Chapter Sixty-Five

The Will of My Master

Luckily, Morokata didn't entertain himself more with Nekohiko's position. He went back to his tea, only casually watching Hibiki and Kataji bustle around Nekohiko's awakening.

On the contrary, Hibiki would not take his eyes off Nekohiko -- and definitely wouldn't take his hands off him. Which upset Kataji greatly.

"Please, could you stop touching my doll?"

Hibiki had almost mounted the table with Nekohiko on it and crept all around Nekohiko to properly get acquainted with all of Nekohiko's body parts. He had rubbed and scratched and prickled different areas to check if any of them reacted the way the human's body part would. But more than that -- he bit Nekohiko sometimes and licked him on several occasions.

There was no end to Kataji's disapproval.

"Stop that! Your drool will ruin the varnish!" The young man desperately rubbed the subtle bite marks and trails of Hibiki's saliva off Nekohiko's arms and shoulders.

Hibiki's nose sniffed Nekohiko's ears and up and down his cheeks. Then his tongue once again caressed his eyelid and even went... ugh! -- to touch the wet eyeball!

A shudder ran up Nekohiko's spine and Hibiki was pleased. "Very, very good reactions," he murmured excitedly and jerked Nekohiko's hair to tilt his head back. "I wonder if he'll get aroused, too."

"No." Kataji shrugged his own outer gown off his back and tossed it onto Nekohiko's body. "Do not you dare. I didn't ask you to make him those body parts either, yet you still did... But now you want to abuse them, too? You monster."

Nekohiko's eye twitched. Confusion shot through him and he dropped his eyes to where his legs met. Only of course everything was covered by Kataji's robe now.

Nevertheless... what did Kataji say about "those parts"?

Hibiki jiggled his fingers in the air. "Ah, it's just a chunk of his own wood from his inner parts he didn't need. We gave it plasticity and ability to respond to stimulation accordingly, no big deal."

Kataji's face grew frighteningly red. "You are being inappropriate."

Now even Morokata couldn't help but participate. He choked on his tea and gave a teary-eyed look to Hibiki. "Hear, hear," he muttered.

Suddenly, Hibiki crept over the table and over Nekohiko -- toward Kataji. The motion was so quick, it felt almost animalistic. Hibiki's nose stilled a few inches away from Kataji's. His deep, dark eyes as wide and unblinking as ever.

"Why would you need a sex doll if you're not going to pleasure it in return? Only care about your own pleasure, don't you? Not only a doll-fucker, but a doll-rapist, tsk."

Kataji's mouth hanged open in terror. "Ex...cuse me?"

"My dolls are people," Hibiki enunciated each syllable. "I give them everything a person would have when they're born. Not less, not more. Exactly the same. Got it?"

All right, all right. Nekohiko hated the idea of having intimate body parts which was the reason he had asked Kataji to never make him any. It was already creepy that he was a dummy of a human, but to also be a dummy with a dick? Gods, no...

Plus, it wasn't as though he had ever planned to use it so why even bother to have it? Since it was already there and Hibiki seemed so aggressive about its existence...

Sure, whatever.

"But now he will be objectified and viewed in a... shameless manner," Kataji whispered, avoiding Hibiki's stern gaze. "Itsuki never wanted that, so I abided by his wishes."

"Who cares what he wants?" Hibiki winced. "He's a doll. You're his Master. Just order him to want it, and he will have no choice."

Nekohiko froze, very much panicked.

And so did Kataji. "You just said... he's like a human being! I cannot order a human being to want anything! That's unacceptable!"

"Yes, but let's not forget that human beings have wills and cognition of their own," Morokata said velvetly from the side. "They have families, past, and future. A doll only has its Master. Thus, it has nothing to lose, nothing to believe in, nothing to stop it from doing anything else a human being might but never would because a human has something to lose."

Morokata's smile was especially tender as he rose to his feet and walked over to Kataji, hugging him from the back. He put his chin on Kataji's shoulder.

"And what would a human being do when they have literally nothing to lose or respect? That's right. They would steal, kill, abuse, take, and dominate others. Thus, a doll needs to be ordered to have it behave."

"I don't understand where you are going with this," Kataji said, grabbing Nekohiko's elbow and pulling him off the table. Once Nekohiko was on the floor next to him, Kataji helped him get his arms inside the sleeves of his robe. The young man's fingers shook as he hurried to tie the robe over Nekohiko's waist -- it was clear he wanted to get out of the Doll Palace and this room specifically as fast as possible.

"Why, order your doll," Morokata said, a bit more metal in his tone. "We have to check if it will work, otherwise how would we know we did everything right?"

"I am not going to order anything--"

Hibiki sprang off the table, and with one quick slap of his palm into Kataji's chest, pushed him away from Nekohiko.

A small blast of Binding energy aided him, and Kataji could not hold on to Nekohiko no matter how he tried. A mere non-Binder would never be a match to even the weakest of Binders.

Shocked, Kataji gasped, bumping into Morokata who caught him from the back. But Hibiki hardly paid him attention.

"Order your doll," Hibiki echoed Morokata's statement. "This is a respectable establishment. I cannot allow you to leave with a product from under my hands and made with my techniques. That's a certain mark of quality, a doll made by Hisome Hibiki, you see, doll-fucker?" He bent down a little to make sure Kataji saw how resolute Hibiki's facial expression was. "Thus, I have to check if the doll I made works exactly as advertised. Order it."

Kataji trembled. If Nekohiko wasn't so bent on pretending to be a numb dummy, he would allow himself a shiver, too. He was scared out of his mind by this suggestion.

Flamboyantly, Morokata raised two of his fingers between which was squeezed a thin needle. He looked at Kataji askance. "A drop of your blood to make it work?" he said, then angled the needle toward Kataji. "Yourself, or should I?"

Kataji took the needle from him and pricked his finger. A tiny bead of his blood dropped into Morokata's palm but never reached it. Morokata made it hover in the air, then whipped it toward Nekohiko like a tiny rain drizzle spraying Nekohiko's face.

"Now order," Morokata said. "Make the doll do something."

Kataji was so shaken, it became obvious he wouldn't dare to order anything. So Nekohiko took pity on him. It was all right. It was all a show -- only to get rid of these two freaks faster.

Barely perceptibly, Nekohiko nodded at Kataji, then dropped his eyes waiting for the blood order to come.

Hollowly, Kataji whispered, "As your Master, I order you to come over to me."

At first, Nekohiko still hoped it wasn't for real. That it was some form of a formality all dollmakers and dollmasters did to finalize their sale. But then, Kataji's blood Bound into Nekohiko's very core reacted.

Nekohiko's limbs clenched up. His throat squeezed shut and open, pushing out his voice and words he had not meant to say, ever.

"Yes, Master," his mouth said. Then his legs started moving on their own, driving him closer to Kataji in such an automated, appalling manner.

It was even worse than that one time when he had been a cat and Kataji had ordered him to never kill.

This was... vile! This was so dehumanizing, to have all his will to be stolen and overpowered like that!

Nekohiko stopped beside Kataji, feeling Kataji's hands creeping around his waist to hug him and draw him in as though to protect him from harm. But, still aghast from what had just happened, Nekohiko felt too stiff to let Kataji embrace him.

"I'm so sorry," Kataji murmured only to be interrupted by Hibiki's loud throat-clearing.

"And?" Hibiki blared, annoyed. "That's what you consider a Master Order? That's what server dummies get every day of their lives! That's not a Master Order -- that's just a command. You can give a random human on the street the same command, and they might follow it! Make a real Master Order, doll-fucker! Stop wasting our time."

Kataji tensed up around Nekohiko. "W-what should I have ordered...?"

With an amused hum, Morokata cocked his head to the side, appraising both Kataji and Nekohiko. "Your doll seems a bit reluctant to respond to your hug, doesn't it?" Morokata flourished a hand magnanimously. "Order him to want to hug you back. Genuinely want to."

"Order him to only be happy when he hugs you back!" Hibiki added brighter. "Nothing so good as making a doll be a bit tamer and nicer to her owner!"

Kataji's lip trembled as he wanted to object, but Nekohiko shifted his eyes to meet Kataji's. With only the slightest of blinks, he signaled to Kataji that this was fine, too.

As long as this got them out of here faster...

No big deal.

Just a hug. If Nekohiko wasn't so numb, he would have hugged Kataji happily, himself. Why not?

"Itsuki, as your Master," Kataji mumbled, sickened. "I order you to want... to hug me."

"Yes, Master."

The feeling was bizarre. Nekohiko's arms moved on their own as his legs had done after the earlier order, but now he didn't even feel conflicted about it. In fact, he felt mellow and sweet as he leaned in to Kataji's chest, cuddling closer and closer until he was embraced by Kataji fully.

He felt... so comfortable. So serene in Kataji's arms, all of a sudden. He even wondered why hadn't he done this before. Why hadn't he hugged Kataji every day.

This was so nice, he promised himself he would do it again as soon as possible.

Disjointed applause came from Morokata and Hibiki along with Morokata's gushing remarks. "How heartwarming! Now, really -- order your doll to love you! To be in love with you! Or to be devoted or loyal solely to you. If he looks so happy just from hugging you, imagine how happy it will make him and you if he was in love, too!"

"And then also erase his memory of you giving this order," Hibiki said. "Then he'll definitely be happy and will only ever belong to you and nobody else. And won't even know it had ever been different."

...

Oh... Holy Spirits...

Nekohiko looked up at Kataji in apprehension.

He suddenly realized that if Kataji did that... if Kataji ordered Nekohiko to be in love with him, he wouldn't be able... to even know this was an order. He would simply love Kataji with all his dummy heart and would never question why he did that.

This power over another being... it was nothing short of monstrous.

But luckily, Kataji thought so too.

"I am not ordering my doll anything," he said in a hushed snarl.

"Ah, it's only to check," Morokata replied with a smile. "No need to be so defensive about it. After all, you can undo all the Master orders whenever you want."

"No more Master Orders," Kataji repeated, only growing louder and graver. "Itsuki, I revoke all the Orders I have just given to you."

Nekohiko felt only the faintest trace of joy lift off him as he still clung to Kataji's arms. It was as though a blanket of warmth was abruptly torn off him. He felt lonely and incomplete once Kataji's order to make him want a hug was revoked.

And though Nekohiko hated the implication of an order influencing him on such a deep level, he also missed the hug now. It had been so... secure, so safe, so genuine in his mind a mere moment ago.

"Tsk, you only care about yourself, doll-fucker," Hibiki drawled, upset. He changed his voice in a mocking, whiny one as though mimicking Kataji. "Ohhh nooes, I feel so guilty by giving a Master Order to my doll to make him happy till the end of time! I can make this person's life fulfilled. I can make this person never encounter pain or loss in his life or ever feel miserable ever again. But I'm not gonna because maaah feelings will get hurt a little if I do..."

"That's not what this is," Kataji said, stricken. "I just don't want to overpower his free will and impose my own choices on him! How is that a bad thing?"

Morokata gave him a commiserating look. "Ah, please do not tell me you believe there's such a thing as genuine free will in this world, Future Cousin Kataji. Or that none of us ever -- ever -- influence or overpower each other's choices in this life even without Blood Orders, ha-ha-ha!"

Like a disturbing echo to Morokata's tasteful chuckle, Hibiki exploded in laughter as well. In fact, Hibiki laughed so hard, slapping his table at some point, that tears budded in his eyes from the sheer joy this gave him.

Heaving, he took in a pacifying breath as he leaned on his table in exhaustion. "Oh my, doll-fucker. What an amusing way to begin my day! Thanks for the laugh!"

Kataji went rigid and cold beside Nekohiko. He wanted to sidle out of the room with Nekohiko in tow, but Morokata stopped them.

Holding up a simple yet elegant neck-chain with a hanging wooden pendant, Morokata stepped up to Kataji as though he wanted to put the chain around his neck.

"Tracking device, Future Cousin," Morokata explained, nodding at the wooden pendant in the form of a teardrop. "We took more than one small part of Itsuki to make this. It's also his wood, and it represents the Master connection between you and Itsuki. Being responsible for your doll, you have to be aware of where your doll is. At all times. This teardrop will tell you so that you can always find him or track his movement as any responsible doll-owner should."

"I... am not going to track Itsuki's movements," Kataji began, to Nekohiko's aggravated glance.

Come on, just accept it and we're gone from here! Nekohiko wanted to yell at him.

Morokata ignored Kataji delightedly, taking out of his sleeve a small paper on which sprawled a drawn map of Nara. He hovered the wooden teardrop on the chain above the map, then slowly rocked it back and forth.

"It works like this," he said. A couple of more sways of the pendant, and abruptly -- the pendant dropped at one spot on the map, pinned hard into it as though magnetized. Morokata tugged the teardrop away to reveal that the place it was pointing at was The Doll Palace in the Artists' District. With a graceful flourish, Morokata twined his slender fingers into the pendant's chain and offered it to Kataji.

"Enjoy," he said with a wink.

"I will never do something as demeaning as tracking Itsuki's movements," Kataji said, accepting the pendant begrudgingly after Nekohiko poked him to do so.

Morokata beamed. "Never say never, Future Cousin."

"You severely disappoint me, doll-fucker."

"Thank you for everything you did," Kataji told him and Hibiki, seizing Nekohiko's hand in his own and pulling him further and further away and toward the exit. "But we're leaving."

Hibiki raised his arms as though in a desire to rebuke and yell and call Kataji all the worst names again, but Morokata only gave Hibiki a single shake of his head. Then he waved at Kataji and Nekohiko, as charming and innocent-looking as always.

"Well, since all the contracts are already signed and all the rituals and spells are done and checked to work... I guess why not?" Morokata said. "We're still living in the same neighborhood and you and I are still having our dinner later tonight, aren't we, Cousin Kataji?"

"Mn." Kataji nodded, then bowed to Morokata and, a bit reluctantly, to Hibiki. "Thank you for your time and your help. I owe you. I will make up to you, I swear. But for now -- goodbye, my lords."

"Yeah, up yours," Hibiki mumbled, already turned away to clang some of his jars and tools on his table. The only proper goodbye they received out of the doll-making room of horrors was Morokata's delighted chuckle.

"Have a good rest first, Cousin Kataji and Itsuki," Morokata reminded them. "You both look awfully in need of a nap!"

***

Nekohiko broke into a real run, reveling in the feel of his body finally moving according to his wishes. Indeed, Hibiki's mastery was unparalleled. Nobody could make a doll's limbs move with such precision and perfection, and Nekohiko could now attest to it. He knew the difference -- he'd felt every last bit of it himself.

And the first thing he did after he and Kataji emerged out of the Doll Palace's sinister halls into the sunny outside was to check if his Binding movements were as unrestrained.

He clicked his fingers and amassed signs and gestures of the formations from easy to difficult. And he never had to stop. As his fingers shifted into the highest Nagare, then Towa, then Hisome, Hira -- and finally, even Utsuro formations, he had not met resistance in the way his limbs moved.

Just to try it out, he already cast a small spell once he could weave into the crowds of people on the street and thus lose the trail of his Binding in case somebody wanted to track it. He did not trust Hibiki or Morokata fully, so he had to check if his body bore some residue of their spells or tricks he might have missed before.

His quick survey came back with nothing, and he breathed in relief. He cast another spell -- an alarm spell to alert him to any presence in his vicinity, then a spell to harden his wood skin to be able to deflect any missiles thrown, then to give it the durability of metal, and then -- the fireproofness and the protection against mold or the insects or canker or...

"Itsuki?" Kataji tugged at his sleeve worriedly. "You've been standing here, casting for quite a while. Is something an issue?"

Mm?

Ah. Nekohiko had lost himself in full-scale protection by spells just because he finally could. With a delay, he realized his hair -- bangs in particular -- were a bit too long for his liking, so he Split a thin length of it off with his magic.

And yaaay -- his magic worked with such finesse! And with such bottomless reserves of powers! He was using merely the skim layer of it; there were hours and hours of casting he could do without exhausting himself!

Aaaaaaaah, how sweet. How wonderful. How liberating, to finally be a sufficient person!

"I wanted to tell you," Kataji said, pained, "I would never again use any of my blood Master orders on you. Just so you know. I didn't even want to use them on you back then, but Morokata and Hibiki made me..."

"I know," Nekohiko said. His mood grew grimmer from the reminder of what had just happened in the Doll Palace, but he quickly shrugged it away. He swiveled his head and pointed at the glorious bakery shop from which the delectable smells of spices and rising bread came, sweet and savory. "Let's go eat!" he cried, excited.

"Eat?"

Kataji dawdled.

"Yes, eat! I haven't actually eaten in... five years," Nekohiko breathed, then combined his fingers into another complex Fusion spell to cast on himself. Or a series of spells. "In five years, Kataji! For the first time since then, I have a chance to eat anything I want!"

The spell was temporary at best because, for this wooden body, he couldn't really create the ability to absorb nutrition from food or to enjoy the texture and specific flavor of food. As most such complex aspects, it had to be taken from somebody else. In comparison, Nekohiko's hardening of his own skin or giving it a deflective shield only needed him to steal the aspects from the flagstones on the street or from the breeze that weaved through the nearby garden trees.

But since there were so many people walking by and most of them wouldn't notice the sudden loss of the ability to taste and absorb food -- Nekohiko was in a mischievous enough mood to steal theirs. Only for a few minutes! He would return their aspects right away, and they might even feel better after he did because he would definitely eat something delicious during that time.

Usually, he would think it was inappropriate, to take someone's aspect away from them without their knowing -- but it was such a small thing and these people would never even know he did it! One time thing. Just because he was so happy to finally get all of his powers back.

A construction worker was hammering nails into a shelf he was fixing to the wall of the flower store, and Nekohiko stole the food-processing aspect from him. This man would be busy with his work for the next several minutes, so probably wouldn't know something was missing, right?

Just then, Kataji bumped into a town crier who waved stacks of flyers in the air. She was a young woman, rosy with agitation as she kept screaming and screaming about the Binder oppression over the non-Binders.

And though Nekohiko didn't feel all that guilty about what he had just done since his stealing spell was fixable, he still noted that Kataji gave the young woman's stack of flyers a very meaningful look.

"Hibiki and Morokata harassed us so much," Kataji said suddenly when they were already inside the bakery, picking a berry pie for Nekohiko to eat. "Did you see how Hibiki pushed me away with Binding?"

Nekohiko smiled at him sadly but didn't offer his commentary. He was just so happy to be himself again and did not want to spoil it with other issues. Besides, the pie was already in a warm paper wrap, right in front of him.

He was hungry. He was greedy for what was coming for him very, very soon. A full day-time nap back in the inn, then an early invitation to have breakfast with Abihiko that the bastard had promised to send for Kataji and Nekohiko tonight. Then... something else that would happen later?

The answers! The torment! The pleasure he would derive from it all.

But first of all -- this pie.

Nekohiko bit into the fluffy, almost airlike dough from beyond which a juicy splash of berries and fruit popped at his taste buds.

Mmmmmm, this was so good.

"And before... Abihiko abused his powers over me," Kataji went on, thoughtful. He sat beside Nekohiko on the ground against the bakery's outside wall. Kataji's gaze kept returning to that woman who gave out the non-Binders oppression flyers. "Back at home in Red Stone, there weren't many Binders around me so life felt not so harshly unjust to those who do not have magic powers. But here, with so many of them around..."

However wonderful the berry pie was, Nekohiko found it harder and harder to swallow and enjoy it. He dropped his hand with the pie to his raised knees, then looked over the street toward that worker from whom he had stolen the food absorption aspect.

...

He suddenly felt very, very bad.

"Do you want my pie?" Nekohiko asked Kataji, giving him the rest of it.

Kataji glanced at the place where Nekohiko's lips and teeth had just been imprinted on the pie's soft crust. Carefully, he took it in his hand. "Yes, thank you."

"Uh-hm." Nekohiko didn't notice the regard with which Kataji finished the half of the pie after him, instead busy casting a spell, returning the stolen aspect back to the man he'd taken it from. Once done, Nekohiko arched his back, rising back to his feet. "Let's go back to our room and have a sleep. It's been more than a full day since you or I rested!"

"It's only one room," Kataji said, perplexed. "You didn't have enough money to order more, so I wonder if there's only one bedspread inside it."

Nekohiko gave him a glance but thought nothing of it in the end. "Kataji, I'm so worn out I wouldn't notice it even if I slept on the table. Trust me. Besides, as a cat," he continued as he ran forward to the inn doors and held the greeting curtains away for Kataji to pass, "I have slept on far worse surfaces."

At last, Kataji brightened up with a sudden thought. "Speaking of the cat! How is your purr-box inside this body?! Is it working? Spirits, it was so embarrassing to ask Hibiki to put it in. You're lucky you didn't have to and I was the one to do it! Ugh, the way he looked at me as though I was some kind of a cat pervert..."

They both barged in on Mikawa, giggling like silly girls with their jokes about Hibiki and his perversions, and went straight to bed without even changing their clothes.

Poor Mikawa didn't even get to hear a "how are you?" or "what have you been doing all this while?" before first Kataji, and then Nekohiko plunged onto the bedspread Mikawa had been on a moment ago but scrambled off of just in time for the others to take it over.

"I assume it went well?" Mikawa whispered from a few feet away, but Nekohiko was already drifting into a satisfied sleep, too lazy to reply.

And yes. He did turn the purr-box on. And its purring vibrated all through his human body just as soothingly as it had in the cat. Nostalgic, wasn't it?

***

He heard it when Kataji finally woke up, ungluing himself from Nekohiko's side and slowly creaking his limbs to stretch them after an uncomfortable nap. Vaguely, Nekohiko remembered that Kataji had promised to attend a late-night dinner with Morokata in the Hisome estate down the street, so he didn't bother to wake up.

He only grumbled to Kataji to be careful and not let Morokata bully him into anything he didn't like, then turned over in the bed and went back to sleep. Finally being inside a body that worked properly, fully, and enhanced by his powers gave him the best sleep he had had since... five years ago, it seemed? Maybe even longer.

He woke up already in the morning of the next day and found both Kataji and Mikawa crawling out of their own beds in the other corners of the room.

Merry, Nekohiko sat up and rubbed his eyes blearily. "Ah, you ordered two more bedspreads brought in?"

"Well, since you completely hogged the only one we had," Kataji replied with a roll of his eyes. "Or would you prefer for me to lie on top of you, perhaps?"

The day was very fine, judging by the pink mist livening up the rooftops of the nearby houses and the birds chirping in the garden below. Nekohiko was in too pleasant a mood to tell Kataji off, so he preferred to raise an eyebrow at him instead.

"Oh wow, Kataji. Did one single evening dinner with Morokata already turn you into a smooth innuendo talker? There're children in this room."

But instead of growing flustered as Kataji usually would at the suggestion that he was being inappropriate, this time, Kataji smirked at Nekohiko back. Then flung a pillow at him before getting to his feet and going to the ante-chamber to change his clothes into his day gown.

Weird.

But Nekohiko guessed Kataji had been acting weird yesterday, too. In fact, after the reception in the Emerald Palace, Kataji had almost always felt a bit... different. Bitter, yes. But also strangely daring.

It took Nekohiko only the next half an hour to realize what had changed in him and why.

Because when Kataji came down to drink morning tea in the main dining room, Nekohiko and Mikawa were already sitting by their tea table, talking about the yesterday events in low voices. Nekohiko had not been able to see the clothes Kataji had changed into or the way he had made his hair because Kataji was being especially slow with his "beauty routine" today.

But now Nekohiko saw.

The dining room was light and airy, with plenty of space and therefore plenty of people occupying all the tables and sipping their morning tea while sharing news and gossip. The din of their talks and the flicker of their faces and motions were very distracting. But when Kataji appeared among them, Nekohiko felt as though everything else in the room had simply gone invisible.

Shock struck him right through.

With a forcedly-suave smirk on his red lips, Kataji strolled through the room toward Mikawa's and Nekohiko's table. Every inch of Nekohiko's body tensed up as though waiting for a strike.

Kataji was wearing his favorite color -- blue, but unlike his usual robes in muted and elegant shades, this one was new. It was in such... bad taste. Loud, searing-blue color, so bright, it made Nekohiko's eyes tear up. And the cut was not Kataji's typical scholarly and strict. The cut was martial like those Abihiko preferred to wear.

And Kataji's hair was not let down on soft waves like before. It was raised in a high ponytail and was tied with the same flashy-blue ribbon that Kataji's new robes were made of.

As though in a mockery of Abihiko's hairstyle, Abihiko's dressing fashion, even Abihiko's moves and facial expressions.

Nekohiko fully understood now why Kataji had been smirking and glaring at people so much ever since yesterday.

He was... supposedly, pretending to be his Eldest Brother?

Kataji had a lot of similarities in appearance to Abihiko, true. This was part of the reason why Nekohiko felt so aggravated to see him like this. The resemblance was just too uncanny.

Yet at the same time, Nekohiko knew what Kataji was like. He would never mistake one brother for the second one. They were just too drastically different. Thus, all he could do now was stare in utter horror and hope this was only a joke.

And not what Kataji genuinely wanted to do in his life.

"Good morning," Mikawa squeaked at Kataji and immediately buried his nose in the menu so he could be spared from the following conversation.

"Good morning to you, too, Young Mikawa," Kataji answered sweetly. "Although, haven't we already said our morning greeting back in our room?"

"Um... nice robes?" Nekohiko said when Kataji plopped down on the floor next to him and Mikawa. "Did you actually spend all our savings to buy yourself new clothes?"

He did not want to sound like a frugal housewife, but oh well.

"Noooo," Kataji answered with a mischievous glint to his eye. Then he raised his hand to beckon the waiter and yelled out even before the waiter responded. "Three mint teas over here, thank you very much!"

...such rudeness.

Nekohiko put his fingers to his forehead.

Please do not tell me this is what Kataji thinks Abihiko usually acts like...

Most importantly -- why?

Why now, of all times? Hadn't he and Kataji had moved past their little disagreements around Abihiko yesterday? Why would he just... go back to sulking, and in such a ridiculous manner, too?

"Kataji, what are you doing?" Nekohiko said with a hopeful smile on his face. If he pretended like this joke was very funny, perhaps Kataji would snap out of it and would acknowledge this was merely a temporary thing?

"Future Cousin Morokata was so kind yesterday as to lend me his personal dressmakers. And he also paid for this inn's additional bedspreads," Kataji replied, quietly pleased with something. "And for this inn's breakfast menu for all three of us for however long we want. So don't worry. Our savings will not suffer at all, Itsu."

"It's Itsuki," Nekohiko said.

But Kataji didn't really listen.

"You look bizarre," Nekohiko tried again. "I dislike it."

Kataji rolled his eyes. "I look like people prefer me to look. Acting loudly and dressing flashily seems to get you everywhere in life, unlike being nice and polite and appropriate all the time. So why shouldn't I do that, too, mmm? I might just like it. And though you say you don't... please tell me more, Itsuki, about how you totally prefer me to my brother. I liked it a lot when you went on and on about it back when we were entering the Doll Palace yesterday. It sounded so genuine."

...

"You know what? I was being polite before," Nekohiko snapped. "I actually meant that you look like an idiot in this outfit. Is that more genuine-sounding to you?"

"Aww, thanks. You look very charming, yourself," Kataji replied. His voice strained only a little, maintaining his "Abihiko"-facade whatever the cost.

All through the morning tea, Kataji kept humming under his nose and kept looking out the side doors into the beautiful autumn garden and the sunlight dapples under the canopies there.

This wasn't much better than when Kataji had been pissed at Nekohiko and others many times before and had simply refused to talk to them for days as a way to punish them. At least now, he talked.

Only he also did... all of this.

Nekohiko forced all his worries off, though. Apart from the failed Abihiko impersonations, it was still the same old Kataji and his inability to move past his grievances with other people. The young man would calm down and forget Abihiko's offense in the Palace toward him, soon enough. And he would dress and behave normally after this phase was over.

Surely.

Definitely.

Though Nekohiko still needed Kataji to take him to Abihiko's Palace for the breakfast Abihiko had promised to invite them to.

"What are our plans for today?" Nekohiko asked, mock-sweetly. "I wonder if your Eldest Brother does not feel regretful about his behavior that night. And that he would not want to... apologize for it in some way..."

Kataji's eyebrows lifted. "Who knows. Abihiko has always been volatile and unpredictable. He probably already forgot he hurt us. Very much like him."

"That's hard to believe. He has duties to his people and to his family," Nekohiko said, only slightly worried. "Not even a letter from him about what happened?"

Kataji tilted his head but did not reply. Only shrugged noncommittally. 

"Maybe you're still angry at him so you would rather not talk about it," Nekohiko said at last. "But you weren't the only person he had insulted. I feel like as the Emperor, he would have at least sent a letter to me with some sort of an explanation of what happened."

Seriously, he was getting more and more suspicious of Kataji's delighted mood.

In fact, why was Kataji so happy?

And what had happened between Kataji and Morokata during their yesterday's late dinner? What had these two talked about?

"Seriously, your brother sent us nothing about what happened that night?" Nekohiko tried as the last resort. "You will attend his wedding in one day, yet he did not want to talk to you about it to make peace with you -- his own brother -- before his marriage ceremony? At all?"

...

Kataji's expression had all the flair of mock-worry and sadness drawn on it. "Tsk. Alas. But you know how my brother is. He sent nothing to you or me. Why, did you expect him to? Aren't you way too naive, Itsu." Fleeting, he already turned away to the garden. "My gods, isn't this day just marvelous? Let's order breakfast in the bakery just outside and have the inn servants bring it here! Hey, girl! Girl!" he called the waitress and got up to find her because she wasn't currently in the dining room.

And Nekohiko could only gape after him, too stunned to squeeze in a word or demand answers.

Did... Kataji just lie to him?

Or had Abihiko actually not sent the invitations to Kataji and Nekohiko? But... Abihiko had looked so sincere yesterday when he'd promised Nekohiko's wooden sculpture to do that...

Obliquely, Mikawa leaned to Nekohiko, still not putting the menu down.

"He burned it yesterday. Right after the royal carrier delivered it," was all the young boy said.

Pained, Nekohiko turned to Mikawa, his heart clenching inside his chest. "Kataji burned the invitations Abihiko has sent us?"

...

So this was the reason Kataji was acting out. And the sole reason why Kataji was oh-so-gleeful about his actions now.

This was revenge for everything Abihiko had done to Kataji recently, plain and simple.

Truly, Nekohiko should have predicted this.

And so should have Abihiko.

Queenfisher

Hope it doesn't come across as though Kataji just went off his rocker for no real reason. His issues have been brewing for a while, but Morokata's influence is... of course... a major catalyst as you probably can imagine ╮(ಠ_ಠ)╭

Neko really shouldn't have allowed him to go to Morokata alone...