"Praxis, could you pass me the paper on the pile beside you?" I asked, writing down my signature before moving on to the next thing.
Praxis had pulled up a chair beside me and was sitting at my bedroom's desk with me while I finished some work; it had been like this for the past half hour. I was scared that Praxis was starting to get grossed out by my now sweaty hand, but he hadn't said anything and let it ache.
A few moments later, my savior came. Knocking on my door and giving me the opportunity to free my hand from Praxis' grasp. "You may come in," I answered, looking up at the door while whipping the sweat off my hand as Praxis merely looked at his own in disappointment.
"Pardon me, My Leige, we've brought your lunch," Arwan announced, opening the door with Sephtis in tow. "Oh, hello, Praxis. I didn't know you were in here. If I did, I would've brought you something as well."
"It's alright, I was just helping Master with some of his work. I have already eaten," Praxis announced, his ears reddening as he said the last few words, "Thank you for the kind words, though."
I cleared off a space on my desk as Sephtis put down the tray of food, placing the plates and bowl on the now empty space. He seemed uneasy as he placed down the last thing, a cup of water.
I'm sure the reason wasn't because of the water, likely something else. As I look over nervously at Praxis, it clicked.
"Where is Victor?" I asked, pushing the thought to the side for now, "He usually brings me my lunch. Did something happen?"
"Huh? Oh, it was nothing big, just a few knights causing a bit of trouble with the maids, so he went over to deal with it," Arwan explained, looking out the window to see the troublemaking knights now running laps as Victor watched with anger in his eyes.
"Heh, okay, I understand. If you see him as he comes back in, tell him I said good job," I nodded, dismissing Arwan. "Oh, Praxis, could you go check and see how Nari and Lorenzo are doing? I'm sure Sir Malyen and Ziven are tearing a hole through the too, hehe."
"Understood, consider it done. Should I tell them to come up and report to you?" Praxis confirmed, standing up and heading to the door.
"No, leave them be. They are still growing; they need as long a time to learn as they can get," I instructed. Praxis and Arwan bowed with a nod, leaving the room, Sephtis soon in tow, "Sephtis, wait…Why don't you stay and eat with me? There is no way I'm going to eat all this myself."
I said that with a small chuckle, trying to ease Sephtis' nerves. He merely nodded with a dejected look and sat where Praxis did, his ears wilting and tail staying still.
"Thank you…My Lord," Sephtis muttered, gratefully taking the food I gave him. He looked quite defeated, and the way he addressed me caused my eyebrow to twitch.
"Hey, who the hell told you to call me 'My Lord,' huh?" I questioned, my brows furrowed as a frown appeared on my face.
"Huh?! N-No one…I just saw Victor doing it, so I followed. He is the closest to you after all. And I also want to be close to you, so..!" Sephtis expressed with surprising honesty, his ears and tail sticking up, "Oh, my apologies, I said too much."
"No. No, no. Sephtis, you are already close to me," I refuted, grabbing his wrist and chin, forcing him to look me in the eyes, "Victor and I are merely so close because he has been serving me since I was a child; you, however, are different."
"D-Different?" Sephtis repeated with a stutter, his cheeks reddening as he repeated the word in his head, "What…do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean? Hmm, I'm not quite sure myself. However, I am sure of one thing," I continued, releasing his wrist, cupping his cheek even more and moving my other hand to his thigh, causing a golt, "I do not see you as a mere friend or student."
"You-You don't? Oh, um, hehe, that makes me happy!" He stuttered, his face going cherry red as I looked him directly in the eyes, maintaining eye contact.
"Hehe, I'm glad! With that clarified, why don't we get to eating?" I finished, pulling my attention back to the food and drawing a line, "We wouldn't want to get the food cold, would we?"
***
The next day, I was in the main hall, about to head out for my morning jog around the estate, when a knock was heard right as I was about to open it. When I opened it, however, I almost slammed it shut again.
"Hehehe, good morning, Viscount, it's such a pleasure to see you so early in the morning, isn't it?!" Oryn exclaimed, holding a giant bouquet of orange and red ombre roses. The gifter not surprising me with the particular bouquet, especially knowing the meaning behind both colors.
"Oryn, why the hell are you here? And at this time especially?" I groaned, rubbing my temples but keeping a hand on the door handle, ready to slam it in his lovestruck, dumb face at any given time.
"Hmm~? I think it is quite obvious. I'm here to see you! And you usually have your morning jog at around this time, so I knew that if I came now, it would be you at the door to greet me!" He explained with surprising honesty, his bright smile blinding me.
"Ugh, are you stalking me or something? Plus, why the flowers? I'm not a woman," I commented, noting to myself not to say that again after realizing how sexist that may have sounded.
"Uh, no, did you forget already? Ha, even in a new body, you still have the same habits, Saito. Annnddd, I am openly courting you now, so take these, they are for you! Make sure you put them in your bedroom, that way you can think of me each time you wake up! Oh, and no need to worry about them dying, I put a preservation spell on them! Oh, and that applies to burning them as well!" Oryn rapped, spitting out verses as he indirectly threatened me, his smile turning more obsessive with each word.
"...You are fucking crazy, you know that?" I cursed, sighing and moving to the side, "Just come in, denying you entry wouldn't change anything. I suppose your determination is also something that stuck with you through reincarnation, Oryn."
"Huh? Hey, why aren't you calling my Keiji? Is it because you refuse to accept the fact that the bastard who sexually assaulted you is the reincarnation of your best friend, huh?" Oryn confronted, hitting the nail on the coffin.
"Well, at least you know. Actually, saying that now, you really should be trying to redeem yourself rather than coming and harassing me and making my annoyance towards you worse," I proclaimed, gritting my teeth and clenching my jaw to try and hold myself back from cursing at him.
"Yes, except I like that side of you! You really only actually be yourself when it's with someone you are familiar with or like, so it makes me happy to hear you chewing me out," Oryn cheered, his bright smile sending imaginary beams of light everywhere.
"Eugh, put that smile away, you freak, and quit talking to me like that, it pisses me off." I stopped walking up the stairs to send Oryn a glare and a frown.
Oryn stopped showing off his perfectly white teeth and instead just looked at me like a lovesick puppy, grossing me out even more. I had to admit, it tore at me a little with how much it reminded me of when it was Yasuo, Keiji, Akihito, and me.
'That damned bastard, why does he have to make me feel all sentimental, huh?! I suppose I do have to admit, it does feel nice being able to act so openly with him. It really is only because it is him.'
"Whatever, just don't cause me too much trouble and I'll let you stay for a while," I sighed, giving in. It was so early that I really couldn't be bothered, plus I was already in my workout attire so I didn't want to waste my precious workout time by trying to kick this punk out.
"Really?! Then do you mind if I joined you on your jog?" Oryn asked, bouncing as he walked. It sucked that he knew my ideal type, because he was currently using it against me.
'Damnit, quit acting like that! Haaa, just think of Sephtis, that is a real puppy-like man, not this snake.'
"I mean you can, but I don't know if you want to jog in those clothes," I commented, stopping at my bedroom door and looking Oryn up and down. He was currently wearing a three piece suit with his hair slicked back, it looked nice but also impractical for the coming activities.
"No need to worry, I came prepared!" He exclaimed, pulling out a different set of clothes out of nowhere. I looked at him with a look of disgusted disbelief before scoffing and opening the bedroom door.
"Can you go down to the greenhouse and fill a vase with water while trim the flowers?" I asked, walking over to the tea table by the large window that was on the wall behind my desk.
"Sure! Is there any specific one I should grab?" Oryn replied, placing the clothes in his hands on the bed and walking back to the door.
"No, just make sure it is appropriate for the size of this god awful bouquet. The gardener, Ziven should be down there, long light cyan hair, mink eyes, tan skin and elf ears, you'll no him when you see him," I detailed, grabbing a towel to lay on the table and scissors to cut the stems.
"Huuu, how could you call the bouquet awful?! I picked it out with quite the precision!" Oryn whinned, faking a cry as I shot him a glare, "Hehehe, alright, I'll go get those things. The windowed door by the staircase in the main hall, yes?"
I nodded as he left the room, merely humming happily. It felt good to talk like this again, do not get me wrong, but it also felt out of place. I liked the fact that I got to talk to Keiji again, the way that we both wore different faces though, it just threw me off, especially considering what Oryn had done to me beforehand.
***
"Mmmm! Man, that was a good jog! I must say, now that I've gotten a proper look at the estate, it's quite nice and matches your asthetic well!" Oryn exclaimed, stretching as we returned to the front doors.
"Thanks, I actually consider myself pretty lucky to have wound up with this one and not some plain ass stone, fairytale-esc one," I joked back, looking over at him as I popped my back.
"You have always hated fairytale and romance genres, even in asthetics," Oryn chimed, once again reminiscing on our lives back on earth.
"Mm, yeah, still not my favorite," I trailed off, taking a moment to think, especially on my current life and the fact that Keiji is now here, "Hey, uh, could we not talk about our time on earth? I still haven't come to terms with the whole 'new life' thing, and I'm still shocked about you and Keiji being the same person."
I looked at him with as much sincerity as I could, but his eyes still shone with hurt, a frown forming and his brows furrowing. I felt bad saying such a thing, since he clearly was still dealing with some of the trauma he had from the war, as well as the fact that he no longer had anyone he really knew…until I came along.
"Yeah, I…I guess I can try not to. It is hard though, having someone that I was so close to back again, but also more distant than before," Oryn recounted, stepping closer and brushing his hand against mine before holding it, "I just wish you would see me again, not as Oryn Casilda, but Keiji. The man who followed you and your everyword, one of the three people who genuinely ment something to you."
"....Keiji, I am sorry, but it isn't like that anymore. I have found people I genuinely like, some even fitting my type, so it likely won't ever be just you and I," I admitted with hesitancy.
Hurting Keiji was the last thing I wanted to do. Despite the things he had done to me before I knew it was him, it wa still Keiji in there, someone I could never truly hate. I would take some time to fully forgive him, and I likely would never see him as more than a friend, but I still wanted to treat him with fairness.
"I see. Could you at least promise me this? If things don't work out for you with anyone, you'll come back to me?" Keiji pleaded, grabbing my wrist and pulling me closer, his face just slightly towering over mine, "That if you ever fail to find love with others, you'll accept mine?"
"I-I," I stared, but was cut off when I noticed the rushed footsteps of another. I wasn't given enough time to turn back and see who was coming our war but was soon given the answer when someone pulled me back.
Falling against a plump but rough chest, I looked up and saw Sephtis. His ears were tilted and his tail snaked around my waist, as if it were protecting me. His brows were furrowed deeply, his jaw clenched and eyes shone with anger.
"What the hell do you think you were doing with his Lordship!?" Sephtis growled, his hands trembling as he held me closer.