Seojun Edan/Seokane :3

## Hi (2017/4/2 - 22/4/2017 )

Seojun sat on the bleachers of the vast training room, cleaning off the katana he'd been training with as the dummies repaired themselves. Although he was mostly focused on cleaning his katana and sorting out his thoughts, the rest of his senses were alert and he knew when someone entered the room.

His eyes flickered up for a split second and then flickered up again to study Akane, who had caught his attention. He set down the cleaning rag and stood up, lifting the katana off his lap.

He watched her, studying her technique and movement. He smiled a little and stepped a little closer to her. "Impressive," he commented, toying with his katana. "You look familiar? Assassin? Duchess?"

"Ooh, a knight?" he hummed a little, picking up Akane's difference in breathing. Since he was bored (and he was extremely interested in testing her skills) he suggested a swordfight.

Seojun reacted rather quickly, sword fighting training from his younger years kicking in as a scene from his childhood painting itself before his eyes. *He was in the basement, Seth was watching him with amused, vicious eyes as he spared against his instructor.* He blocked the first hit and decided to take defensive rather than offensive, giving him time to think of an attack strategy.

Although Seojun easily spotted a way to attack Akane and turn the tables at the beginning, he figured it may only be a trap so she could catch him in another attack at the last minute. His sword clashed against hers for the fifth time as he blocked another attack, and he immediately knew he could not go on like this. It was either he made a random strategy at that moment or hope for some luck to be bestowed upon him if he went for that opening.

Seojun ducked under another swing, contemplating about how to disarm her. He was a bit unsettled that Akane had been using such frontal attacks that had little to no surprise to them. Then he realized, was where the gold was. He was superior at sneak attacks since that's generally how he assassinates his targets. While Akane was honorable and that was great and everything, Seojun did anything but play but the rules. He countered another slash and tried a simple move that felt refreshing to do since he hadn't used it in awhile. He forced his sword against hers for a few seconds, letting her push him forward before he suddenly pushed back with his own strength and follow up with a low roundhouse kick to knock her off her feet.

Seojun let out a laugh, a very sadistic laugh as he let Akane pin him for a good few seconds. "Loosen up kimono girl," he whispered, before roughly jabbing his elbow into her gut and flicking away her sword with his own. Once free of her grasp, he smiled devilishly, "You're not the only one who can do flips, you know?" Several aero-flips, one over her head, Seojun performed with a smooth fluency. He slashed his sword at hers, twisting his hand a certain way with his intention to disarm her.

He rested the hilt of his katana on his shoulder as he flashed her a humored smirk. "I said, loosen up. If it heals your ego, I've defeated many other knights before," he told her. "I'm a trained assassin, don't tell anyone, okay?" He winked at her, lifting his katana and twirling it a few times. "Ah, I never introduced myself. My name is Seojun, Seojun Edan."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you seem so surprised? Igarashi? I remember that from somewhere. It's blurry though."

"I'm stuck between feeling insulted and laughing," he commented sarcastically. "We have Edans from like everywhere. Why would an Edan from Asia surprise you?"

"I really want to laugh but I feel really offended," he chuckled. "Might as well do both. They say laughter is the best medicine."

"We have far different versions of compliments," he sighed in disdain. "Doesn't everyone know by now? The news should've gotten out like weeks ago."

"How foolish to people get?" he laughed. "I half tempted to let Victoria win just so everyone can realize how idiotic they are."

Seojun leaned on his sword nonchalantly. "Not if I was on her side sweetie," he teased her. "While you may have a large army, it only takes a few psychological will-breaking battles to win a war. For all you know, we may have the best generals and troops on the planet."

"Oh really...?" He toyed with his katana, stepping closer to Akane. "You've heard about the murder of one of the head generals of the Water Kingdom's army, right? You should, seeing as you are... a water knight."

"It's definitely my business if I'm the murderer, don't you think so too, sweetheart?" A mischevious smirk lit up his face as he stared at the girl, amused.

Seojun slowly stepped closer to Akane until he stood right in front of her, looking down at her. "Sweetheart, I'd like to see you try," he taunted her. "They closed the case a month ago. Besides, it was only recorded as a disappearing... not a murder. Proof, I clean up after myself."

"Alright, if you're so sure I'll 'misstep', how about we play a little game of Hide and Seek, babe?" He reached out to toy with her long black locks as he taunted her. "If you find me within the next week, I'll admit the murder."

"Ahh, you'll live," he snickered. "Well, I have things to do soon and I should leave. Let the Games begin, sweetheart." He lowered himself to her eye level to do something extremely out of character for him: he kissed her cheek. He locked eyes with her for a few seconds before straightening up and ruffling her hair before heading out of the training facility.

He stood in front of the closed door for a few seconds, debating about hiding tactics when he heard the subtle sound of slashes. "...Cute," he mumbled under his breath before he began to walk back to the Dorms.

## Celebration (22/4/17 -)

Seojun had walked out of his own classroom as well and was now ghosting around the hallways. The familiar head of black hair flickered down a hallway and he smirked, passing other students to catch up to her. When Akane turned her back to open her locker, he placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered, "Long time, no see, sweetheart."

"Of course I've heard the good news silly. I was there." He let go of her shoulders and leaned on the locker next to hers. He blew some strands of her hair out of her face and then grinned at her. "Speaking of that... It's been a week."

"Aw, I'm touched, you remembered," he cooed, reaching out to caress her cheek. "Ah, game over. But on the bright side, you don't have to see me get executed... Doesn't that make you happy sweetheart?"

He leaned closer to her, his smile playful. "You can tell on me if you want... To satisfy your moral compass. I have about a million others things I'd like to do with you, but I don't think your moral compass would like it."

His eyes slowly widened as he registered her words. "Akane!" he pouted childishly. "Ew."

He crossed his arms, sticking his tongue out at her. "I didn't know Igarashi-san could be dirty minded," he complained. "You're supposed to be a good girl. You completely ruined the stereotype."

"Does Igarashi-san have a crush on me?" he teased. Seojun closed Akane's locker door, putting a pause to whatever she was doing and stood right in front of her. "Tell the truth."

Now it was his turn to be the dirty-minded one. "There's much more I could do to make you feel really dishonorable," he chuckled.

"You are welcome to take total offense to this, but you look as innocent and as pure as they come Igarashi."

He raised an eyebrow to match his intrigued smirk. "No, but the reason is something your moral compass probably doesn't want to hear."

"Oh, it wasn't anything like that. Just a comment on your *flat* body structure, that's all," he countered. "Yippee, I guess. At this rate there won't even be a trial."

He chuckled, ruffling her hair again. "You've changed my mind Igarashi-san. Anyway, why isn't she being executed?"

"Hey, we're now the only kingdom with imprisoned royalty... Isn't that nice?" he muttered. "Damn, she was a total nutcase... But who am I to talk? I'm not very sane anyway." He tilted his head, searching Akane's eyes for a second before grabbing her hand. "How about we go somewhere? Now."

Seojun lead, or more like dragged, Akane down the hallway, away from her locker, and outside to the courtyard to the dorm building. At first, he wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but by the time they had entered the building he was determined to get them to his room unnoticed. Once they were there, he locked the dorm door and checked the other inhabitants of the dorm's rooms before dragging her into his own and locking the door once again. Not waiting for Akane to say anything, he bent down and pulled a brown leather chest from under his bed and took a key out from his back pocket. "Hey Igarashi-san," he mumbled subconsciously as he inserted the key in the lock. "Can you get me my phone? It's on my nightstand."

He took the phone, subconsciously, as he inputted the padlock code for the chest. The click of the unlocked chest satisfied him and he turned to his phone. His thumb buzzed across the keyboard on his lock screen, before it led him to his home screen where he proceeded to turn away from Akane. "Sit down," he told Akane, prying the chest open a little with his free hand.

Seojun turned off his phone and slipped in his pocket before opening the chest. "Akane, promise me, you will *never* tell anyone what's in this case, understand?" He demanded, looking over his shoulder to focus his gaze on her. His humorous persona had disappeared, his sarcastic grin having been replaced with a poker face. "Swear to me. Do not, ever, tell anyone, what's in here."

"No. I won't tell you until you promise," he shot back. "*Promise me,*" he demanded, his voice harsher.

"Thank you," he sighed deeply. He took care in shifting things throughout the chest to find what he was looking for. All the while, he was silent and stoic in paranoia. It wasn't that he didn't trust Akane—that was a lie, but he barely trusted anyone anyway—he just wanted to make sure his secrets would be in the right hands. He pulled out a thick slip of blue paper that was folded—his birth certificate—and then took out a folder of photos. He handed the paper to Akane and closed the chest, pushing it behind him before he turned around to face her. "Want to guess what it is?"

He lowered his voice as he responded. "Yes. I am. There's things I don't lie about—ever. This is one of them." He placed the folder of photos on his lap, shifting between staring at Akane and the folder. "I-I'm the only Edan," he swallowed, "that isn't a 'real' Edan. I'm not regarded as part of the family..."

He opened the folder suddenly and shifted through photos before handing Akane one. It was a photograph of a beautiful Korean woman with long black hair and bright eyes. "I-I think I found her... My mother I mean. Akane... I don't have a place in this world, do you understand what I mean? I-I don't belong here. It's too... normal. I'm not *normal*. I just... I'm thinking of looking for her, my mom. She left me with the most horrible person on the face of the universe and I want to know w-why." He choked a little on premature sob, his eyes tearing up as he stared at the photos.

"...No... sh-she's not like that..." he mumbled under his breath. "The woman, her name is Eunhee Kim. I-I need to find her." He shifted through the photos and suddenly he looked up at her, his pupils dilated. "You're going to help me. You're going to help me, *right*?" Seojun growled, gripping the photos in his hands.

"Good." Seojun's eyes flickered away from Akane and back to the photos before he handed the folder to Akane. "Familiarize yourself with how she looks. You need to know what she looks like from memory so it won't look as suspicious when he look for her."

He stood and shuffled over to the other side of his room where he shifted through his closet for a small wooden box. "Akane..."

"...Thank you," he whispered, only loud enough for her to hear. "One more thing. Anything that goes on in here, stays in here, alright?"

"You're going to miss like... three months of school, you cool with that?" The maniac gleam in his eyes was back and suddenly his mood drastically improved as if nothing happened and he hadn't just poured out his issues to a girl he met a couple of weeks ago.

"I'm asking if *you* wouldn't mind since I'm generally assuming disappearing from school for three months randomly doesn't exactly fit your morals." Seojun closed the open window on the other side of his bedroom and sat on his bed, faced away from Akane. "I don't care what the school thinks."

"Aw, I'm touched, sweetheart," he chuckled, glancing over his shoulder to look at her.

"Akane, do you have any siblings?"

"Simply curiosity. Grace and Helena are my half-sisters so I tend to be more protective of them... I haven't actually met Helena, though."