Chapter Text
Our story starts in a lovely town - San Marino. It was just a tiny dot on the map of the enormous empire but for locals, it was a peaceful place for getting old. Yet, that day when it all happened was this little paradise quite in a hurry, being overwhelmingly cheerful and celebrating. Too bad that it was about the starting war between the empire and the neighboring kingdom.
Hundreds of young and strong men were enlisted in the army, marching in their shiny new uniforms with their heads up, making a neverending parade with their families and friends cheering them up and enjoying the celebration of what the marching parade had to offer.
Such a memorable moment for San Marino. Yet, there was one man who didn't enjoy it even a bit - Koichi Zenigata.
Being the only son of a famous detective who immigrated to the empire from the far east, Koichi was always led to being strong, clever, and hard-working. His father always made sure to support him, sending him to private school so he could become a detective as great as his dad.
Koichi always admired that and never felt any greed or jealousy over others. He even didn't mind getting his new stepmother - Fanny, who owned a small tailor shop. His mother didn't have a chance to immigrate with them - losing her fight with the sickness she had ages ago. Koichi didn't remember much about her - he was just five years old when it happened, but he could still remember her lovely smile and lovely flowery smell.
However, not everything lasts forever.
When Koichi was old enough to leave school and join the Royal police academy, Mr. Zenigata died in an accident. It then appeared that Mr. Zenigata had been too proud of his son. The school fees he had been paying had left the tailor shop with quite heavy debts. When the funeral was over, Fanny sat down in the parlor in the house next door to the shop and explained the situation.
“You’ll have to give up on joining that school, I’m afraid,” she said, giving Koichi a sad but honest face. “I’ve been doing sums back and front and sideways, and the only way I can see to keep the business going and take care of you is to see you settled in a promising work somewhere. It isn’t practical to have you in the shop. Your hands are too rough for the work with the needle, and even if so, I can’t afford it. I hope you can understand that”
And so this way all of Koichi's dreams of becoming a famous Royal detective had disappeared as fast as a morning fog after sunrise. Luckily he still got his chance to get a similar job to his father's - a local police officer. It took him a lot of “free uniform repairing” offers and some time, but soon the captain of the town police found out that Koichi was the perfect man for the job.
He never complained about overtime, was young, respected by the locals, and undoubtedly could chase down any criminal he would find on the street. Oh, if only Koichi was more self-confident.
Though it certainly had its benefits.
The biggest one was the talk from the locals. Every time Koichi had his duty at the police station he wouldnt be able to work without hearing some gossiping at least once. With writing the police documents on his typewriter, he would hear that the Mayor's wife is cheating on him with a gardener, how Miss Sanders stole newspapers, and that Wizard Lupin’s castle had moved round to the cliffs again, really that man …
The voices always dropped low when they talked of Wizard Lupin, but Koichi gathered that he had caught a girl down the valley last month. That he stole her heart and ate it…
As soon as they whispered about the news, they would go back to chitchatting loudly about Baker's new suit. Seriously, this man had a worse fashion sense than Koichi, which meant it was reaaaaally bad. Then there would be a brief, fearful whisper about the Witch of the Waste. Koichi began to feel that Wizard Lupin and the Witch of the Waste should get together.
“They seem to be made for one another. Someone ought to arrange a match,” he mumbled to himself, getting back to his paperwork. Not that Koichi was jealous or anything. Yes, there were rumors that some wizards and witches were outstandingly beautiful, but he didn't care. After all, his heart already belonged to that cute lady which was selling flowers at the Céciles.
They have never been official about their relationship, but even a blind man could see the blush they had on their cheeks as they waved at each other. Gosh, Koichi promised himself that he would do his best to earn just enough money to give her a nice ring and a place to live together. He knew that the girl - Toshiko, had rich and strict parents but if he would make a good first impression on them they surely could agree to let them get married.
And that time was coming soon since on the second day of May - the day after the Festival of the spring when the city celebrated the blooming nature around them and love in the air, the lovers agreed to let Zenigata meet Toshikos parents.
Too bad that Koichi didn't know that this festival would change his life forever…
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With a sound of a loud train whistle, Zenigata jerked himself in shock, waking up in shock. Oh, that's right… it was the first day of May - The Festival of the Spring. A lot of people from nearby towns wanted to see such an exciting event so it was no wonder why the streets were so overcrowded.
Yet, for one a day full of celebration, for Koichi, it was a day full of worries. He already spent the last 3 days on full duty, preferring to sleep in the police station to going such far distances in overcrowded streets to home and back. To top it all, he had for this special day a walk-through-town duty. There weren't enough police officers to protect people from potential pickpockets so even someone as a freshman 24yo Koichi was appreciated for making San Marino safe.
Putting on him his dull uniform coat, he was about to leave to start his duty when all of a sudden one lady who was reporting something in the hall yelled: “Oh my goodness! Look! Look! That's Lupins Castle!”
She wasn't bluffing. Getting through the crown of his coworkers, Zenigata could see it. Far away, near the mountains, there was a blur through the clouds, shaped exactly like a castle.
Wizard Lupin most likely seemed to be offended by the Festival of the Spring. Or maybe he was trying to join in, in his own fashion. Zenigata was too tired and terrified to care. He would have gone home, getting a day off, except that he couldn't. Not to mention he wanted to use his routine to greet his loved Toshiko. So he simply clocked in and went out to busy streets.
“There is no way that he would harm me in any way, so why I am so nervous?” he asked himself as he tried to get through the crowds of people who were cheering the marching army - greeting their close ones till it was their time to join the war on the borders of the Empire and the neighboring kingdom. “I’d be far too scared to join them than meeting Lupin. I've never understood why would anyone give away their life into the hands of a man who has never seen a battlefield with his own eyes.”
Soon finding out that it was impossible to move anywhere in this neverending crowd of musicians, dancing couples, soldiers, and kids, Koichi decided to hide in the nearby side alleys. He knew very well that it was the quickest way of getting anywhere since the alleys were too narrow and dark for celebrating the festival there.
He made a quick turn, suddenly facing an empty alley, enjoying how less loud it was compared to the town square. “Toshiko, I can't wait to see you. I bet you look as pretty as every day.” Koichi smiled, looking into the inner pocket of his jacket where he had hidden his small gift for her - a cute tiny bouquet of field flowers. Yes, it wasn't anything fancy, but that could wait till the following day…
Shining as a light in the darkness, Zenigata stopped as he was about to step on something. “Huh? How did it get in here?” All surprised, he kneeled down, picking a small item from the ground to take a better look at it. It was some kind of a golden necklace with a small flower made out of silver on it. It looked a bit like a Lupine flower. But who in the world could own and lose such an expensive necklace…
“Gimme that!!”
Unable to even put the necklace into his pocket, someone run out of the shadow and snatched the necklace, running away without looking back. They were so snappy and fast that they accidentally grabbed also Koichis flowers, tearing them and ruining them in a hurry as they were escaping with the necklace.
That made Koichi mad.
Running for his life, Zenigata started to chase the thief, yelling in all anger, “Gimme your necklace you little punk! You're under arrest!” over and over again. Turning right and left, he followed the thief who was trying his best to get away from him.
Turn right, Left! Jump! Miss the obstacle!
Zenigata was only a hand away from the thief, so SO close to grabbing him and getting him arrested… that he didn't notice a small box on the ground, tripping over it and smashing his face on the cobblestone cubes.
Fuck! He messed up!
Now the thief surely had gotten away with it-
“W-what??”
Raising his head, Koiching silently gasped in shock.
Not only that the thief didn't manage to run away successfully, but to his disbelief was standing still, as if he was frozen in time.
Seeing that was a big enough shock in itself, even Zenigata who was used to anything at this point knew this surely wasn't normal at all.
But the frozen-in-time thief wasn't the most shocking part. The most shocking part was the person who was in front of the thief.
The gentleman standing in front of the thief was…not from the town, to say the least. And if he wasn't in this quiet alley he surely would be a target of looking from the people around. But being in this quiet dark alley made him invisible to the locals and visitors of the festival.
Zenigata couldn't help but stare at the man, though he felt a little bit bad doing it. He knew that people who differed from the locals shouldn't be stared at like they were some kind of spectacle. But Zenigata couldn't help himself.
Sure, he had heard about the people from other countries, the way how they dress up and look different from what he is used to, but to actually see someone like this gentleman…well, it was something that deserved a second glance.
He was a bit taller than Koichi, quite shorter than most of the men from the Empire but also quite thin and fit. His pale pinkish skin looked as smooth as the silk, having such soft hands as if the man had never worked manually. Hair black as Zenigatas, the officer assumed that maybe he is from the East too, yet his clothes told otherwise.
White as a snow oversized V-cut shirt showed off some small amount of the chest hair and made a great match to deep-night black ironed trousers and polished black Oxford shoes. Not to mention the green with golden embroidery cape-like jacket. His sleeves trailed longer than any that Zenigata had ever seen, all scalloped edges and golden insets. With all of this and having a golden earring in his left ear, he looked more like a circus member than a rich powerful man.
“Wow, are you okay? That surely must have hurt.” The handsome young stranger looked at Zenigata, offering him a helping hand. “I- I am okay but w-who are you?” The shocked Koichi asked all in confusion. Did he hit his head that hard?
“Oh, my name? That doesn't matter, I am sure you know it anyway. What does matter tho is your quick thinking and kind mind. Chasing this criminal for me so I could get my necklace back. How kind of you!” The stranger waved his hand as a “ don't bother ” gesture smiling wide at the police officer. “Where are you heading to, officer? I can accompany you. You never know what hides in these dark alleys.”
“I was heading to the Célines flower shop, but you don't have to accompany me. After all, I have to take this guy to the police station-”
“Don't worry about that! He surely can find his way to report himself.” The stranger giggled and with the move of his finger, something crazy happened - the thief with some protesting words started to all of a sudden move, making weird marching steps out of the alley, heading to the police station. It was as if he was under some kind of a spell-
…No. It couldn't-
Zenigata didn't even have a chance to panic as the stranger gently put his hand on Koichi's shoulder, and started to walk with him. Not sure if it was the magic or just a fear in his legs that told him it was a bad idea to refuse this walk.
With each step, in the now completely silent alley, both of the men could feel that something is wrong. Especially Koichi. How the hell did he even agree to walk by some sort of wizard who could surely kill him if he wanted and get away with it, so casually tho feeling something would get bad any time soon?
With all of this, the stranger gently leaned over to the Zenigatas ear and whispered in a calm tone, “I don't want you to be too alarmed but we might have been followed, so don't panic and try to remain calm, okay?”
If anything, this made Koichi finally start to panic in his mind. Who- what- where? Oh god, what did he get himself into?!
He soon realized what the stranger meant by it. After a few minutes of walking, Zenigata noticed some kind of black slime crawl out of the wall, transforming into something that was human-shaped, but not human. It was so scary that the poor terrified police officer had to use all of his minds to keep himself cool.
And worse of all, as more and more of those black slime creatures started to crawl out, they started to rapidly chase them too, in their own creepy way.
“Im sorry for getting you involved in this,” The stranger whispered again, moving his hand to grab Zenigatas's waist, “This way!” And all of a sudden turning into another side alley, getting from a calm walk into a fast one - almost running. It was so nerve-wracking that Koichi thought that his heart will receive a heart attack at any moment.
Oh, fuck. They were surrounded. The monsters from the back were almost behind their backs and the only way out of the alley was surrounded by other ones. That was it. They were about to die!
Yet, the stranger had a secret card under his sleeve. As they run towards the surrounding monsters, the man grabbed Zenigatas waist firmly and yelled “Hold me tight!” and without a blink, out of nowhere, the stranger jumped up. He jumped with poor Koichi so High that not only the monsters were out of their reach, bumping into each other, but also making the stranger and Koichi above the roofs of surrounding buildings, making them literally walk in the sky alone.
“High! Too high!” Koichi finally found his lost voice, overreaching his fear and panicking in big. “Put me down! Put me down!!!” He yelled and twitched as the stranger walked with him, making steps on the thin air, without anyone under them noticing them. It was as if they were invisible to the people celebrating there.
“Calm down, just straight down your legs and walk! It's not hard!” The stranger tried to calm Zenigata down but the officer wasn't having it. Too bad the festival and the army marching were so loud that nobody could hear his girlish scared screeching. “LEMME GO! IM GONNA DIE! IM GONNA DIE!” he begged and panicked, trying to get off the man.
“Ugh, Fine, as you wish,” The stranger sighed and smirked, which meant no good. As the hand of the stranger got off the police officer, Zenigata lost all of its “flying power” and started to fall rapidly fast down.
“AAAAAAAAAAGHH, NOOOO, IM GONNA DIIIIEEEEEE” He screamed, closing his eyes as he saw the ground getting close, knowing this is the end. In all of his panic, and maybe scared stupid mind, he yelled “HEEEELP”. And then-
Nothing.
.
.
.
“Huh?”
Koichi opened his eyes to find himself alive, in the arms of the stranger who was floating about a meter from a balcony on the top floor of the Flowershop. He didn't know if he should feel ashamed or thankful… Maybe both.
“Awww, man, you're quite troublesome.” The stranger in the cape smirked at him and helped Koichi get on the now-so-beloved floor of the balcony. “I'll make sure to lure them away, but make sure to not come outside for some time, okay?”
“O-okay.” Zenigata took the rest of his strength to thank the man and with a deep look into each other's eyes, the stranger smirked and said. “That's my boy.” With all that, he then jumped down and tho Koichi looked down the balcony, the stranger in the cape was already gone.
Oh god…what did he get himself into….?
And why…why was this stranger so charming…in its way?