After the club ended, all packed and left, leaving only the 9 members of Team 1.

“Bayle had been tested for his PSI level and came out second. He’ll be our team-mate from now on,” Zephyr introduced. “Bayle, as you know, Luigi and Kioshi are in Team 1 as well. Both of them are 20.”

Bayle nodded his head distractedly. Luigi was staring at him as if he had something to say, but did not know if it was better to keep quiet. “If you want to say anything, just say it.”

Luigi stared straight into Bayle’s eyes. “Just now, you might have accurate shots, but there’s something…wrong, I guess I would say.”

Bayle smiled. So, he noticed it, huh. “I aim for accuracy, nothing more, and nothing less. You must have loved archery. I don’t know; it’s a wild guess. To me, it’s different. It is something I treasure, you can say. But I don’t love it. A friend of mine used to say that archery reflects a person’s personality.”

“But yours….”

“Mine is empty,” Bayle finished for him. “Archery is the only link I have to him. That’s why I continue even though I don’t love it.” A sad smile graced his face. “My archery is devoid of any emotions. That will never change.”

Heavy silence descended upon the group. Did he mean that he did not like archery and that was why it’s empty; or did he mean something else? There were too many possible answers.

“Since the Vice President praises your skill, will you show me?” Bayle asked.

Luigi stared at the smiling face for a moment before nodding. He got into position.

A few accurate shots later, Bayle said, “You’re very similar. Yours feel like the soothing wind, while his: the calm sea. Similar yet different.”

“From the way you talk about this friend, it seems he’s a very good friend of yours.”

Bayle gave a very sad smile. “He’s the most important person to me.”

Silence reigned. They were curious what had happened. From the look, they knew something bad must have happened between them.

Elroy was curious as well, but he was more jealous. Who could have been so important to Bayle? Although he did not know who that person was, he already felt an immense dislike for him or her.

“Thanks for your show, Luc,” Bayle broke the silence.

“Luc?” Luigi looked to others for explanation.

“He had a fetish with nicknames,” Zephyr mumbled to him, still sore about his own nick name from Bayle.

Comprehension dawned upon Luigi and Kioshi.

“And K2,” Bayle called with a mischievous smile.

Kioshi sweat-dropped. “K2?” What name was that?

“You see, I have a Pet that I called K. Your name starts with K. So, I’ll call you K2. Don’t worry. Now, this is Peacock, Reddie, Blondie, Xei, and Blackie. So, you see, your name’s not that bad.”

Luigi and Kioshi could only gape at the names the heirs got.

“What about Elroy?” Kioshi asked curiously.

“He is Elroy.” Bayle shrugged.

“Why did he not get a nickname as well?” Luigi asked.

“I don’t want to get frostbites, thank you very much.” Bayle shuddered at the thought of Elroy’s cold glare every time he called him a nickname. That would certainly ruin his day.

Understanding dawned on both men. Neither did they want it.

Bayle’s stomach growled loudly. He clutched at his stomach. “Is it lunch time yet? I’m hungry,” he whined.

The rest chuckled.

“Let’s go to the canteen,” Jupiter said. He was hungry himself.

As the rest went out, Zephyr pulled Luigi and Kioshi to walk slower. When their distance from the main group was deemed safe, he answered the two’s questioning gasps. “Just giving you some warnings, in case you did not know why you die from frostbites in the future. Trust me; don’t get too near to Bayle.”

Kioshi looked a bit confused while Luigi put two and two together and came up with four. “A potential mate?” he asked in disbelief. “Why am I included? I’m a Bearer.”

“It seems Elroy doesn’t care if you’re a Bearer or a Dominant, or bonded, mated or otherwise. So, better steer clear.”

The two nodded their heads. They did not know whether to pity Bayle or what.

At the canteen, Bayle was staring at the menu (more like drooling all over the menu). “Everything sounds so yummy. I don’t know what to choose,” he complained.

Luigi rolled his eyes. They had all been sitting there for half an hour and he still haven’t decided yet. The staff taking their orders seemed a bit impatient and irritated. (‘A bit’ is the understatement of the year.)

“I’ve decided!” Bayle closed the menu happily, unaware or ignoring the relieved sighs. “Please give me a plate of butter chicken rice with a large glass of watermelon juice. Thank you.” He gave a bright sweet smile to the staff.

The staff stared at the beautiful sight, all irritations forgotten. “You’re welcome.”

“Stop flirting with that guy,” Elroy snapped.

Bayle looked at Elroy strangely. What was wrong with him now? Bayle shrugged his shoulders, choosing to ignore him. “I’m hungry!” With that, he dropped his head on the table. “How long do I have to wait?”

“If you had decided earlier, we would all be eating by now.” Ed rolled his eyes.

Bayle sat up straight. “Are you saying that it’s my fault?”

“Yes!” Ed, Zephyr and Kioshi shouted at the same time.

“Hehe…Maybe it is my fault.” He dropped his head back onto the table. “But there’s no need to be so mean,” he mumbled softly. His mouth open wide to give a yawn. “I’m sleepy…” His voice was getting softer and softer. The next minute, he was asleep.

Elroy and the rest sweat-dropped. Was it that easy to fall asleep? One minute complaining that he was hungry, next minute he was asleep? What was the world coming to?

“Maybe we should let him sleep. After all, it’s been a very eventful day for him,” Alexei suggested. “Until the food come, I mean.”

Elroy nodded his head distractedly. His attention was on the sleeping face. He looked innocently pretty, like an angel. His hand was itching to stroke his silky hair. He was so fixated on the Bearer that he did not realize the others’ gazes on him or the sudden quiet. This continued for almost half an hour until the food came.

Elroy shook Bayle’s shoulder gently. “Wake up. The food’s here.”

Bayle stirred, but did not open his eyes. In his sleepy state, he forgot where he was. “Laila, 5 more minutes,” he mumbled.

Elroy narrowed his eyes to slits. He shook Bayle more roughly. “If you don’t wake up now, I’m going to finish your food,” he warned.

This time, Bayle jerked awake. “Waah! No! My food!”

Excluding Elroy, who was still irritated, the rest at the table chuckled at Bayle’s antics. He was almost hugging the plate of steaming food, afraid someone might steal it.

“No one’s going to steal your food. Relax. Elroy’s joking,” Jupiter forced out between his chuckles.

Now knowing who wanted to steal his food, Bayle glared warily at Elroy. “Order your own food.” When he got no response, he said reluctantly, “Fine, I’ll let you have a bite.” He held one spoonful of the food to Elroy’s mouth. “Only one bite.”

Elroy resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Bayles’s childish acts. He had his own food right in front of him. Why would he want another’s? But the food held out to him did look good. He gave into the temptation and ate it. It was really nice. All the years he had been eating here, he had never tasted anything better. But was it the food itself or…?

As soon as the food on the spoon was gone, Bayle snatched it back and tugged into his lunch. “This is superb!” He glanced around at the others’ foods. They were all different and every one of them looked delicious. He was dying to have a taste.

Alexei pushed his plate nearer to Bayle. “You can try mine,” he offered.

Bayle’s eyes lighted up at that. “Really?” His hand, holding the spoon, was already reaching out.

Elroy grabbed Bayle’s hand tightly. “If you want, you can have mine. Leave others’ alone.” He sent a glare to Alexei then the rest.

Alexei winced at the glare he received from being kind. He dragged the plate back to himself and started eating quietly. Did he mention that he hadn’t even touched the food before?

The others that had the same thought of letting Bayle try their foods quickly abandoned the idea and followed Alexei’s lead.

Bayle was watching the foods that were getting lesser and lesser with each bite with longing. It’s all that stupid Elroy’s fault! He glared at Elroy. As soon as Elroy pushed his plate to him, he forgot his anger and spooned up a mouthful. “Mmm…This is nice as well. What should I order next time?” He didn’t even realize that he was eating both Elroy’s and his own food. Finishing half of both, he was full already. Only then did he realize what he had done. His face turned a shade of red. “I’m sorry. I was only going to try but I just couldn’t resist. Here, you can have my half as well.”

“It’s fine.” Elroy started eating what’s left of both plates. In actuality, he was thinking about how cute a blushing Bayle was.

“So, there’s only one person left that I haven’t met. What’s his name? R-something. Hmm…Rudolph? Raymond? Nope, that doesn’t seem right. Ra…Radar? Yup, that’s it. Radar, right?”

“It’s Reidar, not Radar,” Alexei corrected.

“Radar, Reidar. Both sound the same. I’ll just call him Radar,” Bayle decided.

“Besides Elroy, whose names did you not mess with?” Ed asked, a bit exasperated.

“There’s Laila. I never messed up hers at all.”

“Laila?” Luigi asked.

“She’s my fiancée,” Bayle announced proudly.

“Fiancée?” The three that did not hear about it before was shocked. They looked to the scowling Elroy.

Ignoring or not noticing the weird atmosphere, Bayle continued. “Of course, there’s another person. I never messed up his name. He is my most important person,” he ended with a sad note. Why had he mentioned it? He shouldn’t…wasn’t supposed to remember. Ever since he came back to this world, he had started to reminisce more and more.

Elroy narrowed his eyes suspiciously. He found that he felt more threatened by this ‘most important person’ than this supposed ‘fiancée’. He was about to ask who that person was, but didn’t have the chance.

Bayle shook himself out of his memories. He faked a loud yawn. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go back to sleep. Bye!” He didn’t give them a chance to say something and ran out of the canteen, silently asking B to guide him back to his room.

Back to the rest, they were staring at the way Bayle disappeared to.

“He’s really a mystery,” Luigi commented. “And what’s up with the ‘fiancée’ business?”

Elroy suddenly called out, “ Reidar, you can come out now.” He had noticed that he had been hiding in the shadows, following them ever since they stepped out of the Archery Range.

A young handsome man stepped out of the shadow.

None of the others seemed surprised. They were either used to this already or they, like Elroy, had already sensed his presence.

“Why don’t we take this to The Room?” Jada suggested.

The others nodded to agree.

In the room, each had chosen a spot to relax. They waited for someone to begin explaining but none did.

“Fed up with the silence, Jupiter ordered, “Jada, explain.”

Jada glared at the lazy Peacock, but reluctantly did as told. He had no one to blame but himself for being in this position. No one forced him to become a member of the Sakura Committee. He told them about all that they knew up to now.

“So, he must have met his ‘most important person’ after the amnesia,” Kioshi thought aloud.

“That is if he indeed does have amnesia,” Elroy drawled. Eight pairs of eyes stared at him. “It’s possible that he had never lost his memories at all, or already gained them back, or it might be true that he still does not remember.” Elroy shrugged his shoulders. Personally, he believed it to be the first.

Silence reigned as the rest contemplated the possibilities. They came to the conclusion that Elroy might be right.

“That aside, what do you plan to do, Elroy? Your actions are too obvious,” Reidar asked. “And that ‘fiancée’ of his?”

The others were eagerly waiting for answers as well.

“I want him as a mate, I do not deny it. But I’m still unsure what to do. And that ‘fiancée’ of his, maybe I should send someone to talk to her.”

“If it doesn’t work with Bayle, then attack the main problem: that woman. Let her break it off with him. Quite an ingenious plan; but what if she doesn’t want to?” Luigi asked.

“She will; whether she wants to or not,” Elroy said in a confidently dangerous tone. The threat lying underneath the sentence was obvious.

“Truthfully, I do understand a bit how he feels. Even I also want to run away sometimes. Although you may think you’re protecting and cherishing us, we feel a bit suffocated. It’s as if all freedom has been snatched away,” Alexei said quietly.

Luigi only nodded his head. “Still haven’t had the chance to explore the world; and we’re expected to be bonded by 21 and pending to mate by 25. It’s a stress.” Luigi closed his eyes. “His situation’s even worse. Whether the amnesia is true or not, he had had a taste of freedom and had lived it for so many years.”

The Dominants wisely kept their mouths shut. They did not understand and never likely would. They only knew that Bearers were to be treasured, cherished, and protected; especially their own Bondeds or Mates.

“By the way, when do you think your parents will come, Elroy?” Jupiter’s eyes were filled with mirth. He could still remember when Jada found a potential mate two years ago, what a fuss his parents kicked up.

Elroy resisted to urge to groan though he did bang his head on the table; mentally, of course. He did have an image to keep up. “Tomorrow evening’s the latest, unless something comes up.”

Jada and Alexei, who had been through that before, sympathized with Elroy.

“Will HE be coming as well?” Reidar asked.

Without needing to mention a name, everyone in the room understood who he was mentioning. The atmosphere tensed as Elroy’s face got even colder than ever. He had never gotten along with HIM, his older brother. Americus was 8 years older than Elroy, thus a gap had always existed between them. He was the perfect son to their parents. They had always compared Elroy to him, and would find him lacking every time.

What was even worse was that Americus did not care about him, not the way he wanted him to. He always ignored him. Suddenly, one day, Americus announced that he did not want to be the heir anymore and left the responsibility to him. That caused Elroy, who had never expected to be the heir nor wanted to be, to hate Americus even more. It had now become a taboo name to him.

“Most probably not. He never cared before, why should he start now?” Elroy gripped his fists tightly. “I don’t care.” He could still remember the hurt and disappointment on his parents’ faces the day he renounced his claim as the heir to their family. Ever since he had officially become the heir, he had done everything to be the best and he succeeded; but his parents were not satisfied. He could see from their eyes the disappointment. It hurt too much.

“I heard from one of the instructors that we will have an assignment next week. So, we might be called in sometime this week for a meeting,” Reidar changed the subject. As he had thought, the atmosphere lightened a little. “If that’s all, I have to go to my basketball practice.”

One by one, they all left to do their own things. Elroy went to the music hall. He felt the need to play piano. It always helped to clear his head and relaxed.

As for Bayle, as soon as he was in the privacy of his room, he distracted himself with cleaning the room and packing the things in the suitcases away. They mainly consisted of his clothes: formal, casual and Academy uniforms, and toiletries. After a relaxing bath, he took out his precious violin and played a song as he let his memories washed over him. This was the only time he allowed himself to remember. He was unaware that a few people stood outside his room, listening to his music. After that, he slept the rest of the day away, not even waking for dinner.

To be continued...

A/N: Please tell me what you think.