Chapter Twenty-Five

The suitcase Yuu was holding slipped from his fingers, thudding to the floor loudly and cracking open, making the contents spill out into the floor.

"Oh," Yuu looked down, seeing all his possessions in disarray. He must've dropped dropped it after hearing Akane's bombshell. "Sorry, I'll pick this up..." He mumbled.

"Yuu-san, wait," Yuu only barely heard Akane while he knelt down, trying to clean up. They had unfolded and became bundles of fabric, but instead of refolding them he found himself crouching down, attempting to shove everything back inside.

"Yuu-san," Akane said worriedly, kneeling down beside him. For a moment, Yuu had forgotten she was even there. He ignored her completely, setting his extra pair of shoes and notebook on top.

"Hey, it's alright," Akane begged, shaking his shoulder. "C'mon, I'll help you fold the clothes. Nothing will fit like this."

Yuu ignored her again, pushing the things into the suitcase with more force and fighting back tears. He tried to close the lid, feeling frustration rise up in him when it would not close.

"Yuu-san, please," Akane choked out. She was crying now too. She tried to pull the suitcase away from him while Yuu applied forced pressure to be able to lock it up. "We can fix this."

"It won't close," Yuu hissed at the suitcase.

"Come on, let's try again," Akane opened the suitcase, carefully taking out the possessions and beginning to refold everything. There was a forced calmness in her voice, as if she was talking him out from doing something rash. Yuu did not look away from the suitcase, narrowing his eyes at it judgingly. Akane moved delicately, carefully as to not wrinkle anything.

"What happened?" Yuu said darkly. The choking lump in his throat made him cough, and he squeezed his eyes shut as to not allow the tears to fall freely.

Akane stopped folding a pair of slacks. "I don't think I can tell you..." She trailed off, a pained expression scrunching up her features. She quickly avoided his gaze, carefully setting everything back into its proper place.

"What the hell do you mean you can't tell me?" Yuu demanded, his hands slamming down on the suitcase just as Akane locked it up. She gasped in surprise, pulling her hands away.

"I- He won't let me-" She stuttered. "He said never to tell you."

Yuu was assuming the worst now. He felt like he was holding back every emotion he was feeling in that moment - anger, fear, worry, frustration - shoving it into the darkest corner in his mind so that he wouldn't have a panic attack.

He didn't want to know what kind of explosion would go off if he shattered.

Akane's eyes widened in realization. "There is something, though," She whispered suddenly, scrambling to her feet. "Wait here."

She rushed into the hallway that led to Mika and Akane's respective bedrooms, turning left to head into Mika's. After a moment, she returned, tightly grasping a simple, crumpled envelope in her hands. She looked down at it, her lip quivering. Yuu stood up to meet her, taking the envelope out of her hands as she offered it to him.

Yuu flipped it over, seeing the word Yuu-chan written out on it. Suddenly feeling anxious, he slid his thumb under the envelope to rip it open, revealing a folded piece of stationery inside. A letter to me, he instantly realized. It was the low-quality scratch paper that was the cheapest to buy at the market, the kind that smudged easily and allowed pen ink to bleed through.

Yuu took a seat on their old, uncomfortable couch, hunching over as he unfolded the stationery and revealing what was indeed a letter addressed to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Akane take a seat next to him, respectfully turning her eyes away to give Mika the confidentiality of whatever was in his letter.

Yuu's eyes began to scan the page, carefully taking in the first two words.

Dear Yuu-chan,

Yuu wanted to fold it back up, but it had bloomed in his hands. His fingers shook as he held it open, unable to stop reading. As he read, it was like he could hear Mika's voice speaking to him.

If you're reading this, then something bad has happened to me, and it may or may not be too late to fix things. You've probably gotten this from Akane , who, if I know her as well as I think, is just as worried as you right now. Please comfort her. I told her to only give this to you in the largest emergency.

I didn't intend for any of this to happen. I thought somehow, I'd manage to fix things and could put on a smile, pretending like nothing ever happened. But I was too careless, blinded by my infatuation for you, and now I'm paying for it somehow.

Yuu noticed how his handwriting grew gradually messier, like he was rushing to finish. It was like he was on a time crunch, as if something was coming for him and he had a limited time to make things right.

You're probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about. But before I tell you what I've done, which will surely make you hate me forever, I need you to hear these words: I love you so much, Yuu-chan. I always have, since the first day we met, and I always will. Although, I'm not sure you'll feel the same (if you even did) after you finish this letter, but I want you to know I'll always cherish you for who you really are, not the person everyone else thinks or expects you to be.

Just like you, I'm not who I said I was. But unlike you, I'm much worse than a prince. I'm the exact opposite; a desperate, dangerous person. Nothing but a sweet talker.

For the years I've lived in Drelacia, I've lied for my own gain. Cheated. Stolen. Hurt people. But the person I regret hurting the most is you, because I've betrayed your trust and done the unthinkable.

I am the thief your family has been trying to track down for months. I stole the royal crown, the brooch that belonged to your mother, the candlestick set, and other family heirlooms no one even realized were gone. They're all in the locked trunk underneath my bed; there's a trapdoor under the rug. The only way to get in it is with the key. Tell Akane it's hidden in my favorite spot in the house.

Are you still reading this? Have you ripped up the letter, turning back and forgetting about me forever? I hope not.

The word hope was smudged with a tear stain, and Yuu recognized other small stains on the paper. Mika must've been crying while he wrote this, he realized.

I know that no excuse that I can attempt to give you will fix anything or make you forgive me. But I feel that you deserve an explanation, because I've kept my story secret from you so long, and you have the right to know.

I know they're onto me; the royal guard, that is. I heard them talking about me suspiciously as I visited you last week. I don't have much time left until they track me down and take me away, so I have to tell you quickly.

At first, I never knew you were the prince of the royal family. I just assumed them to be wealthy snobs, having so much wealth and riches missing a couple trivial items wouldn't make a difference. But then I got greedy, and the kleptomaniac side in me came out, and I would enjoy the thrill of taking more important things. When I had heard of the desperate search to find the thief, I knew I had outsmarted them.

But then I saw you on that town square platform, and every justification I could have for taking those things seemed so stupid. Looking back, I can exactly pinpoint the moment in which my heart shattered and I regretted everything: it was when you looked over at me, seeing me as just one of hundreds in the crowd.

But now I want you to see me by myself, not just an anonymous face in the crowd. I want you to see who I truly am: nothing but a nasty criminal.

However, the real reason why I took the items is a long story, one I don't have enough time to explain. Ask Akane. She'll know what I'm talking about.

I'm sorry that things didn't work out the way we wanted them to. I'm sorry - I'm sorry we couldn't handle the hand we were dealt. As I sit here, under the candlelight that will surely burn out soon from the wind, it saddens me to think we won't be able to run away together. I realize that we'll never get to start a new life together, living in a little cottage where we can climb on the roof and watch the stars at night. It wouldn't be a lot, hardly a fraction of what you're used to as a prince, but with you, it would be okay, I think. Perfect, maybe. I don't know exactly - I'm so bad at letters, Yuu-chan. It's a good thing we never sent love letters to each other like in those sappy romance books, I tend to ramble and I don't even know if you're reading this.

I think... I think I figured out. That the point of it all, that moment where everything comes together. I had never really understood it until you showed up on my doorstep in the middle of the night. That's who I am; the person who should've been there for you. That person, right there, right in front of me, flushed from the cold and shivering in my old bomber jacket, needing someone, anyone to listen to them, that was you.

It's rather comforting to know I can just retract back into the comfort of my own thoughts, replaying those memories we shared over and over. If I think hard enough, I even find myself swaying to the melody when we danced in the pub for hours. I can hear the rushing of the waterfall water. The white-noise silence of the city as we explored. It's all so surreal, and I think memories are good because of this.

Is it selfish to cherish these memories if I ruined everything in the end?

Do I even have the right to feel happy from them?

I feel like now I have to let go of it all; everything I've ever loved about you, but I don't, because that has become a part of me now, and I think it's changed me for the better.

No matter what happens, Yuu-chan, please just hear me say this even if it's the only thing you ever remember me for. I hate what I've had to do throughout my life to survive, but hurting someone I truly love has been the wake-up-call I always needed. I now know which is more important.

I can't bear to go another step without feeling the impending weight of how many people I've betrayed. And no matter how much you hate me, I will never stop loving you, Yuu-chan. Thank you for changing my life. Hopefully it's not too late for me, but I know it's not too late for you to find happiness in your life from someone who will be truthful.

I hope you realize that you deserve happiness just as much as everyone else. You don't have to be guilty, and I know you are, and I understand why you did everything you did.

We didn't plan for anything like this to happen; it just happened. We just happened, and it's okay.

I'll be okay.

Yours, Mika.

- - - -

There were tear stains on the page, but this time, they came from Yuu's eyes.

"Yuu-san? Are you crying? What did he-," Akane stopped herself, deciding she didn't have the right to intrude on the contents of the letter. "Are you okay?"

"What is Mika's favorite spot in the house?" He asked suddenly, clutching the paper in his hands.

"It's his armchair, where he can look out the window and see the night sky," Akane answered immediately. In response, Yuu stood up and ran into Mika's bedroom, ignoring her as she demanded "What's going on?" loudly.

Yuu barreled into the bedroom, staring at it in shock when he found it was completely torn apart. Furniture had been knocked over, with the armchair and bed turned over, the drawers of his armoire pulled out, and papers and other possessions scattered everywhere. Yuu followed Akane's instruction and moved towards the chair, pulling out the cushion. Just like he expected, a tiny key fell from underneath, clattering to the ground. Yuu picked it up and crossed the room, kneeling by the trunk and attempting to unlock it. However, he noticed the lock had been broken by force, and the lid lifted easily.

Yuu immediately realized there was nothing inside the trunk, and it only made him feel more confused. It was weird, really. He expected himself to be filled with anger and betrayal like Mika described in the letter, and yet he couldn't feel anything but absolute shock from the bombshell. He waited for the anger to rise, the moment where everything snapped and Yuu realized Mika was dangerous. 

Yet somehow, Yuu had the subconscious feeling that there was much more to the story than Mika was letting on (and he was willing to listen, for the sake of his own sanity).

Akane returned to his side, kneeling down by the trunk. She was weirdly quiet, her eyes flashing with an unknown emotion before she blinked and it disappeared. "It's all gone," She mumbled to herself, almost like she had forgotten Yuu was next to her. So she really does know.

"He really stole everything?" Yuu finally whispered to himself. Akane nodded her head in response.

"So he finally told you, Yuu-san," She shook her head sadly. "I warned him to do it before it was too late. And now he's gone-" Her voice choked up on the last word. "And it's all my fault."

All her fault? Yuu thought to himself worriedly. Instead of asking her outright, he decided to mention Mika's instructions. "Mika said in his letter that I should ask you what happened," Yuu told her. He felt numb to his very core, like he wasn't sure which was worse; seeing all the stolen goods there, or to have them disappear again. Probably retrieved by the royal guard, he decided.

"It's a long story," Akane finally responded, her hands clenching into fists by her sides. She took a seat on the floor, facing Yuu, who watched her intently. "One that goes back many years."

- - - - 

A/N: When there's only two days until NaNoWriMo and you got at least 3 more chapters to write lol help me