Karneval: The Alternate Reality

Chapter 25

I knock on the opened door, causing Karoku to whip his head around before he jumps up, making his way over to me.

“Kai,” he whispers faintly with relief as he embraces me in his arms.

I smile softly as I hug him back.

“Akari told me everything. Are you okay? Are you feeling any better now? Are you still in any pain,” Karoku questions me in a worried tone.

I giggle softly before gently pushing him away while he continues to hold me by my waist.

“I’m alright, Karoku. Don’t worry about me. You need to worry about yourself and getting better. But I appreciate your concern and I’m sorry for worrying you. I thought about visiting you, though, I feared you wouldn’t let me go away so easily,” I speak gently to him.

Karoku smiles softly as he looks down at me, then he nods his head in agreement before holding me tightly again.

“You’re right. I most likely wouldn’t have let you go easily. I definitely would’ve put up a fight,” he confesses.

I gently hold the back of his head, pulling him closer to my shoulder, holding him in my arms.

“Why don’t we sit down and I’ll cuddle with you,” I suggest.

Karoku instantly lets go of me before leading me over to the bed and sits down only to then pull me onto the bed beside him. I sit up straight as I wrap my arm around Karoku, pulling his head closer to my shoulder. He gently moves my arm to his side before he scoots down only to rest his head in my lap while he holds my waist.

“I really missed you, Kai.”

I smile solemnly as I look down at him, then I run my fingers through his light blue locks.

“Me too, Karoku,” I whisper softly.

Something feels strange about him, though, I can’t tell what it is. He has a good poker face and knows how to cover up and hide things completely. Karoku falls asleep in my lap, leaving me there to stare out the window, watching the clouds go by. Roughly an hour passes before I get a phone call, which then wakes Karoku. I swiftly answer the call from Tsukitachi. I can’t believe it’s time already. As I hang up, Karoku sits up only to pull me closer to him.

“Don’t leave me yet, please,” he begs me.

I sigh softly before prying his arms off of me.

“Karoku, I have to go. I’m trying to be a member of Circus, which means I’ll be training a lot and I won’t have a lot of time to visit you,” I explain.

Karoku sighs with defeat before letting me go only to then crawl out of bed. I get off of his bed as well before making my way for the door. Suddenly, Karoku hugs me from behind, preventing me from leaving his room. I stand there, simply waiting for him to let go of me, yet, he wasn’t moving.

“Let me go. I’ll try to make time to see you. If anything, ask Akari if he’ll grant you access to leave your room so you can see me instead,” I demand irritatedly before giving him my suggestion.

Karoku nods before letting me go, then he kisses my head for a moment before returning to the window sill.

“Bye, Karoku,” I whisper before exiting his room and rushing past Akari’s office, making my way to Nai’s room.

As I’m running across the ship, I turn a corner only to bump into Gareki, causing me to fall down.

Gareki sighs before grabbing my wrists to pull me up on my feet again.

“Watch where...”

“Thank goodness, Gareki! I have to tell you something. I can’t tell Yogi otherwise he’ll be furious with Karoku, but I can’t tell Nai because, well, you know just how much he adores him. Listen, I just went to visit Karoku and I’m very suspicious of him right now. He’s only acting a certain way around me and it feels sort of strange in a way. It’s hard to explain, though, I feel he doesn’t have the greatest intentions with me, or moreover, he’s keeping something from me,” I cut him off only to then inform him in a hurried tone.

Gareki’s eyes open wide as he’s disgusted as well, thinking the worst things possible.

“You can’t tell anyone else about what’s going on, you have to promise me that. I can only trust you with this. If you ever have a feeling to check on me, please do so, that’s all I ask. And we can’t tell Hirato, otherwise, he may become leery of him and it’ll only cause us all more trouble. Not to mention just how much that’ll upset Nai and I don’t want him to lose Karoku again. We just need to prevent anything bad from happening, that’s why I’m asking for your help, Gareki,” I speak hurriedly in a whisper.

Gareki stands there, frozen from shock and with all of this information. Suddenly, he snaps out of it only to shake his head before locking eyes with me.

“Why the hell would Karoku act differently around you? I assumed he’d treat you just as he treats Nai. Wait, are you guys and Karoku really blood related,” Gareki questions me, his face showing exactly how confused and frustrated he really is.

I sigh softly before sliding down the wall, thinking of how to explain my theories.