It was not a beautiful day at Ackashic Senior High, or ASH for short. Not that beautiful but somehow everybody is happy.
I walked down the stairs, while clutching my graduation certificate.
As I made my way back to my seat, a strange discomfort began to settle in. I was supposed to be happy, but something felt missing.
"Hey, Saitou, you alright?" Naoki tapped my shoulder; his expression is a combination of concern and curiosity.
"Yeah, I'm alright." I replied, even though words felt hollow.
"Even though you're not?" He pressed, raising an eyebrow of suspicion.
"Well, you don't look like someone who's alright." Yuta splattered words with concern, while sitting behind me.
I sighed, "Let's just talk about it later, somewhere private."
Naoki held my gaze for a moment, his eyes silently asking if I was sure. I nodded and he let it drop... for now. Yuta grabbed my shoulder, stifling a yawn from sheer boredom.
After the ceremony, Naoki, Yuta, and I walked out through the crowd, then got together where my parents were already waiting.
"Oh, son," my mom exclaimed, "you never fail to amaze us."
I replied, "I know, Mom. I know." and looked at Naoki and Yuta with a smile. "Wanna ride with us?"
"Well, I have errands to do. Sorry." Yuta said his eyes on his watch.
"Really? Right after graduation?" Naoki spoke in a sarcastic tone, as always.
"Yeah."
"Well, I guess you have no choice." Putting my hand on Yuta's shoulder I smiled. He raised his hand and waved as he walked away.
As for me and Naoki, we rode inside the car with my parents.
After a short drive, we arrived at the restaurant, owned by Naoki's parents. Of course, Naoki asked them promptly for a private table for us.
"Alright, let's pick up where we left off." Naoki tapped the table and tilted his head.
I clicked my tongue and sighed.
"Dude, it's just me, we've been best friends for twelve years. I'm no damn stranger to you."
"You really wanna know?"
"That's a stupid question. Of course I wanna know!" Naoki said, his voice a little childish when yelling in a whispered tone.
I took a deep breath, swallowed hard before spitting the words out.
"Summer vacation is overrated, it's the same thing every single year, AND it's the sickest of the sickest vacation. Not cool sick, boring sick."
"But, don't you like training?"
"... We've been training for almost a decade, a DECADE, obviously I've grown bored of it"
Naoki paused, considering. 'Maybe, he's right.'
A sudden thought came in Naoki's mind, it was a random one so he said it without thinking much.
"What if your training ends tomorrow."
"What?"
"I mean, what if you finally became... like do your job again tomorrow?"
Saying the latter part with a secretive whisper. I was in complete shock. How the heck did that come out of his mouth? I personally admit that Naoki is kind of crazy, but not to this extent.
'There's no way the organisation will assign a teenager a mission."
I pulled out my phone and pretended to look up something.
"What's that?" Naoki asked.
"Looking for a therapist, so you can dream out your thoughts out there.
Naoki pushed my phone away from me to the table with a slight slam. "Come on you're overreacting, it was just a hunch."
I raised an eyebrow, along with a smirk. "Just a hunch?" He released a bit of smile and offered a fist bump.
Meanwhile, both of our parents are having their own conversation in the other side of the table.
"Look at them. Acting all grown up, but they're still children in my eyes." Saitou's mother spoke proudly and happily, as she reaches for a glass of water.
"They're still young, indeed." Her husband responded with a light chuckle before adding "Same goes for you."
She looked at her husband weirdly. "Stop joking around we both know were growing old."
Both of them laughed. A moment of silence filled Their table, until they got serious again.
Ryusei, Naoki's father restarted their conversation. "Well, I just wanna say one thing, Aiko, Hiroshi... you raised Saitou very well. But, out of all high-paying jobs that he could've gotten, why did he choose 'that'?"
Hiroshi is stuck with the specific question, even his wife, Aiko wasn't able to answer.
He sighed deeply and answered with hesitation. "To be honest I won't, I mean I can't answer this. We asked our son ourselves, and he only answers with the same two words everytime."
Sumiko Naoki's mother continued, "It's just that, about the past tragedy, it's just concerning."
"And about Saitou's age; he's still young as you said, He won't be able to handle the serious pain that comes with 'that' job."
"Look at his face; back then it was an innocent smile. But what happened?" Ryusei added.
Aiko sighed, dejected. "Let's not talk about this, please. We've been trying to convince him to step out, but he doesn't want to. So please."
Both Ryusei and Sumiko agreed and stopped the conversation.
A few hours have passed; darkness had already taken over the skies, like it was trying to set the mood for something dramatic. Suddenly, my mom's phone rang. She rushed to another room and answered the call.
***
"Good evening, Mr. Watanabe, Why did you call?"
"Apologies for calling at such a late hour, Mrs. Yamaguchi." The voice from the other end of the call was cold yet soft.
"Is Saitou with you right now"
"Yes I could go get him if you want."
"That would be greatly appreciated Mrs. Yamaguchi"
Peeking out of the room my mother waved at me and signaled for me to come with her. Following my mother, I arrived in the next room. Then, I spied on their conversation.
And just like that, I was sure that my life was about to turn upside down. Again.
An old man seemingly in his 60's spoke in a phone; smooth voice but with underlying complexity. Mr. Watanabe, the prime minister of Japan, and the architect of my mercenary career.
"It's quite complicated. We need to stop Saitou's training for confidential reasons."
"I'm his mother, and I need to know this."
"I understand your concern as a parent, Aiko... It's just that the Royal Family needs someone for this job."
"Sorry, what do you mean 'Royal Family'?"
"Forgive me for not informing you and your family sooner, but we will be taking your son to England."
"Yes, yes, yes. I understand. England, the Royal Family, political dramas, and fancy buildings. My life is about to be turned upside down again, isn't it? Forget it."
"This is unacceptable, Isamu! You should have informed us sooner! Do you know how hard it is for a mother to be torn from her son? We almost lost him 3 years ago!"
"My apologies for the oversight. I simply did not wish to disrupt his studies."
"He's the one studying not his parents!"
"Forget it, but one final question: when is he scheduled to depart?"
Mr. Watanabe inhaled deeply, then slowly uttered a single word. "Tomorrow."