While he has been enrolled since his birth in Darkeas, the school of supervillains, Uchiri Nanaya ends up by mistake in Aitori ... the school of the Magical Girls.
Kotaro had woken up from a night filled with nightmares. He didn't dare open his eyes. He could tell he was neither in his bed nor in the school's. He knew where he was and therefore everything was real. But he was still trying to convince himself that he was still dreaming.
Until a knock was knocked on his door and it opened for Thoki. The butler walked over to the window to open the curtains.
"Hello, Shime-san, we've let you sleep a bit longer." Explained the immortal gently. "But it's time to get up. Breakfast is served."
"... Kemori?"
"He's already downstairs. I pulled out the family's high chair and went to buy milk. Get dressed. I'll go pick up your and your brother's things this afternoon."
"I would come."
"... The cleaning won't be... perfect."
"It's okay. You won't find everything if you go alone ..."
Thoki sighed and finally nodded. They were going to have to hurry, to keep the teenager at the crime scene as little as possible. He left the room to return to his kitchen.
Kotaro stood up. He felt his eyes sting him so much he had cried. He rummaged in his bag and retrieved his clothes. Once decent, he went out to join the others.
When he entered the dining room, he froze in front of the scene. Nakamara sat in his place, carrying Kemori on his lap. He retrieved the bottle Thoki just brought him, ran a drop on his hand to check the temperature, and presented it to the little one with a smile. His gestures were almost mechanical as he spoke with Nanaya, sitting next to him.
"Shime-san," Thoki remarked, "come and sit down."
The teenager hesitated for a moment, before finally stepping into the room. Nanaya and his father greeted him calmly, as his friend pointed to the place right next to him.
Thoki didn't even ask him what he wanted and placed in front of him a cup of "golden needle" black tea, Kotaro's favorite.
The young man glanced questioningly at Thoki who smiled at him. Nanaya had told him about her friend's tastes a few minutes before.
"Where's Phen-X?" Kotaro asked, picking up his cup.
"He volunteered," Nakamara explained, "to go and collect the documents necessary for your official placement under my responsibility. He will be back soon."
Kotaro just nodded and drank his tea in silence, watching the ex-villain deal with his little brother with an ease and gentleness that surprised him. The boy, with his mother's pink eyes, seemed to enjoy the two men, babbling happily, even when Nakamara took the bottle away from him to let Thoki take him and burp him.
"You seem to know how to do it." The teen mumbled.
"I have two hundred years of experience." Joked Thoki.
Kotaro glanced at Nakamara. The businessman noticed, realizing his thought.
"I made some bad decisions," he admitted, "when Nanaya was three years old. But before that, I took care of him like I do with your brother. It would be a lie to say that I didn't miss it."
"Same." Thoki added, smiling. "I'll put him back to bed. "
The butler left the room, rocking Kemori. Kotaro hadn't thought for a moment that his brother would be treated so well, no matter how many times Nanaya had asserted that despite his treatments, his father was a good person.
He finished his breakfast in silence and Phen-X returned to that moment, immediately dragged by Nakamara into his office.
"I'm going to see my bees," Nanaya muttered, "do you want to come?"
"Whatever..."
He got up to accompany him into the garden and reach the village of beehives. However, he remained at a certain distance. He had seen them hundreds of times already and he was not in the mood. He was trying to drive away the mental images of his dead mother and sister, whom he had spent the night seeing and seeing again. But they remained ingrained in his mind. He couldn't get rid of it, or even think of anything else. He would have killed his father if Nanaya hadn't been there. Again, he would have acted without thinking and let his anger take him away. Again, he would have been able to take a life without thinking about it and would have regretted it. He was aware of his angry character, but no matter how many times he vowed to change, his natural aggressiveness returned.
"Kot-chan? "
Kotaro was brought out of his thoughts by the voice of his friend. Nanaya was standing in front of him, way too close to his face. He instinctively stepped back.
"What?" He asserted without succeeding in remaining friendly.
"I said I was going to do some stunt riding to digest breakfast. Do you want to come too ... or did you have something else planned until lunch?"
"... No, I'm coming."
Nanaya took his hand to lead him to the main gate of the mansion. Directly opposite was a three-hectare site where five horses ran freely. Two percherons and three shires. Beside these magnificent draft horses, Nanaya looked even smaller. This did not prevent him from choosing Nahide, the taller.
Kotaro sighed and leaned against the barrier, hoping that looking at his friend would take his mind off him. Nanaya was particularly flexible, almost contortionist. Even after seeing him do it hundreds of times, on horseback or in simple gymnastics class, Kotaro was still impressed with the way he managed to bend, pull his legs over his shoulders or do a perfect splits. He marveled as much as Hyokko, who saw his human do this for the first time. His sense of balance kept him in place on the stallion's back no matter what tricks he was performing and even in the middle of a jump.
The other horses had approached Kotaro, but leaving some distance. The teenager didn't realize it right away and wondered why they weren't coming closer. He knew them well. He had come more than once when Nakamara was away.
"They sense that you are not well."
Kotaro turned to Thoki. The butler gave him a sympathetic smile. One of the mares came over to stroke her nose.
"Horses are very sensitive to our emotions." The immortal continued. "They are not used in therapy for nothing. Spend as much time with them as you want, it won't hurt you."
"Yeah... I like horses..." Kotaro muttered. "But I prefer llamas."
"They're not that empathetic."
"I like them anyway."
Thoki smirked and discreetly sent the animal closer to the young man. She came to press her forehead against Kotaro, who began to stroke her mechanically.
The butler waited for Nanaya to stop his acrobatics before finally disappearing into an outhouse next door. He came back with a good quantity of hay, carried at the end of a pitchfork, which he released into the pen, the horses rushing greedily. If he had done this while Nanaya was still on Nahide's back, the stallion might have thrown the teenager off balance, impatient.
"I will prepare the meal now." Thoki said, removing a few stalks of hay from his costume. "Do you want something in particular?"
"Kot-chan loves Italian food."
"Nana-chan..." Kotaro growled.
"Well," Thoki said, "it's been a while since we've eaten this kind of food."
He greeted them, reminded them to be in the dining room on time, and returned to the mansion.
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