Kota had dressed up real nice as he did everyday, but that day was more special. After years, he was about to have an actual reunion with his best friend. They hadn't seen one another since that incident at Desrosier for certain reasons. The point was that he was very excited to see him again and extremely interested in all the things happening in the city. He only knew the very tip of the iceberg, really, so he was sure the white-haired male would show him around and teach him a lot.

Takuya first took him to a nice restaurant where they had tons of sweets. It was hard to get a hold of sugar where Kota was from, so he might have gone a little crazy ordering things. Though, considering the white-haired male was smiling, he must have wanted to try them, too. It took a while to experiment with the foods, but, for sure, Kota's favorite was the pancakes. He could have sworn he'd had them before, probably at Desrosier, but he couldn't remember. It would be a shame if he'd forgotten since they were delightfully sweet, energizing him greatly.

"Does your father know you're here?" the older male suddenly asked.

"He knows I'm...somewhere over here. Why? You're not gonna turn around and tattle to him, are you?! You better not."

"No, that's not it. I'm just a bit surprised that you're on your own. I figured you must have been here since your parents were, too. Like for a concert or something."

"Well, they're both working up to start one, but there's nothing really going on right this minute. Maybe ayah's off doing commercials. He might've said something about that, actually. I don't remember. I tune him out a lot, you know."

Truth be told, Takuya didn't really remember Kota's father that well, let alone the rest of his family. He knew that his father was very charismatic and very handsome, but, for the life of him, he couldn't remember his face. The same went for the boy's mother. He knew she was sweet and petite, but, aside from that, he had forgotten much of it. Takuya also couldn't recall the number of siblings that Kota had. Suddenly, he felt very guilty, gripping at his juice with a sigh. Kota didn't seem to notice.

"I'm gonna start my own concern soon, you know," the younger male smiled, "I'll give you the best ticket. You'll come, right?"

"That - ," A pause. "Loud places aren't really my thing, but - "

"But I am. I'm your thing. So you can come."

Takuya shifted his eyes over. There was no arguing with him. He'd learned that a while ago. He either had to propose something better than what the male wanted or he had to go along with his whims. The way it worked in elementary was that, if Kota ever did want to play a game while Takuya wanted to read, the older of the two would appease him by giving him something sweet. It didn't always work though. Sometimes, he'd refuse to accept them because he had very strong feelings about something to the point there was no compromising. For example, playing with other classmates didn't go over well.

The white-haired male remembered a little girl that liked to read with him sometimes. She was also a fan of fairy tales, so, when she found out Takuya had a bunch of rare ones, they'd become friends. Of course, Kota had wanted to play and he wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Actually, Kota never reacted to that particular word very well. That was probably why Takuya never ended up seeing that little girl again. Though, the white-haired male didn't really know what happened to her; just that he didn't see her at school anymore.

"I...might have to ask (Y/n)."

"What does she have to do with anything?! I swear, I leave for like a decade and you turn super boring! It's because she has tits, isn't it?!"

"Don't use that kind of language in public," the male whisper-scolded, blushing brightly, "A-And I told you I love her, so - "

"So, what? You're gonna go get married?!"

"That...That is a very lovely thought, actually."

"You're out of your mind!"

Takuya continued to press his hands to his pink cheeks. Just thinking about the (h/c) haired girl made him into a fool. Kota resisted the urge to throw up, kicking his friend's leg hard under the table. Unfortunately, it did nothing to quell the flames of his love. And since the pink-haired male had brought it up, Takuya took it as a go ahead to ramble about his entire history with her, starting from when they'd met in school.

"She really is the best. With her, I-I've never felt so alive. So, obviously, marriage would be great - No, marriage would be perfect, even! But I still think there's something that bothers her about it, so I have to try even harder to even be recognized as her b-boyfriend."

"Hmph," the younger male pouted, sticking his tongue in his cheek, "You care about her so much and she won't even give you the time of day."

"That's not true! She's always there when I need her, and - and she might act like she doesn't care, but she really does! I think...she gets embarrassed sometimes. It's very...cute."

"So, what? I'm super cute, too. You never talk about me like this to anyone else."

"But you're not (Y/n)."

Kota flared red, both in anger and humiliation. He didn't see why Takuya was so obsessed with her, let alone why he had that stupid look on his face. Things would have been so much better if he just ditched her. She was only taking over for Kota, anyway. There was no way that Takuya wanted anything to do with a boring girl like her, not when he'd always wanted a princess. From what Kota had seen, (Y/n) was anything but.

"Hey, wait. I thought you were already engaged to that princess from Afrua. You begged your dad for months, didn't you?!"

"Oh...you didn't hear?"

Takuya opened his mouth to explain, but, in the end, he decided to remain quiet. A grim atmosphere lowered on them, the white-haired male's face contorting into guilt. To combat it, he ended up talking about the (h/c) haired girl some more. Kota was more and more visibly annoyed, rolling his eyes and shoving a few more the rest of the strawberry cake in his mouth. It almost made up for how bored he was. Almost.

Really, it was all Takuya ended up talking about no matter how much Kota tried to change the subject. (Y/n) this, (Y/n) that, (Y/n) gave him kisses, (Y/n) complimented him, etc. At some point, the pink-haired male could no longer hold his anger together, glancing down at his plate. What could have been so special about the (h/c) haired girl, huh? All she had going for her was her inhuman charm, definitely using it to her advantage to seduce Takuya and take him for all he was worth. Kota scowled, biting down on his lip and rocking his chair back and forth.

Takuya flinched and let out a small gasp as a loud shattering and thud sounded, along with the younger male's cry of pain. Kota's chair had slipped out from under him, sending him to the floor. His plate fell with him, too, cutting his hand up. Pathetically, the pink-haired male whined, holding up his bleeding hand to his best friend, his lip trembling. Apparently, that was how much it took to stop the bunny-like boy from going on and on about his girlfriend.

Kota had to hide his smile from the older male as he rushed over to inspect him. He started audibly worrying about how he was doing, nervously signalling over to a nearby waiter to help. The male even helped him clean up the wound. Of course, Kota had never used hydrogen peroxide to sterilize a wound, so he ended up making a big fuss when it started stinging. Like a child, he waved his hand around to get it to stop hurting, only for him to begin shedding real tears.

"Get it offa me!" the male whined, shaking his head repeatedly, "I hate it, Maya! I hate it!"

"It's helping clean the cut. You have to put up with it, okay? I'm sorry."

"If you're sorry, you'd stop it from hurting! Why do you people do this to yourself?! Just put on some fabric and wait for it to heal up! Ow-wah!"

Kota never did stop whining about the solution, even when Takuya put a bandage over the wound. It wasn't like the hydrogen peroxide really stung for that long. The younger male was just a baby when it came to physical pain. He could count the number of times he'd bled on one hand. Unused to it, as Takuya helped pay for everything so they could leave, he held his hand like it was broken, sniffling and calling his friend mean words. Well, they were mean in the eyes of Kota (who never thought about calling Takuya the things he called other people). To Takuya, the insults were like tiny kittens' punches.

Since their breakfast was ruined, Kota was given a small little tour of the city to make up for it. Though Takuya would have thought it would be boring to the younger male, on the contrary, he was curious about every little thing. He stared at the skyscrapers like they were monsters, even trying to push the wall as hard as he could. Clearly, he didn't understand how a building that tall could keep its balance. The same was true of water fountains, of which, when Takuya pressed the button for him, he flinched. They entertained him for a solid ten minutes.

Most things in the city amazed Kota. It wasn't even the capital, where things were even more technologically advanced but the royal city where the palace was. In fact, as Takuya brought him up on one of the skyscrapers to gaze through some touristy binoculars, the younger male practically fell off. He could not believe how big the palace was, even more confused on how it was possible.

"That's where your chief lives?"

"Our emperor? Yes. That building there in the middle is the main part of the castle, but, over there on the right is where the emperor and empress sleep, and, over there, on the left, is where the concubines used to live. That's not a thing anymore, so now they use it for - "

"What's a 'concubine'?"

"Oh, it's like...Um, someone who marries the emperor but isn't really their official wife."

Kota made a face. He didn't even have to say what he was thinking for Takuya to know his opinion on the subject. Well, the pink-haired male was from Echal, and they were very serious about monogamy. Up until almost a hundred years prior, Athain allowed for multiple spouses, but it came with a lot of restrictions. Still, Takuya also hadn't really understood the appeal of marrying more than one person. Maybe that was because of what happened between his parents.

"And they all lived in that massive city?"

"Yeah. They all had their own houses but they lived together in that area. We used to call it the city of ladies. Where they lived depended a lot on money, family, and how much the ruler liked them. So, if one of them didn't have a great family or money but the emperor really liked them, they might live closer to the main palace."

"Oh, the houses aren't theirs?"

"No. Every concubine was given a place."

"In a big house like that? For free?"

"Not really. They had a lot of responsibilities. And they had to serve the emperor, so - "

"What's your emperor look like?!"

Confused, Takuya pulled out his phone to show a recent picture of the man. Again, Kota made a face. He was not impressed. And why would he have been? Kota was well aware of how good-looking he, himself, was. Royal or not, the emperor didn't really hold a candle to him. Still, for some reason, the younger male made a thinking face, mumbling to himself like he was debating if it would be worth it. He paused. Then, he looked at the picture one more time, giving a sigh.

"I wouldn't do it. Even for a house. He's not my type."

"...what?"

"Hey, how come there's so many houses that your chi - emperor has? Why does he need so many?"

"Oh. Well, some of them aren't houses. They're just buildings. You know, for meeting in or hosting guests or, I guess, stuff like cooking."

"Why can't he do that in the living room? Or outside?"

"Because it's more sophisticated to have separate buildings for those things. It shows...elegance?"

"What a waste."

Takuya shrugged. Having the money to do something like that showed their country's power to others. It was a bit weird that Kota didn't understand that, considering he was from Echal, where cash was king. All the same, the boy decided to take a look further at the palace. He was genuinely impressed by its size, but, clearly, he disliked the waste of the space. Maybe he didn't truly understand what an emperor was, or the difference between that and a king. Echal was never a monarchy-ruled country. They'd always had a president.

"Did you want to visit the palace?" Takuya asked, watching the pink-haired male furrow his brows.

"You can't invite yourself over to someone's house. You should know that."

"We wouldn't go right now, but I'm sure the emperor would let us visit if I asked."

"Uh? Maya, can you just ask that? Don't you know rulers are real busy? They don't have the time to show us around."

"But I know the emperor."

"It'd be weird if you didn't know who rules you, dummy."

"I mean, personally. My family has always been very close to the emperor's family. So, I guess, you could call us friends."

Kota, again, practically fell over at the news, looking from Takuya to the palace and trying to wrap his little head around it. Clearly, the information surprised him, though the white-haired male had never hid that from him. It was common knowledge that the Miyahara family was a powerful family, even abroad. They were a cornerstone of the country, supposedly having been there since it was founded. Kota had known that, of course, but he didn't realize just how important and powerful the emperor was, making him rediscover the fact in a new light.

"No way!" the pink-haired male squeaked, "That's amazing! That is amazing...right?"

"Uh, I'd say so, sure."

"I thought so. If a man like that has a big house - no tons of houses - and wives and has a huge piece of land and tons of people, he has to be someone really powerful, yeah? See? This stuff is easy for me."

"What stuff? I - "

"You know, your stuff. Ah, you know, I must be pretty cool, too, Maya. Because I'm also friends with my chief. Well, ayah is, but the chief let me borrow a book - Oh, I'm also friends with someone even more powerful than your ugly emperor or anybody else, so - "

"You can't say that!"

"Why not? He is."

"Kota!"

The pink-haired male frowned before he shrugged and decided he was no longer interested in looking at the palace. Instead, he dragged his best friend to see more of the city, asking questions about every little thing. What was that big car with tons of people in it? What was the big television on one of the skyscrapers for? How come everyone was dressed so boringly? There was no end to them.

Some things he knew more about, such as phones and fashion and a few famous people on billboards. However, it shocked Takuya how disconnected he was with the rest of the world. He'd always thought, of anybody, Kota would know everything about everything. He seemed like the type to be up-to-date on recent trends, let alone basic knowledge of what buses were. And, yet, it couldn't have been further from the truth.

"Wow!" Kota giggled, very excited about getting to see an Athainian store, "Look at all the weird food you guys have! Ah, this is candy, right? And these are chips! Oh, oh! These are those spicy drinks that make your tongue feel all funny! What are these called? Hm?"

"A soda?"

"Yeah! I want one! Which one is the best?! This one's pink but this one says it tastes like bubblegum! What's a 'bubblegum'?! And why does this one have a marble in it but this one doesn't? And how come some of the drinks are tiny and some are big? And why are they hidden behind see-through doors? Why do you even have a see-through door? What's the point?! Huh? Maya? Maya?"

Takuya could not handle the excess energy his friend was giving off. Whereas Kota was jumping around the convenience store, leaping from section to section, the white-haired male could barely open his mouth to answer one question. The rest of them were just too much to get to. All the same, Kota decided to pile everything into his arms, tasking Takuya with carrying all the candy he wanted to try.

Eagerly, the pink-haired male skipped over to the counter where they were supposed to pay. Proudly, he listened as little chirping sounds emitted when the worker checked the products, the little number on the screen rising. When the total was all done, Kota happily passed the credit card his mother gave him to the man. However, the man refused to take it, saying he wouldn't accept it.

"No, you don't understand. I know it's weird but there is money in here. Money. You just gotta get it out."

"We only accept cash."

"Right. Money. It's in there."

"Ah, Kota," Takuya sighed, taking out his wallet to pay the man in paper, "I know that, in Echal, pretty much everything is bought with credit or debit cards, but, in Athain, we still use a lot of paper money."

It didn't really matter how the white-haired male tried to explain. Kota didn't get it. Paper money, plastic, invisible money: it was all the same. At least, that was his understanding. Still, he ended up getting all the snacks and drinks he wanted. Plus, the person working even gave him little noisy bags to carry everything in. The younger male was very proud of himself, showing off how he could hold all of them on his own now. Takuya tiredly clapped.

"Wow! This was the best, Maya!" Kota chuckled, the sun now setting, "I had so much fun today! We should do this again tomorrow, too!"

"I-I don't know that I could survive that."

"Mm? 'Course you can. You guys aren't that weak, are you? Ah, tomorrow, you can take me to the 'palace' and we can go to one of those 'amusement parks' I've been hearing about. Oh, and we have to try some more food together. Okay? It's a promise?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have to go to work tomorrow and my father is leaving, so I want to see him off. Plus, I can't leave (Y/n) - "

"It's a promise! Come meet me at the hotel tomorrow at 10, okay? Okay! Bye bye! Love you! You're the best!"

Takuya tried telling the younger male he wouldn't be able to spend the day with him again the next day but it was no use. Kota heard what he wanted to hear and that was about it. He'd always been like that. Still, the white-haired male was hoping he would come to realize that when he didn't show up. He probably should have remembered what the male was like when he broke their "promises".