14. A Kiss

Early the next morning, Miyano, along with three of his party members headed out for the restaurant.

"Is she here yet?" He asked as they got there.

"No."

After waiting for about twenty minutes, a lady in a hood walked in. "Nana San, good morning." She said as she sat by the counter.

"Mitsuri San, morning."

Upon hearing her name, Miyano approached the hooded lady at the counter. "Good morning." He said as he sat next to her.

She looked up at him and for a moment, it felt like she couldn't stop staring. He had black silky hair that fell freely on his shoulders and his eyes….it felt like she had never seen eyes so beautiful in her life.

"G-good morning." She swallowed hard, suddenly feeling nervous. Mitsuri was never one to talk to people, but she found herself thinking of what to say to the handsome stranger. "Uh I–"

"My name is Miyano, I'm one of the seven heroes." He noticed a slight frown on her face after his introduction. "I need to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Do I actually have a choice?" She asked harshly. "If I say no right now, won't you just tag me a criminal and lock me up?" She should have known that a handsome man like him would never willingly approach her unless he wanted something.

"No, I would never do that. I heard you were a witness to one of the serial robberies that has been taking place in the city, so I only wanted to know if you can identify the criminal."

"Well sorry to disappoint you but I can't. It was dark and I was too busy hiding to memorize the thief's face."

"Very well. I apologize for wasting your time. But please, do let me know if you remember anything else. It is of great importance that we catch the culprit behind this."

"Sure." Mitsuri felt bad as she watched him walk away. It wasn't his fault that she had gotten her hopes up. "Wait, I might remember something." His face lit up and he quickly went to sit next to her.

'He is so cute, why isn't he interested in me?'

"A scar. He has a scar on his face."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She was a hundred percent certain, after all she was the one who gave it to him.

"The scar stretched from his side of his left eye down to his lips. He looked like he was pretty young too, probably in his mid twenties. Also, he wasn't very tall and he smelt a lot like flowers."

Miyano stared at her with an arched brow. "You know for someone who was too busy hiding, you sure have a pretty detailed description of the thief."

"What can I say? I tend to pay attention to my surroundings." She smiled and was surprised when he did too. She never thought that he would smile back, if anything he was supposed to get angry that she lied to him.

'Why? Why don't I ever have good luck when it comes to men?'

It broke her heart when she found out that the man she had been crushing on for almost a year had fallen in love with another man, a stranger for that matter.

Now, her romance with the handsome hero had ended before it even began because it was highly prohibited to relate with a hero, much less like one.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"What, trying to make friends or is this an interrogation?"

"Again, you are not a suspect for anything. Nobody knew anything about you so I guess I was just curious."

'He was curious….about me. What on earth did he have to be one of the stupid heroes?!'

"I'm from out of town, don't bother asking where cause you wouldn't know it."

"I've been studying up on the small towns within Engrassia, tell me."

"See that's the thing, we're independent. We don't follow the rules of Engrassia, nor do we serve your king. And it doesn't matter what you study, you can't find us. Our town isn't on any of the maps or books. I'm from the town of Nowhere."

★★★

Once again, Minato found himself in the familiar dark room. The last thing he remembered was talking to Ijichi and then waking up here.

"A dream?"

"Not exactly." A voice replied from the shadow. The person walked out and although it was fairly dark, Minato could make out the familiar features of his own face.

"W-who are you?" He questioned in a shaky voice. The only thing that was visible was his face, the rest of his body was wrapped in bandages.

"I think I'm you?" The uncertainty in his voice was very evident as he approached Minato timidly. "Who are you? Or should I say who are we?"

"I– I'm not sure." Minato looked down at the ground. Grandma Inaba was right, his mind was a mess.

"I'm not sure either but I think we're supposed to find something." His other self said.

"What?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's here…somewhere."

He had to find something, but he had no idea what it was and where it was was a mystery as well. But if that thing would help him figure out who he was and how to get his life back on track, then he was willing to look for it.

"Should we search together?"

"Of course."

They started their search in the dark room, but without a source of light, it was difficult to see.

Just like he did the first time, Minato began to feel the ominous presence of something lurking in the shadows. He looked around but he couldn't make out anything in the darkness.

Suddenly, a pair of hands emerged from the shadows and started to strangle him. He struggled and thrashed around but couldn't break free from the icy hold of the murderous hands. His other self rushed to his aid but even with their joint efforts, he couldn't escape.

"I told you, this life is mine and I'm going to take it back!" A voice said and started to laugh manically.

Just as Minato felt like he was about to pass out, he felt someone shaking him.

"....ato Kun! Minato kun!"

He jumped up, breathing hard like he had been running. His hands immediately went up to his neck to caress the skin there.

"Minato Kun, are you okay?!" Ijichi asked, his voice vibrating with urgency. "You suddenly started thrashing around in your sleep. Are you okay?"

Minato couldn't answer, his entire system was shaken by the experience. It had been a dream but for some reason, he felt like he would have actually died.

Ijichi pulled him close and hugged him, trying to get his nerves to calm down.

Five seconds became ten, then twenty, and they just sat there in each other's arms. Minato had started to calm down and his pounding heart beat had returned to normal.

A little while later, he moved out of Ijichi's embrace. "Thank you."

"Anytime. But are you okay?"

"Yeah." He nodded. He wasn't sure if telling him about his dream would change anything, he probably wouldn't even understand it. "I'm glad you were here with me." He said, forcing himself to smile. He didn't want Ijichi to worry about him or else he might not sleep again, and he wouldn't want that.

"If you want, I can be here every night."

Minato's eyes widened at his response. Of all the things he could have said, he never expected that reply.

In a second, he closed the distance between he and Minato and their lips met. The action caused Minato to freeze but he didn't back away.

It was a brief, awkward kiss but it left Minato with a mixture of feeling in his heart.

Minato couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the night, and it wasn't just because of the fear that he might have another nightmare. As he stared at the man who was sound asleep in his bed, an image popped up on his mind.

A promise, to protect him.

Minato wasn't sure what he needed protection from but he knew he had to do it.

"Ijichi San, I'm going to fulfill my promise."