Episode 10

Vetel POV

I reported Ogen as missing the day before, just to be safe, but knowing that guy, he's probably gotten himself involved in someone else's business, just like he did with me back then. Although, if he did not get involved, I doubt we would have become friends.

That same Ogen gave me a call an hour ago, at 16:45.

"Are you free Vetel?" He asked casually, as if he had not been gone for 3 days now.

"Yeah. Why?" I replied calmly.

"Can we meet up?"

Ogen wasn't usually roundabout when we talked or when he asked me for a favor...

"Sure. Where do you want to meet?"

Ogen was silent for a few moments.

"How about we meet at the High Charity cafe... you know, that place you showed to me a few months back?"

The name rung a bell.

"When do you want to meet?"

Then without letting me get another word in...

"In an hour." The call promptly ended, but that was probably because of bad signal... although I could see him end the call abruptly like that.

I put the phone down on the table and opened the blinds to take a look outside.

As it was winter, it had already started to get dark outside. On top of that, it was raining a downpour. It can't be helped I suppose. Ogen sounded like he needed my help. He wasn't the type to find it easy to ask others for help, even when it came to asking me for help. He always had this obsession with accomplishing things on his own. I could see why he was like that, but I wish he would rely on others more.

I put on a white turtleneck and a raincoat and made my way out the house.

It was raining so much outside, water started to pool everywhere. Every footstep made a loud splash as cars wooshed by, spilling additional water on me. It had been cloudy all day, as it usually is during winter. The street lights were already turned on and their orange tinted light gave the world around a bit of color.

I spotted the bus station and ran towards it, pulling my hood back after I had refuge over my head.

As I waited, I thought back to when I and Ogen first met. He caught my eye even during orientation and for months after it, I only saw Ogen alone. He was smart, so kids that didn't want to bother working on their homework would approach Ogen and ask him to do it for them. They gave him a bit of money as well and he seemed happy that people were relying on him.

Over time, I saw that he did not enjoy doing people's homework for them anymore. Not because he didn't want to do it or that it was too hard, but he had realized at some point that they only came up to him for that reason alone.

Obviously, he started getting bullied after that. He was a weird kid, though. It was like he was an emotionless machine who was just trudging through life. When they hit him, he didn't react. When they made yelled at him, trying to scare him, he didn't react either.

The idea that someone could just take all of that and feel nothing made me feel nauseous. For that reason alone, I did not approach him either. Looking back, I feel disgusted with myself that I even allowed someone to go through that kind of relentless bullying just because of some stupid superficial reason.

What made me want to approach him was when his bullies found out that his parents died when he was 10. One of their parents was a teacher there, so they had no issue giving them that kind of information. This time, he reacted, and boy did he react.

The first time they brought it up seemed to piss him off, but he still held himself back. Then they started making fun of him because his parents were dead, but he still held back. Then they said all kinds of things I'd rather not mouth about his parents... and he exploded.

It wasn't a violent explosion though. If before, he seemed like he was cold and calculated, at that moment, he was steely cold and calculated. He would dodge their blows and hit them in their weak points. The weakest ones went down with just that.

The sturdier ones had their limbs dislocated or even broken. The entire time, the look on his face stayed the same. His gaze focused on his targets. That wasn't what made me approach him though.

My parents also died when I was really young, but our pasts were different. While he was a normal kid with middle-class worker parents, my parents owned a big company. I was given everything I wanted, I was given all of the opportunities I desired. I did find out over time that I didn't care about those things one bit.

Because of who I was, people approached me superficially, only wishing to befriend me because I was rich. They must have imagined I was going to give them money whenever they asked. That gave me my own fair share of solitude, but I was fine with it.

I learned to enjoy being on my own. Focusing on what I want to do and what I want to work on. The freedom of being able to do whatever I wanted without having to compromise because of another's presence and preferences. There is a difference however, between people who naturally enjoy being alone and those forced into it by extraneous circumstances.

Deep down, I hated it. What was the point of accomplishing hard things when I had no one to share the elation and satisfaction with?

That's when it clicked inside my head. We were both people who were forced into solitude due to different circumstances, but we both longed for an emotional connection with others. We both wanted friends.

And beyond that, he showed me something invaluable. He did not care what people did and said to him, but when his close ones are getting insulted, he gets really angry because of how much he cares about them. There wasn't a better person to have as a best friend other than him.

I decided that the next day I would approach him and try to befriend him. We've been friends ever since then. It's been 7 years and our friendship is stronger than ever.

The sound of the bus' old breaks screeching brought me back to reality.

With everything said and done, I couldn't help but wonder what Ogen needed help with that he would not be able to talk about it on the phone.

I sighed.

"I guess I'll just have to wait and find out." I mumbled to myself.

*

The bus dropped me a few dozen meters away from the cafe and as I got closer and closer, I could spot a tall man with white hair and purple eyes from the distance. He looked in one word... ethereal. That face and expression were unmistakable however. It was Ogen.

His current look was such a departure from his usual style, countless possibilities of what happened to him flowed inside my head.

I extended my hand for a handshake. He extended his as well. "You look well." I said to him. "I could say the same about you." He replied in his usual cheeky manner. It was definitely my Ogen.

We made our way inside and the place looked the same as ever. The outside still had that industrial layered brick design that seemed to be immaculate even after how long it's been up. My parents and I usually went here in the weekends and relaxed.

The wood was as flagrant as ever. The apple hints it had were still just as strong as they were when my parents and I used to go here regularly. We sat down and ordered two double espressos.

Before Ogen could say anything, I took the helm of this conversation.

"Before anything else, I need to ask you something."

The look in his eyes was as mellow as it was before he disappeared.

"What's with the new look?"

He closed his eyes and smiled. "That's a long story."

As he said that, the bartender brought us our drinks. As soon as she was a few meters away from our table, Ogen loudly snapped his finger. He wasn't a stranger to odd, eccentric behavior like that, but I had a feeling he didn't do it just for show. Before I could ask why he did that, he answered that question himself.

"See this purple tint that's suddenly appeared and only looks to cover a small area of a couple meters in the shape of a dome?"

I nodded.

"I created a barrier so that people avoid this specific table. They can neither see or hear us as well."

Ogen... he's not on drugs is he? No... He's not the type to act like he has eight grader syndrome.

"Is this related to why you look like that now?"

He nodded with a satisfied smile on his face.

"You're going to tell me everything that's happened."

He hmphed me and went ahead and explained what happened to him these past few days.

About how he found himself in this... pocket space as he called it, how he met this old vampire leader called Barakia Rodnes. How they conversed into the morning about various topics and how he taught him things about us humans.

From the genuinely happy smile on his face, I could tell that he enjoyed his time.

Then he told me about how they were attacked on the day they were supposedly to stop meeting and how he's now become the ... Last Emperor? and how he is now taking care of his daughter in her Barakia's place.

I won't lie. It sounded insane. It sounded like a plot straight from a novel. Still... why would Ogen lie to me like this and come up with something so unbelievable to boot. If he wanted to hide something, he would have come up with something more believable. Ogen's not that stupid.

"I have a general gist of the situation. Did you call me here to ask me to help you with what you're tangled up in now?" I expected him to say yes. But his answer was disappointing.

"Not quite. You see, Karia, Barakia's daughter has this one person who is like you to me. She considers her an older sister. She runs a bodyguard agency business in our world supposedly... and the reason I came here is to ask you to create a foolproof fake identity so I could inflitrate the agency and see what I can do to help her."

That made me a lot more angry than I expected.

"... So the only reason you came here is to tell me to make you a fake identity?"

The stupid look on his face as he answered pushed me over the edge. "Isn't that what I said?"

I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and pushed him onto the wall, holding him up by the scruff of his shirt.

"I only want to ask you one question. Your answer will determine whether I end this friendship we have."

He didn't seem bothered by what I just said.

"Why do you not want to get me involved?"

His gaze escaped mine.

"I can't get you involved in all... this. You are a human."

That made me even more angry. I could feel the muscles on my face twisting into a rage filled face.

"So?! You think that you gained power after becoming Last Emperor?! You think you can protect people with your strength?!"

Ogen finally cracked.

"NO!! That's the problem! I don't know if I can protect you! That's why I was reluctant about even giving you that call. I will be making many, many enemies as I walk this path. If they find out that I care about you, they will never stop hunting you down or anyone close to you!"

My hands gave out and I let him fall on his ass right on the sofa where our table was.

"At least it's a reason I can accept." I said as I extended my hand to help him up.

Before he could say anything else, I took this chance to tell him what I always wanted to say.

"I told you long ago, that if you needed help and needed me at your side, that I would drop everything and come help you. You did that for me that one time... so let me do something for you in return."

He didn't look away this time. Instead he grabbed my hand and gave me an offer.

"If you really want to do this, there is one thing we can do. You're probably going to have to leave your old life as Vetel behind, though."

"Pfft. Would I be willing to go this far for you if I didn't at least prepare myself for something like that?"

He smiled and gave me a few words that made me very happy. "Welcome aboard, Vetel."