|•| scarred roses |•| slow updates |•|

| three: a new recruit? |

◇ pov: toya ◇

Parties weren't my thing. And there definitely was no exceptions now. I'd always been a bit of an introvert. So that's why I just stood there in the party. I ignored all the celebration and simply sat in a corner. It was all very loud. Noise wasn't my favourite thing after all, as well as parties.

I preferred the silence of night without noise. Cicadas chirping in harmony of each other with only the rustling of wind and grass disturbing the peace.

This ruined my perspective of tonight's night. I should have probably congratulated the new member, but I wasn't paying attention to the party. I didn't even know his name.

I looked at the sky out of a window. Near midnight. I was getting tired, but knew I couldn't get any sleep with this noise.

The partying had died down from a full on ruckus, probably created by Mizuki when they invited the prince around to the party, to now, where there were only a few mumbles of celebration. I heard mangled parts of conversations, always a part of them but not the whole point.

The new person seemed kinda annoyed, I guessed. They were talking to Prince Tenma and obviously annoyed at something. I wondered where Princess Tenma was. Probably actually getting some rest.

I'd practically zoned out thinking of possible reasons for her absence, when I noticed the new person walking over to me. "...Hi." He said. "Hello." I said. He sat beside me on the chair beside me. "What's your name?" He asked. "Oh. It's Toya. What's your name?" I asked him. This conversation was very awkward. I didn't really want to talk to anyone, much less people I'd only waved at awkwardly once.

"It's Akito." He said, and his face seemed to relax a bit for some reason. "Akito. I like that name." I said, without realizing what I was saying. What did I think I was? Some explorer in a fantasy book? Either way, he nodded, but his face remained as neutral as mine. "I like the name Toya too." I smiled.

"Thanks. Congratulations on... uhm, joining the knights and all." I said. Obviously talking to strangers wasn't my forte. I could even feel a slight blush light up my face. I looked at his face closely. He had orange hair with a yellow streak through it, and green eyes.

Like a tree. Or autumn, I thought. Suddenly, someone interrupted our conversation. "Ah, Toya! It's great to see you!" I turned red as an apple when I saw the one and only Prince right behind me. "Ah, Prince Tenma! It's an honour to see you again!" The prince laughed. I smiled slightly, but I noticed my new acquaintance didn't look impressed.

"Have you made a new friend, Shinonome? Maybe we could partner you up with him for orientation." The prince suggested. Orientation was basically like whenever a knight joined the elites, they got a week to learn the ropes. Usually they'd be accompanied by another knight, and that knight was usually Rui, Mizuki or An. I never did orientation, because I was obviously... a bit socially awkward.

"Orientation?...Well, if you want to, I guess." He said. He was clearly trying to keep up some sort of facade. I nodded. "Then it's settled! This will help with your social anxiety, Toya." Prince Tenma said. I was amazed he cared about me enough to know about my extreme... people problems, but also super embarrassed he knew about them.

"Thank you, Prince Tenma." I said, dipping my head to him. "You know you don't have to use formalities? Just call me Tsukasa." He said, patting me on the back. I smiled at him. "In that case, thank you, Tsukasa."

He laughed loudly, before getting pulled away by Rui to join some sort of dance the others were doing. Clearly alcohol was legalised by the kingdom in this party.

I sat awkwardly by my new orientation buddy, until he asked me, "What's his deal?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "You mean the Prince's?" He nodded. "He has a pretty big ego, if I'm being honest. But I owe him a lot for even letting me into here." Mizuki stumbled towards us. They look like they'd gotten into the wine, because they were stumbling all over the place.