United (Magics AU - Part 1)

Chapter 34 - Shintaro

Shintaro crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the bricks of the gates that surrounded Ariel. The sun had already sank below the tops of the trees, and a few stars were just starting to twinkle in the gold sky above Shintaro's head. Normally, the guardian would be standing straight with arms at his sides and his eyes alertly scanning the vast forest of trees, keeping himself ready for anything - but at the moment, he could hardly pay attention to even the darkening sky. 

Ever since the two Utopians had arrived, Shintaro had been all out of sorts, though he made sure to keep that hidden from everyone else. When he'd seen the two newcomers - one struggling to keep walking in order to reach the gates, the other trying her best to help her companion - Shintaro had immediately rushed forward in cautious concern. As soon as he reached them, the guardian had been struck paralyzed by the familiar face that was scrunched up in pain, the one that looked so much like the face that Shintaro refused to remember. He'd been forced to shove his shock and confusion aside momentarily when the man had stumbled, causing the little girl to let out a cry of alarm that barely warned Shintaro in time to catch the falling man. After Shintaro had ordered a guard to fetch Ruby and Marcus, he'd practically carried the weak man through the gates, with the little girl eagerly staying by his side with panicked looks at her escort. Ruby and Marcus had met Shintaro almost immediately, both of them looking like they'd run the whole way through the streets. Marcus had taken the man's other arm and helped Shintaro safely transport the injured Utopian to Esther's office, knowing they wouldn't have to wait for a doctor there. When Ozai had used his voice, Shintaro had very nearly turned out of the office and fled the scene in confused and shocked horror. This man had almost the same face and the exact same accent that Shintaro had locked away from his mind when he was only a teenager. 

But, Shintaro had told himself in order to calm down, Ozai wasn't the man that Shintaro had grown to hate. Ozai's jawline wasn't as sharp, his eyes weren't as narrow, and his hair carried a slight wave that was different from the hair that Shintaro remembered like a spill of black ink on white paper. 

After Ozai had explained everything else he knew about the massacred kingdom, Ruby had kindly but almost numbly dismissed everyone, solemnly announcing that she needed a while to herself. Shintaro had hurried to his post outside of the kingdom walls, hoping the open air would give him some time to think and figure things out. He wouldn't have called his abrupt leave fleeing, but he knew that Falte had noticed how quickly the guardian had left. 

Hopefully the adviser had taken that as hint that Shintaro needed to be left alone for a while as well. Shintaro didn't need anyone exiting through the gates simply to talk to him. At the moment, he needed to simply gather his thoughts and settle himself down. 

But his mind was whirling in frightened, confused circles and threatening to flash forbidden images in his vision. Though Shintaro had nearly panicked the first time he'd seen Ozai, he was now certain that Ozai was not the same man Shintaro tried to forget. It was impossible to escape the times where the red eyes, the fang-like teeth, and the sinister laugh haunted Shintaro's dreams; but the guardian tried anyway to banish any sort of connection or memory. But why did Ozai look so strikingly similar, and why did he speak with the same accent?

The thick accent that Shintaro had learned to cover up when he'd learned English was originated from a dialect that was now unknown to the average person. So why did Ozai speak with the same accent and even use of the suffixes from the language? 

As soon as Ozai had learned that Ruby and Marcus were royalty, he used the suffix "rava" at the end of their names. Shintaro remembered immediately what this one meant - to use the suffix rava meant that the person you were speaking to or about was held in authority. Though Ozai hadn't put a suffix at the end of Nanami's name when he'd introduced her, he called her Nanami-ru the rest of the time. Ru, though Shintaro had taken a bit to remember (because he never used it), was meant for someone the speaker loved and cherished. This meant that Ozai was much closer to Nanami than just her escort to Ariel.