The Betrayal of the Guardians

~ (31) Secrets (Part I) ~

Something poked Arisa's cheek. She slapped the thing, keeping her eyes shut.

She heard a soft chuckle. "These grasses must be really comfortable for her to sleep like that."

Arisa recognized that deep voice. She then felt something poke her cheek again. She hit the cold finger and kept sleeping.

Zen chuckled again. "Really, you want to keep sleeping?"

Arisa ignored him and made herself comfortable on the grassy ground. As a warm breeze blew past her, she felt relaxed.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty," called a soothing voice.

Arisa recognized Kazuya's voice. Even though she wanted to wake up, for some reason, her body wouldn't respond to her commands.

"Sleeping beauty? Where?" asked Zen.

Arisa once again felt something poking her cheek. Annoyed, she grabbed the person's finger and threatened to break it. Zen chuckled. She opened her eyes and recognized the dark-haired boy grinning at her.

As she slowly had her seat, she spotted the white-haired Kazuya beside him. She realized that the boys she was seeing were the sixteen-year-old version of them.

It can't be, she told herself. The butterfly wants to drag them into its game of lies too?

"Good morning," greeted Kazuya. "Did you have a good night's sleep?"

Arisa rubbed her eyes and as she blinked, she realized that they were at the usual spot. The small buildings of her neighborhood could be seen from up the hill, under the clear blue sky.

"I wasn't sleeping," she replied. "I was taking a nap."

"You should avoid taking naps in questionable places," said Kazuya, folding his arms. "What if you're abducted by a creature from another world?"

Arisa smiled at him. "I was told that in these woods there are no portals that can bring threatening monsters to our city."

Arisa remembered the lessons she had with her grandmother about the many portals that exist in her country. Aurora City was one of the few areas that didn't possess any portals to another world.

"Still," persisted Kazuya, "you shouldn't sleep in the middle of nowhere."

"It's not my fault that I got bored and fell asleep." She crossed her arms. "You two took your sweet time to show up."

She glanced by her side, from Zen who looked as if he was enjoying seeing Kazuya scolding her to Kazuya who showed her an expression of concern.

They both laughed at her excuse.

"Sorry," said Kazuya, calming down. "We were having an interesting man-talk and we lost track of our meeting."

"Yeah," agreed Zen. "It was then we realized that a girly looking man was missing."

Arisa frowned. "Girly looking man? Who's that?"

At that time, she really wondered who they were talking about. Their male friends from back then didn't look girly at all.

She glanced at Zen with high expectations. He stared back at her and with a smirk marked on his face, he nodded his dark head at her. As soon as she realized that he was talking about her, she glared at him. He chuckled again.

"Your goofy face is priceless," he said, trying to calm down.

Annoyed at being mocked twice in one day, Arisa raised her hand and attempted to slap Zen lightly. He quickly held her wrist before she could reach his pale face. He pinched her cheek softly with his other hand.