Flaming Hearts ~ Hearts On Fire ~ Book4 [DISCONTINUED] {OLDER VERSION}

CH24 - Conflict In The Mind

As Captain Otake was wandering around the long halls in a hurried pace, he wonders what does King Enma want this time around. But then his curiosity went to the once Heir of the throne, and now he wants to know what happened to him.

Either he got punished for his crimes, or got something entirely different. Although, this eventually became an insignificant matter, because the SDF Leader thinks Koenma will get the kind of consequences that he had told to Ayame and her coworkers.

The results with the Prince of Spirit World finally finding his common sense back and see the error of his ways when he decided to defend the monsters that Spirit World had been trying to keep at bay.

Savage animals or brutal beings as they would call them. . .

Otake's train of thoughts were soon got interrupted by the sound of echoing footsteps that were becoming closer and closer to him.

The captain raised up his stare from the floor to see who it was, and to his surprise, he saw the mentioned prince himself walk from the throne room.

Koenma.

'Guess they finished with. . . whatever conversation they had.' Otake mentally noted to himself, as he took notice of his slow pace in walking which was no doubt caused by the presence of the brunette teen. The captain quickly shook the feeling off, and tried to fasten his tempo, but he had a hard time about it because his focus went on the air that Koenma's aura was giving. A sense of power. . . maybe even control. . . And those blazing eyes reflected the fire of determination and bravery. Needless to say, the leader of the SDF was kind of stunned by it. Mainly because he didn't expect this kind of reaction at all. He counted on something entirely different. "K-Koenma sir!" Otake called out of forced habit. Nothing came from Koenma, who just passed by the Captain's side, and just moved toward the exit of the hall without any sound coming from his mouth. "Wh-where are you-!?"

"Don't." The sharp tone from the once Prince of Spirit world sliced the end of the SDF Leader's question as his feet loudly stopped their journey, making the captain flinch a little out of shock. "Just don't!" The newfound coldness in the brunette's voice forced the captain to hold his breath as his eyes were glued onto the teen's figure that stood still with fists curled up tightly and shaking in anger. Even if the moment was no longer than one minute in real life, it still felt like the start of eternity. The hall was now dead silent, and the tension made the air became harder to swallow down, let alone bone chilling. Eventually, it all came to a stop. . . but even so, it was no better than what came next. "I've already made my choices here, and so have you, captain." Koenma voiced out his thoughts with a hint of bitterness as he couldn't stand this rigid environment any longer. "So, do both of us a favor and leave me and the others out of your narrow beliefs." There came a small pause that lasted for three seconds. "I'm done playing YES-MAN." Then for the first time in this conversation he turned his head slightly, and his eyes became slender and sharp the moment they found the captain's frame. "And I am certainly done with those who would rather judge a book by its cover instead of actually looking into their story to the fullest." With those last words, Koenma finally gave himself permission to leave.

The message stung Otake in every sensitive way it can reach. . . But being stubborn man as he was, he decided, or at least try to ignored it, and focused back on his original task.