Masquerade

Chapter 21: First Mission

Shiuhua looked at the mirror and thought about himself. In his mind, he thought that if his friend, Yukiko, was reading his mind, as long as he could express his true self.

While he was sitting there, Cheol Hwa and Nicolas were guarding his friend's room so that he would not go out permanently. Not because he did anything wrong, rather, he had made a big mistake that he regretted confessing right in front of the one he should not have said.

" He looks quite feminine, doesn't he?"

The sentence from him was simple yet enough for the truth. The more everyone looked closely, the more symptoms he was having. He hadn't confessed to anyone about his sexuality or his love for someone before, parallel, he hadn't been aware of this as he only considered everyone as his friends. Despite this, Yukiko was right all along. He could not stay quiet for a long time if he had not been comfortable with himself. However, he refuses to confess what he wants to say to Cheol Hwa about his true feelings to him, only to Nicolas. He could not say directly to him, and he needed Yukiko's assistance to help him.

Unlike him and Cheol Hwa who were childhood friends, Nicolas and Yukiko were arc-rivals. Shiuhua learned from both of their families and friends, that they have seen each other as opponents from the start. Their abilities and talents were undeniably strong and incomparable, which made both of them understandably resentful of each other. Despite their same background according to their teachers, they had not told each other about it. Despite all the difficulties, they never complained about this and put their negativity aside and assisted them when troubles came. Nevertheless, both of them had never put any of their problems to them and blamed them for these false accusations.

" Where is Yukiko?!" Nicolas suddenly shouted from the front door before running outside to find him, and Shiuhua soon regained consciousness.

" What is going on?!" He quickly opened the door, shocked to see everything that was supposed to be peaceful and quiet.

" Yukiko is NOT in his room!" Cheol Hwa said angrily, following Nicolas.

Not only horrified Shiuhua but shocked Sakutaro, who only witnessed from behind, had to go with Nicolas forcibly due to not receiving calls from his friend two days ago.

________________________________

After preparing my necessary things and wearing clothes that could be used to the advantage of the adventure the day before, waiting for the right moment, the middle of the night, I opened the window and got out of the dormitory from behind using the ropes made from my step-siblings' scarves. It took me time to get out as I had to be cautious and begin my adventure. This mission with Miss Xuiying began in Riverland, an isolated village that was five meters from Himemiya and had a connection with some unexplainable magic according to the map, after giving my absence paper and receiving acceptance from the principal, I quickly packed my things and ran to the train station where she was waiting.

" What takes you so long?" She said.

" I was punished, Miss..." I answered simply, trying to regain my breath. " I don't want to be seen as a burden, Miss..."

" I see." She said helping me pack things to the train. " I think we should begin. The others are arriving soon."

" Shouldn't we wait for them?" I asked worriedly.

" No problem. We should get ahead. He had said me so." She showed her scroll.

While the train ran, I was so nervous that I could not lie and sleep. This was my first time traveling with my senior, the opportunity that everyone wanted to have. A senior whose incredible talent none of the opponents could defeat.