Cross Worlds: The Tale Of Two Boys Who Swapped Worlds 7 An Unexpected Realization

…

"My goodness," King Ayumu sighed, slumping in his chair. "I don't even know what to do at this point."

After he had gotten Queen Azusa's message, the King had headed to Takahiko's lab to hear the news. And when the Scientist had explained everything to the silver haired man, the King's jaws nearly dropped through the floor.

"Dear, you don't need to worry so much." Queen Azusa soothed.

"How can I not? Mana is changing the boy down to his very cells, and even If we manage to send him back, the changes are still happening to his body. There's no stopping it." The King sighed. "Imagine, when he goes back home, everyone around him is aging and dying off and he's still looking young and fresh. Won't that affect him emotionally? Won't that cause the people around him to think he's some sort of monster? He won't be able to fit in, in his own world!"

The Queen sat in the chair next to him with a worried look on her face. She knew her husband was right, but what could they do? Even if one of them should head to Earth in an attempt to get back their son, the brat could sneak back there the moment their backs are turned. And if he runs away, there's no way they could find him. So, for the time being, neither party could make a move.

"I really don't know what to do. Yuri's life is basically ruined, isn't it?" King Ayumu said, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

Knowing her husband for so long, Queen Azusa knew that the man felt like this was all his fault. "Don't blame yourself. It was all a mistake." She said as he placed a warm hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure that we'll find a solution to this."

"I really hope so, Azu." The King said. "I really hope so."

…

…

The rest of the day had been uneventful for Tachibana, when the King left him to do whatever it was, the j.a.panese read the books nearby in the room. He knew next to nothing of this world, only the geography thanks to Akira and Seiya's lesson the other day. But in reality, he didn't know much about this Kingdom. Sure, some things remained unchanged like that of j.a.pan, but the things that differed was far greater.

He had wanted Akira to help, but the Second Prince was busy sulking because he got his a.s.s beaten earlier. So, Seiya decided to a.s.sist Tachibana, at first, the j.a.panese was sceptical because he didn't know what the eldest was like. He already had an idea of Akira's personality, but he hasn't conversed with Seiya long enough.

But, it turns out, the First Prince was actually the nicer one of the two.

Sure, Akira was nice and funny and the whatnot, but he can be pretty terrible and disgusting as he's experienced. But Seiya is actually rather gentle, and he doesn't bark at him like Akira had when they'd first met.

That said, Seiya explained many things that Tachibana didn't understand, especially matters regarding the Youma. The entire world of Sekai was facing this threat since days of antiquity, but up until now, no one knew what the cause of it was. And coupled with the fact that Earth―a parallel world to Sekai—existed, and wasn't attacked by Youma made them think that there was something here that was attracting them. But the problem was, no one knew ???? was attracting them.

Seiya and Tachibana continued to chat and discuss about various things; Seiya even giving Tachibana a tour of the Palace. Before the two boys knew it, it was dinner time. In order to prevent a mess at the dinner table with Tachibana encountering his cousins, Seiya led the j.a.panese to his room, and told him to stay there and that he'll bring his dinner to him. Of course, the First Prince had to lie to the cooks and the servants that his brother was sick, Akira adding his bits that "Yuri" was just tired and that he hadn't fully recovered from the attack.

It worked, the King and Queen could only smile that the three boys were getting along well. At the outset, they had been worried that neither Seiya nor Akira would have gotten along with the j.a.panese. Add to that, the j.a.panese Yuri had stated that back in his world, he was an only child.

But thankfully, their worries never became a reality.

…

…

It was now nighttime, and everyone had long gone to bed. Well, everyone except Tachibana. He sat up in bed, his hair was in disarray, there were dark circles underneath his bloodshot eyes. For a teen of his calibre, Tachibana looked disastrous. He looked to the window and saw that it was still night-time, but he felt that time was pa.s.sing by a bit too slowly. Although the room had the perfect temperature, and the bed was perfectly comfortable, Tachibana still couldn't sleep.

His room was huge.

On one side of the side of his room, there was a bay window with double hung that almost took up the entire wall. There were bright orange curtains which were tied in the middle by a black silk cloth.

Beside the window was his bed, and beside his bed was a white bedside table with a lamp on it. So far, the lamp looked like it was made in j.a.pan, but Tachibana knew that there was probably more to the furniture than meets the eye.

Directly in front of him was a walk-in closet which made Tachibana wonder just how much piece of clothing did the Prince have. Well, he was a Prince, so Tachibana quickly dismissed the thought. Next to the walk-in closet was another door, Tachibana was told that it led to his adjoining room, which housed books that his counterpart liked to read. He was relieved at that, seeing that the Prince liked to read books as much as he did. Beside the door was a beautiful blue dresser with labels on each of its drawers.

However, the entrance door was far away from his bed. It felt like it was miles away and this was probably the cause of Tachibana's supposed insomnia. Being in such a big room by himself was not comforting, especially since he was used to his room from Earth. But on either side of the main door, there was a small door there, but Tachibana didn't know the use of it.

He got up and stood by the window, drinking in the beautiful sight. There were two moons in the night sky; the bigger and brighter one was a luminous white, while the other smaller had a soft blue glow about it. Seeing this, rea.s.sured Tachibana that he really was in a fantasy-like world; given all those high-tech devices he's seen all day, at least, this was somewhat within his expectations.

Suddenly, a face appeared outside his window. Frightened, Tachibana let out a scream while taking a step back and grabbed his chest. But before Tachibana knew it, he was gently pushed further to the door, while two figures stood before him in an imposing manner. The one directly in front of him had b.a.l.l.s of Fire swirling around his clenched fists while the other stood with a gigantic scythe that had Fire raging around its blade.

Both males were dressed in a white long-sleeved double breasted military jacket and matching white pants which were tucked into s.h.i.+n-high black boots. They were both black-haired males with amber eyes.

"Akira?!" the two "guards" screeched in shock upon realizing who was the 'intruder'.

"Heh, heh," the Second Prince chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that, guys. I just wanted to check up on little bro here but I accidentally scared him."

The guard with the scythe twitched. The weapon then vanished inside the spatial ring on his index. "Can't you check up on him like a normal person? Do you really need to enter through the window? Seriously?!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Ken." Akira said teasingly. "I just wanted to be the awesome big brother. What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong? Are you an idiot, Your Highness!?" the other guard roared. "What if Ken had sliced you in half?!"

"Then it would be my fault for being careless. Ken was just doing his job." Akira shrugged. "Calm down, Kibbie."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Kibbie, or rather, Kibou roared. "It could have happened and all you do is pa.s.s it off as just Ken doing his job!? My brother would have been executed!"

"I see someone has forgotten how psychotic his father can be." Ken, whose full name was Kentarou, nodded in agreement. But then his voice softened. "Next time, use the door."

"But you all have forgotten how reasonable and understanding my father can be." Akira countered smoothly.

"You…" both Kentarou and Kibou didn't how to counter. While it was no secret of the King's personality, they personally wouldn't want to find out how 'reasonable' and 'understanding' he could be.

Tachibana, who had been watching this, didn't even know what to say. These were guards and they spoke to the Second Prince without restraint. Akira was fine with it as well, but seeing this made Tachibana wondered just how friendly the Royal Family was to the commoners. On Earth, normal people would have been killed for shouting at a prince and calling him an idiot.

"Yuri?" Tachibana came back to his senses when he heard Ken calling him. "Are you alright? You look stunned and awful." The older guard stooped down to his level. "Why do you look like…?"

"…s.h.i.+t?" Akira finished with a chuckle.

Tachibana reddened. "I just can't sleep, that's all."

"Can't sleep? That's pretty rough, Your Highness. You have a savage day ahead of you; you need to rest as much as you can." Kibou said with concern.

"Yeah, for some reason, His Majesty is taking the time out to teach you some Spear skills that you're lacking." Ken said. "Which I find strange, since you are a monster in terms of skills."

Tachibana was silenced. ??? ?????? ??? ???? ????? He let out a smile. While he was a "monster" in martial arts, the Prince was a "monster" in using a Spear. At least some things never changed.

The guards then left the room, leaving the two brothers alone. Tachibana then looked to Akira as he needed an explanation. With an innocent smile, the older blond took a seat on Tachibana's bed and beckoned him to do so as well.

"The first thing, don't be so stiff around Ken and Kibbie. You're supposed to be really close to them." He said with a smile. "Little bro was."

"Uh huh." Tachibana could only nod. But hearing that, made him start to fret. The Prince was now in his world, in what ways would he destroy his reputation and his relations.h.i.+ps?

Seeing the distressed look on Tachibana's face, Akira placed a hand on his shoulder. "Why the pained face?"

"I'm worried…Your brother may end up destroying my relations.h.i.+ps back home."

Akira roared with laughter, clutching his abdomen while he was at it. "No need to worry, Little bro won't do such a thing. If he's provoked then, there's a possibility he'll snap and raze your school to the ground. But apart from that, I'm pretty sure he'll try to behave himself."

Walking to Akira, Tachibana noticed that the Second Prince was in pyjamas like he was. He found that strange, since the only reason why he wore the pyjamas was because it was the only thing in the closet to wear for night time. But, Akira was different…he should be older.

"Akira, you're twenty-one aren't you?" Tachibana asked. He remembered when the King had mentioned something about his sons' ages.

"Yeah, something the matter?"

"Why are you in pyjamas?"

"Because I'm still a child." Akira said in matter-of-factly. He even looked at Tachibana's as though he was an idiot or something.

"How can a twenty-one year old be a child? That's ―" Tachibana broke himself off before starting up again. "What is your average life expectancy?"

"Well, if one isn't killed by a Youma in battle or isn't afflicted with some strange disease that we don't know about and can't treat, we typically live for like roughly four hundred years."

The colour drained out of Tachibana's face. The silver haired teen was in such a state that even Akira didn't know what to do.

"Is he in shock?" he wondered. "Oi Yuri. Yuri." He called as he continuously pat his cheeks. "????!" he shouted this time.

Tachibana was finally back to reality, however, the dismal look on his face was still present. Akira wondered what the cause of this was, since all he ever spoke about what their life span. His eyes widened in realization.

"Yuri…is it that your world's life expectancy is more or less than ours? Which is it?"

"I won't live that long." Tachibana managed to utter out. "In my world, j.a.panese males are estimated to live until eighty-one. Still, Humans struggle to reach one hundred and even if we do, we're usually weak and in essence, we revert to a child like state."

It was Akira's turn to look pale. Humans lived until their eighty-one? ???? ??????-???? Converting that to Sekai's, they weren't even a full adult yet. To say that it was sad was an understatement. But seeing how shaken Tachibana looked, Akira put up a face.

"Don't worry; we'll get you back before you can age." He said, trying his best to calm Tachibana down. But still, Akira didn't know what else to tell the boy. For a fact, getting Tachibana back was mostly reliant on his little brother Yuri, who seemed as though he has no intention of doing so.

"Really?" Tachibana gazed at Akira with suspicious eyes. His tone was full of sarcasm. "???????"

"We'll try." Not wanting this conversation to escalate into a question and answer session where he won't know how to respond, Akira took his leave. After he exited the room, Akira ordered Kibou to stay inside the room. He made up a lie that his 'little brother' was paranoid that a Youma may attack him in his sleep.

When the guard did what he was told, Akira made his way to back to his room, but he couldn't sleep either. Thinking on their discussion, he wondered what his parents are going to do. If this "Yuri Tachibana" will die at eighty-one, how are they going to get back Third Prince Yuri?

"I can always ask later." He mumbled to himself. With that, he hopped into his bed and tried to sleep.

...

…

Tachibana woke due to the blaring alarm clock on the bedside table. He felt a bit groggy, probably because he had fallen asleep quite early in the morning. When he finally sat up in the bed, the alarm stopped.

Tachibana looked about the room for any signs of an alarm clock, but there was none.

"Then where did the sound come from?" Tachibana wondered. Swinging his feet off his bed and standing up, he heard a knock on his door.

"Your Highness!" Ken appeared through the small door on the left beside the main door. "Aika is here."

Tachibana was stumped. Who was "Aika"?

"Ah, let her in."

Ken laughed. "Of course she has to come in. I was just letting you know that she's here. She's your maid after all."

As soon as Ken said this, she walked through his door, with a pleasant smile on her face. She was a young woman with lush black hair and was dressed in the standard maid uniform. However, she carried a small metal tray delicately and from where Tachibana was, he couldn't see what was on it.

Upon closer inspection, Tachibana noticed that it was a plain ring which was blue in colour. It then clicked to him that it was probably one of those inter-spatial rings that Akira and Seiya told him about.

"Good morning, Your Highness." Aika said with a small bow. "His Majesty told me to give you this."

Hesitantly, Tachibana took up the ring. Judging by the size of it, the j.a.panese knew it was fit for his thumb. Not wanting to arouse suspicions, he slid the ring onto his thumb and he felt a slight sting. It wasn't agonizing but there was a lingering discomfort.

"Ah, thank you." Tachibana said. "And good morning to you too. Are you alright?"

Aika looked shocked. "Thank you. I'm fine."

"Good. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, breakfast will soon be served. Go freshen up and head into the dining room." Aika said with a smile.

Tachibana only nodded his understanding and Aika took her leave. But the problem remained; he couldn't find the dining area by himself. Seiya had led him to it briefly before dinner, but still, the palace was too huge. It'll take a while to get accustomed to this place. Returning to his bed, Tachibana pondered on last night. Ningen live for four hundred years and a twenty-one year old is still a child. In that aspect, it was understandable, living for that long would mean that people less than a hundred (roughly) are probably cla.s.sed as children and teenagers. But, he won't live that long. It would have been nice, but seeing his family and friends age and die isn't something he'd be able to bear.

With a sigh, he headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Even though he's seen the bathroom yesterday, he still found it astounding. It was a walk-in shower with beige tiles that made Tachibana's eyes hurt.

From the ceiling to a couple inches down, the walls were painted in bright orange; along the right wall, two fluffy towels neatly hung from a golden mounted towel rack. Next to that was a white free standing bathroom cabinet. Across from that and on the left was a rack which housed cla.s.sic terrycloth bathrobes. Tachibana let out a sigh of relief; they were white and not orange. Beside the bathrobes was a door and he thought that it led to the toilet. Next was a white mounted vanity below a huge a.s.s mirror. He smiled upon seeing the mirror.

He walked towards the shower which was situated at the end of the room. There was tempered frosted gla.s.s at the shower but before the blond could reach, he fell. Looking around, he realized that he was in a floor tub, and it was slowly filling up with water. Tachibana attempted to climb out but, the water was warm and heavenly. Quickly, he resigned to the tub.

"I'll take a shower after I soak." He cooed.

...

…

After Tachibana was done, he exited the shower feeling like he was reborn. The water temperature was just right, and he felt that there was something in the bathrobe because it was so comfy that he didn't want to take it off.

He quickly changed into his clothes which was a simple a black v-neck t-s.h.i.+rt and black jeans and sneakers. He was surprised at all that a Prince would have such plain clothing in his closet, but later dismissed it as probably his "house clothing".

He left his room but didn't know the direction in which he should go. He wanted to ask either Ken or Kibou but he feared their reaction. After all, he was supposed to be the Prince; he should know his house by the back of his hand by now.

"Yuri. Let's go." Tachibana jumped when he heard the voice and looked right into piercing green eyes. It was Seiya. Was he there the entire time?

"Y-yes." He stuttered, the fright was still in him. He fell into step behind his elder brother, and for a couple seconds, there was nothing but silence between them.

"Hey, Yuri."

"Yes?" Tachibana replied.

"What's j.a.pan like?" Seiya asked. His voice lacked the enthusiasm it needed when asking about something like this. Due to Tachibana wanting to know about this world yesterday, Seiya hadn't gotten a chance to ask about j.a.pan.

"It's…definitely not like here. I mean, our technology is nowhere up your level." Tachibana answered.

"Really?" Seiya looked shocked. He had stopped walking and turned to look at Tachibana. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, we don't have spatial rings or humanoid robots who serve at cafés."

"Well, the inter-spatial devices are a given since it needs a little mana to work." Seiya said. "And what do you mean by 'humanoid'?"

"I meant the robots that look like us." Tachibana said. He mentally slapped himself for forgetting that in Sekai, there is no such thing as 'Human' but 'Ningen'.

"Oh, you mean to say 'Ningenoid'." Seiya chuckled. "But continue on your world."

"We do have a lot of recreational activities." Tachibana then perked. "We have manga, anime, but most importantly, sports!"

"Manga? Anime? Sports?" Seiya was confused. "Please, do elaborate."

Tachibana smirked, "I will."

…

...

In the dining hall, almost all of the Royal Family was present. They were seated around the round dining table; everyone was immersed in their own conversation. On King Ayumu's right was his brother Eisen and on his left was his wife Queen Azusa. Beside the Queen was Eisen's wife ―First Lady Kimiko and the two were engaged in a heated conversation which had them roaring with laughter many times. Kimiko was a beautiful woman with brown hair and dark eyes. Eisen, King Ayumu's older brother had silver hair like everyone else, but he had green eyes, inherited from their father.

Next to the females were Akira who was chatting away with two of Eisen's sons ―Kaichi and Michitaka. The latter two had silver hair like their father but only Kaichi had the green eyes while Michitaka had red.

Three seats were empty which were for Tachibana, Seiya and Eisen's first son ―Isami who had yet to arrive.

Just then, Tachibana and Seiya entered the dining hall and seeing the two, Akira's eyebrows rose in shock. He knew that Tachibana hadn't been around Seiya for long, but to see them chatting like they're best friends…Akira wanted to know to the secret.

The two took their seats, but their conversation stopped. Being around their other family members had prompted this. Soon, Isami walked in with a sour look on his face, his green eyes had a glint of anger and his silver hair was partially covered by a cap. He greeted everyone after which he sat, and thus, breakfast was served.

Seeing the plated food, Tachibana wondered if his taste buds can handle it, but surprisingly, his plate was a rice bowl and looked very j.a.panese. Akira sent a wink to him, and here, Tachibana realized that Akira probably told the cook what to make for him. He was beginning to like his big brother. He wasn't going to let him starve.

After breakfast, the King brought Tachibana to another training room. This room was just as big as the last one he'd been to, or probably even bigger. Tachibana felt somewhat apprehensive as he was about to learn how to combat with the Spear from the King himself. And recalling what the guards had said last night, the Third Prince was a monster in that aspect.

"Don't worry, Yuri." King Ayumu said with a smile. "I'll be teaching you the basics this time."

"Okay," Tachibana responded with a nod. "It isn't going to be hard, right?"

King Ayumu shrugged. "It all depends on how fast you learn."

Tachibana smirked. He was a pretty fast learner. The King then stretched out his hand as though he was holding a staff or stick and immediately a huge spear materialized. It was metallic silver but Tachibana noticed its size. Just the shaft was taller than the King; Tachibana didn't even look at the triangular head and its protrusions.

"Isn't that thing heavy?" Tachibana asked.

"Nope!" the King answered. "Now take out yours from the ring. All you have to do is will the spear out."

"I didn't even know that there was spear in this thing."

King Ayumu sighed. "Listen to me. Swipe your hand at the air gently."

Tachibana followed the instructions and as he'd done so, a holographic projection appeared. He saw about two long spears like the King's, two smaller ones with shafts as long as a kitchen knife, and others that weren't as long as the long spears but instead a couple inches shorter. Apart from those, he saw there were two cellphones, one was his from Earth and the other one he surmised to be the one he'd use while here. There were other things there but he decided that he'd take a look at those later.

Following the posture that the King had, Tachibana tried to get the spear to materialize. It did, and the j.a.panese was relieved that it wasn't as difficult as he'd thought. However, that feeling was dashed as soon as his hand grasped the metal weapon.

Both Tachibana and the spear went tumbling to the floor.

"Are you alright?" King Ayumu asked as he rushed to help him up onto his feet.

"Yeah, the spear is too heavy! How can I use that!?"

"It's heavy?" The King said as he took it up like a piece of paper. But he soon realized the reason. "Alright, use the two small ones then."

"Okay." Within a blink, the two spears materialized, and while they had weight, they were manageable. Seeing this, the King smiled and changed to the small spears as well.

"Now, let my lesson from h.e.l.l begin!"

Tachibana swallowed the lump in his throat.

...

…

A silver car made its way towards a black iron gate that shone like fine oil in the sun. But before the gate could open, the driver of the car stopped by the security post and placed a card in the midst of the guard's hands. A blue light shone from inside the security post, and the card was returned to the driver.

The gate opened in a slow manner, but as the car was pa.s.sing through, a greenish light glowed from beneath the ground, seeming to be scanning the vehicle. After the car was fully scanned, a ripple formed in the air before them, seeming like a curtain being parted.

"This is why I hate coming here, too many security measures." Mamoru groaned as he slumped into his seat. He was in the front pa.s.senger side of the car, while his father ―Manabu Sato was driving.

Seeing the older male, one could easily mistake Mamoru to be his father's brother instead. Everything was the same; they had the same short black with the slight green tint which was parted to the right. Their eyes were the same, small and narrow.

Behind them were three females, one of them being Kohaku Ito. She was seated directly behind Mamoru, and this time, she was dressed in a black v-neck t-s.h.i.+rt and a white jeans shorts. She wore sneakers with black thigh high stockings. Around her neck was a golden chain with a beautiful pendant. She wore matching earrings and lip gloss.

The other female beside Kohaku was Takahiro Mochizuki. Her beautiful black hair was curled softly at the ends and done in the 'half up-half down hairstyle'. The left and right side of her hair was draped loosely back and was pinned at her nape, however, the right side was wrapped over the other.

She wore a white strapless high low dress with a blue floral hem. She had on a white necklace and matching earring and shoes.

Beside Takahiro was her childhood friend Yukina Suzuki. The brunette had long but extremely curly hair done in a high pony tail to reveal her round face. She wore a striped grey sleeveless s.h.i.+rt underneath a jeans jacket and black jeans pants and matching sneakers. She also wore pearl earrings.

"I believe it's going to get worse, Mamoru." Manabu replied as he drove to the round-bout. "The Prince was still attacked in his room and they have this level of security, don't be surprised if the guards start checking DNA before anyone can come in." the older Sato joked. But even though it was such, they all knew that there was some probability to that statement.

In times past, there were two attempts on Seiya and Akira when they were far younger but now that they've grown into monsters, many have targeted the Third Prince. Including this recent attack there has been three times that the Prince was almost kidnapped, one had actually succeeded.

"That's going to be frightening." Yukina said.

"Indeed," Takahiro agreed.

Soon, the car reached up the round-bout and the four teenagers exited in front of a large building. Walking through the doors, they had to have their identification cards and their spatial rings scanned before entering the courtyard.

After making it past that, they were finally in the courtyard and immediately two guards had rushed up towards them. However, due to the quartet coming to the palace frequently, they were no strangers.

Exchanging friendly greetings, the guards then led them further into the courtyard where there were numerous gazebos present.

The four sat, and not shortly after a maid appeared (via teleportation) and offered them refreshments. And yet again, since they were no strangers, the maid gave them exactly what they would eat and drink.

"I wonder what this Yuri is like." Yukina said as she took a sip of her orange soda. "I hope he doesn't attempt to blow up the school."

"Well, that would be nice." Mamoru said. "But even though we've met once, he doesn't seem like that. I could be wrong though." He bit into his bun-like food.

"Let's just wait and see." Takahiro joined in.

"Agreed." Kohaku said.

The four changed the topic of their conversation to a more serious topic like the reason behind the attack on the Prince. The four threw out ideas but they still couldn't come to a plausible conclusion.

After a couple minutes, a bright light appeared at the gazebo.

...

…

"What kind of eyes do you have?" King Ayumu asked in surprise. He was shocked that almost every move that he showed to the boy, he could reciprocate it with ease. It was the same with his son, but the King was sure that Tachibana's world didn't have these moves there; after all, people don't walk around with weapons all day long.

But with a single look, he got the moves down.

King Ayumu nearly tore up in joy. That simply meant, after a while, Tachibana was able to become just as monstrous as his son was. And here he thought that the j.a.panese would have been a hard nut to crack.

Tachibana shrugged his shoulders, "The sharingan." He was somewhat numb and sore from that lesson but as destroyed as he thought he'd be.

"The shari-what?"

"Ignore me. I was just referring to an eye that was in fiction."

"Oh." The King said. "But don't think you're out of the woods yet. There are other complex moves left, and I have to teach you how to use the other spears at a later date."

"At a later date? I won't get strong enough to wield that thing." Tachibana said shaking his head. By now the spear was already returned to Tachibana's spatial ring.

King Ayumu smiled. "Azu was planning to tell you after this, so you have to pretend that you never heard it from me. Mana is changing your body, so given enough time, though I'm not sure how long, you'll become like us, per se."

Tachibana blanched. "So, I'll end up living for four hundred years?"

"Yes, and by extent, you may end up being able to use magic of your own will."

Tachibana staggered back in shock. The very thing that he was afraid of is going to become his reality. Tachibana gave up. Hearing that shattered all hopes of ever going back home. How agonizing it will be see everyone dying and he's still living.

It was a nightmare.

Getting transported to another world shouldn't end in the protagonist's anguish like this! Tachibana nearly broke out in tears. And if his body was changing, then that meant this was irreversible.

"Yuri?" The King called out upon seeing the state that the boy was in.

"I give up." Tachibana whimpered. He couldn't run, he couldn't hide, he couldn't do anything to escape from this nightmare. "I don't have a reason to live anymore. There are no anime, no manga, no volleyball, nothing. And if by some chance you manage to get me home, I'm going to live for four hundred years. Friends and family will age and die and I'll still be around."

"I'm not going to say that everything's going to be alright. You're the Third Prince at the moment; there are many things you can get away with."

"Like…?"

"You have to tell me. If you want to do something, there's no one apart from me and Azu who are able to stop you. Which are unlikely to happen." He shrugged. "So if you want to 'invent' volleyball here, I won't stop you. If you want to 'invent' manga, I'm not going to stop you."

"Really?"

"Yup. But enough chit-chat, your friends are waiting."

"My friends?"

The King laughed. "My Yuri was a sociable little brat, you know? He's quite famous at school."

It was now Tachibana's turn to laugh. "Tell me something I don't know."

"You may fall in love."

"Eh?" but before Tachibana could ask another question, the King took hold of him and a bright light appeared at their feet. Within couple seconds, they were out in the courtyard, standing in front of a hardtop gazebo. There were three small steps leading into it, and the windows were tinted on the outside. The roof was somewhat reminiscent of a traditional j.a.panese roof.

Well, these people are basically j.a.panese. Tachibana thought.

"Yo!" King Ayumu greeted with a smile.

"Your Majesty!" the four greeted, getting up onto their feet.

"You may sit." The King then said as he and Tachibana walked to the seats. The two sat but one thing was on Tachibana's mind. Who was the brunette? He had already met Mamoru and Kohaku but he's never seen the brunette-haired girl before.

"h.e.l.lo, Yuri, you seem to be in a daze." A voice said, nearly making him jump out of his skin. Turning to look at who spoke, Tachibana knew exactly who it was.

That beautiful lush black hair. Those bright blue eyes.

Those could only belong to one person. "Mocchi?"

"Mocchi? What's that?"

"I meant, Mochizuki. You're Mochizuki Takahiro?"

The girl's face looked confused. "My family name is Mochizuki, not my given name."

Tachibana face-palmed, forgetting that even though these people were like the j.a.panese, they say their names like the Westerners. "I meant, Takahiro Mochizuki. Sorry about that, it's just that in my world we say our names backwards."

"Oh." Takahiro nodded. "And yes, I am, but please, don't call me "Mocchi", it's not cute."

Tachibana eyes brightened as he made a lunge for the girl. The King didn't stop him as he wondered what he was up to.

"Marry me, Mocchi!" Tachibana totally discarded what the girl had said earlier and still called her "Mocchi".

The King nearly choked on his spit while the others spat out their beverages in shock.