt as he looked around the room)

On Chuuya's favorite couch next to his personal bookcase sat Arthur with a book in his hand.

(It was the book they had talked about earlier that Arthur had brought with him but was still in his suitcase downstairs and that he wanted to show Chuuya)

Chuuya let out a sigh and stroked his sweaty hair.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, you are here for the book here, didn't you?"

Arthur frowned at Chuuya's reaction and a sinister gleam appeared in his eyes.

"....yeah I was here for the book but I think we can talk about it later, you should show your neck to a doctor it looks very bad"

Chuuya starts in silent fear.

He had scratched his skin again while dreaming?

Now that Arthur said it, Chuuya felt the blood running down his neck.

(Chuuya had stopped feeling the pain a long time ago)

Arthur's gaze intensified at Chuuya's reaction.

(If Arthur didn't know before that something was wrong here, he was 100% sure by now)

Chapter Text

"You should take better care of yourself Chuuya"

Doc looked at Chuuya's wound with a skeptical look.

Chuuya wanted to turn his head away and pout, but that was not possible if Doc was to examine his wounds.

Chuuya had had one of the workers call Doc and had specifically mentioned not to wake the flags as they were having a hard day.

So Chuuya sat on his bed, Doc on his chair in front of him and Arthur sat at his side, watching the situation in front of him with an expressionless look.

Chuuya had decided not to lie this time Arthur had seen Chuuya scratch his own hair in his sleep and didn't even notice when he was awake until Arthur brought it up.

Lying here would only make the whole situation worse and besides, Arthur was smart and wouldn't fall for something like that.

Chuuya let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes tiredly. A good night's sleep was really denied him, wasn't it?

("I would lock up all bad dreams if I could Chu")

"How bad is it this time, Doc?"

Chuuya hissed out painfully because Doc was starting to clean his wounds.

"As 'tros would say a level 6 this is worse than last time but better than then."

Arthur's face stiffened as he heard Doc's words.

"If this is level 6, how bad is the worst level?"

Doc flinched a little when he heard Arthur's voice as if he had completely tuned Arthur out.

Chuuya noticed that Doc was visibly uncomfortable with the question and decided to answer himself.

"The worst thing that happened was when I almost scratched my veins in my neck and nearly died because of it"

Chuuya made his voice sound carefree and relaxed, he didn't want to talk much about it.

(Maybe Chuuya shouldn't have been so honest)

Arthur choked a little when he heard Chuuya speak, coughing hard and even his cap fell off his head.

"Arthur, are you all right? Would you rather Doc check you quickly?"

Now Dic slapped his forehead.

How could a person sometimes be so damn clever but sometimes so incredibly stupid and naive?

Arthur definitely hadn't composed himself, but at least he was able to talk.

"How did it get so bad?"

Chuuya was about to open his mouth when Doc beat him to it.

"Chuuya is terrible at relieving stress, sometimes he just hums to himself, but when it gets too much he starts scratching his skin."

Arthur looks from Doc to Chuuya, unsure what to say.

Then he smiles gently at Chuuya and nods once.

"Then we'll just have to do our best to keep Chuuya far away from stress, won't we?"

Chuuya blinks in surprise at the question and then his cheeks turn a soft pink.

(Damn why can't he get a great Fiancé like Verlaine? Arthur is so damn adorable)

Thought Chuuya with a tinge of jealousy, his brother was so lucky.

(Why couldn't Arthur have a brother as cute as Chuuya? Chuuya is such a cute little brother).

Arthur thought with a pang of jealousy.
His fiancé was so lucky.

Doc, who had finished cleaning the wounds, looked at Chuuya with a pitying look.

"I'm sorry Chuuya but this time we have to bandage the wounds"

Chuuya grimaced when he saw the bandage in Doc's hand Chuuya hated bandages like the plague so much.

Doc didn't pay any attention to Chuuya's prodests but simply started to gently place the bandage around Chuuya's neck.

Arthur watched this treatment with a certain expression of amusement, oh this would certainly be entertaining and annoying at dinner.

Chuuya grumbled annoyedly to himself while Doc put the bandage on him, it was so unnecessary.

Why did Chuuya have to scratch his neck so badly that Doc had to put a bandage on him and then he looked like a mummy.

Doc shook his head, he had told Chuuya that he was level 6 but Chuuya had just missed the places that could be dangerous.

Doc couldn't imagine what kind of trouble there would be when they entered the pantry.

"So that's it, I'll have to change the bandage a few more times and check the wounds but otherwise it should heal quite well I've also put some cream on it as long as you don't make it any worse everything will be fine"

Doc leaned back in his chair with satisfaction and looked at Chuuya with a stern expression on his face.

"Thanks Doc"

Chuuya murmured and had the aura of a small child at that moment.

The corners of Arhur's mouth lifted as he watched Chuuya's. What a pity that he had never seen Chuuya as a child.

"How are you going to explain this to the others, Chuuya?"

Chuuya winced a little at the memory, right, he still had to explain to the Flags why he didn't let them wake up too.

(Chuuya refuses to think about the reaction of Verlaine, Fyodor and Dazai he didn't want to get an unnecessary headache so early)

"I guess I'll just tell them the truth to their faces without hesitation"

Doc shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever you say, you'll only meet them in the pantry today anyway, they'll definitely be late because of Lippmann and Ambatros as usual after a long mission"

Chuuya chuckled softly at the thought of Albatross completely asleep and the Flags desperately trying to wake him up while Lippmann had a crack about his appearance.

"You should both leave soon after Chuuya has changed and you'll arrive before your fiancé and the king."

Arthur and Chuuya looked at each other and nodded.

Chuuya quickly jumped up and ran to his closet while Arthur averted his eyes out of respect and began to speak quietly to Doc.

Chuuya spontaneously decided on a white and red suit and glanced over his shoulders at Arthur to see if he was watching him.

When he saw that the Doc and Arthur were talking quietly, he smiled with satisfaction - it was good that the two of them understood each other.

Chuuya then quickly got dressed, adjusted his suit and gently tapped Arthur on the shoulder.

"We can go"

Chapter Text

"Do you want to tell them the whole truth?"

Chuuya looked up at Arthur they were just outside the pantry and luckily hadn't run into anyone yet.

Chuuya had asked Doc to tell the Flags before they left his room.

Chuuya realized that it was quite unnecessary to tell the flags himself, he could just let Doc do it.

(That Chuuya didn't have to feel their worried looks while he told them)

"I think so I mean what kind of lie do you want me to make up? The cat tracks are hard to hide."

Arthur looks at Chuuya gently.

"That wasn't the first incident, was it? Did you hide it before that, or do the king and Verlaine know about it?"

Chuuya grimaced at Arthur's words.

"No of course they don't know, it will be the first time they know the truth, I've always been good at hiding my wounds but now that I'm engaged to Fyodor and Dazai I can't hide very well."

Arthur nodded after a moment of silence, not really knowing how to react to Chuuya's words.

(What happened in this family?)

Arthur and Chuuya sat down next to each other at the table and waited for the others.

Chuuya plucked at the bandage around his neck, it was a terrible feeling not being able to scratch.

Arthur gently pressed a cup of tea into Chuuya's hand and gently bowed his head.

"Tea calms the mind as well as a good song"

Chuuya hummed appreciatively and sipped his tea lightly.

Chuuya didn't know that Arthur was trained in music, but you learn something new every day, don't you?

Arthur and Chuuya had a cup of warm tea before dinner and talked quietly about Arthur's book.

Until Chuuya heard soft footsteps on the floor and jumped, he knew these footsteps very well and had heard them so many times before.

The door opened and Verlaine entered the room, neatly and elegantly dressed as always.

(When Chuuya looked closely at Verlaine, he even noticed that Verlaine looked even more groomed than usual today)

Verlaine probably didn't expect anyone to be there before him.

(Which is Verlaine's right as Chuuya and the demon brothers are always very late)

But then Verlaine looks in their direction and first his eyes light up when he sees Arthur sitting with Chuuya, then he furrows his eyebrow and stares at Chuuya intently.

"Chuuya what happened to your neck?"

Chuuya squirms a little under Verlaine's sharp gaze and looks anywhere but at Verlaine.

Verlaine takes a step towards Chuuya and Arthur.

"Chuuya WHAT happened to your neck?"

Arthur next to Chuuya looked at Verlaine warningly.

"Darling how about you sit down, calm down and we'll talk. Chuuya's fine, don't worry."

Verlaine looks at Arthur and his gaze softens a little and he sits down next to Chuuya.

(Chuuya can't help but play nervously with his bandages at Verlaine's reaction. Why did Verlaine listen to Arthur so easily?)

But before Verlaine could speak, the door to the pantry opened and Fyodor and Dazai rushed in with a flurry of activity.

Both of them immediately looked at Chuuya and their eyes widened slightly when they saw the bandage around Chuuya's neck.

"Dazai, Fyodor what's are you doing again?"

Arthur looks at the two brothers unimpressed.

"What happened to your neck that your whole pillow is covered in blood?"

Fyodor's voice is breathless and he and Dazai stare piercingly at Chuuya's neck.

Chuuya, on the other hand, stiffens.

Oh yes, he had completely forgotten about the blood on his bed.

Arthur next to Chuuya watches Fyodor's and Dazai's reaction with sharp eyes.

Dazai approaches Chuuya quickly and looks at the bandage with sharp eyes.

Chuuya leans back in his chair, feeling a little uncomfortable under Dazai's probing eyes.

Dazai gently touched the bandage around Chuuya's neck, just a brief touch, then pulled his hand away.

Then Dazai frowned and glanced at Fyodor, the two of them talking again with their gazes.

"WHAT the hell happened to your neck that your bed was full of blood and the doctor put a bandage on you that's extra soft and most effective against stab wounds?"

Chuuya wanted to fucking scratch his skin off again. Why was today such a terrible day?

Fyodor stepped closer to Chuuya now and stared down at the little redhead.

Arthur sighed had he thought it would be amusing? No, it was just a headache.

(Even if Arthur could understand the reaction of the three very well, he would probably have reacted the same way if he didn't already know)

"Who do you think you two are? Stop stressing my brother out like that and take your seats."

Verlaine slammed his hand angrily on the table and gave both brothers angry looks.

Dazai grimaced mockingly while Fyodor's eyes simply gleamed with amusement

"Me and Fyodor are Chuuya's fiancées, so we have every right to have this conversation"

Arthur and Chuuya looked back and forth between the two sides, not really sure if they wanted to intervene as they watched the three of them insult each other at "genius level".

Arthur buried his face in his hand. How could a situation escalate so much?

It got worse when the Flags rushed through the door with Doc behind them with a desperate look on his face.

Verlaine and the two demon brothers stopped insulting each other and glared at the Flags now.

"Chuuya how can you let Doc wake you up?"

Iceman sounded incredibly disappointed as he spoke and saw the bandage around Chuuya's neck Doc had already explained everything to them but watching it himself was another matter entirely.

"Yes, didn't we tell you back then that you should let us know at any time, even if we are not as experienced in the field as Doc, we have the right to see you as soon as possible if you scratch your skin off again and it almost gets so bad again that you could die"

Albatross grumbled loudly and seemed unaware of the situation he was in.

Until he heard five voices speaking at once.

"What?"

Albatross looked around the room for the first time, taking in the surprised faces of Verlaine, Fyodor, Dazai, Ranpo and Nikolai.

(Ranpo and Nikolai came in after the flags, but nobody noticed thanks to the hustle and bustle)

Albatross only now realized what he was saying and his face screwed up.

"Oops? Just kiding?"

Chapter Text

Chuuya sighed heavily as this situation escalated terribly quickly.

A few minutes ago he was sitting here with Arthur and they were talking quietly about a great book and good tea.

Now five people are starting at him as if to reassure him that they haven't misheard him and that Albatross' words are true.

(Nikolai even banged his head against the hard wall and then asked Ranpo if he had heard the same thing, to which the sugar-addicted man simply nods, not at all surprised by Nikolai's action. Chuuya was a little worried about Nikolai's health, to be honest)

If Chuuya wanted to scratch his neck before, he now had the urge to simply peel off his skin.

Chuuya should never admit or do this out loud, it would be very stupid of him if just scratching his neck would cause such a reaction and it would be too brutal a way of dealing with stes even for Chuuya so he really shouldn't do it.

The Flags all hit Albatross on the head, which he takes with a pout and doesn't even try to complain because he knows he did something very stupid.

Chuuya simply waves off the Flags when they suggest he destroy Albatross' guitar as revenge.

Chuuya is not willing to put up with the headache when Albatross buys a new guitar and plays it extra loud for the sheer joy of doing harm.

Even if it would certainly be a brief pleasure to banish this terrible guitar playing completely from the house

Lippmann shakes Albatross's shoulder, bends down to him and then says sympathetically.

"Have fun listening to Poe's lecture later on "Not spilling secrets out of panic" I'll hope it doesn't take too long for you"

Albatross turns a little pale at Lipmman's words and Pianoman chuckles behind his hand.

Poe is the sweetest person you can meet 95% of the time, but in that 5% of the time he's terribly scary so the Flags have everyone lectured about misbehaving.

(It's very, very effective)

Chuuya halfway calmed down after Albatross's "telling the truth too honestly without noticing the other people in the room" action and now joined the conversation.

"Guys do we really want to tell Poe about this the poor guy will be very angry again and even though I think Albatross deserved it we all know how it feels to be "lectured" by Poe"

The flags except Doc and Iceman grimace in pain.

(Chuuya is definitely not pouting about Doc and Iceman never being lectured because Doc is like Poe's big brother and Poe has too much respect for him and Iceman hasn't done anything worth lecturing yet).

"Well, I think we can forgive 'Tross for once."

Lippmann says with a hint of drama in his voice and the others nod in agreement.

Arthur is more than amused by this conversation, the "Flags" seem to be really good friends of Chuuya and Poe liked Arthur too.

"Have you actually contacted Poe yet?"

Chuuya asked the group because it had become a tradition to visit Poe after a mission out of town and say hello.

Piano man nodded at Chuuya's words and leaned against the wall.

"Yes, of course we did, even though it would probably be considered strange by others to visit someone so late at night."

Chuuya nodded briefly to show that he had been listening as Iceman began to speak.

"Guys, should we really pretend this situation is normal? The poor things look horrible."

At that moment, each of the Flags and Chuuya proved why they were friends.

They all looked around at the same time as if they had forgotten the situation they were in and started to look at five horrified faces.

"Oops? Just kiding?"

Ranpo and Nikolai were in each other's arms after these words and laughed out loud, even if it wasn't normally a funny situation, the group's reaction was just too great.

Whereas Verlaine, Fyodor and Dazai look completely horrified.

Arthur giggles a little but hides it behind a cough.

Piano man turns to Iceman and then shrugs his shoulders, looking playfully unconcerned.

"Is it really our fault? I mean, you saw for yourself how Chuuya once scratched his neck during a conversation and never mentioned it again, but now that he's doing the same thing but wearing a bandage, it's a completely different matter, isn't it?"

Lippmann joins Pianoman and barely looks at the people's faces as the realization hits them that they should have realized a long time ago that something wasn't quite right with Chuuya.

"Oh yes, you're so right my friend, but what was the most important thing for them back then? Even more important than wondering what exactly happened to Chuuya? I seem to remember that it was a completely unnecessary argument about a festival. Don't you?"

The rest of the Flags nodded quickly, now was their time to finally say what was on their minds and what they had wanted to say for a long time.

Albatross was just about to open his mouth and begin his speech when the doors to the dining hall opened again and a man with a large scroll entered the room.

"To all the people of the land, the prince of the kingdom of Izanagi will soon arrive and live in this land for a while thanks to the peace treaty.

-king of the land of Izanagi

Chuuya looked up at the ceiling and the first thing he thought was: Why so many people want to live her?

Chapter Text

The room came to a complete standstill when they heard the news.

Fyodor and Dazai looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Does it have to be him? Why can't it be anyone else, or even better, no one else is coming?"

Dazai grumbles dramatically, slumping against the table.

Ranpo and Nikolai react very similarly to Dazai

Ranpo puts a loli in his mouth and grumbles about a "pest with an innocent face"

(Chuuya tried not to question it, which he will probably regret in the future, but right now he didn't want to deal with the words of a love-struck genius.)

While Nikolai's reaction is similar to Dazai's, except that he doesn't fall against the table but against the wall, which he holds dramatically.

(why exactly was Nikolai Fyodor's companion and not Dazai's? Ranpo, Niklolai and Dazai would definitely make a very good team and Akutagawa fits in a little better with Fyodor anyway )

Chuuya grimaced a little when he saw these dramatic reactions, but it was a small consolation that Verlaine also looked very annoyed by the group's poses.

Chuuya hummed softly, looked questioningly at Arthur beside him and tilted his head.

"Arthur, who exactly is this prince from Izanagi? And why do the four most annoying people in this room seem so unhappy about his presence?"

Fyodor grimaced at Chuuya's words.

"Chuuya as much as I appreciate you can you please not compare me to those people"

The corners of Chuuya's mouth almost twitched when he saw Fyodor's expression, the man looked like an offended cat being compared to another cat it hates and hissing about it.

Albstross nodded in agreement to Fyodor's words and spoke in offense.

"I can only agree Chuuya why are these four more annoying than me?"

Iceman simply smacked Albatross on the head and pulled him away from the others.

"We should get back to being more professional 'tross so just stand here and do the worst you can and just be quiet."

Albatross sulked but accepted his fate and stood with the rest of the Flags who gloated at him.

Arthur smiled gently and tapped Chuuya on the shoulder.

"To your question Chuuya I never met the prince myself as I was visiting the shrine at the time and visiting the priests by the time I made it back the prince was already gone but Mori and Fukuzawa were very... tense but not a single person in the castle told me what exactly happened while the prince was away"

Chuuya looked over at the four people who were all terribly offended by the fact that the prince seemed to be coming.

What could this prince have done?

The four didn't seem to have heard Arthur's words or they were deliberately ignoring it.

Chuuya strongly assumed the second option if someone asked him but he had to concentrate on Arthur who continued to speak.

"I had wanted to do some research on the prince but nothing really stood out so I can't really say why they dislike him so much."

Chuuya nodded and looked at Dazai, Fyodor and Verlaine who were talking quietly then he asked the question that someone should have asked long ago but somehow didn't.

"Where's father anyway? He's never late, especially not when we have guests"

The others looked around and blinked - yes, normally there should be a king sitting here just watching them and intervening when it suits him.

Verlaine shrugged his shoulders gracefully as always, his groomed blond hair moving with him.

"He's probably preparing for the arrival of Prince Poe and should have a lot of new work for a while."

The flags and Chuuya pulled a face when they heard and understood Verlaine's words Poe usually had a lot of work to do, but since there were always so many visitors and so many events happening at the same time, her poor friend had a lot of work to do

Chuuya looked at the tables and shrugged his shoulders.

"Shall we all eat together today if father isn't coming anyway?"

The others look at each other, even if Verlaine falters for a moment and looks like he wants to disagree, he doesn't in the end when he sees that everyone else seems to agree.

(And if it's because Arthur starts at him with soft, lazy eyes then no one needs to know).

After Verlaine gives the okay, the demon brothers quickly sit down on the other side of Chuuya, Verlaine's normal spot.

"What are you doing?"

Verlaine grunts annoyed why did everyone seem to be trying to steal his time with Arthur?

"We're not paying attention to rules today so it shouldn't be a problem if me and Dazai change our seats"

Fyodor's voice sounds softly at Chuuya's as Fyodor sits right next to Chuuya.

Verlaine who doesn't necessarily want to get angry in front of Arthur sighs and sits down in front of Arthur with Flags, Ranpo and Nikolai next to him.

(Chuuya can't remember how long it's been since he ate such a loud *and funny* meal)

"How much longer will it take?"

A bored voice sounds from a blood-red carriage.

"Not much longer Your Highness, we will reach the kingdom of Susanoo in a few days"

The coachman spoke with bated breath and continued to look straight ahead.

"Oh will there be any events in between?"

The voice still sounded the same but you could gently hear a book being closed.

"No, of course nothing should interrupt our journey, but there is a high chance that robbers could be nearby."

When the voice didn't answer for a moment, the coachman felt a little uneasy, but it got worse when the man in the carriage spoke.

"Oh yes? Then I hope we meet robbers soon, I'm terribly bored."

The Prince in the carriage looked at a picture in his hand and sighed heavily.

He really was bored

Chapter Text

"Hello Poe what are you doing? I hope you have less stress than we just had"

Chuuya cautiously pokes his head into the archive to see if everything is safe and then gives an "all is safe sign" behind his back when he sees Ranpo sitting relaxed at his table.

The flags exhale the held air as they see the "all is safe sign" which is usually used for Arahabaki situations but it is also good to use in situations where you are not allowed to talk.

Poe looks up from one of his many reports and looks briefly at Chuuya Karl is lying on a shelf to Poe's left, sleeping peacefully.

"Oh hello Chuuya glad to see you and the others but wait a minute what did you do to your neck?"

Poe didn't look at the surely important documents for a moment as he looked at Chuuya's neck and slowly walked towards Chuuya.

Chuuya smiled reassuringly at Poe and patted his head.

(Which is a little difficult due to their height difference but Chuuya manages to do it anyway).

"Don't worry Poe it's not as bad as it looks I must have had another little seizure while I was dreaming, Doc was overprotective as usual and thought it would be a good idea to give an annoying bandage but it's nothing serious after a few days it'll be over."

Chuuya smiled reassuringly and simply looked at Poe lovingly.

But Poe's gaze was directed under his hair at Doc, who felt his gaze and pressed his lips together, shaking his head slightly.

Poe smiled at Chuuya and then turned around.

"Glad to hear it Chuuya come sit down."

Hiding under his hair, no one noticed Poe's sad eyes.

Poe knew that Chuuya didn't want to stress him any more and therefore lied to him with a smile on his face, but it still hurt to see that smile on Chuuya's face.

The group of friends sat down on the chairs in front of Poe's table.

"You're going to get a lot of work soon Poe"

Poe looked at Piano man desperately while Karl who was awakened by the noise happily jumped on Poe's shoulder and looked at the group with a smile.

(The heart of the group of friends melts when they see that they really should have adopted Karl before, he's so cute).

"Why am I getting so much work? Did something annoying happen again that has a lot of paperwork?"

Poe slumps his shoulders a little defeated and Chuuya would really like to deny it but unfortunately Poe was completely right about what he said.

Chuuya scratched the back of his head in embarrassment even though he couldn't help the whole situation and then spoke.

"The prince of Izanagi will live with us for a while"

Chuuya cut to the chase and made a slightly sympathetic face when he saw Poe slump a little.

"Why do so many people come here to live? Don't they know how much work it is for poor hard-working people like me?"

Lippmann smiled sympathetically Poe really did have one of the hardest and most annoying jobs there was.

"It's going to be okay Poe we can certainly help you too-"

Doc's words were interrupted as someone quickly opened the Archov's door and closed it just as quickly.

The person leaned heavily against the door and whispered.

"Finally I'm rid of him a little rest from that madman before he starts doing stupid things again to see my "confused face" like I hate him"

The person didn't seem to have realized which room he had run into and that he was definitely not alone.

The group looked at each other a little cluelessly.

Should they tell the guy that he wasn't alone?

But it seemed a little rude as he seemed to need rest, he had his eyes closed and was slowly catching his breath.

Albatross threw his hand up in the air as quietly as possible and pointed at the man while wildly forming words with his mouth.

Iceman shrugged his shoulders and looked cluelessly at the group.

Piano man pointed his finger at the group then at the man and nodded.

Doc shook his head quickly and made an X with his fingers.

Lippmann leaned back in his chair and wiped a few (fake) tears from his eyes as he pointed at the man.

Poe made himself smaller in his head and shook his head wildly.

Chuuya agreed with Piano man with a nod and pointed at the man and then smiled politely and formed silent words with his mouth.

In the end, their silent conversation was interrupted and they couldn't decide on anything anyway as Karl was excited to see the new visitor and jumped on the man.

The man screamed loudly as he lost his balance thanks to Karl and would surely have hit the floor if he wasn't leaning against the wall.

The man only now noticed the group and stared at them with burning cheeks as he finally understood what had just happened.

Chuuya just smiles awkwardly and scratches his head.

"Uhm do you like tea?"

"I'm really sorry again I didn't know this room was the archive I just wanted to get away from Nikolai his personality is too annoying sometimes."

Sigma apologized, his cheeks still burning as he tried to hide behind his tea.

Albatross just laughed amusedly and nodded understandingly.

"Don't worry Sigma-kun, of course we can understand that, after all, we are friends with Poe."

Poe gave him an offended look.

"What do you mean, Albatross?"

Doc raised his hands protectively.

"Albatross just meant that you can be very shy, Poe, that you have a lot of stress because of your job and that you don't like being around annoying people, which is why you really live next to your archives."

Karl nodded in agreement from Sigma's lap and hissed in satisfaction as Sigma slowly stroked his fur.

Sigma definitely hadn't expected to be drinking tea with the prince, his bodyguard and the head of the archives (and his raccoons) as he hid from Nikolai

"Ah that was nice"

The man stepped back into his blood-red carriag and the door closed behind him a few seconds after he entered it

The coachman was shaking badly as he made his way back to his seat he had a feeling he was going to fall down at any moment.

When the coachman was back in his position, he waited quietly for his master's orders.

The man in the carriage sat back down in his seat.

"Ah, that hardly helped me with the boredom, what a pity."

The prince looked at the picture in his hand again and sighed.

"Someone should take care of the bodies soon so I don't have to worry about that. Let's get going"

And so the carriage drove on, leaving the bodies of the robbers behind.

No one would find out what had happened here, how could they see blood on a blood-red carriage?

And even if someone did find out, the prince definitely knew how to shut them up.

The prince sighed heavily, it was still so long to the Susanoo kingdom

Chapter Text

"That was nice, let's go then I hope we can do this again sometime"

Chuuya waves once more to Sigma and Poe before leaving the archive with the Flags.

The group had spent two hours just chatting and having fun over tea and cookies.

Chuuya smiled slightly as he remembered Sigma's bright eyes when he bit into the cookie.

It was incredibly cute to watch.

Chuuya also had to part with the Flags as they were ordered by the king for extra training as they were about to receive a new visitor whose intentions were unclear.

Chuuya sighed as he stood alone in the hallway again and looked out the window.

The sun was shining brightly above them, illuminating them so incredibly beautifully.

To be honest, Chuuya didn't know what to do, so he just took off after the flags.

How Chuuya would love to go training with them as a normal person and talk to the other knights without them looking at him like he was made of sugar.

Although Chuuya couldn't even blame them because it was the story he had made everyone believe for several years of his life, he had fed them exactly that story and had to live with the consequences.

Chuuya felt goosebumps for no reason as he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

What else could Chuuya do today?

Arthur and Verlaine had their first date after a long time together so visiting Arthur was not an option

Should he visit the garden to keep his nature-loving side credible?

Should he offer his help to the workers who would refuse anyway so that people would whisper about how nice Chuuya is?

Or maybe he should find a book to read and read it in the library to show that he's not stupid?

Chuuya laughed a little bitterly at the thought that people could really call him stupid.

After all, the biggest proof of their own stupidity was that they called Chuuya stupid.

Chuuya looks out of the window and in the distance he can see the people in the city living a normal life.

In another universe, would Chuuya perhaps have a life similar to these?

A life where the burden of being the perfect prince was not on his shoulders.

Chuuya hummed softly and then continued on his way into the dark hallway of the castle, leaving the light behind him.

There was no point in thinking about it.

Chuuya had decided what to do anyway to keep his perfect mask perfect.

"Hello, please don't pay any attention to me and get on with your work"

Chuuya smiled as the chefs looked at him in confusion and nodded slowly.

A very brave (and curious) cook looked at Chuuya with her confused brown eyes.

"What do you want to do here Chuuya-san can we help you?"

Chuuya stepped uneasily from one foot to the other and looked uncertainly at a small shy smile on his face.

"Uhm i-it's nothing special I j-just wanted to"

Chuuya bit his lip uncertainly and stared at the chefs with unshielded eyes.

"I thought it would be a g-good idea to b-bake something for Dazai and Fyodor."

The chefs literally melted away and some even felt like they were having trouble standing.

Chuuya-sama was so damn cute and innocently protective of his soul!

"O-Of course you can bake here Chuuya-san"

Chuuya smiled gratefully at her and nodded once.

"Thank you very much I'll do my best not to disturb them."

The chefs shook their heads at the same time and Chuuya almost wanted to take a step back when he saw their passion.

Had he done something wrong?

"You're not disturbing us at all Chuuya-san you have nothing to worry about"

A blonde-haired chef shouted passionately in Chuuya's face, which made him smile a little.

"thank you very much"

And so Chuuya sat down to make sweets for his fiancée.

Chuuya made the dough with great care, he wanted to be able to give the two brothers good and tasty sweets when he was finished.

The cooks helped Chuuya a few times when it looked like he might need help but let him do most of the work himself and worked on their own things.

(Chuuya didn't notice how the cooks quietly cheered him on behind his back and occasionally glanced at him to see if everything was okay).

Chuuya was definitely not a clean person when it came to cooking and so he made his surroundings very dirty, but no one seemed to mind.

ChuuÈya sighed happily as he pushed the sweets
into the oven and was finally finished.

Chuuya had really imagined it would be easier, but nothing could stop him from finishing the candy.

Chuuya turned around and saw his dirty workplace and sighed loudly once more.

Yes, his work was far from over.

The cooks tried to stop Chuuya from cleaning but Chuuya just smiled and said that it was okay and he could do it on his own

After several hours of hard work, Chuuya finally had the sweets in his hand that Haruto-san called "Macaron" and whose recipe he had given Chuuya a long time ago.

The chefs helped Chuuya as best they could to place the macarons on a large plate and after that was done they high-fived each other.

"Thanks again guys I'll tell you later how they found the sweets."

The chefs smiled broadly back and nodded.

"See you Chuuya-san we hope you like it"

Chuuya closed the door behind him and was now alone in the hallway.

Chuuya knew that this was just an excuse to make a good impression on the chefs, but he realized that he really wanted Fyodor and Dazai to like his baked goods.

Chuuya blushed slightly at the thought and nodded, all he had to do now was find Fyodor and Dazai and give it to them.

Chuuya felt the slight excitement in his steps as he set off with his little gift to find his fiancées.

Chuuya searched the whole castle for Fyodor and Dazai despite the long distance he walked Chuuya didn't feel a bit exhausted the thought of finding them was top priority.

"Chuuya-sama p-please wait a moment, I have something to tell you"

A guard called out loudly to Chuuya, whereupon Chuuya turned around and tilted his head.

"What's going on? I'm sorry, I don't have that much time, I still have to find Dazai and Fyodor."

The guard stopped in front of him, panting, and spoke after a moment.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about Chuuya-sama, your fiancées left the castle with Nikolai, Ranpo and Akutagwa an hour ago and will probably not be back for several days."

Oh, that explains a lot.

Chuuya felt the disappointment and sadness hit him and blinked briefly.

"Ah.... thank you for telling me."

Chuuya smiles at the guard and then turns around.

The guard starts after Chuuya with a sad expression

The prince looked terribly disappointed and sad

Chuuya swallowed hard then he would just eat the macarons alone in his room, that was no problem

Chapter Text

"Do you think that was the right idea, my king?"

A man in his late 40s bowed his head slightly as he looked at his king sitting on his throne reading through the royal documents.

The king, a man in his mid-thirties, lifted his head from his work and looked at his loyal advisor.

"What exactly do you mean, Albert? I come up with more than one idea in a day, you need to be a little more specific."

The king tilted his head and a small smile appeared on his face as he saw the slightly ashamed look on his advisor's face.

Albert cleared his throat briefly to compose himself and then looked at his king.

"Of course, I'm sorry for my mistake, I meant do you think it's a good idea to allow the prince to visit another country again, especially when there are the two demon brothers and their devilish companions who have severely traumatized our poor prince."

The smile on the king's face faded and his blond-black hair suddenly seemed darker than usual.

"I don't feel good about bringing my poor boy around these violent people either, Alberto, but it's the first time he's asked something so passionately in a long time."

The king remembered his otherwise bored son's eyes burning with life and felt his heart warm a little.

His son had always been a rather withdrawn boy but at least his eyes always radiated emotion until 4 years ago when, without any event, all the life in those eyes simply disappeared.

No one could figure out why and even his son didn't answer the questions and just looked at them emotionlessly.

The strange thing was that his son still behaved exactly the same as before, he was friendly to everyone, helped where he could and was very curious, but his eyes were full of emotionlessness during all these activities.

Out of desperation, he sent his son to another kingdom to maybe bring some life back into those eyes.

But instead of his son coming back with better eyes, it got worse and his son locked himself in his room for a long time, not letting anyone in.

The maids would put his food and drink outside the door and his son would sometimes take it and sometimes not touch it at all.

But when he finally came out of his room, he seemed to be obsessed with finding something to relieve his boredom.

He liked to visit gardens, bake sweets, teach himself swordsmanship, do several parkours or read books he would never read otherwise.

But it never seemed to satisfy him. One day the guards reported to their king, worried that they would hear the prince muttering the same thing over and over again.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong, it all feels wrong."

So when his son looked at him with such sparkling eyes after such a long time, the king couldn't help but accept his request and turn it into reality as quickly as possible.

The king's advisor nodded understandingly at the king's words.

"Then let us hope that our young lord will have a quiet and relaxed journey without any problems."

The king nodded in agreement and remembered his son seeing him off.

Dressed in a beautiful dark red suit with white and blue details, he looked stunningly handsome, especially with those beautiful shining eyes.

The king looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

You would surely be proud of your son if you could see him Amelia I miss you so much.

(At this time, the king and his loyal advisor Albert did not know that the prince's visit would be anything but peaceful).

"Why didn't we come here before? You'll never get bored here, something new every day."

Dazai leans back in his seat and starts the group in front of him.

Ranpo sucked on his loli casually at first and then looked at Dazai, slightly annoyed.

"Don't get me wrong Dazai, but I wouldn't have minded staying in the castle at least today."

The group except Akutagawa looked at each other knowingly and grinned at each other while Akutagwa sat stiffly and looked out of the window.

"I'm sure Poe-kun will be fine without seeing you for a few days Ranpo"

Fyodor smiles slightly mockingly at Ranpo, who starts back, annoyed.

Nikolai throws his hands in the air and giggles happily like a child.

"Oh Dos-kun, I think the better question is whether Ranpo can stand it without Poe-kun."

Dazai chuckles to himself in amusement and then disguises his voice and says.

"What a bad situation you're in Ranpo"

Ranpo takes an indignant breath and gives her a scathing start.

"I hate you all, you have no right to talk about my dear life when yours is just as miserable."

Rnapo sticks his tongue out at them childishly as Fyodor, Dazai and Nikolai all gasp indignantly and give Ranpo a scathing look.

"My love life is perfectly fine otherwise I wouldn't be engaged and Chibi is obviously a tsundere even if it doesn't look like it at first glance."

"Ranpo, I don't think you can judge my love life with your limited experience."

"I may not have an oficial relationship with Sigma yet buuuuuuut we will get together soon after all Sigma is so much in love with me."

Ranpo looks at her unimpressed, but then grins broadly and crosses his arms behind his head.

"Is that so? I don't see it that way at all."

Ranpo's eyes sparkle with glee as if the thought of his "friends" suffering with him delights him-which it probably does.

"Let's start with you Nikolai, you said that Sigma is so much in love with you, didn't you? So why does he hide from you and have this terribly annoyed expression whenever you open your mouth?"

Nikolai opens his mouth to answer but then closes it when he realizes that Ranpo is ready to destroy his every argument without mercy on his feelings.

Nikolai sinks back against his seat in a huff and sulks, silently missing Sigma's voice scolding him for being so childish.

"I'll still have Sigma's heart beating for me if it's the last thing I do."

Ranpo seems satisfied with what he sees and turns to Fyodor and Dazai who give him a piercing look.

"And now you two know I really have to commend your efforts you're doing your best but sometimes your timing is just awful when you separated the flags from Chuuya on the trip to the city and Chuuya was then harassed by that idiot, when you discussed a festival in front of Chuuya that obviously has an important role for the royal family or when you asked him out after a busy day"

Ranpo pauses for a moment and thinks.

"Although he must have liked the date from the look on his face the next morning but the main point is that you left the castle when he spent several hours baking you sweets I'm sure he would have liked to see your reaction"

Fyodor and Dazai looked at each other and then fell into their seats, defeated and depressed.

"Damn timing I wish we had stayed there at least a couple more hours."

Dazai sighs out and literally lies on his seat.

Fyodor's reaction is very similar to Dazai's, except that he is not lying on his seat but leaning against the carriage.

Then both brothers notice something at the same time and look angrily at Ranpo.

"Why didn't you tell us before if you knew?"

Ranpo, who is a little brat, grins at them and shrugs his shoulders.

"I knew you would make fun of me because of Poe do you need any further explanations? "

Akutagwa silently wonders how he got into this situation.

Chapter Text

Chuuya woke up the next morning with aching eyes and the first thing he did was check his neck, which was still wrapped in a clean bandage.

Chuuya almost smiled when he realized that he hadn't had any nightmares tonight.

Chuuya hummed happily to himself and went to his closet Albatross hadn't started making that horrible "music" yet.

So today was actually a nice morning and so Chuuya decided to wear the present that Lippmann had once given him.

Remember when Albatross said that Chuuya didn't have casual clothes? This statement by Albatross is only partially true.

Chuuya had two casual clothes in his own closet, one of which was given to him by Lippmann and the other was a gift from Kazimir.

But Chuuya had never touched the things Kazimir had given him, even if there were a few exceptions.

And he had never wanted to wear Lippmann's present until today, but decided to wear it today.

The clothes were really nothing special, but Chuuya really liked them.

The clothes consisted of a really comfortable, cozy sweater in red and a well-cut pair of blue jeans that accentuated Chuuya's legs well. Normally there was also a scarf, but Chuuya wasn't wearing it this time because he wasn't planning to leave the castle.

Chuuya shrugged his shoulders as he looked at himself in the mirror.

It wouldn't be a big disaster if he didn't walk around in a suit for a day, would it?

Chuuya quickly put on some white shoes with red details and then left his room.

Just in time, because Albatross was already standing in the hallway and was about to start playing his terrible insult to the music.

Albatross turned to Chuuya with a smile but stopped when he saw Chuuya.

"Good morning 'tross, I would be very grateful if you would play the "music" when I'm far enough away or, at best, if you don't play it at all today because I don't want Arthur to have to listen to that awful music so quickly."

Chuuya didn't wait for Albatross to answer, waved to him and then made his way towards the pantry.

"I'll see you soon with the others, don't be late."

Albatross, now standing alone in the hallway, starts after Chuuya in an overwhelmed way, then his lips curl into a sly smile.

"Oh, I definitely have to tell the others about this, it's going to be so much fun."

Albatross didn't realize how quickly he ran into the Flags' shared sleeping quarters and ripped the door open with brutality.

"Guys we're going to have some laughs again soon~"

Albatross looks at his friends with a big grin.

Lippmann, who was combing his hair, stopped and looked at Albatross.

Iceman, who was watering their room plants, stopped and looked annoyed at Albatross.

Doc, who was putting on his uniform, stopped and looked tiredly at Albatross.

Piano man just came out of the bathroom his hair still wet from the water and stopped to dry his hair and looked curiously at his dramatic friend.

Albatross sat down on the bed and crossed one leg over the other, staring haughtily at his friends.

"I just blessed Chuuya as he carried Lippmann geachenk."

The crowd looked at each other Lippmann slightly grimaced his handsome face.

"Don't get me wrong I gave ss to Chuuya to wear but Chuuya's timing is a little off."

Doc laughed a little to himself.

"Wanna bet Chuuya forgot what day it is?"

Iceman grimaced slightly and looked at his friends questioningly.

"Should we tell Chuuya what day it is?"

After Iceman said the question, everyone looked at each other questioningly.

But Albatross smiled at the group and then the Flags realized that Albatross already knew what they were going to do.

"I mean Chuuya looks really pretty in the klamoten so that's not a problem"

Albatross lets an amused smile appear on his face and continues speaking.

"Besides, our two demons aren't here and once again have terrible timing they'd surely be disappointed if they found out, wouldn't they?"

The Flags slowly realized what their good friend meant and had the same smile on their faces.

In the end they were all sadists

"Good morning brother, good morning Arthur."

Just like last time, Chuuya sat down in the middle of the two who were blinking at him.

Chuuya tilted his head with a smile and looked at them questioningly.

Arthur smiled at Chuuya and shook his head.

"Good morning to you too Chuuya, did you sleep well?"

Chuuya just nodded at Arthur's words and waited for his father to come in.

But before the king came in, the door opened and the Flags came in together.

The Flags nodded to Chuuyq and Chuuya nodded back. They didn't have much time to talk because the king entered the room and announced the start of the meal.

So everyone ate in silence, Verlaine's hand occasionally landing on Arthur's thigh, who affectionately slapped his hand away and looked at his fiancé with a slight rebuke.

The corners of Chuuya's mouth twitched in amusement as he looked at his brother and Arthur.

(In the back of his mind, Chuuya remembered a white-haired idol with a silly grin doing the same to Chuuya).

"You all know that today is a very busy day, I hope you do your best to make a good impression."

Chuuya looked at his father in confusion, but then he understood what his father was saying.

The prince would arrive tomorrow, of course they had to prepare for it today.

So nobody questioned anything and the meal was finished in peace.

After the meal, Chuuya parted from the flags with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry guys, I'm going back to the kitchen today, I really enjoyed yesterday."

The flags just nodded with a smile and didn't tell Chuuya that they didn't have time anyway because today was a very busy day.

After Chuuya was out of sight, the Flags high-fived each other, which went better than expected.

Before Chuuya went to the kitchen, he sat down in a corner and read a book in peace and quiet, he wanted to finish his book first.

(Chuuya lied to himself that he wanted to have a moment of peace before ugly memories would resurface).

So Chuuya went to the kitchen just like yesterday.

Of course, he had been very disappointed yesterday when Dazai and Fyodor couldn't taste his sweets, but that didn't mean anything to Chuuya, after all, Dazai and Fyodor would still be out of the castle forever.

Chuuya might as well try out several sweets as long as his friends are not there.

With these thoughts, Chuuya opens the door with a smile.

"Hi guys, you don't mind if I bake here again today, do you?"

The cooks smiled broadly and shook their heads.

Chuuya noticed that there was a lot more excitement today than usual, but that wasn't going to stop him.

Today, Chuuya wanted to try out a sweet that he made every year at this time.

Chuuya had learned the recipe from Kazimir Kazimir was almost addicted to them.

Chuuya felt a pang of nostalgia with a bitter taste as he made the hanami dango.

He prepares a larger portion than usual.

When Chuuya was finished, he said goodbye to the cooks.

Unlike last time, Chuuya had worked with the utmost care today and everything had remained mostly clean.

When Chuuya left the kitchen together with the Hanami Dango's it was already late afternoon.

This time Chuuya would not eat all the sweets himself but would share them with his friends, but as always he would leave two.

Chuuya looked around as he bumped into the same guard again.

"Chuuya-san there you are, don't you want to come and greet our guest in person?"

Chuuya stared at him, confused and a little shocked.

"You don't mean by guest, do you?"

The Wacte smiled indulgently and nodded once.

"The prince of Izanagi is arriving today my prince and Verlaine-san and Arthur-san have already gone down to greet him."

Chuuya's face expression turned a little pale.

"I thought he wasn't coming until tomorrow?"

The guard shook his head

"No, my prince, the prince had a very good journey and nothing got in his way, so he arrived today."

Chuuya gritted his teeth and the flags weren't able to tell him that before?

No, as Chuuya knew his friends, they hadn't told him on purpose.

Chuuya nodded gratefully to the guard.

"Thank you very much, but I have to go quickly, I still have a good day."

So it happened that Chuuya went to the entrance area as quickly as possible.

(Without changing his clothes halfway acceptably or putting the Hanami Dango out of his hand).

Chuuya arrived at Verlaine and Arthur after several minutes.

"You made it in time Chuuya."

Said Arthur, smiling kindly at Chuuya.

"Were you still in the kitchen brother?"

Verlaine asked with a gentle smile.

Chuuya just nodded and wanted to bang his head against a wall when he realized that he had taken the Hanami Dango's with him.

Chuuya glanced angrily at the flags, who skillfully avoided his gaze.

Traitor

But Chuuya didn't even have the time to grumble at the flags because the blood-red carriage stopped and immediately afterwards a person got out of the carriage.

Chuuya blinked in confusion when he saw the person.

What the fucking hell

Chapter Text

Ranpo, Dazai, Fyodor, Nikolai and Akutagawa were still sitting in their carriage and were not far from their destination when Ranpo's eyes suddenly snapped open.

Dazai and Fyodor start at Ranpo in confusion while Nikolai poked Ranpo in the side and Akutagawaw tensed up.

A reaction like that from Ranpo never meant anything good, they had learned that the hard way.

"Hey Ranpo do you want to tell us what's going on in that big head of yours that only works for secrets?"

Dazai tried a slightly sarcastic tone but his concern was obvious in his expression and the others didn't look much better as they waited for Ranpo to tell them what he had noticed.

Ranpo's hands tightened around his glasses as if he wasn't sure if he should put them on or not.

Ranpo didn't put the glasses on but his eyes glowed a dangerously intense shade of green.

"Guys why did we decide to leave the castle so suddenly?"

Fyodor rolled his eyes in annoyance and leaned back in his chair but answered Ranpo's question without hesitation.

"Because the person we caught and tortured after the feast gave us information about Loikusto that we wanted to check for ourselves because we can't trust any of those idiots from the castle."

The others nod at Fyodor's answer and Ranpo's expression becomes more serious.

"But isn't that the problem?"

Akutagawa joins in the conversation for the first time and bows his head politely.

"Can you please explain this better Ranpo-san?"

Ranpo nods slightly and then looks around, scratching the back of his neck.

"If you think about it a little, you'll realize what information we were able to torture out of the prisoners?"

Nikolai nods excitedly and raises his hand in the air, but his eyes shine with seriousness.

"We learned from him your meeting place where they were going after the party incident, what the top positions in their organizations are called with code names, namely the right hand of Loikusto Kazimir, the left hand of Loikusto Osiris and their leader Collector and nothing more because the member we caught was only a low-level member."

Ranpo nods in agreement to Nikolai's words and can't help but almost break his glasses.

"That's actually very few things he told us, but why are we out here anyway?"

Slowly, Fyodor and Dazao seemed to realize what Ranpo was trying to tell them.

Fyodor tilted his head thoughtfully and answered Ranpo's question.

"Because they gave us information we could work with, we had a place and several names that we could do a lot with thanks to our high intelligence."

Dazai nodded in agreement and continued the thoughts of the other two geniuses.

"We even took Akutagawa and Nikolai with us to help us in an emergency and left Sigma behind, but we overlooked something."

The corners of Fyodor's mouth turned down and everyone realized that they were already trapped and not even Nikolai's ability could get them out.

Ranpo pulled on his glasses and the look of panic on his face was real.

"We can't hide anymore, the possibility of getting out of here without injuries is 0%"

And after Ranpo uttered the words, they became reality and the carriage was hit by several blood red arrows, fireballs and strange purple gas that was obviously poisoned.

The arrows hit them all and no matter what they did it would have done absolutely nothing.

Just before the group went black, each of them thought one last time about the people they had left behind.

"Boss everything went according to plan no prob-"

The voice fell silent while he was still speaking

Chapter Text

Chuuya felt a wave of shock come over him when he saw the person in front of him.

Chuuya felt like he was going to throw up, this was a bad joke or maybe just another nightmare.

"The queen has fallen seriously ill."

"Unfortunately, there is no way to cure the queen, Your Highness the queen will leave us in a few days, so don't get your hopes up and start planning the funeral."

blond-black hair falling into the face of the doctor

How?

Chuuya looked at the prince of Izanagi and there was no doubt about the fact that the prince was the same person as his mother's doctor who gave them the news that Chuuya's mother would die soon with a bored voice.

The prince had blond-black hair and a small scar on his left cheek that had probably been caused by Verlaine.

Chuuya looked slightly to the side to see Verlaine's reaction.

Verlaine looked normal, as if he had never seen the man before in his life.

How?

Chuuya looked forward again as cold fear sweat ran down his spine.

The prince approached them, his posture was completely relaxed and he didn't seem uncomfortable at all.

From the side, Chuuya could feel a few maids shouting and talking excitedly.

"Check point, a single prince who is handsome did you see his hair, face or his Body much better then the demon brother's"

The others quickly agreed with their friend and nodded wildly, but quickly ran away in panic when Chuuya, Arthur and Verlaine gave them a cold look.

Chuuya didn't really understand the maids reactions. Of course, the prince in front of him couldn't be called ugly, but Chuuya would say that Fyodor and Dazai were obviously more attractive.

The maids had really bad taste, how else could a person say that the prince of Izanagi is more handsome than Dazai or Fyodor?

The prince was now standing in front of them and he bowed his blond-black hair falling into his face.

And Chuuya couldn't help but shudder at the sight.

It was so similar to back then

"I am very pleased to finally meet you my name is Meir I am the only prince of the kingdom Izanagi"

(Dazai and Fyodor also had a more pleasant voice than the prince, what was wrong with the maids?)

The prince, who called Meir, straightens up and a small smile appears on his face as he looks at the people in front of him.

When his and Chuuya's eyes meet, Chuuya instinctively wants to take a step back as he sees the life in those eyes.

(Chuuya could have sworn that look was lifeless when it was directed at his brother.)

Meir runs a hand through his hair and looks at the group.

"Should I guess which person is who or could you just tell me your names?"

Meir's voice sounded playful and a little challenging as he asked

Verlaine clears his throat once and then points to himself.

"I am the eldest child of the famliy my name is Verlaine the one next to me is my fiancé and future husband Arthur and next to Arthur is my beloved little brother Chuuya"

Meir nods slightly and then looks at Chuuya with a small smile.

"Let me guess you weren't told I was coming today because people thought it would be adorable to see you in casual clothes?"

Chuuya faltered slightly when he heard Meir's amused tone and cleared his throat slightly embarrassed.

"Sort of, I was hoping my bodyguards would be nice enough to tell me something so important but I had too much faith."

Chuuya lets his tone sound relaxed and even a little playful, although he would actually prefer not to say anything at all.

Meir chuckles softly and nods in agreement.

"Yes, my father has done the same thing to me before, don't worry."

Chuuya would have liked to frown - the prince in front of him was definitely the same doctor Chuuya had seen as a child.

But it didn't make sense if Verlaine hadn't recognized the doctor?

How could a doctor become a damn prince?

Verlaine glared hatefully at Meir, how could this prince dare to speak to his sweet brother like that, the demon brother were already enough.

"Oh, did you buy Hanami Dango, I love Dangos very much, can I try one?"

Chuuya didn't want to give the prince any of his Hanami Dango's but it would be more politically correct to share, wouldn't it?

"Sure, you can try one, but I didn't buy them, I made them myself."

Meir just nodded and moved closer to Chuuya, who quickly held the dango out to Meir so that he wouldn't get too close to Chuuya.

Meir seemed to have noticed, he looked at Chuuya with amusement and grinned slightly.

Chuuya repeated that Ranpo once said in his head.

"pest with an innocent face"

Chuuya's eyes carefully scrutinized Meir, who was slowly eating the dango.

Chuuya could see the innocent face very well, the only question now was whether Ranpo was exaggerating with pest or whether this prince was really as bad as Ranpo said.

Chuuya knew something was definitly wrong here

But when Meir looked up, he saw a nice smile on the face of the youngest child of the family.

"This tastes really good Chuuya thank you very much."

Chuuya didn't answer and just smile.

It was almost a little sad that Meir was able to enjoy Chuuya's food before Dazai and Fyodor can.

Meir turns his head to Verlaine and his eyes still have life in them but much weaker.

"Verlaine-san where can I find the king and go greet him it would be very rude if I didn't go greet him wouldn't it?"

Verlaine grimaces a little and then nods in agreement.

"My father is in his room finishing the last documents of the day and then he should come to the dining hall so that we can start eating."

Meir nods understandingly and then quickly turns his gaze away from Verlaine and directs it towards Chuuya.

"I heard you got engaged Chuuya and then to Fyodor-san and Dazai-san where are they, didn't they want to come and greet me?"

Chuuya's chest fills with a strange feeling when he hears Meir's words, but he answers anyway after a short pause.

(He deliberately ignored the fact that Meir seemed to address everyone with an honorific except Chuuya. Chuuya didn't like honorifics much anyway)

"That's right, I'm engaged to them, but I can tell you quickly that they're not currently at the castle and should be back in a few days."

Chuuya didn't like the smile on Meir's face when he heard Chuuya's words.

Chuuya didn't like Meir's face in general but the maids behind him probably disagreed.

"He's so damn cute did you see that smile?"

Chuuya gave them an annoyed look, which made the maids quickly look in other directions.

"I'm going in then, I'll see you later"

Verlaine nodded in agreement and Chuuya was already on his way into the castle when he noticed Meir walking next to him.

"You don't mind if I accompany you, do you, Chuuya?"

Chuuya definitely mind, damn it!

Chapter Text

Chuuya decided that he didn't like Meir.

It wasn't that Meir made any mistakes, but Chuuya had a very bad feeling when he was around him.

Meir was strange in his own right, he looked just like his mother's doctor.

And Chuuya was really starting to doubt whether he wasn't just going crazy.

His father didn't seem to recognize the prince in front of him either.

How does that work? Chuuya was 100% sure that this man was the same as the doctor from several years ago.

But that wouldn't make sense, how could a doctor become a prince?

But that wasn't the only strange thing about Meir.

Chuuya remembered well how Meir's green eyes looked at him full of life, so intense that Chuuya flinched.

But Chuuya had the feeling that Meir's gaze was so full of life when he looked at Chuuya.

Chuuya caught a moment when Meir thought he wasn't looking as he stared at Verlaine and his father.

Those eyes almost reminded him of Fyodor's and Dazai's.

They were dark and there was almost no light in them.

Chuuya remembered vividly how the two demon brothers once looked at him like that.

But Meir never keeps that look for long, it almost seems as if he forgets that there are others in the room when his eyes are shining with life.

Chuuya sighed softly and bit into his piece of meat.

Meir hadn't moved from Chuuya's side all day, following him the whole time.

Chuuya would have liked to grab him by the collar and slam him against the wall, but unfortunately Meir was a prince of one of their allies and Chuuya couldn't just slam him against the wall like that.

Even if it was a real pity that something like politics existed.

"I'll go to my room then, father have a nice evening."

Chuuya stood up and was more than displeased when he saw Meir look up in panic and then get up too.

This guy was almost like a dog who couldn't get away from his owner and followed him around smiling the whole time.

Wasn't this guy very cold towards Chuuya the last time?

What the hell, what's his fucking problem?

"I'm also ready your highness I'll go to my room too."

Chuuya's father nodded a little confused after a moment and looked from Chuuya to Meir before smiling a little.

(The king ignored the scowl Verlaine gave him without remorse).

Chuuya didn't feel like waiting a moment longer and walked out of the dining hall.

Meir followed him at a distance of five small steps.

Chuuya tried to ignore him for the most part and wished his friends were the Flags here.

Chuuya didn't know why they weren't with him but he hoped it wasn't because of his emergency plan.

Chuuya sighs out a small frustrated sigh in the background as the sun sets and colors the whole land red and yellow.

When would Fyodor and Dazai arrive?

In any case, Chuuya probably didn't have to worry about whether the two of them would be okay.

Chuuya opened his eyes in surprise when he was pushed into a room and was about to kick the person in the leg and then, while losing the same amount of weight, put his fist in the person's eye but let it go the moment he realized who was pushing him into the room.

"I would have to ask you to let go of me, Prince Meir."

Meir above him grins slightly innocently and then locks the door behind him without looking and pulls the key out again for good measure.

"You do realize that you won't make it out of this castle alive if you hurt me in any way, don't you? My brother would kill you without a moment's hesitation"

Chuuya had no doubt in his words to be honest, Chuuya probably could have said that Arthur would kill Meir too but it's smarter if Meir doesn't know the fact that Arthur can fight.

Meir raises his hands in the air and simply sits down on a chair near the door and looks at Chuuya.

"I have no intention of hurting you Chuuya, please just sit down so we can talk without any problems."

Chuuya doesn't know if he should be happy that they are in a guest room or if he should be angry.

Chuuya almost moves his hands to his neck again but lets it go and sits down in front of Meir with an expressionless face.

"Well, now that I'm sitting down, surely you can tell me why you pulled me into this room and locked the door just so I couldn't escape?"

What could be so important that Meir would take the risk? Chuuya could simply have tears in his eyes that Meir was trying to molest him and Meir's head would be off.

But Meir seems very pleased with himself and eyes Chuuya curiously.

"You know who I am, don't you Chuuya? You don't remember it like your father or Verlaine"

So Chuuya had been right after all, and according to the twinkle on meir's face, he had known it all along.

Chuuya tilted his head and gave Meir a fake smile.

There was no point in playing the loving prince here at this moment Chuuya was sure for some reason that it wouldn't do any good with Meir.

"You mean that I know that my mother's doctor has become a prince, then you're absolutely right."

Meir nods with a smile and then leans back in his chair, looking like today is the best day of his life.

"You know Chuuya, there was a very special reason why I left my castle and visited this land and you are one of them."

Chuuya stared coldly at Meir but there was a smile on his lips.

"Oh is that so? I'm honored that the prince of Izanagi is so interested in a weak prince like me."

Chuuya had not expected Meir's reaction.

But to be honest, who would expect someone to laugh like a madman after such words?

That's exactly what Meir did, he put his head back and laughed like crazy as if Chuuya had said something very funny.

And thanks to the shadows around him, he almost looked like a demon.

The only source of light in the room was a small window behind Chuuya and since it was late afternoon, there was almost no light coming in.

Chuuya felt a gentle goose bump run over his body even though he knew he didn't need to be afraid.

It was the second time in Chuuya's life that a person had managed to trigger such a reaction.

Meir had calmed down a little and he glared at Chuuya's eyes that sparkled with happiness.

"Oh Chuuya, you have no reason to lie in front of me."

Meir's eyes had taken on a strange emotion as he uttered the words Chuuya had least expected.

"After all, I am Kazimir's best friend and I know a lot about you, my dear Chuuya"

Chapter Text

"What do you mean Kazimir was seen alive?"

Meir bends over a small orb that he normally used as a pendant on his necklace.

"What I said Meir, one of our spies must have seen him when he was fighting the two demon brothers Chuuya is now engaged to."

Meir stares at the orb in disbelief and his lips lift into a mocking smile.

"And you believe the testimony of a normal spy so much that you even call me for it? Do you have any proof to confirm that Arahabaki did not kill Kazimir?"

Meir leaned against the wall and gently stared at the photo in his hands, taking care not to squeeze it too tightly.

"Unfortunately, Meir, there are obvious signs of gravity manipulation in the place where Kazimir fought with the two spoiled brothers, and the spy can confirm that it was used by Kazimir."

Meir swallows quietly, well that was really good evidence after all there was no person they knew other than Kazimir who was able to manipulate gravity.

"Assuming Kazimir really isn't dead, what's your plan? I mean, we can hardly just ignore it."

Meir doubted that Kazimir was really alive, but there was this little voice in the back of his head that wanted to believe that Kazimir wasn't dead.

"Surely you remember that terrible feast, which also happens to be the same day as Kazimir's death."

Meir gritted his teeth and glared at the orb. was he kidding him? As if he could ever forget.

"I plan to make an announcement during the fireworks to destroy their oh-so-beautiful festival and at the same time deliver the news that Kazimir didn't die."

Meir really liked the idea of destroying this festival, but there was a hitch in this wonderful idea.

"Are you really going to say that already? Don't get me wrong, their shocked faces are definitely a good sight, but we haven't even seen Kazimir himself yet."

A thoughtful sigh came from the other side of the sphere before speaking further.

"I see your point Meir but just imagine the face of Verlaine"

Meir bit his lips and he couldn't help but imagine Verlaine's face before his eyes, shaking that terribly serious face would be wonderful.

In the end, Meir was only human.

"Well then, make an announcement, but let's say Kazimir is alive, what do we do with Chuuya?"

After all, Chuuya was the most important thing in Kazimir's life.

"Oh don't worry about that I've always had plans to kill those two annoying brothers I'll just start the plans a little earlier I'm sure Chuuya would be very grateful if we kill them for him and free him from this forced marriage"

Meir nodded at the words they had already planned to kill the two brothers before the engagement of Chuuya, but when they heard about the engagement, Loikusto panicked.

Even if the royal family thought that they had destroyed Loikusto with the help of Arahabaki, this was not true.

But they lost a lot of power and influence and needed time to regain power.

When they regained their power after a long time, they naturally felt terribly offended by the fact that boy friend of their rigth-hand man was forced into a marriage.

Kazimir had been very popular and everyone was more than willing to help Chuuya to preserve Kazimir's honor.

"How many plans do you have planned?"

Meir smiled to himself, this could get really exciting.

"Oh I have made many plans to kill them don't worry my dearest left hand Osiris I can tell you many plans that can satisfy your heart and your sadistic nature."

Meir hums happily to himself as he runs his hand over his bed and throws himself on it.

Meir enjoys the warmth of his bed for a short moment and then continues.

"If you're thinking about plans, that means we can expect you two to be in hell soon."

A laugh sounds from the other side of the sphere but is interrupted by a knock on the door.

In a panic, Meir quickly covers the orb with a pillow and looks at the door.

"Yes, come in"

The door opens and his father looks into the room.

"Hello my son, I just wanted to ask if you need anything?"

Meir smiles at his father but already knows that his eyes are shining with cold again.

"No Dane the demand father I don't need anything I wish you a pleasant night"

His father looks a little disappointed but then nods.

"A good night to you too, my son."

With that, the king closes the door and Meir lets out an annoyed sigh.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, the king thought it would be a good idea to look after me, let's not be distracted and get straight on"

Meir lies down a little and waits for his leader to continue speaking.

"We've already made a few plans for Arahabaki, but they don't really have any priority at the moment because Arahabaki hasn't really had many appearances at the moment, even if I have to admit that the action after Chuuya's illness was very commendable."

Meir nodded slowly, he had only heard a little about Arahabaki's robbery but it seemed to have been quite exciting.

"So let me ask you a question Meir, do you want to continue as prince in Izanagi to ensure that everything runs peacefully or do you want to enjoy the show that will soon break out here?"

The words were said with a dramatic tone and Meir couldn't help but grin.

"You take care of the action at the festival first, I'll find a good way to spread a little chaos with you soon"

An honest laugh sounded from the other side.

"Well, I'll see you again soon, take care of yourself"

And so their conversation ended.

"Yes, we'll see you again soon"

Meir puts the photo under his pillow and grins.

This is going to be so much fun

Chapter Text

"After all, I am Kazimir's best friend and I know a lot about you."

Oh? Chuuya's reaction to this fascinated Meir whether he wanted it or not.

Meir had seen and heard a lot about Chuuya, he was the poor soul who listened to Kazimir's declarations of love for Chuuya, he was the person who listened to Kazimir talk about how bad it was for him to lie to Chuuya and it was also Meir who supported Kazimir when he heard about the end off they realtionship.

Meir had often had to watch the two of them on dates because Kazimir was a nervous idiot when it came to Chuuya and he begged Meir to support Kazimir at least at the beginning of his dates with Chuuya.

Luckily this stopped after the first few dates so Meir was content to listen to Kazimir talk about his relationship with Chuuya.

(Something inside Meir hurt terribly when he remembered Kazimir's happy face that he hadn't seen in real life for so long. If someone was really only pretending to be Kazimir, Meir would kill him without hesitation.)

And Meir was incredibly happy to hear how happy his best friend was.

Even though Meir had never told Kazimir when Kazimir was still alive.

Although the boss said that Kazimir was still alive, Meir didn't believe it for a second.

But Meir's thoughts wandered off again. The man in front of him was much more important for this conversation.

Nakahra Chuuya, the weak prince, Kazimir's boy friend and the person who never had the chance to have a childhood.

Chuuya just looked as if he had pulled all his emotions out of his body and was staring blankly at Meir.

Should Meir have broached the subject a little better? He could never look Kazimir in the eye if Chuuya died of a heart attack.

Even though Kazimir would probably be grateful that Loikusto had saved Chuuya from those horrible demon brothers Chuuya was unhappy with.

Chuuya blinked slowly as if his brain had to come to terms with what he had just heard but then suddenly stared at him with a sharpness in his eyes.

huh? Is that the look Kazimir told him about and that made Kazimir feel bad when he lied to Chuuya?

Meir had changed a lot after Kazimir's death, he knew that.

But he didn't know if je had admitted to Chuuya that he was from Loikusto.

Had Kazimir ever told Chuuya about him? Was that why Chuuya looked at him like that?

Meir wished he could read minds when Chuuya opened his mouth to speak.

"Kazimir told me a few things about you... when we were still in a relationship, of course"

Meir's gaze softened despite the fact that Chuuya knew things about him and he don't now what exactly.

The way Chuuya pronounced "relationship" was filled with so much sorrow and sadness that Meir knew that Chuuya really loved Kazimir.

See those sad eyes? That was exactly why the demon brothers, Verlaine and the king had to die.

1. they were all terrible for Chuuya.

2. loikusto had planned to kill them all anyway.

3. they all deserved it.

After all, there was a reason why Fyodor and Dszai were called demon brothers and Verlaine was feared for a reason.

Meir grins at Chuuya and flashes his white teeth.

"Did he? Oh that makes me so incredibly happy Chuuya but unfortunately we can't talk about it for long now but I would like to talk to you about this topic at another time, we are a little pressed for time."

After all, either Arthur or, even more likely, Verlaine would soon come looking for Chuuya.

Chuuya himself only raises an eyebrow and nods, but Meir sees the slight trembling in his hands.

Meir frowned he was here to help Chuuya and free him from his terrible marriage Meir was the last person Chuuya should be afraid of right now.

(Meir still had to pay back his debt to Kazimir and Meirs debt would never end.)

"So let me explain quickly, we are about to make a plan-"

In the next second, the door was flung across the room and slammed brutally against the wall.

Chuuya looked at the door and then at the place where he had just been standing.

Meir could literally hear Chuuya's thoughts.

It was probably the same as Meir's "that could have gone wrong"

"Chuuya, I'm sorry for the rude interruption, I thought Meir might have done something terrible to you."

Verlaine approached Chuuya worriedly and touched him gently on the shoulders and looked at Chuuya scrutinizingly, checking his body for possible injuries.

Damn control freak.

"You're really hurting my heart Verlaine-san how could you possibly think that I could hurt Chuuya? We were just talking from one prince to another"

Meir grinned at Chuuya he was sure that Chuuya would not betray him after all Chuuya certainly had a great interest in the best friend of his former lover who was killed by Arahabaki.

(Meir did not see the goose bumps on Chuuya's body at that moment, just as Meir and Verlaine did not notice Chuuya's desperate looks).

"...Yes, we were just talking normally, no need to worry brother, but thanks for taking such good care of me."

Meir's fingernails dug firmly into his hand and he could already feel the pain but couldn't stop it his grin slowly left his face and it became cold and emotionless.

How could Chuuya thank him for such shitty behavior?

Meir glared hatefully at Verlaine, who returned the look.

Chuuya, on the other hand, looked from Meir to Verlaine.

(Where was Arthur? Arthur could have calmed the situation down a little so that Chuuya didn't have to see the murderous lust in the eyes of the two men).

Chuuya's prayers were halfway answered when the three men were distracted by a loud bang.

Meir looked out the door and saw red fire somewhere in the distance through the window, which made Meir frown a little worried.

The attack on the demon brothers was supposed to have been made somewhere nearby. Meir could only hope that these idiots had really killed the demons.

Meir looked around and saw Chuuya hugging Verlaine and hiding his face in his brother's chest.

Had the loud noises scared him?

Meir hated Verlaine from the bottom of his heart, but seeing him smile so gently at his frightened brother made his blood boil.

Where did Verlaine get the right to pretend to be a good brother?

But hidden from everyone's gaze, Chuuya smiled into Verlaine's chest he wasn't scared at all.

Chapter Text

"Chuuya is such a sadist, why do I have to be a part of his Norfall plan too"

Tachihara complains as he kicks a small stone in front of him.

Albatross next to him nods in agreement to Tachihara's words and then continues in a Dramitic tone.

"You're so right my friend, it's such a long way from the castle and I couldn't even finish my cake."

Doc, who is already getting annoyed by their childish whining, hits Beifen on the head in a moment of anger, which makes his hand twitch a little in pain, but the expression on the faces of the two childish idiots was worth it at that moment.

(In the background, Piano man and Lippmann are whispering about the three of them and laughing at Albatross and Tachihara

"You've managed to provoke Doc this far. Just look at this scene in front of us Piano man it is so good to watch")

"Can you stop complaining all the time, I can understand that you are annoyed that we had to go such a long way because of people we don't like, besides, Chuuya can't help it if you want to complain, at least complain to the leader of Loikusto"

Doc exhaled and Iceman next to him nodded his head gratefully and Albatross and Tachihara grimaced slightly but couldn't say anything against it.

Iceman cleared his throat and then spoke up for the first time in a long time.

"Above all, how will you explain it to Poe and Sigma if Nikolai and Ranpo die? We all know that these two in particular don't deserve it, even if Sigma either denies or doesn't know his current feelings for Nikolai."

After these words, Albatross and Tachihara looked very distressed and started to fall to the ground.

Piano man clapped his hands and looked at his friends with a smile.

"Okey, Okey everyone get back to your normal selves we still have an assassination to prevent Atsushi should be there soon too"

Lippmann looked at the bag Tachihara was carrying and smiled briefly.

When the Flags and Tachihars finally arrive at the spot, they can already see the carriage of The Demon Brothers in the distance.

They give each other panicked looks - they'll never make it.

The Flags actually see Atsushi on the other side of the road, only Atsushi is not alone but with two others: a tall man with short hair with a reddish tinge and another tall man with short, dark hair and glasses.

The two gave each other panicked looks as both groups realized what was about to happen, though Tachihara could swear he saw the red-haired man jump forward first, a moment before the rest of the group.

But as fast as the man was, they were too late and the assassins carried out their attack without effort and they watched as the carriage was riddled with holes.

It was almost like a chain reaction that Tachihars watched with widened eyes, as if every person except him was suddenly in a rage and rushing towards the attackers.

Even Atsushi looked like he was ready to kill everyone he saw.

(What the fuck did Tachihara miss it sure would have been great to watch)

Tachihara really want to look at this any longer but he have another job to do first he took a lighter out of his pocket.

They used red lighter to confirm that the situation was under control.

Tachihara watched as each of the attackers lay on the ground within seconds.

Tachihara cursed loudly to himself.

"fucking hell i wanted to have a good fight you assholes."

Chuuya lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling emotionlessly.

In the end, it had paid off that they had made this emergency plan.

Chuuya didn't know exactly what had happened, but it must be important enough if the Flags had left without a word.

The Flags and Chuuya had placed several "spies" around the country.

By "spies" they actually meant people who loved to gossip about others and who were unable to keep their mouths shut.

Atsushi and Tachihara were responsible for collecting this information and then checking it out.

It had made Chuuya curious why the two princes were suddenly so quick to wrg and had called Poe to his room that night to ask his opinion.

(Chuuya would never admit that he actually wanted to know because he wanted to know the reason why the two princes left so quickly and without a word that they couldn't even taste Chuuya's food).

Poe then quickly said that even Sigma had no idea where his friends had gone so quickly and without even saying a word to him.

As a result, the two had been discussing all night and then decided to ask Atsushi and Tachihara to find out if there was anything strange on the way of the carriage.

But even Chuuya didn't know how exactly this happened, as the flags simply left without a word.

Chuuya remembers waking up the next morning with aching eyes.

*Can also be seen in chapter 33*

Chuuya sighed and went to his window and sat on his window sill and looked out the window.

Chuuya had never expected to meet Kazimir's best friend in his life.

And what he had expected even less was that Kazimir's best friend was fucking Meir, the former Doctor of his death mother, the prince of Izanagi and the fucking left hand of Loikusto Ozimir.

Chuuya of course knew that the right and left hand of Loikusto were very good friends, don't get him wrong.

What Chuuya didn't fucking know was that Meir is also Ozimir because there isn't a single photo of Ozimir and Ozimir and Arahabaki have never met.

Chuuys dropped his head against the glass and sighed he had to calm down otherwise he would scratch his skin again and he didn't want to worry Arthur or doc again.

He had been really glad when Verlaine had rescued him from this unpleasant situation, but Verlaine had been there far too quickly. How long had Chuuya and Meir been gone? It must have been 5-10 minutes at most.

In the end, Chuuya hadn't been able to find out much about Loikusto's plans, but thinking about it didn't get him any further; he would have to go through all the information they had about Ozimir again with Poe.

Normally this shouldn't be a problem because almost nobody visits Poe's archive during the day but since Sigma seemed to like the archive a lot he hardly ever left it which Chuuya couldn't even be angry about because he understood.

Sigma was alone in a castle full of strangers and his friends had left without saying a single word to him.

So it was more than natural that Sigma was with Poe most of the time - after all, Poe was a very nice and quiet person and the two of them had many interests in common and Poe had said that Sigma liked his books very much, even if he didn't solve them as quickly as Ranpo, which was no wonder.

After all, only Ranpo managed to solve Poe's stories by reading only a few pages.

Chuuya was torn from his thoughts when his brain seemed to understand what he saw

Outside, Meir and Verlaine were standing against each other, both holding a sword and it was more than obvious that they would soon fight

How did this happen again? Can there be some peace and quiet in this god damned castle?

Chapter Text

"You know Meir, the person I hate the most in Chuuya's family is definitely Verlaine"

Meir still remembered Kazimir lying on Meir's bed and angrily pressing his face into a pillow while complaining about Chuuya's family.

"Before Chuuya's mother died, I actually liked Verlaine a lot, but in the time I've missed he's turned into a fucking control freak"

Kazimir straightened up and Meir looked into his eyes, burning with anger.

"Don't get me wrong, I loved Chuuya's mother with all my heart and her death makes me sad too, but I didn't turn into a control freak who controls Chuuya's every move because I'm afraid he'll hurt himself if I let him out of my sight for a moment."

Meir was about to contradict Kazimir when he decided against it - it wasn't really true that Kazimir didn't control Chuuya's movements.

The difference between the two was only that Verlaine was much worse than Kazimir because Verlaine really had to control every move Chuuya made.

Kazimir himself only watched Chuuya sometimes to make sure that nothing happened to him, which in Meir's own opinion was not entirely healthy, but some people could certainly call it "cute".

"But it gets much worse Verlaine doesn't understand how bad his actions are the king controls Chuuya too but at least he knows his hemp is wrong which doesn't make his actions any less bad but it's the principle."

Kazimir takes a moment to catch his breath because he had spoken too quickly before continuing and Meir steps aside unobtrusively.

"Verlaine is simply not able to understand that his actions are simply exaggerated and are far beyond "protective brother" to Verlaine fits more the term "obsessive brother" and then he has the audacity to question my loyalty to Chuuya do you understand that Meir MY LOYALTY"

ah that explains why Kazimir is angrier than usual today Verlaine had probably voiced his concern again that Kazimir would hurt Chuuya.

Kazimir is so caught up in the moment that he unconsciously throws a cup across the room with his ability, luckily Meir had expected it and had taken a step to the side before, which would probably have hurt a lot and Meir didn't want any bruises or a broken bone.

" So I told him to his face that if I ever hurting Chuuya's beautiful skin I would kill myself without hesitation you should have seen his face when I said it it was so fantastic, ah thank Arahabaki I could see that face even if Chuuya was angry at my words and hit me, Never underestimate his punches, Meir, they hurt like hell"

Kazimir holds his shoulder and grimaces, causing his white hair to fall into his eyes

Meir rolled his eyes fondly as he was reminded again of what a jerk his best friend was to Chuuya.

Meir smiled provocatively and smiled playfully at Kazimir.

"Oh I thought you had given up Arahabaki?"

For a long time, Kazimir believed the silly legends that were whispered around the slums and that nobody took seriously anymore.

Kazimir let out an annoyed sigh and raised his hands in mock anger.

"That's the only thing you noticed from my "I hate Verlaine" talk? The part where I get upset about his shitty control freak was much more important,Meir"

Meir had only laughed out loud at the time and Kazimir had continued to nag him.

Years later, Meir raised his sword to Verlaine and understood Kazimir's words from back then more than well.

Control freak was a very fitting name for Verlaine before him, it couldn't be that someone could be such a sweet person to his fiancée but in reality had such an ugly character.

Meir was more than willing to cut Verlaine's strings over Chuuya, he wasn't Loikusto's left hand for nothing, even if Kazimir was more Loikusto's physical strength back then, that didn't mean Meir didn't know how to fight.

After all, he had trained so hard when Kazimir died it was his way of showing respect to Kazimir he practiced Kazimir's swordsmanship until his bones ached even though his way of wielding a sword was like a cheap copy of Kazimir's and felt wrong.

He knew that Verlaine was a more than good fighter but it shouldn't be that hard to kill him Meir wouldn't have to expect big consequences if he killed Verlaine.

After all, Izanagi was one of the most important allies of this kingdom and the king could not afford to provoke Izanagi.

"Shall we begin then Verlaine-san?"

Verlaine didn't answer, just nodded, but before they could start their fight and even a drop of blood could flow, they were interrupted.

Unfortunately it wasn't Chuuya who desperately tried to stop them only for Meir to explain that Verlaine deserved it.

Meir (and Kazimir) had wanted to tell Chuuya for so long and show how wrong Verlaine's behavior was.

Meir remembered with goose bumps the bandage around Chuuya's neck, he hadn't had time to find out why Chuuya was hurt but he would probably do that after the demon brothers and Ranpo were finally declared dead.

Meir digressed again, the person who dared to interrupt their fight was someone Meir only knew from records his name must be Poe if he remember correct.

Poe was holding his stomach, obviously not used to running so fast.

"V-Verlaine-san, Meir-san p-please stop fighting I-I have received an important message that is more important than your fight."

Poe bows apologetically and just now do Meir notice the cute raccoon next to Poe's legs.

Meir liked Poe.

Verlaine nodded and his face looked a little softer and more peaceful as he spoke.

"What's so important Poe?"

Poe straightened up and looked sternly at the two princes in front of him.

"The carriage that Ranpo-kun, Chuuya's fiancé, Nikolai and Akutagawa were traveling in was destroyed and there is not a single trace of where they could be, no body but blood."

Meir froze when he heard Poe's words.

he felt his heart skip a beat only to suddenly start beating faster.

Why was there no body? The plan should have worked.

Chapter Text

Chuuya yanked open the door to his room and was more than ready to run downstairs and shout at Verlaine and Meir.

But then he tripped over his own feet when he saw Poe and Karl running past Chuuya's room and looking at Chuuya in shock.

"Ch-huuya you scared me what's wrong? why do you look so distressed? Is there anything I can do to help you? Is it about the flags and the demon brothers?"

Poe immediately starts talking in Panic, moves his hands in the air and it looks as if he has forgotten that Karl is sitting on his shoulder.

But Karl was smart enough to quickly jump off Poe's shoulder and look up at him in annoyance.

Chuuya himself thought about Poe's offer for a moment and then nodded enthusiastically.

"Poe you are my salvation I actually wanted to tell you something important but that can wait for a moment we have a more important problem outside Meir and Verlaine want to fight against each other I would like to interrupt them but they would not take me seriously but you are the head of the archive and your words are to be taken seriously"

Poe calms down for in the moment he hear that nothing has happened to Chuuya but then understands what exactly Chuuya wants from him and his eyes widen in panic again.

"B-but Chuuya, what do you want me to say?"

Chuuya looks at him helplessly and shrugs his shoulders, patting him on the back.

"I have no idea Poe just say anything anything right now is better than them trying to kill each other I trust you."

Poe stiffens but then nods, looks Chuuya in the eye and then quickly says before taking his leave.

"I'll do my best Chuuya you can trust me."

And with that, Poe hurried to find Verlaine and Meir, it shouldn't be that hard to find since Chuuya could only see a certain area outside from his room.

But just as Poe was about to go outside, a messenger came to meet him.

"Oh hello Poe-sama, do you happen to know where Verlaine-sama is? I have an important message for him."

Poe faltered and stared blankly at the messenger while he had a little party inside, damn this messenger was talking his life out of him.

Poe cleared his throat once to look a little more professional and then spoke.

"You can just tell me what's so important, I'm on my way to Verlaine-san."

The messenger gave him a quick once-over, surely going over in his head whether or not it would be okay to tell Poe this information.

Poe knew the answer before the messenger knew it himself, Poe was the head of the archives and in the end any information would be relayed to him anyway so there wasn't much point in hiding anything from Poe.

The messenger seemed to think the same, shrugging his shoulders and nodding.

"It was reported that the carriage of Dazai-sama and Fyodor-sama was attacked, but only blood and a broken carriage could be found, there were no bodies or attackers."

Poe faltered briefly and nodded quickly to the messenger before continuing on his way.

"Thank you and good work."

Something was strange about this story that there were no bodies was normal after all, the flags should have saved them but why would the attackers be missing?

Poe suddenly got a very strange feeling in his chest and literally ran to Verlaine and Meir.

Poe stopped for a moment when he saw Meir and examined him briefly. he hadn't seen Meir in person yet, which wasn't surprising since Poe rarely went out of his own four walls, but he had heard a few workers outside his door talking about how handsome Meir was.

Poe could only half agree, of course he understood what people called Meor handsome, but Poe thought Ranpo-kun was much prettier.

In any case, Poe arrived at the two of them panting and quickly told them what it was all about, whereupon Verlaine-san immediately stormed into the castle. After all, it was a big deal when two princes from other kingdoms got lost in their kingdom or maybe even died.

But Meir gave Poe a sharp stare which made Poe feel uneasy. Meir had a dangerous energy about him and Poe remembered the warning Ranpo-kun had given him very well, he had been replaying it in his head the whole time to be exact.

"Listen to me carefully Poe this is important the people around you will most likely love Meir and he will quickly wrap the workers around his little finger and they will be willing to do anything for him so try not to provoke him he is much more dangerous than he looks and would not hesitate to kill."

Poe believed every word Ranpo-kun said and was more than willing not to waste Ranpo-kun's warning.

But before Poe could even speak, Meir knelt down and smiled sweetly at Karl, tilting his head playfully he looked like a child

.....Poe had not expected this

"I know this is very inappropriate to our situation right now Poe-san but I love cute, little, innocent animals even though I usually prefer birds"

Poe faltered a little but was still cautious, he firmly believed that Ranpo-kun was telling the truth and that Meir was really dangerous.

Meir hummed happily as he watched Karl climb back onto Poe's shoulder and scrutinize Meir from there.

Poe was very grateful that Karl climbed on his shoulder, it made Poe feel like he wasn't alone.

Meir stood up again and looked at Poe with a small grin on his face.

"That's a raccoon right? I thought there were very few in this kingdom, did you get one of those?

Poe looked at the ground for a moment, then continued speaking cautiously and looked up, eyeing Meir carefully.

"Yes, there really are very few raccoons in this kingdom, Karl was given to me as a present and we get along really well."

Meir nods understandingly and then moves slowly towards the entrance.

"All right then, I wish you both the best and we'll certainly see each other again."

Poe nods and sighs quietly this situation was really not for his poor heart but now that the conversation was over he could relax a little.

But Poe had rejoiced too soon and he only realized that when he heard Meir's voice behind him.

"Oh before I forget Poe-kun I hate naughty animals who don't know when to stay out of things no matter how cute and small they are you understand that don't you Poe-kun you are a very smart archive manager ."

Poe freezes and feels goosebumps all over his body, forcing himself to look at Meir and nod.

Meir and Poe both knew that Meir wasn't talking about animals.

Meir smiles sweetly at him and Poe hears a couple of maids gushing loudly about Meir in the background.

"I'm glad to hear that, then I'm sure we'll get on well together until later, Poe-kun."

Chapter Text

Meir looked behind him and looked at Poe scrutinizingly.

Perhaps he simply had a small advantage because he had inside information from Kazimir.

It was one day when Kazimir and he had to destroy an enemy camp.

"You know, Meir, I still like Poe the most out of Chuuya's friends, which is pretty obvious since Chuuya's other "friends" are the Flags."

Meir rolled his eyes in annoyance as he touched several enemies, whereupon they began to shrink and you could see their age go down until a fertilized egg lay on the ground.

Meir shrugged it off and stepped on the fertilized eggs of the enemies with his shoes.

Kazimir grimaced in disgust when he saw what his best friend was doing again.

"Honestly, Meir, you have your ability so well under control and could fight in so many different ways, but you always choose to kick your enemies so young that you can just step on them."

Meir shrugged his shoulders and briefly admired Kazimir's skill and how he quickly broke the bones of his enemies with the help of gravity.

Kazimir was definitely the better fighter of the two, but Meir was able to make up for it with his ability. Kazimir was always right, Meir often used the simplest form of his ability.

"Let's not talk about my ability Kazimir why do you like Poe more than the Flags?"

Kazimir looks at Meir for a moment, annoyed, but then quickly turns his gaze back to their enemy and punches him in the stomach.

" fake Athene-chan~ that's quite simple, the Flags are just annoying insects whereas Poe is a cat with very sharp claws"

Meir punches the enemy perhaps a little too brutally in the shoulder as Kazimir starts to speak he hates it when he calls Meir that.

Kazimir definitely notices, but he just smiles in response and continues to speak as he shoots his opponent in the face with stones lying on the ground.

"Poe is someone who can be underestimated very quickly, but Poe is the head of the archives for a reason - I wouldn't be surprised if Poe knows more secrets about the kingdom than the king himself."

Meir had only shrugged his shoulders at the time, but had memorized the information anyway because Poe could have been kidnapped in the future if information was needed.

Now, years later, Meir was very glad that he had somehow memorized all the information Kazimir had told him.

Meir thought about where to go first when he got to the castle and decided to go to his room first, he had an important phone call to make.

Nothing worth mentioning happened on the way Meir passed a few workers but that wasn't important right now.

Meir opened the door to his room and checked to make sure his room wasn't being listened in on and then pulled the curtains from his window.

Then he took out the necklace that he wore under his top. The necklace had a small ball as a pendant that Meir used to talk.

Meir rubbed the ball a little and just a few seconds later the ball lit up and you could hear a voice from the other side of the ball.

"So you're finally back my dearest left hand Osiris, but I don't think you call me because you're back, I'm right?"

Meir just nodded tensely, which was actually unnecessary as the boss couldn't see it anyway, and ran his hand through his hair while he thought about how he should ask his question.

"You're right boss I wish it was a more normal call but something very important has happened here and I wanted to ask you if it's true that the assassination attempt on the two demon brothers and that annoying brat failed?"

Meir probably could have said it better, he realizes quickly after he has finished speaking.

Kazimir would have laughed at him and mocked him when he saw how Meir, who is very proud of his talent in manipulating and talking, is so bad with words.

Meir quickly decides that he should explain himself, lest the boss misunderstand.

"I had provoked Verlaine a little and we were about to fight when Poe the archive manager came and interrupted us, saying that there was no body or attacker to be found, just a broken carriage with blood."

Yes, that sounded better than before, Meir decided in his mind and sat down on his bed and waited patiently for his boss's answer.

The boss ignored the Verlaine part of Meir's statement because he knew it was useless, so he answered Meir's actual question

"I'm afraid I can't tell you much Meir after the assassination one of our members called me but he was knocked unconscious while he was talking I sent a few members to check what was happening but when they arrived all the assassins were lying on the floor badly injured and all of them are in a coma as you can't sneak away they will stay in a coma for a while"

Meir bit his lower lip guiltily, he could normally get the members out of the coma but this time he couldn't because he knew he wouldn't be able to leave this castle without attracting attention.

Then Meir noticed something and asked hesitantly, unsure if he would like the boss's answer.

"Excuse me boss but you didn't say what happened to the demon brothers and the sugar addicted idiot"

The clown and the dog were hardly important Meir was only interested in those three annoying geniuses.

"I haven't had time to check where they escaped to or how they managed to get out alive or maybe they already died of blood loss, I'll let you know when I know more Meir."

Meir just nodded and stopped himself from grinding his teeth it all sucked so much he had been looking forward to them dying and wouldn't have felt bad about it after all they all deserved to die

"Thanks for the information boss, but I have to get going, I can't afford to be away for too long yet, so take care of yourself."

Meir got up from his bed and went to the mirror again to see if he still looked good.

In the mirror he saw a handsome man with perfectly styled blond-black hair, sharp features, a healthy complexion and long dark lashes framing bright green eyes.

"Meir before we end our call I wanted to tell you that we have found Kazimir's "grave" at least his name is carved on a small tombstone made of precious wood we have of course not checked if there is a body inside but we can tell you where the grave is if you want to know.

The man in the mirror changed almost immediately when he heard these words the blond black hair suddenly looked heavy, sharp features contorted into an ugly expression that showed grief, the skin looked much paler, long dark lashes framed dull green eyes and the man's dark lips burst open as he bit too hard on his lower lip so that blood ran down his chin.

"...W-What?"

---

Dazai slowly opened his eyes his surroundings were pleasantly bright but his whole body ached terribly Dazai hated pain.

"So you're finally awake"

Dazai paid no attention to his pain as his head immediately snapped to the side and his eyes caught sight of a familiar red-haired man.

"Odasaku!"

Chapter Text

It was already deep in the night and Chuuya locked the door to his room really fast.

He couldn't afford to wait another day, he wouldn't have a chance to leave this castle for the next few days, neither in the morning nor in the evening.

There were murmurs in the streets that Arahabaki must have some kind of teleportation ability, but unfortunately Chuuya knew better.

Chuuya always sneaked out of the castle, which was usually very easy once you knew the layout of the castle.

(Chuuya thanked Poe from the bottom of his heart for accepting Chuuya as a friend because to be honest Chuuya's life would be so hard without Poe).

The only problem was that Chuuya knew his brother very well. Chuuya was sure that Verlaine would double or triple the number of guards just to better protect Chuuya.

("Don't get me wrong Chu-kun I really love you but sometimes you're too naive it's more than obvious that Verlaine is more than protective")

Chuuya didn't think twice about what to wear, he put on a white suit with his black wig and his black mask with white and gold details that covered Chuuya's entire face, but he didn't put on dark blue contact today was to importent.

After a moment, Chuuya decided to put on a black coat and put a foldable mask in one of the coat's pockets

Of course, Chuuya could have put it in his cloak pocket, but he decided against it without hesitation.

And so Chuuya sneaked out of his room with the help of his secret passage, but this time he didn't go through the garden but went into the backyard of their castle, jumped out of the window and quickly made his way out of the castle.

Chuuya jumped over the wall effortlessly and didn't even have to use his ability Chuuya landed elegantly on the ground and was officially out of the castle.

Chuuya walked into the forest near the castle without hesitation even though it was night Chuuya's body moved without hesitation and Chuuya was sure that even if he forgot all his memories he would never be able to forget this path.

Chuuya walked silently through the woods for several minutes, listening intently as the animals near him went about their normal nighttime routines.

Chuuya stopped after a while near a waterfall, the sound of the water was loud but pleasant to Chuuya's ears and calmed him as it did every time he visited this place.

Chuuya stood with his back to the waterfall and let himself fall with a small smile on his face.

(What Chuuya didn't see because of this was a hand reaching out instinctively and whispering his name in shock).

Chuuya used his ability and flew into the waterfall just before the bottom and was then in a small cave.

You can actually just enter the cave by walking up a small stone path that led into the cave, but Chuuya preferred to enter the cave with the help of his ability.

Chuuya immediately saw the small grave he had made for Kazimir.

Chuuya vividly remembered hugging Kazimir's body and Kazimir's blood dripping almost invisibly onto his black suit.

No one would have ever been able to see that blood had ever touched that suit.

No one could have ever seen that Kazimir's death was Chuuya's fault.

Chuuya stepped slowly towards the grave and saw the new black flowers that Albatross had already placed on Kazimir's grave, normally Chuuya would have long since been greeted by ugly flowers that had lost all their color.

Now Chuuya took two black roses from his cloak pocket and placed them on Kazimir's grave.

The same black roses that are now the signature of Arahabaki, Kazimir's favorite flower.

"Hey Kazimir I hope you're doing well wherever you are it's been another year since you died and a lot of things have happened I met your best friend I'm sure you'd be happy to hear that."

Chuuya smiles falsely at the grave in front of him and continues talking.

"You know I was betrothed to Fyodor and Dazai this year to keep the alliance between our kingdoms going father said."

Chuuya rests his head against the stone and can almost hear Kazimir's words.

"You're such an idiot Chuuya, why do you let your father force you to do something so important, can't you see that what he's doing to you is completely wrong?"

Chuuya knew that everything his father was doing was wrong.

Chuuya knew that it was wrong for his father to lock him in his room

Chuuya knew it was wrong how his father reacted to his mother's death

Chuuya knew it was wrong how his father tried to force friends on him

Chuuya knew it was wrong that his father wanted to make him a copy of his mother.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how his father never gave him 100% freedom.

Chuuya knew that it was wrong how his father ruled like his father.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how his father made decisions for Chuuya.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how his father ruled his whole life.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how his father forced him into an engagement and soon into a wedding.

But Chuuya still loved his father and always remembered how happy and loving his father was when his mother was still alive.

Chuuya couldn't hate his father even though he knew he was doing so much wrong.

Chuuya felt his whole body start to itch again, but he had to control himself, he couldn't hurt himself like this.

Chuuya knew it was wrong the way he was hurting himself.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how he lied to everyone.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how he could show everyone a perfect smile on his face.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how easily he could lie to people he liked.

Chuuya knew it was wrong how he called himself a human.

"Kazimir you know I wish I hadn't heard that conversation back then and continued to live with the way you lied to my face every day I really wish it had never come to our fight I'm so sorry Kazimir that you're dead is all my fault"

Chuuya voice sounded weak and wet tears flowed down Chuuya's cheeks but no one could ever see it thanks to his mask.

Chuuya laughed a little hoarsely to himself and felt the guilt literally engulf him.

"Maybe you would still be alive if I just hadn't been so stupid Kazimir then we could have continued to enjoy each other's presence but we've been separated by death for years"

Chuuya felt pathetically small every time he visited this place but he still came here every year to talk to Kazimir once a year.

Even though it was usually only Chuuya who apologized to Kazimir and regretted being alive.

"I sometimes wish I had been even remotely as brave as you kazimir, you were never afraid of anything and always knew what to say"

Chuuya often remembered how brave Kazimir always was and how often he " protected" Chuuya. Thinking that Kazimir is dead because of him makes Chuuya sick

"I'm so sorry Kazim"

"I'm sure if he loved you as half as you loved him, he'll hate to hear your sad words even if your face is hidden behind a real mask this time."

Chuuya's head shot up and his eyes widened in panic when he saw the person in front of him.

"Arthur wh-what are you doing here?"

---

"Odasaku!"

Oda smiled fondly when he heard his friend's words and smiled kindly at him.

"That's wow, weren't you off duty and on vacation with Ango, is he here too?"

Oda nodded and called out Ango's name loudly, whereupon he immediately opened the door

(He had obviously been waiting at the door to come in as soon as Oda called him.)

"Ango"

Ango nodded to Dazai and sat down next to him.

"Dazai, So you're finally awake"

Dazai just nodded and looked at his closest friends.

"How are the others, are they up yet? Are they okay too?"

Oda and Ango glanced at each other, which stirred something in Dazai.

"Odasaku? Ango? What are those looks for?"

Oda first looked back at Dazai and then, after a moment's hesitation, continued.

"Dazai we have something to tell you."

---

"I saw you and followed you, even though I was very surprised that you were Arahabaki."

Chuuya sighed out maybe it was because they were here at Kazimir's grave or because he trusted Arthur but he felt no panic in his body.

"Sit down Arthur I will explain everything in detail later but to put it crudely I wanted to help the people in the slums my father had something against it and that's why the thief Arahabaki was brought back to life."

Chuuya knew that he would have to explain later why the murderer of Kazimir was mourning so pathetically at his grave, but that was not a conversation he wanted to have here.

Arthur didn't seem to mind the fact that Chuuya was Verlaine's enemy and he just nodded understandingly.

"I'm very grateful that you didn't interrupt Verlaine's proposal right then."

Chuuya blinked in surprise but then nodded and as tears continued to flow down his cheeks, Chuuya smiled.

"I remember how horrified I was that Verlaine proposed to you without telling me."

Arthur just smiled and seemed to think back to that moment.

But suddenly Chuuya heard footsteps and reacted quickly, taking off his coat and throwing it to Arthur.

Arthur blinked in confusion and was about to speak when he also heard the footsteps and quickly and gratefully put his coat on, threw the hood over his head and then noticed the mask and quickly put it on too.

Chuuya was grateful that he had taken two masks with him for safety.

The footsteps came closer and Arthur and Chuuya both tensed up.

Chuuya's breath caught in his throat when he saw the person standing at the entrance to the cave.

"Arahabaki what do you think you're doing here?"

Meir, or rather Osiris, stood at the entrance to the cave and glared at the two of them from behind his mask.

Chuuya could feel the hateful look in his eyes despite the mask.

Chuuya swallowed and had to calm down. In front of him stood the left hand of Loikusto, more than ready to kill him and more importantly Arthur.

"I visit Kazimir's grave like every year, but this is the first time I've seen you here Osiris"

Chuuya hoped that Kazimir wasn't turning in his grave when he heard Meir and Chuuya talking hostilely to each other.

Meir threw his head back and laughed loudly to himself. If Chuuya thought Meir looked scary before, he didn't know how to describe Meir now.

Chuuya's whole body would have been shaking like crazy if the situation wasn't so important for Arthur's health right now.

"Where do you get the face to visit Kazimir's grave? You killed him! Did you enjoy watching Kazimir die slowly? You can be honest with me Arahbaki, did Kazimir suffer a lot when he died?"

Chuuya swallowed and didn't want to answer he knew that Meir was right Chuuya had no right to visit Kazimir's grave after all it was Chuuya's fault that Kazimir was dead

Chuuya still remembered Kazimir's bloody grin as he took his last breaths and felt like he couldn't breathe anymore.

But he couldn't do anything wrong now Meir could kill Chuuya any other way Chuuya would accept his punishment without hesitation but right now Arthur's life was also at stake.

"I am the reason why Kazimir died, I can only tell you that I never killed Kazimir on purpose and hated every second of it."

Chuuya bowed to Meir and felt the confused looks of Arthur and Meir both on him, but he didn't care.

Chuuya straightened up after a minute and looked at Meir and could literally see Meir's lips form into a mocking grin as he continued to speak.

"What a pity he didn't want Kazimir to die did you hear that? , but that doesn't change the fact that you killed my best friend and I don't even want to know what kind of pain his boy friend was in."

Chuuya almost cried again after all Arahabaki had killed Chuuya's ex boy friend Kazimir the only problem was that Chuuya and Arahabaki were the same person.

"At least tell me how you killed Kazimir"

Chuuya's breath caught and clear bloody images popped into his head and the back of his neck itched more than ever.

Meir was apparently annoyed by the long pause and began to speak again.

"Hey, just tell me how Kazimir died, it shouldn't be that hard for you to tell me if my best friend died from blood loss, critical hits to his lungs or maybe even a heart attack, it shouldn't be that hard, should it?"

Arthur looked from Chuuya to Osiris and wasn't sure if he should get involved - it all seemed rather personal.

But Arthur didn't like how hard it was for Chuuya to answer Osiris' question - what could have killed Kazimit so badly?

Chuuya swallowed hard, he didn't want to say it but he knew that he owed Meir an answer.

Slowly Meir also seemed to understand that something was wrong here and became restless

Chuuya let out another heavy sigh and then spoke the answer Meir had been waiting for so long.

"K-Kazimir broke his o-own neck four ye-ars ago."

end of the first part

Chapter Text

Arthur was not surprised when he realized that Chuuya was Arahabaki.

And Arthur didn't know why he felt that way.

Arahabaki and Nakahra Chuuya were as different as night and day and had completely different personalities.

But both day and night were two sides of the same coin right? 

Chuuya and Arahabaki could not exist without the other.

When people thought of Arahabaki, they immediately thought of his love for Chuuya.

When people thought of Chuuya, they immediately thought of Arahabaki's love for Chuuya.

The charming, arogant thief and the gentle, weak prince

It was as if the two of them belonged together and were destined to end up together.

But wasn't that too perfect? As if it had be from a story? A thief who falls in love with a prince and would do anything for his love?

As if they were soul mates who were destined by high powers to be perfect for each other and to live happily ever after, but they could never be together with their soul mate because the prince's evil brother stood between their love.

This story enchanted people and made them dream that they would ever find someone as compatible as Chuuya and Arahabaki and that they would have a wonderful life and overcome all problems together

But wasn't that too perfect? What if the thief wasn't interested in the prince at all? What if the prince was bothered by the thief?

What if the thief only wanted to use the prince because of his body? What if the thief only saw the prince as a challange?

A weak prince who has been locked up in his castle all his life after his father and brother became paranoid after the death of his mother.

As beautiful as a porcelain doll, as fragile as a porcelain doll, as well protected as the most precious treasure.

What if the thief was only chasing after the prince because he saw it as exciting?

Like moths flying to the light, dazzled by the beauty it radiated.

But what if all of this was just a thought anyway and the gentle, fragile prince was the same person as the chameleonic, arogant thief?

What if everything you saw and heard about the two of them was actually just a story played out by the clever and strong prince?

What if the prince was able to create the illusion of the thief and the prince standing side by side?

Then it would go from a beautiful romantic story to a big lie.

Then it would go from a terribly toxic story to an honorable one.

Then Arthur could understand why he always has a tight feeling in his chest when Chuuya walks unsteadily through the corridors or silently obeys everything his father and Arthur's fiancé demands.

Then it would finally make sense.

Even though Arthur was more than surprised at how well Chuuya could play his role as a loving prince.

How long Chuuya had been playing the role of the Loving Prince

How much of Chuuya's prince me was even real?

The Chuuya who was now standing in front of him, almost trembling, said behind the role of Arahabaki that Kazimir had broken his own neck and said hello to death with his own will.

This form of Arahabaki was much worse than the normal form of Chuuya.

Arthur couldn't breathe behind the mask as he remembered what the Flags had said when they thought they were alone

"I'm sure the queen already suspected it but that the others never realized it and let Chuuya suffer with it is a bit sad yes" 

"After all, Kazimir and Chuuya had been in a relationship for so long"

The thought of Chuuya's boy friend killing himself, obviously in front of Chuuya's own eyes, gave Arthur's heart an uncomfortable pause.

Arthur didn't know how he would have handled it if death had separated Verlaine and him like this and he had to witness every person in town celebrating Verlaine's death.

He couldn't bear to have that smile on his face with which Chuuya enchanted everyone.

Arthur looked slowly from Chuuya to Osiris Arthur couldn't really see Osiris' face but even without his face Arthur could feel the danger filling his body.

It was as if Arthur was a small bird and there was a lion in front of him, even if he had wings he couldn't take to the air and escape the lion because he was so scared 

Osiri's voice was quiet and calm as he sored again and it was more than obvious that he was actually boiling with rage.

"You said Kazimir broke his own neck? Why would Kazimir do something so stupid? Of course Kazimir wasn't 100% sane at the time, but he wasn't so bad that he would commit suicide."

Arthur quickly realized that this conversation was going in a very wrong direction and hesitated whether he should interfere - the atmosphere here was oppressive and he and Chuuya were under great time pressure.

But just as Arthur was about to open his mouth to speak, his words were interrupted by Chuuya, who took a step forward and then began to speak confidently.

"Are you sure about that Osiris? Didn't Kazimir have a single reason to kill himself in the middle of a fight? Don't be a hypocrite, we both know that Kazimir was more than unhappy with his life when he fought me."

Was this all an act? Arthur couldn't understand what Chuuya was really feeling at that moment.

Chuuya's mask had become his face a long time ago.

Arthur wondered for a moment if the Flags and Poe would be able to look behind the mask and see the real Chuuya.

Suddenly Arthur's whole body is covered in goose bumps and he feels colder than usual.

"So you're trying to tell me that Kazimir suddenly thought "oh fuck it, I'll kill myself" in the middle of your fight? If you're kidding me Kazimir loved Chuuya with everything he had and was willing to do anything for him even when Chuuya ended their relationship Kazimir understood that and continued to love him." 

Osiri's words were spoken with such confidence that Arthur couldn't help but want to believe them immediately.

But then Arthur looked at Chuuya and just in time he saw Chuuya flinch and clench his hand into a fist until he relaxed it and let it fall asleep at his side.

Ah, so Chuuya and Kazimir ended their relationship in a fight.

It must have been a big shock for him to hear Kazimir's best friend confirm Kazimir's love for Chuuya in no uncertain terms.

It was probably a too big emotional shock for Chu-

Arthur's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by Chuuya's fist hitting the wall.

"Oh, he loved Chuuya so much that he betrayed Chuuya and lied to his face without shame ever since he came back? Do you think Kazimir would have ever told Chuuya how he took advantage of him? Don't forget the reason why Chuuya broke up with Kazimir."

Arthur couldn't keep up, hadn't Chuuya been crouching at Kazimir's grave a few minutes before, mourning his death?

Why did Chuuya suddenly seem so angry with Kazimir?

It was he himself who had said that he wished he had never found out how Kazimir had lied to him.

Arthur heard the loud gnashing of Osiri's teeth, but that was just a side issue Chuuya's previously broken demeanor suddenly seemed to be filled with rage.

Arthur now felt the murderous lust of both parties more than clearly and Arthur knew one thing for sure, if he didn't intervene there would be one person who would make his last move tonight.

"Arahabaki, we have to go urgently, our time here is limited"

Chuuya and Osiris both turned to Arthur at the same time and only now seemed to remember that a third person had heard this conversation.

They both looked at each other and seemed to be trying to decide what to do.

Would Osiris allow them to leave without a good fight? They didn't know when Verlaine would come looking for them and they had to get back to the castle as quickly as possible.

Osiris sighed and turned his back on them.

"You were lucky once again, I have to go too and I don't have time, but believe me Arahabaki when I tell you that I will kill you."

With that, Osiris went down the path and left Chuuya and Arthur alone.

Chuuya just stood there for a few seconds and then grabbed Arthur by the hand.

"We don't have time to waste, this has to go fast forget about the conversation you heard, it's a fight between Osiris and me"

Chuuya seemed to have forgotten or repressed that he had told Arthur that he would explain to him why Chuuya was Arahabaki.

But Arthur understood that Chuuya didn't want to talk about his motives right now, after all he had just spoken to Osiris about the death of Kazimir.

Where he was accused of being a victim and the murderer.

Arthur blinked in surprise as he felt himself suddenly lighten and Chuuya pulled him by the hand and pushed them off the waterfall.

And they weren't falling but in the air of course Arthur had seen it happen to Chuuya but to experience it for himself is a completely strange new feeling.

Chuuya let them fly the way quickly and skillfully and didn't say a word during the whole flight.

First, Chuuya took Arthur to his room where he had opened the window when he flew Chuuya.

Chuuya quickly let Arthur into his room, took off Arthur's mask and coat.

"I wish you a good night Arthur."

Chuuya's voice sounded a little rough and dry as he spoke Arthur smiled softly at him which was hard to see on this dark night with no stars.

"Good night to you too, try to get a good night's sleep"

Chuuya just nodded and then quickly disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Arthur shook his head, Chuuya was definitely not going to sleep tonight Arthur wish he could be make more for Chuuya

A moment later there was a knock at the door and Verlaine smiled at Arthur and frowned when he saw the open window.

"Arthur darling, everything is fine, you rarely open the window because it's so cold."

Arthur smiles at Verlaine and shakes his head.

"Everything's fine, don't worry I was just a bit dizzy, let's go to bed together."

Don't look at what Chuuya is doing.

"Of course, Darling everything you wish for"

Chapter Text

"Dazai we have something to tell you."

Dazai looked at Odasaku uncomfortably and analyzed him down to the smallest detail.

But Dazai saw nothing in Odasaku his body showed Dazai no clues to his thoughts

Dazai was not stupid Dazai was actually a damn genius.

But somehow, Dazai felt as if a big fog was enveloping his thoughts and making it hard for him to think properly.

He never had trouble understanding people's motives or reading their minds.

But right now, Dazai's big brain wasn't working the way it normally did.

"Are you having any trouble thinking properly Dazai, like there's some kind of fog stopping you?"

Dazai faltered and then the realization hit him he remembers the "strange purple gas" in the carriage his first thought was that it was poisoned but listening to Odasaku's statement it sounds like it wasn't poison but more like some kind of drug.

"The others all woke up before you and they all had the same problem their brains felt foggy and they had trouble thinking properly you can probably imagine how Fyodor and especially Ranpo reacted it was terrible to see him but he's a little better now."

Dazai flinched a little, barely recognizable to Oda and Ango, he didn't want to think about what a panic attack Ranpo might have had.

Ranpo was always terribly proud of his intelligence and rightly so, of course Dazai and Fyodor were too, but both secretly knew for themselves that Ranpo was smarter than them.

Now that Ranpo was told that his greatest pride  purpose in life was gone for a time he could not calculate, he would rethink his entire life.

"... how are you physically, are you badly wounded?"

Odasku shook his head and smiled gently at Dazai, knowing of course what was going through his mind it was Odasaku

"No, you were lucky that we met a Doctor, he treated you quickly and made sure that none of you died even though I don't know what the Doctor and his group were doing here." 

Dazai tilted his head and cursed his slow brain inwardly, he would normally have known the answer by now and wouldn't have needed to ask but after a short pause the shameful question left his lips and he couldn't take it back.

"Who exactly did you meet Odasaku?"

Odasaku smiled reassuringly at Dazai and Ango looked gently at Dazai from behind his glasses.

"They called themselves the Flags and had a Doctor as a member."

Dazai's breath caught in his throat and he felt the fog in his head grow thicker.

Why would the Flags be here?                       

"So you saw who destroyed my plan and saved our enemies?" 

A subordinate knelt in front of his Master and stared at the floor, not daring to look at his boss with his unworthy eyes.

The only source of light in the room was the small window behind the boss which was covered by a black curtain so that hardly any light came into the room.

"Yes boss I could see it thanks to my ability when I arrived at the place." 

The boss tilted his head and stared gently at his subordinate.

Why would he be mean to someone who would soon tell him who he had to kill?

At that moment, the information this man had in front of him was more than just important to him 

"Good work then tell me who dared to destroy my plan?"

The subordinate flinched happily for a moment at the praise and continued speaking quickly so as not to upset his master.

"It was Prince Arthur-san's bodyguards who were on vacation until recently, Chuuya-sama's bodyguards and two others, a red-haired man and a white-haired man, but unfortunately I don't know their identities." 

The boss widened his eyes a little in shock Chuuya's bodyguard? Why would they make sure his plan failed?

Oda and Ango made sense, but why did the Flags have to help them Didn't they hate the demon brothers just as much Loikusto do? 

And who were the other two accompanying with them?

"Boss, I have another thing to say this unknown red-haired man lit a red firework Chuuya-sama's bodyguard seemed to know what he was doing."

Oh? That sounded familiar, but where from?

Then the boss of Loikusto was struck by the realization of when he had heard of red fireworks in a strange situation.

"That's too bad I lost the bet with Kazimir, too bad he'll never know, you had good information for me, you can go." 

The subordinate immediately straightens up but continues to stare at the ground and was about to leave when his boss interrupted him.

"Wait a moment you had such good information for me today and you helped me really much you can look me in the face you deserve it after all you were such a good dog today"

The subordinate gulped and his hands shook as he slowly raised his head and looked at his master in front of him adoringly.

The man in front of him looked like a god he have bright blond almost white hair that fell over his face like silk, dark beige eyes behind those eyes was such an intelligent soul, a prominent chin and high cheekbones.

The subordinate struggled to avert his gaze, but then hesitantly make it so and left the room after a deep bow with burning red cheeks.

The boss grinned slightly and shook his head-  How loyal.

Then a moment later  the boss of Loikusto, who stayed behind, went to his pinboard where you could see several photos, small marginal notes and several lines.

The boss drew his red pencil lines across the pinboard, five of them to be exact.

He then wrote the same word over each line and then looked back at the pinboard.

The boss turned around and sat down at his desk, sighing in annoyance from so much work.

"... at least the trio of demons shouldn't get on my nerves for a while - after all, they inhaled Osiris' drug."

On the bulletin board behind the boss, Mann saw the pictures of each flag member and how a red line led to a photo where you could see a black-haired man with a mask above the lines was written in large letters "ALLIES" 

"Now I can fully concentrate on making sure Chuuya doesn't have any traitors as "friends" Meir will certainly be more than upset when he hears this news This will give me another headache so annoying," 

Chapter Text

A lot of time has passed since I got up in a carriage Shibuzawa said it had been more than 11 months.

I remember well the first time I opened my eyes and saw two adults lying next to me who seemed to have embraced me.

At the time I was too scared of the dead people, they were covered in blood and had such pale skin.

My body moved before I could understand it and climbed out of the carriage and ran away from the place as fast as I could.

I was covered in blood just like the two adults, but I only had minor wounds.

Shibuzawa told me that the dead people in the carriage were probably my parents

But no matter how hard I tried, I could never confirm Shibuzawa's theory. My first memory of my life is when I woke up next to the dead people in the carriage.

I ran for quite a long time afterwards and had pain in the upper part of my body and my legs.

Shibuzawa said that my lungs were probably on fire at the time.

I had a terrible panic when Shibuzawa said that something was burning in my body.

But Shibuzawa quickly explained that's just what they say and that my lungs didn't really burn.

....Why do you say things you don't really mean? Isn't that a bad thing?

Although I also have to do a lot of bad things to get food.

I have to rob the grown-ups and then run really as fast as I can

I'm really good at that! I've only been caught three times.

But Shibuzawa is much better at it! He's really cool and clever!

Oh, I forgot to tell you how I met Shibuzawa, that was stupid from me

It was just after I left that creepy carriage.

I somehow got lost in the forest and ended up in a cave full of bears.

I wasn't scared at all - even if Shibuzawa says I'm lying, that's not true - I wasn't scared at all and I was totally brave, I was just cold!

The bears didn't like me being in their cave and jumped on me.

But then something very strange happened - the bears that jumped at me all flew against the wall and had a red light around them.

The light didn't scare me, it looked super cool and felt warm and protective.

Really soon after these bears flew into the wall, Shibuzawa came and put them to sleep.

He said it was "an eternal sleep that you can't escape." 

Super cool, isn't it? I think the bears are still sleeping.

In any case, Shibuzawa took me with him and taught me - he's really clever!

He also found out my name, it must have been written on my back in red paint.

Even though Shibuzawa made a face when he saw my back and asked me if my back hurts.

My back really hurts sometimes but at the moment I didn't feel any pain so I said no.

But Shibuzawa doesn't like to use my real name, he likes to shorten it.

I think it's called a nickname! I heard that when some kids ran past me laughing.

They looked really happy, even though they were poor, at least their clothes looked that way.

It was a small group of friends of five children but I never saw them again.

Unfortunately, I had bigger problems, so I didn't follow them and asked if we wanted to be friends.

I had to make sure that me and Shibuzawa didn't have to sleep in a small cold room for long and could get warm food.

I worked really hard and even started pickpocketing.

I think it's called that a man with a stick shouted after me as I was running away.

I think he said something like "catch that dirty pickpocket and hang him I want to see him hanging in the air how dare he".

But I don't know why he called me dirty but still wanted me to swing in the air and fly.

Only Shibuzawa sometimes lifts me into the air and throws me to catch me again. It's really fun!

But I couldn't tell the man that I wanted to play with him because I had to bring Shibuzawa the money first.

Shibuzawa was really angry when I told him what the man said. I think he was jealous even if he didn't have to be jealous - after all, Shibuzawa was the most important person in my life

Me and Shibuzawa moved to a slightly better place where it wasn't quite so cold.

We went on and on like that and lived like that for several months but

Tomorrow me and Shibuzawa are supposed to meet some stranger who has a job offer for us.

Shibuzawa said I should write this because it would be a good memory when I read it later.

I think the stranger also runs some organization called Kru Krik Kribdo Kribto.

I personally haven't met the stranger yet but if Shibuzawa thinks it's a good idea I'll follow it!

Shibuzawa gave me this book and a small orange plush bird.

He apologized that he couldn't give me a bigger notebook but I didn't care, it was a gift from Shibuzawa and that was priceless

Shibuzawa said that bird aren't actually orange but I don't care.

My favorite color is orange! It's similar to the color of the beautiful red light from back then and I think I liked it before that too

I named the plush bear "Captain Chu".

Captain Chu is really small but that's great I can carry him everywhere without him standing out too much.

I don't think I'll ever write in this book again so I'll say goodbye now.

I hope nothing happens to the book I really would like to read it when i am older and stronger.

- This book was presented to you (me) by  Kazimir Kazim

Chuuya closes the little book loudly.

He had only found this little book after Kazimir's death when he was looking for his documents in Kazimir's house, covered in blood, in order to destroy Loikusto

He had found it by chance behind a photo of Kazimir and Chuuya attending the festival together and laughing in each other's arms.

It was Kazimir's favorite picture of the two of them.

The picture had been in an artistically designed frame and Chuuya really just wanted to admire the frame, he had no interest in the picture and he had no tears in his eyes when he looked at the picture of Kazimir and Chuuya laughing happily.

Chuuya had not yet read the book that evening.

It had taken him several weeks to open the book and read it.

Chuuya had simply read the book with tears streaming down his cheeks again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again...

Chuuya didn't know how long he had read it, he just remembered Poe gently taking the book out of his hands and the flags pressing him down on his bed.

Chuuya remembered well how Poe hid the little book in his archives for a while so that Chuuya wouldn't spend his whole day reading it.

Only after Chuuya had destroyed Loikusto, Arahaabki's role had grown halfway and he was better able to cope with his grief did Poe give him the book back.

Chuuya read the little notebook every year at this time and let the guilt take him by surprise.

Chuuya got up from the floor with a sigh, his throat burning uncomfortably and he hoped that he hadn't bothered Doc's bandages too much.

Chuuya had just put Kazimir's book away and was ready to lie down in his bed to drown in self-pity when the door was brutally ripped open.

Chuuya flinched and almost automatically wanted to rush towards the intruder to hit him, but he caught himself at the last moment and looked up.

There stood Meir in front of him, his eyes burning with an unprecedented fury.

What if he was a demon before? What was he now?

(Chuuya almost thought of Fyodor and Dazai again, but that was more than bad right now, so he quickly buried his worries about his fiancée).

What would Meir do now? Had he found out that Chuuya was Arahabaki? Was he here to kill him? Had he finally reached his limit?

Chuuya looked as if Meir was no longer at Chuuya's door.

Chuuya couldn't move as two strong arms wrapped around him and hugged him tightly.

Chuuya had stopped trying to understand how things were going in this castle.

Chapter Text

There won't be any chapters for a while as I'm currently in hospital because I passed out on the street and I don't know when I'll get out yet so I'm really sorry to delay the new chapter for so long but when I get better there will be a long chapter to make up for it

Chapter Text

Chuuya frowned as he smelled the strong odor of alcohol emanating from Meir.

Meir clung to Chuuya's back and buried his nose in Chuuya's hair.

Chuuya would definitely have kicked Meir where it hurts a boy the most if it were any other situation, but right now Chuuya was to blame for Meir's suffering and therefore he just accepted it without a word.

Chuuya looked out the window and remembered the red light that had recently lit up the sky.

The flags have saved them now it's only a matter of time before they come back the flags don't like going out of the castle and always return quickly Chuuya had never asked them why.

Chuuya felt his hair getting wet and felt something breaking inside him - it was all his fault.

When exactly had Chuuya's life started to spiral out of control?

When his Father engaged Chuuya to Dazai and Fyodor?

 When he robbed the two demon brothers without considering the consequences?

 When Kazimir kill himself because of Chuuya own stupidity?

 When Chuuya became Arahabaki for the first time?

  When he befriended the Flags and Poe?

 When Kazimir betrayed him? 

When Kazimir returned after disappearing for years?

 When he saw Poe for the first time and knew nothing of their future friendship? 

When the flags became Chuuyad's personal bodyguard?

 When Ane-san left Chuuya alone and went to another country without a word? 

When everyone went crazy over the death of Chuuya's mother? 

When Kazimir disappeared and Chuuya thought he was gone forever? 

When he saw Albatross for the first time and didn't yet know how important this meeting was for Albatross at the time?

Or was it when he met Kazimir for the first time as a little baby?

Chuuya didn't know, but he knew at that very moment that every second that passed was important.

In this very second, Loikusto's leader could be plotting their downfall.

In this very second, Fyodor and Dazai could be seriously wounded.

In this very second, the Flags could die without Chuuya knowing.

In this very second, Meir could kill Chuuya because he loses control of his ability.

Even though Chuuya didn't know exactly what Meir's ability was, he knew that it had to be as strong as Kazimir's for the two of them to work well as partners.

Chuuya looked at Meir's chest that he could see and without realizing it Chuuya counted how many times he trembled and how fast his heart beat.

Chuuya was a terrible person and he knew it. Meir hated Arahabaki from the bottom of his heart, but he still came to Arahabaki to seek the feeling of understanding.

Chuuya was a selfish person, he didn't have the courage or mental strength right now to tell Meir that Chuuya and Arahabaki were the same person.

"Let me give you some advice as a mother Chuuya, you might not understand until you're older. Sometimes it's better to tell people a beautiful lie than to tell them the cruel truth."

"H-Hey what are you doing, have you gone completely crazy? Get off me you idiots"

Dazai grumbled loudly as he was brought down by the flags eo the others sat down Ango and Oda gave each other doubtful looks but first observed the situation.

Dazai was placed next to the others, who hardly looked any better than Dazai himself.

Fyodor looked at the ceiling while Nikolai leaned against his shoulder, even Nikolai looked like he had no energy to play around.

...Akutagawa looked the same as always, only much more grim and bad-tempered (Lippmann and Albatross didn't even know that was possible)

Piano man quit cleared his throat and then looked sternly at the pathetic group in front of him.

"We can't afford to waste our time here, we have to get back to the castle as soon as possible."

Oda watched fondly as five of the most dangerous humans he knew became cute puppies in a matter of seconds, their heads literally covered in a thought pale with the name of the person they Love like

But then Ranpo frowned and looked away from the flags like a small child.

"I don't want to go back to the castle I'm being stupid right now how can I allow Poe to see me like this? I probably couldn't even solve his normal riddle right now." 

Ango pushed his glasses up and wished he and Oda were still on their vacation this annoying group was already bad normally. but this group with self-doubt? This was going to be absolute hell.

Immediately after Ranpo complained, the others also started to sink a little, because in the end they were all proud of their intelligence in their own way.

If Ango could turn back time, he would stop Atsushi from leaving so that at least Akutagawa could be helped, but Atsushi had unfortunately left with a red-haired boy just before Ranpo woke up first.

Ango would definitely need a vacation shortly after he started working again.

"Ranpo is right, how could I appear before Chuuya in my current situation? I'm completely unworthy of being Chuuya's fiancé right now." 

Although Fyodor was the only one to speak, everyone knew that Dazai was thinking the same thing even if he hadn't said it himself.

Oda and Ango gave each other cautious glances as they felt the flags in front of them slowly begin to tense up, and it didn't get any better as the group continued to complain. 

"I totally agree with you guys, how can I see or even annoy Sigma when I'm so stupid right now? My character is terrible and Sigma isn't superficial enough to be fooled by my looks so I have to at least be smart."

"Atsushi is not in the castle, but what if I run into him on the way or somewhere else? It would be so humiliating to see him now when I've always made fun of him." 

"Poe would be terribly disappointed to see me he likes me so much and tries so hard because I can solve his books easily I definitely can't go back to the castle what should I tell Poe?" 

"My little prince needs someone clever at his side so that he can easily get rid of his brother and father, I can't be stupid."

In the end, neither Ango nor Oda were surprised that the Flags were more than willing to kill the five boys in front of him with their own hands.

Even if they didn't understand why the Flags lost their temper so quickly, it seemed as if they were under time pressure and that the allotted time would soon be over.

The two newly married men didn't know how right they were with their thoughts.

"Your Majesty, why does Chuuya-san look so sad when I saw him for the first time, he was beaming with joy." Albatross was whispering softly as he watched a little boy walking through the garden.

The Queens face was covered with a fan so the flags couldn't really see her face but they listened clearly to the queen's words as she began to speak after a moment.

"Chuuya is usually a very cheerful child, you're right Albatross, but recently Chuuya's best friend disappeared without a trace and the indications are that he has died."

The flags start at little Chuuya, who even as a child looked like he was carrying the responsibility of the whole kingdom on his little shoulders.

Hidden from the Flags' gaze, the Queen grinned behind her fan as she spoke, only stopping when Kouyou called her name and asked to speak.

"shut up your damn mouth you're more pathetic than Albatross when he's drunk." 

"Hey Paino man this is getting a little personal couldn't you have found a better comparison?" 

Ranpo looks at Paino man with his arms crossed and then says defiantly.

"I'd rather be pathetic in front of you than have Poe think I'm pathetic." 

Doc just wanted to throw Ranpo over a cliff, make sure he survived and then leave him there for months without candy.

Lippmann, whose handsome face had developed an ugly wrinkle, looked at the group in disappointment.

"Do you all really think your intelligence is that important to your partner? Is that because of the drug or your brutal self-doubt?" 

Nikolai grimaced and pouted like a child as he pointed at himself.

"Sigma already doesn't like my intelligent self, just like Ranpo said, if I'm annoying and stupid now, how am I supposed to make Sigma fall in love with me?"

Iceman banged his head hard against the wall which certainly looked funny but he just had the feeling he was talking to children whose emotional maturity was so low they were touching the earth's core.

Doc glared angrily at the group and was more than ready to shove them all into the carriage by force, making it most unpleasant for Ranpo.

"You are complete idiots if you think that they only put up with you because of your intelligence, it's so ridiculously obvious that it obviously doesn't matter, especially you Akutagawa shouldn't have any doubts."

Akutagawa just looks away and has no argument to answer, he knows that Atsushi wouldn't care, this is much more about his own pride.

"I don't care, I'm staying here and will only go back to my little fiancé when my brain can finally function properly again." 

After Dazai had spoken these words, it was as if someone had shaken the last verse into a very overfilled glass.

Surprisingly, after Dazai had spoken these words, it was not Doc but Albatross who slapped them all in the face and seemed to be boiling with rage.

Even the flags twitched a little really little bit together, it had been a long time since Albatross had been so angry that he could compete with Poe.

"Shut the fuck up and think for a fucking second, you're not geniuses but you should at least be able to think like normal people, right? We can't afford to waste your time just because you think your entire existence is built on your intelligence, we're the fucking bodyguard of the fucking prince of the kingdom in the end, how worried do you think we are every time we leave the castle because something could happen to Chuuya at any time? And right now there's a complete stranger in the castle and we're here with spoiled kids who have self-doubt you're not five where that would be cute."

Albatross breathes in and out for a small second, looks at the group who all seem to want to protest pointlessly and therefore continues speaking quickly.

"Nikolai honestly if you think Sigma cares one bit about your intelligence you're completely blind have you ever thought that Sigma doesn't want to deal with them because you just give him headaches all the time and make him feel like shit? Calm down a bit and show a little appreciation for Sigma then he might like you too."

Nikolai opens his mouth only to close it again and nod slowly he already knew this but to have it shouted in his face like this was a completely new feeling but Albatross was angry right now and finally had to speak his thoughts out loud.

"Akutagwa you know your problem is ridiculous and that Atsushi would love you no matter what so I'm not yelling at you you're still the most reasonable which is a bit ironic." 

Akutagwa just nodded and was a little glad that he didn't have to stand under those eyes gleaming with rage. 

Who would have thought that this seemingly easy-going guy could get so angry that it intimidated even Akutagwa?

"Fyodor and Dazai you two even have a halfway good point Chuuya doesn't need stupid idiots around him who have no idea what to do the only problem is that you two have always been stupid idiots when you're around Chuuya you don't deserve Chuuya I really believe that but Chuuya already likes you so much that he sends us after you so just accept that Chuuya has already taken you into his too big heart."

Albatross turned his gaze away from the demon brothers, he didn't want to see their reaction and didn't want to know it would be too cheesy for his taste.

It would probably just be a long realization with different realizations where in the end they would find out that they really were idiots to even think that Chuuya could hate them.

In the end, these demon brothers were still just humans looking for attention and Chuuya had always loved strays and had enough love left over to give to Fyodor and Dazai soon is another question.

But Albatross still had the worst person ahead of him, he had to convince the boy who believed that his whole purpose in life was to be clever that Poe would love him even without his cleverness.

Albatross doesn't take a deep breath and then begins his monologue. "And now to you mister "nobody can love me if I'm stupid because Poe only likes me because I solve his riddles" have you ever thought this thought through to the end? Poe loves you so painfully much that he voluntarily left his damn archive and went into a big crowd of people and hopefully you know Poe well enough to know how much he hates both you gave him karl do you even know how happy he was when he got the gift and how he talked for hours about how great you are? Poe loves you so painfully much and he won't mind if you suddenly aren't a super genius he doesn't like you just because of that Ranpo I couldn't even list how many good things Poe said about you and the smallest part of those things are about your intelligence so stop cowering like a coward get in the carriage and let's go back to the damn castle."

Ranpo stared wide-eyed at Albatross at that moment he somehow reminded Ranpo of Chuuya when they first met years ago.

"Freak stop being so damn weird and shut up nobody wants to listen to your weird lies."

Ranpo glared at the boys who insulted him like every day, he had long since stopped justifying himself.

Ranpo never lied, he swore! It was so obvious that Chizaki was cheating on his girlfriend with her boyfriend, why didn't anyone believe him?

But people would always say that Ranpo shouldn't lie and that he didn't know what he was saying.

Ranpo hated that words and didn't know what to do about it.

He slowly but surely began to doubt himself, was Ranpo really wrong in everything he said? Was he really so pathetic that he was making up lies?

Ranpo looked up and saw that the boys were still beating him up he didn't feel the pain anymore when you live on the streets you are used to the pain.

Ranpo blinked a little as he saw a small tea manager wearing a large dark blue cloak.

The teenager was probably either a noble or he had stolen the cloak because it was certainly expensive.

Ranpo would have liked to hit himself after he had finished this thought he should stop thinking like that it made no sense in the end Ranpo only created his own lies in his head again and he would never see the boy in front of him again anyway.

At least Ranpo thought that within a few seconds the boy was beating up the boys who were beating him.

 Ranpo didn't think much as the words left his mouth. "Hey you're strong mister" 

Because that wasn't true? The man had just beaten up the others without any problems, which meant he was strong, Ranpo didn't think so.

The man bent over to Rano and looked at his injuries as far as Ranpo saw for himself it wasn't anything really bad this time.

Apparently the mister thought the same because he stood up and Ranpo realized for a moment that he was going to leave but then he reached out to Ranpo and simply said.

"Come on get up we'll get you some decent clothes to wear and some good food."

Ranpo didn't know the last time he had moved so fast when he took the hand the Mister gave him.

The Mister led Ranpo through the town and at first Ranpo was silent but then hesitantly began to speak his thoughts aloud about the people he passed.

Ranpo expected to get in trouble and be beaten again but his newest acquaintance praised Ranpo and looked at him with open admiration.

Ranpo felt his cheeks heat up a little and looked in a different direction as he continued to speak.

Mister kept his words and Ranpo got completely new clothes and in the end he looked like a detective.

To be honest, Ranpo had wanted to be a detective ever since he was a little kid, when he sometimes passed corpses or crime scenes he had always admired the detectives who worked there, even if Ranpo always thought they were too complicated.

Wasn't the murderer obvious? Why were they still looking for clues? Why did they need so many detectives in one place?

Ranpo noticed Mister hesitantly reach into his pocket and pull out a pair of expensive looking glasses that looked beautiful.

Then Mister surprisingly handed Ranpo the glasses. Ranpo was breathless, why should he?

"Hey, I know we haven't really known each other that long, but somehow... I have the feeling that these glasses are better in your hands than in mine." 

Ranpo hesitated a little not only because the glasses were expensive but also because the glasses obviously meant a lot to the mister Ranpo saw it immediately in his gaze, the tension in his muscles and his breathing it was so obvious that the glasses meant a lot to him so why?

"They look expensive.... Are you really going to give them to me?" Ranpo asked hesitantly at the end.

 "I think they suit a smart boy like you more than me."

Ranpo gulped as he heard the words and his cap fell a little over his eyes Mister thought Ranpo was smart and gave him a pair of glasses that were very important to him.

Ranpo hesitantly took the glasses and held them tightly in his hand, he would become even smarter for Mister so that he didn't give him the glasses for nothing.

After another short walk they stood in front of a store that Ranpo only knew from passing by, he had never had the money to go in there and the owner had chased him with a broom when he stood too long in front of the window but Mister went in without a sign of hesitation the only thing he did before was to ask a question and wait for Ranpo's answer.

"Do you like sweets, Ranpo?" Mister asked and Ranpo replied "I've never had any, I don't know."

And then the Mister stormed in and threw in sweets at random, which were certainly very expensive, but Ranpo knew that Mister had enough money.

Mister stopped at the strawberry lollipops and claimed that they were his favorites Ranpo started at them and already knew what his favorite would be without trying anything.

In the end, however, Mister asked him about the ball Ranpo answered him honestly and then Mister said goodbye and Ranpo took off after him.

Ranpo would definitely find Mister again no matter what the cost.

The next day he heard that Arahabaki had robbed the ball and made a fool of their kingdom.

A master thief who left everyone behind like idiots? Ranpo had never been interested in Arahabaki, but it would be fun to find out his true identity. 

Ranpo grinned as he wore his new glasses, at least it would be easier to show Mister that he was really smart.

When Ranpo saw Nakahara Chuuya years later, he instinctively knew that he was the Mister from back then.

Ranpo was happy to have finally found him, but only wanted to talk about it after he had rescued him from Arahabaki.

When Ranpo saw Arahabaki for the first time he doubted his own intelligence, it was impossible that they were the same person?

But when Ranpo finally plucked up the courage to ask chuuya about it, he doubted himself and asked if he could help him get together with Poe.

Ranpo now looked at Albatross and reached for his glasses, which were fortunately still intact, He realized he was wrong he would have to stop to tell lies.

Chapter Text

The royal family sat together with Meir and Arthur at the table and ate their meal in peace.

Meir had fallen asleep shortly after storming into Chuuya's room because of the alcohol, so Chuuya had two options.

1. let Meir sleep on the floor and make it uncomfortable for you and Meir in the morning and just hope that Meir leaves the room because of shame and doesn't start a conversation with Chuuya.

2. take Meir to his room and pretend nothing ever happened which would be difficult if Meir remembers anything, however small, that he did in Chuuya's room because Chuuya shouldn't be able to carry Meir to his room.

Guards or workers were never near Chuuya's room at that time of day because of Verlaine's order, so if Chuuya needed anything he could just quickly ask the flags, but unfortunately they weren't there.

So you can imagine what Chuuya did, right? Right, he tied Meir up and then let him sleep on the Couch with a blanket of course.

Of course, Chuuya could have left the tying up alone, but if the situation was going to be uncomfortable anyway, at least Chuuya had something entertaining to distract himself.

It worked well, at first Meir panicked and wriggled around so that he fell on his face, making Chuuya feel guilty for a moment, but then quickly put it aside when Meir finally realized where he was.

After seeing the "sleeping" Chuuya in bed, Meir made a shocked face and then looked down at himself and then back up at Chuuya as if he really had to be 100% sure he wasn't imagining it.

Chuuya, the good actor that he was thanks to Lipppmann's strict and very hard acting hours, pretended to slowly wake up, Meir obviously praying that he would continue to sleep, but this prayer would not be answered.

Chuuya looked at Meir and Meir looked at Chuuya then Chuuya slowly counted down from 5 and stared at Meir with his eyes open.

When Chuuya reached 0 he stood up in panic and quickly mumbled several apologies and untied Meir who embarrassedly told Chuuya that it was Meir's own fault.

Which was true, of course, but Meir's panicked face when he saw Chuuya apologizing for Meir's mistake was definitely worth that horrible cliché.

In the end, Meir ran out of the room while apologizing and slammed the door as fast as he opened it.

Anyway, they were all sitting down to dinner when a guard came rushing in without hesitation or asking permission.

"Prince Chuuya-sama's fiancées and the Flags have almost reached the castle with their carriages."

There were exactly two kinds of reaction in the room when they heard the news.

The first reaction was relief or joy that they had made it back.

The second reaction was disappointment or anger that they had made it back.

Arthur, Chuuya and the king showed the first reaction and Chuuya even ran out of the room to welcome them back.

Verlaine and Meir looked like they had bitten into a very sour lemon and Meir even ran after Chuuya to try and stop him while Verlaine just muttered to himself in annoyance.

Chuuya didn't know exactly why he ran all the way to the entrance area but he didn't question it at the moment and just did it, he heard Meir's screams behind him but why should he stop?

In the end Meir was the left hand of Loikusto and one of the most dangerous people alive even if he acted like a cute puppy around Chuuya it didn't change anything... but it was sometimes so easy to forget that Meir was Osiris

In any case, Chuuya came slithering to the entrance and could already see the carriage slowing down. If Chuuya had received the message earlier, he would have called Poe, but it was too late for that.

Meir arrived at the entrance a few seconds after Chuuya and, panting, held his side and looked at Chuuya in disbelief.

Only then did Chuuya realize that he had forgotten to pretend to be exhausted Chuuya wanted to slap himself it was so stupid.

Chuuya looked doubtfully at Meir, but he just grinned and shook his head in disbelief.

"Hah, I should have trusted Kazimir more when he said that you could be as athletic as him if you wanted to, my mistake." 

Chuuya glanced at Meir and shook his head slightly as he averted his gaze remembering that he is Osiris a fucking murderer stupid brain finally understand this .

For Chuuya, the scene was like a time warp as the carriage doors opened and the first person got out.

First Ranpo and Nikolai jumped out, both with a look of complete determination on their faces.

Then Fyodor and Dazai came out, walking around with their usual expressions, but Chuuya saw that the corners of both their mouths were raised in a genuine smile.

The Flags exited their own carriage in a tumultuous mess but Chuuya was sure he saw Albatross jump out first.

Chuuya smiled a little and said happily.

"You came back alive congratulations." 

Meir behind Chuuya said with a bitter look on his face in a sarcastic tone, "You came back alive, congratulations."

Fyodor and Dazai looked at Chuuya and before Dazai can open his mouth and babble dramatically about some topic or Fyodor can start his weird courting style, Chuuya quickly looked at Nikolai and Ranpo and said.

"Poe and Sigma should both be in the archives at this hour, they've become very good friends while you were gone."

Ranpo and Nikolai nodded quickly to Chuuya, though Chuuya was a little worried that Nikolai had overdone it as he nodded so vigorously, but in the end they both went into the castle without a problem.

Chuuya walked down the stairs to Fyodor and Dazai and smiled at both of them, saying in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't have time to bake you both something, so maybe next time you'll let me know a little earlier when you leave the castle."

Dazai gave a little pout and raised his hands in protest. 

"You know Chuuya you're so mean why shouldn't you always have baked something for me I wanted to try it so much when Ranpo told us."

Chuuya was just opening her mouth to say something when Fyodor pushed Dazai aside and took Chuuya's hand to give her a gentle kiss.

Dazai grimaced in the background and mumbled an annoyed "suck-up "***

"I'm sorry we got you worried chuuya me and my brother would be more than grateful if you could bake for us again."

Chuuya snorted a little but then nodded and tilted his head a little questioningly.

"You must be hungry, how about I ask the maids for tea and food so we can talk like this?"

Fyodor smiled and was about to answer when this time Dazai pushed him aside and then grabbed Chuuya's hand to pull him inside, whereupon Fyodor quickly followed them.

Meir stared after the trio with slightly empty eyes and then went back into the castle with a small grin.

Chapter Text

Meir watched the strange threesome as they spent time together.

The only thought that quelled his anger a little was that the demon brothers were suffering from his drug.

Meir could have made a big drama out of drawing all the attention to himself, after all, this was the first official meeting Meir had with the demon brothers after a long time and they hadn't officially greeted him.

But Meir couldn't help but bite his tongue and remain silent when he saw how happy Chuuya was with the two of them.

He was shining brighter than Meir had ever seen him during the time he had met him in person.

Those two demons didn't deserve this.

It reminded Meir a little of the time when Chuuya and Kazimir were still dating.

Kazimir had also shone so brightly back then whenever he thought about Chuuya or whenever they were together.

Meir had always looked on with a strange feeling in his stomach and pain in his chest.

Meir knew perfectly well how a human body worked, after all, he had to know that in order to use his ability properly.

 That's why Meir knew that it had absolutely nothing to do with his health that he felt like this.

but that couldn't be! Meir was a good best friend meir was probably just mistaken, nobody is omniscient, right? 

yes as if

Meir had denied it then and even now a little because of childish stubbornness, but now, years after Kazimir's death, he knew exactly why he felt that way then and it did Meir no good to keep denying it.

He had fallen helplessly in love with him the moment Kazimir freed him from his prison, enveloped in flames and with a huge grin on his face.

"Hey do you want to sit in a corner scared or do you want to come with me and join Loikusto I promise to take care of you and I always keep my promises." 

But Meir knew his place well, he would never be selfish enough to tell Kazimir how he fell, not when he saw how happy Kazimir and Chuuya looked when they were with each other.

And so Meir had watched for years how happy the two of them were in a relationship even when Kazimir lied to Chuuya.

And in all this time, Meir simply stood in the background and watched them from afar if you dom't count the times Kazimir forced him to be there on their first dates.

But Meir would be lying if he said he wasn't happy that Kazimir was so happy around Chuuya.

No, Meir loved to see the joy on Kazimir's face and was more than grateful to Chuuya for it, but there was always a little voice in his head that made Meir think bad thoughts.

Meir knew how to ignore it though, after all he was one of the most wanted people during multiple murders, how ridiculous would it be if Meir let himself be manipulated by such a small voice?

Over the years Meir had accepted being Kazimir's best friend after all couldn't Meir just betray the person who saved his life and bring ligth in his dark world.

But there was a time when Meir paid attention to this little voice.

no matter what happened Meir hated himself for the fact that the moment Kazimir told Meir for the first time that he and Chuuya had broken up, his whole body was filled with joy.

Meir hated it so much and felt terrible when he realized that he was happy that Chuuya had broken up with Kazimir.

He saw the tears in Kazimir's eyes, he saw the pain in them, how could he call himself "best friend" when he felt joy at such a sight.

Meir still remembered how he comforted Kazimir in a dazed state until Kazimir fell asleep on Meirs bed.

When Meir was sure that Kazimir was asleep, he ran to the toilet and locked himself in the bathroom, ashamed of his own feelings.

Meir remembered how he almost clawed his own eyes out when he had a half-panic attack on the toilet.

He felt his body shaking and he had trouble breathing properly.

he had the feeling of sitting in the laboratory again and being in that terribly stuffy room 

His mind was thinking of everything and nothing.

He remembered throwing up on the floor, how uncomfortably his throat burned and what a horrible feeling he had in his stomach.

"you are really precious to me my favorite experiment but unfortunately you are no exception to the weakness of the human body look at how pathetic you look."

Meir hated himself so much for feeling so happy when he heard that Chuuya had broken up with him.

Meir didn't know how long he had been in the toilet and tried to catch his breath while former memories and his fault for kazimir  barely let him breathe.

At some point Kazimir knocked on the door and asked what Meir was doing in the bathroom for so long.

Meir started and quickly wiped the vomit off the floor with a cloth and then threw it out of the window.

Meir's hands trembled as he stood in front of the mirror and saw his own reflection.

He looked pathetic his eyes and the skin underneath was completely red his hair looked terrible, his face looked terrible he looked terrible.

Kazimir knocked on the door again and called Meir's name.

Meir swallowed and grabbed his own face with his trembling hand and activated his ability.

When Meir opened the door, Kazimir saw a grinning Meir in front of him, beaming with energy.

This was repeated many times over the next few days, Meir and Kazimir were both in a terrible state and Meir would comfort and support Kazimir.

And so, years later, Meir stood in the background and watched how happy everyone around him was.

"Ranpo-kun pleas-se stop hug-ging Karl so tightly I know you missed him but that's a li-ttle too tight."

"Okey got it and you can only call me Ranpo Poe come on I wish it from the bottom of my heart."

"ok-key unders-tood then I'll just call you R-Ranpo."

"You don't have to blush so much, you're so cute Poe."

"Ah Nikolai can you finally stop sticking to me I can't move."

"But Sigma, I haven't seen you for so long, I have to see if your body has changed."

"You don't have to do that and my body won't change that quickly and you know that very well hey stop it ."

"Dazai can you stop holding my hand all the time I'm trying to drink the tea."

"But Chuuya your hands are nice and warm and mine are so cold I just want to keep them warm."

"You know dearest brother maybe you can just hold your own tea and drink it I'm sure that will help."

"Oh do you think that will help brother?"

"Oh but of course I'm surprised it hasn't crossed your mind dear brother"

"Verlaine please refrain from trying to kill Dazai and Fyodor I would be much more grateful if you would just hug me I'm cold."

"But Arthur they're so rude! Especially Dazai it upsets me so much but I guess I can't do anything else when you're cold."

Meir watches everything from the background.

Meir watched everything from the background as always

"They look so happy, don't they? How beautiful young love is."

Meir looks at the king and frowns when he sees how proudly the king smiles as he watches the couples in the garden.

oh come on, the king shouldn't pretend to be a good person.

Meir smiles at the king and nods in agreement.

"Yes they look so happy I hope they never cheat on their partner."

Meit doesn't look at the king but he doesn't have to, he already knew the king was getting uncomfortable and wondered if there was any deeper meaning behind Meir's words.

"Yes, you're right, I hope they will love each other until the end of their days and never part."

Meir hummed in agreement like Chuuya and looked around the empty hallway now or never.

"You know, Your Highness, in my opinion you look too happy when it was you fault that you son's best friend had such a terrible childhood because of you."

It was a bit strange to call Kazimir Chuuya's best friend, but the king didn't know that Chuuya and Kazimir were in a relationship.

it really hurt.

"W-what do you mean?"

Meir looked up and gave the king an annoyed look.

"Don't play innocent it's really starting to annoy me old man you know exactly what I mean didn't you betray the queen with Kazimir's mother when the queen was pregnant? Didn't Kazimir have a terrible childhood just because you didn't know whether Kazimir was your child or Kazimir's father's?"

Meir knew everything, after all, he had the task of checking whether Kazimir really was the king's child.

The reason why they had let Meir out of the laboratory the first time in his life  long before he really knew Kazimir.

The reason why Meir was at the queen's deathbed.

Meir had simply snatched a hair from the king while nobody noticed.

The queen had long since been brought to death's door by Kribto.

well the former Kribto that the boss had not destroyed.

Well, Meir didn't feel sorry for her, she wasn't really a good person either.

"H-How do you know all this? Who told you?"

The king was about to grab Meir by the collar but Meir quickly slapped his hand away.

"Are you losing your mind? You don't really think you can touch me without being asked without suffering the consequences, don't forget Your Majesty, I am the only prince of a country my kingdom wouldn't like it if I told them the king was becoming violent."

Meir turns around, this conversation is really starting to get on his nerves, you can't even grieve properly.

''Be careful no one else gets hit, Nikolai, the water almost hit Poe!" 

"I'm sorry Sigma Ranpo is just so fast that it's hard to hit him but don't worry I would never hit your pretty face" 

"Crawler, shut up and pay more attention to your surroundings."

"everything you want Sigmaaaa ah I'm chatting rigth now Ranpo what do you think you're doing?"

Ranpo then just laughed and threw another beach ball full of water.

"Chuuya come on make ahhh."

Dazai held out a fork with a piece of chocolate cake in front of Chuuya, smiling broadly and playfully.

Chuuya rolled his eyes but opened his mouth anyway and let Dazai feed him, then returned to his conversation with Fyodor.

"...And then suddenly a maid came in and saw Nikolai and Dazai painting the walls of the castle and immediately told our parents, who were understandably very disappointed."

Chuuya looks from Fyodor to Dazai with a smile and can't help but laugh at the offended look on Dazai's face.

"I was nine Fyodor, n-i-n-e! Can you finally stop making fun of me and you chibi don't laugh at me!"

Chuuya just shook his head and continued laughing, if only to annoy dazai.

Then Chuuya's laughter stopped when a water bomb hit him.

"Oops sorry Chuuya-san that was directed at Ranpo."

"Nikolai, I told you to be careful, I'm sorry Chuuya-san that he got you wet." 

Nikolai and Sigma shouted immediately and Chuuya just nodded with a smile and stood up.

"Excuse me both for a moment please."

He said to fyodor and dazai who nodded in understanding.

A few minutes later, ice-cold water spilled over Nikolai and Ranpo from the window while Chuuya stood next to the window.

"Oops, sorry, that was actually directed for the plants."

Everyone except Ranpo and Nikolai laughed at this immediately while Nikolai and Ranpo looked at each other confused but a moment later Ranpo and Nikolai decided to join in the laughter.

And so the group spent a peaceful day after a long ti-

Forget that Chuuya was never allowed to have a nice day a guard came running and shouted wildly.

"The king has found a black rose and a letter from Arahabaki it is more than likely for the ball next week he will most likely want to steal something again"

What? No, Chuuya didn't want that? Why should he? 

Chuuya, Poe and Arthur's eyes met and both looked more than confused.

Chapter Text

The group walked quickly towards the throne room where the king was waiting for them.

"I don't understand how Arahabaki would have known there was a ball next week if we didn't even know?"

Sigma asks the question on everyone's mind, especially Chuuya, Ranpo and Arthur.

They knew that the Flags definitely had nothing to do with it, the Flags would never make such a decision without consulting them first.

"Maybe it wasn't Arahabaki but a copycat"

Meir, who had joined them halfway through their journey, shrugged his shoulders as disbelieving looks were thrown his way.

"Like what? You know this is possible anyone can just buy a black rose and put a note next to it."

Poe clings a little unsteadily to his sleeve, which is a little too big for him, and starts on the floor.

Karl on his shoulders snuggles close to his head, he must have filled Poe's need for a little defiance.

Ranpo himself stares at Poe thoughtfully Ranpo knew something but couldn't put his finger on it it was as if his brain knew the answer but Ranpo self didn't.

"But why would someone do something like that? arahabaki probably doesn't even know that such a note exists and if he did know, why would he come?"

Chuuya nodded in agreement whoever had this shitty idea could fight even against all these geniuses Chuuya will just drink wine and for once in his life enjoy the show sensibly without having to worry.

Fyodor and Dazai also nodded at Poe's words, but definitely wouldn't mind if Arahabaki showed up - after all, they still had a score to settle with him.

Verlaine screwed up his face, it was more than obvious that this was not Arahabaki, after all, Arahabaki always waited until the message of a event was officially distributed and by the time he left a rose and sometimes a message in the eving at a tower , it was already late in the evening and not in the afternoon and besides, the rose and the Notice were probably not even in a tower because father never visited them and supposedly found it himself.

But why would someone falsify something like that? It made no sense.

Well, they'll probably find out more when they've spoken to the king.

After several minutes of walking, the group arrives at the door of the king's study Dazai quickly knocks on the door and Ranpo opens it without waiting for an answer.

The king sits at his desk and stares at the piece of paper with disdain and concern?

"I'm glad you made it so quickly, please come here, I have bad news for you."

The group of princes and friends approach the king without hesitation and are more than surprised when they see the black rose thrown on the floor and definitely stepped on a few times.

"I saw this rose and an notice when I came into my room."

The king lifts the envelope with Arahabaki written in italics with golden ink.

"I immediately sent the guards to call you, but now I have read the letter and I must say it was a false alarm, this letter was not written by Arahabaki."

Chuuya watches as Sigma, Poe and Arthur sigh quietly and would like to do the same but something inside him tells Chuuya that there is a catch here his father seemed worried and angry for some reason and Chuuya didn't like that.

Verlaine and the others were probably thinking the same thing as they stood quietly and looked expectantly at the king.

"The letter was not written by Arahabaki but the letter is for Arahabaki."

"What?"

The question left Chuuya's mouth faster than he realized but no one seemed to notice much since everyone seemed to be just confused about it like Chuuya.

Why would anyone want to challenge Arahabaki in this way? 

Chuuya felt his skin start to itch slightly again but composed himself and stared at his father in disbelief.

That didn't make any sense at all.

The king raised his hands and pointed to the note in front of him.

"Look at it yourselves this note was in the letter."

Hello everyone I'm sure you're all confused so let me clear up the misunderstanding quickly I want to challenge Arahabaki to deliver a treasure in the ball next week in the middle of all the geniuses if Arahabaki refuses my challenge I will kill the people in the slums without hesitation I will watch from the front row to confirm if it's really Arahabaki and if you really make an effort to catch Arahabaki if not unfortunately the poor people in the slums will die

Chuuya started the message in disgust and with a pounding heart, what was that shit?

Why would someone demand something like that from Arahabaki, was this person too bored or was he just power-mad to play around with so many people's lives?

Nikolai grimaced as he read the note, were all the people living in the slums being used as hostages just so one person could have fun?

Nikolai hated oppression and imprisonment like the plague.

Verlaine pursed his lips and frowned at the note.

"We have two big problems right now, the first is the fact that we have to get this note out to the public and hope that Arahabaki finds out and appears at the ball, the second is that there is a person who has the potential to kill so many people."

The king nodded in agreement to his son's words and raised his hand to wave a guard over.

"I want this note to be seen all over the country and maybe even in the neighboring countries so that there is no way Arahabaki will not know about it, do you understand?"

The guard nodded understandingly and took out a piece of paper to copy the note so that Poe could bring the original version to the archives.

"Yes, Your Highness, of course, we will do our best to complete the task as quickly as possible."

The king folded his hands on the table and sighed in defeat.

"There's not much more we can do, of course we could try to keep the people in the slums safe, but what if this person doesn't like this and suddenly just starts killing people without warning?"

The group nods a little defeated, the demon Drio stroking his head in annoyance and cursing Osiris droge once again.

They all wanted to say something specific that could solve this case quickly but this fucking drug was destroying everything.

It was as if the clue was right in front of them but they weren't able to reach it.

It was so embarrassing.

Meir, Poe and Chuuya were walking side by side at a fast pace, the others had separated from them shortly before because they were going in a completely different direction.

Well not before Dazai threw himself at Chuuya and dramatically yammered about Chuuya coming with him.

Which was quickly interrupted by Fyodor violently pulling his brother away from Chuuya.

Chuuya was briefly surprised because he definitely wouldn't have believed Fyodor to have such strength.

Fyodor actually gave Chuuya a gentle kiss on the hand and then apologized "sincerely" for Dazai's behaviour.

Whereas Ranpo wordlessly gave Poe a soft kiss on the head which surprised Poe so much for a few seconds that he looked like a lifeless corpse before his whole face glowed as red as a tomante.

Chuuya was very happy that Sigma and Nikolai did not split up, that would have been a very big unnecessary show from Nikolai.

Annoying bastards.

In fact, Chuuya dazai or Fyodor would most likely have given in and continued to spend time with them, but right now he had to meet the flags in the archives and discuss how to proceed.

Meir next to Poe and Chuuya bit his lips and stared at the floor.

Was this a plan from Boss? Was he going to challenge Arahabaki like this and kill the Flags in the process? 

Was Meir supposed to cure the demon brothers and their friends of the drug?

Meir had no sympathy for these demons as such, but seeing their devastated looks when they were unable to use their minds properly brought back unpleasant memories.

In any case, Meir wordlessly parted from Chuuys and Poe and walked around the corner to his room.

As soon as Meir had locked the door and drawn the curtains, he took out his little orb.

A short time later, he heard the boss's voice, which sounded a little bored, probably because he had been sitting in one place for too long doing paperwork again.

In the background, Meir heard the sound of sparkling water being shaken, most likely in a glass of water.

"What is it Meir? I didn't expect you to call me now."

Meir frowned when the boss talked like that, it could only mean one thing.

"Boss, it wasn't your plan to send the king an official challenge to  blackmail Arahabaki?"

 Meir heard the stifled gasp of the boss as he surely choked on his water and splashed all his papers wet which he will probably only realize when the conversation is over.

"W-What ar- are you saying Mei-r? Someo-ne came up with the id-ea of sen-sending Arahabaki a chal-lenge at this way? And thats more importent you think I would do something so simple and unimpressive?

Meir felt himself slump slightly, rigth his boss was a little drama queen and loved flashy impressive shows, which is why he would have liked Arahabaki very much if they weren't enemies, there was no way his boss would have such a plan 

The boss slowly calmed down on the other side when he realized how choked his words came out.

 Meir was about to reply when the boss finished his thought.

"Oh, actually the plan isn't that stupid yeah not stupid but definitely not done by anyone with taste I would have definitely done it better if I had wanted to do it , they probably threatened Arahabaki with the people in the slums, told him to rob the ball next week and then told the geniuses to try and catch him while he himself would be watching in the hall, but the person probably didn't know that the three of them were under your drug."

Meir blinked at the orb in confusion and then smiled gently of course Boss would be able to figure it out himself in a few seconds.

"Yes boss that's right what am I supposed to do here?"

Meir heard the rattling of the chair and soft footsteps of what must have been the boss walking to his notice board and thought for a moment.

"Why don't we give this person a real fight to watch? Osiris this is an official order from the boss heal these demons and their friends and intervene in the ball at your own discretion if you think it's necessary."

"Why does life always seem to have something against me, can't I have a damn day where I just have peace and fun?"

Chuuya runs like crazy from Poe's private archive room from left to right and whines to himself while Poe explains in a calm voice to the flags why Chuuya is having a half nervous breakdown.

"Honestly, what does this person have to do with sending Arahabaki this challenge, especially in this way?"

Ice man screwed up his face into a thoughtful expression and stared at the ceiling and Chuuya was hopeful that something helpful would come out of his mouth.

"I assume the person who wrote that is just an Adrelin junkie or a sadist."

Forget Chuuya's thoughts before he should have expected this

"Not helpful Ice man what are we going to do we can't just let them kill people in the slums because I don't want to fight the geniuses"

especially Fyodor and Dazai remained unspoken but everyone understood.

Piano man bit his lips and then nodded in agreement.

"You're not entirely wrong Chuuya, we can't afford to be the cause of so many deaths... but i don't think that even if we accept the challenge, it won't be an easy fight."

Albatross leaned back in his chair and stifled a tired yawn - he had just slept in his bed, he had a shift tomorrow, or rather this morning.

"What do you mean Piano man? I know that Verlaine, Arthur and maybe Meir are a serious enemy but that shouldn't be a big problem."

Chuuya winces slightly right he hadn't told the Flags and Poe that Albatross knew that Chuuya was Arahabaki and that Meir and Osiris were the same person.

Ah this is getting more complicated than it already was.

Chuuya was about to open his mouth to tell his friends what he knew but was stopped by Piano man who replied to Alabtross

"even if they are currently drugged, we don't know when the effects will stop right doc?" Doc nodded in agreement to Piano man's words. "And you shouldn't underestimate Arthur and Verlaine, although I have to agree that Meir probably doesn't pose much of a threat."

Uh, that couldn't have been more wrong.

"Hey gu-"

"You're right Piano man, it was a bit stupid of me to underestimate the situation Okey what should we do about Verlaine and Arthur?"

"Hey guys liste-"

"I'd say we could use Arthur-san somehow to distract Verlaine-san maybe we can bribe one of the workers to shake cold water on him? Arthur-san is very sensitive to cold and I'm sure Verlaine-san would get angry if he saw that."

"Hey, I just wanted to sa-"

"That's a very good plan Ranpo you've thought it out well Poe I'm so proud of you we can use that and Meir I don't know do we just lock him in a chamber?"

"That sounds good Doc and thanks for the praise we should get started the-"

Be quiet for a few seconds and listen to me idots!"

Chuuya slams his hand on the table, causing the others to flash in surprise and they all wait silently to hear what Chuuya has to say.

"Arthur is mostly on our side he knows I'm Arahabaki and hasn't told anyone and Meir is anything but easy prey he's the left hand of Loikusto Osiris!"

"... We were only gone for a short time, how can something like this happen!"

oh if only they knew that a week later Arahabaki's mask will be ripped from his face.

Chapter Text

"Okey, let's just hope the plan works, we can't afford to fail here."

Poe clapped his hands as they finally finished planning a reasonable plan after several hours.

All of them had sore eyes and a sore head. Working on plans late at night was terribly stressful. 

Alabtross was almost asleep on Lippmann's lap, causing Lippmann to gently run his hand through his hair, his gaze still fixed on Poe.

"I wonder how far Atsushi and Tachihara are in spreading the rumor around the country?"

Doc, who until recently had been lying on the floor while sketches and construction plans were spread around him, shrugged his shoulders and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Depending on how good the king's workers were, more than half the kingdom should now know about this outrageous request."

pianoman nodded in agreement and rubbed his eyes a little sleepily and more then ready to jump in his bed .

Chuuya sighed and nodded too he only can trust their plan it wasn't like any thing was wring but he had a dreadful feeling in his stomach like something terrible was about to happen that Chuuya wouldn't like.

"There's no point in thinking about it people we have no choice but to go through with our plan and hope that everything goes well."

The group nodded in agreement to Chuuya's words, they just had to stick to the plan and hope that everything would go well, there was no other option.

To Chuuya's ears, his footsteps on the ground sounded loud and crushing.

He and the Flags had just separated from Poe when Alabtross fell asleep, causing Ice man to take him on his shoulder with an affectionate roll of his eyes.

The Flags and Chuuya then parted and now Chuuya was left alone with his thoughts.

Chuuya knew that there was no point in racking his brains with questions he wouldn't get an answer to.

Chuuya glanced at the door of Dazai and Fyodor's room, the light was off which either meant that they were already asleep or that they were probably in a meeting like Chuuya, Poe and the Flags.

But since his fiancées are both barely asleep at this time, Chuuya strongly assumes the second option.

Chuuya let out a heavy sigh as he entered his room and leaned against the door. today was a very nice day to begin with but the last few hours have been like hell.

Why did it seem that everyone couldn't allow Chuuya to spend even a single day peacefully and just have fun?

...Maybe it was the wrong decision to wear the mask of Arahabaki.

Chuuya didn't regret helping the people in the slums, but maybe he could have found other ways if he had just tried harder.

Chuuya shook his head now was no time for bad thoughts he had to stay positive he had an important theft coming up.

Chuuya went to his closet with little steps and quickly took the first sleeping clothes he could see and then undressed.

The clothes rubbed pleasantly against Chuuya's skin on which he could see several scars.

Chuuya had always told everyone that he didn't know when he had hurt himself like that or that it was from playing as a child.

A ridiculous excuse but no one would ever doubt the innocent prince of the kingdom.

What a damn irony

Chuuya looks at himself in the mirror as he runs over a few scars that were all clearly made by a sharp object.

Chuuya stopped at the biggest wound that was aimed at his heart but Chuuya was still able to dodge it so there was a large welt scar just a little below where his heart should be.

Chuuya turns his gaze away from his reflection and feels a big lump in his throat.

disgusting 

Chuuya put on his sleeping clothes and was ready to jump into bed when he saw an letter on his desk in the corner of his room.

Chuuya frowned it rarely happened that he received letters and it was even rarer that the letter made it to Chuuya's room.

So Chuuya went to his desk with an interested look on his face, curious to see who had written to him.

But when Chuuya saw whose name was written there in elegant black letters, he stumbled back a step as if the letter would explode in front of him.

Why? Why? Why? Why would she suddenly?

Chuuya took another step forward to see if he had imagined anything, but no, it was the name of the person Chuuya had left years ago.

His sister's name was written on the expensive white paper and it seemed as if the ink was laughing at Chuuya with a mocking grin.

Why...? 

Chuuya stared at the letter for a long time, trying to decide what to do when he decided to just read it.

He had beaten several guys several heads taller than Chuuya without an ounce of fear in him, it was ridiculous for Chuuya to be afraid of a letter from his Ane-san.

Chuuya took the letter in his hand and started the name Kouyou after all these years, this was the first letter he had ever received from her.

Chuuya remembers how he used to ask the letter carrier every day as a child if there was a letter for him from his Ane-san, but every time the answer was the same.

"I'm sorry Chuuya-sama, unfortunately I don't have a letter from Kouyou-sama for you today either, maybe in the next few days." And then he gave Chuuya this look of pity every time, as if he knew that Chuuya would never get a letter from his Ane-san.

Every time the letter carrier told him no, Chuuya felt something breaking inside him, so after a while he decided it wasn't worth bothering the letter carrier every day with the same question.

Chuuya was also afraid that Verlaine would soon kill the letter carrier, even though the poor man couldn't to anything for the sad look on Chuuya's face.

Chuuya closed his eyes briefly as he carefully began to open the envolpe and felt his fingers begin to tremble a little more.

Chuuya hesitated for a moment before he took the letter out of the envelope and began to read it.

Hello Chuuya, this is your sister Kouyou,

I'm sorry that I never wrote to you, I only had very little time, you know? But I have good news, I recently got married and we decided to adopt a child together we are looking forward to it don't worry about me I'm fine, but before the adoption I would like to visit you, Verlaine and father again, I plan to arrive after more than a week.

hope you've been doing well these last few years  your Ane-san

Tears that had been held back for a long time fell silently onto the page.

Chapter Text

Chuuya could feel his blood boiling more and more with each passing day.

The message with the challenge to Arahabaki was spread to the whole country and a few other countries and everyone was more than eager to find out how Arahabaki would react.

Exactly 6 days had passed since the message went out and tomorrow was the ball. The only problem was that there was no reaction from Arahabaki.

People started to panic when Chuuya belive at the news that Atsushi and Tachihara told them and they were never wrong.

The confidence that Arahabaki would show up slowly faded and people began to panic.

People started putting up signs asking Arahabaki to please show up and how desperately they needed him and so on.

or they went out into the streets and screamed  such things all the time.

So everything went according to plan but then came a message from the hobbyless freak was on his father's desk like last time.

Hello everyone, I didn't really want to write another message but all this pleading for Arahabaki is getting on my nerves so I've decided that if Arahabaki doesn't show up tomorrow I'll not only kill the people in the slums but also your beloved Prince Chuuya.

I'll see you at the ball tomorrow!

When the message was read, everything happened very suddenly. Chuuya, Poe, Arthur, Verlaine, the two demon brothers and Ranpo were standing in front of the king when a moment later only Poe and Chuuya were left because the others had stormed through the door in a rage Chuuya never see.

Chuuya could well imagine how angry they were, but he hadn't thought that their reaction would be too blatant.

Especially that Meir stormed out of the room so quickly gave Chuuya the slight suspicion that Meir was somehow able to make contact with his boss in a very quick way.

Well, we're getting off topic, the reason why Chuuya is so angry is not this stupid note, it was more than obvious that there were two things that could be used to blackmail Arahabaki.

No, what made Chuuya angry was the country's reaction to the news.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise, in fact ice man had been told that this could happen, but Chuuya really hated it.

People were thanking the hobbyless sadist as if it wasn't his fault they were in this situation in the first place 

It sucked how they reacted at first they all cursed that asshole and were totally on Arahabaki's side.

Then they started to give up their trust in Arahabaki because he didn't give them an exact answer.

And in the end, they thanked the person behind it all for blackmailing Arahabaki with their own princes.

And Chuuya knew he was not alone in this opinion when he felt Dazai clinging to Chuuya like a monkey two hours after they had read the message.

Fyodor was content to lay his head on Chuuya's lap and close his eyes.

But even if the two of them were terribly affectionately gentle at that moment, the atmosphere around them was heavy and suffocating.

It was as if Chuuya was not the gravity manipulator but Dazai and Fyodor.

He could also feel Arthur's lovingly concerned gaze as he sat across from him, patting Verlaine's head to keep him from rushing at Fyodor and Dazai just to hug Chuuya.

His hopes for the Flags were also dashed when he saw Albatross giving Pianoman money and muttering angrily to himself.

Chuuya only heard a small part of it, but that was enough to know what his so-called "friends" were doing.

"Damn it Dazai, why didn't he surround Chuuya from behind then I would have won the bet a..."

Traitor

"Do ahhh Poe you need to eat something you look so tired and terrible the last few days."

Ranpo was feeding Poe some cake, Ranpo's own cake to be exact!

Sigma had swallowed his tea when he saw it for the first time Nikolai had kissed him lovingly on the neck and slapped him on the back like normal people.

If you didn't already know something was wrong then you look at the demon brothers, you just had to look at Ranpo who had been more than generous to Poe the last few days.

Which to be honest was a little understandable Poe looked like shit to put it nicely and was acting really weird.

1. he had really dark circles under his eyes that you could see several meters away

2.his hair was more unkempt than Fyodor's.

3.he hadn't written a single word for his new book.

4. he once walked through the entire castle in his sleeping clothes because he forgot to change.

5. he no longer smiled at Karl every time he saw him 

6. he looked thinner and frailer than usual 

7. he hadn't lectured Ranpo once about eating better.

And these were only the most obvious points, one could also mention that Poe sometimes stopped in the middle of walking because he suddenly felt dizzy.

Chuuya knew that Poe had the hardest time among them because, apart from the Arahabaki stuff, he was responsible for the whole archive on his own, even if Sigma sometimes helped him with a few less important documents.

Chuuya understood why Ranpo was worried about Poe and was very supportive of Ranpo taking care of Poe, but there was only one problem.

And this problem was called Arahabaki.

To explain, Fyodor, Dazai, Verlaine and Ranpo were more than annoyed by the situation they were in.

Arahabaki was basically innocent of the situation they were in, but Arahabaki's "love" for Chuuya was the reason why Chuuya was suffering.

And did Chuuya have to explain why that made Dazai, Fyodor and Verlaine angry?

In any case, the reason for Ranpo's anger towards Arahabaki was Poe.

Poe was already in a bad way when the people in the slums were used as blackmail because it's a lot of paperwork.

But now that Chuuya the Prince was also a means of extortion, it meant twice as much work for Poe and that made for the Poe we see now.

And since Ranpo didn't like the look of it and Arahabaki's "love" for Chuuya was the reason for Poe's suffering, Ranpo is more than just angry at Arahabaki.

And who's to blame if Chuuya fucking dies tomorrow while traveling as Arahabaki?

Exactly these three demonic geniuses, his brother and above them all the people who made sure that this vile sadist was used as a threat to Chuuya in the first place were to blame.

Chuuya closed his eyes and let out his breath. If he were to die tomorrow, he would savor this moment now.

The last night before the ball, Chuuya lies on his back in bed and starts the blanket.

Tomorrow will be one of the most difficult raids Chuuya has ever had.

Of course, the three demonic geniuses were mostly switched off because of the drug, but Chuuya's uneasy feeling in his stomach just wouldn't go away.

What if he really lost tomorrow?

How would the others take this news?

Chuuya could see his fiancée's horrified face very vividly and it made him sick.

Not to mention Meir, who knows what he would do to Chuuya if he knew it was Chuuya's fault that Kazimir had died? 

Chuuya shakes his head slightly

 no, he should stop thinking about Kazimir he was already more than desperate if he thought about Kazimir now he would become desperate and sad.

None of this helped him.

Chuuya threw his blanket aside and went through the door.

There were no guards around.

Chuuya knew that no one could catch him this time - they were all in the last meeting for the ball, which would last another two hours.

Chuuya was once again more than grateful to have Poe as a friend.

Chuuya walked aimlessly through the corridors of the castle.

Chuuya just couldn't lie in bed anymore and do nothing.

In the end, Chuuya certainly walked through the corridors of the castle for more than half an hour without meeting anyone.

Honestly, if Chuuya hadn't been forced to show up at the ball as Arahabaki, he would have just left a black rose in the treasury and left now that everyone outside was monitoring the situation.

But unfortunately, Chuuya didn't have that option because a fre-

Suddenly, Chuuya was pulled into an empty room and was about to hit the person when he saw who it was.

Meir or Osiris stood in front of him and stared down at Chuuya.

Oh Chuuya had déjà vu.

"Can you please stop just dragging me into empty rooms without saying a word?"

Meir smiled at Chuuya but it was more than obvious that the smile was forced.

"I'm sorry Chuuya but I just had to talk to you about the ball tomorrow."

Chuuya had expected this, what else would Meir want to talk about in their current situation?

Chuuya sighed and showed Meir the gentle smile he had learned.

"Sure you have my undivided attention."

Meir swallowed once and then spoke.

"I just wanted to tell you that I plan to catch Arahabaki tomorrow, or rather today, even if I have to throw away my pride and heal those three annoying idiots."

...

"What?"

NO! Meir anything but that! You'll be the reason for my fucking death! Bloody hell why the change of thought now? not that he doesn't appreciate that Meir didn't try to kill them but why the damn thing now?

Meir who didn't see Chuuya's inner problem nodded and showed Chuuya a real smile this time.

"Yes, I really hate those three demons but I hate Arahabaki much more I was planning to kill him but... he said something I need to know more about."

"Kazimir broke his own neck four years ago."

... Past Chuuya couldn't you have just lied to Meir?! 

Chuuya really wasn't sure how he was going to get through tomorrow.

He really didn't want everyone to see who Arahabaki really was tomorrow.

"Are you alright Chuuya? You look so pale all of a sudden."

Chuuya blinked and then quickly smiled at Meir.

"Don't worry I'm just really tired and need to go to bed."

Meir nodded in agreement but still slightly worried.

"Understood I just wanted to say good night Chuuya sleep well."

Chuuya just nodded and went through the door.

Meir who was alone in the room frowned something was definitely wrong here and Meir didn't like it.

Chuuya went through the next day like a ghost, he had told the flags what Meir had said and they were just as worried as Chuuya.

But what could they do? 

The castle was alive as it always was when there was a big event.

Chuuya didn't know if their plan would work or not and that scared Chuuya to be honest.

Chuuya was always 100% sure that their plans would work but this time he had a very bad feeling about it.

Just before the ball started, Dazai and Fyodor pushed Chuuya into his room while Verlaine explained to Chuuya why.

"You know, brother, you and Poe have been looking terribly ill the last few days, so father said that you two are excused for this ball and can rest."

And with that, Chuuya was put in his room as if he were a child.

The excuse they used was stupid. Father had never been interested in such things, so why now?

Chuuya shook his head well he couldn't complain that helped him not have to sneak out of the ball.

Chuuya looked out of his window and saw the first carriages pulling in.

Sigma was standing outside with Akutagawa and Chuuya was sure that they were checking the identities of the people.

Chuuya would have laughed at this if it were any other situation, but unfortunately Arahabaki was already in the castle and Chuuya really doubted that this sadist would let himself be caught so easily.

Chuuya closed the curtains of his room and locked his door from the inside, he couldn't have anyone visiting him today.

It was 30 minutes after the start of the ball and people were drinking wine together and talking to each other, one more dressed up than the other.

In this crowd of people, most of them were waiting for Arahabaki to show up.

Or if he would show up at all.

Just as the 30 minutes were up, the lights went out and Arahabaki was seen leaning against a window.

He was wearing a black suit with several red details and even his mask had the same pattern.

The crowd held their breath and waited for Arahabki to speak.

And, as always, charm them with his soft voice and natural charm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have absolutely no desire for a big show today, I am more than just angry and would like to commit mass murder."

Uhm what? 

Chapter Text

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have absolutely no desire for a big show today, I am more than just angry and would like to commit mass murder."

The crowd looked at Arahabaki with horror on their faces while Meir's hand, which had almost touched Fyodor's shoulder, stopped in mid-air.

The flags looked at each other a little confused of course Arahabaki should be disappointed but Chuuya was expressing himself far too openly and sounded really angry.

Arahabaki took a step forward and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You know, I've had a really terrible week and if I catch the person who planned this, I'm more than willing to give them their comeuppance."

Arthur looked up with a thoughtful gaze and felt a familiar goosebump grip his body.

Damn cold weather

Maybe Arthur was wrong and he had never appreciated Chuuya's acting talent enough, but Arthur had the feeling that Chuuya meant every single word he said and the anger in his voice was real.

"You know, my plan for this week was to visit a few towns nearby and see if anyone needed help anywhere I even went out of the country only to have the news reach me after a few days that someone was using the people in the slums as hostages."

Arahabaki's hand became a fist and the guests at the ball suddenly felt very uncomfortable it was as if it was not Arahabaki but a very angry dangerous animal standing in front of them.

Even the guards took a small step back from Arahabaki.

Arahabaki always had a slightly playful and cheerful mood around him, but today they only felt pure anger and disappointment from Arhabaki.

"So I sprinted back as fast as I could and was stopped here and there on my way, I saw how desperate people were for my help and I almost sent my confirmation that I definitely accepted the challenge, but you all know what happened next, don't you?"

Even though they couldn't see his face thanks to Arahabakid's mask, everyone could feel the contemptuous smirk on Arahabakid's lips.

"Right, suddenly the mastermind behind these plans sends a message threatening Chuuya your damn prince ,I thought you all love him,  with his life and you all thank him as if he wasn't even to blame for this situation - are you all really that stupid or are you just pretending?"

Arahabaki threw up his hands in anger and his voice became louder and wilder you could almost taste the emotion in his words.

The whole hall fell silent and stared at the usually happy, wild thief with shocked eyes.

While Fyodor, Dazai, Verlaine, Meir and Ranpo looked grateful(?).

Arthur looked up and it quietly "clicked" in his head 

Chuuya used Arahabaki to express his true feelings without worrying about his title as prince.

Arthur wrapped his scarf closer around his neck and smiled happily when he finally realized it.

The reason why Arthur was not shocked that Chuuya was Arhabaki.

In the end, the two were two sides of the same coin, as if Chuuya had broken his personality in half and gotten used to using only one side at a time.

"You all really don't have a bit of shame in you do you? You know, I only had one night to make a halfway working plan and even that plan I can't execute because our dear master mind has decided that I absolutely have to steal the crown from the king, which means today you don't have a nice show but a wild chase."

And with these words, Arahabaki simply dropped back down and landed perfectly on a guy's head and jumped off what caused him to fall down and spill his drink on his certainly expensive clothes.

Arthur thought he heard the man talking badly about Fyodor and Dazai before.

When Arahabaki touched the ground, there was no reaction for a second.

Meir bit his lip and looked from Arahabaki to his own hand.

Meir squeezed his eyes shut in suffering and then quickly touched Fyodor and Dazai's shoulder before disappearing into the crowd.

Fyodor and Dazai both gasped at the same time as they felt the fog in their heads slowly begin to disappear.

It was as if heavy curtains were slowly being pulled apart, allowing more and more light into the room with every inch.

Meir moved through the crowd looking for a sugar-addicted detective who had put his raccoon loving "friend" in a room so he wouldn't be bothered by all the paperwork he was going to cause.

"Why don't we give this person a real fight? Osiris this is an official order from the boss heal these demons and their friends and intervene in the ball at your own discretion if you think it's necessary."

Meir gritted his teeth angrily, he didn't really want to admit it but he was actually completely on Arahabaki's side today.

Even if he felt like he was going to puke at the thought of being on Arahabaki's side.

But Meir couldn't contradict his boss, he owed him too much and really respect him.

So Meir reluctantly raised his hand and touched Ranpo's back lightly as he passed.

Arahabaki looked around for a moment and already knew roughly how he would proceed.

Arahabaki began to run towards the king, moving his head slightly as his mask gave him a slightly poorer view.

Suddenly, arhabki grabbed a plate with several glasses of champagne on it and threw them at his right side at an angle of 97°, deflecting a spear that was aimed at him.

At the same moment, he jumped onto the table and kicked a flowerpot against the head of another guard.

Then Arahabaki jumped up and stood in front of Verlaine.

"It is a shame that we are both forced to be here Verlaine-san I would rather have fought you in my official raid."

Arahabaki straightened his posture and it was more than obvious that he knew Verlaine was a serious opponent.

"Likewise, but I won't miss an opportunity to finally catch you Arahabaki."

After these words they both charged at the other at the same time and it was a fast and intense fight, it was a normal fist fight as Verlaine was forbidden to take weapons to Ball as he had recently almost killed a person who had said something wrong.

Chuuya briefly wonders why no exception was made today but has no real time to think about it and dodges Verlaine with a backflip while kicking Verlaine in the knee with his foot only for Verlaine to catch his foot and slam Chuuya into the wall.

This is going to leaves bruise.

Chuuya gets up only to see Verlaine throw a kitchen knife at him.

If Chuuya had reacted just a second later, the knife would probably have flown perfectly into his eye.

But just before it does, Chuuya's foot knocks over a small table in his direction, causing several glasses and plates to fall to the floor and shatter.

Chuuya knows that he doesn't have much time left, this stupid freak has destroyed many of his plans with this message.

Chuuya breaks the leg from the table with one hand and points it at Verlaine.

He must finish the fight here.

 "Ahhhhhhh"

The loud scream of a woman resounds in the room and everyone looks in her direction and what Chuuya sees makes him hold his breath.

Arthur... was bleeding and Chuuya saw a person jump out of the window.

chuuya felt his thoughts shut down completely for a moment he only saw the blur of Arthur.

"Arthur, darling!"

Verlaine immediately ignored Arahabaki and turned his back to run to Arthur.

The crowd looked at Verlaine in surprise.

Wasn't Verlaine afraid that Arahabaki would attack him from behind?

But Arahabaki turns his gaze away from Verlaine and the people standing nearby can see the haste in his eyes.

Then Chuuya runs back towards the king, who is still sitting in his chair.

Then Chuuya was interrupted by a small knife lightly grazing his mask.

There stood Meir in front of him, apparently more than ready to fight Arahabaki.

The prince held a katana that resembled Kazimir's in Chuuya's hand and glared stubbornly at Arahabaki.

"..."

Had Arahabaki met Meir officially? 

No, he hadn't, so Arahabaki shouldn't treat this as a rematch.

"Oh hello you must be the new prince the royal family is taking in as a visitor you know I don't have much time and I need to finish this fight quickly so I'd be very grateful if you'd step aside Verlaine-san's fiancé Arthur-san was stabbed this fight here got serious."

Meir doesn't understand Arahabaki.

How can someone have killed Meir's best friend but be so worried about a stab wound?

"Kazimir broke his own neck four years ago."

Meir gritted his teeth, he had other plans.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have no intention of avoiding this fight."

Chuuya sighed softly, he should have expected that Meir's hatred for Arahabaki was no secret to Chuuya.

Chuuya closed his eyes and, after opening them, immediately charged at Meir using the piece of the table as a weapon.

Meir, of course, parried it with his sword and Chuuya knew that he couldn't fight Meir fairly in this situation.

Chuuya kicked Meir in the shin and then elbowed him in the neck, hopefully knocking him out.

Only for Meir to get up again and dig his fingernails into Chuuya's skin so that Chuuya could feel a little blood coming out of the wound.

"I'm really sorry, next time we fight I'll play fair, I don't have time right now."

Chuuya quickly stepped into Meir's balls without a moment's hesitation and then ran on, his face contorting it felt so wrong.

Chuuya looked over his shoulders and swallowed quietly.

where were Dazai and fyodor?

And why was Ranpo just watching the whole thing?

Chuuya's uneasy feeling returned, but Chuuya had to hurry so that he could check on Arthur soon.

Verlaine had hopefully already taken him to the infirmary.

Stealing his father's crown was surprisingly easy as he didn't really show much resistance and what he showed felt very fake.

Well, in the end Chuuya had the crop so the people in the slums were safe.

Arahabaki slowly started to fly again which left people speechless just like last time arahabaki made this trick.

"That's it for today, I hope to see you next time at my own sho-"

"How does it feel to be the murderer of your great love's best friend Arahabaki?"

It was a question asked in a gentle and caring voice, but Arahabaki froze and glared murderously at Ranpo.

This question was very provocative now that Chuuya's whole body was filled with adrelanin and he had just fought Meir.

"Don't talk about things you don't know everything about and which are absolutely none of your business, Mr. Geniues."

Meir agreed silently, slowly getting up from the floor, Arshabaki's blood still in his fingernails.

"Oh, but I was just curious why are you so angry? Do you regret his death?"

Chuuya gritted his teeth, he had to get out of here, he knew that, but he really wanted to answer Ranpo.

Anyway, he didn't have time for th-

"Could it be that the death of Loikusto's murderous cold-hearted vice  leader Kazimir still haunts you?"

Chuuya's head snapped down, the question itself shouldn't have provoked Chuuya like that, but he couldn't help it.

"Shut the fuck up! You don't know anything about back then stop talking!"

Ranpo grinned and tilted his head.

"Okey I'll stop already I've achieved my goal of distracting you anyway."

Arahabaki heard two bangs and saw two bullets coming at him from the left and right.

The bullet on the right was fired by Dazai and the bullet on the left by Fyodor.

Oh, there they were

Arahabaki should have expected this 

The bullets pierced Arahabakis' mask from the left and right so that it came loose from the fight against Verlaine and fell to the ground.

And Arahabakis' face was revealed.

Chapter Text

The bullets pierced Arahabakis' mask from the left and right so that it came loose from the fight against Verlaine and fell to the ground.

And Arahabakis' face was revealed.

The crowd watched as Arahabakis' mask fell to the ground in several hefty pieces.

It was a sight no one in his life could ever forget the two loud bangs and the subsequent destruction of the master thief.

This memory is forever etched in everyone’s brain.

The flags gasped in horror as they saw Chuuya's mask slowly fall to the floor in small pieces.

No that shouldn't happen Chuuya's identity revelation shouldn't happen not in front of all these people 

The whole hall held its breath as Arahabaki's face was exposed.

It was not what they had expected.

Under the black and red mask of Arahabaki was the face of a very handsome man in his late twenties.

He still had the same black hair but seeing it together with his face was a whole different story.

He still wore his dark blue contact lenses but his face was beautiful.

He had a small scar across his left cheek but otherwise his face radiated perfect beauty and elegance.

The flags looked at Chuuya with open mouths.

"Hey guys, are we sure he doesn't have another ability?"

Alabtross asked quietly to the group, to which no one really answered at first.

After a moment, Ice man said in a very questioning tone.

"I guess he thought of wearing a mask before the raid so that no one would see his face if something like that happened, that would be really smart of him."

They font say anything a moment long everyone in hesitation then the group nodded and agree that this was the most logical answer.

Suddenly a guard jumped from the balcony onto Arahabaki, which visibly threw the thief off balance as someone jumped onto him in mid-air.

like someone who had attempted suicide, if Arahabaki had moved even a little bit, the guy might have landed faladch and broken his neck.

"Well done Takeru! I knew you could do it. Rip the mask off his face and show us his true colors."

The fight in the air was very interesting as Arahabaki tried to make sure that Takeru didn't touch his face but at the same time had to make sure that Takeru didn't fall to the ground.

Then Arahabaki managed to grab Takeru and threw him in the direction of the flags who caught him safely and quickly checked if he had any injuries.

Arahabaki quickly bowed in the air and was apparently more than ready to leave this horrible ball.

he just wanted to go to his bed and have a long sleep and sleep in the warmth of the blanket.

"That took more time than expected but I really have to get going so that's it for the show today, have a nice day everyone!"

Then Arahabaki heard several bangs and looked down in confusion only to see Dazai and Fyodor drop both their weapons in shock.

But not only the two reacted strangely, the whole hall looked at Arahabaki in shock.

Ranpo looked like his whole world had been destroyed as he looked at Arahabaki and ran his hands frantically through his hair, taking off the glasses Chuuya had given him and then wearing them again.

"It can't be, it can't be, I couldn't have been wrong, how is that even possible? You have to wear a mask."

The flags start at Arahabaki in shock Takeru had managed to rip open the wound on his cheek and Arahabaki was really bleeding.

If he had been wearing a mask, the mask would simply tear but Arahabaki would never bleed unless what they had just seen was really Arahabaki's face.

How?

Arahabaki grabbed his cheek and wiped off the blood and stared at the red liquid on his hands and then clenched his hands into a fist.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now this show is really over."

Everyone in the hall saw the serious look on Arahabaki's face as he smashed the window in the ceiling and flew away.

On this day, countless speechless people left the hall completely confused 

Meir looked up and a grin slowly formed on his face.

Arahabaki's blood was still on Meir's fingertips.

Meir sighed softly and took a cloth and dipped it in a glass of water and began to wipe the blood from his hands.

He was on Arahabaki's side today, he didn't need any more unnecessary violence.

Meir looked at the blood on the cloth and bit his lip 

Albatross looked at the flags in confusion while an unconscious Takeru lay on the ground after Ice had knocked him unconscious.

"Hey, it can't be that I was right, can it? That would be ridiculous!"

Lippmann shrugged his shoulders and looked a little clueless.

"I don't know what exactly happened but whatever happened I hope Chuuya can give us a good explanation of what we just saw and when it was planned."

The rest of the Flags nodded in agreement with Lippmann, they had absolutely no idea what they had seen today but in the end it all worked out somehow.

Still, they'd hate to see this happen again they will try anything they have to stop something like this.

They could have Lost Chuuya today.

and that would have been entirely there fault 

Chuuya stared into the mirror and blinked in confusion as he saw his face suddenly change back to its normal expression.

What happened earlier? Chuuya played along, but to be honest, Chuuya would have preferred to just cry on the roof.

How could his face change at the perfect moment? Did someone use his ability on him without Chuuya realizing it?

Chuuya quickly changed his clothes because he was afraid that Fyodor and Dazai would rush to his door like madmen and knock on his door like crazy.

As Chuuya changed, he noticed that he looked completely healed, the blood and scar on his face obviously gone as his face returned to normal.

The problem was that Meir's injury was also suddenly gone.

Also, his back no longer felt like it could break at any moment as Verlaine thought it would have been a good idea to throw him against a wall.

...I wonder how Arthur was doing?

Chuuya would like to rush to him and ask but he couldn't because technically Chuuya couldn't know about Arthur's injury.

Bloody hell what the hell happened today?

Why would someone stab Arthur so sneakily?

Why would someone help chuuya out of trouble and change his face?

Why,

Why,

Why

It all made no sense.

Chuuya lay down under his Duvet and stared out of his window.

Today had been a terrible day and Chuuya never wanted to have a day like that again.

chuuya still heard the bang of the weapons and saw his mask being destroyed before his eyes 

He had to find out exactly what has happening tomorrow.

Chuuya had to know it

Chapter Text

"... in the end, Arahabaki managed to escape and the secret challenger sent a final message (see next page) and thus this incident was brought to an end. If Arahabaki will ever return to action is questionable, I will continue talking about this when the next ball is announced."

Albatross looked over Poe's shoulder and hummed appreciatively.

"I'm always fascinated by how fast you can write all your reports Poe, wasn't that just your 5th report in a fucking hour?"

Poe nods a little sheepishly, you could see his cheeks turn a little pink Karl jumped down from his shoulder to the floor and then ran to the window with his tail wagging.

"You know Poe wanted to finish his paperwork so that he could visit his dear Ranpo later, who currently seems to be rethinking his entire life choices, it's almost cute."

Lippmann smiled teasingly at Poe, laying his beautiful head on Pianoman's shoulder and wrapping Pianoman's arms around himself.

Poe's cheeks were now flushed and he stuttered out something unintelligible.

When you saw Poe like that, you wouldn't believe that he wrote the most brutal and creative ideas for killing a person in his books.

"But I didn't think this sadist would really stop, aren't guys like that usually in the mood to say "oh I fucked you over and you was so stupid to listen to me" but this fucker really kept his word I am really positively impressed."

Doc looked at the note from the guy who started all this shit again.

I have to say I really enjoyed this challenge, I'm a man of my word and I'll leave everyone alone, I promise you'll never hear from me again.

"It seems too perfect, doesn't it?"

Iceman frowned as he read this note over and over again.

Before anyone could reply, Chuuya came rushing through the door of the archive and quickly ran from there to Poe's private archive room.

"Sorry for the delay, it took me a while to shake off Fyodor and Dazai, I just ended up causing a fight between them and Meir."

The Flags and Poe looked at each other with amusement as a picture of the three princes insulting each other formed in their minds.

Even if it was a bit strange to call Meir a prince after they knew he was the left hand of Loikusto Osiris who would surely have no problem killing them all.

Chuuya excluded of course they all knew about Meir (Osiris?) obsession to protect and make Chuuya happy.

Which was actually a very good thing for them, but since Meir seemed to hate everyone in the castle except Chuuya, it didn't really do them any good.

Especially since Meir didn't know that Chuuya was Arahabaki.

"No problem Chuuya, sit down and relax a little, then we can start today's topic of conversation."

Poe pointed softly at the chair and his shy aura disappeared and you could see the head of the archive Poe.

"The reason we're here today is pretty clear, isn't it?"

Poe looked at everyone and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well then we can start right away we all know that Chuuya's face changed at exactly the right moment during the Arahabaki incident and then stopped for a moment and then returned to normal."

Again, everyone nodded.

"We still don't know why that happened or who helped, but one thing is clear, that help saved our asses."

"That's right, without that help, everyone could have seen Chuuya's face."

Poe nodded slightly at Albatross' words but then frowned again.

"You're not wrong Albatross, terrible things would have happened if people had Chuuya's face, but it helped us in another way too."

Poe paused dramatically and the group was reminded again that Poe is, in the end, an author who loves to write dramatic scenes.

It was actually a very endearing thing about Poe that they appreciated

"I'm very sure that Ranpo-kun found out that Chuuya is Arahabaki, which is why, according to you, he was so upset when he realized that Arahabaki wasn't wearing a mask and that Chuuya really wasn't Arahabaki, which would also explain why I and Chuuya weren't allowed into the hall."

Pianoman, who was beginning to understand Poe's logic, couldn't help but finish Poe's words.

"Those smart bastards wanted to bring the possibility of Chuuya sending someone other than Arahabaki to 0% by being alone in his room and have no wories about someone seeing him or suspect hin for not taking Poe with him, there could be two reasons 1. that Ranpo and the other two somehow found out about Poe's ability or 2. that Ranpo no matter how smart he is still acted emotionally enough that he didn't want to show Poe how to expose Chuuya." 

The room quieted and Doc shook his head, trying to think rationally again.

"Even if that's true, which I assume it is, we can't confirm that just yet and we have two much more important problems right now we need to find out who helped us and why and we need to see if we can find out who this damn sadist is."

"Fucking shitheads I hate you both you should find a hole to die in you're lucky I'm not killing anyone right now otherwise you'd be dead quicker than lightning I hate you so much fucking shit I really want to kill someone right now."

Meir curses quietly to himself as he angrily sweeps the corridors of the castle.

He had recently finished his fight with these ridiculous guys who called themselves demons and felt his blood boil with pent up rage.

He was so damn close to killing someone to cool off.

He sometimes really hated being a prince who had to abide by so many rules.

"M-Meir-sama I have to t-tell you about something please wait a minute."

Meir sighed and turned around with a flourish.

Meir's bad mood vanished when he saw who exactly was calling him with such an affectionate and afflictive voice.

The king's personal servant.

This had taken longer than Meir had estimated, he hoped that the information she could tell him would be worth it at all.

It was now a day and a few hours since the Arahabaki incident.

And Meir had started his trick about 3 days ago. 

In his estimation, she should have approached Meir before the ball, but apparently she was more loyal than expected.

As Kazimir had said, Meir liked to use the simplest form of his ability by rewinding the age of his opponents, but Meir could do so much more with his ability.

It wasn't really hard to make sure he "saved" the servant girl from falling down the stairs and then looking worriedly to see if she had hurt herself.

Nobody needed to know that Meir had made the floor extra slippery.

And while he was catching her, he had already used his ability to access the area in her brain that triggers affection, or rather love.

Then Meir just had to make sure that she loved and trusted Meir more than anything and he could trust that if the king did anything he would soon find out from her because her guilt at lying to the person she "love" would soon drive her crazy.

The best part was that Dazai's ability couldn't even really do anything about it because the victim's brain and body started thinking like that after a while even without Meir's ability.

 oh what fun it was for Meir to use his ability while he was visiting the kingdom of the three genies 

When he visited these three "demons" and they couldn't understand why more and more people seemed to be idolizing Meir.

After all, it was not without reason that Meir was the left hand of the largest criminal organization in the kingdom

They also had influence on several kingdoms but nobody had to know that 

Of course, Meir couldn't get the whole castle to love him and have spies everywhere, but he could easily manipulate several important people at the same time.

Even though Meir tried not to manipulate anyone who was too close to Chuuya.

Meir was about to speak when he realized that he had forgotten the servant girl's name.

Rolling his eyes inwardly, Meir smiled kindly at the servant or was she a maid? .

"Oh darling, I didn't expect to see you here, what's going on? Is there anything I can help you with?"

Yes that should work people like to be called by nicknames don't they?

Meir had never really liked nicknames except for when he called Kazimir Kazim but that was only because Kazimir had a shitty name.

Normally Meir couldn't do anything with people calling him or others by their nicknames.

And Osiris didn't count because it was more of an alias.

Apparently the nickname thing had worked because the personal maid blushed and seemed to be completely thrown off track.

"Ehm n-o I don't need anything from you I just needed to te-ll you something so I don't have to live with the burden of hiding something from you anymore"

The maid smiled at Meir and Meir smiled back kindly while he was already reciting the maid's next words in his head, it was the same every time.

'I don't want you to interrupt me and listen to me until the end, that's really important to me Meir-sama'

"I don't want you to interrupt me and listen to me until the end, that's really important to me Meir-sama''

Meir nodded in understanding and waited for her to finally get to the point.

"T-The per-son who threatened Arahabaki with the lives of the people in the slums and Chuuya-samas was actually..."

After the girl said that Meir need, she fainted and Meir stood behind her, grinning like crazy.

Oh, he had suspected it, but that he would really go so low aroused a rage in Meir that he had not expected.

Until the last moment there was a voice in the back of his head that hoped he was wrong and that the he was innocent.

Far in the past, the boss once said something to him that he would never forget.

"My dear left hand Osiris you were created for Undecover Mission but even then there will always be a little voice inside you that is against it you must learn to ignore that little voice if you don't want your head to lie on the ground one day without your body In this world only those who know which humans is worth their mercy survive"

yes what the boss said was true he should tell Boss the information he had found out if he didn't mind Meir was more than ready to take out the rage in his blood on the person.

Chapter Text

Arik was currently thinking about how he could lower the taxes of their neighboring kingdom.

Normally, Arik wouldn't bother with something like taxes, but in this case, the amount of taxes was just ridiculous.

The commoners had to give fucking 49% of their income every month while the nobles had just 2%.

And the worst part was how blind the commoners were, none of them complained if so many of them were living on the streets.

So Arik had decided to solve the problem for the citizens.

That's why Arik locked himself in his room for two days now and only had contact with people when they gave him reports.

that meant that they simply put the report on his desk and then leaf him alone.

In that time, Arik had completely forgotten that Arahabaki had his challenge yesterday.

So when the orb that lay directly in front of Arik began to glow, Arik startled and spilled his coffee over his leaves.

did this damn orb always glow so bright? 

Arik's shoulders slumped and he cursed as he briefly touched the orb to connect with Meir while trying to somehow save his papers.

In situations like this, Arik really hated being the master mind of perhaps the largest criminal organization.

Of course, Arik knew that being the boss also meant paperwork, after all, he had often watched his father while he did his job, but he didn't expect it to be this much.

"Arik everything good with you? I heard from Stella that you locked yourself in your office again."

Arik rolled his eyes, of course Meor would have spoken to Stella, who had sneaked into the castle today disguised as a letter carrier.

Her concern for his health was really sweet and gave Arik a nice feeling in his chest but he could take care of himself damn it he was the boss of this organization and not a little kid.

Even though Arik probably didn't even need to be looked after as a little kid.

"Yeah yeah all good Meir I'm just making sure a kingdom falls into chaos and the nobles hit karma."

...even if he was very doubtful about that when he looked at his desk, which was full of coffee.

"But enough about me, even if it would be super cute if you called me just for that, it's not really your style so just tell me what you need from me."

Arik hummed softly to himself as he imagined Meir turning a little pink with embarrassment when he realized that he really only called Arik when he wanted something or to make a report.

While Arik waited for Meir to finally start talking, he threw the wet papers full of coffee into his trash can and looked around for a dry cloth that lay around somewhere.

"Um, I'm sorry but you're right, I'm not calling because I'm worried about your health, w-hich doesn't mean I don't care, of course I do."

Arik rolled his eyes as Meir continued to stutter to himself.

Flash news! Loikusto's left hand is actually taking care of Loikusto's boss.

To be honest, sometimes Arik really doubted whether Meir really was a genius.

"Never mind, what I really wanted to say was that I finally know who this idiot is who sent Arahabaki a challenge."

If all the coffee hadn't been shaken out anyway, Arik's whole table would be full of coffee again.

"Oh fuck riiiiigth Arahabaki's challenge oh fuck fuck fuck I completely forgot about that and I was even given a few reports about the incident yesterday."

Arik completely panicked and quickly searched through the reports from yesterday while Meir on the other side of the orb laughed happily at him.

Sometimes Arik really wants to strangle Meir.

"While I'm looking for the reports here, how about you tell me how it went Osiris?"

Arik threw several sheets of paper over his shoulder, which landed on the floor.

He felt a little sorry for the person who had to sort it all out later, but he had to find these two shitty reports now.

"Uhh yeah ehm about that, the three geniuses managed to rip Arahabaki's mask off his face."

Arik stopped moving and turned his full attention to the innocent looking little orb.

"What did you just say?"

Arik decided to look for the reports later and turned his full attention to the small orb.

"Let me repeat you Arahabaki's face was shown to the people?"

From the other side of the orb came a few mumbled words that Arik couldn't quite make out.

"You need to express yourself a little better Osiris"

A heavy sigh leaves Arik's lips, damn it, he hadn't expected Arahabaki's identity to be revealed by now.

As much as he would like to see Arahabaki dead, Arik had to admit a little reluctantly that without Arahabaki, hundreds if not thousands of people from the slums would have already died.

And if Arahabaki stopped stealing and gave it to the people in the slums, Loikusto would have to take care of it.

Of course Arahabaki had to be killed one day, but if he just suddenly stop Arik would have no back-up plan The situation was sooner than expected.

Arik hadn't worked out a damn plan for how to do the least damage to Loikusto.

"I have something to confess to you boss it's really very serious and has a bigger priority right now than Arahabaki's identity I don't really have much time left."

Arik bit his cheek nodded once and then blinked oh bloody hell why did he always forget that Meir couldn't see him from the other side?

They've been using this orb for so long, at some point his otherwise genius brain has to realize that!

"Of course Osiris, you're still on an undercover mission, please tell me what's most important right now."

Arik leaned back in his chair and listened carefully to Meir.

"I've had a suspicion since a long time now  that I needed to confirm before I told you."

Arik hummed affirmatively to show Meir on the other side that he was listening - this was going to be interesting.

"I admitted to the king that I know he cheated the queen and Kazimir has a shitty life because of it."

Arik rolled his eyes when he heard this, he had expected Meir to say it at some point.

"A short time after I told the king that, a message appeared in the king's office in which Arahabaki was challenged, which made me a little - what's the best way to put it? Suspect"

Arik raised an eyebrow and tried to understand where this was going.

"And it got weirder and weirder, all the mesage this secret sadist were in the safest room in the castle, all the people were called to the king's office and the king didn't seem the least bit concerned about any of the events."

Meir exhaled once to catch his breath.

"Then it's how the news was written, it was threatening the people in the slums to upset the citizens and Chuuya, which aroused the protective instinct of the others, and then to make sure they were really angry, Chuuya's own life was threatened."

Ah, finally it clicked in Arik's head

Bastard

"It was all an empty threat, of course, but it would have an effect if Arahabaki showed up he would just say "yes, that's enough goodbye" and disappear. he probably expected Arahabaki's face to be seen and that's why he specifically forced Arahabaki to come to the ground and use the king himself as a target."

Arik heard Meir's voice become more and more filled with anger.

Oh this is not going to end well.

"That asshole used everyone's feelings against them if Arahabaki hadn't come he would have said something like "hey I was just joking I just wanted to show you Arahabaki's true colors" or Arahabaki would have been the topic of conversation for a long time me and the rest of the geniuses would have been angry at Arahabaki for a long time and completely ignored the king."

Meir scoffed Arik took his migraine tablets out of his drawer, he had the feeling he would need them today.

"What that useless little bastard didn't count on was that I manipulated his personal maid and confirmed my theory that I could kill him so easily and finally have my revenge for Kazimir and Chuuya just give me the ok boss and I promise the king will never bother her again let me just kill this manipulative psychopat who made his own sons and their fiancés feel like shit just because he felt a little provoked ."

If Chuuya was in the same room as Meir he would have laughed at how many times he called Meir a "demon" because if Meir was scary then Chuuya would have no words to describe Meir now.

Arik grimaced, sure he wanted to see the king dead too but unfortunately the timing was really bad.

"Osiris believe me I would like to kill the king now too but didn't you say that Kouyou would show up soon? I'm sure Chuuya would be really sad if his sister's first visitor was almost at the same time as his father's death."

Was that enough? Arik really hoped so because he didn't know how else to calm Meir down from here.

He really didn't want to have a masquerade, he had to make sure that the taxes were distributed properly.

"Come on Meir, let's make a deal, you can kill the king when Kouyou leaves the castle, okay?"

There was no answer from the other side of the Orb, but after several minutes of silence, Meir said quietly.

"I'll kill him right after Kouyou leaves."

Arik almost sighed with relief.

"Do that my Meir, how about you do your thing again to calm down?"

"...'kay 'rik take care of yourself drink enough water."

well that could have really gone wrong Arik was sometimes really afraid that Meir was a little too strong.

Chapter Text

"Hey Kazim, what's that on your back, it looks very painful?"

Chuuya's hand reached out to Kazimir's shoulders a little hesitantly whereas Kazimir just smiled at Chuuya.

"Oh don't worry Chu-kun mother and father were just very angry with me yesterday I don't know what exactly I did but mother said I deserved it so it must be true."

Chuuya shakes his head and looked at kazimir worriedly.

"But Kazim your back looks really bad don't you really want our doctor to take a look at it?"

Chuuya couldn't actually see Kazimir's back because Kazimir was wearing a white shirt, but blood was flowing through the white shirt.

"Chu-kun, you're really worrying too much-"

"I think Chuuya is right Kazim come let's take you to the doctor."

Chuuya's worried face formed into a big smile that hurt his cheeks as he saw his Ane-san carefully lift Kazimir up and take him to her doctor.

Chuuya stopped for a moment and looked behind him, Mom and Dad were standing several meters away from them in the garden.

After several seconds, he turned around and Kazimir could see Chuuya's distraught expression over Kouyou's shoulder for a moment.

"You should stop clinging to Master Chuuya so much you don't deserve to be his best friend My son would be much better."

Kazimir swallowed anxiously as he slowly pushed himself against the wall, muttering nervously to himself as he was confronted by three workers.

"Yes, Prince Chuuya doesn't deserve to be friends with such a white-haired freak."

Kazimir flinched fearfully the humans had always told him that his white hair was terribly ugly and weird but Kazimir really liked his hair!

But it confused Kazimir a little that his parents didn't have white hair because Chuuya had gotten his mother's beautiful hair. 

"Oh don't be so mean Naga, what can this poor kid do for being a bastard?"

Bastard people often called Kazimir that but Kazimir didn't really know what it meant so he just assumed that's what white-haired people were called.

"But it really upsets me I mean-"

"Ah Kazimir here you are what are you doing in the corner I thought we were meeting in the kitchen today to make dangos together?"

Kazimir didn't realize he had been holding his breath until he saw Chuuya's bright orange hair.

The workers immediately moved aside as if they were afraid of Chuuya.

But Kazimir didn't care what they thought about Chuuya, Kazimir really liked Chuuya.

That's why Kazimir took Chuuya's hand in his when they went to the kitchen together.

Maybe Kazimir should ask the queen later why his heart was beating so fast, it hurt a little.

Kazimir didn't really like traveling with his parents, they were always so unpleasantly quiet.

And sometimes Father would suddenly hit Kazimir and shout at him not to look at him with his dirty eyes.

Kazimir always wondered how eyes could be dirty, did you have to wash them like your hands?

Kazimir's eyes reminded him of his mother's. Her eyes were a little more dark blue but otherwise they looked like cats.

Cats were really cute animals.

They had these cute little paws and they always purred so cutely.

Kamitr continued to think about cute kittens until Vatter suddenly grabbed him by the neck and squeezed tightly.

Kazimir's eyes widened and he tried to release Vatter's hands from his neck.

Vatter never did this, why would he do such a thing?

The king didn't do that with Chu-kun

His mother next to Kazimir grabbed Kazimir's hands and held them tightly.

Kazimir didn't know what to do.

Why were his mother and father doing this? Was Kazimir being a bad child again? 

Kazimir's eyes slowly went black and the last thing he noticed was the carriage starting to shake.

"Hey, hey Shibuzawa, where are we going? You didn't say anything about it today."

Shibuzawa, the person who had been looking after Kazimir Kazim as he walked through without reminders, sighed a little annoyed and looked down at Kazim.

"We'll be there soon Kazim, just be patient for a moment"

Kazim sulked a little to himself as he nodded and continued walking behind Shibuzawa.

After a few minutes, Shibuzawa stopped and turned to Kazim.

"Since you're still a kid, I thought it would be a good idea to do at least one normal thing in your life."

Shibuzawa smiled at Kazim and then led him out of the small corner so that the two of them were now on the edge of....

Ehm what exactly is this?

There were colorful stalls everywhere, it smelled like delicious food and Kazim could hear the joyful voices of the people.

It was beautiful.

"S-Shibuzawa where are we?"

Shibuzawa looked at Kazim in surprise before nodding.

Right Kazimir had no memory of anything before the accident.

"This my dear Kazimir is a festival it is a tradition that is always celebrated in the second week of March say goodbye to winter and hello to spring."

Kazim nodded understandingly and looked around curiously.

"How about we buy a little treat for you first Kazim?"

Kazimir nodded with a smile and took Shobuzawa's hand in his as they walked through the streets.

It was a really beautiful sight, people were laughing everywhere and seemed to be happy.

I also loved the shadow show.

After a while, Shibuzawa and Kazimir stopped in front of a small stall.

"Here Kazim, what do you want to eat?"

Kazim stood on tiptoe to see what was available and a moment later was lifted up by Shibuzawa.

"You can see it better this way, can't you?"

Shibuzawa chuckles softly and Kazim nods with a broad smile.

Kazim then sees strawberries with chocolate and something inside him says that he likes this sweet.

"I'd like that!"

Kazim says and points to his chosen sweet.

Shibuzawa nods to the old woman who then hands Kazimir the sweets with a friendly smile.

"And how do you like the festival with your father, dear?" 

Kazim didn't know what to say and looked at the old lady a little uncertainly.

The old lady looked from Kazim to Shibuzawa and then made a confused face.

"Isn't he your father?"

Kazim was about to answer no when Shibuzawa spoke.

"Of course he is my child, you must know that my son is very shy with people he doesn't know."

Kazim looked up at Shibuzawa who smiled politely at the lady.

Kazim felt himself smile a little

The lady smiles understandingly and nods.

"Perhaps you should take part in the competition then?"

Shibuzawa's smile became noticeably smaller but he nodded to the lady anyway, gave her the money and then walked away.

Still carrying Kazim in his arms.

"Hey Shibuzawa, what's the competition?"

Shibuzawa didn't look at Kazim as he spoke, he had the same look in his eyes as he always did when he remembered something.

"Oh, that's just a polite way of saying that the queen is selling her son for a day to demonstrate her power."

Kazim wanted to ask further but let it go when Shibuzawa led them to the fireworks.

"why are you saying that Shibuzawa is dead?"

Kazimir's voice was loud as he started the boss of Loikusto.

Recently they were still called Kribto but that changed after the old boss died.

Kazimir didn't know how old the boss was but if he had to guess he would say he was 2-3 years older than Kazimir himself.

"But but Kazimir I know it must be bad for you to hear that he is dead but you know how it goes with us Shibuzawa was not a good person and had many enemies."

Kazimir bit his lips and stared at the man with bright blond almost white hair.

"Don't get me wrong, I really appreciated Shibuzawa as a conversation partner, but well, I'm not one to seek revenge."

Kazimir knew the man in front of him was lying, he wasn't stupid enough to believe what he was saying.

After all, this man had killed his own father.

It was an open secret in the organization that the old boss had been killed by his son.

But nobody said anything about it because the old boss was supposed to have been a huge asshole who often mistreated him.

What was more important at the moment was what the boss was pointing to.

"Are you saying that you could get revenge if you wanted to?"

The boss grinned at Kazimir and stood up from his chair and came closer to Kazimir.

"Oh, but of course who do you think I am? I know who killed Kazimir and where their base is."

Kazimir formed his hand into a fist and glared at the grinning man who was only a few centimeters away from his face.

This man wanted something for giving Kazimir this information.

But even if Kazimir knew that, he couldn't deny that he needed help from the boss.

"In short, what should I do to get you to give me the information?"

The boss's eyes lit up and he clapped his hands happily.

"I'm glad you're so clever, my dear, it's actually very simple."

The boss gently grabbed Kazimir's white hair and pulled his head so that Kazimir looked directly at him.

"I just want your full loyalty to me."

...

Kazimir grinned when he heard that.

What else did Kazimir have to lose now that Shibuzawa was dead?

Kazimir got down on his knees and looked at the boss, his grin still on his face.

"As you wish boss from this day on my complete loyalty shall be yours I will be the best subject you will ever have."

The boss looked down at Kazimir and felt goose bumps run down his spine.

"Very well then, from today you are my right-hand man Kazimir, just call me Arik if it has nothing to do with the job."

They were people who ran a laboratory that had killed Shibuzawa.

They experimented on people and studied different abilities or tried to create their own abilities.

It was disgusting and Kazimir had no problem killing these assholes.

The lab was very close to the borders of the kingdom but it wasn't really well hidden.

Kazimir hummed a tune that Shibuzawa would sometimes hum while using his ability to levitate five large trees and crash them into the lab.

Nothing escapes the wrath of the person who can control gravity.

Kazimir walks slowly towards the lab and watches as the emergency sirens sound and red light shines.

Kazimir grins slightly as he lets the oil canisters he has brought with him fly over the lab.

A few people try to stop Kazimir but it's no use as the power difference between them and Kazimir is more than obvious.

Kazimir wanted to raze this whole lab to the ground but he waits a little longer.

Where would the fun be if he killed them all so easily?

By the end of his rage, Kazimir had already killed over 70 members.

He was beginning to feel the fatigue of using his ability too often creeping over him and he was about to leave the lab when he heard a noise that sounded like a whimper.

With a curious face, Kazimir followed the sound and stopped in front of a cell with bold writing on it.

A5158 dangerous project: naturally bred ability tolerated it well can go to mission

Kazimir looked into the half-broken cell where someone who looked a little younger than Kazimir was kneeling in the corner, looking at Kazimir with fearful eyes.

Kazimir tilted his head and gave the boy a friendly grin while somewhere in the building a spark must have fallen on the oil because suddenly everything was ablaze.

"Hey do you want to sit in a corner scared or do you want to come with me and join Loikusto I promise to take care of you and I always keep my promises." 

The boy stared silently at Kazimir for a moment and then stood up and took Kazimir's outstretched hand.

Somewhere in the lab, unbeknown to either of the two boys, a paper burned, proving that Shibuzawa and Kazimir had 99.99% of the same genes, and along with the leaf burned Shibuzawa, who looked at the paper with a smile.

"Hey, what's your name, little guy?"

Kazimir asks curiously as he makes his way to Arik's office with the boys from the lab.

"A5158 and you?"

Kazimir grimaces a little but then smiles at the boy again.

"My name is Kazimir, but I wanted to know your real name, not the one those assholes from the lab gave you."

The boy stopped for a moment and looked a little unsure.

"Ehm sorry I don't have another name."

Kazimir's hand became a fist but he still smiled at the boy.

"Oh don't worry we'll find a nice name for you." 

Kazimir knocked on Arik's door and opened it after a few seconds.

"I'm back, I've destroyed the lab and brought someone I'd like to propose as a new member."

Arik raised his head curiously to see if Kazimir had brought someone with him and then smiled when he saw the young man.

"Of course come in, I'll have some hot cocoa brought to us."

Kazimir rolled his eyes, annoyed, but then went to the corner of the room with the boys.

Arik sits down in front of Kazimir and Meir after telling a maiden passing by the door to bring cocoa.

"Since Kazimir probably hasn't properly introduced me yet let me do that my name is Arik and I recently took over this organization and the person next to you is Kazimir who has become my right hand man today who are you?"

Arik gave the boy a smile and Kazimir almost rolled his eyes again this guy is taking way too much advantage of his good looks.

The boy slides back and forth in his chair a little and then stares at the floor, avoiding eye contact.

"Ah h-hello I'm A5158 I don't have a real name glad to meet you sir."

Arik's eyes light up and he claps his hands happily.

"Kazimir look how polite and cute he is oh my poor heart."

Arik clutched his chest dramatically as a maiden with trembling legs entered the room and placed the cocoa on the table.

"But we have to give you a name, I'm certainly not going to call you by those horrid code names."

Arik leaned back against the couch, sighing heavily and looking at Kazimir and the boy with a frown, which was more than obviously uncomfortable for the boys.

Suddenly Arik straightened up a little excitedly and smiled at the boy and Kazimir.

"How about you, unlike me and Kazimir, get a nice name because quite honestly Kazimir's name means " destroyer of the peace" my name means "complete ruler" and then you get a nice name like Meir which means something like "one who shines" or "giving light" oh am I not smart? "

Kazimir was really surprised that he had come up with a very nice name for the boy.

But Arik frowned and suddenly seemed dissatisfied.

"And maybe we can give you a cover name that's a bit more brutal, how about Osiris? I'm pretty sure it was the name of a god who had something to do with the dead, then our names would still fit together."

Kazimir didn't really think the idea was bad due to the names were creative and well chosen but in the end the boy had to decide.

Kazimir looked questioningly at the boy who hesitantly began to speak.

"I really like the names thanks, both are really well thought out."

Kazimir nodded contentedly and took his cocoa and was about to drink it when Meir looked at him and said.

"-I wouldn't drink that, there's poison in it that could kill you in about half an hour."

Kazimir quickly threw the cup away and swirled it with his ability so that it didn't wet everything.

"And you're only telling me this now?!"

"Yes, I thought it was obvious"

"It obviously wasn't?!"

"Oh, you should have seen your face Kazimir, that was great"

"You knew it too?!"

"No, I didn't"

"Liar!"

"yes you are right he lied I saw his lips lift for 0.5 seconds"

Kazimir really didn't want to go on this spy mission that Arik had given him.

It was several years after Kazimir had become Loikusto's right-hand man that he was given this mission.

Arik said that he had found out that he was the friend of one of the princes before the incident and that they could use this very well to find information about Kazimir's past and the king.

Kazimir showed himself to his old house, which was run by his aunt, and took control after two weeks of political fighting.

Then it was just a matter of facing the prince named Chuuya and gaining his trust.

According to the reports, Chuuya was a loving, weak and emotional prince who rarely left the castle, but it seemed that most of the kingdom liked Chuuya.

Kazimir felt his heart pounding in his chest as he left the carriage and set foot on the grounds.

In front of Kazimir stood a beautiful orange-haired boy who looked at Kazimir with sparkling blue eyes.

"Kazimir, you're really still alive! I was so sad when I heard that you died."

Chuuya hugged Kazimir and although Kazimir wouldn't normally let strangers hug him, this hug felt rigth.

"Come on Meir, why don't you just bring my memories back with your ability, we both know you can do it!"

It had been a month since kazimir met Chuuya for the first time and he wanted his memories back more than ever before.

But Meir didn't seem to like the idea and refused.

"Kazimir you have to understand if I do that I will have every one of your memories in my head and it will make me terribly tired."

Kazimir gritted his teeth he wasn't usually this demanding with Meir because he knew he was having a damn hard time but Kazimir needed these memories.

"Come on Meir it won't be that bad I trust you you're my best friend and one of the most important people in my life and you don't have to worry about being tired Arik said you don't hate any other mission for three days."

Meir bit his lip and played a little uncomfortably with his fingers.

He really didn't want to see Kazimir's memories.

Kazimir grabbed Meir's hand and looked at him with a smile.

"Hey, don't worry, what's the worst that can happen?"

What's the worst that can happen?

It won't be that bad

Meir didn't want to have Kazimir's memories in his head whenever he was stressed and even a small part of his head was thinking about Kazimir.

And he didn't start talking about the dreams at night.

The memories he saw were random but one thing was the same every time Chuuya, Shibuzawa, Arik and Meir himself appeared in the memories.

There was never a night when Meir didn't see these four people in Kazimir's memories.

Meir sighed from Chuuya was together with the demon brothers in the library and Meir was just happy about that because he didn't want to see any of them at the moment.

He really should have "done his thing" like Arik said, maybe then the memories wouldn't have tormented him so much.

Meir looks out of the window and soon Kouyou should be coming.

Chapter Text

Fyodor and Dazai walked through the corridors of the castle together, both lost in their own thoughts.

The sound of the weapon, the almost slow motion way Arahabaki's mask was broken into several pieces and of course the way Arahabaki's face was revealed the scene repeated itself in they head all the time.

Their plan was perfect, they knew they would see Arahabaki's face and most likely catch him, but the result made no sense to them.

Maybe it was Ranpo's persistence to prove that Chuuya was Arahabaki, but the face definitely didn't belong to Chuuya.

They should feel relieved, they knew that, but it made so much sense that Chuuya was Arahabaki they started to belive it and conect the points.

In the end, they had to accept it through gritted teeth, the files of each person were checked and there was no one who had the ability to help Arahabaki in any way.

Of course, there was still the possibility that Arahabaki himself had such an ability, but even if he did, it only meant that it couldn't be Chuuya because Chuuya had no ability.

It was something they definitely needed to think more about but one thing they knew without a doubt.

The face they had seen did not belong to Arahabaki.

"...I know I mean how long has it been since something like this was officially allowed? 3 years or?" A familiar voice could be heard from behind the door "It's been four years."

The first voice continued angrily "4 years! That's even worse I never really liked Kazimir but I couldn't say anything because he was important to Chuuya but I just can't understand Meir's goal."

Dazai and Fyodor both looked at each other at the same time and instantly decided that this conversation deserved their attention.

The other voice sighed out "I don't know 'tross I don't like the idea of leaving Chuuya alone with that asshole for a whole day either that bastard has the same energy as Kazimir and that's terribly unpleasant."

Dazai and Fyodor were having a whole discussion with their gazes alone that no one else could interpret.

The voices continued from the other side of the door.

"IIt's driving me crazy! I usually have a hard time interpreting the king, but I have the feeling he reads every wish from Meir's lips Arthur had to stop Verlaine from beating the king so often."

"I know it's really terrible, who knows what Meir will do to Chuuya without us to protect him? Just the two of them alone the entire day?"

Dazai and Fyodor were already gone as the two Flags members held their stomachs laughing "as if that will ever happen! I'd rather worry about Meir than Chuuya."

Albatross wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes "Well at least we've achieved something the last few days have been far too depressing- hey what's this?"

Albatross and Lippmann were definitely not prepared for several attackers to suddenly appear out of nowhere and disturb them during their break

they looked at each other this attack was definitely planned and who knows what the other flags have to figth against.

"...And then you wrote him a story that was only considered solved when he came up with the answer that you love him? Oh god Poe, I think that's the best confession Ranpo could imagine about such a great idea." 

Chuuya hugged Poe happily and felt his cheeks hurt because he was smiling so broadly.

Poe turned completely red and stuttered something incoherent to himself while Karl stroked Poe's head on his shoulder. 

Ah damn Chuuya couldn't die today because of so much cuteness

Poe, who was obviously still embarrassed, mumbled a quick "I-I have to go and find Ranpo, he wanted to walk through the garden together today."

And faster than Chuuya could look, Poe ran through the corridors and left.

Chuuya giggled slightly but then his smile fell and he put on his poker face which was typically a pleased looking expression.

Chuuya was happy for Poe damn it Chuuya thought he was happier than Poe himself but there was always this little stinging feeling when he saw Poe and Ranpo spending time together.

Or when they looked at each other with that loving look in their eyes, when he heard how happily they talked about the other person, when he saw Ranpo looking at Poe's lips.

"I didn't believe them you know? Just tell me one thing Kazimir Mikko did this mean anything for you? Did I mean anything for you?"

Chuuya sighed softly it was okey Poe and Ranpo won't end up like this in any world and if Chuuya has to see to it himself.

Chuuya will do everything to ensure that Poe, Atsushi, Tachihara and the Flags will have a good life

"Chuuya here you are! We've searched the whole castle for you." Dazai's happy cry snapped Chuuya out of his thoughts.

Chuuya turned around and saw Fyodor and Dazai running towards him. Fyodor had this elegant aura while Dazai looked much more euphoric.

Chuuya could feel his blood starting to rush and felt his thoughts being suppressed a moment before as if Dazai had used his ability on him.

Without realizing it, Chuuya smiled "what are you two doing here? I thought you had other plans for today"

Fyodor leaned forward and kissed Chuuya's hand. "Oh, we've decided to visit our beautiful fiancé, who puts every flower in the shade, and have a nice time together ."

Chuuya felt his neck getting warm and he quickly turned around "if you say so, how about we go for a walk? The flags have other work to do today so we're really on our own this time."

Dazai and fyodor gave each other amused looks but then quickly followed Chuuya, looking happier than Chuuya had ever seen them.

Chuuya listened to Dazai talk about how he and Fyodor had once solved a murder case where the killer pretended it was suicide, they had already solved the case but then the killer was killed and they had wiped out a large organization where they had met Ranpo.

Chuuya held his stomach after a while laughing as he was really amused to hear Ranpo insulting the two of them all the time which led to them starting a match and the opponents not knowing whose side to be on after a while 

Fyodor interjected comments from time to time and helped Dazai with the narration with several comments insulting either Dazai or Ranpo which resulted in Dazai starting to insult Fyodor with every comment against him.

Chuuya only listened with half an ear after a while, smiling the whole time.

Right not only Poe has a relationship that will have a happy ending Chuuya has the feeling that this time it will end differently than back then with Kazimir.

Chapter Text

"Kouyou, it's been a long time since we've seen you."

Verlaine greets Kouyou with his lips pressed together and a terribly feigned smile.

Chuuya stands behind Verlaine, his poker face on his face again as he looks at Kouyou and tries to ignore the scratching in his throat.

Kouyou is really pretty the red, purple kimino she wears flatters her figure although Kouyou was always a beauty no matter what she wore.

Kouyou smiles at Verlaine with a similar smile. "Verlaine it's been a long time I hope you've been okay?"

Verlaine tensed and Chuuya saw him form his hand into a fist behind his back.

"Oh I was fine after you suddenly left us Kouyou thanks for asking."

Chuuya was glad that his time as an Arahabaki had taught him to notice every little reaction, so the way Kouyou flinched a little was obvious to Chuuya.

Was Kouyou sorry that she had left Verlaine and Chuuya a year after Mother's death?

Chuuya jammed his fingers into the palm of his hand to stop himself from scratching his neck and stepped next to Verlaine.

"Ane-san it's been a long time how nice that we see each other after such a long time how old was I when we last met? I think it was 9 years."

Kouyou's face obviously contorted after these words and Chuuya would have felt sorry if he didn't remember how he was left alone as a child with a crazy father and worried older brother.

It had been hell for a new year old Chuuya and Kouyou just went to another country and even got married without telling Chuuya.

"Verlaine,Chuuya I think we have a lot to talk about how about we find a quiet room? I promise I'll explain everything to you"

Verlaine and Chuuya looked at each other their fiancées were all sent out of the castle for the day so they basically had enough privacy.

"Please sit down, this story is going to be a little long." Kouyou pointed to the two chairs in front of her and Verlaine and Chuuya carefully sat down on the sesels in front of her.

Kouyou sighed and her face, normally radiant with elegance, suddenly seemed much older than normal.

"I-I've been thinking about how to explain this to you two for a long time and I still don't think I know how to do it let me ask you a question first have you ever received a letter from me?"

Chuuya blinked what kind of question was that? Chuuya had only received one letter in all those years, about a week ago, and as far as Chuuya knew, the same was true for Verlaine.

Verlaine frowned, but answered Kouyou's question, "Me and Chuuya only received one letter a week ago, that's all." 

Kouyou bit her lower lip and Chuuya knew that something was definitely wrong here.

"Because I wrote you a letter every two weeks and you replied to every letter."

As proof, Kouyou pulled out several papers from her bag, all signed with Chuuya's and Verlaine's names, but obviously neither of them had written them.

Verlaine stared at the papers, which obviously had her father's handwriting, with an expression of absolute horror.

"Why would father do such a thing?"

Verlaine's words were barely louder than a whisper as he realized that her father was actively trying to destroy her relationship with Kouyou.

Chuuya himself felt a kind of vacuum-like emptiness inside him as he read the letters his father had written for him.

Some of the letters were terribly detailed and completely true, confirming Chuuya's suspicion that her father was spying on her.

"I'll tell you what happened before I decided to leave the castle."

Chuuya stared at Kouyou and couldn't hold his poker face for a long time, staring blankly at Kouyou.

Kouyou looked at her two siblings a little doubtfully but then continued speaking.

"So many years ago, Father cheated on Mother with Kazimir's mother, which led to Kazimir's family hating him Mother then behaved well towards Kazimir to mock Father, as he was also her son in a way Father could no longer deal with it after a while and got help from Kribto or as it is now called Loikusto."

How should Chuuya react to this information? His parents played with Kazimir's life as if he were a damn toy.

Chuuya could feel his ability bubbling in his blood and Chuuya could already feel the signs of a scratching attack.

The fact about Kribto should have shocked Chuuya but a long forgotten memory slowly began to thaw inside Chuuya.

It had been the day Kazimir's back was covered in blood, and Chuuya had seen a huge tattoo on his father's back arm that looked more than disturbing.

Chuuya remembered seeing the tattoo in a file from Poe, it was given to people who gave a poisoning order to Kribto.

"Neither of you had ever noticed it since you Chuuya were still a little kid and Verlaine you spent most of your time in the heavy fighting school."

Chuuya swallowed and a certain kind of anger bubbled up inside him.

"So father never loved mother?"

Chuuya's voice was calm and even but his emotions were running wild.

Kouyou looked at Chuuya a little pitifully while Verlaine put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think so Chuuya if you want my opinion think father loved mother but their relationship was never loving or healthy."

Chuuya gritted his teeth and stood up, his eyes radiating a long-suppressed anger.

"Why? why did he lock me in a room my whole fucking childhood? Why was he such a shitty parent?"

Verlaine and Kouyou look at Chuuya in shock, his blue eyes shining almost blood red, and he mumbled insults to himself that Kouyou and Verlaine were reluctant to repeat.

They didn't even know that Chuuya could get angry or say such insults.

Chuuya, who was in a frenzy of anger, went to his door and yanked it open. 

"You know what I'll go and see for myself what excuse this asshole has."

Kouyou and Verlaine wanted to get up and run after him, but Meir blocked their way with his katana in his hand.

"I think this is a fight you two selfish siblings can't understand, you don't deserve to follow Chuuya if you're both a cause of his pain."

Chuuya stormed angrily through the corridors, feeling his ability literally wanting to explode into his body.

All his life Chuuya had tried to excuse his father's behavior because he had lost his wife and didn't want to lose Chuuya who was the spitting image of his mother, but here Ane-san was saying that everything he knew was a lie.

"Dad why can't I go out of my room? Have I done something wrong?"

 Chuuya had tears in his eyes that his father couldn't see from the other side of the door.

"Chuuya you have to understand that I can't let anything happen to you I couldn't bear to lose you too so just stay in your room."

His father sounded annoyed by Chuuya's questions and whining which made Chuuya feel sick to his stomach.

...Father was right Chuuya was just an ungrateful child who didn't understand how much father wanted to protect him.

Chuuya ran past several workers on his way to father's office.

Chuuya had accepted everything his father had said or done to him.

No matter how strange and illogical Chuuya found the situation.

Even when his father came into his room this one night.

Chuuya heard the three locks on his door open, which meant that his father had come to visit him.

Did he want to tell Chuuya a goodnight story like he did back then before Mother died ?

Dad came into the room and Chuuya instinctively sensed that something was wrong Dad was reeling and he didn't really seem to see Chuuya.

"D-Dad?"

Chuuya's father came up to Chuuya stumbling a little which worried Chuuya a little was dad hurt.

"You fucking bitch you ruined my life."

Father yelled at Chuuya, causing Chuuya to crawl back into his bed and stare at him wide-eyed.

Chuuya saw his father raise his hand and closed his eyes as a pain filled his cheek and father grabbed Chuuya's hair.

Chuuya felt his father put his big hands around his neck and started to dig his nails into his neck.

Chuuya stared wide-eyed at his father and tried desperately to catch his breath.

Chuuya grabbed his father's hand in a desperate attempt to make him stop, which surprisingly worked.

His father stared at Chuuya with wide eyes and then quickly hugged him and stroked his hair.

"I'm sorry Chuuya, I didn't mean to do that, I just needed to get rid of my stress, you know?"

No Chuuya didn't understand but father didn't like it when Chuuya asked questions so Chuuya just nodded.

His father quickly let go of Chuuya and staggered out through the door, leaving Chuuya alone in the room.

After a while, the door opened as his father must have forgotten to lock it and a small Poe entered the room.

"O-Oh I'm sor-rry I just wanted to know what was behind the always locked door!"

Poe looked at Chuuya who was sitting on his bed and looked at Poe with wide eyes while his whole body was full of scratch marks and blood.

Chuuya had never questioned his father's behavior and had always nodded no matter what, he was even stupid enough to ask Lippmann for acting lessons to make his father and Verlaine happy.

Chuuya had been so stupid, so damn stupid.

It was only a few steps to his father's office and Chuuya felt himself doubting himself a little more with every step he took but it was too late to go back Chuuya needed an answer.

Chuuya pushed open the door of his father's office and didn't wait a second for the guards to react.

Then Chuuya froze in the doorway and took a step back.

His father was dead.

Chapter Text

Chuuya didn't want to sure what exactly he felt when he started up the king's body.

He wasn't sad, he wasn't happy, he wasn't angry, he wasn't disappointed, no satisfaction or any other emotion

He simply felt nothing when he looked at the corpse.

The king had definitely not had a nice death he was lying on the floor in the middle of the room his face was painfully consumed but his eyes were monotone.

All of his clothes were smeared with blood and the skin that Chuuya could see was also covered in blood.

Even his eyes were leaking blood.

Chuuya didn't know why the guards didn't react, maybe they were as shocked as Chuuya.

Chuuya couldn't help but stare at the corpse and he was very sure that he would never be able to forget this moment.

Chuuya didn't know how long he had been waiting for this corpse, he had lost track of time and the only thing Chuuya's brain was aware of was his father's corpse.

He blinked as his view of the corpse was blocked by a body blocking his vision and Chuuya's brain slowly came back to reality.

He heard the scream of a familiar voice.

"You idiots how long did you leave him like that! He stormed out of the room a fucking hour ago! We don't have any more fucking time, the demon duo realized that something was wrong and went to the entrance of the castle. Together with the detectives, we were able to buy some time by rendering the clown unconscious, but the Loikusto members have to get out of here quickly."

In the back of his mind, Chuuya realized that it was Meir who was screaming but his body wouldn't move he only felt the protective rush of his ability in his body.

Meir leaned down to Chuuya and smiled apologetically at him. 

"Sorry Chuuya, you shouldn't have seen that, it was a surprise for your terribly annoying fiancée, come get some sleep when you wake up, everything will be better."

"Don't be so dramatic Chuuya father needed to relieve stress when you wake up everything will be better your mother never cried."

If someone were to report this incident years later, they would have said that a huge explosion hit the king's castle, killing the king and several workers.

But these reports would be nothing more than lies - the reason why the castle was destroyed was a chain reaction.

Meir's actually comforting words triggered memories in Chuuya that his brain wanted to forget, causing Chuuya's ability to activate and react with Meir's ability to put Chuuya to sleep.

In another universe, this state of Chuuya's is called "coruption" would be called the power of a god called Arahabaki.

In this universe, it was a protective reaction of Chuuya's ability to protect Chuuya from shadows.

Loikusto's plan today was actually simple

1.to get the royal family out of the castle 

2. kidnap Chuuya and take him to a Loikusto base for a while

3. kill the king and the flags and lock them in the king's office

4. destroy the castle 

5. take the royal family to the destroyed castle to mock them.

The plan worked well at the beginning, the betrothed were out of the castle, the king dead, the flags unconscious and Kouyou and Verlaine unconscious.

In the end, the simplest part of the plan destroyed the entire plan just as Meir was about to put Chuuya to sleep to kidnap him.

When Chuuya started to destroy the castle, many believed that the sight of his father's body and Meir's sudden intrusion into Chuuya's private space activated Chuuya's ability for the first time.

Dazai then reacted quickly and saved Chuuya using his ability only for Meir, who changed his appearance, to end up kidnapping Chuuya anyway.

(the angry screams and the desperate attempts to save Chuuya were worth mentioning.)

In the end, the flags survived but they had managed to kidnap Chuuya.

Meir stared at Chuuya's form lying on the bed.

Yes, people would think that Chuuya had simply awakened his ability for the first time and that it was just too much for the weak prince. 

Meir looked at the Arahabaki bloodstained cloth in his hand.

He wanted to throw it away that day but decided against it.

Meir exhaled and activated his ability, touching the blood to the cloth.

The values of the person to whom the blood belonged appeared before Meir's eyes.

Meir closed his eyes, somehow he had expected this all along.

Meir looked at Chuuya again and stroked his hand through his red hair.

Chuuya was Arahabaki.

Maybe that was why Meir wanted to help Arahabaki at the ball.

In order to activate Meir's ability, Meir had to make contact with a body in some way.

Meir had not intended to fight and win against Arahabaki in the ball from the beginning, he only needed a part of Arahabaki's blood.

Thanks to Chuuya's blood, Meir had faked his age, meaning that the Arahabaki people saw was Chuuya in his late twenties or early thirties.

In the end, it was thanks to Meir that Chuuya's identity was not revealed in the ball.

But Meir didn't feel any hatred towards Chuuya because he hadn't told him.

Meir hadn't tried to hide his hatred towards Arahabaki for a second if he had been in Chuuya's position, he wouldn't have said anything.

Now he just had to wait until Chuuya woke up to find out what really happened to Kazimir back then.

Meir's voice was a soft whisper, which was good for Chuuya's head.

Chuuya tilted his head in Meir's direction and flinched a moment later when he realized they weren't in his castle.

The room was a beautiful beige and white color.

"Do you like it? I once heard that you like the color beige."

Meir gently pushed Chuuya onto the bed and smiled at him.

"Don't worry, no one will hurt you here, you're safe."

Chuuya's voice was terribly raspy when he finally spoke.

"What about the others? Where are they?"

Meir made an annoyed face and threw his hand away.

"Oh they're fine they should be somewhere near the castle."

Chuuya relaxed when he heard that the others were fine and closed his eyes briefly because he felt dizzy.

"So I'm sorry to bring this up right after you got up but what happened to Kazimir then Chuuya or should I say Arahabaki?"

Chuuya's head was suddenly completely clear and he slowly turned to Meir who simply smiled at him.

"Oh don't worry I'm not mad at you no wait that's not true I would be mad at you if you really killed Kazimir but you said Kazimir killed himself didn't you? Tell me why."

Chuuya knew he had to tell Meir, he deserved to know the truth.

"You can do something with people's bodies, can't you Meir?"

Meir blinked at the answer not quite sure what to ask.

"Y-Yes? I mean yes I can."

Chuuya smiled tiredly at Meir he didn't have the strength to tell Meir himself but....

"How about I give you full permission to look at my memories of Kazimir? Can you even do that with your ability?"

Meir nodded slowly, trying to process what he just heard.

"Y-yes I'm sure you can?"

Chuuya just nodded and closed his eyes he felt so tired.

Meir stared at Chuuya with wide eyes and then gently touched his hair and closed his eyes as he drifted into Chuuya's memories about Kazimir.

"Here you are Chu-kun I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Meir stood to the side as he did every time he looked at an Errinerung and watched the event as if he had been there that day.

"Oh I'm sorry Kazim, I forgot a bit while I was reading can I help you in any way?"

Chuuya smiled a little guiltily at Kazim which made Kazim grin even more.

"No problem Chuuya and I just wanted to ask you something."

Behind Kazim in a red light flew several dangos that Kazim probably made himself.

Chuuya smiled when he saw this and straightened up.

"Sure ask what you need to ask does it have something to do with the flags again? You know you don't have to be jealous of them, right?"

Kazim bit his lips but smiled and held out a sunflower to Chuuya.

"I'm a little embarrassed to ask but do we want to be official together Chu-kun"

Chuuya smiled brightly at Kazim and nodded.

"Of course Kazim, I love you."

Kazim sighed out in relief.

"I love you too Chu-kun I love you so much."

Meir went black before he was pulled into an another Memory.

Kazim lay on the grass and stared at the sky as Chuuya sat down next to him.

"Hey Kazim, tell me, do you still believe in Arahabaki?"

Kazim smiled and stood up.

"Of course I do, why do you ask Chu-kun?"

Chuuya hummed to himself and took Kazim's hand in his and played with his fingers.

"Nothing special, I just read his name in a book and thought of you."

Kazim laughed a little and beamed.

"Arahabaki is also a great god, the protector of orphans and the poor, the destroyer of injustice and suffering, doesn't that sound great? Hey Chuuya, don't laugh!"

"I'm sorry ahhh please don't tic-kle have merc-y on me Kazi-mm."

Meir blinked when he was in Chuuya's room and the flags were in front of him.

"Chuuya come on you have to at least listen to us"

Albatross pleaded but Chuuya's eyes still shone with anger.

"Albatross, you're trying to tell me that my boy friend, who was also my first friend in my life, is betraying me and only wants to gather information for an organization called Loikusto."

"Because it's true-"

Albatross's voice sounded desperate as Chuuya cut him off.

"Please everyone just go outside I need time to myself."

The Flags nodded and reluctantly left the room.

After the flags were out, Chuuya threw himself on the bed and shook his head.

"Ridiculous, as if Kazim would ever betray me, they must have gotten fake news from somewhere."

Meir just looked at this Chuuya blankly and averted his eyes, then stood in the hallway of Kazimir's room.

Chuuya had a plate full of dangos in his hand and a bag hanging from his arm, but Meir remembered what day it was.

Kazim had come to Meir on his birthday and said that he and Chuuya had broken up, but Meir had never asked why.

Chuuya walked towards Kazim's room with a smile of anticipation, it was already night time which meant that the only source of light was the light under Kazim's door.

Just before Chuuya reached the door and opened it, Kazim's voice was heard.

"Yes boss everything is fine don't worry."

Chuuya froze and didn't move.

"Everything is fine here, you should worry more about how Osiris is doing, didn't he have a difficult mission last time? I told you that my mission is no problem for me."

Meir bit his lips and started the door silently, so it really was the day.

"Yes yes I take the mission completely seriously don't worry if anything happens in the castle I'll tell you immediately it's actually almost ridiculously easy how easily I can get the information"

Meir looked at Chuuya's expression when he realized that Kazimir was a spy.

Ah, now it made sense why the two of them had broken up so suddenly.

"Goodbye boss, take care of your pretty head, I'll think of some excuse and come visit you then"

Chuuya dropped the plate with the dangos and the bag on the floor. A now broken picture frame fell out of the bag and Meir's eyes widened as he recognized the picture.

It was a picture of Kazimir and Chuuya at the market in the city, both holding sunflowers and smiling broadly.

Kazimir quickly opened the door and stared at Chuuya, surprised and then worried when he saw the things on the floor.

"As well Chuuya? Have you come to visit for my birthday?"

Kazimir bent and picked up the picture frame on the floor and smiled when he saw the photo.

"That was a nice moment, I didn't know you still had the picture."

Kazimir looked up when Chuuya didn't answer "Chuuya are you alright?"

Chuuya stared blankly at Kazimir and had tears in his eyes 

"I didn't believe them you know? Just tell me one thing Kazimir Mikko did this mean anything for you? Did I mean anything for you?" 

Kazimi's face became desperate as he realized what was happening.

"Chuuya let's talk I am sorry I really really am"

Chuuya turned around and walked towards the exit, not wanting to look at Kazimir.

"Chuuya wait!"

Chuuya stopped and looked at Kazimir and then grinned mockingly.

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me? Go ahead I won't move, you can still sneak into the royal family with pity."

Meir watched the memory fade as Chuuya left Kazimir alone with loud footsteps.

Meir had the feeling that his head was being forced to look in a certain direction and his body was being forced to move.

"Oh wow, so you're the famous Arahabaki who's been giving Arik so many headaches for a year."

Chuuya stared at Kazimir from behind his mask and said nothing.

But Meir could hear his thoughts when he tried very hard.

*I need to get this fight over with quickly without causing Kazimir much pain.

Kazimir's grin widened when he got no answer from Arahabaki.

"You know, I actually don't think your act sucks at all no I guess you could even call me a fan if it wasn't for my personal reason to hate you."

Meir knew that he was referring to Arahabaki's "love" for Chuuya.

But Meir could feel himself getting terribly uncomfortable because he knew how this fight would end.

"I heard you were more talkative, but maybe you're just taking this fight seriously"

Kazimir unsheathed his katana and pointed the tip at Arahabaki.

"You'd better, because you know the people who underestimate me have never survived."

Meir stood to the side and watched Kazimir's swordsmanship for the first time in a long time and felt his heart grow a little heavier.

Chuuya didn't do too badly either, parrying every blow from Kazimir without any real problems.

But then he wasn't paying attention and Kazimir cut Chuuya roughly where his heart should be and Meir wondered if it hadn't left any scars.

Kazimir raised an eyebrow, impressed.

"Hey, even if you die here, you'll have my appreciation for dodging my best punch."

Kazimir's body began to glow red as he activated his.

"Let me show you my respect by killing you with my ability."

Chuuya looked slightly at his wound and hissed okey he has to use his ability here otherwise he has no chance at all against Kazimir.

Chuuya had learned to use his ability without showing it openly that a light came out of it.

Chuuya and Kazimir both raised their katana and ran towards each other.

The moment the two katana touched each other, the same abilities reacted to each other.

This caused them to fly backwards and smash through several trees.

Kazimir stood up in front of Chuuya because, unlike Chuuya, he had no scar under his heart.

"Bloody hell you can control gravity too wait a minute..."

Kazimir looked in shock at Chuuya whose mask had flown off his face due to the force and was now lying on the ground.

"Oh no no no C-Chuuya I'm sorry he-y are you okay? come on talk with me... please?"

Chuuya didn't answer for a moment because he was damn dizzy.

Kazimir looked at his own hands and then at Chuuya's wound.

He had almost killed Chuuya 

Kazimir had almost killed Chuuya.

The words kept repeating in Kazimir's head.

"I'm fine don't worry the flags should be around here somewhere."

Kazimir nods understandingly and helps Chuuya sit up properly.

Kazimir looks at Chuuya for a moment and then leans over and kisses Chuuya on the cheek.