Karl's eyes fluttered open and his mother's profile came into view. The headmaster was sitting at the edge of his infirmary bed, scrolling on her tablet. Behind her, Karl could see a panoramic view of the ocean and the sky painted with an orange hue by the setting sun.
"Mom"
Karl mustered a weak smile. Mrs. Lyle put down her tablet on the bedside table and gently pressed her palm against his forehead.
"Good, looks like your fever's gone," she said, caressing his dark locks. "How are you feeling?"
"Refreshed…? I feel like I took a really long nap." Karl suddenly remembered it was midnight when they did the sending. "Wait, how long was I out for? How are the others?"
"Long enough to worry your brother," Mrs. Lyle ruffled his hair. "And don't worry, everyone's okay. Rywa carried you here and stayed by your side until Chris called for him this morning for the interrogation. Think you can eat? Yun made congee for you."
Karl's stomach growled.
"I guess that's a yes," Mrs. Lyle chuckled. She opened the insulated soup container and took out a folding spoon, then pushed the rolling table towards Karl.
Karl blew on a spoonful before eating. "Mm… Yun always knows how much chilli oil I want in it— not too spicy, but enough to have that kick. Please tell him I said thanks, Mom."
A couple of knocks resounded before the door opened and a man with delicate features came in. His peach blossom eyes the color of the night sky behind silver-rimmed spectacles turned into little crescents when he smiled upon meeting Karl's gaze.
"Yun ge!" Karl unconsciously fell into his childhood habit of calling Li Yun 'ge', who was like an older brother to him and his siblings, as that was what it meant in Yun's native language. They had known him since he started working for Mrs. Lyle.
"Looks like you can say it to him yourself," said Mrs. Lyle as her secretary came in.
"Hello, Karl. Glad to see you're up now."
"Thanks for the congee! It's sooo good. And it's been so long since I've had your homemade crispy garlic chilli oil!"
"I'll bring a jar for you next time. Eat slowly now," Yun pulled out a tissue from the box by the bedside table and wiped off a pepper seed stuck on Karl's cheek.
He handed a blueprint tube to Mrs. Lyle. "Headmaster, here are the documents you've requested. They've already been scanned and filed by our archives team and sent to your email for review before submitting to the international council. The hard copies are all inside."
"Thank you, Yun. Very efficient, as always."
Seeing Karl screw the lid back on the soup container, Yun asked. "Finished? I can take that back."
The gold ring on Yun's ring finger glinted against the rays of the setting sun coming in from the window as he took the canister from Karl's hands.
"When you have time, come by Seigetsu again. I'll ask Ryu-san to make whatever you'd like— on the house, of course. So rest well and get better, okay?" He patted Karl's head, his eyes practically disappearing when he smiled.
Karl looked at Yun with puppy dog eyes. "I miss Ryu-san's tofu and chive wonton soup."
"Then wonton soup it is."
"I know you practically grew up together but you and Tsukishiro-san spoil my kids too much, Yun" Mrs. Lyle remarked fondly.
"You're all family to us, Malia jie. Please allow us to dote on them sometimes." Yun excused himself and left.
"Karl, these are the Zirkan documents that you and Rywa found at the abandoned house on the island. He surrendered it to us as agreed, however, I decided to have them scanned and submit electronic copies to the council instead. I think the original owner of these documents would want a fellow Zirkan to have them," Mrs. Lyle handed the blueprint tube to him. "Rywa seems down lately. He told me about the reports you found, so I hope he's all right."
"Thanks, Mom," Karl smiled bitterly. "It wasn't the answer he was hoping for, but an answer nonetheless."
Shortly after Yun left, Zephyr came to check on Karl. After making sure his brother was all clear to go, Zephyr took out his IV drip and discharged him. Mrs. Lyle left as well to return to her office.
Karl sent a message to Rywa asking where he was. In seconds, his communicator beeped and came Rywa's reply, saying he was at the beach. Karl grabbed the blueprint tube and headed out to meet him.
The deep blue ocean and velvety indigo sky were divided by the blood red line of the setting sun. Rywa was walking on the sand barefoot, with the hem of his pants rolled up to his knees and his shoes left by the folded beach chairs. Karl quietly watched, admiring his profile while he still can in the vanishing light, until Rywa stopped and unsheathed his sword.
He pulled his hair with his free hand, and alarm bells rang inside Karl when Rywa angled the blade against his own neck. Karl sprinted on full speed towards him.
"R- Rywa wait! We can talk about this! Don't just cut your-"
"Oh, hello, Karl. I was just about to cut my hair."
"… Hair?"
"Well, yes." Rywa then smirked. "Wait. What did you think I was going to cut off? Hmm?"
Karl felt his cheeks flare up. He wanted to dig a hole in the sand and bury himself. It was times like these when he envied turtles, who could just retreat into their shell anytime. And stay there.
With one swift motion, Rywa sliced off his crimson locks, leaving him with shoulder length hair. He set the strands he had just chopped off on fire, its ashes scattered by the wind.
Karl, still embarrassed, gently pushed the blueprint tube to Rywa's chest without meeting his eyes.
"Anyway, here, the headmaster said you should have this. GDF already made copies."
Rywa slid his sword back into its scabbard then looked at the stringed cylindrical container. Perhaps recalling what was written in those scrolls, he frowned, his grip on the blueprint tube tightening, before he took it and slung it on his shoulder.
Karl remembered the day he took Rywa to the beach and they played in the water. He looked up at Rywa coquettishly. "Rywa, I'm cold."
Rywa momentarily froze as he, too, remembered his words that day.
'When you feel cold, come to me for a cuddle anytime. I'll be waiting for you with open arms.'
Rywa opened his arms and Karl walked into his embrace, softly rubbing his nose on Rywa's shoulder as the taller man wrapped his arms around him.
"Karl, there's something I wanted to ask you. Back in the facility, you were humming a song to the hele pup."
Hugging him back, Karl looked up and met Rywa's gaze. "Do you know that song?"
"Not exactly, so I was going to ask you what it was."
"Oh," Karl's shoulders drooped. "It's a melody that I've known for as long as I can remember. Since I was a kid, I would hum it every now and then, as if the notes had been engraved in my heart. But I don't remember what it's called, or who taught me that song."
"I see…" Rywa sighed, running his fingers through Karl's hair. "This might sound strange, but for some reason, it sounded familiar. The moment I heard you humming it, the melody made me feel nostalgic."
"Oh, so it wasn't because I was out of tune that you were frowning…" Karl mumbled, inadvertently letting his thoughts pass his lips.
"Hm?"
"Ah, nothing," Karl shook his head, burying his face in Rywa's chest.
"Back at Tenogawa Island, Tetsuro said there was a time you couldn't speak. And you said that was because of a trauma, which had also caused you to forget your past. Perhaps that song is connected to those memories?"
Karl nodded. "Probably…"
Rywa tilted Karl's chin up to look at him and caressed his cheek. "What has hurt you so? What scarred your heart so deeply that you had to forget in order to protect yourself?" He looked as though he was the one in pain.
Karl leaned in to his touch. "I don't know. But now that I think about it, I feel like maybe I'm just running away."
Rywa shook his head "Don't say that. I, too, have experienced pain so profound that I wish I could just forget it all." He turned his gaze towards the sea. "But, in my case, those painful memories are tied to the most important people in my life who are now gone. It's the only connection I have left. To forget would be to lose that connection… And dishonour the sacrifices they made so I can live and keep going forward."
"Rywa…"
'Now it all makes sense. This is probably why I'd catch moments when Rywa's eyes are filled with pain... And why his smile, though warm, sometimes never reach those beautiful golden orbs...'
"Thank you, Rywa," Karl said softly.
Rywa turned to him. "For what?"
"For helping me realize something I have been blind to all this time. I have been running away, but that ends now. I want to regain all the memories I've lost."
Rywa reached for his hands, voice gentle as he asked, "Even if it means going through the same pain that caused you to forget?"
Eyes filled with resolve, Karl's voice was firm as he said "More than the pain, what frightens me is the possibility that I may have forgotten something very important... or someone. Like you said, to forget those people would be to dishonour their memories, and that's not fair to them. I have to face my past head-on and accept it as a part of who I am."
Rywa bent down and touched foreheads with Karl. "You're very brave. Where does your strength come from?" He drew his face even closer until the tips of their noses brushed against each other.
Karl's chest started pounding. As if those golden eyes had cast a spell on him, he was unable to look away, and his entire body was frozen on the spot. And yet, he did not feel any urge to back away either.
Just when their lips were barely a hair's breadth apart, Karl's watch beeped.
Rywa buried his face in the mop of Karl's hair and inhaled sharply, then lightly bonked his forehead against the shorter man's.
"Go on, answer it."
Karl tapped on his watch and it projected Zephyr's face. "What's up, Zeph?"
"Are you still on the base? Come to the vet ward, the hele pup is awake."
"That's great news!"
Beaming, Karl turned to Rywa. Perhaps it was the warmth of Rywa's smile, perhaps he was overcome with joy and relief at Zephyr's news, or perhaps it was both. Karl flung his arms around Rywa once more.
It was only when Rywa hugged him tight that Karl realized his heart was still pounding against his chest. He wondered if Rywa could feel it, but the other man didn't say anything nor tease him as he normally would have.
As he listened to the sound of waves' ebbs and flows, Karl's mind drifted back to the night of the star festival, when he and Rywa first met. He could still remember the warmth he felt in the man's hold so vividly.
"It's strange..." Karl said.
"What is?"
Karl liked feeling the low vibration of Rywa's chest as the man spoke.
"It hasn't been that long since we first met, yet you're the only man other than my father in whose arms I've ever felt this safe..."
Karl thought back on when Rywa healed him on that beach. And how his fingers were trembling when he caressed Karl's cheek.
'Impossible…'
He remembered Rywa saying that back then, and he still didn't know why. Neither of them had brought up that incident since then either, so Karl simply assumed Rywa must have mistaken him for his sword teacher, who apparently looked so much like Karl.
Pulling out of the embrace, Karl took Rywa's hand. "Let's go see the lil guy!"
Rywa picked up his shoes and they followed the illuminated path back to the main building, holding hands.