“So this is Earth? I’ve never seen it from this close before! There’s so much water!! How can you play baseball with so much water?!?! You haven’t been lying to me all this time, have you Mei?!?! There really is something called baseball down there, right?!?!?” the young prince of the Vers empire inquired, glaring at the young man in front of him. Although he knew Narumiya Mei was a trustworthy person, he couldn’t trust his own ignorance. The last time he had visited Mei, he learned about how some of Earth’s animals, like chickens, hatch from eggs. Wanting to see a real chicken for himself, he ended up taking all of the eggs sent as food rations from Earth. He covered all the eggs in a thick blanket and sat on them, believing that chickens would actually hatch. Strangely enough, even though everyone seemed upset by his actions, he never got punished for it. He figured Mei must have been the one to take the blame since not long after, he was sporting a couple of new bruises on his arms. Mei had brushed it all off, saying he had fallen, but Eijun knew it must have definitely been his fault Mei had gotten injured. Since then, Eijun was always on his guard to make sure Mei never again got punished for his own ignorance.
“Do you really think I would mislead you? Do you not trust me?” Mei asked, sounding hurt. He clutched the shirt above his chest, adding on to his dramatic scene. When they were younger, this kind of act always worked in Mei’s favor and would often end with Eijun clinging onto him, begging for more stories of Earth. As they grew older, it just became a comical thing to distract Eijun and lighten up the conversation. His little act didn’t seem to work this time since he could tell Eijun looked worried, even though the young prince was only glaring. He was just about to speak up when the door opened and a young man came in, tackling the prince to the ground.
“Quiet down you noisy idiot prince! You’re so loud, the whole ship can hear you! Shouldn’t you be in your bed by now? In case you’ve forgotten, you’re going to Earth, and the trip is pretty long and tiring.” Kuramochi had Eijun pinned to the transparent floor that showed the planet Earth below them.
“How can I go to bed if you tackle me to the floor like this?!?!” yelled Eijun, visibly displeased with his current position. He was face down on the floor while Kuramochi sat on his back, bending Eijun’s legs towards his back.
“It’s your own fault for being so loud” Kuramochi replied, tightening his grip on the prince’s leg.
“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the prince instead of hurting him?” Mei gave a judgmental look towards Kuramochi.
“Yeah, aren’t you supposed to be nice to me?!?!” Eijun yelled from below.
“Yeah yeah, whatever, just go to bed and quit making so much noise” Kuramochi replied, letting go of Eijun’s legs and getting off his back. At once, the young prince got on his feet and walked out the door, grumbling and rubbing his lower back along the way.
“If he gets hurt out there, I’m blaming all of this on you.” Kuramochi gave a cold glare to Mei once he knew Eijun was out of the room.
“You’re going with him as his bodyguard, aren’t you? if he gets hurt out there, that’s all on you.” Mei replied, returning the glare.
“If you really cared about him like you say, then you should have persuaded him not to go.”
“Just like you show him how much you care by always tackling and wrestling him to the ground? You care about him so much, you get frustrated you can never be any closer to him, so you settle for grabbing onto him while you can.” Kuramochi stilled at Mei’s words and simply turned around walking towards the door.
“I know that more than anyone.” Kuramochi stopped at the door “However, a mere Terran like yourself has far less chance of ever ending up with the prince of the Vers empire.” and with that, Kuramochi left Mei alone in the room, never once looking back.
~*~
“Sawamura, come on let’s go. We have things to do.” said Kuramochi, tugging on Eijun’s sleeves. Eijun had snuck out of the ship hours before the parade made in his honor only to come across a baseball field. Kuramochi had to stall by placing a body double while he retrieved Eijun, but they had to hurry back before anyone found out the truth. At least he was lucky enough that Eijun disguised himself with their royal’s holograph technology, so he didn’t look like the Vers prince. Instead, he resembled Mei with blonde hair and blue eyes. It would have been trouble for both of them if Eijun went parading around Earth like the Vers prince.
“But he said we could play baseball together!!!” pleaded Eijun.
“Look around, you idiot. There’s nobody to play baseball with. He’s just messing with you.” replied Kuramochi.
“Your friend is right Sa-wa-mu-ra~~” replied a bespectacled boy. “I was only messing with you. Did you really think there would be anyone playing baseball in times like these? We’re in a war! Have you been living under a rock or something?” the boy laughed.
“I have not! I’ve been living on Vers!!” replied Eijun, getting red in the face.
“That’s hilarious! Let me guess, you’re also the Vers prince’s best friend!!” the boy laughed harder, holding onto his sides. Eijun was through listening to the boy’s taunts, and knowing that he probably wouldn’t believe him without proof, Eijun did he only thing that could silence the bespectacled boy’s taunts. Without a second thought, he released the holographic projection.
“No, actually, I’m the Vers prince.” replied Eijun with a giant smile. As predicted, the bespectacled boy was no longer laughing, but rather staring at him with widened eyes.
“You idiot.” Kuramochi said, already coming up with a way to fix this mess. He could easily kill the Terran and get out of this situation. Just as the boy had stated, this was war, and it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if a young boy mysteriously disappeared. Before he could take any action, a large explosion and fire erupted from the direction in which the parade was currently being held. Kuramochi had a gut feeling none of this would go well for anyone.
~*~
“MIYUKI KAZUYA!!!” Eijun yelled, running towards the fatally wounded boy lying on the floor. He gently rested Miyuki’s head on his lap, hoping it would somehow ease the pain.
“I told you that I would protect you no matter what. Now quit making that face. A prince shouldn’t waver during tough times.” Miyuki weakly smiled up at Eijun. His glasses were cracked and it was apparent that not much time was left for him to live.
“Don’t speak! We’re going to get you to a doctor and you’ll be back to normal soon. You can’t die on me yet! You promised you’d catch for me when all of this was over!” Eijun yelled, tears falling from his cheeks down onto Miyuki’s face.
“You idiot, you have more important things to worry about. You need to bring peace, just like you promised.” Before another word could be said, a gunshot was heard and Eijun collapsed on top of Miyuki.
“Sorry Eijun, but nobody can ever be at peace for as long as Aldnoah exists.” said Kuramochi, tossing his gun to the side. “Well? You loved him the most, Mei. Are you going to get your revenge by killing me too?” he asked, looking behind him and staring at the gun Mei wielded in his hands. Without another word, multiple gunshots were heard through the battleship and Eijun’s body was never found.
