Ohno could only leave the two alone as he headed back to Aiba, probably wondering where everyone had wandered off to. His footsteps made clomping sounds as he sulkily walked back to their tight home, and ignored the hurt he was feeling in his broken heart.

 

+++

 

“I used to be an honor student,” Sho continued. “But the pressure was too much so I left school, my parents kicked me out, and I’m stuck here in the park.”

 

“Oh,” Nino could only reply. He was starting to regret kicking Sho out of the park that one day, not realizing how unfortunate the latter was. He thought that Sho was just some other grumpy bum that lived in the park, and never really cared about the world. But as he continued listening to the latter speak, Nino fell for the latter’s words, and never really understood why he would drop out just because of pressure?

 

Sho finally stopped talking and asked Nino, “What about you Ninomiya-san?”

 

“Nothing much,” Nino answered, trying his best not to tell Sho about his stupid reason why he ran away. He thinks that Sho would laugh at him for running away just because his butler died, and some idiot talked bad about his butler. His reason seemed stupid to him that he didn’t have the courage to tell Sho.

 

But then he heard the latter sigh besides him and leaned back on the bench. “I understand,” he says. “You don’t have to tell me.” Sho didn’t even sound disappointed at Nino for deciding not to say anything about his reason after a few incoherent mumbles.

 

Then Nino remembered what he left behind. “Oh crap,” he cursed. “I have to go to Masaki.”

 

“It’s ok,” Sho said. “I’ll see you here tomorrow. Same time?” Nino could hear the sudden downfall in Sho’s tone. Part of him really wants to stay with Sho and talk to him endlessly, but the other part of him wanted to go back to Masaki and take care of the little one.

 

“Yeah,” Nino mumbled, not sure if Sho heard him. “See you.” With that said, he left Sho in the park and rushed back to the two sleepyheads he accidentally left behind. 

 

His chat with Sho left his mind lingering on thoughts about everything that involved the young man. The way Sho’s lips moved when he talked. The way Sho’s eyes blinked after every other 4th word. The way Sho’s adam apple would vibrate when he talked…

 

“Ahem,” Ohno interrupted his thoughts. “Where were you?”

 

Nino felt irritated at Ohno, pretending to be like his parent and worrying about him. He didn’t like it.

 

“Somewhere,” Nino pivoted his head in another way. “Why do you care?”

 

Nino didn’t notice the frown on the older’s face as he kept his head the other way, arms crossed across his chest. He inhaled and exhaled, getting more impatient of Ohno’s answer. “Hpmh,” Nino walked away from Ohno. “All you need to do is take care of us anyways.”

 

+++

 

Ohno remained standing near a wall as he watch Nino wake up Aiba. The way his young master treated him was how Nino treated him back then when he did something wrong to upset Nino in the first place. Did Nino see him earlier? Probably. If Nino was this irritated at him, there was no way of reaching Nino’s heart.

 

+++

 

It was Nino’s turn to beg for Aiba to go to the park with him. Even when Aiba would tell Nino that he was tired and too lazy to get out of his spot, Nino dragged Aiba down to the park anyways hoping to find Sho. On his way to the park, he thought about what he was going to say and tell him sorry for leaving in such a rush when he realized they lived, not faraway, from each other. But when he came back, Sho was nowhere to be seen, and the lump besides the bench he sat on was gone.

 

“Come on,” Nino pulled Aiba back. “Let’s go. There’s too many kids here.”

 

Aiba pulled his hand from Nino and crossed his arms. “You’re the one that wanted to come here!” Aiba stuck his tongue out. “Let’s just play.”

 

Nino turned to look at Aiba, questioning why he was in such a bad mood. “Well aren’t you grumpy today?”

 

Aiba just clicked his heels together and ran from Nino to the playground. Now and then, Aiba would always wake up every morning, begging on and on about wanting to go the park. When Nino rejects Aiba, the boy would sulk down for a little, then he would laugh a little later and pretend like he was in the park. He would beg the older male to play with him and urge Nino to join in. In the end, while Nino’s and the older male’s energy had depleted, Aiba still has enough energy to last for the night. Something was wrong with Aiba today.

 

As he watched Aiba play around, at the same time, he simultaneously looked around the park for Sho hoping he would walk in any minute. But as he waited and picked up Aiba off the floor, the latter hasn’t shown up the last Nino has seen him. Without further hesitation, he decided it was time to go, carrying the sleeping Aiba on his back.

 

+++

 

Aiba coughed wildly the same time he was admitted to hospital a few days back. Nino was too deep in sleep; same with Ohno. Aiba didn’t know what else to do, so he struggled getting up from his hard bed, and walked to the hospital at night. 

 

On his way, his legs were getting weaker as his breathing was limiting. He finally stopped to take a deep breath, and found himself collapsing on the floor. 

 

+

Beep…Beep…Beep… 

 

Aiba woke up from the strange beeping sound, only finding himself in a white room with monitors standing besides him. He hadn’t realized how he made it this far when he was barely at the front steps of the hospital. He probably walked in his sleep. 

 

“Hey,” a man popped from behind the only door in the room. “How are you doing?”

 

Nino had specifically told him not to talk to strangers so he kept his mouth shut. Especially weird looking strangers like the bum standing besides his bed.

 

“Ah,” the man nodded his head. “I see. No talking to strangers right?”

 

Aiba kept his mouth shut, not uttering a single word even if he wanted to. 

 

“You’re welcome,” he says. “I was the one that brought you to this hospital. Besides, what were you doing out at night in the middle of the sidewalk?”

 

“What?” Aiba finally opened his mouth. Why did this strange man bring him to the hospital? But if it was someone else, he might have been or killed.

 

“Speaking now are we?” the man laughed and ruffled Aiba’s brown hair. “Care to answer my question now?”

 

Aiba nodded his head and answered,  “Nino niichan wouldn‘t wake up and Oh-chan wouldn‘t move either. I didn‘t really… want to wake them up so I walked out on my own…”

 

“I see,” the man nodded his head as he sat down on the couch near the wall. “You’re a brave warrior.”

 

Aiba smiles at him, his front teeth fully grown out. “I’m Aiba Masaki. Who are you?”

 

“Sakurai Sho,” he shakes the boy’s hand. “Nice to meet you too. Did you know I have a little brother?…” Sho smiles back at him.

 

+++ 

 

Ohno begged for the voices to stop talking to him in his dreams, afraid that he was really going mad for real. The voices were starting to be visible in a multiple different kinds of weird voices all telling him the same thing: “Finish it before it’s too late…”

 

SHUT UP! 

 

Ohno finally woke up from his horrid dream. It was ironic since his dream took place in heaven but those voices just wouldn’t stop bothering him. What they mean to ‘finish it before it’s too late’? Did their words relate back to the first dream he had with the same voice? 

 

It was getting so frustrating for Ohno hearing the same sentence in different voices that he ran to the park, and screamed out his frustration at the top of his lungs. It was a good thing it was at night, or else people would look at him weird and call the police on him.

 

“Too late for what?” Ohno mumbled to himself. “What am I late for?!”

 

He sat down on the nearest bench and pondered about what the voices meant. In his first dream, he remembered the voice telling him that he was dead and his soul went into this…this young body! He didn’t believe it, of course, but then he started piecing things together. If what Okura was saying is true, and his ex-master and ex-mistress said were true, then maybe he really was dead in the first place. But how? He knows he only dreamt about that weird incident and Nino never talked to him about why he ran away. All he knew was that Nino was unsatisfied with his old life and probably used the reason to run away. Maybe everything was all a dream and he would wake up the next day seeing Nino’s young face under artificial light in their mansion. 

 

Yes, maybe it’s all a dream. 

 

+++

 

The following day, Aiba came back to Nino and Ohno. To his surprise, he found Ohno hugging Nino tightly and decided that it was best to leave them like that. So he crept to Nino’s free side and slept there, thanking that Sakurai Sho saved his life.

 

TBC