[KH/FF] Treachery of Fate: Imperfect Imposter

Chapter 3

Standing, your eyes widened, and you looked at the waiter hopelessly, his black, graphite tinted hair falling softly over his eyes. He gazed at you with an expression mixed with relief and happiness. Though he did, his unsure smile had faltered, and he overlooked you as it twisted into a deep frown.

“You’re completely soaked,” he murmured, gently pushing away loose strands of hair from your face. “Didn’t…didn’t you bring an umbrella?”

“You remember me,” you swallowed, voice coming both low and weak, overcome with emotion.

“I couldn’t forget you,” he shook his head, pulling you into a tight hug. “I’m your kudan, [Name]-hime—I can NEVER forget you.”

“Kei, mind getting back to work!?” someone huffed from behind the counter.

The two of you turned your gazes to Ven whose face softened when seeing that tears had escaped your eyes. He snorted, and rolled his eyes, hands dropping to their sides as Rika began scolding him. Zack’s expression was shocked, and confused, averting his gaze in deep thought as he went over to the register where a customer was waiting.

Akinori himself sighed, and released you from his embrace, taking a step back and squeezing your hands tightly with a soft smile. The bell rang, indicating the opening of the door, and as he turned his head towards the person who opened it, the gesture soon became a goofy grin, making you crack a genuine smile for the first time since your return. You also turned your head to the person, releasing the dragon’s hands and waving at the approaching teen who was grinning too.

“[Name]-hime,” he bowed speaking through huffs. “Aoi called a w-while ago…I…I ran all the way to the station, then here, wel…welcome back!”

“Listen, Hime, I get off work in about thirty minutes. Why don’t you go home with my brother?”

“That’s alright,” you shook your head, sitting in your original seat, Akito across from you,” I’ll wait. I still haven’t eaten yet.”

“Mind sharing?” the younger of the twins smiled hopefully. “I still haven’t eaten yet either.”

“Sure,” you nodded with a smile.

As you waited for Akinori to return, you spoke with Akito, sharing the food and hot chocolate with him. You described your time in Castle Oblivion, what Cosmos had told you, and all the short events that led up to you coming to Café Alps. This was in Japanese of course, but as the conversation deepened, you noted that he had a slight accent to his tone, and that fact made you take a close look at his features.

“You’re…not Japanese are you?” you inquired as he returned from taking the tray back.

“You noticed my accent huh?” Akito smiled. “Well, my brother and I are actually Korean. We learned many languages and traditions over our course of time, and sometimes we are so used to certain ones that we use that dialect more than others—Japanese is an example of that.”

“So then, what are your real names?” you leaned on your propped hands. “I’m sure that the two of you are using your real ones, especially since Ven called your brother Kei.”

“That’s his real name,” he nodded. “Mine is Kai.”

“Kei and Kai?” you giggled. “That’s pretty cute.”

“I thank you princess,” he bowed slightly, another smile playing at his lips.

“I think I’ll call you that from now on too,” you continued.