Awakening Moment/Cappuccino

## Spear of Fate

File:Sprite-Moment of Awakening Cappuccino.png

With a crash, Cappuccino hurled the last flower vase in the room. But still, the bedroom's door and windows were sound and intact.

"Let me out! I need to go save !"

"Young Master Cappuccino, no matter the reason, His Lordship and Her Ladyship have said that you are not to come out before the day's end. After all, no one forced you to run off this morning, did they?"

Through the door, the servant's voice sounded muffled and fuzzy, but there was still an audible teasing lilt to it.

Cappuccino sat on the floor in a huff.

He hadn't the slightest understanding of how things got to be like this.

This morning, he was going with Master Attendant to attend a royal family banquet. But since these banquets were usually so boring, Cappuccino slipped out the carriage half-way there when Master Attendant and Madam weren't paying attention.

Cappuccino didn't go back home though. Rather, he went to Professor Daniel's. Garden of Eden was having a free tour event, and he planned to go help out.

Who could've guessed that not long after he arrived at Garden of Eden, guards from Ark would suddenly bust in, claiming that Professor Daniel's garden was harboring dangerous evil plants, and then using a strange apparatus to make Minestrone show his true face.

--Minestrone actually had a horrid Flower of Evil parasite living inside him. He escaped, but Professor Daniel was taken away by the guards, since he was previously responsible for conducting Flower of Evil experiments.

He wanted to stop them, but Professor Daniel said the first order of business was to tend to Garden of Eden's affairs. After all, Minestrone's escape had given many visitors a fright...

And so, Cappuccino unwillingly stayed behind and picked up the pieces at Garden of Eden all by himself, after which he hurried back home without any further delay.

He wanted to seek the help of Master Attendant and ask him to use his noble status to get Ark to release Professor Daniel. To his surprise though, upon returning home, he was met by servants who had been waiting a long time for him and then immediately "arrested" him for the crime of "running away from a banquet again and angering His Lordship".

In normal times, being locked in his room would be par for the course for him, but today the situation was different. With Professor Daniel still not free from danger, how could he just sit idly by like this?

But no matter how he pleaded and cajoled, or what fits and tantrums he threw, the servants standing guard all turned a deaf ear. To them, this naughty young master was always playing too many tricks, and so as not to be hoodwinked, the best course of action was to wait for His Lordship's return and let him deal with it.

Could it be that I'm just too playful normally, and so now this is my just deserts?

After a bout of futile struggle, Cappuccino hung his head dejectedly and flopped down on the floor.

Sunlight poured into the room through the window, and the morning glories outside the window began to turn a faint violet as the evening drew near.

Time was ticking away second by second...

"Ah!"

Suddenly, Cappuccino heard a strange sound come from outside the door.

He sprung cautiously to his feet and skipped over to the entrance.

"What's that?"

"Wh-- who are you??? Ugh--"

 The male servant outside didn't answer him, and the noise gradually subsided.

"Hey--! Are you guys all right??"

Cappuccino's heart pounded. He knocked urgently on the door.

Just then, the sound of a key going into a lock came from outside the door. Cappuccino jumped back several paces, looked around, then grabbed a decorative spear on display beside him and faced the door alertly.

With a click, the door swung open, and Minestrone sauntered leisurely in, kicking a fallen guard out of his way as he did.

With the opening of the door, the magic circle of imprisonment was broken, and spirit power flowed in the room once again.

Although Cappuccino was finally able to use his spirit power again, he felt no joy in his new-found freedom.

"Stay right where you are!!"

He raised the spear and rushed at Minestrone as he yelled.

To be honest, his mood right now was very complex. Although in days past Minestrone and he would often get into fights, ever since their journey to The Land of Eden, their relationship had warmed up considerably. Cappuccino even thought that even though they still squabbled from time to time, their relationship would never truly turn hostile and would always remain intact.

But today, right now, right in front of him-- Minestrone was displaying that evil power from the Flower of Evil without so much as a second thought.

"How did things get to be like this?"

--For the second time today, Cappuccino thought this to himself.

"This people are just in a temporary nightmare. I didn't come here to fight you, sissy."

He didn't bat an eye at Cappuccino's spear as he strode around Cappuccino, heading straight for the window. He grabbed a curtain and pulled it shut with a "woosh".

Instantly, the sunlight in the room was cut in half, which seemed to make Minestrone much more comfortable. His furrowed brow now relaxed, but the evil aura around him tripled in size.

This set Cappuccino even more on edge -- he'd never seen Minestrone so full-on evil like this. Compared to right now, those occasional hints of evil he sensed back at Garden of Eden were like nothing.

"What's going on here! How could -- how could you be infected with this thing?!"

"None of your business." Minestrone replied icily.

Cappuccino froze up, then grit his teeth.

"What about Professor Daniel? If it was him asking, is this how you'd respond?"

"……"

There was a slight pause in Minestrone's movements, but then he quickly pulled the other half of the curtains shut. As the room plunged into total darkness, Cappuccino heard him speak again in a low voice.

"That's exactly why I came here, to have you tell him that I stole the seed of the Flower of Evil in the Polar Snowfield. The Flower of Evil was why I was going there. And meeting him was no coincidence either. I saved him so that I could learn the whereabouts of The Land of Eden."

"In short, this was all a con job -- from the very start -- and he fell for it. So, from now on, you can both just forget you ever knew me, and try not to be so naïve around strangers anymore."

"So, that's what you came to say to me?"

"Yeah."

"You bastard!"

Minestrone laughed coldly and nodded his head. The next second, Cappuccino knocked him to the ground with one punch.

Cappuccino grabbed him by the collar with both hands.

"Why you... you little... You think by saying that, he won't feel bad?"

"Who gave you permission to just go end everything all by yourself?"

"Professor Daniel, he... he regarded you as his best friend!!!"

"……"

Cappuccino was on the verge of sobbing as he screamed. Minestrone was stunned for a moment, and then he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and slowly stood up.

"Ark didn't find Garden of Eden by accident. Their true goal is to take The Land of Eden from Daniel."

Cappuccino froze.

"What did you say?"

"My body is hosting the Flower of Evil, that's a fact. But the seed was in his charge, so the only way I can clear Daniel of suspicion is by completely severing ties with him and avoiding getting caught."

Minestrone spoke calmly.

Cappuccino clutched at his hair anxiously.

"No, you're wrong. Even if you have been infected by a Flower of Evil, what does that mean? Only that the experiment failed. You and Professor Daniel haven't hurt anyone... hold on... unless..."

Cappuccino halted mid-sentence, as if something suddenly occurred to him, and he looked in disbelief at Minestrone.

"You're guess isn't wrong. I have killed people. Many people."

Cappuccino's face went stark pale, "...Because of... the Flower of Evil parasite?"

"No. I purposefully used the Flower of Evil to get vengeance." Minestrone spoke very matter-of-factly.

"...Vengeance? Against whom?"

"That's not for you to ask."

Minestrone quickly skipped over this topic.

"You just need to remember that this time Ark used me as an excuse to take away Daniel. Next time, who knows who it will be, or what method they'll use to get to him... But when that time comes, little sissy, the only person by his side will be you."

"……"

Cappuccino stopped his questioning, and a silence fell over the room.

A short time passed, and Cappuccino let out a helpless mutter.

"How did things get this way..."

A pain like a tide surged in his heart, but he didn't understand why.

"Hey."

 Suddenly, Cappuccino received a sharp smack on the head from Minestrone.

"Ow, that hurt--"

"If you keep acting like a child all the time, how will you protect Daniel?"

Cappuccino held a hand to his forehead. The mysterious pain in his heart vanished clean away for the moment as he glared at Minestrone: "Don't you worry about that. I can definitely protect Teacher!"

"Of course, you have to protect him..."

Minestrone bent over at the waist and squinted his eyes.

"Or else, I'll just have to come back and handle things myself."

"Why you... Don't even think about it. I won't give you the opportunity!"

"Hmph. You'd better hope so."

Minestrone straightened his posture and cocked a smile as he withdrew a piece of paper from his pants pocket and tossed it into the air.

"This is the address where Daniel is being held. I've laid the groundwork for you, and the people there won't give you any problems, so all you've got to do is go bring him back."

With that, he stuck his hands back in his pockets and walked off without so much as a glance back.

Cappuccino frantically snatched the piece of paper as it fluttered down.

By the time he caught the paper and rushed out the room, Minestrone had already disappeared from the empty hallway.

A wind from out of nowhere then blew open a corner of the curtains that had been drawn.

Light entered the room anew.

As long as a sliver of hope existed in this world, the light would always return.

Cappuccino took in a deep breath, gripped the slip of paper tightly, and walked out of the room.

"You wait and see! I'll be more powerful than you think!"