Covered Court

Chapter 2: "Arrival"

Although Genji drove him to the airport, Rei forgot to ask where hisplane ticket was, so he called Isabelle on his mobile phone. Still holding thechampagne glass, she answered the call.

"What's up, Rei?" she asked.

"You forgot to give me the ticket, blondie!" he answered. Isabelle placed the glass back on thetable, stood up, and burst out in anger, "Weren't you listening while I was discussing before?! I clearly explained that my friend will meet you there!!"

While he was getting scolded, a man behind him tapped on his leftshoulder and took out the phone by his right hand and interrupted, "Yoh, Sabu-chan~"

Isabelle smirked after hearing that familiar voice and answered with enthusiasm, "Well, if it isn't Daigo-kun. I assume that you were just about to meet Rei."

Daigo laughed, while Rei was still in shock, and added, "He looks surprised here. I took his phone, after all."

She then asked him a favor, "I doubt he remembers you, Daigo. But please don't leave him alone until he reaches Japan."

He confirmed his cooperation with a humming nod and ended the call. Afterwards, he looked at Rei and suggested, "Let's just skip the introductions, shall we?"

Although confused with what happened, Rei agreed to his suggestion, however, he started suspecting something fishy. Daigo then handed him his plane ticket and accompanied him to the pre-departure area. Later on, he noticed that the atmosphere became awkward, so he tried lightening up the mood by asking him questions.

"So you're teaching Information Security, Kurogane-sensei?"

Rei confirmed with a humming nod.

"Is this your first teaching job?" he added. Rei just nodded without giving a proper reply at all. Despite the cold shoulder given, Daigo didn't stop asking questions until they boarded the plane. As they sat down beside each other on their assigned seats, Rei broke his silence and asked, "How are you related to that blondie?"

He couldn't help but laugh and thought, "He still calls her blondie!"

"Why the hell are you laughing, moleman?"

Rei calling him mole man caught him by surprise and then answered, "Sorry, dude. I used to call her that name too."

Rei was somehow irritated by the way Daigo acted, so to save himself the stress, he wore a sleeping mask and took a nap. Looking at him trying to relax, Daigo also wore one and took a nap.

"That jerk... Calling me a moleman. It sure brings back memories." he thought. Later that time, they woke up as the flight attendants started conducting a safety awareness briefing to ensure that all passengers are prepared when uncertainties happen. After everything else was settled, the airplane took off.

The flight from Charles De Gaulle airport to the New Tokyo International airport was said to take almost half of the day. Since it was going to be quite a long trip, many passengers decided to sleep throughout the entire flight. This included the two guys. Isabelle, back in Paris, read a letter. Its words are embossed on the paper and it smelled fragrant.

"I guess we can still make it in time." she thought as she took another sip of champagne. Inside the plane, everything seemed to have been running smoothly. However, darkness began to surround Rei's area. A voice then faded in that caught his attention.

"Kurogane Rei, I miss you..."

"Kurogane Rei, I want to see you..."

It kept on repeating the same words until Rei decided to remove his sleeping mask. Before him was the same silhouette he had seen before. This time, her clothes were vivid and her lower face was visible.