Chapter Text
Once upon a time, in a far away kingdom living in complete peace, Aoyagi Toya, son of the King, Mr.Aoyagi, was sitting on that throne in his room… Again… As always… People might say “Being a prince must be so cool! Being rich and having all your wantings seems like a perfect life!” but that wasn’t what Toya was thinking, far from it : his life as a prince is really boring : waking up at the same time, eating those perfect looking and tasty dishes at specific times and days, having the same activities and duties, and always having to see the same people in his lifeless castle. Toya really hated being a prince and wished that his life was “spicier” and would have loved to see the outside world, the village, and meet new people. The only good thing about being a prince was having Ichika as his adopted cousin, but he sadly has to take care of her by himself considering how everyone ignores her. And being with his knight, Akito... And there he is entering the room to greet the prince!
“Good morning, Prince Aoyagi! Oh, you’re already awake?”
“Yes, I wanted to change a bit, for once hehe.. And Akito, no need to be so formal, I won’t tell Dad so don’t worry.”
“Sure then, Toya!”
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Akito wasn’t always like this, forcing himself to be formal, or even a high-class knight. Before becoming a knight, he was just a simple peasant, living in the village, and during one of his trainings with his teacher, Minori, he got noticed by Toya and the prince got impressed by those moves, and that’s when Toya came and asked :
“Hello, Ms. Hanasato! Is this impressive young boy your student? I just saw his moves, it was indeed very impressive!”
“Prince Aoyagi?!” says Minori, with surprise and worry on her face “You know, if your dad sees you out of the library, you could get punished…”
“Do not worry, Ms. Hanasato, I don’t think he would punish me just for that.. right?” and then Toya continued “So you, orange haired boy, you’re training on becoming a knight, right?”
“M-Me? Yes I am!” confirm Akito, thinking he’s dreaming 'I can’t believe I'm talking to the prince, Toya Aoyagi himself oh my lord!'
“Interesting… And what do you think about becoming my personal knight?”
“Your.. knight?” Akito’s face was all red : the prince himself comes to him, compliments him and asks him to be his knight! This cannot be real!
“I… I’ll gladly accept, Prince Aoyagi!!” He bows down to him, showing all the manners he learned to express gratitude with Minori’s trainings.
And at this moment, his dad came and saw his son, outside the library, not doing his daily duties, not reading or anything important… Eventually, he got really angry at Toya, but that didn’t stop him : he still wanted Akito as his knight, and to go wherever he wants, whenever he wants! Mr. Aoyagi then made his decision : Toya can keep Akito as a knight, but he cannot go out of the castle anymore. If he needs a book he will ask for the author or name and it will be brought to him. And for Akito, if he’s seen doing anything that would be bad for his son or not formal enough, he’s getting immediately fired, or even worse…!
*return to the present*
Toya stands up from that throne and goes to violently lie on his bed. “You know Akito, I'm so tired of everything, don’t you think this life is boring too?”
“Yes.. It must be boring for you to never get out of the castle… And it’s mostly my fault because your Dad confined you here after meeting me.”
“Akito it’s not your fault, and not mine either.. It’s him, he made my life so annoying like this.”
Akito approaches the bed and sits beside the lonely prince “Toya… I promise I'm doing my best to save you from this fate, but I don’t wanna get you in trouble” he slowly takes his hand, trying to comfort him.
His hands are cold.. And Akito’s are warm.. They barely do (or can do) that but when it happens it feels great, as if they were closer, and it gives the knight butterflies on his stomach… He ignores them and just enjoys those small moments they have together, a part of himself hoping they would never finish.
The door suddenly opened. It was Saki, the maid of the castle. “Hello Mr.Aoyagi! I just wanted to inform you that- am I interrupting anything?” Akito quickly lets go of Toya, leaving his cheeks as warm as his hands, and Toya stands up from the bed.
“Nothing, Saki, and no need to be that formal, you’re like a sister to me. Anyway, what did you want to tell me?”
“Okay, Toya! So your father is waiting for you downstairs, in front of the castle’s door”
Toya’s face illuminated, will he finally let him go outside and touch that fucking grass?? He rushed to the door and to his surprise, saw his dad standing there, with a girl who has long blue ocean hair and a long gorgeous red dress, probably a princess, but what is she doing here?
“Hello, son” says his father “This is An Shiraishi, the princess from the Shiraishi kingdom. She’s here to be your future wife in a year or two and for now she will live here.”
Toya was actually excited about meeting someone new, but really disappointed about that planned wedding thing, his dad is sure stubborn..
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They both go upstairs, awkwardly, without saying anything, and when they got to Toya’s room they introduced themselves.
“Hello Ms. Shiraishi, I’m Aoyagi Toya, prince of this castle, nice to meet you.” When Toya tried engaging a hand shake, An just took his hand and intensely started shaking it saying :
“Hello Toya!!! I hope we can be friends, you seem cool! But pretty boring, just like everyone here I guess..”
'This girl is definitely different from what I know' he thought. “I’d gladly be your friend! I have never met someone as energetic as you for so long…”
“Oh? Then you ain’t some dull guy who just does basic and annoying things everyday? Haha, what a coincidence! I guess we’re the same then!”
Toya was surprised by this encounter but really glad of it, he’s sure this mysterious and full of energy girl could maybe free him from the “monotone routine” curse.
“And you, ginger boy over there!” added An, pointing at Akito “Are you gonna keep staring at Toya without telling me who you are?” Toya let out a little giggle after that.
“I won’t allow you-” stated Akito, with his cheeks pink shaded, but then immediately cleared his throat.
“Hum, excuse me Miss, I’m Shinonome Akito, knight of Aoyagi Toya, at your service” and immediately bows down, trying to be as respectful as possible.
An let out a huge laugh, clearly mocking Akito’s weird “menacing-to-formal” transition. “HAHDHGHAHZDKA WHAT…. You’re a funny one huh? I'm sure we’ll be friends!”
“I don’t think I wanna be friends with a wild weird girl like you” The ginger maliciously smiles at his speech.
“What’s with the creepy smile??? You’re the weirdo here, little guy”
“I am literally taller than you…”
Toya proceeded with a small giggle, he found it funny how these two were already talking so freely like that even though they barely know each other.
But the young prince didn't know that this simple meeting with princess An… would radically change his boring life.