Another world Chapter 3
Title: Another world
Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Ohmiya
Summary: Ninomiya Kazunari, son of a famous business man, was caught in a storm and was tossed out of his ship. He was saved by an unknown person and Nino has made up his mind to sail the seven seas to look for that person.
Disclaimer: Don’t own.
[Prologue] [Chapt 1] [Chapt 2]
Chapter 3:
“Masaki, what’s wrong with you today?” asked Nino, looking at his friend over his tea cup.
Aiba sighed and threw his spoon back into the bowl, “Nino, it’s not fair!”
“What’s not fair?” asked Nino, truly clueless, “Are you upset because I got pancakes for breakfast while you got cereal?”
“No, no, it’s not that,” answered Aiba hastily, not wanting his friend to think that he was jealous of his position in the mansion, “I don’t know if I should tell you…”
“Aiba, if there’s something bothering you so badly, you have to tell me,” said Nino firmly, gripping his friend’s forearm.
Aiba daren’t look at Nino. He knew he was only a butler in the mansion, but he did consider himself as Nino’s friend. Even if he got fired for telling Nino because he was only a butler, Aiba was doing it as a friend.
“I overheard the maids gossiping,” whispered Aiba, glancing around to make sure that there was no one within ear reach, “Something about a deal with the Matsumotos,”
“That’s it?” Nino rolled his eyes.
“No, listen,” Aiba whispered fiercely, “apparently, there is a reason, nothing to do with business, behind the deal, and that something has got to do with you,”
Nino nodded to himself, contemplating about the reliability of the source. The maids do heard everything in the mansion since nobody really cared if they spilled secrets in front of a lowly maid, but then again, his father won’t agree to a deal which was not to his son’s advantage.
“I’m not sure…” began Nino slowly, “It seems like a pretty normal deal to me,”
“But Nino!” cried Aiba, “doesn’t it seem strange that a fashion company would do business with an electronics company?”
“What so strange about that? We’re selling them sewing machines!”
Nino gave his friend a friendly pat on the shoulder as the maids cleared their breakfast. He knew his friend was looking out for him, but the taller man could misunderstand the whole situation.
Following behind Nino, Aiba swore to himself that he would find out the real reason for the deal.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ohno looked at the huge log in front of him, lying on his bed. He log looked nothing like him, but it was the best he could find, so tucking the log into his bed, Ohno tried not to start regretting his choice.
Grabbing his bag, Ohno swam to the door, but not before taking a good long look at the painting of his family. He hoped he was lucky enough to see them again. With a small pout on his face, Ohno swam to the door and peered out. Luckily, the guards weren’t patrolling that particular corridor at that time, giving Ohno the very chance that he needed.
With all his might, Ohno propelled himself towards the exit, praying like mad that nobody would see him. His back pressed against the wall, Ohno leaned over to check for any guard - none. Relieved, Ohno continued with his journey. He didn’t run into any trouble, just one sleepy chef on his way to the toilet.
When he finally saw the side gate, Ohno let out a triumphant cry and swam for all he was worth. He was reaching the gates, reaching the starting of the real journey, and his tail just had to get caught in something.
Turning around whiling tugging at his tail, Ohno got the shock of his life - Sho was holding onto his tail as if his life depended on it.
“Sho?!” cried Ohno in disbelief.
“And where do you think you’re going?” asked Sho in a really stern voice which sent quivers down Ohno’s spine.
“Sho, you don’t understand, I have to go see that human!” whispered Ohno once he realized the position he was in.
“You can’t leave the castle, you’re grounded!” Sho hissed back, “You’re going to get into so much trouble if any sees this, go back to bed!”
Ohno tried wriggling free but to no avail, Sho had a good grip on him.
“Please, Sho, I have to do this,” pouted Ohno, trying to convince his friend into letting him go, “think about all the stuff I can find out if I go,”
Gaining new knowledge managed to persuade Sho slightly and his grip loosened slightly, but still strong enough to prevent Ohno from swimming away.
“Then let me go with you,” said Sho firmly, “I promised the king I’ll take care of you,”
“Sho, I have to go alone. I need you here to cover for me,” explained Ohno.
“No, I’m going,”
“Please, Sho,”
The latter released his grip completely, knowing that there was nothing he could do to change Ohno’s mind.
“I hope you’ll feel extremely guilty if you come back and find that I was executed because I let you leave the territory,” Sho threatened in a half-joking manner.
Gratitude washed over Ohno, making the prince of Atlantis want to just hug his friend to death. So that’s what he did, excluding the part where he kills Sho with a hug.
“Take care of yourself, ok?” mumbled Sho against his ear.
“Don’t worry, I’ll come back in one piece,” assured Ohno.
With a swish of his tail, Ohno dashed for the main gates, silently screaming in delight when he crossed it. All that was left for him was a long, perilous journey to the submarine volcano.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You call for me, father?” asked Nino politely when he entered his father’s study. A few minutes ago, a maid came rushing into his room, telling him that his father wanted to see him, pronto.
“Kazunari, take a seat,” said Mr Ninomiya, gesturing to the huge comfy armchair by the fireplace.
Nino did as he was told. Once seated in the big comfy armchair which seems to eat him up, Nino look at his father with a serious expression on his face. If his father wanted to see him so urgently, it has to be something very important. Could it be related to that thing Aiba told him that morning?
“Kazunari, I have something very important to tell you,” began Mr Ninomiya, unsure of how to put the matter across to his son, “I hope you can take this maturely,”
“Yes, father,”
“You know about the deal with the Matsumoto company, right?”
Nino nodded. He started to regret no listening to Aiba, maybe he could be more prepared.
“There is another reason for the deal,” explained his father, looking at him as though Nino was going to explode anytime.
Thankfully, Nino was somewhat informed about it before, so the shock wasn’t as bad compared to if Nino didn’t know about it.
Mr Ninomiya gave him some time to absorb the fact, “Jun, Matsumoto-san’s son, is actually very fond of you,”
Nino was starting to get a headache.
“The deal is not completed unless you agree to date his son,” continued Mr Ninomiya, looking at his son, watching for warnings of an eruption.
“Can’t you refuse?” asked Kazunari quietly, playing with his fingers.
“Not when our company is in such a position,” Mr Ninomiya explained, “I didn’t want to tell you, but our supplier went bankrupt. We don’t have the money to look for a new one. Matsumoto-san kindly agreed to buy our sew-machines so that we can have the funds to source for a new one,”
Nino nodded absentmindedly.
“Kazunari, I don’t want to do this either, but for the sake of our company, could you just go out with him?” pleaded Mr Ninomiya.
Nino bit his lips. There really wasn’t a choice, was there? He had to do it even though he doesn’t want to.
“I understand, father,” answered Nino quietly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Aiba was so tempted to pick up a vase and throw it at anything and everything.
“Aiba, stop fuming,” groaned Nino, “you’re making me feel worse,”
“But how could Mr Ninomiya agree without asking you first,” cried Aiba, “it’s unmoral! It’s unethical!”
“Aiba…”
“You don’t want to do this, don’t you?” asked Aiba worriedly.
“No,” replied Nino instantly, “I don’t like that Matsumoto Jun and his stupid perm,”
Aiba started pacing around the room, “there has to be a way out of this,”
“Aiba, its just one date,”
“Yes, but if he agrees on your behalf once, he can do it again. It may be a simple date this time, but it could be selling you to them next,”
Nino sighed. He hope his friend was exaggerating, although he doesn’t doubt the possibility of that happening. At the back of his mind, Nino knew that something like that was going to happen, it was one of the widely practiced ways of ensuring that power remains or grows within a few families.
“You have to decline,” said Aiba stubbornly.
“How? The company will collapse soon if I don’t,”
“You could run away,” suggested Aiba, looking at the bottle on Nino’s shelf. Nino followed his friend’s gaze and spotted the bottle containing the liquid that was supposed to change Nino into a merman.
“You should go,” advised Aiba, “go find that merman you saw that day! Run away from your arranged date! It’s the perfect plan!”
Nino’s gaze continued to linger on the bottle. His friend was right, he had to stop his father from arranging such stuff for him.
“I need to start packing,” said Nino.
“Yay! We’re going on an adventure!” cheered Aiba, “I’ll go pack our things!”
“No, Masaki,” Nino corrected, “my things. I’m going alone,”
“But…!”
“No, buts,” said Nino firmly, “you have to stay here,”
Aiba pouted but nodded his head firmly. He couldn’t argue if Nino really insisted he stay, after all, he was only his butler who had sworn his life to Nino.
“At least let me escort you to the beach,” requested Aiba, “I want to make sure my potion works,”
Nino nodded his approval.