The first thing he noticed was the ringing in his ears and alongside it a growing headache.
He grumbled internally at the discomfort.
He could not see anything due to the darkness covering his vision.
Within the darkness he could hear voices which seemed at a distance away. As the ringing began to lower— his hearing adjusted.
“What’s that supposed to mean!”
The voice that was painfully loud to him, sounded masculine with a degree of immaturity to it and he could clearly feel the anger and hostility alongside it. While he did not recognise the owner of the voice, he immediately felt irritated by him.
Thoughts of “Must you make such a racket?” and “Silence you annoying fool” began to creep into his mind.
However, he remained silent and motionless.
“Exactly, what it’s supposed to mean you idiot!”
Another voice answered in likewise anger, also sounding masculine. The two were engaged in some sort of argument, of which he knew nothing about.
It was at this moment he realised something.
The darkness that had been covering his vision was not caused by being in a dark space or by it being night or anything of the like, but by the fact that his eye lids were still closed.
Suddenly becoming aware of his body, he could feel the aching in his bones and a deep heaviness throughout his body.
“U-umm does anyone know where we are?”
Another voice, this time sounding feminine.
While he could be mistaken, he assumed that this person was female. The question from the female speaker made him wonder the same thing and curiosity had begun to build inside him, as he pondered on his situation.
Questions such as Where am I? or Who are these annoying fools? And am I perhaps in danger? Began to form at the back of his mind.
The number of voices began to increase, and so slightly giving in to his curiosity he decided to slowly open his eyes and peak at his surroundings.
A brilliant light bombarded his eyes and for a few seconds he could not actually see anything however, as his eyes quickly adjusted, and his head began throbbing in pain—He could finally see.
He looked around warily, careful so as to not make the slightest movement. For he feared making his presence known, when he did not understand the situation around him.
He was laying on his left side on a stone floor, facing what looked to be an incredibly dense forest, his hands were tucked away at the side pockets of his coat.
The stone floor did not feel cold, perhaps this was because it was relatively warm outside or because he had been sleeping on it for some time. However, from the way his bones were aching, he could tell that must have been sleeping like this for a while now.
He could hear several people perhaps a few meters behind him deep in conversation with each other, each asking questions of the same nature—
“where am I?”
“who are you?”
“Do you know where we are?”
—and so giving in to his curiosity with his hands still in his pockets, he slowly turned to lay on his back and faced in the direction of the voices.
Some of the people were standing desperately fiddling around with strange rectangular devices, while others were sitting down idly. There were even some that appeared to still be sleeping.
“Hmm- my phone’s not turning on”
“It’s not just you it’s like that for everyone else”
“B-but seriously. How did we get here? I’m starting to get a little scared”
As he covertly listened in on two females one with long ruby coloured hair and the other with short black hair the situation was beginning to become more clearer to him.
For reasons unknown he and the others here, had ended up in this mysterious place and neither of them seem to know the other.
Knowing that he was not alone in this peculiar situation helped to alleviate some of his concerns and so feeling slightly more confident and no longer in danger. He slowly sat up and faced in their direction.
Nobody had noticed him.
Or rather they were too self-absorbed in their own problems or were too busy gathering information to pay him any attention. This however, was a preferred situation for him.
For it meant he could simply sit back and observe.
He did not consider this to be a bad thing but rather something he would prefer to call a privileged position. Here he could sit back and watch others struggle through their problems while believing he had none.
It was a temporary escape from reality, but it brought peace to the mind, something he felt was best taken advantage of considering this unknown situation.
He had counted twelve people including himself, of which seven were males and five were females. All of which appeared to be of similar age to him, with the exception of one who looked noticeably younger.
The majority of them had small rectangular glass like objects which -through eavesdropping- he learned were cellular devices or cell phones. While this sounded familiar to him, the shape of these devices was not something he felt he recognised.
The ones that had been previously sleeping had now woken up and had quickly managed to join in on the conversation of the others. Their questions were similar to those from earlier and he now found himself pondering on those very questions.
How did I end up here? Where even is here?
However, no matter how hard he tried to recall, the only thing he was able to get was a headache.
Letting out an exhausted sigh he moved to make himself more comfortable, arching over his left leg and placing both hands on his knee. Upon doing so his attention was immediately stolen away by the many rings he wore on his fingers. Each one radiant and exotic with a luxurious different coloured jewel resting on top.
The rings was so intricately designed and eye-catching that it would be clear upon a first glance that they were of exceptional wealth, they would draw the eyes of any and all people while emanating wealth, authority and power, as he examined each ring—
There were six in total, five on his left hand and one on his right index finger.
Each ring held beautiful exotic patterns across the bands, each seeming to be made of silver however, there was only one made of gold. Each ring carried a gem of; amber, amethyst, diamond, emerald, ruby, and sapphire, each gem resting on its own ring.
Out of all the rings, there were three that stood out the most.
On the right index finger was a silver skull with diamond for eyes and on the left thumb was the head of a silver dragon with sapphire for eyes. Lastly, the left index finger had the only ring made with a gold band instead of silver and was engraved with exotic patterns and carried a large square cut ruby.
Each ring stood out far too much, as though desperate to be seen and admired. However, contrary to the desire of the rings the bearer did not share those same desires
—he felt nothing but the feeling of disgust forming within him.
He did not wish to be seen or admired.
As though to answer his own desires, his hand instinctively reached towards the inside pocket of his coat, as though searching for something and sure enough it found a long rectangular black box amongst other things.
As he opened the rectangular box, he found several slots for each ring. He smiled internally at being able to discard the flashy rings.
The sudden unintentional movement made him realise something that he probably should have done from the very beginning.
He had not yet checked his pockets.
A quick rush of excitement filled him deep within as the hope of potential answers, that could be lurking within his own possessions.
However, to his disappointment all he could find was several cigars inside a black humidor zip pouch, a silver lighter and a silver pocket watch.
He opened the humidor pouch and found eight cigars inside, and after a quick examination of one cigar, the words Regius Anim could be seen across a black band. Regius was written in red in bold writings and Anim was written in black across an opened gold scroll in the same font.
It was the name of the brand and the type of the cigar.
The lighter seemed to be custom-made with silver and luxurious foreign etchings all over. He did not open the lighter for fear of drawing attention, but he could tell it was a lighter for the cigars as it housed a cigar cutter neatly inside.
The silver watch was similar to the lighter as it also appeared to have been custom-made perhaps by the same maker. As a similar etching design ran all across the outside, upon opening the watch the time was stopped at four seventeen in roman numerals.
The watch was an automatic watch, and so one had to twist the dial on top each day to recharge it. However, since he did not know the current time, he did not do so.
After searching through all his pockets, those were the only possessions he had. While this was not what he had been hoping for, it was however, a welcomed surprise, particularly the cigars.
After putting away his belongings and suppressing the urge to light a cigar. He had decided to temporarily give up trying to find answers for those previous questions and chose instead to observe his surroundings once more.
The stone floor that he had been asleep on was of a large circular shape, there were strange marking engraved on the floor following the circular outline, as well as stone pillars on the outside which too had strange markings.
Giving the impression of some sort of altar.
The stone itself looked heavily worn by the elements and there were grass growing out the cracks with patches of moss all over.
Surrounding the stone altar was a dense forest with thick trees, bushes of varying sizes and many kinds of plants. While the forest was not completely dark, much of the light seemed to have been blocked by the leaves on the trees.
This made seeing further in the forest difficult.
He had also noticed a small, narrow broken cobblestone path leading from the altar into the forest. The altar, the path and the surrounding greenery gave the impression that it had not been maintained in tens no perhaps hundreds of years.
After observing his surroundings, he decided to focus back on his current situation and so again turned his attention towards the people in the altar.
The situation seemed to have progressed a little and three different groups had now been formed.
The first two groups were similar in that they seemed to be formed of those who were trying to gather information, the last group was simply those that had been left out —the ones who had still been sleeping or sat alone.
The first two groups were deep in conversation and it looked difficult for outsiders to join in and so feeling slightly excluded and in an awkward position he was reluctant to attempt to join in.
He now turned his attention to those who had fallen into the last group.
The majority of everyone here seemed to now be awake and there were only three people sitting alone away from the others.
A young girl with blond hair, another girl with silver hair and a tall man with curly brown hair.
Everyone, in the third group either had their attention on the other groups or seemed to be deep in thought.
As he began to regret his decision of examining his possessions, instead of joining in the conversations at the right time, he noticed that he had made a mistake in counting the number of people in the third group.
Said person was the only one still sleeping. He had been sleeping flat on his back, with one leg arched and the other laid straight. The man had his left hand on his stomach slowly scratching his belly with his right hand cushioning his head.
The man looking to be around five foot eleven in his late teens, with a strong well-built body and a nicely trimmed beard, his skin was golden and fair and glistened in the light.
His hair was dark brown and was tied up in a bun, above his right eye was a scar that cut across the brow of his eye. The man along with his scar and herculean muscles gave the impression of a strong person, and yet despite this appearance he did not look the least bit scary.
The man wore a white shirt with a light-blue floral pattern that was unbuttoned at the collar, several leather wrist straps, black jeans and brown leather shoes.
His overall appearance looking relatively smart.
The man was sleeping peacefully with a happy smile on his face, mouth slightly open with a little bit of drool coming out.
His face embodied the very definition of peace.
The man's carefree attitude was so out of place for their situation that he had mistakenly forgotten about him and this irritated him a little.
No, it irritated him a lot and his anger was steadily increasing.
Here they were in a situation where they had no clue where they were or who any of the people around them was, and here was happy man having a leisurely nap completely unaware of it all.
He stared at him for a moment with a cold stare of disgust.
He had become annoyed to the extent that he had not realised that he had silently stood up and had already walked over to him.
This guy…
Words would not form in his head to describe his displeasure of happy man and the more he stood there and watched the greater his displeasure became.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Therefore, in an act of desperation from a lack of words he kicked happy man in the stomach.
“Wake up you useless dolt”
Although he spoke quietly and in a low tone so as to not be heard, the man woke instantly and in a panic.
It would appear he was not in a deep sleep.
♦ ♦ ♦
His hazel brown eyes darted left and then right with a confused expression across his face, his eyes searching for the one who had awoke him in such a manner.
At first, he was angry at being awoken so violently and was about to retaliate with some force.
However, as he looked up, he saw a man about the same height as him, with skin that was pale white. The man had a medium build, and a short beard with a nicely trimmed moustache. His hair was as dark as the night sky and tied into a short ponytail.
He looked to be in his late teens, but his short beard made him look older.
His eyes were black with a faint reddish tint that seemed to draw one in, and yet for some reason they appeared lifeless. As he stared at those eyes, he could feel a small tinge of sorrow in his chest.
He wore a long black coat and solid red shirt with the collar unbuttoned. His trousers and shoes were both black and he was dressed smart as though he was meeting with important people.
His overall appearance looking very smart and luxurious.
His anger had vanished almost instantly. While he did not recognise the man, he felt that he knew him from somewhere. As he struggled to recall where, words slipped from his throat.
“N-Neko?”
“…Eh?”
They stared at each other bewildered.
It had just occurred to Neko, he had not even been aware of it, up until now he had not been aware of his own name.
Until it was spoken just now, he had not remembered his own name.
He had intended to kick happy man and when he awoke to coldly stare at him and let him know what an idiot he was, except now he was taken aback.
As he stared in confusion at the likewise confused man he was lost for words.
He did not know what to say but could feel the need to say something, the sudden shock from hearing his name had settled in causing him to feel slightly dizzy.
He could hear a ringing sound in his head with each ringing becoming painfully louder.
"H-hey… you okay?"
As he placed one hand on his head to suppress the pain, he spoke with out meaning to.
“K-King?”
His voice was low, and he spoke softly, this did not appear to come from the shock he was experiencing but his actual voice.
“Y-Yeah”
They stared at each other again in confusion.
His name was Neko and the man who had just been asleep was called King.
While this did not appear to be their real names, it seemed to be one they each recognised.
How do we know each other’s names?
I don't know anyone else here…
Rather, I don't even know who he is… I just know… his name…
…How do I know his name?
He felt that he recognised King, but from where? He could not tell.
Questions began swarming inside Neko’s head.
We must know each other, right?!
How else would we know each other’s names?!
For starters who is he?!
Wait he’s King.
Yeah King…
King?
King who?
Am I suffering from some sort of amnesia?
No wait if I can’t remember then I am suffering from amnesia!
Are we all suffering from amnesia?!
How did we get it?!
How did this happen?!
WHO DID THIS HAPPEN?!
Wait no... who?
WHAT IS GOING ON?!
Neko screamed internally.
His words were scrambling in his mind.
It was safe to say he was still in bit of a shock.
No, he was in shock and he was most certainly in a panic. He could not keep up with the situation at hand.
There was too little information and he did not know what anything was anymore.
“So, who are you?”
The sudden question from King brought Neko back to reality.
Who am I?
WHO ARE YOU?!
He stared at King who was still laying on his back, now with his eyes closed.
Neko did not know who he was, and no matter how hard he tried to think, nothing came up.
With that in mind and the sudden question from King —who appeared so carefree— caused Neko’s frustration to increase exponentially.
This…
This is all your fault…
Damn you…
If Neko had calmed down and thought about it more reasonably he would have realised that this was a perfectly normal question considering their situation.
However, Neko was currently unable to think rationally and instead stared in disbelief.
You idiot.
You complete idiot, are you actually that stupid?!
Venting out internally like this helped calm him down enough to make a response.
“…You literally just said my name”
Neko’s voice was cold.
“Yeah but—”
“—ah, I don’t know”
“…”
“…”
King smiled, seeing how easily King gave up destroyed Neko’s ability to think and so he simply stared at King with a lifeless expression.
Neko was confused again, he was just confused.
No seriously…what?!
This guy is bad for my health…
Okay calm down me.
Deep breath
Neko sat down besides King, he slowly breathed in and then let out an exhausted sigh. This was his first exhausted sigh upon waking up and something told him this was not going to be his last.
First, calm down… find and gather… information. Then all other thoughts can come next.
“aahhh—”
“—Alright, never mind.”
“…Now we know each other, right? Because if we didn’t then we wouldn’t know each other’s names… You with me so far?”
“Y-Yeah”
King looked slightly confused however, for the sake of Neko’s inner peace he ignored him.
“Okay so let’s just sit down and think”
“Oh-Okay”
King sat up and the two stared at each other silently, although it felt awkward it didn’t feel out of place.
“S-So, where are we?”
“…I don’t know”
“Who are they?”
King nodded over to the direction where the people had formed their groups at which Neko stared at them for a while,
During his interaction with King, he had completely forgotten that there were others here besides them. However, given the situation.
He forgave himself.
“No idea”
An instant response, which seemed to reflect how little he cared.
“hmm…”
“…”
“We’re in kind of a bad situation, aren’t we?”
“What gave you that impression?”
“Ahh, we don’t know who anyone is, and we don’t know where we are”
“I was being sarcastic, genius”
“No need to be mean, and thank you”
King smiled happily from what seemed as genuine appreciation of what had been intended by Neko as nothing more than pure sarcasm and insult.
After seeing this, Neko died on inside as his mind went blank again.
The two remained sitting down facing the other people in the altar, while one observed the other people in the altar.
The other simply gave up thinking for the sake of his inner peace.
♦ ♦ ♦
A man began walking to the centre of the altar.
He was a tall man that looked to be taller than six-foot with a well-built body. He had spiky silver hair and ruby red eyes.
He walked from one of the groups to the centre of the altar.
He was dressed in a tight-black, short sleeved t-shirt that clearly showed his well-toned muscles, army style camouflaged pants and black boots. Around his neck was a chain of what appeared to be a dog tag.
He walked to the centre of the altar and by the time he reached the centre he immediately had everyone’s attention.
At this point there were no longer anyone still asleep.
“My name is Kenji”
His voice was loud, deep and authoritative combined with his appearance gave him the look of a strong and reliable leader, someone who was not to be messed with.
Kenji’s sharp gaze fell over everyone in the altar, his powerful presence caused everyone to become silent.
“I’m sure everyone here is in the same situation”
“Our phones aren’t working, and we don’t have any information as to where we are or how we got here, but to be sure I’ll ask now”
“If there is anyone here who has any relevant information what so ever—”
“—Speak now”
Kenji’s voice echoed at the altar. His already loud voice appeared louder in the silence of the altar.
His voice, demanding and interrogative.
No one at the altar spoke up. It appeared everyone here truly did not have any relevant information on how they had got here or where they were and after a short pause Kenji continued on.
“We don’t know where we are or how we got here but staying here isn’t going to help”
“There seems to be a path over there—”
Everyone looked in the direction in which Kenji pointed and sure enough there was a path that lead from the altar and into the dense dimly lit forest.
“—However, before we go in there. I will have everyone introduce themselves now, starting from you, going clockwise”
Kenji pointed to a man who looked five foot nine but appeared shorter, perhaps it was because he was the shortest of the males here.
His voice was commanding and left no room for debate.
The man who had just been forced to introduce himself had spiky red hair and amber eyes, he was skinny and looked relatively wimpy. The man was dressed in a red t-shirt with leather bracelets on both hands, light-brown shorts and white sneakers.
“U-uh m-me?”
The man who had just been chosen had hesitation all over, his voice had a degree of immaturity to it and Neko recognised it immediately as the idiot who woke him up.
Idiot number one… Serves you right.
While Neko thought this to himself, he did feel slightly sorry for the idiot who had been chosen first to introduce himself.
Everyone was now focused on the man. However, Neko was still discussing internally on how Kenji remembered his name.
Was it just me who forgot their name or are there others like me?
“a-ahh erm heh-heh”
“M-m-my name is N-Nakano Ren, u-u-um a-age n-nineteen, hobbies a-are football, videogames and karaoke. A-ah n-nice to meet you!”
It was clear with one look at Ren's face ad from the sound of his voice that he was nervous.
His face had quickly turned red at some point and drops of sweat could be seen trickling down his cheek, and for some reason he could not stop scratching the side of his head.
There were also some girls quietly laughing during his introduction.
As Neko listened to Ren’s introduction he could not help reaffirming his assessment of Ren —as a complete idiot. Truly, Neko did not like anything about Ren, not his voice, not his appearance nor his actions.
He simply hoped that this annoying idiot would stay out of his way.
“Hi, my name is Hide, nice to meet you”
Quick, clear and simple, that's how it should be.
Hide’s voice was neither deep nor light but mature and matched his appearance. He had wavy brown hair with a bang that covered his left eye. He wore a white shirt with the collar unbuttoned, blue jeans and light brown boots. His overall appearance looked smart.
Neko also recognised Hide’s voice as the person who had been arguing with the idiot and he could not help but feel sorry for Hide, for having to bear with that idiot.
“—Hey, he didn’t give his full name, age or hobbies!”
Ren spoke out in what seemed like a childish tantrum.
After introducing himself, Hide sat down and chose to simply ignore Ren's existence completely.
In response to Ren’s objection no one seemed to care and since Kenji made no comment it ended there.
Seriously, what an idiot.
“Ah u-um hello m-my name is S-Shiori n-nice to m-meet you”
Following after Hide, the next one to speak was a woman called Shiori.
Shiori had a light voice and spoke quietly although this seemed to be more because she was nervous than just a quiet speaker.
Neko recognised her voice, it was the third voice he had heard when he gained consciousness. At the time Neko had kept his eyes closed and was unsure whether the speaker was a woman or an effeminate man. Neko had also seen her in one of the groups that had been formed earlier.
The woman known as Shiori had her hands tightly clasped in front of her chest as she spoke. She wore a light-brown cardigan, white shirt with a short navy skirt with black tights and white shoes.
Shiori had a slender and petite body, silver hair with a faint purple that looked dyed, her skin was as white as snow and she had a piercing in one ear and light blue eyes.
Ren could not stop eyeing her chest and after speaking she sat down.
“Hello, my name is Akihiro, nice to meet you”
The man who called himself Akihiro was around five foot eleven and had dark blue eyes over which he wore a pair of round glasses. He had black hair that was clean cut and seemed dyed, his speech was sophisticated and calm. He dressed in smart casual clothing with a grey blazer, white shirt with blue jeans and light brown shoes.
He also followed the others and sat down after speaking.
“Hey! My name’s Rei nice to meet everyone! And this is Miyoko”
“Hey, Miyo is fine, nice to meet everyone”
“—Miyo and I are friends while we don’t remember anything much from before we woke up, we remember than much as least”
Rei spoke immediately after Akihiro sat down and gave her introduction alongside Miyo whom she clung onto, she had a smile on her face and her voice was energetic, she appeared to be very social and around five foot eight.
Rei had long ruby red hair with reddish hazel brown eyes, she had both ears pierced and wore a summer dress with a floral pattern, a silver chain bracelet around her right hand and brown sandals.
Miyo who was slightly taller and looked around five foot nine had light green eyes, short black hair, a single pierced ear. She wore a green top with light blue jeans and white sneakers. Her voice was not as energetic as Rei’s but instead calm and relaxed.
After speaking the two sat down.
“Hi everyone, my name is Arche, nice to meet everyone”
Arche was tall but not as tall as Kenji and looked to be around six foot. He had curly brown hair with a mixture of light brown. He had light blue eyes a piercing in one ear and wore a black jacket, blue shirt, light brown pants and white sneakers.
He spoke softly and appeared to be very friendly.
“Hello everyone, my name is Lily! nice to meet you all!”
Amongst everyone here Lily looked to be the youngest, her voice was bright and cheerful.
Lily had long blond hair, light blue eyes and looked to be around five foot four. She wore a summer dress with a white straw hat and white shoes.
After speaking she sat down.
“Hello, my name is Lahna, nice to meet you”
Lahna voice was plain but mature, and she spoke soft and slow.
Lahna was tall for a woman and looked to be around five foot eleven and had long violet hair, with brownish blue eyes, both ears pierced and wore a black jacket and a purple summer dress with black boots.
Although she was the tallest amongst the women, she had a large chest, round bottom and thick thighs of which some of the men could not help but look.
The introductions had gone swiftly and now it was King’s turn, and after that Neko’s.
However, Neko was silently in a panic this was because he was not confident in speaking last in front of everyone. If he had a choice, he would have preferred the middle, that way it would have less of an impact however, it had not ended up that way but instead with him and King being the last ones to introduce themselves.
For starters why do I even have to introduce myself to these people in the first place.
He silently hoped King would include him in his introduction as Rei and Miyo had done.
—However, it would seem it would not be so.
“Hey everyone, my name is King I’m not really sure what’s going on but nice to meet you!”
King smiled.
“Nice to meet you King!” Rei shouted,
“King that’s it?” Ren asked,
“Hey!” Lily waved,
“Yup”
King smiled again after his introduction and then sat down, while he had thought of introducing himself alongside Neko he did not really know how close he was to Neko or what Neko was to him. He did not know if Neko was a friend and so decided to not make any assumptions and make his introduction independently.
Neko was not pleased.
Oi. What is this?
Why is everyone smiling at him? All he did was give a simple introduction like everyone else.
Is it because he’s happy man? Does happy man have the power to make everyone happy and get along with him?
What is this bullshit.
Indeed, King was the only one to receive such treatment out of all the introductions. Yet here Neko could see all of the guys with the exception of Kenji —who did not seem to care much— and all the girls smiling at him.
As Neko pondered on the supernatural powers of happy man, he stood up without meaning to.
“…………”
Hmm… I stood up without meaning to.
Oh well, I should probably just introduce myself.
I got this.
A simple and quick introduction will do.
“…………………….”
Neko simply stared at everyone and froze, he was not smiling and had an expressionless face on him for a while now.
“……………………………….”
W-wait, why can’t I speak!? Simple introduction, where are you?!
As Neko stared at all the unfamiliar faces at the altar, he could not speak. This did not seem to arise from nervousness or anything like it.
His body was simply not responding to his commands. It was as though something was fighting his control. He began to test his control over his body by stealthily moving his fingers and toes. He was able to do this with no problem at all.
However, he was still unable to speak.
Everyone seemed to be staring at him with anticipation waiting for him to speak, and yet no matter how desperately Neko fought for control he was unable to make even a sound.
I was able to speak to King earlier! Just what exactly changed?!
AAAAAAHHHHH! I don’t got this. Someone, a little help over here please?!
Not much time had passed. However, to everyone around it felt long and to Neko it felt longer, he could hear some people beginning to whisper and could see some people smiling too.
Neko cried internally.
Ah, why me…
Oh, this is bad.
“Well say something!” Ren shouted.
Neko cursed Ren silently as King stared at him dumbfoundedly, after Ren made his annoyingly loud request, there was some quiet laughter amongst the altar.
Neko did not particularly care about anyone here, he didn’t mind introducing himself and trying to get along with everyone, but it wasn’t a priority to him.
His sudden inability to speak was of more curiosity and priority to him. However, now that it had come to this, in front of all these people what he wanted more was to simply avoid looking like a bumbling fool.
Despite the quiet chatter and laughter arising at the altar, there were still some people staring intently at him. It was an unwanted pressure for something so simple to do.
There was only one thing he could think of to save himself from embarrassment.
Neko did not say anything but instead moved his hands, since moving his body seemed to be the only thing he could do.
Everyone present stared at him confused as he pointed to his mouth and then made an X with both hands, trying to instead to make them understand that he could not speak.
As silence fell on them, he prayed that no one had seen him speak to King or that King did not do anything stupid like reveal that he could in fact speak.
“H-Haaah?!”
Ren seemed completely confused but Neko did not care as he didn’t have a high opinion of Ren to begin with, he simply labelled him as idiot number one.
Neko could not help but stare at King.
You better go along with this, I mean it. I swear one word out of you, and I’ll cry.
As silence descended once more.
“I-I think he can’t speak”
Lily spoke nervously assuming Neko could not speak. However, this was all he needed. He silently thanked Lily for falling for his act and made a thumbs up sign, at which everyone except King replied with an “Ahh” or “Oh I see”.
However, King just continued to stare at Neko confused.
You’d better not. One word. I mean it. Don’t you dare.
“So, if you can’t speak—”
While Neko was silently trying to convey his thoughts to King telepathically, Kenji had walked up to Neko and was now face to face with him, meeting Neko’s eyes with a sharp glare.
“—Then, who are you?”
Neko stared back at Kenji, he did not like Kenji much. While it was a good to organise everyone considering their circumstances. Neko, did not like Kenji taking authority, he was fine with Kenji acting like the leader over the others at the altar, but not over himself.
Neko did not acknowledge him as his leader or as his better, and despite losing his memories there was still something Neko could strongly feel, and that was— There was no one that stood above him.
You’d better step back boy… Before I show you your place…
Neko’s eyes had begun to go dark, his face beginning to take a cold expression—
“AH Y-yeah…”
—However, at that moment before anything could happen. King had decided to speak up and he quickly brought back his expressionless self.
“He can’t speak but I’ve been calling him Neko for now and he doesn’t seem to mind”
“Neko?”
“Y-Yeah”
Kenji looked at King and stared at him suspiciously. After a few seconds he relaxed his gaze and looked to be deep in thought.
“Neko huh?”
After hearing King say Neko, Kenji faced Neko once more at which Neko simply nodded, Akihiro for some reason decided to say Neko’s name and others could be heard also saying Neko.
Fortunately, perhaps thanks to King’s assist Kenji backed down and continued only after passing Neko a side glance.
“Now that that’s all over there’s no point in staying here any longer—”
“—We will follow the path and try to find some people and gather some information”
No one spoke instead getting up and following Kenji towards the broken path at the altar.
Neko stayed at the back of the group and King alongside him and together they all made their way into the dimly lit forest.