Our Strange Duet (Yandere Modern Princes x Reader)

Chapter 26: Pardon?

Kazuki remained with an emotionless stare on his face, registering the woman's words in a calmed and tranquil state. Then again, at the same time, it appeared as if he was going to snap and wring the woman's neck for bringing up such a subject. That being said, the woman stood still, waiting for the blonde to respond to her out-of-the-blue question. The blonde only shrugged and continued walking.

"Don't give me that!" the woman shouted through whispers, grabbing onto the male's wrist, "What are you thinking harboring her?! Your brother is going mad! Do you know how much he's offering for someone to bring her back all safe and sound?!"

The blonde felt some anger stir within him and he violently tugged his wrist away from the woman in one smooth move, smoothing out his sleeve before placing his hands in his pockets. The woman was not at all impressed, still appearing seething mad with the male's actions. Kazuki only frowned slightly as his eyebrows arched in curiosity. He was almost uncaring of the result of the conversation.

"You will not tell anyone this information," he stated, "And you will make up an alias for her registration here. I will pay for it in full."

"That's not how things are done and you know it. You're not seventeen anymore and Ichiro isn't fifteen. You can't keep faking what you do and who you are. Your parents will kill you!"

"Let them try," the male smirked.

"I'm serious here. I'm not putting my life on the line so that you and your brother can play hero with a little girl."

"She's not a little girl, Miss Murakami, she's an independently functioning young woman."

"She's seventeen years old!"

"You first met me when I was that age. Are you claiming I wasn't capable of taking care of myself back then? I believe I proved everyone wrong, no?"

"I'm saying that you were a kid then and that she's a kid now! I won't back down because you think you'll talk your way out of this one."

"I've talked my way out of plenty of things before," the blonde smirked again, looking down at his watch.

"And I'm sure you'll talk your way out of plenty of other things, but not this one!"

"Unfortunate. I'll let my money do the talking then. It'll be delivered to your house Sunday morning. Give me a hint that you'll say a word to anyone about this...situation, and you'll wind up on my 'problem' list. I tend to be tidy with my to-do lists and always complete them before a certain amount of time. I wouldn't want too many things to execute to clog up my lists, after all."

The woman winced, standing still as the blonde walked back into the hospital room, greeting the younger girl with a soft smile. There wasn't anything that would make Kazuki change his mind except for Ichiro, and she knew that both of them were intent on keeping her with them until they accomplished what they wanted. Thus, without any hope of changing his mind, the woman gave a huff before walking off to do exactly what he had asked of her. Changing the (h/c) haired girl's information, age, name, etc. was a pain, but it was well worth the money and it wasn't like there was any choice in the matter anyway.

"Did she say if Ichiro is alright?" (Y/n) asked timidly, giving a concerned expression to the blonde sitting down next to her.

"She said he'd be just fine, dear girl. It's you we're concerned about."

"Am I going to die now?"

While the younger girl asked the seemingly hopeless and depressing question, she didn't have a look in her eyes or face that replicated the emotions her question seemed to suggest. That fact only made the question that much more worrying, but the blonde held a kind smile on his lips despite the fact he knew what she had in mind when asking. It was as if she was asking for something that should have happened long ago.