After all, 'defense' was not the same thing as 'kill'.

Nonetheless, Tanaka stayed silent, unsure how to respond to the accusation and Arata didn't seem to care whether he did say anything or not. He continued ranting with a grievous tone while spitting on his face.

"Now not only am I the joke of the entire department, I got demoted as well!"

"Ara-kun..."

Without warning, Arata seized his arm in a painful grip, pulling him closer in a threatening manner as he forcefully made Tanaka look up at his reddening eyes.

"You need to help me!" he demanded desperately, half-pleading and half-ordering. "You owe me!"

"I don't..."

Tanaka flinched when Arata's fingernails dug into his exposed skin. He felt very uncomfortable and couldn't help but squirm as he tried to keep some distance between him and his old classmate, but the taller man was surprisingly strong despite his thin arms. Or maybe Tanaka was too weak; sleeping at all hours did not exactly build up muscle for all intent and purposes. He preferred to leave such tiring things to his older brothers or to his friends. Ah... he wanted to sleep now.

A harsh shake brought him out of his thoughts and Tanaka was once again forced to pay attention to his old friend who had noticed the smaller man falling into a daze. Arata's expression contorted into something akin to frustration and distaste. "I don't get what's so special about you. You're just a lazy, good-for-nothing sloth who only uses its useless brain for the five minutes it's actually awake!"

Well, he kind of didn't want to be awake... He would rather be back in his bedroom taking his afternoon nap...

Arata shook him once again as if he could tell the other was drifting away again, even though Tanaka's sight hadn't wavered away from the taller man's eyes despite his aching neck. All the while, his former classmate's grip gradually increased in strength and dragged him closer towards the driver's side of the car.

"You're going to help me. I need something to impress those small-minded Americans so we're going to go to your labs and you're going to give me whatever you're working on."

"...Why?" Tanaka felt so lost and Arata looked so angry. His hand was shaking as he began to fiddle with his car keys until there was a 'clunk' sound of the Lexus unlocking.

"You owe me," Arata uttered underneath his breath as he opened the driver's door and pulled Tanaka closer to his side to lean down to grab the seat lever. "You owe me your research."

"...But there's... nothing."

His former classmate froze and the hand on his arm stiffened greatly before Arata almost yanked it out from its socket. His eyes reddened further, if that was possible, and his old friend's breathing seemed to grow ragged. "What do you mean you have--have nothing?!"

"It's... It's published." As a scientist, even someone as lazy as Tanaka knew how important it was to publish one's findings to the public. He had little care for fame and didn't feel the need to hog his discoveries to himself, or for his country. He was also well aware that the development of cold fusion energy could go in many directions and was willing to let others explore around to reach their own conclusion.

His team was more than happy to take care of the publishing details (as long as their names were somewhere on the papers) and his superiors... weren't, but they let him do whatever he wanted anyway as long as they got gloating rights (and Tanaka's promise as Japan's representative in several global scientific conferences in the next few years).

Either way, they had just finished a big project and they were already moving on to the next one, so... there wasn't anything Arata could take as his own. Because everything would be published today. And Tanaka only had both the physical and mental energy to work on one big thing at a time, so there was nothing else he could give to his old classmate...

Arata tightened his grasp to the point that Tanaka could feel his arm becoming numb before it suddenly loosened. His enraged expression had blanked, his clean face smoothing, but his eyes remained smoldering.

"Useless," he spat and though he looked calm, his movement still gave away his rage, and he threw Tanaka away the same way people would throw trash away.

Startled, Tanaka blinked and saw a different face. He obviously wasn't Japanese, someone of European descendant judging by his harder features, with dark brown hair and mercury eyes. In terms of appearance, there was nothing that this person and Arata had in common, but their expression... They had the same cold expression that left him helpless and weak.

Then there was another blink and Arata's face emerged once again, full of shock and horror. There was a blare of a horn and a flash of day lamps blinding his eyes--

He was met with darkness, Arata's screams echoing in his mind, and he stayed in that darkness for what seemed to be a long time. After a while, he started seeing vague shapes and blinked. He saw a ceiling, intricate and full of decorative curves, and once he stopped being numbed to the visions of chilly black (silver?) eyes, he realized he was tucked in bed.

It took him even longer to remember that he was dead but then undead as he replaced a life that should have belonged to a child named Thomas. Except, Tanaka had spent most of his time refusing to be Thomas or refusing to replace Thomas by just... sleeping. And lazing around. Because Tanaka was not Thomas, and Thomas was not Tanaka. As long as his eidetic memory allowed him to remember Kaa-san's, Tou-san's, Nanami's, Daichi's, and Basim's faces, he would always be Tanaka.

He blinked once before looking around the room, somewhat disappointed that there was no one there by his bedside.

The last few weeks were a blur. He could barely remember getting kidnapped, much less what happened during and after the mess. All he knew was Clarisse's sorrowful and teary expression when he woke up and Tanaka barely even had time to be surprised before he was buried under her embrace. Everyone was pretty much in the same state, either crying or sobbing their hearts out. Including Edward, whose ice-like expression had melted under his own warm tears. His (not Thomas', not anymore) older brother made no sound as they rolled down his face.

Seeing them was more painful than the state of his body.

Edward didn't even notice them until Xander had come up from the background to help comfort the two shaken brothers.

Apparently, Mason had given him a sleeping potion, and he had been in a coma since they retrieved him from the kidnappers and it took a day and a half for its magic properties to finally bleed out from his system. Analysis concluded that the potion was obtained by an uncertified Brewer in the black market and the formula was, unfortunately, more complicated than Dr. Ainsley had anticipated. Fortunately, Tanaka woke up and surprisingly, didn't seem to suffer any side effects considering his strong 'allergic reaction' against consumable magic products.

Regardless, Tanaka was kept on observation for the next week after and during so, Dr. Ainsley took the opportunity during his sober state to ask some questions about his condition. In the end, she learned--

This kid is a fuckin' genius. Where in the hell did he come from and how come she hadn't heard of him until now? It had been years, years, since someone was able to keep up with her medical babbles. He had already read a good part of his grandfather's research and read through a fair amount of the academy's own variety of research in magic systems, magic management and control, barrier technology, rune archaeological studies, rune linguistics, magic stone technology, and a lot more other fields she couldn't care less about. In everything but that dumb practical tests that those dumb so-called scholars placed so much importance on, he was several levels above what was taught in his age group. Hell, he could probably graduate and run a circle around those geezers more than a dozen times!

Anyway, this tiny, boney, skinny-as-a-stick brat was definitely Alex's grandson. God, they even have the same 'I'm tired with the world's shit' expression. Which was not much of an expression but that was what made it distinctive. If that man were still alive today, she could only imagine the disgusting amount of pride he would have in concern towards his youngest grandchild. But unfortunately, no matter how smart the kid was, they were not able to pinpoint the source of his illness.

The kid was tender everywhere and though he had told her that the area around his solar plexus felt terribly warm, it didn't seem to hurt any worse than the rest of his body. The blood she had collected from him gave her nothing to start or work on. The lab results were frustratingly within normal parameters and no matter how many times Dr. Ainsley reviewed it, the numbers didn't lie.

While she considered other angles to investigate, she made sure to prescribe some non-magic antipyretic pills to further control his fever. She tried to prescribe him some painkillers alongside as well but much to her surprise, the kid rejected them the minute she mentioned them. Well, at the very least, he didn't want any strong painkillers and especially the ones that would make him feel drowsy.

Of course, she questioned why, half because of medical reasons and half because she was a nosy busybody, but the kid clamped his mouth shut and wouldn't answer, regardless of her needling.

Another week passed and while Tanaka was better, he definitely wasn't out of danger. Whatever illness he had continued to elude the proclaimed best doctor in the country and with the way Dr. Ainsley had been staring at him during his check-up, he had a feeling that the old woman was tempted to open him up to see what was wrong with him. Fortunately, Xander or Edward had always accompanied him during her visits, probably for this concern alone.

But it had been a lot of dead ends and no leads, and while his fever was milder and his limbs less sore, his sickness held on like a blood leech. Everyone worried constantly that he would have a relapse, where the medicine would stop working and his condition would worsen once again. In fact, after the kidnapping incident, it was promptly decided that Tanaka was not allowed to be alone in the unforeseen future.

Every day and night, there would be someone either near his bedside or outside of his room. They even got some of the estate's knights involved. Both Angus and Calum burst into his bedroom with snot and tears on their face and while the former started to degrade Mason Smith and his future grandchildren in the most colorful way known to man (including colorful language, colorful expressions, and colorful gestures), the latter used his deafening voice to apologize for their 'blindness'. After all, Smith was their junior and they were previously tasked to show him the ropes, but who knew he had such malicious plans for the people he had sworn under.

Tanaka didn't think there was anything to forgive and he was getting tired of everyone apologizing. Conrad was the worst of them. Every day, without fail, he could bring in a bundle of lavender as an apology gift with the expression of a kicked puppy, and now every corner of the room was flooded with the purple flowers.

Even weeks after the kidnapping, everyone carried a solemn air as if someone had died. Which was ridiculous because, obviously, he was still alive. There was nothing for them to be guilty about in the first place. It wasn't as if they were the ones that made him choke on a sleeping potion, stuffed him in a chest, loaded him on the back of a carriage, and then proceeded to take him out of the Noble District to never be seen again. Adults are so weird sometimes.

Ah wait, he is an adult, even if he doesn't look like one now.

People are just weird, then. They overthink things that don't need to be overthought and it leads to troublesome things. Like having a room buried in lavender.

Either way, the coddling was beginning to chafe his lazy lifestyle. He really didn't need everyone to stare intensely at him as he slept. Nor did he need them to throw themselves at him whenever he made a small sound. And whenever he gave any indication of pain or discomfort, they would dive for the nearest ECoM and contact Dr. Ainsley as if she was his personal doctor and not the Royal Family's.

Though he was somewhat touched by their concern, it was starting to interrupt his nap times and Tanaka had to put his metaphorical foot down. He wanted a night to himself without having someone staring lasers at him in the dark or panicking when they thought he had stopped breathing. And since he usually wasn't the type to complain about or ask for things, everyone reluctantly agreed to leave him alone for the night.

Now with flickers of beloved faces that he would never see again behind his eyes, he wished there was someone nearby but Tanaka didn't want to wake anyone up in the middle of the night just because he was feeling homesick. And for the first time in a long time, he didn't really feel like sleeping. Everything was too quiet. The room was too quiet. And the room felt too small, probably because of all the lavender piling up in the empty spaces of the bedroom. He was not claustrophobic by any means (or he wouldn't have been able to nap in more than half of his hiding spots), but the need for open-air was dire.

For a moment, Tanaka considered whether he should take a walk out in the hall or take a step outside... though the problem with the latter meant traveling nearly half an hour just to get downstairs, and the former was not exactly the open air he wanted. Maybe just opening a window would be enough...

Tanaka turned his eyes towards the window leading out to the gardens and an idea suddenly popped up in his head. It would take a little while to prepare... and maybe a bit of concentration, but it was definitely better than traversing down the long halls of the west wing where he could get lost in.

Slowly sliding out from his bed, his sleeping gown temporarily bunching up on his stomach, he dropped down on the rug-filled floors with uneasy feet. First, he grabbed the footstool underneath the bed and dragged it towards the sofas near the fireplace. He then grabbed the (hand-knitted, probably by Clarisse) blanket neatly folded on top of the cushions before dragging both items towards the window next to his nightstand. He dropped both of them and tugged the curtains to the side before placing the footstool below the sill. With careful steps, Tanaka climbed up to unlock the latch and swung the right half of the window inwards, pausing as he felt the cool air breezing into his room. He took a deep breath, before moving down and bundling up his blanket into his arm.

Pushing aside the footstool, he clambered up onto the window sill and wrapped the blanket around his shoulders, letting it draped heavily over his body and pooled around his feet. Cautiously leaning forward while looking down at the bushes below, the heat under his chest grew hotter and he carefully provoked his magic to spread onto the blanket.

It took less time than what he thought it would take to call out the magic particles to disperse among the fabric, and while he was surprised by it, he certainly didn't have any complaints about it as well.

Soon, his preparations were done and there wasn't a moment of hesitation when he let himself pitch forward and made his plummet towards the ground-- though his descent was more of a 'float' rather than a 'plummet'. The blanket wrapped around his body took most of his weight and cradled him as it levitated him down to the bushes below. He landed softly and the shrubbery rustled under his weight as he struggled to climb out of the woody plant. Apparently, getting out of the bush was the hardest part of the whole endeavor, especially since some parts of the blanket were caught among the branches.

Through a difficult trial, he managed to ungracefully drop out of trimmed hedges and onto his butt without ripping apart the blanket. There was a pause as he took half a minute to catch his breath before he rewrapped the cover over his small body while ignoring the leaves in his hair and the small twigs sticking out from some parts of the blanket. He unsteadily scrambled up to his feet, bare and vulnerable to the soft dirt and feather-like grass, and pitter-pattered his way to the nearest bench in the area.

The west part of the garden was full of hedges, rivers, and plots of colorful flora, and healthy trees brimming with colorful leaves. It was like a different world from the central gardens and the east gardens. The center gardens were full of alcoves, stone paths, and fountains, while the east gardens were more open-spaced with a large pavilion for tea parties and the likes and a pond with a thriving ecosystem. Tanaka liked the west gardens if only because it was full of hiding spaces and the grass was the softest to nap on. His nap shed was in this part of the garden as well, so after school, it wasn't unusual to find him sleeping inside a hidden hole in the hedges or amongst the tall flowers like a newborn fawn concealed by nature. For some reason, whenever he hid in these types of places, he always was given extra minutes (or even hours) of sleep even after he was found within an hour of his disappearance. The maids and butlers always seemed to be reluctant to move him for some reason.

Nevertheless, the benches in the west gardens were often hidden amid the greenery and rarely near any of the few stone paths obscured within beautiful growth, but after months of using this garden as a safe haven for his naps, he could locate one easily no matter where he was amongst the flora. The closest one was hidden between hedges and underneath a large tree with purple leaves that hung over the area like a canopy. In front of it was a stream of white, purple, lilac, and periwinkle flowers, rising out over the cut grass like waves, and, if it weren't for the fact that Conrad was the one that planted them, Tanaka would probably be tempted to lay upon them just to see if they were as cushiony as they look.

Instead, he sat in between the flowers and the bench, using the legs of the long seat to support his back as he sat down on the soft grass. He stared at the comforting colors of the petals as his nose twitched at the strong floral scent in front of him, his mind blanked and emptied of thought. The breeze whispered past his ears but he paid no attention to them even as they played with his curly hair.

His hair was no longer as short as it had been months ago and instead of curly, it looked more wavy with the way it curtained his head. The strands were even long enough to drape over his eyes as his hair as an adult had done, creating a gloomy and unkempt appearance to his tender features. He brushed the locks away from his face, disquieted by the lack of weight around his nose and ears by wearing glasses for more than a decade, and suddenly had the urge to look up towards the sky. So he did, his hair caressing his face as his eyes widened in surprise by the view he was given.

He had lived in the city for the majority of his life and would rarely travel outside the boundaries of his house or beyond the surrounding waters of his country. And if he did, it was always on business and Tanaka never had the desire to explore the place he was visiting until there was a lab, a library, or a museum nearby. Otherwise,