Estrangement Syndrome (Estrangement Syndrome 1) ✅

Chapter Eight

May 16th, 2027

The sky was pink from the setting sun. Shuei was wearing a tank top and jeans, bandana on his head, and thick gloves. He breathed quickly through his mouth as he carefully set the roof shingle. He released it and raised its hands. It didn't budge. "Oh thank God," he sighed, grabbing at his chest.

"Looks good," Nozomu said from his position where he was sprawled on his back on a blanket. His arms were behind his head and he was looking towards the sky. Kishi was beside him sitting straight up playing a game on his phone.

"Thanks for helping," Shuei replied sarcastically, wiping at his forehead.

"Hey, we offered moral support," Nozomu pointed out. He was still looking towards the sky. "Doesn't that count?"

"Regardless, the roof looks good," Kishi said, glancing up briefly from his phone. "Kazuhisa-ouji won't have much to complain about, I think."

"Well, it doesn't make any difference to me," Shuei sighed, brushing himself off as he carefully stood. Neither Nozomu nor Kishi moved from their spots. As annoying as it was when Kishi started following him around, in the last couple of weeks both Nozomu and Kishi had taken to following him around in their free time. It irritated Shuei severely, and made him feel like he was being spied on.

Why are they following me around anyway?! San's technically their charge, isn't he?! They should be following HIM!

"Are either of you going to be useful for once?!" Shuei snapped in frustration. "I just spent two hours resetting loose shingles by hand, and you both just sat there and did nothing!"

"But that's your job, Shuei-san," Kishi pointed out calmly.

"And what's YOUR job?!" Shuei growled back.

"He's a model," Nozomu responded cheekily. "And I'm a professional college student."

Shuei muttered a couple of swear words under his breath. "I'm done, I'm not doing anything else tonight. Thanks for nothing."

"Hey, we can do something for you," Nozomu said, sitting up partially.

"Like what?!"

"We can answer any questions you have about Seirei-Kai."

"I don't care," Shuei retorted. He turned to leave, but then stopped and turned around. "No. Wait, I do have some questions."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Are all Seishin ethnically Japanese?"

"I don't know," Kishi said, turning back to his phone.

"We look Japanese though and speak the language, don't we?" Nozomu asked.

"And another thing," Shuei said. "Is Japanese the native language of Seikei-Kai, or do you have your own language?"

"Well we did have our own language a long time ago, but that went away with time," Nozomu said. "Earth is the only plane Seirei-Kai is connected to, and the only Gateway between the two worlds is found in Japan. The population of Seirei-Kai was always smaller than Earth's, so it makes sense that Seishin would adapt to the Japanese language, wouldn't it?"

"No one has yet to tell me how you guys lay eggs," Shuei said.

"We don't lay eggs," Nozomu said. It was clear from his tone that he was offended by the suggestion. "Two Seishin combine their mana together to create a life. But in the absence of a womb the new life cultivates inside of a spiritual egg, and the baby hatches when they are ready to be born."