I Need To Remember

Chapter Eight

Could this possibly get anymore weird?

Behind his desk chair in the office, Riftan couldn't feel like any less of a boss. As soon as the duel had ended, Maxi, with some greatly restrained anger, told them to meet her here before storming away. But first she had kissed him hard, leaving his mind all scrambled even as he waited to be scolded.

Well, the forced company surely made things substantially worse. Rikaido sat with a near constipated look in a chair, glancing every so often at the door with annoyance. Meanwhile, Hebaron was standing; still chortling and giggling like he'd won a massive prize, despite the loss he just suffered. He even twirled in a victory circle once. Riffan felt more and more pissed everytime he looked at him.

"I'm so lucky to be the first one you remember! I will look back on this until the day I die, reminiscing," He burst out into laughter again. "Me- even before your wife, I bet you truly see me as a friend captain, deep down in that cold heart. I'm touched." Riftan's jaw clenched so tightly, it seemed you would need a screwdriver to loosen it. But before he could say anything, Uslin swept a hand over his perfectly kept mop of hair and corrected:

"It's commander."

Yeah, he did remember the jackass. It was years ago, when he joined that sword-fighting contest that they first met. Why he had participated in something like that, Riftan couldn't recall. But he did remember being aggravated at having to change his goal of fighting from killing to disarming. That sent a small chill up his spine.

And he still couldn't remember everything. Random snapshots were there, along with basic information about the knight. It looked like his initial impression eariler- well, technically it wasn't initial, but- it was not so unlike his previous opinion of the man.

All of the facts swimming around in his head were extremely fuddled, and it was hard to put them in order. Still, Sir Nirta was now easily recognizable.

That didn't mean he wanted the guy around. As the knight continued another tirade about their friendship, Riftan snapped open his mouth with a hand over his head.

"When will you shut up about it? I'm damn near the verge of insanity already," Being struck down in front of all those people would have been less painful than this. "If I have to hear another word out of your ugly, fat mouth..." A dull headache was starting to come back from the annoying chatter. The giant leprechaun only smirked.

"Most ladies would disagree with you. This mouth has worked wonders." He boasted. Uncomfortable, Riftan shifted in his seat.

"You disgust me," Rikaido scowled in the redhead's direction, which just made him laugh harder. "Vehemently."

What occurred next stopped Hebaron from uttering whatever stupid reply he had in mind.

It was the odd sight of Maxi tugging a small silver-haired boy into the room by the ear. Another boy, Riftan assumed was the friend, was following close behind with a worried expression.

"Did Yuri tell you?" She let go looking at the two knights, and the kid rubbed his ear with a wide-eyed face.

Hebaron stroked his chin with a grunt and badly hidden smile.

"At first I believed it was nonsense because he'd drank too much at dinner," The knight began, and Yuri's innocent face paled. "But when I thought about it, I decided to see for myself. You looked awfully happy sometimes for a woman whose husband was totally dead to the world." He spoke thoughtfully, and Maxi's face burned up from embarrassment. Riftan was sure he wanted to wring the man's neck for making her feel bad.

"I-I know I'm not really...liked around here, being you should at least c-consult me before pulling a s-stunt like that! What if he got hurt?" She wrapped her small arms around herself and appeared to be teary-eyed. Riftan moved to stand up and comfort her, but a fire within her eyes held him at a standstill.

"Yurixion Lovar, you promised!" She sounded damn near heartbroken, and Riftan had his angery gaze fixed straight on the boy. Yuri hadn't seen it though, in throwing himself on the ground before Maxi's feet and spewing out apologies at rapid speed.

"First, Garrow had nothing to do with this. It was all me."

"That's true." Livakion nodded while his friend sent him a rather unitimidating glare, which was even further diminished by the pout on his face afterwards.

"And I deeply apologize. I'll never fail you again my Lady, I deserve harsh punishment. A hundred lashes-"

"Get up!" Maxi was red from embarrassment, and the squire hurried to stand. She ran her hands that slightly shook over her face in frustration.

Turning to the three knights, that irritation seemed to burst out of her.

"Y-You know what, I'd e-expect it from you!" She pointed at Hebaron, who feigned offense. "But Sir Rikiado! If you believed there w-was a problem, why...address it in such a way? It's, it's...it's crazy! I care about Riftan, so you have to say something to me. I am his wife." She said it firmly, like she was daring someone to disagree. Unfortunately, the blonde was willing to challenge her.

"It's good to know you care. For so long, no one was able to tell." He sneered. When Maxi's hands tightened into fists and she looked down at the ground, Riftan's self control snapped. He banged a single fist on the table, and everyone looked at him, the clear threat in his eyes.

"Don't fucking talk to her like that. I'm currently not very knowledgeable of my weapon, but I'm sure it can slice your tongue out easily."

Riftan didn't understand the meaning behind the blonde's words, and confusion seeped under his skin. Though whatever the reason, he wouldn't tolerate such blatant disrespect. She didn't deserve an ounce of that treatment, and he wasn't going to let it happen.

Uslin glowered, but formally answered Maxi's questions.

"To be honest, I wasn't totally sure if he'd really lost his memory. That's why the two of us had approached the commander. If he was hurt, we thought he'd decline so we could he the answer out of him. But it didn't go the way we planned," He tutted. "Nevertheless, nothing bad would have happened regardless. The Lord is almost indestructible- and besides his terrible personality, Sir Nirta is a skilled warrior. He can easily avoid hurting another man."

To their collective surprise, Maxi nearly shrieked,

"He is n-not indestructible, look at what happened! R-Riftan could get hurt because you stupid people think that!"

She blinked a little at her own words and covered her mouth.

"O-Of course he is very capable...everyone s-saw the fight but..." The words came out between her fingers as Maxi trailed off into awkward silence, looking anywhere but them.

It was probably not the time, but Riftan's heart leapt at the compliment anyway. He shyly rubbed his neck.

Meanwhile Uslin cleared his throat, actually seeming uncomfortable for once.

"Well, we couldn't afford to slowly fish the answers out of you. The Princess is coming for inspection soon."