♝

MAX STARES AT ASAHI in complete shock. He couldn't think of the right words to say after what the boy just revealed to him. At first, Max was confused, and then he became doubtful. But after a while, when the information finally sunk in, Max was left completely speechless.

     "H-How did...how did you know about this? Are you even certain?" Max asks.

     "If it's the certainty we're talking about, then no, we are not certain yet. But the leader of the brotherhood I follow believes that it is so. The possibility of it happening is high, so I suggest you ready yourself now before anything happens," Asahi finishes. He got ready to head out of the restroom, but then Max grabbed his arm to stop him.

     "Who?" He asks. "Who is it?"

     Asahi looks at Max and stares at Max's hand holding onto his arm before looking back at his face again. "I don't know," he simply answers.

     Max finally lets go of Asahi's arm, letting him leave. As soon as he walks away, Max takes a deep breath and holds onto his chest, unsure of how he'll be able to process this information. But despite his uncertainties, Max understood why Asahi would reveal this to him. It's not to change anything, but it's to get ready for the storm that will definitely fall upon them.

     "Max?" A voice suddenly calls out, snapping Max back to his senses.

     Max turns his head and sees Keigo walking through the doorframe.

     "You okay?" He asks him.

     "Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

     "Well, we're already being called to the gate. Let's go," Keigo says, and Max nods his head as the two of them head out of the restroom.

     After the unexpected conversation they had, Max and Asahi acted as if nothing had happened. Max never opened it up, so both of them just stayed quiet about the topic. They're here to enjoy the trip, after all, and Max doesn't want to spoil it for everyone by acting all weird.

     After gathering together again and passing through the gates with no worries, all of them got to the plane without a fuss. Most of them were still very bumped out about having to sit in economy, but there was no point acting like a spoiled brat now, so they all just quietly sat on their designated seats.

     "Max, would you like to switch seats with me so you could sit on the window side?" Ari asks, even though it's obvious that he's more excited about sitting near the window.

     "No, you can take that seat. I'll sit in the middle," Max answers, and Ari quietly rejoices before sitting down.

      Max smiles at Ari like he is his kid before sitting in the middle seat. Max was trying to forget about what Asahi told him earlier, so to distract himself, he took the pamphlets in front of him and started reading them. But while he was reading, someone suddenly took a seat beside him, grunting in annoyance so Max would know that he wasn't happy with the sitting arrangements one bit.

     "If you have a problem, Kingston, you can say it to my face," Max says, looking away from the pamphlet so he can look at Kingston Creed, who even had his arms crossed to show his disdain.

     "I'm already not thrilled with the idea of being in an economy class, but now I have to sit with you? That's just great," Kingston sarcastically says, making Max glance at Keigo, who's the culprit for the said arrangements.

     When Keigo sees Max looking, he smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up, making Max sigh and massage his temple. It seems like Keigo made a wrong impression and thought that Kingston and Max were close since Max studied at Westberg Academy before.

     "Look, if you hate it so much, I can always change seats with someone," Max says as he is about to stand from his seat and leave Ari, but before he can even move, Kingston looks away from him and suddenly curses, making Max furrow his brows in confusion.

     "What's your problem now?" Max asks, and Kingston points at a mother who is carrying a crying baby.  

     Max didn't really know what the big deal was, so Kingston pulled their plane ticket out from his pocket to show it to Max. "I know this is your first time to ride a plane like this, but if you're not aware, this flight from London to Tokyo will take 14 fucking hours. A crying baby is the last thing that will stress you out apart from these crappy seats!" Kingston shouts, making Max look away in embarrassment.

     "I don't know this man. I don't know this man," Max repeatedly whispers to himself.

     "Is there a problem, sir?" a flight attendant suddenly asks, probably noticing how distressed Kingston looks.

     "Miss, is there a possibility I can be transferred to the business class? Please, I can pay twice...no...thrice the price! Just please transfer me to a different seat," Kingston practically begs.

     "I apologize, sir, but this flight is full, so it's not possible to transfer you to a different seat unless you want to be transferred to a different flight instead," the flight attendant kindly explains. "But if you like, we can give you something that might help."

     "That would be great," Kingston replies, and the flight attendant walks away for a while to get whatever it is she's going to give Kingston.

      Max just sighs and watches the entire scene unfold. He didn't really know what the attendant was about to give him either, but when she got back, Max couldn't help but hide himself so he wouldn't end up laughing out loud.

     "Here is an earset, sir. I hope you enjoy your flight," the flight attendant says, handing the earset to Kingston before walking away. As soon as she was gone, Max finally started laughing while Kingston looked at the earset with disbelief.

     "Great, now you can listen to music for 14 hours," Max sarcastically says before looking back at the pamphlet.

     Kingston didn't complain anymore and just accepted his defeat. So without any more fuss, the plane flies off, leaving Max and his friends on a 14-hour flight to a different country where their only purpose is to eat ramen.

...

"Thank you for choosing our airlines. We hope you enjoy your stay in Japan," the flight attendant, who gave Kingston the earset earlier, says with a bright smile as Kingston walks out of the plane with dark circles under his eyes.

     "I'm never doing this again," he says, stretching his entire body as Max and the others follow behind him.

     "Timezones really fuck me up. We left London around 9:00 AM, and now we're here, and it's..." Ervin pauses and checks his phone before adding, "7:AM, Monday."

     "Well, Japan is 8 hours ahead, so we'll definitely feel a little jet lag," Felix then explains.

      "I can't believe I'm gonna miss classes for stupid ramen," Li Gengxin then adds, but Keigo immediately walks in between them, wrapping his arms around Ervin and Ari, not letting the long flight tire him or anyone in the group out. He chose to go here, so he's gonna make sure that everyone enjoys their time.

     "I know the flight wasn't the best, but I'm gonna make it up to you guys for sure," Keigo explains as he leads everyone to the exit.

     As soon as they got out of the airport, a group of men in black suits waited for them outside. And right behind them were four black luxury cars that were ready to drive them to their destinations.

     "Now that's what I'm talking about," Magnus excitedly says as the men in black bow to them respectfully, making the other passengers at the airport look their way. Even the guards were confused as to who they could be.

     "I guess this can work," Nox then adds, and Kingston nods his head in agreement.

     "Didn't Keigo's family go on bankruptcy?" Ari genuinely asks, and Felix just nudges his side in reply.

     "I called my mother and told her we'll be coming. After we eat at my favorite ramen shop, we can visit our main house if you like," Keigo explains to everyone. "Now Kingston, Magnus, and sir Gengxin, you can take the first car."

     "There you go again with the sir. I wanna be called that too," Magnus continues to complain, but Gengxin just grabs his arm and eventually drags him inside the car.

     "Nox, Nicolás and Asahi, you're in car two. Ervin and Edward, you're with me on the third one, and Max, Ari, and Felix, you're on the last one," Keigo tells them, making Max and the rest nod their heads in understanding.

     "Alright, I'll see you all there!"

     Keigo and the others went to their designated cars as Max, Felix, and Ari headed to the one they were assigned to as well. As soon as they got inside and started driving off, Ari took a deep breath and looked out the window in amazement before telling his friends, "I guess there really are perks for making friends with insanely rich bastards. The things I had to endure were definitely worth it."

     "Really? So you were just enduring our friendship?" Felix, who was sitting between Max and Ari, then asks with a serious tone, instantly making Ari start defending himself while Max just laughed to the side.

    "By the way, is this your first time in Japan, Ari?" Max then interrupts, saving Ari from the hits that Felix is about to throw at him.

     "Yeah, it is. In Asia, I've only been to Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Seoul. This is my first time visiting Tokyo, so I'm a little excited and terrified at the same time since my uncle still doesn't know where the fuck I am," Ari explained, his expression turning from excitement to terror in a matter of seconds.

     "Anyway, we should just enjoy our time here since Keigo prepared this for us. Whether we are disappointed or not, we have to make sure our friend's hard work isn't trampled. We don't want him to be sad about it, okay?" Max asks, and both Ari and Felix nod their heads in agreement.

     The three of them became quiet after that, probably because the toll of having traveled for 14 hours had finally affected them. But while Max was staring at the view outside the car window, Felix suddenly cleared his throat and asked, "By the way, what did you and Asahi talk about at the restroom."

     Max was surprised that Felix would even open this up. And knowing his friend, Max is certain that Felix will only ask about someone if he knows something about them.

     "Is Asahi someone not to be trusted?" Max asks instead.

     Ari, who was still looking out the window, was listening and waiting for Felix to answer too.

     Felix wasn't sure if he should tell his friends about what he discovered about Asahi, but after contemplating it, Felix took a deep breath and finally revealed, "Asahi is a Castling, an underling of Checkmate. He's following direct orders from their leader, Uchdryd Rease. He went to J.S High to look for a spy who's suspected of having been the one sending cryptic messages to the Brotherhood Association."

     As soon as Max heard what Felix had to say, his eyes instantly widened in shock while Ari turned his head towards Felix so fast he thought his neck would snap.

     "W-Wait, I thought he's an underling of Archers," Max says, remembering the time he was learning about their background during the Mr. Brains & Brawn pageant. He didn't understand why Asahi would lie about it, but then, after retracting everything Asahi and Uchdryd had said to him in the past, he finally saw the connection.

     "This can't be..." Max says with a worried expression on his face, making Felix and Ari look at him with confusion.

     "Max, are you okay? I know it's a surprising revelation, but you look like you saw a ghost," Ari tells him, and Max touches his collar before looking back at his friends.

     "I finally understand what's going on. The reason why they want me to rank up...it's all because of—" Before Max could even explain anything further, the car suddenly stopped, interrupting whatever the heir was about to say.

     "We're here, sirs," the driver tells them.

     "Wait, Max, what were you about to say? What did you realize?" Felix asks him, but Max turns his head and quickly snaps himself back to reality.

     "Max?" Felix calls out, reaching out to touch Max's shoulder.

     Max takes a deep breath, and then he seriously looks at Ari and Felix and explains, "Felix...Ari...I can't say anything now because I don't know if it's true either, but for now, can you not mention this conversation to anyone? Just for now, even with Ervin and Keigo, please don't tell them anything just yet."

     Ari and Felix were confused by the sudden request, but after looking at each other, they looked at their friend and nodded their head in understanding.

     "Okay, your secret is safe with me," Felix says, and Max smiles at his friends before finally heading out of the car.

     Everyone went out of the car and walked in front of the shop that Keigo talked about. It was a small shop in the middle of the city that was sandwiched by two large buildings. If you don't pay close attention, you wouldn't even notice it.

     "Here we are!" Keigo excitedly says as he runs towards Max and the others.

     "So this is it. We traveled this far just to have a taste of the ramen here. I might as well put this in my list of 'stupid things I've done in my life,'" Ervin says, keeping his brother close to him so he wouldn't get caught up with the crowd.

     "Anyway, should we go inside?" Nox then asks, and Max and the others nod their heads before finally entering the store.

Max and the others knew that it was small, but when they got there, they weren't expecting that there wouldn't even be enough tables to accompany them. It was also pretty old too, and there was only one man handling everything.

     "Nitori-san!" Keigo happily greeted, running to the old man who was slowly but surely washing the dishes.

     All of them entered the store as well. Despite their bratty behavior back at the airport, Kingston and the others respectfully bow to the man named Nitori to greet him properly.

     Keigo and Nitori-san started talking, so Max and the rest decided to look for seats. Ervin even had to grab a couple of old chairs on the side so they could have somewhere to sit. When everyone was eventually sitting on a chair, Keigo ordered for them before joining Max and his friends at their table.

     "Damn, this brings back memories. I went here when I was a kid. Outside, it wasn't as crowded, but it's still a relaxing place to eat," Keigo explains with a smile, making Max and the rest of his friends smile too.

     "You know, I don't want to be rude or anything, but I know everyone's thinking about it," Magnus suddenly says, making all of them turn to look at him. "Kawanishi Keigo's you're full name, right? Then if I remember correctly, wasn't your father sent to prison for hacking into a large company's system to steal money from them?" Magnus suddenly asks, and in an instant, Ervin slams the table and angrily looks at him, startling all of them at the store. Even his little brother, Edward, was surprised.

     "Magnus McKay, this is not the right time or place to be mentioning such a thing," Ervin angrily says, making Magnus gulp in terror.

     No one wanted to say anything anymore, but Keigo grabbed Ervin's hand to calm him down. "It's okay. Don't worry about it, Ervin," Keigo says before looking back at Magnus. "What you said is true, and it was all over the news, so it's not really a huge secret. But what you all don't know is that I'm the one who told the authorities about it."

     Everyone was surprised, except for Max since Max asked his butler Étienne to check on his background during the time when he still wasn't sure if Keigo was someone to be trusted. But despite the thorough background check, Étienne wasn't able to find anything about his past. Considering how Keigo is a smart hacker, he might have kept his entire past hidden from everyone.

     "I know you were all surprised by the lavish welcome earlier at the airport, and it is true that my father is in prison for what he did. But to reveal to you all, my mother...she is actually someone very...how can I say this...influential?" Keigo tells them, confusing the others even more.

     "My mother left her family to marry my father, but after the incident, she was forced to go back to them. My mother is the youngest daughter, so she's not a direct heir or anything, so I'm not really important either..."

     "Can you stop beating around the bush already?" Kingston then says since he was starting to get impatient.

     "W-Well, my mother's real name...it's Takemitsu Akari," Keigo finally reveals, making everyone become completely silent.

     They didn't exactly know what the name signifies, but after a couple of seconds, Asahi dropped the phone that he was holding, surprising everyone. Asahi had been completely quiet since they got here, but when he heard what Keigo said, his face instantly changed to complete shock.

     "D-did you just say...Takemitsu? As in the Takemitsu Clan?" Asahi asks in disbelief, making everyone turn their heads to him this time.

     "As I said, we're no longer directly connected to them, but yes, my mother is under that family," Keigo explains, and the shock on Asahi's usual blank face intrigued them even more.

     "Hello?! Is no one going to explain this to us?!" Ari eagerly asks. But before anyone could even answer him, a black van suddenly parks outside the store, instantly making everyone outside run away in terror.

     "W-What's going on?" Max asks in confusion.

     A group of men in suits suddenly got off the van, scaring everyone who was there. But what scared them the most were the tattoos that were peeking out of their clothing.

     The terrifying men enter the store, and Nitori-san, the old man behind the counter, even runs back to the kitchen to hide. For a second, Max and the others thought they were getting raided, but then the men moved to the side to make a path. And there, right in the middle, was a tall man whose face looked almost kind and innocent.

     "Who the fuck is that?" Ari asks as the man slowly approaches them.

     "Keigo! Why didn't you tell me you were coming? My men at the airport had to contact me just so I'd find out about it," the unknown man says, immediately making everyone turn their heads to Keigo.

     Max was still confused as to what was going on, but as the man got closer, his jaw practically dropped in realization.

     "T-Takemitsu Hiro...you're Takemitsu Hiro," Max says, and the man named Hiro immediately looks at Max to give him a sweet smile.

     "Oh, you must all be friends with Keigo. As this gentleman said, my name is Takemitsu Hiro, heir to the Takemitsu Group, and Crème de la Crème's rank 11. This might be a surprise, but I am also...Keigo's cousin. Welcome to Tokyo...Maximilian Sinclaire. It's definitely been a while."

- END -