𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗘 ─ 𝗬𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗝𝗨𝗡𝗚𝗪𝗢𝗡

XVII. Set the Date

"Ahhh. I'm fine, but thank you for the concern though!" Niki smiled, like a happy baby.

Sunoo's glad that Niki's fine, because if he wasn't, Sunoo might probably not know what to do. Between the two of them, Niki's the one who comforts and protects most of the time - Sunoo had yet to experience doing the same for Niki.

Niki is Sunoo's knight, just like how he was years ago.

But lets save that story for another time ;)

"So what do you want to talk about?"

Niki slowly and gently took out two pieces of paper from his pocket - his hand shaking from nervousness. The moment he had been practicing for has come - it's either he pulls this off or he fails miserably. There was no room for error.

"So I have these uhmm, tickets. Yeah tickets, uhh i-it's a Japan convention, is that what it's called? Whatever, uhmm its basically a place with lots of Japanese food and stuff like that. I-It's on Saturday a-and I was wondering if maybe you'd want to go...with me???" Niki said, eyes shut tight because he was scared of Sunoo's reply.

Sunoo's face lit up, his precious smile getting bigger and bigger as he realized what just happened -but of course Niki didn't see this for his eyes were closed. Sunoo almost squealed from happiness - but he held himself back. He wanted to assume Niki is asking him out on a date, but he told himself he shouldn't. 

'What if Niki's just being a good friend?' he thought. It would be such a terrible thing if he set his expectations so high and ends up getting nothing in the end. Actually, just the thought of that made him want to frown - but he didn't. Niki's inviting him somewhere, he should be happy that he even gets to hangout in a place like that with Niki.

"B-but it's fine if you can't or you don't want to. You're probably busy from-"

"Shhh." Sunoo said, placing his index finger on Niki's lips to silence him.

Niki was surprised to feel something on his mouth, he opened his eyes slowly only to see Sunoo's finger touch his lips.

"I'll go with you. This Saturday, right?" Sunoo said, smiling cutely at Niki.

Just seeing how cute Sunoo is almost made Niki malfunction - he almost wasn't able to answer Sunoo's question.

"U-uhh y-yeah this Saturday." Niki said, cheeks slowly turning red.

"Alright, I'll meet you here this Saturday?"

"Just stay at home, I-I'll fetch you."

"H-huh??!?!" Sunoo screamed and blushed. Oh great, now they're both blushing.

"Is something wrong?"

"Y-ye- I mean no! W-why would you fetch me at my house??? We can just meet here or somewhere else." Sunoo said - cheeks getting redder and redder.

"The convention is nearer to your home, I'll pass by your house on the way there, so might as well just stay at home."

"A-ahhh I see..."

Both of them had nothing left to say. They were just staring at each other and waiting for the other one to speak up. There was awkwardness in the air for about 20 seconds, until not one, but both of them decided to say the same things at the same time.

"So I guess that's- Oh, uhh you go ahead- No you talk- I- Let's just go back to the others- " they said at the same time.

Both of them walked as fast as they could - both of them attempting to leave the other one behind because it was so awkward. But instead they just brisk walked at the same pace, both of them staring at the floor to avoid eye contact.

---

"No. No. Not this one either."

Jungwon was at the library looking for even more books about ancient writing, He just couldn't get his mind off of Katsumi, especially ever since that day he saw Jay with her.

He wants her out of his and his friends' lives. As long as she's near them, there will always be danger lurking around them for sure. The only way he can protect his friends is if he confronts Katsumi.

But he can't possibly confront her without knowing what she wants - or without knowing anything at least. This scroll was his only clue.

"These are all the books, and I still have nothing." he thought to himself.

He had no luck in finding what he needed. Feeling defeated, he felt that it was time for him to stop searching for the day.

As he was exiting the doors of the library building, he saw many booths with countless students. Apparently, it was 'Org-Fair' today - a fair where different organizations from the school can promote themselves in order to recruit new members.

Naturally, Jungwon was not interested in any this.

He walked right through the many students that talked to him - ignoring their words and the brochures they gave him.

He was almost out if the fair area, until he saw the name of his first home on a banner. Japan.

He hesitated to go to that particular booth, but his curiosity led him right to it.

Once he got there, he sighed in relied. Thankfully, it wasn't a club booth, it was just a booth selling tickets to a Japan convention.

He looked at pictures on the booth - seeing Japanese street food, traditional Japan clothing, anime merchandise, and many more made him feel nostalgic. He just left his home about a month ago, yet he already misses it so much. He had no one back in Japan but Japan itself.

He wanted to go to the convention, but he wasn't sure if it was really worth his time. After all, it's just a convention.

But just when it seemed that his interest was lost, he saw something in the convention flyer. At the back of the paper, amidst all the logos of the stalls and booths that would be in the convention, he saw a symbol of his past.

The academy symbol.

The symbol of the Black Rose.