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Idia doesn’t think it can get better than this. He’s under the covers, glued to his incredibly comfortable bed with his phone in hand, before Ortho flies over him. “Nii-san, Nii-san! Did you know that Leona Kingscholar-san’s nephew is visiting today?”
Idia peeks his face out. “Huh? Oh, Cheka, right? Leona-shi wouldn’t stop complaining to me about it, so yeah. Why?”
“I’d like to meet him!” Ortho says excitedly. “It’s not often that someone gets to meet a relative of Leona Kingscholar-san, and I still have data I’d like to fill in about him!”
“Ahh… Well, if it’s just that, then that’s fine. He’s probably in Leona-shi’s room. You know where that is, so you’ll be fine getting there.”
Ortho frowns. “Ehhh? You should come with me, Nii-san!”
Idia curls up under his covers and frowns back at his little brother, not bothering to remember that he won’t even be able to see it. “You don’t need my help, you know? Plus, I don’t feel like leaving my bed, let alone doing that to go to Leona-shi’s room right now. I’ve got an event to grind for.”
“But!! Pleaaase? You can play through the event while we’re there! Leona Kingscholar-san will probably be asleep anyway, and you actually want to see him, don’t you?”
Idia can’t do anything but let out a small grunt. He silently curses his past self for making this Ortho so intuitive and forces his body to sit up.
“Fine… Let me at least text him that we’re coming first.”
Ortho cheers, and Idia can’t help the small smile that forms on his face. He guesses that no matter how Ortho turns out, he’ll always be weak to him.
me: leona-shi
leona-shi: What
me: we’re coming over
leona-shi: Who’s we
me: me and ortho
leona-shi: K
leona-shi: The little brat’s here though
me: yea that’s why we’re coming
leona-shi: Weird. But okay
“Alright Ortho,” Idia sighs. “Let’s go.”
—
Idia makes his way to Leona’s room, Ortho trailing close behind him. The other Savanaclaw students no longer stare at him as he walks through their dorm, his visiting now being a regular occurrence. Now, however, it’s his brother that they’re staring at.
It’s not like they’ve never seen him before…
Ortho’s unbothered, thankfully. It only takes them a few more minutes before they’re opening the door to Leona’s room, and as soon as they do, they see Cheka’s head whipping around to them from Leona’s bed.
“Oji-tan, Oji-tan!” Cheka starts to excitedly slap a sleeping Leona’s arm, and Idia fights for his life holding back the laugh that threatens to come out. “Who are those people? Are they your friends?!”
“Don’t slap me…” Leona lowly growls, irritated that he’s awake now, but he doesn’t do anything to stop the attacks and instead props himself up on one elbow.
They move closer to Leona’s bed, and Ortho is the first to greet the lion cub. “Hello, Cheka Kingscholar-san! My brother and I have come to visit you today!” At this, Leona looks at Idia with a raised eyebrow.
Did you?
Idia shakes his head. Nope, not me.
“Ehhh?! To come meet me, Robot-san?”
“Yes!”
“His name is Ortho, though,” Idia says, opening his mouth to speak for the first time since he arrived.
“Oh! And what’s your name, Firey-hair-san?” Idia can hear the snickers that come from Leona and glares at him from the corner of his eye.
“Idia,” he answers.
“So, Ortho-nii-san and Idia-nii-san!”
“E-Eh…? I don’t remember gaining another little brother in my party all of a sudden…” Idia mumbles, but when he looks at Ortho, his (actual) little brother is completely delighted.
“I’ve never been able to be a big brother!”
Oh, yeah. I guess he hasn’t.
“Oi, Cheka. It’s not nice to leave our guests on their own. Why don’t you stay with them?” Idia can tell Leona’s trying to dump Cheka onto them, but that’s not working on him. Idia’s a master of strategy, after all. Definitely not. No way I’m being a babysitter, Leona-shi.
“I’m sure I’ll be super boring to sit with. I’ll stay with your uncle here, and you can go with Ortho, okay? He wanted to meet you personally, too.”
“I’d be happy to keep Cheka Kingscholar-san company! You have fun here with Leona Kingscholar-san, nii-san!” Ortho winks at Idia, and he prays to the Great Seven that Leona didn’t see.
“Hehe, okay!” Cheka giggles, and Idia sits down next to Leona when Cheka gets up and starts running towards Ortho.
“I’d like to take him to the courtyard. Is that alright?”
Leona replies with a yawn. “Yeah, whatever. He can’t get hurt at all though. Not a single scratch.”
“Of course! I’m equipped with all protective equipment, after all! You don’t need to worry one bit, Leona Kingscholar-san.”
“Tch. Didn’t say I was worried. It’s just that his dad will flip out if he gets something as small as a paper cut, and that’ll be a pain in the ass.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Idia stops listening to the conversation there and chooses to pick up his phone instead, but he finds it interesting to see Ortho and Leona talk to each other. Leona speaks to Ortho like he does to anyone else, but for whatever reason, his voice lacks the usual hint of annoyance. Maybe that’s just the effect Ortho has on other people.
The next time Idia looks up, Cheka is clinging onto Ortho’s arm, and they’re about to leave the room. “Bye-bye, Oji-tan, Idia-san!” They leave without waiting for a response, and the room becomes silent, save for Leona’s light snoring.
“He’s already asleep…? I swear he just hit a new world record…” Idia whispers to himself. Leona’s sleeping face is handsome, Idia notes, but it makes Idia’s eye twitch how overly attractive it is.
This damn ikemen.
One minute passes. Then it’s two minutes. Then three, then four, and then at five, Idia realizes that maybe he’s been staring for too long. It’s a blessing that Leona didn’t wake up halfway through that.
Idia looks away, and he feels his face burning. Okay, that’s enough of that.
–
The grip Ortho has on Cheka’s hand is firm, but gentle. He doesn’t want to hurt the next crowned king, but he needs to keep him by his side. Children are unpredictable, so even the chances that Cheka won’t let go of his hand aren’t 100%. Cheka looks excitedly at his surroundings, and his eyes are full of wonder despite this most likely not being the first time he has visited the school.
“Have you never visited the courtyard before, Cheka Kingscholar-san?”
Cheka shakes his head. “Nope! I’ve only ever been to Oji-tan’s dorm!”
“Then this is the perfect chance for you to get to know more parts of the school!” Ortho stops in a spot where flowers look like they’re blooming all around his feet and across the courtyard. Whoever tends to these flowers must be taking great care of them.
“Uwaaah! Look at all of the flowers! Ortho-nii-san, can we make flower crowns with these? I wanna make one for you!”
“Eh? For me?” How strange. The chances of Cheka Kingscholar-san wanting to make one for his uncle are higher, so why…?
“Well, I’ll be making one for Oji-tan too, of course! But, you’ve been really, really nice to me, and you’ve been making sure I stay safe, so I wanna thank you!”
Ah… Is this how Nii-san feels all the time?
“If that’s the case, then of course!” Ortho doesn’t actually know if these flowers are allowed to be picked, but he figures it’s okay. He silently says his thanks to the one who’s been helping the flowers grow, and takes a seat on the ground, Cheka following next to him.
“I sorta know how to make them, but I wanna see how you make them first!”
Ortho nods, and quickly gets to work. He picks the flowers that catch his eye first and starts weaving them into a circle. It doesn’t take long for him to form a circlet of flowers and for Cheka’s eyes to be sparkling.
“It looks perfect! How did you do that?! Can you teach me, Ortho-nii-san?!”
Ortho finds himself going along with a lot of Cheka’s whims today. He starts guiding Cheka through the process, and Cheka fills in the silence with questions about him and his brother.
“So, Idia-nii-san is your big brother? What’s he like?”
“He is, and he’s the greatest big brother ever! He’s super talented and very knowledgeable about what he does. He’s the leader of our dorm, Ignihyde, and a lot of the younger students look up to him, just like I do!”
5 years old, 101 centimeters. Easily excited.
“He sounds so cool!” and Ortho can’t stop himself from rapidly nodding. “I feel like I’ve seen him before somewhere… Today’s my first day meeting him though! Hmm…”
Ortho runs through his set of possibilities of where Cheka could’ve seen Idia before, but the little lion beats him to it. “AH! I’ve seen him in some of Oji-tan’s photos before!”
“Eh, really?” Quickly gets attached to those who are kind to him. Adores his uncle. Oblivious to the fact that the feeling is not mutual. “I wonder why Leona Kingscholar-san has pictures of nii-san on his phone.”
“Idia-nii-san is there on his wallpaper, too! He’s got this huuuge smile!” Ortho wonders what could have happened to make his brother smile as large as Cheka describes, and how Leona could’ve gotten a picture of it. This would be good news to tell Idia, though. Maybe he already knows.
“And… done! You did it, Cheka Kingscholar-san!”
“Ehehe! Since you helped me, you get this one! My next one will be for Oji-tan.” Cheka grins and reaches up to place the flower crown on Ortho’s head. Ortho feels something bloom in his chest, something not in his database, and he can’t stop himself from smiling along with Cheka.
“Thank you!”
–
Idia thinks he’s going to pass out. This definitely isn’t the first time he’s played games with Leona right next to him, but this is the first time that he’s actively watching him play. Over his shoulder.
“Uhh… Leona-shi? How long have you been awake?”
“Dunno,” Leona replies, and Idia tries with all his might not to shiver at the low voice so close to his ear.
“What do you mean you don’t know… It’s already,” Idia swipes down from the top of his screen, “Wh- It’s already this late? Ortho and Cheka have been out for hours. Shouldn’t they be back by now?”
“Hah? What’s the big deal? Didn’t your tiny brother say he was full of protective shit?”
“I’m still going to look.” Idia gets off of Leona’s bed and heads to the door. “They just went to the courtyard, so they shouldn’t have gone far.” Cheka is one thing, but Idia is still paranoid about Ortho being out on his own. I really shouldn’t be. But…
“What a pain in the ass.”
“You don’t have to come, you know. I’m really just looking for Ortho in particular.”
Leona squints at him.
“Ugh,” and Leona drags himself off of his bed too. Idia shrugs and leaves the room, Leona following him.
They reach the courtyard, but Ortho and Cheka are nowhere in sight.
“Ortho! Where are you?” Idia calls out while walking around, but he suddenly stops, and Leona bumps into him.
“Ow… Oi, why’d you stop-”
“Shh.”
“Hah?”
Idia shushes him again and shakily takes out his phone. On the ground he sees Ortho sleeping, with Cheka curled up in his arms. Idia figures that can’t be comfortable, Ortho is made out of metal, but Cheka is sleeping peacefully regardless. Idia snaps as many pictures as he can, and he spots something next to them.
“Flower crowns?” Now that Idia looks more closely, Ortho has one on top of his head. There are two next to Cheka, too. Ortho starts to stir out of his sleep first, and Idia quickly pockets his phone, bending down to their level.
“Ah- Nii-san, Leona Kingscholar-san! It looks like we fell asleep. I’m sorry for being so careless…” Ortho slowly sits up, making sure not to startle Cheka.
“Nah, it’s fine. You guys seem safe, so.” Cheka starts to wake up too, and when he does, he starts drowsily rubbing at his eyes.
“Mn… Oji-tan…? Cheka’s vision clears up and as soon as he can see properly again, he runs up to Leona and hugs his legs. “Oji-tan!!”
“Wh- Don’t grab onto me!” Leona tries, and fails, to push Cheka away from him and the sight is weirdly endearing. Idia glances at Ortho and sees the calculations running behind his eyes. He wonders what kind of data he’s collecting from what’s in front of them. What he’s thinking compared to what Idia is feeling.
“Oh, oh!” Cheka lets go to pick up one of the flower crowns and runs back up to Leona. “This is for you, Oji-tan!”
“And this one here,” Ortho picks up the remaining one and hands it to Idia, “is for you, Nii-san!”
“Eh? Eh?!” Idia stares at the crown in his hands. “Seriously?”
“Tch. Is that all you guys were doing out here? You got the radish sprout here all worried for nothing.” Radish sprout again, huh? Well… Yeah, it’d be way worse if he called me by name in front of them. No thanks.
“Ehehe… Sorry, Idia-nii-san.”
“Ah, no, that’s-”
Suddenly, Idia hears a voice from behind him. “Oh? Kingscholar-kun, Shroud-kun. What are you two doing here? With your younger relatives, no less.”
“O-Oh, Headmaster. We came looking for them since they didn’t come back for a few hours, but they were just here in the courtyard.”
“I see… And those are?” Crowley gestures to the crowns and Idia gets the eerie feeling that Ortho and Cheka might’ve done something they weren’t supposed to.
“Ortho-nii-san and I made these flower crowns for Oji-tan and Idia-nii-san with the flowers in the courtyard! Aren’t they pretty? Did we do good?”
“… Ahem. I’m very sorry, but this is considered destroying property. I am going to have to ask you to take those apart. The courtyard isn’t so carefully tended to for this purpose.”
“Eh…?” Cheka’s eyes start gleaming with forming tears and his lips start wobbling. “B-But… We worked so hard on them… Ortho-nii-san and I…”
Leona sighs, which causes Idia to look up at him. “Y’know Crowley, despite how this kid looks, he’s still next in line for the throne. You’d deny a royal? Doesn’t sound like the best idea, if you asked me.”
Idia stares at Leona for a bit. He wasn’t expecting him to really say that out loud. He heard about the reason why Leona overblotted, which felt like years ago to him. Maybe Leona doesn’t hold as much contempt for Cheka as Idia thought he did.
Crowley nervously speaks again. So much for having authority. “O-Of course, you’re absolutely right, Kingscholar-kun! You can keep them, for I am so gracious.”
“Really?! Yay!”
“But do please head back to your dorms. It’s far past the time anyone is supposed to be here.”
“Roger,” Idia quickly says, not wanting this to go farther than it has to. He doesn’t know what he would’ve done if Cheka really did start crying in the late evening, and he doesn’t know what Leona would do either. He figures it’s best for his heart if it remains that way. All four of them reach the opening to the dorms and say their goodbyes.
“Goodnight, Cheka Kingscholar-san! I hope we can spend time together again soon!”
Cheka giggles back and flails his arm around as a goodbye. “Me too! Bye-bye!”
Things finally quiet down when Idia and Ortho return to their room, and Idia flops down onto his bed and buries his face in his pillow.
“Ughhh… So tired…”
“Today was so much fun!” Ortho cheered. “I talked with Cheka Kingscholar-san about a bunch of stuff! I have something that I think you’d like to hear, Nii-san!”
“Don’t… Because if it’s another thing you discovered about Leona-shi, then no, I don’t wanna hear it. My heart will stop.”
“Ehhh?”
—
The next time Idia visits Leona’s room, he notices the flower crown on his bedside, still completely intact and isolated, as if in order to be kept clean.
Idia hums and can’t stop the smile that crawls onto his face. “Hmm…”
Leona side-eyes him with one eyebrow raised. “What.”
“Nothing.”